It is possible to simultaneously be skeptical of the Trump Administration’s motives, supportive of DACA as a policy, and dubious about its constitutionality. Some of these positions may seem mutually exclusive. They are not.
This week, President Trump made a deal with Democratic leadership to extend the formal debt ceiling limit by three months (though in practice, much longer). It remains to be seen whether enough rank-and-file members in both parties will go along in the House, but the chances of this deal sticking are pretty high. The deal is being described as a major surprise due to the president's frequently acrimonious relations with Democrats. Trump also appeared to double-down on his collaboration with Democratic leadership by voicing support for eliminating the debt ceiling in its entirety. These moves...
The devastation of Hurricane Harvey has been all over the news. Not surprisingly, some have attempted to blame the storm on climate change. The argument is inevitable and intuitive. It's also a classic case of cherry-picking. If you accept the general premise of climate change as I do, this may not be immediately obvious. It's always harder to spot bad arguments when they support your position. To see the flaw in the "Strong hurricane = climate change" line of reasoning, it's useful to recall the familiar argument offered by skeptics whenever a particularly harsh winter comes around. That...
There is a new Trump-Russia story making the rounds this week. It's about a real estate deal that the Trump Organization considered in Moscow in 2016. If the deal had gone through, there'd be a new Trump Tower in Moscow today, but nothing came of it. Nothing, that is, except for a major story in The New York Times, which first broke the news under a modest headline: Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected’ Following the Times' lead, NPR's Up First program also decided to hype the story by pulling a seemingly damning quote out of context: Guest: ...One of...
The celebrated left-wing intellectual Noam Chomsky recently told The Washington Examiner that the Antifa is "a major gift to the Right, including the militant right". By Antifa, Chomsky was referring to the loose collection of left-wing activist groups that describe themselves as "anti-fascists" or more commonly, just Antifa. The decentralized movement recently gained national publicity for its role protesting against the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA, which included a number of overt white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The rally tragically broke into violence and ended with...
In the wake of tragedies like what happened in Charlottesville, one common impulse to demand new limitations on free speech. This reaction is predictable, understandable, and mistaken. The case for limiting free speech is straightforward enough. The Charlottesville violence broke out at the scene of a political rally in defense of a Confederate general's statue and it included a line-up of speakers that promote fascism and white supremacist views. These views are not part of legitimate political discourse and if they were suppressed, these abhorrent ideas would remain appropriately...
On Saturday in Charlottesville, VA, violent clashes broke out at a white supremacist rally between supporters and protesters. The incident ultimately turned deadly when one of the white supremacists got in his vehicle and drove through a group of counter-demonstrators, killing one and injuring others. Given the context of the event, it appears the action was deliberate and would constitute an act of terrorism--the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Politicians and public figures from across the political spectrum condemned the attack and white supremacist ideology more...
Today, The Washington Post reported that North Korea has developed the capability to miniaturize its nuclear weapons and use them on their existing missiles. The story cited excerpts from a confidential and undisclosed assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that were read to reporters by anonymous intelligence officials. Naturally, President Trump responded to this news with his typical bombast, saying that the US would respond with "fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before" if the US is threatened. In turn, Kim Jong Un saw Trump's "fire...
