Blogs AllSides

Why We Let Politicians Do the Thinking for Us

Bias / July 20th, 2015 / By Beth Ballentine

When a politician from the opposing party passes an unjust law, or engages in something you consider wrong, you’re justifiably outraged. But are you willing to overlook a transgression by a politician from your own party? Are you willing to switch your opinion on an issue based upon which...

Media Bias

Story of the Week: Iran Nuclear Deal

News / July 16th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

The U.S. and some of its friends shook hands on a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran this week. In exchange for limiting nuclear stockpiles, the agreement lifts sanctions that some say have crippled Iran's economy. Will this deal promote peace and keep Iran from building nuclear weapons...

Iran, Iran Negotiations, News

Divided Opinion Isn't What's Hurting America

Bias / July 16th, 2015 / By Beth Ballentine

What do you think is the biggest obstacle facing Washington today? If you say it’s the ever- expanding ideological gulf between Democrats and Republicans, you’re not alone. Many Americans are disheartened, and see this issue escalating with no solution in sight. But is divided opinion...

Political Polarization, Polarization

Story of the Week: Immigrants, Crime, and Trump's Comments

News / July 9th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

While the confederate flag removal vote has dominated news headlines this week, it was not the most controversial. We saw more variation in coverage of the issue of illegal immigrants, crime , and Donald Trump's comments , so we've chosen to highlight this story for you today. [Also see...

Immigration, Donald Trump, News

Story of the Week: Gay Marriage Ruling

News / July 2nd, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

From news headlines to Facebook, the most discussed, celebrated, hated, and debated topic in the U.S. this past week has been the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across the country. Both sides of the issue claim they are on the side of the Constitution. Today...

News

How Important is the Truth?

Bias / June 29th, 2015 / By Beth Ballentine

Do you base your political decisions upon logic or upon emotion? Are you willing to disregard problematic facts in order to remain loyal to your political party? How critical is the truth when it comes to your political opinion? If you consider these absurd questions, you may be surprised...

Story of the Week: Supreme Court Rules on Healthcare Subsidies

News / June 25th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

June 25, 2015 The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, has just survived another SCOTUS challenge. This one had to do with whether the text of the law authorizes certain insurance subsidies for individuals. Many people on both sides of the issue felt that a lot was at stake in this...

Supreme Court, Healthcare, News

How to Spot Your Partisan Bias

Bias / June 22nd, 2015 / By Beth Ballentine

Whether extremely conservative or steadfastly liberal, partisan minds think alike in many ways. And the reason why may be deeper than we realize. While we might consider ourselves unbiased and logical, the truth is that Americans often simply come to reflexive conclusions about politics...

Story of the Week: Church Shooting

News / June 18th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

A horrifying tragedy occurred in Charleston on Wednesday night. Nine people were shot to death by a young white man at a black church Bible study. In response, we have seen the Left and Right aligning in their concern and outrage. Glenn Beck announced he would travel to Charleston and...

News, Church Shooting, Shooting

How Partisan Politics Narrows Your Thinking

Bias / June 15th, 2015 / By Beth Ballentine

When it comes to politics, do you think for yourself? Or do you allow politicians, the media and political parties tell you what to believe? You may consider these questions ridiculous, if not downright insulting. Of course no one tells you what to think! Perhaps there are weak, stupid,...

Story of the Week: Battling ISIS in Iraq

News / June 11th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

The President has just authorized sending up to 450 additional troops to Iraq. The stated goal: increase training of local security forces in their fight against ISIS. There are already 3,100 U.S. troops at four training sites in Iraq. Is this move reasonable, too aggressive, not...

ISIS, Iraq, News

AllSides For Schools: Dialogs

Announcement / June 4th, 2015 / By Lucy Pinto

Schools

Story of the Week: Rick Perry

News / June 4th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

This week's political headlines have been dominated by coverage of 2016 candidates and NSA surveillance issues . Since we noticed a particularly strong contrast in the coverage of Rick Perry's presidential bid launch (starting with the headlines alone), we're highlighting that story for...

Rick Perry, Presidential Elections, News

Story of the Week: New EPA Water Protection Rule

News / May 28th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

Before we get into our featured story, we have a question for you: wouldn't it be great to get all the top stories about your own state in the AllSides multiple-perspective format? If you happen to live in Utah, we've got good news! You can do that here . Utah is our first region-specific...

EPA, News

Story of the Week: Bin Laden Doc Release

News / May 21st, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

This week, U.S. intelligence officials declassified a large number of the documents seized during the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. What do they reveal? At the time of this writing, the media is just beginning to explore this story, but what we see so far is that these documents...

Osama Bin Laden, News

Story of the Week: Trade Deal

News / May 14th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

Earlier this week Obama's own party resisted his lobbying for a major trade bill, but on Wednesday Senate leaders said they had forged a deal to move forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). Will this bill ultimately be considered a bipartisan...

Trade, News

Story of the Week: Responses to Baltimore

News / May 7th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

There were plenty of good candidates for Story of the Week this week, such as the expansion of the GOP 2016 candidate field and the Muhammad cartoon show shooting in Texas . But, as events surrounding and following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore have dominated the news for over a...

Baltimore, Baltimore Riots, Violence In America, News

Story of the Week: Gay Marriage and the Supreme Court

News / April 30th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

This week, the US Supreme Court is examining four cases about whether or not the Constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry regardless of the laws passed in their state. At issue: Equality and civil rights? States' sovereignty? Religious liberty? It depends who you ask...

Same-Sex Marriage, LGBTQ Issues, Supreme Court, News

Story of the Week: Earth Day- Obama's Climate Change Speech

News / April 23rd, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

On Earth Day this week, President Obama gave a talk in the Florida Everglades about climate change, declaring it an imminent threat to the planet and to Florida's economy. The President has been calling for laws to control greenhouse gases and carbon pollution amid support from the Left...

Climate Change, Barack Obama, Earth Day, News

Story of the Week: Congress Has Say On Iran

News / April 16th, 2015 / By John Gable, AllSides Co-founder

It's been an eventful week in politics with Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton announcing their runs for president. In the midst of all the headlines about Clinton and Rubio, we also saw the White House signal that the president is ready to sign a measure giving Congress a voice on the...

Iran, US Congress, News

Perspectives Blog

Israel-Hamas War: Updates, Tracking Misinformation, and More