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Fox News at the Crossroads: or, the Great GOP Divide

Fox News got record-breaking ratings for its Republican debate in Cleveland. It got one of the top-ten highest cable TV ratings of all time; the other nine are sporting events, mostly big bowl games on ESPN. So Chris Christie and the boys got better ratings than Tony Soprano, and if you'd like to make your own Mad Men joke, here's the place for it. On the other hand, thousands of Fox viewers have denounced Fox's moderators as biased and unfair.

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Still Killing Citizens: The Death of Sam Dubose

A University of Cincinnati cop has been indicted for murder. He killed an unarmed black citizen named Sam Dubose, whom he had initially stopped over a minor traffic issue: no front license plate. Why are we still doing this?

We've heard this story before. A ridiculously minor offense, the kind of thing that cops routinely let go, escalates into homicide when a cop kills a black citizen who has no weapon. After Eric Garner and Mike Brown, after Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland and Walter Scott, we are still doing this. Why?

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

Citizen Vain: or, Trump the Narcissist

Why did Donald Trump say in public that John McCain is ""not a war hero" because he got "captured?" Is Trump insane? Not quite, but close. Trump most likely has a major personality disorder. That's not a medical diagnosis, which I can't give; I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, and I haven't met Trump.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

Trump and the Polls

I don't believe Donald Trump is really running for President. Even before The Donald decided to slam John McCain as "not a war hero" because he "got captured" (as if Trump, who did not serve, would ever have been trusted with a plane),  it hasn't looked like a real campaign. I'm not convinced that Trump will ever consent to a real FEC disclosure filing, and I don't believe he will ever expose his ego to the risk of public defeat at the ballot box. Trump will only stay in if he finds some built-in excuse for losing, like running as a third-party spoiler.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

Lame Duck Amok (or, Barack Obama in Winter)

So President Obama is having a couple of pretty good months for a lame-duck President. Obamacare upheld, same-sex marriage legalized nationwide, and the Confederacy-lovers suddenly on the ropes. Things can change fast in national politics, and this post might seem completely wrong in six weeks, but right now, today, Obama's opposition seems about as hapless as they've ever been: unable to cope with events, usually on the defensive and mostly on the wrong foot. And yes, some of this is the usual ups-and-downs of partisan politics.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

Why Not Say It's Racism? The Charleston Massacre

The murder of nine people in Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston has left me sick and stunned, as it has left many of you. And what I needed badly, over the last two days, was national unity. But I didn't get it. Apparently, we're too divided as a nation to band together after a terrorist attack. We're so divided that some of us won't admit that the terrorist had the motives that he clearly proclaimed. Apparently, there are sides to take in everything, even this.

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Rachel Dolezal and the de-Professionalized University

Rachel Dolezal, currently this week's Object of Public Shame on the Internet, has apparently been fired from her job teaching at Eastern Washington State. Or rather, I learn from today's New York Times, they didn't have to bother firing her. You see, Dolezal was what's called an "adjunct instructor," someone who teaches on a course-by-course basis for low pay without any security for the next semester. There are more adjunct teachers than normal salaried professors in American universities today. So, EWU didn't have to fire her. She's just not hired for any classes for next fall.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

The Two-Body Problem: What I Learned

A few weekends ago I came home from commencement, hung up my silly robe for another year, cleaned my fridge, packed my car, and left town for the city where I live with my spouse. I won't be back until later in the summer. I've been making that five-hundred-mile round trip nearly every weekend for three of the last four years, with breaks for summers or sabbaticals. But this was the last time.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

Do We Have a Constitution, Officer?

A country is only as democratic as its police, and Constitutional rights are only as real as its police treat them. The fight over police work in America is ultimately a fight over whether or not the United States Constitution is real.

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Doctor Cleveland's picture

No, Colleges Still Require Shakespeare

You may have seen news stories, timed for Shakespeare's more-or-less birthday, claiming that top American colleges have stopped requiring Shakespeare. This is not news (nothing about college requirements has changed lately), and not really true.

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TypeTitleAuthorRepliesLast updated
Blog entryObama's Mission Doctor Cleveland69 years 6 months ago
Blog entryHe Hit Her. And She Went Down Ramona139 years 6 months ago
Blog entryLet's Review the Michael Brown Case Doctor Cleveland1709 years 7 months ago
Blog entryThe FPD Officer Who Shot Michael Brown Did Not Know That His Victim Was a Robbery Suspect Michael Maiello829 years 7 months ago
Blog entryLast Night, Police Shut Down All Live Feeds from Ferguson (Open Thread) Michael Maiello469 years 7 months ago
Blog entryThe Dark Sadness Claims Another Victim Ramona189 years 7 months ago
Blog entryRobin Williams and Making Live Comedy Live Doctor Cleveland99 years 7 months ago
Blog entryThe Long March To War Michael Maiello529 years 7 months ago
Blog entryThe Other Two Sides in Israel and Palestine Doctor Cleveland379 years 7 months ago
Blog entryIt's Time For Bill de Blasio To Abandon "Broken Windows" Michael Maiello119 years 7 months ago
Blog entryThe Washington Post just reviewed Unreasonable Men Michael Wolraich249 years 8 months ago
Blog entryToday Five Members of the U.S. Supreme Court Moved Us Closer to a Theocracy Ramona159 years 8 months ago
Blog entryJaws and Climate Denial Doctor Cleveland99 years 8 months ago
Blog entryReligious Liberty vs. Hobby Lobby Doctor Cleveland399 years 8 months ago
Blog entryReligious Freedom vs, Religious Privilege (or, Franklin vs. Penn) Doctor Cleveland79 years 8 months ago
Blog entryEating Eric Cantor Michael Wolraich489 years 9 months ago
Blog entryHate And The "Patriots": Like Watching One Long Horror Movie, Wondering Who Dies Next. Ramona149 years 9 months ago
Blog entryYou Don't Need a Gun: Mass Shooters Doctor Cleveland109 years 9 months ago
Blog entryThe New York Times Op-Ed Page Reacts To The Unveiling of the Death Star Michael Maiello39 years 10 months ago
Blog entryDonald Sterling, the NBA, and the Free Rider Problem Doctor Cleveland129 years 10 months ago
Blog entryMonica, Bill and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Ramona209 years 10 months ago
Blog entryWhy Colleges Mishandle Sexual Assault Doctor Cleveland39 years 11 months ago
Blog entryWhat Would Teddy Do? Theodore Roosevelt on Net Neutrality Michael Wolraich169 years 11 months ago
Blog entryThe Shakespeare Silly Season Doctor Cleveland49 years 11 months ago
Blog entryCopyright vs. Truth Doctor Cleveland119 years 11 months ago

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