Drat! I told Jim I’d include his latest in yesterday’s links post. Then I forgot. So here you go. A question follows. President Obama recently suggested that mandatory voting could cure some of the ills of American democracy. Mr. Obama observed that compelling everyone to vote is one way to “encourage more participation” — perhaps the same way that the specter of prison sentences encourages more people to pay taxes. While there are many good reasons to oppose mandatory voting, compulsory balloting could help Americans recognize what their political system has become. Mr. Obama declared that “the people who tend…
17 CommentsMonth: April 2015
Sarah Brady.
27 CommentsThe other day I posted at TZP about the dangers of mainstreaming bigotry and the folly of modern leftists thinking that their bigotry is somehow superior to the bigotry of others. I was stunned when about half the reader response implied that I was opposing freedom of association. Thanks to a comment by PB, I went back and realized I’d written this phrase in the final paragraph of the article: “discrimination is wrong.” That’s simply a dumb statement. Discrimination is not wrong, certainly not categorically wrong. It’s obviously something people do every day and something a free society would just…
23 CommentsIlana Mercer on freedom of association. And dialoging with a Neo-Nazi. Related: Kevin D. Williamson on the war on the private mind. Back in the day, science fiction was a realm where freedom of ideas prevailed. Prevailed by definition, I assumed, because how can you speculate about alternate futures and realities without the freedom to think unbound thoughts? I’m still having trouble understanding how political correctness has consumed SF. Self control in a world that promotes self indulgence. This is about primal eating, but has implications way beyond that. (H/T PT) Chris Christie has pardoned Shaneen Allen. (Updated to direct…
9 CommentsIt’s a fascinating and amazing thing that the last two elections have given the U.S. (among other less desirable things) a strip of cannabis legalization that runs from southern Oregon alllllll the way out to the tip of the Aleutian islands, within spitting distance of Russia.
I can’t imagine there are going to be too many “Mr. Doobees” stores out there on the islands. But in a vast stretch where once ruled the hysteria of Harry J. Anslinger, a new legal business is taking shape. Now all we need is for British Columbia to join us and the north coast weed freedomization will be complete. (And yes, yes, yes, I know that state-controlled legalization isn’t Libertopia; can we just stipulate that and not quibble?)
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that legal pot is affecting rural areas even more than urban ones. Makes sense, of course. Ag product. Cheap land. Small towns hungry for development. But still.
Even my little area is poised to benefit, and with that in mind our local Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council pulled together a terrific panel discussion earlier this week to answer questions from us locals.
15 CommentsOnce in a while, buddy Jim Bovard will include “Claire Wolfe” in a group of searches. This apparently gets interesting. Images like this come up (embiggenate for proper appreciation): I have no idea who the cute-in-an-officey-sort-of-way “me” is, but she’ll do.* And while I truly, truly, truly don’t get why Sonia Sotomayor keeps coming up in searches on my name, it’s a fact. And it’s far from the first time. Poor Sonia and I appear to be linked by karma. Bad karma, no doubt. But her karma or mine, who knows? (I’ve probably deepened the karmic connection by writing her…
32 CommentsWhen you’re a bazillionaire, your April Fools jokes may be lame, but they can be pretty elaborate. (H/T MJR) Let me see if I understand this. It’s okay for the government to blackmail, extort, threaten violence, and steal all the assets from Silk Road. But it’s wrong if individual government agents do it. No, no matter how I try, I can’t wrap my head around whatever principle they’re going by. Showering with the fedgov. I always love these articles on how being a grumpy curmudgeonly doom-bearing sky-is-falling worrywort can actually be good for your work. While I disagree with some…
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