BRAZIL: Sidestepping To The Right?

Don’t look now, but the Leftist government Brazil may be considering taking a big step to the right. Angry protestors clogged the streets decrying the ineptness of Ms. Rousseff’s government last June, and the country’s economy today continues to stagnate. But now economic policy might shift. . . .

With Brazil’s current economic model, which remains largely under state supervision, real growth will be hard to come by. Brazilian big business had always assumed their domestic markets were big enough to allow for significant protectionism. But it is now becoming increasingly apparent that more trade is needed, and some private sector big wigs and prominent academics are calling for the country to liberalize its markets. Custo Brasil, an old nickname for the country’s less-than-ideal business environment, is finally facing calls for reform from Brazil’s middle-class, who have been emboldened from years of economic growth. The government can hardly continue to ignore them.

With Venezuela reeling from unrest and fiscal failure, and Argentina courting economic disaster, a Brazilian change of course would be a dire blow to the Latin left. President Rousseff had hoped to lead the country in Lula’s leftist wake, but as she prepares for re-election, economic and social realities seem to be dragging her in the opposite direction.

Politicians know what to do to foster economic growth. If they do something different, it’s because they have other goals.

#WARONWOMENWITHCANCER: Michigan Democrat Rep. Gary Peters threatens TV station licenses over Obamacare ad.

BATTERIES: Tesla’s Most Disruptive Product May Not Be Its Cars.

GET READY FOR THE NEXT POLAR VORTEX at the Amazon Emergency Essentials Store.

Plus, 25% or more off at The Dockers Store.

Plus, today only: Yamaha YAS-101 7.1-Channel Soundbar, $149.95 (50% off).

OH, GOODY: Polar Vortex to Make Encore Performance Midwest, East.

DO TELL: IRS Scandal Has Obama Fingerprints All Over It, Experts Say.

GOP: ObamaCare forces ‘immoral burden’ on future generations.

SO I SEE A LOT OF LEFTIES ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER SNEERING AT THE KANSAS SPANKING BILL, but failing to mention that the sponsor is a Democrat.

BOOM OR BUST: Making It In MicroDistilling.

A GOOD REASON TO GET CERTIFIED: Woman who saved baby’s life on side of expressway took CPR training years before.

THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW: Austin Police Arrest Jogger Because She Couldn’t Hear Them.

SO CAITLIN FLANAGAN HAS A PIECE ABOUT the “Dark Power of Fraternities.” But it’s really three pieces. One, which I found interesting as a law professor, is about how fraternities and insurance companies try to deal with liability. Another, which seems rather obvious, has to do with fraternities’ alumni support giving them leverage with the university.

The third, which is the least convincing, uses a single episode in which a town ne’er-do-well crashed a fraternity party and raped a student as the capstone proof that fraternities have a big rape problem. Maybe they do, but this doesn’t prove it. People are raped in dormitories and libraries, often by town ne’er-do-wells who shouldn’t be there, without people talking about how libraries have a big rape problem that reflects badly on their institutional character.

But this bit seems quite correct:

In 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, with the ultimate result of raising the legal drinking age to 21 in all 50 states. This change moved college partying away from bars and college-sponsored events and toward private houses—an ideal situation for fraternities. When these advances were combined with the evergreen fraternity traditions of violent hazing and brawling among rival frats, the scene quickly became wildly dangerous.

She also has some good observations on the fetishization of college in general. But overall, the piece doesn’t deliver insight commensurate with its length.

AT AMAZON, Outlet Deals Galore.

Also, coupons galore in Grocery & Gourmet Foods.

And, a reminder: InstaPundit is an Amazon affiliate. When you do your shopping through the Amazon links on this page, including the “Shop Amazon” tab at the top or the searchbox in the right sidebar, you put a little money in my family’s pocket at no cost to yourself. Just click on the Amazon link, then shop as usual. It’s much appreciated!

GETTING DESPERATE: Venezuela to slap arrested protestors with passport ban as unrest grows. Will it be Maduro who — like Yanukovych — will be trying to leave the country soon?

LOOKING AROUND THE WORLD, THE QUESTION IS: “Am I prepared if this kind of turmoil ever comes to my doorstep?”

I got asked by a big TV production outfit to consult on a series about a second American Civil War, but had to turn ’em down. But I wonder what a popular-style revolt in the U.S. would look like? The U.S. is much less centralized than countries like Egypt, Venezuela, or Ukraine. I don’t think mass protests in the capital city are the template. I wonder if we might see something like the Fuel Protests that nearly brought down the UK government a while back. Or other forms of out of doors political activity as a lead up. At the moment, we’re certainly nowhere near that, but nonetheless I’d say we’re nearer than we’ve been in quite a while.

AP RAW VIDEO: Lenin Statues Toppled Across Ukraine.

As IowaHawk said on Twitter, if you wonder who the good guys in Ukraine are, they’re the ones pulling down the statues of Lenin. Always a useful metric. . . .

WOMAN LAMENTS LACK OF CHIVALRY:

Has anyone ever helped pop my bag up into the overhead compartment? Nope. Have I seen any other woman helped? Nope.

This week, an engineer in his 50s just stood there in the aisle, his hands clasped, as I played Olympic weight-lifting with my suitcase right in front of him. Just stood there, looking intently at the sticky carpet. Probably afraid to chip a nail or something.

Has the women’s liberation movement really scared the bejesus out of men this much?

When did it become chivalrous to steadfastly look away and not bother to help?

If a 6am flight is anything to go by, you’d think the concept of a gentleman was well and truly dead.

I promise you, I won’t get angry or defensive or give you attitude, I’ll in fact be super-grateful and flash you an extra-big smile despite the lack of sleep.

Chivalry was a system, which imposed behavioral obligations on women as well as on men. Women were happy to cast their obligations off, yet seem perennially surprised that men haven’t stayed exactly the same.

AT AMAZON, deals on Hot New Releases. Updated every hour.

Also, bestsellers in Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense.

SASHA VOLOKH: What should civil-rights litigation against federal officials look like? Well, it should probably be more frequent, for one thing. . . .

Also, I note that the doctrines of official immunity are judicial inventions without warrant in the Constitution. Such immunities, if they exist at all, should be via legislation, not judicial fiat. This is a species of judicial activism that gets too little attention.

AT AMAZON, St. Patrick’s Day Deals.

Also, save up to 20% on books.

Plus, today only: 50 Top-Rated Kindle Fiction Books, $1.99 Each.

OUCH: “The white man demands that the black man entertain him?” In response to Jeffrey Toobin’s complaints that Justice Thomas is insufficiently talkative.

FASTER, PLEASE: Micro and Nano delivery platforms can change the way we administer therapy to allow for precise drug delivery over months and deliverying large molecules through body barriers.

WILL VENEZUELA FOLLOW UKRAINE? From Ronald Radosh:

I found nothing on the website of The Nation, whose writers are seemingly too busy trying to find rationales for Putin’s attack on Ukraine. But fortunately, one voice was brave enough to defend Nicolas Maduro — the former member of Congress, Joseph Kennedy II.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal,  Sohrab  Ahmari notes that Kennedy is busy airing TV ads heralding Maduro for providing cheap subsidized fuel to the poor in the Bay Area, provided to Kennedy’s  corporation, Citizens Energy. “The cold can overwhelm even the toughest among us,” the ad states, “and the heating bills keep piling on.” Then Mr. Kennedy himself appears on screen, and says: “The people of Venzuela and President Maduro are once again…the only country to answer our call to provide heating assistance to the poor.” Given that Kennedy makes this statement precisely at the moment when demonstrators are being shot and the opposition leader jailed, Mr. Ahmari writes that Kennedy now has the distinction of being the most prominent “useful idiot” singing the praises of Maduro’s crumbling regime. I would modify that statement. The regime’s failings are so transparent that to praise it, as does Joseph Kennedy II, proves that he is actually simply an idiot, and hardly useful to anyone.

I await with bated breath the Obama administration’s unqualified vocal support to the brave Venezuelans who are calling for an end to the regime of  the would-be Castro of Venezuela.

Read the whole thing.

WHAT UPS DRIVERS CAN TELL US about the automation of work. “The automation doesn’t replace us. It makes us better.”

BAD IDEA? Cell Phone Kill Switches Are A Slippery Slope For Abusive Governments.