Ezra Klein elegantly knocks down Justice Antonin Scalia’s suggestion on Tuesday that gay marriage will harm children: According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, 400,00 children are living in the United States without permanent families — or, as they’re more commonly called by the children, “forever homes,” a term that breaks my heart every time […]
Eli Sanders
Eli Sanders is The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won this, but he also once crashed his bike into a parked car while on his way to a staff meeting, never mind this, so… His website, which probably hasn't been updated in a while, is www.elisanders.net.
Posted inPolitics
The Iraq War Anniversary
It was yesterday. Also yesterday, in Iraq, bombs took the lives of 65 people. In America, polls showed a solid majority thinking the whole thing was a mistake. On Twitter, Donald Rumsfeld remained unapologetic.
Posted in$$$
A $22 an Hour Minimum Wage
Based on how hard Americans are working, that’s what we should have: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a case for increasing the minimum wage last week during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, in which she cited a study that suggested the federal minimum wage would have stood at nearly $22 […]
Posted inPANIC!
Here Come the Superbugs
Eeeek: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the potential to cause untreatable infections pose “a catastrophic threat” to the population, the chief medical officer for Britain warns in a report calling for urgent action worldwide. Also: “The problem of microbes becoming increasingly resistant to the most powerful drugs should be ranked alongside terrorism and climate change on the […]
Posted inPolitics
Republicans Tell the U.S. Supreme Court to Legalize Gay Marriage
As Nathan mentioned in GMN, with oral arguments coming up next month, an interesting “friend of the court” brief arrives: Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional […]
Posted inPolitics
What Happens If the Sequester Happens?
Everything and nothing: President Obama on Tuesday painted a dire picture of federal government operations across the United States should automatic budget cuts hit on March 1: F.B.I. agents furloughed, criminals released, flights delayed, teachers and police officers laid off and parents frantic to find a place for children locked out of day care centers. […]
Posted in$$$
Will You Be Better Off Than Your Parents?
In the end, the answer is probably no: WASHINGTON — For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing consensus […]
Posted inPolitics
Clinton or Warren in 2016?
Yesterday, Blogtown readers said they would hugely prefer a President Hillary Clinton to a President Joe Biden. But then—noting that President Obama got to where he is after only one term in the Senate—another interesting choice emerged: President Clinton or President Warren? So, another round of early voting:
Posted inPolitics
Biden or Clinton in 2016?
Clearly it’s not too early to be discussing this: Biden’s private swearing-in ceremony on Sunday was attended by recently elected New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, someone who would be a potent ally in the state’s first-in-the-nation primary. Attendees at a Sunday afternoon reception at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory said they noticed […]
Posted inGun Club
You Need Guns to Overthrow a Government?
Via Sullivan, a great point: T]he country ranked last on the [Small Arms Survey] — with only 0.1 guns per 100 people — is Tunisia, which as you’ll recall was still able to overthrow a longtime dictator in 2011. With only 3.5 guns per 100 people, the Egyptian population that overthrew Hosni Mubarak was hardly […]
Posted inPolitics
Think Obama Got Played on the Fiscal Cliff Negotiations?
John Judis says you’re wrong. Obama won. In negotiating over the fiscal cliff, Obama also did something that he failed to do during [the debt ceiling negotiations in] the summer of 2011: He campaigned publicly. He framed the issues. He put the Republicans on the defensive in a way that he failed to do during […]
Posted inHealth
You Don’t Have to Be Thin to Be Healthy
Study says: The report on nearly three million people found that those whose B.M.I. ranked them as overweight had less risk of dying than people of normal weight. And while obese people had a greater mortality risk over all, those at the lowest obesity level (B.M.I. of 30 to 34.9) were not more likely to […]