Congratulations, Mr. Phelps. Your 19 medals over your Olympic career is the most of any athlete ever, and you have several more opportunities for more. That’s mind-boggling. Hell, eighteen is mind-boggling. That’s how many medals Larisa Latynina won for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964 from Melbourne to Rome to Tokyo. In an oddity, …
You may have read Bill Keller’s Op-Ed at the NYT today (he’s the former Executive Editor of the paper, in case you’ve forgotten). In the column he advocates cutting entitlements to solve America’s problems. Well, Mr. Pierce takes exception. Loudly. Quoth the old boss: At least the Republicans have a plan. The Democrats generally recoil …
A question I’ve never followed up on: just who was Macchiavelli and how was it his name came to describe political tactics the Western world has judged deplorable? Well, thanks to a link from Making Light, I have a much better idea. This is part one of a story about Macchiavelli but also about his …
Okay, I thought nothing could beat Meredith Vieira’s and Matt Lauer’s ignorance of Tim Berners-Lee’s identity for sheer foolishness this weekend, but then I read that Associate Justice Anthony Scalia would be willing to accept hand-held rocket launchers as “arms” in a Second Amendment case if somebody sued for his right to carry the things. …
I thought the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics were spectacular. Quirky, funny, and very very British. It appeared to me that Matt Lauer and Bob Costas decided they’d compete with Fox’s Joe Buck and Tim McCarver for the title of “Providers of Most Banal Commentary Ever at a Sporting Event,” a title I didn’t …
In their infinite wisdom, the honchos at NBC decided that they would not live-stream the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics on any of their websites or on any of their network or cable channels, I assume for fear of cannibalizing their prime-time showing in the US this evening. As my Internet acquaintance Tom Watson says …
Dana Milbank often infuriates me, but he hits doubles and triples occasionally as well. Today he smashed one into the gap in left-center field. President Obama is seeking “an arbitrary, across-the-board budget reduction that would saddle the military with $1 trillion in cuts,” the Republican said. “Strategy is not driving the president’s massive defense cuts. …
Good grief. If the Voter ID law Pennsylvania passed is judged constitutional, nearly half of eligible voters in Philadelphia could be denied the opportunity to vote in November. About 437,237 registered voters in Philly either lack a state-issued ID or have one that has expired before Nov. 6 of last year, which would make it …
Don’t take my word for it, either. Take the state’s own stipulation in a current trial testing a new Pennsylvania voter ID law’s constitutionality. Talking Points Memo quotes the agreement: there “have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such …
(Click to enlarge) That’s from Professor Krugman’s blog post today entitled Free Money. It shows the interest rate the U.S. government pays on bonds that are indexed to inflation. See those minus signs? Those indicate that investors are willing to pay the US government to borrow money from them. It’s not until you get to …