by Ted Galen Carpenter, antiwar.com, September 10, 2024.
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But even if the charges are accurate, other more important issues should concern all Americans. The laws he is accused of breaking are vague enough to threaten freedom of speech and much-needed debate on many international issues, especially the strained relationship between Russia and the United States. It is possible, for example, to publish an article in Descendants of the Nation or participating in a Center-sponsored discussion violates the relevant principles? What about a paid interview? How can a writer or contributor be more confident? The mere existence of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and various sanctions laws targeting certain countries pose an intolerable threat to 1.St Amendment.
by Robert Poole, The reasonSeptember 10, 2024.
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In a recent statement, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), said:
“The official designation of the I-695 corridor as an Interstate highway…included the bridge replacement project, extending all restrictions on the use of revenue contained in Section 129 of Title 23 of the US Code.”
This statement implies that there will be an organizational problem of using the toll money instead of the Key Bridge. That is false. Congress expressly revised that provision in 1991 to clarify that toll financing could be used. replacing bridges on the Interstate systemregardless of whether they are charged a fee or not. And so Louisiana is replacing the Calcasieu River Bridge with a new toll bridge. (original italics)
by Mustafa Akyol, Cato at LibertySeptember 10, 2024.
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In a sense, a sequel to my previous book, Jesus of Islam (2017), who examined the Qur’anic depiction of Jesus Christ, reveals a complex connection between Christianity and Islam. In this case, I look at the Quranic figure of Moses, who surprisingly is the most prominent figure in Islamic literature, surpassing even his later prophet, Muhammad.
The Quranic Moses is the key to a much larger story, however. The Jewish prophet was very important in the text of the founding of Islam because he was the model of the prophet of Islam. Muhammad adopted the basic principles of Judaism – strict monotheism and absolute religious law – to proclaim them to his people, the Arabs. The theological continuity between the two religions was so strong that the modern Jewish historian Shelomo Dov Goitein (d. 1985) described Islam as “the very flesh and bone of Judaism.” This new religion, Goitein added, was “a throwback, an expansion” of its Jewish predecessor.
For many people in the West today, all this may be surprising to hear, because they are used to hearing about the “Jewish and Christian tradition,” while Islam is often considered a distant cousin. But Judeo-Christian culture 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 sadly began to discover it.
by Peter Suderman, The reasonOctober 2024.
In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule from the Clean Air Act. The EPA Act allowed states to treat all emissions from a group of contiguous industries as a single source of pollution for regulatory purposes. A group of environmental groups has challenged the law, arguing that it allows equipment that emits pollutants to operate that would not be able to pass the proposed regulatory collection 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 complexity of the Clean Air Act. Based on that decision, Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., it was a minor change in administrative law.
DRH’s Comment: When I taught a public policy class, one of the examples I gave of how to find low-cost emissions reductions was the Chevron case. I liked what the EPA did, but now I understand that it overstepped its authority. The EPA allowed an industrial polluter to achieve a reduction target by reducing additional pollution from a source whose cost was much lower. That meant it reached the goal at least cost. You can see why, I, an economist, liked it. I didn’t know the law.
by Virginia Postrel, The reasonSeptember 10, 2024.
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Unfortunately, the book fails to meet the author’s obligations to the audience. It’s full of arguments, cherry-picked examples, and asking questions. It has no historical context. And contrary to the promise of the subtitle, it doesn’t reveal at all how Rosen thinks he’s “human.” This idea seems to involve writing handwritten letters to loved ones far away—but not texts! never text!—and embrace the boredom of long lines at Disney World.
Rosen gives his brief promising testimony. You agree with the epidemic of Zoom classes about the page. He doesn’t examine why online learning doesn’t work, and he doesn’t consider if instructional videos—like the thitos found on YouTube—do. Allowing the terrible results of Zoom school to represent all online education, it simply ignores the importance of digital ease of use in teaching real-world skills like making a sewing pattern, fixing a garbage disposal, improving your passing game, or tying a tie. Maybe he just doesn’t know how to play standard videos on YouTube. (Khan Academy doesn’t say anything either.) In Rosen’s view, when something is online it has nothing to do with the real world except to undermine it.
Virginia is at the top of its game in producing huge benefits for almost everyone through most technological change.
BTW, when I saw the title of his review, I thought of Madonna and wanted to add, “And I’m a physical guy.”
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