About Donald’s Latest Tweet on Media Libel

While we were at work or school this morning, our president tweeted: “The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?”

So, what does he mean? He means to silence our free press. 

Libel law pre-dates the founding our the United States. 

It is a compendium of many hundreds of court rulings that signify a trend. In the U.S., libel is used to provide damages to someone whose reputation is measurably injured by a malicious falsehood that is communicated to the public (the law refers to this as “publication”).

The U.S. has the most freedom on the planet to speak. We err on the side of shielding speakers who are stupid, hateful, ignorant, biased, unfair, irresponsible—we draw the line with “malice,” a tough standard to prove—and we also allow “truth” as a defense.

In a landmark case in 1964— New York Times Co. v. Sullivan— the Supreme Court made it extremely hard to win a libel suit against the media. Today, for Donald Trump to win a libel suit against the NYT or Washington Post or CNN, he’d need to prove the media outlet knew the information was wholly and patently false or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not."

Getting information wrong is no cause for libel. 

Media bias is no cause for libel.

But Donald Trump’s tweet today is cause for great alarm. If our nation allows The Donald or any other elected official to win a lawsuit for libel against a news outlet—even Breitbart— we will lose an essential feature of our democracy. 

Congressman Who Called for Obama Impeachment Indicted

In below the radar news, a far-right Texas Republican, Rep. David Stockman, has been indicted on charges of campaign fraud and income tax evasion.

Stockman made headlines in 2014 when he walked out of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address in protest.

He invited Missouri rodeo clowns who mocked Mr. Obama in a controversial skit to perform in his district.

He also sold Obama “barf bags” as a campaign fund-raiser. 

The federal government alleges that in 2010, Mr. Stockman redirected most of $285,000 he raised for a charity to cover personal expenses for himself and Thomas Dodd, another aide, and to further his “own interests.”

There is more, but that’s the gist of things.

Making things more interesting, he blames a “dark state" in the federal government for his problems. Here’s an account from the Houston Chronicle:

Stockman said after the hearing that he had been targeted for speaking out against the Internal Revenue Service, and cited the right-wing conspiracy theory that contends bureaucrats are secretly running the U.S. government.

"This is part of a deep state that's continuing to progress," he said.

That’s an interesting theory. He’ll also get to explain the following to the court when he is tried:

He was released from federal custody Thursday on a $25,000 unsecured appearance bond after being arrested a day earlier as he tried to board a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport to the Middle East. He said he was going to the United Arab Emirates to help Sunni Muslims, which he described as an ongoing project after serving on the foreign affairs committee in Congress.

The Right to Vote for Freed Slaves-- Moral Act or Politics? Attorney General Sessions in Perspective

Recall that Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president—and in the 1860s, Republicans were what we now call liberals, and Democrats were states-rights defenders of slavery. With the end of the Civil War, Republicans advocated for freed slaves to have a federal right to vote. That’s how the 15^th Amendment came into being.

At first glance, this appeared to be nothing more than the idealism of northern liberals put into practice. But in the research gem quoted below, published in Michigan Law Review (1952) by my now-deceased constitutional law professor, Gene Gressman, Prof. Gressman explains that the 15^th Amendment grew out of practical political considerations. He remarks:

It has also been pointed out that: "The Amendment nullified two parts of the Constitution: the fugitive slave and the three-fifths provisions. The former (Article IV, Section 2) provided for the rendition of 'any person held to service or labor' who should flee to another state. The much controverted fugitive slave act of 1850 had been repealed in 1864. The three-fifths provision (Article 1, Section 2), one of the famous compromises of 1787, stated that in apportioning direct taxes and representation in the House of Representatives the respective numbers should include three-fifths of all 'other persons,' that is, slaves.

Thus a consequence of the Amendment was an increase in the southern representation by about twenty seats. This prospect worried the [liberal, northern] Republicans, quickened their interest in Negro suffrage, and produced the section in the Fourteenth Amendment penalizing by a reduction in representation any state denying suffrage to Negroes.

In other words, liberal Republicans, having freed about 4,000,000 slaves in 1865, wanted also to convert this moral victory into political advantage over their Dixiecrat opponents, who were about to be reintegrated to American politics.

Today, AG Jefferson Sessions-- heir to the former Dixiecrats (now Republicans)-- is determined to reduce African-American voting. Point: America hasn't resolved its fundamental issue with black suffrage 150 years after the end of the Civil War. 

What We Can Learn from Strippers (Seriously)

Try to avoid my mistake. When I thought about situations where employees are forced into “independent contractor” relationships—and they give up overtime pay, insurance, worker’s compensation, a pension, and the like— I thought strip-dancing wasn’t a real job.

Shame on me. For some people, it’s a job—that is, unless the club works the dancer as a contractor.

This week, William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law is publishing, “Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy.”

Here is a summary:

My study explores a small but revealing corner of the share economy, where an individual’s private resources are bartered for limited use by others in exchange for compensation. Strip clubs create value for owners by commoditizing sexual labor. Clubs avoid employment in favor of independent contracting with dancers. They pay no wages or benefits; patrons pay dancers with fees and tips. But clubs extract entry fees from dancers who work; require them to rent dressing rooms and stage time; and compel them to share tips with DJs, emcees, house moms, bouncers and bartenders. By transmuting employment into tenant and contractor relationships, clubs monetize a dancer’s body and labor into phony assets to pay wage-substituting tips to her co-workers.

This is a labor version of the share economy. I apply concepts related to the share economy to an increasingly transient and rootless workforce.

Does this model violate wage laws? My research identified 75 federal and state court rulings on wage claims by exotic dancers. In 38 cases, courts ruled that dancers were employees; only 3 courts ruled that dancers were independent contractors. Winning 93% of these misclassification rulings, dancers were awarded minimum wages, overtime, and liquidated damages. In 34 other cases, courts ruled on procedural motions. Nearly half (47%) of these rulings occurred in 2014 or 2015, suggesting this litigation is growing. 

This study is part of an ongoing project that quantifies occupations, industries, and court rulings for misclassified work. These industries and jobs include telecommunications (cable and fiber optic installers); cleaning services (maids and janitors); protective services (security guards and police) construction (drywall installers, window and door installers, carpenters, painters, HVAC technicians, and welders); health care (nurses  and ultrasound technicians); distribution (warehouse workers and package delivery workers ); local transportation (school bus drivers, cabbies, and ride share drivers); and others (garment workers and grocery baggers).

Companies frequently offer individuals illusory ownership. By entering into independent contractor agreements, strip clubs, Uber, and other firms shift their business costs to workers while avoiding wages and related taxes. Strip clubs charge dancers for use of their working space; Uber requires drivers to pay for their cell phone accessibility to its dispatching system. Strip clubs, Uber and others pay no employment related taxes, health insurance, unemployment and worker’s compensation.

Dancers and other workers increasingly realize they labor under a false construct of independent contracting. The litigation success of dancers, which bodes well for other misclassified workers, lends credence to Margaret Meade’s precept: “Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.”

Jury Bigots: Comparing Anti-Catholics in 1855 to Anti-Mexicans 2017

In an 1855 case before the California Supreme Court, the attorney for a criminal defendant, Nestor Reyes, was concerned about a prejudice among a secret hate group known as the “Know Nothings.” The lawyer proposed to ask a juror these questions: “1st. Are you not a member of a secret and mysterious order known as, and called, Know Nothings, which has imposed on you an oath or obligation, beside which, an oath, administered to you in a court of justice, if in conflict with that oath or obligation, would be by you disregarded? 2d. Are you a member of any secret association, political or otherwise, by your oaths or obligations to which, any prejudice exists in your mind against Catholic foreigners? 3d. Do you belong to any secret political society known as, and called by the people at large in the United States, Know Nothings? And if so, are you bound by an oath, or other obligation. not to give a prisoner of foreign birth, in a court of justice, a fair and impartial trial?”

The state supreme court said that he was entitled to ask these questions, noting: “The law contemplates that every juror who sits in a cause, shall have a mind free from all bias or prejudice of any kind, and if a juror is prejudiced in any manner, he is not a proper person to sit in the jury box.”

More than 150 years later, that same issue has arisen. In Pena-Rodrguez v. Colorado, a defense lawyer overheard that a juror expressed anti-Mexican bigotry while fellow jurors deliberated over a charge of sexual assault. The juror said, “I think he did it because he’s Mexican and Mexican men take whatever they want.” On March 6^th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the usual presumption of jury secrecy can be overcome to find out if racial or ethnic prejudice entered into the conversation.

As an important side note, Justice Kennedy— generally in the conservative bloc— voted with four liberals and wrote the strongly worded anti-bias ruling. 

LeRoyCare? Fruit&Veggie Entitlement

Obamacare and TrumpCare have expensive entitlements. In different ways, they aim to promote access to health care.

Why not include incentivizing healthy eating habits? 

In the long run, we could lower health care costs that are rooted in poor diet choices.

Suppose everyone (all 324 million of us) is given a $500 U.S. Fruit&Veggie credit card a year for purchasing, well, fruits and veggies. That’s $162 billion a year (assuming everyone uses the entitlement). For perspective, we spend about $598 billion a year on our military.

The federal budget in 2015 was $3.8 trillion.

Potential Benefits:

Lower incidence of type-2 diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases

Feed people while improving their health

Incentivize people to expand their food choices

Gets kids hooked on fruits and veggies

It’s non-compulsory—no taxes, no penalties

No participation is required

Increase income for growers, laborers, food processors, logistics and grocers

Fraud resistant program since fruits and veggies are highly perishable and have significant storage costs

Lower blood sugar, achieve better weight management, and promote disease-preventive nutrition

…. In short, a healthier nation—and a healthier nation should mean lower health insurance costs.

The First Dog Whistle? “Are You Thinking What We’re Thinking?”

What’s the history behind “dog whistles”? As explained by Bethany Anderson, “dog whistle” is a term that became popular during the 2005 election in the UK, where the Conservative Party slogan was, “Are you thinking what we’re thinking?” This was said to appeal to alienated whites who opposed Labour’s liberal stance on immigration. 

Anderson explains: “The term has its roots in Australia where it was associated with a political strategist, Lynton Crosby. Crosby ran Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s campaigns before consulting in British politics. The phrase reached William Safire’s “On Language” column in The New York Times in 2005. The 2005 campaign in the UK was arguably a failed attempt at dog-whistle politics, because the possible meanings of “Are you thinking what we’re thinking” became a topic of debate.”

In 2005, Robert E. Goodin & Michael Seward’s research, “Dog Whistles and Democratic Mandates,” Political Quarterly (Vol. 76, 2005), noted: “Dog whistle politics’ is a way of sending a message to certain potential supporters in such a way as to make it inaudible to others whom it might alienate or deniable for still others who would find any explicit appeal along those lines offensive.”

If you want to learn more, read Ian Haney Lopez’s recently published book (title pictured here), Dog Whistle Politics (Oxford University Press). He defines “dog whistle politics” as “coded racial appeals that carefully manipulate hostility toward nonwhites.” It's an interesting book!

Muslim Ban, Part II

My Dad’s heart specialist, Dr. Fard, was Iranian. He was extraordinary as a physician and as a person. Under the revised ban, Dr. Fard would be allowed to practice medicine here—but, contrary to current immigration laws, he would not be able to bring his family to visit or relocate. Would he return to Iran, to a government he loathed and detested, to join his family—or would he cut himself off from his family to practice medicine here?

Here are two young Iranian doctors who now face this painful question. Their medical practices are listed on EverythingIranian, http://www.iranian-doctors.com/main.asp

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Dr. Armin Oskouei, Atlanta, GA

Welcome to SpineCenterAtlanta! We are a comprehensive spine care facility featuring board-certified Orthopedic Surgeons, Spine Surgeons and Interventional Spine physicians as well as a complete ancillary staff of licensed Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, Massage Therapists and Acupuncturists. Our spine center offers state-of-the-art treatments and effective solutions for complex spine problems including acute and chronic neck and back pain. Our goal is to provide the most advanced treatments available for spine, neck and back pain and injuries and a unique patient experience that is unmatched by any practice in Georgia or even the Southeast.

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Dr. Marjan Yousefi, Vienna, VA 22182

Dr. Yousefi's practice focuses on adult and pediatric dermatology, dermatologic surgery, and cosmetic dermatology procedures to enhance skin.

Is There Hope for Bannon? Remembering Anti-Catholicism and Justice Hugo Black’s Turn from Hate

If you don’t know about Hugo Black, he was a Supreme Court Justice from 1937-1971! He began his political career by defending a KKK member who murdered a Catholic priest. At the time, the KKK targeted Catholics along with Jews and Blacks.

This hatred is interesting because it was also rooted in immigration. The KKK linked Catholicism with several waves of Irish immigration, beginning in 1840, and surging again in the 1920s, when Black was cutting his teeth in politics. Before being elected to the Senate in 1926, Black delivered 148 speeches at local Klan gatherings, where he attacked Catholicism.

A series of news articles exposed his connections to the KKK shortly after he became a Supreme Court Justice. Justice Black did not deny these reports. Over time, he became a staunch defender of civil rights for African-Americans, voting, for example, in Brown v. Board of Education to desegregate public schools.

Steve Bannon is Catholic. He would have been terrorized by KKK members in the 1920s-- but today, the KKK has "modernized" by replacing Catholics with their xenophobic hate for Muslims. (Jews, on the KKK hate list in the 1920s, are still on the hate list.)

As noted by Richard Stockton, “it was said of Black that in his youth he dressed in white robes and scared black folks, in his later years he dressed up in black robes and scared white folks.” If Hugo Black’s heart could change once he had great power, maybe there is hope that Steve Bannon will learn from the KKK’s violent anti-Catholicism, not far removed from his birth in 1953.

Photo Credit: Anti-Catholic cartoon depicting the Church and the Pope as a malevolent octopus, from the H.E. Fowler and Jeremiah J. Crowley's 1913 anti-Catholic book, The Pope: Chief of White Slavers High Priest of Intrigue.

Campus Dining—Not What It Used to Be

Looking for a new restaurant? Here’s the lunch menu today at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dining halls, by themed “stations.”

Before we check this out, about the picture: The University is trying to instill a waste-not, want-not awareness among students. The chart indicates little impact on student waste, sad to say—but it’s not for a lack of effort. When you enter, there are no trays and the plates are small. The idea is to prevent over-filling trays and plates and throwing food out, like I did in college.

Here’s how UIUC dining services recycles: Recycling Statistics

2016 Recycling Metrics (as of April 18, 2016)

• Glass Recycled - 40,809 pounds
• Nitrile Gloves Recycled - 1,080 pounds
• Coffee Grounds - 1,034 five-gallon buckets recycled
• Dining services helped deliver 145,902 meals to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank to benefit those facing hunger and food insecurity through the 220 relief agencies the Foodbank serves. Dining Services also stored and transported 16,240 lbs of white rice to local food pantries and programs,

***
I met my wife and best friend for life in this dining hall system; and we returned today to enjoy the following menu items. Times have changed!  PS: Taxpayers don’t pay a dime for this food, nor for the facility. Users pay. The lunch buffet today cost us $11 apiece—well worth it!

Okay, what will you have?

Hortensia's

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Entrees Lemon Garlic Chicken Skewers, Grilled Calamari and Shrimp Salad, Tortilla Española
Salads & Salad Bar Tapas Platter
Starches White Rice 

Penne Lane

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Entrees Taco-Seasoned Vegan Crumbles , Chicken Breast , Chorizo Sausage , Scrambled Eggs
Salads & Salad Bar Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Vegetables Spinach Aglio e Olio , Sautéed Mushrooms , Sautéed Onions, Sauteed Peppers, Jalapeño Peppers , Black Olives
Cheeses Shredded Cheddar Cheese , Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Starches Seasoned Potatoes
Sauces Mild Salsa, Sour Cream, White Cheese Sauce
Toppings Bacon Bits 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Entrees Grilled Chicken Breast, Frito Misto
Salads & Salad Bar Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Breads Sliced Garlic Bread
Starches Rotini , Fettuccine
Sauces Roasted Red Pepper Sauce , Marinara Sauce 

Prairie Fire

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Entrees Bacon Tomato Onion Pizza, Three Cheese Thin Crust Pizza , Veggie Lover's Deep Dish Pizza
Breads Cheese Sticks 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Entrees Bacon Tomato Onion Pizza, Veggie Lover's Deep Dish Pizza , Three Cheese Thin Crust Pizza
Breads Cheese Sticks 

Soytainly

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Entrees Butternut Squash & Rice Casserole, Taco-Seasoned Vegan Crumbles, Spicy Black Beans
Salads & Salad Bar Carrot, White Bean, and Dill Salad
Breads 6" Flour Tortilla
Vegetables Baby Carrots , Zucchini w/ Charred Onion & Lemon Vin
Starches Red Rice 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Entrees Mousaka , Hummus on Pita Sandwich , Spicy Black Beans
Salads & Salad Bar Carrot, White Bean, and Dill Salad
Vegetables California Blend Vegetables , Corn on the Cob
Starches Red Rice 

Baked Expectations

Breakfast - 03/04/2017

Breads Blueberry Muffin, Chocolate Chip Muffin, Vanilla Donut
Desserts Red Raspberry Danish 

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Desserts Rocky Road Cookie, M&M Brownies, Almond Apricot Bar 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Desserts Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Very Berry Pie 

Euclid Street Deli

Breakfast - 03/04/2017

Fruits Mullen's Applesauce, Navel Orange , Fruit Tray , Grapefruit Halves , Banana , Cantaloupe Wedge
Cereals Oatmeal
Starches White Rice
Others Yogurt Bar , Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Onion 

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Fruits Mullen's Applesauce
Soups Chipotle Bean & Barley Chili , Chicken Dumpling Soup
Salads & Salad Bar Red Pepper Hummus , Jicama and Green Apple Salad 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Fruits Mullen's Applesauce
Soups Chicken Dumpling Soup , Chipotle Bean & Barley Chili
Salads & Salad Bar Red Pepper Hummus , Jicama and Green Apple Salad 

Gregory Drive Diner

Breakfast - 03/04/2017

Entrees Hard Cooked Eggs
Cereals Oatmeal
Others Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Onion 

Lunch - 03/04/2017

Entrees Turkey Corn Dog, Grilled Muenster on Sourdough, Boneless Buffalo Chicken Wings
Appetizers & Sides Carrot & Celery Sticks Platter
Vegetables Baby Carrots, Zucchini w/ Charred Onion & Lemon Vin
Starches Simply Gold Fries 

Dinner - 03/04/2017

Entrees BBQ Pulled Pork, Halal Baked Chicken w/ BBQ Sauce
Salads & Salad Bar Vinaigrette Cole Slaw
Breads Hamburger Bun
Vegetables California Blend Vegetables, Buttered Corn on the Cob
Starches Parmesan Garlic Steak Fries 

"Hatred and Profits: Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan"

This is the title of a fascinating economic analysis of the KKK’s most successful period, 1922-1925, authored by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. & Steven D. Levitt in a 2012 edition of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Here is their conclusion:

“The Ku Klux Klan symbolizes the extremes of race and religious hatred in America. Since its inception in the months after the Civil War, the Klan’s organization, mission, and power have varied tremendously, with  membership and political influence peaking in the mid-1920s when over a million Americans were members. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, however, our statistical analysis shows little evidence of a relationship between Klan activity and black or foreign-born migration, lynchings, or politics during this time period. Rather, the 1920s Klan is best described as an enormously successful marketing ploy: a classic pyramid scheme, officials at the top getting rich off of the individuals at the bottom, energized by sales agents with enormous financial incentives to sell hatred.”

Want to see some details? I quote again:

“The sale of robes generated almost $800,000 in profit for the national headquarters; these numbers are net of the costs of supplying the robes. The Grand Dragon, King Kleagle, and the Kleagles each received over $100,000 from robes. The Imperial Tax was the single greatest source of revenue, contributing nearly $3 million to national headquarters. The realm tax provided $1.65 million to Stephenson.

According to our estimates, the single state of Indiana generated nearly $4 million in revenues for the national headquarters.  After some modest expenses, most of that revenue went directly to the Imperial Wizard, with the Grand Wizard having claims on some of it. D. C. Stephenson, the head of the Indiana Klan, received nearly $2.5 million annually from the state’s operations. The head of the state sales hierarchy pocketed nearly $400,000 a year. To put these numbers into perspective, in current dollars, … Babe Ruth earned $613,000, and President Calvin Coolidge earned $885,000."

White Racialists Are Not a Minuscule, Fringe Group

This post is a part of my work-in-progress, titled "White Identity in the Workplace: Revisiting Racial Communication in NLRB Representation Elections." Judge for yourself. For my part, I have learned much from the research that has gone into these paragraphs.

White Racialists Are Not a Minuscule, Fringe Group: There is no statistical estimate of white racialists in the workplace. Some are members who are formally inducted into racialist organizations, such as the 130 active Ku Klux Klan groups in the U.S. But they also include less visible groups that believe that whites are a distinct people connected by blood or heritage in a way that separates them from Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Asians, and non-European immigrants. These groups include skin heads, Aryans, assorted neo-Nazis, and others with obscure names.^[1]

Hundreds of white identity groups that promote racial superiority and exclusion operate openly. Even the Ku Klux Klan interfaces with the public more openly than decades ago, when their activities, except rare parades, were secluded to farms and woods.^[2] To an unknown extent, they are family, neighbors and co-workers who find attachment, meaning, and purpose in white racial power. They inhabit a eugenically alternate world of music,^[3] speak in coded vocabularies,^[4] glorify themselves and celebrate crimes against minorities by wearing tattoos and ominous symbols,^[5] and mingle on internet platforms.^[6] Many of today’s white racialists are not visible to others but visible to each other.^[7] They mask racial supremacy in numerical codes—for example by using the number 14 to mean, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”^[8]

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^[1]  E.g., American Freedom Party (political party that promotes white supremacy); American Nazi Party (neo-Nazi organization patterned after the Third Reich); Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (violent white supremacist prison gang); Aryan Nations (white supremacist neo-Nazi group); Creativity Alliance (group that promotes a racialist religion and white supremacism known as RAHOWA); Hammerskins (white supremacist group that promotes racialist music); Ku Klux Klan (including National Alliance, National Association for the Advancement of White People, and National Policy Institute, a media-savvy advocacy group for people of European descent); National Vanguard (a group that proclaims that the “European race is uniquely beautiful and creative”); Nationalist Movement (white supremacist organization); The Order (white supremacist group); Phineas Priesthood (Christian-based group that opposes mixing of races); Volksfront (a variant skinhead group for people of European); and White Aryan Resistance (neo-Nazi group).

^[2]  Matthew Delmont, Hairspray’s Revealing Portrayal of Racism in America, The Atlantic (Dec. 7, 2016). See Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), where a member of the Ku Klux Klan invited a Cincinnati TV station to attend a rally at a farm.  

^[3]  Popular groups are Bound for Glory, Aggravated Assault, Bully Boys, Max Resist, The Hooligans, and Skrewdriver. See Futrell, supra note __, at 294. Common music genres include National Socialist black metal, Nazi punk, hatecore, and Rock Against Communism. To comprehend the deep connection between eugenic ideology and White Power Music, visit the website for National Socialist Punks (N.S.P.), Racial and Political Ideology, available in http://www.nazipunk.8k.com/ideology.html.

^[4]    Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, hatecore and National Socialist black metal.

^[5]   Michael Grynbaum, Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut,’ N.Y. Times (Jan. 26, 2017), available in https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/business/media/stephen-bannon-trump-news-media.html?_r=0.

^[6]    Id.

^[7]   State v. Tankovich, 2012 WL 9500497 (Ida. 2012) (expert testimony established that the defendant’s three-leaf clover tattoo was a common symbol worn by Aryan white supremacists); Slavin v. Atkins, 413 Fed. Appx. 380 (2d Cir. 2011) (admission of evidence of inmate’s white supremacist tattoos did not violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination); U.S. v. Allen

^[8]   See Working Class Skin Heads, post from June 6, 2016), at https://www.facebook.com/WCSHSodaCity/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf, stating: “This community is based on those who earn their living. Those of us who scrape by to take hone our slice of the dream. We are not slaves, we are not robots we are hard working people who know that something earned is something to be proud of.”

Interesting Polling Info on Worry, LGBT, Government Threat

From Gallup, I have culled polls for friends and readers on the left, right, and indifferent.

Data on Worry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – “Americans' emotional health has suffered since the 2016 election. The average percentage experiencing worry on any given day has increased 4.1 percentage points to 33.3% since early November. Higher levels of worry were first evident after Donald Trump's election in November, but they continued to rise in January and grew more in the first month of Trump's presidency.”

….

Data on LGBT Identification

10 million American adults identify as LGBT (4.1%)

LGBT millennials up from 5.8% in 2012 to 7.3% in 2016

LGBT identification higher among women

….

Data on Perceptions that Federal Government Is a Threat to Freedom

49% say government poses immediate threat to rights, freedoms

Republicans much more likely to see government as threat

Americans give very diverse explanations for these views

(September 21, 2015)

Why Is Your Obamacare Deductible So Damn High? RIP, Prof. Ken Arrow

Who isn’t frustrated by their high health insurance deductible? How often have we said it’s a barrier to seeking treatment? We all do, myself included.

In this, we have failed to learn from Prof. Arrow, a Nobel Award economist. He criticized the idea of Medicare when it was being considered for legislation (it became law in 1966). He pioneered the application of moral hazard to public policy—and here was his point: If the government insures everybody’s health, everybody will be incentivized to become less healthy and more dependent on health insurance. “Moral hazard” refers to situations where people take on risky behaviors knowing that others will pay for their bad decisions. Example: You build a $1 million beach house in a hurricane zone; but government insurance (which underprices for the risk) shifts the cost of rebuilding your home to taxpayers.

Obama economists took this idea from Prof. Arrow, even though it is antithetical to Arrow’s policy preferences. What they did was build in the idea of a high deductible (probably too high), the idea being that if we don’t take care of ourselves, we should pay first before insurance does. That way, we’ll be incentivized to take better care of ourselves.

I remember reading Arrow in the 1980s and thinking he was a heartless and out-of-touch conservative economist. Thirty years later, I have seen the light. Arrow said health insurance should be provided by the government for things that are out of a person’s control—e.g., a genetic illness. But treatments for condition caused by an unhealthy behavior? That should be on the person who made that decision. 

He worried deeply that Medicare would do two things: (1) bankrupt the country, and (2) lead to a mostly unhealthy population.

Prof. Ken Arrow (Stanford)— the son of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who was educated in public schools, including college— passed away last week at the age of 95. He worked until the last two weeks of his life.