The issue of the effect of third party candidacies is interesting, particularly this year. Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party while former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer is seeking to capture the nomination of the Reform Party. [Read more…]
This was a well-deserved win for his brilliant expose of how Super PACs make a mockery of campaign rules by enabling hugely wealthy individuals to secretly exercise vastly disproportionate power in the election process. [Read more…]
I am sure some of you have heard the hilarious story of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch Kirilli I that has been all over the blog world. But just in case you missed it, here it is. [Read more…]
It is a crime in the US to give ‘material support’ to any organization that the US government deems to be a ‘terrorist’ group, where that phrase is defined loosely and can even encompass legal advice. This statute was deemed constitutional by a 6-3 vote in the US Supreme Court in 2010 because these days judges seem willing to allow practically anything as long as you persuade them that it is against terrorism. [Read more…]
Larry Wilmore and Jon Stewart discuss the racial implications of the Trayvon Martin case. Why is it that it is on a comedy show that one finds a relatively calm and balanced discussion of such inflammatory topics? [Read more…]
Suppose you are in charge of a community college and there turns out to be a huge demand for math and English classes so that students are being repeatedly turned away because they are full. You might think that it is a good thing that people are seeking more education and that the solution is to open up more classes to meet that demand by (say) hiring more math and English teachers. [Read more…]
I think that the pace of campaigning is taking its toll on Rick Santorum and he has reached the stage where he is free-associating as a result of fatigue. He said in a speech about how he “read somewhere” that almost none of the California state universities teach American history. [Read more…]
The former socialist president of Brazil Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva grew up poor and knew what it was like to be hungry as a child. When he took office in 2003, he said that food was a basic human right and launched the Zero Hunger program. Part of it involves government-run restaurants that serve everyone healthy meals at low prices. This Marketplace report describes one such restaurant: [Read more…]
Recall that the events of the Arab spring were triggered by a 26-year old man in Tunisia setting himself on fire in an act of protest and despair at the conditions in that country.
Now an elderly pensioner in Greece has shot and killed himself near the parliament, reportedly leaving a suicide note accusing the government of reducing his pension to nothing. This has sparked violent demonstrations and clashes with the police. [Read more…]
In a previous post, the issue came up of how same-sex couples whose marriage is recognized in other countries do not have immigration rights for the spouse in the US if one of them happens to be a US citizen. This is a consequence of the infamous Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 that was signed into law by Bill Clinton. [Read more…]