I saw a couple amazing plays this week, both Hamilton and Les Miserables. They have a common theme: we must stand for something, and that standing for something sometimes means we must get up off our seats and act. (Note: much of the content of this post is a summary of the Ezra Klein interview…

I think American democracy ends this month. I had the opportunity to watch Schiff’s opening statements for the impeachment trial last night. I was already alarmed, but I had resigned myself to the inevitable outcome. No longer. I should have known this, but I did not: the most startling thing I learned is that the…

This is mostly a condensed transcript from the Ezra Klein podcast entitled “Behind the panic in white, Christian America.” I’ve woven in a bit of context from another of his podcasts, “What deliberative democracy can, and can’t, do.” That one isn’t nearly as compelling; the most important insights are included in what I’ve written here,…

Selecting a candidate is hard. I think my wife Laura framed it really well: at least at first, it’s about inspiration and belief. We need a candidate who inspires us to think bigger, who inspires us to believe in the future, who inspires us to believe in our country and ourselves. But impractical ideas are…

Mostly just posting this to bookmark it: Another new study not only once again shows there’s zero correlation between mental illness and shootings, but it also finds far better predictors for gun violence that are shockingly mundane. … Having a mental health diagnosis – whether it’s a mood disorder, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, or schizophrenia…