Over at the Montclair SocioBlog (“the best blogI bet you don’t read”), Professor Jay Livingston commentson Charles Murray’s new book (no, I haven’t read it either) and Murray’s problem of “The Europe Syndrome.” A lot of Republican politicians have noticed this problem over the pond as well. As Murray says [I’ve added a few comments]: There’s a lot to like…
Tag: politics
Drug Warrior Drug Dealers
El Paso County Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr. recently said: Legalizing drugs is the coward practice of combating cartels, it is an insult to our men and women in law enforcement, and the laziest form of parenting our children and youth about the effects of drugs…. Unfortunately, on this upcoming primary election we will have many wolves in sheep’s clothing running…
“Your stated interest is in being a cowboy”
Ta-Nehisi Coates has good thoughts on the New York Times piece by Binyamin Applebaum and Robert Gebeloff describing how people vote against the government programs they receive. This isn’t necessarily against their own interests. As Coates says: What I strongly suspect is the sort of shame you see in Mr. Falk’s is neither crazy, nor ignorant, nor shocking, once you…
My most requested record
This may surprise you, but my all-time most-read post, by far, has (almost) nothing to do with police or the war on drugs. This post has gotten more hits (by more than a 2:1 margin) than my next most-read post. And the latter was featured in the Atlantic Wire. My most-read post is about a young black man of no…
A Christmas Message From America’s Rich
From Rolling Stone: The very rich on today’s Wall Street are now so rich that they buy their own social infrastructure. They hire private security, they live on gated mansions on islands and other tax havens, and most notably, they buy their own justice and their own government. An ordinary person who has a problem that needs fixing puts a…
Christie speaks some sense
I know as a liberal Democrat I’m not supposed to like Chris Christie. But I do admire that he speaks honestly. [I say the same about Ron Paul on war and drug policy, but Paul is a little too extreme on everything else, being a through-and-through libertarian.] I disagree with Christie on a lot of the issues, but the guy…
Right Wing Lies (V)
From the Washington Monthly(called out by them… not their lie): President Obama told business leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that U.S. policymakers have been “a little bit lazy” when it comes to attracting businesses to American soil. Republicans have taken this line and said the president called Americans “lazy.” The GOP attack is an unambiguous lie. It’s…
Our taxes. Their Police.
Speaking of rich people buying the services of the state, it seems the Justice Department is now doing the dirty work of pharmaceutical companies by cracking down on Google which got paid to run ads for Canadian drug companies. That’s not free speech. That’s illegal because Congress says it is. So the Justice Department is going to enforce a law…
Sticks and Stones…
Hey Republicans… you know why “treason” matters more than other insults? Because the Constitution mentions treason seven times, you want every idiot to be able to carry a gun, and treason is usually punishable by execution. But what do I know? I’m just another “lib”. I wonder what Karl Rove would say? Oh… I guess Karl is getting soft. Uh,…
The $35,800 dinner
If you have $35,800 to casually drop on dinner, you have too much money. Rich Democrats should be taxed more, too. More productive uses of $35,800? How about paying the tuition of seven students for a year of study at my public university. Obama’s dinner also cost me$12, because I had to hop off a bus and take a cab…