“Americans fought a revolution in part over the right to be free from unreasonable searches—to ensure that our government couldn’t come knocking in the middle of the night for no reason. We need to find a way forward to make sure that we can stop terrorists while protecting the privacy, and liberty, of innocent Americans.”… Continue Reading
Category Archives: The republic
Most Americans aren’t disaster relief grinches
As our heroes in Congress are busily failing to do any actual work, one of the stupid debates they are having is whether federal aid to those lousy mooching tornado victims should be offset by cuts in spending on programs for other lousy mooching Americans (but not, say, to tax breaks for unfathomably wealthy, Croesus-like… Continue Reading
Why are corporations so unpatriotic?
Words to live by, by Bro. Ralph Nader: Why are big, global U.S. corporations so unpatriotic? After all, they were created in the U.S.A., rose to immense profit because of the toil of American workers, are bailed out by American taxpayers whenever they’re in trouble, and are safeguarded abroad by the U.S. military. Yet these… Continue Reading
Go ahead, Maine!
Maine became the 13th state to call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Other states include, from the Public Citizen linked piece, West Virginia, Colorado, Montana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, Maryland, Vermont, New Mexico and Hawaii, as well as Washington, D.C, and some 500 local municipalities.… Continue Reading
Billboards are probably not the best venue for nuanced history
Some residents in Colorado are not happy about this particular pro-gun billboard. Can you imagine why? Here is one potential reason: Irene Vernon, a Colorado State University professor and chairwoman of the ethnic studies department, said the message on the billboard is taking a narrow view of a much more complicated history of the Native… Continue Reading
Is religion to blame for the Boston bombing?
Well, that’s what the officials are saying, and I’m sure it’s what Christopher Hitchens would say, bless his heart. Two Muslim men commit a terrorist atrocity; where else to lay the blame but at the feet of religion in general? It is, of course, more complicated than that. Jeffrey Weiss asks whether by their actions,… Continue Reading
The American Dream and home ownership
“How Housing Matters,” a new survey from the MacArthur Foundation, says that while people still want to own rather than rent their homes, fewer adults think that home ownership is the ticket to the American Dream. From the report: After decades of equating homeownership with the American Dream, in the aftermath of the housing crisis,… Continue Reading
Have you done your taxes yet?
This year, for the first time in — oh, forever — we’re already finished rendering unto Caesar the taxes that are Caesar’s. We have done our part to be Good Citizens, and now we have time to reflect (thank you, National Priorities Project!) on precisely where all our money went.… Continue Reading
You can have my Big Gulp when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
Even if it kills me. And clap your fool heads off, conservatives. A new Harvard study links sugary drinks to 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide. Here are some more facts about sugary drinks from Harvard: Two out of three adults and one out of three children in the United States are overweight or obese, and the… Continue Reading
Happy Sunshine Week
An open government is a good government. You can read more here.… Continue Reading