christopher_hallam

Earlier today, I spoke with Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who shared his thoughts regarding President Obama‘s speech yesterday and his proposed changes to national security policy, the difference between this and the prior administration, and the ACLU’s plan to challenge some of Obama’s stated policies through the court system. […]

I wrote earlier that President Obama has the kind of trust the previous administration could only dream of having. Looking at the two speeches delivered today by Obama and Dick Cheney, there’s a reason for that. Whereas the President expressed a wholly believable reluctance and caution, as well as an understanding that these priorities need […]

Ann Friedman has a great column today dealing with “niche” websites devoted to women, but she digresses briefly into a discussion of publications directed at particular racial demographics: The proliferation of woman-centric sites raises the sorts of questions that keep a feminist editor up at night. If Slate saw a demand for more content about […]

If you thought Roxana Saberi’s story ended with the sudden reversal of the Iranian courts on charges of espionage, you’d be wrong. Delving into the details of Iran’s case against Saberi reveals the portrait of a reporter who is either foolish or fearless, depending on your perspective. It seems that the chief piece of evidence […]

Bouncing off my earlier post, let’s take a look at John Yoo’s most recent column, which takes the general right wing line on Obama’s potential court picks: In his 2005 confirmation hearings, Roberts compared judges to neutral umpires in a baseball game. Sen. Obama did not vote to confirm Roberts or Alito, but now proposes […]

Brendan Nyhan thinks so: Of course, as Media Matters and Tapped’s Adam Serwer pointed out, Limbaugh makes similarly offensive “jokes” on his show attacking dissent and comparing liberals to terrorists. And yes, he is far more powerful and influential than Sykes. But if it’s wrong when Limbaugh does it, then it’s wrong when Sykes does […]

You’re getting your spoiler alert for the new Star Trek movie now. Ready? Good. I used to watch Star Trek as a kid, and I always related to the half human, half Vulcan Spock. That whole “child of two worlds, belonging to neither” thing, stripped directly from tragic mulatto narratives like “Imitation of Life” was […]

As Dana notes below, Jeff Rosen has posted a much more thorough explanation of his objections to Sonia Sotomayor. Since I don’t want to repeat Dana’s arguments, I’ll just say this: it is completely possible that Sotomayor’s temperament is unsuitable for the high court. It may be that her legal writing is not always clear […]

Last Tuesday, about 150 gay marriage protestors gathered in Freedom Plaza to protest the possibility of the DC City Council voting to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, as they did yesterday. That protest, at which former DC Mayor Marion Barry was present, was organized by Bishop Harry Jackson,  who was also present at Tuesday’s […]

Ta-Nehisi and Matt Yglesias are on to something with Wolverine. TNC: I think we actually are curious about his orgins, but that’s the appeal–it’s in what you don’t know. How, exactly, does Wolverine know Sabretooth? How did he get admantium bones? Why is he so prone to rage? That negative space is where you put […]