Most Americans don’t like right-wing extremism. The Republican Party couldn’t care less. — The witticism, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” is often misattributed to Albert Einstein, even though the physicist never actually made the statement. …

Who knew running for president could be so good for business? — One of the first things I learned as a trader was that you never tell a client, “ I told you so.” Regardless of how accurate my advice may have been, rubbing my unheeded but correct call in a client’s face was just bad form. Hopefully, newsletters aren’t subject to…

A much-needed departure from the depressing grind of analyzing current events — My style of writing requires combing through reams of media. Even opinions in opposition to mine are helpful as I attempt to separate fact from fiction. The “process” I have, for lack of a better term, includes pouring over economic data, political opinion pieces, research on governmental policy, and, lately…

A wild, true story of finance, racism, and international money laundering — So many prominent people get away with criminality these days that we sometimes forget that incarcerating the average American isn’t that difficult. I’m personally familiar with how easy it is to find oneself in legal jeopardy. …

LIV Golf’s deal with the PGA Tour is about a lot more than sportswashing — How about this for irony: LIV Golf, the upstart league that sued the PGA Tour, accusing America’s premier golf league of operating a monopoly, just agreed to help create an even bigger monopoly. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan would have us believe the deal is more of a partnership agreement…

How manufactured crises convince the GOP base to act against their own self-interest — The other day, I was talking to someone about the film Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks’s satire from the 1970s. After reflecting on various parts of the film, we agreed that, although the movie is genuinely hilarious, its brand of comedy would have difficulty being greenlit today. …

President Biden could learn a lot from how Michael Corleone responded to threats — I’ve watched Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II more times than I care to admit. If I’m being honest, I consider Coppola’s sequel to The Godfather not just one of the best films in its genre but one of the greatest films ever made. Part of the price my…

Revisiting Supreme Court posts from The Journeyman archives — With the Supreme Court back in the news of late concerning a variety of issues, here’s a recap of some of my previous posts on the high court. Hopefully you’ll find this a helpful refresher. On stolen court seats Conventional wisdom suggests that Senator Mitch McConnell’s decision to block then-president Barack Obama’s appointment of…

How a meeting with a country preacher-turned-politician and the Southern Baptist Convention’s stealth church introduced me to Bible Belt politics — Although I haven’t visited my home state of Arkansas in more than a decade, the days I spent in that state’s ecosystem are the foundation for how I see the world. More than anything, that time in the complex culture of the Bible Belt informs how I view politics.