DEMOGRAPHICS IS DESTINY: Joel Kotkin: Can Abe Tackle The Real Reason For Japan’s Decline? “Japan’s working-age population (15-64) peaked in 1995, while the United States’ has grown 21% since then. The projections for Japan are alarming: its working-age population will drop from 79 million today to less than 52 million in 2050, according to the Stanford Institute on Longevity.”
Archive for 2014
December 16, 2014
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: An Epitaph For Hope And Change.
#ILLRIDEWITHYOU MAHMOOD: University of Michigan Campus turns on Muslim conservative who penned satire.
Some students took offense to the article, saying it belittled their concerns about social justice. Mahmood, who is Muslim and describes his political views as mostly conservative and libertarian, says the first big backlash came when another student complained anonymously about being offended and he was fired from the student newspaper, the Michigan Daily.
“These progressive students attacked Omar because they felt that he, as a Muslim, cannot also be a conservative,” Derek Draplin, a student and editor of the conservative student paper The Review, which published the parody, told FoxNews.com. “He doesn’t fit their social justice agenda so they attack him, censor him, try to get him to shut up.”
On Friday night, according to Mahmood, people attacked his dorm room door, egging it and leaving copies of his satirical article with notes on the backs including “Shut the f— up!” and “You scum embarrass us” and “DO YOU EVEN GO HERE?! LEAVE!!” along with various others, including an image of a creature with horns and another one of him with his eyes crossed out.
FoxNews.com viewed surveillance footage taken early Friday at 1:40 a.m. local time inside of Mahmood’s dorm, which is for students but is run independently of the university. It showed four figures meeting in the hallway and one of them handing the other three hooded sweatshirts. The three then put on hooded sweatshirts and go to his door. Mahmood says he believes he knows who the attackers were based on the footage.
Frankly, they deserve to feel belittled. They’re pathetic.
ROLL CALL: Defiant Pelosi Stands Firmly On Left. Well, to be fair, with that much Botox the not-moving part is easy.
THIS SEEMS TO BE A BIGGER ISSUE WITH THE POLITICAL CLASSES: Washington Post: That big CIA ‘torture’ report? Americans just shrugged. “The poll shows people says 51-29 percent than the CIA’s methods were justified and 56-28 percent that the information gleaned helped prevent terror attacks. . . . And it’s not just that people who aren’t concerned about torture aren’t tuning in. Those who have followed the story the most, in fact, approve of the program 59-34 percent. Even Democrats are pretty split on the justification for the program. While 37 percent say it was justified, 46 percent say it wasn’t. Liberal Democrats disapprove 65-25 percent, but moderate and conservative Democrats approve 48-32 percent.”
Hey, lots of people watched 24, so it’s all Hollywood-approved.
I DON’T KNOW WHY HE DOESN’T JUST SWITCH OVER TO REPUBLICAN: Manchin siding with NRA against surgeon general nominee.
ANOTHER LAWPROF WEIGHS IN ON THE UVA DEBACLE: Scott Gerber: President Teresa Sullivan Needs To Focus On Fairness, No PR.
It was bad enough to read the multi-part stories in major news outlets during the summer of 2012 about the petty infighting that led to President Sullivan’s resignation and subsequent reinstatement. Embarrassment was all I felt about that episode, a reaction shared by Virginia’s governor at the time who ordered the Board of Visitors to resolve the dysfunction between the president and the Board immediately or face removal from office. But, by definition, allegations of sexual assault against students impact the health and safety of the young people a university is charged with educating, inspiring, and protecting. It is profoundly inappropriate that such allegations be treated as public relations problems to be managed by the university’s senior leadership and its lawyers.
The UVA administration’s approach to Jackie’s allegations is, regrettably, an unfortunate example of an all-too-predictable response by academic administrators across the country who seem to be concerned far less with doing the right thing than they are with keeping their own jobs. The result is almost always callousness, deceit, cover-ups and, far too infrequently, justice. Students deserve better, including the students at my beloved UVA. Mr. Jefferson would expect no less.
Alas, apparatchiks always tend to think of appearances, not honor.
FORMER PUBLIC DEFENDER: Lena Dunham and the damage done by false accusations.
As a public defender in Fairfax County, I once watched the sentencing of an attractive, young defendant who had falsely accused her middle-aged, married neighbor of rape.
The police believed her and investigated and arrested the alleged rapist. At the sentencing of the woman, the prosecutor described the indignity to which the neighbor had been subjected: an arrest in front of his neighbors, the harm to his reputation, the embarrassment to his family, the threat of serving up to 30 years in prison. He was innocent, and he suffered even though he was not convicted. False accusations are easily made yet devastating.
The Fairfax County commonwealth’s attorney pursued the false police report with the same seriousness he had the original rape charge. The woman who made the false claim deserved prosecution and punishment. And the innocent deserve protection. They deserve to be protected by the police and by the media.
Thus, I have a suggestion for The Post: Stop minimizing the harm caused by Lena Dunham’s accusation.
#FALSERAPECULTURE. The author is a law professor now.
December 15, 2014
MICKEY KAUS: Is Obama Trying To Lose The Amnesty Lawsuit?
THIS IS LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE A DELIBERATE HOAX: Friends of U.Va. rape accuser begin to doubt story.
Three friends of the alleged University of Virginia rape victim are growing more skeptical about her account, saying they have doubts about information she gave them and why she belatedly tried to get herself deleted from the Rolling Stone article that engulfed their campus in controversy.
The friends say among their concerns is the fact that the woman, named only as “Jackie” in the article, gave them a cellphone number so they could text a man she said she was seeing around the time she alleged she was gang-raped at a fraternity house.
Eventually, the friends ended up with three numbers for the man. All are registered to Internet services that enable people to text without cellphone numbers but also can be used to redirect calls to different numbers or engage in spoofing, according to multiple research databases checked by The Washington Times.
“That definitely raises some red flags,” Alex Stock, a University of Virginia junior and friend of Jackie, told The Times. “I think as more details come out I definitely feel a little more skeptical. This is all new territory for me. I’m not too technologically savvy.”
The friends say Jackie also gave them the name “Haven” as the first name of the upperclassman she was seeing shortly before the purported attack, but they haven’t been able to find anyone by that name enrolled on the campus or even living in the area.
Occam’s Razor has been saying “hoax” for a while, but this just made it a bit sharper.
LAYERS OF EDITORS AND FACT-CHECKERS (CONT’D): EXCLUSIVE: New York Mag’s Boy Genius Investor Made It All Up.
Who does New York Magazine think they are, Rolling Stone?
KURT SCHLICHTER MOCKS SECESSIONIST FANTASIES: Blue America Without Red America Would Be A Basket Case.
I had some related thoughts here.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Campus As California. “Campuses are becoming the haunts of the very wealthy and the poor, with little regard for any in-between — sort of like California.”
DON’T COPS HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO? The Best of the Worst of 2014.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Doctorates Up, Career Prospects Not.
Universities are awarding doctoral degrees at an accelerating pace, despite the fact that the career prospects of those who receive their Ph.D.s appear to be worsening.
That dichotomy is among the starker findings of the annual data on doctorate recipients from the National Science Foundation, drawn from a survey sponsored by the foundation and other federal agencies and conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. The data may for some reinforce the idea that institutions are turning out more Ph.D. recipients than can be absorbed, at least in some fields.
American universities awarded 52,760 doctorates in 2013, up 3.5 percent from nearly 50,977 in 2012 and nearly 8 percent from 48,903 in 2011. . . .
The numbers suggest that more people are seeking terminal degrees and that universities are welcoming them with open arms — but the data on what the Ph.D. holders do with their new degrees raise questions about whether the credentials will pay off for the individuals themselves, at least in the short term.
The important thing is that universities are getting their money up front.
IF YOU OPPOSE NUCLEAR ENERGY, YOU DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT: An Open Letter To Environmentalists On Nuclear Energy.
SAVING LIVES ON THE BATTLEFIELD, with injectable hydrogel.
WHY THE NHL lost control of its Mumps outbreak. You really don’t want mumps as an adult male.
CAVE FIND SUGGESTS when humans figured out fire.
12 DAYS OF DEALS: Christmas Deals in Home Goods.
THE CULT OF BULLETPROOF COFFEE. Well, it’s better for you in the morning than a bagel, because it’s low carb.
THE MPAA REALLY IS AN AWFUL ORGANIZATION: Leaked Emails Reveal MPAA Plans To Pay Elected Officials To Attack Google.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO DRIVE the 1980s’ greatest supercars.