"These are leaders who are trying to effect a massive transformation of their societies, seeking to tie them much more thoroughly and widely into the global economy through tech, tourism, and sports."
"The UAE government is aggressively pursuing a national strategy to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to transition from digital government to autonomous, AI-native government by 2026–2027. The strategy focuses on integrating Agentic AI—systems that can think, act, and make decisions independently—into 50% of government services and operations within two years."
"In short, they form a complementary “reading list” for understanding China. Liu, Chang, and Fong bring vivid human stories from the margins; Hao and Wang illuminate the tech/industrial engine; Han translates this into macro/geopolitical and investment signals; and Ang supplies overarching theoretical scaffolding. Dan Wang provides a key analytical male counterpoint in a predominantly female group of insightful voices. Their collective work counters caricatures by showing a restless, innovative, constrained, and multifaceted society and system."
"AUSTIN, TX — Following an announcement that Infowars would soon be converted into a satirical news outlet, American media personality Alex Jones, known for his fringe conspiracy theories related to the Sandy Hook school shooting and homosexual frogs, expressed concern that people would start to think the stories reported by Infowars are fake."
The first two chapters of conservative Annie Applebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy”,...
If TLDR.
"Overall, the book is a passionate warning from a centrist-liberal perspective but is limited by its subjectivity, selective focus, and tendency to pathologize political opposition rather than engage it as legitimate contestation within democracy. It excels at describing mechanisms of institutional capture and elite complicity but falls short as a comprehensive or balanced diagnosis of democratic challenges."
"High-institutionalist justices (Chief Justice John Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett) land in the majority far more often (Kavanaugh at ~93% historically, Roberts and Barrett in the 90s %). The low-institutionalist conservatives (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch) form a more independent “freaks-and-geeks” bloc, while the liberals vary (Kagan, higher-institutionalist/strategic; Sotomayor and Jackson more strident/individual)."
From an interview with Last Branch Standing's author, Sarah Isgur. Lightly edited for clarity.
"Here's the problem. If we could all have a checklist at the beginning of the term with all the cases that the court is going to hear, and then everyone in the media checks which are the big cases of the term. I'd be great with that, but that's not what we do. Instead, we wait until we have the decisions. If they're 6-3 along ideological lines, they're big cases. And then we declare that the Court is divided 6-3 along ideological lines. "If the case is conservatively coded, we had three cases last term. One was on gun manufacturer liability, one was on religious liberty for tax-exempt purposes in Wisconsin, and one was on reverse discrimination, if you're straight and think your gay boss fired you because you were straight. All conservative coded.
"Everyone thought they were going to be 6-3. Everyone thought they were big cases before the term. They all came out the same day last June. All three were unanimous. All three were written by a different liberal justice. And we never talked about them again. They were mind-wiped because they didn't fit the 6-3 narrative. So, that's the problem.
"We define the big cases by which ones are 6-3, and then the 6-3 ones are the big cases, and then the court is ideological, and they're divisive. Last term, 15% of the cases were with all of the liberal justices in dissent, right?
"That's your ideological narrative. The exact same number of cases. I just love this when it turned out this way. I mean, thank you, court, for doing the work for me. The exact same number of cases had all the liberals in the majority and only conservatives in the dissent, 6-3 or 5-4, but we just don't talk about those cases, and we pretend that that's not happening."
A book viewing the Supreme Court from a different angle than partisan politics.
"Most people get the Supreme Court all wrong. A smattering of high-profile decisions has popularized a simplistic idea of the Court and its justices. Yes, six of them were appointed by Republicans, and only three by Democrats. So, how does that 6-3 conservative majority explain why, in the 2024-25 term, conservative Brett Kavanaugh was more likely to agree with liberal Elena Kagan than conservative Neil Gorsuch? Or why did the court throw shade on Florida’s attempt to ban drag shows?
To truly understand the Court, Sarah Isgur argues, you have to look beyond partisan politics—the “X-Axis.” The wisest court watchers apply another measuring stick, the “Y-Axis," where the nine justices span from order-loving institutionalists to true chaos agents. Once you appreciate these overlapping and even competing impulses, the Court begins to look a lot more like a 3-3-3 split than 6-3."
Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court
On my Windows system and Firefox browser, if I copy text from a webpage, click the comment box, right-click, and click "Paste Without Formatting," it strips out the links. This could be due to a browser extension or some other third-party app on my computer.
"There are several reliable ways to copy and paste only the plain text (no formatting, fonts, colors, links as hyperlinks, or other HTML elements) from a web page on both Windows and macOS."
"Here is a summary of major UK outlets based on 2025–2026 ratings from MBFC and Ad Fontes (the most comprehensive recent analyses available). I focus on the biggest by reach/circulation: BBC, Guardian group, Telegraph group, Mail group, Times/Sunday Times, Independent, and others. Ratings use scales where negative/left-leaning scores favor progressive causes and positive/right-leaning scores favor conservative ones."
That conflicts massively with the general use of the word. Not just differs in nuance, but flat outconflicts.
The article is about biological altruism. You're thinking of psychological altruism.
"It begins by defining biological altruism strictly in terms of fitness consequences: “an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behaviour benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself,” where costs and benefits are measured by expected reproductive success (number of offspring). This differs sharply from everyday or psychological altruism, which requires conscious intent to help others. No mental states are needed; insects and other non-conscious animals can exhibit it."
"In summary, human nature supplies the psychological building blocks (empathy, fairness intuitions, reward from helping) at perhaps 30–50% heritability for the underlying traits. But the degree and extension of altruism specifically toward strangers is heavily cultural/societal—often the decisive factor in explaining why it is common in some contexts and rare in others. Modern large-scale stranger altruism likely arose via cultural evolution building on biological foundations, enabling humans to cooperate in ways no other species matches. It is neither purely “hardwired” nor wholly learned; it is an evolved capacity powerfully shaped by the societies we build. Real-world examples (charity, disaster response, anonymous donations) reflect this interaction rather than any single cause."
No major factual inaccuracies. The debate’s logical structure is strong on both sides, but Miller’s central analogy fails under scrutiny, and his performative-utterance claim sidesteps Powell’s evidence-based concerns. Powell’s predictions have held up remarkably well demographically (Birmingham’s transformation, national ethnic-minority growth, ongoing integration debates). Miller’s optimistic faith in absorption has been tested by subsequent events (enclaves, cultural tensions, riots). The exchange remains a model of substantive disagreement without rancor—rare today—and highlights enduring tensions between empirical realism and idealistic universalism on immigration. No one “won” in the moment, but history has lent more weight to Powell’s warnings than Miller’s reassurance."
"Me: Who is the murderer in Crackpot of the Empire?"
Perhaps, for that type of question, she should have asked Grok. It would have saved her a lot of time, but sans material for an article. I use Claude to generate code.
Feel free to post those innumerably accounts of birth tourists, I’m sure that grok can spin them up.
"Overall, birth tourism has remained a niche activity—far smaller than births to U.S.-resident immigrant mothers (legal or otherwise), which number in the high hundreds of thousands annually. It is concentrated in a few areas (e.g., Southern California, South Florida, and border regions) and has faced bipartisan criticism over perceived abuse of birthright citizenship and national-security concerns. Exact year-by-year trends beyond the proxies above are not publicly available from official sources, as the phenomenon is inherently hard to quantify without intent-based tracking. Policy efforts since 2020 have aimed to deter it through visa screening rather than changing the underlying constitutional rule."
Characteristics of American traditional conservative ideology:
• Limited government and constitutional originalism
• Free-market capitalism and private property
• Individual liberty paired with personal responsibility
• Traditional moral order and civil society
• National sovereignty, secure borders, and realistic foreign policy
• Rule of law, social order, and prudence
• Skepticism of concentrated power
On “Just call me Laocoön”
"The UAE government is aggressively pursuing a national strategy to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to transition from digital government to autonomous, AI-native government by 2026–2027. The strategy focuses on integrating Agentic AI—systems that can think, act, and make decisions independently—into 50% of government services and operations within two years."
UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence
On “China, redux”
lj, thanks for the post. The interview is interesting and informative.
"
Profiles of the people referenced in the post.
"In short, they form a complementary “reading list” for understanding China. Liu, Chang, and Fong bring vivid human stories from the margins; Hao and Wang illuminate the tech/industrial engine; Han translates this into macro/geopolitical and investment signals; and Ang supplies overarching theoretical scaffolding. Dan Wang provides a key analytical male counterpoint in a predominantly female group of insightful voices. Their collective work counters caricatures by showing a restless, innovative, constrained, and multifaceted society and system."
Comparing Notable China Experts
On “Imagining a mad king”
"AUSTIN, TX — Following an announcement that Infowars would soon be converted into a satirical news outlet, American media personality Alex Jones, known for his fringe conspiracy theories related to the Sandy Hook school shooting and homosexual frogs, expressed concern that people would start to think the stories reported by Infowars are fake."
Alex Jones Worried People Will Start To Think Stories Reported By Infowars Are Fake
"
The first two chapters of conservative Annie Applebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy”,...
If TLDR.
"Overall, the book is a passionate warning from a centrist-liberal perspective but is limited by its subjectivity, selective focus, and tendency to pathologize political opposition rather than engage it as legitimate contestation within democracy. It excels at describing mechanisms of institutional capture and elite complicity but falls short as a comprehensive or balanced diagnosis of democratic challenges."
Applebaum's Twilight of Democracy Analysis
On “Your choice: an open thread”
Line drawing to photorealistic image. The AI can't resist filling empty spaces with details.
"
Photo to line drawing.
On “Imagining a mad king”
"High-institutionalist justices (Chief Justice John Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett) land in the majority far more often (Kavanaugh at ~93% historically, Roberts and Barrett in the 90s %). The low-institutionalist conservatives (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch) form a more independent “freaks-and-geeks” bloc, while the liberals vary (Kagan, higher-institutionalist/strategic; Sotomayor and Jackson more strident/individual)."
Sarah Isgur's Two-Axis Supreme Court Map
"
From an interview with Last Branch Standing's author, Sarah Isgur. Lightly edited for clarity.
"Here's the problem. If we could all have a checklist at the beginning of the term with all the cases that the court is going to hear, and then everyone in the media checks which are the big cases of the term. I'd be great with that, but that's not what we do. Instead, we wait until we have the decisions. If they're 6-3 along ideological lines, they're big cases. And then we declare that the Court is divided 6-3 along ideological lines.
"If the case is conservatively coded, we had three cases last term. One was on gun manufacturer liability, one was on religious liberty for tax-exempt purposes in Wisconsin, and one was on reverse discrimination, if you're straight and think your gay boss fired you because you were straight. All conservative coded.
"Everyone thought they were going to be 6-3. Everyone thought they were big cases before the term. They all came out the same day last June. All three were unanimous. All three were written by a different liberal justice. And we never talked about them again. They were mind-wiped because they didn't fit the 6-3 narrative. So, that's the problem.
"We define the big cases by which ones are 6-3, and then the 6-3 ones are the big cases, and then the court is ideological, and they're divisive. Last term, 15% of the cases were with all of the liberal justices in dissent, right?
"That's your ideological narrative. The exact same number of cases. I just love this when it turned out this way. I mean, thank you, court, for doing the work for me. The exact same number of cases had all the liberals in the majority and only conservatives in the dissent, 6-3 or 5-4, but we just don't talk about those cases, and we pretend that that's not happening."
It’s almost as if you LIKE every one of the nine Supreme Court justices
"
A book viewing the Supreme Court from a different angle than partisan politics.
"Most people get the Supreme Court all wrong. A smattering of high-profile decisions has popularized a simplistic idea of the Court and its justices. Yes, six of them were appointed by Republicans, and only three by Democrats. So, how does that 6-3 conservative majority explain why, in the 2024-25 term, conservative Brett Kavanaugh was more likely to agree with liberal Elena Kagan than conservative Neil Gorsuch? Or why did the court throw shade on Florida’s attempt to ban drag shows?
To truly understand the Court, Sarah Isgur argues, you have to look beyond partisan politics—the “X-Axis.” The wisest court watchers apply another measuring stick, the “Y-Axis," where the nine justices span from order-loving institutionalists to true chaos agents. Once you appreciate these overlapping and even competing impulses, the Court begins to look a lot more like a 3-3-3 split than 6-3."
Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court
"
Is the article a news article or an opinion column? It comes across as an opinion column.
On “Maybe time for an Open Thread”
On my Windows system and Firefox browser, if I copy text from a webpage, click the comment box, right-click, and click "Paste Without Formatting," it strips out the links. This could be due to a browser extension or some other third-party app on my computer.
"There are several reliable ways to copy and paste only the plain text (no formatting, fonts, colors, links as hyperlinks, or other HTML elements) from a web page on both Windows and macOS."
Copying Plain Text from Web Pages
On “What exactly did William Wallace say?”
"Here is a summary of major UK outlets based on 2025–2026 ratings from MBFC and Ad Fontes (the most comprehensive recent analyses available). I focus on the biggest by reach/circulation: BBC, Guardian group, Telegraph group, Mail group, Times/Sunday Times, Independent, and others. Ratings use scales where negative/left-leaning scores favor progressive causes and positive/right-leaning scores favor conservative ones."
UK Media Political Bias Overview
On “Maybe time for an Open Thread”
In this case, Grok created the image without a hitch, whereas two versions of Google AI Studio created images and then refused to share them.
"
From Grok. Grok seems less concerned about copyright infringements than other AIs.
"
Citizens United has been a disaster. The sooner it goes the way of the Dread Scott decision the better.
If it did, restrictions would also apply to labor unions and other organizations favorable to the left. You may consider that a worthwhile tradeoff.
"
That conflicts massively with the general use of the word. Not just differs in nuance, but flat out conflicts.
The article is about biological altruism. You're thinking of psychological altruism.
"It begins by defining biological altruism strictly in terms of fitness consequences: “an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behaviour benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself,” where costs and benefits are measured by expected reproductive success (number of offspring). This differs sharply from everyday or psychological altruism, which requires conscious intent to help others. No mental states are needed; insects and other non-conscious animals can exhibit it."
Biological Altruism: Kin Selection and Group Debate
"
"In summary, human nature supplies the psychological building blocks (empathy, fairness intuitions, reward from helping) at perhaps 30–50% heritability for the underlying traits. But the degree and extension of altruism specifically toward strangers is heavily cultural/societal—often the decisive factor in explaining why it is common in some contexts and rare in others. Modern large-scale stranger altruism likely arose via cultural evolution building on biological foundations, enabling humans to cooperate in ways no other species matches. It is neither purely “hardwired” nor wholly learned; it is an evolved capacity powerfully shaped by the societies we build. Real-world examples (charity, disaster response, anonymous donations) reflect this interaction rather than any single cause."
Altruism: Nature, Culture, and Strangers
On “Materialism, rights and Japan”
An analysis of the Powell vs Miller debate.
"Overall Assessment
No major factual inaccuracies. The debate’s logical structure is strong on both sides, but Miller’s central analogy fails under scrutiny, and his performative-utterance claim sidesteps Powell’s evidence-based concerns. Powell’s predictions have held up remarkably well demographically (Birmingham’s transformation, national ethnic-minority growth, ongoing integration debates). Miller’s optimistic faith in absorption has been tested by subsequent events (enclaves, cultural tensions, riots). The exchange remains a model of substantive disagreement without rancor—rare today—and highlights enduring tensions between empirical realism and idealistic universalism on immigration. No one “won” in the moment, but history has lent more weight to Powell’s warnings than Miller’s reassurance."
Enoch Powell vs Jonathan Miller: 1971 Immigration Debate
On “Maybe time for an Open Thread”
Perhaps, for that type of question, she should have asked Grok. It would have saved her a lot of time, but sans material for an article. I use Claude to generate code.
Father Brown: Crackpot of the Empire Murderer
"
:)
"
Hummm...
On “Technically, it is called gastroesophageal reflux”
Feel free to post those innumerably accounts of birth tourists, I’m sure that grok can spin them up.
"Overall, birth tourism has remained a niche activity—far smaller than births to U.S.-resident immigrant mothers (legal or otherwise), which number in the high hundreds of thousands annually. It is concentrated in a few areas (e.g., Southern California, South Florida, and border regions) and has faced bipartisan criticism over perceived abuse of birthright citizenship and national-security concerns. Exact year-by-year trends beyond the proxies above are not publicly available from official sources, as the phenomenon is inherently hard to quantify without intent-based tracking. Policy efforts since 2020 have aimed to deter it through visa screening rather than changing the underlying constitutional rule."
Birth Tourism in the US: Trends and Estimates
On “Maybe time for an Open Thread”
Characteristics of American traditional conservative ideology:
• Limited government and constitutional originalism
• Free-market capitalism and private property
• Individual liberty paired with personal responsibility
• Traditional moral order and civil society
• National sovereignty, secure borders, and realistic foreign policy
• Rule of law, social order, and prudence
• Skepticism of concentrated power
Traditional US Conservative Ideology Characteristics
"
A Robert Pape interview covering the Iran war predicament.
"This War Will FAIL" - Military Expert Prof Robert Pape
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.