The criminalization of poverty

I didn't used to see tents when I moved to Koreatown two years ago, but when the city of Los Angeles revealed that there's been an 85 percent increase in people living in such makeshift shelters during that time I thought: Yup, I've seen it -- first there was one, then there was three, then there were entire tent cities. That spurred me to write a story about the problem and the city's approach to it, which -- the occasionally liberal rhetoric of the mayor aside -- can be summed up as: What if we just made it illegal to be that damn poor? Today The Intercept published that story. It is my personal opinion that you should read it.

Also, for Inter Press Service, I reviewed a new book, Against All Odds: Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq. I'd read that too -- the book and the review.