Kevin Drum 🕸

Hey, have you heard that an illegal immigrant killed a nursing student in Athens, Georgia? Maybe not, says Bob Somerby: On one channel, this topic drove eight hours of primetime reporting and discussion. On the other channel, the topic doesn't exist. However you may assess the dueling news judgments, our tribes are now living in ...continue reading "It’s all theater for Republicans"

The good ol' Wall Street Journal reports today on the travails of the hotel industry: Even after clawing back hundreds of thousands of jobs during the past two years, the industry is still light on staff and often struggling to adapt.... At the same time, hotels across the U.S. have held their daily room rates ...continue reading "Here’s the non-fantasy story of how hotels are doing"

Back in 2015, the NIH started a longitudinal research program called All of Us with the goal of collecting genome data from a million Americans of every possible ancestry. The goal was to improve health care by figuring out how best to treat diseases in people of different backgrounds. The program is up to 413,000 ...continue reading "Sorry, but population groups are real"

This is the Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity cathedral in Paris.

From the Wall Street Journal: Eating rice and beans instead of meat. Planning out meals a month in advance. Trying to raise more food in backyard gardens. Americans are changing the way they eat, shop and live to cope with a stretch of record food inflation. For chrissake, can we stop this nonsense? Here is ...continue reading "Food inflation is not a problem anymore"

Didn't House Republicans already agree to spending guidelines for the federal budget? So why are they still haggling? Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, announced on Sunday that leaders had failed to reach a deal over the weekend because “House Republicans need more time to sort themselves out.” Speaker Mike ...continue reading "Here’s how the budget negotiations are going"

Today Paul Krugman discusses a new book by Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. In particular, Krugman agrees that rural areas have hemorrhaged jobs, leaving behind a loss of purpose and dignity: This feeling of a loss of dignity may be worsened because some rural Americans have long ...continue reading "White rural rage isn’t about economics"

I didn't have a hemorrhoid after all. I had an epidermal abscess. All hail Dr. Kim at the Kaiser ER in Irvine, who lanced it and drained it a couple of hours ago. Ten days of antibiotics and I should be right as rain. If I had had any clue what this was, I would ...continue reading "Health update"

This is a street in Ubaté, a town about 40 miles north of Bogotá in Colombia. It's my last picture from Colombia, and for some reason it's taken me the better part of five years to get around to posting it.

I am pleased to report that Google's Gemini AI says I'm not as bad as Hitler: OK, Gemini wasn't explicitly willing to say I'm better than Hitler, but it does suggest that disagreeing with me isn't as bad as killing six million Jews, and any comparison of me to Hitler is harmful.¹ I'll take it. ...continue reading "Good news: I am not as bad as Hitler"

The United States is famously violent and awash in guns. Racism is practically a national creed. Drug abuse is rampant. We have the highest income inequality in the developed world. Our mass transit is laughable. We spend half our time in court suing each other. Our system of government is literally designed to make it ...continue reading "America is a wreck. America is great."

Today the Wall Street Journal reports: Peter Thiel’s $100,000 Offer to Skip College Is More Popular Than Ever More Americans are rethinking the value of a college education That's the headline. What the article actually says is that Thiel backs about 20 kids per year and will do so again this year. Why the lack ...continue reading "20 kids per year are taking Peter Thiel’s money"

Back in the day, we all worked for the same company our whole lives. Today, though, we job hop like frenzied rabbits. Right? Apparently not. Median job tenure has increased considerably over the past 50 years, though some of that is due to the aging of society (older people have longer job tenures than younger ...continue reading "Raw data: How long do we stay in our jobs?"

The New York Times writes today: In May 2023, Senator Charles E. Grassley, a chief antagonist of President Biden, strode to the Senate floor with some shocking news: He had learned, he said, of a document in the F.B.I.’s possession that could reveal “a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden.” This, of course, turned out ...continue reading "Who was Chuck Grassley’s leaker?"

Republicans have now had a full week to stick their fingers in the wind and decide how they're supposed to feel about Alabama's ruling that IVF embryos are God's children the same as the rest of us. But they still haven't figured it out. Donald Trump wrote a screeching post in favor of IVF today, ...continue reading "Republicans can’t tap dance around IVF"

This is Charlie sniffing the most interesting branch in the world. When he was done, I believe he moved on to a different branch.

Benjamin Netanyahu may not be popular in Israel these days, but his war is. Among Israeli Jews: Only 37% support a negotiated end to the war, even on favorable terms. 68% oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza, even if UNRWA isn't involved. 83% say there's little chance of ever reforming the Palestinian Authority. ...continue reading "Israeli Jews strongly favor all-out war in Gaza"

Against all odds, it appears that conservatives are having a recreational sex moment. They're against it: I hate to be "that guy," but, um, recreational sex is not a recent invention. It's not even an ancient invention. And it's certainly not responsible for anything new and different about modern society. Just thought I'd point that ...continue reading "Recreational sex is the oldest recreation of all"

I want to take this opportunity to say that all this "golden years" stuff is a crock. I'm only 65 and I've got multiple myeloma; degraded hips that make it hard to walk; diabetes (almost); peripheral neuropathy; possibly prostate cancer;¹ moderate chronic depression; and now a very painful hemorrhoid.² Plus high blood pressure and high ...continue reading "Health whining"

This is the San Juan River as it flows through Pagosa Springs, about 50 miles east of Durango.