THE MAJOR SHIFT IN SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS: Good background. Note the comment about “patronage and clientelism.” DA = Democratic Alliance (centrist, with strong center-left faction) EFF = Economic Freedom Fighters (radical socialist) Here’s another useful article.
Archive for 2016
August 7, 2016
WHY, SOME OF HER BEST FRIENDS, IN FACT: Clinton to journalists: I have a lot of black friends.
That’s the sort of remark that the DNC-MSM would have pounced hard on in 2008, when they openly wanted her out of the race.
IN THE MAIL: From Sarah Hoyt, Witchfinder (Magical Empires) (Volume 1).
Plus, at Amazon, Lightning Deals galore.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1186.
BLACK LIVES MATTER CALLS ISRAEL AN APARTHEID STATE AND A RABBI REPLIES: A thoughtful reply by Rabbi Dan Dorsch of Atlanta, Georgia.
Excerpt:
“As someone who strongly supports civil rights, but who is also deeply concerned about attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel, I am deeply concerned by this frightening development within a movement that has catapulted onto the national stage as the voice of civil rights in recent months. The nature of this bizarre request within the context of serious discussions of racial inequality in America seems to be chutzpahdik, if not entirely out of bounds.”
Chutzpahdik: Brazen. Not showing due respect.
Look, no decent person ever said black lives don’t matter. The very name Black Lives Matter is meant to divide and incite. Rabbi Dorsch has noticed Black Lives Matter is a leftist group that has hijacked the civil rights movement. How long will this hijack last? My guess is at least for the duration of the 2016 election.
I NEVER BELIEVED THAT “END OF HISTORY” STUFF, BUT THIS IS STILL DISTURBING: The Return Of History?
Are the the norms underpinning the liberal democratic governments of North America and Western Europe as fragile as the communist ideology of Russia and Eastern Europe in the decades preceding its sudden collapse? That’s the implication of a provocative essay by the political scientists Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk in the latest issue of the Journal of Democracy using World Values Survey data to highlight the broad-based erosion in support for democratic institutions across the Western world. Some of their more alarming findings:
Young people are less attached to democracy than their elders. “When asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how ‘essential’ it is for them ‘to live in a democracy,’ 72 percent of those born before World War II check ’10,’ the highest value. So do 55 percent of the same cohort in the Netherlands. But … the millennial generation has grown much more indifferent. Only one in three Dutch millennials accords maximal importance to living in a democracy; in the United States, that number is slightly lower, around 30 percent … On the whole, support for political radicalism in North America and Western Europe is higher among the young, and support for freedom of speech lower.”
Americans increasingly support an all-powerful executive. “In the United States, among all age cohorts, the share of citizens who believe that it would be better to have a ‘strong leader’ who does not have to ‘bother with parliament and elections’ has also risen over time: In 1995, 24 percent of respondents held this view; by 2011, that figure had increased to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of citizens who approve of ‘having experts, not government, make decisions according to what they think is best for the country’ has grown from 36 to 49 percent.”
Support for popular sovereignty has declined especially quickly among the wealthy. “In 1995, the ‘rich’ (defined as deciles 8 to 10 on a ten-point income scale) were the most opposed to undemocratic viewpoints, such as the suggestion that their country would be better off if the ‘army’ ruled. Lower-income respondents (defined as deciles 1 to 5) were most in favor of such a proposition. Since then, relative support for undemocratic institutions has reversed. In almost every region, the rich are now more likely than the poor to express approval for ‘having the army rule.’”
The paper is not the last word on the subject, and there are a number of potential sources of democratic strength that it doesn’t address, including the high levels of social tolerance among young people, the continued veneration of meritocracy (democracy’s close cousin), and the appeal of populist movements from across the spectrum aimed (ostensibly) at curtailing elite power and amplifying the voices of ordinary voters.
But it does highlight the fact that the democratic discontent of 2016 is not just a temporary episode can be allayed by rebuffing Putin’s shenanigans or hectoring voters about their irresponsibility or putting the right technocrats in charge. The dark specter of illiberalism across the West is symptomatic of a deep and broad-based decline in confidence in democratic institutions and ideas that has been taking place for two decades.
Under liberal democracy, just as under any other form of government, the leadership class must display a quantum of self-discipline and competence or people start to hanker for something else.
LEADER OF GERMAN FREE DEMOCRATS COMPARES TURKEY’S COUP REACTION TO 1933 NAZI REICHSTAG FIRE: Over the top? Read the article. A “coup d’etat from above.” Today Erdogan staged a mass rally in Istanbul to support his coup d’etat from above…uh…his authoritarian counter-coup.
AMERICA’S MISSING YOUNG MEN: plugged into the Matrix.
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WHEN DOES JEN LAND? Twitter “Progressives” bombard fellow “Progressive” Comedienne Jen Kirkman with death threats after missing the point of a Hillary-themed joke.
(Classical allusion in headline.)
SPOT THE LOGICAL FALLACY HERE: “Director Fernando Mereilles and his team delivered a sobering call to address global warming and deforestation cloaked in a stirring multicultural celebration of tolerance,” the Hollywood Reporter, err reports in an article headlined “Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics: TV Review.”
If global warming is that threatening to mankind, then why did over 75,000 people fly into Rio on jet aircraft (and no doubt, plenty of private aircraft to boot) to watch a sporting event? Why are millions of watts of electricity being used to light the stadium and televise this event? And countless gallons of gas used to transport the athletes and their audience?
As the Professor is wont to say, I’d more willing to believe global warming is a crisis if the people who tell me it’s a crisis start to act like it’s a crisis themselves, and not simply guilt others because they believe they’re amongst the anointed.
IS HE A “FRIEND OF BILL?” This Virginia Mayor Endorsed Hillary Clinton, Now He’s in Jail for Trying to Buy Sex with Meth.
FREUDIAN SLIP: Clinton mistakenly refers to Trump as her ‘husband.’
To be fair, those two crazy kids certainly would make a great couple together.
I’LL BE CURIOUS TO FIND OUT WHO THE SUSPECTS ARE, IF THEY’RE EVER CAUGHT: “Machinery located at three oil pipeline construction sites in central Iowa was found extensively damaged by fire Monday in what the company building the pipeline called a shameful act. There’s little doubt the fires were intentionally set along the Dakota Access pipeline, said Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty. Damage to a bulldozer and other large tracked equipment was estimated at $1 million,” AP reports. “Environmental, American Indian and landowner rights groups have vigorously fought approval of the pipeline and have vowed to continue protests and acts of civil disobedience.”
(Via Kate Small Dead Animals, who links under the headline, “Preview Of Coming Attractions.”)
21ST CENTURY PROBLEMS: How Hackers Could Get Inside Your Head with ‘Brain Malware.’
BUT THE PRESS SURE RAN WITH THE STORY THAT HE DID: WaPo: Trump is right: He didn’t kick a baby out of a campaign rally.
SOME GRIEVING PARENTS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: “According to the media, not all grieving parents of fallen servicemen are created equal. Whether those parents are protected, defended and respected or ignored, dismissed and smeared depends on their political affiliation — and how useful they are to the ‘right’ side.”
Read: the left side.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Allowing Law Students To Fail The Bar Exam Is NOT A Good Way To ‘Diversify’ The Legal Profession. Well, it’s good for law schools’ bottom lines.
TOM RICKS: Mulling Kansas 1856 and America 2016.
August 6, 2016
12 STATES WITH SALES TAX FREE SHOPPING THIS WEEKEND: On back to school items. Varies from state to state.
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