Author: nick
[ad_1] Whenever Ms. Gordon lets her sons go outside now, she cleans house. “All right, my kid just went around the block to his friend, let me sweep,” she says. “Because I know if the house is clean, that’s the first step toward making a good impression on Child Protective Services. It’s a bizarre thought process, but—” But not completely irrational. Gordon (who asked not to use her first name) has had the cops called on her four times for letting her sons, 5, 7, and 9, walk and play outside in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. Reason reviewed several…
[ad_1] Smoke from the rampaging Riverside Fire on the Mt. Hood National Forest. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Donald Trump does so many awful things: wars, inflationary taxes (tariffs), and disease promotion, that many of his actions do not draw nearly the contempt and ridicule they deserve. His complaints about the smoke from Canadian wildfires fits into that category. Just in case anyone didn’t know, Canada’s wildfires are largely about global warming. Hotter and drier weather has made it virtually inevitable that large chunks of Canada’s remote forests would burn each summer. And no person on the planet has done more…
[ad_1] For years the official line has been the same: the grid is resilient, the lights will stay on, and the government has a plan. Then you go read what the government actually wrote when it thought nobody outside the Beltway was paying attention. According to Google AI, the government has never issued a warning… BULLSHIT! In December 2018, the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council — a body that reports through the Department of Homeland Security — published a 94-page study called Surviving a Catastrophic Power Outage. It wasn’t a blog post. It wasn’t a prepper podcast. It was DHS-adjacent, White House-tasked,…
[ad_1] Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair The architecture of international justice was built upon a single uncompromising promise: never again. It was forged in the ashes of 20th century atrocities, with the solemn vow that regardless of station in life, wealth or power, no one is above the law. Today, that pledge is on the verge of collapse. When global tribunals and human rights investigators document mass atrocities and expose the smoking ruins of bombed out neighborhoods across Gaza, the response of the international community acts as an ultimate crucible. It is forced to decide: will international law stand as…
[ad_1] Cap Ferret peninsula, photo by Becky Grant. If you think of France as a place to see the Eiffel Tower, sip wine, and eat confit de canard or escargot in chic cafés with old zinc bars and woven café chairs, you aren’t entirely wrong. Those moments continue to exist, and tourists can expect to find those same scenes in every wonderful arrondissement; choose your favorite, just like you’d pick your pastry at the pâtisserie… is it a pain au chocolat or a mille-feuille or a delicate flaky croissant? There’s still a petite-bon-coin for every taste. But if you’re lucky…
[ad_1] The local council in New Milton, England, fined Lee Reynolds £1,000 ($1,329) for fly-tipping after he left a small box of cardboard on the ground next to four overflowing recycling bins. Fly-tipping is illegally dumping waste or not taking it to a proper disposal site. The bins were completely full, and he said the warning signs were hidden by the pile of garbage. The council later reduced the fine to £150 ($200) after changing the charge to “failure to control household waste.” Reynolds paid it but says he is still unhappy and is continuing to complain. He argues the messy…
[ad_1] Photo by Mick De Paola As colleges prepare for the fall, yet again they are under political attack. Some say that its standards are eroding. Or a college degree does not prepare one for a career or a job. The Trump administration red-baits universities, professors, and students. Others, such as the Washington Post’s Megan McArdle, rant about the alleged cluelessness of higher education. None of these complaints are new. They are part of a long history of diatribes against higher education by those uncomfortable with change, or who have a political axe to grind. Consider some recent events. The grading…
[ad_1] Last week, Judge James C. Ho of the Fifth Circuit delivered a stirring address at a First Liberty Institute gathering. I was very impressed by the speech, and asked Judge Ho for permission to publish his remarks. He kindly agreed. The theme of the event was “Judicial Courage,” and Judge Ho discusses how courage should impact judicial selection. I will include the full post below the jump, but here is an important excerpt:I’m profoundly humbled that you’ve asked me to share my thoughts on the theme of tonight’s discussion: “Judicial Courage.” But if I’m being candid, I’m also a…
[ad_1] From Doe v. Regents of Univ. of Mich., decided yesterday by Judge Laurie Michelson (E.D. Mich.): Plaintiff, a student at the University of Michigan, was disciplined her for alleged academic misconduct—an unauthorized use of AI to write course papers. She was put on disciplinary probation and required to write a 1,000-word reflective essay. Plaintiff maintains that she has “documented disabilities” including generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She alleges that her “disability-related writing traits could be misinterpreted as AI and should not be treated as proof of misconduct.” Thus, on February 9, 2026, she filed this lawsuit against numerous…
[ad_1] On July 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Donald Trump in the White House. Their relationship was “much better,” Zelensky said, because of the turning tide in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Zelensky’s narrative of the turning tide has been amplified by the media. The European and American public believe that Ukraine is now winning the war because that is what the headlines trumpet every day. And credit for the turning tide is awarded to innovations in drone technology that have allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike deep inside Russian territory. But the much-heralded deep drone strikes bring little benefit…