I don’t consider myself a libertarian any more, and am not sure I ever was one in a wholehearted way, but I can say this much: once upon a time, I held a more clearly libertarian position about politics than I currently do. I heard a story on NPR yesterday that reminded me of a puzzle that my libertarian commitments generated (in combination with some of the commitments that I took to cohere with it), but that I never ended up resolving. Maybe some reader can resolve the puzzle and tell me where I went wrong. Continue reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Reason Papers Vol. 41:1 Is Out
The latest issue of Reason Papers–the first issue edited by Shawn Klein (Arizona State University)–is now out. This issue contains (among other things) the long-awaited symposium on Vicente’s Medina’s Terrorism Unjustified, based on an Author-Meets-Critics session held at Felician University in April 2018. Thanks to everyone who worked on the issue, and especially to Shawn, for the work they put into it. Incidentally, though there isn’t one in this issue, the journal often runs a “Discussion Notes” section for responses to material in previous issues. So if you feel inclined to respond to anything you read here, send something along to Shawn via the journal.
Realism, Righteousness, and Resistance
My friend, erstwhile Felician colleague, and quasi-neighbor Joe Biehl has a nice piece in Areo on philosophy’s role as resistance to social reality. Read it.
Katie Hill: Quel Scandale
Does anyone understand the Katie Hill “scandal”? I had trouble sleeping last night, so I used an article about the scandal as a sleep aid–which worked like a charm–but then I woke up wondering what it was about. So I looked into it. As far as I can tell, this is the whole scandal:
- A woman has a three-some with someone plus her husband.
- The woman’s marriage goes south, so she ditches her husband and starts up with the someone (or maybe a couple of people).
- Somewhere in there, she gets naked, brushes the someone’s hair, and is photographed doing it.
- She gets elected to Congress, where some of the preceding breaks some newly-passed rule.
“Trump Approved the Turkish Invasion of Syria”
Truth, they say, is the first casualty of war. Here’s one:
On Oct. 6, the day President Trump spoke to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and gave tacit approval for a Turkish military invasion, the American military had around 1,000 troops in Syria.
Isn’t there a clear difference between acquiescence in an action and approval of it? I’ve acquiesced in the Trump presidency; it doesn’t follow, and isn’t true, that I “approve” of it, whether explicitly or tacitly. What is the evidence for the claim that Trump approved of, or “gave approval for,” the Turkish invasion of Syria? Continue reading
Happy Halloween
Everybody’s Somebody’s Asset
Just checking here, but is it an “interesting angle” or “espionage” if Jared Kushner, Stephen Greenblatt, or David Friedman advise the Israeli government on how to circumvent long-standing American objections to the settlement of the West Bank? Or is that not a place where John Woo and Laura Ingraham want to go?
These Colors Sometimes Run
Whether you think the U.S. should have had troops in Syria or not, or agree with Trump’s decision to pull them out or not, or agree with his decision to pull them out as and/or when he did or not, this passage, from a story about “our” dealings with the Kurds, is worth dwelling on, and remembering for future reference: Continue reading
Pizza Lady
No, she didn’t invent pizza. But she was notable in other ways.
Christine de Pizan (born Cristina da Pizzano; 1364-c. 1430 [thus either late mediæval or early Renaissance, depending on your definition]) – poet, historian, essayist, political theorist, political activist, and pioneering feminist – was Venetian by birth; but her father Tommaso, a philosopher and astrologer, had been serving as a temporary advisor at the court of King Charles V of France (a position which he had chosen, in the event perhaps unwisely, over a similar post in Hungary), and when the time came for Tommaso to return to his family in Venice, the king refused to let him leave, and instead insisted that Tommaso bring his family to Paris. Thus Christine grew up in Paris rather than Venice.
Christine de Pizan and the Mutant Head Ladies
A White Man’s Chance
I keep seeing people online complaining that superhero movies and tv shows are now completely dominated by women and minorities.
So let’s take a peek at what domination looks like. Here are the stats from the past 20 years. (In some cases assigning a show to a particular category was a judgment call, open to reasonable challenge; but the overall shape of the info seems clear enough.)
Policy of Truth 