Bill Jouris

by wj I see that the U.K. and the E.U. have finally reached a deal on Brexit.* From this side of the pond, it looks like Brexit ends up being all about image and minimally about substance. Consider. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says: “We’ve taken back control of our laws and our destiny. We’ve … Read more

by wj Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating it. A belated Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating that. And a Happy New Year to all. (I’d say 2020 would be an easy act to follow, but I’m afraid that might be tempting fate.)

by wj There have been a number of analyses of the 2020 election which comment on the fact that pre-election analyses tended to treat Latino voters as a group. When, in fact, there are a large number of groups there, with quite different world-views, experiences, etc. You’ve got descendants of Cubans who fled Fidel Castro. … Read more

by wj We’re starting to see what some of the implementation challenges will be when we start to roll out the covid-19 vaccines. Some are pretty obvious. Others far less so, but no less important. First up: priorities – who gets the vaccine first? ICU doctors and nurses, obviously. But do other doctors and nurses … Read more

by wj We’re overdue for a new Open Thread. So this is it. Recently, I’ve seem increasing numbers of reports that members of the administration who speak with Trump, or with members of his inner circle, are routinely slanting (or totally inventing) what they say to him about the world outside the White House. Especially … Read more

by wj The most optimistic estimates suggest that we might have a covid-19 vaccine that works by the end of the year. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that actually happens. Then what? Well the obvious first step is to get production ramped up to produce enough doses to handle the whole country. (Well, … Read more

by wj Having spent a week variously trashing and defending the progressive approach, I thought we might try something similar for the other side. (Handicapped, admittedly, by the improbability of anyone sincerely doing defense.** But hey, ya go with what ya got.) At last week’s Virginia GOP party convention, Congressman Denver Riggleman (R-VA) was defeated … Read more

by wj I think we are overdue for an explicitly Open Thread. So here are a couple of totally unrelated items to kick us off. Item The US Stimulus Checks (technically “Economic Impact Payments”) are finally coming out. Ours just arrived. While President Trump’s name is right there on the front, his signature (contrary to … Read more

by wj It’s well after midnight in Iowa (and getting late here on the West Coast) and the results, even preliminary results, still aren’t in from the Iowa caucuses**. In fact, they’re saying it may be “late Tuesday” before we know anything. Not only after the Tuesday morning papers have got to press, but probably … Read more

by wj I was tempted to title this The Best People. But it’s what the “best people” have been doing that boggles my mind. The blanket refusal to respond to subpoenas has been in start contrast to how previous administrations, all previous administrations, have dealt with Congress. Let’s face it, no matter what one’s opinion … Read more

by wj “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” – Donald Trump on John McCain It appears that our Leader has found a way to avoid having people captured: run away. In keeping with his own approach to military service, I suppose. … Read more

by wj It is pretty clear that President Trump’s hopes for re-election depend enormously on having the economy be in good shape thru next fall. After all, his actual accomplishments otherwise (beyond constantly giving voice to his supporters fears) are essentially . . . nothing. (Well Putin and Kim may disagree. But getting them to … Read more

by wj While we have (understandably) been focused on the tragedies of the past week here, interesting things have been happening in the rest of the world as well. In Russia, there continue to be protests in spite of heavy police actions against them. A case could be made that Putin is getting progressively more … Read more

by wj I have been reading, with some bemusement, the calls from several (most? all?) of the Democratic candidates for free college for all. I’m bemused because I just don’t see this as a Federal issue. An issue nationwide, to be sure, but that’s not really the same thing. Let me be clear, I absolutely … Read more

by wj No, this is not about the contempt for others, or contempt for the law, that seem inherent in the personality of certain public figures. At least not directly. Rather, it is about Contempt of Congress and how it plays out. As you may be aware, the House Judiciary Committee is in the process … Read more

by wj My eye hit this article, and . . . words fail me. President Trump ordered major changes to U.S. asylum policies in a White House memo released Monday night, including measures that would charge fees to those applying for humanitarian refuge in the United States. How can anyone think that refugees and others … Read more

by wj Apologies all. I should have gotten this up before the release. But here it is now. (Feel free to repost your comments here.)

by wj There’s something to be said for us not losing track that there are great things happening in the world beyond politics. Like this one: Image of a Black Hole I admit that my first thought was :How can they take a picture of something that absorbs all light and reflects nothing?!?!?” But, of … Read more

by wj We are overdue for a new open thread. Unfortunately, inspiration is failing me this morning, so I’m going to fall back on something which is probably irrelevant to almost everyone else here: the California Department of Motor Vehicles. For those of you who are not aware, the DMV can be described (if ones … Read more

by wj I’d been thinking about a post on the topic. Both the more usual (relatively speaking) position on concerning blacks for slavery, and Senator Warren’s recent comment regarding Native Americans. Then 538 came along and gave me a hook to hang it on: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-americans-think-about-reparations-and-other-race-related-questions/ The first, obvious, and generally ignored question is: who qualifies? … Read more

by wj These musings about the American approach to security are not actually motivated by this week’s activities around Trump’s fantasy wall and its supporters. Although there are some obvious implications. Rather, they stem from the trip I took last week to Brussels. Specifically, about my observations concerning airport security in Europe, as opposed to … Read more

by wj We are all familiar with the phenomena of a figure in public life who seemed to promise one thing but then failed to live up to expectations. But there are also those for whom we have expectations, who go on to fulfill them (in whole or in part). Today, we have one of … Read more

by wj Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution requires the President to annually “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union”. President Washington did so with an address to Congress. But President Jefferson changed the practice to a written report. And so it remained until President Wilson re-established the practice … Read more

by wj I find myself repeatedly amazed by what is going on in North Carolina. First, as we have all noticed, the state legislature has been in a long effort to combat “voting fraud” – that is people voting who shouldn’t be. They have been undeterred by a lack of evidence that there was really … Read more

by wj Buried (at least for me) in the flood of political news these past weeks was something potentially far more important. It appears that a researcher in China has made the first human embryo gene edit. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/12/01/a-maverick-researcher-claims-to-have-created-gm-children It is perhaps not surprising that the guy who did it is not actually trained in reproductive … Read more

by wj I know the previous post says it’s an open thread. But I didn’t want to hijack the poetry discussion. So here’s a new one. Two things. First, his stupid tariffs notwithstanding, Trump appears to be helping Canada’s economy on one front: building their high tech industry. He is making it ever harder for … Read more

by wj I recall that one of the lines Trump used in denouncing his predecessor was “the world is laughing at us.” And now, finally, it has come true. Today at the UN, Trump got a novel reaction. Nobody applauded him. But there were chuckles, and some outright laughter, when he tried telling everyone that … Read more

by wj I see that things with Brexit are looking increasingly problematic: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/theresa-may-just-warned-of-a-no-deal-brexit-here-are-some-of-the-doomsday-scenarios/2018/09/17/3507ab2c-943b-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/09/14/britains-housing-market-could-be-headed-for-disaster Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is encouraging drug companies to stockpile extra medicine in case supplies cannot get onto the island after a no-deal Brexit. All of which is to say, the UK is heading for a dire mess. Thanks, in part, … Read more

by wj I notice that we’ve got politics sneaking into the TWA thread, so clearly we need a new open thread. Here goes. I’ve seen a variety of discussions about a possible impeachment next year. The general argument seems to start with the assumption that the Democrats take the House, so they can hold hearings, … Read more

by wj For the past week, we have mostly been focused on the family separation fiasco. Understandably. But in some senses this has been just another distraction effort (after all, they have now gone 3 steps forward and 1 step back; probably without general notice of the net movement). Meanwhile, there have been other things … Read more

by wj As I noted in a comment earlier, one of my political goals would be 1) equality of opportunity, 2) NOT equality of outcomes, 3) adequate support for those who are struggling, funded by money from those who have been most successful. But how do we get there? I think that first we have … Read more

by wj The big news this week appears to center around Michael Cohen, James Comey, and the usual political soap opera that our country seems to have become. But there is something else of interest going on — something which will actually have a noticable impact on most of us. Today, the Supreme Court heard … Read more

by wj An article in the Atlantic included an interesting observation: For many women, going it alone has meant poverty and loneliness, not empowerment. . . . Places like Ross County that have been hit by manufacturing declines are the leading edge of the future Rosin describes. Joblessness makes men less desirable partners, theorizes the … Read more

by wj Last week’s Science News included an article It’s time to redefine what qualifies as a planet. The proposal, by Will Grundy of Lowell Observatory and other planetary scientists: “It’s any round object in space that is smaller than a star.”** That returns Pluto to the fold. Also about a hundred other objects in … Read more

by wj A couple of days ago, Russell wrote a comment that got me thinking**: for about 50 years in the middle of the 20th C things were progressively (not capital-P progressively, just the normal usage of that word) better for “regular folks”, however you want to define that. Not so much for black regular … Read more