In 1633, the Roman Inquisition condemned Galileo for heresy. His offence was to argue that the Earth moves around the Sun. The Church was not acting out of malice. It was protecting a politically approved consensus against what was considered to be dangerous nonsense. The theologians and philosophers who condemned Galileo were not fools. They […]
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Hikma v. Amarin to answer a narrow question. It may end up saying far more about how policymakers misunderstand pharmaceutical markets. On its face, the case is narrow. It asks whether a generic drug manufacturer can face liability for inducing patent infringement based on how it markets a…
See Work from Home and Fertility by Steven J. Davis, Cevat Giray Aksoy, Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, Katelyn Cranney, Mathias Dolls & Pablo Zarate. Abstract”We investigate how fertility relates to work from home (WFH) in the post-pandemic era, drawing on original data from our Global Survey of Working Arrangements and U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements…
Tweet… is from page 162 of Richard Epstein’s magnificent 1995 volume, Simple Rules for a Complex World: The entire regulatory process [of wrongful dismissal of workers] shows the constant preoccupation with the direct effects of decisions on named persons, without regard to the vastly greater indirect effects on other persons similarly situated. The effort to…
Guest Post By Ivan Barnett To all readers, I have put this document together in the hope that it may be useful to others who are facing similar issues in their own districts. I have researched the material carefully and done my best to present it clearly and accurately. I am a retired dry‑land farmer, […]
Jonathan Rosen writes: Thirty-seven years ago, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, sentenced Salman Rushdieto death on Valentine’s Day for writing a novel. It is hard to write that sentence without feeling it is a parody of the opening line of Franz Kafka’s The Trial: “Someone must have slandered Josef K.,…
Grace Tame was the 2021 Australian of the Year for her work as an advocate of survivors of sexual abuse. Sadly, but not surprisingly, she is only an advocate for rape and sexual abuse victims if they are not Jewish. News.com.au reports: Child safety campaigner Grace Tame has come under fire for suggesting rapes and…
Susan Hornsby-Geluk writes: Among the most controversial aspects of the recently enacted Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 is the introduction of a high-income threshold for personal grievance claims. Under the new provisions, employees earning $200,000 or more in annual remuneration will lose the right to bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal, or an unjustified…
The Herald reports: Senior Government minister Louise Upston visited Gloriavale in late January, months after refusing to rule out closing the religious community following allegations of child abuse in the community. Newstalk ZB has confirmed Upston visited the sect on January 30, alongside officials from the Ministry of Social Development. This story is puzzling. As…
Most US Presidents have done dubious pardons – Clinton re Marc Rich and Joe Biden re Hunter Biden etc. But as the libertarian Cato Institute point out, Trump’s pardons are in a different league: Biden’s pardons eliminated roughly $680,000 in financial penalties (fines, restitution, and forfeitures) owed to victims or the government. In contrast, Liz Oyer,…
During World War II, one of the most daring and ambitious prisoner-of-war (POW) escapes in history took place in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III. Known as “The Great Escape,” Allied airmen executed this remarkable event, which demonstrated extraordinary resilience, ingenuity, and bravery in their pursuit of freedom. While the escape itself was a […]
An Area Standards Committee of the Law Society fined Stephen Franks and Franks Ogilvy for, well being lawyers. They sent a letter on behalf of their client to health professionals involved in “gender affirming care”. The ASC found that they had “used a legal process for an improper purpose”, censured them and fined them. I…
In 1943 a law was passed in Germany which gave all foreign Waffen SS members the German nationality by default. This law still prevents extradition of WWII War criminals to be extradited to their native countries, because these men have the German nationality , and Germany does not extradite it’s own citizens. These are just […]
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill has now completed its journey through Parliament. Although peers made several amendments to the bill, the Commons rejected most of them. In the end, the Lords chose not to insist on the rejected amendments by a voice vote, paving the way for Royal Assent. Once that happens, the […]
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
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