Stephen Miller said in a CNN interview this week that the President has “plenary authority” over military deployments. This comes as a surprise to no one. Mainly because the small number of people who knew what “plenary authority” means already…
Archive: Terrorism: Rights, Blame and Ethics
I still think that most of what I said here is correct, and needed to be said then. An old post of mine from Kuro5hin.Org, dated “Tue Sep 18th, 2001 at 09:28:04 PM EST”. Thousands of people died Tuesday when…
Bad Policing: Even “Qualified Immunity” Can’t Defend This One
Fine, let’s talk about that CBP raid in Chicago. TLDR: it was bad; very, very bad. Set aside for the moment the whole military cosplay aspect of it. That was ludicrous enough, but it’s not really the main point here;…
Police Action: That’s Not The Military’s Job
The U.S. has a long history of … misusing its military, but since 2001 this habit of using its military for things that it really shouldn’t get involved in has greatly accelerated. Things that are not the military’s job. The…
Failed Constitution Check: The Professoriat Weighs In
I think that I first used the word “coup” here to describe our current situation on January 31st of 2025, when the DOGE-lings deployed illegally across the federal bureaucracy to start the wrecking, but I first said that the Constitution…
Oh, Democrats: You’re Doing The Right Thing For The Wrong Reasons
There are lots of very good reasons to shut down the current U.S. government. I’ve mentioned many of them here. And preserving the health insurance subsidy for the 20 million people who depend on it and will lose it if…
You Should Read This: The Case Against Generative AI
Ed Zitron has featured here several times before, for his analysis of the business side of the generative AI bubble. Because he’s good at this. And now he’s done a massive post pulling together everything he’s been saying about this…
For Congressional Democrats: The Secret To Riding A Tiger
Congratulations to the Congressional Democrats; you’ve taken the first step in your journey to becoming a viable opposition party. Well done, you. I’ve mentioned riding a tiger here before, in the context of managing the COVID pandemic. I said there:…
No Votes For Treason: Once More, For Anyone Who Wasn’t Listening
So far, the national Democrats have yet to actually meet the Trump moment with the appropriate level of seriousness or urgency. They keep voting for his appointments and funding, for example. And they really, really shouldn’t have done that. At…
Garbage In/Garbage Out: Why Trump Thinks Portland Is A “Warzone”
I watched “Dune” again this weekend, so I already have the perfect quote ready to hand for describing this bit of news: “He who controls the spice controls the universe”. Or, to reword that slightly: “He who controls the television controls the country”. And in this case, that “He” would be Lachlan…