Down Eros, Up Mars (Ben Hur, 1959)

What Ben-Hur smuggled, what it built, and why $400 million wouldn't buy it back

The Doctrine Was Never the Mechanism

Brendan Carr didn't need the Fairness Doctrine. He needed a merger.

Are You a Communist, or Can You Afford a Burrito?

Nobody was arguing about food. Chipotle is a price index, the complaint was about land, and the reply — eat ramen, and are you a communist — is a slogan from a postwar sales campaign for the thing that's now unavailable.

The Lunchbox from Hell: How Solid-State Learned to Growl

The Lunchbox from Hell. My first quality amp, and fond memories indeed.

Domestic "Events"

Mike Johnson has spent his entire career legislating what happens inside your marriage. He has finally located the one bedroom he will not enter.

August 8, 2026 - The Week in Review

Life was pretty busy this week, and my time to obsess over making certain I had a queue of posts lined up was curtailed. As I posted on Monday, the recent stretch I have covered on the Civil Rights era (the lead up to it, and the bat-shit insanity

The Empty Creel Party

The beard is not vetting. A launch video is not a governing record. And a Senate race is a catastrophically expensive place for a first background check. The finale of The Empty Creel: stop waiting for saviors and build the fucking bench.

Off the Record Is Not Opposition

Republican officials have spent a decade privately recognizing the danger of Trump while publicly enabling him. Their anonymous anguish is not resistance. It is an alibi.

Independent, but Somehow at the Helm

They vote for Democrats, raise money for Democrats, cut ads for Democrats — and proudly insist they're not Democrats. Fine, keep the label. But surviving the Republican shipwreck didn't make anyone captain of this boat. Part Two of The Empty Creel.

Sorry folks, I am broken.

I am broken. The latest dive into how Brown v. Board of Education really changed America, and not entirely for the better, really is why we're where we are today.

There Are No More Republicans in the Woods

The Never Trump movement may have already persuaded nearly everyone it can. Democrats need a growth strategy, not another search party.

August 1, 2026 - Week in Review

The week in review, July 26th through August 1. tot6