9 thoughts on “The Volokh Conspiracy”

  1. The number of reasons I had to read the WaPoo just decreased by 50%….although I suppose I could get my comics elsewhere too.

  2. Slightly OT: I was disappointed with The Volokh Conspiracy’s analysis of the wedding cake supreme court case.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/10/27/theres-no-free-speech-right-to-refuse-wedding-cakes-to-gay-couples/?utm_term=.611a00810a47

    Regardless of their conclusion, I though the analysis lacked an imaginative broadmindedness regarding what constitutes expressive art (and thereby idea-laden speech). Rand, I hope you revisit the case.

    1. Being forced to create art is a strong argument but isn’t the central argument that should be made in this case. Judges are going to determine what art is? Presentation is art but not construction? Piss Christ is art but not a cake? I happen to think that a lot of things people consider art are not really art but the way art works, the person creating it decides whether it is art or not.

      The strong argument is that the State is forcing individuals to participate in other’s ideological ceremonies. It is unconstitutional to force people to participate in ideological ceremonies. This is essentially a state sponsored religion. You can no more force participation in a homogomous marriage than you can force someone to say the pledge of allegiance, provide supplies for a KKK cross burning, or perform female genital mutilation.

  3. Great news and well said.

    As for revenue, most people probably think it comes from subscriptions but for a well run publication it comes from advertising. The difference today from back in the day is the content of the adds.

    Some things have changed since I worked for Comarco, but targeted adds aren’t something new with the internet. This is why there are two national auditing agencies for publications… so advertisers know what they’re paying for. Most publications were available for free for qualified subscribers (which was loose enough that anyone could be.)

    It’s amusing how young professionals today think they came up with this stuff.

    1. A lot of newpaper revenue came from classified ads, a market the Internet destroyed. Craigslist, eBay, job hunting sites, and so on.

  4. Drudge links to the WaPo so much that I’ve given up going to his page on any browser except Tor. WaPo allows you five or six (I forget which) free articles a month, then shuts you off. But they can do that only if they recognize you, which Tor doesn’t allow.

    Slightly O/T, when you reach your month’s article limit, a sign pops up that reads: “We see that you love great journalism…”, to which I always wish I could reply: “How could you possibly see that when I’m here?”

    1. You can usually get around article count restrictions in incognito/private mode, because the website can’t set persistent cookies.

      1. That has changed recently. I think they log the IP address or your MAC address, which are not as easy to change.

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