Whenever I argue with conspiracy theorists, I often run into a kind of logical fallacy that I’d like to dub the ante hoc fallacy. In the post hoc, ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”) fallacy, the reasoner assumes that because one event follows another, the second was caused by the first. In the ante hoc (“before this”) fallacy, … Continued
I recently came across this Facebook meme that claims that gas stations “now make more money selling food than gasoline,” attributed to popular food critic Michael Pollan. First, he really did say this (more or less) in his booklet Food Rules: Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does. Gas stations in … Continued
My inbox and Facebook comments are awash with angry protestations about my article on law enforcement fatalities and my follow up post on police assaults and injuries. This is a charged and complex issue, and there are many different ways of looking at it, so I anticipated this. Here are some notes about the methodology I used to study the … Continued
Update: Here is a more recent version of this analysis, with a lot more data. I’ve been getting this question a lot since my article in The Freeman about officer fatalities was published. I’m hesitant to write about it because there are so many ways to misinterpret this kind of information that it might do more harm than good. Nonetheless, … Continued
An unarmed teen gets shot. A mayor bans a protest rally. Government crack down with military equipment and tactics. Protests turn into riots. News helicopters are prohibited. Journalists are arrested for filming. Cops tear gas news crews. Wow, at this screenshot from @fox2now of a cameraman in the tear gas. pic.twitter.com/cqT1JZjQwm — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August … Continued
One line of Kremlin propaganda you hear a lot from Confused Pro-Putin Libertarians and the pseudo-antiwar (but really just anti-Western) left is that there was a “fascist coup” or “right-wing takeover” of Ukraine, and that as a result, Putin needed to invade Crimea (and quite possibly other Ukrainian provinces soon) to “protect” ethnic Russians and Jews from … Continued
I don’t have time to do a review of Thomas Piketty’s magisterial work on income and wealth inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, but fortunately, everyone who’s anyone has already done it for me. While I continue to slog my way through its 700 pages, here are several illuminating reviews: Randall Holcombe’s continuing series of posts at The Beacon are generally good, but his second was … Continued
When government entangles itself with religion in any manner, it ultimately leads to strange outcomes. During the period prior to the West’s embrace of religious freedom, governments involved themselves in all manner of religious matters. The Supreme Court’s decision Monday to allow legislatures to have Christian prayers and paid chaplains will regrettably throw governments back into the religion … Continued
