Ann Althouse celebrates 10 years of blogging. I remember the first time I met Ann. In the 1990s at the AALS annual meeting, Philip Hamburger and I put together a program on law review editing and the quality of writing in American law reviews. I invited Ann to be on the panel because of something […]
Author Archive | Jim Lindgren
Open Thread on Personal Experiences With the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
Before posting about my experiences trying to get health insurance for a family member for whom I have a power of attorney, I want to ask VC readers about their personal experiences (and those of their family members). I want to hear both positive and negative experiences. For example, who had no health insurance before […]
Hoffer is Confused About the Implications of Falsifying Climate Models
At Watts Up With That, David M. Hoffer has an odd essay on peer review: [I]s the notion of climate science today as easily falsified by simple observation? I submit that it is. We have the climate models themselves to upon which to rely. For what are the climate models other than the embodiment of […]
The Oregon Medicaid Experiment and New Possibilities for Quasi-Experiments
Jonathan Adler has already noted the new article in Science using data from Oregon’s Medicaid experiment. It found that expanding Medicaid led to a 41% increase in visits to the emergency room, including increases in visits for conditions that would be better treated in a primary care setting. Here is the abstract: In 2008, Oregon […]
Brain dead is dead
The recent case of Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old declared dead after a routine operation went wrong, raises the issue whether family members can mandate care when their relative is brain dead. The simple answer is No. In the US, brain death is usually treated conclusively as death. Thus, a family member of a dead person […]
How typical is Phil Robertson’s view of gay sex?
One question that has come up in the Duck Dynasty dispute is how typical is Phil Roberston’s view that homosexual behavior is a sin. In recent years, the public has been moving from a majority believing that sexual relations between people of the same gender is always wrong to roughly equal numbers believing that it’s […]
Roger Ebert, Pornography, and the Art of Cinema
Roger Ebert died this past week. He was best known for his various reviewing gigs on TV, starting with his show teamed with Gene Siskel. Because Siskel was tall and Ebert was short, during the show Ebert sat on phone books to lessen the height difference. Another odd story about Ebert is that he once […]
MSNBC’s Harris-Perry on my gun research: “The minutia of . . . replicating data turned into a politically consequential battle that shifted the discourse on guns in America”
On MSNBC over the weekend, Melissa Harris-Perry had some very kind words to say about some of my research a decade ago on guns in early America and the errors of Michael Bellesiles’s Arming America: MSNBC: Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy After a half-minute set-up, Harris-Perry discusses my […]
Stock Market Has Worst Day This Year
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 313 points (2.36%), the worst day for the Dow this year. Also, the S&P 500 fell 2.37%, while the NASDAQ fell 2.48%. UPDATE: CNBC reports: Markets have performed unfavorably both days following Obama’s presidential victories. In fact, back on Nov. 5, 2008 — the day after Obama was first elected […]
Obama Wins!
At about 11:14pm ET, FOX News just called the race for Obama.
Overnight Stock Market Futures Down (Only) 1%
At 10:16pm ET on Tuesday night, the S&P 500 mini stock futures are down 13.75 points, or just under 1%. The Dow futures are similarly down 107 points. Roughly, a move of this size in the market tomorrow would just erase today’s gains. Accordingly, those few investors who feared a big down day on Wednesday […]
Exit Polls Hinting Positive Things for Romney; [Actual Voting Trending Toward an Obama Win]
As the first exit polls are discussed, only certain internal questions are reported. Among them is the percentage thinking that they are better off than four years ago. AP is reporting that only 25% of voters in exit polls report being better off. That contrasts with a Gallup Poll of two weeks ago showing 38% […]
When Angry, Redistributionists Tend to Plot Revenge. For Them, Voting Might Indeed Be the “Best Revenge.”
It is not surprising that President Obama, a strong proponent of doing more to equalize incomes, would speak about voting as the “best revenge.” After all, as I explored in “What Drives Views on Government Redistribution and Anti-capitalism: Envy or a Desire for Social Dominance?” (available at SSRN), strong proponents of income leveling are more […]
Snap Polls After the 2d Debate Report that Obama Won
Nate Silver reviews the post debate polls, which show President Obama as the narrow winner, a result that more or less accords with my view: Scientific polls conducted after Tuesday night’s presidential debate in New York give a modest edge to President Obama. A CBS News/Knowledge networks poll of undecided voters who watched the debate […]
2d Debate: Audience Questions Were Balanced, Time Allowed Was Not
In the Second Presidential Debate, I thought that the choice of questions was pretty even-handed. I counted 5 questions that in my opinion a priori favored President Obama: 3. Mr. Romney’s tax plan; 4. Female wages; 5. Romney as Bush; 7. Immigration; and 10. Outsourcing. I counted at least 3 questions that favored Romney – […]