98 research outputs found

    Life in No Trump: Property and Speech Under the Constitution

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    The editors of the Maine Law Review have been kind enough to offer me the opportunity to respond to Laura Underkuffler\u27s criticism of my work in her recent Godfrey Lecture, “When Should Rights ‘Trump’? An Examination of Speech and Property,” which appears in the preceding issue. In my earlier writings on constitutional law, more specifically, in my paper, Property, Speech and the Politics of Distrust, I took the position that modern Supreme Court jurisprudence had taken a turn for the worse insofar as it used different standards of review in passing on the constitutionality of legislation. The current position, roughly speaking, did (and to a large extent does) afford some level of strict scrutiny for the regulation of speech while adopting a far more deferential view towards the regulation of property. I thought that this result was indefensible for two related reasons. First, as a matter of textual interpretation, neither the First Amendment guarantee of the freedom of speech (i.e., “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech”) nor the Fifth Amendment protection of property (i.e., “Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”) bears on its surface any sign of the differential levels of respect that might be accorded to property and speech. Second, as a matter of functional use, both provisions were aimed at the chronic dangers of representative government. More concretely, both clauses are directed to the way in which public power can be used to transfer wealth and opportunities from one group in society to another. In the short term, one group or the other might celebrate its factional victory. But, in the long run, the divisive impact of faction will result in the diminution of freedom and opportunity for us all. Freedom of speech and private property were thus seen as bulwarks not of privilege or special power. They were defended for their social function in limiting the abuses of power

    Hepatobiliary and pancreatic tuberculosis: A two decade experience

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Isolated hepatobiliary or pancreatic tuberculosis (TB) is rare and preoperative diagnosis is difficult. We reviewed our experience over a period two decades with this rare site of abdominal tuberculosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The records of 18 patients with proven histological diagnosis of hepatobiliary and pancreatic tuberculosis were reviewed retrospectively. The demographic features, sign and symptoms, imaging, cytology/histopathology, procedures performed, outcome and follow up data were obtained from the departmental records. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was based on granuloma with caseation necrosis on histopathology or presence of acid fast bacilli.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 18 patients (11 men), 11 had hepatobiliary TB while 7 had pancreatic TB. Two-thirds of the patients were < 40 years (mean: 42 yrs; range 19–70 yrs). The duration of the symptoms varied between 2 weeks to 104 weeks (mean: 20 weeks). The most common symptom was pain in the abdomen (n = 13), followed by jaundice (n = 10), fever, anorexia and weight loss (n = 9). Five patients (28%) had associated extra-abdominal TB which helped in preoperative diagnosis in 3 patients. Imaging demonstrated extrahepatic bile duct obstruction in the patients with jaundice and in addition picked up liver, gallbladder and pancreatic masses with or without lymphadenopathy (peripancreatic/periportal). Preoperative diagnosis was made in 4 patients and the other 14 were diagnosed after surgery. Two patients developed significant postoperative complications (pancreaticojejunostomy leak <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> intraabdominal abscess <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>) and 3 developed ATT induced hepatotoxicity. No patient died. The median follow up period was 12 months (9 – 96 months).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Tuberculosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis, particularly in young patients, with atypical signs and symptoms coming from areas where tuberculosis is endemic and preoperative tissue and/or cytological diagnosis should be attempted before labeling them as hepatobiliary and pancreatic malignancy.</p

    The Availability Heuristic, Intuitive Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Climate Change

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    Because risks are on all sides of social situations, it is not possible to be “precautionary” in general. The availability heuristic ensures that some risks stand out as particularly salient, whatever their actual magnitude. Taken together with intuitive cost-benefit balancing, the availability heuristic helps to explain differences across groups, cultures, and even nations in the assessment of precautions to reduce the risks associated with climate change. There are complex links among availability, social processes for the spreading of information, and predispositions. If the United States is to take a stronger stand against climate change, it is likely to be a result of available incidents that seem to show that climate change produces serious and tangible harm

    Second-Order Perfectionism

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    Optimal Bail and the Value of Freedom: Evidence from the Philadelphia Bail Experiment

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    Valuing Laws as Local Amenities

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    Exclusionary Amenities in Residential Communities

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    The Economics of Presidential Pardons and Commutations

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