Source: SFGate
“Razer, a large consumer technology company, is getting punished for an incorrect marketing promise that could only have come during the pandemic. The hardware-maker will have to pay more than $1.1 million dollars to settle allegations that it falsely marketed its $100 Zephyr masks as N95-grade during the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Trade Commission announced the deal on Monday; the payments include more than $1 million for customer refunds and a $100,000 fine to the United States government. Razer didn’t admit wrongdoing by accepting the terms of the order. Razer … its business on products for video game players, like laptops, mouses and keyboards. But in late 2021, the company revealed a new offering: its excessively flashy Zephyr mask. A far cry from a disposable KN95 mask, which fit in a pocket and proliferated widely from 2020 to 2022, the Razer Zephyr had battery-powered fans, colored lights and a transparent window above the lips.” (05/06/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/razer-payment-overhyped-covid-masks-19434332.php
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“If you reward people for (pretending to) throw away crumpled pieces of paper, they’ll do so. If you reward people for (seeming to) have a child drowning, you should expect more kids to appear to be drowning. If you reward people for making kids worse off, they’ll do so. Something similar may be going on now with therapy. When we encourage people to go to therapy and treat them kindly for it, they feel rewarded. The result? We incentivize more therapy. In part, this may be a good thing. More people may need therapy then currently get therapy and some that do likely could use more. The worry is that we may be overdoing the incentives.” (05/06/24)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/therapy-and-incentives
Source: American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“Without either side even noticing it, we’re coming up on the centenary of the most decisive event in the fraught history of the Israel-Palestine relationship. It was not the 1896 publication of Theodor Herzl’s Zionist manifesto, nor the 1917 Balfour Declaration in which the United Kingdom pledged its support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It was not the 1948 founding of the Israeli state and subsequent Nakba — the expulsion of many thousands of Palestinians from Israel. Nor was it Israel’s occupation, following the 1967 war, of what had been Palestinian territories, or either of the two intifadas. Rather, it was the enactment on May 26, 1924, of the Johnson-Reed Act by the Congress of the United States.” (05/06/24)
https://prospect.org/world/2024-05-06-who-created-israel-palestine-conflict/
Source: The Hill
“Former President Trump’s hush money judge found he violated a gag order a 10th time, giving Trump his sternest warning yet, that future violations could carry jail time. Judge Juan Merchan on Monday ordered Trump to pay $1,000 for attacking jurors in his historic criminal trial, just days after the judge ruled on earlier set of gag order violations. ‘Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration,’ Merchan wrote. But the judge handed Trump a partial win, ruling that prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump violated his gag order in three other statements.” (05/06/24)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4638607-judge-trump-gag-order
Source: Brookings Institution
“Embracing AI in Legal Practice: Opportunities and Challenges.” (05/06/24)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/embracing-ai-in-legal-practice-opportunities-and-challenges
Source: Kent’s “Hooligan Libertarian” Blog
“There have been times in my life when I knew I was around someone who wasn’t good for me to be around, or when I found myself in social situations I knew could be dangerous for me. I usually got out of there quickly. Usually. You can do a lot to increase your safety by staying away from certain people and situations. It’s no guarantee, but it gives you better odds.” (06/05/24)
https://kentmcmanigal.blogspot.com/2024/05/how-could-this-have-been-prevented.html
Source: New York Post
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will no longer require prospective hires to pledge allegiance to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion as an employment condition, becoming the first elite university in the country to do away with the controversial practice denounced by free speech advocates as a ‘political litmus test’. ‘Requests for a statement on diversity will no longer be part of applications for any faculty positions at MIT,’ a university spokesperson told The Post in an emailed statement, noting that the decision was made by MIT president Sally Kornbluth along with the support of the provost, chancellor and all six academic deans. ‘My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to MIT, and to make sure they thrive once here,’ Kornbluth said.” (05/06/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/05/06/us-news/mit-bans-controversial-diversity-statement-hiring-requirement-they-dont-work/
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Joakim Book
“It is often said that only a madman — or economist — could believe that we can have infinite growth on a finite planet. Resources are scarce and dwindling, we’re told. Day in and day out, we seem poised to use up some civilization-critical ingredient, or we might overuse materials to the point of our own downfall. The mindset that makes people believe that we’re perennially on the cusp of some disaster is on display everywhere from the big screen to the big assembly halls. It has been humanity’s plague since we first broke free of the Malthusian constraints that govern every non-human ecology. And never once do we seem to consider that maybe, just maybe, the madmen/economists know something the rest of us don’t.” (05/06/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/unlimited-growth-forever/
Source: Politico
“The Biden administration is rolling out a strategy Monday for how to build global cybersecurity cooperation, following years of stepped up threats from China, Russia and cybercriminals. The State Department’s international cybersecurity strategy is the first articulated U.S. global cyber strategy in over a decade. If successful, it could elevate the U.S.’s role globally in countering cyber threats and creating global consensus on artificial intelligence, and position the U.S. against China in setting cybersecurity norms.” (05/06/24)
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/06/biden-international-cybersecurity-plan-00156190
Source: EconTalk
“Living with the Constitution (with A.J. Jacobs).” (05/06/24)
https://www.econtalk.org/living-with-the-constitution-with-a-j-jacobs/
