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10 Powerful Moments From the Congressional Gun Sit-In
Shortly before 11:30 Wednesday morning, Democrats in the House of Representatives staged a revolt. There would be no more business in their chamber of Congress, they declared, until Republican leadership called for votes on two bills: one that would ban individuals on the government’s no-fly list from purchasing weapons, and a second that…
What the Supreme Court’s Latest Big Decisions Mean for the Country
With a bang and a whimper, the Supreme Court Thursday morning resolved two of the three big cases that had remained on its docket. And once again we see that what Justice Anthony Kennedy wants, the country gets. Going into this month, the big cases the Court had left to decide…
Inside Kentucky’s Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot
Last April I spent two days at the Knob Creek Gun Range in Kentucky for their twice-yearly Machine Gun Shoot. I’m Swiss, and have made the U.S. my project to photograph for a few years, so I felt that this needed to be seen and experienced. America has a relationship with…
Welcome to the First Presidential Election Since Voting Rights Act Gutted
As a young civil rights activist, Congressman John Lewis was brutally beaten marching for the right to vote in Selma, Alabama. Lewis’s heroism spurred the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the country’s most important civil rights law. But three years ago this week, in Shelby County v. Holder,…
The Godawful Bill at the Center of the Gun Sit-In
In the end, the Republicans cut and ran. Or they realized there was no point in being shouted down. If you’ve come away from this week’s events in Congress with something like certitude, you probably began the day that way. For everyone else, being ambivalent feels like the natural result…
The Political Convention Where Bernie’s Revolution Reigns
Weeks before party apparatchiks descend on Cleveland and Philadelphia, a key political convention — though one neither sanctioned by the major parties nor followed closely by Beltway journalists — has already taken place. The People’s Summit, held in Chicago this past weekend, brought together some 3,000 Bernie Sanders supporters, if not…
David Byrne: Gun Control Doesn’t Need to Be ‘All or Nothing’
David Byrne wrote a lengthy piece on gun control in the United States on his website. He clarified that gun control doesn’t necessitate wiping the Second Amendment. “It’s not about taking away everyone’s guns,” Byrne wrote. “It needn’t be all or nothing, in other words.” Byrne called America a “war zone,” noting that more people are victims…
Democrats Hold Sit-in on House Floor to Demand Action on Guns
Democratic lawmakers initiated a sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday to demand a vote on gun-control measures. As of 2:00 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, the occupation was still taking place. The effort has been led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a storied civil rights leader who organized sit-ins to protest Nashville’s segregated lunch counters in…
Watch Tom Morello Liken Trump to ‘Frat-House Rapist’
This week, activist and folksinger Ryan Harvey released “Old Man Trump,” a new song featuring damning, eerily prescient lyrics that Woody Guthrie wrote more than 60 years ago about Donald Trump’s father, Fred. Tom Morello, who guests on the track along with Ani DiFranco, has filmed a strongly worded video introduction suggesting that Guthrie’s critique…
One Big Reason the Latest Gun Bills Failed
After filibustering for 15 hours last week, Senate Democrats finally got what they wanted Monday evening: a vote on measures designed to curb gun violence in America. And, as anticipated, the Republican-controlled Senate voted down all four pieces of legislation imposing limits on gun sales. Americans have come to expect exactly this sort…
Trump’s Bigotry Is a Drug to Texas Republicans
When Donald Trump’s stumbling campaign blew into Texas for a three-city tour last week, its literature described its second and last rally in the state as an event in Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the United States. But it wasn’t. Trump’s rally was held in The Woodlands,…
Frank Ocean on Orlando Shooting: Many Hate Us and Wish We Didn’t Exist
Elusive R&B singer Frank Ocean shared a personal letter on Tuesday addressing the Orlando mass shooting and other forms of bigotry faced by members of the LGBT community. Ocean, who revealed that his Channel Orange album was partially inspired by a relationship with a man in a Tumblr post in 2012, remembers his father…
Hear the Odd Advice Donald Trump Gave 11-Year-Old Daniel Radcliffe
As the young star of the Harry Potter movies, Daniel Radcliffe was thrown into some strange situations – including one where he encountered Donald Trump backstage before an interview on The Today Show. “It was my first time in New York,” Radcliffe said to Seth Meyers on Monday night. “I was really nervous,…
Samantha Bee Continues to Roast N.R.A. Over Role in Gun Control Debate
Samantha Bee brought her usual caustic humor to a discussion of the Senate’s recent debate over gun rights. Last Tuesday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut led a 15-hour filibuster effort in the Senate to push the legislative body to take up gun control measures. Two of these measures were sponsored…
10 Things You Need to Know About Zika
Zika is full of surprises. The mosquito-borne virus has captured international attention since the outbreak in Brazil early in 2015, and is now active in 60 countries around the world. In the seven decades that we’ve known about Zika, it has always appeared to be relatively harmless, no more alarming…
The Return of Lesser Evilism
Jonathan Chait of New York magazine wrote a column about Ralph Nader this morning that uses some interesting language. Noting that it’s now been 16 years since Nader ran for president and garnered enough dissenting votes to help elect George W. Bush, he wrote (emphasis mine): “That is enough time for…
The Media Is Finally Calling Out Trump’s Toxic Demagoguery
Until recently, much of the mainstream media coverage of Donald Trump’s campaign had been largely positive. Yes, there was some early discussion about whether he’s a fascist, and plenty of stories about thuggery at his rallies — but there was also a lot of what we might call a fascination with…
Meet the Senator Who Filibustered for 15 Hours on Gun Control
Last Tuesday night, three days after 49 people were brutally gunned down at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Sen. Chris Murphy reached a breaking point. The Connecticut Democrat, who was elected to the Senate just a month before the Sandy Hook shooting, is one of Congress’ most vocal anti-gun-violence crusaders…
Watch John Oliver Urge Anti-‘Brexit’ Vote With Snarky Vocal Group
On June 23rd, the United Kingdom– “birthplace of the Beatles and yet very much the world’s Ringo” –will vote in a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. As a Brit, John Oliver understands that urge to leave, citing an “innate British desire to tell Europe to go fuck itself.” But…
The Stanford Rape Case Judge’s Controversial History
As he handed down a six-month sentence to Brock Turner for sexually assaulting a woman behind a dumpster, Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky acknowledged the former Stanford swimmer’s remorse — “remorse, which I think, subjectively, is genuine,” Persky said. As the victim in the case wrote in a widely read statement,…
Chuck D Talks ‘Mein Trump,’ ‘Keeping Seat Warm’ for Zack de la Rocha
It’s understandable to be skeptical of Prophets of Rage, the new supergroup comprised of Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford, as they prepare for an upcoming tour beginning in August. On paper, the group’s three catalogs contain some of the most…
My Pride Is Bulletproof: A Queer Puerto Rican on Life After Orlando
It could have been me. I could have had my body riddled with bullets, my blood spilled, clothes drenched, crawling for my life on the dance floor of a gay bar. I had just returned from a Brooklyn gay bar, my queer friends and I dancing with drag queens to celebrate…
On Being Anti-Gun in Gun-Loving America
On Monday, I wrote an article for Rolling Stone advocating for the repeal of the Second Amendment. From my vantage point as a constitutional law professor, I argued that the amendment’s cost-benefit analysis is outdated, it’s a threat to liberty and it’s a suicide pact. I stand by all of…
Why Did Judge Aaron Persky’s Stanford Rape Decision Go Viral?
Earlier this month, after Stanford University freshman Brock Turner was found guilty of three felony counts of sexual assault, California judge Aaron Persky sentenced the swimmer to six months in jail, though he may be out in as few as three. “Absolutely shocked and appalled,” was the response of one anonymous juror…
How the NRA Paved the Way for the Orlando Shooting
The greatest threat to our homeland security today is the National Rifle Association, a front group for the firearms industry that derails gun-safety measures and perversely profits with each new mass shooting. Responding to Orlando — the deadliest attack by a gunman in our history — the NRA blamed the massacre on “the…
Zika: The Epidemic at America’s Door
Puerto Rico’s Martin Peña canal is a winding, heavily polluted waterway that snakes 3.7 miles through the center of San Juan. Eight small, deeply impoverished communities, all lacking an efficient sewage system, surround the channel, and have for generations dumped untreated waste directly into the mud-colored water. One Friday in…
5 Things That Are Harder to Get Than an Assault Rifle
Omar Mateen bought the assault rifle he used to kill 49 people at Pulse nightclub eight days before Sunday’s shooting. The owner of the store that sold him the gun, St. Lucie Shooting Center, said on Tuesday that Mateen passed a background check. (In Florida, a background check is essentially just…
Bill O’Reilly Responds to Orlando: ‘We Need a Declaration of War’
Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox talk program The O’Reilly Factor, critiqued the government’s response to the Orlando shootings on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday night. He agreed with Colbert that Donald Trump’s response to the tragedy was self-congratulatory (or, as Colbert pointed out: complete grandstanding). “Trump is betting that the United States…
Late Night Hosts Respond to Orlando Shooting With Poignancy, Humor
In the aftermath of the massacre in Orlando Sunday morning, late night TV hosts were once again tasked with responding to the increasingly commonplace horror of a mass shooting. Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers acknowledged the gravity of the situation by setting aside humor. “I simply do not understand why…
5 Laws to Keep Guns Away From People Like the Orlando Shooter
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Omar Mateen opened fire inside a gay nightclub in Orlando. He killed 49 people and injured 53, making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. What’s perhaps most devastating about the slaughter is how preventable it might have been. Mateen had a history of domestic violence, exhibited signs of mental…
In Orlando, as Usual, Domestic Violence Was Ignored Red Flag
Early Sunday morning, Omar Mateen began killing people in what became the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Authorities will now study what may have made the 29-year-old go to the Pulse gay nightclub with the intention of ending so many lives. The Washington Post reported Monday that “although family members said…
After Orlando, We Must Ask How Our Society Got This Way
The details of this weekend’s shootings in Orlando are still coming in, but we know pop singer Christina Grimmie was gunned down after a performance, and then, 28 hours later and 3.5 miles away, the worst massacre in U.S. history occurred at a gay club during its popular Latin night….
Why It’s Time to Repeal the Second Amendment
I teach the Constitution for a living. I revere the document when it is used to further social justice and make our country a more inclusive one. I admire the Founders for establishing a representative democracy that has survived for over two centuries. But sometimes we just have to acknowledge that…
Trump’s Response to Orlando Shooting Should Be Disqualifying
In the hours after the worst mass shooting in our history — also the deadliest-ever attack on the American LGBT community — Donald Trump took to Twitter to mark the moment, not with mourning, but with self-adoration. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump tweeted shortly before 10 a.m. Eastern…
Everything You Need to Know About the AR-15 Used in Orlando
Over three hours early Sunday morning, Omar Mateen, barricaded inside a gay nightclub in a residential neighborhood of Orlando, shot and killed 49 people; an additional 53 were wounded. The standoff ended around 5 a.m., when Mateen was killed by police. Mateen carried two guns with him Sunday: a 9mm handgun…
Omar Mateen’s Father Offers Condolence to Families of Massacre Victims
The father of the man behind the recent massacre in an Orlando nightclub says he does not know why his son committed the mass killing. “I wish I did know,” Seddique Mateen told The Washington Post. “If I did know, I would have stopped him.” Mateen said he saw his son the…
Clinton and Sanders Should Unite to Ban Assault Weapons
There is no way Omar Mateen could have walked into a gay nightclub in Orlando and committed the worst mass shooting and the ugliest hate crime in American history if he weren’t using an AR-15, or another weapon with similar destructive power. Adam Lanza used an AR-15-type rifle when he murdered…
Obama Calls Orlando Nightclub Shooting ‘Act of Terror and Act of Hate’
President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Sunday following the early morning attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, which he noted was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. “Today as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder, the horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” he said. Keeping his remarks relatively brief,…
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