“The less they know, the less they know it”
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This is why Republican officials are such craven cowards…
…because Trump has a grip on the votes of tens of millions of diehard Republican voters. And it’s that devoted minority of the electorate that is leading the country to ruin. (As a reminder, Thomas Massie, who occasionally bucked the Republican herd, is also a nut.)
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Habermas and the Israeli mass killings in Gaza
As is well-known, Habermas and others issued a statement of “solidarity” with Israel about a month after the October 7 atrocities by Hamas. This was, no doubt, borne of his long efforts to resist any attempts to whitewash the Nazi atrocities, which brought the state of Israel into being. And a month after the October…
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The imbecile strikes again! RFK Jr’s Health Department suppresses research…
…finding that the Covid and shingles vaccines are safe.
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Maybe Borat was right after all about that part of the world?
Unbelievable. (Borat reference.)
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What an embarrassment: Harvard raising money to hire faculty who contribute to “viewpoint diversity” which is not an academic value
Pathetic. Public universities can’t do anything when their legislatures create institutes and schools for the purpose of hiring right-wing faculty. But Harvard departments will need to stand firm in what looks to be massive push for affirmative action for faculty with the right “politics” but not the right scholarly bona fides to be appointed on…
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Four law professors win Guggenheim Fellowships
They are: Justin Driver (Yale), Dov Fox (San Diego), Rick Hasen (UCLA), and Gerard Magliocca (Indiana/Indianapolis).
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The Pope is “weak on crime”
No comment. But I do hope the malevolent buffoon in Washington DC continues attacking major religious leaders.
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It’s a good thing Ross Douthat doesn’t know any philosophy…
…or he wouldn’t have been able to write this silly book full of bad arguments for religious belief. It’s as though Hume, Darwin, Lyell, David Strauss etc. never existed with these folks.
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Dear People of the World:
I am sorry that the President of my country is a pathologically dishonest, narcissistic imbecile. I hope you and we all survive it. UPDATE: Longtime reader Henry Cohen writes: I am sorry that the congressional Republicans refuse to stop him, even though they could. I blame them more than I do him, because he is…
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Twitter redux
Since I changed blog platforms, I’ve been back on the Twitter/X platform to try to get the word out about the new URL for the blog. This has reminded me, alas, of my prior observations about Twitter, all of which remain true unfortunately. Interacting with the members of the Strauss cult in recent days brought…
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The rapier wit of members of the Strauss cult: Alex Priou edition (UPDATED)
The Strauss cult may be mostly dead in political science departments, but it lives on on Twitter/X. Predictably, my saying out loud what philosophers always say about the “master” riled up the faithful on social media. A highlight was someone named Alex Priou, who teaches at the University of Austin (not the real university in…
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University of Florida “College Republicans,” i.e., the Hitler Youth League
Amazing. In fact, they do have a First Amendment right to be Nazis. The U.S. position on “hate speech” may soon come home to roost.
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Donald Trump, the most ignorant President in the history of the U.S., was warned even by his hand-picked general…
…about how Iran would respond to an attack. But that did not deter the imbecile. Now his only hope domestically is to sabotage the elections this fall. Rest assured he will try to do so.
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Speaking of fundamentalist fanatics…
…they’re in the U.S. army too, and offering the troops a Biblical interpretation of the attack on Iran. Given that Pete “pass the bottle” Hegseth is one of them, one can only wonder where this is heading… (Thanks to John Bussanich for the pointer.)
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Pete “pass the bottle” Hegseth, the least qualified Defense Secretary in history…
…has decided that military officers will no longer benefit from fellowships and further educational opportunities at first-rate universities, but can still go to those schools with proper ideological credentials (plus a couple of legitimate schools). Unbelievably stupid and destructive.



Jacob Barrett, Ideal and Non- Ideal Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2026) Part of the Elements in Political Philosophy series. Permanently…