Published: Salon (October 17, 2016) With a single tweet, Sen. Bernie Sanders has cost Ariad Pharmaceuticals $387 million. The article retweeted by Sanders was from Stat, a publication that specializes in covering health and medical news. It reported that, since the beginning of the year, Ariad has raised the price of its Iclusig chronic myeloid leukemia treatment by 27 percent. The drug now has...
Class Issues
How the “Sausage Party” gets made: Why Seth Rogen’s talking-food cartoon’s labor controversy matters
Sep 6, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, Class Issues, mic
Published: Salon (September 2, 2016) “Sausage Party” is a surprisingly smart, visually creative comedy that has been rightfully praised for its satirical take on organized religion. This makes it all the more unfortunate that the movie is currently wrapped up in a labor controversy that, if it is grounded in fact, could convince potential viewers to pause before spending their money on the film....
Jews have a special responsibility to fight Donald Trump
Jul 9, 2016 | Civil Liberties, Class Issues, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Jewish Experiences, mic
Published: Quartz (July 9, 2016) Donald Trump’s anti-Semitic tweet—I’m sorry, his allegedly anti-Semitic tweet—is still in the news in the US, and with good reason. The presumptive Republican nominee has repeatedly refused to apologize for linking Hillary Clinton, corruption and Judaism all in one ill-advised meme. Meanwhile, his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner is being publicly pressured by one...
Sanders voters should learn from Brexit: Don’t make the same mistake as Brits and support right-wing populism
Jul 3, 2016 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Immigration, mic
Published: Salon (July 3, 2016) If Bernie Sanders supporters can learn anything from Brexit, it is that the English-speaking world is in the mood for a certain type of right-wing populism. On one side of the pond, the anti-immigrant and anti-free trade sentiment that swept the United Kingdom prompted that nation to vote for a historic exit from the European Union. In the United States, this...
It’s time for Democrats to unify: Why even the most idealistic Sanders voter should support Clinton
Jun 16, 2016 | Class Issues, Democrats, Economic Policy, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Liberalism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties
Published: Salon (June 16, 2016) We don’t know what Bernie Sanders discussed with Hillary Clinton when the two of them met Tuesday night, but it’s fair to assume that the conversation revolved around Clinton’s new status as the presumptive Democratic nominee. As the burgeoning Bernie or Bust movement clearly demonstrates, a lot of Sanders supporters are unhappy with the prospect of backing...
Sanders supporters pushed Clinton to the left—now they have to keep her there
Jun 8, 2016 | Centrism, Class Issues, Democrats, Economic Policy, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Liberalism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties
Published: Quartz (June 7, 2016) Heading into California primary today, Donald Trump is catching up toHillary Clinton in the general election polls. According to political analysis from statisticians like Nate Silver, the reluctance of some Bernie Sanders supporters to back an alternate Democratic candidate is part of the reason for Trump’s boost. Sanders’ backers tend to identify as...
Martin Luther King and the Panama Papers
Apr 9, 2016 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, History, mic, Scandals
Published: Salon (April 9, 2016), The Good Men Project (April 7, 2016) When Martin Luther King Jr. is brought up in a political conversation, it is usually in reference to his work for civil rights.... and if you're a member of the proverbial one percent, this is definitely for the best. Considering the reverence with which King is held today, it would ill-serve them if the general public...
Bernie Sanders is a compassionate, intelligent man who has no clue how to run a country
Apr 6, 2016 | Class Issues, Democrats, Economic Policy, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Foreign Policy, Liberalism, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Terrorism
Published: Quartz (April 6, 2016) If Bernie Sanders wants to be president, he’ll need to do better than this. The Democratic senator is doubtless feeling pretty optimistic today, fresh off a primary victory in Wisconsin. And yet a much more telling measure of the candidate’s presidential chances happened earlier this week, during an interview with the editorial board of the New York Daily News....
Technology should help, not hurt the workforce
Jan 21, 2016 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, mic, Science and Technology
Published: The Daily Dot (January 21, 2016) Calling the recent boom in digital technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology the “fourth industrial revolution,” the World Economic Forum, determined that by 2020—just a few years from now—as many as 7.1 million jobs may be lost in the world’s richest countries through redundancy and automation. In particular, the forum, which is...
5 reasons why modern wing-nuts would’ve hated the founding fathers
Nov 29, 2015 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, History, mic
Published: Alternet (November 29, 2015), Salon (November 27, 2015) If you’re a Democrat (or, for that matter, a progressive of any stripe) the chances are you’ve heard conservatives evoke the founding fathers when dismissing your beliefs on economic issues. The term “socialist” has become such a toxic epithet in our political culture that the two chief candidates for the Democratic presidential...