(Source: Pete Souza) The New York Times has a pretty shocking revelation on page one this weekend. White House correspondent Mark Landler reveals (after interviewing unnamed senior Obama aides) that the “most compelling” reason the president is seeking Congressional authorization to strike Syria may be this: …acting alone would undercut him if in the next […]

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(Source: John T. Consoli/University of Maryland via Flickr) I never had much time or sympathy for working-class renegades until I read Allison Hurst’s College and the Working Class. Hurst, a sociologist at Furman University, classifies first-generation college students as renegades if they “have learned to value what the greater society values, academic success, social prestige, […]

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(Trayvon Martin | Source: news reports) Black people are upset. The killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, and Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal, are the most recent matches on a tinderbox of legitimate black anger and alienation in America today. Black men and boys are feared, followed and frisked based solely on their appearance. Black unemployment […]

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Courts are not well-suited to deal with scientific questions. There is a judge: an appointed or elected lawyer who interprets the law. And there is a jury: randomly selected citizens who interpret the facts. On July 24, a six-person jury in a federal courtroom in Austin arrived at a decision that will find its way […]

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(Source: WAFB) What connects all of these events—the 1984 pesticide plant disaster at Bhopal, India; the Sept. 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks in the U.S.; and the recent deadly chemical plant explosions in West, Texas, and Geismar, Louisiana? What connects these events is the looming danger of a terrorist assault or accident at a U.S. […]

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