Archive for 2016

September 18, 2016

ANOTHER REFERENDUM ON MERKEL’S IMMIGRATION IN GERMANY: A vote for Berlin’s mayor is scheduled for Sunday, and the numbers don’t look good:

Berlin’s SPD mayor is doing his utmost to demonize the AfD ahead of the vote. . . .

This kind of tactic has worked several times in France, but it has been slowly losing its effectiveness there. The argumentum ad Hitleram might still have some traction in Germany, but some anecdotal evidence suggests that it may fall on deaf ears. “Merkel made a mistake letting everyone in. She will pay the price and so will Germany, our children,” a CDU voter—who incidentally still intends to support Merkel—told Reuters.

Anger is running high across Europe, recent survey data from Pew shows. In Germany, 67 percent disapprove of how the European Union has handled the refugee issue, while only 26 percent approve. In most of the rest of the EU, the numbers are even more stark. While Merkel will take her lumps—and may as a result decide not to run for re-election next year—the AfD is not really in danger of getting into a governing coalition any time soon, given the realities of German politics. But their successes in Germany are likely just a taste of the kinds of gains kindred parties will make in the coming months and years across the continent.

When the “respectable” and “sensible” parties cease acting sensibly or respectably, people look elsewhere.

Posted at 10:30 am by Glenn Reynolds on Sep 18th, 2016

THE NFL IS STILL WORKING HARD TO ALIENATE FANS: Philadelphia Eagles planning “social injustice” anthem demonstration on Monday night:

It’s only been 22 days since Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the anthem was first noticed, and the pheomenon of sitting or kneeling or raising a fist has spread consistently in the two sets of NFL games played since then. For the most part, management (league office, owners, coaches) have supported the players’ rights to use the anthem as a platform for making a statement, although Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has called the displays “very disappointing.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell’s comments on the subject tied the decision to stand to patriotism — an implication that anything other than standing at attention isn’t patriotic. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has taken issue with the notion that anthem demonstrations are not patriotic, as has Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall.

Omitted from NBC’s article: “Smith served as counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder and was a member of Barack Obama’s transition team,” as the American Thinker reported in 2009, after Smith helped to blow up Rush Limbaugh’s effort to be part of the team purchasing the St. Louis Rams.

Posted at 8:50 am by Ed Driscoll on Sep 18th, 2016

TWILIGHT OF THE ELITES: Colin Powell’s Emails Provide A Window Into Why We Got Trump:

Even as Democrats have accused Republicans of “epistemic closure” in their beliefs, the bipartisan governing class may have similar problems of its own. Powell’s emails make clear that he lives a life of television appearances, lucrative paid speeches, and expensive parties at which he runs into a bipartisan assortment of colleagues. Recalling his frustration over being dragged into email controversy by Clinton’s staff, Powell writes, “I had to throw a mini tantrum at a Hamptons party to get their attention.”

Having a cozy elite that gathers in the Hamptons isn’t all bad. If political foes were mortal enemies at all times, the system would break down and peaceful transfers of power would become impossible. But one is left wondering if Powell or any of those who agree with him have any sense of the “average folks” of whom they speak. In the circles in which Powell travels, it’s taken for granted that globalism must be on the march, that bridges must supplant walls, and that better education must be the ticket to middle-class existence. Meanwhile, Trumpian ideas of building a border wall or restricting outsourcing won’t help struggling Americans because—they just won’t. So stick with the current consensus program, which will pay off any minute now.

Powell shares not just the assumptions of the establishment but also its lenience in self-assessment. In email exchanges with Condoleezza Rice about Iraq, Powell and his former colleague take comfort in blaming Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney for the primary mess-ups in Iraq, implicitly absolving themselves. When former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw emails about the release of an inquiry into the Iraq War called the Chilcot Report, he seems troubled primarily by the idea of bad publicity and calls Brexit a “silver lining” for distracting attention to it. Powell is even less troubled, writing, “Didn’t amount to anything over here.” One gets the sense their sleep is not terribly disturbed.

Life is good in Capital City. Less so in the provinces, but who cares about those rubes?

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds on Sep 18th, 2016