The Latest

• Legalizing hemp requires an exemption from a strange tax

  The Farm Bill of 2019 would establish a state plan for the regulation, cultivation, and handling of hemp products. One of the steps necessary to do that requires exempting people from having to pay the Unauthorized Substances Tax. The what tax? Exactly.

  Jon Sanders, June 24, 2019, 353 words

• Baby Boomers Indicted

  In a previous blogpost, I cited Economist Lyman Stone’s American Enterprise Institute paper, Red, White, and Gray. In a summary published today at the Atlantic, Stone draws some harsh conclusions about my generation: The political ascendancy of the Boomers brought with it tightening control and…

  Jon Guze, June 24, 2019, 430 words

• CJ Reports: Raleigh attorneys offer quality legal services to poor from RV

  Seventy percent of North Carolina households have civil legal needs, and according to a recent story in Carolina Journal by reporter Leonard Robinson III, 80 percent of the civil legal needs for low-income populations go unmet. This lack of services means that low-income persons can often go without any…

  Brenee Goforth, June 24, 2019, 368 words

  

• How government can hire better

  Since 2013, the number of government job postings has increased 11% but the number of applicants has fallen 35%. A recent report the National Association of State Chief Admistrators considers why this is and what governments can do to attract more people. Job applicants see government work as safe…

  Joseph Coletti, June 24, 2019, 179 words

• Becki Gray On “After Spin”: What Do We With Toxic Materials In Solar Panels?

  “This is an impending crisis. This could be the next coal ash pollution problem.” Becki Gray recently made this comment on NC SPIN’s online series “After SPIN.” The potential crisis Gray is the looming environmental issue of solar panel disposal. Solar panels contain toxic materials, and experts estimate the lifespan…

  Brenee Goforth, June 24, 2019, 217 words

  

• Trump admin gives bike and pedestrian paths big goose egg

  Via McClatchy publication Charlotte Observer—a breakdown of federal Department of Transportation grants under the Trump administration. Note bike and pedestrian paths get the big goose egg. I that says quite a bit about the ongoing discussion over fantasies about how people should travel versus the reality of how…

  Sam Hieb, June 24, 2019, 51 words

• They’ve Got Something to Hide

  The South China Morning Post reports: Beijing on Thursday ordered a suspension of history exams run by a US non-profit organisation for students seeking credit at American colleges, as the ruling Communist Party cracks down on educational material it deems unfriendly.

  Jon Guze, June 24, 2019, 72 words

• Steven Pinker on the Need for “Factfulness”

  The Harvard Gazette recently asked Pinker, “What is one thing wrong with the world that you would change, and why?” His response: Too many leaders and influencers, including politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and academics, surrender to the cognitive bias of assessing the world through anecdotes and images rather…

  Jon Guze, June 24, 2019, 428 words