Must Read
- Joshua Baraban et al., Spectroscopic characterization of isomerization transition states [Ed.: Not a scientist? Just read the Abstract and the Editor’s Comment. See also Note 1 below.]
- Chad Orzel, ‘The Scientific Method’ Is A Myth, Long Live The Scientific Method
- Paul Krugman (NYT), ‘The Big Short,’ Housing Bubbles and Retold Lies
- Yael T. Abouhalkah, Ugly jobs report exposes recent deceit of [Kansas] Gov. Sam Brownback [Ed.: This is what adherence to conservative ideology buys you at the state level.]
Should Read
- Martin Longman, Conservatives: Same As They Ever Were
- Adam Serwer, The Antidote to Trump
- Libby Nelson, Flint, Michigan, tried to save money on water. Now its children have lead poisoning.
- George Ellis and Joe Silk, Scientific method: Defend the integrity of physics [Ed.: From last year but the debate continues. There shouldn’t need to be a debate but it continues.]
- Paul Miller and Michael Boyle, In a Counterinsurgency Far, Far Away
Science
- Robinson Meyer, A New Kind of Landscape Photography [Ed.: More on WV-3 here and here.]
- Chad Orzel, General Relativity And The ‘Lone Genius’ Model Of Science
- Jeffrey Mervis, NSF shrinks NEON in major blow to high-profile U.S. ecological science project
- Jeffrey Mervis, Congress asks NSF to explain glitches in NEON project under construction
Climate Change: Politics and Science
- Brian Schmidt, Red meat : all meat :: coal : all fossil fuels
- Samantha Page, The Surprising Winner Of Congress’ Budget Deal
- Emily Atkin, One Simple Chart Shows How The Democratic Candidates’ Climate Plans Have Drastically Changed
- Sean McElwee and Brian Schaffner, Republican Voters Are More Pro-Climate Than You Might Think
Politics
- Ryan Cooper, How climate change ate conservatism’s smartest thinkers
- Bill Moyers & Company, Mickey Edwards on How Conservatives Have Lost Their Way [Ed.: From 2012. Could be this week.]
- Ramesh Ponnuru, Sixteen Questions for the GOP Debate [Ed.: Ponnuru will never be allowed to moderate a GOP debate asking questions like that – unless perhaps they were to schedule one the Saturday night before Christmas…]
- Robert Borosage, The Saturday Night Democratic Presidential Debate
- Dan Drezner, A politically incorrect take on the GOP foreign policy debate
- Sean McElwee, The GOP debate subplot that everyone should be paying attention to
- Jana Kasperkevi, Poll: 30% of GOP voters support bombing Agrabah, the city from Aladdin
- Dave Johnson, Does Clinton Really Oppose TPP? There Is A Test For That
Budget, Taxes, and Money
- Jared Bernstein, Fed scratches their seven-year itch: they raise a quarter point, as expected [Ed.: Check the graph. “Hey, FOMC! Yer model sucks!”]
- Susan Davis, No Government Shutdown Likely; Here’s What’s In The Spending Bill
- Justin Miller, GOP Budget Rider Takes Aim at Campaign-Finance Rules
- Gail Russell Chaddock, Why deficit hawks are missing in action on budget, tax bills
- Matt Bruenig, What to Do with the Earned Income Tax Credit
- Dean Baker, Private Profit with Public Guarantee: The Real Issue with Fannie and Freddie
Work
- Daniel Costa, No evidence of labor shortages but Congress considering giving H-2B employers access to more exploitable and underpaid guestworkers
- Ross Eisenbrey, Sen. Mikulski wrecks labor standards in H-2B guestworker program
Health and Health Care
- Sarah Kliff, Why Obamacare premiums are spiking in 2016
- Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz (NYT), The Experts Were Wrong About the Best Places for Better and Cheaper Health Care
Culture
- Harold Pollack, Coarsening the culture: Republicans need to do some housecleaning
- Shannon Dooling, ‘We’re Syrians Before We Were Anything Else’: A Portrait Of Worcester’s Syrian Community
- Christian Science Monitor, Could You Pass a Citizenship Test? [Ed.: Two wrong: twenty-seven amendments not twenty-three, one brain fart.]
- Anne-Marie Slaughter, The Failure of the Phrase ‘Work-Life Balance’
Ending on a Positive Note
- Adam Cole, NASA Is Seeking Astronauts. Do You Have The Right Stuff?
- Landscape Architects Network, Award-Winning 21st Street Turns Roadway Into “Green and Complete Street”
- Spencer Macdonald, Age of the Farmer
Notes:
- My Ph.D. adviser, Bob Field, along with multiple grad students, undergrads, postdocs and visiting scientists have been working on this for over thirty years. This is a wonderful piece of scientific insight – a really big one – born of hard work and dedication. It’s great. And you have to tip your cap to anyone who’s worked three decades on something with the goal of contributing to the shared stock of human ideas.