In These Times is doing a feature issue on “The Right-Wing”, and the essay about former leftists moving rightward (Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right) is getting a lot of traction. Fair enough; it’s quite good and you…
Freedom & Consent: There Are No Legitimate States
Countries like to claim that they are constituted “with the consent of” their populations. This is generally nonsense. While many countries today have constitutions that were adopted by referendum within living memory, few of them were adopted recently enough that…
America Is Not Palestine: Josh Barro Is Wrong About A Thing
I don’t think I’ve heard of Josh Barro before, though I probably have. But he made it into Wonkette’s tabs post this morning, so here we are. His post-to-which-they-linked is not entirely wrong, as most things aren’t, but it does…
That’s Entertainment: Things To Do At Home When You’re On Strike
WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike together now, which cuts off two of the most important parts of the entertainment industry’s supply chain. When a big strike happened 20-some years ago we ended up with reality TV. So, that’s not…
You Should Read This: Your Stuff Is Actually Worse Now
From a few months ago by Vox’ Izzie Ramirez, you should read Your stuff is actually worse now. If you’ve been wondering why the same make/model of thing you’ve been buying for years keeps not being quite the same each…
That’s Me In The Corner: Privileging My Religion
Well, not me; I don’t have a religion. But a lot of people do. And a lot of them think that means they should get special consideration from the law. They shouldn’t. Today’s example: California bill would allow Sikh motorcyclists…
Artificial Stupidity: Bruce Schneier Is Wrong About A Thing
Now, I have been a big fan of Bruce Schneier’s work in cryptography for decades, so it pains me to say this but he’s wrong about the state of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Very, very wrong. In a recent blog post…
Be Sensible: It’s Not Self-Defence If You Started It
I have talked about self-defense before (They’re Comin’ Right For Us: Fixing Self-Defense); in that one, I argued that you should have to be correct about being threatened. It’s not enough to “feel” threatened. Your feelings are not more important…
Legal Zombies: Laws Should Not Come Back From The Dead
When the courts declare a law to be unconstitutional, it should actually be removed from the books. It shouldn’t just be ignored. If I understand correctly, the actual term is “unenforceable”, but it’s the same thing. The courts will ignore…
Expansive Freedom: The 1st Amendment Is Too Limited
The United States has stronger restrictions on State interference in personal speech than any other country, so in that sense the 1st Amendment is doing pretty well; it’s doing a good-but-not-great job preventing press interference and an OK-but-not-good job protecting…