Published: Salon (December 13, 2015)
As I watched “The Ridiculous Six,” my mind kept returning to an old episode from the popular Web series “Half in the Bag.” While reviewing the comedy “Jack and Jill,” critic Jay Bauman came up with a list of stale tropes that predictably appear in all of Adam Sandler’s movies.... Read Original Article
Published: The Good Men Project (December 5, 2015)
The last president to be elected without winning his home state was James Polk in 1844. The last one to be re-elected without conquering his own political stomping grounds was Woodrow Wilson in 1916.
These data points become a bit more interesting when you look at the current field of Republican presidential candidates.... Read Original Article
Published: The Daily Dot (December 2, 2015)
It’s official: The NSA was legally required to terminate its bulk phone record collection program this week. That may not provide much comfort if you happen to use the Internet (and particularly if you communicate using social media)—but it’s a major win worth acknowledging.... Read Original Article
Published: The Good Men Project (December 1, 2015)
When future cultural historians look back on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I suspect they will find the character arcs of Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) and Captain America (aka Steve Rogers) to be particularly fascinating. Whether intentionally or otherwise, each superhero has wound up embodying distinct aspects of our contemporary political zeitgeist, and I suspect that by the time “Captain America: Civil War” hits theaters next year, one message in particular will be prescient – namely, that ideological evolution is necessary for personal growth.... Read Original Article
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 nomination have spent considerable time confronting the term – with Hillary Clinton correctly pointing out that it doesn’t apply to her center-left views, even as Bernie Sanders valiantly strives to remove its stigma by self-identifying as a “democratic socialist.”... Read Original Article
Published: Salon (November 28, 2015), The Daily Dot (November 11, 2015)
Earlier this week, the Nation declared its support for an online petition urging President Obama to declare Election Day 2016 a national holiday. In doing so, they have joined forces with presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has already introduced a bill to do the same thing.... Read Original Article