Sheriff Barr is gettin’ a mite bit envious of them Banana Republics down South o’ th’ Border. They asked Congress to authorize indefinite pre-trial detention. You can see Mother Jones’ coverage at Trump’s Justice Department Proposes Indefinite Detention in Emergencies—Like…
Legislating Values: Culture Warriors In The Toy Aisle
This is the sort of thing that gives liberals a bad name. And Californians. So there’s a bill up in the California Assembly (Bill 2826) that would legislate (with fines, even) how stores could set up their toy aisles. Now,…
Low Standards: A Vote Delayed Is A Vote Denied
Social media lit up after Super Tuesday with photos of and interviews with folks who stood in line for hours to vote. So much for being a “modern” democracy. This really is insane: you should not have to wait in…
Executive Branch Jobs: One Is More Than Enough
One person really shouldn’t be able to have more than one Executive branch job. For one thing, how could you manage? There’s no way Mulvaney (or Grinell or any of the others) is actually doing a good job in all…
Real Accountablility: Elect Tha Police
That pic up there is what came up image searching for “police site:gov”. Yeah, that’s not good. But it’s a pretty accurate depiction of how the police (and government) in the United States seems to think of themselves. OK, so…
They’re Comin’ Right For Us: Fixing Self-Defense
Self Defense and Stand Your Ground laws are almost fine: the concept is legit, but the implementation leaves them open to some serious abuse. Even South Park noticed this years ago. To get straight to the point: Most Self Defense…
Pollution: You’re Soaking In It
Humans have a nasty habit of really messing up wherever they live. Especially businesses, and especially unregulated businesses. Economics has this concept they call externalities. These are the effects of a process that don’t have to be paid for by…
DOJ Ball: This Has Already Gone Too Far
The Department of Justice has gone more than a bit freaky lately; see Wonkette’s PULL THE F*CKING FIRE ALARM and Bill Barr Breaks The Justice Department for some frankly revolting details. Regulatory Capture. That’s the concept in government that describes…
SPQA: Senatus Populusque Americanus
This is a followup to Let’s Do This: For Once Something Is Actually About States’ Rights. Either abolish the Senate or change the Constitution to make us a real federation. Let’s get really non-controversial: the only reason the Senate exists…
Let’s Do This: For Once Something Is Actually About States’ Rights
We have a history here in the United States of claiming that some … things … were about the rights of the states against the federal government when really they were about … something else. Yeah; that. This is not…