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Some Non-Covid Links

George Will decries the racism against Asians that many Americans today – including many “Progressives” – proudly embrace. A slice:

The school principal, who is fluent in the flowery, obfuscating argot resorted to when recommending racial spoils systems, says TJ “is a rich tapestry of heritages” but does not “reflect” the county’s “racial composition.” As the district judge said in allowing the parents’ suit against the county to proceed, “You can say all sorts of beautiful things while you’re doing others.” Many have noted that the use, by TJ and others, of “holistic” metrics to limit Asian American admissions and fine-tune a school’s “culture” resembles the use of geographic preferences and “character” considerations employed by Ivy League universities to restrict Jews, before being recycled to restrict Asian Americans.

It’s simply infuriating to read of such wanton abuses of power.

Steve Davies has written an important new paper titled “Grounds for Debate.”

David Henderson wisely worries about some likely ill consequences of a universal basic income.

I’d never before heard of MEHKO legislation, but like Baylen Linnekin, I hope America gets more of it.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis deserves applause for his refusal to lock Floridians down during Covid, but he deserves criticism for his support of legislation that intrudes into decision-making by private companies.

Ethan Yang celebrates the country of Taiwan.

Here’s Chris Edwards on Biden’s proposed “budget.”

Here’s Simon Lester on country-of-origin labelling.

Alejo José G. Sison and Dulce M. Redín have written a new paper titled “Francisco de Vitoria on the Right to Free Trade and Justice.” (HT Walter Grinder). Here’s the abstract:

In 1538–39 Francisco de Vitoria delivered two relections: de indis and De iure belli. This article distills from these writings the topic of free trade as a “human right” in accordance with ius gentium or the “law of peoples.” The right to free trade is rooted in a more fundamental right to communication and association. The rights to travel, to dwell, and to migrate precede the right to trade, which is also closely connected to the rights to preach, to protect converts, and to constitute Christian princes. This has significant repercussions on the field of business ethics: the right to free trade is ultimately founded directly on natural law and indirectly on divine law; trade is not independent of ethics; and trade is presented as an opportunity to develop the virtues of justice and friendship, among other repercussions. Vitoria is portrayed as a defender of private initiative and free markets.

Ian Rowe and Nique Fajors talk with Jason Riley about the legacy of Thomas Sowell.

Tim Worstall writes about the long thread of lessening labor. Here’s his conclusion:

We all have more leisure now than our forebears did. We have more time to do as we wish and fewer needs that force us to do as we must. But this wonderful outcome of human progress is obscured by the fact that, in large part, it is the household labor that has been automated away. Sure, the Roomba might not be a great leap forward, but it is just the latest iteration of a process that began a thousand years ago. And there is no sign of it ending.

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