What’s been so frustrating to me about the House’s move to defund Planned Parenthood yesterday (never fear: the bill will likely die in the Senate) is that House Republicans, especially the bill’s sponsor, Mike Pence, are counting on most Americans not knowing anything about the nonprofit. The vast majority of its services are for routine Read More
I don’t watch Gossip Girl, but, apparently, Rebecca Traister’s terrific book about women and the 2008 election, Big Girls Don’t Cry made a cameo in Monday’s episode. I did, however, just finish reading that great book. In it, Traister points out something that I had missed and that you probably did too. When Hillary Clinton Read More
Via Jamilah King at ColorLines, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi has decided to suspend the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott, two women who were sentenced to life in prison for an armed robbery in 1994. Their release is contingent upon Gladys Scott giving a kidney to her sick sister, which she has already said Read More
Over at TAP today, I talk about the fine line we want food stamp recipients to walk: We don’t like the idea that they may be “mis-spending” public money on nutrient-poor foods like soda, and we also, according to The Daily Caller, anyway, don’t think they should be spending money on expensive fish. Also, poor Read More
Liberals have always had a hard time dealing with fatherhood and family programs designed for low-income families. On the one hand, some of the arguments behind the creation of programs for low-income families that demonstrate healthy relationships and encourage fathers to be emotionally involved in their children’s lives is a good thing on its face: Read More
I’m a little late to the party on this, but it’s been many o’ year since I had a TV and longer still since I’ve paid for cable. Normally, I don’t mind waiting a day, but my twitter timeline was full of Mad Men finale spoilers this morning. In this case, I expected some ridiculously Read More
Well, you’ve decided to put us in cups. So . . . here we go.
We always show these kids, and they’re always great. Get your tear ducts ready.
I have a hard time when television shows throw in a death to serve as the episode’s conflict. On a show like Lost — before it got horrible — death served to keep the show honest: you couldn’t be terrified of the island as a viewer without the consequences feeling real for the characters. (That, incidentally, is Read More
Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who with Cory Booker and Barack Obama formed the triumverate of the “new wave” of black politicians emerging as national leaders, lost his re-election bid to Vince Gray, the D.C. council chair last night. A lot was made of race: polls showed that white voters overwhelming supported Fenty, while black Read More
