Kirsten Gillibrand Has White Privilege and Knows How to Use It
Jim Watson/Getty When the topic turned to race and criminal justice in Wednesday night’s second Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) took a refreshing step: she leaned into her white privilege, and explained how to use it to educate other white Americans, some of whom voted for President Donald Trump. The senator from New…
Do Kamala Harris and Joe Biden Really Understand Their Own Health Plans?
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Detroit. Paul Sancya/AP After months of not clarifying where, exactly, she stood on the details of health care reform, Sen. Kamala Harris released her idea for a version of…
Kamala Harris Hits Trump on Immigration
When Wednesday’s second Democratic presidential debate turned to the topic of immigration, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) seized the opportunity to share a disturbing story of seeing immigration detention facilities up-close. Harris recalled her visit to a private detention center in Homestead, Florida, after the first Democratic debate last month. When she and former Housing and…
Eric Garner’s Death Is Still Haunting Bill de Blasio
Angel Chevrestt/Zuma Five years to the month that Eric Garner died as the result of a chokehold meted out by New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo, 10 Democratic candidates for president stood on the debate stage in Detroit and talked about criminal justice reform. And one of those candidates, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio,…
Don’t Let Small Differences Fool You. Democrats All Support Pretty Similar Health Care Plans.
Last night’s scrum over health care was a pretty good example of the narcissism of small differences. Among the candidates who are polling above 0 percent, there’s universal agreement that we need to move toward universal health care. The argument, roughly speaking, is over: How fast should the transition be? Should private insurers have no…
You Never Knew You Needed a Book on Richard Holbrooke, but Goddamn Is It Good
US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke makes comments condemning the Taliban’s murder of ten members of an Irish-based aid group, called the International Assistance Mission, at the State Department in Washington, DC, on August 9, 2010. © UPPA/ZUMAPRESS.com Longtime US diplomat Richard Holbrooke was many things: US ambassador to Germany, an author,…