“Florida, you might have heard, is no longer purple: Since Ron DeSantis became governor, Republicans have gained nearly 2 million registered voters over Democrats in the Sunshine State. It is an astonishing change in partisanship for the state that famously decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes. The outcome of the statewide races in Florida this November, such as those for governor and US senator, are therefore not in much doubt. Democrats might dream about making Florida competitive again, but they might as well believe in the tooth fairy. But if Florida isn’t much in play between the two parties, it’s definitely in play within them. As last week’s primaries indicate, the Sunshine State is the new ground zero for the roiling internal civil wars that have dominated both parties for years. On the Democratic side, the results were a mixed bag.” (08/23/26)
“In a fundamental respect, libertarian minarchism (minimal, or limited, government) and market anarchism (or anarcho-capitalism) have something important in common: neither can guarantee individual rights. But there’s a big difference: unlike market anarchism, minarchism appears to offer a guarantee, which allegedly makes it preferable to market anarchism. Actually, it’s a false guarantee, a bait-and-switch. So it’s not preferable to market anarchism, at least on those grounds. However, what market anarchism can do is show how everyday incentives will tend to protect liberty (and already do now). Minarchism can’t credibly say the same thing because constitutionally limited representative democracy is riddled with well-known perverse political incentives. That makes market anarchism the better bet.” (08/23/26)
“New York Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who is pretty clearly running for president in 2028, made a disappointing statement recently. She was asked about the idea of defunding and/or abolishing the police, and she responded that ‘woke 1.0 was crazy.’ I found that disappointing. I know that by saying I find it disappointing I am encouraging everyone to run their pre-established pundit scripts about elections and voting and political strategy and slogans and AOC as a person and a politician …. I want to focus on why I find Cortez’s statement disappointing—which is that it gave away the frame to bullies, and it’s dispiriting when our politicians, who are meant to represent us, do that. AOC is somebody who has risen to prominence by frequently declining to give away the frame to bullies, so that makes it all the more dispiriting whenever she does so.” (08/24/26)
“People like me used to be ‘crazy’ but now we’re just inconvenient. 1984 is now and it gets worse every day while you scroll through Pornhub on your iPhone and try not to think about it. We can’t pretend like we don’t know anymore. Not after Edward Snowden. Not after Chelsea Manning. Not after Julian Assange and Virginia Giuffre and Wikileaks and the Epstein Files. We quite simply know too goddamn much to go back now. We know ‘they’ know and they know we know. … This was precisely the kind of climate that ignited the Luddite Rebellion of early 19th century England.” (08/24/26)
“The prevailing understanding of poliovirus pathogenesis posits that the virus, following intestinal infection, gains access to the central nervous system (CNS) through viremia and subsequent crossing of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, this model fails to adequately explain several key epidemiological and clinical features of the historical polio epidemic, including the localized nature of paralysis, the disproportionate involvement of the lower limbs, the increased susceptibility of young children, and the striking predilection for anterior (motor) neuronal damage while simultaneously sparing posterior (sensory) spinal cord structures.” (08/23/26)
“During the past several months, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made a big bet that interest rates were coming down. A whole lot of old 30- and 10-year Treasury bonds with old, low interest rates are coming due over the next year or so, and if they were to be simply rolled over into new same-dated bonds, high borrowing costs would be locked in for a long time. So Bessent rolled them over into short-term bonds instead. The hope was that interest rates would come down, and he wouldn’t have to lock in very high rates. Instead, the opposite happened, and 30- and 10-year rates are at their highest levels in 20 years. Interest costs on the national debt now easily outstrip spending on the military, and are projected to grow, a lot.” (08/24/26)
“In 2015, I wrote an essay entitled, ‘Will robots replace human labour and reduce real wage levels?’ That essay still seems to attract quite a lot of attention even though some of the thoughts in it are now out of date. I did not anticipate the impact of Large Language Models (LLMs). One of the things I like about my previous essay is the use of down-to-earth examples to illustrate processes. So, I will try to continue in that vein.” (08/23/26)
“It is never correct to chastise the media for printing things that are true and important. [Jason] Arday’s academic misconduct is well-documented at this point. To say that they are unimportant is to say that it doesn’t matter whether one of the finest universities in the world can distinguish truth from fiction, or scholarship from a cut-and-paste job. If that’s what Arday’s academic defenders believe, then we should be paying more attention to what’s going on at Cambridge, not less. But they’re mistaken even if you think that a free press doesn’t mean the freedom to pile on. In this year of our Lord 2026, the kind of censorship they want is not just a terrible idea. It is an impossible dream.” (08/23/26)
“Stars and Stripes is largely funded by, and its operations and distribution are almost completely enabled by, the US government. ‘Editorial independence’ may sound like a wonderful idea, but there’s always been a leash. We’re just watching the leash get shorter. Thankfully, the collar at the end of that leash only strangles Stars and Stripes. These days, even troops aboard ships at sea and at remote firebases in hostile territory have far greater contact with the outside world, most of the time, than even civilians at home enjoyed 50, let alone 150, years ago. … The military news coverage, and consumption, of the future will look a lot more like WikiLeaks than like Stars and Stripes.” (08/22/26)
“I’ve heard a lot lately about how socialism and communism are bad, at least when it’s a Democrat proposing ways to ease American consumers’ economic pain. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for five municipal grocery stores where a ‘core basket of everyday groceries will be 30 percent cheaper’ was pilloried by Republicans. … OK. But now Trump is saying his new bought-from-wherever imported beef will be sold 25% below the market price. That sounds a lot like the government controlling food prices. The final piece of the hypocrisy turducken is that Trump’s mystery-meat plan wholly undercuts his incessant claims that tariffs don’t affect consumers. … in one fell swoop, President Cheeseburger angered the cattle ranchers who’ve long been loyal to him …. He demonstrated the inanity of the GOP’s fearmongering about communism and socialism. And he confirmed what everyone already knew about his reckless tariffs and the financial burden they’ve imposed on consumers.” (08/23/26)
