You’ve heard of Big Oil, Big Tech and Big Pharma. Now it has been revealed that there is another player in this game: Big Ice Cream: San Francisco’s new consultant on “weight stigma” is a pro-fat activist promoted by the food industry. On Monday, Virgie Tovar, the author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat, announced the new role […]
The Power of Big Ice Cream
The Power of Big Ice Cream
24 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of obesity, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
So will they call the Supreme Court racist names now?
19 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The Herald reports: The Supreme Court has ruled the majority of the Court of Appeal “erred” in a major decision that ultimately eased the test for Māori to gain customary rights for use of the foreshore and seabed. Its just-issued ruling allows an appeal by the Attorney-General against the Court of Appeal’s decision last October, at a time the […]
So will they call the Supreme Court racist names now?
Democrats now about identity, not working class
16 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

This graphic from Nate Silver is fascinating. Up until 2010, Democrats were mainly seen as representing the working class, but now they are mainly seen as standing for marginalised groups and only 11% now identify them as representing the working class. This partially led to Trump winning white working class voters in 2016, and a…
Democrats now about identity, not working class
JOHN RAINE: Why Engineering Cannot be Decolonised
10 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Concordia University is Decolonising Early 2024, Lawrence Krauss reported [1] that Concordia University in Canada is in the process of decolonising and indigenising its curricula, including Engineering. He noted that this will put Concordia on the Map, but not in a positive way. The new university plan at Concordia is drawing on “principles embodied in…
JOHN RAINE: Why Engineering Cannot be Decolonised
Free Speech Union Is Taking Hutt City Council And It’s CEO To The High Court
09 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
This email from Stephen Franks explains why!!!!! Note: I have included all of the email, including the request for any financial support readers may be inclined to give to aid the FSU in this obviously expensive court case. Hi. Some fights take a little longer than others. While the FSU team has been confronting the NZ Police, professional bodies, Immigration […]
Free Speech Union Is Taking Hutt City Council And It’s CEO To The High Court
NZ Nursing Council Raises A Middle Finger To Health Minister Shane Reti And The Coalition Government.
08 Dec 2024 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, health economics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, occupational regulation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
What follows are Scope of Practice requirements for Enrolled and Registered Nurses from 25 January 2025. There are some small differences in requirements but the points I am highlighting are the same and what follows is for Enrolled Nurses. Scope of Practice Enrolled Nurses Enrolled nurses in Aotearoa New Zealand reflect knowledge, concepts and worldviews of both tangata whenua and tangata […]
NZ Nursing Council Raises A Middle Finger To Health Minister Shane Reti And The Coalition Government.
Natasha Hausdorff gives better than she gets at the Oxford Union debates
07 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
The most recent Oxford Union debate was both odious and raucous, and you can read about it in a piece by Niall Ferguson at The Free Press (archived here). An excerpt: Something is rotten in the state of Britain. It was epitomized by a recent [Nov. 28] event at the Oxford Union, the 201-year-old debating […]
Natasha Hausdorff gives better than she gets at the Oxford Union debates
Take Two Puberty Blockers and Call Me in the Morning? Justice Sotomayor Under Fire For Aspirin Analogy in Oral Argument
06 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is under fire today for seemingly dismissing medical concerns over the risks of puberty blockers and gender surgeries for minors with a comparison to taking Aspirin. In the oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, Sotomayor pointed out that there are risks to any medical procedure or drug. However, the […]
Take Two Puberty Blockers and Call Me in the Morning? Justice Sotomayor Under Fire For Aspirin Analogy in Oral Argument
The Missing Myths
04 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, financial economics, gender, global warming, health economics, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, free speech, gender wage gap, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, sex discrimination

Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I…
The Missing Myths
Canadian Town Fined and Mayor Sent for Compulsory Education After Failing to Hoist Pride Flag
03 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Canada, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

CBC News is reporting that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the small town of Emo to pay damages after failing to hoist an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag” in celebration of Pride Month. One problem is that the town of fewer than 2000 inhabitants does not have a flagpole (though you could presumably “show the […]
Canadian Town Fined and Mayor Sent for Compulsory Education After Failing to Hoist Pride Flag
Banning Candace Owens from NZ a terrible decision
02 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of immigration, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
As I have said before I am no fan of Candace Owens. I think she is a grifter who peddles conspiracy theories and has promoted many deeply anti-semitic things. But if enough New Zealanders wish to pay money to hear from her, they should be able to do so. The decision by Immigration NZ prevents […]
Banning Candace Owens from NZ a terrible decision
A defense of the sex binary against Steven Novella’s “multidimensional” definition of sex
27 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left

At the CSICon meetings in Las Vegas this November, I gave a half-hour talk on the two aspects of evolutionary biology that have been most deeply misrepresented by ideologues: sex and race. “Progressives” maintain that sex is not binary but a spectrum, and also that “race and ethnicity are social constructs, without scientific or biological […]
A defense of the sex binary against Steven Novella’s “multidimensional” definition of sex
Centrist: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer admits Māori have ‘different rights’
26 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The Centrist reports – In a Q&A interview with Jack Tame, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer acknowledged Māori have separate rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as tangata whenua. When pressed on whether this meant different standards of citizenship, she said, “We have different expectations and different rights, absolutely.”
Centrist: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer admits Māori have ‘different rights’
New MIT course to indoctrinate students in all aspects of woke ideology that colonize medicine
26 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in economics of education, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

This new course, to be offered next spring at MIT, was first singled out on The Babbling Beaver site, which calls attention to “fake news” at the university that usually turns out, as in this case, to be real news. The Beaver said this about the course. Feminist theory, disability justice, critical race theory, queer […]
New MIT course to indoctrinate students in all aspects of woke ideology that colonize medicine
Defying cries of “transphobia”, the Washington Post calls for debate on whether trans women should participate in women’s sports
22 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, sports economics Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

The good news is that the Washington Post, defying the inevitable cries that the paper is “transphobic”, is calling for a “respectful debate on trans women in sports”. This is, of course, because of the increasing number of biological men who identify as women (I prefer that jawbreaker to “trans women” because the latter plays […]
Defying cries of “transphobia”, the Washington Post calls for debate on whether trans women should participate in women’s sports
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