In the aftermath of the 2012 elections, some progressive commentators drew the mistaken conclusion that Democrats no longer needed white working-class Americans. High turnout and the Democratic tilt of youth, minorities, single women and upscale professionals, they argued, had created a new “coalition of the ascendant” that can win future presidential elections. In my new […]

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Republicans in North Carolina bristle at comparisons of the Moral Monday demonstrations to Taksim Square. But there are similarities—for starters, just as the Turkish government did, the governor and Republicans first tried to blame “outside agitators”—but arrest records show over 98 percent of protesters are Carolina grown. Then, like the authoritarians in Ankara, GOP leaders […]

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It’s been more than two decades since the Tailhook scandal exposed the crisis of sexual assault in the military. But despite endless vows of “Zero Tolerance,” the realities of military culture and an obsolete disciplinary system continue to allow rapists to flourish with little threat of ever facing consequences. The Pentagon recently released its annual […]

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How is it that the GOP, which virtually defines itself by its bitter opposition to the “Nanny state,” is working so assiduously to create a Mommy State? How is it that the same people who believe that state-subsidized health care is the essence of tyranny, and who deplore poor people for their disinclination to make […]

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 The Gulf of Guinea. He said it without a hint of irony or embarrassment. This was one of U.S. Africa Command’s big success stories. The Gulf… of Guinea. Never mind that most Americans couldn’t find it on a map and haven’t heard of the nations on its shores like Gabon, Benin, and Togo. Never mind that just five days before I […]

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