Archive for 2018
August 14, 2018
THOMAS LIPSCOMB: FAKE NEWS AND NEWS FRAUD.
After hearing that part of the tape, any decent newsman would say, “Wait just a minute. Where’s the part of her tape with the lawyers? If it exists, we have to hear it too. We can’t just let her accuse Kelly of being a ‘criminal’ after what Kelly said about questions of her ‘integrity.’”
The film script of “All the President’s Men” dramatizes the editorial problem from a newsman’s point of view: “Ben Bradlee: Now hold it, hold it. We’re about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right.”
Did anyone try to “hold it” at NBC News? I’ve contacted the network to see if such a conversation took place and if anyone heard the rest of the tape, if it existed. As of yet, after several exchanges, I haven’t gotten an answer. But the fact remains, in spite of Kelly’s rather lengthy and moderate (certainly for a Marine general) summary on the tape of what kind of issues had occasioned his meeting with Manigault Newman, NBC showed no on-air interest in the second part of the meeting with the lawyers, which appears to have dealt extensively with issues directly relevant to her credibility. . . .
Manigault Newman was allowed to proclaim her willingness to make her White House personnel file public while NBC made no attempt to ask her what accusations regarding her integrity the White House lawyers had listed in their meeting with her that might impeach her credibility.
Sounds like another instance of Treacher’s First Law of Journalism:
ILLINOIS POLITICS: Holocaust Denier on GOP Ballot Gets a Write-in Challenger, Harasses Him at Home. “Arthur Jones shouted ‘you want to debate the Holocaust, I’ll debate the Holocaust’ as Justin Hanson announced his candidacy in Illinois district.”
Maybe the most important reason to field candidates even in unwinnable races is that it prevents crazies from hijacking the party.
THE ERDOGAN CLOWN SHOW CONTINUES: Stephen’s right that this joker has no understanding of basic economics. Latest example: he has threatened a Turkish boycott of the iPhone. That’ll show ’em. All those young Turks with money in their pocket are sure not to want the latest and best technology. Note – Turkey cannot raise retaliatory tariffs on the US because it is inside the EU’s customs union, hence the feeble call for a boycott instead.
UH-HUH: Erdogan Shifts Blame for Turkey’s Woes to Social Media. “President, who had targeted U.S., now condemns ‘terrorists’ disseminating alleged disinformation about lira’s plunge, nation’s economic downturn.”
“There are economic terrorists on social media,” Mr. Erdogan told an audience of Turkish ambassadors gathered in Ankara’s presidential palace. “They are a genuine network of treason.”
The president said spiteful social-network posts had been spread in a bid to cause panic by saying authorities were preparing to limit bank withdrawals. The government said it had no plan to introduce capital controls.
Also on Monday, Turkey’s Interior Ministry said it would take legal action against owners of 346 social-media accounts identified as having been used to express views that had harmed the lira, the state-run news service, Anadolu Agency, reported.
Yesterday Iain Murray linked to a piece stating that “It is not clear that Erdogan understands basic economics.” But that’s not quite right. It is actually quite clear that Erdogan doesn’t understand basic economics.
NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becomes the Sarah Palin of the Left.
NO ONE IS WOKE ENOUGH: Ruby Rose Quits Twitter Following Trolling Over ‘Batwoman’ Casting.
The Australian actress, who co-stars with Jason Statham in this weekend’s global box office champ “The Meg,” quit Twitter and deactivated public comments on her Instagram account over the weekend following social media backlash against her casting as “Batwoman” in The CW’s “Arrowverse,” which was announced last week.
The openly gay actor faced a range of criticism over her casting as the character, reintroduced by DC Comics in 2006 as a lesbian of Jewish descent. Some of that criticism focused on Rose not being Jewish, but the comments that appear to have caused her to leave Twitter were those suggesting she wasn’t the right actress to play a lesbian superhero.
Before deleting her Twitter account, Rose posted a series of tweets addressing the issue, which she described as “the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read.”
It’s early yet.
IN THE MAIL: From Tim Ferriss, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World.
Plus, Today’s Gold Box and Lightning Deals.
ROGER SIMON: Feinstein, Strzok and the Sinister Russia Probe.
WHEN DO WE GET TO RULE IN A MOTIVE? ISIS, Political Motives Ruled Out as Las Vegas Shooter ‘Found Religious People to be Ridiculous.’
IT’D BE A START: Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy says that overturning the Chevron doctrine would not gut the Administrative State—but it would strengthen the Rule of Law.
TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 1921: Federal Judge Approves $3.5 Million Payout From IRS To >100 Tea Party Groups To Settle Targeting Claims. “A few issues are still being fought over in the courts — including whether former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner will be allowed to forever shield her deposition explaining her behavior from public view, and whether the IRS should pay attorney fees — but this week’s decision closes out five years of litigation over the targeting itself.”
And congrats to Paul Caron for continuing to follow this, despite shameful criticism from some of his fellow tax law professors, who tried for years to maintain that there was no scandal here.
A NEW CLIMATE: Rupert Darwall notes that things are changing internationally in regards to the global warming alarmist consensus. Germany is rejecting tougher renewable energy targets, Nigeria and other developed nations want to use coal, and people are twigging that the World Bank is pandering to China. At the center of this new awakening:
Trump is breaking the spell of inevitability of the transition to renewable energy. The impression of irresistible momentum has been one of the most potent tools in enforcing compliance with the climate catechism. Like socialism, the clean-energy transition will fail because it doesn’t work. But it requires strong leadership to avoid the ruin that will disprove the false promise of cost-free decarbonization.
RTWT.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Deflation of the Academic Brand.
America was never meant to be a place that valued people based on where they went to school.
TITLE IX SCOFFLAWS BEWARE: The University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) has been found in contempt of court after it violated a court order to re-evaluate its findings and punishment against a male student accused of stalking a female student. “On August 10, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna D. Geck, an Arnold Schwarzenegger appointee, found that UCSB hadn’t followed her earlier mandate to re-evaluate accusations against a male student based on evidence presented in court and in a campus hearing, instead of just what was included in a campus administrator’s report. In finding that the school violated its mandate — by copying word-for-word its original findings against the male student but adding a single sentence at the top claiming it reached the identical conclusion based on the additional evidence — Geck ordered the school to vacate UCSB’s decision against the student and reinstate him.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Identifying the Real Haters on Campus.
While radical feminism in the 1960s called for challenging existing gender roles and abolishing what the feminists saw as the pervasive patriarchy that permeated social institutions, churches, politics, and schools, today’s radical feminists call for the elimination of men.
In an offshoot of the #MeToo movement, the #YesAllMen campaign rejects the goodness of all men. Sociologist, Suzanna Danuta Walters, a lesbian gender studies professor at Northeastern University, published an op-ed in the Washington Post last month titled: “Why Can’t We Hate Men?” Walters advised men to “Step away from the power…Pledge to vote for feminist women only. Don’t run for office. Don’t be in charge of anything…And please know that your crocodile tears won’t be wiped away by us anymore. We have every right to hate you.”
Walters believes that gender is a social construct—one that privileges men unfairly. To remedy this, she suggests that gender be simply eliminated. In an interview published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Walters said that “the world would be a better place for men and for women if we did away with gender altogether—gender nouns, gender binaries, and so on. And God knows men would be happier and better people if we did away with that.” Believing that we can “break apart the binary oppositions” to create more “fluidity,” Walters concludes that “gender demeans, constructs, produces power, constrains.”
Rejecting any criticism of her thesis that all men deserve to be marginalized, Walters has attacked those who voiced some concerns about her proposal to eliminate gender—and men.
When taxpayers tire of subsidizing this sort of thing, we’ll be told that it’s because of “anti-intellectualism.”
AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: Taliban blindsides U.S. forces with surprise Afghan offensive.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said Monday a Taliban assault on the city of Ghanzi — a key provincial capital linking other areas under the Islamic militant group’s control just 75 miles southeast of Kabul — has killed roughly 100 Afghan security forces and some 20 civilians over the past three days.
While the Afghan forces, backed by U.S. and NATO advisors, claimed Monday night to have retained control of central Ghanzi, local reports indicated Taliban fighters still held pockets of the city and had simultaneously swept in and taken over most of the surrounding province’s rural areas.
Analysts said the development has underscored the Taliban’s capability for a resurgence in Afghanistan and will likely increase the group’s political leverage over peace talks with U.S. officials that the Trump administration has quietly been trying to get off the ground.
The Taliban’s “political solution” is to create for itself a position strong enough to allow them to topple the Afghan government in Kabul with maximum speed as soon we leave. Call it “the North Vietnam solution.”
I’m not sure what advantage we create for ourselves by delaying the nearly inevitable.
WELL, GOOD: Trump approves defense budget delaying delivery of F-35 warplanes to NATO ally Turkey.
Further F-35 deliveries to Turkey should be contingent on Turkey refusing delivery of any Russian S-400 (or better) antiaircraft missile systems — at least.
I’M SHOCKED, SHOCKED: In his latest Bear’s Lair column, Martin Hutchinson takes a look at the official statistics underpinning China’s claim of economic plenitude, and finds they don’t add up. His advice to the President? Imitate Lord Liverpool and Ronald Reagan. Admittedly, this is pretty good advice about most things.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, PRIORITIES EDITION: Gender, Ethnic Studies profs earn about $12k more than peers. “A new report based on salary data from the 2017-2018 academic year reveals that professors of ‘Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies’ earn almost $12,000 more than the average professor, overall. Notably, professors of subjects like Gender and Ethnic Studies also made about $15,000 more per year than their counterparts in fields like Math, Biology, and the Physical Sciences.”
NOBODY ELSE COMES CLOSE TO BALANCE, AND ONLY A SINGLE SCHOOL LEANS CONSERVATIVE: BYU And Pepperdine Are The Most Ideologically Balanced Faculties Among The Top 50 Law Schools.