Having Freedom of Conscience means the State cannot outlaw Hate Crimes, because it cannot make law based on motivations. Otherwise, the State gets into the business of determining what motivations are acceptible. And frankly no State can be trusted with…
Sovereign Immunity: Bad Thinking Leads To Bad Law
We’re starting to see a rise in use of the phrase “sovereign immunity” over the past few days, since Attorney General Barr decided to try to use it to make a defamation case against Trump go away. Really; that’s not…
Executive Oversight: Gonna Keep Bangin’ That Drum
I’ve been on about this since one of the first posts on this blog (Failed Constitution Check: Executive Oversight): The United States has no effective oversight of the Executive branch. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Witness the ongoing festival of Hatch…
Re-opening Your Business: There’s An App For That
So, my local county has decided to require a cell phone app for employees of “non-essential” businesses. Ugh. Just, ugh. First, this is exactly what I was saying is the wrong approach a few weeks ago in Don’t Get Comfortable:…
Disease Management: It Shouldn’t Matter What Your Business Is
When States issued their stay-at-home orders, and now that they’re starting to lift them, they’re messing things up rather badly by talking about categories of businesses that are allowed to operate and others that must stay closed. This is really,…
Big Data: Meet Big Government
So, you think we can go back to gathering in crowds again, huh? Yeah, but no. First, most of the country very much does not have this pandemic under enough control to do that. But even if we did, our…
Just Go Home: What To Do When The Autocrat Is Correct
We’re gonna keep doing this, huh? Once more, in list-format this time, for the young ‘uns out there … no, they do not have the legitimate authority to order you to stay home yes: they do have the power to…
Again: Not Wrong, Still Stupid
Apparently, we’re gonna deal with this again now. What the hell; it’s been two weeks. Two weeks ago, I posted Still Idiots: Not Totally Wrong. It’s mostly about how, while I do agree with these crackpots that no reasonable reading…
Don’t Get Comfortable: Privacy, Movement And Isolation
So, as the new West Coast Pact starts talking about how to get everything moving again we need to talk about control; control of the virus and control of the government. ‘Cause this isn’t over yet. The virus is still…
Standing: An Excuse To Sit It Out
“Standing” is a legal concept that lets a court decide who should and should not be allowed to bring a case. It’s gotten pretty bad. The fundamental idea is OK: you have to have some kind of rule to say…