Author: nick

[ad_1] Traugott Ickeroth is not a famous blog. The three people who run the website make around 45,000 euros ($50,000) in a year from reader donations. One of those people also uses the “Traugott Ickerroth” pseudonym to publish tracts about interdimensional aliens and the Illuminati. But European governments have decided to make an example of the trio. Last week, the European Union’s supreme court ruled that German authorities can prosecute them for reposting clips from RT, a channel funded by the Russian government. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the European Union passed sanctions making it illegal “for operators to…

[ad_1] Calling everything “communism” might win a news cycle, but it doesn’t explain why so many Americans feel the ladder to a stable life is disappearing. Kyle sits down with Jim Webb to sort propaganda from incentives, starting with Trump’s warnings about socialist takeover and asking the blunt question: are there even enough communists in the United States to matter? We argue the bigger threat looks more like crony capitalism, captured regulation, and an economy where people who followed the rules still can’t buy a home near where they grew up. From there, we get specific about why the democratic…

[ad_1] Trump v. Barbara is very long. The entire slip opinion totals nearly two-hundred pages. However, Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion is stunningly short for the occasion. It stretches only twenty-six pages. Justice Jackson wrote a twenty-page concurrence that largely responded to Justice Thomas’s dissent. Justice Kavanaugh wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment and dissenting in part that spanned ten pages. Justice Thomas’s dissent, joined by Justice Gorsuch, stretches ninety-one pages. He left no stone unturned. Justice Alito wrote a solo dissent that stretched thirty-nine pages. Finally, Justice Gorsuch rounded out the pack with a solo dissent that was (thankfully)…

[ad_1] Medicine is fundamentally oriented toward healing. Physicians have cured diseases, alleviated pain, extended life expectancy, and expanded collective self-understanding beyond what was conceivable a century ago. Few professions have contributed more to human well-being. However, medicine also confers significant power. Physicians influence individual behavior, shape public policy, direct scientific research, and, particularly during crises, wield considerable authority within society. This power can be beneficial, yet it also risks transforming confidence into unwarranted certainty and rendering authority resistant to challenge. Power itself is not inherently dangerous; the greater risk lies in excessive certainty. The most significant ethical failures in medicine…

[ad_1] As America celebrates 250 years of freedom, most U.S. adults want to curtail children’s freedom online.  According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 56 percent of Americans support banning anyone under 16 from using social media sites. The poll, which surveyed 9,750 U.S. adults from May 26 to June 1, reflects growing bipartisan support for restricting children’s access to social media as governments in Australia and the U.K. move toward age-based limits. Supporters of social media bans, like social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, have argued that social media has severely damaged teens’ mental health and that it has “devastated”…

[ad_1] In a lawsuit filed last week, the Justice Department argues that Virginia’s recently enacted “assault weapon” ban violates the Second Amendment, raising the same issue that the Supreme Court recently agreed to address in cases involving similar laws. Also last week, the Justice Department challenged California restrictions that make it illegal to sell handguns commonly sold in other states, including Glock pistols. Virginia’s law, which Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed on April 13, makes it a crime to manufacture, import, sell, purchase, or transfer “assault firearms.” It defines that category to include semiautomatic center-fire rifles that accept detachable magazines and…

[ad_1] Another woman has come forward to accuse Graham Platner, the Democratic Party’s Maine Senate hopeful, of serious wrongdoing. Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine woman who used to date Platner, says that he sexually assaulted her in 2021. Platner has denied the accusation; nevertheless, he is pausing his campaign. He has already lost the backing of two of his most ardent supporters, Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) and leftist commentator Hasan Piker. It seems likely he will drop out by July 13, giving Maine Democrats an opportunity find a new opponent for incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Racicot previously spoke with The…

[ad_1] No one wants their summer festivities to be interrupted by gastrointestinal upset, but for hundreds of Americans who have contracted a nasty intestinal parasite it might already be too late.  Since May 1, more than 800 cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported in at least 18 states. By July 6, local, state and federal public health officials were investigating clusters of cases in multiple states to identify the outbreaks’ potential sources, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  You might have already seen some rather unpleasant headlines describing the most noteworthy symptom of this illness that wreaks…

[ad_1] This week, editors Peter Suderman,  Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Nick Gillespie are joined by reporter Reem Ibrahim to discuss America’s declining sense of patriotism and whether it’s possible to distrust the government while still loving the country. The panel examines why fewer Americans say they are proud to be American, the growing skepticism toward capitalism, and whether there are still reasons for optimism about America’s future. Next, the editors discuss why World Cup tourists are embracing the United States, from air conditioning to everyday convenience, and what the tournament says about America’s global image. They then examine the Supreme Court’s latest gun rights rulings and…

[ad_1] Not exactly breaking news, but this story is too cool not to share with our Grailer audience. In 2022 Jo Nagai, an eight-year-old student from Japan, had a seemingly simple question: do butterflies remember they were once caterpillars? It’s the kind of question a child or a genius (in this case, both) would come up with, so he set up an experiment to find out. Not only did he spend the next couple of years to prove butterflies do retain somehow the memories of their former pre-metamorphosized self, but (and this is in fact his greatest scientific contribution) they…