Adam Serwer

I mentioned Al Gore the other day in the Washington Post, which is basically like turning the Daily Howler signal on for World’s Greatest Liberal Bob Somerby: Serwer suggested we may have a “media problem” in the coverage of Pawlenty. That’s always possible, of course, although we think Serwer’s analysis is pretty silly. Pawlenty’s debate […]

Jack Goldsmith notes that American servicemembers are getting “danger pay” for engaging in something the Obama administration contends are not “hostilities.” The Defense Department decided in April to pay an extra $225 a month in ‘imminent danger pay’ to service members who fly planes over Libya or serve on ships within 110 nautical miles of […]

Jesse Taylor points out that back in 2009, David Brooks wrote that “These are the realistic choices for America’s Afghanistan policy — all out or all in, surrender the place to the Taliban or do armed nation-building,” while today he concludes that “Perhaps we don’t know enough, can’t plan enough, can’t implement effectively enough to […]

Jonathan Easley interviews Criminal Justice Policy Foundation President Eric Sterling about the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which ushered in the harsh drug penalties that have lead to American prisons holding fully one percent of the population: Anyway, there was no conversation to determine if crack was even more dangerous than cocaine, or what quantity […]

Defenders of today’s Supreme Court ruling in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the largest class-action suit ever, may try to portray the decision, which on certain aspects was unanimous, as one that reflects a larger consensus than it actually does. The Justices agreed that, given the differing responsibilities and pay scales involved, that the issue of back […]

Alyssa Rosenberg writes about the Islamophobia panel at Netroots Nation: At a Netroots panel I went to on Friday, someone in the audience got up and asked the panel what Muslims in America who want to fight Islamaphobia could learn from the American gay rights movement. Adam Serwer rightly pointed out that one thing the […]

Over the weekend, the Republican Leadership Conference hosted an Obama impersonator named Reggie Brown who told a series of off-color jokes before forced off the stage when he started making for of Republican Primary candidates. Here’s the New York Times recap: He said that Michelle Obama, the first lady, enjoys celebrating all of February, Black […]

I’ve seen some folks on the left responding to the news that President Barack Obama ignored advice that he needed congressional authorization from Congress to continue operations in Libya from Attorney General Eric Holder, Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson, from the Office of Legal Counsel offered by Caroline Krass, characterizing the issue as just another […]

I haven’t been writing much about Netroots Nation because I assume if you’re reading this blog you’re probably already being saturated with news from elsewhere. But one of the things that struck me, having gone to CPAC for the first time this year, is that there’s really no comparison in terms of the acceptability of […]

I know some people must think that infographics are being overused these days, but I’m basically on Team Infographic, and this ACLU offering on the impact of mass incarceration is a good example of why: Keep in mind when you look at the statistic regarding the fact that half of inmates in state prisons were […]