Former Texas Governor Rick Perry is one of four Republican presidential candidates who spoke at the National Right to Life Convention in New Orleans last Friday, along with Dr. Ben Carson, former Senator Rick Santorum, and Senator Marco Rubio. And, in true Rick Perry fashion, his comments were a bit awkward. While talking about health […]
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Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
QUIZ: Is This Quote Defending Cosby or Trump?
Great news for those on the right with victim complexes and deep-seated fears of non-white immigrants: Donald Trump is currently polling in first place among GOP presidential contenders. It’s proof that even with lethal doses of self-delusion, you can still count on the support of thousands to embrace your racist, nativist beliefs as brave truths, […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why It Will Take Another Watergate to Pass Campaign Finance Reform
Back in January, Congressman John Sarbanes introduced the Government By the People Act. It’s an ambitious bill that would bring a sea change to our much-maligned campaign finance system. The bill has three main tenets aimed at amplifying the power of small donors. It would create a $25 tax credit for political donations up to […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
One GOP Step Forward, Four GOP Steps Back
Republican strategists surely breathed a sigh of relief Thursday when the South Carolina legislature voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitol. But it wasn’t long before Republican lawmakers began stepping on the story of the new GOP racial sensitivity not once, not twice, not even thrice, but four (4) times. Just […]
Posted inElection Night Blog
When Families Face Housing Discrimination, Too
This week HUD unveiled new rules for the Fair Housing Act-a law passed in 1968 that was meant to both protect selected groups from discrimination and also “affirmatively further” fair housing. The new resources and regulations, HUD officials hope, will enable more Americans to access affordable housing in high-opportunity areas. The new HUD rules come […]
Posted inEducation in America
Affirmative Action is Headed to the Supreme Court. Here’s Why We Still Need It
On June 29th, the Supreme Court announced that it would rehear Fisher v. Texas, a case where a white woman claims she was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin because of her race. In 2013 ProPublica reported, Fisher was a good student, but her grades and test scores weren’t high enough for […]
Posted inEducation in America
NEA Members Announce They Will Fight Institutional Racism. Do They Mean It?
At the National Education Association’s recently concluded annual meeting-a gathering where the country’s largest labor union sets its policy priorities for the coming year-delegates passed several historic measures that committed the union to fighting institutional racism. Perhaps the most notable measure was New Business Item B, which passed unanimously. It opened with language stating that […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
The U.S. Won the World Cup—Can We Take Women’s Sports Seriously Now?
On Sunday night-surely you know by now-the United States Women’s National Team won the World Cup with a high-scoring 5–2 victory over Japan. What has gotten just as much attention as the match itself-and rightfully so-is the pay disparity between men and women’s sports. The U.S. Women’s Team took home $2 million for their third […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
Scalia’s Temporary Retreat from Textualism
In a 1996 essay, Antonin Scalia declared war on judicial activism. He criticized justices for ruling according to their personal predilections and blasted the American legal system for being populated by “lawmaking” judges who usurp the democratic process by using whatever means necessary to bring the case to a desired resolution. As a result, Scalia […]
Posted inEducation in America
Will Students Soon Be Tested for ‘Grit’?
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)-nicknamed “the Nation’s Report Card”-is the largest nationally representative assessment that tests what American students know and can do in different subjects. Curiously, it was recently announced that beginning in 2017, NAEP plans to start measuring so-called “non-cognitive skills” like motivation and grit in the background surveys they issue […]
