Et tu, Sweden?
Sweden is facing an election, and the right seems poised to make a better showing than usual: Polling over the summer has put the ruling Social Democrats on as low as a 21% vote share – down 10% on its … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Politics
The McCain funeral
First let me just say that I didn’t watch it, nor have I watched clips of the proceedings. I didn’t watch the funeral because listening to speech after speech is of no interest to me and I rarely do it … Continue reading →
Brazil’s Trump?
I just read this article about the current frontrunner in the Brazilian presidential elections, a man named Jair Bolsonaro who is described in the article I just linked as “far-right,” and given to racist and misogynistic utterances: Loathed by much … Continue reading →
On the importance of governorships
[See ADDENDUM below.] Think about this for a moment: With John McCain’s death, the governor of Arizona gets to appoint his successor to the US Senate. The timing of McCain’s death is such that this person will get to serve … Continue reading →
Trump talk
And by “Trump talk” I don’t mean the chatter of the president. I mean the verbiage of those who talk a great deal about him, and who clearly hate his guts. I know quite a few such people, although I … Continue reading →
Is Sessions on the way out?
Perhaps: Top Senate Republicans sent dueling signals on Thursday about whether it would be safe for President Donald Trump to fire the attorney general he can’t stand… The back-and-forth on the Hill came just as Sessions took the rare step … Continue reading →
Bret Easton Ellis on identity politics
I’ve never read anything by Bret Easton Ellis before. One reason is that I don’t like fiction all that much unless it’s fabulous, and I definitely don’t like violent fiction, which by all accounts American Psycho (Ellis’s most popular novel) … Continue reading →
Well, at least they’re not pretending anymore
Thomas Friedman instructs his fellow journalists (I use the term advisedly) on how best to hurt Trump. It reads like unintentional parody. He thinks the way to best hurt Trump would be to cover him thoroughly, letting America (and especially … Continue reading →
Interpreting special elections is not an easy task
There was another special election yesterday, this time for the US House member from the 12th District of Ohio. At this moment, Republican Troy Balderson retains a very narrow lead. But, consistent with other special elections since the 2016 regular … Continue reading →
Evaluating a president—any president
Commenter “Ariel” addresses these remarks by another commenter in this way: …”but [Trump’s] policies are overall working pretty well” How the hell can you know that? I say this from watching George Bush blamed for the housing crash when it … Continue reading →
The FBI dismissed Steele as a source but kept using him anyway
Byron York has been one of the reporters who has repeatedly taken on the difficult task of delving into the details of the Russia-Trump-collusion investigation by the FBI. What he finds usually isn’t pretty. And this is no exception: Because … Continue reading →
Are people really this stupid, or are they just funnin’ with the pollsters?
I hope, I hope, I hope they’re just messing with the pollsters’ minds. Because otherwise, a great many of them are just profoundly stupid. I refer to these poll results: …51% of Democrats have a favorable impression of socialism, with … Continue reading →