HAPPY NEW YEAR! After visiting my Mom in the hospital (knee replacement) I’m home and binge-watching “The Gilmore Girls” with the Insta-Daughter in memory of Edward Herrmann. Hope your New Year’s is at least as exciting!
Archive for 2014
December 31, 2014
ANDREW KLAVAN: Happy New Year, John Boehner!
I’M HOLDING OUT FOR A SOUR MASH VIRUS: New ‘Bourbon Virus’ Kills Kansas Man.
CAMPUS SEX WARS: As the Campus Rape Narrative Unravels, Will Due Process Strike Back in 2015? “Affirmative consent is a baffling way to fight sexual assault. Rape is a crime committed by a minority of determined, serial perpetrators; it’s unclear why activists think that forcing students to jump through new hoops before they have sex will deter these monsters. The policy will produce more mutual confusion and false accusations, however.”
WORRYING ABOUT a measles comeback:
A case of red measles, also known as Rubeola, was diagnosed earlier this week in Moorseville, North Carolina — worrying health officials and highlighting the renewed threat of measles in this country.
The infected person was unvaccinated and had recently returned from a trip to India confirmed Rebecca Carter, the public information officer for Mecklenburg county. . . .
Before the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine series became common practice there were hundreds of thousands of cases each year in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent reported. The disease has come roaring back as more people refuse or delay immunization, Schaffner noted.
This year there have been 610 confirmed measles cases reported to CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. That is the highest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.
The majority of people at risk for measles are unvaccinated, Schaffner pointed out. Traveling to countries where there are large outbreaks also increases the risk, according to the CDC.
Many of the American cases this year were traced to an ongoing outbreak in the Philippines.
We used to have more stringent health and vaccination checks for international travelers. Maybe we should think about bringing those back.
HEY, THIS EXCUSE SOUNDS KINDA FAMILIAR SOMEHOW: Venezuela’s president blames opposition for deep recession.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: A Mach 5 Arms Race? Welcome to Hypersonic Weapons 101.
FAILURE TO ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, A MICRO-SHORT STORY FROM POPEHAT: Galt City Blues: Last entries in the Diary of Jacob Silbermann, Deputy Assistant Editorial Writer, New York Times, September 2015. “When DeBlasio, the last mayor of New York, announced that he’d warned his multi-racial son of the danger of police encounters, I cheered.”
PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTANDING THIS NYPD SLOWDOWN. Here’s the key bit:
Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.
Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination also plunged 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300.
Even parking violations are way down, dropping by 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241.
Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau — which are part of the overall number — dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63.
All of these, except maybe the drug arrests — and probably including those too — are basically revenue offenses. By not arresting here, the cops are starving the City for revenue. The Knoxville Police do the same thing when they’re crosswise with the City; they stop writing tickets. The real scandal isn’t that NYC is being denied law enforcement now, it’s that much of that “law enforcement” is really just a system designed to squeeze money out of the citizenry.
THE NUDGE AND THE PRICK: “Reading that last post out loud with Meade, we were talking about how the Democratic Party is trying to create anxiety by letting you know that the Party knows how much money they’ve gotten out of you this year.”
JOE PAPPALARDO: Why Russia’s Plan to Put Nukes on Trains Won’t Work.
IN THE MAIL: Deal Struck: The World’s Best Drafting Tips.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 601.
You can make a compelling case that 2014 was the worst year for President Obama since, well, the year before. And, in fact, the president spent much of this year trying to recover from some body blows he took in the final months of 2013, when, in short order, Congress rebuffed him on Syria and the federal health care exchange imploded.
Those setbacks ate away at Obama’s public support. According to Gallup, the president began 2014 with a 41 percent approval rating, and he’s ending it a tick or two higher. He’s also ending the year as a certified lame duck, facing two final years with a hostile Congress and the political conversation centering around the likes of Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, and Rand Paul.
Losing the Senate punctuated a year when Obama again saw more bad moments than good, and largely garnered more criticism than praise, especially from fellow Democrats, who were quick to blame him as the party’s political fortunes declined. More that that, though, it was a year of stomach-churning uncertainty, with one airliner disappearing over the Pacific and another being shot down over Europe, a savage terrorist threat on the march in Iraq, continued civil war in Syria, and Ebola raging through Africa and touching the U.S.
Paradoxically, the midterm walloping seemed to liberate Obama. As if now resigned to the reality that he has fewer partners to work with than ever, he is freer to pursue his own agenda.
You can’t really say whether it was a terrible year for Obama unless you can say what his agenda is. But it certainly wasn’t a good year for America. But I predict that it will turn out to be average: Worse than 2013, better than 2015.
ED DRISCOLL: 2014: The Year of the Fainting Couch.
AT AMAZON, Optimize Your Laundry.
Also, New Year, New You: Healthy Cooking.
Plus, today only at Amazon: 50% Off Eastland Men’s Boots and More. Winter is coming.
And, also today only: DISNEY Kids’ Star Wars Rebels Athletic Shoe, $21.00 (47% off).
And, for the next couple of hours, Wise Company Emergency Food Variety Pack (104-Serving), $79.66 (33% off, plus free shipping).
JESSE JACKSON ON IMMIGRATION AND SILICON VALLEY: Get Rid Of H1 Visas: “We need to get rid of H1B workers. There are Americans who can do that work, and H1B workers are cheaper and undercut wages.”