Over the weekend, the WSJ published an interesting interview with First Amendment advocate Floyd Abrams on the Citizens United decision.
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Are ClimateGate Scientists in the Clear?
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office recently confirmed that the disclosure of e-mails and other documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit revealed that some of the scientists violated the UK’s Freedom of Information law by failing to respond to legitimate document requests from other researchers. I blogged on this development here. Initial […]
“How Do You Fix a Bill that Hasn’t Been Passed Yet?”
Some House Democrats seem prepared to pass the Senate health care bill if the Senate will use the reconciliation process to amend the health care legislation. Yet there’s a catch. Some House Democrats want the Senate to go first, and as the Plum Line reports, congressional parliamentarians are not quite sure how to do this. […]
OLC Memo on FBI-Telco Cooperation
By Jonathan H. Adler on February 2, 2010 6:48 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Privacy, War on Terror
Marc Ambinder has an interesting post on a yet-to-be-released, classified Office of Legal Counsel memorandum on the FBI’s authority to seek the “voluntary” disclosure of some records by telecommunications companies. The memo was issued on January 8, apparently in response to a request from the FBI, and is referenced in an unredacted portion of this […]
50 Years Ago Today – Sit-Ins Challenged Segregation
Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the student sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. This was the first of what would become a broad movement of sit-in protests as literally thousands of African-American students sat at lunch counters across the South, refusing to leave until they were served. These protests are often […]
Did “Trial by Ordeal” Actually Work?
Economist Peter Leeson has an interesting article in the Boston Globe arguing that the Medieval practice of “trial by ordeal” may have been more effective at convicting the guilty and freeing the innocent than we are inclined to believe. I’m not convinced, but it’s an interesting article.
The IPCC Under Siege
2010 has not been kind to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This U.N. sanctioned body is supposed to issue periodic reports that summarize the state of the science of global climate change based upon a comprehensive review and synthesis of the relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature. In the past few weeks, however, it has […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Who remembers the Housemartins? They were a fun British alt-pop band from Hull, England. They only put out a few albums, and their lyrics blended Christianity and Marxism, but it was fun stuff. After breaking up, one of their members formed Beautiful South and another created Fatboy Slim. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death […]
OPR Report “Clears” Yoo and Bybee
Newsweek‘s Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman are reporting that the soon-to-be-released report from the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility will “clear” former OLC attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee of professional misconduct. They report: While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, […]
Anti-Vaccine Scientist Acted “Dishonestly and Irresponsibly”
Claims that childhood MMR vaccines cause autism are unfounded and irresponsible. As Ron Bailey notes, “study after study has debunked” the claim that MMR vaccines are linked to autism, and there are credible allegations that the study that prompted the initial scare was faked. As the BBC reports, British medical authorities have also concluded that […]
The BCS Antitrust Bowl
The AP reports that the Justice Department is exploring antitrust action against the college football Bowl Championship Series and may seek to force the NCAA to implement a college football playoff. The Justice Department revealed this potential move in a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch in response to the Senator’s inquiry. In the letter to […]
ClimateGate Scientists’ Conduct: Unethical and Illegal
The UK Daily Mail reports: Scientist at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ email scandal broke the law when they refused to give raw data to the public, the privacy watchdog has ruled. The Information Commissioner’s office said University of East Anglia researchers breached the Freedom of Information Act when handling requests from climate change sceptics. […]
Colbert in 2012?
Stephen Colbert tried to run a corporate-sponsored campaign for the Presidency in 2008, only to be foiled by election laws. In teh wake of the Citizens United ruling, he’d like to try again, Politico reports. But if he plans to run another “hail to the cheese Stephen Colbert Nacho Cheese Doritos 2008 presidential campaign” he’s […]
A Real Eco-Terrorist
The AP reports: Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new audiotape released Friday.In the tape, broadcast in part on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden warned of the dangers of climate […]
Obama’s “War with the Court”?
On the TNR blog, in an item titled “Obama’s War with the Court Just Escalated,” Jeff Rosen suggests that President Obama’s criticism of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision could be a sign of things to come. Even more significant is what it says about Obama’s welcome readiness to attack the Court’s conservative majority for […]