BY DAVID PERRYMAN Oliver, the title character in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, was born in a workhouse and orphaned at birth. Living in 18th Century...

BY JOE CONASON When they debate, the senator from Vermont usually refers to the former secretary of state as his “friend” – not in the Congressional-speech sense of someone that he actually despises, but in what is presumably his deeply authentic, Brooklyn-born candor. He speaks frequently of his “great respect” for Hillary Clinton. And he […]

BY FROMA HARROP In politics, the “dog whistle” is coded language designed to delight a targeted subgroup and pass over the heads of everyone else. Other terms, such as “establishment,” “Washington insider” and “free trade,” are not quite full-grown dog whistles. Let’s call them puppy whistles. These are expressions whose meanings remain vague. For the […]

BY SHARON MARTIN You want to sell our public lands and pristine places,   turn public service into for-profit business   until everything is owned by a handful of old men with nothing...

BY RALPH NADER The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin "Nino" Scalia evoked widespread commentary about how outspoken he was both on the court and...