Medium

Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition – Deep Code

February 1, 2017 by Michael Boyle

I can’t vouch for Jordan Greenhall – I am unfamiliar with his work – but this piece is definitely worth a read (and a few re-reads). It’s a very detailed theoretical investigation into what’s going on at the moment from a writer that seemed very well-versed in system theory.

While many things have changed in the world in the past two years, 2016 saw what looks like a phase transition in the political domain. While the overall phenomenon is global in scale and includes Brexit and other movements throughout Europe, I want to focus specifically on the victory of the “Trump Insurgency” and drill down into detail on how this state change will play out.

Source: Jordan Greenhall: Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition – Deep Code

Lessig in Medium: Rules for a constitutional crisis

January 30, 2017 by Michael Boyle

Lawrence Lessig will always be a hero to digital natives young and old, and even when he has moved to other things (the pervasive corruption of money in politics, among others), he can be counted on for wise words.

Today in Medium he wrote the following:

He has no understanding of his place in the constitutional order. His White House has run amuck, issuing diktats without advice from either the State Department or the Department of Justice. He has no discipline. He has no understanding. And he feels himself constrained by nothing—save the pathologically thin skin that controls him as meth controls an addict. He is constitutionally compromised, and unqualified to be President.

Source: Rules for a constitutional crisis – Medium

The whole piece is worth a read.

Give Trump A Chance

January 27, 2017 by Michael Boyle

Another old friend (I have lots of old friends, and they’re all freaking out) wrote an amazing piece in Medium that is definitely worth a read. In the piece, he suggests that in the face of CFAF (Conservative Friends and Family) who insist that you should “Give Trump a Chance”… that you should. Accede to their request, shut up about him and what he’s doing.

But… with conditions:

you want me to keep my stupid liberal mouth shut? You want your fucking glorious leader to bask in the light of Heaven and lead us to the promised land? Fine. But now YOU bear the burden of keeping him in check. YOU are the watcher at the gates. I’m not asking you to say you’re wrong. And I promise I won’t yell ‘ha!’ in your face. This isn’t some gotcha game. I know exactly where my boundaries are, and what I am willing to tolerate. I have drawn a line and know when it is crossed. It has been crossed so many times this week I feel like I can’t even see straight…

So, to be clear… my line has been crossed. What I want to know is this…where is your line and when it is crossed?

Source: Give Trump A Chance – Dan Hagerty in Medium