The strange state of the conflict in Iran and why Republicans better hope something happens soon
The war has entered a sort of slow moving stasis rather than anything resembling the frenetic pace of the first five weeks and time is running out to pivot to the midterm elections. I’ll admit it upfront: I didn’t expect the Iran War to devolve into a non-ceasefire ceasefire for almost a full month. While…
Zip ties and duct tape, life lessons from racing cars
We spent Saturday morning wondering what hell could be wrong with our car and perhaps more importantly, could we fix it? This wasn’t merely an academic question. If we were unable to figure out, our weekend would’ve been over almost before it began. On Saturday morning, my brother and I were stuck in the garage at…
Why I don’t give a crap about the gerrymander wars
At this point, the only thing I really want to see is an end to the self-righteous sanctimony and an open admission that the gerrymander wars are what politics is always about, power, plain and simple. Last week Virginia upended the midterms by narrowly passing a referendum to the state constitution that allows for a…
Progressives have become what they claim to hate when it comes to promoting conspiracy theories at least
Ten years ago, progressives mocked conservatives when a relatively small percentage embraced a bizarre theory known as “Pizzagate,” but now, they reflexively claim every assassination attempt on President Trump is a conspiracy. Ten years ago, progressives were fond of mocking conservatives when a relatively small percentage of Trump supporters embraced a bizarre conspiracy theory known as…
The chimpanzee civil war in Uganda explains a lot about our current politics and the dark heart in us all
While it might be convenient to attribute human conflict to religion, culture, or resources, the reality that chimpanzees go to war seems to suggest more fundamental reasons. Sometimes we are prone to believe that humans have an innate capacity for violence beyond other creatures on this Earth, that there is something uniquely dark in our…
Springsteen: The good, the bad, and the ridiculously Trump-deranged at the Prudential Center
He’s a story telling genius trapped in a real-life narrative he simply can’t understand, reducing a rock legend to the equivalent of a spoiled teenager, but at least the man can still sing and that counts for something despite his ramblings. There isn’t a 76 year old rockstar on the planet that can put on…
Iran: The experts have been wrong about almost everything
It’s almost impossible to know where to begin with the sheer multitude of increasingly hysterical claims regarding both the day to day performance of our campaign and the broader economic and geopolitical repercussions, many of which were ridiculous from the start. As the conflict in Iran enters the third week of a shaky ceasefire with…
Iran: Is it all over but the crying?
While we remain at war, why do the markets seem optimistic about the future when they should be pessimistic in the face of these concerns, and is this an optimism that can last or simply a calm in the storm? Though last weekend’s peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan failed to produce a deal between the…
Trump, Swalwell, and shamelessness as a political super power
While we might like to believe there are rules to the great game, there are none except doing everything possible to advance your own and your party’s power. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a religious figure healing the sick. He was dressed in robes with glowing hands,…
The choice facing Iran, and the reality that most of us aren’t all hawk or all dove all the time
From where the average American sits, the choice facing the leaders of Iran seems like no choice at all, but after Saturday’s peace negotiations failed to produce a deal, it clearly is to the remnants of the regime and no one really knows what they will choose, however much they may bloviate otherwise. Throughout the…
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Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 