Belgium bans a wide range of sexist speech – The Volokh Consipracy.

Here’s one for you, Belgium has just banned “sexist” speech.  One intrepid blogger points out that this is even more ridiculous than you think, because under Belgian law, it is defamation to accuse someone of having committed a crime without proper proof.  Therefore, it is now technically illegal to call someone a sexist unless you can prove that they actually are.  In any case, file this one away under the “free speech does not exist in Europe” file.

Armarium Magnum: Cartoons and Fables – How Cosmos Got the Story of Bruno Wrong.

I haven’t been watching this “Cosmos” show.  I just kind of assumed it would be full of pop-science propaganda.  And hey, turns out I wasn’t far off.  This is kind of a long read, but worth your time, as it explains exactly how well known historical facts can just be ignored and discarded in pursuit of “telling a good story.”

Uncle Sam Trolls Jihadis on Twitter – Hit & Run : Reason.com.

At this point in my life, I’d like to believe that nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the ridiculous actions of the federal government.  I never describe allegations of corruption or incompetence or inefficiency as “unbelievable.”  The government being all of those things is incredibly believable.  But this one is just too much.  Even after looking over this article several times, I just about refuse to believe this is a real thing.  Apparently we are now paying millions of dollars for some teenage intern to troll potential terrorists.  U mad, bro?

Comparing the Debt Burdens of Ontario and California – The Fraser Institute

Bob Murphy was one of the writers on this 20-page booklet, but it reads much quicker than you’d think.  Worth your time if you’re interested in this sort of thing.  TLDR version:  The Canadian province of Ontario makes California’s debt load seem easily manageable by comparison.  Their situation is far more dire and out of control than California’s, which is somewhat surprising as recently, I’ve been hearing a lot about how when it comes to fiscal policy, Canada has been much more responsible lately than the U.S.  While this appears to be true for their federal government, their provinces are in all kinds of trouble.  Weird.  In America the situation is about reversed.