5-2-15 Hodgepodge

The Only Surprise ...

... was how long it took for something like this to happen:

The decision to ban the Uber cab calling service was taken by the Court of Lisbon which accepted an injunction filed by Antral, the road carriers association.

The first consequence of the decision of the court is the mandatory closure of the Uber website for the Portuguese market and of its mobile phone app.

Carlos Ramos, president of the Portuguese Taxi Federation, considers that this is an "important decision" that stamps out "Uber's illegal activity in Portugal."

Potentially, it will be much more interesting to see what happens next.

Weekend Reading

"Good mental health starts with identifying and correcting contradictions that we don't realize we're holding on to." -- Michael Hurd, in "How Logic Can Help With Stress " at The Delaware Wave

"If this sounds familiar, here are three suggestions that might help resolve arguments over spending and/or saving money..." -- Michael Hurd, in "Love, Dollars and Sense" at The Delaware Coast Press

"[I]t is the libertarian movement itself, with its embrace of 'non-interventionism,' that contradicts the ideal of individual liberty." -- Peter Schwartz, in "Libertarianism vs. Liberty" at The Huffington Post

"[A]ny discussion of 'perverse incentives' in private medicine would be incomplete without discussing similar 'perverse incentives' in socialized health systems, where administrators are rewarded based on cost control and meeting government performance metrics." -- Paul Hsieh, in "Perverse Incentives and VA Health Scandals" at Forbes

Bending Until Broken

Aside from being indifferent to what other people choose to do with their own bodies, I disagree with much else of what Andrew Klavan says in a recent column. With that out of the way, I appreciated the following comment regarding the hubbub about Bruce Jenner's sexual reassignment:

[F]eminism depends on the assumption that there is no inherent difference between men and women and that therefore any inequality in their lives must be the product of bigotry and should be corrected by law. But if there is no inherent difference between men and women, what can it possibly mean to be transgender?

As with everything else, it is to mean whatever leftists feel like it should mean.

-- CAV