Kathleen Parker, the conservative Washington Post columnist, penned an article on January 6 with the eye-catching headline, "If Obama is a Muslim, is Trump a Russian spy?" As the piece starts, it appears to urge caution to liberals who are wont to imply or explicitly state that Trump is a tool of the Russians. After a brief "history refresher" … Continue reading Kathleen Parker’s Confused Column Inconclusive on Validity of Conspiracy Theories
One of the changes I noticed in myself over the course of 2016 presidential election is that I gradually filtered the content I consumed to the point that everything I read was politically focused. At the start of 2016, I was stumbling happily through the internet to find intriguing stories on a variety of topics. … Continue reading Escaping Political Writing
Though it's been getting colder and colder in Minnesota, the snow production in the Twin Cities has been lackluster thus far. I'm of the opinion that if it's going to be cold it should at least snow. Placate us with some pretty scenery, Mother Nature. Yesterday, the snow started to come down in a respectable quantity. … Continue reading Finally, Some Snow
The Washington Post published quite the humdinger last night. The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter. Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections … Continue reading As leftists, we need to treat the CIA’s claims of Russian election manipulation skeptically.
I haven't posted anything since the election. Frankly, it's been hard to think of what to write in the wake of the devastating results. Others have put forth some of their best work in response to the election. Masha Gessen's widely praised piece, Autocracy: Rules for Survival, laid the groundwork for how we adjust to and fight back in this … Continue reading A Foggy Morning in Minneapolis
Three days. In three days Americans cast their final votes for the next President of the United States. Despite Trump's rampant ineptitude and scandal-ridden campaign, the race is uncomfortably close. I don't think it's possible to overestimate the damage a Donald Trump presidency would inflict on the United States and the world. Beyond that, I … Continue reading 3 Things To Do 3 Days Before Election Day
I opened Google today and saw something new: Trending Stories by Pocket. Pocket is a popular "save-for-later service" that allows users to save stories from the web to read on their devices offline at a later time. I use the service frequently, and indeed clicking the ? icon displays this message: The best of the … Continue reading Pocket’s Trending News on Google
This story came out of my hometown yesterday: Staff at the Palmer Ridge High School student newspaper expected “significant reaction” when they endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, but they’ve been surprised by the vitriol they’ve received. “Some of the stuff we’ve seen on Facebook is quite disgusting,” said Evan Ochsner, a Palmer Ridge senior and co-editor-in-chief. “There … Continue reading The Threat of High-School Journalism
Yesterday was a cool day at work. After rumors of the possibility, my coworkers and I at Mall of America were notified that the nation's largest mall will be closed on Thanksgiving. The Minneapolis Star Tribune told the story this way: In the past few years, the Mall of America was among the growing crop of retailers and … Continue reading Mall of America pushes back against Black Friday creeping into Thanksgiving
As more companies consciously make an effort to keep sexism out of their marketing content, others are stuck in the Mad Men mentality of the past. The latest example: GQ published a piece on fall fashion for which they took a group of male rock climbers, a few female models and lots of really expensive clothing to … Continue reading Outdoor Research with the Quickness
