Sweaty's Corner

still life of a round loaf of bread torn in two. One half sits open in warm light. The other half is bound tightly with a coil of red thread that trails off the table toward the viewer.

Half a Loaf (Reagan and Firearms)

Reagan signed one of the strictest gun laws in the country in 1967, then spent 1991 and 1994 lobbying for two more. The myth came later, and it isn’t his.

Claymation diorama of an empty Senate hearing room. A single red thread unspools from a tall stack of bound papers at the far end of a long walnut table and runs the whole length of the table

Robert Bork’s America

O’Connor was chosen for trust, Bork for record, Souter for the absence of one. The conservative legal movement spent the next 30 years learning from all three.

A small clay city with open doorways glows on a hill at dusk while a line of tiny clay figures climbs toward it, some passing through the doors and some stopped at a closed gate

The Shining City

On January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan described a city with walls and open doors. He left out a good deal of what had happened outside them. Series: The Fulcrum, Book Two: The Performance, Act Three: The Presidency, Episode 8 On the evening of January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan sat down

A clay pipe carrying a red thread runs from a large stack of crates to a smaller pile, curving past a small clay figure in a gray suit who stands with his back turned, studying a clipboard.

Plausible Deniability - Iran-Contra

Iran-Contra’s pardoned alumni never left. One ended up handling Iran policy, one ran a surveillance program, and one became president of the NRA.

Shadows (immigration)

One adverb, “knowingly,” protected employers from the law meant to hold them accountable. Forty years later, both parties are still content to leave it in.

What's AIDS?

C. Everett Koop wrote the AIDS report himself, in a basement, and handed out numbered copies so no one could edit it. Then he mailed it to every household in America.

A clay police officer stands at a chalkboard that reads "NO" while a classroom of clay children raise their hands, and a single red thread runs from his hands around every desk and out the do

Five Grams

D.A.R.E. didn't work, its founder wanted casual users shot, and the 1986 drug law was written in a few months after one death. The war on drugs, 1982 to 1990.

Halloween Notes

Halloween is different when you have a very reactive dog, so you have to resort to strategy to avoid all the barking. I pick up a guitar and enjoy myself as a street performer for a day.

October 31, 2026 - Week in Review

Sweaty and the Dude had things to say, week of October 24 - 31

Music: A two-fer, Gamazda and Angel Vivaldi

Still avoiding the electioneering and punditry overdosing on hopium, here are two songs I think you will enjoy...

A dim radar room with one glowing blip, a hand over a button under a glass dome, and a clock six minutes to the hour.

The Word "Laboratory"

Reagan called the Soviets the focus of evil, then nearly gave away every nuclear weapon in sight. His own cabinet said whoa, whoa, not like that.

Music: Robyn Adele Anderson

Definitely not AI slop, Robyn brings a fun flair to classics

See all

The System Doesn't Fix Itself

November 7, 2026 - Week in Review

Joe Rogan Is Oprah for Men, and That's Not a Compliment

The Court and the Machine

The Reckoning That May Never Come

Your Career Plan Is TikTok’s Business Model

I Want to Believe. That's What Worries Me.

A Pledge, Not a Promise

The City on the Hill Redux

The Letter

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