Archive for 2016
March 22, 2016
RICHARD EPSTEIN: Merrick Garland, Political Pawn.
YES, BRUSSELS CAN HAPPEN HERE, TOO: With security like this at the Keating federal building in Rochester, NY, it may only be a matter of time.
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TIM COOK’S LEGACY: The Apple Event Was Boring.
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Crowd-sourced RNA structure design uncovers new insights.
IRINA MANTA: Branded: What Trademarks Do For Capitalism.
ARMY GENERAL: Screw This Procurement Nightmare. Give Me Glocks.
U.S Army General Mark Milley is sick and tired of the military’s Byzantine and politically-compromised procurement system, and is looking for a COTS (commercial off the shelf) solution to replace the Beretta M9 pistol instead of waiting for years for the Modular Handgun System trials to complete.
More:
The Army launched its long-awaited XM17 MHS competition in late August to replace its Cold-War era, M9 9mm pistol.
Milley criticized the program’s 356-page requirement document and lengthy testing phase slated to cost $17 million for technology that has existed for years.
“The testing itself is two years long on known technology,” Milley told law makers at a March 16 House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“We are not talking about nuclear subs or going to the moon here. We are talking about a pistol.”
I bought my first Glock (the nearly omnipresent G19) back in December, and have found it accurate and fun to shoot, a breeze to maintain, and easy to carry. The price was right, too — for the same $17 million the military plans to spend on “testing,” they could have already purchased 34,000 G17s or G19s complete with two magazines each.
IN THE MAIL: Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe.
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TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1048.
CRONY CAPITALISM: Google And the Obama Administration.
LATIN LEFTY MELTDOWN: The Castro Brothers Aren’t Feeling The Bern:
A huge U.S. delegation of officials, led by President Barack Obama, visited Cuba for the first presidential visit since the Coolidge years. The Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor and slew of less exalted officials were all in the entourage—an eyebrow-raising focus on Cuba, especially for an administration that says the U.S. should be pivoting away from Europe and the Middle East because they don’t matter so much anymore.
To some, this trip looks like a victory lap for a resurgent American Left. The Sandernistas (led by the Senator from Vermont himself) certainly think so. And some horrified conservatives noted the photo of Obama and his team with a giant image of Che in the background, forgetting past appearances where American presidents have appeared before or even under images of communist leaders like Mao, Ho and even Lenin himself. But if Che loomed in the background in Havana, Obama’s visit is more about the liquidation of Latin socialism than its triumph. With socialist parties in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela all struggling to defend their poor economic records and corrupt politicians in the face of centrist opponents, Latin America isn’t feeling the Bern these days.
Even if this visit is overkill—and is more fanboy gushing than actual diplomacy—the United States actually does have some business to transact with Havana, if Raul is in the mood. Venezuela is a failing state, and Cuba could play a major role in preventing massive suffering in a neighboring Latin American country. It is as clear even to top Cuban communists as it is to Americans to the right of Sean Penn that the Chavez “revolution” was both a massive misadventure and the definitive failure of left-wing ideology in Latin America. If Venezuela, with some of the world’s largest oil reserves, managed to melt down after just a few years of Chavismo, its unlikely, to say the least, that poor Danny Ortega is going to make a go of Nicaragua, or that Haiti can pull itself up by its bootstraps by following the leftie playbook.
The Cubans understand what is happening in Venezuela very well. Not only do they have close intelligence links with Caracas, it was the realization that Venezuela could no longer prop up Cuba that led the Castro brothers to accept the opening with the U.S. in the first place.
As nobody knows better than the Castro brothers, Cuban socialism has never worked without a sugar daddy.
From college students to countries, it’s always the same with socialism.
MILO YIANNOPOULOS TELLS HIS CRITICS “HOW TO BEAT ME. (SPOILER: YOU WON’T):”
5) Your University’s reputation is in your hands. Remember that
Remember that it’s not just you and your mates who acquire a negative reputation for your loony behaviour: it’s your university too. I’m sure some of your peers won’t be happy when you devalue their diplomas with infantile behaviour that only serves to increase the size of my army.
Read the whole thing.
JAMES CARAFANO: After Brussels Attacks, US Must Not Repeat Europe’s Mistakes. To be fair, we shouldn’t have been making them before Brussels, either.
FOLLOWING UP ON MY USA TODAY COLUMN FROM A WHILE BACK, here’s Christine Chabot’s look at when Supreme Court justices weren’t all from Harvard and Yale — or even graduates of law schools.
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NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: The U.S. military has a lot more people in Iraq than it has been saying.
More here.