Work Is Pretty Scarce Around Here
Just before and right after President Obama’s State of the Union address, an editor telephones complete strangers around the country, to find out what’s really going on.
Archive
A collection of 14284 issues
January 23, 2015
* An initial 300 vials of the experimental Ebola vaccine will arrive in Liberia tonight. * King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia dies, spurring questions about succession at a critical time. * The Obama Administration has quietly tabled its proposal to reform the NSA's collection of telephone metadata. * Liberal disenchantment with NAFTA
January 22, 2014
* Justice Department prosecutors to recommend no charges for Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. * Spanish "translation" of Republican response to the State of the Union includes immigration reform—but the original English version did not. * Colorado's late start gives its weed businesses an edge on Californian rivals. * "
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Ignore the critics: Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is not only a serious, complex comment on space policy, it’s a heartbreaking, philosophical look at the value of time.
January 21, 2015
* Prior to the speech, the White House posted the State of the Union online in the name of political participation. * HealthCare.gov shares user information with dozens of third parties, allegedly to improve customer experience. * State Department calls a coup in Yemen anything but a coup in Yemen. * Mayor of
Kafka’s Kickstarter
The latest works from the author will be given with pleasure, and received with thanks, but we need your support.
January 20, 2015
* Tonight's State of the Union, expected to address income inequality, is a final chance to set the agenda before the next campaign. * See also: Transcripts and, where possible, video of every State of the Union address. * Even when black Americans make it to the middle class, their children
They Are Charlie
An American in Dijon, France, brings his country’s grasp of recent terrorism to a nation enthralled by theory, traumatized by attack.
The Marriage Defense
The Supreme Court will soon deliver a definitive ruling on same-sex marriage, a subject that has roiled the United States since the colonial era—or not. A brief illustrated history.
January 19, 2015
* When the measure to create MLK Day passed in 1983, 112 members of Congress opposed it; six are still office. * Like the tactics of MLK, the Black Lives Matter movement embraces direct action and discomfort—not just nonviolence. * A father brings his daughter to a civil rights protest and wonders