Half of Ukrainians Want Quick, Negotiated End to War

by Benedict Vipers, Gallup, November 19, 2024.

Excerpt:

After more than two years of grinding conflict, Ukrainians are increasingly weary of the war with Russia. In Gallup’s latest surveys of Ukraine, conducted in August and October 2024, an average of 52% of Ukrainians would like to see their country negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible. Nearly four in 10 Ukrainians (38%) believe their country should keep fighting until victory.

Ukrainians’ current attitudes toward the war represent a decisive shift from where they stood after it began in late February 2022. Surveyed in the months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukrainians were defiant, with 73% preferring fighting until victory.

Trump Will Want to ‘Confess Error’

by Chris Horner, Wall Street Journal, November 17, 2024. (November 18 print edition.)

Wait. What? Trump confessing an error? But it’s not what you might think.

Excerpt:

Agencies aren’t permitted to lie about their reasons for imposing a regulation—a doctrine known as the rule against pretext. Yet it happens. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, for instance, has shown a willingness to use authorities unrelated to climate change to force closure of plants to achieve climate goals. This presents the new administration with an opportunity to rein in some of the most egregious Biden-administration overreaches before the rules achieve their intended outcomes.

Trump administration officials will need to review promptly internal agency files to establish the record of pretextual rulemakings and other improprieties. Government lawyers will then need to acknowledge these improprieties in court.

“Confessing error” is the practice by which government attorneys inform a court that the state has legally misstepped and that annulment of an agency’s judgment is warranted. A change in administration philosophy or interpretation is insufficient. But the courts would almost certainly accept a confession of error of law, fact or procedure supported by documents that illustrate the admitted wrongdoing.

The Democrats Made RFK Jr.

by Alyssia Finley, Wall Street Journal, November 17, 2024. (November 18 print edition.)

Excerpt:

Then came the vaccines. Officials overstated their benefits and played down potential risks. People who claimed to have experienced adverse events were shunned. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was late to warn of myocarditis as a side effect. U.S. public-health authorities still haven’t acknowledged some rare side effects that European counterparts have, such as temporary facial paralysis and abnormal skin sensations.

And:

The Food and Drug Administration further eroded public trust by stonewalling a Freedom of Information Act request for data it relied on to approve Pfizer’s Covid vaccine. The agency also green-lighted shots for children, who were at low risk for Covid, a recommendation based on shoddy data, as I noted at the time.

And some well-deserved skepticism about RFK Jr.’s world view:

He’s also right that Americans would be healthier if they ate less processed foods and exercised more, which are better ways to lose weight than taking drugs. But calorie-rich foods, not additives, are what’s causing an increase in chronic illnesses and obesity. All-natural, non-GMO Häagen Dazs won’t make Americans healthy again.

Gitmo Continues To Haunt

by Andrew P. Napolitano, antiwar.com, November 20, 2024.

Excerpt:

The military prosecutors – who initiated the plea negotiations two years ago because they recognized that they cannot ethically defend the torture regime of President George W. Bush – complied with Pentagon orders and asked Judge McCall to reject the plea.

Last week, the judge denied the government’s request and rejected the Pentagon’s order and scheduled hearings at which Mohammed and the other defendants will presumably acknowledge their guilt under oath.

The judge’s ruling is essentially unassailable. He ruled that when Defense Secretary Austin rescinded the authority of Gen. Escallier – a retired military judge – to agree to guilty pleas, it was too little and too late. By the time Sec. Austin removed Gen. Escallier’s authority to approve guilty pleas in all Gitmo cases, she had already approved these pleas. Thus, she was fully possessed with the power to approve them at the time she signed the approvals.

DRH note: Every once in a while I’m reminded of the respect I have for many career military officers. Not so much for SecDef.

California Bucks Alaska and Missouri by Rejecting Minimum Wage Ballot Initiative

by Jack Nicastro, Reason, November 20, 2024.

Excerpt:

Californians have voted against increasing the state’s minimum wage, despite raising that of fast food workers to $20 per hour with Assembly Bill 1228 in 2023. Of 31 minimum wage ballot initiatives since 1996, California’s Proposition 32 is only the third to fail.

Proposition 32 would have raised the state’s current $16 per hour minimum wage to $18 per hour for businesses employing more than 25 employees in 2025 and for those employing 25 or fewer in 2026.

One of the unintended consequences of such a staggered minimum wage increase is fewer job openings as firms would wait to employ their 26th employee. Under such a plan, the marginal cost of the 26th worker is $141,440 per year: the sum of one full-time worker paid $18 per hour plus 25 full-time workers paid $2 more per hour. Unless the marginal product of that twenty-sixth worker defies the law of diminishing marginal returns, the 25-person business delays expansion, producing less than it otherwise would. Californians’ rejection of Proposition 32 averts this distortion.

DRH comment: This is great news. Also, note the nice use of thinking on the margin in the last paragraph quoted above. The bottom line is that you would virtually never see a firm hiring just a 26th employee. If the firm were to expand from 25 employees, it would almost certainly add 4 or more employees.

Backfire: Buying EVs Hasn’t Worked for Hertz

by Matt Posey, thetruthaboutcars.com, November 15, 2024.

Excerpt:

Hertz foolishly bet the farm on vehicles where the primary benefit is being able to charge them conveniently at home as part of your normal weekly routine. Handing EVs to a customer base that was unlikely to be able to charge their vehicles overnight and would undoubtedly be driving more miles than the daily commute would warrant was, frankly, one of the worst ideas I’ve heard in a while.

DRH note: I could see this coming. I could see it in other customers’ and my resistance to Hertz trying to get me in an EV. And the reason is obvious: When you’re driving long distances, which you often do in a rental car, it’s much more difficult to recharge than if you’re doing a daily commute.