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Today's China-News Trawl
1) Damien Ma and I have a new discussion-video up on the Atlantic's "China's Rise" site, again produced by Jennie Rothenberg Gritz. Topic: is China's level of corruption still "efficient," in Boss...
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Why We Hate Iowa and New Hampshire, Cont.
Not the states themselves and their fine people, of course. But their tyranny over the process of winnowing out the field of presidential candidates. (Plus, the art they inspire -- at right, a heroic...
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Is There Any Hope for the Middle Class?
Over the past week Don Peck has been leading an online discussion about his powerful article in the current issue (subscribe!), drawn from his new book Pinched (buy!). C-Span covered his talk last...
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At Last There's Proof: Jon Huntsman Is Aiming for 2016
From today's much-commented-upon Tweet: Because obviously these views are going nowhere with the Republican primary electorate this time around.Good to see this "what the hell, I might as well keep my...
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In-House News: A Sad But Proud Farewell to Joshua Green
Today, in what is unfortunately his last entry on the Atlantic's web site, Joshua Green says goodbye to his professional home of the past eight years, as he moves to Bloomberg Businessweek. That's his...
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Great Moments in PR Comedy, Starring Rick Perry and the B of A
Plus see delicious Act Three update, at bottom.This is a drama in two acts. Act One was an "ooops, that microphone was still on???" moment at the end of a Rick Perry appearance in New Hampshire. A man...
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A Reason to Watch Sunday Morning TV: 'Call Me Crazy'
I agree with (my ex-Atlantic colleague) Andrew Sullivan: it is great to see Jon Huntsman deciding that he might as well try to sell, hard, the virtues of post-Dark Ages rationalism, rather than just...
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Chinese Basket-Brawl: Something Worth Reading
Ever since the ugly spectacle of the Bayi Sharks professional/military basketball team pounding away on the visiting Georgetown Hoyas at the "goodwill" match in Beijing, there has been much...
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This Will Lift Your Spirits: A Look at 'Mr. Trump's 757'
It really is such a shame he's not still running. The clip below, from a YouTube series on Mr. Trump's post-campaign life, is just priceless. I can't decide which is my favorite part: the emphasis on...
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The GOP Position on Taxes Gets Worse
Please focus on the boundless cynicism here.Through the artificial debt-ceiling "crisis," through the Moonie-like spectacle in Iowa of candidates (including Mr. Sanity, Jon Huntsman) raising hands to...
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Mainly Good News on the Tech Front
Items I've meant to post for quite a while now, in summary fashion:1) Good news on cloud storage: Gizmodo recently had a great comparison of various cloud backup sites for personal use. As I have long...
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Michael Mann Cleared (Again)
In my article a few months ago about the importance of China-US efforts to find cleaner ways to use coal -- because both countries, like it or not, are going to keep using coal, and because if they...
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A Different Kind of Security Theater Problem
The singer-songwriter Vance Gilbert has put up a riveting account of a run-in with airline security a few days ago.It's not like most of the accounts of pointless security-theater we've all read. When...
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Update on Backups, Passwords, and Chinese Hacking
Several days ago I dispensed "mainly good news" from the tech world, about cloud-backup systems and ways of designing passwords.These updates from readers. [Housekeeping note: I will be doing mainly...
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Technology Is Our Friend ... Except When It Isn't
(Please see update at bottom.) I am grateful to Michael Ham, of the Later On site, for a tip about an amazing photographic site that makes one consequence of technology far more vivid to me than it had...
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Back to Vance Gilbert and 'Flying While Black'
Three days ago I mentioned the travails of the Boston-area musician Vance Gilbert, (right, from Arlington Patch). A regional airline crew got panicked by his presence, and refused to take off, because...
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Very Much Worth Reading: Washington Monthly's 'Real' College Rankings
In my misspent youth I was for a while the editor of US News & World Report, which was then a weekly news magazine. One of the big challenges was to try do something about US News's annual "Best...
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Once More on 'Flying While Black'
The Vance Gilbert saga has provoked a torrent of mail. I won't keep quoting this indefinitely, but here is one more installment. As a reminder: in chapter one, I agreed with Gilbert's assertion that a...
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Iowa and New Hampshire: A Great Deal for 1.5% of America!
(Please see update below.) Earlier this month I made the rest-of-the-country's case against the disproportionate heft of Iowa and New Hampshire when it comes to choosing presidents. And that was even...
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3 Reasons to Watch Our 'Salton Sea' Video, and More on That Weirdo Old Accent
As for the Salton Sea clip, which has gone up today on the Atlantic's video channel:1) It's interesting and visually arresting.2) It is particularly interesting/alarming for me, because I could well...
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