OpenMarket

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust complaint against Google. It marks the beginning of the first major monopolization case since the 1998-2002 Microsoft case. The filing’s timing and content are heavily politicized, and the quality of the complaint reflects this.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of American history is aware of the failures of prohibition. Both the now-repealed ban on alcohol and the ongoing “war on drugs” did little to reduce demand for substances, instead pushing people toward more dangerous behaviors, fueling illicit markets and drug cartels, and putting otherwise law-abiding citizens in conflict (sometimes fatal) with law enforcement.

October 27 is the deadline for submitting final legal briefs to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Union of Concerned Scientists v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The case pits California against the Trump administration over the One National Program Rule. If upheld, the rule will terminate California’s tailpipe greenhouse gas emission standards and zero-emission vehicle mandate.

It was a four-day week due to Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s Day. Bad judgment by Twitter content moderators caused a bipartisan flash mob to demand that the government regulate political speech. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett had her confirmation hearings. Meanwhile, regulatory agencies issued new regulations ranging from real estate appraisals to Brazilian steel.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission claims carbon pricing could “improve the efficiency and transparency of the organized wholesale markets by providing a market-based method to incorporate state efforts to reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions.” That might be the case if carbon pricing replaced state renewable energy quotas and other policies that impose implicit carbon taxes on ratepayers.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was asked repeatedly about her views on climate change at her Senate confirmation hearing this week. Unsurprisingly, her unwillingness to pledge her faith in global warming alarmism did not please Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the mainstream media, or environmental pressure groups.

Last month, BuzzFeed News published a report that alleged that banks sat on their hands while criminals laundered trillions of dollars over two decades. In the wake of the scandal, commentators have contended that reform is needed. While reform is needed, the report suggests the banks followed the letter of the law—that law being the Bank Secrecy Act and its respective regulations.

One or more COVID-19 vaccines will likely be approved in the next few months. But this scientific achievement may prove to be the easy part. Having a vaccine available does not ensure that people will use it. A new CEI report examines what can be done to encourage vaccine use, the likelihood that voluntary consent will be adequate, the legal constraints on mandatory vaccination programs, and if and how such a program could be targeted in a way that maximizes public health while respecting individual rights, including religious objections.

Aviation itself—via cloud generation—is a contributor to warming beyond just the greenhouse gas effect, which will make rescuing the industry a large political football. Noting that the contrail effect is mainly in winter and at night, is this necessarily a bad thing?

Dozens of recent news stories note newly published research showing that night temperatures are rising faster than daytime readings. Despite this “asymmetric” warming, there is plenty of evidence in multiple analyses of satellite data that the Earth is becoming much greener. The biggest increases are over the world’s tropical rainforests, the most biologically diverse environments on the planet.