Expaticats

[note: update at the end of this post] People love the story of a hero fighting against a big enemy, sticking it to the man. People are also familiar with the inverse story: a Bond movie villain, who eventually gets what he deserves. Both of these templates seem are being applied to Wikileaks’ main man: [...]

“Doesn’t anybody think this is going too far?” That’s what I regularly thought when I read the reports from the Netherlands, in which Geert Wilders once again showed his hatred of Muslims. There were some people speaking out against it, but few of them said that a politician with a sizable following, meaning responsibility, should [...]

I never quite understood the phenomenon of pundits. Pundits are people with opinions, and they like to give them. So far, so good. I mean, look at me. I like my own opinion so much that I have my own blog. The part where things go wrong is that they appear in big media outlets [...]

But if the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases what so ever over the District of Columbia; if the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; if the power to regulate commerce with [...]

It isn’t hard to be a populist. If you play the role convincingly, you can go far. There are a few things you need to be able to do. First of all, you need to say that you speak “the language of the people”. Nobody knows exactly what that is. That doesn’t matter. You know [...]

In daily life, I am sometimes reminded of the subtle and not so subtle differences between the United States and the Netherlands. And sometimes I don’t notice anymore. One difference that is impossible to overlook is healthcare. Some differences are small. For example, in the Netherlands it is common to greet people when you come [...]

Well, I’m about to start posting. The 100th million person with a blog. Before I do, I have just one request: if I start taking myself too seriously, let me know. Or stop reading. Although you would have had to actually start reading before you can stop. === Ok, ik begin bijna met stukjes plaatsen. [...]