Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Martin George Holmes
“The concept of classical liberal policing (henceforth ‘liberal policing’) has taken a beating in recent years, nowhere more so than in Britain and its former dominions. When Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police in 1829, the flagship of Britain’s modern police forces, he envisioned it as a people’s police. Officers would defend British liberties on behalf of the public, not because the common people were incapable, but because it was more efficient to delegate the task to full-time professionals. To reduce undue political influence, officers swore an oath of allegiance to the Crown and to the law, not to the government of the day.” (03/19/26)
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Christopher Dreisbach
“Since the nationwide rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines, federal health officials have repeatedly downplayed concerns about severe adverse events as ‘one in a million.’ Time and again, they reassured the public that if any true safety signals existed, their own monitoring systems, chiefly VAERS, would detect them. Yet when the vaccine-injured pointed to those very same VAERS statistics, often far above established signal thresholds, their concerns were abruptly dismissed because VAERS was deemed ‘unreliable.’ … the FDA now touts AEMS as a unified, intuitive platform that will draw vaccine, drug, and device reports into one place. Superficially, this represents a stark departure from the current Kafkaesque status quo of scattered databases and fragmented reporting pathways. But the fundamental problem has never been just fragmentation on the front end. It has been silence on the back end.” (03/19/26)
“Three men who alleged that actor Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted them have settled their civil claims before going to trial at the High Court in London, court documents show. The three men alleged that the Academy Award-winning star abused them at times between 2000 and 2013. Spacey has denied the allegations. Civil trials were due to start later this year, but case judge Christina Lambert last week ordered the proceedings paused, saying the parties had ‘agreed to the terms of the settlement.’ … Spacey, now 66, was tried in London in 2023 on nine alleged sex offenses against four men, and acquitted on all counts. … Spacey also successfully defended himself against a $40 million US civil lawsuit in New York in 2022 brought by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp.” (03/19/26)
“Everywhere I turn, I hear university leaders saying we need more conservatives in academia. There is little doubt anymore that they are right: scholars need skeptics to point out research weaknesses; students need provocateurs to help them engage with unfamiliar ideas; we all need balanced academic studies to help us make good public policy. But what I do not hear from many of these leaders is how they are going to do it. I have been thinking about this for many years, and I have some bad news: it is going to be difficult. I canvass the possibilities below and propose massive external pressure as the most promising course. But, first, it may be illuminating to break the problem down into its components: supply and demand.” (03/19/26)
“Yascha Mounk’s essay ‘The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides’ is as insightful as his phrase ‘the Brooklynization of the bourgeoisie’ is memorable. His analysis could be elaborated by acknowledging that there is more than one bourgeoisie in the contemporary West.” (03/19/26)
“John Rawls was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 21, 1921. Not John Rawls the famous liberal philosopher (or, rather, John Rawls the famous liberal philosopher was also born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 21, 1921, but he is not the subject of our story). This is John Rawls the alcoholic. John Rawls the alcoholic was twelve when they lifted Prohibition. He partook immediately, and dropped out of school the following year, supporting himself through a combination of odd jobs, petty crime, and handouts. … as he entered his early fifties, the handouts started to dry up. … he ran into a man he’d once seen volunteering at Salvation Army, and asked him what had happened. ‘You haven’t heard?’ asked the volunteer. ‘None of the rich people donate to us anymore. They’re all giving to this group called the John Rawls Foundation.'” (03/19/26)
“Eli Lilly on Thursday said its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide cleared its first late-stage trial on Type 2 diabetes patients, helping them manage their blood sugar levels and lose weight. The drug lowered hemoglobin A1c — a key measure of blood sugar levels — by an average of 1.7% to 2% across different doses at 40 weeks compared with placebo, meeting the study’s main goal. Patients started the trial with an A1c in the range of 7% to 9.5%, and were not taking other diabetes medications.” (03/19/26)
