Tag Archives | New York City

Can the “Fearless Girl” Stand on Her Own?

Feature Article by , April 13, 2017

As a PR stunt—advertising disguised as an idealistic political message—a Wall Street investment firm hawking a “Gender Diversity Index” placed a statue of a young girl in front of the famous Wall Street statue of a charging bull. It was put there on International Women’s Day, you see, and it was taken as a symbol […]

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Civil Disobedience as a Business Model

Feature Article by , April 12, 2017

MIT recently announced that it is offering a $250,000 Disobedience Award for someone who offers “an extraordinary example of disobedience for the benefit of society.” Because, “You don’t change the world by doing what you’re told.” Is this meant to encourage civil disobedience? Of course, because “Laws evolve over time and are meant to be […]

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Self-Driving Cars and the Virtues of Federalism

Feature Article by , September 22, 2016

The new Department of Transportation guidelines for self-driving cars have arrived after a buildup of complaints about how autonomous vehicles are somehow being held back by a confusing “patchwork” of government regulations on self-driving cars. I don’t buy that this is a problem, by the way, because by far the biggest roadblocks for self-driving cars are […]

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Everything Awful About the Trump Campaign in One Tweet

Feature Article by , April 9, 2016

Everything awful about Donald Trump’s campaign for president has just been summed up in one tweet from his son, Eric Trump. The younger Trump responded to presidential contender Ted Cruz’s trip to the Bronx, and the less-than-friendly reception he got, with a meme taken from “The Sopranos.” He has deleted the tweet, but the Internet […]

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The Uber Imperative

Feature Article by , July 27, 2015

The Uber “ride-sharing” service—basically a way more convenient taxi-hailing system—just won a big battle in New York City, forcing Mayor Bill de Blasio to back down from a plan to restrict it because he doesn’t like the fact that people might actually be driving cars around Manhattan. But the company has also lost a few […]

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All Must Serve the Capitol

Feature Article by , May 13, 2015

The deadly Amtrak derailment this week spawned a frenzy of sleazy opportunism on social media as lefties rushed to declare—before any evidence of the cause of the accident was available—that it clearly showed the need for more federal billions to subsidize Amtrak. As the official investigation has released actual information, it seems likely that the […]

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What to Look for in 2015

Feature Article by , December 30, 2014

We’ve already counted down the top stories of 2014. But what can we say about what’s likely to happen in the new year? What are the big stories to look for in 2015? As the old saying goes, predictions are hard, especially about the future. The biggest stories are usually the things we can’t predict. […]

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Democratic Party Death Watch

Feature Article by , December 23, 2014

Top Stories of the Year: #1 Over the past week, I’ve been counting down the top stories of the year. For the #1 slot, there is really no competition: it’s the Republican wave in the mid-term congressional elections—and, just as important, the unprecedented Republican wave in the statehouses, which may have an even greater impact […]

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Government Is Force

Feature Article by , December 3, 2014

There are mass protests again about a grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer in the death of a black man. This time, the protesters might even be right. It is the second time in a week that this has happened, following the decision by the grand jury in the Ferguson case, but […]

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Rude People Discovered in New York City, Film at 11

Note by , October 29, 2014

So that video has been making the rounds of a woman walking the streets of New York City and receiving “catcalls” and clumsy come-ons from some pretty unpromising men. This is supposed to illustrate the crushing everyday oppression suffered by women. There are a number of interesting observations that can be made about this video. […]

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