The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A Cheaper Date Than Peterson: 12 Rules

by Smitty Riffing on JP and McArdle, here are my dozen: Relax. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Makes you a big, fat, easy target. Integrity is talking about Fight Club when the World would silence you. Take the truth seriously, and guard it jealously against all foolishness. Grow up: stay sober; eschew debt; pursue knowledge […]

Replying To ESR’s Response

by Smitty First, thank you for a thoughtful and challenging reply to my objections. In re-reading your post, my reaction and “Three kinds of teleology“, it seems that I may have misinterpreted your “Sorry, Ansari” post somewhat. Specifically, on the point of whether you were a) attempting to characterize the societal state, “as-is” or b) […]

Hogwash, ESR

by Smitty Eric S. Raymond’s feedback on the Aziz Ansari comedy of manners-in-the-buff has one of my favorite hobby horses requiring a ride. ESR is far smarter than I, and an avowed libertarian. Hence my amusement at this: “Grace” behaved as she did because she doesn’t have a realistic option to hold out for romance […]

The Corrosive Evil Of Political Correctness

by Smitty We all profess hatred of this evil, and then proceed to support it, passively or actively. We’re silent in the face of PC, because going active against it is also unattractive behavior. But *why* is it so evil? People are fallible, and in need of correction. Nothing new there. Let me put forth […]

Sheppard’s Long Night’s Journey

by Smitty The Information Age has lowered barriers to entry across the board. One is truly grateful for the breadth of people met in the last decade. By hanging out with Stacy McCain, I got to go to CPAC, and be in the right place to meet Andrew Breitbart. That led to being in the […]

‘The Lizard People Are Real!’

He was high on morphine and methamphetamine, and he had a .357 pistol and an AK-47 with four extra magazines, with a total of 172 rounds of ammunition. When police showed up, he told them: “The meth doesn’t make me crazy, man . . . The lizard people are real!” He said his family was […]

The Wages of #FakeNews?

by Smitty I find it difficult to believe that respectable news publications would buy stories. WaPo paid the women to smear Moore. pic.twitter.com/4Xy2RPT22X — L Butler (@LauraButler6) November 11, 2017 No, wait: I don’t find it difficult at all.

A Little Due Process For Roy Moore

by Smitty The allegations of impropriety alleged in the WaPo against Roy Moore are a big deal. We can rehearse the power arrangements, the difficulties that victims face in pursuing justice against people in positions of power. But let’s throw in a word for due process. Twice in my life I’ve had allegations levelled at […]

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