What a wonderful birthday celebration it has been! Although I prefer to celebrate all month, things crescendo’ed last week. On birthday eve, a couple of guys came over to try out some new beers. Instead of beating our chests and male bonding, though, we found ourselves talking politics, economics, science, and entrepreneurship until we realizedContinue reading “Full of Birthday Love”
Author Archives: Bryan Guido Hassin
Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander FreedMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I read this hoping for something that would fill in the gaps and plot holes of the movie (as the novelization of The Force Awakens did) but I was unfortunately disappointed. This book doesn’t fill in any gaps or explain awayContinue reading “Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
Travel Recommendations for Toscana
A friend recently let me know that she would be traveling to Tuscany and was seeking recommendations both for tourist travel and wine travel. Having lived in Florence and spent much more time since then traveling around bella Toscana, I compiled the following recommendations for her: Firenze There are a million more things to doContinue reading “Travel Recommendations for Toscana”
Harry Potter Dinner
Last Friday we hosted a Harry Potter dinner at our house for a small group of friends. It was a blast! DECORATIONSTo create a Hogwarts-like ambiance, we made a few changes to our dining room: FOOD AND DRINKWithout house elves to help, I think we still did a pretty admirable job of preparing a Hogwarts-caliberContinue reading “Harry Potter Dinner”
Processing the Election
It’s been three weeks since the US presidential election and I’m still processing what happened. It should be no secret that I am disappointed in the election result, but what is important now is to understand what happened (and why) and make some sense of it to inform the way forward. OUTCOME I didn’t supportContinue reading “Processing the Election”
Rogue One Review
Last night Katie and I attended the opening night of Rogue One and, long story short, I liked (didn’t love) it. It started off pretty weak – I was actually fighting to stay awake for the first act of the movie – but finished really strong. Overall I would give it three stars out ofContinue reading “Rogue One Review”
Has Obama Changed the Economy for the Worse? Conclusion
Over the past three weeks I have evaluated nine specific claims made by an article purporting to show that “Obama has changed the face of our economy for the worse.” The article was presented to me as definitive proof that Obama has been “a train wreck” as President of the United States. Of the claimsContinue reading “Has Obama Changed the Economy for the Worse? Conclusion”
Is Trust in Obama’s Leadership at Historically Low Levels?
As part of my series analyzing the article suggesting that Obama has changed the economy for the worse, let’s now move on to the ninth and final claim: that trust in Obama’s leadership and administration remains at historically low levels. Cutting right to the chase, I can’t find any support for this claim. I supposeContinue reading “Is Trust in Obama’s Leadership at Historically Low Levels?”
Was America’s Credit Rating Downgraded for the First Time Ever Under Obama’s Watch?
As part of my series analyzing the article suggesting that Obama has changed the economy for the worse, let’s now move on to the eighth claim: that America’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time ever under Obama’s watch. Yes, America’s credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA+ by S&P in 2011, soContinue reading “Was America’s Credit Rating Downgraded for the First Time Ever Under Obama’s Watch?”
Was There a Record Number of Home Foreclosures Under Obama’s Presidency?
As part of my series analyzing the article suggesting that Obama has changed the economy for the worse, let’s now move on to the seventh claim: that there was a record number of home foreclosures during Obama’s presidency. This one is pretty easy to research. According to these data from RealtyTrac and the Federal Reserve,Continue reading “Was There a Record Number of Home Foreclosures Under Obama’s Presidency?”