National Politics
President Obama’s teleprompter style has been the subject of substantial (often mocking) critical commentary, and with some justification, as this nearly parodic 2010 video from a Virginia classroom proves: Given recent political events, one can sympathize with the desire of public officials to avoid extemporaneous speech. In a world in which one’s every public utterance…
The Ocean State Current encourages readers to spend some time today reading the Declaration of Independence and considering its continuing significance in our times. Some of the particulars resonate as if addressing present issues: He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors…
Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion. Upholds Individual Mandate as a tax under Congress’ taxing powers. Apparently a complicated opinion. Others are more equipped (and have the time) to analyze, but feel free to comment! ADDENDUM (snarky version): Roberts joined with the courts liberals, so it was 5-4. Not quite the 5-4 decision anyone anticipated,…
NB: Probably the quickest notice of the Supreme Court ruling will be posted at the SCOTUS Blog. Hope their servers can handle it! Writing about the anticipatory condemnations of the soon-to-come Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, Yuval Levin makes an observation about what liberal commentators and politicians–who are expecting at least the individual mandate to…
The Pew Center on the States is out with an “update” (PDF) on public employee retiree pension and health care benefit debt owed by the states (h/t ProJo). They provide three ratings for the two categories: Solid Performer, Needs Improvement and Serious Concerns. Despite giving Rhode Island (report here) positive marks for addressing it’s pension…
Fredrick C. Harris is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of Columbia University’s Center on African-American Politics and Society. In the world of academia, his racial/political bona fides are beyond reproach. so when he proposes that our first African-American President hasn’t adequately addressed racial inequality, it’s worth a read. In his Price of…
Yep, democracy is over. Scott Walker won by ordering the Wisconsin National Guard to stand in front of the voting booths and shoot any likely Tom Barrett voter who entered. Yes, democracy is dead. Wait, what? Walker won because the opposition successfully pulled off getting a recall vote but then more voters sided with Walker…
David Scharfenberg points to an interview that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse did with ThinkProgress in which he claims the five Supreme Court justices who ruled against Whitehouse’s preference on Citizens United shouldn’t have even been allowed to rule because they didn’t have the right experience to judge: Unfortunately you had the five right-wing judges, none of…
In a recent column, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, authors of the new book It’s Even Worse Than it Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism, state that the Republicans are to blame for congressional gridlock. As I tweeted earlier,…
Presumably referencing the divisive and pointless class war which the campaign of President Barack Obama (and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse) feels it needs to wage in order to win re-election, David Burge, aka Iowahawk, tweeted this remark Friday night. (H/T Instapundit Glenn Reynolds.) Apparently, I’m supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with…