Category: reason

From
Business Insider:

This will not go over well for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
winner.

According to the new book Double Down, in which
journalists Mark Halperin and John
Heilemann chronicle the 2012 presidential election, President
Barack Obama told his aides that he’s “really good at killing
people” while discussing drone strikes.

Peter Hamby of The Washington Post reported the moment
in his
review of the book.

Sen. Rand Paul
(R-Ky.) is facing another accusation of plagiarism.

According to BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, a whole section of
Paul’s book
Government Bullies was copied from a 2003 Heritage
Foundation
case study. The case study is reportedly cited in the book’s
footnotes, but there is no indication or acknowledgement that
the same words from the study were taken and used in the text
of the book.

A spokesman from The Heritage Foundation told BuzzFeed that they
“don’t care” about the copying.

From
BuzzFeed:

An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s 2013
book Government Bullies was copied wholesale
from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation, BuzzFeed
has learned. The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most
significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language
from other published material.

The new cut-and-paste job follows reports by BuzzFeed, Politico,
and MSNBC that Paul had plagiarized speeches either from Wikipedia
or news reports. The book was published in August 2013 by Center
Street, a division of Hachette Book Group.

The news comes days after Paul was accused of plagiarizing from
the Wikipedia entry on the sci-fi film Gattaca during
a speech at Liberty University. Reason‘s Ron Bailey wrote
on the controversy surrounding the Liberty University speech

here. 

Paul
has dismissed questions surrounding his speech and has
accused MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who pointed out some of the
similarities between sections of Paul’s speech and the
Gattaca Wikipedia article, of “spreading hate on me for
three years now.”

Follow this story and more at Reason
24/7.

Spice up your blog or Website with Reason 24/7 news and
Reason articles. You can get the widgets
here. If you have a story that would be of
interest to Reason’s readers please let us know by emailing the
24/7 crew at 24_7@reason.com, or tweet us stories
at @reason247.

Sen. Rand Paul
(R-Ky.) is facing another accusation of plagiarism.

According to BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, a whole section of
Paul’s book
Government Bullies was copied from a 2003 Heritage
Foundation
case study. The case study is reportedly cited in the book’s
footnotes, but there is no indication or acknowledgement that
the same words from the study were taken and used in the text
of the book.

A spokesman from The Heritage Foundation told BuzzFeed that they
“don’t care” about the copying.

From
BuzzFeed:

An entire section of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s 2013
book Government Bullies was copied wholesale
from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation, BuzzFeed
has learned. The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most
significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language
from other published material.

The new cut-and-paste job follows reports by BuzzFeed, Politico,
and MSNBC that Paul had plagiarized speeches either from Wikipedia
or news reports. The book was published in August 2013 by Center
Street, a division of Hachette Book Group.

The news comes days after Paul was accused of plagiarizing from
the Wikipedia entry on the sci-fi film Gattaca during
a speech at Liberty University. Reason‘s Ron Bailey wrote
on the controversy surrounding the Liberty University speech

here. 

Paul
has dismissed questions surrounding his speech and has
accused MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who pointed out some of the
similarities between sections of Paul’s speech and the
Gattaca Wikipedia article, of “spreading hate on me for
three years now.”

Follow this story and more at Reason
24/7.

Spice up your blog or Website with Reason 24/7 news and
Reason articles. You can get the widgets
here. If you have a story that would be of
interest to Reason’s readers please let us know by emailing the
24/7 crew at 24_7@reason.com, or tweet us stories
at @reason247.

Maryville, Mo., has become the
latest battleground in the culture war over rape. That two popular
high school athletes charged with sexual offenses against a
14-year-old girl went free while the girl and her family were
shunned and harassed has ignited a storm of outrage. Cathy Young
contends that those of us who have criticized the radical
zealotry of the feminist war on “rape culture” must acknowledge
that in this instance, the activists are likely helping a good
cause, but they must move beyond an ideology focused on female
victimhood. 

View this article.

A week ago, a stunningly transpartisan group of protesters spoke
out against surveillance of American citizens by the National
Security Agency. Hundreds of people joined representatives from
FreeedomWorks, the ACLU, the Electrionic Freedom Foundation, and
other groups to say “Stop Watching Us.”

Click above to watch Reason TV’s video coverage of the event and

go here for links, resources, and downloadable versions of the
vid. Here’s the original writeup:

On October 26, 2013, protesters from across the political
spectrum gathered in Washington, D.C. to take part in
the Stop Watching
Us rally, a demonstration against the National
Security Agency’s domestic and international surveillance
programs. 

Reason TV spoke with protesters – including 2012 Libertarian
Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and former Congressman
Dennis Kucinich – to discuss the rally, why people should worry
about the erosion of privacy, and President Barack Obama’s role in
the growth of the surveillance state.

CORRECTION: Laura Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington
Legislative Office, was incorrectly identified as Susan N. Herman,
ACLU President.

Produced by Joshua Swain, interviews by Todd Krainin.

About 3 minutes long. 

During
the Diwali celebration today, Hindus worldover will celebrate the
victory of good over evil. But this year many of them are wrestling
with the allegations that one of their most popular gurus engaged
in an evil deed: raping the minor daughter of a devotee. He is not
the first guru to go rogue and nor will he be the last. Fake gurus
are an endemic feature of the world’s oldest religion. Shikha
Dalmia ruminates whether this propensity should be regarded as a
defect, or an internal defense against dogmatism.

View this article.

During
the Diwali celebration today, Hindus worldover will celebrate the
victory of good over evil. But this year many of them are wrestling
with the allegations that one of their most popular gurus engaged
in an evil deed: raping the minor daughter of a devotee. He is not
the first guru to go rogue and nor will he be the last. Fake gurus
are an endemic feature of the world’s oldest religion. Shikha
Dalmia ruminates whether this propensity should be regarded as a
defect, or an internal defense against dogmatism.

View this article.

Let’s stipulate that most people who favor the
ACA have honorable intentions: they want everyone, including people
in ill health, to have access to good and affordable medical care.
All decent people should want that. Nevertheless, explains Sheldon
Richman, the problem is that in making government policy, unmovable
obstacles often stand between motives and desired results.

View this article.

Pennsylvania, along with several other states,
has changed day care regulations to include a ban on
swaddling. The unelected busybodies who write these rules are
convinced that swaddling isn’t safe because the day care workers
may incorrectly wrap the baby, the blanket could come loose, the
baby might roll over into the loose material, and then the baby
might, possibly, die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). But
there are no known cases of a baby dying at day care from
suffocation by a swaddling blanket. According to Abby Schacter, the
ban is unnecessary, unreasonable, and puts a burden on
both parents and day care workers. 

View this article.

Pennsylvania, along with several other states,
has changed day care regulations to include a ban on
swaddling. The unelected busybodies who write these rules are
convinced that swaddling isn’t safe because the day care workers
may incorrectly wrap the baby, the blanket could come loose, the
baby might roll over into the loose material, and then the baby
might, possibly, die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). But
there are no known cases of a baby dying at day care from
suffocation by a swaddling blanket. According to Abby Schacter, the
ban is unnecessary, unreasonable, and puts a burden on
both parents and day care workers. 

View this article.