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Tag Archives: Politics
Model of North American politics (2 x 2 matrix edition)
This simple model might be wrong, but is it useful? (Via Paul Krugman.)
Are judges like baseball umpires?
(Supreme Court judges, that is.) Neal Katyal, a law professor at Georgetown University, reports in this op-ed that there were no dissenting opinions in more than two-thirds of the cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last term. Here is an excerpt from Katyal’s … Continue reading
A modest (political) proposal?
Finally, an honest politician …
Impeach Obama?
Seriously, since Republicans have a solid majority in the House, and since the House has the sole power of impeachment under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, what is the probability that the House of Representatives will, in fact, draw … Continue reading
A hypothetical question
The LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas recently convened a Civil Rights Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yet no one at the summit raised the most obvious question: is the old Civil Rights Act still … Continue reading
Should politicians be legally liable for making false campaign promises?
To be more precise, should the tort of fraudulent misrepresentation apply to promises made by politicians running for office? (Put another way, why are most claims of fraud or deceit limited to commercial cases?) One reason politicians are generally not liable … Continue reading
Is SeaWorld guilty of false imprisonment?
Right now a controversial piece of draft legislation, Assembly Bill 2140, is pending before the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee of the California State Assembly. This bill would require SeaWorld San Diego to stop using killer whales in its iconic marine shows and to … Continue reading
Acts of love …
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush got it right … calling for compassion for illegal immigrants and recognizing that most undocumented workers come to the US to provide for their families: “Yes, they broke the law,” Mr Bush told a reporter, “but it’s not a … Continue reading
Economists are not scientists
Sorry Professor Mankiw, but economics is not really a science. Economics is politics and normative value judgements all the way down, and you yourself end up admitting as much in your most recent essay in the Sunday Times. So why do … Continue reading
Argument by analogy
If the executive branch of the US government — starting with President Nixon — has declared a federal “war on drugs” as US national policy, aren’t all lower-level federal officials who carry out this stupid war the equivalent of “war … Continue reading
prior probability 