Next November, the Republican Party is banking on the cranky. Don’t laugh. This appears to be a very good wager. Good enough to hold onto the U.S. House. Good enough, even, to take the Senate. Democrats don’t want to acknowledge that possibility, but it is way beyond real, and for two…
DetailsEveryone has experienced the oddness of meeting up with a long-lost acquaintance after many years, only to find impressions downright strange. So it is with me and marijuana. At least the smell of marijuana, that is. Though long an advocate of its legalization, I’ve never inhaled it, except in the ambient sense.…
DetailsAs of mid-March, the nation’s rate of uninsured had declined to 15.9 percent from 17.1 percent in December. We can’t know exactly where the rate stands now, but it’s lower. And, well, the nation’s Republican leaders will not have that. They will do everything they can — and credit them for having done…
DetailsRegularly I drive past individuals praying out in front of Planned Parenthood. Supplication being a private thing, one can only imagine what appeals they direct skyward, out there in the cold and wind. I like to imagine that they are praying that all women, regardless of income, have access to safe…
DetailsWhat would you say if someone told you that your state’s emphasis on algebra was undermining math instruction? What would you say if that someone was a math instructor? What would you say if someone said algebra as emphasized — overemphasized — was undermining democracy? Well, I’m saying the latter. …
Details“Yeah, well I heard . . .” Four words just about sum up vast seas of political insight about matters that matter. “I heard about the schools handing out condoms.” “I heard about the Black Panthers intimidating voters.” “I heard that illegal immigrants can get Medicaid.” It hardly matters…
DetailsAs the deadline nears for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, two types of hardworking Americans should be furious. First: the working-poor millions who would be covered under expanded Medicaid if their state’s policy makers didn’t refuse it. Second: the millions who work second jobs mostly to pay for health coverage. That…
DetailsPrinciple. The NFL hinted it would move the Super Bowl, and Apple said it could find a new place for a planned plant if Arizona legitimized discrimination most foul, most un-American, against gays and lesbians. In a similarly principled stand, arms maker Magpul Industries has moved its plant to Wyoming. The principle…
DetailsI never thought I’d welcome black helicopters on the horizon. Black helicopters with jackbooted storm troopers in blue helmets, empowered to scan children’s tender corneas and report to the United Nations. Bring that on. That’s generally how discourse has devolved regarding the Common Core movement embraced by a host of states. Beating…
DetailsI’ve never been one to dwell on anniversaries. But what the heck. Last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act came in the sesquicentennial year of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln wanted the latter a year earlier. He made a preliminary declaration in 1862. He said it…
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