If you follow politics at all, then you no doubt noticed that this past week had a spate of elections across the country. Most of the media coverage of the elections spoke of the overwhelming success that the Democratic Party had. Much of that coverage speculated on whether the results were a referendum on President Trump and his low approval rating. Some talking heads debated whether the Republican candidates lost…
Normally, when I talk about politics, I try to stick to national issues because they’re more relevant to a larger portion of our audience. However, I would like to make an exception here to talk about the Virginia gubernatorial race and Cliff Hyra. Who is Cliff Hyra? He’s not John Galt. He’s the Libertarian Party candidate for Virginia governor. Not a Virginia resident? Please stick with me, as I’ll eventually…
Knowing that I would be writing a piece on gun control in America after recent events, I started this blog with a working title of “The Gun Culture” and my fingers slipped as I typed, a common enough occurrence. But the typo resulted in the word “culture” being mangled, highlighting the “cult” portion of the word. I was never intending to take a trip down the rabbit hole of the…
Disclaimer: This article was written a few days ago about a news story that has continued to develop. Some things mentioned may be out of date by the time you read it. This past week, the New York Times published an article detailing the long history of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein paying off sexual harassment accusers. Some have written about the hypocrisy of Democrats, always eager to accuse Republicans of…
I have been aware of Cory Doctorow for a very long time. In 2005 I read his debut novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which was published in 2003. And even before then, I was aware of Mr. Doctorow as an agent provocateur of the intellectually anti-copyright fighters, though that is an unfair characterization. Doctorow was never anti-copyright; he was, however, against the concept of copyright as it…
Have you read the anti-diversity manifesto written by a Google employee that resulted in his firing from the tech giant? I don’t mean have you heard about it on the news or read somebody else’s thoughts about it on social media. No, I’m asking if you’ve read the actual memo itself. If not, I implore you to check it out. It’s not hard to find. You don’t even have to…
I firmly believe that the death penalty should be abolished. Certainly, there are some criminals where death would undoubtedly be considered morally just (Dylann Roof immediately comes to mind). However, what most gives me pause is the idea of the State being the main arbiter in which cases merit death and which do not. Given the finality of such decisions when they are made and enforced (you can release the…
I hate Kobe Bryant. No, this isn’t another attempt to tear down one of the all-time greats in his sport. In fact, it’s not really fair or accurate to say that I hate Kobe because I don’t know him as a person at all. No, when I say I hate Kobe Bryant, it’s a fake kind of hate that I call “sports-hate.” For a decade, Bryant and his Los Angeles…
This past week saw thousands of people across the country converge on Washington D.C. and other cities to participate in a March for Science. The protest was billed as non-partisan, but the timing and circumstances around the march taking place on Earth Day hardly seems like a coincidence, and the march was rumored to have been inspired by a “throwaway line on reddit” by somebody who said: Q: The March for Science…
There’s definitely a danger in drawing too many conclusions from the first two months of a new presidential administration. The sample size is incredibly small, with virtually no time to work with Congress on crafting any kind of meaningful legislation. Most cabinet members have only been on the job for a few weeks, so it’s largely unfair to judge their performance yet. Still, between Supreme Court nominations, executive orders and cabinet…