National Issues
Want to learn more about other topics in the news? Here you’ll find links to overviews of important national issues, and other pieces you may find interesting.
Immigration
• For an overview: the New York Times and Newsbatch.com
• How the U.S. immigration system works: Immigration Policy Center
• Arizona’s immigration law: two sides of the argument
• Could the U.S. economy function without illegal immigrant workers?
• The backlash against immigration laws in Alabama and Arizona
• How immigration works in other countries, and what we can learn from them
Income Inequality
• More background on income inequality in the U.S.
• On the dangers of extreme inequality in American society: Joseph Stiglitz
• An argument that U.S. income inequality isn’t a problem, from The Economist
• A more accurate measure of poverty in the U.S., from the Census Bureau
• A conservative view of poverty in the U.S.: people below the poverty line aren’t so bad off
The Federal Government
What’s wrong with Congress, and how to fix it
What do the Speaker of the House, the majority and minority leaders, and the whip do?
Are Congressional elections rigged? All about gerrymandering
How We Finance Election Campaigns
• For an overview: Wikipedia
• A guide to the biggest SuperPAC donors and which candidates they’re supporting
• On the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision: Slate.com
• All about Super PACs, a troubling new force in electoral politics
• Corporate political donations: the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision
• 25% of campaign contributions in the 2010 elections came from 27,000 wealthy donors
Our Laws, the Courts and the Constitution
Health Care Reform at the Supreme Court: the Basics
Term limits for Congress? Pros & cons
What are the limitations on freedom of speech in the U.S.?
Why we separate church and state… and… Church and state in the U.S.: how separate?
Gay marriage: which states allow it, which states forbid it, and more
The history of affirmative action
Answers to common questions about health care reform
A judge with cancer argues for legalizing medical marijuana
Weaknesses in the Constitution? This law professor thinks so.
Retired Supreme Court justice has harsh words for the Court on its campaign spending decision
Supreme Court: No more mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder
Guns and Gun Control
Gun control, pro & con: an overview of the arguments
Gun rights vs. gun control: a way past the stalemate
Guns and gun control: the gun-owners’ point of view
National Security
Before we go to war again: these are the questions we should ask
U.S. national security: what are the key issues right now?
Drone wars: explaining the controversy
Drone strikes kill more civilians than U.S. admits, report finds
Did the U.S. overreact to the 9/11 attacks?
Guantanamo: ten years and counting
The U.S. has become a secretive military superpower. We weren’t always this way.
Are we safer now than on 9/11/01? A progress report on national security
Media
Rupert Murdoch’s influence on America
Crime and criminal justice
Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, and the death of Trayvon Martin
The Boy Scout sex abuse scandal
America and its prisons: myths and truths
Problems in America’s criminal justice system
The death penalty: the arguments for and against
How often have innocent people been executed in the U.S.?
Since 1989, at least 2,000 people have been falsely convicted—many of them for murder
All about Operation Fast and Furious
The psychology of rampaging gunmen
Is the mass incarceration of African-Americans creating a new caste system in America?
Research shows that eyewitness testimony is often wrong—but the Supreme Court doesn’t want to say so
Sex trafficking in the U.S. – from Vanity Fair
How sex trafficking works in the U.S.: much of the advertising is done online
Why Connecticut is abolishing its death penalty
Do neighborhood watch programs reduce crime? Somewhat, maybe…
Fingerprints, DNA, polygraph, etc.: how reliable are they as evidence?
Elections and candidates
The differences between the presidential candidates on the issues
Presidential campaign spending, 2012, and where the money came from
Barack Obama’s presidency: a report card
Bain Capital, Mitt Romney, private equity, and job-cutting: please explain
Voter fraud: how common is it?
Etc.
America in decline? Grim scenarios for the next 15 years
Is America in decline? Two sides of the debate.
The battle over teacher evaluation, in Chicago and elsewhere
America is growing more conservative. Why?
Could you pass a U.S. citizenship test?
What the rest of the world thinks of the U.S.: a global survey
Room for improvement: the U.S. isn’t #1 in these areas
Jimmy Carter: The U.S has become a violator of of human rights
White supremacist groups: they’re still going strong
The Postal Service, defaulting? Explain!
Cheating on standardized tests, all across America: the by-product of pressure to improve results
What is ALEC, and how is it helping to shape your state’s laws?
The new world of spying: infiltrating terrorist groups
The billionaire Koch brothers and their war against Obama
The psychological wounds our veterans bring home
For American women under 30, most babies are born outside marriage
Reasons for Americans to be thankful
What would Martin Luther King think of America today?
The Keystone oil pipeline, from Canada to the U.S. — pros and cons
The New York Times on 9/11 and its aftermath
Previously unpublished photos from 9/11 by James Nachtwey
What’s all the fuss about President Obama’s birth certificate? … and President Obama’s birth certificate, in the news again: here it is!
America’s suburbs: debunking some myths
