Planned Parenthood attacks are the pettiest of politics

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Planned Parenthood has been cleared of wrongdoing on the federal level by the very congressman who was their most aggressive opponent, but the group remains hounded at the state level. In Texas, Republican leadership is cutting Medicaid funding to the nonprofit reproductive healthcare provider. Even though they provide a long list of medical services, the campaign against Planned Parenthood is all about conservative fundamentalism on the issue of abortion. Continue reading

Harris omits crucial context from the discussion on Islamic violence

Last week on Real Time with Bill Maher, a panel featuring one of the nation’s most prominent anti-religious voices, Sam Harris, discussed radical Islam. Harris made quite a few valid points, as he often does, and so did the rest of the panel – but they all managed to leave some important context out of the discussion that is crucial to understanding the hatred and violence consuming so many in the Arab world: a century of imperialism. Continue reading