How Did a Man Who Murdered Three Muslims Receive a Presumption of Racial Innocence?
Travis Long/The News & Observer/AP; Albin Lohr-Jones/Sipa USA/AP; Diedra Laird/TNS/Zuma In the old photos, the ones taken right after he was arrested for gunning down three Muslim students in their North Carolina home, Craig Stephen Hicks appears as a dumpy, chinless man with a mousy beard cut too high above the jawline. The style, if…
Why the IRS Will Probably Ignore the NRA’s Financial Implosion
Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press/ZUMA Ever since the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in April descended into infighting and chaos among the group’s leaders, the nation’s leading gun rights group’s private drama has continued to spiral into a growing public crisis. The latest face-plant came last week, when the Washington Post published a pair of investigations detailing the NRA’s exorbitant…
California Is Considering Ending Criminal Court Fees and Wiping Out Billions in Debt
Susann Prautsch/Getty Three years ago, during Brandon Greene’s first week working as a lawyer in a new clinic affiliated with the East Bay Community Law Center, he was handed a stack of cases to review. Each involved a client who was struggling to pay down the fines and fees that easily accumulate in California’s criminal justice system. It was his job…
Israel’s Prime Minister Just Renamed a Controversial Settlement After Donald Trump
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveil the sign to inaugurate a new settlement named after President Donald Trump in the Golan Heights on Sunday, June 16, 2019.Ariel Schalit/AP On Sunday, Israel officially named a settlement in the disputed Golan Heights after President Donald Trump. At the ceremony to…
The Price of Insulin Is a National Disgrace
Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press via ZUMA Over on Twitter, my post about the soaring price of insulin provoked an argument over the cost of producing the stuff. Let’s run through that. For comparison, the aspirin you buy at your local drug store is priced at about 5-10x the cost of the raw material, depending on whether…
Insulin and the Free Market: A Brief Inquiry
The Washington Post tells the story today of Lija Greenseid: Her daughter, who is 13, has Type 1 diabetes and needs insulin. In the United States, it can cost hundreds of dollars per vial. In Canada, you can buy it without a prescription for a tenth of that price. So, Greenseid led a small caravan…