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This article made national news last week when it reported alleged ties between Hunter Biden and a Ukrainian gas company. It was written by the New York Post, which has a somewhat conservative bias. There are still a lot of question marks about its findings (for example, it recovered emails from a laptop delivered to a repair shop in Delaware that was never picked up) and it seems like an attempt by conservatives to stir up controversy right before Election Day.

Also, the Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is rated "mixed" by https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/ "These media sources are slightly to moderately conservative in bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Right-Center sources. Overall we rate the New York Post on the far end of Right-Center Biased due to story selection that typically favors the Right and Mixed (borderline questionable) for factual reporting based on several failed fact checks."

an interesting article relating to the definition of conservatism and its bearing on the current election.

Thanks, Alexander. A lucid commentary--definitely helpful in the moment.

"Mr. Trump's Lost Cause takes its fuel from conspiratorial myths of all kinds, rehearsed for years on Trump media and social media platforms. Its guiding theories include: Christianity under duress and attack; large corrupt cities full of Black and brown people manipulated by liberal elites; Barack Obama as alien; a socialist movement determined to tax you into subservience to "big government"; liberal media out to crush family and conservative values; universities and schools teaching the young a history that hates America; resentment of nonwhite immigrants who threaten a particular national vision; and whatever hideous new version of a civil religion QAnon represents."

This article was so entertaining to read because of their views that to me seem outrageous. I am trying to put my liberal bias aside but it's difficult when they begin the article saying that President Obama has drastically changed the entire government "so that it is more of a behemoth than at any time in history and more involved in every aspect of our lives". However, the article addresses the apparent hypocracy of the government which wants to enforce and limit gun use, but is continuously increasing the national weapon stockpiles. They word this in an adamantly conservative voice. Overall I really don't mind the info that they are presenting and their argument is reasonably sound, however, their constant negative and angry side comments are endless. His main point is that liberals should be very concerned about the current government but are not.

Very interesting article about why political satire shows tend to lean left, whereas talk radio leans right.

England Politics--Conservatives celebrate as more left-leaning Miliband brother wins leadership of Labour Party

A meeting of the British Trade Union Congress in the Grand Hotel in Brighton (the same hotel where the IRA had previously bombed a Conservative Party conference) was evacuated due to an anonymous call saying there was a bomb in the building.

Interesting article describing the influence of the "Father Director", a famous conservative priest on the politics of Poland, and how a man who is so xenophobic and homophobic can have such power and following in such a large country.

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, conservatives and GOP members are pushing for a quick confirmation before the November election. Nevertheless, two senate republicans have already come out against this; Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. It is important to note that in the Senate, Republicans hold a slim majority 53 to 47 and democrats would only need 4 republican votes to block the confirmation. It is also important to point out the hypocrisy in the GOP. Previously, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that a Supreme Court Vacancy in the last year of a president's term should not be filled until after the election.

The visual accompanying this article was very useful! I found it helpful to compare the American political parties to European political parties. I always knew that American politics were very right-leaning, but I had no idea of the extent.

In Ukraine, thousands joined together to in the March for Equality to support the rights of the country's LGBT community. Ukraine has made some efforts in progress for LGBTQ rights, but many conservative groups have worked towards backpedaling their progress. Interesting to see the difference in equality in other countries, especially with Head-Royce celebrating bi-awareness week.

I personally don't know very much about the queer community and LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine, but I hope these protests help make the situation there better. While I hope for swift and immediate change, it seems like these protests might be met with inaction for a while. It's also possible that there's backlash from conservatives in the country. I think that the path to queer rights in Ukraine will, unfortunately, be a long and hard road. That said, I'm glad to see that people are willing to speak up and fight for rights in a country like Ukraine.

Yes to all of the comments, and this observation: social change is often not linear, though it may appear so at first.

A town in California protests the closing of their local prison, arguing that it destroy their town and economy. As inmate numbers decline, Governor Newsom announced the close of two prisons, and this town is taking it as an attack on their conservative political views.

This is so interesting! I've always wondered about this dynamic, between prison and prison town and state legislatures. I wonder if this holds true at San Quentin.

This is a great article! I sent it to my whole family to read because weirdly enough, we've been to Susanville 3 or 4 times. It's just such a difficult situation and its interesting to see the mindset of the people in the town. Although it is easier said than done, it's perplexing that the people are so devoted to preventing the closure rather than diversifying the economy or striking some kind of compromise. This article goes to show just how deeply prisons are ingrained into the structure of American society and how they function first and foremost as an industry.

I think that finding a balance between the freedom and social welfare has always been an issue in America and thats why this is such an interesting article. The Nordic countries seem to have a very good balance of free market success and equality. These countries would be good examples for America but there are two reasons that make this difficult. First off, many Americans seem to be deeply afraid of anything resembling socialism or communism. Second all these nordic states are small and relatively homogenous. This makes it much easier for the government to provide social welfare that meets everybody's needs and keeps everyone happy. The US is huge and has a much more diverse population. This makes for a completely different problem. While a social democratic government has worked so well for Scandinavia, we are far from getting to a state like that in the US.

Even though I believe a government like that would be ideal for the US, it is not very realistic due to how conservative the US is compared to Scandinavia.

I was surprised by how measured this article was and how much I agreed with the analysis expressed in it, given that it was written by Pat Buchanan, whose views I find reprehensible. He offers a smart and historically conscious analysis of the political moves Obama is making right now, moves he believes might allow the president to create a Democratic coalition that will outlast his tenure. Buchanan says that Obama presented the Fiscal Cliff negotiations in such a way as to divide the Republicans and make them look bad whatever they did, and that he has engineered similarly divisive and damaging strategies for the upcoming fights over the Chuck Hagel nomination, gun control, and the debt ceiling.

Although the Texan Senator Ted Cruz has been the focus of much blame for the government shutdown, many Texans appreciate his strong conservative effort in Washington, much less to defund the ACA. Still, moderate and establishment Republicans in Texas disapprove of Cruz, and question his real purpose for stalling the government. While quieted, there a divide within the red state among Republicans. But is this political divide a bigger issue than the divide between Texas and other liberal states?

"But the continued support for Mr. Cruz among Texas Republicans illustrates something larger: the cultural and political divide that continues to widen between a red state that President Obama lost by nearly 16 points in the 2012 election and the blue or even purple parts of the country where Mr. Cruz's tone and tactics have caused outrage and consternation"

This article speaks mostly about Germany's struggle to remain an effective military force in the world. Since the dismantlement of the Nazi regime, attitudes towards military spending were generally conservative. However, after failing to send paratroopers to Iraq (they lacked clearance) and medical assistance to ebola-affected regions (they used really old planes), the German public is beginning to wonder whether or not to spend more money on its military. It think that it's not only interesting watching a previously domestically-focused country turn its eyes abroad, but what that means in context of the US being a "superpower".

This article was incredible informative about the current major areas that are sucking up a lot of Japan's spending like social benefits and military spending. But it also gives a detailed outline on how Japan aims to combat their debt but I'm unsure if these predictions are too optimistic?

It's interesting to see how Japan's government is interacting with the market in an attempt to create a flow of money that will ease its deficit. The fact that they raised their sales tax is very interesting when we consider how Japan entered its recession in 1997 because the government raised the national consumption tax to 5% from. Has Japan learned its lesson and will it enter another recession again as a result of their new tax hike?

It is cool to see precisely which sectors are consuming the larger portions of Japan's budget through data. I also liked how Japan thought about balance their budget.