It’s time to stop pretending that churches are special. They are, in essence, social clubs for people who share some common belief. Like the Elks or the Masons, but with a side of actually believing that the rituals do stuff…
You Should Read This: The Era Of The Business Idiot
Ed Zitron has been on something of a tear lately. And I am here for it. I don’t agree with everything he says. This is mostly because I think he’s too generous in saying that LLMs surely have some practical…
Trumpian Follies: Continent-sized Missile Defense Is Fools Gold
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…
“History And Tradition”: If We’re Changing Legal Interpretation, Let’s Not Make It Worse
Let’s take a moment to look at the Supreme Court’s new-ish standard for deciding whether the State is allowed to do a new thing: does the State have a “history and tradition” of doing that thing? In other words, the…
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…
Surreality TV: The United States Hits Another New Low
This should come as no surprise for an administration soaked in the inky residue of “reality” TV gameshows. And yet, somehow, I can still be surprised. Apparently Kristi Noem and DHS think that it’s somehow a good idea to give…
Fine: Let’s Talk About The Stupid Airplane
So, apparently Quatar wants to give an all-luxed-up Boing 747 to Trump. Just, ya know, because they’re known for their generosity. Ha. On it’s face, such a gift would be spectacularly illegal. As-in, specifically-forbidden-in-the-Constitution levels of illegal. No Title of…
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…
GenAI Hate: Yes, It’s Luddism But Not How You Think (And Not Just That)
Boosters of the generative AI slop that’s taking over everywhere these days like to call everyone who objects “Luddites”. Which is actually true, but not how they think. The popular conception of the Luddites is that they simply objected to…