Archive for 2016
January 11, 2016
WELL, THAT WAS FAST: New Republic Owner Chris Hughes Puts Magazine Up For Sale:
The New Republic, the century-old magazine that was rocked a year ago by the mass exodus of its staff following an effort by its owner to make it more digitally focused, is being put up for sale.
Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook who purchased a majority stake in the struggling title in 2012, said in a staff memo Monday that he had underestimated “the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate,” and would seek to find a new owner.
“After investing a great deal of time, energy, and over $20 million, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for new leadership and vision at The New Republic,” the memo read. “Although I do not have the silver bullet, a new owner should have the vision and commitment to carry on the traditions that make this place unique and give it a new mandate for a new century.”
Marty Peretz’s emotions right now must be the textbook definition of Schadenfreude.
As John Podhoretz notes, a silver bullet is used for shooting monsters, not for rehabilitating magazines. Although considering it’s a magazine devoted to growing parasitic leftwing government ever-larger, perhaps that’s an appropriate Freudian slip for Hughes.
Finally, I know you’ll be very disappointed to learn that this announcement will likely slowdown the arrival of TNR-branded coffeehouses.
Since the Vox/Buzzfeed-ification of TNR has failed, perhaps the next owner will implement Iowahawk’s modest plan for pumping a little energy and fun into the dour publication.
UPDATE: And speaking of Schadenfreude!
KYLE SMITH: Parties are about to nominate two candidates Americans hate:
Sure, the Obama period has been what writer Ed Driscoll dubbed “the hateful eight years,” and President Obama has been the single most polarizing president in US history.
Until the next one.
On both sides, the electorate is saying the opposition has been treated far too kindly, that it’s time to put down the switchblades and pick up the howitzers. Get ready for an election year like no other. It’s going to be a hair-raising path to November. From here on in, it’s Mad Masses: Fury Road.
“The candidates leading the polls in either party — Hillary Clinton for the Democrats, Donald Trump for the Republicans — are not just viewed unfavorably by voters overall; they are the most unfavorably viewed by Americans out of all of the candidates running,” noted Kristen Soltis Anderson in The Washington Examiner. Over a 40-year career in and around public life, Hillary Clinton has accumulated so much baggage that the mere mention of her name (like that of Richard Nixon) has come to seem disparaging.
Read the whole thing.
(And while I was quoting Tablet magazine in my link, I appreciate the shout-out in the New York Post — thanks.)
TWO MEN SHOOT UP A NIGHTCLUB IN CANADA, ARE TAKEN DOWN BY BOUNCERS: The offenders: “Mohamed Elmi, 31, and Mohamed Salad, 29, both of Calgary.” Jihadis? It doesn’t say.
BUT WILL DOJ PROSECUTE?: Catherine Herridge and Pamela Brown at Fox report that the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State has now expanded to include investigation of public corruption via the fundraising activities of the Clinton Foundation:
The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state has expanded to look at whether the possible “intersection” of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws, three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News.
This new investigative track is in addition to the focus on classified material found on Clinton’s personal server.
“The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed,” one source said.
The development follows press reports over the past year about the potential overlap of State Department and Clinton Foundation work, and questions over whether donors benefited from their contacts inside the administration. . . .
One intelligence source told Fox News that FBI agents would be “screaming” if a prosecution is not pursued because “many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation.”
The FBI is particularly on edge in the wake of how the case of former CIA Director David Petraeus was handled.
One of the three sources said some FBI agents felt Petraeus was given a slap on the wrist for sharing highly classified information with his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell, as well as lying to FBI agents about his actions. Petraeus pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in March 2015 after a two-plus-year federal investigation in which Attorney General Eric Holder initially declined to prosecute.
In the Petraeus case, the exposure of classified information was assessed to be limited.
By contrast, in the Clinton case, the number of classified emails has risen to at least 1,340. A 2015 appeal by the State Department to challenge the “Top Secret” classification of at least two emails failed and, as Fox News first reported, is now considered a settled matter.
It is unclear which of the two lines of inquiry was opened first by the FBI and whether they eventually will be combined and presented before a special grand jury. One intelligence source said the public corruption angle dates back to at least April 2015. On their official website, the FBI lists “public corruption as the FBI’s top criminal priority.” . . .
On Sunday, when asked about her email practices while secretary of state, Clinton insisted to CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” “there is no there, there.”
Nothing to see here. Move along. Surely there are more important things to talk about than massive political corruption, like how “proud” Hillary is of Obama’s executive action depriving law-abiding citizens of their constitutional rights, or how women are victims of male patriarchy or something. Squirrel!
KURT SCHLICHTER: Lena Dunham Just Taught Conservatives An Important Lesson About Millennials And Hillary Clinton. “In a shocking turn of events that should surprise absolutely no one, voice of her generation Lena Dunham has once again said something unbelievably foolish. But the specific content of the yammerings of this over-privileged Hollywood heavyweight is meaningless – what’s important is what her stream-of-unconsciousness monologue tells us about Millennials and how we conservatives need to communicate with them before next November. . . . What Lena Dunham thinks matters not at all; what other Millennials think does. And what Dunham reminds us is that Millennials have little understanding of the real Hillary Clinton.”
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, AND SOLUTIONS: When My Life Unraveled, I Bought a $500 Dress. “I’ve been craving not only these luxurious items but human kindness, too. Not the pitying kindness one normally gets during a family crisis, but the bland, deferential kindness that makes me feel calmer and wealthier than I really am.”
AT AMAZON, deals on cellphones and service plans.
WHEN YOU IMPORT PEOPLE FROM AN ACTUAL RAPE CULTURE, YOU GET MORE RAPES: Growing scale of Cologne attacks stokes German debate on migrants.
EUGENE VOLOKH: Ban under-25-year-olds from owning guns? Not so fast. Nowadays, I basically assume that every “gun safety” proposal is just a lying liar’s attempt at salami-slicing the basic right away. And I’m seldom, if ever, wrong.
THIS IS WHAT HAS DEMS WORRIED: Poll: 20% of Dems would defect for Trump.
JOEL KOTKIN: What’s the best way up for minorities?
In presidential election years, it is natural to see our political leaders also as the brokers of our economic salvation. Some, such as columnist Harold Meyerson, long have embraced politics as a primary lever of upward mobility for minorities. He has positively contrasted the rise of Latino politicians in California, and particularly Los Angeles, with the relative dearth of top Latino office-holders in heavily Hispanic Texas. In Los Angeles, he notes, political activism represents the “biggest game in town” while, in Houston, he laments, politics takes second place to business interests and economic growth.
In examining the economic and social mobility of ethnic groups across the country, however, the politics-first strategy has shown limited effectiveness. Latinos, for example, have dramatically increased their elected representatives nationally since the 1990s, particularly in California. But both Latinos and African Americans continue to move to, and appear to do better in, the more free-market, politically conservative states, largely in the South.
Throughout American history, immigrants and minorities have had two primary pathways to success. One, by using the political system, seeks to redirect resources to a particular group and also to protect it from majoritarian discrimination, something particularly necessary in the case of the formerly enslaved African Americans.
The other approach, generally less well-covered, has defined social uplift through such things as education, hard work and familial values. This path was embraced by early African American leaders such as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey. Today, the most successful ethnic groups – Koreans, Middle Easterners, Jews, Greeks and Russians – demonstrate the validity of this method through high levels of both entrepreneurial and educational achievement.
How today’s racial minorities achieve upward mobility has never been more important.
My prediction: Those approaches that generate the most graft and self-importance for politicians will be favored over those that work. Because if you lead a coalition of the poor, you don’t want to make fewer of them.
IF ONLY: The Washington Times editorializes about “Multiculturalism Reconsidered.”
A generation ago the Europeans, who had bled themselves white in war after war, usually in the service of chauvinistic nationalism, decided they could save the day with a new concept called multiculturalism. . . By cultivating their differences, rather inviting them to join a melting pot that had worked so well for so long in North America, tolerance and “cultural enrichment” became the norm.
But there’s a growing realization that maybe “multi-culti” hasn’t worked so well, after all. Prominent Europeans are turning their backs on the idea. Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have called the scheme, however well meant, into serious question.
The reasons are clear enough. The idea that new arrivals would inherit a mixture of the old and the new turned out to be non-achievable. Instead, multiculturalism created ghettoes, often impoverished ones. The institutionalized subsidies to the new arrivals created dependence on government handouts rather than self-reliance through integration in the workplace. This in turn produced resentment among the native population . . . .
I’m doubtful that the European left or middle is going to seriously consider leaving the multi-culti cult anytime soon. It’s too deeply engrained. The coverup about the nature and extent of the mass sexual assaults committed by immigrants in Cologne and elsewhere in Germany on New Year’s Eve is evidence of just how far the European left will go to keep multi-culti alive. According to a detailed story in the Daily Mail:
Mrs Merkel said: ‘Everything must be done to identify the guilty parties without regard to their background or origins. We must send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our laws. Questions arise over whether some groups are subscribing to misogyny.’
Her words were clearly carefully chosen to avoid specifically linking migrants with these attacks against women. But the truth is the mass assaults have clear echoes of the sex crimes in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in Egypt in 2011, during celebrations welcoming the so-called Arab Spring, when groups of men violently harassed women.
Lara Logan, a CBS reporter, was sexually assaulted by a mob in scenes reminiscent of those in Germany. Her clothes were torn off, and between 200 and 300 men took pictures of her naked body as her attackers ‘raped her with their hands’ over and over again.
Another deeply worrying aspect of the New Year horror in Cologne also emerged this week.
Many Germans, including some of the victims themselves, have accused authorities of a conspiracy of silence over the assaults to stop criticism of the mass immigration policy pursued by Mrs Merkel and her politically-correct supporters. The mainstream media in Germany has, until recently, toed the Government line; a top public broadcaster, ZDF, recently refused to run a segment about a rape case on its prime-time ‘crime-watch’ show because the ‘dark-skinned’ suspect was a migrant.
The programme’s editor defended her decision, saying: ‘We don’t want to inflame the situation and spread a bad mood. The migrants don’t deserve it.’ . . .
And until Thursday, a week after the attacks, there had been silence from Mrs Merkel’s ministers about the backgrounds of the perpetrators. Initially, they insisted there was no evidence that new migrants were involved in the violence.
A leaked police report which emerged 48 hours ago showed this was far from the truth. It revealed that one of the Cologne attackers said: ‘I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly: Mrs Merkel invited me.’
Indeed. Read the whole thing.
WELL IF THIS ISN’T A WAKEUP CALL, WHAT IS? Syrian ISIS supporter shot dead outside Paris police station had been arrested for sexually assaulting women in Cologne – and may have taken part in New Year’s Eve attacks.
STEVEN HAYWARD: The Economy: Don’t Look Now, But . . . “I have no idea where the economy if heading, but when everyone is saying that there’s no recession on the horizon is precisely the time to expect a recession—or something worse. Another black swan of some kind. Every Republican presidential campaign ought to be ready for a sudden economic shock such as occurred in September 2008, which, recall, caught John McCain flatfooted. Up to that point he was even or slightly ahead of Obama in most polls.”
AND, SUDDENLY, LEFTIES ARE WORRIED ABOUT RAPE “HYSTERIA:” Ashe Schow: Europe Is Enabling a Rape Culture. Well, technically, importing one. “In the left’s pyramid of grievances, Islamophobia now outranks the war on women.”
Related:
IN THE MAIL: The Nixon Effect: How Richard Nixon’s Presidency Fundamentally Changed American Politics.
Plus, today only at Amazon: 60% or More Off Sweaters For Women and Men.
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TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 977.
ALL HAIL SHALE: Fracking Is Making America Greener.
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal well drilling have transformed the American energy landscape in the space of a decade, unlocking huge new reserves of natural gas and oil that were trapped in shale formations and thought to be inaccessible. Fracking has therefore unleashed a flood of new supplies of hydrocarbons on the U.S. market, and that’s brought natural gas down to bargain basement prices.
As the EIA notes, we mostly use coal to generate electricity, but natural gas-fired power plants can accomplish that same task, which is why plunging natural gas prices are putting the squeeze on coal producers. For parts of the country that rely on the coal industry, this is a bitter pill to swallow, but for America’s environmentalists, this ought to be seen as something of a game changer. Coal is just about the dirtiest fossil fuel around, and burning it not only releases copious amounts of greenhouse gases, but also emits harmful air pollutants into the local environment. Natural gas burns much cleaner, emitting roughly half of those GHGs, and it’s growing momentum in this battle against coal can only be seen as good green news.But the modern environmental movement is loathe to give any sort of credit to the shale boom, preferring instead to stick to its doom-and-gloom prognostications and moralist chiding. That’s a shame, because America isn’t getting the credit it deserves for greening its economy without donning the eco-hairshirt: No other developed country is making more progress in moving away from coal than we are. We’ve said it before but it bears repeating (even if it does fall on deaf ears amongst environmentalists): Shale gas is fracking green.
The thing is, the eco-hairshirt is the chief appeal — besides graft — of environmentalism.
THE GOD PROFUSION. “Europe’s churches are empty—but don’t take that as a sign of reason’s triumph. More than half of Icelanders believe in elves and trolls,” Naomi Schaefer Riley writes in the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Stark argues that, in general, the government sponsorship of religion is a hindrance to the growth of a faith. Monopoly destroys competition, and competition, he says, causes growth—in religious affiliation as much as in the marketplace for goods and services. In many places around the globe, the competition among Muslims, evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and hundreds of smaller religious groups has resulted in an atmosphere of revival. A smug complacency has been replaced by a fervor to win souls.
Not in Europe, however, where the churches, once so important, are now empty. For the champions of the secularization thesis, such a development is nothing to complain about: Empty churches are a sign of reason’s progress. Mr. Stark offers some amusing evidence to the contrary. Drawing on the Gallup poll, he notes that Europeans hold all sorts of supernatural beliefs. In Austria, 28% of respondents say they believe in fortune tellers; 32% believe in astrology; and 33% believe in lucky charms. “More than 20 percent of Swedes believe in reincarnation,” Mr. Stark writes; “half believe in mental telepathy.” More than half of Icelanders believe in huldufolk, hidden people like elves and trolls. It seems as if the former colonial outposts for European missionaries are now becoming more religious, while Europe itself is becoming interested in primitive folk beliefs.
America isn’t immune either of course; as Michael Graham asked in Redneck Nation 15 years ago, “Do you know how exasperating it is to have a New Ager make fun of your religion?”
As a graduate of Oral Roberts, I am a magnet for people who want to talk about their spiritual beliefs and/or their loathing of Christianity. My ORU experience was part of my stand-up comedy act, and it was not uncommon to be harangued after the show by audience members who wanted to get their licks in against organized religion.
After a set at a hotel in Washington State, I was dragged into a long, drawn-out discussion with a graying, balding New Ager who just couldn’t get over my evangelical background. “You seem so smart,” he kept saying. “How could you buy into that stuff?” Here’s a guy wearing a crystal around his neck to open up his chakra, who thinks that the spirit of a warrior from the lost city of Atlantis is channeled through the body of a hairdresser from Palm Springs, and who stuffs magnets in his pants to enhance his aura, and he finds evangelicalism an insult to his intelligence. I ask you: Who’s the redneck?
Come to think of it, I’m not sure if this guy—who believed in reincarnation, ghostly hauntings, and the eternal souls of animals—actually believed in God. It’s not uncommon for Northerners, especially those who like to use the word “spirituality,” to believe in all manner of metaphysical events, while not believing in the Big Guy. “Religious” people go to church and read the Bible, and Northerners view them as intolerant, ill-educated saps. “Spiritual” people go hiking, read Shirley MacLaine or L. Ron Hubbard, and are considered rational, intelligent beings.
Why, it’s almost as if mankind is factory hardwired to believe in a higher power.