Articles by Kathryn Bullington

On September 11th, the US remembers its fallen citizens, murdered in the worst terrorist attack since the Oklahoma City bombing. In unison, they #neverforget the 3,000 people who were murdered that day. But, people have forgotten so much -- or have never known -- 16 years later, how 9/11 has effected US war, culture, and law. US citizens did what its founder, Ben Franklin, warned never to do -- they exchanged freedom for security. War 9/11 was followed by an intense national campaign to exp...

Unemployment in the US has been under 6% since 2015. In 2017, it hit its lowest in 16 years, 4.2%, close to full employment. People are not feeling it in their paychecks, however. Wage growth is "out of whack," according to Mitchell Hartman of Market Place Media, at 2%, .5% lower than the inflation rate. In an era of rising socialist sentiments, a burning question is -- why aren't jobs working for the people? Experts claim that uncertainty and low productivity are to blame, but productivity h...

Remorse of a Troubled Youth In 1971, at 19, William Powell wrote The Anarchist Cookbook. The book has been found at bombings, and school shootings, ever since. It is hard to believe that the author of this infamous book left the country almost immediately afterward, to be a school teacher. He forgot about his book to the best of his ability. “I haven’t read it since I wrote it,” he said, in a documentary film that came out in late 2016. He denied that he ever knew that his book was the go-to...

The Libertarian Party wants to be clear: they reject white supremacy, bigotry, and racism. Racists, White Nationalists Asked to Leave the Party In a press release on August 15, 2017, in the wake of the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, the LP's executive director Wes Benedict reiterated the party's stance on bigotry: "We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. Government should neither deny or abridge an individual human right based on sex, wealth, ethnicity, creed, age, na...

The Republican Party needs to be saved, according to a handful of budding politicians in New Jersey, who label themselves FIRE Republicans. They aim to pull the party away from entrenched candidates and extremism, and back to the people's party of Lincoln and Roosevelt. "If a house is on fire, and you run away from it, it burns down the whole neighborhood," said founder, Dana Wefer. "Republicans are on fire, and we need to put it out so it doesn't take down our whole democracy. We need to run t...

New Jersey's 2017 gubernatorial race is a battleground for independent and third party candidates who feel the election system is rigged against them, and toward Republicans and Democrats. Greens, Libertarians, and disenfranchised progressives are railing against a system they say locks them out and suppresses their voices in public debate. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate in the 2016 election, released a statement against "the 'Sopranos' state’s 2-party mafia," referencing the s...

Greens will have a chance to win the New Jersey governorship in November. Ohio will have the same opportunity to vote in a Green governor in 2018. After a high profile 2016 presidential campaign, running candidates for governor over the next two years might keep momentum going for the Green Party. New Jersey Greens are running Seth Kaper-Dale as a 2017 candidate for governor. Kaper-Dale is a high profile pastor and social justice advocate. He "has a well organized campaign," according to nati...

On July 18, 2017, New Hampshire became the last of the New England states to decriminalize recreational marijuana. The new law, HB 640, had bipartisan sponsorship and bipartisan support. It will take effect in 60 days. However, the law seems to be confusing, and though it is a baby step toward it, the law does not legalize the possession of marijuana. Federal laws against marijuana are still significant barriers toward opening up marijuana markets. Justin Strekal, NORML Political Director, com...

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is in crisis. It needs $17 billion to update public housing that has fallen into disrepair. New York City is home of the US's largest public housing population, with 650,000 residents. Federal funding for NYCHA, and low-income housing across the country, has sharply declined in the past two decades. To make up funding needs, NYCHA has turned to leasing government housing to private developers. Many NYCHA residents are worried that their beloved communiti...