THAT DOESN’T FIT THE NARRATIVE: Trump’s first two months prove he’s anything but a fascist.
Archive for 2017
March 19, 2017
GOOD. WHY LET THE LEFT HAVE ALL THE GLORIA-ALLRED-TYPE FUN? Guy wearing Trump hat sues bar for refusing to serve him. It wouldn’t cost much for a bunch of people to kit up and revisit this place. Or to troll others.
Of course, if you really want to strike fear into Trump-haters, you should wear one of these, apparently.
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS paying lobbyists to weaken state FOIA.
SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Senator Who Owns 3 Houses Rails Against Americans Who ‘Worship Wealth.’
Roots of the expression here, for those who have forgotten:
Hoping to shut down “open outcry” trading, where deals are shouted across the pit, the Greenpeaceniks ran onto the trading floor, according to the London Times, “blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach.”
But London traders, just after lunch, are more likely to be powered by two or three pints of strong ale than the milk of human kindness.
The trespassers were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. “They were kicking and punching men and women,” said a photographer, according to The Times of London. “It was really ugly. … They followed the [Greenpeace] guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement.”
“The violence was instant,” reported one aggrieved recipient of a rain of blows to the head. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”
“Sod off, Swampy!” shouted one tardy trader, steadying himself against the railings of the balcony of the pub across the street as his colleagues threw the protesters bodily onto the sidewalk. (Swampy was an enviro-protester who gained fame by living unbathed in a tunnel for eight months.)
Meanwhile, other traders inside the building were punching and felling men and women with a politically correct lack of sexual discrimination. Those who had already been punched onto the floor were shocked to look up and see traders trying to overturn heavy filing cabinets onto them.
A laconic spokesman for the IPE said, “We are dealing with the situation.”
An appropriate response, and one that prefigured the Trump/Brexit era.
FRANK BRUNI: The Horror of Smug White Liberals. “It ‘perfectly captures the terrifying truth about white women.'”
As we’ve heard nonstop from Democrats since November, white women are the worst.
JAMES COTTON PASSED AWAY LAST WEEK: The blues harmonica great died March 16 in Austin, Texas. Here’s Downbeat’s obituary.
UPDATE: I heard James Cotton play on three different occasions, the last one being in 1972 or 1973. Occasionally at college jam sessions I would fake a very limited, dumbed-down version of The Creeper. Here’s the real thing. Here’s his official site.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: The BigLaw Massacre Approaches.
ALL OF CHUCK’S CHILDREN ARE OUT THERE PLAYING HIS LICKS:
Someone tell Sheldon Cooper – this is what Fun with Flags could be like if he hired a kick-ass band.
(Classical reference in headline.)
WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Bruce Schneier Calls for IoT Legislation, Argues The Internet Is Becoming One Giant Robot. I’m not a fan of the Internet Of Things.
JOEL KOTKIN: Hollywood’s Self-Inflicted Wounds.
No industry is more identified with Southern California than entertainment. Yet, in the past, the industry’s appeal has lain in identifying with the always-changing values and mythos of American society. But, today, that connection is being undermined, not just by technology, but also by a seemingly self-conscious decision to sever the industry’s links with roughly half of the population.
This was painfully obvious during the Oscars — the penultimate event of the seemingly endless award season — when speaker after speaker decided to spend their moments of fame denouncing President Donald Trump. For all his personal failings, and often misguided policies, most Republicans and independents disapprove of the relentless Trump bashing in the media.
Hollywood’s decision to make itself part of the anti-Trump resistance would make for wonderful satire, if you could get it on film. Imagine feminist icon Emma Watson fighting for “women’s empowerment” while baring her breasts in Vanity Fair. Or a host of social justice warriors, like Meryl Streep, demanding justice for the dispossessed, then returning to their estates where these victims of Trumpism are not likely to be found outside the servants’ quarters.
Also, their movies mostly stink.
YEAH, PRETTY MUCH: Amy Alkon: The Feminist View: Any Critical Response To A Woman’s Publicly Posted Message Is Hate And “Troll-Siccing.”
Feminism is an ideology so compelling that it can only flourish in the absence of any disagreement whatsoever.
HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND BUILD MY OWN PROJECT STUDIO: Building a Dedicated Music Project Studio Control Room and Isolation Booth, Part One.
EUROPE: Danes look at Sweden today “with absolute horror.”
Related: The Gramscian Damage.
ELI LAKE: The Resistance Cheers Tactics Trump Will Likely Use Against Them.
The risk of normalization is particularly acute when it comes to selectively disclosing details of conversations monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the leaks that forced Flynn to resign last month. Such leaks violate the public’s trust in government eavesdroppers to not abuse their power to advance a political agenda.
This is why there are strict laws prohibiting the public disclosure of wiretap information. It’s why the intelligence community is supposed to take great pains not to distribute the names of American citizens who are caught up in surveillance of foreign targets widely within the government. It’s why the House Intelligence Committee is now investigating how many times the identities of U.S. citizens were unmasked in intelligence reports in the last six months of the Obama administration.
Tim Edgar, who served in Obama’s first term as the director of privacy and civil liberties at the White House, told me that it’s a mistake to conflate leaks of government-monitored communications with leaks designed to expose government wrongdoing or corruption. “J. Edgar Hoover was a prolific leaker, the Nixon White House leaked information, including information about its opponents from surveillance,” he said. “You may care somewhat if the government has intercepted your call, but you care more if they are using that information against you in some way.”
Edgar, who is now a professor in law and public policy at Brown University, is worried that the anti-Trump forces are not seeing the danger. “My message to the resistance is that you have to be careful,” he said. “These laws exist to protect all of us and our constitutional rights, and there is a difference between leaking the contents of surveillance transcripts and whistle blowing involving questionable government policy.”
In this sense, the resistance is fashioning a rod for its back. Democrats rightly howled when it was leaked that the FBI had wanted to investigate the Clinton Foundation but was stymied by the Justice Department in the run-up to the election. Trump will now have access to all kinds of damaging information on Democratic politicians. What is to stop him from selectively leaking monitored communications against the resistance?
Ideally, the rest of Washington would stop him. We don’t do that kind of thing in America. This is what police states do. But these norms are only effective if they are observed with consistency.
Deep-sixing norms is what lefties do.
AT AMAZON, The Everyday Suit for Men.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Next Year’s Ford Mustang and F-150 Will See and Brake For Pedestrians in the Dark.
AT AMAZON, save 25 percent on Wall and Decor.
THE BBC LISTS SEVEN OF CHUCK BERRY’S GREATEST SONGS: OK, it’s the Beeb’s music reporter. But it’s a decent list. Here it is: Maybellene. Roll Over Beethoven. School Days (“American history and practical math”). Brown Eyed Handsome Man. You Never Can Tell (“They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast, Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz”). Memphis, Tennessee. Johnny B. Goode.
Note: The BBC post says “School Day” not “School Days.” It’s both. In 1957 schools still taught American history and practical math. I selected the line from You Never Can Tell because it’s one I particularly like.
UPDATE: OK, seven of his best, not necessarily greatest. The article’s a fun read.
AN IDEA SO CRAZY, IT JUST MIGHT WORK! Trudeau Challenger O’Leary: ‘I Don’t Want Anybody Just Walking Into Our Country.’