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Friday Quote – Larry Niven

The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He’s entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been waited, you’re in violation.

What Happens When A Cartel Gets Disbanded?

The members sue the government that propped them up.

The story makes it sound like these poor people who saved for years to buy a taxi medallion now have nothing to show for it and want just recompense. I call bullshit on that for a couple of reasons:

  1. Most of the medallions were owned by firms who then rented them out to individuals. Firms that were happy to use the force of government to enforce their little cartel. Excuse me if I don’t have sympathy that they now reap the whirlwind.
  2. People get wiped out when assets lose value – whether it be market or government causes. It’s only been in the last couple of years that my house in Tampa slightly came above water.

I hate to sound cold, but if you’re investing into a government-enforced cartel, I’m not going to weep when your investment loses value because an unjust cartel is broken. Anymore than I would weep for all the folks complaining about how their Stens would lose value if we could repeal the NFA. Particularly when the taxi cartel rested on its first government-enforced protection to keep prices high and service middling.

Reason Roundup

My browser is getting pretty full, and of course, a lot of those are links to articles from Reason. So, in the interest of closing browser tabs…

Irish democracy lives in New Zealand. Since the nation is pretty much an archipelago, I wonder how many “tragic boating accidents” gun owners have had down there.

From the Volokh Conspiracy comes an article about why we shouldn’t treat victims as policy experts. Both sides do it, and it’s just as wrong. Can victims become policy experts? Of course. However, using their stories to drive public policy is not a good idea. Laws named after victims are never good.

Clarence Thomas rarely speaks during SCOTUS sessions so he can bring his full force in written word. At least, that’s my head cannon. He’s disappointed me some over the last few years, but he’s still my favorite justice. Although Gorsich is quickly coming up fast.

Another good article on getting rid of qualified immunity. It’s a legal principle made up of whole cloth by judges to protect prosecutors and cops. Let the whole thing go over to the malpractice world, like most other professions.

Confessions Of a Former Climate Skeptic. A lot of folks I know think climate change is a hoax. Or if not a hoax, then it’s not as bad as the dire projections (some truth to that). I blame the activist scientists for that. The ones who immediately said that economies must be wrecked through invasive government schemes in the hopes that the Iron Law Of Bureaucracy can be subverted in this one instance. Unfortunately for both sides, climate change is real, but government cannot get us out of it. Human ingenuity and bringing people out of poverty are the keys.

Finally, we have a new law that stops the IRS from stealing money from people who have not broken the law. It’s like you need an actual crime to take people’s stuff.

The Ten Commandments of Logic

Saw this on Facebook. Unfortunately, I don’t know who was the original author to give proper credit. Still, they bear reminding.

  1. Thou shall not attack the person’s character, but the argument. (Ad hominem)
  2. Thou shall not misrepresent or exaggerate a person’s argument in order to make them easier to attack. (Straw man fallacy)
  3. Thou shall not use small numbers to represent the whole. (Hasty generalization)
  4. Thou shall not argue thy position by assuming one of its premises is true. (Begging the question)
  5. Thou shall not claim that because something has occurred before, it must be the cause. (Post Hoc / False Cause)
  6. Thou shall not reduce the argument down to two possibilities. (False dichotomy)
  7. Thou shall not argue that because of ignorance, claim must be true or false. (Ad ingorantum)
  8. Thou shall not lay the burder of proof onto him that is questioning the claim. (Burder of proof reversal.)
  9. Thou shall not assume “this” follows “that” when it has no logical connection. (Non sequitur)
  10. Thou shall not claim that because a premise is popular, therefore it must be true. (Bandwagon fallacy)

Robotech Lives

More to the point, Harmony Gold managed to extend its licensing agreements past the 2021 deadline.

From Den of Geek:

Harmony Gold USA, Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Japanese anime studio, Tatsunoko Productions, Co., to extend the worldwide, co-copyright ownership and exclusive management, excluding Japan, for its landmark anime series Robotech (including Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada). This agreement was achieved after a lengthy negotiation and allows Harmony Gold to continue to exploit the animated Robotech franchise well into the future.

It looks like one of the big factors is Sony wanting to develop a movie franchise with related video game and other products. I’m skeptically optimistic about that.

The other issue left on the table is the status of bringing other Macross properties to the US. Although Macross Plus and Macross II are available, there’s been no word on bringing over Macross Frontier or Macross Delta.

I hope now that the deadline is extended, Harmony Gold goes back and develops some new Robotech stuff. Finishing Shadow Chronicles would be a nice start.

Friday Quote – KrisAnne Hall

If exercising my right to keep and bear arms, my right to freedom of speech, or my right to religious liberty makes you uncomfortable, just remember… The exercise of rights is only uncomfortable to two classes of people – tyrants and slaves. Take a moment to classify yourself.