Opinion

Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed on Wednesday to debate each other, once in June (on CNN) and once in September (on ABC).

The most unusual thing, if it can be considered unusual these days, was that the agreement came after “a rapid back-and-forth between their campaigns and a flurry of taunts and insults from the candidates.”

Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman have a new book out titled White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. It has proved controversial. There are two major objections, as I understand them. First, Schaller and Waldman may have misrepresented or misunderstood scholarship on the rural context. Second, their thesis — white rural voters pose a unique threat to American democracy — may be overstated and under-supported.

I've known of Schaller and Waldman's work for a long time, and know Tom himself at least a little. So I was a bit surprised to see the vehemence and breadth of the pushback on the new book. I was equally surprised to see other folks I know strongly defend their thesis. The authors got their own word in at The New Republic.

The GOP’s favorite phrase when it comes to presidential politics appears to be, “Nobody knew at the time.”

Once a president is sworn into office, regardless of how much evidence there is of crimes and irregularities committed to get him there, both the press and the electorate just seem to want to ignore that evidence and move along. After all, there’s never been a successfully contested presidential election in American history.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020, America began tallying the vote to see who would be her next president.

Would the poisonous orange tide that had gripped and gagged her the previous four years finally drag her down for good after 244 years of resiliently staying afloat and rising above it all through Civil Wars, World Wars, killer pandemics and her greatest sin?

There’s plenty of good news out there, people, even if during this endless money grab called “election season,” our click-bait corporate media would rather you didn’t see any of it.

The United States economy is once again the envy of the entire free world, much of which is still gasping for air, struggling along in the turbulent wake of a once-in-a-century killer pandemic the morbid, “pro-life” Republican Party would prefer we all just forgot about.

Many of the judges selected by Leonard Leo and Don McGahn during the Trump years have been acting very badly. A little over a year ago, I documented this terrible behavior by discussing many different judges. For example, Justin Walker was only 37 when he was nominated to be a federal trial judge despite absolutely no trial experience. What Walker possessed were ties to conservative groups, including the Federalist Society. Less than one year later, he was confirmed as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In his brief time as a district court judge, Walker issued a decision in a case involving covid restrictions and prayers on Easter Sunday that reads "less like a judicial decision and more like a screed against Democrats published in an outlet like Breitbart." The first seven pages of the opinion rant about Christians and other religious groups suffering major persecution throughout the ages. The last lines of his opinion speak for themselves: "Christ’s sacrifice isn’t about the logic of this world. Nor is their Easter Sunday celebration. The reason they will be there for each other and their Lord is the reason they believe He was and is there for us. For them, for all believers, it isn’t a matter of reason; finally, it’s a matter of love."

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed…” – Jesus (Luke 12:15)

“My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy.” – Donald Trump

The most powerful elected Republican in America declared war on the rule of law yesterday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Congress, on behalf of wannabee “day one” dictator Donald Trump, is going to use every power available to him and his colleagues to nullify America’s court system.