50 years after the federal Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in lending, African-Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts. This modern-day redlining persisted in 61 metro areas even when controlling for applicants’ income, loan amount, and neighborhood, according to a mountain of…
Month: March 2019
Corbyn, and an election surprise
"Game on": Corbyn delivers a stump speech in Croydon. Dominic Lipinski/PA Images. All rights reserved.The previous article in this series, published a week ago, examined the idea that something was happening in the United Kingdom's general-election campaign that was not being picked up by the great majority of analysts. The consensus at the time was…
Everything You Need To Know About James Comey’s New Book, ‘A Higher Loyalty’
Former FBI director James Comey has been both admired and reviled by both sides of the political spectrum over the past three years. His announcement that the Hillary Clinton investigation was being reopened just days before the 2016 election was seen by Democrats as an attempt to thwart her election bid, while his investigation into…
Britain's security: time to rethink
Prime Minister Theresa May speaking in the House of Commons in London about the Salisbury attack, March 12, 2018. PA/Press Association. All rights reserved.The controversy over the nerve-agent attack in the southern English city of Salisbury on 4 March is escalating tensions between the United Kingdom and Russia. A by-product is further demands on the…
Here’s How Expensive It Is To Have Kids In The U.S.
THE GOOD NEWS: States and companies are starting to invest in family support policies, parental benefits, and competitive education. Today, roughly one in five women in the U.S. doesn’t have children. Thanks in part to this decline in birthrate, for the first time in U.S. history, there may soon be more elderly people than children….
Red lines: can we be sure that Assad was responsible?
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and US Secretary of State John Kerry, September 2013. Allan Tannenbaum/Press Association. All rights reserved.On 18 August 2011, President Obama declared that “the future of Syria must be determined by its people”. But he immediately contravened this basic democratic principle by saying that Bashir al-Assad should…
Reese Witherspoon Opens Up About Escaping An Abusive Relationship
THE GOOD NEWS: Witherspoon’s survival story could give hope to others stuck in abusive relationships. There are many reasons why people become stuck in abusive relationships. Victims are often trapped in an invisible cage of fear, violence, psychological manipulation, and financial control that prevents them from believing there’s hope on the other side. In…
To combat hate, we must celebrate diversity
Main prayer room at Baitul Futuh mosque, London. stevekeiretsu/Flickr. Some rights reserved.Britain is in a period of historic change. In the wake of three horrifying terrorist attacks over three months, tensions between communities are at an all time high. Yet the attacks have heightened a lingering sense of uncertainty over our national identity that has been…
Meet The Glasses-Wearing Gymnast Inspiring A Movement
We routinely see athletes at the highest level accomplish amazing feats. What we don’t regularly see them do? Wear glasses. While over 60% of the general population ages 18 to 34 requires glasses or contacts, professional athletes in the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL average between 16% and 30%, according to a 2010 study by Michael…
Sacrifice zones in rural and non-metro USA: fertile soil for authoritarian populism
Mississippi in 2010. Photograph taken by the author. All rights reserved. This is the fourth article in a series on ‘confronting authoritarian populism and the rural world’, linked to the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI). The article opening the series can be read here. ‘The United States is coming to resemble two separate countries, one…