Column: A New Era of Televangelists

This week, the junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, kicked off the 2016 Republican primary season at a university founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell. Liberty University’s students were mandated to attend Cruz’s announcement speech, so Senator Cruz enjoyed a packed house of attentive students accustomed to being preached at. “Imagine,” he asked, “a president who… Continue reading

Column: The Anarcho-GOP

It’s no secret the GOP hates Attorney General Eric Holder. If you want to start a fight with your Fox News-o-phile uncle, just say, “The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus!” as Rep. Louie Gohmert famously did during a House Judiciary hearing on the Boston Bombings in 2013. This was after Holder… Continue reading

Column: The First Female President

This year marks the 20-year anniversary of Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women titled, “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.” It was 1995 when then-First Lady Clinton went to Beijing and while on Chinese soil challenged the world to see women’s issues as not separate from the rest of humanity. “The progress… Continue reading

The Rise of the Charlatans

At the birth of every conspiracy theory is the question, “Who profits?” In the dark reaches of anonymous Internet forums, the answer is always Big Government, Big Pharma, Big Farm-a and occasionally Satan, aliens, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, or the Pentavirate””some omnipotent all-powerful force that enviously pulls off vast nefarious synchronization perfectly. And this… Continue reading

Choosing Weed Policy Over Cyber Security

A cyber attack altered your holiday movie choices last year. Sony Pictures was the victim of a massive security breach. Personal emails were revealed, films pirated and employee data leaked. The corporation immediately kowtowed to the terrorists, rumored to be North Korean-sponsored, killing the theatrical release of the third in a trilogy of Seth Rogan… Continue reading

Column: A Tale of Two Christmases

Last Saturday, I found myself sharing a New York City subway train with protesters from the Millions March and drunken revelers from SantaCon. Both events drew comparable-sized crowds, hovering around 25,000 participants each. Both ended up on the tiny island of Manhattan on the same day. And this coincidence is a perfect metaphor for Christmas… Continue reading

Column: Thank Secularists for Christmas

According to thinkers like also-ran presidential candidate Rick Santorum, America is a Christian nation. Really? The Bible is pro-slavery and pro-monarch””two things Americans are (now at least) decidedly against. So how are we a Christian nation, exactly? “It’s because of the Pilgrims trek to the New World in search of religious liberty that makes us… Continue reading

Column: Republicans Can Stop Pretending They Want Immigration Reform

Illegal immigrants are the perfect Republican foe. They’re easily exploited as low-cost workers benefiting business and easily maligned for being “lawless” benefiting politicians. They’re a foreign other with a tendency not to speak English so suspicion is ready-made. Plus how are illegal immigrants going to stick up for themselves? They’re not. They’re an ideal rival!… Continue reading