Another Reason Why The AHRC Needs A Haircut

This morning Paul Ryan announced he is quitting Congress in 2019. Nick Gillespie in Reason said this is good news for libertarians considering Ryan never met a “Republican boost to regulation or spending that he didn’t like”. Jim Geraghty is far kinder in the National Review and says the Republicans will miss his nuanced approach to politics.

Is there a human right to having your hair cut? There might be in Australia soon, after Sydney barber Sam Rahim was reported to the Human Rights Commission for not cutting a girl’s hair because he didn’t feel qualified.

Last week we told you about the left wing outrage over Kevin D. Williamson’s hiring at The Atlantic. Well, they got their way – he was fired on Friday. Ben Shapiro wrote a fantastic article in National Review on how the left’s narrowing of acceptable discourse will backfire, and you have to read Atlantic  writer Connor Friedersdorf criticise his employers for firing Williamson.

Mark Zuckerberg gave testimony to the US Senate on Tuesday over Facebook’s role in the Cambridge Analytica ‘scandal’. The only scandal I saw was the booster seat. As Robby Soave points out in Reason , the willingness the Senators showed to start regulating social media is far more concerning than Cambridge Analytica.

The IPA’s Dr Chris Berg and Professor Sinclair Davidson on Wednesday announced the upcoming publication of their new book Against Public Broadcasting. Pre-order your copy here!

Speaking of Chris, you have to read his essay in The Conversation from this morning on libertarianism in Australia. But don’t read Dominic Kelly’s essay in the same series. I hope you’re sitting down for this: Classical liberals, libertarians and conservatives in Australia know each other.

Climate change ‘consensus’ has given the world anaesthetists who think doctors should walk to work, eat plants not meat, and not go to medical conferences. If you’re an anaesthetist reading this (or know someone who is), vote for someone sensible to go on the ANZCA Council.

Tickets are running out for the Australian Libertarian Society’s 6th Annual Friedman Conference. This year’s fantastic list of speakers includes the Foundation for Economic Education’s Jeffrey A. Tucker, Cato’s Dr Tom G. Palmer, Nyunggai Warren S Mundine AO, Professor Ian Plimer and the IPA’s Simon Breheny, Daniel Wild and Dr Chris Berg. There’s a discounted rate for IPA members and student scholarships available!

Featuring Professor Robert Tombs, and Morgan Begg, IPA

Article of the week:

IPA Staff Pick:

Here’s what else the IPA said this week:

• John Roskam, Socialist conceit not limited to coal – The Australian Financial Review
• Daniel Wild, Three steps to reducing red tape for farmers – The Land
• Andrew Bushnell, Indigenous incarceration: Reform policy should not compromise equality before the law – The Australian
• Daniel Wild, Senate’s bizarre inquiry on tax cuts – FreedomWatch
• Gideon Rozner, Electoral law recommendations a welcome first step – Media Release