Mark Kleiman

Richard Cohen nails the essence of contemporary Republicanism: Ignorance has become more than bliss. It’s now an attribute, an entire platform: “Vote for me, I know nothing and hate the same things you do.” Mitt Romney, of course, isn’t an ignoramus. But he plays one on TV debates. Footnote Of course, in order to maintain […]

Mary Brown, a small business owner, decided she didn’t want to carry health insurance, so she became the lead plaintiff in the anti-Obamacare lawsuit filed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Why should the federal government impose a penalty on her for her decision not to buy a financial product she doesn’t want? Then […]

One of the more vivid pen-portraits in the Harry Potter series is the tabloid journalist Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In addition to fabricating quotes and facts, Skeeter illegally eavesdrops on private conversations by transforming herself into a beetle. Before this particular magic trick is revealed, the three central characters […]

Gloria Allred says she wants Rush Limbaugh prosecuted under Section 836.04 of the Florida Code: 836.04 Defamation.–Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. I assume Allred is kidding about this, but if […]

Pat Robertson’s flat-out endorsement of full marijuana legalization, on the model of alcohol, isn’t as important now as it would have been two decades ago. But two decades ago it would have been completely unthinkable, and seems to me a significant portent, even if few of the Reverend’s supporters will follow his lead when they […]

In a conversation with Michael Jonas of MassINC, a think tank, I try to sort out the differences among the various versions of “broken windows”: [Cross-posted at The Reality-Based Community]

You don’t? Well, don’t feel bad. Neither does he. So no fair criticizing the Romney plan. It doesn’t even exist. Footnote In any case, not knowing beats knowing what ain’t so. [Cross-posted at The Reality-Based Community]

OK, I didn’t go to law school, but I get the point that legal language doesn’t mean what it says; it only means what the cases say it says. And I’m persuaded by the argument that the web of Islamist terrorist groups attacking the U.S. resemble a wartime enemy more than they resemble a set […]

David Kennedy’s “High Point” drug enforcement strategy – now known generically as the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) – seems to have scored again, this time in Newport News, VA. The idea is to identify all the dealers in a flagrant market that is causing neighborhood problems, make cases against all of them, and then threaten […]

The most important fact about contemporary American politics is that the Republican party has become an extremist organization, in which what used to be the fringe is now the base. The most important problem facing political journalists and pundits is whether to report that fact as fact, or to remain even-handed as between (in Churchill’s […]