Salon of the Refused, Episode 8

Announcement by , January 23, 2019

Episode 8 of my video and podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I talk with Alex Berezow, Vice President of Scientific Affairs at the American Council on Science and Health, about misunderstandings and misrepresentations of science in the news. The conversation includes: how DNA ancestry tests are like horoscopes, the fundamental problems […]

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A Little More Enlightenment

Commentary by , January 17, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. A Little More Enlightenment I recently re-posted my series of articles from last year on the legacy of the Enlightenment, including my review of Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. One year after the publication of that book, Steven Pinker looks back, in an article in Quillette, and responds […]

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Trumpism Is Now Bipartisan

Feature Article by , January 15, 2019

Those of us who write about politics are faced with a dilemma over how to cover Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 29-year-old who unexpectedly defeated a 10-term incumbent in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th congressional district and went on to win the general election virtually unopposed in a heavily Democratic district. On the one hand, […]

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An Index of Unconstitutionality

Feature Article by , January 10, 2019

I recently said some (more) bad things about President Trump, so naturally the next thing that happens is that I come across news about one of the good things about this administration: Donald Trump has broken a record for the fewest executive agency regulations issued during a year. CEI regulations guru Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. […]

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Salon of the Refused, Episode 7

Announcement by , January 9, 2019

Episode 7 of my video and podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I talk with an old friend, Bob Garmong, who spent most of the past decade as a lecturer at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics in Dalian, China, about his experiences there and the prospects for the country’s future. The […]

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A Guide to Surviving the Trumpocalypse

Feature Article by , January 7, 2019

The big story over the holidays, in the transition from 2018 to 2019, is the first beginnings of the Trumpocalypse. When Donald Trump was elected, a lot of us predicted disaster, and so far it seems that the disaster has not come. But the consequences of this presidency are still unfolding, and in the last […]

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Social Media Was a Mistake

Feature Article by , December 22, 2018

Top Stories of the Year: #1 I’ve been counting down the top stories of the year, looking back at the big events of 2018 and reviewing my coverage of them. At the top of the list this year is what we have discovered about the impact of digital media on our public debate—particularly the second […]

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Culture Is Downstream of Politics

Feature Article by , December 20, 2018

Top Stories of the Year: #2 I’ve been counting down the top stories of the year, looking back at the big events of 2018 and reviewing my coverage of them. Andrew Breitbart famously said that politics is downstream of culture. But if he had lived to see the art and entertainment in 2018, he might […]

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Are We All Colluding with the Russians?

Feature Article by , December 19, 2018

Top Stories of the Year: #3 I’ve been counting down the top stories of the year, looking back at the big events of 2018 and reviewing my coverage of them. I have been unenthusiastic about covering the still-unfolding set of scandals, or possible scandals, involving Donald Trump and his various associates. There’s an awful lot […]

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Workingmen and Reformers

Feature Article by , December 18, 2018

Top Stories of the Year: #4 Yesterday, I concluded that genuine political reforms have to be pursued almost in secret, outside of normal partisan lines. Actual activity certainly does not correlate with the degree of press coverage. The biggest non-story of the year, in that regard, was gun control. Shooting incidents are rare and—contrary to […]

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