Meanwhile, Saudis Stuck On Oil Thanks To MbS Crackdown Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) has a plan to get Saudi Arabia off oil, with an immediate push to create 1.2 million private sector jobs by 2020. However, as Juan Cole reports, his political crackdown last year in which over 300 people were tossed in jail for various supposed crimes, with many of them now having frozen bank accounts and other restrictions placed on them, has somewhat...
Read More »Accidentally Booked on Fox News
.@teambarbara's website says Congress should "abolish ICE and start fresh, building a new immigration enforcement system that is fair, just, compassionate and reflects the values of a nation of immigrants." She was accidentally booked for a Fox News interview this morning: pic.twitter.com/WFT0JDu88b — Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) July 23, 2018 Accidentally booked on Fox News as the only Democrat who supports ICE. Fox news booked the wrong candidate who...
Read More »The Most Important Issue At Helsinki
The Most Important Issue At Helsinki No, folks, it was not the much ballyhooed issue of Russian election interference in 2016, which got so much attention because of Trump’s bungled and false statements at the press conference. Oh yes, for those of us who are convinced he is a bought out stooge of Putin, this all was very delicious, but it was far from the most important issue dealt with in Helsinki. As always, the most important issue between Russia and...
Read More »86% of the 2018 Congressional Election Already Determined
A projection was made by Fair Vote Org as to what will happen in the 2018 Congressional Elections based upon a series of variables such as whether a candidate is an incumbent, the geographical location or rural versus city, the underlying partisan lean of a district etc. If we apply those variables to this election; the likelihood of a House takeover even with a Blue Wave of angry Democrats going to the poll will not yield us what we hope to achieve. It...
Read More »Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in South Africa – Stepping Back for a Moment
[embedded content] An articulate president who reads books and tells things in a manner which does not demean. Huge change from Obama to Trump.
Read More »Misspoke?
Trump in Helsinki: “I do not see any reason why Russia would be responsible, I have great confidence in my intelligence people; but I will tell you that, President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Trump back in Washington D.C.: “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all,” in...
Read More »Children immigrants are becoming bigger business
MSN reports Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds. Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained unaccompanied and separated children soared from $74.5 million in 2007 to $958 million in 2017. The agency is also reviewing a new round of proposals...
Read More »Does The University of Illinois have a Problem
I’m not a lawyer. Also Republicans are worse than I imagine possible even taking into account the fact that they are worse than I imagine possible. However, I think Brett Kavanaugh defender Andrew Leipold of The U of Illinois School of Law is unfit to serve as a law professor. The issue is that Kavanaugh signed the Starr report which argued that Clinton could be impeached for delaying his interview with special prosecutor Starr. Therefore, either...
Read More »Understanding the simple strategy for the 2018 elections
Understanding the simple strategy for the 2018 elections Pretend for a moment that you are a political strategist. Your party is the party in power. The opposition has been enraged since the moment of your standard-bearer’s election. In the special and off-year elections since, they have been showing up in unprecedented droves for offices up and down the ticket, from Governor and US Senator to state representative and local council. The mid-term...
Read More »A teaser about wages and labor force participation
I was going to put up a short piece about wages this morning, but it has turned into a longer, more comprehensive piece, so in the meantime, here are some teasers to ponder. 1. There is a direct relationship between the economy generally, and child care costs specifically, and couples’ decisions about whether or not to have more children: The below graph comes from Vox.com. It is the top eight reasons that couples give for not having (more)...
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