Media

A military hiring expo, which provides jobs training to veterans. House Republicans hope to expand these sorts of programs. The Senate proposition directly hires veterans as police officers and firefighters. (Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania National Guard)

On the heels of a disappointing jobs report last week, Congress returned from recess on Monday with several options for how to help create jobs. All of those options involve some increase in this year’s deficit or a rise in taxes to offset the revenue, a non-starter to conservative ideologues. 

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial harshly criticizing a bill being considered by the California State Assembly to create universal, portable retirement accounts, administered by an independent board and invested in private financial markets.

Elisabeth Badinter is picking a fight with her book The Conflict, in which she demonizes pretty much every form of maternal bonding. And I was pleased to see Sarah Blustain give it to her in “Mère Knows Best”, rightly mocking Badinter’s attacks on social science, breast-feeding, and ecology. No writer should get away with defending the cancer-causing chemical BPA in the name of feminism, and Blustain doesn’t let her.

The right to vote is a fundamental freedom that protects the other essential freedoms that Americans hold dear. It is at the heart of what it means to be an American citizen. Elections in American should be free, fair, and accessible, and voters should not have to overcome burdensome barriers to cast their ballot.

The Nation's Brentin Mock reports on a new study, "Bullies at the Ballot Box" by Common Cause and Demos, which merits the attention of everyone concerned about the abuse of voting rights. As Mock reports,

Missouri is at a higher risk for bullying this year but it's not at school. Missouri has made a list of ten states at risk for voter bullying this election year. Missouri made the list because it is expected to have some highly contested races.

NOW that some sunshine is being shed on 401(k) expenses, it’s time to see how you can improve returns by lowering the costs of the middlemen.

A non-partisan policy analysis group, California Common Sense (CACS), released a report last Thursday called “Winners and Losers: Corrections and Higher Education in California” that shows how the state has reduced higher education funding while simultaneously increasing it for the state prison system consistently over the past three decades.

Chicago teachers themselves will say it: nobody wanted to go on strike.  But today, after ten months of fruitless efforts to negotiate a fair contract, the city’s classrooms are empty and educators are walking picket lines for the first time in 25 years.  At first glance, the strike looks like a negative outcome for every