Gervais gets it right
16 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in liberalism, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Cleese on ‘woke’
13 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, movies, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, television Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
John Cleese says woke people want to be right even if they don’t know why:
Cleese on ‘woke’
Colorado Supreme Court Dismisses Another Lawsuit Against Masterpiece Cakeshop
13 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
In prior columns, academic articles, and my book, “The Indispensable Right, I discuss the never-ending litigation targeting Jack Phillips, the Christian baker who declined to make cakes that violated his religious beliefs. Phillips continues to be the subject of continuing lawsuits despite the Supreme Court upholding his right to decline to make expressive products […]
Colorado Supreme Court Dismisses Another Lawsuit Against Masterpiece Cakeshop
Zero remorse
12 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
The Herald reports: A pharmacist and transgender refugee who was convicted last month for pouring tomato juice over the head of anti-transgender rights activist Posie Parker – prompting the controversial British speaker to promptly leave New Zealand over safety fears – returned to a courtroom today as her lawyer asked to have the conviction rescinded. … He acknowledged there was a degree of […]
Zero remorse
An ideologically-based and misleading critique of how modern genetics is taught
11 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: academic bias, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Over at sapiens.org, an anthropology magazine, author Elaine Guevara (a lecturer in evolutionary anthropology at Duke) takes modern genetics education to task. Making a number of assertions about what students from high school to college learn in their genetics courses, Guevara claims that this type of education imparts “zombie ideas”: outdated but perpetually revived notions […]
An ideologically-based and misleading critique of how modern genetics is taught
“Schencking” Free Speech: Walz Makes the Case for the Most Anti-Free Speech Ticket in History
06 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Below is my column in USA Today on the most chilling moment from the Vance-Walz debate when the Democratic nominee showed why he is part of the dream ticket for the anti-free speech movement. Here is the column: In the vice presidential debate Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pulled the fire alarm. His opponent, Sen.…
“Schencking” Free Speech: Walz Makes the Case for the Most Anti-Free Speech Ticket in History
Māori academics finally admit that their way of knowing is not science, but asserts that it is better than science because the truth is “both factual and ethically value-laden”
05 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
The “Listener letter” appeared in 2021, signed by 7 professors at the University of Auckland (see it here) in New Zealand. It was a response to the drive (still going on) to teach indigenous “ways of knowing”, Mātauranga Māori (MM), as coequal with science in science classes. The letter argued that while MM was of […]
Māori academics finally admit that their way of knowing is not science, but asserts that it is better than science because the truth is “both factual and ethically value-laden”
“Curbing” Free Speech: John Kerry Denounces the First Amendment as “a Major Block” for Censorship
04 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Below is my column in the New York Post on the recent remarks of former Secretary of State John Kerry to the World Economic Forum, the latest in an array of powerful American politicians warning about the dangers of free speech and calling for government controls. He joins his fellow former Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary…
“Curbing” Free Speech: John Kerry Denounces the First Amendment as “a Major Block” for Censorship
Blasphemer
03 Oct 2024 1 Comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, political change, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Freedom of religion, political correctness, regressive left
Against personal definitions
02 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights Tags: economics of languages, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
An argument against the use of personal definitions of words can be framed around the concepts of communication efficacy, shared meaning, and societal cohesion. 1. Undermines Effective Communication The primary purpose of language is to facilitate clear communication between individuals. Personal definitions of words undermine this goal by distorting the shared meaning that allows people […]
Against personal definitions
The woke to a tee
30 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, liberalism, Marxist economics, movies, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, television Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The BBC once again won’t use the word “terrorists” for Hamas
28 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of information, law and economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: British politics, Gaza Strip, media bias, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror
This article just appeared in Spiked (click headline below to read), but you can see a similar piece in the Times of Israel. The upshot is that the BBC, which has long bridled at using the word “terrorists” for Hamas, is now bridling again when the Beeb itself shows a documentary about the Nova Music […]
The BBC once again won’t use the word “terrorists” for Hamas
Bill Maher: comedy on comity
23 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Earlier today I criticized Angel Eduardo for making a useful but un-original plea for comity between people of conflicting ideologies. (Try that with Jewish students and pro-Palestinian demonstrators!) Apparently a false rumor started that J.D. Vance (whom he calls a “giant asshole”) was copulating with his couch, leading to Maher’s claim that we’re all willing […]
Bill Maher: comedy on comity
“A Symbol of Imperial Violence and Colonialism”: Activists at UPenn Deface Statue of Benjamin Franklin
19 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: age of empires, economics of colonialism, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Benjamin Franklin once wrote “Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” Yet, Franklin might be a bit confused by his critics at the University of Pennsylvania. Anti-Israel activists vandalized his statue as a symbol of colonialism. The man who was instrumental in the Declaration of Independence against the British Empire is being denounced […]
“A Symbol of Imperial Violence and Colonialism”: Activists at UPenn Deface Statue of Benjamin Franklin
“A Better Deterrence”: Hillary Clinton Calls for the Arrest of Americans Spreading Disinformation
18 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Hillary Clinton has long been one of the most anti-free speech figures in American politics, including calling upon European officials to force Elon Musk to censor American citizens under the infamous Digital Services Act (DSA). She is now suggesting the arrest of Americans who spread what she considers disinformation. It is a crushingly ironic moment…
“A Better Deterrence”: Hillary Clinton Calls for the Arrest of Americans Spreading Disinformation
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