March 13, 2020

Senators push sneaky anti-privacy bill

fromReason: The EARN IT is an attack on encryption masquerading as a blow against underage porn. 

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

To avoid charges of price gouging, eBay bans sale of coronavirus supplies

fromReason: Attempts to impose low prices on emergency supplies often do far more harm than good. High prices bring essential items to where they are needed most.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Rights versus wishes

fromCreators: Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I believe that health care is a right of all people." He's not alone in that contention. That claim comes from Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. 

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Bernie Sanders is all but done

fromPolitico: It wasn’t just the results on Tuesday. It was the realization that, for the first time, he had no excuse and nothing better to look forward to. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Why you can't solve a public health problem with economic stimulus

fromReason: Is a new stimulus package the right response to a pandemic?   

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Coronavirus vs. the mass surveillance state: which poses the greater threat?

fromRutherfordInstitute: Emboldened by the citizenry’s inattention and willingness to tolerate its abuses, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expands its powers. 

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Stephen Chapman: No Opiates For The Masses?

Drug war becomes war against pain relief.  There is no problem so bad that government-imposed remedies cannot make it worse, spawn new problems or both. A new confirmation of that phenomenon may be on the way, thanks to new recommendations from an agency intent on curbing the use of opiates. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease   ... MORE

What The War On Smoking Tells Us About The Drug War

by Danielle Allen.   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In January 1964, the Beatles first broke onto the Billboard chart with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”; by June, Ringo Starr had collapsed from tonsillitis and pharyngitis. In January , the surgeon general announced that scientists had found conclusive evidence linking smoking to  ... MORE

VIDEO: Glenn Greenwald - Drug Policy In Portugal

Robert Coolman: CDC Says E-Cigs Help You Quit Smoking

A helpful tool to quit traditional cigarettes.   According to a CDC report issued Saturday, electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are strongly associated with attempts to quit regular smoking. E-cigs are battery-powered inhalation devices that typically deliver nicotine and/or flavored vapor in the form of an aerosol. Several studies have suggested a ... MORE

Claire Bernish: What Happened When Gloucester, Mass. Stopped Arresting Drug Addicts, And Offered Help Instead

Government as public servants, what a novel idea.  Situated on the coast of Massachusetts, Gloucester’s claims to fame include its status as “America’s original seaport,” as well as being the real-life location on which events in the movie The Perfect Storm (2000) were based. Now, the small town has a new reason to be the center of attention:  ... MORE

Richard Berman: Manufacturing A Food Scare

Marketing to the uninformed.   The wisdom of crowds is a concept that has remarkable predictability. Often, the dispersed knowledge of millions of people making informed decisions is more reliable than the informed bias of policy activists. When it comes to the latest food scare, antibiotics and resistant bacteria, polling shows the public   ... MORE

In Surprise Move, Puerto Rico Legalizes Medical Marijuana

by Daniel Kreps.   In a surprise move, Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro García Padilla signed an executive order legalizing the use of medical marijuana in the U.S. territory. The order, which was heavily debated in Puerto Rico since 2013 but never put to a public vote, went into immediate effect. The Caribbean island joins 23 other U.S.   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: E-Cigarettes Are Not Tobacco Products

The CDC misleads the public about vaping.     For years anti-smoking activists and public health officials have tried to justify their irrational hatred of electronic cigarettes by arguing that vaping leads to smoking, especially among impressionable young people who otherwise would never touch tobacco. But that is not happening. To   ... MORE

Study Confirms E-Cigarettes Generate Virtually No Toxins

by Jacob Sullum. Does it matter to the option destroyers? Anti-smoking activists and public health officials who question the usefulness of electronic cigarettes in reducing tobacco-related disease often talk as if the content of the aerosol generated by these newfangled contraptions is utterly mysterious. While it may be plausible that the absence of ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Measles, Vaccines And Autism

Vaccines don't cause autism. The current controversy over whether parents should be forced to have their children vaccinated for measles is one of the painful signs of our times. Measles was virtually wiped out in the United States, years ago. Why the resurgence of this disease now? The short answer is that false claims, based on other false claims,  ... MORE

Ebola, Smoking, and Mission Creep at the CDC

 by Jacob Sullum.     Before Tom Frieden became director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2009, his two nemeses were tuberculosis and smoking. Although both are commonly described as threats to "public health," they differ in ways that may help explain the CDC's stumbles in dealing with Ebola. Tuberculosis,  ... MORE

FDA Regulatory Expansion Jeopardizes Public Health

Anti-cancer device in the crosshairs. In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed expanding its regulatory authority over tobacco products to include cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), and dissolvable products and gels. Currently, cigars are the most popular item in this group, but    ... MORE

Paul Hsieh: Gun Violence Is Not A 'Public Health' Issue

Which of these things is not like the other?        1 Measles, 2 influenza, 3 tuberculosis, 4 murder. If you picked #4, “murder,” you’re right. The first three are medical diseases. In contrast “murder” is not a medical problem, although it is a tragic cause of death. But in recent years, anti-gun organizations (and some physicians) are seeking   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Go To Heaven, Bloomberg

Meddling ex-mayor thinks he's on a mission from God.     If Michael Bloomberg is going to heaven, as he recently assured The New York Times, does that mean I am going to hell? The former New York mayor and I do not agree about much, especially when it comes to his two biggest passions: gun control and "public health," both of which   ... MORE

VIDEO: Political Correctness And Public Health