James Wimberley

Some of you asked for something completely different. Iran proudly switched on its first civilian nuclear reactor at Busheyr in 2011. It justifies its nuclear enrichment programme as needed for the development of civilian nuclear power. The USA, Israel, Europe and the IAEA do not believe this. Iran has turned down offers from Europe and […]

Following by Keith Humphreys’s eirenic suggestion about how Obama should play the candidate tax issue in a high-minded way, I’ve made an instructive little table comparing the federal income taxes of the Obama and Romney households since 2000. Corrections welcome. [2007 corrected already, thanks to commenters!] I’ll update it if necessary. Spreadsheet here with sources. […]

Michael O’Hare objects to the flag-waving of the modern Olympics: I think the Olympics would be improved by potting down this insistent angle in medal ceremonies and coverage. Some events are reasonably national competitions, as there doesn’t seem any other way to make up a league of, say, basketball teams for a one-off tournament that […]

The Democratic establishment, led by Barack Obama, are scared of defending renewable energy as the last chance of avoiding climate catastrophe, which it is. Messages must be positive, they think. (Winston Churchill after Dunkirk did not agree.) The goal of American technological leadership looks more frayed by the day, as Chinese solar panel manufacturers wipe […]

Wingnut talk radio host Michael Savage : It’s well known that Roberts, unfortunately for him, has suffered from epileptic seizures. Therefore he has been on medication. Therefore neurologists will tell you that medication used for seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, can introduce mental slowing, forgetfulness and other cognitive problems. And if you look at Roberts’ […]

Kevin Drum asks the question à propos of a particularly idiotic stunt by the Romney campaign, with four more months to go before the election. A clue in these two maps. A recent NOAA map of the current MidWest drought (h/t Climate Progress): An NYT map of the voting shifts in the 2008 presidential election […]

Intrade gives the odds for SCOTUS ruling the individual mandate unconstitutional at 77% today. I’m glad I didn”t put any money behind my rash prediction for upholding, though it may still be borne out. That is, a federal individual mandate. Is there any constitutional bar on the states reintroducing it to patch ACA, assuming the […]

David Graeher, Debt: the first 5,000 years, chapter 5: I will provide a rough-and-ready way to map out the main moral principles on which economic relations scan be founded, all of which occur in any human society, and which I will call communism, hierarchy, and exchange. Yours truly, here, July 2009: The ancestral communist mode […]

The White House and the House Republicans are shaping up for another game of chicken this winter over raising the debt limit. I already offered My Plan in February, as part of a bracing short list: the Democratic platform for the November election should declare the debt limit to be unconstitutional under Section 4 of […]

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has published its report on the News International phone-hacking scandal. Direct pdf link here; TPM’s requires a Facebook account. Key graf (page 70, paragraph 229): We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company. The […]