News From Respected Sources

• Is the Mortgage Settlement Deal Starting to Unravel? 2012/02/07
  The Administration had thrown its weight behind getting the mortgage settlement deal done shortly after the State of the Union address. Eric Schneiderman joining a Federal task force that seemed unlikely to accomplish much, given its staffing and the history of Federal investigations, seemed to secure it getting done, as Schneiderman, the de facto leader of […]
  Yves Smith
• Petition of the day 2012/02/06
  The petition of the day is: John Doe AP v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. LouisDocket: 11-840Issue(s): Whether the First Amendment shields religious organizations from accountability for negligence and negligent supervision and retention of their employees who sexually abuse children.Certiorari stage documents:Opinion below (Mo. Ct. App.) Petition for cer […]
  Kali Borkoski
• Daniel Alpert: Tinkerbell Economics – The Confidence Fairy, Pixie Dust and a Sleeping Dragon 2012/02/06
  By Daniel Alpert, the founding Managing Partner of Westwood Capital. Cross posted from EconoMonitor While we may be hours away from a partial (and certainly a stopgap) agreement in the talks among the Greek government, the troika and private sector creditors, it is doubtful that a deal will emerge in a fully constructed fashion that will survive its applicat […]
  Yves Smith
• ECHR on Diplomatic Assurance, pt. 2 2012/02/06
  I would like to thank Sarah Waldeck and the rest of the Concurring Opinions authors for allowing me to stay on until February 15th.  A lot happened has happened in the past few days with significant implications for international human rights law, but before I turn to these events I want to finish up my thoughts on the recent decision by the European Court o […]
  Elizabeth A. Wilson
• Free Speech Architecture – Legislated Spaces (#4) 2012/02/06
  The previous post in this series discussed the First Amendment’s requirement that individuals have access to at least some minimal spaces for reflection and discourse. But access to speech spaces doesn’t stop at these limited areas required by courts interpreting the First Amendment. State and federal governments frequently choose to designate additional spa […]
  Marvin Ammori
• Cardless National ID and the E-Verify Rebellion 2012/02/06
  By Jim HarperNew Hampshire was the state where the “REAL ID rebellion” got its start. There, in 2006, Rep. Neal Kurk (R-Weare) took to the floor of the New Hampshire House to talk about his principled opposition to the federal national ID law. In stirring words, Kurk urged his colleagues to overturn a committee recommendation that no action should be taken o […]
  Jim Harper
• Assorted links 2012/02/06
  1. Kubrick on The Shining, more interviews here, and Russ Roberts on Arnold bread. 2. Naming rights in everything. 3. How did the collapse of the Soviet Union affect American mathematics? 4. The new John Tomasi book. 5. How Mexico benefits from the China slowdown. 6. A Hansonian paper on the quality of the moral intuitions of philosophers. […]
  Tyler Cowen
• E.J. Dionne on Campaign Finance as Class Warfare 2012/02/06
  By Roger PilonE.J. Dionne was in high dudgeon at the Washington Post this morning over Citizens United, the Supreme Court’s January 2010 campaign finance decision that ever since has driven the Left into fits of apoplexy. Taking his cue from Obama’s infamous State-of-the-Union condemnation of the Court shortly after the decision came down, plus the class war […]
  Roger Pilon
• Prop. 8: Final ruling due 2012/02/06
  The Ninth Circuit Court will issue a ruling tomorrow — apparently, in a single opinion — to decide the challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage, approved by the state’s voters more than three years ago.   In a brief announcement Monday, the Circuit Court said it would issue an opinion at 1 p.m. Tuesday Washington time (10 a.m. in San Francisco) dea […]
  Lyle Denniston
• Will States Lose Medicaid Funds If They Fail to Create an ObamaCare ‘Exchange’? 2012/02/06
  By Michael F. CannonIn recent weeks, officials from two states have claimed that if they do not set up an ObamaCare health insurance “Exchange,” the state will lose federal Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Program funds. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R), has since walked back that claim. New Hampshire Commissioner of Health and Human Services Nicholas […]
  Michael F. Cannon
• Obama’s SOTU, authoritarian followership, and civil society: Part II 2012/02/06
  lambert strether is an old school blogger from Corrente. Last week in Part I of this piece, I argued that Obama’s recent State of The Union speech endorsed a particular model of military organization named the “warrior ethos” by its DOD developers, and that this ethos and American soldier’s oath of enlistment (10 U.S.C. § 502) were in contradiction. That is, […]
  Lambert Strether
• CBO Forecast Accuracy 2012/02/06
  By Chris EdwardsEconomic variables are key drivers of the numbers in CBO’s budget projections. I noted last week that CBO’s new outlook assumes substantially lower interest rates, which appears to produce more than a trillion dollars of savings over the next decade. Policymakers should be aware, however, that macroeconomic forecasts are not very accurate, de […]
  Chris Edwards
• Arizona State Restores Access to Change.org after National Outcry 2012/02/06
  Arizona State University (ASU) has restored access to the petition website Change.org after blocking it due to dubious concerns about "spam" emails coming from the site related to a petition advocating lower tuition costs at the university. On Friday, FIRE wrote ASU asking that it immediately restore access to Change.org and assure its students tha […]
  adam@thefire.org (Adam Kissel)
• As It Turns Out, Money Is Speech 2012/02/06
  By John SamplesThose who advocate for more restrictions on campaign finance generally practice a populist politics. They fulminate against the influence of money, demonize donors, and ascribe all the nation’s problems to Citizens United. Once you have read an example such reformist rhetoric, you have read all of them. (But if you must read more, here’s E.J. […]
  John Samples
• Hong Kong v. Shenzhen on Immigration 2012/02/06
  A full page anti-immigration ad taken out in a Hong Kong newspaper is making waves. The ad (shown at right; note the locust) reads: Do you want Hong Kong to pay 1 million HKD per 18 minute raising illegitimate child from mainland? Hong Kong people have had enough of it! We understand that you suffer from contaminated milk powder, so we tolerate your raid upo […]
  Alex Tabarrok