Liberals seem to think that the way to take Trump down is to talk about how aggressive and courageous and reckless he used to be, with the hope that people will believe he still might be that way. They’re saying things like: Oh, he used to be surrounded by tons of young, attractive women, and he’s always been…

Most of you said the Trump supporter would win. That’s because you are reading this blog, and a lot of Trump supporters come here. But my educated guess is that persuasion is also at work. Trump’s language and imagery is all “big and beautiful and great.” His buildings are big and powerful. Trump is a big guy in a…

Yet those working in newsrooms talk of dubious stories being tolerated because, in the words of one, some senior editors think “a click is a click, regardless of the merit of a story”. And, if the story does turn out to be false, it’s simply a chance for another bite at the cherry. Source: How newsroom pressure is…

There’s a reason I’m not afraid of Bernie Sanders’ socialism, and it’s quite simple. We are due for a correction. Not a remake. Not a restart. Not a do-over. Just a correction. But here’s the thing: I believe (I’m not an expert on this) we already know that pure socialism does not work. It’s not just rhetoric that…

In A Few Good Men, there was only one way to take down Colonel Jessup. You had to make him say what he really wanted to say out of anger. Tom Cruise basically made him so angry that he stopped being cautious and stopped being politically correct. And he told the truth. If anyone wants to beat Trump,…

Milton Friedman is very popular with libertarian types who place him right next to Ayn Rand in their mythology. And we’re likely to hear a lot more about his views if Bernie Sanders continues his momentum. I want to address Friedman’s basic concept that there are no perfect people, and therefore we can only trust markets. This is…

People often use debate and discussion interchangeably, but I think that’s a mistake. There is a core difference. In a debate, you lose if you change your mind In a discussion, you lose if one or both parties don’t learn something—either about how the world works, or at least about the other person’s perspective In the vast majority…

I’ve had an idea for a couple of years for a project. The project would map the relationships between elected officials, their donors, and the issues that both care about. So it would capture data on four distinct entities: Politicians Donors Issues Votes And then it would show the relationships between them. Data capture might look like this:…

I just watched my first Republican debate (as opposed to just hearing about what was said from the media) and I now understand what’s going on with Trump. It’s quite simple. He’s a billionaire with the biggest ego and the clearest language that expresses three things repeatedly: Strength (belief that he can get it done) Nostalgia (a vision…

As an ex-Indian civil servant, it always makes me shout with laughter to hear, for instance, Gandhi named as an example of the success of non-violence. As long as twenty years ago it was cynically admitted in Anglo-Indian circles that Gandhi was very useful to the British government. So he will be to the Japanese if they get…

“There are multiple casualties and confirmed fatalities,” San Bernardino Police spokeswoman Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told reporters. Source: San Bernardino shooting: Multiple deaths reported – CNN.com Another week, another mass shooting. One thing that can be predicted to come out of all this is expanded concealed carry laws. Yes, expanded. Basically, the population is about to demand of its…

There is a particular line coming from Lupus Liberals that I find troubling. It has to do with American Exceptionalism. The argument usually goes like this (between fellow liberals, mind you): It’s really bad that Islam has so many anti-humanist values and beliefs built into it, since confused or evil people can read those things and think they’re…

I wrote recently about the concept of Lupus Liberalism, and I wanted to take a moment to 1) explicitly define the term, and 2) show how it relates to Maajid Nawaz’s term Regressive Left. First, Lupus Liberalism. Lupus Liberalism Lupus Liberalism is a metaphorical reference to Lupus—a medical disorder that causes the body’s immune system to become hyperactive…

In no country surveyed did more than 15% of the population show favorable attitudes toward Islamic State. Source: Most dislike ISIS in Muslim countries | Pew Research Center Pew just put out a poll showing that “Most Dislike ISIS in Muslim Countries”, which is no-doubt both true and a good thing. I think most non-racists/Islamaphobes already knew that.…

John Kerry just said that the Friday the 13th Paris attacks were different than the Charlie Hebdo attacks because the latter were somehow justified. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, OK, they’re really…

It’s widely accepted that the only solution to extreme Islam is moderate Islam. But many moderate Muslims aren’t convinced it’s a real problem. The short answer to the “why?” question is conspiracy. What many in the west don’t realize is how much of the Muslim world believes 9/11 was an inside job. They think it was Israel, or…

Libertarianism is bound to be attractive to those types of people who have enough power and clout in society that government really is their biggest obstacle. So, for example, it makes sense that people like the Koch Brothers, or people like Cliven Bundy, are libertarians. For the Koch Brothers, there’s literally no entity in existence which has any…

My friend Brooks and I were discussing gun control, as we like to do, and I told him about the issue with Republicans blocking the CDC from researching gun violence. He responded by sending me this report from Harvard’s Journal of Law and Public Policy. I took over two hours and read the whole thing. I found it…

I hear constantly from my republican friends about how we need more “free markets and liberty”, as if it’s a magical path to prosperity. The problem with this is that free markets and liberty are in conflict because the natural, unrestricted outcome of free markets is monopoly. Just as with power and violence there is some competition early…

In June, the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives rejected an amendment that would have repealed a ban on scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducting research to study the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence. Supporters of the ban, including current House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) argue that the CDC…

Earth is about to learn that extremist ideologies and civilization are not compatible. Liberals will soon understand that tolerance of intolerance is not an option, and civilized people will be forced to react. It will not be pleasant. The changes will come about through a constant stream of attacks against western and secular societies, and the primary ideology…

Conservatives are reportedly about protecting life, but a modicum of scrutiny quickly dissolves this illusion. Here are a few things to consider: Conservatives are anti-abortion, which is where people terminate unwanted pregnancies The easiest possible way to avoid unwanted pregnancies is to use contraception Many conservative groups are trying as hard as possible, using lobbyists and churches, to…

A poisonous hypocrisy exists within liberal thinking that threatens to undermine its credibility and usefulness. The issue is the chasm between its ability to empathize with suffering and its unwillingness to admonish the beliefs that cause it. Liberal canon requires one to maintain two opposing thoughts simultaneously, which I call the first and second laws of Liberalism. The…

People are once again panicking about mass shootings. Let me try to simplify the problem: Society is currently built so that maximum pressure exists on normal Americans. They make too little money. They cannot pay their bills. They work too many hours. They have no savings, little if any retirement, and they are in constant fear of losing…

Lotteries are successful because they promote and market the idea—to the uneducated—that they generate income. They trick the poor and superstitious into believing that they are investing or making making money (via periodic, small payouts and regular massive payouts) when they are actually dumping it into the toilet. Just like Casino’s, they are designed to, and are very…

Conservatives like to think of themselves as Libertarians. They’re all about freedom and not having government tell people what to do. So they claim. But gay marriage and polygamy are perfect examples of where they don’t actually believe that. If they were Libertarians they wouldn’t be in favor of laws that make gay marriage illegal. They would be…

We’re all aware of the debate around the Confederate flag. Progressives argue that it’s a symbol of racism, and its defenders say it’s a harmless, non-racist icon of their heritage. People argue back and forth, but there’s never seemed to be any convincing evidence one way or the other. But now there is. July 29, 2015 — Added…

One of the best things about Game of Thrones is how well it captures real personal and political conflict, with people being intricate mixtures of good and evil simultaneously. Stannis is one of those people, and so is George Bush. Stannis is often seen as a power-hungry evil person who would do the worst things to get what…

So I have a question for the Obama supporters out there. Why did he support this trade deal, and rather than pitch it to us, just try to sneak it past? Why? I like a lot about Obama, and would even call myself a fan, but I’m not the kind of fan that’s blind to the flaws. What…

What the United States—and arguably every country—needs more than anything else is citizens. This should not be confused with people who have citizenship, as in too many cases these have little in common. This short essay will describe the importance of active Citizenship, and how so many fail to achieve it. First we’ll start by talking a bit…

“What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight,” Carter told CNN’s Barbara Starr. “They were not outnumbered. In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and yet they failed to fight, they withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an…

The media is consumed with the question of why so many westerners are being successfully recruited into ISIS. It’s usually framed as: Why are so many of our precious western children being seduced by this evil? Neat question. I have a theory: Their parents aren’t raising them, because they have no time for them after working three jobs…

If you’re a fan of Sam Harris or Noam Chomsky you might know that they recently had something of an intellectual scuffle. Or they almost did, anyway. Sadly, the conversation never really happened, and I wanted to write about how sad that actually is. Here are the main points of the exchange and my takeaways: Starting at the…

I’ve been in Iceland for the last week, and for some reason it was here among the ice and fire that I came upon this idea. The 2016 campaign between Clinton and $REPUBLICAN will end up being a rehashing of one of the oldest political narratives in history: The rich few vs. the poor many. That’s it. End…

Pro-Snowden types are currently on an internet tour with a specious narrative: Petraeus shared sensitive information just like Snowden. He got off without jail time. Snowden should get the same treatment. This is wrong for four reasons: The history of the offender How the leak happened The amount of data leaked The impact For history, Petraeus is one…

One of the most troublesome challenges for modern nations is determining what to do about failed states such as Iraq and Syria. These are places housing millions of human souls, and they have little infrastructure, no real economy to speak of, and precious little hope for all these reasons. For Iraq, this is after the United States spent…

A couple of hard-to-argue observations: Bush removed Saddam Saddam was the force that kept extremism down The entire region is worse off than before Bush invaded The lesson is elegant in its simplicity: Any that any country that still has a dictator is, by definition, not ready to have it removed for them. When we forget this, bad…

I think within the next 25 years we’re going to start seeing a new political narrative arising in states like California and Texas. The narrative will be simply that people of European descent should have far less influence than they used to. For the populations of Hispanics and Asians, the narrative will evolve like so: Gee, it’s really…

Thousands of movie theaters will not be showing a controversial movie about North Korea this weekend because of a terrorist threat. The threat was made real by the fact that the same group just savaged the Sony Pictures network in a perhaps the biggest corporate hack in history. So they committed violence (we can call it that, right?),…

I am disappointed by the liberal reaction to the Ferguson grand jury. As soon as the announcement was made that there would be no indictment, Twitter detonated with liberal outrage that justice was not being done. The problem is that liberals seem to be categorically conflating two separate issues. Here’s one truth: Police in 2014 generally have far…

I’ve an idea for ending the corruption in Washington. It’s effective, and only won’t be adopted because of how effective it would be. People elected to congress need to become permanent public servants and thereby forfeit their ability to accept money from all but a very few sources for the rest of their lives. Sounds weird? Hear me…

I think I’ve figured out Obama’s problem. Or, to be more clear, I have figured out why it’s not possible for him to be popular while he’s in office. Obama is intellectual and academic in his approach to solving problems. This is a problem, but even worse he’s the same way about communicating his positions and announcing his…

I am frustrated by the fact that voters seem to ignore evidence when it comes to the efficacy of conservative policies. Here’s a quick review: They wanted to shut down the borders for Ebola, which would have actually caused far more Ebola deaths because people would have found ways around the legal border crossings. To date there has…

Islam is going the way of the swastika. The swastika has a long history going back to around 10,000 BCE. In recent centuries its meaning has been “lucky” or “favorable” in sanskrit. But those thousands of years of meaning were stamped out in just one decade by the the Nazi party. Since the late 1930’s the world has…

Some people think there’s still a debate about whether trickle down economics is a viable model. For those not familiar, it basically goes like this: Reduce taxes on the rich They make more money They are therefore able to create more jobs The economy grows The middle class benefits Sounds good. The opposing camp believes this doesn’t work…

As I sit watching Iraq disintegrate due to the centuries-old centrifugal forces of religion and racism, I’m struck by a troubling idea. There are many places in the world with millions of people who can be frothed and recruited to kill their brothers and sisters (and their children) under the banners of religious and racial hatred. They lack…