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July 16, 2025
Breaking the Global Warming Gridlock
Twenty-five years ago this month, Dan Sarewitz and I published a widely read and discussed article in The Atlantic Monthly titled, Breaking the Global Warming Gridlock (unpaywalled version here). Today I quote extensively from it and share both my and Dan’s perspectives on it from 2025. We invite your views as well. We began the essay with — what else…
July 14, 2025
Precipitation Paradox?
There is a cynical trick being played by some climate activists to promote misinformation and undercut the assessments of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as they lobby for changes in energy policy. The trick goes like this: At the core of this line of reasoning is the exploitation of an apparent paradox: How…
July 11, 2025
Surprise! USF Decision Signals Admin Law Revolution, But Not the One We Expected
Late last month, the Supreme Court decided FCC v. Consumers Research. Although an undercard among the Court’s last-day decisions, the case was closely watched in administrative law circles as a potential vehicle for revitalizing the moribund Nondelegation Doctrine. But as predicted after oral argument, the Court found this was not the right case to do…
July 11, 2025
Common Law Evolution Is Not a Policy Proposal!
The outer edge of absurdity in the 1970s Monty Python sketch comedy show may have been “The Larch.” For no evident reason, the sketch retrains viewers on larch trees and the subject of larches. An interview with Pythons dressed as schoolboys goes into the larch question at some length, ending in a hard-to-hear introduction to…
July 10, 2025
What Americans Really Think About Energy and Climate
Right before the 2024 election, my AEI colleague Ruy Teixeira and I engaged YouGov to conduct a survey of how Americans view various topics of energy and climate. Today at AEI, the full survey and our summary report is published, including the survey’s toplines and crosstabs (all are directly linked from the bottom of this post). Here are…
July 9, 2025
Congress Should Avoid an App Store Crack-Up
Prominent members of Congress are reviving the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), a bill they say will create “a freer and fairer marketplace” in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. But rather than opening “the door to more choices and innovation,” the legislation would do the opposite: It would weaken security, reduce customer choice,…
July 8, 2025
The Texas Flash Floods
“This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States. . . We do not have a warning system.” — Judge Rob Kelly, Kerr County, Texas, 4 July 2025 As I write this, the death toll in the Texas flash floods now exceeds 70, with 12 people still missing, including 11 girls and one camp counselor….
July 8, 2025
As Congress Releases the AI Regulatory Hounds, A Reminder
The centerpiece of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” in tech policy circles was the “AI moratorium,” a temporary federal limit on state regulation of artificial intelligence. The loss of the AI moratorium, stripped from the bill in the Senate, elicited howls of derision from AI-focused policy experts such as the indefatigable Adam Thierer. But…
July 7, 2025
How the Vatican Is Shaping the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
As AI transforms the global landscape, institutions worldwide are racing to define its ethical boundaries. Among them, the Vatican brings a distinct theological voice, framing AI not just as a technical issue but as a moral and spiritual one. Questions about human dignity, agency, and the nature of personhood are central to its engagement—placing the…
July 3, 2025
The Open App Markets Act: How “Competition” Reform Would Open America’s Digital Doors to Hackers and Foreign Adversaries
The Open App Markets Act (OAMA) has reemerged in Congress with renewed momentum, aiming to break up what some lawmakers perceive as monopolistic control over mobile app distribution. Supporters frame this legislation as a victory for competition and consumer choice, claiming it will free users from the restrictive hold of Apple’s App Store and Google…