Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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Is the Memorandum of Understanding a staggering defeat as the critics suggest or a less than ideal path forward for a conflict that has been simmering for almost 50 years? To hear detractors tell it, President Donald Trump’s Memorandum of Understanding with Iran is nothing short of a humiliating defeat, an appeasement of if not… Continue reading The Iran deal isn’t perfect, but its detractors have no plan and there’s an old expression that something’s better than nothing
Why would a man that’s supposed to be desperate beyond belief to end hostilities with any kind of deal, refuse one that was on the table, and make a reasonably big show of going back and forth about it? According to conventional wisdom, President Donald Trump is desperate to make a deal with Iran. Like… Continue reading Is Trump really desperate for a deal in Iran or is time much more on our side than widely reported?
Democrats are offering Republicans an opportunity that they probably don’t deserve at this point, but as we all know, deserve has nothing to do with it. While there are clear historical trends favoring Democrats in the midterms and it’s no secret that President Donald Trump has chosen to launch a largely unpopular war that has… Continue reading The midterms still favor the Democrats, but not by much and much remains impossible to predict
Why are some unwilling to take half-a-loaf by forging a less than satisfying deal or even reverting to the status quo, making not getting the optimal outcome into an embarrassing defeat? While the conflict with Iran lumbers onward through an admittedly bizarre non-ceasefire ceasefire, some are arguing that we have only two options: Either accept… Continue reading Iran and the sunk cost fallacy
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… Continue reading The strange state of the conflict in Iran and why Republicans better hope something happens soon
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… Continue reading Iran: The experts have been wrong about almost everything
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… Continue reading Iran: Is it all over but the crying?
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,… Continue reading Trump, Swalwell, and shamelessness as a political super power
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… Continue reading The choice facing Iran, and the reality that most of us aren’t all hawk or all dove all the time
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… Continue reading If Tony Soprano’s “remember when” is the lowest form of conversation, “if then” is the lowest form of political prognostication
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 