Utopia, you are standing in it!

I first opined about Pope Francis in 2013, when I told a BBC audience why the Pope was wrong on economic policy.

The following year, I expanded on that point, explaining that statist policies are bad for the poor. And I revisited the issue again last year.

I’m not the only one making these arguments. In a column for Reason, Stephanie Slade explained why Pope Francis is deeply misguided.

I’ve had some harsh words to describe Pope Francis. …the pontiff’s ignorance of basic economics has led him to a bad conclusion about which public policies are best able to reduce the crushing yoke of poverty in the world. …as a matter of empirical fact, markets are the single greatest engine for growth and enrichment that humanity has yet stumbled upon. …He seems to be arguing that an outlook that places the individual above “the common good” is morally…

A news release from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) tells us that while this FFRF commercial featuring John F. Kennedy was played three years ago on the ABC television network, it was rejected by ABC for airing during the Democratic debates in Houston tomorrow.  This was after ABC refused a much more provocative ad, one featuring Ron Reagan, the former President’s son (see it here).

From the FFRF:

“Every year we ask the major networks to reconsider and run our commercial,” explains FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We were disappointed, but not surprised, when ABC once again refused to run the Reagan endorsement spot.”

But, Gaylor says, she was shocked that ABC next rejected a commercial largely featuring a video excerpt of a famous speech by John F. Kennedy. As a presidential candidate, JFK gave a talk to a gathering of Protestant ministers in Houston in 1960, intending…

by Tim Harding

The ‘Norman Conquest’ is generally regarded as an epic event in English history – it was more than just a change of royal dynasty.  There is no doubt that William I[1] built castles and drastically changed the composition of the nobility and clergy, dispossessing many of their estates. However, the extent of legal and administrative changes he made to England is contested by different historians. I intend to show that William initially minimised these changes to help legitimise his claim to the English throne. He emphasised continuity in English law and customs, to avoid the appearance of a Norman French takeover of England. But he later abandoned this strategy, and made some major and lasting changes to English law and administration.

William I of England

As the legitimacy of William’s claim to the English throne is of central relevance to the initial strategy of his reign…

Litigation is often predicated on certain assumptions. These may be the result of argumentation of the parties, the reasoning of the courts or an admixture of the two. The assumptions can take on an axiomatic character, and become ‘unchallengeable’. They may be regarded as expressive of uncontroversial facts, or perceived as inherent in the nature of adjudication. Such matters may be unpacked after the event, in academic discourse or subsequent litigation. Reflection after the event may be rewarding, but it does not change the prior decision. The importance of the present case therefore warrants some brief thoughts about three assumptions that are related but distinct, which have characterized the litigation thus far.

Assumption 1: Prorogation entails high policy

It is unsurprising that characterization of the case as involving high policy has featured prominently in the present litigation. It is a natural argument for government to make, the consequential contention being…

The wind industry’s Victorian onslaught has hit the wall, as lawyered up neighbours pursue noise nuisance cases against their tormentors.

It all started at a place called Bald Hills with a lawyer named Dominica Tannock – and her firm, DST Legal: Litigation Breakout: Victorian Wind Farm Neighbours Pursuing $Millions from Wind Developers for Noise Nuisance

Dominica’s clients at Bald Hills pursued the wind power outfit responsible for their thumping, grinding misery under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act, that prohibits noise “which is, or is liable to be, dangerous to health or offensive”.  In “determining whether a nuisance arising from [noise] is, or is liable to be, dangerous to health or offensive regard must not be had to the number of persons affected or that may be affected; and regard may be had to the degree of offensiveness.”  Where “offensive” means “noxious or injurious to personal comfort”. For more on…

Superb piece by Richard Davies (HT: JP Koning blog).

Davies tracks the economies and currency markets in prisons in Louisiana (also called as Angola):

In many ways, a prison’s official economy is like that of a regular town. In Angola there is a world of work, with jobs and pay, promotions and demotions. And there is a world of shopping, with consumer goods and stores. But prisons are economic systems in which the cost of goods bears no relation to wages or the buying power of the workforce. The most important connections of a market economy – the prices that link work and pay, demand and supply – have been severed, intentionally, by the authorities. The official prison economy exists, but it may as well not, leaving the prisoners to build their own underground markets.

In the underground prison economy, things that might seem simple are hard, and things…

A vegan activist named Mythical Mia attempted to steal rabbits from a Spanish farm was attacked by angry farmers last week while trying to rescue the animals. It has now been reported that more rabbits died resulting from her effort than were saved. Then again, that may be what she intended. While there is no way to verify any of Mia’s allegations in the below video, her tears shouldn’t gain much sympathy since she took the risk of trespassing on private property and stealing the animals that resulted in their deaths. No doubt she and her colleagues carefully planned what they were going to do including targeting the animals in question to result in the most deaths. Hopefully Spanish authorities will arrest and prosecute her and her accomplices.

“Vegan activist who ‘rescued’ 16 rabbits killed nearly 100 in the process,” By Chris Perez, September 9, 2019 | New York Post

Here’s the announcement I found on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SarahTheHaider/status/1169186105016639488

The Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA) just put up billboards in three cities—Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston—basically stating that a substantial proportion of Muslims raised in the U.S. have become apostates, and implicitly affirming that that’s okay (of course, to many Muslims apostasy is a capital crime). According to the EXMNA announcement, they had some trouble doing this:

After several rounds of rejections, changes, and even one contract termination from companies afraid of offending religious sensibilities, the billboards are scheduled to be placed on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 3rd and 4th, 2019.

“In a dozen Muslim-majority countries, ex-Muslims are condemned to the death penalty”, said Muhammad Syed, President of Ex-Muslims of North America. “In the West, our existence is not a crime, but we still face isolation, threats, and abuse by our own families and former faith community. Unsurprisingly, many former Muslims…

I was just starting to think that because Trump had finally made so many missteps,  and because so many Republican legislators are bowing out of 2020 re-election bids, that maybe we Democrats had a chance to recapture the White House (and perhaps the Senate?) in 2020.  And then along comes New York Times columnist David Leonardt, a thoughtful and Left-leaning writer, to warn us that the Democratic candidates for President (well, at least two of them) are pushing policies that, as I’ve noted previously, weren’t popular with Americans in general. (This is a no-brainer; many people, as well as several polls, have noted it.)

The two areas are immigration and healthcare, as discussed in Leonhardt’s new column below.

So, on to Leonhardt’s views, and some depressing data:

Over the past two decades, incomes for most Americans have barely grown. Median wealth has declined. Americans are frustrated, and a…