July 22, 2015
DISCLAIMER OF THE WEEK:
From Daily Bruin, the Disclaimer of the Week: pic.twitter.com/nG5Lu1nbqJ
— Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) July 22, 2015
Adjust journalistic style guides, Newspeak Dictionaries accordingly.
Archive for 2015
July 22, 2015
WHEN I DOVE WITH HER A FEW YEARS AGO, SHE WAS STILL RECOVERING FROM A SHARK BITE: Liz Parkinson Free Dives With Sharks: No Tank, No Cage, No Problem. It had driven the “shark proof” chain mail into her skin, leaving a sort of road-rash. But now she skips the mail entirely. Don’t think I’ll emulate her, but it’s a cool video.
July 22, 2015
THIS IS KNOWN AS ‘BAD LUCK:’
● Shot: Report: 3 million more children in poverty under Obama, 22% of all kids.
● Chaser: Obama: ‘On Almost Every Metric The Country Is Significantly Better Off.’
I think what he means is that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” but Robert Heinlein might beg to differ.
July 22, 2015
July 22, 2015
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Microwave Power Beaming May Launch Space Planes into Orbit.
July 22, 2015
TOP 10 THINGS EVERY NEW OR EXPECTING DAD MUST KNOW, from Duane Lester (“So far, I have seven children. You read that right. And yes, I said so far.”) at the new PJM Parenting section.
What else should dad know ahead of time? Leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
July 22, 2015
IN THE MAIL: From D. Scott Johnson, Gemini Gambit.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Up to 65% Off Select MEElectronics Bluetooth Headphones.
And, also today only: 75% or More Off Calvin Klein Watches.
July 22, 2015
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 804.
July 22, 2015
WE HAVE TO DESTROY THE MALL IN ORDER TO SAVE IT: As their customers switch to online shopping, suburban malls are hurting. The empty storefronts are multiplying in areas that are now “over-malled,” especially at the older shopping centers that have come to seem sterile and boring. To save them, Michael Hendrix looks back to the pioneering architect, Victor Gruen, who built the Ur-mall in the 1950s. Gruen originally intended that mall, the Southdale Center outside Minneapolis, to be part of a mixed-use development of restaurants, homes, schools and parks. Instead, it became an isolated world of stores surrounded by blank walls and parking lots — nothing but a “shopping machine,” he lamented as it was copied across the country.
To survive, the old shopping centers need to reinvent themselves, and suburban officials need to change the zoning codes that have stifled innovation for so long by making it illegal to build homes near stores and offices. Hendrix writes:
Many of these shopping centers are ideal sites for transit-oriented, mixed-use developments that include housing, retail, office, services, and public space. Infusing malls with new life means following a few basic ideas. Outward-looking shop fronts will need to be carved into malls’ blank faces. Large parking lots will have to be replaced by regularized street patterns that connect with surrounding communities. Mixed-used developments around the mall should sit flush with roads and offer residents and shoppers walkable, public spaces. Non-retail activity, such as office space and housing, will need to be integrated directly into malls.
Innovative policymakers should also consider malls as self-contained zones for experimenting with new ideas. Devens, a 4,400-acre redevelopment of a former military base on the outskirts of Boston, implemented a 75-day, one-stop permitting regime that helped turn the once-derelict space into one of Massachusetts’s most thriving commercial centers. Other cities have turned ghost malls into low-cost co-working and “maker” hubs—a boon in particular for poorer entrepreneurs who can’t afford flashy commercial space. New ideas can be tried out in old malls, trusting that the best ones will trickle out to the rest of the city.
July 22, 2015
BLUE CIVIL WAR: Hillary Clinton’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ Triangulations.
Last month, Clinton herself said “all lives matter” in a speech at a black church, arousing the ire of some progressives—though not enough to make her apologize for using the phrase, as O’Malley did after his roasting at Netroots. Clinton’s statement Tuesday indicates that she likely won’t make the mistake of saying “all lives matter” again, at least during primary season.
It might be tempting to dismiss Hillary’s triangulation on “black lives matter” as petty primary posturing with little political significance. In fact, it points to a very real division within the American left, with important implications for the future of the Democratic Party—namely, the division between economic populists who rally around the politics of class and social progressives who rally around the politics of identity.
Sanders, Hillary’s chief rival, is clearly a social liberal, but the unifying theme of his platform—which includes single payer healthcare, a Wall Street crackdown, and a 90 percent top tax rate—is economic populism. Clinton has attempted to adopt a left-wing populist tone during the primary campaign, but as a private jet-setting multimillionaire whose top donors are Wall Street banks, she cannot credibly position herself to Sanders’ left on class or economic issues. Her Facebook statement rebuking Sanders and O’Malley on race—along with other policy moves like her celebration of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision and her leftward pivot on immigration—can be seen as an effort to compensate for her populist deficiencies by emphasizing her identity politics bona fides.
Oh, goody.
July 22, 2015
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: “… a cyber attack has the potential of existential consequence.”
July 22, 2015
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July 22, 2015
WIDESPREAD TOUCHSCREEN ORDERING TO COME TO NYC FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS BY NEXT YEAR? “The only reason that we don’t see more automation now is because it’s still cheaper to use human beings. Make human beings more expensive, and, well…” And New York State, which is shooting for a $15 “fast-food wage,” is planning just that, as New York State’s run of “bad luck” continues.
July 22, 2015
WILL BAUDE: With Same-Sex Marriage Legal, Is Polygamy Next? “With same-sex marriage on the books, we can now ask whether polyamorous relationships should be next. There is a very good argument that they should.”
July 22, 2015
HOME-SCHOOLER CHAIRS TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION:
[Donna Bahorich (R)] stressed she doesn’t think home-schooling is the only way for parents and children in Texas.
“I am definitely a conservative, but I don’t think of myself of being in a particular box. It is about individual issues for me,” she said “I am convinced that a strong public education system built this country to where we are today, and we can’t let that go by the wayside.”
A sentiment that puts her one up on most of her critics.
July 22, 2015
WAIT, I KEEP HEARING THAT FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF RAPE NEVER HAPPEN: Man wrongly accused of rape finally released from prison.
Mark Weiner wanted to do a good deed by giving a young woman who was walking alone at night a ride home. Unfortunately for Weiner, that young woman was looking to get sympathy from a man she was dating. So as Weiner drove her home, the woman, Chelsea Steiniger, texted her boyfriend, Michael Mills, claiming she had been abducted for sexual purposes.
Steiniger alleged that within a span of 28 minutes, Weiner “tried to get in my pants,” wouldn’t let her out of the car at her mother’s house and then took control of her phone to send threatening texts to Steiniger’s boyfriend. In one of those messages allegedly sent by Weiner, he told Mills: “[S]hes [sic] in my house she said she was cold so IMMa [sic] warm her up.”
Weiner was a 52-year-old manager at the local Food Lion, perhaps not the type of person one would expect to text “IMMa” to someone.
Steiniger would later testify that Weiner drove past her mother’s house, incapacitated her with a chemical-soaked rag and took her to a rural property to rape her. She claimed she had escaped by jumping off a second-floor balcony, hiding in the woods and walking two miles to her mother’s house. At no time did she call the police.
Mills did call the police, who tried to contact Steiniger, But she had turned off her phone after checking her voicemail. Police then went to Steiniger’s home. She answered the door looking exactly like someone who had not just jumped out a window and trekked through the woods.
Despite this, Weiner was arrested. The prosecutor for the case, Denise Lunsford, didn’t turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense. Lunsford had spoken to two cops who said cell phone records indicated that Steiniger’s phone pinged two towers near her mother’s house but none near the house she was allegedly taken to by Weiner. Lunsford declined to allow the policemen to testify and didn’t notify the defense of their evidence.
As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick noted, no physical evidence tied Weiner to the rural house or Steiniger’s phone. Weiner was convicted based solely on Steiniger’s testimony and was sent to prison.
This is why “believe the women” is a lousy foundation for a legal system. And Denise Lunsford should lose her job for this travesty.
July 22, 2015
REVISIONISM: Remember ‘Memogate’? Makers of a Dan Rather Film Don’t.
They rushed the documents onto air, and then, when the story exploded in their face, they spent an unconscionably long time attacking the people who had pointed out the glaring issues with their source material. They clung to theories along the lines of Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian assiduously fiddling with the margin stops on his typewriter, such that they coincidentally lined up exactly with the defaults in as-yet-uninvented Microsoft Word. For two weeks, they dragged their network through a professional embarrassment of a scale that has rarely been reached again, because they didn’t do the most basic thing we’re paid for: properly vet their story before they started hurling serious, potentially election-altering accusations at a sitting president.
Okay, so that’s why Rather left CBS. But that is not, according to Rather, the story you will hear in the movie.
So it’s a sanitized airbrushing. Worthy of Dan Rather himself.
July 22, 2015
WISCONSIN JOHN DOE FOLLOWUP: Erwin Chemerinsky, Stephen Salzburg, and I have an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Rindfleisch case, which is about Fourth Amendment limits to government email trawling.
July 22, 2015
WELL, WHEN YOU SPEND DECADES BUILDING UP A RECORD AS A DUMB, OVERBEARING HACK, YEAH: Reputation Can Be Tough to Reverse; Just Ask Sheila Jackson Lee.
The latest dust-up centered on Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has several hallmarks of her form — behaving in ways the vast majority of members of Congress intuitively know to avoid.
She got up in somebody’s business in a very public place. She sought to dominate a situation where her very presence was untoward. And she asserted her titular authority in the pursuit of special treatment at a time when such a power play seemed wholly inappropriate.
But there’s one way in which the altercation last month between Houston’s Democratic congresswoman and the Capitol Police deviated significantly from her reputation: She was coming to the defense of an aide, not castigating one.
According to detailed contemporaneous notes taken by witnesses and provided to CQ Roll Call, Jackson Lee said this upon arriving at the scene of a traffic accident on the Hill: “What happened? This is ludicrous. I am tired of Capitol Police harassing me and my staff. Who do I talk to about this?”
The police report outlines what happened as not at all complicated, with no apparent need for congressional intervention. At 1:50 p.m. on June 17, a gray Nissan SUV backed away from a vehicle barricade between the Cannon and Longworth buildings, at the intersection of New Jersey and Independence avenues, and the left side of the car struck Officer Terry Absher on his right side. No injuries were reported at the scene, and no citations were issued.
What made the situation fraught was that the driver was Glenn Rushing, whose 52 months on the job makes him by far the longest serving chief of staff in the congresswoman’s 11 terms in office, where the rapid pace of turnover became legend long ago. (The congresswoman had 11 different chiefs, for example, in the decade before she hired Rushing, who took the position after a series of congressional campaign committee posts and a brief run at lobbying.)
Unsatisfied with Absher’s “I’m alright” response to her inquiry about his condition, Jackson Lee declared, “You don’t look hurt. Where are you hurt?” and then violated one of the first rules of propriety in dealing with the police: She put her hands on the officer to assess his condition for herself.
He should sue for sexual assault. It was an unconsented touching. Though she does seem atypically concerned with Mr. Rushing’s wellbeing.
July 22, 2015
AFTER NEARLY 4 YEARS IN HANDS OF IRAN, OBAMA FINALLY SAYS U.S. HOSTAGE’S NAME:
Next month, the family of a Marine veteran will mark the grim milestone of his fourth year held by Iran — barring a miraculous change of heart by a regime that originally sentenced him to death for conspiracy to commit espionage.
Today brought another milestone in the tragic case of Amir Hekmati: President Obama finally, for the first time, said his name in public.
The family had been begging the White House just to say Amir’s name.
Mr. Obama’s two terms really are a case study in how a president can make Jimmy Carter look competent by comparison, aren’t they?
July 22, 2015
July 22, 2015
#TEAMWOODCHIPPER: Rand Paul puts tax code in woodchipper.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) knows what he wants to do the tax code if he becomes president: put it through a wood chipper.
Paul’s campaign released a video Tuesday that shows the GOP presidential candidate bashing the complexities of the tax code and finding various ways to “kill it.”
As a guitar version of the “Star Spangled Banner” plays, Paul feeds printed pages of the tax code into a wood chipper, slashes the pages with a chainsaw and lights the paper on fire.
“Hey, I’m Rand Paul and I’m trying to kill the tax code, all 70,000 pages of it,” Paul says at the start of the video, wearing a t-shirt that reads “Detroit Republican.”
“If you want to know more about my plan to have a one-page tax code, a one-page tax return, a flat tax of 14.5 percent, go to RandPaul.com.”
His website currently directs to a splash page that asks supporters to sign up and vote on how they want to kill the code.
Enjoy.
July 22, 2015
TIM COOK HAS NOT PERFORMED AS WELL AS HOPED: Apple shares plummet after lower than expected iPhone sales. The watch is a product that appeals mostly to hipster doofuses, the iPhone is great, but improvements have been incremental and there’s stiff competition from Samsung, etc., and there’s nothing new or exciting. (A gold MacBook?) Cook has also been expressly political in a way Steve Jobs wasn’t.
July 22, 2015
WASHINGTON POST: POLLS SHOW A SETUP FOR A BACKLASH. Liberals have won a series of victories on social issues. Most Americans aren’t thrilled about it. “Liberals’ have won a string of victories on gay marriage and health care reform this year, but a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds a large majority of Americans are unhappy with where the nation is headed on social issues. Sixty three percent of people say they are uncomfortable with the country’s overall direction on social issues these days; four in 10 feel ‘strongly’ uncomfortable about the nation’s changes. . . . What appeared to be overwhelming wins for President Obama in June and July are not resonating with his base quite as soundly as may have been expected. As Republican and Democratic presidential candidates look to the key issues in the 2016 election, the role of the wealth gap is a far more unifying issue than changing social issues. Nearly 7 in 10 say the economic system favors the wealthy, something Democrats and Republicans agree upon.”
July 22, 2015
HOW A DEFECTOR FROM NORTH KOREA REALIZED ALMOST EVERYTHING SHE LEARNED ABOUT HER COUNTRY WAS A LIE:
The woman was raised in a relatively privileged manner, a middle-class existence because of her stepfather’s job with the North Korean military, but even so she attended her first public execution at the age of seven — a stark lesson in obedience.
Seeing a man hanged under a railway bridge — one of many such public executions that are mandatory for people to see, she says — was only one of the grotesque means of control the regime waged against its citizens.
As in many authoritarian countries, for example, Lee’s family displayed portraits of the ruling family in their home, first Great Leader Kim Il-sung, then his son and heir Dear Leader Kim Jong-il and, later, his son and heir Kim Jong-un. The government gave them a special cloth for cleaning the portraits and nothing else. The pictures had to be the most prominent in any room, hung the highest, perfectly aligned and on a wall containing no other adornment.
Once a month, Lee says, officials wearing white gloves would visit every house in her neighbourhood to inspect the portraits. If one was dusty or improperly hung, the family would be punished. It was with the portraits, one under each arm, that her stepfather emerged — blackened and coughing — after running back into their burning house, risking his life for their preservation.
Read the whole thing.
July 22, 2015
LIKE MANY MODERN INSTITUTIONS, BANKS ARE BASED ON TRUST THAT WAS BUILT UP OVER GENERATIONS, BUT THAT CAN BE SQUANDERED IN AN EYEBLINK: Greeks Laugh As Bankers Beg Depositors To Return Money.
July 21, 2015
IS AROUND 30 the best age to marry?
July 21, 2015
NEW VIDEO HAS KIRSTEN POWERS unhappy with Planned Parenthood.
July 21, 2015
HILLARY CLINTON channels Dick Nixon.
July 21, 2015
HIS MOTIVATION: A MYSTERY! British charge Muslim man in plot against U.S. military, trying to join ISIS.
July 21, 2015
I THINK ONE OF MY GUESTBLOGGERS MENTIONED THIS WHILE I WAS ON VACATION, but here’s the latest: Judge dismisses lawsuit against Knoxville ammo company.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Knoxville ammunition company in connection with the 2012 Aurora, Colo., theater shooting and ordered plaintiffs to pay the company’s court costs.
Last week a jury convicted James Holmes of carrying out the attack.
Federal Judge Richard P. Matsch dismissed the case against Lucky Gunner LLC and other defendants and ordered that the plaintiffs pay Lucky Gunner legal costs of about $111,971.00. . . .
The suit, which was also supported by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, did not seek monetary damages, but demanded a change in some of the business practices of the defendant companies.
In his order to dismiss the case Matsch said the suit was filed for propaganda purposes.
“It is apparent that this case was filed to pursue the political purposes of the Brady Center and, given the failure to present any cognizable legal claim, bringing these defendants into the Colorado court where the prosecution of James Holmes was proceeding appears to be more of an opportunity to propagandize the public and stigmatize the defendants than to obtain a court order,” the judge’s order said.
The company has said it will donate the recovered legal fees to gun-rights organizations.
The company, LuckyGunner.com, was founded by a couple of my former law students. If you’re in the market for ammunition, you ought to give them a chance.
July 21, 2015
ROBBY SOAVE: Coastal Carolina University Thinks All Drunk Sex Is Rape: Requires Sobriety, Enthusiasm. “Colleges don’t understand consent.”
I hate the discrimination against Dionysexuals.
July 21, 2015
YES, RICH PEOPLE ON THE RIGHT need to put more money into pop culture, and less into the hands of political consultants.
July 21, 2015
SOMETIMES I HEAR PEOPLE SAY THE TEA PARTY LOST AND OBAMA WON. NOT EXACTLY.
After two presidential victories, Mr. Obama presides over a Democratic Party that has lost 13 seats in the U.S. Senate and 69 in the House during his tenure, a net loss unmatched by any modern U.S. president.
Democrats have also lost 11 governorships, four state attorneys general, 910 legislative seats, as well as the majorities in 30 state legislative chambers. In 23 states, Republicans control the governor’s office and the legislature; Democrats, only seven.
Such losses help shape the future: An ousted state lawmaker doesn’t run for Congress; a failed attorney general candidate loses a shot at the governor’s office. As a result, the flow of fresh political talent rising to statewide and national prominence in the years ahead won’t be as robust as Democrats hope.
The Tea Party plan was always to capture the GOP from within, and to expand at the lower levels first. That’s easier to do, especially because — and here’s a lesson for big GOP donors, who should be funding alternative media instead of political consultants — much of the Dems’ lead in national elections comes from media dominance.
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
WHY LONELY PEOPLE STAY LONELY: “Lonely people do understand social skills, and often outperform the non-lonely when asked to demonstrate that understanding. It’s just that when they’re in situations when they need those skills the most, they choke.”
July 21, 2015
FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: “I’m so old, I remember when ‘American hostages in Iran’ was considered such a journalistic priority that they invented an entire long running, critically acclaimed, class TV show to cover the story — and that in turn spawned a whole new broadcasting genre.”
Today’s MSM? Attack the fellow journalist who dares point out that there are still hostages in Iran.
RELATED: Iran: Of Course We’ll Continue to Support Terrorists!
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
JAZZ SHAW: How #BlackLivesMatter may wind up sinking the Democrats. “This is the perilous pitfall of allowing a single issue contingent to take control of the process with what can easily be perceived as a threatening, potentially destructive agenda. If you want to see how well this plays out in a general election, just keep feeding into stories where the New Black Panthers are showing up. The spectacle involving O’Malley and Sanders at Netroots Nation was a disaster to be sure, but not for the imaginary electoral hopes of those two third tier candidates. It’s a disaster in waiting for the entire progressive movement, and I’m not enough of a partisan to take any joy in the prospect of what that might portend out in the streets even if it means a conservative victory at the ballot box.”
July 21, 2015
MEGAN MCARDLE: Policing Reddit Could Kill Reddit.
July 21, 2015
ROGER SIMON ON TRUMP AS RORSCHACH TEST.
July 21, 2015
ROGER SIMON: Trump as Rorschach Test.
July 21, 2015
NEWS YOU CAN USE: All about vitamin expiration dates.
July 21, 2015
#GAMERGATE GETS THE LAST LAUGH AT GAWKER: “In war, your allies are whoever is fighting your enemies, and the motives of your allies matter far less than their skill in battle. Say what you will about #GamerGate, they are skilled and determined fighters,” Stacy McCain writes:
“Never underestimate your enemy,” is a maxim of military strategy. Before you decide to go to war on the Internet, first consider the fate of Max Read, who was riding high as editor of Gawker until he decided that insulting #GamerGate was a smart move. He chose poorly.
Read the whole thing.
July 21, 2015
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: She Blew $90K Her Grandparents Gave Her for College–And Then Blamed Her Parents.
July 21, 2015
CBS’S CHARLIE ROSE PRETENDS TO BE SHOCKED WHEN LINDSEY GRAHAM COMPARES OBAMA TO NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN OVER IRAN DEAL: I’m not sure which is more “shocking:” that Rose needs a fainting couch after hearing Graham’s comparison. Or, that on the eve of the 2008 election, Rose was pretending “I don’t know what Barack Obama’s worldview is.” Or that such a comparison is actually insulting to Chamberlain. Yes, “The British Prime Minister got the biggest issue of the day wrong. But no one ever doubted that he loved his country,” as Mark Steyn wrote earlier this year:
So please don’t insult Neville Chamberlain by comparing him to Obama. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, because conspiracies are generally a comforting illusion: the real problem with Obama is that the citizens of the global superpower twice elected him to office. Yet one way to look at the current “leader of the free world” is this: If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?
Over to you, Charlie.
RELATED: And speaking of Graham, Donald Trump gave out his cell phone number on live TV. As Allahpundit quips, “Must be a new tactic he’s trying out. If he was intent on doxxing every famous person who’s called him a jackass, as Graham did last night on CNN, he would have started selling maps to Jon Stewart’s house years ago.”
And as Bill Hobbs adds on Twitter:
By giving out Graham's private phone number, Trump showed us how he'd treat personal info of opponents as president. #DumpTrump
— Bill Hobbs (@billhobbs) July 21, 2015
Arguably, that wasn’t Trump’s worst gaffe today.
July 21, 2015
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Let me just figure out what others are getting, and if this is in the ballpark, then it’s fine, if it’s still low, then we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini.”
As Jim Geraghty writes, “A week after the Center for Medical Progress’s video charging Planned Parenthood with trafficking in the remains of aborted children, CMP is out with a new video — and it’s equally hard to stomach.”
July 21, 2015
WHAT HAPPENS when you talk about salaries at Google.
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
OBAMA FINALLY ORDERS FLAGS FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF FOR CHATTANOOGA VICTIMS: As Iowahawk tweets:
One week you're shaming people for not lowering a flag, the next you're being shamed into it yourself.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 21, 2015
RELATED:
Gay marriage ruling? White House in rainbow colors within hours. 4 murdered Marines & a murdered sailor? 5 days to lower the flag. Nice.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
THE DAY GAWKER TORE ITSELF APART, from Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast, who also formerly worked for Condé Nast, whose CFO’s life was upended by Gawker last week. Grove writes, “When the history of Gawker Media is someday recorded—and perhaps presented as a case study in flawed judgment at whatever journalism schools might still exist—the events of July 20, 2015 will likely be memorialized as the Monday Morning Massacre:”
At a meeting at the office today, Monday, according to New York magazine, Craggs and Read spoke about their reasons for leaving, which was to protect “a sacred principle,” according to a source in the room.
Craggs said that the stakes were large: Denton wanted to turn Gawker into a “tamer Vox.”
The meltdown over Thursday’s article has become his “Reichstag fire,” Craggs told staffers. Another source told New York magazine, by that Craggs meant “this was the pretext by which he can Vox-ify Gawker.”
Another source told the magazine, “Nick has decided Gawker should be Vox but a little edgier.”
And the reverse could also come to pass:
Vox's Chris Ziegler drives a billboard on a truck past the burning offices of Gawker Media, offering jobs: https://t.co/jkT1NLKqQx
— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) July 20, 2015
gawker media peeps: many of you are awesome and if you're having a crappy day we'd love to talk to you. DM me or http://t.co/tdaPLh6gB5
— Chris Ziegler (@zpower) July 20, 2015
As Cathy Young wrote on Monday at Real Clear Politics, Gawker may be a son of a bitch, but “for the left, Gawker was ‘our son of a bitch.’”
RELATED: Tim Blair spots Gawker’s “Boss Bewildered.”
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
DO WOMEN KNOW ABOUT SHRINKAGE? “Shrinkage” problem lands Apple in legal hot water with retail workers.
July 21, 2015
MORE ON THE HOSTILE EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT AT AMHERST, FROM ASHE SCHOW: University refuses to listen to expelled student who may be innocent. “It reflects a bias in schools where there is no such thing as evidence for accused students. Evidence that would cast doubt on an accuser’s story is reframed to work in their favor; meanwhile, similar evidence against the accused is taken at face value.”
July 21, 2015
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Nanowires Boost Hydrogen Production from Sunlight Tenfold.
July 21, 2015
SPACE: Elon Musk: Failed Strut Caused SpaceX’s ISS Rocket Disaster. Rockets blow up, especially when they’re new. It’s important to learn when they do.
July 21, 2015
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: ‘Going To Law School Is Becoming A Thing Again.’ I certainly hope so. . .
July 21, 2015
MATT YGLESIAS HAS HIS KNICKERS IN A TWIST ABOUT THIS KEVIN WILLIAMSON COLUMN ON BERNIE SANDERS: Bernie’s Strange Brew Of Nationalism And Socialism. “Like most of these advocates of ‘economic patriotism’ (Barack Obama’s once-favored phrase) Bernie worries a great deal about trade with brown people — Asians, Latin Americans — but has never, so far as public records show, made so much as a peep about our very large trade deficit with Sweden, which as a share of bilateral trade volume is not much different from our trade deficit with China, or about the size of our trade deficit with Canada, our largest trading partner. Sanders doesn’t rail about the Canadians and Germans stealing our jobs — his ire is reserved almost exclusively for the Chinese and the Latin American.” And the crowds he draws are overwhelmingly white. . . .
July 21, 2015
IF YOU LOVE DATA AND WORDS, the following job description may be of interest and perhaps we should talk. Contact [email protected]
DATA EDITOR JOB DESCRIPTION:
Must be able to do both summary statistics and deep-dive analyses using Excel, Access or other software programs to analyze large official databases such as FEC contributions, FBI Uniform Crime Reports data and CMS Excluded Doctors in search of news at the Daily Caller News Foundation. Should also be able to scrape/clean/reformat documents and datasets, and be comfortable graphically communicating data-driven stories using D3 or Tableau. Knowledge of national politics and recent history required. BIG plus for candidates with web programming capabilities. Salary commensurate with experience.
July 21, 2015
RICHARD EPSTEIN: Obama’s Disastrous Iran Deal.
July 21, 2015
IN THE MAIL: From Adam Freedman, A Less Perfect Union: The Case for States’ Rights.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, BH50010, $99.99 (50% off).
And, also today only: Up to 60% Off Select Logitech Accessories.
July 21, 2015
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 803.
July 21, 2015
WHY DOES DE BLASIO HATE THE POOR? Uber Serves the Poor by Going Where Taxis Don’t.
People talk about the ride-sharing service as if it’s mostly a boon for rich people, who have conspired with the titans of Silicon Valley to take food out of the mouths of hardworking taxi drivers. And sure, what’s good for Uber is bad for taxi drivers — or at least, bad for the owners of taxi medallions. But the assumption that the beneficiaries are rich is a little strange.
As I noted in the very first article I ever wrote about the company, the primary appeal of Uber for me has never been avoiding taxis, or even getting a cheaper fare. If I’m in an area where it’s easy to catch a street hail, I’ll usually just stick my arm out like the old-fashioned girl I am. No, the biggest benefit I’ve always seen is that Uber allowed you to catch a ride from places where taxis are scarce.
Five years ago, when we moved in, my neighborhood in Washington was one of those places. I almost never saw available taxis near us. For taxi drivers, time is money — any time they’re not driving someone around, they are burning gas looking for a fare. So no wonder drivers would rather head downtown, where there were lots of people looking for taxis, than cruise a larger area for the few fares that might need a ride. Street hailing simply isn’t efficient without a dense population of taxi riders. And while you could theoretically call a taxi to your house, this was a highly unreliable means of transportation. More than once, I have had to press my retired mother into emergency service for a ride to the airport, because my car simply never showed up.
I’ve always thought that in terms of letting you do something you couldn’t do before, Uber provides the biggest benefit to people who live in lower-income neighborhoods, not in rich ones. That’s where dispatch is often unreliable, where street hails are rare, and where many residents don’t have a car.
But Uber offers insufficient opportunities for graft. Negotiating the creation of those opportunities is what the controversy over Uber is really about.
July 21, 2015
HOSTILE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: Student Expelled for Rape Has Evidence He Was the Victim. Amherst Refuses to Review It.
July 21, 2015
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July 21, 2015
FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Michael Walsh writes that when America was attacked by Imperial Japan at Pearl Harbor, FDR vowed that “we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” In telling contrast, Walsh writes, “in response to the latest Muslim atrocity, President Obama went on vacation to New York City to fund-raise and for some ‘down time’ with his daughters. Oh yes, and the Empire State Building was lit up Muslim green to ‘celebrate’ the end of Ramadan.”
What’s the linchpin that caused this fundamental transformation of America? Via an excerpt from his new book The Devil’s Pleasure Palace, Michael blames the far left Frankfurt School, which fled National Socialism in Germany and established a foothold for international socialism in America.
Read the whole thing.
July 21, 2015
WHY A&P, AMERICA’S FIRST NATIONAL SUPERMARKET CHAIN JUST FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY, AGAIN: (Spoiler Alert: Unions).
July 21, 2015
CHANGE: Rand Paul readying Hill push for guns on military bases and in recruiting stations.
Well, we can’t rely on civilian volunteers protecting them forever.
Plus, Rand Paul on immigration from Muslim countries: “If a third of [a country’s] population is in civil war, and saying ‘death to America,’ maybe we should ask them a few more questions before they visit. Same goes for student visas.”
July 21, 2015
ASHE SCHOW: University updates policy stating that students with disabilities cannot consent to sex.
Until late last Thursday, Armstrong State University’s sexual misconduct policy stated that students with disabilities couldn’t consent to sexual activity, making any such activity rape.
The policy had been in effect since Sep. 8, 2014, but on Thursday — following questions from the Washington Examiner — the university updated its policy, calling the original wording an error.
Original policy: “In addition, persons under the age of 16 and persons who have a physical and/or mental impairment are unable to give consent.”
Updated policy: “In addition, persons under the age of 16 and persons who have a physical or mental impairment and are unable to communicate are unable to give consent.” (Changes in bold.) . . .
The original policy indicated that physically disabled students — including those who were fully able to participate in college classes — were unable ever to consent to sexual activity, an absurd notion.
The original policy was first brought to light by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s Samantha Harris in a tweet.
Thankfully the policy has been changed, so students with disabilities attending the university for the upcoming school year will not be treated differently.
Could have been an ADA suit. I wonder how many other universities are similarly vulnerable?
July 21, 2015
CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT A PRIORITY: IRS Claims It Has No Money To Answer Its Phones, Yet Can Pay Millions To Hire Private Lawyers.
July 21, 2015
MICROAGGRESSION, MACRO-CRAZY: “The University of California keeps upping the ante in its search for imaginary bias,” Heather Mac Donald writes at City Journal:
The ultimate question raised by the seminar is: Are there any adults left on campus, at least in administrative offices? And the answer is: no. An adult administrator would realize that he is presiding over the most tolerant, well-meaning, and opportunity-filled community in human history. He would understand that the claim that females and minorities are the victims of discrimination on campuses is sheer fiction. He would know that teaching students to go around ferreting out imaginary slights does them a disservice.
But not from the campus administrators’ point of view, who are happy and eager to manufacture an endless supply of angry new young leftists.
RELATED: “Western Lit, shot to death by ‘trigger warnings.’”
Ray Bradbury was just slightly off – no reason to burn books, when society is too afraid to even open them.
July 21, 2015
STEPHEN L. CARTER: Nuke Deal Gives Iran Room to Cheat. “I am concerned about what happens if at the conclusion of a dispute about an inspection, Iran will not back down. My analysis of the 159-page agreement says: probably nothing.” If by probably, you mean damn-near certainly, yeah.
July 21, 2015
BREAKING NEWS FROM 1861, 1913, 1942, and 1963: Martin O’Malley learns that Democrat Party activists don’t believe all lives matter.
RELATED:
Martin O’Malley: Climate Change Created ISIS: http://t.co/b8uhkOPJQ3 pic.twitter.com/WtwjRVTfAN
— Fox Nation (@foxnation) July 20, 2015
So no plans for a private campaign jet, huh?
July 21, 2015
THE HILL: White House on defense after Security Council vote on Iran.
The Obama administration was forced to play defense on Monday after lawmakers in both parties criticized its decision to let the United Nations — not Congress — have the first say on the Iran nuclear deal.
Republicans pounced on the decision following the 15-0 U.N. Security Council vote, arguing the White House was giving short shrift to congressional assent in a rush to build international support for the agreement.
The White House appeared to hope that the U.N. vote would build pressure on Congress to back the deal, but the strategy risked backfiring, with some Democrats scolding the administration for the decision.
They deserve more than scolding.
July 21, 2015
WE’VE FOUND SOMETHING SCARIER THAN A GIANT DISEMBODIED BERNIE SANDERS HEAD WITH ROBIN HOOD HAT: Behold, the giant papier-mâché Bernie puppet!
You know the socialism just got real the moment the giant papier-mâché puppets make their cameo appearance.
July 21, 2015
A CASE STUDY IN HOW MEDIA PROTECT HILLARY CLINTON: Hillary Clinton’s on board with strangling the burgeoning gig economy, such as Uber. You wouldn’t know that by reading news reports on that very topic, though.
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
WHY DOES DE BLASIO HATE WOMEN? Mayor De Blasio, Don’t Set Women Back By Shackling Uber: Politicians should welcome Uber, a creative ride-sharing service that enables women to be more safe and self-reliant.
Uber is the best thing to happen to women since the invention of birth control. It allows us to leave when we want without relying on a man to get us home. To understand how empowering this notion is, de Blasio might consider walking in our red stilettos one Saturday night.
Of course, not every woman needs an app to escape a bad date, but Uber provides a safety net for those that do. With Uber, women don’t need a permission slip to leave the dinner table. We don’t need to stay for “one more drink,” and we certainly don’t need to deal with the anxiety of hailing for a cab that might never come. No. With Uber, we just click a button, and our car arrives.
Politicians should welcome this creative service that enables women to be more safe and self-reliant—not stand in its way.
They don’t want you self-reliant. They want you dependent.
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: In Love And In Debt: How Student Loans Put Pressure On Young Couples.
Disproportionate student debt can make that already-challenging conversation all the more complicated. A survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling found that 57 percent of respondents had reservations about being in a relationship with someone with a large amount of debt, with 37 percent saying that they’d wait to get married until the debts were repaid, and slightly more—46 percent—saying they’d be open to getting married and jointly paying off the debt.
Those reservations result in real—and documented—difficulties for people with large amounts of debt when it comes to getting married. Dora Gicheva, an assistant professor in economics at the University of North Carolina, studies how debt affects education and relationships. She recently published a study on how people with large debt burdens fare when trying to settle down.
“There are a couple of previous economic studies that find student loans to affect other areas of graduates’ lives, for example their career choices, so it seemed reasonable to expect marriage decisions to be affected as well,” says Gicheva. Her research found a negative relationship: $10,000 of student-loan debt decreased the probability of marriage by 3 to 4 percent, with the effect diminishing with age for women but not men.
While there’s little legal ramification of marrying someone with a massive amount of student-loan debt (debt incurred before marriage is not joint debt), Karen Carr, a certified financial planner who teaches and advises at the Society of Grownups, says that differing amounts of loans can be stressful for couples—particularly if the amounts are extreme.
Indeed.
July 21, 2015
FEAR AND LOATHING AT NETROOTS NATION: “Look, our government doesn’t treat people equally. Our police don’t. Our courts don’t. Our civil servants don’t. But equal treatment for everyone has to be our goal. O’Malley was ready to talk about solutions, yet his party’s vanguard won’t let him. They make him apologize for trying,” David Marcus writes at the Federalist, adding a futile reminder to the professional left in with a Hunter-esque “dig it,” that “mansplaining privilege theory to some young woman who is on your team is not going to create the supportive atmosphere in the room that wins elections.”
July 20, 2015
THE MEDIA ANSWER IS, ONLY IF THEY’RE A REPUBLICAN. DUH. Heather Havrilesky: Are Broken Marriage Vows Grounds for Blowing Up Someone’s Life?
July 20, 2015
IT’S ABOUT TIME: Enough! Entire Entertainment Industry Says ‘No More’ to Social Justice Warriors. They’re poisonous, tedious, and unprofitable.
July 20, 2015
AT AMAZON: Best books of the month.
July 20, 2015
A READER MESSAGES “DID YOU SEE GAWKER ON THIS? ME NEITHER:” Top Obama Donor Charged With Sodomizing Teenage Boy, Judge Gives Him Some Bad News…
July 20, 2015
NOT ALL LIVES MATTER: Obama’s silence on Kathryn Steinle killing is deafening. Note that this WaPo column from Marc Thiessen is a week old, and Obama still hasn’t said anything.
July 20, 2015
KURT SCHLICHTER: The Real Reason Our Troops at Chattanooga Were Unarmed Is Absolutely Infuriating.
So, the idea that military leaders have their hands tied is nonsense – the governing directives and regulations expressly allow senior leaders to arm their troops when there is a threat. And there is a threat – as we saw in Chattanooga, as we saw at Fort Hood. These freaks are not picking military personnel at random. They are continuing the radical Islamic war against America here on our soil, and our warriors remain stubbornly disarmed and defenseless.
So why would a commander not order troops who have qualified on their M9 pistols to draw sidearms and ammo and carry them during their duties, at least until this crisis passes? Perhaps their discretion has been withdrawn from higher command – that’s possible, especially with this toxic administration. But more likely it’s because of fear.
It’s the fear that some solider is going to have an “incident” carrying a weapon, and that that incident is going to lead to questions, and in an environment where the Armed Forces are shrinking, the mention of an incident on an officer’s annual evaluation report can mean the difference between a career and a pink slip. It’s the same zero defects mentality that is keeping our military leadership from being an audacious, aggressive band of warriors and morphing it instead into a timid, passive pack of timeservers.
Yeah, troops do dumb things sometimes. During my 27 years leading soldiers, I was consistently amazed by their creativity both in solving problems and in getting into trouble. But while real issues are rare – negligent discharges, lost weapons – they do happen. I dealt with them myself. But that risk is the price of doing business, and when our men and women are being shot down in the street without even a chance to defend themselves, it’s not too high a price to pay.
You train your troops and then you trust them. You punish the knucklehead who screwed up and then you drive on. You don’t turn everyone in uniform into a sitting duck because you don’t want to have to explain to the two-star why Private Snuffy misplaced his Beretta.
In a politicized military, under a politicized administration, this is how things work. Luckily, American civilians are up to the job of defending our military.
UPDATE: Citizen Militia stands guard in front of Tyler military recruiting offices.
Also: ARMED CITIZENS IN TN STAND UP TO GOVERNOR AND GUARD RECRUITING FACILITY.
Plus: Armed volunteers guard Colerain Twp. recruitment center.
Doing the jobs American soldiers and Marines aren’t allowed to do.
July 20, 2015
THE ARROGANCE OF OFFICE: Mayor De Blasio To Uber: “I Don’t Debate With Private Corporations.”
July 20, 2015
MORE ON THE UVA DEBACLE: Rolling Stone responds to lawsuit by university dean defamed in article.
Perhaps even more chilling is the fact that Rolling Stone editors cut important disclosures from the final article. Disclosures like the fact that the sociopathic statement from one of Jackie’s friends about not wanting to participate in the article due to fraternity loyalty actually came from Jackie. Erdely had written that section to make it clear that she had not spoken to the friend and that Jackie had told her that’s what he said. Her editors reworded the section to make it seem as though Rolling Stone had actually spoken to him.
There’s also the fact that Erdely claimed she had doubts about the veracity of the story shortly after it was published, but continued to appear on news programs claiming it was accurate.
Eramo alleged in her lawsuit that the statements made about her were not the result of an innocent mistake. “They were the result of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about the victimization of women on American college campuses, and a malicious publisher who was more concerned about selling magazines to boost the economic bottom line for its faltering magazine, than they were about discovering the truth or actual facts,” Eramo’s lawsuit states.
Among the claims in the Rolling Stone article was a quote from Eramo calling the university that employs her a “rape school.”
Eramo’s attorney, Libby Locke, responded to Rolling Stone in a statement to the Washington Post.
“It is unfortunate, however, that Rolling Stone continues to deny wrongdoing and seeks to avoid all responsibility for their malicious and reckless journalism that has caused Dean Eramo and the entire U.Va. community so much harm,” she said.
Part of that denial of wrongdoing comes from the fact that neither Erdely nor her editors nor the fact-checkers have been fired, or even reprimanded publicly, for their involvement.
This suggests that Rolling Stone doesn’t want them talking.
July 20, 2015
July 20, 2015
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MITT ROMNEY — WELL, OKAY, NO, NOBODY PREDICTED THIS: Black Mississippi flag supporter dies in car crash after argument: Anthony Hervey was killed when his car spun out of control after an argument with a group of black men in another car.
July 20, 2015
ROGER SIMON: Jeb Bungles On Iran.
July 20, 2015
MILO YIANNOPOULOS: Dear Feminists, I’m Sorry, I Was Wrong, I Take It All Back.
July 20, 2015
“SOCIAL JUSTICE” LOOKS A LOT LIKE A CANCER: Progressive Fascists Devour Tim Hunt, and Themselves: A “baying lynch mob” feasts on a politically incorrect joke by one of the world’s treasured minds.
July 20, 2015
RETHINKING EXERCISE as a source of immediate rewards. I know I’ll feel better after exercise, but when you’re just starting an exercise program after a period of inactivity (1) you don’t know that; and (2) it’s often not true, as you’re much more prone to soreness and fatigue at the beginning.
July 20, 2015
ON THE ONE HAND, IT’S BAD FOR SOCIETY. ON THE OTHER, IT PROVIDES SUPERB OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAFT: The Follies Of Income Redistribution.
July 20, 2015
LAST WEEK, THE INTERNET OUTRAGE MACHINE ATE ITSELF: “The fact that Gawker was seen as acceptable in polite liberal society until now says a lot about the climate on the cultural left,” Cathy Young writes at Real Clear Politics on “Gawker & the Left’s Selective Outrage:”
So why do people like [recently fired ex-staffer Adam Weinstein] think those were the good days when Gawker was a “special” place to work?
The obvious answer is: for the left, Gawker was “our son of a bitch.”
Read the whole thing.
July 20, 2015
THE SECRET WORLD OF RUSSIA’S COLD WAR MAPS:
The maps were part of one of the most ambitious cartographic enterprises ever undertaken. During the Cold War, the Soviet military mapped the entire world, parts of it down to the level of individual buildings. The Soviet maps of US and European cities have details that aren’t on domestic maps made around the same time, things like the precise width of roads, the load-bearing capacity of bridges, and the types of factories. They’re the kinds of things that would come in handy if you’re planning a tank invasion. Or an occupation. Things that would be virtually impossible to find out without eyes on the ground.
They had spies everywhere. Still do.