I’m scheduled to be on CNN tonight between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. EST to discuss how the U.S. civil justice system differs from the rest of the world’s systems. I’m also currently scheduled to be on the O’Reilly Factor tomorrow night to discuss You Can’t Say That!
Author Archive | David Bernstein
My Review of “From Jim Crow to Civil Rights”:
The Yale Law Journal has posted the full text of my rather lengthy review (co-authored with my colleague Ilya Somin) of U. Va.’s Michael Klarman’s intriguing From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Here’s the abstract: Michael Klarman’s From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court […]
Brief Review of “The Plot Against America”:
I recently read the bestselling The Plot Against America on long plane rides during my honeymoon. I’m a huge Philip Roth fan, but while the book is worth reading, it’s one of Roth’s weaker efforts. Usually, when I read a Roth novel, every several pages I feel compelled to interrupt my traveling companion, and read […]
Guam:
Spent a day on Guam during my honeymoon, wish it was more. Guam is an absolutely beautiful island, and within a few-hour flight of Tokyo and other Japanese cities (from where it gets most of its tourists), Cairns, and Manila. It’s much nicer, though much further away, than Oahu. If I were a real estate […]
Collateral: Brief Movie Review:
Getting settled back in after a whirlwhind two-week honeymoon to Hawaii, Guam, Australia (Great Barrier Reef area) and Tokyo. Watched many movies on the long plane ride, most of them bad. The worst of the lot, and one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, was Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. While I’m […]
Supporting Ethnic-Religion Based States:
I occasionally get email from readers suggesting that Israel is unworthy of support, or even existence, because it is an ethnic/religion-based state. So what about Poland? After World War II, Poland expelled its Germans and Ukrainians, absorbed Poles tossed out of Russia, and tolerated pogroms against the remaining Jewish population (for one source on all […]
Must-read Interview with Israeli Historian Benny Morris:
If you have the slightest interest in the history, current state, or future of Israel, you must read this interview with Prof. Morris. In short, he argues that even though he is still at heart a left-winger, given the barbarian state of Arab/Palestinian/Muslim culture, it will come down to “them or us,” and he chooses […]
Happy Chanukah:
From the King Solomon Casino. UPDATE: Oh, the instructions are in Hebrew; you have to click on the candles to make them sing.
Dean's a Believer:
From Marni Soupcoff, who is a bit skeptical about Howard Dean’s sudden profession of religious faith: Dean’s a Believer (Sung to the tune of the Monkees’ I’m a Believer) I thought God wasOnly true for RepublicansMeant for some white trashBut not for meGod was just so kitschyThat’s the way it seemedWind-powered energyWas more for me […]
More on DDT:
Those interested in DDT — the miracle pesticide that saves human lives but threatened bald eagles and other raptor species — should read Ronald Bailey’s latest Reason column here. It is a thoughtful counterpoint to claims that DDT never had any impact on birds (see, e.g., here). To get to my prior posts on DDT, […]
Observant versus non-Observant Jews:
This story (via How Appealing), about local opposition to a Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue, spurred largely by less-observant Jews, reminds me of what my observant Jewish friends often tell me: the worst boss to have is often a secular Jew, who often evinces hostility to the observant Jews’ religious requirements; much better to have a Christian boss, […]
Ninth Circuit (Sort of) Gets it Right:
Peterson v. Hewlett-Packard:conflict between Peterson and Hewlett- Packard arose when the company began displaying “diversity posters” in its Boise office as one component of its workplace diversity campaign. The first series consisted of five posters, each showing a photograph of a Hewlett- Packard employee above the caption “Black,” “Blonde,” “Old,” “Gay,” or “Hispanic.” Posters in […]
Israelis Have Given Up on the “Peace Process,” For Now:
From Ha’aretz: “a clear majority of the Jewish public (59 percent) prefer a swift, unilateral separation by Israel from the Palestinians, with the other alternative being to work for an agreement with the Palestinians even if the process takes a long time (today only 29 percent favor that, and 12 percent have no clear preference). […]
Shattered Glass: Speaking of good movies, for the heck of it, I decided to find an online version of the made-up article that led to the downfall of New Republic writer Stephen Glass, the subject of Shattered Glass. My immediate reaction: how could such obviously nonsensical crap get past TNR’s editors? The piece isn’t as […]
American Splendor: I’ve recommended American Splendor before, but it just won the National Society of Film Critics award for best movie of 2003, which gives me an excuse to recommend it again. Go see it.