Kathleen Geier

Conservatives supporting publicly subsidized lawyers for the poor? At the CPAC conference, yet? Wait, April Fool’s day is still two weeks away! Over at Ten Miles Square, David Dagan has filed a report that is surprising, to say the least. At a panel on wrongful convictions, participants including the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Mark Levin […]

Oh joy! Politico is reporting that Wisconsin governor and enemy of working people everywhere Scott Walker is sending strong signals that he will be candidate for president in 2016. Politico says that Walker, who spoke at CPAC this morning, “acknowledged in an interview Friday that he’s open to a presidential bid and pointedly declined to […]

Why is that working conditions for restaurant employees are so dismal? This eye-opening Salon article documents the grim details. Nearly one in ten workers in the U.S. is employed by the restaurant industry. And yet, consider the following: — Union status among restaurant employees is exceedingly rare. According to one source quoted in the article, […]

So, we have a new pope. Earlier this week, Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams, a liberal Catholic, tried to make the best of it. Yes, Pope Francis, as he is now designated, is just as awful on women’s rights, gay rights, and all matters of sex and contraception as every pope before him has ever been. […]

In a little while I will be heading to a friend’s house for her annual Oscar party, but before I do I wanted to squeeze in one more Oscar-related post. I thought last year was a pretty decent year for movies. By no means did I see everything; because I don’t see many first-run films […]

As you’ve probably heard, last year Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. stepped down from his Congressional seat on the south side of Chicago. At the time, Jackson cited mental health concerns as the reason. For most of last year, Jackson was hospitalized for the treatment of bipolar disorder. But it’s also clear that the serious legal […]

Today’s New York Times features an illuminating, and depressing, article about the growing scourge of internet payday loans. Payday loans, in which sleazy operators exploit poor people by sucking them into loans with outrageous interest rates, have long been a scourge in many low-income communities. Some states have finally begun to crack down on these […]

Evidence continues to mount that, despite the humiliating defeat suffered by Mitt Romney and the Republicans last November, and despite the fact that the demographics of America are continue to change in way that increasingly favor Democrats, the Republicans have learned nothing from their defeat. The latest evidence to this effect: Talking Points Memo is […]

Here’s some gospel music to start your Sunday. This is my favorite gospel musician, and one of my all-time favorite musicians, period — the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a one-of-a-kind musical pioneer. What I particularly love about this clip is her electric guitar solo, which totally badass. The good sister has been called one of […]

As a Democrat, I sometimes wonder why I bother. Don’t get me wrong — there are many excellent reasons to remain a Democrat, in spite of it all. The Dems do occasionally pass some desperately needed pieces of legislation, and of course the Republicans are far worse, on every conceivable issue. But it’s important to […]