by Ted Galen Carpenter, antiwar.com, September 10, 2024.
Extract:
But even in the unlikely event that the allegations are true, other, more fundamental issues should concern all Americans. The statutes he is accused of violating are sufficiently vague to pose a threat to freedom of expression and to much-needed debates on numerous international issues, especially the strained relations between Russia and the United States. For example, could publish an article in the National Interest whether participation in a Center-sponsored discussion inadvertently violates the relevant statutes? What about a paid interview? How can an author or participant be confident in some way? The very existence of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and various sanctions laws targeting specific countries pose an intolerable threat to the 1st Change.
by Robert Poole, RodeSeptember 10, 2024.
Extract:
In a recent publication, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) said:
“The formal designation of the I-695 corridor as an Interstate highway… has federalized the bridge replacement project, expanding all of the revenue use restrictions set forth in Section 129 of Title 23 of the U.S. Code.”
This statement implies that there would be a federal problem with using toll funding to replace the Key Bridge. That’s not true. Congress explicitly revised that portion of the statute in 1991 to clarify that toll funding could be used to replace bridges on the interstate systemregardless of whether tolls were charged or not. That’s how Louisiana is moving to replace the aging Calcasieu River Bridge with a toll-funded new bridge. (italics in original)
by Mustafa Akyol, Cato at FreedomSeptember 10, 2024.
Extract:
In a way it is a sequel to my earlier book, The Islamic Jesus (2017), which examined the Qur’an’s depiction of Jesus Christ, revealing the complex connections between Christianity and Islam. This time I examine the Qur’an’s portrayal of Moses, who, curiously, is the most dominant human figure in Islamic scripture, eclipsing even its own prophet, Muhammad.
However, the Quranic Moses is only the key to a much larger story. The Jewish prophet was so central to the original text of Islam because he was the role model for Islam’s own prophet. Muhammad embraced the core ideals of Judaism – a staunch monotheism with a comprehensive religious law – and then preached them to his people, the Arabs. The theological continuation between two religions was so strong that the modern Jewish historian Shelomo Dov Goitein (d. 1985) defined Islam as “from the flesh and bone of Judaism.” This new religion, Goitein added, was “a recasting, an extension” of its Jewish predecessor.
For many people in the West today, this may all be surprising to hear, as they are used to hearing about the “Judeo-Christian tradition,” while Islam is often considered a distant cousin at best. But the Judeo-Christian tradition is a modern concept that only became popular in the twentieth century, when Western civilization finally began to question its dark history of anti-Semitism, while parts of the Muslim world unfortunately began to absorb it.
by Peter Suderman, RodeOctober 2024.
In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule resulting from the Clean Air Act. The EPA rule allowed states to treat all pollution originating from a unified industrial group as a single source of pollution for regulatory purposes. A cohort of environmental groups challenged the rule, arguing that it allowed polluting devices to operate that would not have passed regulation on their own.
It was a technical exercise in statutory interpretation, but the long-term impact of the case had little to do with pollution or the complexities of the Clean Air Act. It is laid down in that decision Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., was a small revolution in administrative law.
DRH commentary: When I was teaching a public policy class, one of the examples I gave of how we could get lower costs for reducing pollution was the Chevron case. I liked what the EPA did, but I now understand that it went beyond its mandate. The EPA allowed an industrial polluter to achieve the target reduction by reducing pollution more from the source for which the costs were lowest. This meant that the goal was achieved at the least cost. You can see why, I, an economist, liked it. I was not familiar with the law.
by Virginia Postrel, RodeSeptember 10, 2024.
Extract:
Unfortunately, the book does not fulfill the author’s obligations to the audience. It is full of contradictions, cherry-picked examples, and begging of questions. It is devoid of historical context. And contrary to the promise of the subtitle, it never reveals how Rosen imagines “being human.” That ideal seems to involve writing handwritten letters to distant loved ones – but no texts! never text! — and embracing the boredom of long lines at Disney World.
Rosen gives short shrift to some of her most promising evidence. She teaches pandemic Zoom classes on one page. She does not investigate why online education is ineffective, nor when instructional videos (such as the how-to’s on YouTube) work. She lets the dire effects of Zoom teaching replace all online education and simply ignores the value of digital convenience for learning real-world skills like making a sewing pattern, fixing a garbage disposal, improving your passing game or tying a tie. Maybe she just doesn’t know that how-to videos are common on YouTube. (Khan Academy is also not mentioned.) From Rosen’s point of view, anything online has nothing to do with the real world other than subverting it.
Virginia is at her best in explaining the enormous benefits to virtually everyone of many technological changes.
By the way, when I saw the title of her review, I thought of Madonna and wanted to add, “And I’m a physical guy.”