Trial by agency
The case of the Sweet Cakes bakers in Oregon who were ordered to pay $135,000 damages for not baking a cake for a gay wedding, and to also submit to a gag order, seemed unusually Draconian to me. I hadn’t … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Liberty
HUD’s heavy hand
The Obama administration is going forward with its plan to engineer local neighborhoods through the executive branch. I wrote about this before at some length, here. It’s a policy that would be highly unlikely to pass Congress, so it’s being … Continue reading →
The most important aspect of Obergefell may be how it establishes judges’ rights to find new rights
From an article by Howard Slugh in the National Review: In Obergefell, Justice Kennedy made it clear to lower courts that, after he eliminated [the precedent of] Glucksberg, the only remaining limit on new judge-made rights is a judge’s imagination. … Continue reading →
For the Fourth: On liberty, the great dividing line
The Fourth isn’t just about barbeque, although I defer to no one in my regard for barbecue. It’s about liberty. As the years go by, I appreciate that fact more and more, and sense that our liberty is more and … Continue reading →
For the Fourth: he’s a Yankee Doodle Dandy
For the Fourth of July, courtesy commenter “mezzrow”: I saw that film on TV maybe 30 times when I was a child. Loved it, and in particular loved the idea that James Cagney—whom I already knew as a tough old … Continue reading →
Obergefell was a close decision, replete with warnings
Peggy Noonan observes: Not fully acknowledged in the past days of celebration on one side, and profound reservation on the other, is that the court in Obergefell v. Hodges was split 5-4 on same-sex marriage, and that the dissenting opinions … Continue reading →
Why did Orwell remain a socialist?
[NOTE: Recently I came across an old post of mine on Orwell and decided to repeat it in edited form, because I think it’s still interesting and timely. So here it is.] Commenter “Nick” wrote this about Orwell and Animal … Continue reading →
The Grand Inquisitor redux
Several times before I’ve posted excerpts from Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” part of the book The Brothers Karamazov. Unfortunately, the passages seem to always bear repeating, now more than ever. So here it is again, a slightly longer quote. The … Continue reading →
The religious war: against Christians, among Christians
If you had asked me twenty years ago what the 21st century would hold in store, “religious wars” probably wouldn’t have been tops on my list. But it should have been. There are many forms of it. The most obvious … Continue reading →
Peter Singer and the trap of logic: Part I
Disability activists would very much like to see Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer lose his job. The reason is fairly obvious: Singer advocates the killing of disabled infants if the parents request it. What’s less obvious is why Singer … Continue reading →
A sliver of time
Here’s an excellent post by Bookworm. Time’s a wasting.
Continue reading →Europe the wonderful vs. America the [fill in the blank]
While thinking about my PJ post on Obama’s comparison of mass murders and gun control in the US to the same phenomena in Europe, it occurred to me that part of what Obama has done during his presidency is to … Continue reading →