We can’t know exactly what happened when Trayvon Martin died. We do know, however, the answer to that infernal chicken-egg riddle the NRA uses to mesmerize policymakers. The answer: Guns kill people. Period. End of riddle. George Zimmerman says he wouldn’t have done anything differently. That depends. Let’s say that…
DetailsAs with a lot of people across the country, Wendy Davis is my new hero — she who for 11 hours stared down an armored column of oppression on the Texas Senate floor. I know Sen. Davis won’t be offended, however, to hear me say that she’s not my foremost pro-choice hero. That…
DetailsIt’s understandable that conservatives, from Chief Justice John Roberts to chief pundit George Will, today think of racism as a thing of the past — a “post-racial” society, this is. After all, Jim Crow molders in the grave — he of the dirty dungarees, the night rides, the venal proxies in elected…
Details“Billions and billions.” Where is Carl Sagan when we need him to provide the proper intonation? Billions — $200 billion — in fact, is what the Congressional Budget Office says would be shaved off the federal deficit in 10 years with passage of the immigration reform bill gaining steam in the Senate. Look 20…
DetailsAnd so it begins again, and on cue. Like an incendiary device on a timer, summer has turned patches of Rocky Mountain paradise into scenes of fiery hell. The people of Colorado are beginning to wonder if for the foreseeable future they are locked into four seasons: fall, winter, spring and wildfire.…
DetailsThree words for some thoughtful young Republicans concerned about the future of their party: Save your breath. Those worried that the GOP is losing traction with young voters know exactly who runs the party today: its most reactionary — meaning least conciliatory — faction in generations. So the College Republican National Committee could…
DetailsWe all know when a popular revolt succeeds. Someone gets overthrown. At what point, however, does a historic, full-scale rebellion take wing? Always hard to tell. The revolt we discuss here involves bad policy and public schools. A climactic victory has yet to come. But let me fancy this notion: What now simmes…
DetailsIf one could paint a portrait of America under the leadership of today’s fiscal disservatives, it would be the sorry scene in the Skagit River 60 miles north of Seattle. There, a section of the bridge conveying Interstate 5 soaks like a tea bag tossed in the brine. I wonder how…
DetailsIs that Anthony Crispino I’ve been hearing tell us what horrific things President Obama has done? I think so. Crispino — Bobby Moynihan’s “Saturday Night Live” “second-hand news” character — knows everything except for everything. “Didja hear the IRS interrogated the tea party?” I hear Crispino say. “Yeah. It’s true.” It doesn’t phase Anthony…
DetailsSen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., says the “coverup” surrounding the tragic incidents in Benghazi is “bigger than Watergate, bigger than Iran-Contra, bigger than the Pentagon Papers.” It’s interesting that Inhofe doesn’t mention another matter that didn’t make his top four. It involved allegations of weapons of mass destruction, talking points planted in the…
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