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

Evergreen Looks in the Mirror and Says It’s OK

Evergreen Looks in the Mirror and Says It’s OK The “Independent” External Review Panel on The Evergreen State College Response to the Spring 2017 Campus Events (quotes not in the original) just released its report, and it says that everything campus administration has done in connection with this episode and everything it is now doing in […]

6 Minutes and 20 Seconds . . .

Needed to murder 17 high school students. A Congress to afraid to pass laws and oppose the NRA and its members, a minority of the population holding the majority hostage to it’s tyranny. And then there is this dirt bag, Republican Senator Rick Santorum suggesting students should learn CPR rather than becoming engaged in the […]

I pour some cold water on 2018 midterm overoptimism

 I pour some cold water on 2018 midterm overoptimism In the wake of Conor Lamb’s election victory in Pennsylvania last Tuesday night, some Democratic partisans are suggesting that every GOP-held seat from a district that is less than trump +20% is in play. Hold your horses. The results of last June’s special election in Georgia, […]

Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the Economics of Privacy

By Cactusman Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the Economics of Privacy Cambridge Analytica – the data firm that provided consulting services for the Trump Campaign – has come under intense scrutiny for the firm’s capture and exploitation of vast quantities of user data from Facebook. These practices have added new urgency to questions about how information […]

The Simpsons’ Predictive Powers Demonstrate the Limits of Forecasting

by Cactusman  (Dan here…not so heavy post) The Simpsons’ Predictive Powers Demonstrate the Limits of Forecasting The long-running TV show The Simpsons is attracting much attention for some of its uncannily accurate predictions. The United States’ curling team’s defeat of Sweden in the Olympics – something The Simpsons predicted in 2010 – being the most recent […]

Conner Lamb will represent PA-18

First I stress the great effort I put into avoiding all Lamb puns in the title. Second, I think the discussion of his recent extremely narrow voctory makes the discussion of the campaign seem almost sane. Before their humiliating loss, Republican operatives insisted that voters were coming around to support their tax cut bill. In […]

“The Bank Always Gets Paid,” Mr. Potter

I met Lynn while working with Alan Collinge of the Student Loan Justice Organization. She too has been working with Alan to call attention to the plight of students who took loans out to pay for college and the mishandling by servicers of them. The first story is of an older man who took out […]

Saudi Crown Prince Tortures Fellow Princes

Saudi Crown Prince Tortures Fellow Princes A new report by Hugh Miles at Middle East Monitor, Is the “Saudi Elite Cannibalizing Itself?” by Juan Cole, reports the recent purge of supposedly corrupt princes and high officials was (and continues to be) much more horrendous than previously reported, which I fear does not surprise me. Apparently […]