A collection of interesting news and commentary pieces I’ve come across this week, as well as some useful information and recommendations. See Program Notes, below, for all the news stories, etc., I plan to discuss.
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Program Notes
The US Has Banned Laptops And Tablets On Flights From Major Middle Eastern Airports
Geert Wilders Is No Hero Of Free Speech HT Robert Mayhew and Greg Salmieri
Silencing Is Golden: The Chilling Dogma of AntiNormalization HT Sunny Lohmann
North Korea conducts failed missile launch
Judge OKs warrant to reveal who searched a crime victim’s name on Google HT Mark Nitikman
EasyCrypt: How it Works HT Gayle Parker
How Aristotle Created the Computer HT Benjamin Chayes
Boom Supersonic raises $33M to build the fastest airplane for passenger flight
Good Schools Aren’t the Secret to Israel’s High-Tech Boom HT Brian Yoder
Adam Smith on the Absurdity of Protectionist Trade Policy
California’s Bullet Train may have received final, fatal fiscal hit HT Mark Nitikman
Sad News: Illinois Fails To Pass Measure Making Obama’s Birthday Legal Holiday
The Financial Crisis and The Free Market Cure
The Oxford Comma: Great For Listing, Pontificating, And Winning Court Cases HT Brian Yoder, Mark Nitikman
18 Minutes HT Robert Begley
HT Trevor Nielsen
Don't Let It Go 
Geert Wilders is a hero. He puts his life on the line every day to say what is obvious. Europe and just now most recently Canada now have blasphemy laws. Wilders has faced litigation himself for running afoul of the special protections afforded the religion of Islam. Wilders operates in a context where Islam is the de facto state religion of Europe. No other religion in Europe gets this kind of protection from criticism, offense, and state sponsored PR. To say that because Wilders would shut down mosques therefore he is anti free speech is a joke. We have seen what is taught in these mosques. And I haven’t seen Wilders advocate a total 100% ban of anything islamic. He has never advocated for a purge. What he is advocating for is a return to normal. That means a Europe in which jihadis feel unwelcome and Islam is not a sacred cow. Many mosques and islamic schools would and should be closed in order to do this. Many of them do incite violence and support jihad. And instead of worrying about whether Wilders is truly protecting free speech, many should ask about the current state of things. Not what Wilders would or would not do if he theoretically were given total power. We haven’t seen anything indicating that given total power he would adopt some kind of purge of anything remotely islamic. What we have seen is a real and ongoing purge of anyone or anything that thinks or represents the idea that Islam has no business being protected. We know what Muslims would do given total power. And we have seen over the years since 9/11 massive entrenchment of blasphemy laws, Shariah courts, and public shaming of anyone who stands against this ever deeper entrenchment of islamic values, ideals, and laws in the West. And Wilders is a hero for standing against it though he may not always do it perfectly. And to defame him as a threat or an enemy when we have a real enemy and a real rolling back of free speech and rights on behalf of and because of one particular religion misses the point entirely.