Blog Profile / Kevin Drum
| URL : | http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Politics / US Politics | |
| Posts on Regator: | 4274 | |
| Posts / Week: | 36.3 | |
| Archived Since: | February 16, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Quote of the Day: Robert Gates on "Cartoonish" Views of the Military
From former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, on the endless speculations about what the military could have done to stop the Benghazi attacks: It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces. I guess Gates is no longer on Darrell Issa's Christmas card list. Show More Summary
Who Will Own Our Future Robot Overlords?
Robots! That's the topic of my latest piece in the current issue of the magazine. I've blogged on this subject a fair amount, but this is the first time I've tried to put everything together and explain what I really think robotics is likely to mean over the next few decades. Show More Summary
Here's Why Benghazi May Finally Have Legs
Alex Koppelman takes a fresh look at the Benghazi affair and tries to come up with something outrageous about it. He doesn't, really, until he gets to the very end. So what is it that he finds most outrageous? Not, it turns out, theShow More Summary
The IRS Shoots Itself in the Foot, Then Reloads
Here's the thing that really puzzles me about this whole business of the IRS targeting tea party groups for extra scrutiny: the agency's clumsy handling of the whole thing. And I'm being charitable by calling it "clumsy." I mean, did...Show More Summary
Bonus Mother's Day Cat Blogging
Happy Mother's Day! What better way to celebrate than to post a picture of my mother's cats? These are the two sibs, Tillamook and Ditto, claiming dibs on my mother's favorite chair. Because, after all, Mother's Day goes just so far, right?
Benghazi Talking Points: "A Bureaucratic Knife Fight Pitting State vs. CIA"
Earlier today, my basic take on the Benghazi talking points was that they exposed some "unseemly bureaucratic squabbling combined with the usual mushiness that you get when an interagency process produces a series of drafts of sensitive...Show More Summary
Friday Cat Blogging - 10 May 2013
As you can see, Domino is quite enjoying our 400 ppm world. She was rolling around in the sunshine yesterday while Marian pulled a few weeds, and then a dog walked by. This very much got her attention. She's OK with 400 ppm, but notShow More Summary
Yesterday Was 400 ppm Day
Well, we finally did it. We hit a new carbon dioxide milestone yesterday: Scientific monitors reported that the gas had reached an average daily level that surpassed 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also...Show More Summary
Chart of the Day: Student Loan Debt Crowing Out Mortgages
A new report from the New York Fed describes a disturbing trend: student loan debt has increased so much that it's crowding out the ability of college graduates to buy homes. As the chart on the right shows, young workers with student...Show More Summary
Finally, a Real Scandal For Conservatives to Chew On
Hey, guess what? Conservatives now have a real scandal to tout! They've been complaining for a while that the IRS singled out tea party groups for audits, and it turns out they were right. Today, the IRS fessed up: Organizations were...Show More Summary
ABC News Reveals Drafts of Benghazi Talking Points
Do I have to write about the latest on Benghazi? I guess so. In for a penny, in for a pound. ABC News now has a complete set of drafts of the infamous "talking points" that were prepared a few days following the Benghazi attacks. The...Show More Summary
Controlling Medicare Costs is Now Un-American
Yesterday, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell announced that Republicans would not be naming any members to IPAB, the board empowered by Obamacare with making recommendations for ways to cut the cost of Medicare. Wesley Smith is really,...Show More Summary
The Groundbreaking Isaac Newton Invention You've Never Heard Of
I feel the need to write about something that's as far removed from Benghazi as humanly possible. How about Isaac Newton? As we all know, he invented calculus, the theory of gravity, and Newtonian mechanics, as well as conducting pioneering work in optics. Show More Summary
The Simple Reason Hedge Fund Billionaires Are Mad at Ben Bernanke
Matt Yglesias informs me today that there is something called the Sohn Investment Conference, which, according to Reuters, "gets big name hedge fund managers to share their 'best ideas' with other wealthy investors." The hedge fundies,...Show More Summary
Quote of the Day #2: Paul Ryan Says Obama Never Calls to Chat
From Rep. Paul Ryan, about a "secret beer" he had last month with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough: It was the first time I have had a candid conversation or a substantial conversation with a member of the Obama administration since they came into power. This time I'll make exactly the opposite point that I made in the previous post. Show More Summary
Quote of the Day: Eric Cantor Says Obama Just Doesn't Understand Him
From Eric Cantor, criticizing the fact that President Obama hasn't done much to develop personal relationships with House leaders: The president could benefit himself and the country a lot by developing those relationships and understanding...Show More Summary
A (Very) Brief Benghazi Timeline Recap
I don't want to spend too much time diving down the Benghazi rabbit hole again—seriously, I think I'd rather have my big toe cut off—but I do think it's worthwhile to very briefly recap the three basic phases of Benghazi and what questions we have about them: The months leading up to the attacks. Show More Summary
Our Broken University Financial Aid System
Felix Salmon draws our attention today to a new study by Stephen Burd of the New America Foundation about Pell Grants and low-income college students. The news is grim. More and more universities, he says, have joined the "high tuition, high aid" brigade: In theory, the structure should work well. Show More Summary
Yet Another Benghazi Nothingburger Today
Well, the big Benghazi hearings have finished up for the day, and as near I can tell we learned.....nothing. We heard testimony about the following: The Pentagon didn't dispatch fighter jets to patrol Benghazi following the initial attack. A...Show More Summary
How Thinking About Thinking Reduced Crime in Chicago
Harold Pollack draws my attention today to the results of a large-scale study he conducted recently with several other researchers in low-income Chicago schools. The study design was fairly simple: first, they chose several thousand teenage boys with horrible risk profiles. Show More Summary