C’mon, say it with Treacher:
I DO NOT TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS: These are the Internet of Things devices that are most targeted by hackers.
Archive for 2019
June 13, 2019
IS THIS THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT’S BIGGEST FAILURE? President Donald Trump has been able to appoint legions of qualified conservative federal judges in great part thanks to the years of cultivation by the Federalist Society of potential candidates. Similarly, there have been lots of smart conservative economists available for key positions in the White House and Department of Treasury. There are even growing numbers of young, smart, capable conservative journalists who will be media giants in coming years.
But where are the legions of smart conservatives who know how to manage a Department of Housing and Urban Development or a Department of Health and Human Services, while implementing a genuinely conservative policy agenda? Such people are few and far between, according to Lyman Stone, writing today on The Federalist.
“Some administrations just make compromises: They fill positions with people who are mostly conservative or sort of conservative, or at least conservative enough. The result is an administration that is Republican, but not actually conservative,” Stone writes.
Speaking from my years in the executive branch during the Reagan administration and before that on Capitol Hill, I know Stone is hitting the bullseye. I believe he’s pointing out the conservative movement’s biggest failure.
Liberals and Democrats love government, know how to manage its expansion and fight the political battles to protect it. Conservatives, with few exceptions, have no idea how to deal with, much less manage on a day-to-day basis, career bureaucrats who are masters of the turf wars.
Stone has a fine suggestion:
“We need a Federalist Society for socially conservative federal workers, we need Masters of Public Administration/Masters of Public Policy programs staffed and funded with academics friendly to conservative programs, we need existing talent recruitment and internship programs to re-orient their curricula towards actually training people to take on the state, and we need conservative donors to put up the money to support these efforts.”
As Glenn says, just keep scrolling because Stone has much of immense value to say on these matters.
GREAT MOMENTS IN GASLIGHTING. CNN: Of Course We Don’t Hate Trump Or Favor Democrats.
Jim Acosta has a new book to peddle (I won’t link to it here but I’m sure you can find it on a quick search if you’re interested), and he’s been using his platform at CNN to promote it. He recently sat down with Don Lemon to discuss the “dangerous” nature of covering the President, particularly if you have anything critical to say about him. The two-person choir was singing in unison, assuring everyone that CNN has no inherent bias, does not “hate” President Trump and certainly doesn’t support Democrats over Republicans. (Perish the thought.) It’s a rather brief exchange, but the tone-deaf nature of these denials was really something to see.
Wow, does that take the cake (that CNN baked and displayed on air in 2010 to celebrate Obama’s “Stimulus” program). The Wright-Free Zone and the choir of kids singing for Obamacare could not be reached for comment.
YES, WE ALREADY KNOW THAT COCAINE MITCH PLAYS FOR KEEPS, NANCY. Nancy Pelosi’s latest shot at Mitch McConnell is already backfiring and we’re here for it:
Curious that Democrats have no problem holding up a sign that says “McConnell’s Graveyard.” I’m so old, I can remember when they accused political clip art of having murderous intent, and demanded a new civility from both sides of the aisle. Despite the plethora of left-on-right violence since November of 2016, Nancy Pelosi seems to have no problem with rhetoric that could be seen as eliminationist, and I eagerly await Paul Krugman’s stern condemnation.
Related: McConnell: As long as I’m Senate leader, Democrats’ ‘socialist schemes’ won’t become law.
DISPATCHES FROM THE PATH NOT CHOSEN: Epic Fail — How Blockbuster Could Have Owned Netflix.
Flash-forward to March of this year: There’s now only one Blockbuster left on the planet.
Much as everyone loves the convenience of streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, as Brian Watt wrote at Ricochet last month, “When Some Films Are Banned, Only Outlaws Will Have Banned Films:”
The prerecorded disc market is about to disappear. At some point in the near future, UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and standard DVDs will no longer be sold by Amazon and other retailers because most content will be available for streaming in very high definition.
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When the day comes that only a handful of major streaming services – Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and soon Disney and Apple and others that fund the creation of content and control the content that you are able to view — then some films and television series that are now or in the future considered politically incorrect will begin to disappear.
If you’ve got a treasured movie, keeping a physical copy on Blu-Ray or DVD might be a wise decision to future-proof yourself against the ever-woke curators of streaming video platforms.
HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I HAVE A NEW BOOK OUT? Don’t just sit there, buy a copy. And maybe one for your local library.
CLAUDIA ROSETT: The Sky-High Stakes in Hong Kong. “The people of Hong Kong — in their efforts to stop this ruinous extradition law — deserve the strongest support we can muster. One reason is quite simply that it is the right thing to do, though in international politics that is often a backseat priority. The other reason– perhaps more compelling to those inclined to think of Hong Kong as a faraway foreign place and none of our business — is that it is a high-risk precedent for the Free World to abandon its own. It invites aggression by the likes of China (and Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc.) against us and our allies. Which is what it will boil down to, if the U.S., the U.K. and other democratic powers do not find some way to buttress the demands of Hong Kong’s demonstrators. It is vital that Washington persuade Beijing and its satrap in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, that it would be wise to scrap this proposed law, and moronic –or at least astoundingly expensive — to push it through.”
Indeed.
KURT SCHLICHTER: Conservative Principles Do Not Require Us To Roll Over For Big Tech.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND: Brain chipping for good — brain chipping for bad.
Brain chipping to enhance mental acumen isn’t just Big Tech. It’s Big Government, Big Medical, Big Corporate, Big Military, Big Science. National Security, even.
First come the tiny, barely intrusive and inarguably beneficial electrical implants for epileptics — to those who already have devices inside their heads that track seizures. Then comes the fine-tuning of devices to fit and aide those with tragic brain injuries, with loss of the use of limbs and loss of physical limbs — with the motor skills needed for prosthetics, for instance.
Then come the medical patients with Alzheimer’s, with muscular dystrophy, with schizophrenia, with debilitating effects from sudden strokes and so forth.
And then?
Then come the pushing of boundaries, the ethical dilemmas.
Then come the Clockwork Orange considerations.
After all, if sociopathic behaviors that endanger all of society can be wiped clear with a simple chip to the mind, what’s the harm? Where’s the foul?
Then come the questions of whether it’s fair for a rape victim to suffer the memory. Or for a child traumatized by abuse to deal with the ongoing trauma. Or for a depressed person to have to deal with depression — a lonely person to have to deal with loneliness — a panicky person to have to deal with panic.
Zap, it’s gone.
The road to Hell and all that.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Why are the Western middle classes so angry?
One, illegal immigration and open borders have led to chaos. Lax immigration policies have taxed social services and fueled multicultural identity politics, often to the benefit of boutique leftist political agendas.
Two, globalization enriched the cosmopolitan elites who found worldwide markets for their various services. New global markets and commerce meant Western nations outsourced, offshored and ignored their own industries and manufacturing (or anything dependent on muscular labor that could be replaced by cheaper workers abroad).
Three, unelected bureaucrats multiplied and vastly increased their power over private citizens. The targeted middle classes lacked the resources to fight back against the royal armies of tenured regulators, planners, auditors, inspectors and adjustors who could not be fired and were never accountable.
Four, the new global media reached billions and indoctrinated rather than reported.
Five, academia became politicized as a shrill agent of cultural transformation rather than focusing on education—while charging more for less learning.
Six, utopian social planning increased housing, energy and transportation costs.
One common gripe framed all these diverse issues: The wealthy had the means and influence not to be bothered by higher taxes and fees or to avoid them altogether. Not so much the middle classes, who lacked the clout of the virtue-signaling rich and the romance of the distant poor.
Paying for other people’s stuff gets old even when the other people are worse off than you are. But paying for wealthy people’s stuff — particularly the “bitter-clinger” down-the-nose virtue-signaling — is the stuff revolts and revolutions are made of.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES PERFECT SENSE: Isn’t it curious how the national media takes zero interest in Ilhan Omar’s tax irregularities?
FROM THE MAILBAG:
Hi Glenn,
I strongly encourage you to watch the attached video by Barrister Margaret Ng. She is very good in explaining the risks – and points out that US CITIZENS are at risk from this Bill. (this bill allows Hong Kong to extradite any US citizen residing in Hong Kong, visiting Hong Kong or transiting Hong Kong if China demands it).
This is very much about protecting Americans as it is in support of Hong Kong.
And here’s the video:
AT AMAZON, deals in Exercise & Fitness.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PRIVACY FIASCO AT FACEBOOK: What Did Zuckerberg Know and When Did He Know It?
Facebook is “worried” about emails which might link company founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the company’s “questionable” privacy practices, according to a report on Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal. That’s a bit like saying my wife is “aware” that I’ve been seen enjoying the “occasional” martini, but we’ll get back to that in a moment. First, a few details from that WSJ story.
According to “people familiar with the matter,” as they say, “the unearthing of the emails in the process of responding to a continuing federal privacy investigation has raised concerns that they would be harmful to Facebook — at least from a public-relations standpoint.” Facebook has since 2012 been operating under a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission regarding user privacy, but according to the WSJ’s unnamed sources, “Zuckerberg and other senior executives didn’t make compliance with the FTC order a priority.”
Ya think?
Read the whole thing.
In moments of frustration, the centrist senator has gone so far as to tell colleagues he may leave the upper chamber before the end of this Congress, or after the 2020 elections.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) keeps a close watch on Manchin, and the senators have a good working relationship. While Schumer recognizes that his West Virginia colleague can get exasperated by dysfunction in the Senate, he believes Manchin is content and engaged in his job.
But Manchin says he’s deeply irritated with the lack of bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill, where passing bills has largely become an afterthought in the 116th Congress.
I always thought the Senate’s primary job was to act as a brake on Congress’s worst instincts, and Mitch McConnell seems to agree.
I’VE GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS: Chief Justice John Roberts is about to show his cards.
RESET THE VOX COUNTER: Vox “Journalist” Tries To Clown On Trump, Ends Up Exposing How Ignorant He Is.
Sometimes it’s best to just not say anything. Vox’s Aaron Rupar, purportedly a “journalist,” hasn’t learned that lesson.
Today, Donald Trump gave a speech in Iowa where he hit on some of the struggles that rural Americans are dealing with as they produce much of the food you and I enjoy daily. At one point, Trump starts to discuss improvements to broadband in their areas and how many farms in Iowa don’t have the proper connectivity for their tractors. This extends to 3G/4G wireless internet coverage as well, which is incredibly spotty in the midwest.
This had Rupar thinking he had a solid own of Trump on tap. You see, he said tractors can’t connect to the internet. What a moron, am I right?
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In fact, I can remember well over a decade ago going to an uncle’s house and checking out some of the new equipment at his neighbor’s farm. At the time, GPS was being used to ensure precision plowing and planting. Today, internet connectivity in tractors at even smaller operations is becoming the norm to run all kinds of new features to keep things moving smoothly.
The lack of broadband and wireless connectivity in the areas where some of these farms are is a real problem and hurts efficiency.
Farm equipment has gotten so high-tech that, as I blogged from Las Vegas in January, John Deere displayed this yuuuuge semi-autonomous combine in the robotics and automation section of CES, the massive annual Consumer Electronics Show:
Now that’s the 21st century that Syd Mead promised me in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
SO IT’S A REVERSE SOVIET AIRBRUSH OPERATION? GQ Ran This Photo Of Silicon Valley “Tech Titans” In Italy. All The Women Were Photoshopped In.
Old and busted: Skilled Stalinist airbrush artists removing people who committed wrongthink against current party socialist worldview out of photographs:
The new hotness? In Soviet America, to ward off Stalinist accusations of wrongthink against current party socialist worldview, skilled airbrush artists insert you into doctored photographs!
(Via Newsalert.)
21st CENTURY HEADLINES: Stolen NSA hacking tool now victimizing US cities, report says.
INEZ FELTSCHER STEPMAN: Campus Insanity Is Migrating To Society, And Republicans Had Better Stop It Before It’s Too Late.
While the right wrestles with how to deal with big technology companies’ hostility to conservative voices on their platforms, the source of that enmity goes mostly unremarked upon: Google’s highly credentialed workforce has roughly the personal politics of a faculty lounge. Regrettably, universities don’t live up to the Las Vegas adage–what begins on campus definitely does not stay there. It spills over into every aspect of our broader culture, from complaints about actors not precisely matching the intersectionality profile of the characters they portray, to the leftward tilt of America’s corporations.
That’s all the more reason for Republicans on campus to take the ideology that threatens free speech in universities seriously and advance legislation to protect one of America’s most cherished freedoms. Without strong, smart pushback at the academic source, the country will soon be dealing with even more censorious consequences of an ideology that does not recognize its opponents’ rights to speak.
Needless to say, read the whole thing.