Edward Rhymes

Edward Rhymes is a Mint Press columnist and author of "When Racism Is Law & Prejudice Is Policy: Prejudicial and Discriminatory Laws, Decisions and Policies in U.S. History." Rhymes is an authority in critical race theory and black studies, and is featured in several textbooks. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology. Visit his website, www.rhymesworld.com, or contact him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @drRhymes .

How Corporations Monopolize Public Services On The Taxpayer’s Dime

More and more, the free market is suspended for the contractors that never have to deal with the worry of competing bids.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

The combination of the privatization of crucial public services and the prominence of no-bid government contracts has produced an interesting result — a virtual end run around, at least, the spirit of anti-trust laws. In private political monopolies, the company or corporation really has one prevailing bottom line: please the politicians that are

Read Full Article

Deficit Talk: Worrying About The Water Bill When The House Is On Fire

Meanwhile, Republican deficit hawks would rather pour gasoline on the economic fire instead.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

OK, it’s like this: our house is on fire. The flames are beginning to burn our belongings, family mementos, etc. (you get the picture). Finally, the fire department arrives. They begin to attach the hose to the fire hydrant situated on our property and then… I start arguing with my wife about how high the water bill will be and refuse to let the

Read Full Article

Ghosts Of COINTELPRO

What we’ve done and are still doing in the name of national security.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

I had rather take my chance that some traitors will escape detection than spread abroad a spirit of general suspicion and distrust, which accepts rumor and gossip in place of undismayed and unintimidated inquiry. – Learned Hand It is not lost on this writer what was being hotly debated before being trumped by events in Syria (and before Syria

Read Full Article

What The Government Shutdown Is Not About

The House Republicans’ hostage-taking of the economy isn’t about healthcare or jobs. It’s not even about the deficit.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

We have heard the GOP talking points regarding why we are in the midst of a government shutdown that has now extended into its second week. Declarations such as Obamacare must be stopped; runaway spending must be reined in; American liberty is at stake flow from the lips of GOP lawmakers like a steady and searching rainfall on pavement – seeking

Read Full Article

Neoliberal Nihilism On Display As GOP Shuts The Federal Government Down

With the ongoing government shutdown, the Republican Party has taken its anti-Obama extremism to a new level.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

With this latest GOP temper tantrum we see the depths to which a group of people are willing to sink to ensure the failure of an individual -- President Barack Obama. When a bill is passed by both houses of Congress, the president signs it and it is upheld by the Supreme Court -- and the candidate for president that ran against the program was

Read Full Article

Women At Twerk: The Whitewashing Of White Female Sexuality

Why is explicit White female sexuality celebrated when its Black counterpart is demonized?

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

This writer had avoided wading into the hoopla about Miley Cyrus’ performance at this year’s VMAs until a great deal of it had died down. Serious or sober critique is rarely heard above the deafening din of knee-jerk reactions. Nevertheless, the Cyrus incident does give an opportunity to deconstruct an aspect of American history and culture that

Read Full Article

Temporary Employment And The Continuing Permanence Of Poverty

There isn’t a lot of economic wiggle-room for the low-wage American worker.

Edward Rhymes
By Edward Rhymes

We’ve just celebrated Labor Day and the focus -- far too little in this writer’s opinion -- is on the state the American worker, and by extension, the state of American families. It’s a very unpopular phrase among the right-leaning populace, but the situation can’t be called anything short of class warfare. When the jobs now being produced in this

Read Full Article