"I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark."
Exploring the American Idea since 1857. Run by Chris Heller and Alessandra Ram The Atlantic Twitter In Focus From the Archives
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March 7, 2013
March 6, 2013
February 21, 2013
"I don’t know whether it’s the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the prison system."
— Bill Clinton, explaining why the White House is like a prison.
January 30, 2013
"Thank you for inviting me here today. This is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for Democrats and Republicans. Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important. Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard but the time is now. You must act. Be bold. Be courageous. Americans are counting on you. Thank you."
— Gabrielle Giffords, at today’s Senate hearing on gun-control regulations.
January 25, 2013
Scenes from Tahrir Square: Tear Gas and Tears at a Revolution, Two Years On
Protestors in Cairo filled the now-familiar Tahrir Square on Friday, not just to mark the date, but to vent their anger at the regime that replaced the one they fought so hard to bring down.
January 25, 2013
![Exclusive: The GOP Plan to Take the Electoral-Vote-Rigging Scheme National
Gehrke isn’t saying which states the project might initially target. He says he’d like to see the plan implemented in every state, not just the ones where clever redistricting has given Republicans an edge, and he justifies it in policy, not political terms.
A presidential voting system where the electoral college was apportioned by congressional district might not be perfectly fair, he says, but it would be better than what we have now. It would bring democracy closer to the people, force presidential candidates to address the concerns of a more varied swath of the American populace, and give more clout to rural areas that are too often ignored.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/ff91ddf421b99b995377db092e43d9f8/tumblr_mh6xfw92HC1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
Exclusive: The GOP Plan to Take the Electoral-Vote-Rigging Scheme National
Gehrke isn’t saying which states the project might initially target. He says he’d like to see the plan implemented in every state, not just the ones where clever redistricting has given Republicans an edge, and he justifies it in policy, not political terms.
A presidential voting system where the electoral college was apportioned by congressional district might not be perfectly fair, he says, but it would be better than what we have now. It would bring democracy closer to the people, force presidential candidates to address the concerns of a more varied swath of the American populace, and give more clout to rural areas that are too often ignored.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]
January 25, 2013
"Why parents are afraid to talk to their kids about sexual orientation: They’re either religious (in which case they should get over themselves about the whole thing) or stupid (in which case their wishes regarding the education of their children should be ignored). Why parents are afraid to talk to their kids about sex: They follow an absurd system of morality that claims that being human should be a source of shame. Advice to all of the above: Get over it. You live in a society that is moving forward, and you’re stuck in the 1950s. Re-examine your morality, because if you seriously think that two consenting adults being in love is somehow wrong, you are the problem. And if you’re the kind of person who thinks that it’s better to have abstinence-only education or none at all, thereby causing massive teen pregnancy rates, then you’re not the kind of genetic line that should be continued."
— New York Times writer John Schwartz’s Son, Joe, on Growing Up Gay in 2013
January 24, 2013
January 24, 2013
![An Amazing 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising
The conflict over the next six days played out as a very gay variant of a classic New York street rebellion. It would see: fire hoses turned on people in the street, thrown barricades, gay cheerleaders chanting bawdy variants of New York City schoolgirl songs, Rockette-style kick lines in front of the police, the throwing of a firebomb into the bar, a police officer throwing his gun at the mob, cries of “occupy — take over, take over,” “Fag power,” “Liberate the bar!”, and “We’re the pink panthers!”, smashed windows, uprooted parking meters, thrown pennies, frightened policemen, angry policemen, arrested mafiosi, thrown cobblestones, thrown bottles, the singing of “We Shall Overcome” in high camp fashion, and a drag queen hitting a police officer on the head with her purse.
Read more. [Image: Joseph Ambrosini/The New York Daily News]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/9a6e1bc30b8385e2b2ffde30d92850ae/tumblr_mh5bv3sphp1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
An Amazing 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising
The conflict over the next six days played out as a very gay variant of a classic New York street rebellion. It would see: fire hoses turned on people in the street, thrown barricades, gay cheerleaders chanting bawdy variants of New York City schoolgirl songs, Rockette-style kick lines in front of the police, the throwing of a firebomb into the bar, a police officer throwing his gun at the mob, cries of “occupy — take over, take over,” “Fag power,” “Liberate the bar!”, and “We’re the pink panthers!”, smashed windows, uprooted parking meters, thrown pennies, frightened policemen, angry policemen, arrested mafiosi, thrown cobblestones, thrown bottles, the singing of “We Shall Overcome” in high camp fashion, and a drag queen hitting a police officer on the head with her purse.
Read more. [Image: Joseph Ambrosini/The New York Daily News]
January 24, 2013
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