Archive for 2015
December 11, 2015
CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, WHO RECENTLY SIGNED COMMON-SENSE GUN LEGISLATION (1) Preventing a ban on lead ammunition; (2) Creating a system for military members to carry guns on base; and (3) Allowing the sale of surplus military handguns to civilians. “Although the gun control debate is often polarized, Congress and President Obama have demonstrated that common-sense reforms are still possible. Kudos to them.”
FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Nearly Half of Youth Say ‘American Dream’ Is Dead: Harvard Poll.
American’s youth are down on the future, with nearly half of those ages 18 through 29 believing the “American Dream” is more dead than alive, a nationwide survey released Thursday by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics shows.
Reflecting the sour mood of the overall electorate, 48 percent of those asked “For you personally, is the idea of the American Dream alive or dead?” responded “dead.” Those who picked “alive” accounted for 49 percent.
Opportunities for graft among the political class, on the other hand, are more alive than ever.
ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE PUPPIES BAY: It’s Time.
THIS IS MY OH SO SHOCKED FACE: Report: White House broke law, deceived Congress in Bergdahl-Taliban swap.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: PlayStation VR: What you need to know.
AH, BUT EASIER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION WILL CHANGE THIS: As it’s doing for books. I hope. The Elitist Art World Is A Cargo Cult.
MY ECONOMIST CRUSH: (Like everyone doesn’t have one!) Tom Sowell On Wealth and Poverty.
MOLON LABE: ‘New Republic’: BAN ALL GUNS!
FOR THE LIBERTY ZONE THE LANGUAGE IS MILD, BUT: Special Snowflake University.
JUST TRYING TO ELIMINATE US AS AN INDEPENDENT NATION: Are Democrats Trying to Establish a Right To Immigrate to US?
THE VETERINARIAN WILL SEE YOU NOW: Rationing ‘Marginally Beneficial Care’.
BUT THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM: Hillary Clinton’s most repugnant lie.
CHALLENGE THEIR LIES: Give them no place to hide. Kurt Russell Rips Leftist Reporter Who Call Guns a ‘Totem’ for ‘Disenfranchised White Guys’.
DEPENDS. FOR LACK OF TEACHING, NO: Should We Let Our Kids Fail? And so many of our schools merely pretend to teach, particularly boys. We should not let our kids fail from lack of instruction and care or a perverse revenge fantasy of (mostly female) frustrated teachers. BUT letting them fail from reaching too far? That’s the right of every human being on Earth. You PURSUE happiness. Sometimes what you catch is a kick in the teeth.
WHEN LIKE CALLS TO LIKE: President Obama is the last hope for Latin America’s lefty thugs.
BECAUSE IT ALWAYS WORKS SO WELL: Obama’s ISIS Strategy Is No Better than the Allies Hiding Behind the Maginot Line in World War II.
THEY THINK THE WORST OF US: They think we are like them. Misunderestimating the American people.
TO SUPPORT QUOTAS REQUIRES THE ASSUMPTION THAT ALL OUR CO-CITIZENS ARE STRAIGHT UP RACISTS: Which leads me to believe progressives don’t live in the same world I do. College quotas are actually destroying lives of minorities.
December 10, 2015
EXPERIENCE: The Hidden Reason Why Americans Dislike Islam.
There will be no doubt some hand-wringing about “Islamophobia” and further calls to continue the American elite’s fourteen-year track record of whitewashing Islamic beliefs and culture, but I wonder if the media is missing a powerful, largely-uncovered influence on America’s hearts and minds — the experience and testimony of the more than two million Americans who’ve served overseas since 9/11 and have experienced Islamic cultures up-close. Yes, they were in the middle of a war — but speaking from my own experience — the war was conducted from within a culture that was shockingly broken. I expected the jihadists to be evil, but even I couldn’t fathom the depths of their depravity. And it was all occurring against the backdrop of a brutally violent and intolerant culture. Women were beaten almost as an afterthought, there was a near-total lack of empathy for even friends and neighbors, lying was endemic, and sexual abuse was rampant. Even more disturbingly, it seemed that every problem was exacerbated the more religious and pious a person (or village) became. I spent enough time outside the wire and interacting with tribal leaders to get a sense of the reality around me, but the younger guys on the line spent weeks at a time living in the heart of the local community. I remember one young soldier, after describing the things he’d seen since the start of the deployment, gestured towards the village around us and said — in perfect Army English — “Sir, this s**t is f**ked up.” . . .
But this same experience has caused us to treasure the Muslim friends we do have — in part because we recognize the extreme risks of their loyalty and defiance of jihad. That’s why American officers fiercely champion the immigration of local interpreters, even to the point of welcoming them into their own home. That’s why there’s often an intense connection with our Kurdish allies, the single-most effective ground fighting force against ISIS. Two million Americans have been downrange, and they’ve come home and told families and friends stories the media rarely tells. Those stories have an impact, but because of the cultural distance between America’s warriors and its media, academic, and political aristocracy, it’s an impact the aristocracy hasn’t been tracking. Experience trumps idealistic rhetoric, and I can’t help but think that polls like YouGov’s are at least partly registering the results of a uniquely grim American experience.
The aristocracy doesn’t know many actual soldiers.
DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: San Bernardino shooters planned bigger attack, investigators believe. “Farook and Malik were in the final planning stages of an assault on a location or building that housed a lot more people than the Inland Regional Center, possibly a nearby school or college, according to federal sources familiar with the widening investigation.”
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HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): LONE PROFITABLE ACA INSURANCE CO-OP LOSING MILLIONS.
TOM MAGUIRE: “Rare is the day when we find a smidgen of insight at Vox. Rarer still is the day that the Voxsplainers and Glenn Reynolds are aligned in agreement.” Well, they’re right occasionally, and I’m right most of the time, so you can do the math.
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