GEN — Political News, and Articles About Power and Culture

Michael Arceneaux

·Apr 19

Dianne Feinstein and Other Senators Like Her Need to Retire

A new report highlighting concerns over the 88-year-old senator’s decline in mental acuity speaks to a larger issue in Congress — When the local newspaper of a sitting senator reports on growing concerns about her mental acuity based on background and quotes provided by members of her own party, the proper responses do not include outright denial and questioning the morality of those raising a legitimate issue.

6 min read

Dianne Feinstein and Other Senators Like Her Need to Retire

Wajahat Ali

·Apr 19

Ron DeSantis’s Extremism is Setting Up His Presidential Run

The Florida governor is concocting a successful political recipe that can take him and the GOP’s hateful vision back to the White House — If you want a sneak preview of how the GOP will use the culture wars to establish minority rule for their radicalized and weaponized base then you need to pay attention to Florida under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Ivy-league educated elitist governor of the sunshine state has…

Dont Say Gay

5 min read

Ron DeSantis’s Extremism is Setting Up His Presidential Run

Micah Sifry

·Apr 18

Did the Internet Break Democracy?

No, and Jonathan Haidt’s big new Atlantic essay about social media’s damaging effects couldn’t be more wrong about what ails us — Jonathan Haidt, the New York University social psychologist and author of the bestselling book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, has been on a tear for a while about the negative effects of online social media. Three years ago in The Atlantic, he and…

Democracy

7 min read

Michael Arceneaux

·Apr 15

Joe Biden’s Call to “Fund the Police” Will Haunt Him and Democrats

New footage of Patrick Lyoya being shot and killed by a police officer should renew focus on Democrats’ failure to reform policing — In his first State of the Union address last month, President Joe Biden declared: “We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police.” “Fund them,” he continued. “Fund them. Fund them with resources and training.” As noted by countless media outlets at…

Blm

5 min read

Joe Biden’s Call to “Fund the Police” Will Haunt Him and Democrats

Taru Anniina Liikanen

·Apr 14

“It’s Not Like He’s a Rapist”

A night with a bunch o’ comedy bros, talking about Louis C.K. — Editor’s note: This story contains a description of physical and sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers. Being a comedian is fun. You get to laugh. You get to spend time making jokes. You get to meet funny women and men who aren’t afraid to say what they…

Comedy

6 min read

Cory Doctorow

·Apr 13

America’s 400 Top Earners Pay Less Tax Than You

Propublica continues to mine the IRS Files. — Last June, Propublica announced that it was in possession of leaked IRS files detailing the tax affairs of America’s richest people, and that the IRS Files showed that taxes are — as Leona Helmsley famously quipped — for the little people: https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/15/guillotines-and-taxes/#carried-interest The initial reporting described how, for example, private…

The Orifice Lottery

6 min read

America’s 400 Top Earners Pay Less Tax Than You

Allison Wiltz

·Apr 13

More Police Would Not Have Stopped The Tragedy in Brooklyn — Here’s Why

The road to public safety is paved with good intentions — On Tuesday, April 12th, a man wearing a gas mask “set off smoke grenades in a crowded subway” Brooklyn, New York. Then, he opened fire, injuring at least 23 people during their morning commute. According to officers, the gunmen left some things behind, a “Glock 9-millimeter handgun, three ammunition magazines…

Racism

7 min read

More Police Would Not Have Stopped The Tragedy in Brooklyn — Here’s Why

Julio Vincent Gambuto

·Apr 11

Legislating from the Stage: The Brilliance of John Oliver

Looks like John Oliver is trending across the internet today because he is holding hostage the personal data of some click-happy members of Congress. Twitter has lit up in praise of the stunt. Well done, good sir. Hollywood and Washington, DC, have always been strange bed fellows. In the popular…

Tech

5 min read

Legislating from the Stage: The Brilliance of John Oliver

Jude Ellison S. Doyle

·Apr 11

How the ‘Grooming’ Smear Hurts Abuse Survivors

The GOP is labeling every queer or trans person a ‘groomer’ — and childhood sexual abuse survivors will pay the price — For the past week, I’ve been watching as the entire GOP strategy for the midterms slowly consolidates around the claim that existing as a trans or queer person makes one a danger to children; a sexual threat; a pedophile; a “groomer.” The first hints of this strategy began with Florida’s…

LGBTQ

5 min read

How the ‘Grooming’ Smear Hurts Abuse Survivors

Tatyana Deryugina

·Apr 11

Russia’s Militant White Supremacists

Let’s shed some light on what’s happening in Russia as Putin professes to ‘denazify’ others — Russia’s claim that it invaded Ukraine to “denazify” it has been thoroughly debunked, but what has received much less attention is Russia’s own neo-Nazi “problem.” I put “problem” in quotes because there’s no evidence Kremlin considers neo-Nazis inside Russia a problem. By contrast, Russia has a history of cultivating and…

Russia

3 min read

Dianne Feinstein and Other Senators Like Her Need to Retire

Ron DeSantis’s Extremism is Setting Up His Presidential Run

Did the Internet Break Democracy?

Joe Biden’s Call to “Fund the Police” Will Haunt Him and Democrats

“It’s Not Like He’s a Rapist”

America’s 400 Top Earners Pay Less Tax Than You

More Police Would Not Have Stopped The Tragedy in Brooklyn — Here’s Why

Legislating from the Stage: The Brilliance of John Oliver

How the ‘Grooming’ Smear Hurts Abuse Survivors

Russia’s Militant White Supremacists

Editors

Sarah Begley

Liz Kotin

Scott Lamb

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