Nicholas Tagg > Recent Status Updates

Jury duty let me get some reading done.

Got interrupted in the middle of a Vin chapter where she was getting some good history to go to dinner.

The chapter on how every justice on the court got confirmed since Bork got Borked was fascinating to see how the court has become a political play thing. Both parties have ratcheted it up in their own ways. Starting with Bork always seemed like Dems would escalate more aggressively while the GOP would often respond in kind. But the GOP has never been as vicious as Dems were to Bork, Thomas, or Kavanaugh.

Ch. 12 explains how our federal system has gotten so out of whack in the last 50 years so excellently. From the Warren court just reading new rights into the Constitution, Congress no longer responding or desiring to respond to the courts' statutory interpretation cases, campaign finance reforms hollowing out parties, gerrymandering making primaries more important than general elections, and cable news/social media.

Gay Cowboys Embraced by Redneck Country: this essay was a contemporary review of Brokeback Mountain. The first time I watched that movie it haunted me for like a week afterward. It was so moving and deeply emotional. He is right that stories about homosexuals that focus on love not sex are powerful forces for the culture. And stories that show how the struggles these men help keep me grateful for today’s world.

Islamo-Bullies Get a Free Ride from the West: great quote: “Bit by bit, free societies abandon small freedoms to accomplish the sensitivities of Muslims of Christian fundamentalists or the PC police or other touchy fanatics. Bit by bit we cede our freedoms to fear and phony civility—all in the name of getting along.” He’s obviously correct that we treat criticism of Islam differently than any other religion.