“Should X be legal?” misses a lot of the options in any discussion, and it hides the brutality of some of the options. For instance, “Should pot be legal?” sounds like the sort of questions with sane answers on both sides. Maybe it doesn’t, but it seems like it could. “Should we send armed agents of the state to violently remove people from their homes … Continue reading “Should X Be Legal?” Doesn’t Sound Bloody Enough
Though it’s a state government leading the charge, the good justification for changing the law isn’t the one in the state’s interest. I see two complaints here: The state government wants more revenue. Online sales generally lower the amount of in-state sales, so the sales tax revenue is reduced. Physical retailers have to charge more than online retailers because of the sales tax boosting their … Continue reading Brick-and-mortar stores are complaining that online stores not having to charge sales taxes is unfair; they’re right, what an occasion to end sales taxes!
Noah Feldman wrote in response to calls to amend the US Constitution to repeal or otherwise fix the second amendment. He makes an interesting point about antiquity serving to protect some rights. If some instance of government wanted to curtail certain rights, it would have to go through the amendment process (assuming it doesn’t just burn the Constitution—this only works for slow-moving evil). Even though … Continue reading If the Court finds a law says a bad thing, then change the law
He’s suggesting “wild” ideas like offering very low sentences instead of caging people for extended periods of time. And recourse for people being wrongly punished. Continue reading In good news: Philadelphia’s top prosecutor is going against the trend of ruining as much life as possible
Sometimes people create and freeze embryos. Often these people are married. Sometimes they divorce after the creation but without bringing them to term. Then sometimes one partner wants to bring them to term and the other wants them destroyed. Courts get involved. The arguments made for leaning towards the one favoring keeping them alive invoke the personhood of the embryo. This strikes me as rather … Continue reading When did freezing people become okay?
