Megan McArdle (Jane Galt) disagree on the probability that Rudy Giuliani put the emergency command center in the World Trade Center in order to have a convenient love nest. But we agree that he’s out of his ever-loving mind.
I’m happy to give Megan McArdle (“Jane Galt”) the last word on the question of whether Rudy Giuliani’s bad decision to put the emergency command center for New York City in the World Trade Center — which meant there was no operational emergency command center on 9/11 — was motivated by his desire to have a convenient place to carry on an illicit love affair.
I’m happy to do so, not merely because of my deep and abiding commitment to civility and good manners, but because I completely agree with what she says:
Rudy is craaaaaaaaazy … Rudy was perfectly capable of getting crazy, stupid ideas, and then forcing them on everyone else, when there was absolutely no sex involved.
Now let us all hold hands together, sing a rousing chorus of “Kumbaya,” and figure out how to get the national press to report on “Craaaaaaaazy Rudy” rather than “America’s Mayor.”
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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