Op-Ed

Sept. 9, 2016 – There are few stories you’ll ever hear that are as inspiring and as American as Astrid Silva — a DREAMer from Nevada. That’s why we were so disgusted yesterday when Donald Trump Jr., who was campaigning for his father in Nevada, called for her deportation. Like racist father, like racist son. […]

Sept. 7, 2016 – An old saying asserts that falsehoods come in three escalating levels: Lies, damn lies, and statistics. But now there’s an even higher category of lies: a Donald Trump speech. Take his recent address on specific economic policies he’d push to benefit hard-hit working families, including an almost-hilarious discourse on the rank […]

September 6, 2016 – The long-awaited trial for Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and six other militants who led the 40-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge begins on Wednesday in Portland, Oregon. The trial will bring some closure to the central Oregon town of Burns where the armed occupiers disrupted daily life and […]

Sept. 5, 2016 – The contrast could not have been greater. Over the weekend, speaking on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, history was made as President Obama and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, announced that the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases would formally ratify the Paris agreement on climate change. “We have […]

Sept. 5, 2016 – Ronald L. Feinman is the author of Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama (Rowman Littlefield Publishers, August 2015). A paperback edition is coming in March 2017. Through all of the debate, discussion, analysis, and interpretation about Donald Trump over these 15 months since his candidacy began, it […]

Sept. 2, 2016 – This article first appeared on The Medium: https://medium.com/@DavidLeopold/deconstructing-donald-trumps-horrifying-10-step-assault-on-immigrants-due-process-and-other-5889c58e1c01#.qfdjs510l After Donald Trump met with his Hispanic Advisory Council on August 20, the media tied itself in knots over whether he had “softened” on his insistence that all 11 million undocumented immigrants be deported, a central pillar of his campaign. Then in a […]

Aug. 31, 2016 – In July, Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) introduced a resolution of impeachment (H.Res. 828) against Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. In August, Rep. Jim Jordan (D-OH), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said that House Freedom Caucus members would push for a House vote on the impeachment resolution when Congress returns […]

Aug. 31, 2016 – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, ever the showman, is certainly poised this Wednesday to deliver a heavy dose of eye-grabbing and eye-rolling reality-show drama. Ahead of what is being billed as a major speech on immigration in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump is paying a visit in Mexico to President Enrique Peña Nieto, […]

Aug. 29, 2016 – The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), the oldest and largest human rights bar association in the United States, by its International Committee, its Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Committee and its Environmental Human Rights Committee, as well as the NLG’s Environmental Justice Committee, stands in solidarity with the sovereign Oceti Sakowin Oyate (the Great […]

August 25, 2016 – The centennial of the National Park Service is inspiring an impressive amount of soul-searching about the agency and the lands for which it is responsible. This is timely and appropriate, as the NPS faces serious challenges that affect the preservation of these precious lands. We both study the history of conservation […]

August 22, 2016 – The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, reacting to the conflicting stories about Donald Trump and immigration after the candidate’s meeting with Hispanic supporters on Saturday. Despite new reports from Trump that he is not, in fact, pivoting on immigration, it really doesn’t matter if he tries. He’s already […]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2016—Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to the Trump campaign’s new effort to recruit supporters to challenge and intimidate voters at the polls. In the wake of the Shelby County v. Holder decision, the Department of Justice has […]

WASHINGTON, DC, August 17, 2016 – Jeff Flocken, North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), issued the following statement in response to the killing of a giraffe and zebra in South Africa by a 12-year old American trophy hunter: It’s sad any time that an imperiled animal like a giraffe […]

Aug. 17, 2016 – The best argument for a single-payer health plan is the recent decision by giant health insurer Aetna to bail out next year from 11 of the 15 states where it sells Obamacare plans. Aetna’s decision follows similar moves by UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurer, and Humana, one of the other giants. […]

Aug. 17, 2016 – As any serious national security expert will tell you, trying to find a potential terrorist by treating all immigrants or Muslims as security risks is far too vague to be effective. Accurate intelligence and effective information-sharing across agencies is the key to national security—not profiling. Yet in a bombastic August 15 […]

August 15, 2016 – Many have speculated how a Trump victory would affect the U.S., but few have thought about the consequences of a Trump loss. After falling behind Hillary Clinton in the polls, Donald Trump has already developed a narrative for his exit: The election was rigged. So how likely is a rigged vote? […]

August 13, 2016 – This presidential election is exposing deep fault-lines in our society and the failure of some of the basic institutions of our democracy. If we don’t change direction, we’re on our way to “hell in a handbasket”. I begin with the difficult situation in which Republicans now find themselves as they watch […]

August 12, 2016 – Every election cycle, there are citizens who don’t like either of the candidates nominated by the two major political parties. And so, a familiar debate begins: Is a vote for a third party a principled stand – or wasteful naiveté? This year, party discord has swelled the numbers of dissatisfied citizens, […]

Aug. 12, 2016 – Mitchell Zuckoff is a journalism professor at Boston University Lost in the debate over Donald J. Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns is the story of where the custom of disclosure comes from — and why it can be so valuable as a measure of character. It’s a tale of presidential tax […]

Aug. 12, 2016 – Ronald L. Feinman is the author of Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama (Rowman Littlefield Publishers, August 2015). A paperback edition is coming in March 2017. August 9, 1974 saw the end of a major constitutional crisis with the resignation of Richard Nixon from the Presidency. With […]