I don’t usually look at the N.Y. Times’s wedding announcements (really), but I happened upon one today, involving an older couple reunited decades after a teenage romance. Very nice. But if I follow the story correctly, the groom hooked up with the bride well before he was separated from his wife of about thirty years, […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Radicals for Capitalism:
I’m very much looking forward to reading Brian Doherty’s book, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern Libertarian Movement. The New York Sun reviews it here, and the New York Post, here. The Sun review is by Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic, one of of my favorite magazines. I didn’t know Shermer was […]
Juan Cole Again:
Just about every time I visit Cole’s blog, which admittedly isn’t very often, I find something that I just can’t believe someone of his academic and public stature could write. Here’s the latest, accusing Doug Feith of disloyalty to the United States: “Doug Feith betrayed the United States by getting up a false case for […]
Interesting Demographic Study:
Demographers have had a lot of trouble trying to accurately estimate the Jewish population of the United States. Researchers at Brandeis University have come out with a new study, which has somewhat higher estimates than previous studies. That in itself is likely not of interest to many readers, but the study nevertheless makes for fascinating […]
Kontorovich on Serbia and the U.N.:
My GMU colleague Eugene Kontorovich is guest-blogging at Opinio Juris. His first post is on “Serbia’s Territorial Integrity and the Limits of UN Power.” Welcome to the blogosphere, Eugene!
Bush II Libertarian-Leaning Judges:
Bush I and especially Ronald Reagan appointed a fairly large number of conservative judges with some libertarian sympathies, many of whom had been law professors. Offhand, Posner, Easterbrook, Boggs, Williams, Ginsburg, Thomas (!), Kozinski, Arnold, Bowman, Jerry Smith, and Loren Smith come to mind. Reagan also nominated Ginsburg to the USSC, and nominated Bernard Siegan, […]
Civilian Casualties in Lebanon:
During the Lebanon War last Summer, and ever since, just about every media source has reported that “most” (sometimes “the vast majority”) of the 1,200 people killed in Lebanon during the Hezbollah-Israel war were civilians. At the time, I pointed out that reporters actually had no way of knowing this, and that their sources–Hezbollah and […]
N.Y. Times Issues Correcton re American Jewish Committee:
An article in The Arts on Wednesday about an essay titled “‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism” on the Web site of the American Jewish Committee referred incorrectly to the committee. Its stance on issues ranges across the political spectrum; it is not “conservative.” Well, that’s better, and given that the AJC identifies itself […]
A Peculiar Use of “Anti-Semitism”:
As I’ve noted before, friends of Israel sometimes use overwrought charges of anti-Semitism to try to silence critics of Israel. That’s undeniable, and regrettable. Equally undeniable, and regrettable, is when a friend of Israel criticizes critics of Israel, and then gets accused of calling everyone who criticizes Israel anti-Semitic, even when the author never mentioned […]
Have Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Been Avoiding Federal Court Because of Daubert/Amended Rule 702?:
When I suggested that at least some lawyers were doing so in a recent post, a few commenters vociferously objected. One even claimed that I was merely spreading “corporate tort reform propaganda.” Coincidentally, I just came across the following paragraph in a publication of the American Trial Lawyers Association, an organization for plaintiffs’ attorneys: In […]
Another Strange Use of Language in the Times’s Article on the AJC Study:
Ilya points out below that N.Y. Times reporter Patricia Cohen refers to the American Jewish Committee as a “conservative advocacy group”, when its policy positions are mainstream American liberal. Equally oddly, the Times’s headline screams: “Essay Linking Liberal Jews and Anti-Semitism Sparks a Furor.” The first paragraph relates: “The American Jewish Committee, an ardent defender […]
Leftist Jews Who Hate Israel:
The New York Times has a story today about the buzz over an AJC study attacking leftist Jews who hate Israel; and I do mean hate, not simply “criticize,” as the quotations collected in the piece show quite clearly (The author, however, at times goes overboard, as when he puts someone like Richard Cohen, who […]
New York Court of Appeals on the Frye General Acceptance Test:
I missed this when it came out in October, but the New York Court of Appeals issued an important ruling on the Frye rule for the admissibility of expert testimony. The court’s ruling establishes (1) that Frye applies in New York in civil as well as criminal cases; and (2) even in cases where the […]
Encouraging Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes to Combat Prejudice:
Somehow, I don’t think this is the best way to encourage tolerance and understanding: To start the role-play, participants were handed coded index cards that indicated their race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Participants were then told to visit different “life stations” and create their “perfect life.” The stations included booths for housing, banking, church, jail, […]
Duke Provost on the Effect of the Phony Rape Allegations on the Campus Community:
Appropriate sympathy and concern for faculty who have been on the receiving end of an apparent torrent of racist and personally vituperative emails, an uncalled for attack on bloggers (with no acknowledgment of the role they have played in exonerating falsely accused Duke students!), and not a word about the accused students. Gail Heriot reports. […]