Donald Trump has … a thing … about nuclear war; it’s clear that the Cold War left a lasting impression on his psyche. And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war! – Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor…
Actually Obscene: The State Should Not Be Legislating Obscenity
The State should not be regulating obscenity. In general, the State should not be regulating speech. That is, after all, one of the main points of the 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech…
Spreading It Around: One Person, One Job
I discussed this problem before during what was at the time the worst and most corrupt Presidency in this country’s long and distinguished history of terrible Presidencies. But of course it’s back again. There was a whole presidential term in…
Mind The Gap: The Are No Actual Guardrails
The U.S. government was created by a bunch of comfortably-well-off dudes who never really thought it’d be controlled by people who seriously disagreed with them. That’s why it has no real blocks to serious abuses of power. Sure, they figured…
Identity Politics: They’re All Doing It
There’s been a lot of whinging about “identity politics” lately. From both major parties. The Democrats complain about how white, male, rural, evangelical christian the rhetoric of the Republicans is. Which is true, they do do that. And the Republicans…
Getting REAL: I Don’t Care About Showing ID To Vote
Honestly, I’m kinda in favor of the U.S. having a national ID card and of requiring it to vote and whatever else. Heck, even Costco has a membership card. There’s a better argument for requiring an ID to vote than…
Dueling Sovereigns: The Feds Are Arresting State Judges
Well, this wasn’t what I’d intended to write about today. Oh, well. You go to blog with the jackbooted fascist thuggery you have, not the reasoned discussion of political philosophy you want to have. You should read that linked article,…
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…
Ukraine & Friends: We Have Some Issues Of Our Own To Work Through Right Now
It must be really frustrating to see the U.S. switching sides in the middle of a war for your country’s survival. I realize this doesn’t help, but it’s frustrating for us too. The best y’all can do now is to…
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…