WHY OBAMA LET IRAN’S GREEN REVOLUTION FAIL: Eli Lake at Bloomberg News discusses a new book by The Wall Street Journal‘s Jay Solomon, The Iran Wars.
Excerpt:
…Obama wasn’t just reluctant to show solidarity in 2009, he feared the demonstrations would sabotage his secret outreach to Iran…Behind the scenes, Obama overruled advisers who wanted to do what America had done at similar transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and signal America’s support.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1204.
ISLAMIC JIHAD’S MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPONS: Ignorance and complacency are the west’s undoing, David Solway writes.
Read the whole thing.
One thing I’ve learned about the power of “mainstream” media is that while they can no longer keep stories out of the public eye, their power to gin up, or quash, public outrage remains enormous.
UPDATE: So true:
KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON: The real scandal of EpiPen pricing.
Bernie Sanders doesn’t have the first clue how an EpiPen works or what went into developing it, but he’s sure he knows what one should cost, and he’s sure who should decide — him. You know what Bernie Sanders is? He’s a bum. He was damn near 40 years old before he ever found his way into a full-time job, and that was in elected office; before that, he collected benefits, sold his creepy rape fantasies for left-wing newspapers at $50 a pop, and never lifted a finger toward any genuinely productive enterprise. He’s been suckling greedily at the public teat since way back when he could remember where his car keys are. Funny thing, though: Now he’s a bum with a third home on the waterfront of a Vermont island worth the better part of a million dollars. Every good apparatchik eventually gets his dacha.
Mrs. Clinton is a bum and a crook who used the State Department as a funnel to guide the money of favor-seeking business interests at home and abroad into the Clinton Foundation, a sham charity that exists to pay six-figure salaries to Clintons (Chelsea is full-time executive there) and their courtiers.
These people are parasites. They make: nothing. They create: nothing. They produce: nothing. But they feel perfectly justified — they positively glow with moral frisson — standing between the people who create and build and the people who benefit from those creations.
Besides, the money to pay for ObamaCare’s medical device tax has to come from somewhere.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: “Safe Spaces” Are For Losers.
Academics around the country are embracing the relatively new trend of using trigger warnings to shield students from ideas that might be discomforting or trauma-inducing. These ideas often include topics that touch on “racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other issues of privilege and oppression.”
Though there is some debate surrounding how widespread the use of trigger warnings actually is, a survey conducted last year by the National Coalition Against Censorship found that a majority of educators had used trigger warnings at one time or another.
Similarly, many universities are creating “safe spaces” where students can relax free from ideas that might be stressful or anxiety-inducing. Among these is Brown University, which last year created a room “with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies” because a debate on sexual assault was taking place on campus.
Other universities have canceled “controversial” speakers—Condoleezza Rice, George Will, Jason Riley, and Michelle Malkin, among them—under pressure from faculty or students.
Apparently not all universities are on board with this trend. The University of Chicago recently made it clear to its crop of incoming students that academic freedom and inquiry remain pillars at the institution, and that the university does not support “so-called” trigger warnings or offer safe spaces that allow students “to retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own. Here is how the university welcomed its incoming class of 2020:
Welcome and congratulations on your acceptance to the college at the University of Chicago. Earning a place in our community of scholars is no small achievement and we are delighted that you selected Chicago to continue your intellectual journey.
Once here you will discover that one of the University of Chicago’s defining characteristics is our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression. … Members of our community are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, without fear of censorship. Civility and mutual respect are vital to all of us, and freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to harass or threaten others. You will find that we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.
And then, the coup de grace:
Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.
This is how a university should act.
COULTER TURNS ON TRUMP: Woman Who Wrote ‘In Trump We Trust’ Goes on Tweetstorm About Why We Can’t Trust Trump.
She’s also threatened to cancel her book tour.
AMERICAN BREXIT? NIGEL FARAGE JOINS TRUMP IN JACKSON, MS: Farage’s Brexit surprised all the pollsters. Could Trump do the same here?, asks Roger Simon, who’s on the road, camera in hand, at Trump’s latest rally.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: U.S. Army Fears Major War Likely Within Five Years — But Lacks The Money To Prepare.
Senior Army officials are circumspect about discussing the danger in open forums — they don’t want to advertise U.S. vulnerabilities — but it seems clear that the Obama administration’s “pivot to the Pacific” announced in 2012 has created a geopolitical vacuum stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Persian Gulf that Russia and Iran are trying to fill. Meanwhile, the unpredictable government of North Korea continues its bellicose behavior toward the South, which the U.S. is pledged to defend.
The “pivot” hasn’t amounted to much, but the vacuum left in Europe and the Mediterranean is quite real.
AT AMAZON, fresh deals on bestselling products, updated every hour.
Also, coupons galore in Grocery & Gourmet Food.
Plus, Kindle Daily Deals.
And, Today’s Featured Digital Deal. The deals are brand new every day, so browse and save!
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Hillary Clinton’s Cash-For-Access Diplomacy.
SEEN ON FACEBOOK:
ONE MAN’S HEADLINE WRITER IS ANOTHER MAN’S TERROR-EXCUSING ANTISEMITE:
Palestinian attacks Israeli soldiers from car, then gets out, stabs one, and is shot. This is @Reuters' headline. pic.twitter.com/QhN21QMpvz
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) August 24, 2016
YES, THE PUBLIC OPTION IS A ‘TROJAN HORSE’ TO DESTROY PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE: The “father of the public option” said on video that his plan is to eventually create a single-payer health care system. We should believe him.
