Ha’aretz: The Israeli ambassador in Stockholm, Isaac Bachman, speaking to Swedish government radio Tuesday, compared Israel’s release of 26 Palestinian prisoners to releasing right-wing extremist Anders Breivik, who was responsible for the massacres on the Norwegian island of Utøya in 2011…. The ambassador’s remarks have caused a storm in Sweden, and have garnered harsh criticism […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Still No Money in the Budget for White House Tours
but there’s apparently plenty of money to send First Dog Bo on a private flight to join the President on Martha’s Vineyard. UPDATE: Okay, I read too much into the story. It doesn’t say that Bo arrived by himself, just that he arrived “separately” on an Osprey that has never before been used for a […]
The Behavior of Nonprofits
I’ve randomly come across two stories that illustrate a truism about “nonprofits”–their leaders often act a lot like leaders of for-profit organizations, seeking to expand market share and the like. In particular, it’s well-known that non-profits very rarely declare their mission to be over and wind up operations. The famous example is the March of […]
My Whereabouts and the Coming Academic Year
As some of you have guessed, my family had to cut our stay in Lima, Peru short. Everything’s fine, but we had some medical issues that were better treated in the U.S. So, I’m back in Virginia. It was too late to undo my academic leave for 2013-14, however, so I’ll be on leave from […]
Doubling McDonald’s Salaries
Let’s say McDonald’s decided to double all its salaries, so that the entry-level wage became $16 an hour instead of $8 an hour. Why would McDonald’s continue to employ their $8 an hour workers when instead they could hire “better” workers who are worth more? (And those of you who think that the skills, linguistic […]
Andrew McCarthy’s Fundamental Error
McCarthy: It is entirely understandable that libertarian-minded conservatives should distrust the Obama administration and resist endowing it with unnecessary additional powers. But the NSA programs are not new – they long predate Obama. And they are – the NSA, the administration, and informed members of Congress attest – highly effective efforts to map terror networks […]
Review: Attman’s Deli, Potomac, Maryland
There hasn’t been a good Jewish deli in the D.C. area in … well, forever, as far as I know. Many years ago, someone wrote to Phyllis Richman, food critic for the Washington Post, asking where he could get good Jewish deli in the D.C. area. Richman responded to the effect of, “if you live […]
Why Some Libertarians Sympathize with the Confederacy
I heartily agree with everything my co-bloggers have said about how very unlibertarian it is to sympathize with the Confederacy. One factor that I don’t think was mentioned as to how some otherwise bright, non-racist libertarians might find themselves promoting the Confederacy’s cause is how much some libertarians hate “the Union,” that is, the federal […]
If You Haven’t Had Enough Zimmerman…
Michelle Meyer has a great post at The Faculty Lounge. Among other things, for those who think that Zimmerman “routinely profiled black males and only reported black males to the police,” Meyer has some analysis of Zimmerman’s calls that at the very least complicate the story.
No, Emanuel Goldstein, Err, I Mean the Koch Brothers
did not fund George Zimmerman’s defense. But please proceed with your Two Minutes Hate.
Correction re the ACLU and Double Jeopardy
In a previous post on the Zimmerman case, I criticized the ACLU for abandoning its longstanding opposition on double jeopardy grounds to concurrent state and federal prosecutions for the same behavior. I stand by that criticism, and note that it’s just one of many examples of the ACLU privileging left-wing concerns over traditional civil libertarian […]
A Few Zimmerman-Related Notes
I. For most of its history, the ACLU opposed separate state and federal prosecutions for the same acts as unconstitutional double jeopardy. If I’m remembering correctly, the ACLU abandoned this position under the pressure of the egregious facts of the Rodney King case, but by an extremely close vote with much controversy. Apparently, the ACLU […]
Two Perspectives on Egypt
Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman bemoans the coup as a defeat for democracy. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has a more ambivalent reaction but ultimately seems to think the coup was a good thing, because “the Muslim Brotherhood is a totalitarian cult, not a democratic party,” and totalitarian cults are hardly likely to respect democratic outcomes […]
Lose-Lose Situations
Who are the good guys in the following conflicts in the Arab world? (1) The various Libyan factions fighting each other (2) The Palestinian Authority vs. Hamas (3) The Syrian government and Hezbollah vs. Sunni Islamists (4) Hezbollah versus Sunni Lebanese and Palestinian militas in Lebanon (5) The Egyptian army vs. the Muslim Brotherhood government […]
Another Odd Thing about that “Latino/a Law Professors” Letter
On Friday, I noted what I deemed to be a strange response from a self-described “group of Latino/a law professors” to a piece I wrote for Scotusblog on affirmative action and Hispanics after Fisher; strange primarily because I was addressing the diversity rationale for affirmative action, which is the rationale approved of by the Supreme […]