We punish speech because we have yet to devise an effective way to punish thought.
Sep 172021
Ruling
In ’37 Stalin made a hash
Of party loyalists and army brass.
Decimation: One in ten are shot.
What’s the word when one in ten are not?
Sep 142021
The logic of stealing an election demands the vigorous suppression of claims that it was stolen.
Sep 072021
The world has always fought over ideas, whose truth is at best a minor strategic advantage.
Aug 272021
Might doesn’t make right, just the rules.
Aug 232021
The future will have no laws, only terms of service.
Aug 112021
Rome’s interests, to Caesar, are indistinguishable from his own.
Aug 022021
If you want power, fame is a liability.
Jul 232021
A man can bear almost any punishment, provided it’s not for his own good.
Jul 222021
One never sees extremely powerful men decide, in midlife, that they have accumulated enough power, and devote the rest of their years to giving it away.
Jul 202021
Ants can be deterred from crossing a boundary by outlining it with chalk: this is respectable opinion. On ants it works only for a while.