I realize there’s an ongoing … issue … that may be more interesting, but I don’t have any new thoughts on that problem that I want to write today and this topic has been bothering me for a while. We…
America Is Not Palestine: Josh Barro Is Wrong About A Thing
I don’t think I’ve heard of Josh Barro before, though I probably have. But he made it into Wonkette’s tabs post this morning, so here we are. His post-to-which-they-linked is not entirely wrong, as most things aren’t, but it does…
That’s Entertainment: Things To Do At Home When You’re On Strike
WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike together now, which cuts off two of the most important parts of the entertainment industry’s supply chain. When a big strike happened 20-some years ago we ended up with reality TV. So, that’s not…
Artificial Stupidity: Bruce Schneier Is Wrong About A Thing
Now, I have been a big fan of Bruce Schneier’s work in cryptography for decades, so it pains me to say this but he’s wrong about the state of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Very, very wrong. In a recent blog post…
Expansive Freedom: The 1st Amendment Is Too Limited
The United States has stronger restrictions on State interference in personal speech than any other country, so in that sense the 1st Amendment is doing pretty well; it’s doing a good-but-not-great job preventing press interference and an OK-but-not-good job protecting…
Let’s Be Clear: Both Sides Of The Civil War Were Wrong
Contrary to popular belief, neither side of the U.S. Civil War was really into “freedom”. They were both fighting for the power to control other people. This tends to get skipped over in modern discussions, since the current culture war…
Identity: Telling Yourself Who You Are
Where do you get the things that make up your own idea of who you are? And do you control what those things mean? Are you a Christian? Muslim? Scientologist? Do you support the Cowboys? The Broncos? The Raiders? Are…
You Should Read This: In Defense Of Free Speech Pedantry
You should read this small diatribe from Ken White (aka PopeHat): In Defense Of Free Speech Pedantry. Yeah, it’s Substack, but the Internet’s in turmoil right now and sometimes even smart people make bad hosting decisions. The important part is…
Free Association: The Freedom To Discriminate
I posted a while ago about non-discrimination laws being incompatible with freedom of conscience. Today let’s look at how they’re incompatible with freedom of association. Though, frankly, this should be obvious. Freedom of association requires that the State not be…
Followers: The Problem With “Leadership”
Business leaders, political leaders, thought leaders; “leadership” is an aspirational word in these United States. It shouldn’t be. Sure, many of the qualities people mean by it can be good: decisiveness, confidence, charisma. These are fine things in someone trustworthy…