Medallion prices have surged to the $1 million level. If that’s not enough to get the city to consider letting in more operators, whatever would be? [Mark Perry, Felix Salmon]
Archive for 2011
Libertarians and medical malpractice
What kind of medical liability market would emerge if courts decided to begin upholding freedom of contract? I take up that question — and explain some of my misgivings about efforts to portray today’s medical malpractice sector as somehow a free-market arrangement — at Cato at Liberty (& welcome Elie Mystal/Above the Law, GruntDoc, Ramesh Ponnuru readers).
“Byzantium was far less complicated than any modern government.”
So maybe it’s time to find a new way of expressing the idea of our Byzantine tax code, the Byzantine regulations of federal agencies, and so forth. [Brian Palmer, Slate; link fixed now, thanks reader Bob]
Supposed hiring bias against unemployed applicants
Although the plaintiff’s-oriented National Employment Law Project has been campaigning on the issue, “Michael Saltsman with the Employment Policies Institute says the claims of unemployment discrimination are overblown.” [Fox News; Iain Murray; earlier here, here, and here]
Annals of expensive divorce
“After racking up more than $20 million in legal bills, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers has reportedly reached a $130 million settlement in his divorce case.” [Martha Neil, ABA Journal]
Regulators vs. regular ‘taters
Maine and Colorado senators are in the forefront as the U.S. Senate vindicates the ongoing presence of potatoes in the federal school lunch program [Caroline May, Daily Caller]
FBI not responsible for totaling detained Ferrari
Because accidents will happen, after all. And, no, you wouldn’t be excused for totaling the FBI’s Ferrari were the sides reversed [Scott Greenfield]
“Has Amnesty International Jumped the Shark?”
Julian Ku at Opinio Juris is not impressed with the NGO’s demand that the government of Canada arrest former U.S. President George W. Bush, and neither is George Jonas, writing in Canada’s National Post. Related: John Fonte (Hudson) on his new book, “Sovereignty or Submission: Liberal Democracy or Global Governance?” [Foreign Policy Research Institute]
“Charlie Davies sues nightclub, Red Bull”
“D.C. United’s Charlie Davies is suing the owners of a Washington nightclub and the drink company Red Bull for $20 million, claiming they are responsible for a fatal car crash that ended the MLS player’s hopes of joining the 2010 U.S. World Cup team. Davies, now 25, was a passenger in the car driven by a woman who has since pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving in the 2009 one-car crash that killed a second passenger.” Perhaps his theory will be that the nightclub had an obligation to assess how drunk the woman was, but he didn’t. [AP/ESPN]
Notre Dame to Kansas high school: drop that fighting leprechaun logo
“Chapman High School, whose athletics teams have been known as the Fighting Irish since 1967, has been formally asked by the University of Notre Dame to change its leprechaun logo due to the college’s trademark on the image.” [Yardbarker]