North Korea Hints at Return of Long ‐Range Missile, Nuclear Weapon Testing
Eric GomezThis year is shaping up to be a very active one for North Korea ’s missile program. Kim Jong Un’s regime has already conducted four ballistic missile tests so far this year, including two tests of a new, maneuverable warhead that North Korea called a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). All of the missiles tested in 2022 thus far, and most tests conducted since the breakdown of nuclear diplomacy in February 2019, were of relatively short ‐range systems. This trend could change, however, due torecent guidance from North Korea ’s politburo.The politburo report instructs the country ’s nationa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 21, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Eric Gomez Source Type: blogs
Federal Debt and Unfunded Entitlement Promises
Chris EdwardsBiden ’s budget‐busting Build Back Better plan has been beaten back, but federal finances are still badly broken. Spending is running far ahead of revenues, and politicians are adding more than $1 trillion a year to the government’s debt load.For years, both parties have increased spending and debt with little regard for the long ‐term costs. Accumulated federal borrowing (“debt held by the public”) increased $3.0 trillion under eight years of George W. Bush, $8.1 trillion under eight years of Barack Obama, $7.2 trillion under four years of Donald Trump, and it will about $2.9 trillion under...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 21, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
The Texas Terrorist Attack and the Foreign ‐Born Terrorist Threat
Alex NowrastehMalik Faisal Akram took four hostages in the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas on the morning of January 15, 2022. Akram let one of the hostages go and the other three eventually escaped. FBI agents then shot and killed Akram when they entered the synagogue. Fortunately, Akram ’s terrorist attack ended without any innocent people being murdered or physically injured. Still, Akram’s attack provides some valuable lessons and insights to understanding foreign‐born terrorism.Akram was born in the United Kingdom and entered the United States in late December, likely through theVisa Waiver Pro...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 21, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Let the Sun Set on Solar Tariffs
ConclusionThe best decision by President Biden would be to refuse to extend these solar tariffs —one ofmany examples of how freeing trade can help counter climate change. Yet what may well prevent Biden from making the best decision are the politics involved and, especially, the prospect of being accused of favoring China and abandoning U.S. labor unions. But surely Joe Biden should have realized by now that, in any trade decision he makes that relates to China and regardless of what he actually does, the president will be accused by his political opponents of kowtowing to the Chinese government. And if his goal is to ex...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 19, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: James Bacchus, Gabriella Beaumont-Smith Source Type: blogs
The Decline of Legal Immigration
Alex NowrastehLegal immigration collapsed in the last year of the Trump administration. The number of green cards issued abroad were declining prior to the pandemic, partly for policy and other reasons, but the American government ’s overreaction to COVID-19 caused immigration to collapse as we’ve detailedhere,here,here,here, andhere.Since President Biden took office in January 2021, the recovery of legal immigration has been much slower than weanticipated. The new vaccine mandate for immigrants (as we ’re seeing in other countries with theNovak Djokovic scandal), the remaining closure of many embassies and consulate...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 18, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
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A new proposed payment rule from the Department of Health and Human Services would undo Trump administration health policies and continue to set a new course for health insurance markets
(Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog)
Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Blog - January 16, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Timothy S. Jost Source Type: blogs
The moral of the tale is . . .
Referring to the Elizabeth Holmes verdict of guilty on four of eleven charges. To Atrios, the moral isdon ' t rip off rich people, which does indeed apply to the verdictper se. That was also the mistake made by Bernie Madoff and Bernie Ebbers as well. White collar criminals who rip off people of modest means (viz. Donald J. Trump) don ' t merit convictions. Andrew Gelman (whose blog I recommend in general although he tends to be quite long-winded) tried to relate the Theranos fraud to academic fraud, back in 2018, the occasion being a reading of John Carreyrou ' s expose " Bad Blood. " I agree there are some parallels...
Source: Stayin' Alive - January 4, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
My Year ’s Worth Of Election Law Writing
Walter OlsonI just compiled this list for other purposes and figured I might as well share it in light of the upcoming Jan. 6 anniversary. It’s a catalogue of my writings (together with a few podcasts) since November 2020 on topics of election law and process:“No, State Legislatures Aren’t Going To Override The Popular Vote on Presidential Electors” (Nov. 6, 2020)“The Framers Wisely Left Election Practice Decentralized” (Dec. 3, 2020)“Don’t Count On The Supreme Court To Hear Any Election Challenges” (Dec. 4, 2020)“Why Do Election Fraud Claims Fall On Receptive Ears?” (Dec. 7, 2020)“Trump Cannot...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 3, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Republicans Should Support Electoral Count Act Reform
Andy CraigRecentreports indicate that, after mostly ignoring it for a year, members of Congress are moving forward with exploring possible reforms to the antiquated 19th century statute which was at the heart of the controversy over the 2020 election.TheElectoral Count Act, passed as a belated response to the disputed Hayes-Tilden election in 1876, is the federal law which lays out the procedures for how members of the Electoral College are certified, cast their votes, and the votes are then counted. It fills in the details in the Constitution ’ssparsedescription of how the United States elects a chief executive.It was u...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 15, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Andy Craig Source Type: blogs
New Poll: 75% Don ’t Trust Social Media to Make Fair Content Moderation Decisions, 60% Want More Control over Posts They See
David Kemp andEmily Ekins81% of Republicans think Facebook and Twitter ’s Trump ban violated the First Amendment, strong liberals are three times more likely than conservatives to report users on social media, 58% of Americans support a First Amendment content moderation standardA new Cato Institute/YouGov national survey of 2,000 Americans finds that three-fourths of Americans don ’t trust social media companies to make fair content moderation decisions. The survey, conducted in collaboration with YouGov, finds that nearly two-thirds (60%) would prefer social media companies provide users with greater choice and contr...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 15, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: David Kemp, Emily Ekins Source Type: blogs
In Final Weeks, Trump White House Searched For Excuses To Overturn Election Results
Walter Olson“Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action’.”That Ian Fleming line (from Goldfinger) came to mind with news that not one or two but multiple efforts to rationalize setting aside the results of the November election were circulating in the Trump White House in the weeks leading up to January 6.We already knew about the most putatively respectable of these, the John Eastman memos. As law professor Jonathan Adler, a member of the academic advisory board of the Cato Supreme Court Review,has written, this memo in both it...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 13, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Cato Scholars on China and the World Trade Organization —20 Years On
Alfredo Carrillo ObregonDecember 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of China ’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The world has changed dramatically since then, and U.S.-China relations are increasingly marked by tension. Over the years, Cato scholars have weighed in on China’s entry into the rules based international trading system, and this post provides a summary of many of those contributions and reflects on the lessons learned from this momentous policy.One of the challenges to having a frank discussion about China ’s entry into the WTO, is that there are pervasive myths surrounding China’s WTO...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 10, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Alfredo Carrillo Obregon Source Type: blogs
China Marks 20 Years in the World Trade Organization. We Should Celebrate It.
This report was made by the Trump administration; it is unclear whether the Biden administration feels the same way.But this view is wrong. Overall, China ’s integration into the rules‐based multilateral trading system has generated significantly more stability, predictability, and transparency in the economic relations of the rest of the world with China than existed before China’s accession. The WTO has played an important role in opening C hina’s market to foreign goods and services. This opening has produced major economic gains for China and for all its trading partners – not least the United States. Even...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 9, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Inu Manak, James Bacchus Source Type: blogs
Innovation, mRNA, and Public Policy
Chris EdwardsThe main weapons against COVID-19 are the vaccines developed by Moderna and BioNTech after a decade of their research into mRNA technologies. That research was supported by more than $3 billion of private angel investment and venture capital.Democrats and Republicans both support medical research funding, and Republicans tout the Trump administration ’s Operation Warp Speed. But governments were not the key to mRNA development. Instead, we can thank the leaders and scientists at Moderna and BioNTech and the suppliers of private capital to them, as I discusshere andhere.TheWall Street Journal ’s A...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 6, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Merriam ‐Webster Needs To Update Its Definition of “Anti‐Vaxxer”
Jeffrey A. SingerPolitical polarization hinders progress against the COVID-19 pandemic.Political polarization may explain why, after former President Trump called the off ‐label use of the anti‐malarial drug hydroxychloroquine a “game‐changer” in the battle against COVID-19 (randomized controlled trials found that isnot the case), public health officials and the mainstream press appear uninterested in the off ‐label use of any other drugs as therapeutics against a COVID infection.For example, impressive data from randomized controlled trials show the off ‐label use of the off‐patent (...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 6, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
