“Lawyers for the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess called on Thursday for his acquittal on charges of rape, as six weeks of high-profile court proceedings that have cast a shadow over the royal family drew to a close. Prosecutors this week sought a prison sentence of seven years and seven months for Marius Borg Høiby, who denies the rape allegations. A verdict is expected at a later date. … He is charged with 40 offenses in total, including four counts of rape between 2018 and 2024 involving women who prosecutors say were unable to give consent because they were asleep or otherwise incapacitated. Defense lawyers for Høiby, who has no royal titles or official duties, said that there was no evidence of rape in any of the cases.” (03/19/26)
“Earlier this month, Kentucky Republican State Representative Candy Massaroni introduced House Bill 752, which would give patients the right to receive blood transfusions from a donor they choose — including their own previously donated blood—while restricting hospitals and blood banks from refusing such directed donations and requiring insurers to cover them. At first blush, one would think this bill strikes a blow for patient autonomy. The core idea, allowing patients to choose their own blood donor, including banking their own blood for later use, fits with the core principles of individual autonomy and voluntary exchange. But a deeper dive into the bill’s specifics reveals its medical autonomy comes with a heavy dose of government compulsion.” (03/19/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“The political sphere, and the world more broadly, would probably be a better place if we did away with the practice of lying. Most of us would sleep more soundly at night if we didn’t feel the need to treat political campaigning with similar skepticism we’d give to days-old gas station sushi. But that doesn’t mean we’ll improve the world by giving government officials more power to punish dishonesty.” (03/19/26)
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)
