Federal Regulations Now Cost Almost $1.9 Trillion, Study Finds

Do we live in a democracy, or a regulatory dictatorship? It’s hard to tell sometimes, especially after reading the latest annual report on the regulatory state issued by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
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Heavy teen marijuana use may cut life short by 60

Heavy marijuana use in the late teen years puts men at a higher risk for death by age 60, a new long-term study suggests. --Swedish researchers analyzed the records of more than 45,000 men beginning in 1969 and 1970. The scientists from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm reported that 4,000 died during the 42-year follow-up period, and men who'd used marijuana heavily at ages 18 and 19 were 40 percent more likely to die by age 60 compared to guys who hadn't used the drug. --The authors of the new study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, said the findings contradict previous research involving the same group of men. --But this study was longer...
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Study Finds Public Pension Promises Exceed Ability to Pay

When Detroit went bankrupt in 2013, investors were shocked to learn that the city had promised pensions worth billions more than anyone knew — creating a financial pileup that ultimately meant big, unexpected losses for Detroit’s bondholders. Now, researchers at Citigroup say the groundwork has been laid for similar conflicts across the developed world:
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A higher minimum wage doesn't reduce poverty, says ... the federal government

We reach the end of the year with yet another tale of crazy, one percenter wingnuts trying to claim that jacking up the minimum wage won’t do much to alleviate the issues facing the poorest Americans who the Democrats are seeking to help. This time the hateful claims are coming from… a study published by the federal government.
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Justice Department Studying ‘Far-Right’ Social Media Use

The Department of Justice is concentrating on “far-right” groups in a new study of social media usage aimed at combatting violent extremism. The Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded Michigan State University $585,719 for the study, which was praised by Eric Holder, the former attorney general, earlier this year. “There is currently limited knowledge of the role of technology and computer mediated communications (CMCs), such as Facebook and Twitter, in the dissemination of messages that promote extremist agendas and radicalize individuals to violence,” according to the NIJ grant. “The proposed study will address this gap through a series of qualitative and quantitative analyses of posts from various forms of CMC used by members of both the far-right and Islamic extremist movements.”


The study draws more upon right-wing forums than upon the corners of the web inhabited by Islamist extremists.


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Why that Gay Marriage Study Was Faked

The health of a democratic polity depends in no small part on the generousness of its civic discourse — that is, opposing sides ought to give one another the benefit of the doubt. If same-sex marriage proponents allowed that same-sex marriage opponents might, just might, be motivated by something other than animal hatred, we might be able to reach solutions that balance the competing interests unavoidably present in any political body.
But our discourse is growing increasingly ungenerous. We ought not be surprised when the result is less debate and more dishonesty and coercion.


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Killing ObamaCare Subsidies Could Benefit Millions, Study Finds

Health Care: We keep hearing about how millions will lose insurance if the Supreme Court strikes down ObamaCare's federal exchange subsidies. But there's another side to this story that never gets discussed until now.


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A quick fix for the gender wage gap

Christina Hoff Sommers writes, "If today’s young women want to close the wage gap, they should change their college majors." She shows the ten most and ten least remunerative majors compiled by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Ah! The higher income producing majors are overwhelmingly populated by... THIS IS A MUST READ: AEI Blog

Should this information kill the Paycheck Fairness Act? Well, it should... but will it? --bc Read More......

You're not paranoid if they really are out to get you

NRO: THE CORNER, 3/26 posted by John J. Miller (H/t: Dr. Sanity) - Paranoid Style with a Ph.D.

From UC-Berkeley, the school that told us about the "psychological factors" underpinning conservatism (i.e., "fear and aggression," "dogmatism," etc.), comes a brand-new effort to expand the horizons of human knowledge:

Now, with backing from an anonymous donor, the University of California, Berkeley ... is creating a Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements. According to experts in the field it is the first of its kind in higher education.

Caution: This stuff is dangerous. --bc Read More......