A note on comments and comment policy
Having now heard from several readers who are unable to log-in and leave a comment using TypeKey, I have decided to no longer make its use mandatory.
If you have a Typekey, you can still use it. And if you do, your comment will, as always, post immediately.
If you don't have a Typekey, or have one but can't get it to work, you'll be prompted at the comment log-in screen to enter a name and e-mail address. The first time you write a comment, it won't post right away; instead, it will be held until I can read and approve it. After that, assuming you use the same name and e-mail address, your comments should appear as soon as you post them.
I don't get a ton of reader comments on this blog, but I get some and I always appreciate them, even when the author disagrees with me. When I made the use of Typekey mandatory, it wasn't to discourage reader comments; rather, I was searching for a way to stop the massive amount of automated comment spam that I was getting at the time. But with mandatory Typekey in place, the bots are sending me trackback spam instead. (I'm deleting at least a 100 bogus trackbacks a day.) More, I've frustrated a few of you in your effort to remark on posts. That was never my intention.
As always, you are free to disagree with me or with other readers. You are free to denounce my party and its policies. (You'll note that even I do some of that from time to time.) Although your First Amendment rights are not operational on this site -- I am not the Government -- I nevertheless do not wish to discourage points of view that differ from my own. (Of course, I don't wish to discourage those that match my own, either.)
If, however, I deem your comment libelous in nature, I will delete it. If your comment solicits the commission of an unlawful act, I will delete it. If, as one reader did, you compare the president of the United States to Adolf Hitler and call for his assassination, I will delete your comment and ban you.
We're all adults here and we know the bounds of propriety. Stick to them and you're at liberty to write whatever you like.
If you have any trouble using this new, alternate log-in method, please let me know. And thanks, as always, for your readership.