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Today’s Links: November 26, 2012
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PATTERSON AND BROWN: Demise of the Twinkie reveals unions’ true priorities
The Washington Times Is there a more iconic American snack than the Twinkie? The long-ubiquitous “golden sponge cake with cream filling” has been around…
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Government Files Motion To Dismiss Dodd-Frank Lawsuit
Dodd-Frank’s destructive economic impact continues to grow week by week. Last June, CEI and two other plaintiffs, the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas,…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Turkey Day 2012 Edition
While most people in the U.S. are fantasizing about turkey slathered in gravy, yams, and pumpkin pie right now, beer connoisseurs throughout the nation --…
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Profile: The Union Behind Black Friday Walmart Protests
As the union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making a Change at Walmart gear up to make a statement this Black Friday, the company took…
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CEI Podcast For November 21, 2012: Will Hostess Survive?
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson breaks down the controversy surrounding confection maker Hostess' perilous position.
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Hostess Bankruptcy Backstory: The AFL-CIO vs. SEIU Rivalry
The controversy over the impending shutdown of Hostess Brands — and who is to blame — has pitted two unions against each other. That…
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New I-495 Express Lanes Present Challenges, But Remain Best Option
This past Saturday, the innovative I-495 Express Lanes opened on the Washington Beltway. The 14-mile high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes — which were built and are…
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The Hostess Bankruptcy And The Threat Of A PBGC Bailout
On Friday, November 16, Hostess Brands announced it was shutting down operations after the Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), which rejected…
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Today’s Links: November 20, 2012
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Eleventh-Hour Twinkie Reprieve?
Today, representatives from Hostess Brands and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) undertake an 11th-hour effort to negotiate a…
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Hostess Negotiates With Union: Jobs And Twinkies Could Be Saved
On Monday, Hostess Brands asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for permission to close and liquidate all assets. But at…
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“I, Pencil” Premiere Party
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Walmart: A Black Eye On Black Friday
Walmart has long been one of the left's favorite boogeymen, and no wonder -- the company stubbornly and successfully has resisted efforts by labor unions to organize its workforce for years.
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The Estonian Solution To America’s Fiscal Cliff: Cut Spending
Real austerity brings real growth. That’s the story of Estonia, which broke the common European mold of tax increase-based economic retrenchment by taking an axe…
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Walmart: A Black Eye On Black Friday
Openmarket.org Walmart has long been one of the left’s favorite boogeymen-men, and no wonder — the company has stubbornly and successfully resisted efforts by labor unions to organize its…
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Profile: The Union That Took Down Twinkees
We all know it as the labor union that took down snack food company Hostess, but what exactly is the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers…
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Investment Falls Off A Cliff, Threatening Economy
Investment has fallen "off a cliff" reports The Wall Street Journal, as companies worry about the "fiscal cliff" at the start of next year,…
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Overhyped Energy Drink Reaction
As has been reported extensively, the Food and Drug Administration has received several recent reports of alleged side-effects sustained by consumers who have ingested energy…
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Today’s Links: November 19, 2012
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Liberal Judges: Equality Is Unconstitutional
On Thursday, a federal appeals court, dividing along ideological lines in an 8-to-7 ruling, struck down a provision of the Michigan state constitution prohibiting racial…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
48 new regulations, from medical paperwork to longshoremen’s headwear.
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The Basel Cliff — Basel III’s Poisonous Recipe For The Economy
As if the "fiscal cliff," with its prospects of looming tax hikes, were not enough, big and small banks—and in turn consumers and businesses who…
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Binding Arbitration’s Threat To State And Local Governments
One reason Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's labor reforms are considered far-reaching -- by both supporters and detractors -- is the fact that they were structural.
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Bad Economic Omens Since The Election
Since the election, the stock market has fallen substantially. The S&P 500 has fallen over 5 percent. The prospect of "Taxmageddon" (massive tax increases…
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CEI Podcast For November 16, 2012: I, Pencil: The Movie
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Unionization Bad For TSA, Worse For Passengers
Along with the rising cost of bag fees, the most notorious nuisance air travelers must endure before reaching the terminal is the security checkpoint…
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Union Strike-Showdown Could End In Hostess Shutdown
They are messing with our Twinkies. Upset over cuts to pensions and salaries brought on by a new collective bargaining contract, employees of Hostess, which…
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Quote Of The Day: Knowing One’s Limits
Alfred Kahn's lesson for regulators: "Do you want to be precisely wrong or approximately right?"…
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I, Pencil – Simply Perfect
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Businesses Against Deregulation
The trucking industry went to extraordinary lengths to fight deregulation in the 1970s.
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Today’s Links: November 13, 2012
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Jeffrey Sachs: Macro-Keynsianism Is “Outdated And Outmoded”… So, We Need Micro-Keynsianism!
Jeffrey Sachs, the harbinger of bad policy, has written his first post-election column in the Financial Times, “Obama has four years to transform America’s…
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CEI Podcast For November 13, 2012: The Fiscal Cliff At Home And Abroad
Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow Matthew Melchiorre explains what both sides of the Atlantic need to do to avoid fiscal catastrophe.
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Italy Shoots The Messenger… And Its Legal System In The Foot
Italy’s legal system, already deeply unfriendly to business, has sunk to a new low this week. In the town of Trani, prosecutors requested to charge five…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Election Hangover Edition
How did the election affect alcohol laws? Alcohol is regulated by states, cities, counties and towns, and hundreds of them had alcohol-related measures on the ballot Nov.
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Immigration Reform Resurrected!
Nothing makes politicians see the light like losing. Even while immigration restrictionists reassure themselves that the GOP’s immigration message is fine despite losing as…
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Austerity For Europeans, But Not For Europe
Some economists and political leaders demonize European austerity as “savage.” They say it will only deepen and prolong recession. They are right, but for the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
61 new regulations, from organic food residue to amateur rocketry liberalization.
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Big Labor Victory Exaggerated, Fight Continues
After the 2012 election, labor unions celebrated what was seen as an overall victorious election season for their organizations. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka bragged…
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FEMA’s Wasteful “Disaster Socialism”
In the Washington Examiner, Shikha Dalmia of the Reason Foundation notes that FEMA has been as slow after Superstorm Sandy as it was after…
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D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
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CEI Podcast For November 8, 2012: Election Wrap-Up
Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains why the election turned out the way it did, and what the results mean going forward for…
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The Election Is Over: What Now For Regulation?
A midnight rush is on the way, though it will likely be smaller than if Romney had won the election.
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Alaska Gold Rush For The Laborers’ Union
The Alaska Policy Forum recently exposed that the state’s legislature in 2011 and 2012 appropriated millions of tax dollars to finance the facilities of a…
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Alaska Gold Rush For Laborers’ Union
Openmarket.org The Alaska Policy Forum recently exposed that the state’s legislature in 2011 and 2012 appropriated millions of tax dollars to finance a Laborer’s…
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Conservative Self-Deception In 2012 Hid Need For Policy Changes
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Election Day Edition
While Mitt may not drink, many of the voting public and the candidates themselves hope to celebrate/drown their sorrows at the bar while the returns…
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Government Pressure to Remove Billboards Against Voter Fraud Is Not “Market Forces”
Earlier, I wrote about illogical but widespread claims (found on Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and elsewhere) that billboards noting "Voter Fraud Is a Felony"…
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Alabama Unions Vs. Privacy: Organized Labor’s War On The Secret Ballot
Openmarket.org Tomorrow, Alabamans will have the opportunity to enshrine the secret ballot into their state constitution. A proposal before voters called Amendment 7 would “provide that…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
60 new regulations, from dishwashers to falconry.
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Today’s Links: November 5, 2012
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Alabama Unions Vs. Privacy: Organized Labor’s War On The Secret Ballot
By Matt Patterson and Crissy Brown Tomorrow, Alabamans will have the opportunity to enshrine the secret ballot into their state constitution. A proposal before voters called Amendment…
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Auto Industry Expert: “Romney’s Plan Also Would Have ‘Saved’ Detroit”
Earlier, we noted that the auto bailouts temporarily look more successful right now than they likely will be in the long-run since Toyota's bogus safety issues,…
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Force For Thee, But Not For Me
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Chrysler And The Cratering Credit Rating Of Fiat
My piece yesterday in The Daily Caller, "The Real Fiat Scandal," spotlights the real threat to Chrysler's prospects in the immediate and long term: Fiat's cratering…
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Did Bush Save General Motors? Obama Messed Up Chrysler
If you accept the dubious logic the federal government "saved" the auto industry (which requires ignoring other things that rescued General Motors, such as the…
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KOVACS: Police union puts bargaining rights ahead of public safety
The Washington Times On Nov. 6, Montgomery County voters will decide whether the police chief or the head of the police union should determine…
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Never Look A Gift (Clause) Horse In The Mouth
Openmarket.org In America, it is impossible to snuff out money from politics. As long as government has the power to dish out favors to…
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“Status-Quo-ism” Of Italian Politicians Is Economically Perilous
Italian media report all sides of Italy’s political spectrum are calling for early elections. Unfortunately, that means a return of the unreformed Italian political class…
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Never Look A Gift (Clause) Horse In The Mouth
In America, it is impossible to snuff out money from politics. As long as government has the power to dish out favors to politically connected…
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Sandy Beaches, Meet Hurricane Sandy
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many reminisce of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. With at least a dozen East Coast states in a declared state of…
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Oh (Big) Brother
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Today’s Links: November 1, 2012
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Pro-Charter Is Pro-Choice
This November, Washington could become the 42nd state to authorize charter schools. Washington residents will vote on Initiative 1240, which if passed will “allow…
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CEI Podcast For November 1, 2012: Is Google’s Search Dominance Permanent?
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia argues that Google's current dominance as an Internet search engine service is a fragile thing. Creative destruction is…
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Obamacare Will Increase Health Insurance Costs In California, Washington, D.C., And Elsewhere
California officials concede that their state’s Obamacare exchange will hike premiums for policyholders by up to 25 percent. In the District of Columbia, small…
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California Unions Uber Alles?
In the media coverage of the presidential election, one state that is unlikely to get much attention is California, which appears to be solidly in…
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On Halloween, Euro Politics Fit Right In
All the usual characters are present this Halloween night across the Atlantic. But European leaders doing the trick-or-treating aren’t getting the sweet sugar fix they…
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Fred Weekly: Rent-Seeking Vs. Advancing Capitalism
In this latest episode of “Fred Weekly,” CEI President and Founder Fred L. Smith, Jr., discusses advancing free markets in an increasingly politicized world. Watch…
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Today’s Links: October 31, 2012
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Investigators: Operation Fast And Furious Was Product Of “Deliberate” Obama Administration Strategy
According to The Daily Caller, congressional investigators have concluded that Operation “Fast and Furious” was “a product of DOJ ‘deliberate strategy’ laid out by” Attorney General “Eric Holder”…
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Amicus brief in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles
As I’ve previously written: The Class Action Fairness Act was intended to protect consumers against the unfair class action settlements rubber-stamped in state courts…
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Italy’s Greatest Economic Threat: Italian Politicians
Italian ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told news sources last week that his party -- Popolo della Libertà -- would soon decide whether or not to…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
77 new regulations, from animal drugs to phone bills.
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Scapegoating Free Speech To Hide Massive Government Failures?
Earlier, I wrote about how the U.S. government had scapegoated free speech for the terrorist attacks in Libya, claiming that the attacks were…
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Opening brief in Ninth Circuit MagSafe appeal
In the In re Apple MagSafe Power Adapter Litigation, the attorneys walked away with $3.1 million, while the class got less than $1 million, and…
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The threat striking fear into the hearts of weary airline travelers everywhere
By Matt Patterson, FoxNews.com On October 24th, 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Airline Deregulation Act, ending the nightmare of total government-control…
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Today’s Links: October 26, 2012
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Regulatory Delays May Be Responsible For Slightly Better GDP Growth
This morning, data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed third-quarter growth of gross domestic product (GDP) at 2 percent. This beat expectations slightly as, according to…
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PolitiFact Fixes Two Of Its Three Errors Related To The Supreme Court’s Ledbetter Decision
PolitiFact just revised a webpage discussing the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision that once contained an error that we discussed here and brought…
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Today’s Links: October 25, 2012
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Immigration Policy Should Strive For The “City On The Hill,” Not The “Deserted Town”
Opponents of human movement, also known as “immigration,” argue that if the U.S. government stops forcibly preventing foreign-born people from relocating to the United States,…
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CEI Podcast For October 25, 2012: The Changing Climate Debate
Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell discusses his recent PBS Frontline appearance, and how the debate over global warming has shifted in…
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Today’s Links: October 24, 2012
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No, Billboards Denouncing “Voter Fraud” Don’t Violate Constitutional “Right To Vote”
One of the most basic principles of constitutional law is that the Constitution only binds the government -- not private individuals -- so…
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Pepco Caves On Contract Dispute To Avoid Union Strike
Talk about having your negotiating adversary over the barrel. Pepco and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers’ Maryland-based Local 1900 had been in contract gridlock…
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Regulation In Theory Vs. Practice
Externalities, asymmetric information, and monopolies are useful concepts for understanding how regulators should behave. But the important thing is how they do behave.
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Police (Union) Brutality: Montgomery County Police “Effects” Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety
Openmarket.org This November, voters in Montgomery County, Maryland, will decide whether the police chief or union boss should determine public safety policy. The voter initiative,…
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Today’s Links: October 23, 2012
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Police (Union) Brutality: Montgomery County Police “Effects” Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety
This November, voters in Montgomery County, Maryland, will decide whether the police chief or union boss should determine public safety policy. The voter initiative, which will appear…
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PolitiFact Smears Supreme Court, Provides False Political Talking Point For Democratic Party
Earlier, the left-leaning "fact-checker" PolitiFact made the false claim the Supreme Court had declared employees are barred from suing over pay discrimination even…
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Devolve Infrastructure Decision-Making To Promote Efficiency, Foster Innovation
Last week, Walter Russell Mead had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that traditional infrastructure spending will no longer provide the services…
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Today’s Links: October 22, 2012
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
71 new regulations, from gas mileage to certifying seafarers.
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: October 19, 2012
The only real change of late seems to be happening to leaves on trees. But on the alcohol regulatory reform front, the following states have…
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Free Education? Not In My State!
Coursera is a California-based startup that partners with top-tier universities to provide free online courses to people around the world. Sounds like a pretty great service,…
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Today’s Links: October 19, 2012
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A Rational View Of The Presidency
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