Jess Lahitou

Last night, Fox News hosted the final Republican debate before Iowa caucus goers cast their votes on Monday. Donald Trump, refusing to participate if Megyn Kelly was debate moderator, skipped the event. He instead held his own rally across town, scheduling his speech to coincide with the start of the Fox debate.

Everyone but Michael Moore underestimated the level of economic angst and cultural upheaval occurring in the Rust Belt, that collection of states forming a sloped capital “E” along the Great Lakes: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

That Christmas Eve in Vegas changed me for life. I’ve tried to remember not to deny myself the things I love about the holiday.

All this means that, for the first time since 1992, a third-party candidate has a very strong chance of impacting election results. And if something truly wild were to happen (say, no candidate broke the 270-electoral vote mark needed to win the presidency), then there’s an outside chance that a third-party could actually win the White House.

On Thursday night, 17 Republicans sparred in two debates for a record-breaking audience of 24 million, and 15 months before voting day.

The Republican National Convention ended July 21. If you’re checking the calendar, that puts us at twelve days post-nomination wrap up for Donald J. Trump.

In that tiny window of time, DJT has managed to wreck any conceivable polls-bounce he might have gained from the star-spangled show of pretend Republican unity.

Tim Kaine and Mike Pence both showed themselves superior to their presidential ticket counterparts. Ouch.

As Tom Nichols puts it, ignorance has now become a "virtue." And it takes a whole lot of it to claim you can learn 'everything' about a complex subject - like, say, nuclear weapons - in roughly 90 minutes.

The most recent issue of Time features a cover with twenty-one shadowed question marks scattered under the headline: “Is Monogamy Over?”

On Oct.