So in response to my call for action — OK, OK, it probably would’ve happened anyway … — a large coalition of free speech and civil groups (Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Public Knowledge, Creative Commons, and others) have declared today to be “American Censorship Day” to protest the spate of […]
Archive | November, 2011
Another ObamaCare Glitch
As I discussed in this post, the IRS is proposing to give tax credits as premium assistance more broadly than is authorized by the text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Specifically, the law only authorizes such premium assistance for health insurance purchased in state health care exchanges, but the IRS is […]
Judge Upholds Eviction of Occupy Wall Street
From In re Application of Waller (N.Y. trial ct. Nov. 15, 2011): It would appear that Zuccotti Park is a privately owned public-access plaza, created in 1968 by a City Planning special permit issued pursuant to then existing authority of the New York City Zoning Resolution, which encouraged the creation of space for public use […]
Dialogue with Victoria Nourse on Lochner
University of Wisconsin Professor (and Seventh Circuit nominee) Victoria Nourse and I discussed Lochner v. New York for the Federalist Society’s Madison chapter. Wisconsin Eye (Wisconsin’s version of C-Span) was there, and posted this video of the event. In other Rehabilitating Lochner news, attorney Thomas Bowden’s review in the George Mason Law Review can be […]
“Occupy”
From the Oxford English Dictionary: 8. a. trans. To have sexual intercourse or relations with. Obs. The OED offers various examples, from 1475 to 1811, but here’s one from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 2: [T]hese villains will make the word as odious as the word ‘occupy’ …. (The word involved was “captain.” “Captain! thou abominable […]
Women’s Gaydar Accuracy Related to Their Menstrual Cycles
From Rule, Rosen, Slepian & Ambady, Mating Interest Improves Women’s Accuracy in Judging Male Sexual Orientation, 22 Psychological Science 881 (2011) (paragraph breaks added): We examined heterosexual women’s accuracy in judging male sexual orientation across the fertility cycle (Study 1) and found that women’s accuracy was significantly greater the nearer they were to peak ovulation. […]
C-Span Requests Live Broadcast of SCOTUS Obamacare Argument
The letter is here. I’ve personally always found the arguments against allowing television cameras in the Supreme Court to be unconvincing. Perhaps for trial courts (although even then I’m not so sure) but for appeals courts, and especially the Supreme Court, allowing cameras seems compelling to me. I remember hearing Scalia say that the problem […]
Student Walkout of Greg Mankiw’s Class
Somehow I missed this when it happened a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t see any of my co-conspirators post on it. But I read that a couple of weeks ago a bunch of Harvard students staged a walkout of Greg Mankiw’s introductory economics course because of its purported conservative bias. They wrote in […]
If You’re Stopped At a Red Light, Are You “Driving”?
Yes, says a California court, at least for purposes of interpreting a California law that prohibits using a cell-phone while driving. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.
Ahmed Rushdie
An interesting New York Times article about Facebook and people’s identities: The writer Salman Rushdie hit Twitter on Monday morning with a flurry of exasperated posts. Facebook, he wrote, had deactivated his account, demanded proof of identity and then turned him into Ahmed Rushdie, which is how he is identified on his passport. He had […]
When a Horse has to be More than Just a Horse to be Eligible for the Olympics
In order to compete in the Olympics, a horse has to be more than just a horse [HT: Tyler Cowen]. It also has to have the right “nationality”: Their bond was a gold-medal partnership years in the making — and practically impossible for Canadian equestrian Eric Lamaze to duplicate. When Lamaze’s horse Hickstead collapsed and […]
Nominations for a Collective Noun for “Drones”
Drones, that is, as in Predator drones and targeted killing. Although my editor is likely to kill the idea, I am considering as a title for something on targeted killing, drone warfare, and covert action, “A [?] of Drones.” Where the bracket should be a newly minted collective noun – i.e., such collective nouns as […]
The New Physiocrats, or, Is There Value in the Humanities?
(Bumped to this post of its own from the ending to my last post on returns to non-STEM college majors, because I think is worth thinking about separately.) In general, I agree entirely with the many commentators who have argued that the United States needs to produce more STEM graduates. But I also take note […]
Occupy Tucson’s Request for an Emergency Restraining Order Rejected on (Mostly) Procedural Grounds
Occupy Tucson v. City of Tucson (D. Ariz. Nov. 8, just posted on Westlaw today) rejects Occupy Tucson’s request for an emergency order blocking the City’s enforcement of its park use ordinances. The plaintiffs, the court holds, haven’t shown a sufficient emergency warranting expedited proceedings (which would have denied the city an opportunity to take […]
5.5 Hours of Oral Argument
Everyone knew the Court would grant cert in the health care cases; the surprising part is that the Court is allowing a whopping 5.5 hours of oral argument for the various issues. Lyle Denniston explains: The Court will hold two hours of argument on the constitutionality of the requirement that virtually every American obtain health […]