Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election

I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about Russia and the 2020 election, thoughts that are leading me to some chilling places. You may skip over this — “Oh, Allyn’s moaning about Russia again, and it’s all ‘Fake News’ anyway” — but that’s because you’ve never asked yourself the question: “What does Russia want?”Continue reading “Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election”

What If… Gary Johnson Had Won in 2016?

Yesterday evening, scrolling through Facebook, I saw a former colleague of mine from EB Games, M, post the following meme image, without any commentary: I posted a quick reply: “Honestly, what do you think would have been different with Johnson?” I didn’t expect a reply, but one was soon forthcoming. In case that’s not entirelyContinue reading “What If… Gary Johnson Had Won in 2016?”

After Scalia: The Coming Clash of the Executive and the Legislative Branches over the Judiciary

Saturday afternoon, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died. I was having dinner with friends at Farpoint. One of my dinner companions happened to look over at the flatscreen televisions hanging over the bar at Northern Lights, and she audibly gasped. “Scalia died.” The rest of us turned, looked, and gibbered things like “Wow” and “Damn.”Continue reading “After Scalia: The Coming Clash of the Executive and the Legislative Branches over the Judiciary”

Link Round-Up: December 15

Our second link round-up! These are things I read today that interested me, with some commentary on what I read and what I thought. BBC World Service: Space – The BBC World Service has begun an occasional podcast series of podcasts on an astronomy/space exploration theme. As of right now, there are four episodes, rangingContinue reading “Link Round-Up: December 15”

A Brokered Convention and the GOP’s Unforced Error

I don’t know what’s more insane — that the GOP establishment is contemplating schemes to deny Donald Trump the GOP presidential nomination or that they’re talking openly about those schemes eight months before the convention (and before any states have selected delegates to said convention). If this were coming from the media, I wouldn’t beContinue reading “A Brokered Convention and the GOP’s Unforced Error”