Saturday, November 17, 2018

Current Events Write-Up: Wildfires, Macron, on Workers Running Their Companies, Deaths

Time for this week’s Current Events Write-Up.

California Wildfires

Some articles at the Federalist defended the President’s claim that mismanagement has contributed to the forest fires. James Taylor argues that climate change is not the problem because forest fires in California have been declining, and he contends that local and state authorities have failed to warn people. Krystina Skurk details environmental policies that she believes have exasperated the problem.

On the other side, Matthew Hurteau at the Guardian challenges the President’s claim.

Libertarian environmentalist and attorney Jonathan Wood proposes ways to reduce the cost of addresses the wildfires. One suggestion intersects with criminal justice reform.

Macron

Two conservative columnists apparently disagree on how to characterize French President Emmanuel Macron. Pat Buchanan depicts Macron as a globalist, whereas Rachel Marsden sees Macron as rather nationalistic.

Economics

Some socialists talk about the importance of letting workers run their companies. Libertarian economist Daniel Mitchell highlights an example in which that did not work, and the workers actually wanted a manager.

Deaths

Stan Lee passed on this week. I have fond memories of reading X-Men comics while eating my dinner. Jonah Goldberg has an insightful article about how Stan Lee’s comics reflected their historical context.

Little House on the Prairie actress Katherine MacGregor passed on. She played the over-the-top, mean Mrs. Oleson. I have read that MacGregor in real life was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet.