no third solution

Blogging about liberty, anarchy, economics and politics

The Gun in the Room

David Z | April 29, 2008

It is a wearying but essential task to keep reminding people that the state is nothing but an agency of violence. When someone talks about “the welfare state helping the poor,” we must point out the gun in the room. When someone opposes the decriminalization of marijuana, we must point out the gun in [...]

Medical Marijuana in Michigan

David Z | April 29, 2008

Some people want to legalize medical marijuana in Michigan. This is counterproductive, for a number of reasons:
U.S. law classifies marijuana, like heroin and LSD, as a Schedule I controlled substance. That means it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.
Of course, “accepted medical use” is defined by legislators who [...]

Comments on Comments #14

David Z | April 28, 2008

Olly wants some clarification from my response to his comment in Comments #13,:
David — just to be clear, I wasn’t espousing liberalism, or saying that Seattle should live up to “liberalism”…
Liberal, Conservative, it’s all the same results.
Duly noted—and I whole heartedly agree with you. Perhaps offsetting the term in quotes was misleading. [...]

Jury Nullification and Blocked Defenses

David Z | April 22, 2008

Over at A Stitch in Haste, Kip inquires about a bigoted application of jury nullification: “Should a nullifier be entitled to disregard [a prohibition on certain defenses] and vote to acquit?”
So I put it again to the nullifiers: Assume a juror, who acted in good faith and made no attempt to lie her [...]