Over the past few weeks, at least two major news stories have vied for our attention because they seemingly revealed the deep truth that not only has America always been a racist nation but that things are getting objectively worse because of Donald Trump.The hate-crime attack on Jussie Smollet, we're told, somehow reveals a cancer on the American soul even if the actor engineered it as a . So too does the arrest of the Coast Guard's Lt. Christopher P. Hasson, who according to court documents called himself "" and had drawn up a kill list of "traitors" that included CNN and MSNBC...…Over the past few weeks, at least two major news stories have vied for our attention because they seemingly revealed the deep truth that not only has America always been a racist nation but that things are getting objectively worse because of Donald Trump.The hate-crime attack on Jussie Smollet, we're told, somehow reveals a cancer on the American soul even if the actor engineered it as a . So too does the arrest of the Coast Guard's Lt. Christopher P. Hasson, who according to court documents called himself "" and had drawn up a kill list of "traitors" that included CNN and MSNBC...WW…

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is one of the dumbest aphorisms ever coined. Speaking as a former television producer, I'd say a picture takes a thousand words to explain. Take this much-circulated NASA satellite photo showing vast smoke plumes over the Amazon region:Combined with a report from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research that says the agency had detected 39,194 fires in the region, a 77 percent jump up from the same period in 2018, that picture has launched alarmed headlines around the world."Amazon rainforest is burning at an unprecedented rate," CNN. The...…"A picture is worth a thousand words" is one of the dumbest aphorisms ever coined. Speaking as a former television producer, I'd say a picture takes a thousand words to explain. Take this much-circulated NASA satellite photo showing vast smoke plumes over the Amazon region:Combined with a report from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research that says the agency had detected 39,194 fires in the region, a 77 percent jump up from the same period in 2018, that picture has launched alarmed headlines around the world."Amazon rainforest is burning at an unprecedented rate," CNN. The...WW…

Over the weekend, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted out these images of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, whose regime was toppled in 2011 by a NATO-led operation in which the United States participated.— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio)Though the tweet contains no words, the senator was sending an unmistakable message to Venezuelan President , whose control is slipping amid rising protests both within and without his country. , an ad hoc consortium of a dozen Latin American countries and Canada, does not recognize Maduro as legitimate; about 30 countries (including the United States) have...…Over the weekend, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted out these images of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, whose regime was toppled in 2011 by a NATO-led operation in which the United States participated.— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio)Though the tweet contains no words, the senator was sending an unmistakable message to Venezuelan President , whose control is slipping amid rising protests both within and without his country. , an ad hoc consortium of a dozen Latin American countries and Canada, does not recognize Maduro as legitimate; about 30 countries (including the United States) have...WW…

The headlines sound pretty bad. "Russia Targeted Elections Systems in All 50 States," says The New York Times. "New Senate Intelligence report shows 'extensive' Russia 2016 election interference," reports Vox. What these and many other fearmongering headlines leave out is that while Russians may have targeted state elections systems in 2016, there's zero evidence that they actually managed to interfere. We have no reason to believe that votes were changed or deleted, that voters were purged from rolls, that voter information was modified. And the assessment that all 50 states were targeted...…The headlines sound pretty bad. "Russia Targeted Elections Systems in All 50 States," says The New York Times. "New Senate Intelligence report shows 'extensive' Russia 2016 election interference," reports Vox. What these and many other fearmongering headlines leave out is that while Russians may have targeted state elections systems in 2016, there's zero evidence that they actually managed to interfere. We have no reason to believe that votes were changed or deleted, that voters were purged from rolls, that voter information was modified. And the assessment that all 50 states were targeted...WW…

Only half of all Americans now have a positive view of colleges and universities, according to from Pew Research. The number of people who take a negative view has increased from 26 percent in 2012 to 38 percent in 2019. The change largely reflects a growing dissatisfaction on the right with the culture of college campuses. The percentage of Republicans who see value in higher education has collapsed in recent years, from 53 percent in 2012 to just 23 percent in 2019. According to Pew: Roughly eight-in-ten Republicans (79%) say professors bringing their political and social views into the...…Only half of all Americans now have a positive view of colleges and universities, according to from Pew Research. The number of people who take a negative view has increased from 26 percent in 2012 to 38 percent in 2019. The change largely reflects a growing dissatisfaction on the right with the culture of college campuses. The percentage of Republicans who see value in higher education has collapsed in recent years, from 53 percent in 2012 to just 23 percent in 2019. According to Pew: Roughly eight-in-ten Republicans (79%) say professors bringing their political and social views into the...WW…

Tonight's features a dozen candidates, but all eyes will be on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.). Over the past few weeks, she has almost with former Vice President Joe Biden, who can't stop reminding people that he's older than Methuselah (whose eyes seemed less likely to fill with blood and whose dentures fitted more snugly), and shaken loose from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), whose underscored the Vermont socialist's age (it didn't help that his campaign prevaricated on what exactly happened). None of the lower-polling candidates on stage have anything resembling upward momentum. This is...…Tonight's features a dozen candidates, but all eyes will be on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.). Over the past few weeks, she has almost with former Vice President Joe Biden, who can't stop reminding people that he's older than Methuselah (whose eyes seemed less likely to fill with blood and whose dentures fitted more snugly), and shaken loose from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), whose underscored the Vermont socialist's age (it didn't help that his campaign prevaricated on what exactly happened). None of the lower-polling candidates on stage have anything resembling upward momentum. This is...WW…

The late, great urban theorist, Jane Jacobs,  in her seminal The Death and Life of Great American Cities that, "there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error, and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."She was explaining that people with innovative business ideas need an inexpensive place to get started. After all, the founders of Apple, Google, and Disney birthed their enterprises in . In California, these days, the cost of real estate—and everything else, for that matter—is so high,...…The late, great urban theorist, Jane Jacobs,  in her seminal The Death and Life of Great American Cities that, "there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error, and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."She was explaining that people with innovative business ideas need an inexpensive place to get started. After all, the founders of Apple, Google, and Disney birthed their enterprises in . In California, these days, the cost of real estate—and everything else, for that matter—is so high,...WW…

By my calculation, there are at the very least 11 trillion reasons to worry about Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden. He's to beat incumbent Donald Trump on November 3. Not only is the former vice president likely to win, but FiveThirtyEight predicts Democrats have of taking the Senate while holding the House of Representatives, meaning that he will have a great opportunity to deliver on all of his campaign promises, which add up to a mind-blowing total of $11 trillion in new federal spending over the coming decade. His "," writes The Washington Post.That's bad news not just for...…By my calculation, there are at the very least 11 trillion reasons to worry about Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden. He's to beat incumbent Donald Trump on November 3. Not only is the former vice president likely to win, but FiveThirtyEight predicts Democrats have of taking the Senate while holding the House of Representatives, meaning that he will have a great opportunity to deliver on all of his campaign promises, which add up to a mind-blowing total of $11 trillion in new federal spending over the coming decade. His "," writes The Washington Post.That's bad news not just for...WW…

A planned House vote on a bill to decriminalize the possession of marijuana was canceled on Thursday under pressure from law enforcement lobbyists and other pro-prohibition special interests.The expected floor vote on the would have been the biggest accomplishment yet for cannabis reformers, but the effort has been postponed until after Election Day, Politico . Democrats have gotten weak-kneed about a bill that they once saw as a major criminal justice reform.Indeed, it would have been. The MORE Act, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D–N.Y.), would remove cannabis from the schedules of the...…A planned House vote on a bill to decriminalize the possession of marijuana was canceled on Thursday under pressure from law enforcement lobbyists and other pro-prohibition special interests.The expected floor vote on the would have been the biggest accomplishment yet for cannabis reformers, but the effort has been postponed until after Election Day, Politico . Democrats have gotten weak-kneed about a bill that they once saw as a major criminal justice reform.Indeed, it would have been. The MORE Act, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D–N.Y.), would remove cannabis from the schedules of the...WW…

One week after being trapped inside the United States Capitol as thousands of pro–Donald Trump marauders attempted to forcibly "stop the steal" of the presidential election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) suggested one possible federal government response: convening a national commission on media literacy."We're going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation," Ocasio-Cortez told her followers in a video message. "It's one thing to have differing opinions, but it's another thing entirely to just say...…One week after being trapped inside the United States Capitol as thousands of pro–Donald Trump marauders attempted to forcibly "stop the steal" of the presidential election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) suggested one possible federal government response: convening a national commission on media literacy."We're going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation," Ocasio-Cortez told her followers in a video message. "It's one thing to have differing opinions, but it's another thing entirely to just say...WW…