Mark Kleiman

You want patriotism? Got some right here. “That’s what it means when we say that America is exceptional.” Take your pick, friends. Stand with the President on the side of Martin Luther King, or stand with the Republicans on the Supreme Court and in Congress on the side of Sheriff Clark. That (among other things) […]

Jon Ronson tells the story of “Hank,” who joked about “a really big dongle” and “forking someone’s repo” at a tech conference. Another conference attendee was offended and complained to the conference organizers, including a photo of “Hank.” As a result, “Hank” lost his job. Ronson thinks this is a sad story, and I agree. […]

Does Obama love America?“ and “Is Obama a Christian?“ are both reflections of the same analytically absurd but politically potent winger theme song: “Obama doesn’t hate Muslims enough; he won’t say ‘Islamic terrorism.’ ” Really, this gets much easier to understand if you recall that a President’s words are strategic choices rather than contributions to a seminar […]

Rudy Giuliani, speaking at a Scott Walker fundraiser, with Walker present: I do not believe – and I know this is a horrible thing to say – but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought […]

I feel sorry for the farmers getting caught in the downdraft. More than that, I’m worried about the impact of cheap pot on problem use, and on illegal exports out of state. But as a pure analyst, I’d just like to ask Beau Kilmer to take a bow. He calculated the cost of Dutch legal […]

The harvest is in, and ounces of 10%-THC cannabis are selling for$200 at commercial retail outlets in Washington. (Figure roughly 70 joints to the ounce, and at least 3 stoned hours per joint, so the cost of intoxication is roughly $1 per hour.) That price is fully competitive  with both the illicit market and the […]

It’s well known that Jewish law forbids simmering a kid in its mother’s milk. That’s the textual basis of what became in Rabbinic times the sweeping rules requiring the complete separation of milk and meat. What’s less clear is: (1) Why anyone would want to simmer a kid in its mother’s milk; and (2) Why […]

Blood, we are told, is thicker than water. But factional loyalty can be thicker still. You’d think that someone named “Jonah Goldberg” wouldn’t have any doubts about the moral status of the Crusaders – who, on their way through Europe to the Holy Land, paused from time to time to slaughter the local Jews, and […]

Latest pratfall in the Bibi-Boehner slapstick routine: the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister is now calling the Prince of Orange untrustworthy. It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides So, having mortally […]

Michael (Botany of Desire) Pollan has a breathtaking piece in the current New Yorker on the current wave of scientific research on the benefits – and not merely the medical benefits – of mindful and well-directed use of psilocybin and other chemicals classified as “hallucinogens” or “psychedelics” or (in some uses) “entheogens.” It’s as good […]