How landlords extract free money from the working class while doing no labor — “As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.” — Adam Smith In recent months, as millions of Americans have been ruthlessly evicted from…

From Reagan to Eisenhower to Bush, these men spread violent chaos rather than democracy — Perhaps more than any other country in the world, the US has managed to fabricate a false identity. We brand ourselves as the country that spreads democracy around the world, when in fact we are the opposite. In reality, we are brutal imperialists. We have intentionally toppled countless democracies and…

These five toxic incel terms have become alarmingly mainstream — If you haven’t heard of incels, congratulations. They’re one of the most toxic online communities in existence (and if you’ve spent any time online, you know that’s saying a lot). “Incel” is an abbreviation for “involuntary celibate.” In other words, an incel is someone who doesn't have sex but who…

Jesus would not approve of capitalism and our blind worship of billionaires — Throughout history, the Bible has been used to justify all kinds of movements and ideologies — from the Crusades, to anti-oppressive liberation theology, to the abominable Westboro Baptist Church and its fierce opposition to homosexuality and reproductive rights. The Bible contains such a wide array of ideas that it can…

Or why Steven Pinker is wrong about human nature — Sidenote: This is an excerpt from a paper I presented at the annual conference of the American Anthropological Association in November 2021. I initially feared that my paper was a bit too polemical for an academic setting, so I was elated when it was well received. …

Hot take: Don’t throw children in prison forever — In 1995, Sara Kruzan was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing her pimp, who had forced her to become a sex worker at the tender age of 13. When she killed him, she was only 16, and she was 17 when she received her harsh sentence. Fortunately…

And how corporations manufacture insecurities to profit from “fixing” them — This piece was originally published in the now-defunct and sorely missed Wear Your Voice Magazine in January of 2020. In our culture, we’re constantly bombarded with the idea that any degree of “excess” fat or signs of aging are pathological and shameful. Fortunately, it’s become a bit more popular lately…

A detailed history of the Doomsday Clock and conservative efforts to retire it — Late in his life, Albert Einstein was tormented by regret for contributing to the development of what is arguably the most nefarious invention in history — the atomic bomb. He didn’t play a direct role in its creation. But he was complicit in accelerating its development — in 1939, he…

And no, there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ modern nuclear war. — In the past week, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has jerked many Americans’ focus away from their usual navel-gazing toward actually paying attention to what’s going on in another part of the world. God forbid. So Americans have been grappling with the reality that we’re closer to the precipice of nuclear…