Jacob Sullum on

March 3, 2010

“Carry On: Does the Second Amendment Apply Outside the Home?”
UPDATE: Another fine Reason commentary on the right to keep and bear arms, this one focusing on the 14th Amendment and the McDonald case: Damon Root on “Getting the 14th Amendment Right:
The Chicago gun case and the fight for economic liberty“

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Go, Alan!

March 2, 2010

Reuters: “Top court considers reach of gun rights”
Alan Gura, an attorney representing four Chicago-area residents and two gun rights groups, argued the individual right to own guns, which was found in the 2008 ruling on the Second Amendment, also extended to states and cities.

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Montreal, Here I Come

March 2, 2010

I’ll be in Montreal, PQ this weekend to speak at a seminar on Politics & Society at McGill University. It’s being organized by the Institute for Liberal Studies, which is a really first rate group. I spoke in 2008 (quite by accident!) at one of their conferences in Toronto. I was in [...]

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The SWAT Valley…but it’s not in Pakistan

March 2, 2010

Yesterday on the radio I heard an interview with Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, who recounted his family’s nightmare as they were attacked by a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, which assaulted them, abused them, and killed their dogs. It was chilling. Radley Balko of Reason covers the story; “4.5 [...]

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Women’s History Month and Three Remarkable Women

March 2, 2010

Three Women Who Launched a Movement

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Free Nick Hogan

March 2, 2010

I don’t smoke. I don’t like smoking. I hate the smell it leaves on your clothes when others smoke around you. But that doesn’t change my views about this injustice: “Pub landlord is first person in Britain to be jailed over smoking ban”
‘Ninety per cent of people who come into my pub [...]

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Common Sense Economics in Dari

February 28, 2010

The Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization with which I work has just published their first book, a Dari edition of Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity, by James Gwartney, Richard Stroup, and Dwight Lee.

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Delightful Books I’ve Read Recently

February 28, 2010

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I found Fooled by Randomness interesting and provocative (even when scoring points against people I know) and a nice followup to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.
Rethinking the Great Depression: A New View of Its Causes and [...]

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The Nut Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree

February 28, 2010

Make up your own mind about this young man, Marcus Epstein, and his revealed preferences. (You can search for his name on these posts: 1, 2, 3.)
I found his comments on my blog when I remembered that some folks had defended Lew Rockwell’s appropriation of “Austrian economics” for neo-Confederate revivalism, said defense consisting of [...]

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Just How Many Swiss Ships Are There?

February 28, 2010

Some, it seems!

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Outcry Against the Danish Paper Politiken Caving in to Threats

February 28, 2010

From the International Free Press Society:
These idiots should have their paper boycotted until they rescind their apology.
The editor of Jyllands-Posten, which originally printed the cartoons in 2005 and is published by the same media company as Politiken, said that its sister paper had failed in the fight for freedom of speech and called it [...]

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It’s a Sad Day for Freedom of Expression….

February 28, 2010

….when a newspaper is intimidated by threats of violence.

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A Dissident’s Note to His Wife

February 28, 2010

“She cannot be present today, but I still want to tell you, my sweetheart, that I’m confident that your love for me will be as always.
Your love is sunlight that transcends prison walls and bars, stroking every inch of my skin, warming my every cell, letting me maintain my inner calm, magnanimous and bright, so [...]

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Civil War on the American Right

February 27, 2010

From Politico: “Conservatives target their own fringe”
Erickson has advised new tea party organizers on how to avoid affiliations with extremists, and this month banned birthers – conservatives who believe that Obama was not born in the United States and is, therefore, ineligible to be President – from his blog (he has long blacklisted truthers, those [...]

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Enduring Democracy and Limited Government

February 27, 2010

I just found (thanks to snooping around some emails) the text of the Julian L. Simon Memoral Lecture I gave in 2009 in New Delhi on “Democracy and Limited Government: The Unbreakable Partnership.” For those who are interested, some years earlier I wrote essays on “Challenges of Democratization,” “The Role of Institutions and Law [...]

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Latin America: A Brighter Future for Colombia Liberty, and Power Failure for Venezuelan Dictatorship?, OR, Enduring Democracy and Limited Government

February 27, 2010

The Colombian Constitutional Court has put a stop to the principle of “President for Life” (BBC: “Colombian judges deny Alvaro Uribe third term poll“)
A Power Failure for Chavez (BBC: “Lights failure throws Chavez into darkness“)
I discussed the topic of sustainable democracy in the 2009 Julian L. Simon Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, “Democracy and Limited [...]

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Right-Wing Populism in the GOP

February 26, 2010

Jonathan Rauch’s insightful take on contemporary GOP politics in the National Journal: “It’s George Wallace’s GOP Now”
LIKE WALLACE AND HIS SUPPORTERS 40 YEARS AGO, TODAY’S CONSERVATIVE POPULISTS ARE LONG ON ANGER AND SHORT ON COHERENCE.

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What the Hell is “Net Neutrality”?

February 26, 2010

Thanks, Reason.tv, for a clear explanation!

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Gary Johnson’s Campaign for Limited Government

February 26, 2010

I just stumbled upon Gary Johnson’s website, via his Facebook page. The updates are pretty good.

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My Moscow Powerpoint on the Financial Collapse and the Threat of Protectionism

February 26, 2010

It’s sketchy (since I talked and explained the terms, etc. ), but here are the graphics: Presentation1

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