As a general matter, this blog focuses on policy-related issues and key domestic and international events, not specific politicians or personas. However, for the first column of 2020, an exception to that governing ethos shall be made, and this blog post will address the two biggest (and, in fact,...

It is exceedingly dangerous to extrapolate too greatly from limited data points. However, there are times where small doses of surprising information can reveal an ongoing trend well before it becomes generally obvious. This blogger is of the opinion that last Thursday’s British general election revealed such a scenario....

On January 1, 2010, if you had told me I would be more interested in the outcome of a Leicester City Football Club match than an University of Illinois basketball game, I would have looked at you like you were absolutely insane. And some questions would have come to...

Following the early November 2019 off-year elections, this blogger posted an article titled “Whistling Past the Graveyard,” which addressed Matt Bevin’s loss in the Kentucky gubernatorial race in the context of Bevin’s clear similarities with President Donald Trump.  The article also referenced the one remaining major race in the...

Odd year elections are typically quiet affairs tending not to make a whole lot of splash or national news. In the hyperpoliticized era of President Donald J. Trump, these elections have captured quite a bit more attention, in part because they offer something of a glimpse into more important...

Last weekend, Democrats were rocked by Congresswoman Katie Hill’s announcement of her resignation from the House of Representatives. Hill, who represents the 25th Congressional District of California largely based in Orange County, was considered by many politically-aware Democrats as a rising star in their party. Hill’s perceived ascendance was...

In early March, I wrote the below piece on how President Donald Trump ultimately decided correctly to stand by the hardened Kurdish warriors that shed the lion’s share of blood in the defeat of ISIS. Trump Gets It Right, with Collateral Damage As with almost anything Trump, that policy...

Over the past year, many Republicans have begun envisioning the post-Trump era. Following the 2020 elections, Donald Trump will be a second-term President ineligible to run again or out of office come early 2021. Either way, the post-Donald Trump era of Republican politics will be conceived in earnest. Due...

Unlike many politically-interested Americans, this blogger regularly listens to only one podcast – “The Glenn Show” at Bloggingheads TV. The program is hosted by Glenn Loury, a brilliant economist who is a tenured professor at Brown University. Unlike many of his colleagues, Loury came to academia from a working...

In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors300 to the Flu250 to Suicide200 to Car Accidents40 to Homicide via Handgun Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data. — Neil...