UCLA Law Prof. Eugene Volokh.
The Washington Post has gone “gun nut” recently by partnering with the Volokh Conspiracy, a legal blog that via its brilliant contributors, fact-based research and critical analysis has been a stalwart defender of 2nd Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens.
From now on, VC content, which is not exclusive to Second Amendment issues but covers a wide variety of constitutional, cultural and legal topics, will appear on the Post’s website, under a joint WashPo/VC banner.
As one might imagine, the announcement, made last week, was met with praise from conservative-leaning publications and pundits who identify with the VC’s latent libertarian bent, while also being derided by those institutions and individuals on the left.The right-wing American Spector, for example, applauded Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, who made a cash purchase of WashPo for $250 million back in August 2013, for the VC addition because it exposes the newspaper’s readership to a variety of different voices, many of whom are experts, scholars and luminaries in their respective fields.
“I’m impressed by this decision,” wrote Reid Smith of The American Spectator.
“Perhaps it should stand to reason that a man who made a fortune offering people choices, should offer the same alternatives to his readership,” he continued. “What a novel concept in today’s news atmosphere.”
Meanwhile, ThinkProgress.org was quick to lament the merger because of the VC’s past coverage of climate change, which has erred on the side of skepticism as opposed to dogmatically accepting the notion that humans are creating a dangerously warm planet.
“It is alarming that the Volokh Conspiracy doesn’t seem to understand the basis for the overwhelming scientific judgment that we are warming and will keep doing so absent sharp cuts in GHG emissions,” wrote Joe Romim of ThinkProgress. “It is even more alarming that Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post would think such uninformed conspiracy mongering belongs at the Post.”
Skepticism is a healthy attitude, but on climate change, the evidence is clear. It is good to see a well-known and respected newspaper open up to the idea of gun rights, especially as that paper originates in the nation's capital.
ReplyDeleteOriginating from Washington is a negative, not a positive.
DeleteInteresting, Global warming is a by-product of Evolution. OMG! The sky is falling.
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers
By calling it "global warming" and mocking it, you're being dishonest. The proper description is "climate change."
DeleteMikeb, global warming is a correct term, since the effect of increased CO2 in the atmosphere raises the global average temperature. But climate change is also correct, due to the fact that individual regions will experience many different local changes in weather patterns.
DeleteMikeb, Really? I'm being dishonest? I'm not the one who said the Arctic ice was going to melt by 2013, that was your brainiac scientists and that guy who invented the internet that said that.. To me, melting implies warming. Guess you guys have never heard of the boss of this Earth called Mother nature.
DeleteIf you idiots wanna do something about pollution, stop the largest known polluter on this planet, the US military.
Some peoples kids. Sheesh!
orlin sellers
I have to say it is pretty sketchy to claim "climate change" is the result of human activity. When you can blame the cold weather, the hot weather, the droughts, the floods, the melting ice, the freezing of more ice, more hurricanes, and the lack of hurricanes all on human caused climate change you have created a no lose situation for your side.
DeleteI remember one time there were pictures of several "weather monitoring stations" that showed ridiculous locations for some of these data collection systems. Placing the stations in the middle of a large concrete structure or right next to a large air conditioning unit that was rejecting heat onto it, etc. Things like this make the data suspect.
I don't really know anything about it. I'm not a scientist. But, to me it makes perfect sense that the erratic climate extremes we're experiencing all over the globe could be the result of man-made pollution. The entire system is out of whack.
DeleteWhat I object to is when someone like you, Orlin, mocks "global warming" because you're experiencing extreme low temperatures or because some of the most dire predictions have not happened exactly as predicted.
Somehow, climate change has become associated with liberals. So, as the good follower you are, you attack it.
Mikeb, at least you admit you don't know anything. It would be wise for those quack scientists to follow your lead. Even if the Arctic ice would have melted so what? The significance in the overall scheme of things could have been no more significant than Mother Nature adjusting her bra strap.
DeleteA liberal thing? Naw it is more like the Holy Grail for imbeciles.
BTW, where were you 'world savers' when the Mississippi decided to change her course?
orlin sellers
Mikeb, are you admitting that I'm not a follower?
DeleteTo claim the Earth is going through a climate change, you would need 100's of years of temperature records, not just a few decades showing temperature variations, which is normal. Ice samples show no convincing proof that we are in the midst of Earths climate changing.
ReplyDeleteTo say humans do not contribute to the higher CO2 levels, is dishonest, or stupid. To say higher CO2 levels are not injurious to our atmosphere, is also dishonest, or stupid.
There is no need to prove climate changed, to know we have a responsibility to lesson the amounts of CO2 we humans put in the atmosphere.
Our air is cleaner now than in the age of the industrial revolution when emissions went unchecked and black clouds of pollution hovered over our cities.
Our air is cleaner of particulate matter and so forth, but we are putting far more CO2 into the atmosphere than is normal. We know that because yes, we have ice core samples that give the composition of atmospheres in times past. We also can measure the thickness of the layers in the ice to determine how much was deposited in a given year. We have fossilized coral reefs that show the growth rates of coral, an indication of the temperature of the water. We have temperature measurements of the ocean performed by the Royal Navy for two centuries. We have a lot more evidence supporting the claim that the planet is getting warmer due to the effect of greenhouse gases.
DeleteThere's money going down that global warming black hole. $72 BILLION of taxpayer money as of 2012. For What? And that's only the US. Like every other thing the government is involved in, all these quacks say they need more money this year and every year after until Hell freezes over.
DeleteIt pays to get on that bandwagon of fraudsters like old Al Gore. Counting everyone of his pennies after his loss to Bush, Gore had a whopping $1.6 million in assets. Today, after he sold some of his snake oil he is worth at $200 million.
Instead of reading the cooked books, bogus studies, and science fiction classified as sacred religious dogma, you might wanna follow the money trail.
orlin sellers
We have no ice sample proof that the Earth is changing it's climate. Yes, there is ice sample evidence that there is more CO2 in the atmosphere, that's not proof that the Earth is going through a climate change.
DeleteThose ice cores that we have show the temperatures over several hundred thousand years. They also show the atmospheric gases. The temperatures rose at the start of the Agricultural Revolution, at which time CO2 and methane rose. Now we're seeing spikes in those two gases and an increase in global average temperatures.
DeleteYes we have rising temperatures, but again that doesn't prove the Earths climate is changing. One of the reasons for the debate, is because of that lack of evidence vs plenty of evidence that man is polluting the atmosphere.
DeleteGot any URL cited evidence for that garbage site lying criminal coward?
DeleteThought not.
It's good to see big business leader like Jeff Bezos take a public stand on 2nd amendment gun rights. Maybe some day soon, this "debate" will be a thing of the past.
ReplyDelete