I didn't expect Mad Men to tie everything up neatly -- far from it, given what the show has been abo...

1. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
I didn't expect Mad Men to tie everything up neatly -- far from it, given what the show has been
about for the past seven seasons. But let's just say that some past season finales were more
satisfying and resonant than the series finale was.
The account of unsavory chicanery in high places once again spotlights the deceit that now is the
hallmark of how our government works. Here are a few crucial points essential to assessment of
Seymour Hersh's interpretation.
Michael Brenner
Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of
Pittsburgh
There's a promise we make to the next generation: Graduate from college and you can get ahead.
Yet, as we make this promise, public higher education institutions nationwide are facing a troubling
trend of disinvestment. Students deserve better, and now is the time to act.
When the Wall Street bubble burst in 2008 because of excessive risk-taking, millions of working
Americans lost their jobs, health insurance, savings, and homes. But The Street is back to many of
its old tricks. And its lobbyists are busily rolling back the Dodd-Frank Act, intended to prevent
another crash.
Robert Reich
Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; author, 'Beyond
Outrage'
According to United Nations statistics, noncombatants are dying in greater numbers every year,
with the Taliban and other insurgents responsible for 72 percent of those deaths through suicide
attacks and the use of IEDs and other indiscriminate weapons.
Under my proposal, the district attorneys are given the benefit of the doubt and are not superseded
until a reason exists that suggests bias or wrongdoing. However, I would also reform the grand jury
system to increase transparency by mandating that in such cases, there is public disclosure of the
district attorneys instructions to the grand jury as to which charges they should consider.
There are few policies that show the split between elite opinion and everyone else as clearly as trade
policy. On trade we see a remarkable convergence of the leadership of both parties against their
base, with the elites firmly behind the leadership against what they view as the ignorance of the
masses.
Dean Baker
Co-director, CEPR; author, 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive'
If you watched, you're surely pondering the meaning of Draper/Whitman's latest and greatest
incarnation as New Age pitchman of killer soft drinks. But I've also given a lot of thought to

2. something else: What was Mad Men trying to tell us about America?
The Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been sentenced to death. The 21-year-old man who
accompanied his brother on a journey of violence and terrorism will now live out the years of his
appeals process until a lethal injection is administered to end his life. Certainly there are no winners.
When we talk about all of the problems we have on Earth and the need to solve them, it is only
through such AI-human collaboration that we will gain the ability to solve our grandest challenges
and truly create a world of abundance.
Does the United States, after years of waivers, bear a responsibility for helping to entrench South
Sudan's practice of using child soldiers?
At the Cancer Prevention Summit on May 20th, 2015, experts in public health will challenge us all to
consider what we could be doing better to prevent cancer. Most importantly, we need to commit to a
collaborative effort, involving every segment of our society.
Exposés like the Times' series on nail salon workers, and the other investigative research that came
before it, can help shift consciousness. But what's also required is a power shift. A true
transformation will require a broad social movement with the power to bring government back on
the side of working families.
There is too much on the line for us to get caught up with minor differences. From racial disparity to
income inequality, immigration reform, marriage equality, fair housing, job growth, pay equity,
improved schools and much more, the challenges we face are real, and our commitment must be
steadfast.
Everyone who has an opinion on the Edward Snowden revelations should watch this film. Everyone
who has an opinion on the USA PATRIOT Act should tune in. Disturbed by the National Security
Agency's actions? Check your local listings for when the PBS show Independent Lens airs. I say all
this, mind you, before I've even seen the film.
NEW YORK -- Ironically, in this era of exponential growth, we are witnessing the disappearance of
cities. Our urbanism is becoming increasingly generic -- a Starbucks on every corner and an iPhone
in every palm. We can do better.
Michael Sorkin
Distinguished Professor of Architecture, City College of New York
We are facing the decimation of entire small town economies, a disruption the likes of which we

3. haven't seen since the construction of the interstate highway system itself bypassed entire towns.
This time, it's different. This time, there's no need for entire towns to even exist at all.
Ladies' nights and last-minute dinner plans were easy to accommodate when neither of us had a
significant other, but the second a man entered my life I'd become flaky and unreliable, always
canceling plans if it meant getting to see my boyfriend.
Claire Davidson
Writer blogger with equal passions for metaphysical matters and reality TV. Runs a blog for strong
sensitive women: scotchandthefox.com
After the dust-up between Obama and Netanyahu settles, we can expect to add even more steel to
our commitment search engines to protect Israel by adding more to its already vast store of
sophisticated weapons. Thus, we take another step deeper into the tragedy of U.S. intervention in
the Middle East that has become a noxious farce.
Jeff Faux
Jeff Faux, author of The Servant Economy
This is not our parents' trade bill. It is not about providing fair trade -- which we all support. Fast
track is about pushing through the TPP, TTIP and future trade agreements that would massively
increase the power of big corporations and affect the daily lives of Americans. The impacts go
beyond job loss -- as serious as that is.
Mad Men has everything to do with Ferguson. It has relevance in congressional stalemates, with e-
commerce. But perhaps the most perplexing result of the displacing plot techniques of Mad Men is
the idea that the show isn't about men at all -- it's about American women.
It disturbs me that so many people have been hurt by a horrible lie about who Jesus is, and what his
church is about. It is up to us to go out there and reclaim, and proclaim the authentic Gospel of love
and liberation
Meetings may be toxic, but calendars are the superfund sites that allow that toxicity to thrive. I've
yet to see a résumé -- and I hope I never do -- that lists "attends meetings well" as a skill. Yet
attending meetings ends up being a key component of many jobs. And it's stupid.
King performed in Russia, China and Europe, and while in his 80s, he was still playing concerts in
Denmark, Germany and France. He was an embodiment of American Soft Power, expressing the
vitality and spirit of a diverse nation.
Derek Shearer
Professor of Diplomacy at Occidental College and former US ambassador
The questions for him are different. The variance is faint, but it's there, if you're listening. The
comments and questions move on quickly from how he looks to what he can do, which super powers
he has.
There's a real progressive critique of the Clintons to be made. Hillary is aware of it, and is taking

4. political steps to shore up her left flank. But trying to create a genuine political problem by having
right-wingers tweet messages they don't believe to progressives who know what's going on? That's a
prescription for irrelevance.
There's nothing on earth that's more delicious.
Catchphrases were created and run into the ground for fun. I don't recall a single sentence of any
foreign language I ever studied. But I do remember "too much lotion!" and "they pelted us with
rocks and garbage!"
Email's, texts, and alerts feed your desire to be important, to be loved, and to get good news. It
won't go away if you just stop hitting the button. Instead, you have to learn rewire the whole damn
system.
The Florida senator is the ideal candidate to expand the Reagan coalition while holding on to the
conservative base, and he can take shots at Clinton that would sound hypocritical coming from Bush.
While his power as a candidate has yet to emerge in the polls, a misstep by Bush will send him
straight to the top.