REPORTING IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Awesome: Free press on trial as British journalist live-tweets lawyers arguing to ban him from court.
Archive for 2012
November 21, 2012
PETER WEHNER: The Media’s Benghazi Scandal.
Over my career, I’ve tended to resist press bashing. Part of the reason for that may be that there are plenty of journalists whose work I respect and whom I’ve come to admire. But I must say that the way the press as an institution covered the 2012 presidential election was in many respects depressing—and in some respects its biases have rarely been more fully on display.
There are a dozen examples I could cite, but let me simply focus on one: The September 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi. We witnessed a massive failure at three different stages. The first is that the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and others asked for additional protection because of their fears of terrorist attacks. Those requests were denied—and Mr. Stevens became the first American ambassador to be murdered in more than 30 years, along with three others. The second failure was not assisting former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty when they were under attack (both were killed). The third failure was that the administration misled the American people about the causes of the attack long after it was clear to many people that their narrative was false.
Yet with a few honorable exceptions—Fox News being the most conspicuous—the press has shown no real appetite for this story. It’s not that it hasn’t been covered; it’s that the coverage has lacked anything like the intensity and passion that you would have seen had this occurred during the presidency of, say, Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush. I have the advantage of having worked in the Reagan administration during Iran-contra and the Bush White House during the Patrick Fitzgerald leak investigation—and there is simply no comparison when it comes to how the press treated these stories. The juxtaposition with the Fitzgerald investigation is particularly damning to the media. Journalists were obsessed by that story, which turned out to be much ado about nothing—Mr. Fitzgerald decided early on there were no grounds to prosecute Richard Armitage for the leak of Valerie Plame’s name—and obsessed in particular with destroying the life of the very good man who was the architect of George W. Bush’s two presidential victories (thankfully they failed in their effort to knee-cap Karl Rove).
In the Benghazi story, we have four dead Americans.
It’s not about who died. It’s about who the press is trying to keep alive.
A PROPOSAL FOR A TRUE “BUFFETT TAX.” “The U.S. government should pass legislation that gifts to foundations in excess of a $20 billion lifetime exemption will hereinafter be taxed at 55%, the normal inheritance tax rate.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Number of LSAT Test-Takers Falls 16.4%. “There have not been this few LSAT test-takers in October since 1999.”
AMELIA CHASSE: GOP ignores low-information voters at their peril.
Democrats – Barack Obama in particular – go after these voters with gusto. The 2008 Obama campaign broke ground by advertising on Xbox video games, prompting thousands of stoners to get off the couch and out to the polls. In 2012, when young women visited a beauty blog, they were likely greeted with video ads of Eva Longoria or Scarlett Johansson telling them Obama was fabulous. And lest we forget the infamous ad where Girls star Lena Dunham invited her fellow young women to make their “first time” special with Barack Obama. . . . Democrats succeed by bringing the message to low-information voters where they already are and presenting that message in a creative, appealing manner.
There’s a lot of free press too. At women’s lifestyle sites, about one article in 10 is soft PR for the Dems — why Barack & Michelle’s marriage is so great, 10 hot celebs who are voting for Obama, etc. The women’s lifestyle media are another arm of the Dems, and their stuff, especially the general sense of who’s cool and who’s uncool, often presented in a sort of Mean Girls style, is highly effective with low-information voters. If somebody like Sheldon Adelson really wants to have an impact, the money would be better spent creating a few publications that do this sort of thing in the other direction, as opposed to buying lots of expensive TV ads. None of this is news, of course, if you pay any attention, but folks on the right don’t seem to be doing much about it. Which is too bad, because such sites are cheap to set up and operate compared with political sites, much less political operations.
GIVE ‘EM THE TAX INCREASES THEY DESERVE: Blue States Fear Losing Tax Loophole:
What’s the least defensible special break in the U.S. tax code? With so many distortions to choose from, it’s hard to name just one. If forced to pick, I might say the deduction for state and local taxes, which cost $67 billion in fiscal 2011, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
This one overwhelmingly benefits upper-income households in a handful of upper-income states, while rendering the entire nation’s finances less transparent. It’s also a potential source of friction in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations between President Obama and the Republicans (but we’ll get to that in a moment). . . .
What the deduction does is enable higher-income states and localities to tax — and spend — more than they otherwise would, while shifting some of the cost to other states. It also encourages them to collect revenue in forms that are easier to deduct on federal returns.
Two states, California and New York, reaped almost 30 percent of the deduction’s value in 2009, the latest year for which I could find Internal Revenue Service data. Other states that benefit disproportionately include Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland.
In 2009, 73 percent of the deduction’s benefits went to taxpayers with annual incomes above $100,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office; fully 20 percent of the benefits went to taxpayers with annual incomes above $1 million.
Starting to notice a pattern? Basically, what we have is a significant federal tax subsidy for “blue” state governments. These also happen to be the states having the most difficulty living within their means. . . . Perhaps it’s just coincidence, but I have noticed that those most skeptical of the loophole-closing approach include Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Get rid of the deduction. Introduce ’em to realville. (Via NewsAlert).
UPDATE: Reader George Apostolicas writes:
Eliminate deductions for state taxes for “the rich”, i.e. Above $ 250,000 in AGI, AND eliminate tax exempt interest income above $ 50,000 a year ( also only affecting the “rich ).
These changes only affect the rich.
Watch them squeal and see the hypocrisy ooze.
There’s lots of fun to be had here, if the House Republicans are smart enough to have it.
Heh.
DISASTER RELIEF AS PORK: As Coasts Rebuild and U.S. Pays, Repeatedly, the Critics Ask Why.
Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life.
They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government.
The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads.
Yet time and again, checks from Washington have allowed the town to put itself back together.
Across the nation, tens of billions of tax dollars have been spent on subsidizing coastal reconstruction in the aftermath of storms, usually with little consideration of whether it actually makes sense to keep rebuilding in disaster-prone areas. If history is any guide, a large fraction of the federal money allotted to New York, New Jersey and other states recovering from Hurricane Sandy — an amount that could exceed $30 billion — will be used the same way.
Tax money will go toward putting things back as they were, essentially duplicating the vulnerability that existed before the hurricane.
Yes, we’ve vacationed on Dauphin Island a number of times. It’s a lovely place, but it’s basically a small piece of sand in hurricane alley. When “disaster relief” is part of your lifestyle, it’s quit being a form of insurance, and turned into just a subsidy.
HARDLY A SURPRISE: Obama Enjoys Surge in Positive Coverage the Last Week of the Race; Attention to Romney Drops. Bylined Democratic Party Operatives at work.
HOW WILL THE TRI-STATE AREA REBUILD AFTER SANDY? “The sheer number of people who need to be rehoused is itself an enormous issue. The second problem, for government officials, is that the program for rehousing will be under the scrutiny of the media every day and in every way. It’s happening right under the noses of the media, and affects many of them directly, through their own stories and those of friends and family. Unlike Katrina’s rehousing needs, which to seemed to many after the first month to be happening in a galaxy far, far away, these needs will be happening right on the doorstep of the rich and the famous.”
Yeah, on the other hand George W. Bush isn’t involved and can’t be blamed for anything that goes wrong . . . .
ROGER KIMBALL: The Surrealistic States Of America. “I am not alone, I know, in sensing a fateful shift in the temper, the emotional weather, of America. I cannot pretend to know what it portends.”
November 20, 2012
SHOCKER: Holly Petraeus is angry. Actually, given reports that her husband wrote Broadwell many, many, many emails trying to get the affair restarted, I’m inclined to think that this was a departure for him. That’s not the behavior of a serial philanderer, but of a guy who’s smitten.
WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Report: Chris Christie surprised to find people not happy that he lavished Obama with praise before election. “The objection isn’t that he worked with Obama, it’s that he seemed bizarrely determined to lavish fulsome praise on the guy with election day bearing down.”
STAY TUNED: Mystery Mars Science.
YEAH, THIS’LL SOLVE THE DEFICIT: “Men That Own Government Bonds Are Popular With The Ladies!” Meh. When I was single, the hot pickup lines all involved the validity of CAPM.
I BET THEY WISH THEY’D HAD SECURE BORDERS: Graphic: How the West Was Lost by Native Americans.
AT AMAZON, hot new releases. Updated every hour, so check back often.
Also, markdowns on bestselling power drills.
PRACTICAL AND CONVENIENT! Origami-Inspired Kayak Folds Into Compact Carrying Case.
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM: Vintage Love Letters Found Among Hurricane Sandy Debris.
NO, HONEY, YOU HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITIES. JUST LET YOURSELF GO.
SEX IN THE 1960S: “The Sexual Revolution Was One Part Awesome, One Part Dumb.” Though to be honest, this article doesn’t suggest that we’ve come all that far on the “dumb” front.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: SCHOOLS FOR SLAVERY:
But what is this “good education”? How does higher education promote liberty? In fact, universities have become schools for slavery, not of freedom—both in the content of their teaching and now in the practical lessons they teach. The college debt issue illustrates this bondage beautifully. Debtors are of course not free men and women (even if their debts are huge enough to sink the lender). Not to mention that what colleges have been teaching is not conducive to liberty either.
College debt, with its burdens on graduates, epitomizes how colleges have shrunk their freedom. Their four plus years have freed them neither for work nor for a life beyond work, neither for the necessities of life nor for its purposes. In fact, their debt may leave them in a worse position to pursue either than before they began their costly studies.
Read the whole thing, though it’s nothing you haven’t largely heard before.
TRYING TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR SEXUAL APPEAL BY molesting someone less than half your age.