"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by Eric Martin Megan McArdle, to her credit, makes a go at an updated mea culpa for her position on the Iraq war. One of the reasons cited for her, admittedly, flawed decision to support the war seems a bit odd, however: I erroneously believed that I could interpret the actions of Saddam Hussein. He seemed to be acting … Read more
by Eric Martin Edward E. Curtis IV has a useful summary of facts/myths surrounding mosques in the United States (via). In one portion, he comments on Sharia law (a topic of some concern on this site in recent weeks): In Islam, sharia ("the Way" to God) theoretically governs every human act. But Muslims do not … Read more
by Eric Martin Yet another post-mortem of the housing bubble and subsequent bank meltdown that debunks the conservative theory that loans to poor minorities/Fannie and Freddie was the culprit in any meaningful way: The wave of housing price increases was kicked off by changes in private label securitization. These changes left Fannie and Freddie with a … Read more
by Eric Martin The New York Times has a piece highlighting one aspect of the pointlessness of our ongoing slog in Afghanistan: The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials. Mohammed Zia … Read more
by Eric Martin Now that the dust has settled regarding Jeffrey Goldberg's much anticipated, and much discussed, article on Israel's plans to launch a war with Iran (or, better yet, have the United States do the favor), I must say that despite the charges leveled against Goldberg – even from myself on occasion (propagandist, likudnik, … Read more
by Eric Martin This should come as no surprise, despite the heated rhetoric: the stimulus bill…stimulated the economy! Alas, though it was not big enough, it was better than the alternative (as offered by the GOP, which was no stimulus, or a much smaller package consisting entirely of tax cuts): The oft-criticized stimulus plan boosted the … Read more
by Jacob Davies This letter from Berkeley professor Michael O’Hare to his students is so good I’m just going to include it in full here: Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, … Read more
by Eric Martin A few weeks back, Bret Stephens took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to issue the latest iteration of what is a recurring hawkish argument in favor of continuing the war du jour (in the present example, Stephens is arguing for prolonging the longest war in US history - the war in Afghanistan): The U.S. … Read more
by Jacob Davies There was a long and widely-discussed piece in the NY Times Magazine on Sunday about the increasing tendency of 20-somethings to move back in with their parents, to fail to find a solid job, and to delay getting married or having children. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s … Read more
by Eric Martin Nicholas Kristof is very good on the Park51 project, and the strategic, historical and cultural significance of the wider controversey: Is there any doubt about Osama bin Laden’s position on the not-at-ground-zero mosque? Osama abhors the vision of interfaith harmony that the proposed Islamic center represents. He fears Muslim clerics who can … Read more