The Madman And The Stock Market There’s a foreign policy theory–called the “Madman theory”–that it’s actually good to have a crazy president, because the saner heads of rival nations will humor him, …

sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Madman And The Stock Market There’s a foreign policy theory–called the “Madman theory”–that it’s actually good to have a crazy president, because the saner heads of rival nations will humor him, …

The Madman And The Stock Market sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

Unanticipated Consequences The American Prospect recently reported that Trump’s energy blockade of Cuba could be made irrelevant with just an $8bn investment in renewable energy. That’s the amount that would be n…

Unanticipated Consequences sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/unan...

The Fascist Playbook The F-word is, unfortunately, appropriate. (Not that F-word. I’m referring to fascism.) A recent Substack reported the findings of a historian who spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identi…

The Fascist Playbook sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Fascist Playbook The F-word is, unfortunately, appropriate. (Not that F-word. I’m referring to fascism.) A recent Substack reported the findings of a historian who spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identi…

The Fascist Playbook sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Fascist Playbook The F-word is, unfortunately, appropriate. (Not that F-word. I’m referring to fascism.) A recent Substack reported the findings of a historian who spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identi…

The Fascist Playbook sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Fascist Playbook The F-word is, unfortunately, appropriate. (Not that F-word. I’m referring to fascism.) A recent Substack reported the findings of a historian who spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identi…

The Fascist Playbook sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Fascist Playbook The F-word is, unfortunately, appropriate. (Not that F-word. I’m referring to fascism.) A recent Substack reported the findings of a historian who spent 30 Years Interviewing Nazis. He Identi…

The Fascist Playbook sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

An Indecent Law How many times have we seen efforts at censorship justified as “protecting the children”? This solicitous concern for children never seems to extend to feeding hungry children or clothi…

An Indecent Law sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/an-i...

An Indecent Law How many times have we seen efforts at censorship justified as “protecting the children”? This solicitous concern for children never seems to extend to feeding hungry children or clothi…

An Indecent Law sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/an-i...

Both Sides In My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews sang “words, words, words–I’m so sick of words.” I’m not sick of words, exactly, but I am sick of their misuse by pundits, journalists a…

Both Sides sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/both...

The New Authoritarianism As you all undoubtedly know, the most recent “No Kings” protest was the largest protest in American history, even larger than the huge protests that preceded it. While there are many le…

The New Authoritarianism sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The New Authoritarianism As you all undoubtedly know, the most recent “No Kings” protest was the largest protest in American history, even larger than the huge protests that preceded it. While there are many le…

The New Authoritarianism sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

Bring Back The Draft? What Kind? The New Republic, among other outlets, has recently reported on changes the Trump administration is making to registration for the military draft. The plan is to change from individual registration…

Bring Back The Draft? What Kind? sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/brin...

A Turning Point? If there was one predominant lesson from Sunday’s election in Hungary it was that numbers count. The opposition to Orban’s Fidesz party was so massive, it overwhelmed all the rigging th…

A Turning Point? sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/a-tu...

Election Omens…. Speaking of election omens, Orban lost massively in Hungary yesterday–so massively that he couldn’t play games and had to concede. More on that loss and what it means in a future post&#…

Election Omens.... sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/elec...

Backlash Even the most superficial glance through history reveals a pattern: progress is followed by backlash. Rather obviously, the definition of what constitutes progress is contested. What I consider pro…

Backlash sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/back...

The Illusion Of Choice As regular readers of this blog know, I am a great admirer of economist Paul Krugman, who recently had a conversation with someone else I’ve admired, although not quoted: Lina Khan. Khan head…

The Illusion Of Choice sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

Squirrel!! sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/squi...

A Madman With Nukes It’s no longer possible to pretend that he’s not a lunatic. Stephen Beschloss recently described Trump as a “deeply unwell man who doesn’t belong anywhere near the seat of p…

A Madman With Nukes sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/a-ma...

Montana And Citizens United Just in time for some good news for a change, Montana–of all places–has come through. Citizens in that state are preparing to vote on a ballot measure that would neuter the effects of C…

Montana And Citizens United sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/mont...

Law And Order Remember when the GOP claimed to be the Law and Order Party? Among the many other U-turns taken by what used to be a conventional political party, those staunch defenders of law and police now aver…

Law And Order sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/law-...

Should We Laugh Or Cry? A friend recently shared a picture that he referred to as “comic relief.” You can access it here, and according to my google search, it is not an AI invention–not photoshopped or …

Should We Laugh Or Cry? sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/shou...

The “Good Old Days” It’s all becoming clear. The radical reactionaries who currently govern both the U.S. and Israel want to return to the “good old days” of the Crusades –those military campai…

The "Good Old Days" sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

The Stupidity May Save Us In the wake of the immense turnout for NO KINGS day, I’ve been feeling cautiously optimistic. Not about the facts on the ground, which are increasingly horrific–Trump’s war of cho…

The Stupidity May Save Us sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/the-...

Cultural Decline Given the immensity of the damage caused daily by Trump and his corrupt, clown-car administration, a focus on his profoundly negative effect on American culture may seem minor. After all, unlike RF…

Cultural Decline sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/cult...

Democrats: Listen To Stuart Stevens There’s partisanship and there’s political philosophy. As MAGA has demonstrated, partisanship– party loyalty– is based upon grievance and identity. As the Republican Party h…

Democrats: Listen To Stuart Stevens sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/demo...

Confirming My Thesis I have frequently shared my theory that the information environment we inhabit is a major cause of our current disarray–that the ability of Americans to “curate” a fact environmen…

Confirming My Thesis sheilakennedy.net/2026/04/conf...

And Now For Something Different…. I recently received an email from my “techie” son who lives in Amsterdam, explaining an app that he has developed. It sounds very cool to his non-tech mother, and I thought I’d ta…

And Now For Something Different.... sheilakennedy.net/2026/03/and-...

Don’t Call MAGA “Conservative” In 1980, I was the Republican candidate for Congress in what was then Indiana’s 11th Congressional District. I was pro-choice and pro-gay rights, and I had won a Republican primary. After I l…

Don't Call MAGA "Conservative" sheilakennedy.net/2026/03/dont...