The most interesting thing about Chris Christie’s apology is that it was no apology. An apology is a speech act – an utterance that is in some way world-changing. Apologies change the world by reversing the power of speaker and addressee: the speaker puts himself intentionally in a one-down position as a result of actions … Continue reading »
Chris Christie
What last week’s election results really mean
Pundits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey as a “return to the center” of American politics are confusing the “center” with big business and Wall Street. A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican. … Continue reading »
Christie and climate change
I posted last week about Governor Christie’s support for solar power. He immediately followed that action by vetoing a bill to bring New Jersey back into RGGI, the greenhouse gas trading system of the Northeast states. (RGGI stands for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.) The veto message points out that he had already vetoed a similar bill. He contends that … Continue reading »
The iron cage: Why it’s so hard to escape mass incarceration
For more than three decades state and local officials, egged on by the mass media and interested public employee unions, stoked the growth of prison systems in almost every state by greatly expanding the range of people considered eligible to go to prison. Plenty of local ne’er do wells that county prosecutors and judges would … Continue reading »
Chris Christie and the environment
There’s a lot of buzz about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as a possible GOP presidential candidate. As with the other candidates in the race, it seemed like a good idea to check into his positions on environmental issues. The first thing that becomes clear is that he’s enthusiastic about renewable energy and energy efficiency. … Continue reading »