Trump’s China gambit
I’m so risk-averse I don’t even like to play the stock market. My aversion to risk is one of the many, many, many reasons I’m not Donald Trump. On the other hand, I do own some stocks, and I understand … Continue reading →
Yearly Archives: 2018
Of course Trump is guilty because we say he is
Josh Marshall on Trump and Russia: The greatest conceit in public life today is the notion that we don’t already know President Trump is guilty. Guilty of what? Conspiring, by whatever level of directness, with a foreign power to win … Continue reading →
One of the most touching of the #Walkaway stories
I’ve now watched a great many #WalkAway videos at YouTube. If you’re not familiar with #WalkAway, it’s a movement of people attesting to their decision to walk away from the Democratic Party and/or voting consistently liberal. That doesn’t necessarily make … Continue reading →
Hungary’s Orban and government censorship of the academy
Hungary’s Viktor Orban is continually referred to as “far right.” And perhaps he is. For example, I saw this article describing how Orban has decided to ban gender studies programs in the two universities in Hungary that have offered them … Continue reading →
Why are so many intellectuals collectivists?
Milton Friedman’s answer to the question, circa 1972: I think it’s in their own self-interest, in a double way. First, in a collectivist society, intellectuals have more power than they do in a free enterprise system. In the 1930s, the … Continue reading →
What the heat wave in Britain has revealed
When I first read the headline of this article—“‘Millennia of human activity’: heatwave reveals lost UK archaeological sites”—I imagined something like a fantasy movie in which some hulking ancient ruin comes heaving out of the ground, astounding the watching crowd. … Continue reading →
Another study on low-carb diets…
…comes up with some interesting results that might disturb advocates of low-carb diets: In a large cohort of adults living in four diverse US communities, with more than two decades of follow-up, mid-life dietary patterns marked by both low carbohydrate … Continue reading →
Aretha Franklin has died
She had a troubled life in certain ways, but boy could that woman ever sing. Most people think of “Respect” as Aretha Franklin’s anthem, and I suppose it was. I liked a great many of her songs very much—including that … Continue reading →
What I saw today in Tuscany
San Gimignano is a lovely place, but not quite as lovely when all the parking lots are full and you must circle around and around the town loop looking for a space to open up in one of the lots, … Continue reading →
Brennan’s security clearance revoked
Good. The only bad part about the news is that it gives Brennan the golden opportunity to be in the limelight again, and to fume against Trump—his favorite position and his favorite occupation. I really don’t question this decision of … Continue reading →
Why socialism is okay now (and, did you even actually listen to some of the claptrap that emanates from Bernie Sanders’ mouth?)
Seems that socialism is no longer a dirty word these days in the US as long as you call it “democratic socialism.” How did socialism get rehabilitated? I suppose that enough kids have finally matured who got little at school … Continue reading →
In case the Congo didn’t have enough troubles already…
…now there’s a new ebola epidemic. So far this one seems to involve a higher percentage of health care workers than previous epidemics. But now there are more tools to deal with ebola than ever before. There seems to be … Continue reading →