Posts by James Joyner

James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Hillary Clinton Says ‘I’m Not Running’

Does it depend on what the meaning of “running” is?

Everyone’s Obsessed with AOC

The freshman Congresswoman is getting it from all sides.

Trump’s CPAC Speech May Have Guaranteed His Re-Election

Reason’s Nick Gillespie makes an interesting case but I don’t buy it.

Amazon Prime Removes Anti-Vax Documentaries

A powerful Congressman successfully pressured a media giant to pull content. We should be worried.

Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Study in Contrasts

The President of the United States and the most-talked-about freshman Representative in ages could not be more different.

Representative Democracy ‘Not a Day at the Beach’

Nancy Pelosi is tired of Democrats voting to please their constituents.

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My Takeaways from the Cohen Testimony

Five things I think I think after the hearings.

Beto O’Rourke Apparently Running for President

The Texas Congressman has decided to forgo another Senate bid and instead focus his energies elsewhere.

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Congress Poised to Block Trump’s Emergency Declaration

While not subject to filibuster, it’s still subject to Presidential veto.

The free high-resolution photo of street, bicycle, asphalt, vehicle, hat, park bench, homeless, stockholm, packing, baby carriage, drifter, norrm larstrand , taken with an DMC-FS10 01/29 2017 The picture taken with 10.0mm, f/3.8s, 1/640s, ISO 80 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required. The free high-resolution photo of street, bicycle, asphalt, vehicle, hat, park bench, homeless, stockholm, packing, baby carriage, drifter, norrm larstrand , taken with an DMC-FS10 01/29 2017 The picture taken with 10.0mm, f/3.8s, 1/640s, ISO 80 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required.

Elizabeth Warren Pledges [Something, Something] Wealthy Donors

The populist Democrat won’t be hosting fundraising dinners. Until the general election campaign, at least.

The Political Realities of a Green New Deal

Kevin Drum uses some clever sleight-of-hand to demonstrate a hard truth about the human condition.

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I Don’t Care Where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Lives

Breathless coverage of this freshman Congressman is getting tiresome.

Former National Security Officials Oppose Emergency Declaration

A bipartisan group of foreign policy luminaries says there is no factual basis for President Trump’s claim.

Federal Judge Rules Male-only Draft Unconstitutional

Now that women are allowed into all combat roles, the rationale for excluding them from Selective Service has evaporated.

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Where Have All the Editors Gone?

Grammar and spelling errors abound at all but a handful of news sites.

Black Woman Now Running Paper Owned by KKK Editorialist

An interesting plot twist in the Goodloe Sutton saga.

Amy Klobuchar is Temperamentally Unsuited for the Presidency

And I’d still prefer her to Donald Trump.

The free high-resolution photo of street, bicycle, asphalt, vehicle, hat, park bench, homeless, stockholm, packing, baby carriage, drifter, norrm larstrand , taken with an DMC-FS10 01/29 2017 The picture taken with 10.0mm, f/3.8s, 1/640s, ISO 80 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required. The free high-resolution photo of street, bicycle, asphalt, vehicle, hat, park bench, homeless, stockholm, packing, baby carriage, drifter, norrm larstrand , taken with an DMC-FS10 01/29 2017 The picture taken with 10.0mm, f/3.8s, 1/640s, ISO 80 The image is released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. You may download, modify, distribute, and use them royalty free for anything you like, even in commercial applications. Attribution is not required.

Robert Caro’s Obligations to Readers

The 83-year-old is taking time off finishing his LBJ quintilogy to write his memoirs. Is that selfish?

All Our Candidates Are Unpopular

Literally no current candidate for President has a net favorable opinion rating.

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Columnist Calls for Taking John Wayne’s Name Off Orange County Airport

It turns out, The Duke wasn’t all that woke.

1970s and 1980s Yearbooks Featured Blatant Racism—And Not Just in the South

Ku Klux Klan jokes, fake lynchings, and the like were routinely depicted even at places like Cornell.

Time to Reconsider New York Times v Sullivan?

Justice Clarence Thomas argues that a 55-year-old precedent should be overturned.

Family of Covington Teen Sues WaPo

While I’m sympathetic to his plight, he has no case.

Alabama Editor Calls for Ku Klux Klan to Clean out DC

The end of racism may have been prematurely declared.

Can Coverage of Women Candidates Be Non-Sexist?

Gender bias is real. Most examples cited, though, aren’t.

NFL Settles Colin Kaepernick Collusion Suit

A confidential agreement has ended a collusion suit filed against the National Football League in 2017.

McCabe Claims DOJ Discussed Ousting Trump

The former #2 official at the FBI is trying to sell a book.

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Apple Launching Controversial News and Video Service

Is 50 percent too high a take? Or the best deal in town?

Eric Holder 2020?!

The former Attorney General is seriously pondering a presidential bid. Seriously.

The ‘Trope’ Trope

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Alabama Executes Domineque Ray Under Questionable Circumstances

Critics on both the Left and the Right rightly see an injustice here but the US Supreme Court allowed it to happen.

1968 Wasn’t 1984 (Which Wasn’t 2019)

It’s reasonable and just to adjust our outrage based on the context of the time when incidents occurred.

Explaining Ralph Northam’s Weird Response to the Blackface Scandal

A man somehow got elected governor without being very good at politics.

Virginia Attorney General Admits He, Too, Wore Blackface

All three of the Commonwealth’s statewide elected officers are the subject of scandal.

Ralph Northam’s Forgivable Sin

Virgnia’s governor has to resign. But not because of some 35-year-old photos.

Streaming Killed the Video Star

AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV and TimeWarner is forcing price hikes that are driving customers away at a rapid clip.

Proving You’re Not a Robot is Really Hard

They’ve gotten better at solving CAPTCHAs than we are.

Scaling Down Inequality

Gender bias in student evaluations of college professors diminishes considerably by changing the scale.

No, Trump is Not ‘Authoritarian’

The President is an ignoramus and a blowhard and a petulant child but he’s operating within the Constitutional limits of his office.

Are Female Politicians’ Sex Lives Off Limits?

Is benefitting politically from romantic liaisons different than other relationships?

Retirement is Killing Our Infrastructure

Pensions and health care costs for the elderly are crowding out other vital spending.

Is ‘Electability’ Measurable?

A WaPo data analyst gives it a shot.

Pelosi Getting Too Much Credit for Shutdown ‘Win’

The Speaker was dealt a winning hand and played it with the skill of a seasoned pro. But the outcome was all but inevitable.

MAGA Hats the New White Hood?

Wearing Donald Trump’s famous campaign symbol creates a presumption of ill intent. Is that fair?

Ocasio-Cortez, Like Trump, is Immune to Fact Checks

In both cases, appeals to emotion are not diminished by disregard for accuracy.

Dad’s Stuff is Junk, Grandma’s Stuff is Treasure?

Does trash become treasure with time?

Death Cleaning

Your treasures are your kids’ junk.

MAGA Student Confronting Native American Veteran Story Fake News?

The longer video and deeper investigation of the incident reveals a very different story.

Trump Exceedingly Unlikely to be Removed from Office, No Matter What

A leading conservative makes a truly bizarre defense of the President.

Did Trump Really Want to Be President? Who Cares?

A new report raises an old question that’s now irrelevant.