Archive for 2017

MICHAEL WALSH ON BALTIMORE’S ACCELERATING DECLINE: The Wages of Social Justice Is Death. “In the aftermath of the Ferguson riots in Missouri and the Freddie Gray fiasco in Baltimore, the decriminalization of crime in the name of ‘social justice’ — long a goal of the cultural-Marxist Left — got fully underway. The result was exactly what anyone not fully invested in Critical Theory would have expected. . . . Baltimore, a city whose best years ended more than a century ago, is a prime example of what happens when citizens are categorized by skin color or cultural background, and then have differing standards of behavior applied to them by what should be an impartial justice system. Instead of ‘social justice,’ the outcome is social disruption, mistrust, resentment, lawlessness and, if left unchecked, anarchy and civil war. The Marxists not only know this, they desire it, which is why they press so hard for it.”

THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT DEFINED:

Or to put it another way, “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”

(Via Maggie’s Farm.)

REQUIEM FOR THE ME DECADE: I’m currently working my way through the Kindle version of Sticky Fingers, Joe Hagan’s new biography of Jann Wenner. As Thor Christensen writes in his review in the Dallas Morning News, “It’s a minor miracle this book ever saw the light of day…Against all odds, Hagan got Wenner’s full cooperation — including access to his family, friends, colleagues and 500 boxes of photos and personal documents — all with the agreement that Hagan had the ultimate say. According to the author, Wenner didn’t even read the manuscript:”

And even though he launched Rolling Stone during the left-leaning era of Vietnam protests, he eventually grew bored with ’60s idealism. “He wanted to overthrow the establishment by becoming the establishment,” Hagan writes.

Years earlier, social activist Abbie Hoffman accused Wenner of being “the Benedict Arnold of the ’60s.” By the end of Sticky Fingers, you get the feeling Wenner wouldn’t disagree.

In one of the book’s most telling passages, Hagan digs up an obscure passage in which the publisher summed up his feelings about the past, present and future of America.

“The real Seventies was a period in which the post-Sixties search for meaning was found to be pointless and premature,” Wenner wrote. The brave new world is a place “where it is important to be rich, any way you can get there, and any way you care to define it.”

Wenner, who had aspirations of movie making himself, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes, is the linchpin connecting the lurid excesses of the rock stars of the 1970s, and the lurid excesses of modern day Hollywood moguls such as Harvey Weinstein. As we seem to be at an inflection point in the culture wars, his story is well worth studying as a cautionary tale.

(Classical reference in headline.)

HOW EX-DNC CHAIR DONNA BRAZILE RUINED HILLARY’S CHANCE IN 2020:

To say the Clinton camp is furious at what they regard as betrayal doesn’t do justice to their outrage. They are attacking Brazile personally, accusing her of telling outright lies just to sell books.

Which is mighty rich when you consider the history of the Clintons.

Still, you can’t blame their distress because the stakes are huge. If it sticks, Brazile’s searing indictment of Hillary’s persona, ethics and political skills could prove fatal to her hopes for a 2020 comeback.

In fact, I believe that is the ultimate point of the book: to clear the Democratic decks for desperately needed new leadership and messages.

It’s easier said than done because Clinton’s comeback plan is not as crazy as it sounds. Until a new challenger comes along to knock her off the party pedestal, she remains the default Democrat.

No wonder the initial reaction by the DNC-MSM was to circle the wagons around Hillary when Brazile’s (admittedly self-serving) memoirs appeared.

UPDATE: Another CNN Race Problem: Employees Directed to Destroy Donna Brazile’s Credibility.

TEST DRIVE: 2017 BMW X5 M.

FEAR OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSATIONS IS KILLING WOMEN: Men with cardiac arrest more likely than women to receive CPR in public: Study.

America’s hang-ups over sexuality and gender could cost women their lives when their heart suddenly stops, a new study suggests.

Simply put, women suffering from cardiac arrest in a public setting are less likely to get lifesaving CPR from a passerby than men are, researchers reported.

“When it comes to life and death, we need to reassure the public that we’re not worrying about what seems socially inappropriate or taboo,” said senior study author Dr. Benjamin Abella. He is director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Resuscitation Science.

Well, good luck with that until the mass hysteria fades.