Blog Profile / Kevin Drum
| URL : | http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Politics / US Politics | |
| Posts on Regator: | 4298 | |
| Posts / Week: | 36.3 | |
| Archived Since: | February 16, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
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
Ladies and Gentlemen, Pick Your Team
I think Paul Krugman has the right take on the fact that South Carolina voters chose a disgraced Republican to represent them in Congress vs. an honest, centrist Democrat: Look, we have an intensely polarized political system, and in Congress, at least, party affiliation is basically all that matters. Show More Summary
A Couple of Graphical Lessons From the Government's Huge Hospital Chargemaster Data Dump
Today the government released data showing how much different hospitals charge for the same procedure. I've been struggling since last night to figure out what to say about this, since in one way there's no news here. The fact that there are huge disparities has been well known for quite a while. Show More Summary
Republicans Refuse to Negotiate Unless They Can Take a Hostage
Today's Washington Post story about the tepid pace of budget negotiations may seem like a snoozer at first glance, but it's really pretty mind-boggling. Here's a snippet: That might seem like good news, but it is unraveling Republican...Show More Summary
How the "Inception" Soundtrack Conquered the World
This weekend, I saw Iron Man 3 plus about a dozen trailers. OK, not really. It was only half a dozen. It just seemed like more. But the soundtracks for at least two of them included the deep, throbbing duhhhhn that I associate with the movie Inception. Show More Summary
Can States Decline to Enforce Federal Laws?
As long as we're on the subject of shiny new gun laws, Steve Benen points out yet another offering from the great state of Texas: Perhaps the most controversial of the gun-related items, HB 1076 would ban state agencies from enforcing any new federal gun laws, including background checks. Show More Summary
Kansas Gun Law Looks Like a Trojan Horse for a Commerce Clause Challenge
Once again, I haven't been paying attention. I knew that Kansas had passed a law saying that any law which "violates the second amendment to the constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas."...Show More Summary
Followup: Could the EPA Mandate a National Cap-and-Trade Program?
Quick update: last night I wrote a post about an NRDC proposal on carbon reduction from existing power plants. Basically, they suggest that the EPA should set standards for each state, then allow the states to meet those standards however they want. Show More Summary
Democrats Better Start Selling Obamacare Soon
Jackie Calmes reports something today that I think everyone already knows: Republicans will be relentlessly exploiting Obamacare's rollout problems during next year's midterm elections. For the third time, Republicans are trying to make the law perhaps the biggest issue of the elections, and are preparing to exploit every problem that arises. Show More Summary
Examining the Hack Gap: Economics Edition
Every time a health insurance company announces a rate hike, a phalanx of conservatives are ready to step in and declare that it's the fault of Obamacare. But flashy rate hikes aside, overall health inflation has actually been slowing down lately. Show More Summary
Can the Internet Sales Tax Bill Pass in the House?
You may recall that I wrote a few weeks ago about a bill pending in the Senate that would allow states to collect sales tax on internet sales. Well, it passed. But here's the interesting bit: But opposition from some conservatives who...Show More Summary
It's Time for the EPA to Bypass Congress and Regulate Carbon Emissions On Its Own
David Roberts writes today to praise a new proposal from the National Resources Defense Council for reducing carbon emissions from electric plants. The key part of NRDC's plan is that instead of setting targets for individual plants,...Show More Summary
Heritage Foundation Ignites Conservative War Over Dynamic Scoring
Pass the popcorn! Today the Heritage Foundation, under the leadership of conservative dreamboat (and former senator) Jim DeMint, released a study showing that immigration reform would cost taxpayers a gazillion dollars over the next 50 years. Show More Summary
I Need Some Help With Yelp
Andrew Sullivan points me today to an essay by Tom Vanderbilt about the rise of online reviewing. Here he is describing his problems with Yelp reviews of restaurants: As I navigate a Yelp entry to simply determine whether a place isShow More Summary
Advertising Didn't Have Much Effect on the 2012 Election
Over at the Monkey Cage, Michael Franz has an interesting post-mortem on the effect of TV advertising during the 2012 presidential election. He uses a clever design that takes advantage of the fact that ads in battleground states sometimes...Show More Summary
Budget Follies Are Coming Soon to a Congress Near You
One of the big pieces of political theater that political junkies are looking forward to this summer is the reconciliation of the House and Senate budgets. Ginger Gibson of Politico describes the basic differences, which are pretty well...Show More Summary
Wanted: Adult Supervision for the Gun Nuts
Guns have never been a hot button for me. On a pragmatic level, I don't think they have a big effect on crime. On a constitutional level, I've long accepted that the Second Amendment does indeed confer a personal right to bear arms.Show More Summary