Archive for 2017
December 7, 2017
WELL, GOOD: Conservative professor to speak at U. of Montana despite ‘risk of offending students.’ If they’re offended, it will be a growth experience for them.
AT AMAZON, Hot New Releases, Updated Hourly.
Plus, new Kindle Daily Deals.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: RUSSIA Collusion Update, Israel Fallout and Much, Much More.
ELI LAKE: Trump’s Move Frees Palestinians to Focus on Peace, Not Jerusalem. Assuming, of course, that they want peace.
Meanwhile, even Jeb Bush praised Trump’s action, though Seth Barrett Tillman has an observation:
Cruz, maybe. Rick Perry, possibly. Probably not anyone else.
THE FLIGHT HOME: An electronic attack squadron completes a deployment.
MIDEAST: Saudi Arabia’s Earth-Shaking Coup.
How extraordinary to see a world-historical revolution unfolding before one’s eyes and not know how it will turn out: that’s what’s happening right now in Saudi Arabia. Mohammad bin Salman, a 32-year-old too young to be a partner in most law or finance firms, has managed, by intrigue not yet fully disclosed, to supplant his cousin Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef as heir to the throne and to carry out a purge of the royal family breathtaking in its sweep. Imagine: not only did bin Salman order the arrest of at least ten other princes and a score of former government ministers, now held in luxurious restraint in Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton; he also supposedly had Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men and a major shareholder of 21st Century Fox, Citigroup, Apple, Twitter, and a host of other giant Western corporations, hanged upside down and beaten in an “anti-corruption” investigation.
No matter that “wasta”—corruption, kickbacks, and cronyism—has long governed Saudi Arabian business dealings. Now, the kingdom’s economic crown jewel—Aramco, the Saudi state oil company—is headed for sale on the public stock markets, and the financial future of the kingdom and its oligarchs is on the line. Sadly for the Saudis, Aramco is no longer as valuable, economically and geopolitically, as it once was. Natural gas from fracking has displaced oil as the fuel of the Western economy, with the result that OPEC (and, less critically, Russian oil) can no longer hold anybody’s economy hostage. For the Saudi government, moreover, no longer can cartel-inflated oil revenues pay for the gigantic welfare state that supports so much of the population in non–working, gilded, state dependency. What can’t go on, won’t, said economist Herb Stein sagely; and MbS, as the new crown prince is called, saw this reality and stepped in to take precautionary measures before a rapidly collapsing economic order sparked social anarchy, with an outcome no government could foresee or control.
Read the whole thing.
Bin Salman faces serious headwinds — violent Wahhabi hardliners, frustrated members of his own ruling clan, and of course the ticking time bomb effect of low oil prices on his country’s finances.
THE HILL: Al Franken Resignation Could Upend Minnesota Races.
Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) possible resignation on Thursday could set off a scramble among potential candidates to fill his seat while putting both Senate seats in the state up for reelection in 2018.
Franken’s Democratic colleagues rapidly pulled support from him on Wednesday, as more than half of the Senate Democratic caucus — led by a stream of successive statements seemingly coordinated by half a dozen female senators — called on Franken to resign in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Thomas Perez joined that chorus, upping speculation that Franken will step aside on Thursday, when he’s slated to make an announcement.
State law dictates that Minnesota’s governor, Democrat Mark Dayton, must appoint a candidate who will serve until the 2018 elections. At that point, there’d be a special election to determine who would serve the final two years of Franken’s term before another election in 2020 for a full six-year term.
That outcome would roil what’s already slated to be a raucous election year for Minnesota politics. Next year, the state will see competitive elections for governor, attorney general and two state Senate seats, as well as a high-profile battle for control of the state House.
Hmm. National Dems must not be too worried about the seat or they wouldn’t have suddenly under-bussed Franken. But they could be wrong. I did notice that the other Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, wasn’t so quick to pile on, though.
ANTISOCIAL MEDIA: Porn Star May Have Committed Suicide Over Twitter Bullying.
On December 3, Ames, who has over 280 movie credits to her name, tweeted her personal decision not to shoot with male porn actors who’ve shot gay porn, and a warning to another performer.
“Whichever (lady) performer is replacing me for @EroticaXNews, you’re shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn, just to let cha know,” [sic] she wrote on Twitter. “BS is all I can say. Do agents really not care about who they’re representing? #ladirect I do my homework for my body.”
The 23-year-old porn star was referring to the higher instances of sexually transmitted diseases in gay porn actors, which is a constant danger for porn performers. The Daily Beast reported in 2016 that the porn industry has done a poor job of protecting its stars from contracting diseases like HIV.
Following Ames’ tweet, the performer was bombarded with accusations of homophobia by a number of other adult industry actors.
According to the Blast, Ames’ death was confirmed by the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office today. Her friends suspect that she committed suicide due to the bullying on Twitter. Sources told the publication that Ames suffered from long-term depression and that the incident may have contributed to her decision to take her own life.
Twitter apparently allows this kind of cyberbullying, while banning award-winning journalist Bridget Johnson without notification or explanation.
YOU CAN LEARN FROM THE PAST, OR YOU CAN ERASE IT: Mark Pulliam: Monumental Dishonesty.
BUT OF COURSE: Professors Refer to Conservative Criticism as ‘Violence.’
THAT NEW CAR SMELL: Toyota’s New Power Plant Will Create Clean Energy from Manure.
USA TODAY: On Jerusalem, Donald Trump ended a quarter century of lies.
President Trump’s announcement that he will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has ignited a firestorm of protest. What’s disingenuous about the histrionic response is the capital’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a longstanding goal of U.S. policy that once had bipartisan support.
When running for president 25 years ago, Bill Clinton promised to “support Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.” President George W. Bush criticized Clinton for not following up on that commitment, but then W failed to make good on his too. During Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, he stated that, “we should move our embassy to Jerusalem” but never recognized the city as the capital once he was elected.
The difference now, whether one loves or hates Trump, is that people across the political spectrum are going berserk because he is moving to fulfill his campaign promise on this issue after the three previous presidents lied about it to win office.
How dare he do that.
JIM TREACHER TRANSLATES:
HAIL, BRITANNIA: Medical issues affect British army readiness as one in five soldiers — about 18,000 — is unable to participate in full combat situations.
Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Bowie, a former naval officer, uncovered the figures through a written response to a parliamentary question.
“I think these figures are very worrying,” Bowie told The Independent. “Far from the 82,000 soldiers that the British army is supposed to have, it seems that, when medically unavailable soldiers are taken into account, it is more like 60,000.
“This gap is placing a huge burden on an already overstretched Army required to carry out the roles the government asks them to do on our behalf.”
For perspective on the size of today’s army, Britain suffered almost 60,000 casualties on the first day of the Somme.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Fall 2018 Law School Admissions Season Opens With A Bang: Applicants Are Up 14.2%.
WE’LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH: Franken’s office disputes report that he plans to resign.
When Minnesota Public Radio reported late Wednesday that Franken planned to resign on Thursday, Franken’s office denied it on Twitter.
“Not accurate,” the tweeted stated. “No final decision has been made and the Senator is still talking with his family.”
The tweet capped a long day of calls for Franken to step aside, starting with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Wednesday morning.
“Enough is enough,” she told reporters at a news conference. “We need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is okay, none of it is acceptable. We as elected leaders should absolutely be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard, and we should fundamentally be valuing women. That is where this debate has to go.”
Franken’s office said he would make an announcement about his political future on Thursday. No other details were provided.
Stay tuned…
But Ann Althouse observes: “I just want to say that, predisposed as I am to think of Weinstein as an evil power-abuser, I don’t accept the portrayal of all of his facilitators as machine parts. He couldn’t have built a machine out of people. They had to make themselves complicit. An individual can go wrong in many ways (including through mental illness or substance abuse as well as through evil), and those who form relationships and do business are morally responsible for noticing such a person in their midst and not becoming part of his ‘machine.’ I’m going to be tough on the unwitting as well as the witting. If this really is The Reckoning, let’s look at the whole picture.”
IN THE EMAIL FROM ALMA BOYKIN: Grasping for the Crowns.
In 1916, war has swept the entire world, along with famine and riot tearing countries apart from within and without.
István Eszterházy, now the Head of Hungary’s House Sárkány, struggles to lead its men, women, and True-dragons alike through the shifting tides of fortune, even as the Habsburg Empire is staggered by England’s treachery. While hunger and defeat stalk the streets, the Powers beneath the land grow poisoned and maddened.
When the spirits of the land attack each other, and rebels plot to destroy his House, István must fight not just for his own survival, but for his entire family!
YOU SHOULD KNOW IT TOOK SENATOR STUART SMALLEY A LOT OF CORRUPTION TO STOP BEING AN UNFUNNY COMEDIAN AND START BEING AN UNFUNNY SENATOR: You’re not going to dislodge him that easily, America. Do you think votes found in the trunk of cars made themselves up? And after all this, you didn’t think he was going to grope a few women? Ah! You’re naive. What’s a woman, when you’ve raped congressional elections? Al Franken: Hanging on Like a Stubborn Case of the Clap… For Now.
YEAH. HE’S A DANGEROUS FLAKE: Flake’s Barf-Worthy Check to Doug Jones: Why Jones’ Radical Abortion Stance is Like a Devil Doughnut.
SO MUCH IS EXPLAINED ABOUT CALIFORNIA POLITICS: California in a ‘literacy crisis’ with children who can’t read: suit.
WASHINGTON DC IS FULL OF PANICKING NINNIES, IS WHAT IT IS: Since when is a drink in the last month “heavy drinking”? Where I come from that’s abstemious. Washington DC is full of heavy drinkers: study.