US Government: drones can kill you, but they can’t bring you tacos

March 27, 2012

One of the difficulties in arguing against licensing requirements is that the innovation they prevent is unseen. But a brilliant MIT grad named Star Simpson is making the unseen seen via the Tacocopter. It’s a small, unmanned drone helicopter that would deliver orders made via smartphone to locations determined via smartphone users’ GPS. Would, but [...]

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‘Stock Act’ strikes the branch, misses the root

March 26, 2012

Why does insider trading bother people so much that Congress has come up with a “solution” that will cost $1.7 million? (‘Stock Act’ sticks taxpayers with $1.7 million tab) Politicians are people too People hate insider trading because it reveals that politicians, when given the opportunity, make decisions that benefit them. They aren’t  superhumans born [...]

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The best part of Paul Ryan’s budget

March 22, 2012

In The Worst Part of Paul Ryan’s Budget, Derek Thompson writes: [Paul Ryan's] long-term budget… would cut 91 percent from these and all other non-defense programs. Ninety-one percent. [Under this plan] we’re forced to let our highways rot, while the unemployed go bankrupt and our veterans go homeless. This is so silly, and yet cute. It’s like when [...]

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Ex H&R Block CEO: license small tax preparers

March 21, 2012

Today in Corporatism, a former CEO of H&R Block turned bureaucrat just created a law requiring licenses for small tax preparers. Of course the requirements are waived for lawyers, CPAs, and large tax-preparation companies like H&R Block. From the Reason article entitled Just What America Needs: More Red Tape: “Everyone,” said President Obama six months ago, [...]

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Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers don’t understand markets

March 20, 2012
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Romney hammers Obama’s ‘assault on freedom’ in Chicago speech Princeton economics professor Cecilia Rouse, a former member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, said there is “not actually any evidence that regulatory burden actually has a meaningful impact on employment or the economy now.” You can keep your post as an professor of economics [...]

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Should IVF twins born to widow receive Social Security survivor benefits?

March 19, 2012

This morning NPR reported a story about a widow who is suing for Social Security survivor benefits for the twins she conceived via IVF using her late husband’s sperm years after he’d passed away. My first thought was, why does Social Security provide survivor benefits? Isn’t that what life insurance is? It would seem that [...]

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FBI the real privacy threat, not Google, Twitter or Facebook

March 15, 2012

FBI Issues Warrant To Google — To Unlock A Pimp’s Android Phone The FBI forensics technicians couldn’t figure out how to get around the pattern lock. Apparently the technicians entered the wrong pattern so many times, they locked the phone.  At that point, the only way to unlock it was to enter the Google account [...]

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Parents need a day off work to support Louisiana’s education reform bills

March 14, 2012

Louisiana Teachers Cancel Class to Protest Education Reform Bill Canceling class “will allow teachers to travel to Baton Rouge for hearings on Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to make sweeping changes in public schools,” the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. Last year nearly half of Louisiana’s public schools received a D or F grade on student outcomes. Louisiana’s 4th and [...]

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An Anarcho-capitalist look at law enforcement in America

March 13, 2012

Law enforcement is a touchy subject. Cops are at once lauded as heroic, self-sacrificing and brave while being accused of bullying and behaving in a secretive, protect-your-own, unaccountable manner. Absolutely everything said about cops is true, of some cops. Many are courageous, while some are without doubt attracted to police work because it gives them [...]

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Can we stop pretending all birth control mandate objectors hate women?

March 8, 2012

In the New Yorker‘s HAS LIMBAUGH IDENTIFIED THE G.O.P.’S WOMAN PROBLEM? writer Amy Davidson calls out Rush Limbaugh’s rude remarks about Sandra Fluke, but then seems to get confused. First she misconstrues the amendment being debated. “The Blunt amendment… would have given employers broad leeway to dispense with contraceptive coverage on religious or ‘moral’ grounds.” [...]

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