Pun Salad

Bryan Caplan has the germ of a good idea:

A modest proposal:

To be eligible for the presidency, you should have 5s on all of the following:

AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics
AP Statistics
AP US History
AP European History
AP World History

— Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan) August 20, 2024

Dinking presidential requirements is hard, requiring a Constitutional amendment, I'm pretty sure. Too much work.

But an informal requirement would be fine: an expectation that candidates take those tests, and the results be publicized. Optional, of course—this isn't Russia, is it Danny?—but declining to do so should also be publicized. And not just the presidential candidates! Congressional, too! And state governors and legislators!

At least.

You demand basic competence in doctors, dentists, pilots, plumbers, electricians, etc. Usually the competence is implicit—they probably wouldn't be in the job without it—but why not make it explicit for pols?

Until then, I'm in agreement with Charles C.W. Cooke: Friends, I Hate Everyone.

Well, maybe not "hate". That's a strong word. "Despise", maybe.

That's my penultimate "gifted" link for August, so click away.

Also of note:

• Also hating both: Mike Masnick. He's what I think of as "the sane one" at Techdirt. And he points out: The Harris-Walz Tech Policy Platform… Is Still Bad.

  As we head into another Presidential election, one thing has been consistent from the last two such elections as well: the tech policies of both major parties are terrible.

  The Donald Trump Republican platform for 2025 is beyond crazy with all sorts of nonsense. The “tech” part of it is barely worth a mention, but just the fact that they see things like age verification laws as a first step to banning pornography should give you a sense of how batshit crazy (and against fundamental rights) it is.

  That said, the Democratic platform is not great. It’s not batshit crazy, like the GOP plan, but it’s still generally bad. It’s the kind of thing that is going to lead to a lot of wasted time and effort as moral panic know-nothing “we must do something” types push out bad idea after bad idea, while people who actually understand how this stuff works have to do our best to educate against the nonsense.

  Much of the tech policy part of the document appears to have been written for Biden on the assumption he was going to be the candidate, so there’s always a chance that Harris will somehow change it later on. But, on most tech policy issues, she’s been in line with Biden. In particular, both of them have hated on Section 230 for ages. Biden has insisted it should be repealed and has stumped for KOSA, despite the obvious harm it will do to kids (especially LGBTQ+ kids).

  "Not batshit crazy" is kind of a low bar. Still, I can see that, in combination with "Not Trump", it could be a winning combination.

• I small AI at work. Lloyd Billingsley at Power Line writes on Queer Nukes for Peace.

  The Biden-Harris administration, Fox News reports, has appointed Sneha Nair as a special assistant at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Prior to the appointment, Nair served as a research analyst with the Nuclear Security Program at the Stimson Center. The special assistant earned a masters in geography and international relations from the University of St. Andrews, but there’s more to her.

  Sneha Nair is co-author of “Queering nuclear weapons: How LGBTQ+ inclusion strengthens security and reshapes disarmament,” published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

  Her co-author Louis Reitmann, is a research associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and a board member of the Emerging Voices Network, organized by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC). Reitman earned an MSc in international relations from the London School of Economics. In “Queering nuclear weapons”

  Reitmann and Nair contend:

  Equity and inclusion for queer people is not just a box-ticking exercise in ethics and social justice; it is also essential for creating effective nuclear policy. Studies in psychology and behavioral science show that diverse teams examine assumptions and evidence more carefully, make fewer errors, discuss issues more constructively, and better exchange new ideas and knowledge.

  I've only included one paragraph from the Nair/Reitmann article, but one that gives the flavor. It is every defense of DEI policies you've ever seen, with references to nuclear weapons policy shoehorned in where appropriate.

  Basically, this is something even a basic LLM AI could have done a few years ago. And I strongly suspect that's the case here.

• Michelle. ma belle. These ain't words that go together well. Philip Greenspun and Chadwick Moore respond to a bit of Michelle Obama's DNC speech:

  Adjusted for inflation (Zillow MVY house price index) since Biden took office, her house on Martha's Vineyard should be worth at least $20 million. I'm waiting for her to say, "Why do I have three mansions? Because I couldn't afford four."

  — Philip Greenspun (@PhilipGreenspun) August 22, 2024

  To be fair, Michelle was claiming that her parents "were suspicious of those who took more than they needed."

  As near as I can tell, she didn't speculate on what her parents would have to say about articles like this one at Apartment Therapy: All About the Obamas’ 3 Stunning Homes in the U.S.