I’ve got a new paper just posted on SSRN, entitled “Post-Racialism and the End of Strict Scrutiny”. Abstract is below, comments are appreciated! In recent years, a growing social consensus has emerged around the aspiration of a “post-racial” America: one where race is no longer a fault line for social strife or, perhaps, a morally significant trait whatsoever. This ambition, however, lies...

WASHINGTON – Back in the ’90s, I was “relationship consultant” at the LA Weekly, so I’ve interviewed enough men, as well as women, on relationships to know a bit about this subject. Gloria Cain has a very sad case of denial. But she’s got a partner there, with Rush Limbaugh leading the indefensible for the right-wing. We’ve seen this before and it never has a pretty...

Poor Herman Cain. Rick Perry’s campaign is out to get him. A “troubled woman” is out to get him. The “Democrat machine” is out to get him. The liberal news media is out to get him (you know, that famously super liberal site called The Politico but if you never heard The Politico referred to that way before the sexual abuse allegations story then you are not alone). My pet cat Clawdette...

I don’t know what tomorrow’s October CPI inflation report will show. But if today’s producer price index is any indication, tomorrow’s CPI may well be viewed as a positive by Wall Street and its enablers in Washington. The October producer price numbers showed a 0.3 percent decline in prices, the largest in 20 months. Much of this decline was due to a 1.4 percent drop in the price of...

First we had Cain’s brain difficulties on handling the sexual harassment accusations; then we saw Cain’s brain malfunction on China having a nuclear capability; then we had Perry’s brain freeze on naming three departments he wanted to eliminate; today we have Cain’s total brain failure on remembering what Libya is or was and on explaining his position on Obama’s Libya policy. Even for someone who does...

Several new polls show former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is soaring in his new emerging role as the new Anti-Romney as former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain sags amid sexual harassment allegations. In one poll Gingrich is the front-runner. Will Gingrich be “the flavor of the month”? Or will he become the FINAL Anti-Romney who can become central figure in the ongoing Republican political...

WASHINGTON – Today’s the day my e-book The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss goes on sale, but it comes with a booster engine: Barnes and Noble. It’s incredibly exciting to announce that The Hillary Effect has been selected as one of four e-books in the Barnes and Noble “NOOK First” featured authors campaign, just launched. Being selected as part...

As Herman Cain continues to do whatever he is doing, Rick Perry continues to self destruct, Mitt Romney continues to keep the wind at his back for the simple reason that he’s not like most of the other candidates, which is to say a slave to the Tea Party, Newt Gingrich is undergoing a back-from-the-dead metamorphosis. In other years, this would be unlikely. After all, Gingrich’s entire staff...

I normally DVR SNL, but last night my wife and I stayed up a tad bit later to watch the opening sketches. Andy Samberg’s new digital short sent us straight to bed. I have to rank last night’s “Wish It Would Rain” digital short as one of the worst things ever aired on SNL. It is not necessary to explain why it is such an awful piece of television history. The video exists, and that...

This old Candid Camera clip showing a stunt involving the power of conformity says more than original viewers may have thought. It explains some of what goes on in our schools, with peer pressure and some of the tiresome rhetoric and political attacks we see by partisans of both parties (and how quickly they fall in line with a new attack line):

Breaking News! … Vatican Dispatching Cardinal Bernard Law To Penn State Breaking News! … Vatican Dispatching Cardinal Bernard Law To Penn State Sources tell ‘The Garlic’, that after an all-night session, Pope Benedict XVI is dispatchingArchpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major Bernard Law to Penn State, to offer The Vatican’s assistance in the burgeoning sexual abuse...

Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Anyone who follows politics in this country knows what the word “reform” has come to mean. These days it means a deal in which the poor and the working middle class get stiffed on their benefits and pensions, while the rich either get additional compensation or are simply excluded from making their own sacrifices. That’s the basis of the reform of the tax code being pushed by Republicans....

The ring, a circle that has no beginning and no end, has been a symbol of undying love, fidelity, loyalty and of life itself through the ages. But the ring can also represent patriotism, bravery and sacrifice as in a military service academy ring, a combat aviator’s ring, the ring on a fallen soldier’s finger — a Ring of Honor. As we observe Veterans Day and honor all the men and women who...

WASHINGTON – Pres. Obama didn’t lift a rhetorical sentence to help Wisconsin activists fight Scott Walker. In Ohio, Ed Schultz was on the front line, while Pres. Obama stayed out of it. In Arizona, the voters kicked out a radical right wing bigot. Mississippi refused a “personhood” amendment that was so extreme it would have theoretically outlawed some forms of contraception, as...

Let us all take a few moments to remember that today, November 10th, is the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. For more than two centuries they have been fighting to defend our freedom in the air, on the land and on the sea. For all the sacrifices they have made in our defense, we all should say a huge thank you. So remember… hug a Marine today. OOOH RAH !

We will be offering live blogging of tonight’s debate — live blogging from the viewpoint of an independent voter. TECHNICAL NOTE: The Internet at my hotel near Atlanta is a bit of a problem so the live blogging could be slower than unusual. Here is the final LIVE BLOGGING POST.

Presidents Obama and Sarkozy literally broadcast their private opinions of the Israeli PM, but they weren’t the first bigwigs to commit mic gaffes. CNN: Oops…

A huge victory for the Obama administration before a tough DC Circuit panel, which included two extremely prominent conservative judges (Laurence Silberman and Brent Kavanaugh, alongside liberal Harry Edwards). Silberman (joined by Edwards) upheld the ACA in its entirety, while Kavanaugh dissented … because he thought the court lacked jurisdiction to even hear the case at all. That’ll leave a mark...

WASHINGTON – Dumber than a bag of rocks comes to mind. Republicans have made a never ending spectacle of themselves this fall, with Pres. Obama and his team getting luckier by the day. After splitting the women’s vote in 2010, it seems Republicans are determined to reverse that miracle with their fetish for failure. Rick Perry being floated as potential presidential material was likely the largest...

Some think this country’s income pie Is too top-tier allotted, And should be changed in ways that make The rich less so besotted; They see a moral issue here, The way income’s divided, Because it leaves so many poor, So scared and ill-provided. I have a different focus though, Not based on moral feeling, But rather geared to something else, An economic healing; Unless a broader income spread Lets...

It’s hard to believe that Herman Cain can continue to use the patently absurd argument that journalists asking tough questions as they are trained and hired to do need to read the “Journalistic Code of Ethics,” given the specific and sordid allegations that emerged at a news conference yesterday from a woman (reportedly a registered Republican) who says he sexually harassed her in a way that...

I’ve just spent a week in that earlier America you love so much and, while the absence of politicians was a blessing, I would not recommend living in cold semi-darkness, feebly powered by an emergency generator that eats $100 a day of propane and engine oil (if you can get a delivery) without providing Internet, cable or phone service and, in many cases, enough juice to run an electric range. Even this weekend,...

Boy, does Don Lemon’s book want to be reviewed. Over the past few months I’ve had a logjam of books, audio books that I have to review, delayed due to travel, a stolen laptop with all my notes, and two defective replacement laptops. These reviews will begin later this week. Due to a technical glitch for the second time the unfinished review notes have appeared on TMV. I have redated this review for...

About three weeks ago, Reuters quoted Afghan President Hamid Karzai saying: “God forbid, if ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan,” Karzai also said: “Afghanistan will never forget the welcome, the hospitality, the respect, and the brotherhood showed by the Pakistani people towards the Afghan people…Pakistan will never betray their brother.” According...