The “Baseline” Problem
Or... Context Is Everything As Trump (via executive order) and Congress (via the Congressional Review Act) take tiny nibbles out of the vast Gordian knot that is our regulatory state, the usual suspects do what they usually do: caterwaul, bewail and gnash teeth over...
When The State Fails its People
Early last year, HBO offered up a new, expanded version of The Godfather I & II. Building on the idea behind the 1977 Godfather Saga, which presented the original two films in chronological order with some deleted scenes added back, the Godfather Epic runs a bit...
Quick Conclusions and Slow Stories
A month ago, President Trump tweeted "Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory." And, in doing so, prompted yet another firestorm in the media, with seemingly endless coverage by CNN and MSNBC. When Trump didn't...
The Fear of Saying No
Politics, it seems, is endless disappointment. Just as Lucy promises time and time again not to snatch the football away, only to send Charlie Brown tumbling every single time, politicians promise time and time again to honor their campaign pledges, only to drive...
Warming Up To Lukewarmism
President Trump's proposed budget includes, among its many cutbacks, substantial cuts to the EPA's budget and plans to zero out global warming research. Naturally, leftists are agog, agape, and apoplectic. Dogmatic faith in the catastrophic version of anthropogenic...
What Are *YOU* Willing To Pay For Free Health Care?
Last week, the GOP, realizing it didn't have enough votes locked up, chose not to bring its health care bill (The American Health Care Act, or AHCA) up for a vote in the House. Facing monolithic opposition from the Democrats, the bill needed most of the House...
Gun Rights Lesson #419 – High Capacity Magazines
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a series of articles on gun rights. Each addresses a common anti-gun trope. "The only reason to own a high capacity magazine is to kill lots of people very quickly!" Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are the two favorite...
Facts and Opinions
Despite the epic wipeout of the Democratic Party these past six years, despite the repudiation of progressivism that it represents, and despite the election of the Untethered Orange Id to the Presidency, the Left's self-certainty remains unshaken and its crusading...
Gun Rights Lesson #404 – The Militia
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a series of articles on gun rights. Each addresses a common anti-gun trope. "The Second Amendment only protects militias! Today we have the National Guard - only they should have guns!" This argument is an example of filtering what...
Trumpkins and Trumpism
Donald Trump's tweeting ways continue unabated, with some such commentary offered during James Comey's address regarding hacking to a House panel. Trump's behavior is by now so commonplace that we are no longer surprised or outraged by this "conduct unbecoming a...
Review – Marvel’s Iron Fist on Netflix
As a casual but long-time Marvel fan, as a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and having thoroughly enjoyed Netflix' three previous MCU offerings (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage), I was rather eager to watch "Iron Fist," the latest Netflix MCU series. It...
Bootstrapping Authority
Socialized medicine advocates argue their case from angles both moral and practical. Their moral case, that civilized societies take care of their weak and needy, suffers from two major flaws: it conflates "society," i.e. you and me and that which we do voluntarily,...
Gun Rights Lesson #282 – No Buy Lists
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a series of articles on gun rights. Each addresses a common anti-gun trope. "If you are on a no-fly list, you should be on the no-buy list!" Two of the many lists the federal government maintains are the No-Fly List, curated by the...
Government and Subversion From Within
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article continues the discussion of government and human nature, found here and here. Politics is, by definition, the relationship between people and governments, and most political conversations and debates are, at their core, about how much...
Socialism And Hive Minds
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article continues yesterday's discussion of the irreconcilable disconnect between collectivist politics and human nature. Science fiction, the field of literature and entertainment that is freest to explore ideas that stand apart from human nature,...
Societal Evolution and Human Behavior
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside...
Gun Rights Lesson #918 – Semi-Automatic Weapons
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a series of articles on gun rights. Each addresses a common anti-gun trope. "You don't need a semi-automatic rifle for hunting!" This argument, which is intended to impose further limits on the types of firearms civilians are permitted to...
Dear Democrats, Have You Thought This Through?
The latest tempest in a [container size to be determined] to splat on the front pages of the media is the firestorm over President Trump's assertions that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the election last year. The Left and the mainstream press...
Health-Care Economics for Libertarians
EDITOR'S NOTE: We have our quibbles with a couple of the author's points, but we all benefit from the robust exchanges that such quibbles prompt. The appearance of a serious Obamacare repeal/replace bill, and the ensuing discussions, have once again led me to ponder...
Functionality And The Law
The law has to live in functionality for it to live in flesh and blood. History knows that most ideas of governance and law are simply not livable. Consider the Constitution of the Soviet Union. Most modern Americans would call it enlightened. What happened? There...
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