Op-Ed

Sept. 17, 2018 – Gavin Benke teaches writing at Boston University and is the author Risk and Ruin: Enron and the Culture of American Capitalism. Recently Jeffrey Skilling, the former CEO the infamous Texas energy company Enron, was quietly released from prison and placed into a halfway house. To some, the news might offer a satisfying […]

Washington September 17, 2018 – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) released the following statement: “It has always been Mrs. Ford’s decision whether to come forward publicly. For any woman, sharing an experience involving sexual assault—particularly when it involves a politically connected man with influence, authority and power—is extraordinarily difficult. “From the outset, I have believed these […]

Morten Wendelbo, American University September 14, 2018 – Last September, President Donald Trump told Puerto Ricans they should be grateful Hurricane Maria had not caused a “real catastrophe like Katrina.” However, mounting evidence now reveals the death toll for Maria far surpasses initial estimates. New research puts the number close to 3,000, adjusted up from […]

Sept. 13, 2018 – It should go without saying that disaster preparation is about protecting lives, not protecting reputations. As we write this, millions of people in the path of Hurricane Florence are preparing for potential devastation from high winds, heavy rains, and coastal storm surge. The leadership and staff of federal, state, and local […]

Sept. 132, 2018 – The recent anonymous op-ed in The New York Times about the resistance to Trump within his own administration was supposed to reassure the American people. Don’t worry, the writer was saying: We the “steady state” are making sure that an unhinged president doesn’t blow up the world. Behind the scenes, the […]

Sept. 6, 2018 – Ed Simon is the Editor-at-Large for “The Marginalia Review of Books,” a channel of the “Los Angeles Review of Books.” A frequent contributor at several sites, his collection America and Other Fictions: On Radical Faith and Post Religion will be released by Zero Books in November of 2018. He can be followed at […]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2018 – Following is the statement of American Psychological Association President Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD, in response to the Trump administration’s proposal to detain migrant children beyond the 20 days allowed by current law: We are dismayed that the administration continues to place the mental and physical health of migrant children and […]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2018 – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the continuing need for the Senate to request all of Brett Kavanaugh’s records from his time in the George W. Bush White House: As we learned this morning, Brett Kavanaugh, when he […]

Sept. 3, 2018 – September 15 will mark the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and near meltdown of Wall Street, followed by the Great Recession. Since hitting bottom in 2009, the economy has grown steadily, the stock market has soared, and corporate profits have ballooned. But most Americans are still living in […]

Jay L. Zagorsky, The Ohio State University September 3, 2018 – Labor Day is a U.S. national holiday held the first Monday every September. Unlike most U.S. holidays, it is a strange celebration without rituals, except for shopping and barbecuing. For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and the start of […]

Aug. 30, 2018 – Statement from Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, opposing the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court: For the first time since our founding in 1992, the Center for Reproductive Rights is opposing the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee. Based on our […]

Aug. 30, 2018 – A disturbing story in the Washington Post story, entitled “U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question,” highlights a new front in the Trump administration’s efforts to “other” people of color and immigrants, even if they are U.S. citizens. As Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz assessed […]

Aug. 29, 2018 – Politicians often gab about the “private sector” and the “public sector,” as if these two categories of economic activity operated as two completely separate worlds. In reality, these two sectors have always been deeply intertwined. How deeply? Every year, the federal government spends about half a trillion dollars buying goods and […]

Aug. 29, 2018 – In August 1921, sheriff’s deputies in West Virginia — later joined by federal troops — massacred striking mineworkers using machine guns and aerial bombardment, in what’s now known as the Battle of Blair Mountain. Nearly a century later, the government is again going to war in support of mine owners by […]

Aug. 29, 2018 – In a letter sent to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today, Democracy 21 expressed deep concern about the Senator’s apparent abandonment of his earlier pledge to the American people “to make sure that Mr. Mueller can continue to do his job without any interference.” According to the letter: Bipartisan legislation to accomplish […]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2018 – The Trump administration released details yesterday on its emergency aid package in the form of direct payments for big farm operations, with the bulk of the taxpayer aid flowing to U.S. soybean farmers. The following statement is from EWG’s Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, Scott Faber. Today’s announcement by USDA […]

Aug. 27, 2018 – James D. Robenalt is the author four nonfiction books, including January 1973, Watergate, Roe v Wade, Vietnam and the Month That Changed History Forever. He practices law in Cleveland, Ohio. In a recent tweet, President Trump attacked John Dean, Nixon’s White House Counsel, as a “RAT.” He wrote: “The failing @nytimes wrote […]

Aug. 27, 2018 – The only way I see the end of Trump is if there’s overwhelming evidence he rigged the 2016 election. In which case impeachment isn’t an adequate remedy. His presidency should be annulled. Let me explain. Many people are convinced we’re already witnessing the beginning of the end of Trump. In their […]

Aug. 21, 2018 – As expected, yesterday’s White House celebration of ICE and CBP was an overtly political rally. It neatly captured Trump’s midterm strategy: inject race, immigration and “us vs. them” appeals at every opportunity. The purpose is threefold: 1) to excite white grievance voters in the GOP base; 2) to keep the focus […]

August 23, 2018 – In the two days since he was implicated as a co-conspirator in a federal crime, the president – with the help of his allies in the right-wing press – has fallen back on his most basic political strategy: stoking racial resentment and fear. He has not only shamelessly exploited a horrible […]