As the Cato Institute’s David J. Bier notes, “Biden has been in office for less than a month. Many people keep saying ‘give him time.’ But what’s concerning isn’t that Biden hasn’t ‘gotten around to immigration yet.’ It’s that he has, and is intentionally choosing to perpetuate one of the worst immigration regimes in American history.”
Tag: borders
Apartheid Israel, Facebook Italy Fine, Seizing Sammiches, & Pakistan Blasphemy Executions (32m) – Episode 453
Episode 453 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from APNews.com, “Leading human rights group calls Israel an ‘apartheid’ state”; from TheRegister.com, “Facebook appeals ruling that it stole tech. So, Italian judge issues new judgment: Pay 10 times the original fine”; from TheGuardian.com, “Dutch officials seize ham sandwiches of drivers arriving from UK”; and from AlJazeera.com, “Pakistan court sentences three to death for blasphemy”.
Spreading Enlightenment Ideas Beyond Borders
An interview with Faisal Saeed Al Mutar.
Yes, Americans are Fat; The US Military is Fatter
Mission: Readiness, a group of retired military officers, wants the US Department of Defense to create an “advisory committee on military recruitment,” with a view toward getting the next generation in shape so that they’re qualified, as the old saying goes, to “travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people; and kill them.” I’ve got a better idea: Instead of trying to trim fat off America’s adolescents, trim fat off the US Armed Forces.
Herbert Spencer and Prejudice
Herbert Spencer’s “From Freedom to Bondage” famously claims that “[T]he more things improve the louder become the exclamations about their badness.” And he offered a bunch of great examples. Inspired by Spencer’s insight, I recently turned to Google Ngram to look at long-run trends for six oft-named expressions of prejudice.
5 Economic Principles My Kids Learned on Halloween
Halloween is the perfect holiday for children to discover the humanity of trade. Trick-or-treating may be the main attraction, but the spontaneous candy swap negotiations that occur afterwards are often just as enjoyable and help children learn important economic principles.
Trump Regime vs. the ICC: The Wrong Side of “Sovereignty”
In June, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order providing for sanctions against persons who “have directly engaged in any effort by the [International Criminal Court] to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States.”
Executive Orders: This is Trump’s Brain on Drugs
Healthcare would be cheaper, better, and more accessible if government got its nose out of the matter entirely — but failing that, three of these four orders make good sense. They’re also a great litmus test. They tell us who really supports freer markets in healthcare and who just pays lip service to the notion while advocating crony capitalism in service to Big Pharma.
The Diversity Lottery: Some Rough Open Borders Arithmetic
How many people want to immigrate to the U.S.? In my past work, I’ve appealed to both surveys and black market prices to ballpark the answer. Another approach, however, is to take a look at the U.S. Diversity lottery.
Reflections on the Krikorian-Caplan Soho Forum Debate
Thanks again to Gene Epstein and Reason for sponsoring last week’s immigration debate between myself and Mark Krikorian. Thanks to Mark, too, for debating before an unsympathetic audience. The resolution, you may recall, was: The current pandemic makes it all the more necessary for the federal government to tighten restrictions on immigration. Here are my extra thoughts on the exchange.