Kathleen Geier

In a little over a week, along a “breathtaking” stretch of Pacific coastline, the MAKERS, a TV and digitial initiative, will host its inaugural conference. MAKERS boasts that it will “partner” will individuals and organizations that are experts in “women’s work and family issues,” and that its conference will “reset the agenda for women in […]

The Financial Times reports that, according to estimates, fourth quarter sales and profits were down for Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer. Previously, Walmart had announced that sales were expected to be flat, but now it’s saying sales are likely to be “slightly negative.” Official results are due out on Feb. 20. What’s especially interesting is […]

Well, well — who saw this coming? It seems that Sheryl Sandberg’s nonprofit organization, Lean In, is honoring, as one of its “Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should),” Florida G.O.P. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lentinen. You might assume, since Ros-Lehtinen is a Republican, that she holds all the usual horrible Republican positions on foreign and […]

Here’s Neko Case performing one of the best and most provocative songs from her excellent album of last year. The album is titled The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, and the song is called “Man.”

Tonight kicks off season four of Downton Abbey, which I am eagerly anticipating. I enjoyed season one so much I could have eaten it with a spoon, but I felt seasons two and three were a letdown. I’m hoping that this season, the series will return to its season one peak — though I’m sure […]

On Friday, Ed briefly mentioned a new report about abortion restrictions in the states. I’d like to follow up on that. The report was issued by the Guttmacher Institute, and some of its disturbing findings include the following: –There were more abortion restrictions enacted in the states between 2011 and 2013 than in the entire […]

The best op-ed I’ve read today is this one, which appeared in the Newark Star Ledger. It’s by economist Jared Bernstein, responding to mendacious claims about economic inequality in a recent op-ed by Robert Grady, Chris Christie’s economic adviser. There’s lots of great stuff packed into this one short op-ed, but I’ll start with this: […]

Congress’s decision to cut off long-term unemployment benefits wasn’t just punitive and nasty, it was also fiscally irresponsible. Harvard economist Lawrence Katz says that the decision, which slashed the benefits of some 1.3 million people, could cost the economy up to a billion dollars a week. According to Katz: the calculation was based on the […]

Pat Buchanan manages to inject his cranky xenophobia into practically every social and political issue in existence, so it’s not surprising he would do so in the area of drug policy. This week on The McLaughlin Group he warned that marijuana legalization will attract hordes of Latin American drug cartels to the good old U.S. […]

Lorde, the teen singing sensation from New Zealand, was one of the great music discoveries of last year. Her compelling music consists of her husky, beautifully pitched vocals; a brilliantly minimalist electronic soundscape; and lyrics that take aim at our culture’s soul-killing consumer madness. She writes most of her own material, and it’s first-rate. Nevertheless, […]