First of all, Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Now let’s move on to the content.
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason, April 29, 2024.
Extract:
From the beginning, these prosecutions have been based on a false justification (the authorities I’m talking about sex trafficking although none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overbroad (attempting to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, contradicting Section 230), offensive to the First Amendment and implacable in his attempts to handicap the defense. So it’s a treat to see a judge take the prosecutors down a notch, even if it happens very late (after two trials and after one accused). suicide) and although it doesn’t make much practical difference to Lacey, Brunst and Spear (who face imprisonment for the rest of their lives even with the acquittals).
And:
In this case, Backpage banned explicit offers of sex for money (which is illegal in most of the United States), but allowed adult ads more generally, because many forms of labor sex are legal. Providing a platform for protected speech must of course itself be protected. But in truly Orwellian fashion, the government argues that the very act of prohibition explicit advertisements about prostitution were a way of encouraging prostitution advertisements, thereby facilitating prostitution in violation of federal travel law.
by Jeffrey A. Singer, Cato at Liberty, April 29, 2024.
Extract:
Criminal justice concerns aside, banning menthol tobacco is not based on scientific evidence. A 2022 research paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that menthol smokers had no more difficulty quitting than non-menthol smokers. Additionally, according to an FDA study reported in the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, there is “evidence of a lower risk of lung cancer mortality in menthol smokers than in non-menthol smokers among smokers aged 50 and older in the US population.” That may be because menthol smokers tend to smoke fewer cigarettes per day, according to a Vanderbilt University study. study which also revealed that “menthol cigarettes are no longer, and perhaps less, harmful than non-menthol cigarettes.”
A disproportionate percentage of black smokers smoke menthols. My guess is that Biden is becoming increasingly nervous about losing a significant portion of the black vote.
I job on this subject in November 2022.
by Roger Koppl, Think about the marketsMarch 26, 2013.
Extract:
Income inequality is significant. Let me say it again so you know I meant it: income inequality matters. This statement may be surprising coming from an economist who describes himself as “Austrian” and “liberal” in the good old-fashioned sense of the pro-market term. This should not be the case. This should be one of OUR problems. The surprise should be that we market supporters have not spoken out more on this central issue, leaving it to be associated almost exclusively with a more or less “progressive” view.
This indifference to income distribution is all the more mysterious because market advocates generally support a political theory that asks us to pay attention to the ways in which the state can be used to create unjust privileges for some at the same time. detriment of others. We should expect the distribution of income to be skewed in favor of the politically powerful and against the poor and the politically weak. In a representative democracy, “special interests” engage in “rent seeking» to get special favors. These special favors enrich some at the expense of others. This is what they are supposed to do!
Roger makes a good point but exaggerates. The excerpt above makes it seem like he thinks most of the inequality in the United States is due to the government. I think it’s unlikely, although it is largely the case: think of middle-class homeowners in California who are millionaires because severe government restrictions on housing construction have made their homes worth more of a million dollars.
But a lot of inequality is also because people have really good ideas and exploit them. Think of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, for example. This inequality is also important, but not in the way that Roger focuses on.
Now, if Roger were talking about global inequalities, he would be absolutely right. The greatest source of global inequality is immigration restrictions.
Speech by Ben Powell, Hillsdale College, November 6, 2023.
In the coming days, I will publish this speech on my Subpile, “I blog to differ», with some highlights. It is very good.
