HeyJaredThe Pedantic Puffin
This blog is not about birds, unless I decide to write about them. Expect politics, policy, and economics from a skeptical, anti-authoritarian, and public choice perspective.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
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- Sep 6, 2026
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- Aug 1, 2026
Latest issues
Mental Illness Is Real (opens the original)
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The Great (Temporary) Moral Battle of Our Time: Is Lindsay Clancy a Monster or Mentally Ill?We have a sad habit of finding causes du jour to have big fights about, taking hard unyielding stances with a great moral certainty and taking delight in damning the moral degenerates on the other side. It almost seems as though we have a psychological need for these great - if fleeting - moral crusades. This day’s crusade is the Lindsay Clancy trial.I haven't read the details of her case, and I have no d
Challenging Permission (opens the original)
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Two news article about very different things caught my attention today, and made me think about the problem of permission, which is to say, the problem of regulation that stultifies innovation.One article is about a new California law permitting plug-in solar panels. These panels plug into a standard wall outlet and provide energy. The energy provided gets offset against your home’s demand. They are apparently popular in Europe, the U.K. has just legalized them, and U.S. states are one-by-o
Don't Use Autism to Excuse Jason Arday (opens the original)
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Former Cambridge academic Jason Arday, after resigning due to plagiarism allegations, has died. Reports are that the police say it's not suspicious. But when a relatively young person dies suddenly, immediately after a global public embarrassment that likely wrecks his future, it's reasonable to suspect suicide. I wish Arday was not dead. His sins were not capital. And none of my criticism that follows should in any way be read to suggest I'm celebrating his death.Arday's plagiarism was publicly
Krugman, Crypto, and the Ivory Tower (opens the original)
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Rambling Introduction with a Personal StoryKrugman recently said something wrong on the internet, which reminded me of a personal story about liberals’ faith in Krugman (and I use the word faith deliberately).Some years back, a moderate-left colleague came to my office to talk about SOME IMPORTANT THING KRUGMAN SAID ABOUT MACROECONOMICS. I listened skeptically, then pointed out why Krugman was probably wrong, referencing another economist. Moderate-left colleague smugly pointed out that Krugman
Are We Afraid to Fix Supreme Court Appointments? (opens the original)
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One of the recurring political problems in the United States is the current status of the Supreme Court - continually diminishing, in terms of public opinion - and the ferocious battles over Supreme Court appointments, which play a large role in presidential campaigns and have become a ferociously contentious legislative contest. There is a rather simple prospective constitutional amendment that could turn down - although not eliminate - the political vitriol over the Supreme Court: 18 year term
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