Author: the Author
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Welcome to America. Your Lobbyist Will See You Now.
There was a time when political corruption was refreshingly straightforward. A businessman wanted something from the government. He slipped an envelope across a desk. A politician did him a favor. Eventually somebody found the envelope, somebody went to jail, and Hollywood made a movie about it. We have apparently evolved beyond such primitive arrangements. Consider…
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The Managed Democracy Temptation: An American Drift
There is a sharp but often overlooked distinction between rule of law and rule by law. The first is the foundation of a liberal democracy: laws bind everyone, government and citizen alike, and are applied impartially. The second is its mimicry: laws exist, but they are bent into instruments of power, drafted and enforced selectively…
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Please Share This Crap
I have a small favor to ask. If you have ever read one of my posts and thought, “Huh. That wasn’t a complete waste of four minutes,” please share it. That’s it. That’s the entire sophisticated marketing strategy. I currently make absolutely nothing from these posts. No advertising empire. No lucrative sponsorship deal. No yacht…
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Corruption, Cronyism, or Coincidence? Follow the Money Behind America’s 250th Birthday
America only gets one 250th birthday. Congress began preparing for it a decade ago. In 2016, it created the United States Semiquincentennial Commission to oversee the celebration and the public-facing America250 effort. Congress later appropriated $150 million for activities commemorating the anniversary. Then Donald Trump returned to the White House, and something peculiar happened. A…
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The Day the Sky Fell: When an EF5 Tornado Hits a City Divided by Wealth
It begins as a bruise on the horizon—a greenish, spinning smear above the skyline. By the time the sirens wail, millions are already watching radar apps, seeing the red hook echo bloom like a curse. They tell themselves the same lie people always tell: It won’t hit here. But this time it does. And when…
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When Magic Muddies the Medicine
We live in an age overflowing with beneficial practices. Science has verified that regular exercise lowers blood pressure, meditation reduces stress, community connection extends life, and a balanced diet protects the heart. These are not mysteries; they are measurable, repeatable, and as reliable as sunrise. And yet—over and over—we see these simple truths overlaid with…
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How Glinda Conquered Oz
Everyone remembers the Wicked Witch of the West as the villain of The Wizard of Oz. But watch the 1939 movie again and consider a more unsettling possibility. What if Glinda was the one manipulating everything? When Dorothy arrives in Oz, she accidentally kills the Wicked Witch of the East. Glinda immediately appears and places…
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The Bill After Trump: What Would It Cost America to Put the Federal Government Back Together?
There is a peculiar assumption underlying much of the debate over Donald Trump’s second administration: that whatever one thinks of his transformation of the federal government, a future president can simply change it back. A regulation can be rewritten. An agency can be reopened. Scientists can be rehired. Federal property can be reacquired. Grants can…
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From Brash Outsider to Militarized Strongman: The Evolution of Trump’s Rhetoric
When Donald Trump first emerged as a political figure in 2015, his rhetorical style was already controversial: bombastic, insulting, hyperbolic, often employing demeaning language toward immigrants, women, media, and political opponents. Over time, that style has not simply persisted — it has intensified, embedding darker themes of violence, civil conflict, and executive force, nudging against…
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The Nightmare MAGA Doesn’t Want to Name: President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
For years, the MAGA movement has thrived on a caricature of the left: weak, divided, cautious, addicted to committees and consensus. They mock Democrats as toothless technocrats, or as doddering elites unable to harness passion or conviction. But lurking behind all the noise is a prospect that genuinely terrifies them, one they dare not speak…
