John Farmer Jr., a dean at the Rutgers School of Law and former senior counsel for the 9/11 commission, has a New York Times op-ed promoting the Justice Department's new Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative, which basically encourages Americans to report each other to the government if they see anything suspicious. Farmer offers the following scary scenario … [Read more...] about Suspicious Activity Reporting, You Decide
Archives for September 2010
Criminal Minds – Review
One of the side effects of my reading so many libertarian and criminal law blogs is that it makes it hard for me to enjoy watching cop dramas on TV. Your typical television tough cop who "breaks all the rules" comes across to me as a bully who I'd like to see fired, if not indicted and imprisoned. And whenever they take somone in for interrogation, I keep thinking "Shut up! … [Read more...] about Criminal Minds – Review
What If McCain and Palin Had Won?
I usually try to avoid outright partisan battles here on Windypundit, but with all the complaining people are doing about the state of the country today, I was struck by a recent tweet by Roger Ebert: Say, how d'ya think we'd be doing about now with McCain and Palin? Yes, let's try to imagine what life in this country would be like if the country had been run by these … [Read more...] about What If McCain and Palin Had Won?
I Must Have Missed That Class
In graduate school I had the most trouble staying awake in finance lectures. I always thought finance had to be just about the most boring topic ever.French MEP Rachida Dati, when discussing finance in France, recently said:I see some [foreign investment funds] looking for returns of 20 or 25% at a time when fellatio is close to zero.I guess I was just doing finance wrong. … [Read more...] about I Must Have Missed That Class
Why Philosophers Shouldn’t Argue Physics with Stephen Hawking
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Roger Scruton, an English philosopher, titled "Memo to Hawking: There's Still Room for God". (Sorry, it's behind a paywall.) He attempts to refute Hawking's premise that no God is needed to create a universe from nothing.Immanuel Kant, who believed that Newton's laws of gravity are not merely true but necessarily true, … [Read more...] about Why Philosophers Shouldn’t Argue Physics with Stephen Hawking