SCOTUS Rejects Appeal From Black Lives Matter Activist Over Vexatious Louisiana Protest Lawsuit

Source: US News & World Report

“The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a lawsuit to go forward against a Black Lives Matter activist who led a protest in Louisiana in which a police officer was injured. Civil rights groups and free speech advocates have warned that the suit threatens the right to protest. The justices rejected an appeal from DeRay Mckesson in a case that stems from a 2016 protest over the police killing of a [b]lack man in Baton Rouge. … The justices did not explain their action Monday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a brief opinion that said lower courts should not read too much into it. The court’s ‘denial today expresses no view about the merits of Mckesson’s claim,’ Sotomayor wrote. At the protest in Baton Rouge, the officer was hit by a ‘rock-like’ object thrown by an unidentified protester, but he sued Mckesson in his role as the protest organizer.” (04/15/24)

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-04-15/supreme-court-rejects-appeal-from-black-lives-matter-activist-over-louisiana-protest-lawsuit

Some counterintuitive thoughts on monetary policy

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/

Dead on Arrival: A Shrapnel-Faced World

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/

MD: FBI conducts “law enforcement activity” aboard cargo ship that struck Baltimore bridge

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

Report: Owners of Ford Bronco used in OJ Simpson chase ready to sell infamous SUV — and want at least $1.5 million

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/

The Right’s Old Strategy for Higher Education Isn’t Working. This One Would.

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

Here are the massive tax increases coming your way in a second Biden term

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

In defence of opioids

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/