IT’S ALL ABOUT GRAFT: Noah Feldman: The Thin Legal Case for Affirmative Action in Contracting. Like pretty much all affirmative action these days, it’s just a tool to ensure that goodies flow to Democratic constituencies.
Archive for 2016
September 14, 2016
THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED: Drinking Wine Before Bed Helps Weight Loss.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:
Shot: Time Whines: Hillary’s Health Only an Issue ‘Because She’s a Woman.’
—NewsBusters, today.
—Time Magazine, May 14, 2008.
Hangover: Hillary Is No Nixon: Hospitalized for a knee-infection in 1960, candidate was transparent.
The American Spectator, yesterday.
To be fair, Nixon is much more respected by Democrats these days than Hillary is, judging by the disparity between how they were each treated by lefties in 2008.
OWN GOAL: Kristen Bell Accidentally Stumbles Across a Flaw in a Liberal Talking Point.
Kafkatrapping – it’s not just for the left anymore!
“COURTESY APPOINTMENTS,” COURTESY OF THE CLINTON FOUNDATION: Yes, the Clinton Foundation helped big buck donors (“prominent people”!) obtain access, Foundation Prez Donna Shalala admitted. Indeed, the drip drip drip of evidence suggests Hillary has always depended on the kindness of donors — their kindness exchanged for access.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: You can now hire an ‘Instagram Husband’ for Fashion Week to take pictures of your outfits.
WHEN PROPAGANDA COMES Kid-Sized.
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Assembling a large, stable, icosahedral protein molecular cage.
HONESTLY, THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE WAITED THAT LONG: Virgin Galactic Resumes Test Flights, Two Years After Fatal Crash.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Burritos by drone will soon be a thing.
ALMOST HALF OF VENEZUELANS WOULD LEAVE THE COUNTRY — IF THEY COULD: This is a poll, so who knows if 40 to 50 percent of Venezuelan citizens are really ready to flee the desperate situation they confront. But many are already leaving. For years the Dutch were worried that Hugo Chavez might launch a military attack the island of Curacao, a Dutch territory near the Venezuelan coast. Now the island faces a refugee invasion. Even Chavistas are fed up.
WHY THE WAR ON TERROR HAS TAKEN 15 YEARS, AND WILL TAKE MUCH LONGER.
Oh, I don’t know—Obama has certainly hit on a novel solution to wrap things up in the next few years.
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IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY DON’T MUCH MIND IT WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO KILL DONALD TRUMP: Guy who tried to shoot Trump to get two years jail and deportation?
Hard to imagine someone who went after Obama or Hillary getting this kind of treatment.
ADVICE: Before You Spend $25,000 On Weight-Loss Surgery, Try A Low-Carb Diet.
Gary Taubes could’ve told you this.
21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: I was behind the wheel when a self-driving Uber failed — here’s what happens.
I was driving on a perfectly straight back road, pictured below, without any cars when I heard a ding indicating the car wasn’t driving itself anymore. The engineer in the passenger seat wasn’t sure why the car stopped driving.
When the car goes back into manual mode, it doesn’t automatically stall, but begins to slow down. That means you have to be aware the entire time you’re behind the wheel in case you’re on a road where there are cars around.
When I was riding in the backseat, the car switched into manual mode on a busy bridge. Our driver had his hands on the wheel the entire time and took over so quickly you wouldn’t have known anything had happened had a noise not sounded. We were told the failure had nothing to do with being on a bridge, but with how busy our surroundings were.
There are also situations where drivers are advised to take over, even if the car doesn’t switch to manual mode.
For now at least, I’d prefer to take over whenever the engine is running.
CRIMINAL GENIUS: Man driving chemical and radioactive waste company’s stolen 18-wheeler leads California police on hours-long highway chase.
The pursuit started in Apple Valley, northeast of Los Angeles, around 10:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The man, identified as James Edgely, 48, was driving the stolen tractor-trailer solo and told authorities he was unarmed and did not want to go to jail.
Maybe he should have thought of that before stealing a truck from a chemical and radioactive waste company.
WHAT IT TAKES TO GET HEARD IN THE “BOYS’ CLUB” THAT IS THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE: “Female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called ‘amplification’: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it… giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.”
WHY ARE DEMOCRAT MONOPOLY CITIES SUCH CESSPITS OF VIOLENCE? BBC Video: The Lost Streets of Chicago:
Another rapper who goes by Bo Deal tells the BBC, “I never seen so many guns, like, we had a lot of guns but I never seen so many guns like now…ever.” He adds, “Everybody got guns and they don’t got just little 22’s…when we was coming up it was 22’s, 25’s, 38’s now they got big guns and 30 shot clips and s**t.” But immediately after lamenting the guns and violence he adds, “I think that a lot of guys need to die to make it…make it better.”
One woman interviewed by the BBC says, “you can’t really come outside at night.” Not even small children are safe from the gangs’ crossfire.
Part of what’s I found interesting about this story is that it reveals some characters who are immersed in a lifestyle that is objectively horrible yet which also seems to hold a certain glamour for them. There’s a scene where Duwop gathers for a party to remember his friend who was recently killed. Then a moment later he’s filming a new video inside an abandoned house while teens wearing masks and holding rifles pose for the camera. It’s not clear where the line is between play acting and becoming part of the problem. Is Duwop reflecting his reality or is he profiteering off the chaos he’s supposed to be lamenting? Maybe he’s doing both. Either way it’s clear the violence and his chosen career are deeply connected.
After the video wraps up with a long helicopter shot of the city there is a final interview in which Duwop breaks down and seems to try to justify his own behavior. “We only doing this s**t to get out…This s**t ain’t normal, man. I’m forced to do this s**t everywhere I f***ing go, man. This s**t don’t end. This a never ending f***ing cycle, man. Ain’t no way out of this s**t.”
When will the SJW crowd go after the destructive and misogynistic elements of rap? Similarly, perhaps a “fundamental transformation” of Chicago is in order, considering that its last Republican mayor left office in 1931.
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