Exactly. This is what drives me mad about all the libertarians in Texas: they keep talking how proudly about how they could split off and form their own country at any point (as if the original Texan citizens of 1836-45 weren't panting at the mouth to get into the U.S., and the only reason it took so long for Texas to…

The problem isn't that the news media isn't calling the Tea Party out on its shit, it's that nobody who is (still) sympathetic to the Tea Party would be watching Will's show. In real life, sympathy for the Tea Party has already peaked: people who were initially like, "hmm, maybe they have some good points" have either…

The problem isn't that the news media isn't calling the Tea Party out on its shit, it's that nobody who is (still) sympathetic to the Tea Party would be watching Will's show. In real life, sympathy for the Tea Party has already peaked: people who were initially like, "hmm, maybe they have some good points" have either…

All of those people were basically kicked out of the party because they strayed from party orthodoxy. And all of those people are far more conservative, even now, than Will has ever been shown to be.

All of those people were basically kicked out of the party because they strayed from party orthodoxy. And all of those people are far more conservative, even now, than Will has ever been shown to be.

Didn't Sally say Gordon had told her he and Dana were over? Also, Sally doesn't lord it over Dana, is more avoidant than anything else, and is ashamed of it after she finds out Dana and Gordon are still together. Those just aren't the actions of someone who's marking territory. 

Didn't Sally say Gordon had told her he and Dana were over? Also, Sally doesn't lord it over Dana, is more avoidant than anything else, and is ashamed of it after she finds out Dana and Gordon are still together. Those just aren't the actions of someone who's marking territory. 

My brother's a print journalist and a diehard Sorkinite who has been trying to convince me that Studio 60 got a bum rap. He e-mailed me after the premiere saying that it was the biggest load of crap he'd ever seen. You're right.

My brother's a print journalist and a diehard Sorkinite who has been trying to convince me that Studio 60 got a bum rap. He e-mailed me after the premiere saying that it was the biggest load of crap he'd ever seen. You're right.

@avclub-1898a4d76532f237d9b5c0592dfe71a9:disqus - You're basically right about correlation/causation - there are ways around it so that you can find causation in the real world, which Levitt et al mostly follow in the paper (taking advantage of a natural experiment in the real world because there's a change in the…

@avclub-1898a4d76532f237d9b5c0592dfe71a9:disqus - You're basically right about correlation/causation - there are ways around it so that you can find causation in the real world, which Levitt et al mostly follow in the paper (taking advantage of a natural experiment in the real world because there's a change in the…

@avclub-383d3906a81567a4790639391dc4ecd7:disqus - Neither of those arguments really works for me (either Freakonomics or Freedomnomics) because they're making an implicit judgment about the types of women who get abortions — they're the kinds of women who would otherwise raise criminals.

@avclub-383d3906a81567a4790639391dc4ecd7:disqus - Neither of those arguments really works for me (either Freakonomics or Freedomnomics) because they're making an implicit judgment about the types of women who get abortions — they're the kinds of women who would otherwise raise criminals.

This is upsetting to me, as I had really liked both John Gallagher Jr. and Alison Pill from previous work (Pill in "In Treatment" was legitimately fantastic), and it's really frustrating how bad they both are here.

This is upsetting to me, as I had really liked both John Gallagher Jr. and Alison Pill from previous work (Pill in "In Treatment" was legitimately fantastic), and it's really frustrating how bad they both are here.

When a show has no subtext, people tend to assume its creator has no subtext, either.

When a show has no subtext, people tend to assume its creator has no subtext, either.

@avclub-1898a4d76532f237d9b5c0592dfe71a9:disqus @avclub-c156902f5b20b572848be18c11634dfb:disqus @Merve2:disqus @avclub-7dbdddc61ba879bff07c0e4e5b6e208a:disqus - The paper is here: http://pricetheory.uchicago…

@avclub-1898a4d76532f237d9b5c0592dfe71a9:disqus @avclub-c156902f5b20b572848be18c11634dfb:disqus @Merve2:disqus @avclub-7dbdddc61ba879bff07c0e4e5b6e208a:disqus - The paper is here: http://pricetheory.uchicago…

@avclub-8eee1846f9b9cd158dfc174d2db55269:disqus - Because Will is never shown to be wrong about his hatred of the Internet in the context of the show. In the meta-text that we have (talking about Sorkin), we can talk about the ways Will is wrong. Within the show itself, which is a document Sorkin claims 100% ownership…