“Politically Motivated”

During the Euromaidan protests, journalists routinely described Ukraine’s prosecution and imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko as “politically motivated.”  The phrasing always struck me as odd.  If she were innocent, you’d expect journalists to call the charges “trumped-up” or “false.”  And this “politically motivated” meme is still going strong.*  Which raises a general question: When people dismiss […]

The post “Politically Motivated” appeared first on Econlib.

Don’t Pickpocket Your Students

Imagine you’re a professor somewhere.  You here rumors of the creation of a new Office of Student Property Security.  “Whatever,” you think. Yet before long, you’re summoned to a brand-new mandatory training session run by certified officers of Student Property Security.  At this session (in-person back in the old days; now Zoom of course), they give you a tortoise-paced 90-minute Powerpoint presentation on the student property crisis and the appropriate faculty response.  And the whole spiel can be readily summarized in a single commandment: “Don’t pickpocket your students.” To me, such a training session would be insulting, pointless, and unhinged.

SC Planned Parenthood, Rape Death Penalty, Betelgeuse, & Blindness Gene Therapy (36m) – Episode 404

Episode 404 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from PostandCourier.com, “US Supreme Court rejects SC’s effort to cut off public funding for Planned Parenthood”; from alJazeera.com, “Bangladesh approves death penalty for rape cases after protests”; from BGR.com, “Betelgeuse is 25 percent closer than scientists thought”; and from CTVNews.ca, “Gene therapy brings back 8-year-old Canadian boy’s sight”.

Ménage à Priest, Teen Consent, Nigerian Civil Asset Forfeiture, & Plastic-Eating Enzymes (30m) – Episode 399

Episode 399 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from PENNLive.com, “Priest had threesome on Louisiana church altar, police say”; from BBC.com, “Children not able to give ‘proper’ consent to puberty blockers, court told”; from WashingtonPost.com, “Nigeria abolishes special police squad after nationwide protests”; and from ScienceDaily.com, “Plastic-eating enzyme ‘cocktail’ heralds new hope for plastic waste”.

Chase S. Returns, Earthships, Hong Kong, & Project Veritas (1h6m) – Episode 391

Episode 391 welcomes back Chase Steffensen to chat with Skyler on the following topics: their food delivery experience; earthships (YouTube), created by Michael Reynolds; the agricultural revolution and what it did to humanity; Hong Kong protests and the China situation; COVID-19 casedemic; Project Veritas and Ilhan Omar voter fraud; Boyce of Reason podcast and listening to other perspectives to learn not to get triggered; the value of debates versus long form discussions found in the podcasting world; and more.

Mish O. Returns, Infinite Banking, Need for Speed, & Damned Lies (1h17m) – Episode 387

Episode 387 welcomes back Mish Ochu to chat with Skyler on the following topics: Nelson Nash’s Infinite Banking concept; Lara/Murphy Report; Biden’s body language; police interrogation; Mish’s need for speed during his more reckless years; why kids need to take risks; the causes of political extremism; when individualism goes to far; Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead; lies in modern life about people; the left verse the right on how they protest; distributed gun manufacturing and Cody Wilson; Ross Ulbritch and online drug markets; political blunders and adverse incentives; and more.