TopicsPosts by BooMan
I’m Moving This Joint to Substack
After more than twenty years of operating a fully independent progressive website (first Booman Tribune and then Progress Pond) I have moved my operations to Substack. I resisted this move for years even though it’s been clear to me for a long time that it made financial sense. Ultimately, I did not have much choice. Last November, I suffered what…Read More
Are You a Heritage American?
I always hesitate to write about my ancestry because inevitably I’ll get a note from my parents informing me that I’ve gotten some detail wrong. But I know I have ancestors who came over on the Mayflower, and ancestors from Prussia who founded the town of Berlin, Pennsylvania, and an ancestor who arrived in the 19th-Century from Northern Italy. I…Read More
Why the Democrats Should Cut Off All Government Funding Discussions
Sébastien Lecornu resigned as French Prime Minister less than a month into the job. The reason is that he cannot cobble together a coalition that will pass a budget. As he explained, the balance of power and the mood of the country does not favor compromise: In a last-ditch move, Mr. Lecornu announced last week that he would not use…Read More
Pizzagate Darling Jack Posobiec is Voting Illegally in My State
I felt badly Edgar Maddison Welch of North Carolina when I found out what he had done. Completely suckered into believing a bogus conspiracy theory promoted by foreign intelligence agencies and domestic right-wing agitators, Welsh traveled on December 4, 2016 from his home state to the Comet Ping-Pong pizzeria in Washington DC and committed some felonies. Specifically, he showed up…Read More
Why the GOP Can’t Dissuade the Dems on the Shutdown
Carl Hulse of the New York Times does a good job of highlighting two major factors that have convinced the congressional Democrats to force a government shutdown. Both of them are based on trust. The first relates to President Trump’s threat to retaliate by firing federal workers. Democrats believe they have a powerful message on health care, with some Americans set…Read More
A Lesson from Tacitus and Thomas Jefferson
One of the great passages from Roman history comes right at the beginning of Book One of Tacitus’ Annals, where he is discussing how Augustus seized power and ended the Republic for good. When after the destruction of Brutus and Cassius there was no longer any army of the Commonwealth, when Pompeius was crushed in Sicily, and when, with Lepidus pushed…Read More