Sitting in Darkness, Blogging the Light
As the Christmas season draws to a close and the return of regular blogging looms, I’m looking back over this short period of intense religion writing and thinking about how writing on religion is and...
View ArticleHow Real Is the Meaning?
By now, the Three Kings are almost to Bethlehem, and the Christmas season is drawing to a close. But the Three Kings (actually, “wise men” according to Matthew’s gospel) aren’t just bringing their...
View ArticleThe Light at the End of the Yule Blog
This is the Feast of the Epiphany, and so the Yule Blog is drawing to a close for another year. As always, it’s a nice break from the regular blogging and a way to mark the holidays.The Christmas...
View ArticleSome Thoughts on the Trump News Bombshell
Yesterday’s news bombshell—the opposition research dossier reportedly included in the classified briefing delivered last week as an annex, not verified but apparently of sufficient concern to the...
View ArticleMarine Le Pen’s Frexit Pitch
As Theresa May lays out her plans for a clean break from the EU, Marine Le Pen is trying to sell French voters on her own vision for a French exit. The Wall Street Journal reports: She last ran in 2012...
View ArticleThe Winners of 2016
1. Andrew JacksonThe biggest winner of 2016 has been dead for 171 years. Old Hickory’s legacy of American populism is one of the most powerful forces in national politics. When properly harnessed, it...
View ArticleThe Losers of 2016
1. The Emerging Democratic MajorityLike Francis Fukuyama’s 1991 book The End of History and the Last Man, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira’s The Emerging Democratic Majority, published in 2002, is a careful...
View ArticleThe Eight Great Powers of 2017
1. The United States of AmericaNo surprise here: as it has for the last century, the United States remains the most powerful country on earth. America’s dynamic economy, its constitutional stability...
View ArticleSmart Republicans Would Address This Now
Momentum is building, as it should, for policymakers to do more to make saving for retirement easier for more people. At the state level, Democrats are getting excited about the idea of government-run...
View ArticleThe Refugee Ban and the Holocaust
Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt has an American President done anything so cruel and bigoted. And only Barack Obama has exhibited this degree of callous indifference to the suffering of the Syrian...
View ArticleThe NYT’s Misleading Settlements Coverage
Thursday’s New York Times story on settlements is clueless and misleading—the kind of article that makes readers think they are getting news, but doesn’t actually tell them the key facts they need to...
View ArticleTrump’s Australia Imbroglio
Reports of President Donald Trump’s fiery phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quickly went viral yesterday. According the Washington Post, Trump berated Turnbull about a refugee...
View ArticleEuropeans Back Trump’s German Grievances
On at least one issue, the Trump Administration’s controversial trade policy has found some unlikely backers in Europe. After Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked Germany yesterday for...
View ArticleTelework: The Miracle Cure
The New York Times gets at least this much: telework is, among other things, a feminist issue. Making work schedules more flexible and allowing workers to do their jobs when and where it works for them...
View ArticleUS vs. China: First Round to Trump
In his first presidential phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump re-iterated the longstanding “One China” policy that he had earlier questioned with his provocative Taiwan call....
View ArticleWe Don’t Have the Tools to Measure the New Economy
Over at the American Enterprise Institute, James Pethokoukis highlights new research suggesting that standard economic statistics showing modest growth rates may not be telling the whole story: There’s...
View ArticleWhat Flynn’s Resignation Really Means
The resignation last night of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, following a controversy over his disputed pre-inauguration contacts with the Russian ambassador, has sent an already anxious...
View ArticleWhy We Can’t Have Nice Things, Healthcare Edition
The Wall Street Journal highlights a major hurdle facing the GOP as it seeks to unravel the Obamacare Gordian knot: One portion of the law that its own wonks want to keep in some form—a tax...
View ArticleGOP Goes After Tenure
Republican state legislators across the country, concerned about rising tuition prices and eager to combat academic liberal bias, are taking aim at faculty tenure protections at state universities. The...
View ArticleAnother European Greece Failure
Eurozone leaders have missed a crucial deadline to make headway on the latest Greek bailout dispute, pushing the talks into the heat of a contentious election season. Financial Times: Eurozone finance...
View Article