Last summer, I expressed my doubts about scientific aims of the SORNA Challenge. By asking for proposals for "innovative" ways to measure the costs and benefits of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, I felt that the National Institute of Justice was implicitly admitting that the widely accepted methodologies of sociology, criminology, and economics wouldn't … [Read more...] about SORNA Challenge Update
Jim Ardis and the Abuse of Power
Via Radley Balko comes more narcissistic whining from Jim Ardis, the mayor of Peoria, Illinois, who is rapidly becoming famous for sending his pet cops to raid the house of someone who ran a parody Twitter account in his name. Nick Vlahos of the Peoria Journal Star reports that Ardis doesn't seem to think he did anything wrong: Ardis defended his actions, which led to search … [Read more...] about Jim Ardis and the Abuse of Power
An Argument From Envy
Over at In These Times, United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard has an opinion piece in which he purports to explain "Why the GOP Really Fears Minimum-Wage Hikes." Republicans in America suffer a crippling anxiety. It’s the terrible fear of corporations paying poor workers too much. I don't have any special claim to understanding why Republicans do the things they do, but … [Read more...] about An Argument From Envy
You Know Your Mayor Is a Whiny Little Bitch When…
He's Peoria, Illinois mayor Jim Ardis, who is really thin skinned: PEORIA — Police searched a West Bluff house Tuesday and seized phones and computers in an effort to unmask the author of a parody Twitter account that purported to be Mayor Jim Ardis.[...]Three people at the home were taken to the Peoria Police Department for questioning. Two other residents were picked … [Read more...] about You Know Your Mayor Is a Whiny Little Bitch When…
Not Quite the End of Big Oil
I stumbled across an amusing bit of scientific confusion at Addicting Info ("The Knowledge You Crave") in an article titled "The U.S. Navy Just Announced The End Of Big Oil And No One Noticed." The author, Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" Rosario, says the U.S. Navy has "achieved the Holy Grail of energy independence – turning seawater into fuel."He's talking about an … [Read more...] about Not Quite the End of Big Oil