Author Archives: mkevane

I agree with Tyler Cowen that this summary is extremely helpful.  Unfortunately the media is not going to let this story go unless something more serious happens (like a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran? No this story would probably … Continue reading →

The trouble with fans and reviews like this one is that they are dreadfully wrong about one important point.  It is a movie for 12 year old children.  Land Before Time also created a “mythology”… Doc? The Mysterious Beyond? But … Continue reading →

Returning to Mali, how are policymakers supposed to act on Elischer’s analysis? The “international community” is supposed to “note” the “destabilizing” influence of Dicko and other Salafis in southern Mali. Then what? Demand that Malian politicians repudiate Dicko? Seek to … Continue reading →

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma is a harrowing novel set in the 1990s.  A middle-class professional family in the town of Akure unravels, with brother killing brother.  The novel works as a metaphor for Nigeria, as a classic-style tragedy, and … Continue reading →

Pope Francis didn’t win many friends among mainstream climate economists when his recent environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ condemned the notion of buying and selling carbon credits, suggesting that it could “lead to a new form of speculation which would not … Continue reading →

Puerto Rico met its deadline for repaying $354 million in debt, the island’s development bank announced Tuesday, avoiding what some feared would be its first major default. But it was unclear how long the payments would continue or whether the … Continue reading →

I love it when pundits write opinion pieces purporting to “explain” what something means, when they often have little or no idea, or they just copy what everyone else says.  So in that spirit, I offer three “anti- it means … Continue reading →

I had asked Salimata to use the library’s smartphone to post some casual shots of the “library in action” to Facebook.  I thought I would repost a couple.  I like the top photo of the group reading session.  Isn’t this … Continue reading →

Somehow I came across Percival Everett’s name, not sure exactly where.  I checked out Percival Everett by Virgil Russell from the library.  It is a very meta novel, a novel for people who really like to analyze novels… reading it … Continue reading →

A nice article in Oak North by Waringa Kamau and Kyle Ludowitz.  The main interviewee, Saré Bawaya Elisée, was FAVL’s national representative for a couple years.  And is a good friend!

Public procurement was always the place where everyone supposed the Compaoré clan was enriching itself. Now there is finally a case that might open the door to some jail time and real punishment. As far as I am aware, none … Continue reading →

When I was 16, I listened to Street Hassle obsessively.  On headphones of course because certain lines would have been very embarrassing if my siblings had heard them.  I was transported from my humdrum life as a sheltered upper class … Continue reading →

Way overdue.  Will eliminate possibility of changing two-term limit, and will eliminate clauses referring to Senate, which was never implemented, and that was clearly intended to be a mechnism for entrenching ex-regime loyalists and ex-regime legal political power. Conseil national … Continue reading →

I was listening to my local college radio station today and they played on their blues show “Feast of the Mau Mau” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. I suppose playing it now was intended, given Screamin’ Jay Hawkins career, as a … Continue reading →