I was sitting in a Sioux City coffee shop one day before the 2020 Iowa Caucuses, seated roughly where an eventual 2020 presidential candidate stood in February 2019, the first time I'd visited the place more than eleven months earlier. Eleven months. The joy and pain of being a resident of Iowa. Tonight it'll all … Continue reading President Pete →

After six months back on Facebook, I am feeling more disaffected than I did when I left the social network the first time. Back then, in April 2018, Facebook was very much in the news for data breaches and exploitation and generally unsociable behavior. The primary problem, it seemed, was Facebook itself, so leaving it … Continue reading And we’re just the guys to do it →

"I never forget that I live in a house owned by all the American people and that I have been given their trust." - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1938 "That White House is a real dump." - Donald J. Trump, 2017 I used to think that impeaching Donald Trump was a bad idea. Back in March … Continue reading The need to impeach →

OK, I suppose I get it, sort of. When you're an extremely wealthy white man, the world is your oyster. Therefore, from Michael Bloomberg's unbelievably high perch, it probably seems perfectly natural for him to assume that he'd make a great president of the United States. He might just as easily imagine that he'd be … Continue reading A Michael Bloomberg candidacy? Worst idea ever →

We're now at the halfway point in sanctioned Democratic presidential debates, thank God, having completed the third of six this past week in Houston. Who won? Well... Once again a lower-tier candidate risked going after the front runner, and once again it had mixed results. People who follow these things will recall that Kamala Harris … Continue reading Whatever these are, they’re not debates →

The lunatic is in the hall The lunatics are in my hall The paper holds their folded faces to the floor And every day the paperboy brings more -- Pink Floyd, "Brain Damage", 1973 The lunatic of the day is an as-yet unnamed individual in West Texas who, upon being pulled over on Saturday afternoon … Continue reading And every day the paperboy brings more →

Is it absolutely necessary for national political parties to sanction so-called presidential debates? Do they have to back candidates in House and Senate primaries? The 2016 cycle was undoubtedly a mess, with primaries leading to the nominations of two highly polarizing candidates and ending with the election of a deeply unpopular president. For 2020 the … Continue reading There must be a better way →