Archive for 2014

SO WHENEVER ANYONE AT WAKE FOREST MAKES A DISPARAGING REMARK ABOUT “WHITE MALES,” FILE A REPORT: University Squelches Freedom Of Speech With Campus-wide Discrimination Initiative. “Known as the Bias Incident Report system, the online form does not specify the criteria for filing a report, nor does it explicitly define the word ‘bias.’ Instead, students are pressured to submit a report anytime they believe they are encountering an incident of hate or bias — potentially opening the floodgates for students to report incidents without cause.”

Flood the zone. Then after a year, if there’s a disparity in the way complaints are addressed, sue for racial and sex discrimination.

HOW WASHINGTON’S REVOLVING DOOR Spurred Obama Administration’s Anti-Inversion Push. “If you were wondering why the White House suddenly took an interest in the consequences of tax inversion deals last spring, here is the reason – a pair of Wall Streeters with ties to the Obama administration made some calls on behalf of AstraZeneca which, you may recall, was trying to fend off an unwanted bid from Pfizer. Pfizer cited a tax inversion as one reason for its offer.”

So it was all about the Obama Administration taking a side in corporate maneuvering, and not about what was good for America. Color me shocked.

Hey, how about enacting my revolving-door surtax?

UPDATE: Oh, hey, and for bonus hypocrisy points, while blathering on about “economic patriotism,” the Obama Administration was actually backing a foreign company (AstraZeneca, which is British/Swedish) against an American company, Pfizer.

IN THE MAIL: From Jim Geraghty, The Weed Agency: A Comic Tale of Federal Bureaucracy Without Limits.

Plus, today only: The West Wing: The Complete Series Collection. This fantasy of a Democratic presidency worked out better than the reality we’re experiencing now.

And, also today only: $70 off a Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ Tablet.

UPDATE: From the comments:

To be fair, the fantasy president Martin Sheen played was much smarter than what we have now.

To be even fairer, Martin Sheen is much smarter than what we have now.

To be even fairerer, Charlie Sheen is much smarter than what we have now.

Ouch. Also: “Everything worked well in West Wing because the fictional President Bartlett was really brilliant, whereas the real President Obama is only fictionally brilliant,”

PUTTING THE GREAT BACK IN GREAT BRITAIN: PJ Media Interviews UKIP Leader Nigel Farage. “We want to …[manage] the quality of the people who come into our country so that immigrants to our nation are for the betterment of our society. It’s very interesting because on this trip I’m hearing echoes here in America. I am hearing echoes of the similar arguments we were having five or six years ago. . . . The government has been part of the problem for forty years. It has state-sponsored multi-culturalism, where we have encouraged division within our society to an extent where pockets of people have been easier targets and prey for those who wish to radicalize them. It’s happening in our schools. It’s happening in our prisons, particularly. A real issue in our prisons is the growth of jihadism.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Feminism Starts In The Kitchen.

Forming a family is hard, not because of poverty or class or sexism (though those things can make it harder). Forming a family is hard because, hey!, there’s another person here, and he has his own ideas about how the household should be run, and also, he’s in the way. Did we really need sociology researchers to point that out? . . .

We shouldn’t over-idealize home cooking as some glittering apex of human experience that no decent person can do without. But let’s not remedy the cultural overshoot by demonizing the preparation of a decent, healthy meal as a grueling chore that stonkers all but the most privileged and dedicated cooks. Cooking at home is often fun, and it’s almost always cheaper and healthier than the alternative — and tastier, if the alternative is picking up a tray at the high school cafeteria. It can, of course, be stressful — but it can be a lot less stressful if you will repeat after me: “I’m not running a restaurant. I’m running a home.”

Yeah, what kind of idiot thinks take-out from the school cafeteria is better? The answer: First class!

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Under Obama, only the richest 10 percent saw incomes rise. “Under President Obama, the richest 10 percent were the only income group of Americans to see their median incomes rise, according to a survey released this week by the Federal Reserve. . . . The survey also found that family in the middle income bracket (40th to 90th percentiles) saw “very little” change in average real incomes and still have not recovered losses from 2010 and 2007. Families at the bottom of the income distribution continued to see ‘substantial declines’ in average real incomes.”

ANNALS OF “SMART DIPLOMACY:” America’s confused foreign policy in the post-Soviet sphere.

Washington seems to have developed an imperative to engage when it is too late, if at all, in reaction to Moscow’s assertive actions and has excelled in sending mixed messages. Azerbaijan is arguably the most pivotal nation in Eurasia today. It is a key transit point for NATO operations in Afghanistan, the only nation bordering both Russia and Iran, and one of the very few secular and tolerant Muslim societies in the world. Yet instead of intensively reaching out to Azerbaijan, Washington constantly criticizes or alternately ignores Baku.

In contrast to Russia and Iran, which both frequently send top level delegations to convince Baku to turn away from its pro-Western course, Washington has been MIA, with Hillary Clinton being the last high-level Administration official visiting in 2012. Compare this to the Moscow: Putin personally visited Baku just before the presidential elections in 2013 to court Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Now consider this through the prism of regional perceptions and the global outcry about the lack of American leadership.

Failing to offer a credible security commitment to their allies in the post-Soviet space, the United States and Europe are unable to address their most immediate and present threats. Offering some vague European prospects peppered by heavy criticism and diluted by the constant bickering and lack of leadership among the Europeans, the West comes across as weak in the face of Russia’s decisive, instant and brutal force. The much touted EU Association agreement doesn’t even offer clear support to Azerbaijan for its territorial integrity, unlike the other candidates. This is a sign of strategic confusion in the European ranks.

When you elect feckless leaders, you get feckless leadership.

ASHE SCHOW: Campus sexual assault: The only crime where due process is shunned.

In a report about those accused of sexual assault suing their universities, National Public Radio correspondent Tovia Smith interviewed a lawyer for accusers who suggested those men needed to evolve and get over that pesky due process thing.

According to Smith’s paraphrasing, attorney Colby Bruno suggested the fact that “a lot of young men are suing their schools doesn’t mean the process is actually unfair – only that it suggests some students are having trouble adjusting to the changing norms on campus sexual assault.”

Bruno perpetuated the “guilty until proven innocent” mantra against those accused of sexual assault that is permeating college campuses.

“I don’t have sympathy for the guy who assaults somebody and thinks he’s been railroaded,” Bruno said. “The cases where students are deluding themselves into thinking that what they did wasn’t rape and sexual assault? I think those are 85 percent of boys coming forward saying, ‘I was railroaded.’ ”

Of course, Bruno has no more proof of her 85 percent claim than I have to say 85 percent of college women are turning regrets and failed relationships into rape or sexual assault.

That kind of talk is a disgrace to the legal profession, but it’s no surprise in this field, which has been taken over by moneygrubbing charlatans and crazed gender-hate.

ROLL CALL: House, Senate Laying Groundwork for War on ISIS.

As President Barack Obama weighs U.S. options for confronting ISIS, the insurgent group in control of parts of Iraq and Syria, lawmakers in both the House and Senate are moving to ensure that the administration has the authority to take military action if necessary.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., said in a statement Wednesday he will introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes next week that would authorize the use of military force against ISIS and other terror groups around the world, including al Nusra, Ansar al Sharia, al Shabaab and Boko Haram.

Separately, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Wednesday in Virginia that Congress should not leave town in September without considering an authorization to use force against ISIS.

Wolf’s proposal comes one day after Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., announced a similar bill for the Senate as lawmakers from both chambers and both parties expressed anger and frustration over Tuesday’s release of another video showing the beheading of an American journalist by the jihadi insurgents.

“This will ensure there’s no question that the president has the legal authority he needs to use airstrikes in Syria,” Nelson said in a release.

ISIS has released two videos showing the executions of Americans — and threatened more — since U.S. forces interceded last month in northern Iraq, bombing insurgent positions in support of Kurdish fights and Iraqi government forces.

Stay tuned.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: KSU Drops Hundreds Of Students Over Unpaid Tuition. “Kentucky State University said that it had no other choice but to drop 645 students for not making their required tuition payments. The school said the unpaid money had added to the college’s $7 million deficit.”

POOR TRAYVON — STILL BEING USED AS BLACK-TURNOUT AGITPROP IN 2014: Holder: Civil rights probe into Trayvon Martin shooting still active. And it’ll stay that way at least until November.

Watch for as many race-based and war-on-women headlines as the Dems can manage over the next couple of months. With everything imploding, they’ll have to do whatever they can, however sleazy, to boost turnout.

WHY DO THEY JOIN THE JIHAD? Because It Gives Life Meaning. “The main problem with democratic capitalism is that it’s so successful, and therefore very boring.”

PERSONALLY, I think the term “Helicopter Parents” was invented by college administrators who don’t want parents looking at what they’re getting for the enormous sums colleges are sucking out of their wallets.

You want college students to be independent? Don’t count their parents’ income in when calculating what they can pay. Colleges are all about students’ independence, except for the financial kind. And if you treat college students as financially dependent, don’t be surprised if the folks who are paying the piper think they have a right to call the tune. After all, unlike in 1975, they’re now protecting an enormous investment.