Eric Boehlert

Senior Fellow, Media Matters for America

There's been surprisingly little media discussion about whether Chicago's strict gun laws, routinely ridiculed by the right-wing, might actually be working. While it's difficult to determine why crime rises and falls, to blame a policy when rates rise and ignore it when they drop doesn't make sense.

Arianna Huffington

The biggest movie of the summer isn't Man of Steel, or The Lone Ranger, or Fast & Furious 6. It's a new documentary called How to Make Money Selling Drugs, and it exposes the hypocrisy, insanity, and destructiveness of America's drug war.

Christopher Hayes

Host, 'All In with Chris Hayes'

The 33-year-old reporter and author died early Tuesday morning in a car wreck -- a brutal, tragic loss that has robbed the world of an exemplary journalist, and singularly talented writer. He wrote detailed, diligent, riveting reportorial prose and he was also kind, generous, charming and earnest.

Martha Burk

Money Editor, Ms. magazine; director, Corporate Accountability Project, National Council of Women's Organizations

House Speaker John Boehner told reporters the GOP's abortion ban that passed the House 228-196 on Tuesday won't change the party's relationship with women. He's half right. It won't change the party's relationship with women, because women already hate the GOP.

Viviana Hurtado

Host, Hispanic Business Today on NBC; blogger-in-chief, The Wise Latina Club, former ABC News correspondent

It is true that elections are tight and every vote counts. But does finding a few bad ballots trump the constitutionally protected right of the 30,000 Arizonans who were denied theirs or the millions of others living in the states and counties covered by the Voting Rights Act?

Dave Helfert

Professor of Political Communication, Johns Hopkins University

Anytime our government feels the need to infringe even a little bit on personal privacy, we ought to be concerned. However, what's ironic about an overreaction to the NSA revelations is that Americans are "spied on" every day. The process is called microtargeting.

Melinda Gates

Co-chair, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

When Germany and other wealthy nations came together to create the Global Fund a decade ago, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria were leading causes of death in developing countries. But world leaders recognized that they could make dramatic gains against these three diseases.

Jeff Danziger

Political cartoonist syndicated by the NYTimes worldwide

Robert Reich

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

It's as if they didn't learn a thing from 2012. Republicans are on the same suicide mission as before -- trying to block immigration reform, roll back the clock on abortion rights, and stop gay marriage wherever possible.

Lori Day

Educational psychologist and consultant, Lori Day Consulting

The people attacking others and their rights are always the ones awash in power, clinging to it, choking it off for others. Anyone else trying to get their fair share? They are not "waging war." They are doing everything they can, from a place of significantly less power, to stand up for themselves.

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Detroit, which grew and prospered for much of the last century, has become a wasteland of abandoned buildings, lawlessness, and municipal debts. Who'll pay the price for the fall of Detroit?

David Bier

Policy Analyst, Competitive Enterprise Institute

When legislators and regulators begin to discover the possibilities created by E-Verify, the end-product ultimately may be what few people who supported the original version envisioned.

Jared Bernstein

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

Opponents who wanted to make the case that comprehensive reform of our current "system" would be a net cost just got some pretty bad news.

Gordon Whitman

Director of Policy, PICO National Network

Immigration reform is a big plus for the economy: The reason why immigration reform lowers the deficit by so much is that immigrants who no longer have to work under the table will earn more money and pay hundreds of billions of dollars more in federal taxes.

Lee A. Saunders

President, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO

Once again, the facts speak for themselves: Unions are the first and last line of defense for America's workers.

Scout, Ph.D.

Director of The Fenway Institute's Network for LGBT Health Equity, Boston.

A year ago I wrote a HuffPost blog post decrying the apparent stall in LGBT research integration at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Now I'm happy to say NIH is moving forward with good speed on this topic.

Joshua Graham Lynn

Program Director, Represent.Us

Do I really believe that Limbaugh has evolved beyond partisanship? No, the sun still rises in the East. But I'm grinning because I've learned that at the end of the day America only works when it represents its people, and it's fun to see Rush learn that lesson too.