Linkfest: Sunday Updates
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Time to clean out the aggregator —
ITEM: The Bush Administration has filed a brief in the Supreme Court's upcoming "Second Amendment case" (District v. Heller). Bottom line: The Justice Department is arguing for the "individual rights" view of the Amendment rather than the "states powers" view, but is also calling for a relatively weak "balancing test" version of said "individual right." As I noted previously, there is a wide spectrum of judicial respect, or lack thereof, for the Bill of Rights — from the First Amendment's strictest scrutiny of censorship to the Fourth Amendment's mere reasonableness test for government searches. It would be unfortunate if libertarians won the battle and lost the war in this case.
ITEM: The City of Cleveland has filed a frivolous lawsuit against 21 investment banks and other financial institutions over the subprime lending collapse, seeking "at least" hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that the city itself was not a party to any of the loans (i.e., was not a proximate victim of either fraud or breach of contract) is conveniently overlooked, as is the phenomenon of "predatory borrowers" that I described previously.
ITEM: Another incident of people being seized off the street to serve as jurors. I briefly noted a similar incident back in August. Meanwhile, Rolling Doughnut — having been seized (if not quite "off the street") for jury duty — calls for professional jurors. I've been amenable to the idea for some time.
ITEM: The Utah State Trooper who viciously and unnecessarily tasered a non-violent motorist has been returned to active duty after having completed a "verbal communications" course: "We have admitted that interaction could have been better on the trooper's part, and he realizes that." Don't doubt it, bro! Previous post here.
ITEM: Apple has capitulated to the Eurocrats and will lower the pound-based price of iTunes downloads in the U.K. to match the euro-based price on the Continent. The pesky fact that neither the iPod nor iTunes are monopolies and that "unhappy" U.K. customers are perfectly able to choose a competitor is of no import to the Eurocrats. Previous post here; see also here.
ITEM: The New York City Council has followed through on its threat to impose mandatory recycling of plastic bags by supermarkets and other retailers, under the uninformed rubric of "environmentalism." This makes New York only slightly less warm-fuzzy-feeling nanny-statist than San Francisco, which has banned plastic bags outright.
ITEM: An activist legislator in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, is proposing a punitive tax on strip clubs and pornography merchants, in a moralistic crusade disguised as a funding measure for domestic violence — because every man who looks at a dirty magazine is by definition a spouse-beater. My recent post on the (likely unconstitutional) Texas "pole tax" here. (Via Tax Policy Blog.)
ITEM: The Bush Administration has filed a brief in the Supreme Court's upcoming "Second Amendment case" (District v. Heller). Bottom line: The Justice Department is arguing for the "individual rights" view of the Amendment rather than the "states powers" view, but is also calling for a relatively weak "balancing test" version of said "individual right." As I noted previously, there is a wide spectrum of judicial respect, or lack thereof, for the Bill of Rights — from the First Amendment's strictest scrutiny of censorship to the Fourth Amendment's mere reasonableness test for government searches. It would be unfortunate if libertarians won the battle and lost the war in this case.
ITEM: The City of Cleveland has filed a frivolous lawsuit against 21 investment banks and other financial institutions over the subprime lending collapse, seeking "at least" hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that the city itself was not a party to any of the loans (i.e., was not a proximate victim of either fraud or breach of contract) is conveniently overlooked, as is the phenomenon of "predatory borrowers" that I described previously.
ITEM: Another incident of people being seized off the street to serve as jurors. I briefly noted a similar incident back in August. Meanwhile, Rolling Doughnut — having been seized (if not quite "off the street") for jury duty — calls for professional jurors. I've been amenable to the idea for some time.
ITEM: The Utah State Trooper who viciously and unnecessarily tasered a non-violent motorist has been returned to active duty after having completed a "verbal communications" course: "We have admitted that interaction could have been better on the trooper's part, and he realizes that." Don't doubt it, bro! Previous post here.
ITEM: Apple has capitulated to the Eurocrats and will lower the pound-based price of iTunes downloads in the U.K. to match the euro-based price on the Continent. The pesky fact that neither the iPod nor iTunes are monopolies and that "unhappy" U.K. customers are perfectly able to choose a competitor is of no import to the Eurocrats. Previous post here; see also here.
ITEM: The New York City Council has followed through on its threat to impose mandatory recycling of plastic bags by supermarkets and other retailers, under the uninformed rubric of "environmentalism." This makes New York only slightly less warm-fuzzy-feeling nanny-statist than San Francisco, which has banned plastic bags outright.
ITEM: An activist legislator in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, is proposing a punitive tax on strip clubs and pornography merchants, in a moralistic crusade disguised as a funding measure for domestic violence — because every man who looks at a dirty magazine is by definition a spouse-beater. My recent post on the (likely unconstitutional) Texas "pole tax" here. (Via Tax Policy Blog.)
Posted by Kip on
13 January 2008
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