Friday, April 10, 2015

I Can’t Breathe: How to Reduce Police Brutality | Learn Liberty


Should we have laws we aren’t willing to kill for?

Following tragic deaths at the hands of police, like that of Eric Garner, many are outraged over racism and unaccountability in law enforcement. But George Mason Law Professor Ilya Somin takes issue with the laws themselves, and asks whether all laws are really worth killing for. Police run the risk of injuring or killing Americans every time they arrest someone--and each year, hundreds of thousands are arrested for nonviolent crimes. The more racist and unaccountable you believe the police are, Somin argues, the more you should want to limit the number of situations where they can inflict that abusive and racist behavior on civilians.

Can we justify killing people for nonviolent crimes? Can we justify the death of Eric Garner and countless others?

Howard Husock, Manhattan Institute, "Top Ideas for Revitalizing Cities"

Cuomo’s 'Start-Up NY' program cost $28 million, but has only created just 76 jobs.

Start-Up NY



(Watchdog Arena)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ‘Start-Up NY’ program has been billed as a big jobs creator, but the numbers aren’t matching the rhetoric. 

Companies that invest in certain areas known as “tax free zones” are given big tax breaks for expanding or starting new businesses, and New Yorkers were promised 2,100 new jobs over five years. The state has spent $28 million on a massive advertising campaign for the program, but so far, Start-Up NY has only created 76 of the 2,100 jobs that were promised.

One aspect of the program bothers some current business owners in the state: there are no tax breaks for existing companies that have been paying taxes and creating jobs for years, unless those companies expand into the zones specified by the state.

Read more: http://watchdog.org/210954/cuomo-start-up-ny/

The War on Ridesharing

Jared Meyer, policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, explains the economic and social benefits of ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft.