Matt Goodwin writes: There’s a national election. The mainstream parties do badly. They are challenged by an insurgent party that seems more in touch with the country. The mainstream parties then form a coalition, with no plan other than to keep themselves in power and the insurgent party out of power. Then, the intelligence services in that […]
Banning the AFD would make them stronger
Banning the AFD would make them stronger
18 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics Tags: free speech, Germany
A New Rule from Bill Maher
18 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s the comedy bit from Bill Maher’s latest “Real Time”, and it’s called “New Rule: Don’t be a hypocrite.” A few examples: Trump touting electric cars (Teslas) after he appropriated Elon Musk. Republicans buying Tesla cybertrucks after most saying they’d never buy an electric truck The American Academy of Pediatrics reversing its position on getting […]
A New Rule from Bill Maher
MPs suspended
18 May 2025 Leave a comment

The Privileges Committee has recommended the following consequences for the MPs who disrupted the House, being These are all sensible recommendations, fitting the circumstances for each MP. The most important thing to understand is this is not punishing MPs for doing a haka. Hakas are often done in the House. I have been there for […]
MPs suspended
“We Study Fascism…We’re Leaving the U.S.”: The NY Times Runs Video of Yale Professors Fleeing to Canada
17 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Canada, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

The New York Times continues to work tirelessly to maintain the narrative that the United States is now a fascist regime. Earlier, the Times demonstrated its view of balanced analysis by running a collection of legal opinions titled “A Road Map to Trump’s Lawless Presidency.” Now, it is featuring three Yale professors fleeing fascism for […]
“We Study Fascism…We’re Leaving the U.S.”: The NY Times Runs Video of Yale Professors Fleeing to Canada
Trump Administration Targets State Climate Laws
17 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism, nuisance suits
The Constitution explicitly states that neither the Congress nor any state may pass an “ex post facto Law,” which imposes criminal liability for past actions that weren’t restricted at the time. The Maryland, New York, and Vermont acts all propose to tax companies retroactively for legally producing fossil fuels.
Trump Administration Targets State Climate Laws
Beyond Left and Right: The Emerging Divide Between the Educated and Uneducated
17 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics
The traditional political spectrum—spanning from left to right—has for over a century structured political conflict in liberal democracies. Yet in recent decades, especially in the wake of globalisation, digital disruption, and cultural upheaval, this axis has begun to fragment. A growing body of evidence suggests that future political struggles are less likely to be determined […]
Beyond Left and Right: The Emerging Divide Between the Educated and Uneducated
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias, sex discrimination
They have published numerous articles decrying sexist abuse of MPs, and then they turn around and publish a column by one of their own journalists calling female Ministers a bunch of cu**s. The greatest sign of their hypocrisy is from this note by then then Dominion Post editor: So the Editor of the DP explicitly…
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
Is this a gold mine? Iwi might need consulting (for a fee) before your development can be given RMA consents
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, resource economics, urban economics
Bob Edlin writes – West Coast Regional Councillor Allan Birchfield has whipped up a fuss in his neck of the woods by challenging the Ngāti Waewae representative Francois Tumahai over the iwi’s role in resource consenting. The iwi – it seems – must agree to gold-mining consents in gold-mining country, presumably after appropriate consultation or engagement […]
Is this a gold mine? Iwi might need consulting (for a fee) before your development can be given RMA consents
“A Modest Request”: The Supreme Court Hears Challenge to National or Universal Injunctions
15 May 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Today, the United States Supreme Court will hear three consolidated cases in Trump v. CASA on the growing use of national or universal injunctions. This is a matter submitted on the “shadow docket” and the underlying cases concern the controversy over “birthright citizenship.” However, the merits of those claims are not at issue. Instead, the […]
“A Modest Request”: The Supreme Court Hears Challenge to National or Universal Injunctions
Sacramental Snitches: Church to Excommunicate any Priests Complying with Washington State Law
15 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, politics - USA

We previously discussed the legislation passed by Washington State democrats that requires priests to violate the sanctity of the confessional to report child abuse. I described the law as “blatantly unconstitutional” in eviscerating the right to the free exercise of religion. The state is moving to create an effective system of sacramental snitches and the […]
Sacramental Snitches: Church to Excommunicate any Priests Complying with Washington State Law
Bill Maher: New Rules 2
14 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: 2024 presidential election
Here’s the second of Bill Maher’s “New Rules” segments that I haven’t posted. The YouTube caption is “New Rule: Before they can take on Donald Trump, Democrats have to decide which wing of their own party is best to lead them out of the wilderness.” Well, the segment doesn’t even really tackle that question. It […]
Bill Maher: New Rules 2
Ministers of Finance
14 May 2025 Leave a comment

No, nothing so serious as fiscal policy. I saw this morning this chart in a tweet from a Canadian economics professor (prompted by the new ministerial appointments in Canada). I was digging around in the list of former New Zealand Ministers of Finance anyway, and thought it might be interesting to try a New Zealand […]
Ministers of Finance
Supply is elastic, installment #6437
14 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: price controls
Numerous empirical studies show a relationship between a drug’s expected market size and the magnitude of research and development investments. Early studies focused on changes to market size resulting from the demographics of disease burden (Acemoglu and Linn 2004) and policy changes influencing market demand (Finkelstein 2004). These findings have largely been confirmed by more […]
Supply is elastic, installment #6437
Oregon Law Professor Accuses Oregon Law Review of Anti-Israeli Discrimination
14 May 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economics of education, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left

The University of Oregon has long faced controversies over the alleged political bias on its campuses, including celebrating the career of a professor who physically attacked pro-life students as a model of activism. It has been criticized for monitoring off-campus speech and unconstitutionally censoring dissenting faculty. Now, Law Professor Ofer Raban is accusing the Law […]
Oregon Law Professor Accuses Oregon Law Review of Anti-Israeli Discrimination
What’s a New Drug Worth?
13 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, health economics, politics - USA

In a a juxtaposition of events that redefines the meaning of “coincidence,” President Trump announced a new policy for prescription drug pricing this morning, and the the Spring 2025 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, released three days ago on Friday morning, begins with a four-paper symposium on drug pricing. (Full disclosure: I work…
What’s a New Drug Worth?
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