I kid, but - however much consulting with one’s constituents is part of the job in representative democracies - you have to be careful about over-promising about consultation. People expect that, once they have been consulted, your decision will accord with their expressed preferences.

It was actually great to have a full house at this event and to have all of the candidates show up and show us who they are. I just had to get some snark out of my system.

Lessons from a municipal forum: 1) you can never fail to get applause telling middle class homeowners that they have not been consulted enough.

Full house for #yegcc Ward Métis Candidate forum.

#yeg #yegcc With Canada post on strike you might not get your voter cards reminding you where and when to vote. Here’s where to find that info (this particularly affects special ballots). See you at the polls! www.edmonton.ca/city_governm...

I guess I would expect that an open race would start to coalesce around 2 front-runners. But look at all those “undecideds.” It’s also worth being cautious with local polling.

edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu... #yeg #yegcc #ableg

I’ll fight any of you for clout.

I appreciate this thread… so will you if you live in Ward D and will be voting for Public school trustee. These elections matter.

Don't miss the #RealTalkRJ Edmonton Mayoral Debate featuring @timcartmell.bsky.social, @andrewknack.bsky.social, and Michael Walters on Friday, October 3. Watch or listen live at 8:30am or later on demand: www.ryanjespersen.com #yeg #yegcc #abpoli

Alberta now. I have a political slogan that I keep trotting out, living here: "Raise My Taxes!" It's yet to catch on, strangely. #abpoli www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1Px...

He's right.

Basically anything by Ralph Wiggum. I really identify with that kid somehow.

As with foreign aid, the idea that modern militaries adopted rules of engagement because they were taken over by sissy altruists - and not out of hard experience and strategic calculation - is (or should be) laughable. If only our leaders premised their strategic decisions on moral consideration.

It's easy to see this speech as just weirdly performative, but there's a lot more—and a lot worse—going on here. The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration. How? 1/

Another reason why RsOE are injunctions not only (or principally) of morality but of prudence: they make it possible to have and maintain strategic alliances with partners you can actually count on.

As with foreign aid, the idea that modern militaries adopted rules of engagement because they were taken over by sissy altruists - and not out of hard experience and strategic calculation - is (or should be) laughable. If only our leaders premised their strategic decisions on moral consideration.

As part of a community group here (pun intended, i'm hilarious), I've been helping to organize an election forum for Ward Metis city council candidates in #yeg on Oct 3. Almost all of the candidates will be there. You should be, too! #yegcc www.eventbrite.com/e/ward-metis...

Poor Stanfield. Even in death he won’t be allowed to forget his lack of game.

I sometimes forget to be terrified by this. Thanks for the reminder.

I'm on Facebook trying to get my friends and family excited about municipal elections in Alberta. Ask me:

Politics shouldn't be surprising most of the time. I'm not surprised by this, so things are as they should be. I've never had a national party leader as my MP before... that would be new.

Great. Now I know what medbeds aren’t. Please convince me that I am better for knowing that.

I have in the past cautioned people to remember that party convention resolutions do not necessarily translate into government policy etc etc. But still, it really doesn’t speak well of a governing party that its membership approved a resolution this nakedly discriminatory on such flimsy grounds.

I am inclined to think that tools like this (and like CBC’s “Vote Compass”) are useful for informing undecided/low-information voters and for confirming or solidifying for decideds. But is there evidence (even anecdotal) that they can change minds? Anyone studied these things?

Without a shadow of a doubt, if he’d enjoyed the current media environment, Nixon would have survived Watergate.

This is great (but give yourself time to take it carefully and follow some explanatory links). I matched most with the people I expected i would, but not to the extent that I thought I would (no one over 53% compatibility). I guess I'm an independent thinker after all! (I'm not).

Call for abstracts Dan Halliday and I are organizing a workshop on philosophy of taxation. Papers presented at the workshop will be considered for inclusion in a special issue of the Monist that we are editing. Details on the workshop can be found here: philevents.org/event/show/1...

You all are NOT going to bait me into posting about the notwithstanding clause! Nuh uhn! That’s not going to work this time. Not like every other time. That’s over. I’m done.

As part of a community group here (pun intended, i'm hilarious), I've been helping to organize an election forum for Ward Metis city council candidates in #yeg on Oct 3. Almost all of the candidates will be there. You should be, too! #yegcc www.eventbrite.com/e/ward-metis...

This is great (but give yourself time to take it carefully and follow some explanatory links). I matched most with the people I expected i would, but not to the extent that I thought I would (no one over 53% compatibility). I guess I'm an independent thinker after all! (I'm not).

Birds are dinosaurs.

A very incisive essay by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social. You should read it. I can't resist, though, responding to the key question he puts to Ezra Klein: "The challenge for Klein and his fellow travelers is to specify what sort of ground rules could ... www.bostonreview.net/articles/how... 1/

You've heard me talk about it. You've seen me write about it. And now it's your chance to pre-order my forthcoming book Coverage Denied! Combining survey & administrative data with extensive interviews, my book highlights the harms caused by coverage barriers. Hope you'll read it! cup.org/4nfM2IM

A very incisive essay by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social. You should read it. I can't resist, though, responding to the key question he puts to Ezra Klein: "The challenge for Klein and his fellow travelers is to specify what sort of ground rules could ... www.bostonreview.net/articles/how... 1/

Oh man! So my periodic indulgence is ANOTHER way I am right-coded (to go with getting married in my early 20s - and staying married - having more than 2 kids, going to church regularly, etc)?

Watching a Jimmy Kimmel monologue for the first time in... uh... ever. Thanks, DJT!

Hi #yeg and #yegcc folks. My parents live in Nakota Isga and wanted my advice on who to support for their new city councilor now that @andrewknack.bsky.social is not running. I've dug into candidate websites and am not terribly impressed by any of them. Advice?

"How could you begin to pay me enough for such a feat of Sisyphean futility?" Good question. I'm disposed to think we should at least try. That's my comment on contract negotiations in Alberta. You're welcome. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AeC...

I have trouble pronouncing stuff, too. That’s not where the stupidity is to be found in this.

My students were having a bit of trouble understanding why Plato thinks that democratic people will give power over to the tyrant if he has such a disordered soul. This isn’t Plato, but I put it like this: democratic people are ruled by desire, but not merely by their own desires, but also by …

Sorry. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

So pleased to see the announcement that the Canadian Political Science Association will be holding its annual meeting in June at University of Ottawa mycpsa-cpsa-acsp.ca/cfp/cfp_index

I hate it there.

I am the kind of pedant who will make sure that I use the apostrophe properly in text messages. What kind of pedant are you?

Not only all philosophy but all current affairs are footnotes to Plato.

Not only all philosophy but all current affairs are footnotes to Plato.

Battle doomscrolling by posting 5 small pleasures: 1) when your kid loves your gravy 2) when your wife finds you a little blue heron 3) when your students did the reading 4) when your dad essentially admits that you’re right about infill housing 5) when are still within the character limit

Why are single-stair buildings actually SAFER than two stair buildings in some circumstances? It seems counter intuitive… obviously, more redundancy is better, right?

At one level, this determination to attack civil society is a hypocritical reversal from inheritors of the traditions of people like Father Neuhaus. On another, the "mediating institutions" they had in mind were generally families, churches, and other "trad communities" not NGOs.