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Reservations About the Green New Deal Resolution
The Green New Deal puts climate change at the head of the agenda where it belongs. The resolution introduced in the House by Alexandria...

David Matthews
Feb 24, 20198 min read
Unfashionable Thinking About the Shutdown
Might there come a point where Democrats should consider giving the president the least he will accept on funding for his wall...

David Matthews
Jan 17, 20193 min read
Amusements and Diversions
My old friend Chuck Oliveros called to chat. The conversation commenced with baseball, specifically the pursuit of free agents Bryce...

David Matthews
Jan 12, 20196 min read
The Week That Was
Readers of my generation may share my foggy recollection of the British satirical news show That Was the Week That Was, which ran for two...

David Matthews
Jan 5, 20196 min read
Navigating the Wild Stream of Conservative Thought, Part II
Navigating the Wild Stream of Conservative Thought, Part I was published on December 7, 2018. National Review roving correspondent Kevin...

David Matthews
Dec 18, 20189 min read
Navigating the Wild Stream of Conservative Thought, Part I
National Review touts itself as a magazine that has defined the conservative movement since it was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in...

David Matthews
Dec 7, 201810 min read
An eternal pessimist thinks about climate change and a few other matters
Among the challenges presented by the Trump regime is the sheer scope of mendacity, venality, bad policy, bad faith, bamboozlement,...

David Matthews
Nov 21, 20184 min read
The Day After
Yesterday evening an old college pal commented on Facebook that as he watched the election returns it appeared he would run out of beer...

David Matthews
Nov 8, 20182 min read
My Ballot Dilemma
In Oregon we receive our ballots by mail and return them by mail or delivery to designated drop-off locations. The system seems to work...

David Matthews
Nov 1, 20185 min read
Code words, poor choice of words, and forbidden speech
Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican candidate for governor, got raked over the coals for race-baiting after he used the words "articulate"...

David Matthews
Sep 9, 20184 min read
The Strange and Curious Case of Jordan Peterson, Part II
This is the conclusion of a two-part essay. Part I was published August 28, 2018. The going gets thorny when Jordan Peterson moves away...

David Matthews
Aug 29, 201817 min read
The Strange and Curious Case of Jordan Peterson, Part I
The strange and curious case of Jordan Peterson could be the scenario for a television minidrama scripted by a disciple of Ayn Rand. An...

David Matthews
Aug 28, 20189 min read
A pleasantly surprising turn to yet another foofaraw over forbidden speech
Maybe you heard about the foofaraw at The Nation over publication of a poem by a young white poet who used black dialect and ableist...

David Matthews
Aug 13, 20183 min read
The Conservative Culture of Grievance and Victimization
A cottage industry has grown up around the premise that conservatives are routinely victimized by liberal elites who dominate American...

David Matthews
Jul 22, 201813 min read


A Tale of Two Demonstrations
Event organizers estimated that 5,000 people gathered on Portland's North Park Blocks yesterday morning for the Families Belong Together...

David Matthews
Jul 2, 20184 min read
Troubling Developments
On Wednesday the Immigration and Customs Enforcement regional office in Portland was closed by the agency due to security concerns...

David Matthews
Jun 23, 20183 min read


The Mural at Hollywood Transit Center: Remembering Heroes
Saturday marked the anniversary of the stabbing on May 26, 2017, of three riders on a MAX train who stepped up and did the right thing...

David Matthews
May 28, 20182 min read


March for Our Lives in Portland: Notes & Impressions
The morning was rough, raw, overcast and cold, temperature in the forties when I arrived downtown at 9:10 and strolled from the bus stop...

David Matthews
Mar 25, 20184 min read
Florida Opens a Door
An old Atlanta pal, call him M, came out in support of Florida gun legislation that opens the door to arming teachers. While M is a...

David Matthews
Mar 11, 20181 min read
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