Orin Kerr noted that the writing was remarkably good for a college sophomore, but even more remarkable was that Brooks Anderson, ’25, had the guts to write it, and the Crimson the guts to publish it. The “it” is a stinging takedown of Harvard University’s bureaucracy bloat, living proof of Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy.

Harvard is one of the world’s preeminent universities; surely it has used its billions of dollars of accumulated wealth to primarily invest in its educational program, building an unparalleled roster of top professors, expanding offerings to students, and reducing class sizes. Right? Continue reading →

My mean-ass editor wrote a post earlier this week outlining San Francisco’s recent decision to use remote controlled “killer robots” to beef up their police force. Being something of a fan of the sci-fi genre, I pointed out in the film “Terminator: Salvation” Skynet — the artificial intelligence villain of the Terminator series of films — was actually based in what remained of San Francisco. At the time, I made the remark that police using killer robots was essentially one step closer to Skynet becoming self-aware. Continue reading →

Not that it applies here, as SJ does not exist for “profit-making purposes,”* but the New York lege enacted a new law that would require any website that allows users to post public comments to become the hate speech police by calling it “hateful conduct” rather than hate speech, which is fully protected by the First Amendment and for which liability is precluded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Not that New York cared. Continue reading →

The question is not (I repeat, not) whether people who are suffering from mental illness and homelessness need and deserve societal care and concern. They do. They do for their sake. They do for our sake. They do. But as passionately as some want to either help them out of compassion or be rid of them out of annoyance, there remains one thing that we learned all too well following the Willowbrook scandal (thanks, Geraldo) and the horrors of  forced institutionalization of the mentally ill. They, too, have rights. Continue reading →

San Francisco, of all places, approved a measure to use killer robots. No, not robots that will run around with their own deadly agenda, but robots that will be armed and sent into situations where they can be used to kill.

Police in San Francisco will be allowed to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations. The controversial policy was approved after weeks of scrutiny and a heated debate among the city’s board of supervisors during their meeting on Tuesday.

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I remember very well the discussion among a small group of fencing parents whose kids trained with my son. It was back when our children were applying to college. They were all top students with top grades and scores, and each was a top nationally ranked fencer. I complained about how colleges had no interest in my son, a white Jewish boy from Long Island.

The other parents laughed. What about their children, Asian kids with perfect SAT scores who played all-state cello and won national science prizes? They didn’t stand a chance.** Continue reading →

The the other day, a question was posed whether the fact that an interlocutor was a “mediocre cis white dude” was relevant to anything, in juxtaposition to the uniformity of opinion by, in this instance, “‘every’ trans writer” as related by @AngryBlackLady.

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Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy twitter. What a maroon. I own twitter, and I didn’t spend a dime. When twitter first appeared, I refused to play. I said then I had no thoughts that could be reduced to 140 characters, as it was when it forced people to be disciplined in their expression to fit within the confines of a twit.

Do you really want to know what book I’m reading, in real time?  What about my thoughts on the Giant’s chances of making it to the playoffs?  Or how many cups of coffee I drink every morning.  As I said to Kevin, we already have too much information.  This is just way too much. Continue reading →

It can prove hard to figure out what’s harmful these days, given that people are rather promiscuous in their claim of victimhood and suffering from anything they choose. Whether they’re really harmed or just play-acting is hard to say, which is why there exists terms and conditions that makes it unacceptable to question someone claiming victimhood.

But this has given rise to a sub rosa suspicion that many who proclaim their inner pain without any physical harm are mostly performing, and they consequently dismiss the seriousness of all such claims. No one punched, cut or otherwise struck Corionsa Ramey, and yet her claim of irreparable harm deserved better than she got. Continue reading →

In what can only be described as a move of laughable cynicism, the Republicans in the Pennsylvania House voted to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. They formed a committee to impeach Krasner. They held a party line vote to impeach Krasner. And voted to impeach Krasner.

What’s breaking their hearts is that Krasner, the original progressive prosecutor, not only turned out to be the real deal when it came to doing what he said he was going to do, from not prosecuting petty offenses to aggressively prosecuting cops who engaged in crime to reviewing old convictions of dubious merit, not only was elected the first time, but was re-elected by the people of Philly a second time, winning 69% of the vote. They kinda liked Larry. This blew up heads in Harrisburg. Continue reading →