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What exactly happened with PA Governor Tom Corbett’s popularity?

This Tom Corbett situation in PA is endlessly interesting. Basic facts: he’s the Governor. He’s a Republican. He’s insanely unpopular in his own state. He actually just had the worst poll numbers in Franklin and Marshall state polling history, and GOP… Continue Reading →

Black Friday: Like all great things in America, we have Philadelphia and the service academies to thank

Here’s a typical look at Black Friday, via the Twitter Machine: Long lines @BestBuy. Let the madness begin #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/dJ6samtFoT — Annalyn Kurtz (@AnnalynKurtz) November 28, 2013 In reality, Black Friday isn’t even a thing anymore — the stuff can start a… Continue Reading →

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In which I breathlessly and irrelevantly discuss Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell was profiled on 60 Minutes last night. My wife and I were trying to make dough at the time, and it needed about an hour to rise. I had just watched the obliteration of the Colts by the Cardinals, and 60… Continue Reading →

Mostly from a U.S. standpoint, what’s the biggest ‘where were you when…’ moment in history?

The 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination is tomorrow; I’m sure most of you potentially reading this knew that by now. I was watching Tom Brokaw on The Daily Show last night, and he made some good points regarding that moment in American… Continue Reading →

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Kshama Sawant, an avowed socialist, is now on the Seattle City Council

Kshama Sawant, a college professor and Occupy movement activist, is now a City Council member in Seattle. She’s definitely a rare socialist to hold American elected office (“Abama’s a socialist!!” — right wing talk radio), and one of the few Occupy… Continue Reading →

Sarah Palin’s second act

Sarah Palin has this new book out, about protecting the heart of Christmas, so she’s on a bit of a media tour at present. Above is an odd, perhaps-best-defined-as-awkward clip between her and Matt Lauer on The Today Show over the rollout… Continue Reading →

So … Elizabeth Warren and 2016

There are two major topics that will dominate Internet bandwith for the next 10 days: one is anything-and-everything associated with JFK and his untimely murder on the streets of Dallas (for example, we’re now evaluating the single-bullet theory using the latest… Continue Reading →

A brief history of the Presidential apology

This is all over the news today as a topic/concept because of President Obama’s apology yesterday as relates to the ‘keep your plan’ idea; NPR even has a rundown of the recent history of Presidential apologies, going back (on their link,… Continue Reading →