Does It Hurt To Think? - Comprehensive Archive

The complete archive, all in one place. 

Twenty-one years(!) of Does It Hurt To Think?

 

2026

Aug 28 - How Social Security increases the "deficit", and why it doesn't matter

Aug 25 - When it comes to Social Security, the Washington Post's editorial board is indefensibly stupid 

Aug 14 - Do people never tire of the unending bullshit? 

Aug 02 - At least my book isn't "slop"

 

Jul 27 - Chatbots agree on birthright citizenship

Jul 19 - The Washington Post's moderator bot didn't like my comment about Lindsey Graham 

Jul 15 - Donald Trump has no self control

 

Jun 13 - Other presidents understood risk and compexity. A self-aggrandizing Trump doesn't.

Jun 08 - Max Boot agrees with me 

Jun 01 - Crawling our way back to Obama's Iran nuclear deal

  

Apr 10 - And then there's the uranium ...  

 

Mar 29 - The Washington Post has no idea how Social Security works

Mar 08 - Boots on the ground  

 

Feb 23 - A leech and a parasite

Feb 15 - "The greatest economy actually ever in history"

Feb 12 - Our one-and-one-half week of winter 

 

Jan 30 - Abnormal warmth persists 

Jan 24 - Abnormally warm temps are happening right now

Jan 21 - For the taking: The world is Trump's smorgasbord

Jan 17 - And burn it will

Jan 10 - Thing One: Get out of the way. Thing Two: There is no "Thing Two." Just get out of the way.

 

2025

Dec 29 -  No, really: It's now the "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts"

Dec 18 -  I have a book  

Dec 12 -  Does he actually believe it, or is he just bullshitting?

 

Nov 30 -  Redheads are murderers and rapists

 

Oct 14 -  On the economy, Trump says he "inherited a mess"

 

Sep 22 -  What does the beatification of Charlie Kirk say about us?

Sep 15 -  The experts were right. They usually are.

 

Aug 25 -  Were we lied to about the Covid vaccines?

Aug 02 -  May I recommend?

 

Jul 17 -  Prescient.

 

Jun 17 -  Exactly who does have "the cards"? Not Russia.

 

Apr 11 -  Faith creates reality

 

Mar 09 -  Waste, fraud, and abuse

Mar 06 -  Dead people vote AND collect Social Security benefits

Mar 03 -  Why must the war end now?

 

Feb 17 -  Apparently I live on a different planet than a lot of people

Feb 06 -  And don't drink bleach, either

 

Jan 24 -  "Records are immutable" and "Recorded for posterity"

Jan 22 -  There are always reasons

 

2024

Nov 20 -  Landslide? Mandate?

Oct 24 -  The inherent fragility of democracy

Jul 28 -  Inexplicable. Seriously?
Jul 23 -  Way to go Joe
Jul 14 -  Making Trump a martyr
Jul 09 -  The Perplexity dialogues: Dielectric grease
Jul 04 -  The Perplexity dialogues

Jun 21 -  We all know

Apr 07 -  The reality that is

Mar 05 -  In poll, voters blame Biden for pandemic

Jan 09 -  Somebody's gotta say it. Why not me?

 

2023

Oct 28 -  Mike Johnson: "I don't think..."

Oct 05 -  WaPo likewise botches Social Security and debt 

Sep 28 -  How Verizon treats its customers, and why you should care
Sep 05 -  Is an electric vehicle right for you?

Aug 22 -  PragerU offers "thought-provoking questions"

Jun 30 -  Man, woman, child, stupidity
Jun 01 -  NPR is wrong. Social Security has never added a penny to the national debt.

Apr 14 -  Who ya gonna believe: the FDA or hack judges?
Apr 08 -  Vocabulary lesson and a judicial injunction

Feb 11 -  The discouraging ubiquity of improper Covid treatment

Jan 31 -  Good for the gander

2022

Dec 31 -  The reality wars, vaccine edition
Dec 22 -  A (now open) letter to Ross Douthat

Sep 26 -  Birdsong
Sep 21 -  Oil, in under a hundred words

Aug 26 -  Texas abortion penalty proves my point

Mar 22 -  Is Biden to blame for high gasoline prices?
Mar 10 -  Is energy destiny?

2021

Dec 29 -  Try to wrap your head around this

Aug 18 -  It's George Will's brain that is melting away

Feb 19 -  Denmark, Des Moines, and Denton
Feb 11 -  Assault on democracy itself
Feb 08 -  Just not worth it?

2020

Oct 18 -  A First Amendment case for choice
Oct 02 -  My final Trump jobs installment

Sep 23 -  How Lindsey Graham's mind works
Sep 21 -  What Americans Want
Sep 16 -  Things we've learned about the coronavirus
Sep 01 -  They always say that

Aug 02 -  Deaths lag cases

Jun 27 - A Pence Non Sequitur

May 29 - Such times
May 13 - Trump said ...

Apr 25 -  How Trump is an idiot

Feb 18 -  A sad and rude awakening

Jan 27 -  How a Republican senator thinks about the impeachment trial

2019

Dec 20 - That amazing low unemployment rate
Dec 08 - What the jobs report says about us

Nov 14 - Be Serious
Nov 12 - Disingenuous Nikki Haley

Sep 04 - On Fitness and Impeachment

Aug 23 - Brief update: Trump jobs, Obama jobs
Aug 21 - The Arsonist-in-Chief

Jul 27 - Two charts

Apr 21 - When memories were fresh

Mar 29 - Here we go again
Mar 02 - This just in

Feb 06 -  Keeping Trump honest

Jan 14 -  That's a technical term
Jan 01 -  The Death of Expertise

 

2018

Nov 12 -  Give more money to rich people
 
Oct 23 -  Waving at Volcanoes
Oct 09 -  Connecting the dots

Oct 06 -  Perhaps you heard ...

Sep 30 -  Dreams of Deescalation
Sep 08 -  Ice Ages Revisited: A Story of Climate

Aug 30 -  For the love of golf

Jul 29 -  Trump Fixes Everything

Jun 05 -  Trump Jobs, Obama Jobs

Feb 04 -  Early Musings on the Nunes Memo

Feb 02 -  Apples to Apples

Jan 21 -  Who's to blame?

2017

Dec 26 -  The Trump Jobs Miracle

Jun 06 -  90 days. 120 days. 131 days.

May 11 -  The Burden Of So Many Brackets

Apr 03 -  What Trump Should Do About Health Insurance
 
Mar 26 -  Sick People: Unite!
Mar 22 -  Lindsey Graham Slanders Senate Democrats

Feb 06 -  An Autocrat In Tweets

Jan 08 -  Political Witch Hunt
Jan 08 -  The Politics of Power
  

2016

Dec 02 -  Trump's Landslide

Nov 13 -  Unpopular Trump
Nov 11 -  Trump Watch: Infrastructure, Debt, Politics

Oct 13 -  The Politics of National Destruction

Sep 20 -  Faith In Feet

Jun 28 -  Call Me Al

Mar 01 -  On Diversity

Feb 24 -  Escalation
Feb 16 -  Illegitimate Obama
 

2015

Dec 16 -  The Reddest Herring

Oct 20 -  Carson Believes Otherwise

Sep 21 -  Pope Francis: "Solid." "Disturbing."

Aug 22 -  A Really Big Number

Jul 02 -  What Other People Do

Jun 26 -  Dog Fails To Catch Car
Jun 22 -  Irish History, Culture, and Mythology

Apr 14 -  Book Review: Hitchcock's History of the Catholic Church ...
 
Mar 22 -  More Thinking About Al Gore

Feb 28 -  Shut It Down!
Feb 18 -  A Sentence
Feb 13 -  Not Good Enough
Feb 06 -  Going Around, Coming Around

Jan 08 -  President Romney Delivers

 2014

Dec 01 -  Of Ice Ages and Men

Nov 12 -  As Lambs to the Slaughter

Oct 12 -  Galbraith Warns of "End of Normal"

Aug 23 - Intractable Unwinnable Confounding Astonishingly Complicated Tripartite (Quadripartite?) Clusterfuck

 Jul 26 -  What Do You Mean By "Soon?"
 Jul 09 -  On Being Right, On Being Wrong 

Jun 27 -  Lefty Liberal Tomfoolery 
Jun 22 -  Less Daylight? 
Jun 14 -  Things To Understand About The Upheaval In Iraq

May 12 -  Krauthammer Disappoints

Mar 25 -  Thinking About Al Gore  

Jan 13 -  Life Inside The Bubble

2013

Dec 19 -  Ephemeral Republican Heath Reform  
Dec 11 -  This Is Not How It Should Be
Dec 11 -  Revisited: A Lesson In Dishonesty
Dec 04 -  Ready

Jul 19 -  Reckoning The Scientific Consensus on Global Warming

May 18 -  Numerators and Denominators
May 09 -  Repeating Europe's Mistakes

Apr 10 -  Prose About Poetry
Apr 09 -  Poetry

Mar 11 -  Trusting The Fund: A Citizen's Guide To Social Security's Trust Fund

Jan 12 -  Agency in Animals
Jan 03 -  Rivlin's Wrong
Jan 01 -  Loose Ends: Studies in Mendacity, Part II

2012

Dec 02 -  Sorrow and Science

Nov 29 -  Mesa: November 11, 1998 - November 28, 2012
Nov 24 -  Barack Obama, Extreme Socialist?

Oct 09 -  Very Briefly: God, Science, and Morality

Aug 04 -  Letter to a Friend: Socialism and the European Financial Crisis

Jul 14 -  Was John Roberts Seeking Redemption?

Apr 28 -  Obama's Deficit?

Mar 07 -  The Food Stamp President

Feb 28 -  Two Religions

 2011

Dec 18 -  St. Bernadette
Dec 05 -  Oh my! Maureen Dowd on Newt Gingrich

Nov 08 -  Newt on the Trust Fund

Mar 18 -  Durbin Agrees With Me On Social Security

Feb 18 -  Why Social Security Is Not The Problem

2010

May 11 -  A Lesson In Dishonesty

Mar 22 -  Losing Jasper, Missing Juniper

2009

Dec 15 -  Show Joe The Door

Nov 22 -  Boehner Wins

Sep 12 -  What Could You Do With A Trillion Dollars?

Aug 30 -  Pulling The Plug On Sanity

May 08 -  The Hydrogen Myth

Mar 26 -  What's "up" with oil?
Mar 21 -  Laying an AIG
Mar 18 -  Political Cheap Shots

Feb 18 -  Michele Green

2008

Dec 16 -  Making Monsters Of Us All
 
Nov 18 -  Sarah Palin For President?
Nov 11 -  You mean credit card numbers don't have spaces?

Nov 04 -  Bush's Contribution to Democracy

Oct 22 -  Does It Hurt To Think?

Prior to this point this blog was entitled Prairie Journal ...

Oct 03 -  There's No There There

Sep 07 -  Fool Me Twice ...

Aug 13 -  In Search of Moral High Ground

Jul 04 -  One Hundred Forty Five Dollar Oil
Jul 02 -  One Hundred Forty Three+ Oil
Jul 02 -  One Hundred Forty One Dollar Oil

Jun 27 -  One Hundred Forty Dollar Oil
Jun 26 -  One Hundred Thirty Nine+ Dollar Oil
Jun 24 -  Brooks's "Bush Paradox"
Jun 06 -  One Hundred Thirty Eight Dollar Oil

May 22 -  One Hundred Thirty Three Dollar Oil
May 20 -  One Hundred Twenty Nine Dollar Oil
May 20 -  One Hundred Twenty Seven Dollar Oil
May 10 -  One Hundred Twenty Six Dollar Oil
May 07 -  One Hundred Twenty Three+ Dollar Oil
May 07 -  One Hundred Twenty Two (Almost) Dollar Oil
May 05 -  One Hundred Twenty Dollar Oil

Apr 29 -  Did He Read My Blog?
Apr 22 -  One Hundred Nineteen+ Dollar Oil
Apr 21 -  One Hundred Seventeen+ Dollar Oil
Apr 18 -  One Hundred Seventeen Dollar Oil
Apr 16 -  Bad Idea, John
Apr 16 -  One Hundred Fifteen (Almost) Dollar Oil
Apr 15 -  One Hundred Thirteen+ Dollar Oil
Apr 09 -  One Hundred Eleven (Almost) Dollar Oil

Mar 13 -  One Hundred Ten (Almost) Dollar Oil
Mar 11 -  One Hundred Eight (Almost) Dollar Oil
Mar 07 -  One Hundred Five Dollar Oil
Mar 07 -  One Hundred Four Dollar Oil

Feb 28 -  A Question of Law
Feb 28 -  One Hundred Two Dollar Oil
Feb 20 -  One Hundred Dollar Oil !

Jan 06 -   Notable Quotes

2007

Nov 20 -  Ninety-Eight Dollar Oil
Nov 02 -  Ninety-Six Dollar Oil

Oct 31 -  Ninety-Four+ Dollar Oil
Oct 27 -  Ninety-Two (close enough) Dollar Oil
Oct 25 -  Ninety Dollar Oil
Oct 19 -  Eighty-Nine Dollar Oil
Oct 17 -  Eighty-Seven+ Dollar Oil
Oct 15 -  Eighty-Six Dollar Oil
Oct 13 -  Eighty-Three+ Dollar Oil

Sep 20 -  Eighty-Two Dollar Oil
Sep 13 -  Eighty Dollar Oil

Aug 12 -  Turning Fifty

Jul 31 -  Seventy-Eight Dollar Oil
Jul 20 -  Barn Swallows and Natural Selection

Feb 11 -  Barack and Iraq
Feb 03 -  Bush and Bodman: Climate Cads

Jan 05 -  Dialogue With Ideologues

2006

Dec 31 -  2006 Prairie Journal Index
Dec 03 -  The Plan is Oversight

Nov 28 -  Sixty-One Dollar Oil

Sep 28 -  Logically Challenged

Aug 07 -  Sharing My World With Snakes

Jun 27 -  Carbon Con?
Jun 27 -  Closing in on 300 Million

May 20 -  America the (Over-?) Populated

Apr 28 -  Energy Insanity: Taxing "Windfall Profits" and Other Stupidity
Apr 22 -  Seventy-Five Dollar Oil
Apr 18 -  Seventy-One Dollar Oil (And a Hot April)
Apr 08 -  Fiscal Conservatives: Rejoice

Mar 23 -  Dear Senator Roberts
Mar 07 -  Making Our Own Rules

Jan 28 -  Temporal Statutory Decay
Jan 21 -  Sabotage is not Terrorism
Jan 20 -  Sixty-Eight Dollar Oil
Jan 10 -  Faith and Reason
Jan 08 -  First Causes

2005

Dec 28 -  2005 Prairie Journal Index
Dec 26 -  Bush's Brain (no, not Karl Rove)
Dec 03 -  The "Same Intelligence"

Nov 12 -  Congress Got Rolled

Oct 07 -  Frankly Wrong

Sep 26 -  A Warm September
Sep 17 -  Clarification: The Negative Press
Sep 03 -  What, Exactly, is "Homeland Security"?
Sep 02 -  Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Aug 28 -  The Iraq Dilemma
Aug 20 -  Executing Saddam
Aug 12 -  Power Plant a Dirty Neighbor
Aug 12 -  Sixty-Six Dollar Oil
Aug 12 -  Sixty-Five Dollar Oil
Aug 09 -  Sixty-Four Dollar Oil
Aug 03 -  A Divider, Not a Uniter

Jul 24 -  The Negative Press
Jul 16 -  Incredible Carnage

Jun 26 -  Notable Quotes: Bill Moyers on Journalism, Public Broadcasting, and Democracy
Jun 24 -  Sixty Dollar Oil
Jun 24 -  Musings on Iraq
Jun 17 - Trust Fund Redux: A Parable
Jun 10 -  Thank God for the Japs

May 24 -  Hatch's Hypocrisy
May 10 -  Notable Quotes, May 10, 2005
May 09 -  Stating The Obvious
May 08 -  Hoping For Higher Gas Prices
May 06 -  Notable Quotes, May 6, 2005
May 03 -  My Stupid Truck

Apr 22 -  The Abortion Problem
Apr 01 -  Hubbert's Pimple

Mar 22 -  Refuge At Risk

Feb 25 -  Silence
Feb 11 -  So you want to be a botanist?
Feb 08 -  Trusting the Fund: Can we rely on the government's Social Security nest egg?

 Copyright (C) 2005 - 2026 James Michael Brennan, All Rights Reserved