James Poulos

It’s WaPo with the scoop of the century on Terry McAuliffe : Likewise, McAuliffe’s traveling chief of staff, Justin Paschal, 34, who has worked for him for eight years, said McAuliffe never lets him see him sleep. “On slow nights, Terry wanders over to the coffin he keeps at . . . . Continue Reading »

This jumped out at me from Daniel today. One of the remarkable things about the Gallup poll I was commenting on in the initial post was the GOP’s remarkable ability to retain conservative identification with the party. Rather, I should say that this is conservatives’ remarkable ability . . . . Continue Reading »

Nick Kristof was just on Morning Joe talking about his latest column , which flirts with reverse causation on the issue of our mores and our political dispositions. But there is this interesting bit: Studies suggest that conservatives are more often distressed by actions that seem disrespectful of . . . . Continue Reading »

There are other equally noteworthy effects of this division of the press; starting a paper being easy, anybody may take to it; but competition prevents any newspaper from hoping for large profits, and that discourages anybody with great business ability from bothering with such undertakings. Even . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve got to say, it’s great having Ross Douthat at The New York Times . I know some people prefer Times columnists when they’re not writing Times columns, but I’m the sort who thinks that glorified blog posts really can be glorious. What elevates a string of 600-800 words . . . . Continue Reading »

There is a lot I could say about Sonia Sotomayor , but for a moment I want to beat a strategic retreat to some more theoretical ground about the Supreme Court and our intensifying problem with it. The motivation for this move is uncomplicated. There is something deeply tiring about gearing up . . . . Continue Reading »

Welcome back from the long weekend. As you can see, things look new around here. They’re also still being fleshed out. Over the course of this week, you’ll see the finishing touches appear as they’re put into place. Fans of blogs will be relieved to see all the typical blog bells, . . . . Continue Reading »

David Brooks’ recent column on genius , which offered a portrait of the Mozart who excelled by logging his ten thousand hours of rote practice to get on sooner to the good stuff, seemed to gibe poorly with not only our romantic understanding of unique human excellence but our practical . . . . Continue Reading »

My friend Matt Crawford has written a book ! It is a very good book! I will have more to say about it later! But for now, go read this warm review of Shop Class as Soulcraft , by Slate ‘s Michael Agger! . . . . Continue Reading »

Do read Alan Jacobs on Obama at Notre Dame. Because the clump-of-cells argument is so crude and ‘final’, Obama, putting himself at the front of a long train, seeks refuge in bad postmodernity. Rather than overdetermining the abortion question as a question of science — and this, . . . . Continue Reading »