People sometimes wonder why I pick on–“stalk”–Jason Brennan so much. The answer is that I like wringing concessions out of his arrogant ass, and often get exactly what I’m looking for.

Like this:

UPDATE: I modified this slightly, because I realized that I don’t know what Krugman thinks about trade all-things-considered. 

No, I don’t mean the claim about Krugman. I mean the hyper-conscientiousness Brennan now shows about alerting his readers to the substantive changes he makes in his posts for 200-Proof Liberals. Remember when, at BHL, he self-righteously asserted the prerogative to write and re-write and re-write and re-write his posts without notice so as to evade criticisms? I do, and so does everyone who read the site. Now, without further ado, he’s forgotten all his “arguments” on that issue, and changed course by 180 degrees. Conscientious Brennan now makes sure to tell us when he’s made substantive changes.

What accounts for the reversal? Two hypotheses:

1. He did it out of a sense of pure conscientiousness and intellectual integrity, the virtues consistently on display in all of his posts.
2. He did it because I repeatedly made him look like a fucking asshole for writing posts and then changing them without notice, embarrassing him in public at the price of being defamed by him and his friends.

I’ll leave that one as an exercise.

Turning over a new leaf, huh, Jason? Hey, every day is a winding road. So keep it up. You’re getting a little closer–to ordinary decency.