NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Trucker Explains What You’re Doing Wrong on the Highway.
Archive for 2015
September 26, 2015
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THE INSTAWIFE ON why The View is bombing.
THEY’RE EVERYWHERE, AND CARS ARE THEIR ONLY NATURAL ENEMY: Ann Arbor approves hiring sharpshooters to kill deer.
THIS SEEMS SO OBVIOUS, AND YET SO UNLIKELY: Larry Kudlow, “Every Now and Then, the GOP Should Disrupt the Status Quo.”
Nobody really likes government shutdowns, including me. But sometimes you have to make a point. Send a message. Show voters what you really believe. Take a stand.
With John Boehner set to resign at the end of October, many believe the outgoing speaker can team up with House Democrats to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Daniel Clifton, partner at Wall Street research firm Strategas and ace Washington watcher, reports, “The risk of a government shutdown next week has been eliminated.” And he expects Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution that will fund government appropriations through December 11.
That would be a clean bill that does not defund Planned Parenthood. More Democrats than Republicans would support it. And Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell stands ready to pass a similar clean resolution. . . .
I am not arguing for a constant series of budget shutdowns. And I will always oppose any expiration of the U.S. Treasury debt ceiling. That would be a harmful global economic event. No good. But it is worth remembering that there are no catastrophic political or economic consequences attached to these shutdowns.
Surely, shutdowns are a cumbersome way to make a point. But the GOP base is clamoring for a more aggressive Republican Congress. The grassroots are angry and frustrated that the Republican House and Senate have not passed a series of large-scale bills.
There’s been no repeal and rewrite of Obamacare. There’s been no corporate tax reform, at a minimum, or overall personal tax reform. There’s been no energy bill — neither to build the XL pipeline nor to end limits on oil and gas exports and drilling on federal lands.
Immigration reform is a hot topic on the presidential debate scene. But there’s been nothing on this from Congress. And the huge issue is the Iran nuclear deal, which in addition to being unverifiable would give Iran $150 billion to kill more American soldiers and advance its domination of the Middle East. But the congressional GOP response has been weak and confusing.
And the fact that legislative hurdles — such as the filibuster, 60-vote rule in the Senate — prevents these reforms is unsatisfying to the GOP base.
Of course, the arrogant and ideologically stubborn President Obama would veto all these reforms if they ever got to his desk. But if I read the grassroots properly, they know this and believe these vetoes would set the stage for a big Republican victory in 2016.
Well, yes. But the GOP establishment is kicking and screaming while its base takes it to the woodshed.
KYLE SMITH: The Hard Untruths of Ta-Nehisi Coates: A bestselling polemic riven with hatred thrills the liberal elite.
Suppose you were a white person with a deep-seated dislike for black people, and you were intent on training your son to feel the same way. Suppose that, day after day, week after week, you instructed him to study the details of every instance of black-on-white crime. Say you advised your son to extrapolate from these incidents the notion that black people are generally dangerous, and that your zeal to present him with disturbing anecdotes along these lines never waned.
You would be wrong, in just about every possible way: statistically, sociologically, morally. You would be doing your son a gross and damaging disservice. For yourself you would invite, and earn, broad contempt. If your opinions became publicly known, you might well find yourself unwelcome in polite company and your job at risk. Indeed, the National Review contributor John Derbyshire was fired for expressing such sentiments in a blog post three years ago.
And yet for harboring roughly the same level of suspicion, fear, mistrust, distaste, and unease about whites as Derbyshire does about blacks, the essayist and blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates has found himself crowned America’s leading civic thinker.
Well, you can usually predict what “decency” will permit or forbid by asking whether it helps or hurts Democratic turnout.
WELL, THIS IS JUST GOING SWIMMINGLY: Syria crisis: US-trained rebels give equipment to al-Qaeda affiliate. “Congress has approved $500m (£323m) to train and equip about 5,000 rebels to fight against Islamic State militants. But the first 54 graduates were routed by al-Nusra Front, the military said. Gen Lloyd Austin told US lawmakers last week that only ‘four or five’ US-trained rebels were still fighting.”
The Obama-Clinton-Biden Mideast Debacle continues to get worse.
IN THE MAIL: From Hal Colebatch & Jessica Q. Fox, Treasure Planet.
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TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 870.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Russia Building Another Base Near Ukrainian Border.
In Kiev on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, declared, “NATO can rely on Ukraine, and Ukraine can rely on NATO.” Apparently, however, the Kremlin is undeterred, for even though the ceasefire still holds, Russia is building a second base along the border. . . .
By putting more infrastructure in place, Putin signals that he is playing a long game of destabilizing Ukraine. He is not looking to annex all of the country; he simply wants to keep it from becoming a successful Western state. By applying pressure along the border (and over it), Putin knows he can upset domestic Ukrainian politics at any moment, and this new base will make it easier to create headaches in Kiev.
A weak Ukraine separated from Europe is all Putin needs to keep his dreams alive. He will work very hard to make that happen—and nothing NATO has so far done seems to be stopping him.
We’re too busy being fundamentally transformed.
BY “DENYING ABORTIONS” THEY MEAN “NOT PAYING FOR ABORTIONS:” The US Just Decided to Continue Denying Abortions to Rape Victims Worldwide. By this logic, the U.S. government is also denying Corvettes to middle-aged men worldwide.
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MATTHEW CONTINETTI: Why Republicans Hate Political Consultants. “One reason Republicans hate political consultants is that so many of them seem to have absolutely no conception of loyalty or reticence or even self-awareness. Scott Walker is a talented governor who won three elections in a blue state. He deserves the respect of his employees, who were happy to spin best-case scenarios for him as long as the money was good. Now, though, Walker’s campaign manager is suddenly out of a job. So what does he do? Like a true Washingtonian, he absolves himself of responsibility for the collapse while explaining to the press—and to his future clients—that it was entirely the governor’s fault. . . . Using the Washington Post to re-litigate internal fights is unseemly. Using the Washington Post to blame the candidate? That’s disgusting.”
THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS IS JUST A NOVEL, RIGHT GUYS? RIGHT? GUYS? Rape and child abuse ‘are rife in German refugee camps’: Unsegregated conditions blamed as women are ‘seen as fair game’ in overcrowded migrant centres.
A culture of rape and sexual abuse is being allowed to take hold in asylum centres across Germany as Europe struggles to cope with the migrant crisis, it has been alleged,
Women’s rights groups and politicians have highlighted assaults against women and children in at least one camp.
And they suggest such incidents may be widespread, with many going unreported to the police.
Campaigners also claimed some men saw unaccompanied women as ‘fair game’, and also blamed conditions in which occupants were unsegregated by gender or nationality.
To paraphrase Chrissie Hynde, when you let in a big chunk of the bloody Third World, the rapists just come with the scenery. But hey, “it’s their culture.”
IF HE WERE SHAMING PEOPLE FOR NOT RECYCLING, PROGRESSIVES WOULD APPROVE: This mayor wants to publicize who’s on welfare and where they live.
If you receive government assistance in the state of Maine, Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald thinks the public has a right to know about it.
In a Thursday column for the Twin City Times, Macdonald said a bill will be submitted during Maine’s next legislative session “asking that a Web site be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole.”
He added: “After all, the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.”
Proposals to target welfare recipients and reform assistance programs have become lightning rods for broader discussions on how the poor are treated and how taxpayer dollars are used.
Kansas lawmakers received both national criticism and praise this summer after approving a law limiting how people in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program can use their benefits. And at least 13 states have some sort of drug testing laws for public public assistance applicants or recipients.
I mean, it’s not like the Left is opposed to shaming in general.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION LEAVES CONSERVATIVE SCHOOLS OFF ‘COLLEGE SCORECARD:’
When the Department of Education unveiled its new College Scorecard earlier this month, a number of schools were missing from the list — not low-ranked or misrepresented, just missing. Many are conservative schools, well-known for their independence from the federal government.
Hillsdale College, a small Michigan liberal arts school which receives high marks in national rankings – U.S. News & World Report ranked it the 67th best liberal arts college in the nation and #1 for veterans — was notably absent from the Obama administration’s list of colleges. So were Grove City College and Christendom College. All three of these schools do not accept federal funding in order to maintain independence from government control.
Were the conservative schools left off the scorecard because they reject federal funding or because they oppose government control of higher education?
I know which I’m betting — how about you?
SHOULD ALL SCIENTISTS BE MILITANT ATHEISTS?
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Florida Public College Abolishes Tenure.
A public college in Florida has taken a decisive step to eliminate tenure, putting one of the largest cracks yet in a gradually-crumbling edifice.
Instead of receiving tenure after five years of employment, from now on professors at the State College of Florida will only receive annual contracts the school can decline to renew at any time.
The change only applies to new hires and does not affect currently-tenured faculty, but it still had to overcome a storm of protest from staff. Some said the school will be unable to attract any talented applicants, while others said it would make it too easy to fire faculty who aroused controversy.
Well, that’s true, and non-PC faculty are very grateful for tenure. On the other hand, are there enough non-PC faculty to make it worth it?
Plus:
Tenure has been under severe attack in K-12 schools by critics who say it mostly serves to protect low-quality teachers. But it’s held up better in colleges and universities, where professors argue tenure is critical for preserving their academic freedom. Still, it’s been an increasingly popular punching bag for reformers who say such protections are simply outdated.
But even in academia there are signs of disintegration. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker’s most recent budget revoked the state’s statutory guarantee of tenure, and also redefined tenure in a way that makes it far easier to lay off professors even if they have it. At colleges across the U.S., there is a trend of hiring more and more adjunct professors who are ineligible for tenure, while tenured professors who retire simply aren’t replaced.
This is a major issue. If tenure is essential to a university, why are so many people teaching there untenured?
ROGER SIMON: The Donald Gets Booed!
Trump’s attack on Rubio over immigration isn’t as simple as it would appear superficially. Donald, up until quite recently, was on virtually every side of everything himself. Just like Rubio, the supposed squish of the Gang of Eight, he is a relatively newborn immigration hawk.
But which one is telling the truth now? My guess is both. There’s been so much attention focused on the issue it’s unlikely either would back down. Trump deserves credit for raising the immigration issue, but, believe it or not, there are other issues just as, possibly more, important. As I write, Putin seems to have moved in on not just Syria, but also Iraq. He has air power in both now, in open alliance with Iran, the soon to be rolling in American dollars nuclear armed religious fascism. Bashar Assad looks to be safe as the Southern tier of a re-upped Soviet Union. (Didn’t we beat those guys?) Xi Jinping apparently has given little, if anything, in negotiations with Obama on cyber security, the South China Sea or anything else. It’s not just our Southern border that is under siege. Thanks to the worst president in our history, the USA is turning into the ghost of itself and taking the world down with it.
Who is the right person to right this ship? Maybe it takes someone with the bluster and moxie of Trump, a take no prisoners person. But before we commit, we should make bloody well sure that’s what he really is.
Read the whole thing.
FOR THE CONNECTED, THERE ARE ALWAYS “WAIVERS:” Hillary Clinton personally signed deal that let top aide collect two salaries.