"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
Sebastian –by Sebastian I don't like to bleg. But I do like to help my friends out. I have a friend who is one of the long term unemployed. He had a great job in a bio-tech field and went through one of that field's fairly routine layoffs expecting to get hired somewhere else right away. … Read more
–by Sebastian The filibuster has become such a routinely used tool, that reporters now speak of 60 votes required to pass nearly anything through the US Senate. I'm temperamentally conservative, so I'm loathe to get rid of procedures. But I'm temperamentally conservative, so I don't like seeing the social conventions against using emergency measures only … Read more
Thus reads the LA Times Headline. The underlying Rolling Stone Interview is here I don't have any firm idea on whether this development will improve or detract from our overall military and political goals in Afghanistan (I leave that analysis to my able co-bloggers), but it is very important from a political perspective. Civilian control of … Read more
–by Sebastian The Supreme Court says that as a matter of Constitutional law the United States can lock you us indefinitely without trial after you have served the time the jury and judge sentenced you to for a crime you did commit on the basis of future crimes it predicts you might commit, and that … Read more
–by Sebastian I don't have much to say on this. I'm mostly just drawing attention to something that I had assumed had stopped under the Obama administration, but apparently hasn't. They are still using sensory deprivation during transport of the Gitmo prisoners: cite Omar Khadr’s pre-trial hearing this morning experienced an unexplained hour-long delay. Court … Read more
–by Sebastian H Part II. Part I Can Be Found Here One of the main reasons why the US tax code is so complicated is that it has tens of thousands of policy choices as tax deductions, tax credits, and other forms of tax breaks. I obviously can't comment on all of them individually (though … Read more
–by Sebastian Every now and then something happens that makes you see things a little bit differently. Not a major change, not a paradigm shift, but a change nonetheless. I play World of Warcraft, which for those who don't know is a massively multi-player online game (MMO). It is a fascinating game for many reasons: … Read more
The main reason why you want to have clear election laws before you come to a crisis is because at the time of crisis it is almost impossible for us to avoid looking at whether or not the law will help or hurt our preferred candidate. If you are permitted to change the law midstream, … Read more
–by Sebastian I'm interested in doing a series of posts on what I think of as things that all men and women of good conscience should agree on. The idea is to focus on institutional situations in the US which many or most people would reflexively think are wrong, but which are actively encouraged by … Read more