• POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPT.

    Oprah For President?

    Ever since her speech at the Golden Globes, people have been floating the idea of Oprah Winfrey for President. This is, of course, a silly idea. Or it would have been, before Trump. Oprah, like Trump, has no experience in government. Like Trump, Oprah is a celebrity who has had considerable success at business. And… Read more

  • EDUCATION DEPT.

    Questionable Free Speech at Drexel University

    Associate Professor George Ciccariello-Maher is now gone from his position at Drexel University. A year ago, I blogged a brief contingent defense of his controversial “white genocide” tweet. (Contingent because it only applies if he meant what I guessed he meant.) Drexel condemned his tweet at the time, but took no further action against him. It would have… Read more

  • LEGAL DEPT.

    Just Consequences

    There was an interesting criminal case out of Fairfax, Virginia the other day, involving a young lady named Sandra Mendez Ortega who stole some jewelry from Lisa Copeland while cleaning her house. The Washington Post lays out the events this way: The case began with Copeland’s discovery in September 2016 that her engagement and wedding rings… Read more

  • HOLIDAY CHEER DEPT.

    The Giving Season

    Over at Popehat, in the spirit of the Christmas, Ken White has suggested three charities you could donate to this season. Although I have no problem with donating to any of them, I thought I’d offer a few suggestions of my own. To start with, I’m a regular donor to the Reason Foundation. This is… Read more

  • ETHICS DEPT.

    Ye Olde Ethics Alarms

    I just went through yet another argument about illegal immigrants in the comments at Jack Marshall’s Ethics Alarms blog. Jack has been a frequent source of blogging ideas (at least when I used to blog more), but he’s been kind of hard to take ever since Donald Trump was elected. It’s not that he likes… Read more