No one is a completely objective conduit of a judicial philosophy and the law. Not least because judicial philosophies are subjective positions. Declaring a judicial philosophy, “originalism” for example, is declaring a subjective position. And there’s no value to espousing…
Weird Times: The Rise Of Ad-Hoc Federalism
Well, that was not what I expected to happen yesterday. It seems that there are some new Interstate Compacts forming. With the dystopian-fiction names of “The West Coast Pact” and the “6-States Council”, though that second one keeps getting updated;…
More Stupid Secrets: Why Were These Briefings Classified?
There’s something missing from this Washington Post story titled “US intelligence officials early warnings to Trump about coronavirus went unheeded“. Go ahead; give it a read. I’ll wait. Did you catch it? They do a decent job describing a series…
They Never Learn: The Democrats Are Missing The Point Again
I will vote for Democrats, but I won’t support them. And I’ll never “unite behind” whoever wins their primary. But this is a lesson the Democrats steadfastly refuse to learn: just because I’ll vote for you, that doesn’t mean I…
Sides: Always There Are Two (At Least)
I like Wonkette; they’re scrupulously accurate political news, with a lefty rhetorical bias but without scrimping on the dick jokes. What’s not to like? Well. Something that creeps into their reporting occasionally (and is much more common in less scrupulous…
Unity: The Spirit Of Fascism
America has a startlingly strong fascist streak. You can see it in all the talk of politicians being a “uniter”. That’s not actually a good thing. “Unity” is not a virtue of itself. I mean, sure, it’s fine if you…
Wasted Votes: Everyone Needs To Vote At The Same Time
So, several Democratic primary candidates dropped out before Super Tuesday. That’s normal. Yeah, but it’s not good for anyone who voted for them in the earlier states or who used eary voting or vote-by-mail to vote for them in a…
No Party This Year: The Republicans Cancelled Their Primary Election
I really don’t understand anyone who plans to vote Republican in the general election this year. Not that I particularly understand them in any year. Even a brief perusal of this blog should make it pretty obvious that I am…
Hugo Voting: For Once We Should Pay Attention To An Industry Award
The Hugo Awards are a fan-voted series of awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy writers and fans. They use ranked-choice voting. (Which I discussed in No Spoilers: Ranked Choice Voting, and which I’ll be abbreviating below to “RCV” when I…
Third Party Time: Two, Three, Or Many Political Parties
One of the essential problems with the way the United States does elections is that it inevitably results in just two political parties. Inevitably. Electoral systems that use single-choice ballots, where the voter marks a single choice from the field…