Daily Links From Glimpse From a Height
- About That Pennsylvania Assault Case
Volokh has been all over the story. It turns out the judge wasn’t a Muslim convert, and Volokh doesn’t think anti-Sharia legislation would have helped in this case. Which still doesn’t mean the disposition was correct (it wasn’t) or that the judge had any business berating the victim (he didn’t). Assault is still assault, and […]
- Dr. Edgerton, Call Your Office
Jet streams, under the microscope.
- Fixing America’s Freeways
The private sector is reinventing our expressways, one lane at a time: Why does congestion keep getting worse, and what can be done about it? While there is no single answer to either question, a principal reason for ever worse congestion is that the demand for road space (especially on urban freeways) greatly exceeds the […]
- Planetary Similarity Scores
Gallery: The Six Places On Earth That Most Resemble Other Planets
- The State Of The Anglosphere
If anything, I think they authors understate the percentage of world GDP the Anglosphere has, but that’s really quibbling: It’s indisputable that the Anglosphere no longer enjoys the overwhelming global dominance that it once had. What was once a globe-spanning empire is now best understood as a union of language, culture, and shared values. Yet […]
- European Democracy is On The Edge Of The Abyss
Well, it’s not like the EU itself is all that democratic: “Opinion polls suggest that the two parties in the coalition, which currently dominate parliament, are facing huge losses at the next election, scheduled for April. Parties on the far left and far right, which are set to make big gains, are opposed to the […]
- From The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
“Evidence that the states’ efforts [via expanding CHIP eligibility] reduced the number of uninsured children was somewhat ambiguous.” We already knew that fewer than the expected number of people were using the health exchanges.
- Nanotherapy for Some Nasty Cancers?
Study magnetizes carbon nanoparticles for cancer therapy: “Because these nanoparticles are magnetic, we can use an external magnetic field to focus them on the cancer cells. Then, we use a low-power laser to heat them and destroy the cells beneath,” Koymen said. “Since only the carbon nanoparticles are affected by the laser, the method leaves […]
- Might Styles of Fighting Over MMA
Business tries to fight one kind of battle, the unions are playing a completely different game: So why do unions continue to attack the UFC and MMA’s legalization in New York? The clear message: ‘If you own a company whose employees elect not to unionize (e.g., Station Casinos), we will come after you, your management, […]
- But Can We Keep Donald Pleasance On Board?
Video: Wireless Devices Swim Through Your Bloodstream and Fix You Up, ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Style
- Pinball Pioneer Steve Kordek…
…Dies At 100
- US Pensions Begin To Get Foreign Attention
Walter Russell Mead notices: Americans should avoid any feelings of smug superiority about the problems in Europe’s periphery. It’s time for the U.S. to be worried about its own peripheries, according to the Financial Times…, [in a] report about underfunded pensions and state and local debt in the same terms it has used for Greece […]
- Britain’s Quiet Revolution
From Prospect magazine: But a huge majority has lost faith, as Peter Kellner, president of YouGov, puts it, that politicians are giving the right money to the right people for the right reasons. People are suspicious of illegal immigrants, of single parents, and in a cascade of pejoratives, of “scroungers,” the “feckless” and the “workshy.” […]
- Housing Recovery?
Zero-Hedge argues that we’re really just pouring money into a sinkhole right now: However, back on earth, where things really matter, housing is a major contributing component to long term economic recovery. Each dollar sunk into new housing construction has a large multiplier effect back on the overall economy. No economic recovery in history has […]
- Oscar Night!
Hollywood Star Map – Golden Age Celebrities (1937)
- Miracle 1981
How Reagan stopped America’s decline: That acceleration relative to the rest of the field looks like Big Brown coming out of the turn at the Preakness. Go find it on YouTube, and you’ll see what I mean.
- The Laffer Curve, Over The Pond
Tax more, get less. Speaking of higher taxes (and President Obama always does), there’s news from once fair Britannia. Preliminary figures out this week show that Britain’s 50% top marginal income-tax rate may have reduced tax revenue from top earners by as much as 5%, compared to the old 40% top rate. Tax revenue from […]
- Service On Government Panels Pays Off
Maybe Jeff Immelt knew what he was doing when he let Obama ignore all his job recommendations, after all: By the way, the Obama Administration has criticized oil companies like Exxon-Mobil for earning excessive profits and getting overly large tax breaks. In 2010, Exxon paid a whopping 40.7% of its income in taxes ($21.6 billion […]
- More On Wage Stagnation
Other ways in which real wage increases have been understated: Ken grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and worked 7 days a week from a fairly early age: milking cows, etc. This was in all types of weather: cold, heat, rain, snow, etc. But now, he pointed out, so many jobs are so much […]
- Free Enterprise Is A Right, Not A Privilege
Someone might want to remind our Treasury Secretary of that: All Americans are blessed to live in a country with the freedom to dream big and the opportunity to achieve those dreams. Our free enterprise system isn’t a “privilege,” it’s a right, as much of a right as freedom of speech and freedom of association. […]
- Inequalities in the Corporate Tax Code
Some industries are more equal than others: I am at a loss to understand why the tax system should favor utilities, mining (which includes energy extraction), and leasing, while hitting services, construction, and wholesale and retail trade so hard. Why should the average retailer pay 31%, while the average utility pays only 14%? These disparities […]
- Manufacturing Renaissance Spreads To…Bulgaria?
The Chinese are building cars now in the former Warsaw Pact: Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Tuesday attended the opening of Great Wall’s new factory in the northern Bulgarian village of Bahovitsa. The plant is to be operated jointly by Great Wall and the Bulgarian firm Litex Motors. It pays to be where your […]
- Trucking Rules Caught in Pincer Movement
Hey, the whole, “enemy of my enemy is my friend” isn’t just about Iran. The ATA has been trying to fight these rules for months. While the safety groups think they don’t go far enough, there’s really a lot of evidence they’re unnecessary, unless you’re trying to get the trucker to unionize…
- Obama’s Campaign Opens Fire–on the Kochs
The magnificent obsession continues: I know it’s customary to whine about the permanent election, but I confess, I’m excited to see this one unfold. Sure, it was historic to have our first black president–not to mention the first president who was a professor at my alma mater–and I don’t mean to take anything away from […]
