^This

I agree it’s a double edged sword. Which is why I think he’s so adamant on to tinkering with it in such specific ways this year (interest rate statements, etc).

History doesn’t align well with that conclusion. He’s an incumbent sitting on one of the best job markets in a decade or more. The long term impacts of the tax cuts won’t hit average Americans until after the election (brilliant design). Etc. Etc.

I think she is currently in the perfect place for her goals. I fear this focus on the presidency for progressive policy is just an exaggerated example of the Peter Principle. Congress was meant to be the place for transformational policy, not the presidency. If we want long term and sustainable changes in our country…

Social media has made “loving our public lands to death” more efficient. Snark is cute until you dive into the real details. Many of these regions simply can’t handle the sudden popularity caused by the new vanity press.

I mostly agree except for one context: if the very Constitutional Republic designed to protect our individual liberty is invaded.

Touché. 

Yeah, probably true. I have seen a lot of good introspection from the resistance on the right about our changing national identity with overlap on the left. But it would take some serious prioritization of nation over party to  turn that into legislation. 

I would prefer that as well but I don’t see our nation giving up that tradition. Especially with our escalating use of proxy wars and heated relationships with Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, etc.

I forsee this being a chance to reimagine the role of a draft and national service if we ever have a unified Congress. The logic of sex and gender free requirements of a national draft are obvious. That said I think it needs to change from strict military service to encompass broader national needs. I say this…

I wish I could share your view but I have yet to see enough evidence that voters in key states have shifted away from Trump. We won the House but lost more seats in the Senate these last midterms. The Senate is the race that best reflects the Electoral College in which we got whooped last general election. Plus,…

I live in one of our red state’s reddest districts and its been disheartening to see how successful these tropes are for the conservative base. The sexist double bind is obvious to so many of us in these circles but relatively unnoticed, or not cared about, by those devouring the red meat. I just saw it play out first…

And what racist thing did Sandman say or so evidently due? The only thing he is taped doing is a lame smirk. And smirking at a guy that walked up to his personal space and banged a drum in his face. The longer video actually shows Sandman nudging a friend to stop debating with one of the native Americans in the line…

The video of the boys on the bench?  Was a better video made public as I have yet to see any certainty that it was the same school and definitely no evidence that it was Sandman.  The kids behavior in that video was abhorrent but has nothing to do with the initial claims made about the viral video.  Moving the…

You can conclude whatever you want but I guarantee the people I know who walked back their criticism did so because of video evidence inconsistent with the early reporting. Being willing to admit mistakes and recognize misplaced attacks doesn’t make people less of allies. I still think Stoneman and the school came off…

It appears I’m in the minority for believing the media did jump the gun on this situation and failed to do due diligence before running the story. I sincerely hope the lawsuit fails but newspapers and media outlets need to stop running immediate stories on viral videos like this one. ( That and stop reporting that…

Not successful yet is it? Last I heard they are just in the early stages but are winning basic efforts, like the ability to depose him.  I hope they take everything from him but I don't believe the suit has even made it to trial yet.

I think that highlights part of the difficulty of discussing racism, too. “Racism” as a definition carries many different definitions dependent on time/era, education (academic/sociological constructions), nation/region, etc. For example, I think ethno-nationalism (Richard Spencer) is the better equal to racism than…

I think individuals of any race can be racist. I think we have all seen or directly experienced evidence of such. I fully recognize institutional and systemic racism operate differently and are best viewed through lens of power dynamics. Yet I don’t believe that approach discounts the ability of individuals of any…

I don’t see how either the Govenor or AG can remain in office. People can talk about how it was the almost 40 years ago but that doesn’t erode the fact that minorities in their state continue to deal with the type of racism that informed their decision to dress up in blackface. That is an inescapable reality for…