“The Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case reminds us why a single payer system with universal rules for coverage is much better than employer-based insurance. Why should the religion of one’s boss determine what birth control products a woman has to choose from? It should be none of their business — birth control…

“Because the VA is a public entity, its facilities actually display greater accountability — and more transparency to patients and their families — than private health care systems. When veterans have a VA-related beef — or in-house whistle-blowers a tale to tell — they are quick to notify their elected representatives. Such complaints regularly trigger…

“The taking of Kirkuk is a critical event that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves because of ISIS’s advance. Kirkuk is especially significant for both economic reasons (oil) and cultural ones. Rival Kurdish, Turkuman and Arab claims to Kirkuk add to the complexity and volatility of the situation. Some Turkuman leaders who have in recent…

“This is a major crisis. When 45 percent of water customers struggle to pay their water bills, it is clear that this is not just a problem with delinquent payment. It’s indicative of broader, systemic issues resulting from decades of policies that put profits before people. Because leasing or selling the DWSD [Detroit Water and…

“American military involvement will serve as an accelerant to and a prolonger of this Iraqi civil war. American bombs, bullets and dollars will further strengthen the bond between Sunnis and extremist groups like ISIS, increasing Sunni desperation by intensifying their backs-to-the-wall dilemma and justifying the propaganda and rhetoric of ISIS: a narrative of a Western…

“What has to be understood is that the enormity of the issue is not just about the foreign Al Jazeera journalists, or even journalists in general, but that the scope and scale of politically motivated imprisonment in Egypt right now is astonishing. Also, while the criminalization and targeting of journalists is a heinous act in…

“Separate from problems with the substance of this memo, the administration needs to release all of its legal memos; this is only one among as many as a dozen we still haven’t seen. It also needs to release data about how many killed, who, where, why. Everything we know comes from non-government sources.”

“Yemen as a model for Iraq; wouldn’t that just be lovely! Quietly remove an intractable puppet and replace him with one that is compliant; support a public discourse on progressive issues for those who will enjoy it; and use drones to bomb any emergent resistance around the critical issues of power sharing and basic distribution…

“Just as with threats to attack Syria last year, an attack on Iraq would violate the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution. As with any president, he [President Obama] commits an impeachable offense if he does not follow the Constitution.”

“When the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the formerly secular country was destabilized. The United States and the Department of Defense intentionally created and agitated sectarian divisions that would not have otherwise existed. The result of this is what we see today, and Iraqi civilians are paying for it.”