Detailed Abstractions

News From Respected Sources

• Air Traffic Control Reform News #93 2012/05/22
  In this Issue: How to implement “Best-Equipped/Best Served” Two steps forward for RNP Getting GPS backup onto the national agenda Creating a supportive culture for NextGen News Notes Quotable Quotes How to Implement “Best-Equipped/Best-Served” The equipage conundrum looms over NextGen as an unresolved problem. Airlines and business jet operators don’t want t […]
  bob.poole@reason.org (Robert Poole)
• Faulty Memories 2012/05/21
  In watching various news talk shows over the past few weeks, I have seen Democratic partisans make the following argument:President Obama just wants to return top tax rates to where they where in the 1990s under President Clinton. And that was a great time for the U.S. economy. So one shouldn't be concerned about the impact of higher tax rates.There are […]
  Greg Mankiw
• State rebuffed on DNA testing 2012/05/21
  Maryland’s state supreme court, the Court of Appeals, has refused to reconsider a split decision barring police from collecting DNA samples from individuals who have been arrested.  The denial order, issued Friday, is here.  State officials have said they will now seek to take the case on to the Supreme Court, but added that they have not yet decided whether […]
  Lyle Denniston
• Excuses 2012/05/21
  At Prawfs, Bill Araiza laments unprofessional students: “So, let’s say a student contacts you, wanting to meet with you, his prof.  You set the meeting up — Wednesday at 11:00, say.  (By the way, these are not actual facts, Wednesday at 11:00 was not an actual meeting time, nor does this question have anything to do with anything that’s happened to me recent […]
  Dave Hoffman
• Is Congress Doomed? 2012/05/21
  By John SamplesMaybe not. I have just published an essay at the Liberty Fund’s Liberty Forum on the fall and rise of Congress since 1960. The essay takes off from James Burnham’s book of that year, Congress and the American Tradition. Burnham was what today would be called a paleo-conservative (despite having been a Trotskyite in the 1940s). He distrusted th […]
  John Samples
• How to Recognize a Government Contractor, or a Federal Takeover 2012/05/21
  By Michael F. CannonHere’s a poor, unsuccessful letter I sent to the editor of the Washington Post: “GOP stalls on insurance marketplaces” [May 12] reports that “the conservative firm Leavitt Partners…is working with a number of states on their plans” to create the government bureaucracies that the new health care law calls insurance “exchanges.” The article […]
  Michael F. Cannon
• The American Law Institute 2012/05/21
  I’m at the ALI’s Annual Meeting – my first since joining the organization.  If you are here, I hope you’ll find me and say hello – and indeed I’ve already seen some familiar faces in this enormous crowd. Three loosely connected thoughts on the ALI: Justice Stevens gave a lunchtime speech. His topic was nominally how Bush v. Gore might encourage the ALI’s ele […]
  Dave Hoffman
• Petitions to watch | Conference of May 24, 2012 2012/05/21
  At its May 24, 2012 Conference, the Court will consider such issues as whether police use of a Taser constitutes excessive force, the evidentiary standard to overcome the presumption of patent validity, and becoming a “fugitive” by challenging, instead of reporting for, deportation.  This edition of “Petitions to watch” features petitions raising issues that […]
  Matthew Bush
• Markets in Everything: Torturer 2012/05/21
  At left is an ad that ran in the Guardian newspaper. “The government of a Middle Eastern state is recruiting a senior torturer to work in a well-equipped prison. Our ideal candidate would be prepared to inflict extreme pain and suffering… Candidates will be expected to inspire a small but enthusiastic team.” No, I don’t think the ad is real. Alas, I am sure […]
  Alex Tabarrok
• The Making and Breaking of Education Policy 2012/05/21
  By Andrew J. CoulsonMatt Ladner does a good job of explaining how his beliefs shape his education policy recommendations. It’s a quality that he shares with Horace Mann, who persuaded the people of Massachusetts to adopt a fully tax-funded state school system based on his own beliefs about how a just society should educate its children. More than a century a […]
  Andrew J. Coulson
• Ravi Sentenced in Tyler Clementi Case 2012/05/21
  Dharun Ravi was sentenced today for his violations of Tyler  Clementi’s privacy.  From Yahoo: A New Jersey judge sentenced a former Rutgers student to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on his roommate kissing another man. Dharun Ravi, 20, was convicted on two second-degree bias intimidation charges in a case that garnered national headlines because h […]
  Daniel Solove
• Civil Asset Forfeiture and the ‘Piratical’ State 2012/05/21
  By Walter OlsonWe at the Cato Institute have warned time and time again of the dangers of civil forfeiture laws, which empower law enforcement authorities to seize cars, money, houses and office equipment alleged (often on a flimsy basis) to have been used to advance unlawful conduct. Even if no related criminal charges are brought — or even if the defendant […]
  Walter Olson
• Joe Barton, Meet Alessandro Acquisti 2012/05/21
  By Jim HarperWe were all very excited about the Facebook IPO last week (I guess), and Washington, D.C. wants to have its part in the action. This Politico article, “Facebook IPO Pits Privacy vs. Profits,” is a good illustration. It is the organs of government saying we are relevant, you know. I was particularly intrigued by the comment of Rep. Joe Barton (R- […]
  Jim Harper
• Detainee cases re-set 2012/05/21
  The Supreme Court will again consider all seven of the pending Guantanamo Bay detainee petitions at its next Conference, on Thursday, according to the Court’s electronic docket.  So far, the Court has not re-listed the New Haven firefighters’ case (New Haven v. Briscoe, 11-1024), another petition not acted upon this morning.  The docket shows that Comcast Co […]
  Lyle Denniston
• One Month in Jail: The Sentence in the Ravi Case 2012/05/21
  The judge handed down the sentence in the Dahrun Ravi case today.  For his conviction on witness- and evidence-tampering and lying to the police, Ravi will serve 30 days in jail.  For the hate crimes charge and sentence enhancement, Ravi was sentenced to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, counseling on cyber bullying and alternative life […]
  Danielle Citron