Obvious Things
These are not necessarily facts; they’re just things that seem obvious to me. But I feel like I still need to point them out, because obvious things just aren’t getting the attention they deserve.
politics
Here’s What Happened to Jeff Sessions: A Lesson for Early Adopters
Jeff Sessions — former Alabama Attorney General, former U.S. Senator, former U.S. Attorney General, a man who is as plugged in to Alabama politics as it is possible to be — recently got curb-stomped in a Republican primary run-off by a former football coach who is not even from Alabama. What happened? Analysts looking at … Read more
More on Coronavirus Overreaction
Here’s an article from the Cato Institute on the economic dangers of overreacting to the Wuhan Flu. Important bit: In a Washington Post piece, a small‐business owner with 75 employees expressed her fear at the impossible situation she is in. Cathy Merrill argues that even a two‐month closure would be a death sentence to businesses … Read more
How About a Nice, Warm Cup of Calm Down?
It’s about time we started seeing more articles like this one from Powerline, Stop the Insane Overreaction: Here is a prediction: the deaths of Americans caused by the Wuhan flu bug will be dwarfed by the suicides committed by people whose life’s savings have been wiped out, whose businesses have been bankrupted, whose jobs have … Read more
What in the World is Going on in American Politics Right Now?
Why is American politics so crazy right now? Short answer: Because it’s always been crazy. In a great historical review in The American Interest, Frank J. DiStefano shows that the rise and fall of political parties and periodic realignment are just par for the course: In reality, American parties are temporary coalitions forged as tools … Read more
At Least They’re Consistent
Democrats spent most of the decade of the Nineties trying to tell us that character doesn’t matter. Now they’re taking the opportunity of the New Jersey Senate race to try to reinforce that lesson: NJ.com is certainly no fan of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Three years ago, the news outlet’s editorial board called on Menendez … Read more
As Seen in The Federalist
Hey, I got a piece published in The Federalist today. Swing over and check it out: The Left Isn’t Deranged About Trump, They’re Power Addicts Crazy For Another Hit
Nike Gives a Marketing Strategy Seminar
In an amphitheater classroom in a Portland community college, some of the world’s best known brands have gathered to hear the wisdom of all-time brand superstar Nike. The atmosphere is heady with anticipation of the wisdom that will spill forth as the world leader in swoosh-branded things begins to speak. Nike: I’d like to thank … Read more
Fake News Controversies from 1764
I’m reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin right now. I was interested in it because I enjoyed Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs so much. And while this book isn’t as compelling as the Jobs book (not least because Franklin wasn’t as big of an a-hole as Jobs), I have learned that Franklin bathed more … Read more
The Value of Door-to-Door Canvassing
So, yesterday I’m in the bedroom trying to figure out how to make our TV work better (“Stupid TV! Be more funny!“). Because when you cut out cable, it doesn’t cut out your craving for a steady stream of sweet, sweet televised media, even if it’s only Family Ties reruns and X-Games highlights, and you … Read more
Colonel Nicholson Conservatives
We’re well into year two of the Trump presidency, and well past the time when any lingering intramural hard feelings on the conservative side should’ve been smoothed over. That’s how it normally goes — egos get punctured in the primaries, expectations get modified based on who the actual candidate is, and then the winning party … Read more
Stripping with Stormy Daniels
The reason people can box for sport and exercise is that everybody agrees to a set of time-honored rules beforehand. Because of those rules, sparring can look like fighting, but it’s not really a fight because the participants aren’t trying to hurt or kill each other. So, everybody can get in shape and hone their … Read more
Some Final Thoughts on the Great Alabama Republican Self-Wedgie of 2017
As a coda to the recent special election for senator in Alabama, I have some thoughts on watching the whole thing descend into the worst Benny Hill skit ever. This was the most issue-free election I have ever witnessed, or even heard about. There were more trenchant policy discussions when Betty ran against Veronica for … Read more
Ann Althouse May be the Only Commentator Who Understands the Alabama Senate Election (Update: The Federalist too)
Because this is it, in a nutshell:
Looking in the Wrong Direction
Everybody has been having a lot of fun lately ridiculing not only Roy Moore but also anyone who would vote for Roy Moore. In the process, many have taken advantage of a great chance to show off their exquisitely fine-tuned sense of morality as people who wouldn’t consider voting that degenerate hillbilly now, even though … Read more
“Fixer Upper” and Term Limits
As much as I hate the idea of lifer politicians holding an office until the day they die, I’ve always been against the idea of term limits, for two simple reasons. First, if I love Joe Incumbent and I want to keep voting for him over and over until he’s had to file a lawsuit … Read more
We’re About to Send a Crazy Man to the Senate, and I’ve Never Been Prouder to be an Alabamian
Roy Moore won the runoff for the Republican nomination for Senate in Alabama. He won after being outspent by his primary opponent, Luther Strange, by a margin of 5 to 1. And he’s probably going to win the general election by about 20 points. (I love the post-runoff speculation by people who haven’t been right … Read more
The Comic Book Force Field Theory of the Trump Presidency
Comic books take place in a world that’s like our own, but with some key, crucial differences. It’s a world that has science and technology, but it’s different from from the science and technology that we know. For instance, it’s a world where the phrase “radioactive spider” makes perfect sense. Where you can apparently buy … Read more
The Failure of Obamacare, the Failure of Obamacare Repeal, and the Coming Kid Rock Presidency
The Trump presidency hasn’t really changed much about Washington. What it has done is unmask and throw into sharp relief the sad state of felonious crapitude the place was already in. The people that are going most out of their minds over Trump are the people who most desperately want to keep things going the … Read more
Fixing Health Insurance in One Blog Post
As the Congressional Republicans continue to treat health insurance law the way a monkey treats a typewriter, one of the stories we keep hearing is how so very hard this process is. Healthcare regulation is hard and heath insurance is complicated and, man, unwinding this Obamacare thing is so difficult that we just don’t know … Read more