NEWS YOU CAN USE: An Easier Way to Brown Meat.
Archive for 2015
March 9, 2015
WEAPON OF MASS INSTRUCTION: A Bookmobile Tank.
WELL, IT’S A BETTER FACE THAN RON PAUL’S, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT: Will Belle Knox really be the face of Libertarian victory? “I, for one, would be interested to hear her thoughts on Ayn Rand and Friedrich Hayek.”
CRONY CORPORATISM: Mark Cunningham: Clinton, Inc. Is What’s Wrong With America. “It’s about getting stinking rich from the inside connections forged in a life of public service. It’s about using your ‘charity’ and your high government office as adjuncts of your political machine. It’s about refusing to play by the rules even as you want to set the rules for everyone else. . . . The great irony here is last month’s news from the Washington Post: Hillary’s consultants are busy working out her themes for 2016. Apparently, a big one is going to be ‘pushing for economic fairness.'”
IN THE MAIL: From Vincent L. Inserra, C-1 and the Chicago Mob.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Yamaha YAS-152 Soundbar with Bluetooth, $174.95 (50% off).
And, also today only: 50% Off Roxy Clothing & Backpacks.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 669.
BYRON YORK: Does Hillary email flap mean trouble ahead for White House? “So: Obama didn’t know, even though White House officials exchanged emails with Clinton. Is that possible?”
WELL, YES: The Modern Education System is Anti-Boy:
Perhaps because they can be so insufferable, teenage boys are often marked down. The OECD found that boys did much better in its anonymised tests than in teacher assessments. The gap with girls in reading was a third smaller, and the gap in maths—where boys were already ahead—opened up further. In another finding that suggests a lack of even-handedness among teachers, boys are more likely than girls to be forced to repeat a year, even when they are of equal ability.
What is behind this discrimination? One possibility is that teachers mark up students who are polite, eager and stay out of fights, all attributes that are more common among girls.
That’s why we need my proposed Title-IX-style legislation to impose gender parity among K-12 teachers.
IT’S POTEMKIN BIOS ALL THE WAY DOWN: Flashback: Obama claims 1965 Selma march led to his birth . . . in 1961. My dad was there marching at Selma in 1965. Mitt Romney’s dad was there too, marching alongside MLK. Where was Barack’s dad in 1965?
And for that matter, why were Bill and Hillary Clinton no-shows at Selma this weekend, choosing instead to party with Pussy Riot in Miami?
FOLLOWING OBAMA’S LEAD BY IGNORING LAWS THEY DON’T LIKE: Sledding as a Revolutionary Act: The children who defied the rules to play in the snow on Capitol Hill stand in a grand American tradition. Actually, of course, it’s different when people entrusted with political power break the laws.
AT AMAZON, fresh deals on bestselling products, updated every hour.
Plus, Kindle Daily Deals.
And, Today’s Featured Digital Deal. The deals are brand new every day, so browse and save!
KURT SCHLICHTER TO UNHAPPY REPUBLICANS: Knock Off The Loser Talk. This Fight Hasn’t Even Begun.
RELAX. WE HAVE TOP MEN ON THIS. TOP. MEN. Austria is fast becoming Europe’s latest debt nightmare. No problem. Just kick that can down the road again.
#WARONMEN: Prof. Starr’s research shows large unexplained gender disparities in federal criminal cases.
If you’re a criminal defendant, it may help—a lot—to be a woman. At least, that’s what Prof. Sonja Starr’s research on federal criminal cases suggests. Prof. Starr’s recent paper, “Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases,” looks closely at a large dataset of federal cases, and reveals some significant findings. After controlling for the arrest offense, criminal history, and other prior characteristics, “men receive 63% longer sentences on average than women do,” and “[w]omen are…twice as likely to avoid incarceration if convicted.” This gender gap is about six times as large as the racial disparity that Prof. Starr found in another recent paper.
You would have thought that such a huge gender disparity would have gotten more attention. Well, no, not really . . .
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Banning the American flag? Why UC Irvine flap might be glimpse of future.
A decision by the student body government of the University of California at Irvine to ban the display of all flags – including the United States flag – has been vetoed.
According to the Associated Press, the university’s executive cabinet has voted to overturn the ban, which prompted outrage nationwide and led one state legislator to consider an amendment to the California constitution to ensure the American flag could be flown on the campuses of state schools.
On one hand, the now-vetoed decision to ban the American flag had the feel of student government run amok, as budding iconoclasts tried to make a statement about the moral complexities they’re learning in History 101. Flags are “flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism” and they “serve as symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism,” the statement explaining the original ban noted.
Yet the move, short-lived though it was, speaks to more than an only-in-California spasm of 20-something intellectual angst. More broadly, it points to a generational shift in the notion of what patriotism is.
To the extent — probably small — that this is true, it’s the Gramscian Long March bearing fruit. But I think that when people don’t like things that happen on campus, they should feel free to go to the campuses and protest them. Burst the bubble: The protest thing works both ways. I think a nice Rolling Thunder-style flag-decked motorcycle protest through the UC Irvine campus would send the message that there are a lot of people who feel differently than the SJW-dominated student government. As our President says, get in their face.
FRONTIERS IN GENDER FLUIDITY: Planet Fitness cancels woman’s membership after her complaints of transgender woman in locker room.
A Midland County woman’s gym membership was canceled after she refused to stop telling fellow gym members “a man” was using the woman’s locker room.
Yvette Cormier said the incident occurred Saturday, Feb. 28, when she entered the women’s locker room at the Planet Fitness location at 701 Joe Mann Boulevard in Midland.
“I was blocked, because a man was standing there,” Cormier said. “It freaked me out because, why is a man in here?”
Cormier said an employee at the front desk told her that the individual identifies as a woman.
After taking her complaints to Planet Fitness’ corporate office, Cormier said she was told that the gym was a “no judgement zone” and they would not tell the individual in question to stay out of the women’s locker room. The person has not been identified.
The slogan “Judgement Free Zone” is regularly used by Planet Fitness.
A statement released by McCall Gosselin, public relations director for Planet Fitness, states that members can use the locker room corresponding with their personal gender identity.
Since gender identity is fluid nowadays, I guess I’ll just use the women’s locker room on days when I feel like a woman, and the men’s on days when I feel like a man. Who are you to question me, bigots?
THE HILL: 2016’s most vulnerable senators. Most of them are Republicans, which is why the GOP is playing it so safe now. Not clear, though, that playing it safe is smart.
AMY OTTO ASKS THE KEY HILLARY QUESTION: “What glass ceiling did she crack?”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: ABA May Prohibit Reporting Law School-Funded Jobs as Full-Time, Long-Term Bar Passage-Required Jobs. That makes sense, though I’m sure people will find another way to cheat.