If “You Pay a Million in Taxes, You Get A Million Votes.” Yes, a U.S. Billionaire Just Said That.
Published: mic (February 14, 2014) Billionaire Tom Perkins, who once compared the Occupy movement with Nazism, is again at the center of a storm of controversy. His comment? "The Tom Perkins system is: You don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes... You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes." There is something instructive in Perkins's ideas, albeit not in the way...
A HUGE Gay Rights Battle Was Just Won in Kentucky. This is a Really Big Deal.
Published: mic (February 12, 2014) A federal judge has struck down Kentucky's law banning gay marriages from other states. This historic decision, which is being rightly celebrated by the pro-LGBT community, sets an important precedent. By establishing that the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law applies to gay couples, it exposes the lie in the "states' rights" rhetoric...
5 Ways Conservative Media Is Getting ‘The Hillary Papers’ All Wrong
Published:mic (February 11, 2014) Let's dispense with a necessary disclaimer: I believe Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to be the next President of the United States. The "Hillary Papers" that have been flying around the conservative blogosphere this week are just the latest effort by the right to do anything they can to prevent that from happening....
RadioShack’s Super Bowl Ad is Amazing For Anyone Who Remembers the 80s
Published: mic (February 2, 2014) Millennials are suckers for nostalgia, which is why RadioShack's Super Bowl commercial was an advertising masterpiece. The spot opens with a RadioShack employee completing a phone call and informing his co-worker, "The '80s called. They want their store back." Cue a string of cameos to make even the most oversaturated nostalgia junkie experience an overdose....
This Venture Capitalist Thinks Occupy Wall Street and Nazis Have a Lot in Common
Published: mic (January 28, 2014 Back in 1990, American attorney and author Mike Godwin observed that political discussions (particularly those that occurred online) were oversaturated with Nazi analogies. This gave birth to the expression "Godwin's Law," which argues that anyone who compares a political adversary to Nazis without sound reasoning automatically forfeits the debate. Flash forward...
58 Republicans Supported Increasing the Minimum Wage When Bush Was President
Published: mic (January 28, 2014) One of the centerpieces of President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address was his executive order that will raise the minimum wage for employees working with federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. The President is taking action on his own because Republicans are deeply set against Democrats' efforts to raise the federal minimum wage. In short, many in the GOP...
Netflix’s New Mitt Romney Doc, Summed Up in One Dumb GIF
Published: mic (January 27, 2014) "I think I'm a flawed candidate." You pretty much hit the nail on the head there, Mitt Romney. The central narrative arc in Mitt, the new Netflix documentary chronicling Romney's two presidential campaigns, is that of a candidate who aims for the highest office in the country only to return, heartbroken, to ordinary life. The film, while failing to reveal...
Watch the One-Minute Ad That Sparked a Revolution
Published: mic (January 23, 2014) n case you missed it, Wednesday was the anniversary of a revolution. Imagine if 30 years ago (only a few years after Al Gore invented the Internet), someone had envisioned a future in which there would be a personal computer in every home. Well, the geniuses at Apple saw it coming, and their iconic "1984" ad was a milestone event in a revolution that would...
Watch As These Conservatives Recycle the World’s Worst Talking Point
Published: mic (January 21, 2014) You'd think that conservatives, after being repeatedly humiliated for their insensitivity toward rape victims, would have learned to be careful when discussing the plight of the marginalized and oppressed. For proof that this lesson has yet to take, let's look at one of the right wing's most obnoxious, entitled, and ill-informed rhetoric motifs: comparing...
You’d Never Believe What Kind Of Economics MLK Believed In
Published: mic (January 20, 2014) If he was alive today, Martin Luther King, Jr. would not have been a Republican. In light of the frequency with which he is cited as a hero and role model, that point cannot be reiterated enough. We often hear about King's crusades to end legal segregation in the South and de facto segregation in the North, but far less attention is paid to the inextricable link...
Mississippi is Stripping Prisoners of Their Right to Family Visits For Political Reasons
Published: mic (January 17, 2014) On Friday, family members of those incarcerated in Mississippi prisoners will gather in the state capital in support of their imprisoned loved ones. For the significant others, imprisonment can be especially trying, and it's about to become even more so. The state that pioneered the concept of family visits is now taking them away. As of Feb. 1, prison...
15 Corporations With Huge Skeletons in Their Closet
Published: mic (January 14, 2014) In one of the most famous conservative quotes in American history, President Calvin Coolidge once told a convention of newspaper editors, "The chief business of the American people is business." This is not only true, but also a rightful source of pride for our country, as our past and present greatness is inextricably linked to the resourcefulness and ingenuity...
There’s a Second Chris Christie Scandal That Will Kill His Presidential Hopes For Good
Published: mic (January 13, 2014) If you thought things looked bad for Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) after Bridgegate broke, take a look at the new federal investigation into his conduct. According to a letter written by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) last August, Christie may have abused federal relief funds intended to promote tourism to the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy for his own political...
Ariel Sharon Was Just Like Another Complicated World Leader: Richard Nixon
Published: mic (January 11, 2014) "I am 73 years old. I've seen everything. I've met the kings, the queens, the presidents, I've been around the world. I have one thing that I would like to do: to try to reach peace." When Ariel Sharon uttered these words in the first year of his tenure as prime minister of Israel, observers of Middle Eastern politics were understandably skeptical of their...
“J. P. Morgan Exec Explains How To Survive College in Epic Company-Wide Email”
Published: mic (January 9, 2014) an introduction to an article written by Michael Cembalest As one of the "liberal professors" alluded to in the following email from JPMorgan executive Michael Cembalest to the company's clients, it may seem ironic for me to compose the introduction to this article. That said, at a time when too many millennials feel overwhelmed by the challenges of Great...
Freakout Over Gay Marriage in Utah Resurrects Ghosts From America’s Past
Published: mic (January 7, 2014) In light of the Supreme Court's recent decision to temporarily halt gay marriages in Utah, it's time to take a closer look at some of the most common anti-LGBT arguments. After all, the Mormon Church been conspicuously active in anti-gay marriage movements (most notably by passing Proposition 8 in California,) while Utah has long been ranked as one of America's...
Why All Americans Must Unite Behind Rand Paul’s Anti-NSA Lawsuit
Published: mic (January 4, 2014) Liberals, conservatives, and libertarians unite! If ever there was a time for us to see past our differences in the name of a common cause, that time is now. As Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced last night, a movement is afoot for a class action lawsuit against the federal government over the National Security Agency's decision to spy on millions of American...