If lying to a cop is illegal, lying as a cop should be too. That seems only fair? But more importantly than fair, it’s rational. Because we should hold anyone who wields a State power to higher standards than we…
Framing Religion: Freedom vs. Exemptions
I said yesterday that Jonathan Larsen, of “The Fucking News”, is a better writer than I am. And this is true. He can usually get at the core of an issue more elegantly than I ever could, and structure his…
The Partial Veto: Wisconsin Hits The Bottom Of A Slippery Slope
The partial, or line-item, veto idea was one of those inexplicably popular fads that you see everywhere for a while then never hear about again till the nostalgia sets in and it gets another day in the sun. It’s come…
Oopsie … Too Late: Justice Delayed Is Just Delaying The Inevitable
We live in an age where we can gather a group of people from around the world on a minute’s notice and hold a conversation among them in real-time over vast distances. Where any piece of information can be found…
Overdue Process: A Return To The Presumption Of Innocence
Something important is being talked around in the discourse around Trump shipping people off to El Salvador. These people are only accused, not convicted. And in the U.S. legal system, the State isn’t empowered to do anything to you until…
High Crimes And Misdemeanors: Everything He Does Is Illegal, So Is He Really President?
At what point, as you shut down all the legally-mandated parts of a State and replace them with illegal actions, does that State cease to be and a new one has arisen? It’s a political science version of the Ship…
No Appeal: When The Supreme Court Goes Bad
“The peace, the prosperity, and the very existence of the Union are vested in the hands of the justices of the Supreme Court.” -Alexis de Tocqueville Which was probably a mistake, but an understandable one. When the Constitution was written,…
Free Your Mind: ICE Claims To Be The Brain Police
The State should be an expression of the will of the people, never a source of it. To put that in words that have caused a recent kerfuffle in Congress: The government should have no role at all in the…
No Confidence: The Vote Of Last Resort
Confidence can be useful, but “no confidence” is necessary. When it comes to voting, that is. In the U.S., voters are only given the option of choosing yes or no on some question or choosing one option from a list.…
Weak Sauce: Due Process Is No Guarantee
So, the administration and Supreme Court seem to be of the opinion that it’s OK for the State to grab [people] off the street and [do stuff] to them without a court being involved. Or even being able to intervene.…