Selections from the December 15, 2014 issue

COVER/Bill De Blasio
Don’t soul-search—stiffen your backbone

EDITORIAL
Whose butt gets kicked?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

RURAL ROUTES/Margot McMillen
Know your neighbors, look out for CAFOs

DISPATCHES
Senate rejects Keystone pipeline—for now;
Rand Paul helps GOP kill NSA reform;
New Senate chair would privatize Postal Service;
Senators up for election in 2016;
Public trusts GOP over Dems on economy;
Pensions targeted by unscrupulous lenders:
Texas oil 'regulator' won't honor town's fracking ban;
Election over, campaign to reduce poverty starts;Krugman: Government can do good ...

DON ROLLINS
The trumped up case against Maynard

GRASSROOTS/Hank Kalet
National narratives leave voters in the dark

BILL JOHNSTON
Conversation about economics before race

HEALTH CARE/Joan Retsinas
A perverse incentive to get healthy

SAM URETSKY
Giving up choice on pharmacies

JOHN YOUNG
Dems bonked by Newton’s apple

WAYNE O’LEARY
Nonpartisan delusion

JOHN BUELL
Economics for a slow growth world

BOOK REVIEW/Seth Sandronsky
Flying patterns

JASON STANFORD
When the herd is wrong

ROB PATTERSON
Don’t be a hater on the ‘net

POPULIST PICKS
‘Pillar of Fire’; ‘Carter Girl’; Longreads.com

DONALD KAUL
How did we get here?

and more ...