he fact that the project might foreseeably lead to the construction or increased use of a separate project does not mean the agency must consider that separate project’s environmental effects
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
03 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice
Bill Maher’s latest rule
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s the latest comedy/news stint from Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show, a “New Rule” segment called “Freak-end update”, referring of course to Diddy’s “Freak offs,” his drug-fueled sex orgies often involving prostitutes. Diddy is very likely to be convicted (you’ve seen the tape, right?), and it will be a huge come-down from his status as […]
Bill Maher’s latest rule
San Diego State University Professor Celebrates Israeli Being Eaten by Shark
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left
A San Diego State University professor is under fire this week after celebrating the death of a former Israeli soldier who was eaten by a shark. Chicano studies Professor Roberto Hernández joyfully reported the death and mocked the victim as others joined him in the macabre celebration.
San Diego State University Professor Celebrates Israeli Being Eaten by Shark
The Eminent Domain Racket: New Jersey Move to Condemn Church Could Put Court in a Pickle
31 May 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA, property rights
This week, The New York Times reported that the town of Toms River, New Jersey, is moving to condemn the Christ Episcopal Church through eminent domain to build pickleball courts and a park. Church members claim that the move was retaliation for a planned homeless shelter at the site. The case could raise one of the […]
The Eminent Domain Racket: New Jersey Move to Condemn Church Could Put Court in a Pickle
Liberation Dusk? Court Strikes Down Trump Tariffs in the Midst of Trade Negotiations
30 May 2025 Leave a comment
in international economic law, international economics, politics - USA Tags: tarrifs
Below is my column in the New York Post on the decision yesterday finding that the Trump tariffs are invalid. What happens now will be, if nothing else, interesting. Dusk has come to Liberation Day. Trump has options, but the pressure will now be greater on Congress as bilateral trade agreements are moving forward. Here […]
Liberation Dusk? Court Strikes Down Trump Tariffs in the Midst of Trade Negotiations
Liability for Climate Change: An Inequitable Economic Disaster
29 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate alarmism, nuisance suits
What is already clear are the serious and senseless economic consequences that will follow if states are allowed to punish fossil fuel companies for their lawful past production.
Liability for Climate Change: An Inequitable Economic Disaster
Life is full of tradeoffs: We can have more data centers and local tax revnue or less tourism and a dirtier environment
29 May 2025 1 Comment
in economics of regulation, politics - USA, public economics, urban economics Tags: NIMBY, zoning
See Small-Town Locals and Newcomers Unite Against a Common Foe: Data Centers: Residents in Appalachian tourist area band together to keep one of the largest data-center complexes in the world out of their no-stoplight community by Kris Maher of The WSJ. Excerpts:”residents [of DAVIS, W.Va.] are . . . determined to keep big tech out of…
Life is full of tradeoffs: We can have more data centers and local tax revnue or less tourism and a dirtier environment
Poison Ivy: Why Harvard Will Likely Lose a War of Attrition with the Trump Administration
29 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, politics - USA Tags: racial discrimination
Below is my column on Fox.com on the escalating fight between Harvard and the Trump Administration. For Harvard, this could prove a case of winning battles and losing a war of attrition. Here is the column:
Poison Ivy: Why Harvard Will Likely Lose a War of Attrition with the Trump Administration
The Justices Must At Long Last Deal with Chronic Injunctivitis
27 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column on the continuing confusion over national or universal injunctions. The last week has shown that this chronic injunctivitis must end. Here is the column:
The Justices Must At Long Last Deal with Chronic Injunctivitis
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
23 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health economics, labour economics, politics - USA, population economics Tags: abortion law reform
Regulations about abortion are often wildly controversial. But what effects to they actually have? Caitlin Myers addresses these issues in “From Roe to Dobbs: 50 Years of Cause and Effect of US State Abortion Regulations” (Annual Review of Public Health 2025, pp. 433-446). As a starting point, consider the years before and after the 1973 US Supreme Court…
US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
22 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: 2024 presidential election, patents and copyrights, price controls, price discrimination
Econ 101 is often dismissed as too simplistic. Yet recent events suggest that Econ 101 is underrated. Take the tariff debate: understanding that a tariff is a tax, that prices represent opportunity costs, that a bilateral trade deficit is largely meaningless, that a so-called trade “deficit” is equally a goods surplus or an investment surplus—these […]
Econ 101 is Underrated: Pharma Price Controls
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
21 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, media bias
“For posterity’s sake.” Those words from President Joe Biden sum up the crushing impact of the leaked audiotapes from the interview between then-President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur. Not only did they remove any serious doubt over Biden committing the federal crimes charged against President Donald Trump, but they also constituted what is […]
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
Courting Controversy: Justices’ Side Commentaries Undermine the Supreme Court
20 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
Below is my column in The Hill on the controversy this month over extrajudicial comments made by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. These are only the latest such comments by justices that became distractions during the discussion of pending cases before the Court. Here is the column:
Courting Controversy: Justices’ Side Commentaries Undermine the Supreme Court
To Be or Not To Be a Hypocrite? Outrage over Trump Targeting Law Firms is Turning Shakespearean
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
Below is my column in The Hill on the recent opinion blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order sanctioning the law firm of Perkins Coie for its role, on behalf of the Clinton campaign, in the Russian collusion scandal. The opposition to the order has taken on a certain Shakespearean flare that conceals the underlying hypocrisy […]
To Be or Not To Be a Hypocrite? Outrage over Trump Targeting Law Firms is Turning Shakespearean
Once again, pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Chicago violate campus rules but don’t get punished
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left
If you’ve read about the various pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests across American campuses, one thing you’ll notice is a general reluctance to punish demonstrators when they violate university rules. Of course protests are usually fine if they conform to First Amendment principles (though some schools don’t hold those principles), but they’re never fine when they […]
Once again, pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Chicago violate campus rules but don’t get punished
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments