Here is the latest Political News from Rolling Stone Magazine.
4 Reasons Mike Pence Is the Absolute Worst
Donald Trump is likely to name Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a former Congressman, as his running mate Friday, according to the Indianapolis Star (though Trump could still surprise us and go with Newt Gingrich or Chris Christie). A colorless politician with executive experience, Pence may offer ballast to the Trump ticket. But he clearly does not…
How ‘Egypt’s Jon Stewart’ Went From Public Enemy to TV Star
How to Become the Most Celebrated Satirist in the Middle East, a Step-by-Step Guide:Step One: Become a heart surgeon. Live to middle age. Step Two: Witness the Arab Spring first-hand. Get angry at the media’s portrayal of protesters in Tahrir Square, and at the advice of a friend, post takedowns…
Black Gun Owners Speak Out About Facing a Racist Double Standard
Cory Hughes marched in Florida after Trayvon Martin was shot, in Ferguson for Michael Brown and in Baltimore for Freddie Gray. Last Thursday, the Black Lives Matter activist stood in a park in downtown Dallas giving a speech about Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and his frustration with deaths like theirs. “I basically told [the crowd]…
ESPYs: NBA Stars Say ‘Shoot-to-Kill Mentality Has to Stop’
At Wednesday Night’s ESPY Awards, four of the NBA’s biggest stars teamed up to call for an end to gun violence. “The racial profiling has to stop,” Dwyane Wade said at the annual awards show. “The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has…
In Police Violence Cases, Time Works Against Justice
I had the honor of appearing this morning on Democracy Now! with Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, on the depressing subject of the approaching anniversary of her father’s killing at the hands of an NYPD officer. Her family’s story is a cautionary tale. With the Alton Sterling and Philando Castile…
Watch Stephen Colbert Bid Farewell to Bernie Sanders
And then there were two. With Bernie Sanders officially endorsing Hillary Clinton Tuesday, only she and Donald Trump remain in the race for the presidency and, more importantly, The Late Show’s Hungry for Power Games, where Stephen Colbert bid farewell to the Vermont senator. “Bernie Sanders has fallen, and like many seniors, he can…
GOP’s ‘Emailgate’ Response Shows How It Ended Up With Trump
Republicans have spent the Obama years encouraging disdain for the government by endlessly accusing public officials and even the president himself of bad faith, incompetence and lawbreaking. After hearing repeatedly how worthless, corrupt and illegitimate the government is from the very people who work for it, a significant portion of…
Bernie Sanders Endorses Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton Tuesday, effectively ending his 14-month bid for the Democratic nomination. The move comes a month after Hillary Clinton hit the 2,383-delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination, effectively eliminating Sanders from the race. “Let me begin by thanking the 13 million Americans who voted for me during the Democratic…
Bernie Sanders’ Quiet Triumph in the 2016 Race
On Tuesday morning, Bernie Sanders finally endorsed Hillary Clinton, giving nervous Democrats — dreading that a fractured party could fumble away the White House to Donald Trump — the “Kumbaya moment” they’d been pining for. Sanders’ endorsement of his establishment rival marks the end of his implausible, meteoric campaign for president….
10 Major Moments in Rock the Vote History
In a presidential race as baffling as this, it’s hard to imagine not voting come November. But surely many people will do just that — fewer than 54 percent of Americans turned up at the polls in 2012. Voter turnout for presidential elections was even more abysmal in the late Eighties…
Inside the Desperate Final Days of the ‘Stop Trump’ Effort
On Friday night, there was a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser in a D.C. suburb, and on Sunday, a conference call outlining a campaign strategy. With just one week until the start of the Republican National Convention, “Never Trump” Republicans are waging an all-out war to wrest the nomination from Donald Trump’s tiny grip. The…
Protestor in Iconic Black Lives Matter Photo Identified
The protestor in an already-iconic photo from Black Lives Matter’s protests in Baton Rogue has been identified. In the image, the woman – Ieshia Evans, according to The Atlantic – stands stoic in a roadway across from police officers wearing riot gear. A list of the 102 protestors arrested Saturday specifies…
There Are No ‘Vagina Voters’
Since Barack Obama’s run for president, and now with Hillary Clinton’s nomination, smug dismissals of “identity politics” have become popular in some circles. Conservative columnist Thomas Sowell laments that our “sense of American unity is being undermined by the reckless polarization of group identity politics.” At the radical Indypendent, Linda…
Texas’ Gun Culture and Politics Made Dallas Shooting Inevitable
A little over a year ago, a mentally ill Dallas-area man named James Lance Boulware, angry over losing custody of his son, bought an armored van on eBay, marketed as a “Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle.” The van had gun ports under each of its blacked-out windows. Just after midnight one…
After Dallas, Law Expert on Right to Demonstrate, Open-Carry Guns
On Friday morning, the country, still reeling from the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, woke up to a lot of unanswered questions. Why, after a night of peaceful demonstrations in one of the nation’s largest, most diverse cities — so peaceful that protesters offered to buy coffee for…
After Dallas, We Don’t Need to Say ‘Blue Lives Matter’
Do we need to assert that Blue Lives Matter? In the wake of the killing of five Dallas police officers Thursday, it might seem so. President Obama called the shooting “vicious, calculated and despicable.” The New York Post proclaimed “Civil War” on its cover. In the same week when thousands…
Dallas Shooting Taught Me My Greatest Fear: Going Back
Last night, watching TV, I felt my heart sink. As I read the news crawl stating that five Dallas police officers had been killed after an anti-police-brutality protest, two distinct waves of terror washed over me. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt since the Rodney King verdict, when, as a…
Trevor Noah: ‘You Can Be Pro-Cop and Pro-Black’
Following the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah spent the opening portion of Thursday’s episode examining the issue of police brutality and the growing divide between law enforcement and citizens. “You shouldn’t have to choose between the police and the citizens they’re sworn to…
Watch President Obama’s Address on ‘Despicable’ Dallas Police Shooting
In a late-night address from Warsaw, Poland, President Obama discussed Thursday’s tragedy in Dallas in which two snipers killed five police officers and wounded several other officers and civilians. He called the shooting a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” and noted that although details on the shooters remain scarce, their motivations are undoubtedly “twisted.” “Let’s be…
How This GOP Senator Became Gun-Control Groups’ Top Enemy
In 2013, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte was just two years into her first term when the Manchin-Toomey amendment, a bipartisan measure that would have expanded background checks for gun sales, was introduced. Ayotte was one of 46 senators, most of them fellow Republicans, who opposed it. After the vote, her…
Why the Gun-Control Lobby Is Playing Catch-Up With the NRA
On a recent evening in New York’s West Village, 160 people calling themselves GAG — Gays Against Guns — pack an auditorium at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center to celebrate a victory, and plan for the road ahead. The previous day, at the city’s Pride parade, GAG…
Sick of Police Shootings? America Asked for Them
You could begin yesterday by watching video of a black man in Louisiana killed by police as he lay on the ground. You could end it by watching another black man, this time shot by police in Minnesota, slowly bleed to death in a car as a seven-year-old girl looked on from…
Steven Soderbergh to Produce Movie on Panama Papers Leak
Steven Soderbergh has signed on to produce a movie based around the leak of the Panama Papers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Panama Papers encompass more than 11 million leaked documents from the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca. The disclosure of the materials by an anonymous whistleblower revealed Mossack Fonseca’s extensive efforts to…
Olympian Oscar Pistorius Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Murder
Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee sprinter to compete at both the Paralympics and the Olympics, was sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. The sentence was announced by a South African judge on Wednesday, CNN reports. Pistorius, 29, shot and killed Steenkamp at his…
Watch Oscar Pistorius Get Sentenced for Murder
Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee sprinter to compete at both the Paralympics and the Olympics, was sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. The sentence was announced by South African judge Thokozile Masipa on Wednesday. Related: 22 Biggest Sports Controversies of 2013 “Although a…
Pablo Escobar’s Brother Blasts ‘Narcos’ for ‘Lies,’ Seeks Profit
Roberto Escobar, brother of infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, has requested that Netflix correct “mistakes, lies and discrepancies” found in the first season of crime-thriller Narcos, which explores the rise and fall of the Colombian drug lord. Roberto, the accountant in the Escobar empire, recently submitted a letter to the…
Snoop Dogg to Headline ‘Unity’ Concert After Democratic Convention
Snoop Dogg will headline a “unity party” on the final night of the Democratic National Convention hosted by the pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC, Priorities USA Action. The concert will take place at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on July 28th, and is being hosted in conjunction with the House Majority PAC…
The Pot Law That Could Be ‘Deal-Breaker for the Drug War’
Last week California’s pot legalization initiative, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, qualified for the ballot in November, setting the stage for a vote that will have ramifications far beyond California’s borders. There are several reasons why if the AUMA passes, it will make California the heaviest domino to fall in…
WTF Happened With Hillary Clinton’s Email Non-Indictment
The FBI has, at last, wrapped up its investigation into the private email server that Hillary Clinton used while she was secretary of State. The bureau’s director, James Comey, called a press conference Tuesday to announce its findings. Here’s everything you need to know. What she Clinton accused of again? When she was the head…
‘Game of Thrones’ Real-Life D.C. Counterparts: Election 2016 Edition
As a wise woman once said: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” What holds true in HBO’s hit fantasy series also resonates in Washington D.C. politics, of course, where the field of contenders has narrowed from a ridiculous many…
Kendrick Lamar, Janelle Monae, President Obama Sing ‘Happy Birthday’
Malia Obama turned 18 on Monday, and her father didn’t miss the opportunity to honor her with a star-studded public rendition of “Happy Birthday.” “Because it’s the job of a father to embarrass his daughters, I’ve got one last job,” President Barack Obama informed the crowd at the White House July 4th picnic….
Can New York Be Saved in the Era of Global Warming?
It’s a bright spring day in New York, with sunlight dancing on the East River and robins singing Broadway tunes. I’m walking along the sea wall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with Daniel Zarrilli, 41, the head of New York’s Office of Resilience and Recovery – basically Mayor…
Watch ‘Conan’ Unveil Snarky, Rapid-Fire Brexit Joke Robot
The late-night topic du jour is Brexit, Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. And Conan’s writing staff has cranked out so many zingers, they’ve wound up with a surplus – “way too many for me to actually do,” Conan O’Brien admitted during a recent monologue. “But I paid for them….
Roseanne Barr on POTUS Bid, America’s Greatness (or Lack Thereof)
As with anything Roseanne Barr talks about, the comedienne does not hold back when it comes to the way the United States handles presidential elections. “It’s almost impossible to get anything that helps this country or anybody in it on the ballot,” she says. “Real people are going to have…
In Response to Trump, Another Dangerous Movement Appears
The “too much democracy” train rolls on. Last week’s Brexit vote prompted pundits and social media mavens to wonder aloud if allowing dumb people to vote is a good thing. Now, the cover story in The Atlantic magazine features the most aggressive offering yet in an alarming series of intellectual-class jeremiads against…
Orlando Releases Police Logs From Night of Pulse Shooting
The City of Orlando made police logs from the night of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub – including transcripts from hundreds of calls to 911 – available to the public on Tuesday, according to The New York Times. The documents show that a 911 caller first reported the shooting around 2:03 a.m. Then…
Hear U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron Paraphrase the Smiths in Parliament
U.K. Parliament took a strange detour on Wednesday as politicians invoked The Smiths during a debate about the fallout from the country’s recent vote to exit the European Union. According to NME, Prime Minister David Cameron took a rhetorical shot at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by purposefully distorting a lyric from The Smiths’…
RNC Protest Rule Change Touted as Victory for Homeless, Free Speech
Back in April, when Tim Selaty applied for a permit to protest during the upcoming Republican National Convention in Cleveland, he did so imagining himself and legions of Trump-faithful raging against a party that had betrayed them. “We thought the RNC was trying to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,”…
How the Movies Are Preparing Us for 2016 Election
As the talking-head pundits tell it, Hollywood is a modern-day Sodom of left-wing Commie liberalism intent on poisoning our nation’s youth and providing national menaces like Lena Dunham with steady work. But a slightly more sober appraisal would reveal that most of the lessons imparted by this year’s crop of movies…
Gun Shop Raffles AR-15 to Raise Money for Orlando Shooting Victims
A gun store outside of Chicago has set up a raffle to raise money for victims of the recent mass shooting in Orlando, The Chicago Tribune reports. The prize? An AR-15 rifle, much like the one that Omar Mateen used to kill 49 people at the Pulse nightclub earlier this month. Though…
Did Exxon Lie About Global Warming?
At 9 a.m., ExxonMobil’s shareholders start to file into Dallas’ Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center for their annual meeting. Security personnel check IDs and confiscate phones. Uniformed police stand guard. Everyone passes through metal detectors. Outside is a crowd of protesters hoisting signs – “Exxon Lies, Seas Rise” – while…
Watch YG Flip ‘F–k Donald Trump’ Into Campaign Attack Ad
YG spit fire at the GOP presidential nominee in March with “FDT (Fuck Donald Trump),” a funky collaboration with Nipsey Hussle. Now, the rapper has escalated his anti-Trump platform with a mock attack ad released by Genius, reciting the song’s outraged lyrics from behind a podium. “I like white folks, but I don’t…
Things Are Even Worse for the GOP Than You Think
It has not been a slow news week. In the space of just two days: —The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that Texas’ onerous abortion law were an undue burden on a woman’s constitutional right to the procedure. —The House Select Committee on Benghazi released its final report on the tragic 2012 attacks that…
Watch David Tennant Read Hilarious Tweets at Trump on ‘Samantha Bee’
Samantha Bee spoke about the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union. The Full Frontal host had particularly sharp words for Nigel Farage, a champion of the Brexit cause who backpedaled on many of his party’s promises – especially a £350 million funding increase for the U.K.’s healthcare system, NHS – as soon…
Robert Reich on What’s Next for Bernie — And His Supporters
Robert Reich has known Hillary (Rodham) Clinton since he was 19. Heads of their respective college classes, the pair met, at Reich’s suggestion, for a “president’s summit.” (She remembers it as a movie date.) They went on to become Yale Law School classmates, along with Bill Clinton. Reich would later serve as Clinton’s Secretary of Labor. So it…
What the Historic Abortion Decision Means for American Women
It’s almost impossible to overstate how terrible the past 12 months have been for abortion providers: They’ve seen maliciously edited videos intended to deceive people into thinking abortion clinics sell baby parts; a huge spike in harassment and threats directed at providers and medical researchers; the longest sustained terrorist shoot-out in American…
The Reaction to Brexit Is the Reason Brexit Happened
In 1934, at the dawn of the Stalinist Terror, the great Russian writer Isaac Babel offered a daring quip at the International Writers Conference in Moscow: “Everything is given to us by the party and the government. Only one right is taken away: the right to write badly.” A onetime Soviet loyalist…
Wendy Davis on Abortion-Rights Win and Why Women Should Fear Trump
Three years ago, almost to the day, Wendy Davis filibustered for 13 hours against a piece of Texas legislation designed to drastically reduce access to abortion in the state, especially for Texas’ most vulnerable individuals. Despite Davis’ efforts, and the national attention she brought to the issue, the bill ended up passing during a…
John Oliver on Brexit Fallout: ‘United Kingdom’ Now Sounds ‘Sarcastic’
Despite John Oliver’s convincing, hilarious arguments, Britain voted last week to leave the EU – a move known around the world as “Brexit.” On the latest Last Week Tonight, the host switched to damage control, calling the United Kingdom “a place whose very name, after this week’s events, is beginning…
Brexit Offers Lesson in the Danger of Protest Votes
Primary blame for the result of last Thursday’s EU referendum in Britain lies with the Fleet Street press, the Conservative Party fighting their internal civil war through a vote and a tidal wave of xenophobic isolationism that both they and the far-right UK Independence Party exploited with terrifying enthusiasm. But there…
Aziz Ansari Slams Donald Trump’s ‘Xenophobic Rhetoric’ in Scathing Op-Ed
Aziz Ansari has penned a scathing op-ed slamming Donald Trump’s “xenophobic rhetoric” throughout the mogul’s presidential campaign and especially in the aftermath of the tragic Orlando shooting. “Today, with the presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and others like him spewing hate speech, prejudice is reaching new levels,” Ansari wrote for the New…
Bernie Sanders’ Artful Slow Fade
“Never, ever lose your sense of outrage,” Bernie Sanders told a raucous crowd at Manhattan’s Town Hall theater Thursday evening. His “Where We Go From Here” speech, billed as a roadmap for sanguine Sanderistas still bullish on his candidacy and everything it represents, was partly about ginning up that sense…
Damon Albarn, Johnny Marr, Ellie Goulding Outraged Over Brexit
In a historic referendum, Britain voted to leave the European Union, leaving a wave of economic uncertainty that has left many musicians and entertainment industry members crestfallen and outraged. On Friday, British musicians like Blur’s Damon Albarn and British indie pop band Bastille used the stages of Glastonbury Festival as a platform. “Democracy failed…
Bernie Sanders: Crazy to Argue About ‘Sane Gun Control’
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took aim at the House GOP Thursday on The Late Show, explaining the “embarrassing” need for Democrats to stage a sit-in. “It is so crazy that we have to argue about having sane gun control legislation, keeping guns away from terrorists,” he told Stephen Colbert. “We have Republicans who…
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,…
Brock Turner’s Mother to Judge: ‘This Would be a Death Sentence’
Carleen Turner, the mother of former champion Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner pleaded for his mercy in a four-page letter to a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky prior to Turner’s sentencing, The Fresno Bee reports. “I beg of you, please don’t send him to jail/prison. Look at him. He won’t…
Neil Young Onstage: ‘F–ck You, Donald Trump’
In a lengthy Facebook post, Neil Young cleared the air about how he feels about Donald Trump using his songs: “YOUNG CONTINUES TO DENY TRUMP PERMISSION TO USE HIS MUSIC,” the rocker wrote, attaching a short clip of him yelling “Fuck you, Donald Trump” onstage. The discrepancy began with an interview with…
After Bernie, Does the Left Need a Rethink?
For as long as I can remember, there’s been a deeply held belief on the American left that if a Democrat would only stop pandering to the mushy middle and run an unapologetically liberal, unabashedly populist campaign, he or she would win in a laugher. For too long, the Dems…
President Obama: Presidency Is ‘Not Reality TV’
“I’ve seen the decisions that have to be made and the work that has to be done,” President Obama told Jimmy Fallon during Thursday’s Tonight Show, reflecting on his last months in office. Does he think Republicans are content with Donald Trump, Obama fired back on behalf of his party: “We…
David Letterman on Donald Trump: ‘He’s Repugnant to People’
David Letterman says Americans shouldn’t complain about Donald Trump, as the real estate mogul has ascended the Republican party without breaking any laws. “There’s nothing illegal going on. It’s just that he’s despicable,” the former Late Show host tells Tom Brokaw in a preview of their interview for NBC News’ On…
Obama Takes Trump ‘Tonight Show’ Jab: ‘Orange Is Not the New Black’
President Obama took a hilarious jab at GOP candidate Donald Trump on Thursday’s Tonight Show, telling Jimmy Fallon he’s been binge-watching his favorite TV show, “Orange Is Not the New Black.” The “Commander-in-Preach” landed that joke about the real estate mogul’s skin complexion during a politically tinted edition of “Slow Jam the…
Democrats Will Learn All the Wrong Lessons From Brush With Bernie
Years ago, over many beers in a D.C. bar, a congressional aide colorfully described the House of Representatives, where he worked. It’s “435 heads up 435 asses,” he said. I thought of that person yesterday, while reading the analyses of Hillary Clinton’s victories Tuesday night. The arrival of the first female presidential…
5 Reasons Decriminalization Protects Sex Workers’ Rights
Editor’s note: This piece by Amnesty International USA’s interim executive director was written in response to a recent article on RollingStone.com critical of the group’s policy on decriminalizing prostitution. As one of the largest human rights organizations in the world, Amnesty International’s mission is to promote human rights for all and to…
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