Gongol.com Archives: January 2020

January 31, 2020

How big are the Iowa Caucuses?

So big that even C-SPAN is advertising on a downtown billboard visible from I-235

The world's snake-oil supplies remain inexhaustible

The British edition of "Vogue" contains some astonishingly loony suggestions for feeling better about the coronavirus outbreak. Nobody's expecting them to be The Lancet or the Journal of the American Medical Association, but in the process of trying to be topical, there's no reason for them to be dangerously flaky.

In from the cold, in a manner of speaking

Last year's temperatures were 55°F lower in Des Moines than they are today. The swing is just crazy.

What was Sen. Lamar Alexander saying?

In announcing his decision to vote against hearing witnesses at the President's impeachment trial, Sen. Alexander argued that "the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year's ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate." Who said anything about banning him from the ballot? Is there any Constitutional clause, law, or interpretation that says a President couldn't be removed from office on February 1st, then elected to the office again on November 3rd? Wouldn't that be a valid way to let the voters decide? Doesn't framing the wrong consequence as a reason for making the decision itself cast doubt on the decision?

For whom should a moderate crossover voter support in the Democratic caucuses?

The three palatable options most likely to meet the "viability" threshold are Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar. But which one, and why?

Still no Popeye's chicken sandwich in Des Moines

One of the national reporters in Iowa for the caucuses really ought to look into this scandal

Which is the more important gathering?

New Year's Eve or the Super Bowl?