Why do politicians lie so often? There must be a reason for it. And why do we not demand better of them and ask the media to do a better job of holding them to account? One could argue that, really, the incentive structure in politics rewards those who lie and the penalties are too …
Many presidents have attempted to influence the actions of the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI for political means. I am old enough to remember the Saturday Night Massacre, as it was called, in Richard Nixon’s presidency during the Watergate scandal. And the FBI had its own political agenda on the remarkably long, and dubious, …
Usually we define vigilantes as the barbarians at the gate who want to disrupt the order of things. What if the state itself becomes that disruptor bringing the chaos not protecting us from it? Two law professors, Jon Michaels, of UCLA, and David Noll, of Rutgers University, make a compelling case in “Vigilante Nation: How …
It’s never happened before where a presidential candidate promises to throw sand in the gears of a modern democracy in order to bend all levers of government to his will. Sure, we have had much rumination about how slow or inert government agencies have become, or how there might be overreach on the part of …
We have had nearly fifty years of wage stagnation, unaffordable health care, low social mobility, predatory mortgage practices, and inflamed class and race resentments. That’s the same period in which business lobbyists have overwhelmed the scene in Washington, D.C. with smart, aggressive and targeted approaches to influencing Congressional action. And they have had their …
It is somewhat dizzying to think about the radical effect this version of the Supreme Court, the Roberts Court, has had on American life. From the curtailing of voting rights to abortion, affirmative action, presidential immunity, regulatory oversight and gun safety measures, this Supreme Court has thought nothing of overturning precedent and, according to …
This week’s two podcasts feature women journalists writing about subjects that put them at potential risk as they uncover abuses and actions that most in our society are shielded from. Alice Driver, author of “Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking On America’s Largest Meatpacking Company” lives in Arkansas a state controlled …
There is a line, albeit it a bit curvy, from Charlottesville in 2017 to the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The passageways from one event to the other may be found on the dark web where anonymous conspirators reinforce each others darkest thoughts about America in 2024. In her book, “Black …
Labor Unions had immense economic and political power in the post WWII era through the early 1970’s. In the 1950’s a third of all private sector workers were members of unions. For a host of reasons that we explore in this podcast, all that changed and for the last 50 years unions have shrunk to …
The profession of long haul trucking is vital to our nation’s commerce. As a career choice, many of us might think of it as one we would never pick because it can be lonely and unsettling as to a normal home life. Some choose it because they like the open road and others because they …