JOURNALISM CHOOSES SIDES: Leaked Screenshots Reveal BuzzFeed Director Wishing for Trump Assassination. “This was not the first time BuzzFeed employees talked openly about wishing President Trump would get assassinated, they hated conservatives so much they even held an office party when Justice Scalia died. It was a toxic environment.”
Archive for 2017
May 4, 2017
MUSTANG AND RAPTOR IN FORMATION: A photo snapped on April 22, 2017 shows a WW2 P-51 Mustang flying in formation with an F-22 Raptor. Note the P-51 bears the name “Tuskegee Airmen.” Per Wikipedia: “The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces.” The 332nd Fighter Group was ultimately equipped with P-51s. The Mustang in the photo sports a red tail and red nose associated with 332nd aircraft.
OUCH: Link fixed!
OBAMACARE REPEAL-AND-REPLACE BILL passes House. “The bill passed by a vote of 217 to 213. All 193 Democrats voting opposed the bill; they were joined by 20 Republicans voting ‘no.'”
WINNING: House panel passes Republican measure gutting Dodd-Frank reforms.
In a party line 34-to-26 vote, the panel voted to remove restrictions the Obama administration placed on banks if they agree to hold a higher level of capital.
The measure, called the Financial Choice Act, would repeal the Volcker rule that prohibited banks from speculating in the markets.
Republicans blame Dodd-Frank for the weak economy and a lack of lending to small businesses. Democrats argued that problems in the law could be improved with minor adjustments.
The measure would effectively neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans have opposed the agency since it was created.
Repealing the Volcker rule may or may not be wise, but taken as a whole Dodd-Frank put Washington and Wall Street into bed together like never before.
NORTH KOREA DENOUNCES CHINA: Yes, that’s the UPI headline.
North Korea condemned China in strong language, in the latest sign of a growing rift between Beijing and the Kim Jong Un regime over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
The statement from North Korea is unprecedented because it addressed China directly, and exposed the increasingly problematic relationship between the two neighbors.
Pyongyang’s state-controlled news agency KCNA issued the statement on Thursday and claimed the message was from a North Korean official.”It is not China that is the target of [its own] deceptive and treacherous actions, but North Korea’s strategic interests that have been infringed upon,” the statement read, adding China was sacrificing the “dignity and survival” of the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea referred to editorials that ran in Chinese state newspapers, and charged Beijing with playing along with the United States.
The North Korean diatribe also claimed that North Korea had been protecting China.
Stay tuned.
MARK RIPPETOE: The Truth about the Starting Strength Method.
BATTLESWARM BLOG: Cinton Corruption Update for May 4, 2017.
Like the Tax Prof’s IRS Scandal updates, Lawrence Person is never going to run out of material.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: How Reporters Hide Damning Info on Liberal Stars.
JUST ONE WEEK UNTIL National Root Canal Appreciation Day! Well, if you need a root canal, you’re glad to have one.
THERE WAS NEVER GOING TO BE ANY WINNING HERE: Trump Falls Down ‘Peace Process’ Rabbit Hole.
HAVE YOU HUGGED A FRACKER TODAY? Oil prices plunge 4% below $46 a barrel, dropping to a five-month low.
THE PRESIDENT’S SECRET ESCAPE PLANES: “The Gulfstream jets, known as C-20Cs to the U.S. Air Force, are meant to ferry a traveling President of the United States to safety during a crisis. The planes typically follow Air Force One, landing at an airbase or airport an hour or less from the President’s location. In the event of a war scare, that plane—not Air Force One—would pick up the Commander-in Chief and whisk him or her to one of a dozen ground command posts scattered across the country.” Why is this public?
RETAIL BLUES: Why the Retail Crisis Could Be Coming to American Groceries.
The article lists five forces creating challenges for grocers, but I’ll give you a sixth.
My wife and I switched to online ordering almost as soon as it became available. What we no longer spend on impulse purchases must cost our local grocer hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year — just on my one small family. And many of those impulse buys would have been high-margin treats for our boys, who are locked out of the online shopping experience.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: AI Predicts Heart Attacks and Strokes More Accurately Than Standard Doctor’s Method.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: 5 Things to Know About the GOP Health Care Bill.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson: Potemkin Universities. “One reason that tuition is sky-high is because behind the facade of ‘trigger warnings,’ ‘safe spaces’ and ‘culture appropriation’ are costly legions of deputy associate provosts, special assistants to the dean, and race/class/gender ‘senior strategists’ and facilitators (usually former faculty who no longer teach). Few admit that a vastly expanding and politically correct administrative industry reflects a massive shift of resources away from physics, humanities or biology — precisely the courses that non-traditional students need to become competitive.”
YALE’S QUIET MAJORITY IN FAVOR OF FREE SPEECH:
At last, there’s hopeful news on intellectual liberty from a college campus. A new survey of students at Yale finds that a large majority favor free speech. Perhaps the kids can now also persuade the school’s administration of the virtues of academic freedom.
Your humble correspondent is an alumnus of the school and serves on the board of the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale, which commissioned the survey of 872 Yale undergraduates. Conducted from April 17th to the 23rd by the polling firm McLaughlin & Associates, the survey found that 72% of respondents oppose the idea of Yale “having speech codes to regulate speech for students and faculty,” while 16% favor the idea. Of course depending on one’s point of view, it can seem reassuring that free speech still wins in a landslide or disturbing that 16% of students actually want to surrender their right to express themselves. This column prefers to view the glass as 72% full. . . .
These findings are particularly encouraging because in 2015 Yale became infamous for some hypersensitive students who were unable to tolerate Halloween costumes. The costume kerfuffle and the recent removal of the name of alumnus John C. Calhoun from a residential college at Yale were among the campus events that inspired a recent episode of “The Simpsons.” In the fictional Fox sit-com, a Yale administrator informs a wealthy alumnus that “our students are highly entitled wusses.” Another Yale official then urges the alum to fund a chair in the “non-narrative cinema of self-identified pansexuals.”
But the new poll suggests that the intolerant few who publicly berated Yale faculty over Halloween costumes—and even forced the resignation of those who wouldn’t embrace their extremism—do not speak for most Yale undergrads.
No, but they speak for a lot of administrators whose pawns they are. The other students — and alumni, and legislators for public universities — need to rein those administrators in. Or, better yet, get rid of most of them, since they contribute nothing of value and in fact are undermining higher education.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Bell’s New V-280 Valor Tiltrotor Helicopter Engineered With Stealth Properties.
What I want to know is how they’ll incorporate stealth into those massive tilting rotorblades.
IN THE MAIL: From Richard Pipes, Communism: A History.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Syma X5C Quadcopter equipped with HD cameras, 2.4G 6 Axis Gyro, $37.99.
And, also today only: Save Big on Star Wars Collectibles.
Also, Save on Select AmazonBasics USB Wall Chargers .
And, remember, brand new Lightning Deals, updated every hour.
CENTRAL CASTING WOULD PUT HER IN THE FAYE DUNAWAY ROLE: Hillary Clinton Warns of a ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Future.
AND YET THE WORSE THEY DO, THE MORE CONTEMPT THEY’LL DISPLAY TOWARD THEIR REMAINING CUSTOMERS. Cord-cutting spikes fivefold in cable TV’s worst quarter ever. See, e.g., ESPN.