No, there is not a meta-story of Biden’s first year
Not everything is clearly on the right or wrong track.
Eric Black
Veteran journalist Eric Black writes Eric Black Ink for MinnPost. His latest award is from the Society of Professional Journalists, which in May 2017 announced he’d won the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for online column writing. Email him at eblack@minnpost.com.
The world’s democracies are backsliding — including the United States
A report found that the number of countries undergoing “democratic backsliding” over the past decade is at its highest point ever.
Americans’ economic outlook pretty much totally depends on their political party
Surveys of consumer sentiment tend to fluctuate based on which party is in power.
Clear majorities of Americans want Roe v. Wade upheld
And among Republicans, overturning the decision was only supported by three percentage points more poll respondents than those that wanted it to remain.
Mitch McConnell is the king of chutzpah
I’m open to discussion about the whether or not it’s a good idea to increase the size of the Supreme Court. Just not from Mitch McConnell.
If today’s Republicans have a problem with ‘socialism,’ they should take it up with Abraham Lincoln
The use of the word “socialism” by the American right and the Republican Party to redefine pretty much “everything the U.S. government might do to improve the lives average or poor Americans” is rubbish.
Hey, are you satisfied — with the way things are going in the United States?
Most Americans, apparently, are not.
Mitt Romney is wrong about the filibuster
Romney invokes a new flavor of rubbish, saying that the filibuster is necessary to protect government by “consensus.”
For all of Manchin’s worry about federal spending, his state sure gets a lot of federal government aid
I get frustrated with the way Joe Manchin has played the role of chief barrier to the Democrats’ big plan for federal programs to help the poor, the sick, the needy, the elderly, and the young.
About the guy who ate two meals a day at an amusement park. For years.
In 2014, Six Flags offered a one-time deal: $150 for an annually renewable pass to the park, which included free parking and two meals any time you enter. A dude from Southern California decided to take advantage.
Rep. Adam Schiff is a little too rosy in his assessment of the state of U.S. democracy
I share Schiff’s concern about these recent transgressions by the Justice Department under Donald Trump, but he misses the larger and more permanent constitutional ways the United States falls short of full democracy.
A one-sentence obit for Colin Powell
The tone of all the obits and recaps I read about Powell ranged from respectful to celebratory, except for one, a single run-on sentence at the beginning of the latest weekly installment of the Harper’s Magazine feature called “Weekly Review.”
Texas curriculum law and the perils of teaching ‘both sides’ of history
The law requires teachers to “present opposing views on controversial subjects.”
On Democrats’ coming doom
Democrats’ already thin majorities seem unlikely to survive the midterm elections.
Trying to understand Rep. Steve Scalise’s refusal to say the 2020 election was not stolen
You may have heard this one before. I guess I hadn’t. And it’s not at all clear to me what Scalise thinks should be done. It’s also not clear that he even has a point.
Are Supreme Court justices just partisan hacks?
On major cases, they might as well be.
Russia expert Fiona Hill on how Putin takes advantage of American dysfunction
Hill, whose testimony featured prominently in the first Trump impeachment trial, has written an article for Foreign Affairs recapping what she learned and figured about Putin and Russia and how Putin utilized Trump.
What the debt limit and sharks have in common
In his latest column, Paul Krugman argues that when people are unhappy with the status quo, they are likely to punish incumbent candidates, whether or not the incumbent is really to blame. And that Mitch McConnnell is counting on this.
A lifelong conservative on the dangers of Donald Trump
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, long-time Republican Robert Kagan lays out the threats facing the country in the 2024 election.
The problem with Democrats’ plan to tax the rich
If Democrats want the wealthy to pay more taxes, tax where their money actually comes from.
