Author: Justin Lane

When the Supreme Court decided in Citizens United that unlimited money should be able to flow from corporations and individuals into politics, it created a laughable standard for how the nation could avoid the corruption that comes with the money. Their solution: don’t allow official campaigns to coordinate with the independent groups. Everyone knew at the time that the standard was a joke. If there was money available, if there was influence to be gained, the corporate backers and the politicians would find a way to play ball together. A new study from The Ohio State University Moritz College...

On Tuesday, Democratic congressmen introduced a bill to combat the progression toward the creation of internet ‘fast lanes’. The proposed bill would place a requirement on the FCC to prevent the speeding up of some internet connections. Currently, internet service providers (ISPs) are capable of providing priority data transfer speeds to specific entities. One of the most publicized occurrences of this practice played out between Comcast and Netflix. Netflix customers on Comcast’s network were experiencing problems with latency on the network. In order to ensure the effective delivery of Netflix’s streaming data to customers, Netflix paid a premium to...

In a controversial decision on Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States judged that an Ohio law which prevented groups from making false political statements was unconstitutional. The decision from the Court was unanimous that the group challenging the law should have been allowed to erect billboards stating that Representative Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) of supporting “taxpayer funded” abortion. The billboards were a response to the Democratic Congressman’s support of the Affordable Care Act. It was, and in some ways still is, a common attack from the right to try and associate universal healthcare with a practice fundamentalist conservative’s...

The NRA has a big problem that it needs to fix and fix quickly if it wants to remain an advocate for gun rights in this country. It is increasingly beholden to the ideology of a radical and marginalized fringe population. This group is typified by its love of violence, its “us against them” combativeness, and a desire to reclaim “their” America. Las Vegas’ the Millers should be a devastating reminder to  the NRA leadership that continuing to escalate its rhetoric about government encroachment on rights and the stripping away of liberties only serves to baselessly foment the fervor...

  The Tea Party is the repository of politically rejected and popularly defunct philosophies. Few have showcased this as well as the fork-tongued Scott Esk who lacks the backbone and fortitude to defend the oppressed. Instead, the surely soon-to-be-defunct candidate seems to think that the stoning of gays is permissible – a view that even the Bible, which Esk claims to find his basis in, rejects. In a series of Facebook posts, Scott expressed that the Old Testament guides his hand. Scott finds that both homosexuals should be stoned and that men are fit to judge such a thing....