By Ian Firstenberg  Democratic rot gives way to a new breed of political monster. Hazy and loathsome lanyards lean into the liberatarian right.  The stench of corruption has wafted from Washington DC for years — certain people in the District are inextricably tied to the deepest parts of large financial

by Charles Irwell It’s approaching cliche among historians and history buffs to say that Afghanistan is unconquerable. However, its reputation as the toughest nut to crack in geo-politics – from the Parthian Empire until now – is not meritless. For most Americans, Afghanistan first permeated the national psyche during the

by Laurie Riihimaki The method of using white noise to get some deeper zzz’s is tried and true. Many of us can’t sleep without the noise of a fan or an AC blasting in our rooms. The more sophisticated white noise-lovers even opt for apps that have an array of

by [REDACTED] By the time I went from elementary to junior high school in 2000, I had been on 8 different psychiatric medications, and as an adult I’m starting to get angry. I’m writing this anonymously because I don’t want to put my parents on blast. My parents were young

GUEST POST BY: IAN FIRSTENBERG As Election Day nears, candidates are solidifying policy proposals, hoping to bolster their platforms; for Scott Wiener, this came in the form of a recent pledge to support the Green New Deal. Originally proposed by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), it

By Jerold Chinn While it’s still too soon to report results for San Francisco’s first safe parking program for vehicle dwellers, officials have already begun eyeing additional sites to establish another vehicle triage center. The City’s Real Estate Division Director Andrico Penick told the Board of Supervisors Land Use and

by Xan Holbrook As anyone who has read my work can intuit, I am an Englishman. Specifically, from Manchester. The story of Manchester is one of change. Ask anyone who sells apartments or business space around here and they’d trot out “rebirth” or “reinvention” but the point remains true. A

by Laurie Riihimaki From the astonishing tricks of Houdini to the spectacular world of Harry Potter, magic has always been a part of our society. The idea that something dazzling and unexpected could wondrously appear in our average existence is a concept that continuously blows our minds and makes our