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…
If Tony Soprano’s “remember when” is the lowest form of conversation, “if then” is the lowest form of political prognostication
While there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little fantasy, political prognostication is supposed to be more than mental masturbation, and the same as a sane person wouldn’t consider retirement scenarios that included suddenly being as wealthy as Elon Musk, we shouldn’t consider fantastical outcomes as a basis for rational discussion. Tony Soprano once claimed…
Trump, Iran, and the art of the impossible deal
The ceasefire is shaky, but we know this: After what everyone said wouldn’t happen, magically happened, they still concluded that what happened was bad, all without missing a beat. It’s impossible to capture the insanity that President Donald Trump’s detractors attempted to pass off as wisdom over the past five weeks in a single post,…
I am a farmer ant and I grow my own food better than you ever could
A colony like mine can reach almost 6,500 square feet, about the size of a luxury home with five bedrooms. The mound of fungus we farm can rise a foot high, nestled inside with thousands upon thousands of workers tending to it. I am a farmer ant, technically known as an Attini, or fungus-grower. I…
The Orange Man is so bad, progressives can’t even celebrate the daring rescue of a soldier behind enemy lines
In an ideal world, I would prefer a media that was honest and objective, an opposition that was principled and reasonable, and detractors who could criticize without outright fantasizing. Last Friday, the situation for two US airmen in Iran was dire after their F-15E fighter jet was shot down deep in enemy territory, setting off…
NATO just turned 77, but is it going down in the Strait of Hormuz?
As France joins forces with Russia and China at the United Nations, and makes a deal with Iran, supporters of the NATO alliance argue that it is a purely defensive affair. In that case, what purpose does it serve in the modern world? In one of the ironies that seem to increasingly define the modern…
The MAGA split over Iran is real for now, but not necessarily forever
Some might insist the media has been wrong time and time again, there’s no risk of a permanent break happening now. To me at least, that is a misguided perspective. Because something hasn’t happened, does not mean it will not happen. While some prefer to cling to nonsensical polls insisting 100% of President Donald Trump’s…
Iran: Honest questions without answers and why I remain optimistic anyway
To hear detractors tell it, we are badly losing a miscalculated enterprise from the start, facing incredibly limited options with no plan to speak of. Needless to say, supporters disagree and the truth is likely in between. As the world reels from a now unprecedented spike in oil prices (March was the largest single month…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 