Author: nick

First Circuit Strikes Down Puerto Rico Ban on Certain Knowingly False Statements During Declared Emergencies

Politics & Policy

[ad_1] Rodríguez-Cotto v. González-Colón, decided Tuesday by First Circuit Judges Gustavo Gelpí and Seth Aframe and Seventh Circuit Judge David Hamilton, struck down a Puerto Rico law (Article 5.14(a)) that makes it a crime “to purposefully, knowingly, or recklessly,” “during a governor-declared state emergency or disaster,” [g]ive[ ] a warning or false alarm, knowing that the information is false, in relation to the imminent occurrence of a catastrophe in Puerto Rico, or disseminate[ ], publish[ ], transmit[ ], transfer[ ] or circulate[ ] through any means of communication, including the media, social networks, or any other means of dissemination, publication…

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Baltic Republics Foment Crises With Russia

Geopolitics & War

[ad_1] Historically, one of the greatest dangers to a major power in the international system is letting smaller allies and clients drag that power into an unwise war. Both the United States and leading European powers seem inclined to make that blunder with respect to the Baltic republics. Too many U.S. policymakers have not only tolerated but also facilitated the obsession those “allies” (i.e. protectorates) have exhibited with defeating Russia in Ukraine and weakening their arch adversary overall. The belligerent behavior of some of NATO’s smallest members creates the prospect of disastrous results in Europe and beyond. A crucial policymaker,…

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Is Environmental Science Less Objective?

Political Spin

[ad_1] An interesting paper, “Science versus Subjectivity in Environmental Research,” by Dominic Parker and Ngoc Ha Do at the University of Madison. Here is the abstract: Objective science aims to uncover truths about environmental conditions, including those related to emission trends, biodiversity loss, climate change, and their economic costs. When and why do scientists use subjective language to describe these conditions with bias, emotion, or advocacy? To shed light, we study determinants and trends in subjective language within the abstracts, introductions, and conclusions of over 170,000 peer-reviewed articles published during 1990-2023 in top economics and science journals. Using machine learning…

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AI: The Ominous Opportunity – Activist Post

Conspiracy Theories

[ad_1] “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” — Robert Solow, 1987 The economy has been growing steadily since we started to recover from the 2020 pandemic and shutdown; the unemployment rate is and has been near the bottom of the range normally considered to be full employment; and, wages adjusted for inflation are the highest they’ve ever been. Nevertheless, the productivity slowdown observed by Robert Solow forty years ago seems to have returned, and surveys of consumer confidence are at or near their all-time lows. This essay explores possible reasons for the productivity slowdown…

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News Briefs 07-08-2026

Truth or Scare

[ad_1] Dream big reading the Friday Grail news briefs! What happens when a skeptic digs deep into the reincarnation research of Dr Ian Stevenson? The silvery fur of the hamadryas baboon is, under a spectrometer, nearly the exact color of moonlight – which may explain why ancient Egyptians made a monkey the face of their moon god, a new study suggests. A civilian plane crashed in New Mexico. Was military tech to blame? (Archived page link) How much do we really want to know about UFOs? What disaster psychology research, a few Cold War UFO files, and a Spielberg movie…

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