Wide Gates, Broad Ways & Destruction

It was late in the Barr household when Andy poured a generous bourbon over one of those expensive spheres of ice. He liked his water artisanal and his regulations optional.

Appetite for Watching

Robert Mueller died on March 20, 2026. The next day, TЯ★MP posted on Truth Social: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.”

In his March 25 conversation with James Webb, Tucker Carlson offered a thought worth keeping: “there’s a certain reverence in death that’s required if you’re going to have reverence for life.”

Sheep Among Wolves III: Innovation & Incentives

“I’m trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into … the seat of criminal activity in this country.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked that question during oral arguments in Trump v. United States on April 25, 2024.

Sheep Among Wolves II: The Sheep Who Smell the Wolf

The wolf does not need every sheep to trust him. He needs them to distrust the sheep who can smell him.

Popular folklore tells us that the flock is protected by the "sheepdog"—the rare, fierce guardian who keeps the predator at bay. But the wolf’s most effective strategy is not to outfight the sheepdog; it is to convince the flock that the dog's bark is actually a conspiracy against them.

About NSEFL

A lighthouse is an odd place to escape responsibility. Its keeper may never meet the people using its beam, never see their ships, never learn whether tonight’s work saved a life. The keeper tends the lamp without expecting a report from every ship that passes. The light travels farther than the keeper’s knowledge of its consequences.

Sheep Among Wolves I: By Their Fruits

The snake is back. The wolf in sheep’s clothing is telling the story.

Jesus did not tell his followers that such wolves do not exist. He told them how to recognize them.

Democracy's Heavy Load

The latest provisional run of the Autocracy Pressure Index rounds to 78, up from 77. The internal movement is only 0.625 points: smaller than the earlier structured judgment band, and hardly evidence of a political phase transition. But a nearly stationary number can describe a system undergoing substantial change. A bridge does not require increasing traffic to accumulate fatigue.