Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Odds and Ends

Hat Tip Digsby and Kos Cartoons “Supreme Court Chooses Religion Over Science” In a footnote, Justice Alito concedes that Hobby Lobby’s religious-based assertions are contradicted by science-based federal regulations: “The owners of the companies involved in these cases and others who believe that life begins at conception regard these four methods as causing abortions, but […]

Polarized Politics Led To Cantor’s Defeat– and Cochran’s Victory. Why the “Uncommitted Center” Is So Important (Cantor part 2)

Part 1; Cantor’s Defeat and What It Does Not Mean When House Majority leader Eric Cantor lost his seat to ultra-conservative David Brat, the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus summed up the majority view among political pundits: “The episode offers a disturbing commentary about the poisonous, polarized state of American politics.”  I cannot agree. I don’t […]

Just In Passing – Sunday Morning

The Absurd Dr. “Chaps” Gordon Klingenschmitt is the Republican nominee for State Rep in Colorado Springs HD15. What qualifies him as a candidate in the Colorado State House? “‘Chaps’ as they call him, has a long history as a disgraced former Navy Chaplain who brags about having successfully performed an exorcism on a lesbian soldier […]

“Does Chief Justice John Roberts show a certain casualness about the truth?”

Each week I get an email from Slate telling me what the latest articles are there, this one caught my attention; Richard Posner on Roberts” For those of you who may not know, Richard Posner writes articles on the economy; but, he is also an 7th District Appeals Court Justice. The 7th District is the […]

I keep wondering: Is anyone under the age of 40 ‘Ready for Hillary’?

Yves Smith linked this morning on her Naked Capital blog to my post from yesterday called “The Secretive Democracy Alliance’s Secret Is Out: Some of its members are elitist, racist and self-serving,” and added a comment about it: Helpful, but does not follow the logic to the obvious conclusion. Why is the Dem apparatus harping […]

Chris Cillizza Misses the Point. (The most important point, anyway.)

Anecdotal evidence, the basis of so much journalism prior to the rise of the data movement and still, to my mind, over-relied upon — is just that: anecdotal. Roughly 65,000 people voted in the Cantor-Brat primary; Brat won by more than 7,200 votes. Assuming that what a non-scientific sample  of 1, 10 or even 100 […]

Finally … a growing public awareness and concern about the ‘attitudinal model’ of Supreme Court votes. [Expanded repost]

Correction appended below. —- Scott Lemieux weighs in at The Week, writing that, although “Supreme Court voting is too complex to be explained by any single factor,” the “attitudinal model” – which posits that “Supreme Court votes are explained by what judges consider desirable policy” – “still contains a good deal of truth.” — Amy […]

Americans Raid 401(k)s

Angry Bear has carried posts on this issue over the years. 1. 2008 and draining the 401k pool of money, 2. Draining 401ks, 3. 401k and Social Security, 4.. Kenneth Thomas and retirements money (Links), 5. A 1000/mo pension equals 300,000 in savings among others. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism  makes an impassioned statement. (Re-posted with permission) Americans Raid 401(k)s, Replacing […]