Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner
“The Fed would really like to avoid any further increase in interest rates. This psychological aversion to interest rate increases in not rational, and it actually makes it more likely that the Fed will find it necessary to raise interest rates even further. That’s because this sort of ‘reversal aversion’ is itself a form of forward guidance, which makes monetary policy more clumsy. It increases the risk that disinflation will reverse course, requiring further rate increases.” (04/15/24)
https://www.econlib.org/some-counterintuitive-thoughts-on-monetary-policy/
Source: TomDispatch
by Ellen Cantarow
“Words can’t express the horrors of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. To actually feel the nightmare, you would have to be there under the bombs, fleeing with Palestinians desperately seeking a safe place that doesn’t exist; seeing building after building destroyed; treading through blood in one of the few, only partially standing hospitals; and witnessing children and other patients sprawled on hospital floors, limbs amputated without anesthesia (Israel having blocked all medical supplies). It has taken the Jewish state’s savagery to break decades of silence about its history of crimes against humanity. U.S. military historian Robert Pape has called the onslaught against Gaza ‘one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history.’ Former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour has said that we are witnessing ‘probably the highest kill rate of any military … since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.'” (04/15/24)
https://tomdispatch.com/dead-on-arrival/
Source: Axios
“The FBI confirmed Monday that its agents have boarded the cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last month and caused its collapse. The news comes as multiple outlets reported Monday that the FBI has opened a criminal investigation related to the collision. The probe appears separate from the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the incident.” (04/15/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/15/fbi-cargo-ship-baltimore-bridge-collapse
Source: New York Post
“The infamous white Ford Bronco carrying OJ Simpson in a low-speed chase across Los Angeles after the murders of his ex-wife and her friend may finally be up for sale — with the hope of getting at least $1.5 million. The 1993 SUV’s three owners – Simpson’s former agent Michael Gilbert and two friends of longtime pal Al Cowlings, who was behind the wheel June 17, 1994 – told Cllct they plan to cash in on the new interest following last week’s death of the disgraced NFL great. … The three owners told Clict that the last offer they received for the Bronco — which has been on loan to the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, since 2016 — was $750,000.” (04/15/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/us-news/ford-bronco-used-in-oj-simpson-chase-up-for-sale/
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“If you’ve had or are having an off day, here’s a message you need to hear. Barry Brownstein beautifully describes how making meaning is the antidote to troubled feelings.” (04/15/24)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-ckze2-15e0b0e
Source: Cato Institute
by Andrew Gillen
“Historically, the mission of higher education was to preserve, discover and disseminate the truth. While many professors still strive to do so, too many colleges have abandoned this mission, instead seeking to promote social justice narratives. The folly and contradictions inherent in this new mission for higher education have reached absurd heights. Some of these, like the campus celebrations of Hamas’[s] recent massacre and mutilation of Israelis, are well publicized. But others receive far less attention.” (04/15/24)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/rights-old-strategy-higher-education-isnt-working-one-would
Source: Fox News
by Grover Norquist
“Donald Trump has outlined his plans for federal taxation should he be elected. ‘I will make the Trump tax cuts permanent. You know they expire in a year. And we will cut your taxes even more than that,’ he said in a speech in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 14, 2024. Trump made the direction clear. Lower. Biden’s plan calls for a small business tax hike, a corporate tax hike, a capital gains and dividends tax hike, income tax hikes, energy tax hikes and even a second Death Tax on top of the first one. But President Biden has also made his plan clear: He wants to wallop Americans with a $5 trillion tax increase.” (04/15/24)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/massive-tax-increases-coming-second-biden-term
Source: spiked
by CS Strachen
“America sneezes, Britain keels over with influenza. For years, we have imported countless American social and cultural debates, be it on race or abortion. Political issues that divide Americans are almost always assumed to be relevant here. But this is not necessarily the case. Look no further than the growing opposition to opioids in Britain. In the US, opioid use is a blight on society. But to tens of thousands of British patients who suffer from a disability, opioids are the difference between leading a productive life and leading no life at all. This increased suspicion of opioids in the UK is therefore deeply concerning.” (04/15/24)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/04/15/in-defence-of-opioids/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Coral around the world is turning white and even dying as recent record ocean heat takes a devastating toll. It has triggered the fourth global mass coral bleaching event, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Bleaching happens when coral gets stressed and turns white because the water it lives in is too hot. Coral sustains ocean life, fishing, and creates trillions of dollars of revenue annually. Ocean heat records have been falling for months but this is the first global evidence of how this episode is affecting sea life. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the mass stress in all oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean) after weeks of receiving reports from scientists globally.” (04/15/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68814016
Source: The Atlantic
by Claire Finkelstein & Richard W Painter
“Next Thursday, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that he is immune to all criminal charges against him arising from acts he committed while president. It is no exaggeration to say that this argument — that a president is permanently immune to criminal prosecution for any crimes committed in his official capacity — is the most dangerous assertion any official or former official has ever made in a U.S. courtroom. Should this argument be adopted by the Court, a president would have license to make use of the U.S. military to subvert democracy in multiple ways …. A less appreciated danger, but one that would present itself with greater regularity, is the weakening of the military chain of command, and with it civilian control of the U.S. armed forces.” (04/15/24)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/presidential-immunity-supreme-court-trump/678050/
