News & Commentary

The documentary film "Spies of Mississippi," which aired on PBS on Monday, is a grim reminder of the depths that Mississippi authorities plumbed in their efforts to subvert the civil rights movement. The film chronicles the role of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a secret, state-funded agency established by the Mississippi legislature in 1956. Using a range of spy tactics, the Commission sought to maintain racial segregation, preserve Jim Crow laws, and prevent "federal encroachment" in Mississippi.

Solitary was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I was in and out of jail while I was growing up, and every time I was in solitary confinement, it felt as horrible as the first time I was locked up and left alone.

21-year-old Alysa Ivy was surrounded by people when she died of a heroin overdose. Not one of them called 911 for help. Instead, they left her alone in a motel room, afraid they’d be arrested if they called the authorities.

A New York audience devoted nearly two hours yesterday evening to a riveting Intelligence Squared debate about Edward Snowden and the surveillance regime that his disclosures revealed.

In a significant win for the privacy rights of anyone who has ever gotten a drug prescription, a federal judge in Oregon ruled yesterday that the DEA needs a warrant to search confidential prescription records.

Hollywood's annual awards season culminates with the Academy Awards, a night honoring the best films and performances of the year. This year, all five directors nominated for the Best Director award are men. Last year, all the nominees were men. In fact, a woman hasn't been nominated for Best Director since 2010, the year that Kathryn Bigelow took home the honor for directing The Hurt Locker. Bigelow is the only woman to have ever won the award, and she is one of only four women who has ever been nominated for it in the Academy Awards' 86 year history.

I recently came across an interesting passage by George Orwell. It made me think about Big Data.

We live in freedom by necessity. We must reshape our world. We must love one another, or die.

--Vijay Prashad, The World We Want is the World We Need, Riverside Church

These piece ran originally at The Guardian.