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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023

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Alberta is cold Texas. Who doesn't want more Texas in the US?

For non-potheads, Texas is relatively free, and education savings accounts will happen- Greg Abbott is personally campaigning for primary challengers to republicans that voted against it, you’re looking at a much darker red in the Texas state legislature ‘25.

I'm sorry I promise I will read the full report and treat it with absolute seriousness, as soon as I get over laughing at #Cannabis And Salvia Freedom

If that section doesn't end with the writer becoming a gelatinous 5-dimensional cube falling through an endless universe of mirrors for ten billion years, I will concede that his Salvia Freedom has been Infringed.
Not mocking anyone here: libertarians are my favorite people because they're the only fun political group left.

If you download the full spreadsheet and reduce the weight of incarceration rate to zero in the calculations, Texas still ends up at a pitiful #46 on personal freedom.

Gambling: #39
Marriage: #44
Education: #35
Marijuana: #50
Asset forfeiture: #42
Travel: #50

The entire thing is full of really dumb metrics that are unrelated to any reasonable definition of freedom.

What is freedom? It depends whom you ask.

Squishy people will say: Freedom is when same sex married couple can defend their marijuana field with assault rifles.

Hardcore people will say: Freedom is when different age bracket married couple can defend their racially exclusive town with sawed off shotguns and machine guns.

Freedom is when I have more power than you.

what percentage of slot machines are in casinos

The actual metric is "Slot/video games legal outside casinos & tracks? (=1 if yes, =0.25 if in strictly limited locations with half of revenue going to charity, =0 if no)".

what percentage of marriages are gay

The actual metric is "Same-sex civil union, marriage, or extensive domestic partnership=1, limited domestic partnership=0.5, no same-sex unions=0, super-doma=-1". (And all the states score the same on that metric anyway due to the federal Supreme Court's decision.)

The entire thing is full of really dumb metrics that are unrelated to any reasonable definition of freedom.

If you disagree with the authors' weights, you can modify them yourself.