Gary McGath

About Gary McGath

I am a freelance technical writer in Plaistow, NH.

Misinformation on social media: A personal example

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Social media websites are notorious for letting inaccurate information spread without correction. It’s often unintentional; someone makes a mistake that gets widely repeated, or a joke is taken as a serious claim. This morning I found I was part of this, as people boosted and favorited (terms vary with the platform) a mistake which I made.

I run a feed of news for filkers, appropriately called “Filk News” (on Bluesky and on Mastodon). On Sunday, March 9, the USA and Canada moved to Daylight Saving Time, but Europe doesn’t till later. There are several online filk gatherings with international attendance, so this could confuse people about when meetings start in their time zone. For example, Eurofilk is 6 PM Central European Time, which normally makes it noon US Eastern Time, but for three weeks it’s 1 PM Eastern Time.
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Anatomy of Trump’s SSA data grab

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In my previous post, I talked about inconsistencies in the reporting about what DOGE is doing and can do. I wrote the article on March 9 and had it appear publicly early on March 10, following my usual practice. About the time it appeared, I came upon a Washington Post article that linked to a detailed court filing that helps to clarify things. It’s a terrifying story, so here’s another post on the same day.
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Unraveling DOGE reporting

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A lot of what’s allegedly happening with DOGE doesn’t make sense. Some things just can’t be happening as reported; others need explanations that no one is giving. The news media are doing their usual bad job of delivering facts.

To start with, what is DOGE? The “Department of Governmental Efficiency” isn’t a department of the government, in spite of its name. Officially, it’s a “special commission” created by the president. It has no power over anybody beyond its own employees. Yet we keep hearing of government employees being fired by DOGE. A notice of termination by DOGE to, for example, a Department of Energy employee has no more significance than one from me. Either the terminations are actually coming from somewhere else, or people are complying for no apparent reason.
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Americans do not have a commander in chief 2

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We’re regularly subjected to the obscene notion that the president of the United States is the “commander in chief” of the American people. It’s part of the cult of the presidency, the notion that we live or should live under a powerful ruler. It’s an idea that goes against everything the country was founded on.

The Constitution says: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” If you’re in those categories, then he’s your commander. Otherwise, no. If you’re a civilian employee of the executive branch, he’s your boss, not your commander.
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Silent Film: It’s a Gift

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Snub Pollard is mostly remembered for his supporting roles in Harold Lloyd comedies, but he starred in some films. In It’s a Gift, he plays a Rube Goldberg-inspired inventor who creates assorted devices and demonstrates an automobile fuel which is vastly more efficient than gasoline. Maybe a little too efficient. There’s even a flying car.
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Should Worldcons be held in the USA? 1

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In the past, I’ve written about some Worldcon bids that would host the convention in countries with a bad human rights record. Now some fans are raising the question of whether they should be held in the USA. Certainly Trump is acting like a dictator, issuing decrees without legal authority and going after enemies with the power of his office. Author Jo Walton has suggested that the Los Angeles Worldcon, to be held in 2026, should move to another location. This would be impossibly expensive, given the convention’s contractual commitments, but we can look at the question in the abstract. I don’t know of any serious bids from the US for 2027 and 2028, and after that a less horrible president may be in office, so the question doesn’t directly affect any active bids.
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Why America is dying

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In just over a month since Trump took office, America has begun a clear descent into strongman rule, with few signs it will be stopped. He’s gotten rid of qualified people in high positions, replacing them with loyal followers. He has enacted heavy taxes without Congressional action. He has tried to amend the Constitution’s birthright citizenship clause by decree. He’s loosed the ICE on cities; “border czar” Tom Homan has threatened, “I’m coming to Boston and I’m bringing hell with me.” Trump’s and Musk’s DOGE is a phantom entity, not an administrative unit authorized by any law, and it has scooped up sensitive information from government agencies with no accountability.

There’s outrage, to be sure, and more meaningless talk of “resistance” like what we heard during Trump’s first term, but not nearly enough solid opposition to Trump’s moves toward autocracy. The Republican Party has totally abandoned any limited-government positions it once held. The Democrats offer only a timid voice. The far left is worse than the Trumpist right. The Libertarian Party has ceased to be libertarian. I can only expect things to keep getting worse.
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The misuse of fallacies

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Recognizing logical fallacies is important when evaluating claims and arguments. At the same time, it’s important to recognize when someone misidentifies or misapplies a fallacy. People can claim to knock down valid claims by saying they commit a fallacy, when actually there’s no fallacy.

Take the “slippery slope” fallacy. Some slopes really are slippery. You have to evaluate a claim that X will lead to Y by the specifics, not just the formal structure. A trivia quiz I recently saw offered something like this as a supposed example of the fallacy: “If I give you an extra day to complete the assignment, I’d have to give it to anyone else who asks.” The quiz’s author was probably thinking something like, “The teacher can give special favors to some students and not others, so it’s fallacious to make that claim.” That assumes that consistent and fair treatment count for nothing.
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The most pernicious religious doctrine

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A religion’s success depends upon its having followers. A reliable technique for getting and keeping followers is the threat of divine punishment for infidels. Believe and get a great reward; don’t believe and get a horrible punishment. God can read your mind, so there’s no use faking belief.

The Gospel of John says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18, NIV) Only a handful of people had heard of Jesus in his time, much less believed he was God’s son, so this was a declaration of damnation for virtually the entire human race in the early first century. Whether Jesus actually said it is a separate question. Evangelical Christians place great stock in this assertion, whatever its source.
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The Flying Ace, recorded live at Plaistow Library

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On February 21, 2025, I accompanied the 1926 film The Flying Ace at the Plaistow, NH Library. This YouTube video combines an MP4 file of the film with the audio recording of my live accompaniment on a Roland keyboard, with about four minutes of introductory remarks by librarian Jennifer O’Connor, who does a great job making these movies happen, and by me.

The next movie I’ll accompany there will be Peter Pan on April 11.
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