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Ashraf Ghani, the thoughtful new president of Afghanistan, came to Washington last week and the trip probably met his expectations. He wanted to thank the United States for “defending freedom” in his country and he did this more profusely than any foreign leader in recent history. He thanked the Congress, President Obama, the generals, the…
When the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has its annual howling convention in the Washington, DC area, the mainstream mass media expands its coverage like an accordion from the weeks leading up to the gathering to the analysis of the aftermath. Why? Because a demanding CPAC summons all the Republican contenders for the presidential nomination…
March 17, 2015 Columbia Journalism Review Launches Annual Review of the White House Press Corps Funded by the Helen Thomas Fund The Columbia Journalism Review has established the Helen Thomas Fund to support the annual publication of a substantial article to assess the performance of the White House Press Corps based on pertinent interviews, briefings,…
Self-made billionaire (meaning he didn’t inherit it), Nick Hanauer is not one to mince words, especially when they are backed by facts and principles of fairness. The Seattle entrepreneur, author and venture capitalist (he was the first non-family investor in Amazon), is known for vocally championing Seattle’s staggered increase of its minimum wage to $15…
Apart from inadvertently making the case for equal time by his Israeli pre-election opposition, the spectacle of Benjamin Netanyahu’s wild diatribe at the joint session of Congress amidst the feral cheers of his congressional yahoos will be remembered as a textbook case of propaganda unhinged from reality. Starting from his preposterous premise that Iran, a…
Make no mistake about it, sports are important. That’s true if for no other reason than the fact that sports absorb billions of hours of people’s time – at all ages. Whatever you think about sports, they’re clearly important for that reason alone. Sports are also important because they have become a multibillion-dollar industry, one…
February 24, 2015 Jeff Smisek, CEO United Airlines, Inc. PO Box 06649 Chicago, IL 60606-0649 Dear Mr. Smisek, I have not yet heard from you regarding my letter of February 13, 2015, but your employees who have read it are coming forward to describe their deteriorating working conditions. These are loyal UAL workers on the…
For Immediate Release: Statement by Ralph Nader on the Walmart Announcement Raising its Minimum Wage
February 20, 2015 Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Statement by Ralph Nader on the Walmart Announcement Raising its Minimum Wage After meetings with Walmart representatives, public letters to the company’s CEO, and picketing Walmart stores over the past several years (see timeforaraise.org and give1010avote.org), we see that Walmart now decides to be one step ahead…
February 18, 2015 The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P. 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 Dear Prime Minister: Many Americans love Canada and the specific benefits that have come to our country from our northern neighbor’s many achievements (see Canada Firsts by Nader, Conacher and Milleron). Unfortunately, your latest proposed legislation—the new anti-terrorism…
February 13, 2015 Jeff Smisek, CEO United Airlines, Inc. PO Box 06649 Chicago, IL 60606-0649 Dear Mr. Smisek, Two stories have come to public attention about your airline, which invites some serious introspection by you and your fellow executives who make millions of dollars a year. The first appeared in the January 23, 2015 edition…