Senator Elizabeth Warren has a new bill out to prevent evictions during the COVID-19 crisis. The bill imposes a 1 year moratorium on evictions nationwide. That’s it. On its face, the bill seems to have two deficiencies. First, millions of low-income tenants will be unable to repay their past due rent. To give them a […]
The betting markets and statistical models of the 2020 election suggest Trump is either likely or very likely to lose. I have no reason to doubt this, but it is interesting to look back at the history of his approval ratings. Trump’s approval trended down throughout his first year in office, with low points in […]
In a recent post, the blogger/economist Donald Boudreaux expressed deep fear of the people protesting for police reform and of progressive politics generally. Below is an open letter responding to his post. It is long (mostly below the fold) but it highlights some of the key issues separating libertarians and classical liberals from progressives and […]
This article by Ezra Klein is excellent. I can’t do it justice in a blog post, but here is a bit: This is the often neglected heart of nonviolence: It is a strategic confrontation with other human beings. It takes as self-evident that we must continue to live in fellowship with one another. As such, […]
This article provides powerful evidence of the value of racial diversity and integration. At the New York Times this past week, it was black reporters who led the newsroom protest over the decision to publish the appalling Op-Ed of Senator Tom Cotton. Their leadership – based on their different perspective – forced James Bennet to […]
Summary of initial polling: Overwhelming agreement that officers should be fired Strong agreement with murder charges Majority agreement that policing is biased against blacks Majority support for protesters Concern about violence and looting, support for curfews and use of National Guard, and even military Trump net 17 point disapproval of handling of situation My takeaways […]
There are two insurance-related police reform ideas being discussed. One approach focuses on municipal liability insurance. Many municipalities do not purchase liability insurance to cover lawsuits against officers, instead choosing to self-insure. This is potentially a problem because insurers actually play an important role in loss control. They provide information and services related to procedures, […]
From Cato: 79% of Americans support having outside law enforcement agencies investigate police misconduct, rather than leave it to the department to handle. It may surprise some readers to learn that most jurisdictions in the U.S. allow police departments to investigate and discipline their own officers. Instead, most Americans think having some outside oversight could […]
I highly recommend David Hopkins blog. Yesterday, he posted a piece on the end of confident conservatism. It begins like this: After Richard Nixon’s 1968 election, many conservatives came to believe that their movement naturally represented the political views of most Americans. This conservative faith in the wisdom of the average citizen was cemented by […]
The barriers facing black people in America today are numerous and daunting: poor schools, dangerous neighborhoods, lack of income, wealth, and connections, persistent formal and informal discrimination in so many settings. The list goes on, and it certainly includes many problems with our criminal justice system, from over-criminalization to degrading conditions of imprisonment to oppressive […]