Notes from a journalist during the Trump years. Entry #1. — I am an enemy of the people — at least, according to the most powerful man in the world. It’s a strange time to be a journalist. The industry is falling to pieces, the president is a narcissistic maniac and we’re regularly the target of his attacks. …

Bernie and AOC aren’t fighting for a socialist America, and what happened in Venezuela wasn’t a failure of socialism. — I’m not a socialist, but I constantly find myself defending socialists, because the critiques they receive are often so profoundly idiotic. The main criticism that’s been impossible to avoid lately? “Venezuela.” …

How I went from growing up in a spiritual home to losing all religion. You could say I was born into an unconventional home. My parents were eccentric travelers who rarely had more than a dime to their name and loved to drink. My mother was a witch, or rather…

Putin and Trump have essentially publicly admitted to their crimes. In his most impressive feat yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the most powerful country in the world without firing a bullet. Cyber warfare—it is a form of warfare too new to be recognized as violent, but it is violent…

More and more, Republican men act like children. It seems some sort of Benjamin Button spell has been put on the Republican Party, as we are witnessing its leaders’ slow descent into infancy. …

Just because more unhinged critics liken him to Hitler doesn’t mean the resemblance isn’t there at all — A few days ago, here on Medium, Umair Haque published a story called: “Do Americans Understand They’re Beginning to Commit The Legal Definition of Genocide?” Its subtitle was just as juicy: “No, You Don’t Know What Genocide (Really) Is. But You Should.” Haque’s post takes a turn toward the hyperbolic…

It violates free speech and is used cynically by government actors. We need a different approach. — There is a reason we have the First Amendment. That reason isn’t to protect wholesome conversations among your family and friends and not-so-wholesome conversations about what you did over the weekend. It’s to protect controversial speech. “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t…