"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by Ugh One would think with a 15+ month Presidential campaign we should know Where They Stand on the IssuesTM, especially the winner. But alas, it seems heartfelt policy positions are not really part of GOP President-Elect Trump's id nor were they of much interest to the MSM in the lead up to November 8th. … Read more
by liberal japonicus Today’s a holiday here in Japan (Kinroukansha no hi or Labor day) and have just gotten around to visiting a bunch of blogs that work and writing have kept me from, and saw this post at LGM saying that Scott Eric Kaufmann had died. I often assume that I’m reading what everyone … Read more
by russell McK has, in a couple of different posts, offered the idea that Syrian Muslims might not be good candidates for immigration to the US. Their religion and culture, the idea is, are too different from ours to allow them to assimilate. I find this questionable, because our history is full to the brim … Read more
liberal japonicus In some ways, this might be a lesser companion to Sebastian’s recent post. Unfortunately, as I’ve been working on it, lots of interesting comments and observations have come in the thread which have me thinking, but I’m not able to address them by acknowledging the people who said them. Apologies for that. This … Read more
–by Sebastian Tobias Rose-Stockwell has an interesting piece on polarization. The main takeaway for me was "Contact increases empathy. Insulation Kills it". Though the insight that the brain sees "thousands of people believe something" and "millions of people believe something" as essentially the same thing is also important. Tobias talks about the dynamic which reinforces … Read more
by russell leonard cohen, then leon russell… and now mose allison? all since election day? are these guys trying to tell us it's time to get off the freaking planet? I'm gonna miss Mose, he was the hippest of the hip. Not in a "you'll never be as hip as me, so don't even try" … Read more
It is generally received wisdom that a large part of Trump's success in the Republican primaries was a result of a collection action problem from there being too large of a field. Each individual candidate realized that whomever moved against Trump first was likely to get burned badly. Each of the candidates believed that if … Read more
by russell I'm trying to get my head around the transition to a Trump presidency. Apparently he doesn't want to live full time at the White House. How is that going to work out? Isn't the POTUS sort of expected to be available 24/7 if needed? NYC is not that far from DC, but it … Read more
–by Sebastian By far the biggest thing about voting is that it is very tribal. The easiest predictor of how anyone will vote is to identify the tribe they voted for last time. For most people that changes at most ONE time in their entire lifetime. Now of course it is a feedback loop–the parties … Read more
by russell the mystery is revealed. here ya go. McConnell's response is interesting. we're off and running. buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
by Ugh Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition. I just….wow. Are we relying on Ivanka to be the adult in the room? Did they give him his twitter keys back yet? Since signing every bill Ryan/McConnell put in front of him and Alito-esque Justices are high probabilities right now…. Jeepers. And as bad as … Read more
by Ugh It's here! God it's like Christmas morning only without the presents, joy, holiday cheer, tree, decorations, and your crabby Uncle that nobody likes. Okay maybe not so much. Perhaps more like Lady Macbeth and the damn spot, at least with respect to the campaign. My prediction – Hillary wins with 300+ electoral … Read more
by liberal japonicus If I’ve done this correctly, Ugh’s post (long may it wave!) should be above this one. Just thought that you might like to read some non-US political stuff and this is fascinating, at least to me. It also makes complaints about money for speeches or putting people on boards seem like pretty … Read more
by Doctor Science A few weeks ago Sprog the Elder, who was born in 1989, asked me to explain why some people hate Hillary Rodham Clinton so very, very much. She knew that it went back to the Bill Clinton administration, but had no idea what it was based on. This is more or less … Read more
by Ugh Someone will throw up an open thread tomorrow for so-called "Election Day" (3:10 mark), including possibly me, in the meantime: Kudos (do people say kudos anymore or is it like "swell" which has been uncool since at least Superman the Movie?) to the IRS – if ever there were an election where a … Read more
–by Sebastian I was reviewing old posts and I came across this on cybershaming It is also the topic of a recent Black Mirror Episode (which is a series that I'm enjoying quite a bit). Ten years have passed since I published that original article, and experience with the topic has suggested to me that … Read more
by Ugh Grab your towel it's one week to go and per the radio this morning Trump leads by 1% in at least one poll among likely voters post-James Comey's stupidity (I'm being generous, but, please resign, thx). In the latest news, unsurprisingly, Trump's tax losses may not be kosher for tax purposes. Will he … Read more