The whole political establishment has an interest in muddling the important difference between crony-capitalism and free markets. (I ought not to have taken so long to notice this.) The rhetorical tension is between those who say that an economy regulated for the benefit of the well-connected is too dangerously free, and those who in the name of “free markets” preach the sacred right of the well-connected to enjoy their pork in peace.

I won’t wear the “anarcho-capitalist” label anymore. The people whom I seek to persuade — i.e., almost everybody — associate capitalism too strongly with the meaning given to that word by Karl Marx and his successors, which is fair since they popularized it; trying to rehabilitate it seems a waste of effort.

So, until I find a label I like better, I’m a market anarchist.

When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

Last week, on the anniversary of something or other, Bill Clinton wrote (or at least signed) an op-ed containing this phrase:

we do not have the right to resort to violence — or the threat of violence — when we don’t get our way.

Wow, how often does a former head of state join us anti-government extremists?

Of course, by “we” he meant “the rest of you”. Jim Bovard‘s response to this obvious hypocrisy is the best I’ve seen so far.

Looking east from 49°00′08″ N by 122°28′30″ W. After taking the shot, I circumambulated the obelisk, widdershins.

I don’t know which emperor made this primitive earthwork defense against the other.

blogpost on medical licensing

surprisingly sane Atlantic article on the structure of the health biz

Update: Twice in 2018, people urged me to improve this page by adding links about addiction and vaping.  If it happens again, I’ll suggest that they do so in the comments.

I mis-heard “California Department of Boating and Waterways” as “…Voting and Lotteries,” which makes its own kind of sense.

When I lived in Oakland, I was twice approached after sunset by a panhandler who announced, “I’m black but I’m not a mugger!” Both times I flinched and, of course, felt guilty.

It now occurs to me belatedly that, if young adult males are the most violent subset of naked apes, it’s not irrational to be wary of a solitary nocturnal specimen, regardless of his albedo.

So he had a cute racket.