Walter Olson
@walterolson.bsky.social
Writer on law etc.; Cato Institute. Election law, Maryland civic stuff, cooking. Blogged at Overlawyered back when. No kings, no tyrants.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Massachusetts' Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Against Instagram | The Volokh Conspiracy reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Massachusetts' Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Against Instagram
Prof. Jane Bambauer (Florida) and I just submitted this amicus brief in Commonwealth v. Meta, which is now pending before...
reason.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Massachusetts' Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Against Instagram | The Volokh Conspiracy reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Reposted by Walter Olson
Why are US Clinical Trials so Expensive? - Marginal REVOLUTION
Why are US Clinical Trials so Expensive? - Marginal REVOLUTION
Dave Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, speaking on the excellent Cheeky Pint Podcast (hosted by John Collison, sometimes joined by Patrick as in this episode) had the clearest discussion of why US clinical trial costs are so expensive that I have read. One point is obvious once you hear it: Sponsors must provide high-end care […]
marginalrevolution.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Why are US Clinical Trials so Expensive? - Marginal REVOLUTION
Trump, long an enthusiastic advocate of extrajudicial killings and war crimes, "has been lusting for this kind of violence for years, maybe decades. And he has made no secret of it. This is what he wanted, and this is what he is doing right now. Expect much more." [@sykescharlie.bsky.social]
"The Order Was to Kill Everybody."
Pete Hegseth's murders. And our War Crimes President.
charliesykes.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Trump, long an enthusiastic advocate of extrajudicial killings and war crimes, "has been lusting for this kind of violence for years, maybe decades. And he has made no secret of it. This is what he wanted, and this is what he is doing right now. Expect much more." [@sykescharlie.bsky.social]
Reposted by Walter Olson
Epstein emails presented as a Gmail inbox flowingdata.com/2025/11/24/e...
Epstein emails presented as a Gmail inbox
Congress released a collection of emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s inbox. However, as one might expect, it was not in the most usable format. Jmail, made by Luke Igel and Riley Walz, puts the em…
flowingdata.com
November 28, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Epstein emails presented as a Gmail inbox flowingdata.com/2025/11/24/e...
From my Cato colleagues in February: "We find that all immigrants consumed 21 percent less welfare and entitlement benefits than native-born Americans on a per capita basis... Noncitizens were 7.3 percent of the population and consumed just 3.5 percent of all welfare and entitlement benefits."
Immigrants Used Less Welfare than Native-Born Americans in 2022
Rather than reaching toward expensive mass deportations as a solution to fiscal issues, the more free-market, libertarian, and fiscally responsible solution is to build a higher wall around the welfar...
www.cato.org
November 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
From my Cato colleagues in February: "We find that all immigrants consumed 21 percent less welfare and entitlement benefits than native-born Americans on a per capita basis... Noncitizens were 7.3 percent of the population and consumed just 3.5 percent of all welfare and entitlement benefits."
Reposted by Walter Olson
Just to be clear: armed government agents are allowed to wear masks, balaclavas, and glasses that completely hide their identities as they disappear people off streets and out of public places, but students can't wear masks while protesting even in approved "time, manner, and place".
November 29, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Just to be clear: armed government agents are allowed to wear masks, balaclavas, and glasses that completely hide their identities as they disappear people off streets and out of public places, but students can't wear masks while protesting even in approved "time, manner, and place".
Reposted by Walter Olson
It’s worth remembering that Hegseth came to political prominence advocating for U.S. servicemen accused of war crimes.
And if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend listening to this podcast about the (failed) war crimes prosecutions for the Haditha Massacre.
www.newyorker.com/season-3
And if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend listening to this podcast about the (failed) war crimes prosecutions for the Haditha Massacre.
www.newyorker.com/season-3
November 28, 2025 at 9:05 PM
It’s worth remembering that Hegseth came to political prominence advocating for U.S. servicemen accused of war crimes.
And if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend listening to this podcast about the (failed) war crimes prosecutions for the Haditha Massacre.
www.newyorker.com/season-3
And if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend listening to this podcast about the (failed) war crimes prosecutions for the Haditha Massacre.
www.newyorker.com/season-3
Reposted by Walter Olson
A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...
A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org
November 29, 2025 at 4:26 AM
A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...
Reposted by Walter Olson
para 2: not a legit basis for use of force. period.
para 4: almost certainly untrue.
para 4: almost certainly untrue.
This is a lot of words to say, “Yikes! That Washington Post story about us illegally killing survivors on the open seas was 100% correct!”
November 29, 2025 at 2:09 AM
para 2: not a legit basis for use of force. period.
para 4: almost certainly untrue.
para 4: almost certainly untrue.
Reposted by Walter Olson
It is unfathomable that the USG lawyers would sign off on a no-survivors boat strike (no get of jail free card).
There's clear precedent dating back to World War II trial of Germans for that very act, which lawyers know well.
The Peleus World War II War Crimes Trial
www.usni.org/magazines/na...
There's clear precedent dating back to World War II trial of Germans for that very act, which lawyers know well.
The Peleus World War II War Crimes Trial
www.usni.org/magazines/na...
November 28, 2025 at 7:22 PM
It is unfathomable that the USG lawyers would sign off on a no-survivors boat strike (no get of jail free card).
There's clear precedent dating back to World War II trial of Germans for that very act, which lawyers know well.
The Peleus World War II War Crimes Trial
www.usni.org/magazines/na...
There's clear precedent dating back to World War II trial of Germans for that very act, which lawyers know well.
The Peleus World War II War Crimes Trial
www.usni.org/magazines/na...
Reposted by Walter Olson
WHOA. Trump says he will pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, who once said that he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.” He had people killed as part of his narco-trafficking ring, which he at times operated directly out of his presidential office.
November 29, 2025 at 12:05 AM
WHOA. Trump says he will pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, who once said that he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.” He had people killed as part of his narco-trafficking ring, which he at times operated directly out of his presidential office.
Reposted by Walter Olson
“The result is striking: people who are most opposed to the consensus score lower on objective knowledge but express higher subjective confidence.” 🧪
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
Confidently Wrong - Marginal REVOLUTION
If you’re going to challenge a scientific consensus, you better know the material. Most of us, most of the time, don’t—so deferring to expert consensus is usually the rational strategy. Pushing agains...
marginalrevolution.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
“The result is striking: people who are most opposed to the consensus score lower on objective knowledge but express higher subjective confidence.” 🧪
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
Preparations under way for our one-day-late Thanksgiving with the kids: stuffed capon, extra stuffing, two types of cookies. Vegetable side dishes and pickles will appear soon. Happy belated Thanksgiving!
November 28, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Preparations under way for our one-day-late Thanksgiving with the kids: stuffed capon, extra stuffing, two types of cookies. Vegetable side dishes and pickles will appear soon. Happy belated Thanksgiving!
Reposted by Walter Olson
ICE thugs accost woman, do their papers-please secret-police routine, claim falsely that her ID is fake, refuse to make a call to confirm it, and then, when she tries to make the call herself, try to seize her phone. And she's…Native American.
‘Northern Exposure’ actor gave ICE agents in Redmond her tribal ID. They called it ‘fake,’ she says
Indigenous actor Elaine Miles of "Northern Exposure" was detained by ICE at a Redmond bus stop. When she showed them her Tribal ID, they told her it was fake.
www.seattletimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
ICE thugs accost woman, do their papers-please secret-police routine, claim falsely that her ID is fake, refuse to make a call to confirm it, and then, when she tries to make the call herself, try to seize her phone. And she's…Native American.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Also very specifically the offense memorialized in "remember the Alamo"
November 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Also very specifically the offense memorialized in "remember the Alamo"
Reposted by Walter Olson
Ordering no quarter, as Hegseth effectively did, isn't a newfangled modern war crime. It was understood as a crime as far back as the Revolutionary War. Washington threatened to do reprisals over it. The bad guy in 'The Patriot' is (very loosely) based off a British officer who was notorious for it.
November 28, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Ordering no quarter, as Hegseth effectively did, isn't a newfangled modern war crime. It was understood as a crime as far back as the Revolutionary War. Washington threatened to do reprisals over it. The bad guy in 'The Patriot' is (very loosely) based off a British officer who was notorious for it.
Reposted by Walter Olson
We found more than two dozen cases of immigration agents using "less lethal" weapons in ways that appear to flout the government's own rules, including by aiming at someone’s head, spine or groin or deploying chemical agents near children.
With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
Trump’s Immigration Forces Deploy “Less Lethal” Weapons in Dangerous Ways, Skirting Rules and Maiming Protesters
Civil rights and weapons experts cite the consequences of federal agents’ use of crowd control weapons: religious leaders shot with pepper balls and noxious chemicals. A nurse nearly blinded by tear g...
www.propublica.org
November 27, 2025 at 4:00 AM
We found more than two dozen cases of immigration agents using "less lethal" weapons in ways that appear to flout the government's own rules, including by aiming at someone’s head, spine or groin or deploying chemical agents near children.
With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
"Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight 'would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime,' said Huntley, now director of the national security law program at Georgetown Law."
SCOOP: For the Trump admin's Sept. 2 strike targeting 11 men on a boat suspected of ferrying drugs, SecDef Hegseth gave an order, officials say, to kill them all. When two men were still alive, orders were given to strike again, finishing them off.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight 'would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime,' said Huntley, now director of the national security law program at Georgetown Law."
Reposted by Walter Olson
Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing
"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."
Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."
Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing
"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."
Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."
Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
President Trump is back to threatening to strip citizenship from Americans whose politics he doesn't like. Back in July I wrote for Cato about why by and large he can't do that.
Can the White House Denaturalize Domestic Opponents?
Three times within a few weeks, the Trump White House has entertained the idea of stripping citizenship from domestic political adversaries. The law makes that very difficult.
www.cato.org
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
President Trump is back to threatening to strip citizenship from Americans whose politics he doesn't like. Back in July I wrote for Cato about why by and large he can't do that.
Reposted by Walter Olson
🎁 link to the WSJ editorial that made Stephen Miller so mad.
"It would be a shame if this single act of betrayal became the excuse for deporting all Afghan refugees...
"Thousands are building new lives here in peace. Collective punishment won’t make America safer."
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
"It would be a shame if this single act of betrayal became the excuse for deporting all Afghan refugees...
"Thousands are building new lives here in peace. Collective punishment won’t make America safer."
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
Opinion | The Ambush on the National Guard
The alleged shooting by an Afghan ‘partner’ shouldn’t condemn all who assisted the U.S. and now live here.
www.wsj.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:10 PM
🎁 link to the WSJ editorial that made Stephen Miller so mad.
"It would be a shame if this single act of betrayal became the excuse for deporting all Afghan refugees...
"Thousands are building new lives here in peace. Collective punishment won’t make America safer."
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
"It would be a shame if this single act of betrayal became the excuse for deporting all Afghan refugees...
"Thousands are building new lives here in peace. Collective punishment won’t make America safer."
www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
Reposted by Walter Olson
Note how there's a shortage of hotel rooms and short terms rentals as well!
www.therebuild.pub/p/theres-no-...
www.therebuild.pub/p/theres-no-...
There’s No Quick Trick to Solving the Housing Crisis
Why Banning RealPage and Airbnb Didn't Lower Rents
www.therebuild.pub
November 26, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Note how there's a shortage of hotel rooms and short terms rentals as well!
www.therebuild.pub/p/theres-no-...
www.therebuild.pub/p/theres-no-...
From Henry Oliver, a critique of E. B. White's essays.
E.B. Whiter than White
there is something insufferable about good old E.B. White
www.commonreader.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
From Henry Oliver, a critique of E. B. White's essays.
Reposted by Walter Olson
In this post, I explain why Trump's collective punishment of Afghan migrants in response to yesterday's awful attack is both unjust and counterproductive to the goal of combating terrorism: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Trump's Unjust and Counterproductive Collective Punishment of Afghan Migrants
Stopping all immigration processing for Afghan migrants is unjust and undermines rather than furthers the goal of combatting terrorism.
reason.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:50 PM
In this post, I explain why Trump's collective punishment of Afghan migrants in response to yesterday's awful attack is both unjust and counterproductive to the goal of combating terrorism: reason.com/volokh/2025/...