Derb and Discourse - By John O'Sullivan - The Corner - National Review Online

Derb and Discourse - By John O'Sullivan - The Corner - National Review Online: "Yet again, something worse is therefore needed to convict him. My colleague Jason Steorts thinks he has found it in his “readiness to assume that statistical differences between races — e.g., between their incarceration rates or average scores on IQ tests — are due to innate psychological and cognitive differences” and in his lack of interest in other explanations. This readiness strikes Jason as redolent of racism in itself but also perhaps a sign of a wider animus toward black Americans. Now, John certainly holds the view quoted by Jason. It is one of the main line-items in the indictment against him. Far from assuming it, however, he has argued it at length over a number of years.

But is such an opinion racist in itself? Surely that depends on whether it is true or not. And despite much Internet blustering about “discredited” theories and “pseudoscience,” lively scholarly disputes continue about the respective contributions to I.Q. and behavior of nature, nurture, and culture."

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Derb and Discourse - By John O'Sullivan - The Corner - National Review Online

Derb and Discourse - By John O'Sullivan - The Corner - National Review Online: "Lord, Lord, they cry, we thank thee that we are not as John Derbyshire. We are not racists. We burn daily sacrifices to the God of Diversity. But though they know that racism is an unforgivably evil sin, they can reach no agreement on what it actually is."

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Roger’s Rules » Thoughts on Things You Cannot Say

Roger’s Rules » Thoughts on Things You Cannot Say: "That’s not the whole answer, though. “There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.” That was Jesse Jackson. What John wrote was an elaboration of that observation. I do not happen to agree with many of his conclusions in that column, but what I find curious is the nature of his tort."

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Would I Take Resveratrol? Would You?. In the Pipeline:

Would I Take Resveratrol? Would You?. In the Pipeline:: "First off, we can dispose of the "it's in food already, and it's natural, so why worry?" line of thinking. Strychnine is all-natural too, as are any number of other hideous molecules that are capable of terrible effects, so that's no defense at all - it never is. And as for being exposed to it already, that's true - but the dose makes the poison, and the dose makes the drug."

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PJ Media » Round Three in the Trial of Lars Hedegaard

PJ Media » Round Three in the Trial of Lars Hedegaard: "I should have the right to prove my case. I could have called witnesses. I could have quoted holy books and statements, and I could have referred to facts.  But you cannot do that in a court of law in Denmark if you are accused under this infamous Article 266(b). Whether or not what you are saying is true is immaterial.  If somebody feels offended or if the prosecutor thinks that somebody has a reason to feel offended, whether or not you speak the truth has no bearing on the case. That is what is surprising about Danish jurisprudence. "

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "Let no one lament persistent failings, for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free.

The Lord has destroyed death by enduring it. The Lord vanquished Hell when he descended into it. The Lord put Hell in turmoil even as it tasted of his flesh."

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Ryan Gosling | Laurie Penny | Taxi | The Daily Caller

Ryan Gosling | Laurie Penny | Taxi | The Daily Caller: "Even oft-insufferable New York Magazine columnist Jonathan Chait writes that Penny is “one of those leftie-types so sanctimonious they make you want to vote Republican out of sheer spite.” "

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Procreation vs. Overpopulation : The New Yorker

Procreation vs. Overpopulation : The New Yorker: "Barring infertility or other complications—and despite the best efforts of Rush Limbaugh and Senate Republicans—couples today, at least in the U.S. and the rest of the developed world, can determine how many children they will have—five, four, three, two, one, or zero."

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Completely made up.

Professors Amar ’84 and Levinson To Debate: Does the Text of the Constitution Matter? | Yale Law School

Professors Amar ’84 and Levinson To Debate: Does the Text of the Constitution Matter? | Yale Law School: "Yale Law Professor Akhil Reed Amar ’84 and Visiting Professor Sanford V. Levinson will debate “Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy: Does the Text of the Constitution Matter?” on Tuesday, Dec. 6, from 12:10 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. in Room 120. The debate is free and open to the public, with lunch provided. It is part of the monthly “Debating Law & Religion” series.

In their debate, they will consider American constitutionalism, asking: Is it an orthodoxy based on the text of a document drafted in 1787, or is it defined by our constitutional practices where the text merely sustains constitutional discourse but does not define it? "

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I'm now fairly confident the ACA will be struck down as unconstitutional. What do I buy or what do I short to make money on this information?

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: " do students who receive large admissions preferences “catch up” with their peers over their college years? This ties into an important premise of many preference programs – i.e., that the rich resources of an elite university will help to phase out prior preparation gaps between students of different races. Aggregate data at Duke suggested that the GPA gap across racial groups was, indeed, narrowing as college progressed, from over half-a-point black/white GPA gap in the first semester, to less than three-tenths of a point by the eighth semester.

Using data gathered by the university, Arcidiacono et al found that this narrowing was illusory. Courses taken by juniors and seniors were graded very leniently, and, more importantly, students who had bad grades in their freshmen year migrated in large numbers from STEM fields and economics to other majors, which generally had easier grading. When one adjusted for these effects, the relative achievement level of different groups was unchanged over the course of college. Thus, there was no silver lining to offset the science mismatch effect."

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The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "On Friday I discussed a body of research – all of it uncontroverted – that documents a serious flaw in affirmative action programs pursued by elite colleges. Students who receive large preferences and arrive on campus hoping to major in STEM fields (e.g., Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) tend to migrate out of those fields at very high rates, or, if they remain in those fields, often either fail to graduate or graduate with very low GPAs."

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Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible | Washington Examiner

Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible | Washington Examiner: "In Lopez, the government wanted to argue that possession of a firearm near a school could be regulated as interstate commerce, because guns in school might lead to violence, which would lead to worse education, which would lead to dumber graduates, which would lead to a less productive national economy, which would mean less interstate commerce."

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Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible | Washington Examiner

Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible | Washington Examiner: "As P.J. O'Rourke famously said, when buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold will be legislators."

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Not-So-Smooth Operator - WSJ.com

Not-So-Smooth Operator - WSJ.com: "The constitutional law professor from the University of Chicago didn't notice the centerpiece of his agenda was not constitutional? How did that happen?"

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