TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 600.
Archive for 2014
December 30, 2014
UNLIKE US, Iran Is In It To Win It In Iraq.
Both America and Iran are involved in the effort to drive ISIS back and support the government in Baghdad. As such, there is a tacit alliance—but it is not one of equals. As the old saying goes, it’s like a ham and egg sandwich: the chicken is involved, but the pig is really committed. Today, unlike 10 years ago, Iran is the pig.
This is proving increasingly problematic as, as The Washington Post reports, American officials are beginning to contemplate the scale of the Iranian backed militias in Iraq, which may now equal the regular army (which also leans Shi’a) in total size. If and when ISIS is subdued, this will present another large headache for Washington. Though all other issues with Iran have currently been put on the back burner to make way for the nuclear negotiations, look for this one to fester.
That’s okay, we’ve got Smart Diplomacy on the job.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Boston Law Schools (Other Than Harvard) Suffer Large (35%) Enrollment Declines.
AT AMAZON, new Year-End Deals.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF AN ALLEGEDLY DO-NOTHING CONGRESS: Federal spending drops to 20 percent of GDP.
The federal budget is shrinking as a percentage of gross domestic product, falling just below 20 percent in the third quarter of 2014. That’s down four points from its peak of 24 percent in 2011, according to market analysis firm Strategas’ survey of recent Treasury Department data.
“That’s a pretty large drop in government spending,” said Daniel Clifton, head of policy research for Strategas.
The drop puts current federal spending close to the norm for the last half-century. While the budget has grown in absolute numbers — the omnibus spending bill passed earlier this month totaled more than $1 trillion — federal spending has averaged just over 19 percent of GDP since 1963.
The decline is due to a combination of factors, the main one being the restraints that were put on federal spending in 2011 as a result of the debt ceiling standoff in Congress.
And, of course, an accomplishment of the Tea Party movement, too.
DAVID RIVKIN & ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY: Federal Antidrug Law Goes Up in Smoke: Irate about harmful spillover from Colorado’s marijuana legalization, two neighboring states sue to overturn it.
The attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma have asked the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional Colorado’s law legalizing marijuana. The lawsuit states that, “The Constitution and the federal anti-drug laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local pro-drug policies and licensed-distribution schemes throughout the country which conflict with federal laws.”
Many conservatives have criticized Nebraska and Oklahoma for being “fair-weather federalists” because their claims hinge, in part, on Gonzales v. Raich, a 2005 Supreme Court decision, upholding the broad reach of Congress’s power to regulate commerce.
Conservatives’ ire instead should be directed at the Obama administration’s decision to suspend enforcement of the federal law prohibiting marijuana—a decision so warping the rule of law that the complaining states’ reliance on Raich is justified and necessary. . . .
States cannot be required to enforce federal law. But as the Supreme Court held in A rizona v. United States (2012), when the federal government doesn’t enforce its own laws, states still “may not pursue policies that undermine federal law.” Colorado’s decision to legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana undermines the Controlled Substances Act, giving a major boost to all segments of that business. Indeed, in an interview this month Colorado’s attorney general, John Suthers, acknowledged that his state is “becoming a major exporter of marijuana.”
Well, the Feds have largely given up on drug law.
TAMMY BRUCE: A tax per mile? Americans should not allow GPS tracking of cars, trucks.
Like I said, don’t track me, bro.
NOR SHOULD THEY: Silicon Valley: On Immigration, Engineers Simply Don’t Trust VCs.
What is missing from the immigration debate in Silicon Valley is trust, and it certainly isn’t the engineers that have abused it. We know that tech companies have worked really hard to keep wages from rising the past decade. Google, Apple, and a multitude of other large tech companies systematically worked together to stop workers from negotiating higher salaries by restricting recruitment practices and preventing workers from enjoying free movement of their labor.
Such tactics have made engineers far more cynical about the motives of tech companies, which is intensified by the incessant talk of talent shortages in the industry.
If there’s a talent shortage, it means you’re not paying enough, right?
PROFESSOR JACOBSON: The Constitution’s horrible, no good, very bad year.
YEAH, YEARS OF RAMPANT INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION WILL DO THAT: Americans’ Sense Of Civic Duty Slipping.
NURSE WITH EBOLA to arrive at London hospital.
MAYBE A LITTLE LATE: De Blasio calls emergency summit with cop unions.
Meanwhile, Josh Marshall has a cross-cultural experience with a lefty TPM member who’s also a New York cop. Very interesting piece, though possibly less eye-opening to InstaPundit readers than to TPM readers.
ROGER SIMON: Looking For Mr. Good President.
December 29, 2014
DEFEATING ISLAMIC TERRORISTS: Lessons From Lincoln.
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Jim Webb’s PAC Funneled Money To Family Members.
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: NY Dem State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Under Federal Investigation. Plus, an Andrew Cuomo angle? Stay tuned.
NEWS FROM THE SMART SET: Doonesbury Somehow Unaware That the UVA Gang Rape Story Was Debunked Weeks Ago. “Given that The Washington Post has proved the UVA rape story to be false, it’s grossly irresponsible to craft a cartoon that uncritically recounts debunked details. I understand that Trudeau may have drawn it before Rolling Stone’s credibility went to hell, but that was a long time ago.”
TRANSPARENCY: David Brin on Life After The Sony Hack.
I’ve been warning you about this. Wake up, sheeple!
CAMPUS SEX WARS: Mothers Of Accused College Rapists Fight Back.
Advocates are fighting for colleges to take a more aggressive approach to sexual assault, pointing out that only a fraction of students found culpable are expelled. But Allison Strange and her son hope to remind people that there is another side to the story. She Skypes weekly with other mothers of sons who have been accused of sexual assault on college campuses, and says there are so many students out there whose lives have been twisted up by false claims of rape.
“How in the world can we be in a situation where someone’s words – without any evidence, without any witnesses, without anything – how in the world can someone’s life be turned upside down, or basically ruined?” Strange said. “You grow up hearing sticks and stones can break my bones and words can never hurt me. I would have taken sticks and stones breaking bones all day long over knowing that someone could say something about you, and that it would pull the plug on your entire life.”
She added: “They pulled the plug, and we were swirling down the drain. And that’s exactly how it felt.”
And the colleges don’t care. At least, not enough to do anything about it.
FREE SPEECH NOW: Standing Up To “Cultural Colonialists:” “Fuelled by a growing contempt for the audience – a refusal to believe in their ability to grapple with nuanced, subversive or even exploitative subject matter – these cultural colonialists have decided to weaponise culture. If all people are blank slates, if we are so easily programmed by the ‘messages’ we receive, then someone should at least make sure we are getting the right kind of messages, or so the logic goes.”
THE $5 MILLION QUESTION: Art historian questions whether artist Tracey Emin actually slept in her $5-million piece, ‘My Bed.’ Well, okay, that’s one question.
INSURANCE ALTERNATIVE: For Members of Health Ministries in Texas, Caring Means Sharing the Bills. I know some folks in Knoxville who use Christian Health Ministries and have been happy.