It’s never about the intended narrative. It’s about the narrative people will create from their beliefs.

Narratives don’t get life until beliefs come into play. Continue Reading

The power of narrative on belief structure, politically and otherwise

How do you choose what to believe and what not to believe, and how much do “data” and “expertise” really play in? Continue Reading

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It’s actually fairly easy to explain Donald Trump’s rise

I guess we should start here: he’s not going to win the GOP nomination. He might run top-3 for a portion of the primaries, but he won’t win. I don’t even think he thinks he’ll win; I doubt any staff… Continue Reading

Clinton vs. Rubio (Bush?): Will 2016 be first true ‘Big Data’ election?

2016 Presidential Election and Big Data

With Hilary Clinton declaring yesterday and Marco Rubio declaring today, this seemed like a good time to write this post. Interesting point made here: FDR mastered the radio like no President beforehand. JFK mastered the TV like no President beforehand.… Continue Reading

Is the Hillary Clinton waiting game actually good for democracy?

Hillary Clinton Waiting Game

There’s basically two options here. None of them are really very good for the United States’ belief in themselves as a true democracy. Continue Reading

The Koch Brothers are 2016

Koch Brothers 2016 Election

Dark money — and the ultimate human representation of dark money, that being the Koch Brothers — should probably terrify you. You can ultimately look at this in 1 of 2 ways, best I can tell: To have a set of… Continue Reading

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Here’s President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union word cloud

SOTU Word Cloud 2015

Here are the word clouds for the third State of the Union of every President since Roosevelt — i.e. the penultimate ones — and below (in large format, as well as to the side here in smaller format) is President… Continue Reading

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Young, cute, Harvard-educated, Republican? Elise Stefanik could be the future.

Elise Stefanik

The youngest person ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives happened back in 1973, when Elizabeth Holtzman won at age 31. Tomorrow, Elise Stefanik should win at age 30, breaking a forty-year old record in the process. In addition to… Continue Reading