ED DRISCOLL: How the Media Sausage Gets Made. “Obama may be running a postmodern campaign, but the MSM got there long before he did. No wonder both the president and his media are so comfortable with each other — not the least of which, when it concerns the Middle East.”
Archive for 2012
January 3, 2012
DON SURBER: Obama Runs Scared. “So, the president is so desperate for attention that he acts as if he cannot afford to allow the Republicans to own even one news cycle. Who knows what antics he will have during the Republican National Convention in Tampa.”
Meanwhile, reader Kevin Green writes: “Can Obama fill a high school gym?” Depends on how many buses the SEIU can fill. But if you don’t see a wide shot in the press coverage, then the answer is “no.”
But the big thing to watch: Will Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown show up, or will he duck Obama again?
MORE TRAPS FOR THE UNWARY: Marine Faces Fifteen Years Behind Bars for Unknowingly Violating Gun Law.
And here’s a roundup on the related Meredith Graves story. Gun owners may want to consider boycotting Bloomberg’s New York, but I believe that these sorts of laws, imposing massive penalties for essentially blameless infractions — mere malum prohibitum — constitute a Second Amendment violation, as I argue in my piece on Second Amendment penumbras, forthcoming in the Southern Caifornia Law Review. And, Second Amendment aside, it seems to me that if a waiting period for new residents to receive state welfare benefits violates the Constitutional right to travel, then surely a patchwork of inconsistent laws bearing extraordinarily harsh penalties does, too.
Of course, a national right-to-carry law would solve this. My proposal: Any state permit is valid in all 50 states. Places where carry is prohibited must be clearly marked. Maximum penalty for a simple violation — that is, not in the course of committing some real crime — $500. Attorney fees and civil-rights suits available against state and local officials who violate the law by infringing people’s rights thereunder.
Would this violate federalism? Not at all. Congress is clearly empowered to protect constitutional rights via legislation. Plus, this could easily be styled as an exercise of Congress’s affirmative power to arm the citizenry in the militia clause of Article 1 section 8. Bonus question for constitutional law geeks: Does the burden on interstate commerce imposed by inconsistent state and local gun laws making people reluctant to travel justify such a bill under the Commerce Clause? Go read Heart of Atlanta Motel and Katzenbach v. McClung.
RUSSIAN TV mocks Obama over indefinite-detention bill. Even Chomsky misses Bush! Well, sort of: “Obama’s policy is just to kill them.” Yet Obama gets a pass from the left.
This just illustrates why if you favor civil liberties, you should always vote Republican for President — because a Republican President will be substantially more constrained than a Democrat.
AT AMAZON, markdowns on foreign language software.
JUST AS A REMINDER, I’m repeating this graphic from James Pethokoukis’s The 7 Most Illuminating Economic Charts of 2011, illustrating the gap between Obama’s promises and performance on the stimulus and unemployment. Happy New Year! And no excuses.
WHY BLACK-MARKET ENTREPRENEURS matter to the world economy.
FROM MARK TAPSCOTT, A Defense Of The House GOP.
SO MUCH FOR THAT “NEW CIVILITY” BULLSHIT: In Newsweek: “There will be prosecutions and show trials. There will be violence, mark my words. Houses burnt, property defaced. I just hope that this time the mob targets the right people in Wall Street and in Washington. (How does a right-thinking Christian go about asking Santa for Mitch McConnell’s head under the Christmas tree?)”
Related: Alan Colmes apologizes for mocking Rick Santorum about his dead baby.
UPDATE: A reader emails:
So, I discovered that the author of that Daily Beast column asking for heads under a Christmas tree isn’t exactly a paragon of concern for the less privileged:
Maybe he needs to well, quit tearing clothes off women in public, in front of his children, before criticizing others.
Also, how much of his income has gone to the less fortunate, compared to fancy booze?
I know which way I’m betting.
EUGENE VOLOKH HAS AN ARTICLE OUT ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, and notes that the phrase is about the freedom to publish, not freedom for the “institutional Press,” though modern speakers sometimes suggest otherwise. That’s right, of course. I’ve noted that both here on the blog and in my FCC “Open Internet” testimony. As you might expect, however, Eugene’s treatment is far more thorough and comprehensive.
THE HILL: President Obama to visit Cleveland to deliver address on economy. “President Obama will fly to Cleveland hours after the Iowa caucuses for an address on the economy, the White House announced Monday. Obama will travel to the Ohio city aboard Air Force One on Wednesday and will deliver remarks on the economy at Shaker Heights High School. His remarks will come shortly after Hawkeye State voters kick off the 2012 presidential nominating race.”
I’M SURE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WILL BE RIGHT ONTO THIS INTERFERENCE WITH ELECTORAL ACTIVITY: Romney Iowa event interrupted by Occupy Wall Street protesters. If Romney had cold-cocked one of them, he’d be a lock for President.
I HOPE IT’S TRUE, BUT I’VE HEARD IT BEFORE: Iran in Convulsion (the death spiral continues). Spiral faster, please.
January 2, 2012
ALAN COLMES APOLOGIZES for mocking Rick Santorum about his dead baby.
I THINK HE’S RIGHT: Rand Paul on a third-party run by Ron: The tea party’s better off within the GOP. And personally, I’d rather see Rand Paul running for President than Ron.
RICK SANTORUM: Big Government Conservative?
TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Remembering who cheered when Reagan was shot. For some reason, the link to The Idler doesn’t work anymore, but here’s one that does.
AT AMAZON, markdowns on household emergency gear.
Plus, snow and ice removal gear. Also, generators and portable power.