OK AND WORSE NEWS:
* Tuesday's election was good for the minimum wage and gun reform, at least.
* The middle class continues to suffer.
* Unfortunately, our lack of a big plan for Syria and Iraq means things continue to unravel there.

"The Republicans won the US midterms - there’s no denying that - but they didn’t win as big as it first seems." (See also.)

Also, now what?

The death penalty is on the decline in Texas.

THREE GOOD READS:
* Turns out dumping a lot of money and unregulated authority into Border Patrol creates a bloated, ineffective, and corrupt behemoth.
* Meanwhile, the unstoppable march of ISIS has totally stopped.
* Examining the stresses in the relations between Israel and the United States.

"Obama may not always give us the emotional sustenance we want, or mount a pretense of whirlwind action to satisfy the cable nets, but he gets things done. Anyone who can count on their fingers can pretty easily figure out, for example, that he's had a more successful presidency than either Clinton or Bush. Slow and steady doesn't win every race, ( Read more... )

SATURDAY SET:
* 'The immorality of American Exceptionalism.'
* "Finally found: the body that goes with these monstrous dinosaur arms."
* It's been a rough year for the Democratic party.
* Seven best picture Oscar contenders for next year.
* Watching Gone With the Wind, seventy-five years later.

FRIDAY FOUR:
* Parsing out Chief Justice Roberts and his views on race in America.
* Daniel Larison sets the record straight on Romney and foreign policy.
* Bush's other legacy: the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, "the nation's most divisive, controversial and conservative appeals court."
* The ten biggest flops in television history. Four of which I ( Read more... )

SOME NEWS:
* The economic constraints of innovation on the military-industrial complex.
* In defense of Obama as a Republican.
* Questions to expose libertarian hypocrisy.
* "Just how little do we know about the ocean floor?"
* The origin of the word "cosplay."

Journalist posts scathing article about the Koch brothers. Koch brothers respond with rebuttal. Journalist disassembles their rebuttal with gusto ( Read more... )

"Jesse Dukes does not have Confederate ancestors. But in the time he's spent writing about Civil War re-enactors, he's met many who say they do. Their perspectives on the Confederate flag and the legacy of their ancestors prompted Dukes, a writer and radio reporter, to share his own six words with the Race Card Project: 'Must We Forget Our ( Read more... )