I just got an email from Cecilia Muñoz, who is the Director of President Obama's Domestic Policy Council, outlining the administration's proposal for immigration reform. Rather than use the abbreviated description in the email, I'll use the slightly wordier summary on the Whitehouse web site: FACT SHEET: Fixing our Broken Immigration System so Everyone Plays by the Rules "So … [Read more...] about Taking a Look at Obama’s Immigration Reform
Abusing US Attorney Carmen Ortiz
I've been following some of the discussions about the prosecutorial conduct that may have lead to Aaron Swartz's suicide, but I haven't posted anything about it because it didn't seem all that unusual, except for the suicide, which is not really all that unusual either. I didn't initially understand why so many people are heaping verbal abuse on US Attorney Carmen Ortiz for … [Read more...] about Abusing US Attorney Carmen Ortiz
Addicted to Harlotry — Part 3: Capital Investment
In Part 1, I introduced the concept of rational addiction and argued that failure to account for it causes us to underestimate the benefits that other people receive from certain activities, which may lead us to believe that there is something unnaturally wrong about their high levels of consumption.Then in Part 2, I explored the ideas of a supply-side version of rational … [Read more...] about Addicted to Harlotry — Part 3: Capital Investment
Zero Dark Thirty – Short Review
Zero Dark Thirty is a terrific spy thriller.Almost nobody mentions that. Everybody talks about the controversial issues raised by Catherine Bigelow's new movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden -- the use of torture, the slam at criminal defense lawyers -- but if you can set aside your differences with the politics of the characters (and by extension, the filmmakers) Zero … [Read more...] about Zero Dark Thirty – Short Review
The Harlot’s Addiction — Part 2: Difficult Jobs
In Part 1, I introduced the concept of rational addiction and speculated that failure to account for it causes us to underestimate the benefits that other people receive from certain activities, which leads us to believe that there is something unnaturally wrong about their high levels of consumption.A recent example of this is NRA President Wayne LaPierre's diatribe … [Read more...] about The Harlot’s Addiction — Part 2: Difficult Jobs