“Killed By A Big Beautiful Bill”. What a stupid line to have to to put on a country’s tombstone. Many, many commentators from the reality-based community have pointed out the many, many terrible things this legislation will do if it…
The Old Dog Needs Some New Tricks: Learning From The Laboratories Of Democracy
Every democracy that changes its rules is an experiment; each democracy that differs from the others is an experiment. All democracies are the laboratories of democracy. And the United States has failed to learn from them. Mostly, that’s just age:…
Mission Creeps: The California National Guard Is Working For The DEA Now
So, apparently the regime has found another use for a federalized California National Guard, other than jackbooting around Los Angeles with their rifles hanging out. So, now they’re off to Coachella. Valley, that is. Working for the DEA. Who, as…
Authoritarians United: The Military Is Socialized To Obey
Back in March, when the serious coup-ing kicked off, I wrote two of these short posts to point out that the police and the courts were unreliable opponents of a coup: Those have both gone pretty much as expected. Now,…
Dropping The Ball: The Mighty 9th Circuit Has Struck Out
The panel of the 9th Circuit that’s dealing with the illegal takeover of the California National Guard whiffed it yesterday. In two very significant ways. First, and probably most significantly, they held that Trump is “likely to prevail” on the…
Consistency In Law: Tattoos, Cosmetic Surgery, Circumcision and Puberty Blockers
Let’s leave aside all the arguments about any of these as medical treatments, since that’s actually not necessary to make the point here. What matters here is personal choice, consent and consistency. So let’s look at these four issues. Are…
Emergency Powers: Not Just For Emergencies Anymore?
The United States has a proud history of limiting the government’s powers. This is a good thing. And necessary, really, if you want your State to be a democracy. After all, a State with no effective limits on legislative or…
For Reals: The U.S. Should Have A Shadow Cabinet
How to properly oversee the executive branch has been something of an … obsession … here since the beginning of the blog. And I think the calls for the Democrats to form an unofficial “shadow cabinet” can contribute to that.…
This Is America: We Don’t Do Kings
There really aren’t a lot of things you can get 5 million people to agree on in the United States these days. Not even what to watch on TV. 5 million would be a pretty good viewership for a popular…
No More Kings: Not Here, Not Ever
I pointed this out back in February: This is America; we don’t do royalty. It’s really very basic civics. You literally cannot get more un-American than caring about the King or Queen of England. But trying to be a King…