The following is written by Don Brash in his capacity as Hobson’s Pledge Trustee. As I shared with you previously, the Real Estate Authority (REA) said they were going to cancel real estate agent Janet Dickson’s licence for five years because she would not take a compulsory Māori culture course. Then, the real estate company…
DON BRASH: Terminated for saying “no” to cultural training – what’s next? (UPDATED)
DON BRASH: Terminated for saying “no” to cultural training – what’s next? (UPDATED)
26 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
21 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
As you know, I go back and forth on the question of affirmative action for college and professional-school admissions, and even after I thought I’d settled on a view (i.e., give some preference to minorities among those equally qualified for admission), it still keeps changing. After I read the long New York Times piece below […]
Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations for descendants of slaves
Marriage Fundamentalism: Professor Criticizes Marriage as an Institution Built on “White Heteropatriarchal Supremacy”
17 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
George Mason Professor Bethany Letiecq is at the center of a firestorm of controversy over his article in the Journal of Marriage and Family declaring that the institution of marriage plays a key role in white supremacy. In considering what she labels “marriage fundamentalism,” Letiecq lashes out at the “two-parent married family” model. It is the […]
Marriage Fundamentalism: Professor Criticizes Marriage as an Institution Built on “White Heteropatriarchal Supremacy”
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, cranks, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Graham Adams writes — Jonathan Swift’s observation in 1710 that “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it” seems entirely apt for last week’s parliamentary debate on disestablishing the Māori Health Authority. No fewer than three MPs — MPs Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Labour), Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Te Pāti Māori), and Steve Abel (Greens) — referred to […]
The tohunga suppression myth that won’t die
Longing for Auschwitz.
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, war and peace Tags: Age of Enlightenment, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, Nazi Germany, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, The Holocaust, war against terror
An article in Tablet Magazine with that title, “Longing for Auschwitz., that nails what lies at the heart of what happened in Israel last October 7. A couple of excerpts but as always… Hamas’s assault on Israelis on October 7th was not an act of war as we normally think of it but something far […]
Longing for Auschwitz.
ELLIOT IKILEI: Why I am joining Hobson’s Pledge
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
We thought some good news wouldn’t go amiss. The following content speaks for itself. Just a quick note to introduce myself as the newest member of the Hobson’s Pledge team. A quick bit about myself: I am a husband, dad, and proud New Zealander. I have ancestors from Niue, England, and Tonga, and I hail…
ELLIOT IKILEI: Why I am joining Hobson’s Pledge
Bari Weiss interviews Roland Fryer
22 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: academic bias, crime and punishment, free speech, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
A lot of readers and heterodox colleagues have sent me this link to Bari Weiss’s interview with Harvard economics professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr., often accompanied by big encomiums. Despite my unwillingness to watch long videos, I did watch all 77 minutes of it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mesmerized, or even much interested. There are interesting […]
Bari Weiss interviews Roland Fryer
John Tamihere – Why did he change?
18 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: New Zealand, racial discrimination
Glenn Loury (and, to some extent, John McWhorter) backpedal about the death of George Floyd
15 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, movies, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, law and order, racial discrimination
The death of George Floyd, and his presumed murder by Derek Chauvin with the complicity of several Minneapolis policemen, was an iconic moment in today’s race relations, the most important event leading to the “racial reckoning” of the last few years. In late December of last year, I posted a movie, “The Fall of Minneapolis” […]
Glenn Loury (and, to some extent, John McWhorter) backpedal about the death of George Floyd
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
On February 1 Sean Plunket re-played the audio of Don Brash’s 2004 Orewa speech at The Platform. To listen to the entire speech, go here. Alternatively, the full text of the speech is reproduced below. Today Don reflects: “It’s very long – really far too long for a Rotary Club speech. I should have taken…
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
BRIAN EASTON: Our understanding of Te Tiriti has evolved organically.
06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, Internet, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Why try to stop that evolution? Brian Easton writes – In 1956, historian Ruth Ross presented her investigations of the treaty signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840 to a seminar concluding, ‘The [Māori and Pakeha] signatories of 1840 were uncertain and divided in their understanding of [Te Tiriti’s] meaning; who can say now what […]
BRIAN EASTON: Our understanding of Te Tiriti has evolved organically.
Robot Racism: Pittsburgh Professor Sounds Alarm Over “Interacting with White Robots”
05 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture Tags: political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
In today’s academic environment, there often seems a race to racialize common practices or terminology. Publications clamor for such articles and discovering another hidden racist element in society can bring academic accolades. However, others have already staked out many such areas such as mathematics, astrophysics, statistics, meritocracy, climate change, dieting, tipping, skiing, chess, and organized pantries. Most recently, the American Psychological Association declared that merit-based hiring may […]
Robot Racism: Pittsburgh Professor Sounds Alarm Over “Interacting with White Robots”
DON BRASH: WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY DO WE WANT TO BE?
03 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Last Sunday, the Sunday Star-Times recalled on its front page the “fiery debate” triggered by my speech to the Orewa Rotary Club just 20 years earlier. Articles by several authors in the same paper brought the debate up-to-date and warned of the dangers of ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, which the National Party’s coalition agreement with…
DON BRASH: WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY DO WE WANT TO BE?
DON BRASH: WHY THE MAORI ELECTORATES MUST GO
14 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
One of the strange omissions from the coalition agreements which marked the establishment of the new Government was any reference to the Maori electorates. Perhaps in one sense the omission was not strange: there had been little or no discussion about those electorates during the election campaign, either by those parties which might have…
DON BRASH: WHY THE MAORI ELECTORATES MUST GO
Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign
03 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, war against terror
Breaking nooz, and from the Harvard Crimson. The revelations of plagiarism, and accusations of withholding/manipulating data, apparently rendered her ineffective as President. And her status as Harvard’s first black woman President didn’t save her. I heard rumors that she refused to resign, and had procured a lawyer and would sue, but those apparently weren’t true. […]
Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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