Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Continuing a subject begun last week. Let us assume that I would like to see state-legal cannabis enterprises thrive, on the whole. Of course, as a capitalist I recognize that some will fail and they should be allowed to fail. I hope not to see the day when any head shop is considered Too Big to Fail like the banks of 2008.   Because I wish well for the industry as a whole, while allowing for failures of independent firms, I want to see the cannabis industry have access to the bankruptcy courts and especially to chapter 11, which allows for a company to enter the court's protection from creditors, under the umbrella of that protection re-organize its financial stricture, then re-emerge into normal operations, out from under the umbrella.  Something like this is best for everyone in the case of a business failure: best for the customers and employees, best for the investors, best even for the principals, although they often end up having a lessened connection to the reorga...

There are different ways to do headlines, adopting by different journalistic organizations. The front page for the Wall Street Journal had the following headline on p.1, on Nov. 22, "Disney Executives Told Board They Lost Faith in Ousted CEO."  Note that every word there is capitalized except for a preposition, "in". Note also, as is common, that the headline is a full grammatical sentence in the present tense.  This is a form of what is known as an "Up style" of headline typography.  A more drastic Up style is one in which EVERY LETTER IS UPPER CASE. This is generally used only for very short and dramatic headlines. ARMSTRONG ON MOON.  Headlines suitable for all caps treatment at generally not sentences. They are phrases or sometimes single words.  But there is also a Down style, typified by the usage of The Guardian, a distinguished London publication. A Guardian headline might read, "China fury at broader US inquiry into Covid.' (See col. one, ...

I received a question in Quora about the use of a certain word. I explained as best I could, and am reproducing the result below.  ------------------------------------------------------------------   T o some extent “liberalism” is simply like the word “bark” It can be used in many different ways. One has to decide from context whether the bark in question is the outside of a tree or the sound a dog makes. It would be just goofy to argue about this: “no, the REAL meaning of bark is the outside of a tree! You are trying to subvert and distort the language by transposing the word to the canine context.” Many of the arguments about the word “liberal” that one encounters are confused in much the same way. In the United States, the term is often used for what one might alternatively call a social democrat: for someone who believes that (a) there is a role for profit-seeking activity in the production of wealth, but (b) the DISTRIBUTION of that wealth is a matter in which the s...

 Question for my readers. Aliens take over the earth. They are about to use their advanced technology to erase from the world by the press of a button, all of the music, and any memory of any of the music, of one of these musicians: Steve Perry or Sting.  Which one would you beg the alien overlords to spare?  Personally, I'm gonna to try to save the music of THIS guy. 

There is some ongoing judicial indecision about the relationship between Schedule I and Chapter 7. Schedule I of course is the list of substances considered by the U.S. government to have no approved medical use.  Chapter 7 is the liquidation chapter of the bankruptcy law. It generally requires that a trustee be appointed, and the truistee liquidate the assets of the defaulted company. Consider what may happen if a state-legal marijuana company becomes insolvent. The owner/manager may file chapter 11 hoping for reorganization. Some of the creditors, looking for a better deal from liquidation, may petition to court for a chapter 7 conversion. But tah entails that the liquidating trustee, acting under the authority of a federal court, is going to get into the business of selling (liquidating) to inventory of a company in the business of selling a schedule 1 drug.  This has seemed to some courts TOO paradoxical. The bankruptcy system after all is a federal not a state system, and...

Trumpism is a sinking ship. It was an awful ship, in any case, and we should all cheer its voyage to the bottom of the ocean.  If that is your view as well as mine, then you and I may share something else, too: an appreciation of the entertainment value when the rats jump off so hastily.  So why does the MSN headline have to say "train" instead of  ship"?  Hmmmm.  One-time MAGA supporter Tomi Lahren appears to be abandoning the Trump train (msn.com)  

  I recently binged my way through.... The Crown Season 5 on Netflix: Diana's interview, Prince Charles' breakdancing, and more. (slate.com) It was very well done. As the show moves through the decades, the cast keeps changing. So for example the part of Queen Elizabeth II was played by Claire Foy when she was a young woman, seasons 1-2, by Olivia Colman at greater age (seasons 3-4), and now by Imelda Staunton in season 5.  Staunton is best known, or has been best known until now, as one of the great villainesses of the Harry Potter books, Dolores Umbridge.  Staunton has not dislodged Colman as my personal favorite of the Elizabeths here. It was Colman who played off against Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) in some epic scenes, and against the younger version of Diana, Princess of Wales (as played by in season 4 by Emma Corrin).  Those three actresses had a great dynamic triangle going in that fourth season. The fifth?  Thatcher is gone. Neither John Major n...