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☆ SBF Faces Prison, but ‘Effective Altruism’ Lives On
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Jason Riley and Dan Henninger. I was looking forward to the March trial and seeing the politicians who accepted the convicted fraudster’s donations squirm like worms. Beyond trying to stave off crypto regulations, he was shoveling millions to the effective-altruism movement, which continues to infiltrate governments more than most people realize. With SBF facing a long term in the big house, has effective altruism landed on the ash heap of history? Did you know proponents of the movement basically wrote the Biden administration’s recent executive order on artificial intelligence?

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Jason Riley, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Sam Bankman Organizations: Getty, Justice Department, Biden

☆ California Invents a Crazy New Tort
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Jason Riley and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/wawog_now via Instagram Composite: Mark KellyBusinesses are often sued for selling allegedly faulty products that aren’t actually defective. Last week a California appeals court ruled that businesses can also be sued for failing to develop a product. Some 24,000 patients have sued Gilead Sciences in California state court for failing to introduce an allegedly safer version of an HIV drug. The plaintiffs don’t argue that the drug is defective or lacked adequate warnings.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Jason Riley, Dan Henninger, Kelly, Gilead Organizations: Getty, Gilead Sciences, Drug Administration Locations: California

☆ Is There a Constitutional Right to Vagrancy?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal challenging a judicial ruling that established a de facto constitutional right to vagrancy. ( City of Grants Pass v. A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 blocked the Oregon town of Grants Pass from enforcing “anti-camping” laws on public property. The judges said the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits cities from arresting or imposing penalties on homeless people for squatting on public property if there aren’t enough shelter beds for every vagrant.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Johnson Organizations: Zuma, Mark Kelly Good, West, Ninth Circuit Locations: West Coast, Grants, Oregon

☆ Wisconsin’s Act 10 Is in Jeopardy
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-06 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Bill McGurn, Kyle Peterson, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger & Paul Gigot. Images: Getty Images/AP/ Composite: Mark KellyWisconsin progressives went for a judicial abuse trifecta last week, filing a lawsuit to overturn Act 10, the landmark 2011 law that limited the ability of public unions to bargain collectively. The case is part of the Democratic campaign to use the new liberal majority on the state Supreme Court to redraw the state’s legislative district maps and end school choice. Scott Walker , has saved the Badger State from turning into Illinois or New York, where public unions essentially run the state government for their own benefit. According to the MacIver Institute, Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers $16.8 billion since it was passed in 2011, making public finances more manageable at every level of government.

Persons: Bill McGurn, Kyle Peterson, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Paul Gigot, Mark Kelly Wisconsin, Scott Walker Organizations: Democratic, Gov, Badger, MacIver Institute Locations: Illinois, New York, Wisconsin

☆ Can Washington Still Do Anything?
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Bill McGurn, Kyle Peterson, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger & Paul Gigot. Images: Getty Images/AP/ Composite: Mark KellyCan the United States government still act to solve problems and aid allies in the national interest? President Biden has asked Congress for $106 billion in supplemental spending, but he needs Republican votes to do it. Republicans want to do something to reduce the flood of migrants pouring across the border and burdening American cities, but they need Democratic votes to pass it. The necessity for compromise is obvious, but America’s polarized politics and Mr. Biden’s political weakness may tank the effort.

Persons: Bill McGurn, Kyle Peterson, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Paul Gigot, Mark Kelly, Biden Organizations: United Locations: United States, Ukraine, Israel, U.S

☆ New York’s Near Zombie Apocalypse
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyImagine if nearly half of New York City lost heat for months during the winter. That’s not the plot of a new survival drama. Such a catastrophe nearly occurred last Christmas, according to an alarming recent report by energy regulators that deserves more attention. It was the fifth time in 11 years that power plant failures caused by cold weather jeopardized grid reliability.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Elliott Organizations: Zuma, New York, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, North American Electric Reliability Corporation Locations: New, New York City

☆ Many More Voters With Guns
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyMore than half of American voters say that they or someone in their household owns a gun, according to a poll by NBC News. After progressives drove up firearm ownership with policies that are soft on violent crime, they can’t figure out why their gun-control ideas fail to pass. The share of voters with a firearm in the household is 52%, up from 46% in 2019 and 42% in 2013. This is no surprise, in part because rural areas tilt right, and that’s where hunting is a family event and bears might be prowling the woods.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly More Organizations: Zuma, NBC News

☆ Car Dealers to Biden: EVs Aren’t Selling
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyYou can subsidize a buyer into the auto showroom, but you can’t make him buy. That’s the word from some 3,900 car dealers across the country who on Tuesday wrote President Biden that electric vehicles are piling up unsold on their lots. They want relief from his onerous and unrealistic EV sales mandate. “There are many excellent battery electric vehicles available for consumers to purchase,” the dealers write in their letter to the President.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Biden Organizations: Zuma

☆ Amtrak Tries to Take Union Station
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Amtrak is a rolling master class on government in action, and the latest example is its effort to seize control of Union Station in Washington via the power of eminent domain. The railway wants to do a concourse modernization project to add more seating, increase signage in the terminal, and improve infrastructure. In a September hearing before Washington, D.C., federal district Judge Amit Mehta , Amtrak CEO Steven Gardner said that the current leaseholder, a company called USI, isn’t helping the railway accomplish its plans. He complained that there’s “a mismatch” between Amtrak and “a private developer looking to maximize retail and revenue.”

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Amit Mehta, Steven Gardner, isn’t, there’s Organizations: Amtrak, Station, D.C Locations: Washington

☆ Magic Pills Are Coming
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

At healthcare conferences, someone always asks, “What if there was a magic pill?” One that could cure major diseases. Inevitably, the discussion ends with, “But, of course, there is no magic pill.” So we spend, spend, spend on healthcare, from $1.4 trillion in 2000 in the U.S. to more than $4.3 trillion—18% of the economy—in 2021. These treat but don’t cure diseases. Plus, two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for many chronic diseases such as heart disease and stroke. According to the National Institutes of Health, “86% of health care costs are attributable to chronic disease.”

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, ” Organizations: National Institutes of Health Locations: U.S

☆ The Supreme Court Considers the Right to Trial by Jury
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear the first of two landmark cases this term challenging the runaway administrative state. At stake in SEC v. Jarkesy is a bedrock constitutional principle that colonists fought to defend in the American revolution: the right to a trial by jury. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act granted the Securities and Exchange Commission unbridled power to seek penalties administratively against any individual for violating securities laws. Democrats wanted to make it easier for the agency to punish misconduct.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley, Dan Henninger, Dodd, Frank Organizations: SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission

☆ Elizabeth Warren Has an ObamaCare Epiphany
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyIt took 13 years, but Elizabeth Warren is at long last acknowledging that ObamaCare has increased healthcare prices and industry consolidation. Government price controls and profit caps have resulted in unintended consequences. The Massachusetts Senator and Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana this week wrote a letter to the Health and Human Services Department inspector general complaining that the nation’s largest health insurers are dodging Obama Care’s medical loss ratio (MLR). The result, they say, is higher costs for patients.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Elizabeth Warren, ObamaCare, Republican Sen, Mike Braun, Obama Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Republican, Health, Human Services Department Locations: Massachusetts, Indiana

☆ Germany Faces the Green Fiscal Truth
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyThings have gone from bad to worse in Germany this week after a court ruling that’s forcing the government to do something truly shocking: level with voters about how much the net-zero energy transition will cost. Please pass the smelling salts. The country’s highest constitutional court ruled this month that one of the coalition government’s main gimmicks for funding green projects violates Germany’s version of a balanced-budged amendment. That amendment, known as the debt brake, caps the government’s fiscal deficit at 0.35% of gross domestic product per year except in emergencies (as defined by special legislation passed with a majority in the Bundestag).

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Kelly Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Bundestag Locations: Germany

☆ The Wilders Message From the Netherlands
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyDutch elections rarely stir much excitement abroad, but the voting in the Netherlands Wednesday marks an exception. The big winner was Geert Wilders , a veteran right-wing campaigner, and the freakout his victory has triggered across Europe is something to behold. His next nearest competitor, a Labor-Green coalition led by Frans Timmermans , won 25 seats. Politicians will now negotiate to form a governing coalition, a process that often takes months in the Netherlands’ highly fragmented electoral system, and Mr. Wilders may not emerge as prime minister.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly Dutch, Geert Wilders, Frans Timmermans, Wilders Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Freedom Party, Labor, Green Locations: Netherlands, Europe

☆ The IRS’s Act of $600 Mercy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyWhile rarely a bearer of good news, the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday postponed a $600 reporting threshold for payments received via online platforms such as Venmo, eBay and Airbnb . The IRS is doing a favor for itself and President Biden as much as it is for Americans. Readers may recall that the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021 lowered the threshold for third parties reporting transactions on Form 1099-K to $600 annually from $20,000. Democrats’ goal was to nab Americans who allegedly dodge taxes by failing to report income earned from, say, driving for Uber or renting out second homes on Airbnb.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Biden, ’ Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Internal Revenue Service, eBay, IRS, American, nab Locations: Airbnb

☆ OpenAI’s Ineffective Altruists vs. Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyCorporate power struggles aren’t rare, and most companies survive them. But the OpenAI board’s sudden ouster of CEO Sam Altman last week looks increasingly like a misguided kamikaze run. Mr. Altman helped launch OpenAI in 2015 with the mission of responsibly developing artificial intelligence to benefit humanity. He has since become the technology’s public face, with media appearances and testimony to Congress.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Kelly, Sam Altman, Altman Organizations: Getty, Zuma Locations: Silicon

☆ Argentina Gambles on Milei
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyWhen there’s no real alternative, there’s no problem, as the saying goes. And that may be the logic of Argentina voters on Sunday who rejected the catastrophe of Peronist rule in favor of impulsive and charismatic outsider Javier Milei , who promised what for Argentina is the radical change of free-market economics. Mr. Milei, a Congressman and self-described libertarian, won the Presidency in a rout with 56% of the vote to 44%. He defeated Sergio Massa , the incumbent economic minister and architect of the policies that have produced runaway inflation, declining living standards, a government shedding foreign reserves, and the worst economic crisis in decades.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Javier Milei, Milei, Sergio Massa Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Sunday Locations: Argentina

☆ Major Mea Culpa From MLB
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyWill Rob Manfred apologize to the state of Georgia and its citizens? The commissioner of Major League Baseball announced Thursday that the annual All-Star Game will be held in Atlanta in 2025, two years after he moved the game from the city because of a controversial election law. Not the bulk of the law, the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which tightened up vote-by-mail and voter ID rules. Brian Kemp in 2018 but had refused in Donald Trump fashion to accept the result, also played the race card.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly Will Rob Manfred, What’s, Manfred, Biden, Jim Crow, ” Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp, Donald Trump Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Major League Baseball, Democratic Party, Gov Locations: Georgia, Atlanta

☆ The Covid Vaccine Windfall Turns for Pfizer and Moderna
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Allysia Finley | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/AFP/Getty Images/Reuters/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyThe U.S. was in a fit of Covid panic during Thanksgiving week two years ago. Share prices in Pfizer and Moderna surged. By month’s end, Pfizer’s stock-market value had surpassed $300 billion, up 50% from the start of the pandemic. In 2022 Pfizer became the first pharmaceutical company to book more than $100 billion in annual sales owing to government purchases of its vaccines and antiviral pill.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson, Mary O'Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly The Organizations: Getty, Zuma, Pfizer, Moderna Locations: Mark Kelly The U.S

☆ The Murder of a Great Educator
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Robert Maranto | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from from Kyle Peterson, Mary O’Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press/Reuters Composite: Mark KellyNov. 6 is the 50th anniversary of one of the most important assassinations in U.S. history. Fifty years ago, while leaving a school-board meeting, the nation’s first black big-city school superintendent, Oakland, Calif.’s, Marcus Foster , was ambushed and killed instantly by a volley of cyanide-filled bullets. Marcus Foster was one of America’s greatest educators. As a principal in his native Philadelphia, he turned around three inner-city public schools in the 1950s and ’60s.

Persons: Kyle Peterson, Mary O’Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Marcus Foster, Foster “, ”, ” John P, Spencer, “ Organizations: Zuma Press, Reuters, American School Reform Locations: Oakland, Calif, Philadelphia

☆ Is AI a Painkiller or a Vitamin?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from from Kyle Peterson, Mary O’Grady and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Zuma Press/Reuters Composite: Mark KellyLast week, the White House issued an executive order for command and control of artificial intelligence, strangely invoking the Defense Production Act. Added to the order were a mishmash of unhelpful notions like “advancing equity” and collective bargaining. It feels longer, with so many new players and capabilities beyond text, including open-source large language models that run on PCs and maybe on phones. Will generative AI take our jobs?

Persons: Kyle Peterson, Mary O’Grady, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Biden, It’s, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Organizations: Zuma Press, Reuters, White House

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried and the SEC
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Reuters Composite: Mark KellySam Bankman-Fried charmed investors and politicians, but he wasn’t so fortunate with a federal jury. On Thursday the former FTX crypto-exchange kingpin was convicted of seven counts of fraud and money-laundering. Note to Chairman Gary Gensler : The Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t need to regulate crypto markets to police malfeasance. Prosecutors showed that Mr. Bankman-Fried used the money to fund risky investment bets and cover losses at his Alameda Research trading house, buy influence in Washington, and acquire real estate in the Bahamas.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly Sam Bankman, Fried, Gary Gensler, FTX Organizations: Reuters, Securities, Exchange, Prosecutors, Alameda Research Locations: Washington, Bahamas

☆ New Jersey Demands That ‘God’s Square Mile’ Open on Sundays
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Rachel Chiu | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Reuters Composite: Mark KellyNeptune Township, N.J.A religious nonprofit has owned Ocean Grove, a stretch of beach and adjacent property, for more than 150 years. In the 1980s the group relaxed that policy, opening Ocean Grove’s beaches at noon on Sundays between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s the only patch of the roughly 130-mile Jersey Shore that’s off limits to bathers on summer Sunday mornings. Now state officials are looking to strip the community of its religious tradition and force the beaches open.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly Neptune, it’s Organizations: Reuters, Day, Labor, Jersey Shore Locations: N.J, Jersey

☆ A Big Legal Defeat for the Realtors
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Reuters Composite: Mark KellyThe National Association of Realtors has objected to our editorials challenging its anti-competitive business model, but what do you know. On Tuesday a federal jury found the Realtors liable under U.S. antitrust laws for conspiring to fix prices in the class-action case Burnett v. NAR. Missouri home sellers challenged a Realtor rule requiring seller agents to provide a blanket offer of compensation to a buyer’s broker to list a home on the association’s affiliated multiple-listing service (MLS). These databases of homes for sale are similar to stock exchanges in that they match brokers and sellers.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Burnett Organizations: Reuters, National Association of Realtors, Realtors, NAR Locations: Missouri

☆ The Return of Taxachusetts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Journal Editorial Report: The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Dan Henninger. Images: AP/Reuters Composite: Mark Kelly‘Affordable housing” is a noble goal and the mother of endless dim policies. The latest counterproductive effort is a push in Massachusetts to fund home construction by taxing home sales. Maura Healey recently gave her blessing to Bay State towns and cities that want to tax home sales. Instead of going into a general fund, the revenue would be set aside to support housing that the state deems affordable.

Persons: Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn, Dan Henninger, Mark Kelly, Maura Healey Organizations: Reuters, Gov, Affordable Locations: Massachusetts, Bay State

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