by Ilya Shapiro, Shapiro’s hammerOctober 21, 2024.
Extract:
The court leans right, yes, but it is not a monolith, and it clips the wings of aggressively conservative trial lawyers and lower court judges alike. Last term, for the first time in living memory, the Supreme Court overturned the Texas-heavy Fifth Circuit more than the California-based Ninth Circuit. And during the previous term — which featured historic rulings on gun rights and affirmative action — Thomas and Alito were the least majority justices. As the kids would say, the statistics don’t lie.
Only 11 of the 58 opinions in argued cases last term resulted in a “partisan” 6-3 split and almost half of the decisions were unanimous. (In the previous term, there were only five “partisan” 6-3 votes and a similar degree of unanimity.) There were also five 5-4 rulings in five different configurations, with the Liberal trio keeping four together.
by Eric Böhm, RodeOctober 23, 2024.
Extract:
Less expected is the spectacle that has accompanied that noise in Swannanoa, North Carolina, for the past three weeks: helicopters, many privately owned and operated, launching and landing from a makeshift helipad in the backyard of the local pork store. According to the men who organized this private relief effort in the aftermath of the devastating flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene, more than a million pounds of supplies were delivered – food, heavy road-clearing equipment, medical equipment, blankets, heaters, tents, etc., you name it – have flown from here to dots all over the map of western North Carolina.
“We are not the government and we are here to help” says one of the two men standing at the makeshift gate – a pair of orange traffic drums – that controls access to and from the Harley-Davidson dealer’s parking lot and the piles of donated items neatly arranged there. “We can do it faster, we can do it efficiently, and we really want to help our neighbors.” He identifies himself only by his first name and later asks me not to even use that. It’s an understandable request, since strictly speaking what he’s doing is probably not completely legal. (italics mine)
DRH comment: The quote I italicized is clearly a variation on what Ronald Reagan famously said: the nine most terrifying words in the English language: “I am from the government and I am here to help.” (BTW: I miss Reagan.)
And:
The man largely responsible for organizing the Harley-Davidson airlift is a burly, bearded former Green Beret named Adam Smith – yes, really.
And finally:
They weren’t the only ones who needed help. Smith’s day job these days is ongoing Savage Freedom defensea training and consultancy firm, where he uses his military experience to prepare people to care for themselves and their loved ones under difficult circumstances. Through that company and through connections to other retired special operations veterans in the area, Smith launched what a redneck air force to bring supplies to flooded mountain towns. Smith owns motorcycles and knows people who work at the Harley-Davidson dealership. He also knew it would be a perfect spot for the group’s ad hoc operations: a large parking lot with one entrance and a large field at the back where the helicopters landed.
By the end of the first week they had three civilian helicopters flying missions and everything only grew from there. In addition to food and supplies, the group has that too carried Starlink devices to places where internet and mobile connections were down.
by Samuel Gregg, Law & FreedomOctober 24, 2024.
Extract:
Entitled The future of European competitivenessthis 404-page document is remarkably candid about Europe’s economic problems. Draghi acknowledges that Europe is ‘stuck in a static industrial structure’, increasingly deprived of innovation, unable to resist regulatory creep, experiencing a weakening of capital markets, experiencing a demographic implosion, facing increasing rapidly rising energy prices and losing some of its best entrepreneurs to America. Thousands of European companies, Draghi reports, consider “regulatory obstacles and administrative burdens as their biggest challenge.” Then there is the European sclerotic technology sector. “Only four of the world’s fifty largest technology companies,” Draghi notes, “are European.”
And:
You would think that this state of affairs itself would suggest the solution: aggressive deregulation of the European economies at national and EU levels. Unfortunately, it is a sign of the iron grip of the dirigiste mentality on broad swathes of the EU’s political class that Draghi’s proposed cure for declining competitiveness amounts to greater political centralization and greater state intervention, the exact opposite of what is needed to keep the EU economies more dynamic and equipped for the challenges of the 21st century.
by John O. McGinnis, Law & FreedomOctober 24, 2024.
Extract:
That’s what critics say too Dobbs is unique because it represents the first time the Court has destroyed a right that many Americans relied on. But this claim ignores history. The Court stripped away significant economic freedoms when it rejected it Lochner vs. New York and stripped constitutional protections for contracts Housing and Lending Ass’n v. Blaisdell, believes that the contract clause could be ignored during economic emergencies – precisely when such protections are most critical. These decisions eliminated the rights on which Americans had depended, rights that were enshrined in the original constitutional framework.
DRH comment: Very good point. However, I think he and I have a different understanding of rights. I don’t think anyone can eliminate a right; he or she just cannot recognize it. For example, I have the right not to be a slave. If anyone were to enslave me, he would revoke my right, not eliminate it.