If you’d like an entertaining techno-social satire with a reasonable amount of wit and bite, try Max Barry’s Machine Man. I just finished it late last night and thought it was excellent summer reading fun. The protagonist is a young STEMmie who, following a horrible lab accident that results in a leg amputation, discovers a […]
Archive | August, 2011
Is It Time to Deregulate the Law?
In today’s WSJ, Clifford Winston and Robert Crandall of the Brookings Institution argue that now is the time for the legal profession to deregulate. The reality is that many more people could offer various forms of legal services today at far lower prices if the American Bar Association (ABA) did not artificially restrict the number of […]
“No Longer Anonymous, But Still Not Quite Right”
At Prawfsblawg, Paul Horwitz offers useful perspective on “Inside the Law School Scam” and its author’s decision to reveal his identity.
Debate on the Legality of the Libya Intervention at the University of Akron Law School
By Ilya Somin on August 22, 2011 11:30 am in Constitutional Law, Separation of Powers, War and Armed Conflict
This Wednesday at 12:15 PM, I will be debating the legality of the Libya intervention at the University of Akron Law School with Akron law professor Wilson Huhn. I previously wrote about these issues here, here, here, and here.
An Inconvenient Truth: Christie Is Right on Climate
Until last week, many conservatives considered New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a hero. Some were even clamoring for him to enter the presidential race. Now, however, some of the same conservatives are branding him a heretic, even as he embraces policy decisions they support. What’s going on? Last week, Christie vetoed legislation that would have […]
The Price Point of Social Unrest?
H/T Jonathan Zittrain, this new article in MIT’s Technology Review, The Cause of Riots and the Price of Food. Marco Lagi and buddies at the New England Complex Systems Institute in Cambridge, say they’ve found a single factor that seems to trigger riots around the world. This single factor is the price of food. Lagi […]
Tyler Cowen on Weaker Productivity, Anderson on Ice Floes, and Grace Slick on Sunrise
Tyler Cowen’s column in the New York Times today takes up the disturbing problem of productivity that seems not just to be growing more slowly, but actually weakening: The overlooked piece of news came this month from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the second quarter this year, it reported, nonfarm business labor productivity fell […]
The Education Bubble
The Atlantic‘s Daniel Indiviglio highlights the enormous growth in student loan debt over the past twelve years. Indiviglio comments: This chart looks like a mistake, but it’s correct. Student loan debt has grown by 511% over this period. In the first quarter of 1999, just $90 billion in student loans were outstanding. As of the […]
Insult-to-Religion Arrest in Egypt
Agence France Press reports (thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman at Religion Clause for the pointer): Cairo police arrested a man who allegedly … posted [statements on Facebook] ‘that were insulting to the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed and Islam and Muslims.’ … The youth was referred to the prosecution, which may charge him under a […]
Insult-to-Religion Prosecution Rejected in Poland
I blogged about the case when it was filed, but I’m pleased to report that a judge has thrown it out. From The Guardian (London): [Judge Krzysztof Wieckowski] has found [death metal singer Adam Darski, of the band Behemoth,] not guilty of offending religious feeling … [by] ripping up a Bible during a show [in […]
David Hudson, Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that David Hudson, of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt, will be guest-blogging this coming week about his new book, Let the Students Speak!: A History of the Fight for Free Expression in American Schools. The title is largely self-explanatory — the book talks both about the leading Supreme […]
Out-of-State Admissions to State Universities
Glenn Reynolds points us to an article by Steve Cohen in the Daily Beast on increasing numbers of out-of-state students accepted at state universities. The reason for this is collecting full-fare out-of-state tuition dollars by cash strapped public universities. (In every place I’m aware of, and as a parent of a DC child just starting […]
The LawProf Behind “Inside the Law School Scam”
In the latest post at Inside the Law School Scam, titled “An apology,” the LawProf reveals himself to be the author of this essay. UPDATE: Paul Caron rounds up coverage and background here. FURTHER UPDATE: Brian Leiter comments quite critically here. THIRD UPDATE: A reminder that Campos and Leiter have clashed before. FOURTH UPDATE: The comments […]
Identifying Experts’ Political Affiliations and Funding Sources in the Media
Liberal Pittsburgh political blogger “Davyoe” complains that the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review misleadingly portrayed me as a “politically neutral” expert when they interviewed me about the recent individual mandate decision a few days ago. The type of issue he raises is commonly brought up these days: While his description above seems politically neutral (he’s just described as […]
The Rating Agencies and Complexity, Conflicts, and Complacency – Additional Note
This is a further comment to my two posts below on the rating agencies, here and here. I probably should have titled the post on regulators investigating the rating agencies differently. Although the post starts out talking about US government civil investigations into the rating agencies, it is mostly about theories of liability that might […]