Here’s the latest “New Rules” interlude from Bill Maher’s Real Time show, called “New Rule: The price of free speech.” It’s a big hooray for the First Amendment, including Maher’s opposing (as I do) Trump’s ban on flag-burning. But he also call’s out the Left’s attempted curbs on free speech (I didn’t know that Lisa […]
Bill Maher: The price of free speech (clearly “offense”)
Bill Maher: The price of free speech (clearly “offense”)
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Short (?) review: “Sex is a spectrum”
16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Reading time: Whatever. . . You’ll probably guess from the title of this short (150-page) book by Agustín Fuentes (Princeton University Press) that I am not keen on its thesis, and you’d be right. In fact, the thesis is nothing new, even if you have read Fuentes’s article about it in Natural History and Scientific […]
Short (?) review: “Sex is a spectrum”
When Words No Longer Matter: Nancy Pelosi and Politics of Violence
13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
It appears that words no longer matter to Nancy Pelosi. For years, Pelosi and other Democrats have blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for their “inciteful rhetoric.” In seeking Trump’s impeachment, Pelosi bellowed that the use of “words such as a cry ‘to fight like hell’” produces violence and added, “words matter. Truth matters. Accountability […]
When Words No Longer Matter: Nancy Pelosi and Politics of Violence
Coleman Hughes interviews Ben Shapiro
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
This is a new video interview from the “Conversations with Coleman” series at the Free Press, but I found it posted just this morning on YouTube. Before you go running to the hills when you hear and see “Ben Shapiro”, let me remind you of the salubrious effect of listening to those whose views differ […]
Coleman Hughes interviews Ben Shapiro
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
11 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, history of economic thought, income redistribution, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
TweetMy emeritus Nobel-laureate colleague, Vernon Smith, sent the following email to me in response to this post. I share Vernon’s note with his kind permission. Don, Trump, like all businesspersons turned political, wants government favors, that is Mercantilism which is as bad today as when Adam Smith railed against such cozy relationships. Same for labor…
Vernon Smith on Donald Trump’s Protectionism
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
10 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in health economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA
Compared to workers in most other high-income countries, Americans tend to work more hours per year. Here’s a figure from the OECD, which is based on taking the total number of hours worked in an economy and dividing it by the number of workers for the most recent year available. Because different countries will measure…
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?
45 words the left should avoid
10 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The left wing Third Way organisation has published a list of 45 words other than says Democrats (the left) should avoid using as they alienate people. Sadly for the, I doubt the right people will listen. Some of the words are: Someone who is bored should monitor for a few weeks how many of the […]
45 words the left should avoid
Whitewashing Zohran Mamdani’s Socialism at the New York Times
10 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in Marxist economics, politics - USA
When I wrote about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a few months ago, here was my main takeaway. Mamdani is an AOC-style hard-core leftist who wants to travel in the wrong direction as far and as fast as Javier Milei is traveling in the right direction. When asked to elaborate, I sometimes dig into the […]
Whitewashing Zohran Mamdani’s Socialism at the New York Times
Abundance 2025 – Preview
09 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA
Five questions I’ll be bringing to the conference this week
Abundance 2025 – Preview
Cal State University Professor Indicted for Assault on Federal Officers
07 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, politics - USA
A federal grand jury has indicted Cal State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Anthony Caravello for throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a raid at a Glass House Farms marijuana facility in Camarillo, CA. In addition to a large number of arrestees, the authorities found at least 14 child workers. Caravello has […]
Cal State University Professor Indicted for Assault on Federal Officers
American Humanist vigorously endorses “affirmative care” with no lower age limit
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is among the most prominent humanist/atheist/skeptical organizations in America, but it’s been getting increasingly “progressive” (read “woke”). You may remember that in 2021 the AHA revoked its “Humanist of the Year” award given to Richard Dawkins 15 years earlier, saying this: Regrettably, Richard Dawkins has over the past several years […]
American Humanist vigorously endorses “affirmative care” with no lower age limit
The Judicial Calvinball of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA
Below is my column in The Hill on the chilling jurisprudence of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson’s description of opinions as an opportunity for commentary on contemporary issues is a radical departure from long-standing traditions on the Court. While justices have occasionally strayed into extraneous issues, Jackson appears to view her position as giving her a […]
The Judicial Calvinball of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
05 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
…the federal government did something extraordinary: It committed more than $140 billion toward the region’s recovery. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than was spent on the post-World War II Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks. It remains the largest post-disaster domestic recovery effort in […]
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
Bill Maher’s report card on the Presidency
02 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
I didn’t put this video up when it came out a month ago, mainly because I forgot, but in it Maher lists the things about Trump’s Presidency that he really can’t stand (the degradation of the EPA, loss of healthcare, etc.), but also mentions issues he can’t be bothered to worry about (making Canada the […]
Bill Maher’s report card on the Presidency
U.S. denies visa to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas (and other Palestinians) ahead of UN meeting
01 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
This is from CNN, so you know it pained them to publish a piece like this (click to read): Mahmoud Abbas, 90, was elected President of Palestine in 2005 for a four-year term, but somehow has hung on for 16 more years, having been voted an indefinite Presidency by the PLO (Hamas doesn’t recognize him […]
U.S. denies visa to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas (and other Palestinians) ahead of UN meeting
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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