Here’s some grist for the mental mill. In the course of two days, two state governors signed into law statutes intended to insure free speech on publicly funded college campuses.
They’re positive signs, yet indicative of how little respect many people have for free speech. And they present an opportunity to learn lessons about what happens when free people toss their rights into the “public…
Recently Released Labor Department data shows that the unemployment rate fell from 3.8% to 3.6% at the close of the first quarter of 2019 (the lowest rate since 1969), that the US economy added 263,000 new jobs, and that Gross Domestic Product grew 3.2%. But some politically minded people seem disinclined to talk about the freeing of the productive capacity of American civilians that…
Conservative actor James Woods has been sent to the Twitter “wood shed” for, according to Twitter, violating its rules, when it appears he has not.
In fact, what this appears to be is yet another case of Twitter antipathy for conservatives, for Trump supporters, for libertarians, and for anti-war activists. It also exhibits all the hallmarks of Twitter’s previous pattern of banning members of…
Most of us are familiar with that business expression, “the customer is always right.” But in the day-to-day tumult of political disputation, some might forget that one of the important distinctions between freedom and statism is that the state never has to please any customer. In fact, it's not possible to know if a customer is pleased, because the state doesn't have customers. It has subjects…
One of the key points about collectivism I stress to students is the fact that every form of collectivism, be it “socialism”, “communism”, or “fascism” -- in fact, any form of “statism” – cannot work economically because it runs into what is known as the “calculation problem”. That’s the ever-present reality that by removing private property ownership, to whatever degree, and replacing it…
In a world where politicians come and go, it sure is reassuring to know that one thing about them is perennial: their capacity to engage in the fine “art” of grandstanding.
And among the many doing yeoman’s work in that area, California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, appears to be quite adept. As Christian Britschgi reports for Reason, on Tuesday, April 23, Newsom made a public spectacle of his “…
Here’s a story that might prompt some of your leftist friends to argue before they get the deeper point.
The Royal Canadian Mint just revealed its new move into Social Justice Warriordom. It’s…
The “Two Men Kissing” Dollar coin.
Indeed. The Royal Canadian Mint called it a “key milestone for lesbian, gay, transgender, queer and two-spirited people.”
The coin is one of those modernistic “it…
Without looking into it further, the Guardian headline might raise an internal alarm.
“'Disastrous' lack of diversity in AI industry perpetuates bias, study finds” it screamed, subtitled: “Report says an overwhelmingly white and male field has reached ‘a moment of reckoning’ over discriminatory systems.”
But as many people who read “reports” know, the publications often come from organizations…
We’ve known for a long time rarely to expect an honest apology from an agent of the state. They deflect. They blame circumstance. They use the passive voice, claiming, ”Mistakes were made,” rather than admitting, “I made mistakes.” And, of course, there’s the classic, “I’m sorry if you were offended,” putting the onus on the listener, not the speaker.
Well, it looks as if Senator Kamala…
Courage.
The Cowardly Lion had it in the land of Oz.
Heart.
The Tin Man had it, even though he thought he didn’t.
Brains.
The Scarecrow had them in abundance.
And L. Frank Baum wrote 14 volumes of the Oz novels, so he must have had the brains, heart, and courage to work on them despite the labor required to write entertaining fiction.
But, according to a tweet posted by the Library Journal…
