Brickbats: December 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
Politics
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Solar panels, bullet fragments, and private rights of action.
2024 GOP Candidates Are Competing To Restrict Immigration
Formerly fringe immigration policies have gone mainstream in the Republican Party.
Is Javier Milei a 'Doctrinaire Hayekian' and a Secret Reason Science Project?
Sohrab Ahmari denounces Argentina's new president as a faux populist. Good for Milei.
Jeb Bush: What He Thinks of Trump, Biden, DeSantis, and 'Florida Man'
The former two-term governor discusses why Florida is attracting more people than any other state in the country.
Jeb Bush on Why Florida Thrives: 'We Don't Try To Micromanage People's Lives'
Former Gov. Jeb Bush makes the case for why "Florida works pretty good."
Maryland Statute Banning Attempts to Influence Judges and Jurors Through "Corrupt Means" Upheld
The case arose following plaintiff's arrest, allegedly for telling Justice Kavanaugh's wife that "he might ruin [Justice] Kavanaugh's career and reputation"; but the charges against him were dropped, and he challenged the statute on its face, rather than as applied to his speech.
Trump Gag Order Raises Unsettled Constitutional Questions
A D.C. Circuit judge says the government’s defense of the order gives short shrift to "the First Amendment’s vigorous protection of political speech."
The Best of Reason: Milton Friedman Was No Conservative
A new Friedman biography ably explores the economist's ideas but sidesteps the libertarian movement he was central to.
Ron DeSantis Rediscovers the First Amendment's Protections for Anonymous Speech
The Florida governor is attacking Republican primary rival Nikki Haley over her awful idea to police online speech, but the timing is awkward.
Arizona Restaurant Owner Sues Over Costly Cage-Free Egg Mandate
The Arizona Department of Agriculture says all eggs sold must be cage-free, a power that according to the lawsuit belongs to the state legislature.
Moving The Section 3 Officer Argument From "Off The Wall" to "On The Wall"
Debates about Section 3 remind me of debates over the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate
The World's First Libertarian President
Plus: A listener asks the editors about libertarians and "reflexive contrarianism."
What American Conservatives Can Learn From Argentina's Javier Milei
Once you get past the aesthetics, the similarities between Milei and MAGA mostly vanish.
My Own Personal Evita
Plus: OpenAI apocalypse, New York's problematic pie, Backpage trial concludes, and more...
Justices Kavanaugh And Barrett's Shadow Docket Concurrence In The Hamburger Mary's Case
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
'The Science' Suffers from Self-Inflicted Political Wounds
A separation of science and politics might be called for.
Colorado Court Rules Trump Engaged in Insurrection, but Cannot Be Disqualified Under Section Three Because the President is not an "Officer of the United States"
The court ruled against Trump on his strongest arguments, but accepted a weak one.
I Used ChatGPT To Make Pokémon Versions of Trump, Biden, and RFK Jr.
The results are interesting and suggest weird and significant biases.
Trump and DeSantis Won't Stop at Keeping Out Illegal Immigrants
From “ideological screening” to barring entire cultures deemed “hostile to…the American way of life,” the candidates have big plans to target legal immigrants too.
Tunnel Found
Plus: Hospital shafts, poetry holes, Osama bin Laden, Randi Weingarten, and more...
Teachers Union Head Mystified by Increase in Homeschooling
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten misses a pretty big reason why families are leaving traditional public schools.
A Bonus Reason Roundtable. Live From Washington, D.C.!
Plus: Is Veep more realistic than House of Cards?
Xi Jinping's in the House
Plus: AKs in the MRI room, protesters at Chuck Schumer's house, Sonic Youth takes on Javier Milei, and more...
Here's One Way To Move Toward Responsible Government and Sane Fiscal Policy
The Copenhagen Consensus has long championed a cost-benefit approach for addressing the world's most critical environmental problems.
Nikki Haley's Crazy Plan to Require Verification on Social Media
The 2024 GOP candidate has proposed something blatantly unconstitutional.
Republican Presidential Nomination
Blessed Are the Shitposters
Plus: Hospital raid, Eric Adams' fondness for Erdogan, open carry at the makeup counter, and more...
Farewell to the Mayflower
Next year, the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention will (likely) be at the Washington Hilton.
