9/3/20 review of the book Crisis!, by Cedric De Leon

Here is the link to my September 3, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book Crisis!, When Political Parties Lose Their Consent to Rule, by Cedric De Leon.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

9/7/19 discussion of "tax trafficking"

Here is the link to my September 7, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about a concept I called "tax trafficking."

As one might imagine, I wanted to counterpoise this concept with the concept of sex trafficking. Simply stated, sex trafficking is coerced sex work, usually for no pay. I considered tax trafficking as coerced tax payment, with the taxes being weaponized against the person paying taxes.

I haven't really explored this topic over the years. But I do think it's important, in America, where we operate on the idea of a government by consent, that we consider what it means to consent to our government -- especially when they weaponize all our forms of consent, including tax payment, against us; and when they often justify that weaponization by generating paranoia about things such as youth sex and sex trafficking.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

7/14/19 discussion about problems with then-current administration

Here is the link to my July 14, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about some threats America was facing from the administration at the time.

I generally agree with everything I say in this thread -- especially as it pertains to the previous US administration.

However -- probably one of the most glaring and embarrassing mistakes I've made over the years is to insist, again and again, that James Comey violated the Hatch Act.

James Comey was head of the FBI. And the Hatch Act literally says, if you are the head of the FBI, you are exempt from the Hatch Act.

So it was literally impossible for Comey to violate the Hatch Act.

However -- Comey acted in such a way that, if he had been in just about any other position when he did what he did in late October of 2016, he would have been in violation of the Hatch Act.

I stand by that statement, even today. However -- I really, really wish I hadn't spent YEARS claiming that Comey had violated the Hatch Act. It's really embarrassing.

7/7/19 criticism of the then-popular statement "Stonewall is now"

Here is the link to my July 7, 2019, Twitter thread discussion, criticizing a statement a lot of people were making around that time, "Stonewall is now."

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.