WITH HURRICANE SEASON HERE, you may want to check out the WaterBob emergency water storage system. A number of InstaPundit readers swear by it.
Archive for 2018
May 23, 2018
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT EXPERTS? Pretending You’re in an Affair Can Spice Up Your Marriage, Relationship Expert Says.
ABOUT TIME: There’s Now A Drug That Prevents Migraines Instead Of Treating Them. That said, I’ve had very good luck with CoQ10, and so have quite a few members of my family.
WELL, THIS IS THE 58th CENTURY, YOU KNOW: The World’s First Kosher Cheeseburger Is Here.
(Classical reference in headline.)
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To See A Rocket Launch In Person This Summer.
AT AMAZON, summer savings in Sports and Outdoors.
IF HALF THE EFFORT CURRENTLY PUT INTO COMING UP WITH CUTE ACRONYMS WERE PUT INTO COMING UP WITH GOOD POLICIES INSTEAD, WE MIGHT BE IN MUCH BETTER SHAPE: The House Committee on the Judiciary recently approved the proposed “Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act” “FIRST STEP Act.” I’d really like to wring the neck of the folks who come up with these acronyms, but … well … if I did I’d end up in prison, so I guess I won’t.
Like most “nice sounding” stuff that comes out of Congress, this one should be looked at with a critical eye. Paul Mirengoff talks about some of the downsides.
Meanwhile, here’s an interesting statistic from the new Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report on prisoner recidivism: “An estimated 68% of released prisoners were arrested within 3 years, 79% within 6 years, and 83% within 9 years.” Yes, it’s a complicated subject. But make sure your eyes are wide open, before you start thinking that de-incarceration is the answer to our problems.
ISRAELI AIR FORCE BOMBS SEND AN UNAMBIGUOUS MESSAGE TO IRAN: My latest Creators Syndicate column. (bumped)
Tehran can no longer kill Israelis using proxy fighters; terrorists and criminal syndicates then deny responsibility and avoid reprisals.
Think of it as additional pressure on the ayatollah regime. Iranian special forces no longer have the privilege of “gray zone” deniability on the Israeli border.
VERY RELATED: Iran’s brittle regime confronts maximum pressure.
JORDAN PETERSON AND THE FAILURE OF THE LEFT:
I’ve read and listened to enough Peterson to make up my own mind and that’s not how I see him at all. Rather than being forthright about this, though, I’ve tended to cower silently in my alienated corner, fearful that revealing my rejection of the stock anti-Peterson narrative will cause my progressive friends to denounce me and the social media mobs to swarm.
It’s not that I’m an uncritical Peterson devotee. Although I find both his work and the furor surrounding him quite fascinating, I don’t share his way of thinking about the political issues (such as socio-economic inequality) that most concern me at all. That said, I would never look to someone like him, who I see as a classical conservative, to provide thought leadership on such matters. That’s the role of the Left. And in my view, the Left is doing an abysmal job on that front.
‘The Left’ is admittedly an overly broad and imprecise term. Still, it’s certainly possible to identify a dominant leftwing discourse in the U.S. and Canada today. And within that discourse, a stock anti-Peterson line indisputably exists. The Left faces many challenges, and the issues surrounding Peterson only represent one. Still, it’s important. The anti-Peterson crusade is an instructive example of a larger dynamic that needs to be named, discussed, and hopefully, addressed.
The hyperbolic uniformity of the leftist attack on Peterson is emblematic of the growing tendency to reduce left-of-center thought to the status of a rigidly simplistic ideology. Increasingly, what passes for progressive political thought today offers little more than a scripted set of weaponized hashtags (you must be pro- #metoo and anti-patriarchy, no further thought required). This narrowing of our public discourse is disturbing, and worrisome on multiple, mutually reinforcing levels.
Leftist politics is basically Mean Girls.
YOUR DAILY TREACHER: No, Don’t Throw Stuff at Tomi Lahren (Or Anybody Else). “If you don’t like Tomi Lahren, do what I do: Nothing. Leave her alone.”
WELL, HOW ABOUT COMING UP WITH ONE THAT WILL? I MEAN, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: A pill to protect you from the sun may not work, FDA Says.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Trump Administration Weighs New Tariffs on Imported Vehicles.
President Donald Trump has already used a legal provision known as Section 232 to impose global tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and now the administration is considering starting a probe of imported cars under the same law, possibly applying tariffs at the end, the people said.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of tariffs on auto imports in meetings. The plan remains in its early stages, and is likely to face significant opposition from a number of interest groups, from foreign trading partners to domestic dealers of imported cars.
Applying the tariffs under Section 232, meanwhile, would require a lengthy investigation and report from the U.S. Commerce Department. The administration is currently considering tariffs of up to 25%, according to those briefed on the plan.
Nothing official out of the White House so far, so who knows.
DISTRICT COURT HOLDS THAT IT’S A FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATION FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BLOCK PEOPLE: Eugene Volokh comments. I assume this would apply to any other government official as well. Twitter should probably just disable the “block” function on their accounts.
HMM: Garrett in turmoil, might quit Congress.
Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) has abruptly parted ways with his chief of staff and is considering not seeking reelection in November, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Garrett, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, split with his chief of staff Jimmy Keady on Tuesday evening, according to the sources.
That’s all we know so far.
AT AMAZON, summer savings in Car Care.
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT RAPE: Texas Trooper falsely accused of rape by Shaun King cleared by body cam footage .
IT DROPPED THE BOMB IN SOME OLD MOVIE, BUT I FORGET WHICH ONE: The U.S. Air Force’s First Flying Wing Jet Flew Way Back in 1949.
TACKLING SCIENCE’S MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Could the Large Hadron Collider Collide a Sandwich?
Skip the rest of the sandwich and just aim the beam at the cheddar. I want my Cheddite projector, and I want it now!