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Mountains, molehills, and motivations

Roadless Rule. It was controversial a quarter century ago and it appears that it remains so. The “environmental” PACs are coming-out in earnest, no doubt hoping to drum-up memberships with sensationalist boilerplate language that often doesn’t mean much after critical review. First, most of the Roadless Area (a federal designation) lies in a handful of western states, and half of that probably would not be considered as forests, at least from a visual standpoint. Not that unforested lands haven’t ecological and other values. They do. However, if one adopts a forestland ...

The rule of law cannot be based upon 'feelings'

One of the primary tenets of the American legal system is the importance of precedent; the common law doctrine of "stare decisis" means "to stand by things decided." The purpose of law in such a system is to provide stability and predictability, so that people can conform their conduct to the ...

Congress out on recess again!

Summer is over, the kids are back in school and will be in class nearly every Monday through Friday except for a few days at Thanksgiving until their Holiday break over Christmas and New Years, totaling about 75 days until 2027. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives in Washington took off ...

Will AI cause Doomsday?

In the satirical 1964 anti-war film "Dr. Strangelove," fears of a "Doomsday machine," an automated, unstoppable device programmed to trigger global nuclear annihilation if the Soviet Union is attacked, gripped U.S. leaders and the Soviet ambassador in the American "war room." Predictions of ...

More threats to the freedom of speech

The freedom of speech and of the press is not a gift bestowed by a president, Congress or a federal agency. It is a natural right of all persons. The First Amendment does not create that right; it prohibits the government from infringing upon it. The ability to think, speak, write, criticize, ...

First-world problems

There is nothing like a good cookout. The smell of the grill and the food getting perfectly yummy is incomparable. Then it comes time to serve the food. All the condiments are carefully laid out beside the delectable side dishes. Can you see the steaming corn on the cob, creamy potato salad, ...