“Like pickup artistry, the Libertarian approach to running for office is a low-hit-rate numbers game. Like pickup artists, most Libertarian candidates are actively off-putting to precisely those they are seeking to woo.”
Her removal as AG does not, after all, exempt her from future testimony, and absolute immunity does not extend to acts committed outside the duties of one’s office.
I’d be interested to see whether Pam Bondi’s comportment before Congressional committees is impacted by her recent loss of status and new disincentive to remain loyal to the president at direct personal peril.
I am increasingly of the opinion that one of the most significant social and political divides in America lies between those who are capable of understanding subtext, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, and abstraction, and those who are not.
As a wargamer, I don’t know the first thing about real war, but I can spot when someone else is acting like a wargamer.
For a long time, the US has been conflating without consequence having the best military on Earth and having the most expensive military on Earth. Changes in warfare threaten to leave us with the latter while being far from the former.
I feel like I ought to, in solidarity, declare publicly that I absolutely love and applaud being at brunch.
The Brits are already using the perfect device for illustrating the dynamics of the 2026 midterm elections.
If only those holding a valid passport could vote in 2024, who do you think would have won?
If the Jones Act has to be lifted anytime there’s an emergency, what if we just left it lifted?
Join me for a drink?
(Concise recipe included as a thank you gift for paid subscribers; long, rambling version free to all!)
Our soldiers do not go to war in Christ’s name. Any chain of command saying otherwise is not serving as part of the American tradition.
Virginia is considering a truly horrendous congressional map. I can’t wait to vote for it. Below, I explain why.
Can anyone articulate to me the benefits, if any, to the UK of a Labour government such as it currently has? From the outside looking in, it is hard to decipher.
Even as we speak…
By placing the dignity of all human beings front and center, liberalism provides a strong incentive to find alternatives to violent conflict. We recognize that peace is not achieved through violence, but through creativity, innovation, and the best aspects of our human character.
A quick-hit this week, but I think an important one. The online radicalization of young men may have contributed to MAGA’s success, but it’s a problem that preceded Trump’s rise, and one we’ll have to solve regardless of his decline.
Presidents Day is a perfect time to reflect on the liberal values our founders sought to instill in a young America — openness, liberty, pluralism, equality under the law.
I think, if you’re anything like me in wanting a deep understanding of the present, you should read more fiction.
I share some recommendations in my latest substack.
I do *want* to return to a normalized, boring sort of national politics where opponents may be wrong without being an accomplice to evil. I’m not willing to pretend compromising moral clarity is the path back there.
“Good politics cannot be built on a foundation that doesn't recognize the essential value of every human being”
— @shawnhuckabay.info
Pam Bondi’s performance before Congress reminds me of the sort of unhinged lashing out some narcissistic defendants do at the judge when being handed down a long sentence for a crime they definitely committed.
That’s absolutely how I see it, and it feels good not to be confined by those boundaries.
Thank you both for the kind words. For what it’s worth, I don’t think I’m reclaiming liberalism as much as it’s reclaiming me!
RE: a certain article making the rounds today.
Alabama’s past is America’s future. Ever met anyone who brags they voted for George Wallace?
Why is the DOJ protecting the names of adult criminals as though they’re underage victims?
He made the Kennedy Center a battleground in his war on the heart of American culture. It’s a field on which he’s now been vanquished. Not the first. Not the last.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Trump’s shuttering of the Kennedy Center for effectively the remainder of his term is an admission of defeat. Both performers and audiences had fled the venue in droves after the addition of his cursed name to the fascade by his sycophantic, self-chosen board.
