Fear and Loathing in Charlottesville

Feature Article by , June 12, 2017

The fight over confederate statues in my hometown of Charlottesville has some of the fighters feeling pretty traumatized. Here is Dahlia Lithwick, Slate’s Supreme Court commenter, who is also a local. My little city in central Virginia has become the stuff of reality TV…. Now, when we come to meet in our town square, we […]

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Seven Solutions Flying Cars Need (and One They Don’t)

Feature Article by , June 8, 2017

Everyone’s very excited right now about “flying cars” because—hey, who wouldn’t be? It’s right up there at the top of the science fiction wish list, along with the robot servant who cleans your house for you. And now we’re being told pretty frequently that the flying car is on its way. But we’re not getting […]

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The Media Is Now Leaking Classified Information Just Because They Feel Like It

Feature Article by , June 6, 2017

This morning, the New York Times brought us another breathtaking expose of classified national security information which is really important for the public to know because…um, well, because they just kind of felt like it. The story is about a contractor for an international shipping company who was captured and held hostage by rebels in […]

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Anti-Anti-Anti-Anti-Trump

Feature Article by , June 2, 2017

I’ve changed my mind. For a while, I was anti-Trump. Then during the first days of the administration, I flirted with being anti-anti-Trump. Then for a while I was in the anti-anti-anti-Trump camp. But gosh darn it, I’m fed up with the anti-anti-anti-Trumpers, so now I’m anti-anti-anti-anti-Trump. So wait, where does that put me, exactly? […]

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The Global Warming Doomsday Cult

Feature Article by , June 1, 2017

So what are the consequences of Donald Trump pulling America out of the Paris Agreement on climate change? Bad news: the planet is going to die. No, really. That’s what the left is actually claiming. Scientific American tweeted out a photo of the Earth made into a barren wasteland as a result of this one […]

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Guns and the Monopoly on Force

Note by , May 30, 2017

The Objectivist corners of the Internet have been lit up recently by some new comments from Yaron Brook (executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute) about the Second Amendment and gun control. I’m not going to take on these comments in much detail because they strike me as offhand, flippant, and offensively arrogant—you really have […]

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More Science Without Numbers

Feature Article by , May 29, 2017

Recently, I noted the basic pattern of science reporting on global warming, particularly as practiced by the New York Times: feeding you an overall conclusion, illustrated with pretty pictures designed to make you feel like you’ve been given information—but withholding from you the real numbers you would need to actually evaluate and understand the issues. […]

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Don’t Blame Hannity for Seth Rich, Blame Ourselves

Feature Article by , May 24, 2017

For weeks now, Sean Hannity has been giving his televised platform to a crackpot conspiracy theory in which the Democratic National Committee somehow orchestrated the murder of a low-level staffer, Seth Rich, making him look like the victim of a mugging gone wrong, in order to cover up the fact that he was the real […]

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The Climate Cowards

Feature Article by , May 22, 2017

In the New York Times, David Leonhardt praises China and India for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, despite the fact that “Hundreds of millions of people in both China and India live in poverty, unable to afford basics—decent food, shelter, medical care, and education—that Westerners take for granted.” Pause here for a moment to reflect on […]

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The Constitution Is Foolproof, But It Isn’t Damned Fool Proof

Feature Article by , May 17, 2017

Let’s start at the beginning: our president is a fool. President Trump has been in office long enough to demonstrate a chronic lack of elementary prudence or any shred of self-discipline. He has a knack for constantly creating crises by his own recklessness. He does things like set off totally unnecessary tensions with South Korea […]

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