I haven’t made any secret of the fact that I live in California, so it shouldn’t be surprising that drought is on my mind a lot lately. California is very, very dry. This is normal-ish: the parts of California that…
Just Stop It: This “Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated” Stuff Is Nonsense
This has been bugging me for a few weeks: Stop calling it a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”; that’s just not true. And it’s not helpful. It’s very much still a pandemic of everyone. First, it’s still a pandemic: That’s the…
Background: Privilege Discourse Is Incoherent
“Privilege” could be a useful concept, but with the way it’s used in modern discourse it’s just not. At its base, “privilege” is a really simple concept. It just means “stuff that one group has which another group doesn’t”. Simple.…
Background: “Systemic Racism” Is A Distraction
This post follows Background: You Are Responsible For Your Own Actions. They’re part of a series trying to set down some background philosophical stances that come into play when I think about America’s culture war issues. First let’s define a…
Background: You Are Responsible For Your Own Actions
I want to write about a few things like the slavery reparations movement, “critical race theory”, and USDA grants being prioritized for racial minority farmers all of which I think are wrong, but it can get complicated and there are…
Political Party Time: Ezra Klein Is Wrong About A Thing
It’s not really surprising that I’d think that, mind; I see Klein as kind of a squishy centrist’s idea of what a liberal firebrand looks like so I often think he’s wrong about things. This time he’s wrong about something…
No One Thinks You’re Objective: Just Answer The Damn Questions
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…
Hate: Not Good, Not Fun, But Legal
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…
You Should Read This: Authoritarian Nightmare
Back in February I posted You Need To Read This: The Authoritarians, where I suggested that book as absolutely necessary to understanding politics in the U.S. today. Today, I think you should read Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. This…
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…