This Supreme Court Has Unknowingly Shot Itself in the Foot!

Republicans maintain that this Supreme Court is not a bunch of Taliban hacks; supporters say that this court is merely guided by its commitment to Textualism/Originalism. However, if this is true, then the Supreme Court should have no choice but to vastly limit the reach of the Second Amendment!! Indeed, the principle of Textualism/Originalism is to say that all laws, including the Constitution can only […]

Republicans just love destroying the government — and cannot govern…

It’s easy to always be the one who says no… It’s even easier to purposefully break something, and then proclaim that it’s broken! Now that Republicans have demonstrated that they cannot offer a true alternative to the Affordable Care Act, their plan is to simply wait for it to collapse because of the serious damage they have wrought to it. One of the fundamental implements of […]

Are we still in a democracy?

“i could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldn’t lose any votes ok, it’s like incredible” – Donald Trump. Do you remember the good old days when we all thought this was a joke? Well, 50-some days into mr Trump’s presidency, and it seems all he’s been doing is lying about Russian ties, being wiretapped by the previous President, and […]

The ‘Globalization’ Red Herring — the Real Cost of Destroying Regulations

The entire Western World is abuzz decrying the evils of ‘globalization’. Yet, very few people realize that ‘globalization’ is an effect, not a cause. It is intriguing, then, to hear politicians in the same breath blame globalization for lost or lower wages and promote deregulation as the solution! Indeed, rampant deregulation is what led to the very worse of effects of what we call globalization. It is important for us […]

Can Republicans Win Without Rigging Elections?

It’s a valid question: Can Republicans Win Without Rigging Elections? For the second time in my life as a voter, the popular vote has been overridden by the electoral college in the Presidential election. The electoral college seems to exist only in order to skew elections in favor of rural, hence less educated, voters.  However, it’s not just the Presidential race.. In nearly all 50 […]

Deny, Deny, Deny – The Right-Wing Mantra

Listening to a story on Texans denying the overwhelming evidence that fracking may cause earthquakes, it occurred to me that it makes sense that Republicans would believe fake news so much more readily than anyone else… Think about it: they’ve been denying so much truth for so long, that it becomes exceedingly easy for them to believe things that have been entirely conjured from thin air. Evolution: no […]

A Party in Disarray (hint: not the one you think) – Republican Values

It is fascinating to see nearly all Republicans in Congress unabashedly laud Mr Trump’s victory, and its effect on the Republican party. Until now, Republicans have tried, and by and large succeeded, to block nearly all of President Obama’s projects, arguing that Democratic projects go against the conservative ‘small government’ ethos of the Republican party. Paradoxically, Mr Trump has run on a platform that is nearly antithetical […]

Democrats, who’s that? (A Gentle Reminder)

It is now undeniable that the Democratic party is shattered and powerless: all branches of the federal government, as well as most state governments, have overwhelming Republican majorities and soon the US Supreme Court will be irreparably reactionary for generations to come. Sub-par primary and secondary education, combined with powerful reactionary propaganda campaigns, are the two major factors that enabled the crushing defeat of all that […]

Roger Ailes’ Ultimate Triumph: The Downfall Of America and Post-Truth Politics

Roger Ailes, the creator and former leader of Fox News, more than anyone else, should be ‘credited’ for the Mr Trump’s victory. Indeed, Ailes has been a master at creating a ‘news’ narrative (whether based on fact or fiction), and sticking to it no matter how little evidence supports that narrative, or even how much evidence there is to discredit it.  The mere fact of sticking to a […]

Fantasies of hate and fear…

While it seems that the people who voted for Trump did so out of racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and good-old-fashioned raw hatred, that is only a part of the story. They voted out of fear. The right-wing (now alt-right) decision makers at media outlets such as Fox News, Breitbart News, etc.., along with the Republican party, have been whipping people into frenzied fear ever since 9/11, […]

Democracy to dictatorship, for dummies

How do you turn the world-leading democracy into a hate-obsessed dictatorship? Vote Republican, of course!   If you want the more complete manual to destroy your democracy, here you go: 1 – Create a fake news media channel that portends to be ‘Fair and Balanced’, but promotes only: the most egregious lies; wild and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories; massive hatred, bigotry, and racism. Oh, and when real fact-oriented […]

Open Letter to Tim Cook

Dear Mr Cook, Why do some car and motorcycle companies have the courage to devote significant resources to racing? Currently, MacBook and the MacBook Pro lines share almost all design goals: weight, thinness, battery life, beauty. As such, they are differentiated only by screen sizes, connectivity and minor performance alterations. Why not provide creative professionals with a line of more powerful computers? In other words, why […]

Angry White Guys with Guns, Feel Free to Terrorize the Country!!

Angry White Guys with Guns, Feel Free to Terrorize the Country!! Bundy et al., the perpetrators of the armed takeover in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, have been acquitted today. The message: You can be an armed terrorist, just as long as you’re a bunch of white guys. As many have pointed out, had this takeover been perpetrated by ‘non-whites’, the result would surely […]

The Slow Death of the Pro Mac

Here i was cautiously optimistic that Apple had renewed its interest in the ‘Pro’ aspect of the MacBook Pro by including seemingly capable dedicated GPUs in all its most recent 15-inch models (something they had not done for some time)… It turns out, of course, that this entire line of dedicated GPUs were created to provide low-end consumer performance, maximizing battery life… It’s sort of ironic that Tim […]

The Risk of Over-Confidence – Quick Note

While it looks like the Clinton campaign has made significant advances in the polls, there is only one ‘poll’ that counts: the actual vote! We find ourselves in a very delicate situation: voter apathy is at an all-time high; many of those who intend to vote for Sec. Clinton have indicated that the fear of a Trump presidency is their primary motivator. The risk, then, is that these […]

“Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything” – Donald Trump, Republican nominee for President of the US

“Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything” It is supremely important to note that these are not just words!  Mr Trump has already excused this by saying that he mis-spoke, but this is not mere speech! Everyone seems to be forgetting that Mr Trump is describing actions, behavior, sexual assault he admits to have performed!! I’ll just add this: if you are one of the […]

Past Behavior…

As the saying goes ‘Past behavior is the best predictor for future behavior’.. This should give us pause when it comes to Donald Trump. Indeed, while Mr Trump has readily (and repeatedly) declared that, in the past, he was out for himself and his family, he now asks people to believe that he will turn all of his efforts to the selfless endeavor of the […]

Post-Truth Politics – Quick note

I recently heard on NPR the The Economist journalist David Rennie use the term ‘Post-Truth Politics‘. Not sure if he invented it or not, but i love this term, and the concept it points to has become both absolutely fundamental, and vastly under-reported. It is now assumed by many, such as evidenced by Trump supporters and those who supported Brexit, that politicians are always lying, yet […]

Brexit – the victory of hate and bigotry, post-truth politics, and the first step to WWIII…

Well, it happened, the British gave into the politics of hate, bigotry and racism, and voted to leave the EU. It’s an ironic response to the recent election of a Muslim as mayor of London — which, at the time, was held up as a shining example of British inclusiveness. Brexit is a victory for all populist and right-wing extremist parties throughout Europe (even Russia – more on […]

What makes the Trump campaign unique

The one thing that is radically different in the Trump campaign is that no one believes what he says, not even him (and this is a statement with which he is perfectly comfortable). Indeed, this is the first time in the history of the United States when the people supporting a candidate  explicitly believe that he will not do what he pledges to do during his […]

Bobby Jindal Knew it…

When he said “we must stop being the stupid party”, Bobby Jindal could not have known how prophetic his words were. The front-runner for the Republican party, Trump, is clearly relying on bigotry, generalized prejudice, half-truths (actually, mostly preposterous falsehoods), and other outrageous forms of speech (i dare not say thought). But how is it possible that he gain such traction among so many Republicans? […]

The Magic That Could Happen

Maybe, just maybe, a Clinton vs Trump race would allow Republicans (the more moderate ones anyway) and Democrats to rally behind the moderate, rational, and able Secretary Clinton. This could happen (ok, maybe with a fair dose of magical thinking), and, if it did happen, it could have wide-ranging positive repercussions on politics, the economy, and our national and international security. Indeed, politics is not, and has never […]

Cruz’s Self-Fullfiling Prophecy

So many Republicans, including Cruz, keep lamenting that Washington is broken, but he, and more generally the tea party, are the ones who broke it! The dysfunction in Washington reached new heights when, the very day of Obama’s inauguration, leaders of the Republican party decided to categorically oppose everything that he would propose. This has been the Republican modus operandi since Obama’s first day in office, and clearly continues […]

A New Take On Gun Laws

Please note that this is still a draft… Let’s start by admitting that we have a real problem with gun violence. Let’s also be clear that, with over 300,000,000 guns in private hands in the US, stopping the sale of new guns would be decidedly ineffective. We all know that the gun problem is an entrenched issue, and none of the existing propositions has any hope of ever becoming law. […]