Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

"The United States has institutionalized the mass shooting in a way that [Emile] Durkheim would immediately recognize. As I discovered to my shock when my own children started school in North Carolina some years ago, preparation for a shooting is a part of our children’s lives as soon as they enter kindergarten. The ritual of a Killing Day is known to all adults. It is taught to children first in outline only, and then gradually in more detail as they get older. The lockdown drill is its Mass. The language of 'Active shooters', 'Safe corners', and 'Shelter in place' is its liturgy. 'Run, Hide, Fight' is its creed. Security consultants and credential-dispensing experts are its clergy. My son and daughter have been institutionally readied to be shot dead as surely as I, at their age, was readied by my school to receive my first communion." - Kieran Healey, August 3, 2019.  I will only add to Healey's evocative comments that I did ...

The US Supreme Court has made its decision in the case, and a legally-enforced monopoly in the ability to clean other people's teeth for money has been eliminated. Yeah! I refer to the case of NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF DENTAL EXAMINERS v. FTC  In the case, what one might call the 'originalist' bloc dissented in an opinion written by Justice Alito, joined y Scalia and Thomas. The other six Justices all agreed on the court's opinion, written by Anthony Kennedy. The issue was the extent of the state-action antitrust law immunity, as defined by PARKER v. BROWN (1943). The majority seemed especially interested in the composition of the NC State Board of Dental Examiners. It has eight members, of whom only one is from the general public: six are licensed dentists, one a licensed hygienist. This is, in short, an obvious industry protection agency, and its animus against non-dentists who whiten teeth has to be understood in that context. The decision is a cont...

If all has gone well, as you are reading this I have begun a mini-vacation in North Carolina. So for today let us simply contemplate the flag of that state.  That the flag of North Carolina shall consist of a blue union, containing in the center thereof a white star with the letter N in gilt on the left and the letter C in gilt on the right of said star, the circle containing the same to be one-third the width of the union. The fly of the flag shall consist of two equally proportioned bars; the upper bar to be red, the lower bar to be white; that the length of the bars horizontally shall be equal to the perpendicular length of the union, and the total length of the flag shall be one-third more than its width. That above the star in the center of the union there shall be a gilt scroll in semi-circular form, containing in black letters this inscription "May 20th, 1775," and that below the star there shall be a similar scroll containing in black letters the inscription: ...