The Big Chill

How Trump’s ‘public charge’ rule would harm New York children

The Trump Administration is on the brink of putting a cruel price tag on permission to be in this country. Unless an immediate public outcry stops a new policy from becoming effective, many immigrants will be separated from their homes, employers will lose their employees, and most wrenching of all, ...
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The Big Chill

Iconoclasm Today

Overturning the icons of toxic masculinity

What difference would it make if Shakespeare’s work was written by a dark-skinned woman, a feminist courtesan-poet, from a family of second generation Jewish-Italian immigrants? When my book on Shakespeare came out in 2014, I was happy to get a supportive reception from Dr. Gina Luria Walker, professor of women's studies at the ...
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Iconoclasm Today

Tempest Tossed

Resignation with honor: A conversation with David Martin, former member of the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with David Martin on why he resigned from the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council, what he objects to in Trump Administration immigration policies, and what balanced and responsible immigration policy could look like.
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Bitter Grapes

An excerpt from ‘We Are All Fast Food Workers Now’

In We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now, Annelise Orleck traces a new labor movement sparked and sustained by low-wage workers from across the globe. Orleck illuminates globalization as seen through the eyes of worker-activists: small farmers, fast-food servers, retail workers, hotel housekeepers, home-healthcare aides, airport workers, and adjunct professors who are fighting ...
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Bitter Grapes

The Bodies that Matter

Saudi Arabia, Western journalism, and Human Rights

Do you know who Israa al-Ghomgham is? What about Jamal Khashoggi? If last week you didn’t, you probably do now. In the past few days Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi national who wrote for the Washington Post since he fled his home country in 2017, has become a household name because he was ...
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The Bodies that Matter

Progressives and the Court

A Response to Samuel Moyn’s “Resisting the Juristocracy”

There’s an old saying among lawyers: When you have the facts on your side, pound on the facts. When you have the law on your side, pound on the law. When you have neither, pound on the table. At first glance, that seems to be Samuel Moyn’s counsel in a widely shared Boston ...
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Progressives and the Court

Is Elizabeth Warren Native American?

What the DNA controversy reveals about race, identity politics, and the Native American present

It’s Monday morning. I open up my Twitter feed and see the video Elizabeth Warren made to answer charges made by Donald Trump, taken up by Trump enthusiasts everywhere, that she has pretended to be a Native American. I thought: this video is pretty good. If you haven’t seen it, you ...
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Is Elizabeth Warren Native American?

We Are All Fast Food Workers Now

An interview with Annelise Orleck

In We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now, Annelise Orleck traces a new labor movement sparked and sustained by low-wage workers from across the globe. Orleck illuminates globalization as seen through the eyes of worker-activists: small farmers, fast-food servers, retail workers, hotel housekeepers, home-healthcare aides, airport workers, and adjunct professors who are fighting ...
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We Are All Fast Food Workers Now

George Soros, “Grievance Studies,” and Bavarian Hipsterism

Episode 150 LIVE!

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss the right’s obsession with George Soros conspiracy theories, the recent “grievance studies” hoax, and the rise of Bavarian folk dress as a form of hipsterism. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Financier and philanthropist George Soros is increasingly ...
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George Soros, “Grievance Studies,” and Bavarian Hipsterism

Getting Millennials to the Polls

An Extra-Credit Assignment on Voting and Citizenship

As commentators across the political spectrum agree, the upcoming U.S. elections on Election Day, November 6, are very important in determining the future of American democracy. Readers of this column know that the only filter on my political opinions is the filter of language itself. I say what I think. I ...
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Getting Millennials to the Polls

Rethinking Charlottesville in Light of Unite the Right II

Shut down the Alt-Right, don’t debate it.

More than a year after Charlottesville, some of the alt-right’s stances -- in one form or another -- have entered into the mainstream conservative platform. As this has happened I have become more and more convinced that debating these extremists is not the solution. In fact, I argued for not ...
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Rethinking Charlottesville in Light of Unite the Right II