BREAKING EXCLUSIVE VIDEO Rudy Giuliani appears outside the restaurant where Trump and Romney are dining pic.twitter.com/55KSkomu0u — Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) November 30, 2016
Politics
Affordable Care Act, Laws/Regulations, Politics
Lindsey Graham and Jennifer Rubin are Right About Healthcare
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a difference between disliking – strongly – a federal intrusion into the marketplace like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the policy & politics of a replacement (if any). Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham outlines the policy problem with changes to the ACA: “Once you say that everybody should be covered, can’t be…
Politics, Romney, Trump
Dinner and a Little Romance in Manhattan
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Culture, Economics, Politics, School District, University
Plain-Spoken in a Small Town? Not Most Leaders
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a quaint – but false – notion that people in small towns are uncommonly plain-spoken, even blunt. One sometimes sees examples of this in films or books, where residents are depicted as folksy straight-talkers (“shucks, I don’t cotton to no one abusing nobody,” etc.). I’ve never heard anyone in Whitewater speak so colorfully, and I’ve…
Local Government, Newspapers, Politics, Press
Fake News Was a Local Problem Before It Was a National One
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s post-election consternation about the amount of bogus news sites on social media. This concern pairs with the worry that fact-checking from major news organizations doesn’t work well when candidates simply lie and refuse either correction or apology. This may be a recent national development – at least on this scale – but local news for…
Alt-Right, Libertarians, Liberty, Politics
Libertarianism is Enough: Goodbye to the LP
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a saying that some libertarians are born and others are made (as a result, tragically, of experiencing misconduct at the hands of the state). Libertarianism of both origins, especially those of us from movement (old) libertarian families, has been around long before the Libertarian Party – the LP – was formed in late 1971. Needless to…
America, City, Federal Government, Local Government, Politics
The National-Local Mix
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alt-Right, Bigotry, Politics
Trump’s Surrogates Know Exactly What the Alt-Right Is
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few days ago, during a panel discussion, New York Times columnist Charles Blow and Trump surrogate former Congressman Jack Kingston clashed over the racism of Trump’s alt-right supporters. Kingston claimed not to know what the term alt-right meant, and Blow scolded Kingston for Kingston’s professed ignorance. (Their exchange begins after 6:30 on the video.)…
Politics, Trump
Forget the Tactical (For Now)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This year hasn’t been a great one for polling, data operations, or vaunted GOTV efforts. If it had been so, then Hillary Clinton would now be president-elect. So much conventional tactical analysis (much of which I accepted) has proved erroneous. There’s no gain, and much harm, in focusing on the tactical now. Even if one…
Freedom of Speech, Politics, Trump
Of Course Most #NeverTrumpers Will Capitulate
by JOHN ADAMS •
Thousands who (admirably) devoted themselves to the #NeverTrump movement have already (sadly) begun to second-guess their opposition now that Trump’s heading to federal power. Ben Terris nicely describes the impulse – the natural reaction to yield to power – in Welcome to NeverTrump Grief, Stage 3: GOP skeptics bargain with Trump — and themselves. One…
Bigotry, Politics, Press
‘Critics Say So’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Is Stephen Bannon, newly-appointed chief strategist to Donald Trump, a racist. A headline to a story on that subject comes with a limitation: critics say so. (See, Is Trump’s new chief strategist a racist? Critics say so.) There’s the weakness of a legacy press: big money, high self-regard, but a small appetite for declaring definitely the character of a person’s…
History, Law, Liberty, Politics, Presidential race 2016, Trump
Kevin Drum on Trump and the End of Reconstruction
by JOHN ADAMS •
Blogging at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum – like many of us, of whatever politics – seems uncertain about the consequences of a Trump Administration. (In fairness, much has happened in a short time, and it’s hard to make sense of it all.) Still, Drum’s thinking has shifted significantly over the last few days, in ways…
Johnson-Weld, Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2016
Where Libertarians Stand on the Presidential Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
Libertarians have a political philosophy, and may also be members of a political party using that same name. For those of us who are both ideologically libertarian and members of the national party (as I am), the statement yesterday from Libertarian vice presidential candidate Bill Weld (a former Republican governor of Massachusetts), summaries nicely our…