Commentaries/Opinions

When unemployment rate data were released on Friday morning, commentators replied joyfully.  Alan Krueger, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisors, described the creation of 247,000 jobs as a victory, since the predictions were that the economy would only generate 170,000 jobs.  Unemployment rates went down to 7.7 percent, while predictions were that […]

Shelby County, Alabama is suing the Justice Department because they think that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and its reauthorization in 1982 and 2006) is unfair.  The facts – the small city of Calera, Alabama, redistricted its boundaries in a way that the sole African American councilman lost his seat.  Section […]

I was among the 33.5 million people who sat riveted to their televisions, parsing every second of the State of the Union Address.  I was stunned to learn, through a Washington Post article by Lisa De Moraes, that viewership was less substantial for this address than last year’s 38 million, and even lower than the […]