Latest posts
Jindal's Tax Plan is Un-American
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The problem with societies that have massive income inequality isn't just a matter of fairness. It's a matter of functionality. In the 18th Century, French peasants really had no hope of improving their lives or the lives of their children. That's...
Reading List
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Woody Allen is funny. If you see an American abroad carrying an easel and some paints, he could be a CIA operative. And a good one, too. I am only learning about Aaron Swartz now that he has hanged himself. I don't know if an overzealous pro...
JFK Conspiracy Theory Thread
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The news cycle is so boring that it is probably a good time to engage in some gold old JFK assassination speculation. After all, it is the 50th anniversary this year. And now RFK Jr. is on the record that he's convinced that there was more than one...
The Chances for Immigration Reform
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Benjy Sarlin has a very interesting piece up at Talking Points Memo about how unions evolved from seeing undocumented workers as scabs during the era of Cesar Chavez to seeing them, in more recent years, as an exploited workforce deserving of repres...
Let's Make it $60 Trillion!!
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Yes, why settle for a $1 trillion coin when you can make a $60 trillion coin? When I mentioned this possibility, I was met with a bunch of commentary about how the president couldn't buy bling for himself because he would only be paying the bills th...
The Right Never Stops
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George Packer's article in The New Yorker about the increasing isolation of the South is interesting, but I wonder why I never see anyone mention how the GOP is just a constant annoying source of unnecessary stress for everyone. I mean it is complet...
It Was Bad Strategy, Anyway
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Look, like pretty much everyone else, I've been wrong about a few things in the debate about the platinum coin, but I was right on the main things. The White House, the Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve have determined that it would not b...
Get Rid of Your Racists, Moron
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J-Rube is trying to give advice to the GOP on how to fix their "Hispanic problem." She could start by counseling them to say 'Latinos' instead of 'Hispanics.' Most of her advice is pretty good, but she doesn't figure out the main thing that the Rep...
Have You Gotten the Flu?
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Everyone in our household got the flu in December and half of us are sick with not-necessarily-flulike symptoms as we speak. We are getting hammered by pre-school germs that we aren't used to, but I wonder what people think about the relative merits...
That "Revolution" Talk
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It's not just anonymous internet bloggers or YouTube publicity hounds. Talk of "revolution" is everywhere on the extreme right, these days. From Pat Buchanan, Larry Klayman and Alex Jones to the organizers of new gun rights coalitions and protests...
Is Mayor Bloomberg into Bribery?
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I don't know if you've seen the film Lincoln or not, but one of the key elements of the plot is an elaborate bribery/patronage scheme that President Lincoln launched to entice members of Congress to vote for the 13th Amendment. These were mostly mem...
Lew is a Different Kind of Pick
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I think the last Secretary of the Treasury who had never been either a banker or a CEO/President (before Tim Geithner) was James Baker. Before Baker, you have to go back to John Connally (the guy in the car with Jackie and JFK). Feel free to look u...
Hand Grenades? Well, allrighty then!
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A Sheriff in Kentucky, Denny Peyman of Jackson County, says he feels a moral obligation to not enforce any new gun laws as part of his duty to protect the American Constitution. Okay. Not sure that's a moral obligation when he has access to the fede...
Scumbags
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I don't know why everyone is going around Washington DC saying that Elliott Abrams is an anti-Semite. Frankly, I think it's preposterous. If people accused him of doing unspeakable things to goats behind the big barn, I'd acknowledge that that is p...
European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - Jun 30
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A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1859 - Charles Blondin,...
European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - June 29
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A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europe on this date in history:1644 - Battle of...
European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 28 June
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A Daily Review Of International Online Media Music on this date in history:1846 - The saxophone...
