Atlantic Documentary: The Carrier Myth
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH During the 2016 election, the Carrier factory’s decision to move jobs from Indiana to Mexico was a story that stuck. Donald Trump won a political victory when he convinced the CEO of Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, to keep 800 jobs in Indiana. Trump’s efforts run counter to a broader global…
Statistics of the Day: Politics-Related
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH On December 13, Quartz reported: “The 17 people who US president-elect Donald Trump has selected for his cabinet or for posts with cabinet rank have well over $9.5 billion in combined wealth, with several positions still unfilled. This collection of wealth is greater than that of the 43 million least wealthy American households combined—over…
Statistics of the Day: Politics-Related
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This short item on the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election was written by Alex Lockie for Business Insider: A survey conducted by the research company Qualtrics showed that 52% of Republican voters think that Donald Trump won the popular vote in November’s general election, despite nationwide totals giving Hillary Clinton almost a…
A Libertarian Defense of "Identity Politics"
BY HANK REICHMAN Last month I posted to this blog Christopher Newfield’s excellent response to the notorious New York Times op-ed by Mark Lilla on “identity politics.” If you haven’t read Chris’s piece, you should. At the time I mentioned that “I still may post more on this topic,” and since then I’ve been collecting…
A Christmas Standard Reworked on the Eve of Trump
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a recent post, Hank Reichman provided a post-election playlist that did a great deal to mitigate my post-election despondency. That playlist could not have included this just released video of Fiona Apple singing a Christmas standard reworked for this particular holiday season: Whether you enjoy the song or not, Fiona…
"Campus" Is Not Quite What Nicholas Kristof Thinks It Is
BY AARON BARLOW When I read Nicholas Kristof’s “The Dangers of Echo Chambers on Campus” last night, I knew I would have to write in response. Drive-by commentary of this sort can’t be ignored by those of us who really are members of college communities. Fortunately for me, John K. Wilson posted even before I…
Statistic of the Day: Labor-Related
Statistics of the Day: Politics-Related
American Ideals and the Sometimes Very Disappointing Realities
BY MARTIN KICH Although we often look nostalgically at our national past and find the present wanting in comparison, looking backwards can also remind us of the very considerable progress that we have made toward realizing the ideals that the nation was ostensibly founded to pursue. It reminds us also that the fault is almost…