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Picking up on a theme expressed on the Volokh Conspiracy and elsewhere (and citing my You Can’t Say That!), John Leo notes the growing threat to freedom of speech from antidiscrimination legislation in Canada. (Via Instapundit) In particular, Canada, joining many of its provinces (and several European countries), is on the verge of making public […]

Well, in a limited venue, as Steve Sachs reports: Nowadays, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is primarily known for his reclusive nature, his pursuit of nuclear weapons, and his tyrannical rule of a famine-ridden gulag state. But those who know him well also know him as something of a film buff. In fact, in […]

From the Cameron Herald (Texas), via Vice Squad: [L]ast Friday evening[,] a man walked into the [police] department to report that a woman had stolen his crack cocaine. . . . [Police officer Philip] Anelli said the man told him that he and a woman were riding around when he decided to pay for two […]

The Rockin’ Book Tour for Restoring the Lost Constitution is drawing to an end. This week I go to Notre Dame. Next week to the Pacific Northwest. This week:Thursday 4/15:South Bend, IndianaNotre Dame law school (1:00pm, Moot Courtroom) Next week: Monday, 4/19:Eugene, OregonUniverstity of Oregon law School (noon, Room 142)Portland, OregonThe Cascade Institute & The […]

Boston Globe:The 70,000-member police force the US-led coalition has sought hard to promote collapsed in disarray in many parts of the country. Hundreds of police officers and members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps quit during the fighting, as barracks and police stations were taken over by militias. Many switched sides and fought US troops. […]

While we’re on the subject of great songs popularized by someone other than the composer, I thought it appropriate to post one of my absolute favorites: “Crazy.” This song was one of Patsy Cline‘s greatest hits, but she did not write it. Rather, the lyrics were penned by Willie Nelson. Not being much of a […]

One reader takes me to task for omitting the poignant prologue to last week’s song lyric, Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye”: We love each other so deeply That I ask you this, sweetheart, Why should we quarrel ever? Why can’t we be enough clever, never to part? The ever-vigilant James Lindgren also found […]

I just saw the Coen Brothers’ latest film, The Ladykillers. Although a remake of an older film, it retained the quirky Coen feel. One particularly odd touch: an elderly, chuch-going and morally upright African-American woman who sends monthly checks to Bob Jones University. As this was a Coen production, I suppose the reference to that […]

When you talk with this woman in person, she refers to asymmetric information, not “asymmetrical” information. My dictionary lists the choice as optional, she could have called her blog Asymmetrous Information as well, though that is archaic. Here is her excellent post on health care, from a few days ago.

Eric Soskin (Per Curiam) reports: [T]he Las Vegas Review-Journal has cited a January student note on Guinn v. Legislature of Nevada as ammunition in its campaign to overturn the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling in the case. The editorial is complemented by a full-page article interviewing parties in the case, their attorneys, and even a senior […]

A few correspondents suggested that prosecuting producers of obscenity will send the message that pornography is bad, and will therefore influence some people not to get it, even if it’s easily available. I think such “normative effects” of the law are sometimes important in some contexts, but I just don’t see it happening here. Would […]

I’m with Will. This question from Milbarge at Begging the Question is too easy. Is there anything that an originalist interpretation of the constitution tells you is constitutional, but that you’re against anyway, say as a matter of policy, or that you’d vote against as a legislator? Even an originalist whose understanding of original understanding […]

Excellent article in the Mobile Register (via Overlawyered) about the scandalous behavior of attorneys and their physician accomplices who have been pursuing claims on behalf of tens of thousands of phony purported victims of asbestos-related diseases. The lawyers sends clients to the doctors, and the doctors conveniently find that every single one of them has […]

Slate’s Explainer says that 700 million Peeps will be eaten this year. That’s all? Just two-and-a-half per man, woman, and child? Call it three for everyone old enough to be allowed to eat (semi-)solid food but not so old to have lost their teeth. Of those 230 million or so, 40 million are on low-carb […]

It really aggravates me. I read yesterday’s New York Times article on New Zealand politics with special interest because of the brewing fight over Maori rights. (Concidentally, Australian Aboriginal politics are in turmoil, too– the deeply flawed Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission is not long for the world.) Not a bad article. But at […]