URLs du Jour

2018-12-11

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

  • <voice imitation="professor_farnsworth">Good news, everyone!</voice> Or, actually, not so good news. The latest Human Freedom Index is out, and Cato reports: Human Freedom Falls in More Countries than Not. Notably:

    New Zealand and Switzerland are the two freest countries on this year’s index, while Venezuela and Syria rank last. The United States ranks 17. In 2008, it ranked 11, then fell notably until 2013, after which it rose through 2016, the latest year for which the index gathers sufficient data that is comparable globally.

    Note: that's all pre-Trump data. Who knows what next year will bring?


  • At the possibly-paywalled WSJ, James B. Freeman writes on The Unbelievable James Comey.

    Can the story former FBI Director James Comey told Congress on Friday possibly be true? In a joint executive session of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, Mr. Comey presented himself as unaware and incurious regarding one of the most consequential investigations the FBI has ever conducted. After describing how little he knew about the federal government’s use of its surveillance powers against associates of the presidential campaign of the party out of power in 2016, Mr. Comey then assured lawmakers that the launching of the investigation was proper and free of political bias.

    As Richard Nixon allegedly urged his aides back in the 1973 about testifying under oath: “Just be damn sure you say, ‘I don’t remember, I can’t recall. I can’t give any honest — an answer to that that I can recall.’" They didn't get away with it, but I bet Comey will.


  • At the Library of Economics and Liberty, Scott Sumner poses an interesting query: What should be regarded as property?.

    Tangible products such as bicycles and haircuts and food are considered by economists to be rival goods, consumption of the good by one person prevents its use by another. Non-rival goods include things like broadcast TV. If I tune in to Seinfeld, it doesn’t prevent another person from tuning in to the same show. For that reasons, private broadcast TV companies were not able to charge money for their service, and instead relied on advertising revenue. (The publicly-owned BBC was a different story.)

    Most intellectual property has a non-rival characteristic.  Use of an idea by one person doesn’t prevent the use of the idea by another.  So should ideas be regarded as private property?  In other words, should inventions be granted intellectual property rights? And if so, to what degree?

    Scott is not immodest enough to provide a concrete answer, but his post is required reading for folks who worry about such things. Open question.


  • The Google LFOD alert buzzed for a Business Insider story: The CDC issued a warning about not eating raw cookie dough and people don't care at all.

    Flour and raw eggs, both of which are often used in dough and batter, can contain bacteria and salmonella, which pose health risks. The CDC noted that in 2016, E. coli outbreak traced back to raw flour made 63 people sick.

    But many truly do not care about the health risks.

    Adapted from a response to a Facebook friend yesterday: As usual, numbers or solid facts that might allow people to make up their own minds about the risks involved are not easy to find among the "just say no to dough" hoopla. You'd think the CDC might do better. One anecdote about a two-year-ago E. coli outbreak? Just one not particularly helpful data point.

    I've seen estimates that (back in the 90s) the prevalence of salmonella in eggs was 1 in 20,000; it's almost certainly far lower now, and I would imagine your odds improve even further if you get your eggs from a non-sketchy source.

    As for the flour, they point to a 56-person E. coli "outbreak" back in 2016 linked to raw flour. Here's an article that puts that in some context: Why you shouldn't panic about E.coli in your flour.

    And, oh right:

    Thanks, Kaitlin!


  • And those wacky libertarians over at the Union Leader chronicle the latest bit of small-town statism: Shop owners angry as Keene passes tobacco ban.

    Shop owners are angry after the Keene City Council passed a ban on tobacco and other nicotine product sales to people under the age of 21, saying the city is hurting small businesses.

    “I think it’s ridiculous,” said Dan Cavallero, owner of Monadnock Vapors on Washington Street. “I think it’s the first step in making New Hampshire unrecognizable as the Live Free Or Die state.”

    Actually, Dan, it's one more step in making New Hampshire unrecognizable as the Live Free Or Die state.


Last Modified 2024-01-24 11:52 AM EDT