Author: Syndicated

Donald Trump may well be remembered as the president who cried “fake news.” It started after the inauguration, when he used it to discredit stories about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. He hasn’t let up since, labeling any criticism and negative coverage as “fake.” Just in time for awards season, he rolled out his “Fake News Awards” and, in true Trumpian fashion, it appears he is convinced that he invented the term. He didn’t. As a rhetorical strategy for eroding trust in the media, the term dates back to the end of the 19th century. Then...

Eighty-five years ago, on April 8th 1933, celebrates the beginning of European Jewish relationships with African Americans on Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) campuses. Only months after Hitler seized power in Germany in the spring on 1933, Jewish intellectuals who had held prestigious positions in Germany’s renowned universities were targeted for expulsion. One of the first pieces of Nazi legislation excluded “non-Aryans” from civil service or academic positions in Germany. Those who dared to oppose the decree were met with brutal suppression. Often leaving with little more than the clothes on their backs, many of these scholars fled...

In the United States, inequality tends to be framed as an issue of either class, race or both. Consider the criticism that the new Republican tax plan is a weapon of “class warfare,” or accusations that the recent U.S. government shutdown was racist. As an India-born novelist and scholar who teaches in the United States, I have come to see America’s stratified society through a different lens: caste. Many Americans would be appalled to think that anything like caste could exist in a country allegedly founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. After all, India’s atrocious caste...

From OxyContin coupons to fentanyl-laced heroin, this is how the crisis unfolded. The scale of the overdose epidemic is hard to fathom. In 2016, overdoses claimed 64,000 lives, more than the US military casualties in Vietnam and Iraq combined. The origins of today’s crisis, a perfect storm of potent, easily accessible opioids, trace back to aggressive pharmaceutical marketing and liberal painkiller prescribing in the 1990s and 2000s. = 1970's Percocet and Vicodin are introduced, but physicians are wary of prescribing them because of their addictive qualities. = 1995 The American Pain Society promotes the “Pain Is the Fifth Vital...

After the promise of giving workers a pay bonus when the Trump tax plan was pushed through Congress, Walmart is laying off thousands of workers across the country without prior notice as it abruptly closes Sam’s Club locations. Included is the West Allis location which will put 165 employees out of work. The Walmart corporation announced that it will increase its minimum wage to $11 an hour, in a move that the company attributed to the major corporate tax cut signed into law by President Trump last month. The $300 million the company will spend on the wage boost...

The Haitian Revolution is a defining moment in Black history. When the small group of Haitian freedom fighters defeated Napoleon, this colossal victory shifted the world’s scales from Europe’s colonial rule to Haiti’s Black power and dominance. Under Napoleon’s military leadership, France became a ruthless powerhouse that destroyed virtually every opponent they faced. His mighty army effortlessly won 52 battles and incited fear in all potential enemies. For a group of enslaved folks to consider taking on Napoleon’s forces was literally like David challenging Goliath. But the people had been pushed to the breaking point. During the 1700s, France...