primary

The 2020 Primaries: A Guidebook

They’re starting early.  And there’s so darned many, it’s getting very hard to keep track without a cheat sheet.  So, here’s my cheat sheet.  Use and enjoy!

Incidentally:  These judgments are partly subjective, so please tell us your own thoughts.

(Unlike Fox, MSNBC, and CNN, I’ll admit I’m biased. (more…)

I Hate This Place: Revisiting Refugees, Pros and Cons

“I Hate This Place”
-Spider Jerusalem

“All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy… One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them. All it can see in an original idea is potential change, and hence an invasion of its prerogatives.

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.  Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable…”
-H.L. Mencken, “The Smart Set” (more…)

Which Way Is The Klan Voting?

“I’m surprised more people don’t ask, “Which way is the Klan voting?” and then say, “Thanks, I’ll obviously vote the opposite way.” “
Quote from “The Bollard”, ‘Racisms’, April 5th 2016, by Samuel James.

Personally, I refuse to let the KKK tell me how to vote.

Look, on the face of it, the quote seems like plain common sense.  Do I agree with the KKK?  No?  Well, let’s see who they like most and vote against them.

Every complex problem out there has at least one simple, easy-to-understand, common-sense, wrong answer.  This is a perfect example.  Read on and I’ll explain. (more…)

NY Times Endorses Kasich: So What?

As of this writing, it’s about twenty-four hours before the Iowa Caucuses begin.  This year there’s a good chance that we’ll know the results by the end of the night thanks to Microsoft.  (Watch the video; it’s awesome.)

Just before the caucuses, the New York Times decided to endorse John Kasich, the solidly conservative governor of Ohio.  And… well, let’s face it:  The man’s got zero chance in Iowa.  So who cares?

We ought to (more…)

Politics 2016: Can We Win?

Bernie Sanders may very well be the Democratic Party’s candidate for President in 2016, and Donald Trump is increasingly likely to be his Republican opponent.

And you could change that.

Interested yet?  Thought you might be.  Let me tell you what’s up and why it matters.

(more…)

On Accepting Refugees: Pros And Cons

(NOTE:  This article has been revised again; the pros and cons listed have been kept up to date, even though the intro is vintage campaign.)

Major media outlets are full of reactions to recent announcements that the President will be asking to increase the ceiling on Syrian refugee acceptance for next year.  Unsurprisingly, the stories are largely focused on the reaction to the announcement; contention drives the media profit mill, and so it would be unusual to see any other form of response from them.

Since it’s the height of the upcoming Presidential election cycle, it’s also not surprising that every hopeful candidate has (more…)