British ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair admits that the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he supported wholeheartedly, helped create ISIS. Awfully big of him to say that, being so safely ensconced from the consequences of his decisions. Plus, he says "(i)t's not clear to me that, even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better," as if "our policy" didn't make the pursuit of alternate policies much, much more difficult.
Paul Buchheit at Nation of Change writes another link-filled primer, this time on what's wrong with higher education. Long story short: the number of administrators has exploded, more and more faculty members are becoming low-paid adjunct professors, tuition has increased three times faster than inflation, and college sports have become "modern minstrel shows." Long story somewhat shorter: this is what happens when you have a captive market, and governments abdicate their responsibility to oversee it on our behalf.
Ft. Hays State University poll finds a mere 18 percent of Kansans were either "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with Sam Brownback's performance as Governor, with 61 percent specifically saying his cut-taxes-for-rich-people-and-create-unicorns economic policy is either a "failure" or a "tremendous failure." Kudos to the many commenters on this article who said that as long as Democrats don't offer a viable alternative, they'll never beat people like Sam Brownback. Sadly, when Mr. Brownback finds he's only 10 points lower than Barack Obama, he'll just claim that the President is dragging all of our ratings down.
David Corn at Mother Jones suggests that evangelicals may want to reconsider their support of Ben Carson, given that his devotion to his church, the Seventh Day Adventists, who believe that most evangelicals will fight the godly when Jesus returns. But evangelicals voted for a Mormon for President in 2012; it's not so much whom they're voting for as whom they're voting against. If purity were more important to them than winning (which would be my hope!), then Rick Santorum wouldn't be in 223rd place right now.
Ho hum, Donald Trump describes how hard a time he's had of it by telling you how he went into Manhattan with a "small loan of a million dollars" from his father back in the day. You'd think a guy so legendarily sensitive to how people talk would know how "a small loan of a million dollars" would sound to them. But then, his supporters have already made up their minds, and you know how it is with people who've already made up their minds.
Finally, Keith Harrington tells us "Why Slower Money is the Key to a Real Economic Recovery." It's not enough to merely decry the more-and-faster economic model of the Wall Street casino economy; we must also design new models that slow down or prevent speculation, like the Direct Public Offering (or DPO) that can't be sold back to companies right away or to third-party buyers at all. (The financial transaction tax, or "Robin Hood tax," gets a mention here as well.)
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