Alexandra Gutierrez

Matt Yglesias cautions against listening to the neocon concern-trolling on Afghanistan: Barack Obama is probably not used to thinking of John McCain as an ally, given that McCain ran against him last year and since the election has opposed every one of the administration’s initiatives, even going so far as to abandon previous support for […]

Tara McKelvey reviews John Farmer‘s The Ground Truth : Government officials lied about 9/11. Not in a terrible, devastating way, of course — but through various, small details that twisted the story and made it seem like they had done a better job than they really did. In The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of […]

Tim Fernholz profiles seven liberal financial experts who are helping transform Wall Street: The financial crisis has led to an accountability moment for our economic system. But the most disappointing — if unsurprising — realization in what ought to be an era of reform is that so few experts from the world of Wall Street […]

Alyssa Katz on how housing speculators are hindering efforts at block-by-block revitalization: To get to Pittsburgh, a historically black neighborhood south of downtown Atlanta, I drive past several boarded-up and burned-out homes. Turning onto McDaniel Street, I steer around a pile of clothes and toys spilling out into the road. “Lord, behold, a family’s house […]

Ann Friedman on the perils of police becoming immigration enforcers: It’s tempting to write off Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as just another right-wing hatemonger. Like the Pat Buchanans and Lou Dobbs of the world, he has a large platform, talent for exploiting the racist side of populism, and an all-consuming desire for attention. So […]

IM IN UR LAPTOP FIXIN UR GUV. The inaugural Gov 2.0 summit starts today, and hundreds are meeting to discuss the idea of making government work as a “platform” and the goal of increasing civic engagement through technology. Contrary to what might be assumed, this vision — promoted by event organizer and tech mogul Tim […]

Phoebe Connelly on the life and death of Geocities: When Yahoo announced earlier this year that it was shuttering GeoCities, an online community of user-created Web pages from the early days of the Internet, the response was more mocking than mournful. “So Long GeoCities: We Forgot You Still Existed” read one PC World headline. When […]

Sarah Garland explains why segregation, not immigration, is to blame for the growth of Hispanic gangs: Jessica stood in a clearing in the woods where the ground was strewn with used condoms and broken bottles. Cicadas hummed in the country club grounds edging the campus of the Hempstead High School, a brick fortress with narrow […]

Robert Kuttner argues that a second stimulus could help states avoid layoffs, program cuts, and tax hikes: Economic growth declined by only 1 percent from April through June, compared to 6.4 percent in the first quarter — in these times that passes for good news. Without the Obama stimulus of $787 billion, the damage would […]