The Angry Bear

Here’s an article entitled I Set a Defendant Free And Got Blamed When He Raped Someone. This is what the article is about: A judge explains how he decides whether to release a defendant before trial without bail — and how it can go bad. I found reading any further into the article was a complete waste of time, but the little bit I quoted above does raise an important point. Pretty much every job includes some measure of accountability based on...

Trump Labor Policy  by Noam Scheiber via NYT: In June, Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta announced the withdrawal of two prominent Obama administration guidances — documents that do not change the law but indicate how a department interprets it and can influence employers. The first had clarified when a worker could be classified as an independent business operator as opposed to an employee, who is covered by protections like the minimum wage and...

Via the New York Times, William E. Forbath and Brishen Rogers write an op ed for Labor Day: A New Type of Labor Law for a New Type of Worker Labor Day was born in the late 19th century, during a time of raw fear about the path of economic development. Opportunities for decent, middle-class livelihoods seemed to be shrinking, and the “laboring classes” confronted a grim future of what many called wage slavery. Conservatives held most of the seats of power,...

I have vigorously criticized the European Community DG EcFin approach to estimating the non accelerating wage inflation rate of unemployment (NAWRU). This is a step in their estimation of output gaps, which, in turn, are used to set allowed deficits for member countries under the Stability and Growth Pact. The calculations are critically important. Marco Fioramanti and I think the DG EcFin approach (technically agreed with member governments) is not...

Much of the coverage of this incident at a hospital in Utah write of ‘recent changes’ in the law concerning drawing blood, but that, as far as I can tell, was a year ago. Is that a recent change? Certainly not changed by an obscure agency or executive order. Perhaps this kind of optic will help drive home the need for a less fear based police protocols, or even explaining why the need is there in this situation. It also appears to present distinct...

by David Zetland (originally published at Aguanomics) Protecting groundwater and reducing pollution in India KA writes: In developing countries which there is a constant struggle between farmers and utilities over water allocation, most of implemented policies are based on punishment. For example, quotas are assigned to each farmer and if he goes over his quota he will face a sort of a punishment. With this setup, if famers find a way not to be caught...

Let Trump Continue To Fail To Appoint People There has been much moaning and wailing and gnashing of teeth by many commentators and politicians over the failure of President Donald Trump to appoint people to fill numerous now vacant positions within the executive branch of government, with the State Department often being put forward as one of many agencies with many empty chairs in official positions.  However, the other night I heard Lawrence O’Donnell...

Fairooz was detained after audibly laughing after Sen. Richard Shelby told senators at Sessions’ confirmation hearing that the then-Alabama senator had a record of “treating all Americans equally under the law.” That is laughable as Sessions is flying under the radar having learned you can not be so overt about racism and prejudice. Mind you, Desiree Fairooz did say something after Congressional Security start to remove her from the room. “Support civil...

by David Zetland (originally published at Aguanomics) Lead poisoning, gasoline lobbies and crime Most of you have probably heard how the residents of Flint, Michigan were exposed to unhealthy levels of lead in their water (actually, any level is considered unhealthy) due to political and managerial incompetence.* Then I read this article on the “lead-poisoned generations of New Orleans,” which pointed out two things. First, there’s a very heavy...

An article by Nirej Sekhon in the American Criminal Law Review entitled Blue on Black: An Empirical Assessment of Police Shootings looks at 270 officer-involved-shooting incidents that occurred in Chicago between 2006 and 2014. His data comes from Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority (“IPRA”) summary reports of intentional officer-involved shootings. The article has interesting graphs. Some of the graphs fit the popular narrative: Some don’t:...