I HAVE TO SAY, I think my year-end column in 2013 pretty much called it: “Obama’s 2013 is likely to be similarly ‘average:’ Worse than 2012, but better than 2014.” Related item here.
Archive for 2015
January 7, 2015
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HONESTLY, THIS DOESN’T SEEM LIKE MANY IN A COUNTRY OF 330 MILLION: Alcohol Poisoning Kills 6 Americans a Day, Federal Report Finds.
MICKEY KAUS ON POLITICO-JOURNALISTIC INCEST.
NOW RESCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY: Everything You Need to Know About the SpaceX Reusable Rocket Launch.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS on today’s Paris massacre.
MICHAEL WALSH: Got Hate? Here’s the Most Fascist Piece You Will Read Today.
GOOD FOR THEM: Vox Runs Charlie Hebdo Covers.
FEAR THE GREXIT: “We’re three weeks away from the Greek general election, which the left-wing Syriza party, which wants an end to Greece’s punishing austerity regime, seems likely to win. The problem is that the austerity regime is the condition for continued assistance from the euro zone. If Syriza does indeed win and tries to make good on its promises, Greece could be forced to exit the euro.”
One of my Levantine acquaintances thinks this unlikely, as Greece is getting ready to contest with Turkey for gas deposits around Cyprus and will need allies. We’ll see. Plus this: “Financial crises take longer than you think.”
IN THE MAIL: From Tracy Lawson, Counteract (Resistance Series, Book 1).
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THEY FEAR BEING MOCKED: Gunmen storm Paris satirical newspaper, killing at least 12. “Masked gunmen opened fire Wednesday in the offices of a French satirical newspaper known for provocative content on Islam, killing at least 12 people and then escaping after carrying out the country’s bloodiest terrorist attack in decades.”
You know, if we aren’t careful this will cause people to think of Islam as violent.
UPDATE: Live-Blogging.
Plus, Amir Taheri: Terror in Paris — the limits of appeasement.
ANOTHER UPDATE: More from Claire Berlinski.
Plus this on Twitter:
And this:
MORE: Do Not Submit: Republish The Mohammed Cartoons Everywhere.
STILL MORE: Roger Simon: Paris: Islam Strikes Again. “Egypt’s el-Sisi is right. Islam is in desperate need of a reformation, because right now it is not even a religion. It is a virus.” There are, of course, plenty of good Muslims. But they’re not driving the bus.
MORE STILL: The Washington Free Beacon republishes the cartoons.
PLUS: “Immediately recognizing that this domestic incident as an act of terrorism was a turnaround for the White House. The administration initially hesitated to use that label after the 2009 Ft. Hood massacre and the 2013 Boston Marathon, waiting until an international connection could be proved.” Well, good for them, finally.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 608.
ROGER SIMON: Does Egypt’s el-Sisi Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? “Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize virtually for no more than being elected president — and then made a hash of everything. El-Sisi came into power by something of a coup over the Islamofascist Morsi — and then has worked hard to make peace, rein in and seal off Hamas, turn Qatar from the Islamist camp, etc., etc. — far more Nobel-worthy than anything Obama ever even dreamed of.”
HIGH PRAISE! Liberal Pundit Says Damon Root’s New Book Threatens ‘the Foundation of Western Social Democracy.’
According to O’Donnell, Overruled “is a sober, well-researched, and thoughtful case for the libertarian point of view on judicial issues ranging from gun control to economic regulation.” What can I say? I’m grateful for those kind words. But in fairness to O’Donnell, he also added the following caveat: “Like most libertarians, Root cares more about principle than orthodoxy; hence his book is no partisan screed. Yet he is representative of libertarians in another way as well. His positions sound reasonable until you begin thinking through their implications, at which point you realize just how radical they are.”
How radical are my positions? According to O’Donnell, Overruled threatens to tear the very fabric of civilized life.
You mean like free birth control? Quelle horreur! The book is Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court.
THOUGHTS ON ACADEMIC MONOCULTURES AND IDEOLOGICAL MOBBING.
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NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Jim Webb And The Democrats’ White-Man Problem.
Rather than run as a liberal (which he is not, in a whole host of ways), Webb could run as a kind of anti-Hillary. He would be an explicit counter to the sort of progressive, feminist narrative that would inherently undergird a Clinton run. He would also be the anti-Obama, a break from the sort of identity politics around race, gender and ethnicity that have, in Webb’s telling, excluded working-class white men. . . .
This group has been something of the topic du jour lately, with a decades-long decrease in manufacturing jobs and an identification with the Republican Party so apparent in the midterms that it has left Democrats looking for answers (again).
President Obama weighed in on the plight of the working-class whites in an NPR interview, saying: “There’s a legitimate sense of loss, particularly among men, who have seen manufacturing diminish; construction has been in the tank.”
Well, when you run your campaigns on sexual and racial hatred, don’t be surprised if the targets of that hatred vote for the other party.
S.E. CUPP: Woman to woman: Stop hunting for a ‘feminist boyfriend.’ Instead, try to focus on finding someone who’s not a jerk. “Finding the perfect mate is hard enough as it is, without creating unattainable — in fact inadvisable — expectations. And at least according to her recent piece, ‘How to Find a Feminist Boyfriend,’ Bonos has imagined not only a man who probably doesn’t exist, but one that shouldn’t exist.”
MOBS DEFENDING THE RULERS WITH PSEUDO-INDEPENDENT THUGGERY ARE A HALLMARK OF FASCISM: Maoists in China, Given New Life, Attack Dissent.
THE PHRASES “GROSS INJUSTICE” AND “DUKE UNIVERSITY” CERTAINLY SEEM TO GO TOGETHER A LOT: Gross Injustice at Duke: Accused Rapist Convicted Via ‘Indirect-Double-Hearsay.’ “Lewis McLeod, a Duke University student who was convicted of rape by the administration and faces expulsion, has sued the university for violating his due process rights. His lawsuit sheds light on Duke’s adjudication process—and no one who reviews the shocking details could conclude that the procedure was anything other than a total farce.”
You know, if men’s rights activists followed lefty rules, when Duke’s traveling admissions road show came to their town to recruit prospective students, it would be met by protesters with DUKE HATES MEN signs.
SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT JEB BUSH, HE ALWAYS KEPT HIS FAMILY FED: SONG: Come And Listen To A Story About A Man Named Jeb.
JIM TREACHER: What Happens When You Try To Get A Bunch Of Little Boys To Slap A Little Girl In The Face? “SPOILER: They won’t do it. And if that surprises you for some reason, apparently you’re the target audience for this Italian PSA.”