From the Editor’s Desk

Jason Ellis

Jason Ellis

RandomStringOfWords.com

a space for sharing ideas, reflections, and the occasional strong opinion. If you're here, you're probably curious about something I've built, said, or am working on. Either way, I'm glad you found your way here.

More about the editor

The Front Page

Most Recent Blog Posts

What are AI Notes?

Some posts on this site carry AI Notes — short, sourced annotations that add factual context to specific claims in the article.

How to use them

Open a post and look for this button near the top of the article:

Toggle it on and phrases throughout the article light up. Each one gets a numbered note underneath its paragraph with the relevant fact, a verdict, and a link to where it came from. Not every post has them.

Keeping Jason honest. The notes aren't a victory lap. They confirm a claim when it holds up, supply the date or number the article skipped, and say plainly when something needs more context than it got. A note that disagrees with the post stays in.

They are generated entirely by AI — not written, curated, fact-checked, or endorsed by me, and they don't necessarily reflect my views. The article stands exactly as written. Treat them as an automated starting point, not gospel: every note links to a source so you can check it yourself. Spot an error? The comments are open.

How the Hell Did America Survive Before the Income Tax?

Political

How the Hell Did America Survive Before the Income Tax?

I suspect most Americans have never seriously considered this question: how the hell did the United States become one of the most powerful economies on Earth before the federal government started taking a permanent cut of everybody's paycheck? We spread across a continent and built railroads, factories and steel mills, and by 1900 we were an industrial powerhouse. For most of that stretch, there...

France Is Burning, but Apparently It's Just a Student Protest

Political

France Is Burning, but Apparently It's Just a Student Protest

France is having a student protest, and we all know how those go. Students march, wave signs, demand better schools, gripe about tuition, and every so often burn down a 143-year-old city hall. Wait, what? Oh, and they're also looting stores, smashing windows, torching cars and going after police officers, generally treating whole French cities as if somebody had just announced the Purge....

No, Women Aren't Losing the Vote

Political

No, Women Aren't Losing the Vote

Apparently Republicans are trying to take away women's right to vote again. At least that's what's being shoveled around about the SAVE America Act: married...

"No One Is Illegal on Stolen Land" Is Not an Argument

Political

"No One Is Illegal on Stolen Land" Is Not an Argument

You've probably seen the bumper sticker: NO ONE IS ILLEGAL ON STOLEN LAND. It usually comes with a smug little sense that somebody just delivered...

In Brief

Corporate Greed, Now With Government Approval

Money

Corporate Greed, Now With Government Approval

Apparently, in Louisiana, utility companies have looked at the concept of energy efficiency and discovered a horrifying problem: if people use less electricity, the utility...

Stop Making Me Defend Donald Trump

Political

Stop Making Me Defend Donald Trump

I voted for Trump, and I'm not the biggest fan of Trump. Apparently that puts me in some bizarre political no-man's-land, because the internet requires...

Property Tax Is Just "Rent" to the Government

Money

Property Tax Is Just "Rent" to the Government

We're told our whole lives to work hard, buy a house and spend thirty years paying it off so we'll have someplace secure to live...

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