‘With states legalizing marijuana by popular vote, some politicians, including Boston mayor Marty Walsh and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, are still calling marijuana a gateway drug. The gateway theory argues that because heroin, cocaine […]
‘In Republican primary politics, the libertarian brand carries cachet, which explains why many of the GOP’s presidential candidates are battling to position themselves as the one true standard-bearer of small government conservatism. But a funny […]
As a follow up to Cedestras brilliant list of 20 amazing and unusual weather phenomena, I have decided to make a list with 10 more items. Our atmosphere shows off so many strange and wonderful displays, but often times these brilliant phenomena happen so rarely, and in places all over the world (insert lame ‘once in a blue moon’ pun here). Now then, onto the list! 10 Lunar Corona Formation This item, a personal favorite of mine and one that’s amazing in itself starts off the list. A Lunar Corona formation is formed through a mix of thin cloud and small … Continue reading →
What’s the true test of one’s commitment to free speech? It does not come when he permits people to be free to say or publish ideas with which he agrees. Not by a long shot. The true test of one’s commitment to free speech comes when he permits others to say and publish ideas he deems offensive. In March, a video surfaced of a racist chant by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers at the University of Oklahoma, a public university. It has brought widespread condemnation and the fraternity’s suspension. Two fraternity students have been expelled. The University of Oklahoma’s president, … Continue reading →
A good friend who is a pastor asks a sincere question about libertarianism and assisted suicide. The fact that he even asked shows that he is a thinking man who is not quick to accept the traditions and talking points that pass for sound doctrine in too many conservative churches today. Before continuing, since some conservatives—and especially conservative Christians—are already stammering, stuttering, and spluttering because of what they think I might say, I should say that I don’t want anyone to commit suicide, I don’t think anyone should commit suicide, I don’t think doctors should help anyone commit suicide, I … Continue reading →
New York – “Gimme a BLT on rye and hold da mayo” is a great Noo Yawk sound. So is boid for bird, and toerty toird for 33rd street. True working class accents no longer exist in the Bagel, and one is far more likely to hear “Deme un BLT y guarde la mayonesa,” by our Dominican or Puerto Rican cousins. The fire escape is also going fast, and as some wit pointed out, the next time Tony woos Maria in West Side Story he’ll have to text. The outdoor fire escape is a classic piece of Noo Yawk architecture, especially … Continue reading →
The world’s central banks have a problem. When economic conditions worsen, they react by reducing interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. But, as has happened across the world in recent years, there comes a point where those central banks run out of room to cut — they can bring interest rates to zero, but reducing them further below that is fraught with problems, the biggest of which is cash in the economy. In a new piece, Citi’s Willem Buiter looks at this problem, which is known as the effective lower bound (ELB) on nominal interest rates. Fundamentally, the … Continue reading →
In a piece the Texas Tribune Lyndon Baines Johnson Library director and LBJ apologist Mark Updegrove argues that because of “his keen sense of social justice” LBJ would support Gay marriage if he were alive today. We must assume Mr. Updegrove made this argument with a straight face. This attempt to rewrite history comes on the heels of an effort by LBJ defenders to discredit the largely accurate movie Selma which accurately portrays LBJ’s foot dragging on voting rights in 1965 and his contempt for Martin Luther King. Sense of social justice? In fact, as president, LBJ ordered Aide Bill … Continue reading →
A controversial new book argues that the triumph of feminism has meant men are now second-class citizens. On Saturday, in our first extract, it laid bare how men are abused, belittled and exploited. Today, it shows how men are treated unfairly in marriage and fatherhood. George Clooney, Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne may have all taken the plunge recently — but they are a diminishing band of brothers, for the number of men marrying in the West has plunged in recent decades. The state of matrimony is not just ailing. It is dying out faster than a mobile phone battery. … Continue reading →
Either join the disruptors or prepare to be disrupted. Disruptive technology is a tiresome cliche, as every Twitter/ AirBnB/ Uber/ Skype/etc. wannabe start-up declares itself disruptive. That the vast majority of self-congratulatory start-ups are over-hyped and derivative should not distract us from the larger reality that some technologies do in fact disrupt how things are done. Fossil-fueled mechanization, for example, turned an overwhelmingly rural farming society into a highly urbanized services-dominated economy. In the more recent past, CraigsList single-handedly turned the newspaper industry from an immensely profitable license to print money (via costly classified ads) to a struggling sector with … Continue reading →
Admit it, if you’re a man, you’ve thought about how cool it would be to spend a day in the shoes of 007 himself, “Bond, James Bond.” The cars, adventure, beautiful women, and all the ridiculous spy gadgets. Seriously, who wouldn’t enjoy sporting a wrist-mounted dart gun? But, there’s something else that attracts us (in a manly way) to Bond. It’s not just the lifestyle and accessories, it’s how he embodies so many of the qualities that we admire in a man. Confidence, strength, self-control (with one glaring exception), independence, and charm mixed with a bit of brute force. He … Continue reading →
Last week two prominent Ukrainian opposition figures were gunned down in broad daylight. They join as many as ten others who have been killed or committed suicide under suspicious circumstances just this year. These individuals have one important thing in common: they were either part of or friendly with the Yanukovych government, which a US-backed coup overthrew last year. They include members of the Ukrainian parliament and former chief editors of major opposition newspapers. While some journalists here in the US have started to notice the strange series of opposition killings in Ukraine, the US government has yet to say … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON — Utopian dictators like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Mao were criminals – genocidal psychopaths who killed more human beings in the last hundred years than any other ideologues in history. They didn’t limit their murderous rampage to individuals but went after entire nations. In the United States another form of utopians, the “progressives,” have tried to destroy traditional America by strategically dumbing down her people. America’s future is being crippled on purpose in order to fundamentally transform the nation, its values, and its system of government. Veteran educator and American author Samuel Blumenfeld and journalist Alex Newman have taken … Continue reading →