In 1976, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter squared off for the first presidential debate since Nixon and Kennedy high-mindedly locked horns. The campaign, to that point, had bogged down in childishness. Carter gave an interview to Playboy in which he affirmed that he had “committed adultery in my heart many times.” Thereupon, he was greeted at every stop on the campaign trail with signs like jimmy carter for playmate of the year and smile if you’re horny. Ford’s agriculture secretary told a dirty joke about black people, and that consumed half a dozen news cycles. Then, on September 23, all those voters pining for something high-minded amid the morass settled down for a serious discussion of the issues.

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Heroin and prescription painkiller addiction is rampant throughout the United States; in many parts of the country, it’s difficult to find someone who hasn’t been touched by the epidemic. The crisis has particularly affected low-income communities, but a recent wave of opioid-related deaths of celebrities, including Prince and Philip Seymour Hoffman, shattered any illusions that opioid addiction only hits people of a particular class or region.

Even politicians have taken notice. Throughout the presidential campaign, addressing opioid abuse has been a rare issue with bipartisan support.

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This past week, two 9/11-themed promotions became fodder for the hungry internet outrage machine. In San Antonio, a mattress retailer aired an ad for a 9/11-themed promotion. “What better way than to remember 9/11 than with a Twin Tower sale?” asks an enthusiastic woman in the local television spot. “Right now you can get any […]

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I published an article here on August 22 arguing against a dangerous strategy apparently being pursued by the Clinton presidential campaign, as revealed in a hacked email discussion between DNC officials last spring. In an effort to expedite the defection of Republicans offended by their party’s nominee, the campaign was building up Speaker Paul Ryan […]

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Photo Credit: Azeem Azeez   Join the New Republic and three of our nation’s leading environmental activists, Bill McKibben, Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., and Elizabeth Yeampierre for a critical public conversation on climate change, its social, political, and biological impact and what can be done now to arrest and where possible reverse its deadly progress. Writer […]

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