The Heritage Insider: North Korea just upped its missile game, wildly inaccaurate claims about poverty, Brexit strategy, University of Chicago declares itself safe for free speech, lots of conservative events

August 27, 2016

 

 

A new missile test appears to show that North Korea has a much-improved capability to launch a missile from a submarine. The United States and South Korea need to assess their defenses. A new book claims that millions of American families are sleeping on grates and surviving by selling blood and collecting cans. It’s a fiction created from faulty statistics. The British government has some decisions to make regarding its exit from the European Union. Above all, advise two experts, it should declare it is open for business with as many trading partners who are willing. The University of Chicago didn’t win the Cold War by cowering in its safe space. It has no time for that nonsense, incoming freshman! There are lots of important conservative events coming up. Check you our rundown. Plus, visit InsiderOnline.org to see what else the conservative movement has been thinking, writing, and doing to win battles for liberty.

 

What’s ahead in the Brexit process? Iain Murray and Rory Broomfield write that the British government must take a number of steps, including invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty and beginning negotiations over withdrawal, repealing the laws establishing the UK’s membership in the EU, and reviewing EU law already incorporated into UK law to determine what should be repealed. On the thorny question of establishing new trade relations, Murray and Broomfield warn that the idea of establishing Norway- or Switzerland-like arrangements with the EU would be inconsistent with the Leave voters’ desire to regain control over immigration policy. Instead they recommend: “Britain must declare it is open for business, with unilateral declarations where appropriate, and trade agreements to be concluded as quickly as practicable with those nations who indicate a willingness to do so. At the time of writing, these include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ghana, India, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, and Switzerland.” [Competitive Enterprise Institute]

 

North Korea appears to have made a major advance in its missile capabilities. Writes Bruce Klingner: “North Korea conducted its most successful test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday. The missile traveled 500 kilometers (300 miles), a considerable improvement over the 30-km range of the previous launch, and landed within Japan’s air defense identification zone. South Korean military officials report that North Korea used an unusual 500-km high trajectory so as not to penetrate the Japanese air defense zone further. If launched on a regular 150-km high trajectory, the submarine-launched missile might have traveled over 1,000 km.” Klingner also notes that the Kim Jong-un regime has “conducted 34 missile tests, more than twice as many as his father Kim Jong Il did in 17 years in office.” He goes on to recommend that the United States and South Korea deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense against North Korean land-based missiles and equip South Korean ships with SM-3 or SM-6 missiles to counter submarine launched missiles. [Daily Signal]

 

There is at least one institution of higher education that still believes ideas should be debated not mandated. It’s the University of Chicago, whose Dean of Students sent a letter to incoming freshman informing them: “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own. Fostering the free exchange of ideas reinforces a related University priority—building a campus that welcomes people of all backgrounds. Diversity of opinion and background is a fundamental strength of our community. The members of our community must have the freedom to espouse a wide range of ideas.” [Intellectual Takeout]

 

Are 3.5 million children in America really living on less than $2 per day? That’s the claim of some reports based on a new book, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, by Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer. The welfare reform of the 1990s is to blame, according to this argument. But, as Robert Rector and Jamie Bryan Hall write, the claim “is a statistical fiction based on severe undercounting of earnings and benefits among lower-income Americans.” The problem, the explain, is that Edin and Shaefer rely on faulty data (from the government’s Survey of Income and Program Participation) that results in excluding the benefits low-income families receive from poverty programs. The data on actual living conditions tell a different story: “Only 1 percent of families supposedly in extreme poverty report that they ‘often’ did not have ‘enough food to eat’ over the previous four months; another 8 percent said that they ‘sometimes’ did not have ‘enough to eat.’ The remaining 91 percent report that they ‘always’ had enough food to eat.” [The Heritage Foundation]

 

Some upcoming events to put on your calendars: The Independence Institute’s Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms Party, August 27; Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream Summit, September 2 – 3; The Values Voter Summit, September 9 – 11; The Heartland Institute’s 32nd Anniversary Benefit Dinner (Keynote speaker: P.J. O’Rourke), September 15; The National Review Institute’s William F. Buckley, Jr. Prize Dinner (Honoring George P. Schultz), September 22; Fall 2016 Philadelphia Society Meeting (Theme: The History and Meaning of American Political Parties), September 30 – October 1; The State Policy Network’s 24th Annual Meeting, October 3 – 6; and The Acton Institute’s 26th Annual Dinner (Keynote speaker: Paul D. Scalia), October 27.

 

 

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