Libertarian cow : Abattoirs were originally for the treatment of sick cows not the wholesale slaughter for meat they have become.
Libertarian human : Governments were originally for the protection of the people not the corrupt special interests.

Seeing Like A State ( Read more... )

Excellent presentation of an obscure area of history and demographics. Probably not for people who don't already have a moderate knowledge of the peripheral civilisations he mentions e.g. Roman, Arabic, Chinese. The importance of the Central Asian trading zone has been obscured since it was bypassed by the European oceanic trade starting with ( Read more... )

In Empires of the Silk Road the author maintains that the internal economic collapse of the Roman Empire not only allowed the 'barbarian' invasions but caused them indirectly. Since the Eurasian tribes depended on trade with the Romans, the failure of the Roman economy led to a failure of the tribal economies also. This gave them an incentive to ( Read more... )

esr has really lost the plot again. Certainly Jews are over-represented in movements attempting to dissolve ethno-tribal bonds. It is understandable since those bonds were usually an obstacle to their own participation in society. However, the Jews who were most involved in these activities never seem to be trying to exempt Jews from this ( Read more... )

I admit my predictions were too pessimistic. Maybe the Democrats have used up so much political capital on healthcare that they won't be able to move on gun issues.

Lomborg’s text employs the strategy of those who . . . argue that gay men aren't dying of AIDS, that Jews weren't singled out by the Nazis for extermination. So global-warming denialism is as much beyond the pale as AIDS denialism. Except that - and perhaps you’ve noticed - Duesberg has never denied that AIDS exists, he just has a different ( Read more... )

I am sure that intervening in Uganda and Yemen is immensely beneficial to world peace.

Some mockery of Ev Psych

Now Mr. President, Mr. President, I’ll let  you give your speech, but first I just gotta say this:  Beyonce isn’t fighting two wars.  TWO WARS!  Beyonce ain’t sent nobody to Bagram.  But you go ahead and get your prize for peace, that’s cool and all, but Beyonce totally deserved it more.
He is late to the meme, but good.