He'd save children (but not the British children)

In the ultimate test of Bryan Caplan's theory, Paul McCartney's son wants to get a kid from each of the other Beatles and.....put on a rock show!

What could possibly go wrong?

So far, the only thing standing between us and musical armageddon is... Zak Starr?

God bless you sir.

Strip-Search

Okay, so I'm reading about the Florence strip-search and jail case. And I'm thinking, "Please let the guy be white, so this isn't just police racism." No such luck. Mr. Florence is black. In a BMW. Has a BMW dealership, in fact. So, cops stop black people in a BMW, for "speeding." No citation given to wife, who was driving. (WHY WERE THEY STOPPED IN THE FIRST PLACE?). Cop does check on the car. Finds old unpaid ticket, after what is basically a fishing expedition.

Mr. Florence is handcuffed, strip-searched TWICE, jailed for a week with no bail (HE'S A FLIGHT RISK! NO BAIL, BECAUSE HE ALREADY SKIPPED ON A TICKET!). Finally sees judge. Is able to prove that in fact HE PAID THE TICKET! On time. Police just failed to record the payment. Whoopsie daisy, sorry, fella. Have a good day.

Exactly the same thing happened to me, Dec. 2010, except no arrest and strip search. Got notice of failure to pay ticket that had, in fact, been paid. Had to send copy of cancelled check, had to get notarized statement, all because the state is too busy to recognize when citizens do what the state forces them to do. It happens all the time. The state is remarkably incompetent, and indifferent to the consequences of that incompetence, given that if YOU make a mistake the consequences are enormous.

You'll want to watch this excerpt from one of best movies of all time, Brazil. Four mins, watch it through, please.


Now, the Supreme Court case is about the strip-searching. I'm afraid, on that narrow question, the court got it right. If (IF!) you are going to put the guy in jail, for a week, for a nonviolent traffic ticket (which he had actually already paid, but never mind for a minute, suppose he hadn't), then you HAVE to strip search him. It's the logic of domination and humiliation in the prison system. The strip search is a consequence of the dangerous security situation in the jail where the state is choosing to hold this person. In jail, you lose the presumption of innocence.

The real questions didn't come up in the court case. Why did police stop a black couple just because they had a BMW, and then searched for something, anything, to nail the guy. Then why send him to jail, with no way out, for a week. And why not keep better records, if the stakes are really this high? If failing to pay a ticket is worth a week in jail, away from work and family, what should be the punishment for failing to record a valid and timely payment for a ticket? Shouldn't it be symmetric?

The REAL question, then, is why all our sensitive leftist friends put so much faith in a state that routinely does the sorts of things described above. I bet (paraphrasing Edmund Burke) it's because you fall out only with the abuses, and think that the thing itself is good. The THING! The thing itself is the abuse!

Why do you people love the state so much? It doesn't love you.

Links...

Some links....

Justin Wolfer's "Academic Manifesto"

To understand voting, follow the sacredness.

Markets in too MANY things?

Saying and doing: GM *says* that the Volt is doing great, set a record. But what did they *do*? They closed the factory for an additional week, extending layoffs.

Is Your Chld About to Throw Up?

Got this from Nanny News. Not sure whether they think our readers are childish, or that this site makes readers vomit. But, in any case, here you are:

10 signs your child is about to throw up. (Some Synonyms, from Oz)

But it seems to me this just scratches the surface. Our own experience was the EYM would stand up in his bed and scream for hours, until he vomited on his own feet. Then, satisfied, he would happily lie down and go to sleep in same. Anyone else want to share?

Hatin' On the Econ Game

New York Times has been running a series; more to come.

Here is the good N. N. Taleb, on models. Not sure he has this right.

And also in the Times (though not in the same series) Clarke and Primo on physics envy.

Minimalist Economics Posters

Some minimalist economics posters.

And, some more. New and improved: Now, with REAL econ!

Thanks to John-O!

Thank you note from Mexican drug cartels

Thanks, Prez O, for taking care of keeping drugs illegal!

Thanks to Angry Alex

Stand Your Ground

Okay, here's the thing: I'm a big fan of rights to gun ownership, and concealed carry laws. I have myself qualified for a concealed carry permit in NC. Those laws should be "shall issue," and not up to the discretion of local authorities. Full stop. But..."stand your ground" laws, as they may be applied (NOTE: EDITED) in Florida, are nuts. If you are carrying a gun, you have it only to use as a last resort, and you are required, both morally and as a matter of law, to forebear from doing certain things you might otherwise do. If you are carrying a gun with CC permit, you cannot:

1. Drink alcohol. At all, not any.
2. Intentionally put yourself in a situation where you need to use the gun.
3. Get into a fight.

If for some reason you do get into a fight, you have to walk away. If walking away does not work, you have to run.

Only if you have made a serious reasonable effort to escape, or are prevented by circumstances from doing so (eg, other person has a deadly weapon) can you use your weapon, or for that matter any other kind of deadly force, in response. Someone pulls a knife on you, you don't have to run. Someone talks bad about your mama, walk away.

Now, a test case. Consider the following: "Citing the Florida [stand-your-ground] law, a judge dismissed a murder charge against Greyston Garcia, who had chased and stabbed to death a suspected burglar who had stolen his car radio. The judge ruled that a bag of radios swung by the suspect, Pedro Roteta, at Mr. Garcia amounted to a lethal threat." [WSJ story]

So, a quiz: Did Mr. Garcia satisfy the conditions for using a concealed weapon? (Assume the knife was large and concealed.) No. Not even close. You cannot use deadly force to defend property, unless there is also a threat to YOU. The robber (assume he was in fact *A* robber, who stole stuff, and *THE* robber, who stole in particular Mr. Garcia's stuff. He might not be, and it's not for Mr. Garcia to decide. But suppose). The robber ran away. You can run after him, but if you do you forfeit the right to use deadly force. Now, you might still use deadly force if your life was threatened (a bag of radios? really?). But if you do, you are guilty of manslaughter, just like anytime A kills B in a fight A started.

Now, the actual point. Re the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman thing. The question is, did Zimmerman try to walk away/run away? He did not. Mr. Zimmerman, in fact, followed Mr. Martin. That means Mr. Zimmerman cannot use his weapon. If he does, and kills Mr. Martin, then Mr. Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter, even if the only account of events we credit is that given by Mr. Zimmerman. ZIMMERMAN FOLLOWED MARTIN. (Plus, the police definitely told him not to, just in case Zimmerman was confused). If after that Zimmerman shot Martin, even if it was self-defense in the particular circumstances of that moment, Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter. A kills B in a fight A started. A following B is starting a fight, seeking out a fight. It's not walking away.

"Stand your ground" laws are fine inside your home. Someone breaks into your home, empty the clip at them, no questions asked. But invoking "Stand your ground" when YOU chased THEM? That's just an excuse to commit murder and get away with it.

UPDATE: Jake Syma sends this link to a HuffPo piece by JM Granholm. Nice piece.

UPDATE II: It may be that the FLA SYG law will NOT apply in this case. That is certainly the view of the law's primary author, as here. If SYG is disallowed as a defense here, then I stand corrected and SYG is okay as written. If not, I've got beef. And I still find the application in the Garcia case above to be incomprehensible.

(Nod to Kevin Lewis and Jake Syma for links)

Big Dunk

Yes, I know there was no Derrick Rose, but the Thunder beat down the Bulls this afternoon in OKC. Mrs. Angus and I were there and had a great time.

Westbrook made one of the strongest dunks I've ever seen live. It didn't seem like he could make it to the rim from where he took off but he surely did. In the video below, the view shown at the 14 second mark is how it looked to us live, like he just somehow kept going and going.

Enjoy!

Sustainable development?

The indefatigable Michael Clemens reports that a new Millennium Village project in Ghana plans to spend a minimum of $12,000 per household lifted out of poverty in the project. This is something north of 30 times higher than average annual household income in the region where the project is going.

I have no doubt that many of these households will be "lifted out of poverty" during the years when these expenditures are made.

But, I don't think it can be called development.

Clemens proposes an interesting cost -benefit hurdle for the MVP by noting that if the money was placed in a trust that earned 5%, each household would receive $600 / year FOREVER (which would be triple the average annual household income in the region). He asks if the MVP method of spending the money will permanently triple the average incomes of these households.

UPDATE: THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THIS POST WAS REVISED TO BE ACCURATE. SORRY FOR THE MISTAKE!!