Category Archives: Guest Post

2:00PM Water Cooler 6/5/2024

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics, Biden’s cognitive decline, Alvin Bragg’s helpers, “mild,” more Boeing whistleblowers ~

California Becomes Latest State To Try Capping Health Care Spending

California joins the list of states trying to choke health industry profiteering via spending limits. Can it work?

Battles Brew Over Radioactive Wastewater Discharge from Shuttered Nuclear Plants

New York State is trying to bar radioactive wastewater releases from out-of-service nuclear plants, as proponents insist they are safe.

2:00PM Water Cooler 6/4/2024

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Biden’s interview with Time; carbon dioxide, viruses, and climate; Nabokov’s Pale Fire ~

Some Initial Thoughts on Mexico’s Genuinely Historic Election

Claudia Sheinbaum’s epic electoral victory would not have been possible without AMLO’s enduring — indeed, ripening — popularity. The question is: what will she do with her newfound power?

Latin America: From the Struggle for Independence (1808) to the Great War (1914)

An overview of political and economic post-colonial history in Latin America.

Links 6/3/2024

How Influencer Cartels Manipulate Social Media: Fraudulent Behaviour Hidden in Plain Sight

Influencer cartels can improve consumer welfare if they expand social media engagement to the target audience, but reduce welfare if they divert engagement to less relevant audiences. Rewarding engagement quantity encourages harmful collusion

Ready Reckoner For Killing – The Raisi Assassination

Why the death of Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi looks more and more like an inside job rather than an accident.

The Twenty-First Century Executive Branch Is a Criminogenic Environment

Alexander Hamilton’s “energy in the Executive” has a downside.

Links 6/2/2024

Data Centers Set to Consume 9% of U.S. Electricity by 2030

Electricity demand is set to increase markedly thanks to uses like AI and cryptocurrencies.