Two days after President Obama told ABC News he supported gay marriage, the debate rages: Josh Barro insists that marriage is a federal issue: Some portion of marriage policy can be left up to the states. But gay marriage is also very much a federal issue requiring federal policy solutions. In the coming months, Barack Obama will [...]
Once or twice a month, I have the opportunity to speak to foreign dignitaries visiting the United States under a program fostered by the International Council of Tampa Bay. Most often, my presentations are about the impact of social media on American politics. One of the points I frequently make is how for years it [...]
Take a moment to digest this chart (via Andrew Sullivan): Ryan Avent’s eyes open wide: Smartphones—extraordinarily powerful, mobile, data-network-connected computers equipped with GPS, accelerometers and all sort of other gee-whizzery—have become so ubiquitous so fast because they’re so remarkable (and because falling tech prices have quickly made them affordable). But because they’ve become so ubiquitous so fast, [...]
If these trends persist, we could be in for a landslide: Among all voters, Obama leads Romney by 12 points (54% to 42%) and Santorum by 18 points (57% to 39%). Obama’s advantage among women voters, while largely unchanged from a month ago, remains substantial – 20 points over Romney and 26 points over Santorum. Obama also [...]
Newt Gingrich wins in Georgia. Last week, Gingrich admitted he had to win his home state to stay in the race. Mitt Romney wins in Alaska, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, Vermont and Idaho. Rick Santorum wins in Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota. Reactions: Dan Balz: “Nomination battles often strengthen the winner, but some take a toll. Rarely is [...]
In 2004, Ian Bogost predicted that every major candidate in the 2008 US presidential elections would have their own PlayStation3 game. It didn’t happen, and here’s why: One of the things that games do that kind of works against politicking is that they can’t help but try to show how something works, to kind of dig [...]
Because you’re more likely to buy unhealthy food: [T]he more nourished we are the more rational we tend to be. Similarly, our irrationalities increase the longer we go without food. This helps us explain our grocery store tendencies better: a hungry brain has a hard time focusing on the healthiest and cheapest options because doing so requires [...]
Above is a detail from an incredible XKCD graphic on money. Each teal square represents a trillion dollars. The estimated “total economic production of the human race (thus far).” Via Andrew Sullivan.
According to an informal supermarket survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, your Thanksgiving meal now costs 13% more than last year’s meal, averaging $49.20 for a family of ten: This summer, poor weather shrank the crop yield as exports for beef and pork increased. Even so, many supermarkets are wary of passing along those costs to consumers. [...]
Marc Lynch checks in on Arab public opinion: 52% now say they are disappointed in the Obama administration, a majority but down from 65% last year. And 34% now have positive views of Obama himself, a 19 point gain from 2010. Arab disappointment in the administration is still mostly driven by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the [...]
