With the full-court right wing press on to rehabilitate Ben Carson's statement that a Muslim shouldn't be elected president, it's worth noting that a lot of people (particularly in the media) seem to be so wrapped up in the "president" part of Carson's comments that they're missing what's really offensive about what he said. It's … Continue reading Please stop ignoring the real bigotry of Ben Carson’s comments

I mostly think PolitiFact is a bad thing. Even if it did its job perfectly, the notion that "fact-checking" is some minor subset of journalism and not, you know, kind of the main point, seems incredibly troubling to me. But the worst part is that PolitiFact doesn't do its job perfectly, and in fact it … Continue reading Heroic PolitiFact fact checker fails to check his own facts

The question at the heart of Russia's ramped up involvement in Syria is simple: why? What does Russian President Vladimir Putin have to gain from throwing more weight behind Syrian dictator Mayor of Damascus Bashar al-Assad at a time when Assad's position has never been more tenuous? Why not accept that Assad can't come out … Continue reading So what’s Putin’s deal, anyway?

President Bobby Jindal (please stop laughing) is planning a really big surprise when he takes office: he's going to fire Congress. Citing the fact that Republicans in Congress have not yet defunded Planned Parenthood and were unable to block the Iran nuclear deal, he said, “It’s ridiculous. I’m sure that there are 535 Americans in … Continue reading Today in Republicans who haven’t read the Constitution

You won't find any tears for Scott Walker's abandoned presidential campaign here. But if these most recent PPP poll's results are to be believed, maybe Walker wasn't the one who should have dropped out in the name of "winnowing the field" (i.e., consolidating the non-Trump vote): Trump is doing pretty poorly in head to head … Continue reading The wrong guy dropped out

This needs a preface. I try very hard to be culturally sensitive, something I hope is clear from reading this blog. Yes, I like to have some fun, and frequently get outraged, at the antics of societies and governments in other parts of the world and at different points in history, but certainly no more … Continue reading This is not how you win hearts and minds

It would appear that Burkina Faso's coup isn't quite over yet after all, and things may be on the verge of turning violent. Despite yesterday's promise by the junta to return the government to civilian control, apparently Gilbert Diendéré didn't mean he was going to reinstate the civilian government right away, I mean, can't a … Continue reading Not so fast

Last week's Burkina Faso coup appears to be over almost before it began: The Burkina Faso general who seized power in a coup last week apologized to the nation Monday and said he would hand over control to a civilian transitional government after the military warned that its forces would converge on the capital and … Continue reading Well, that didn’t take long

It's Turing Pharmaceuticals owner Martin Shkreli: Back when Martin Shkreli was CEO of Retrophin, he managed to grab a few headlines by buying an old rare-disease drug, Thiola, and raising the price 2000%. Now that he's on to his next company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, he's done himself one better, by buying another old drug and boosting … Continue reading Today’s Hero of the Free Market