Akil Alleyne ― A Broader Flaw in Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

The Black libertarian lawyer offers his views on Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). He argues that on top of the discrimination concerns, there's a broader problem with the range of religious liberty granted by Religious Freedom Restoration Acts ("RFRA"s) like Indiana's: they unfairly privilege religious objectors to restrictive laws over secular ones.

Akil is a graduate of Princeton University and a 2013 graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

 

Alyson Hudnall ― The Romance of Capitalism: I, Pencil and the Organic Economy

Remembering John W. Perry

Bios and obtiuaries for John Perry typcially and inaccurately describe him as a man of contradictions. He was a New York City police officer and board member of the Nassau County ACLU. He was a registered Democrat and avowed opponent of the Nanny State. He called himself a libertarian, and opposed the war on drugs. He was both a humanitarian and a rugged indvidiualist. He was an authority figure who nonetheless regularly questioned and stood up to authority. He loved his country but sought out, befriended, and embraced foreigners. He was a patrol cop who assisted in investigating and prosecuting other cops who didn’t play by the rules.

Frankly, I don’t think there’s anything inherently contradictory in any of that. 

Read more at http://www.theagitator.com/2006/09/11/remembering-john-w-perry/

INSURGENT Movie Review

From Eastern Kentucky, I review the second installment of the Divergent film series starring the personable and charming Shailene Woodley. I hate it when women cut their hair, but I enjoyed the movie. Woodley made my eyes watery (for a second).

 

Dr. Adebusuyi Isaac Adeniran ― Travel Costs And Institutional Corruption Cripple Regional Trade In West Africa

The need for a free flow of people, goods, and services is central to economic growth in West Africa. Regional trade is critical for supplying reasonably priced essential goods and creating more jobs for the African people, but the continent lags far behind the rest of the world. One of the key components of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol promises the “free movement of persons and goods,” but despite the official support of 16 member countries, this has been procedurally unattainable in practice. Free trade remains illusory in West Africa.

Despite an average 5.5 percent annual GDP growth in 2014, West African countries are among the poorest in the world — primarily because of their paralyzed trade system. More than 80 percent of trade volume in Africa comes from exporting natural resources to developed economies, but trade between ECOWAS members is minuscule compared to regional trade among those developed nations. Intra-regional trade constitutes 63 percent of total exports in Western European nations, 40 percent within the NAFTA region, and 20 percent within South America’s Mercosur block, trade within ECOWAS only accounts for 9.3 percent of total exports.

Read more here: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/travel-costs-and-institutional-corruption-cripple-regional-trade-in-west-af

Akil Alleyne ― Stephen A. Smith is Right: Blacks' Monolithic Loyalty to Democrats is a Shame

The black Libertarian argues that it's self-defeating for African-Americans to guarantee the Democrats their support--but ultimately Republicans deserve the blame for it.

A Black Libertarians beef with the (SJW) transgender community...

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8L0IaiWBFs

Prof. Susan L. Brown ― Privatization and Globalization

Dr. Susan Love Brown is professor of anthropology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.  She is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in political and psychological anthropology with emphasis on the origins of ideology, cultural theory, social evolution, gender, ethnicity, and the study of intentional communities and utopia. 

Her areal interests are the Caribbean and the United States.  She is the editor of Intentional Community: An Anthropological Perspective (SUNY 2002) and co-author of Meeting Anthropology Phase to Phase (Academic Press 2000).  In addition, Dr. Brown has written a number of papers on the cultural implications of the work of Ayn Rand.  She is on the editorial board of Studies in Emergent Orders (SIEO) and the board of the Communal Studies Association.  Her current research involves the limits and nature of communalism.

Adamu Shauku ― Franklin Graham and Ferguson

A.K. Shauku has been named a Humane Studies Fellow for the academic year 2011-12. This award was granted by the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS). The IHS provides support to students and scholars with research interests in individual liberty. A.K. Shauku is a law student at the University of Alabama School of Law and a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Alabama Graduate School.

Franklin Graham recently posted the following statement on his Facebook page:

“Listen up—Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else. Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience. If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop. If a police officer tells you to put your hands in the air, you put your hands in the air. If a police officer tells you to lay down face first with your hands behind your back, you lay down face first with your hands behind your back. It’s as simple as that. Even if you think the police officer is wrong—YOU OBEY. Parents, teach your children to respect and obey those in authority. Mr. President, this is a message our nation needs to hear, and they need to hear it from you. Some of the unnecessary shootings we have seen recently might have been avoided. The Bible says to submit to your leaders and those in authority ‘because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.’”

Certainly there is a degree of wisdom in these words. That many police shootings would be avoided if the individual who finds himself confronted by a law enforcement official complies with all instructions, makes no threatening movements, and is generally polite seems an unassailable proposition. But one wonders to whom this statement is directed.

It does not appear to be directed to those who recently suffered the devastating loss of a loved one at the hands of a police officer. It lacks the empathy and compassion that surely Mr. Graham would evince if he were speaking face-to-face with such a person. Surely Mr. Graham would not respond to the grieving mother ushered into his office with such sound advice about how her remaining children are to avoid such instances in the future. Surely he would not console her with the conclusory “It’s as simple as that.” Looking into her eyes, he would know better. 

Read more here: https://theopolisinstitute.com/franklin-graham-and-the-problem-of-reaction/