Mark Wilson The next time you’re abroad and want to confuse a foreigner, try explaining the Electoral College. And then, just for fun, try explaining the reasoning behind the Electoral College. It’s a lively debate that results in the scratching of heads and furrowing of brows. The Electoral College came to recent prominence in 2000 after George…
Jessica Jackson After the Georgia execution of Andrew DeYoung was taped last month, many people have asked why such tapings are not a routine practice or a requirement. Given the vast number of problems that have occurred during lethal injection executions, including difficulty locating intimates’ veins; improper training, which has led to blown veins or incorrect mixtures…
Jake Laperruque This Tuesday, Wisconsin held recall elections for six Republican Senators pulled back to the ballot box in the aftermath of Governor Scott Walker’s controversial anti-union policies. With the results flying largely under the radar in the media (Politico headlined the story for roughly an hour before moving to their 9,736th piece about TPaw’s campaign…
Billy Corriher A few Democratic governors have been publicly refusing to participate in a federal program called “Secure Communities,” through which police share fingerprints with federal immigration authorities. On Friday, the Obama administration announced that Secure Communities would continue expanding in these governors’ states despite their objections. A letter from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was…
Mark Wilson If the debt-ceiling debacle did one good thing, it confirmed for all of us, in no uncertain terms, that our government is broken. We’ve spent many, many years yukking it up with jokes about corrupt politicians, but a stark reality should be settling over the country like a San Francisco fog at dinnertime. …
Yevgeny Shrago While America watched its lawmakers step back from the edge of fiscal collapse this week (in a deal that progressives shouldn’t worry too much about, since future cuts always get reversed by future Congresses), a small-scale drama involving Long Island sports showed exactly where Tea Party priorities lie. Edward P. Mangano, the Nassau…
Anthony Kammer On August 2 of this week, the United States successfully—if you can call it that—raised its debt ceiling for the 10th time since 2000. Regardless of the merits or un-merits of the deal that was eventually reached, the negotiation process was overwhelmingly bad for the country’s fledgling economic recovery. America’s reputation globally has suffered as…
Jake Laperruque Yesterday morning, as I arrived to work at the Senate office where I’ve been working this summer, I spotted a colleague sitting at a nearby desk. The entire summer he’s sported a thick gray beard, but today his face was clean-shaven. When I asked him about the change he deadpanned, “My wife wanted…
Billy Corriher The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system has been rocked by a cheating scandal involving 178 teachers and administrators. A report from the state of Georgia found cheating on standardized tests at 44 schools. Teachers held weekend “erasure” parties, during which they changed students’ answers. The state concluded that the system kept the cheating under wraps…