I’m going to write in much more detail about this over August recess, but in my view people are overthinking the political dynamics of Congress right now. It...

Lindsey Graham has died. Whatever else you might say about him, he's the author of this quote: >“When I was first elected to the House,” he recalled, “I l...

A lot (probably too much) has been written about Graham Platner's faux working class credentials. Takes galore. Here's some scattered orthogonal thoughts. ...

Back in November, I wrote a substack post describing various dimension of political moderation. You can go read the longer details, but here’s the abridged l...

People keeping asking me variations of "what do you think about what is going on in Maine" and so I'm just going to write it down. I never liked Platner as ...

A speculative theory: Current politics is making people increasingly miserable because at a participatory level it has become for many people, on the margin...

The World Series of Poker Main Event begins today. The Main Event is unquestionably the focal point of the entire World Series of Poker, which now consists...

I just spent a week in London, my first time there and my first time to Europe. Thank you to the 50+ people who provided advice, so much of it was valuable a...

<p style="text-align: center;"> <img src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/mattsonepoint/screenshot-2026-06-19-134239.webp" style="width:...

Here's Senator Tillis yesterday, discussing the frayed Senate-administration relations amid the endless blindsiding Hill Republicans are getting from the Whi...

If we had to come up with a list of generic things legislators hate, getting blindsided by important new information would probably be right near the top. So...

One axiom of good cardplay is this: every decision is a new opportunity to make the optimal play. No matter how bad your previous decisions were and how bad ...

In Congress, and in government generally, one basic problem is enforcement of law. Although sometimes people on the Hill act like you solve a problem as soon...

Thirty-two years ago tonight. <p style="text-align: center;"> <img src="https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/mattsonepoint/screenshot-202...

The world's greatest sport isn't that great of a sport

The New York Knicks took a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals last night by completing the greatest comeback in playoff history. Just an incredible game, and so much...

Fairfax County Public Schools have a calendar problem. We’ve bloated up the school year with holidays, extended breaks, teacher work days, elementary school ...

Just an incredible podcast/video episode. The Rewatchables is a great podcast to begin with. Great idea, great execution. Especially if you grew up in the G...

Bill Pulte, Senate-confirmed Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Chairman of Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac, has been appointed by President Trump a...

The most inexplicable thing about president Trump is how much political control he has over the Republican Party, and how poorly he has used that leverage fo...

Many social critics, notably Chuck Klosterman, have written a lot about the disappearance of the 20th century monoculture). The basic thesis is simple: i...

Here are fifteen updated thoughts on America's greatest gambling invention

Screenshot 2026-05-25 102045 Today is Memorial Day. For most Americans, it's the kickoff to summer. For a subset of Americans, it's a marker of the worst th...

Mary Peltola represented Alaska in the House from August 2022 until January 2025. She also happened to have been born in Alaska. This is notable because she ...

Coming into the week, Republicans had intended to move the reconciliation bill containing the multi-year funding for CBP and ICE through both chambers. They ...

President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton in his Texas Republican Senate primary yesterday against incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Already an underdog, Cornyn's cha...

I was thinking about Van Buren yesterday because he's the answer to my favorite piece of presidential trivia—which president's first language wasn't English?...

Here's Zac Hill's excellent new substack, Manual Transmission, and here's Nate Meyvis' Bear blog. These are two of my favorite writers on the internet right ...

Every time there's a controversial judicial decision, we get an outpouring of aggrieved commentators declaring that the decision was political and therefore ...

A lot of people demand way too much evidence for things before they will adjust their views. Some of this is related to a desire for certainty, rather than a...

There's a genre of clickbait social media posts all about comparisons of elite professional athletes and YMCA recreational players. A lot of the time, the un...

I'm seeing a lot of political actors and commentators advocating for hardball strategies right now, while lamenting that what they are advocating for isn't i...

I had a meeting with a local elected official today, which I had requested to discuss a specific issue. We got chitchatting about some other, unrelated local...

Relocating to a new legal jurisdictions to alter the government policies that affect you is extremely common behavior. People flee high tax areas. Parents mo...

I like markets. Properly implemented and regulatged, I think they are generally the best fundamental arrangement of society, in both private and public, ...

My middle daughter's birthday is today, May 2. My youngest daughter was born on April 30. And my oldest daughter was born on April 27. Some thoughts: The...

You may have heard that we are in a very partisan age. You may have also heard that there's a mid-decade gerrymandering race to the bottom. And you may have ...

Many people, understandably frustrated with Congress, think a way to improve the place would be to increase the size of the House. Here's Chuck Todd arguing ...