I wanted to write some sort of first order reply to Jane O’Grady’s article “Can a Machine Change Your Mind?“—but as I began thinking it over, it became clear that it would end up killing half my day. First of all, I’d have to go back to my library and brush up on my philosophy […]

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Jerry Taylor notes in passing that he doesn’t much care for the offerings of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, causing a dozen or so conservatives to lose their minds.  I’m relieved of any obligation to weigh in by Conor Friedersdorf, who pretty much nails it: When blowhards who alienate moderates and poison political discourse have […]

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Re: Wanda Sykes’ nerdprom routine about Rush Limbaugh as traitor and potential 20th hijacker whose kidneys should fail: I assumed this offered as a bit of self-conscious table-turning, given the penchant of Limbaugh & co. for slinging accusations of treason at their ideological opponents. In general, “they do it too” is a lame justification for […]

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James Boyce at HufflePuff: No one is dumber than a Newspaper Executive. Back in the day at Duke, I was an econ major, much to the amusement of many of my friends now. I learned a little something called “supply and demand.” Let me use small words. If someone really wants what you’re selling, you […]

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I could probably write a post running several thousand words just listing all the issues on which I disagree with legal/political theorist Cass Sunstein, but I was nevertheless pretty sanguine about news of his appointment to head the Office of Information an Regulatory Affairs. Via David Weinberger, I see that Sunstein is the latest victim […]

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Jim Geraghty sets out to disprove the notion that the GOP is “becoming a regional party.” What he actually proves is that (1) geographical maps are not a terribly helpful way to analyze what’s happening in an institution where membership is allocated by population, and (2) snapshot analysis is not a very good way to […]

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Dave Weigel takes a crowbar to a profoundly dumb Byron York column breaking down President Obama’s approval ratings by race. In principle, there’s nothing wrong with asking whether support for a politician or policy is broad-based, or whether the aggregate numbers are masking wildly disparate reactions from different subgroups. We sometimes slip into the habit […]

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Last week, I couldn’t even have told you whether there still was such a thing as a “Miss USA Pageant,” let alone that it had been held over the weekend. Nor, needless to say, had I ever heard of someone named Carrie Prejean. Had Prejean won the aforementioned  competition, I feel pretty certain that none […]

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There are a few basic points I’m not seeing made quite often enough in the ongoing thumbsuck about the future of journalism. I take for granted we all understand that whether “newspapers” survive (either as ink-on-wood-pulp or as institutions) is of no real intrinsic importance; the question is whether vital forms of journalism will get […]

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So, until Wednesday, I hadn’t taken much notice of the whole “Tea Party” phenomenon.  Like about 98 percent of public protests, it had struck me as little more than a stunt, guaranteed to reduce a legitimate argument to a spectacular competition for the dumbest, craziest slogan. Protests may—occasionally—make sense when either you need to draw […]

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