obama

Losing Heart

Your elderly parents trust Tucker Carlson and refuse to wear a mask no matter how much you beg them. Uncle Gene is getting secret messages from Q about the Conspiracy and is convinced that Trump won the election and that mass arrests of Congress are coming soon. Your college friends have moved to Portland to join the Resistance, and your ex just dropped out of Harvard Law to become a cop. Meanwhile, the president you worked hard to help elect has backtracked on his campaign promises so far that not only is he not legalizing marijuana and mass-pardoning prisoners, instead he’s banning menthol cigarettes.

It’s easy to lose hope in times like these.

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F&L 2020: Go Home, America. You’re Drunk.

It’s election time again, and the Get Out The Vote drives have begun. Rock The Vote is observing isolation protocols, presumably having raves on Zoom. Michelle Obama has brought the cast of The West Wing together for a reunion tour — virtually, but still. And the memes blaming non-voters for our terrible times have gone (heh!) viral, popping up on every page but mine.

See, I don’t think we really need to get out the vote, folks. I think if we do, it’s actually a bad thing. Let me tell you why.

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F&L 2020: Aside on The First Primary

New Hampshire, by state law, has the first primary contest in the nation.  Yes, I know; Iowa comes before New Hampshire — but that’s a caucus, not a primary.  It’s a fundamentally different sort of contest, at least in a technical sense.  And technicalities are the soul of the law.

(Ideally we’d have a legal system based on right and wrong, but you end up with squabbles over which is which.  Technicalities is the best we can do.  Anyway.)

Now that New Hampshire and Iowa are both over with, it’s somewhat remarkable that the so-called “Party of Inclusivity” has ended up with four old white people (more…)

F&L: Andrew Yang and the Yang Gang

There’s a media blackout in force on the Yang campaign; we don’t notice it because there’s another rather more obvious one around Bernie Sanders and a third working against Tulsi Gabbard.  But Yang is different; he’s no party rebel and doesn’t hang out with third-world dictators.  Instead, he’s a genius — not merely smart, but a genius — who wants us to live our lives more rationally.  And he’s willing to be president in order to make that happen.

You can see why I like him already; I can tell. (more…)

F&L: Joe Biden – Virtuous Veep or Goofy Uncle Joe?

It’s ironic that Joe Biden is both a vocal proponent of identity politics who has supported Affirmative Action and an old white guy running for president in a remarkably non-diverse field.  He’s not just an old white guy but the; he’s the Old Man of Democratic party politics.  He’s seen it all; from Nixon to the present his entire life has been in politics, and despite some horrendous personal setbacks he’s kept fighting for the causes he believes in.

So the natural question here isn’t so much Who is Joe Biden? but Why would anyone oppose him?  I’ll do my best to answer both. (more…)

The War In Kurdistan

It’s all over the news, and every American politician (and French) seeking re-election is repeating it:  Trump has betrayed the Kurds to Turkey, set ISIS fighters free, and is actively running the U.S. military in a way that benefits only Russia.

The danger with facts everyone knows is that there’s no easy way to convince people they’re wrong.  Usually the problem boils down to oversimplification; it’s easy to be wrong when you don’t know anything.  In this case, it’s that — plus, everyone’s got a massive axe to grind and Trump’s a great target to score points off.

But some of it’s definitely true, so we’ll start there and move on. (more…)

Help Fight Stupidity!

Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen:  This is war, and we need you.

I have read your learned articles on the healthcare debate.  I have reviewed your proposals on climate change and environmental protection.  For the many (the most of us) who haven’t written or even linked any of those, I’ve read your angry memes and mocking anti-Trump and anti-Republican posts.  I have seen these things, my friends, and in listening, the source of your anger has become apparent, as has the problem’s only solution.

The trouble is, you’re sick of corrupt morons in charge of things, and you’re tired of being treated like an idiot yourself by everyone running for office.  Tell me I’m wrong; I dare you. (more…)

Three Drug Wars

In the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a new wave of violence has erupted since the January inauguration of new Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel, who reportedly is contesting the Sinaloa Cartel‘s exclusive control of the police force.

Meanwhile, in Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, martial law has been declared following armed clashes between the national army and Moro separatists allegedly fighting under the banner of Abu Sayyaf, an ISIS affiliate which funds its activities through the smuggling of guns, drugs, and slaves — much like the Sinaloa Cartel, albeit with a strikingly different ethos.

What do these two conflicts have in common?  Among other things, they’re both being largely paid for by the United States.  Both sides of both wars are using American dollars to kill each other. (more…)

Free Speech Ain’t

Okay, this one is bad, folks.

A lot of my readers on the religious side of things may be excited today, but take it from me, people:  This is nothing to celebrate.

In case you missed it, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which relaxes enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, that portion of the tax code (more…)

On Pipelines And Oil

It’s been half a week since the Inauguration, and I for one am finding it hard to keep up.  Eventually, I hope to post an ongoing log of executive actions, signed bills, and other notable events, but for right now it’s still one by one, dealing with the most important things first.

And this is pretty important.

So it looks like the DAPL review is going forward at speed, and Keystone XL is semi-authorized.  That’s thanks to three executive actions yesterday.  They are three distinct (more…)