You don’t need to formally reinstate capital punishment, or outlaw homosexuality, when a populist government does these things extra-judicially. (View Post)

I don't think that birthrates have more than a marginal impact on the prevalance of religious belief. Lots of people born into Muslim or Haredic families fall away. Secularism tends to be a prod… (View Post)

Importing adults causes other, and bigger, problems. (View Post)

I remember discussing this with a military historian, about how was it so many fools ended up commanding the armies of Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Russia, during WWI. He replied that they had two vit… (View Post)

It must have felt a bit like this, being a politically-aware person in 5th century Rome, wondering how on earth you ended up being led by people who were wilfully incompetent. (View Post)