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How Politics Works

Commentary by , April 13, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today Editor’s Note: I was very pleased to see my recent article, “Why I Don’t ‘Believe’ in Science,” picked up by Judith Curry, a distinguished atmospheric scientist who is skeptical of global warming—exactly the sort of person to whom I want to offer this kind of intellectual ammunition. Her […]

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“We” Are All Socialists Now

Commentary by , April 2, 2019

It’s a little disconcerting how quickly the “libertarian moment” of the Tea Party era gave way to today’s socialist moment. The dissipation of that supposed “libertarian populism,” which has turned out to be more “populist” than “libertarian,” is certainly disappointing, but at least this history provides some hope that the socialist moment will prove just […]

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Don’t Feed the Trolls

Commentary by , March 29, 2019

I have taken my time writing about the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in part because I don’t think it’s a good idea to be panicked by rare and unusual events, particularly mass shootings, which are often intended precisely for the purpose of gaining publicity for the shooter’s poorly thought out pet cause. But the […]

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Status-Income Disequilibrium

Commentary by , March 17, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. Status-Income Disequilibrium You’ve probably heard by now about the college admissions scandal, in which wealthy and famous people were arrested for bribing college officials to get their kids into elite schools…. The details that are coming out are pretty amazing. There are the Hollywood actresses who laundered […]

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America’s Only Established Religion

Commentary by , March 6, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The Theater of the Deal Some of us never quite believed Donald Trump’s “Art of the Deal” self-image as the ultimate deal-maker. It was an image crafted for the tabloids and for television, and Trump imported it straight into politics, promising he would employ his astounding powers […]

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Upstairs, Downstairs

Commentary by , February 23, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. Undemocratic Socialism There is a lot going on with Venezuela right now, and I’ll get to that in a moment. But first, a piece I sent out to subscribers of this newsletter on February 4 under the title, “The Lessons of Venezuela,” has just been published in […]

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“I Didn’t Need to Do This”

Commentary by , February 19, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The National Emergency Emergency I declare a national emergency of presidents declaring national emergencies. Before President Trump declared ordinary conditions on the border to be a “national emergency,” there were already 28 active “national emergencies” giving the president special powers, and most have been in effect for […]

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That Noise the Kids Are Listening to These Days

Commentary by , January 30, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. But He Fights I’ve been editing videos and working on other writing projects for much of the last week, so I wanted to do a roundup of news that happened while I was doing all of that–and a lot of interesting things happened. The first item is […]

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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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The War on the Brains of the Right

Commentary by , December 15, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The War on the Brains of the Right At the very beginning of the Trump phenomenon, I warned about a war on the brains of the right. Along with many friends and colleagues, I have found it grimly amusing to find myself dismissed as an “establishment” “elitist” […]

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