Author Archives: David S. Meyer

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About David S. Meyer

Author and professor of Sociology and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine

Economic inequality is bad (Occupy echoes?)

Don’t trust me on this; that’s what Standard and Poor’s says in a report published on August 5.  And S&P doesn’t mention human privation, stalled opportunity, justice, or any other kind of moral or political concern.  Rather, S&P claims that … Continue reading

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Occupy Maidan

They’re still there.  At least some of the protesters who toppled Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich months ago never left the Maidan, Kiev’s public square.  According to Steven Zeitchik’s report in this morning’s Los Angeles Times, the overwhelming majority of  the … Continue reading

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Tea Party business

Maybe the more important story of the conservative, mostly unsuccessful, primary challenges to incumbents isn’t the few victories nor the political shifts rightward from scared legislators.   Maybe the big story is the money, millions dumped into primary campaigns by challengers … Continue reading

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Thirty-five feet

I used to go to a wonderful dentist whose office, on Beacon Street in Brookline, was next door to the Planned Parenthood clinic at the center of today’s Supreme Court decision.  Once, accompanied by my wife (I’m very squeamish about … Continue reading

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Mississippi turning

Drawing the line back from Senator Thad Cochran’s narrow victory in the Republican primary run-off to the contentious politics of the Mississippi Project fifty years earlier is a little easier than you’d think, although it’s doubtful that many of those … Continue reading

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Is the Tea Party at the polls?

A professor beat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th district’s Republican primary; pundits are competing to find the right metaphor (earthquake?).  The common capsule description is that Dave Bratt, a professor of Economics at Randolph-Macon College, represented the … Continue reading

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Occupy Recapture on wheels

Phil Lyman, elected a county commissioner for San Juan County in Utah, thinks that people should be able to use public land near them as they see fit.  The Federal Bureau of Land Management disagrees, at least partly. Since 2007 … Continue reading

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Stanford, Steyer, and institutional allies

Here’s a little wrinkle on yesterday’s news about Stanford’s coal divestment: Billionaire Tom Steyer sits on Stanford’s board of trustees; actually, he’s vice-chair.  Steyer, formerly an extremely successful hedge fund manager, has been raising money for liberal and Democratic candidates … Continue reading

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Stanford and the Fossil Free campaign

Stanford University announced that it would work to divest holdings in coal companies from its investment portfolio.  It’s a relatively small blow to the coal industry, which is bracing for some bigger hits soon.  It’s also a big victory for … Continue reading

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The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP is not going to hold a dinner to honor Donald Sterling and Leland Spencer, as it had previously announced.  Its unpaid president, Leon Jenkins, is stepping down from his position, and the national … Continue reading

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