Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: In his analysis of this year’s law school rankings, David Lat notices something: “UC Law, San Francisco, formerly known as UC Hastings Law, dropped 22 spots in this year’s ranking to #82, after falling nine places in last year’s ranking. So since its board of directors voted to change its name in 2021 (because of Serranus Clinton Hastings’s involvement in the killing and dispossession of Native Americans), the school has dropped by 31 spots. Are respondents to U.S. News reputational surveys confusing UC Law, San Francisco, with the lower-ranked University of San Francisco School of Law (#165)?”

KAKISTOCRACY AT WORK (CONT’D): Trouble At The Fed: Investigation Into Lisa Cook’s Academic Record Raises Questions.

Lisa D. Cook is one of the world’s most powerful economists. She taught economics at Harvard University and Michigan State University and served on the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers before being appointed, in 2022, to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which controls the interest rates and money supply of the United States.

Despite her pedigree, questions have long persisted about her academic record. Her publication history is remarkably thin for a tenured professor, and her published work largely focuses on race activism rather than on rigorous, quantitative economics. Her nomination to the Fed required Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tie-breaking vote; by contrast, her predecessor in the seat, Janet Yellen, now Treasury secretary, was confirmed unanimously. . . .

In a series of academic papers spanning more than a decade, Cook appears to have copied language from other scholars without proper quotation and duplicated her own work and that of coauthors in multiple academic journals without proper attribution. Both practices appear to violate Michigan State University’s own written academic standards.

We will review several examples which, taken together, establish a pattern of careless scholarship at best or, at worst, academic misconduct.

This keeps happening. I will note, though, that “plagiarism” comes from the Latin word for “kidnapping,” so one cannot (in my opinion) plagiarize oneself, anymore than one could kidnap oneself. More thoughts from me on plagiarism here.

A NEW LEFTY TALKING POINT IS THAT ELON KILLED TESLA, BUT ACTUALLY THE WHOLE EV INDUSTRY IS IN TROUBLE: Poll: Even More Americans Refuse to Consider EVs.

The truth is, even cool EVs are a niche product. Nothing wrong with a niche product, except that the Biden Administration and the media — but I repeat myself — have sold them as a panacea.

THEY CAN’T HELP IT, THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO BLAME AMERICA: Getting the Hiroshima Argument Wrong … Still. “Germany and Japan were bad. They were murderous aggressors that had to be stopped. The worst weapon in history was being chased by a bunch of different combatants in this very morally one-sided war, and using that weapon ended it, with destruction that could not be immediately matched, so humanity had time to be appalled and establish a taboo on further usage.”

There was a time when I doubted the morality of Hiroshima, Tokyo, and Dresden. Watching the world today, I’m glad that our forebears had the courage and moral clarity that too many parts of our contemporary society lack. And it’s funny that the same people who were all “punch a Nazi” a few years ago are now opposed to violence in opposition to, you know, actual Nazi sympathizers.

OPEN THREAD: Enjoy!