AMITY SHLAES’ GREAT SOCIETY: How Poverty Won America’s War on Poverty.
In which I take a very deep dive into Shlaes’ latest book over at Ed Driscoll.com.
(Bumped.)
Archive for 2020
November 30, 2020
TODAY’S NON-SHOCKING HEADLINE: It’s Not ‘Woke’ To Be Broke: Major Liberal Cause Turns Out To Be Just Scheme Enriching A Few.
UPDATE: A friend emails:
Great to see this #Resist repurposed.
A close female relative and I had a conversation recently. She was making conciliatory verbal gestures, in effect, saying that if everyone who supported Trump admits he lost, agrees they were wrong, and that Trump was evil, we can all move on amicably.
I responded, very calmly and dispassionately, which I was able to do because I was expecting this conversation, more or less as follows.
Using game theory, it has been determined that the proper way to respond to defection from optimal behavior between two parties, is to match any bad behavior by equal retaliation. Acquiescing in bad behavior without consequences simply gets you more of it.
So, the only rational rational response for Trump supporters, after the last four years is to respond to Biden exactly as Trump was treated:
#NotMyPresident
#StolenElection
#FuckBiden
#ResistFirst, no one who voted for or supports Trump will recognized Biden as legitimate. Second, everyone who voted for Trump will believe and continue to proclaim that the election was stolen, in this case with far more factual basis. Third, Biden will not be given any deference or respect due to his office, but will be given only contempt and profane disrespect. Fourth, there will be no prospect of cooperation but only opposition, in every lawful way, to everything he says, does, or proposes, all day, every day, until he is gone.
At some future date reconciliation may be possible. But not until the last four years has been repaid in full.
And the foregoing is on the presumption that Biden will be sworn in as President, which he should not be, and which may not happen.
#RESIST.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: How The Once Elusive Dream Of Laser Weapons Suddenly Became A Reality.
FLASHBACK: The Myth of the Hacker-Proof Voting Machine.
A restaurant in California is refusing to follow new coronavirus restrictions and erected a banner reading “The French Laundry” over its sign, in reference to the swanky French restaurant where Gov. Gavin Newsom was seen breaking his own virus orders.
“This Redondo Beach restaurant has a not so subtle message for CA. Owner Alex says he’s defying LA County orders to close outdoor dining because it’s not about him, it’s about all the workers that rely on him for livelihoods, and he can’t leave them stranded right before Christmas,” KTLA reporter Christina Pascucci tweeted, accompanied by a photo.
Earlier: It’s The Winter Of Love On Staten Island.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. School chaos is why you should teach your kids the truth about politicians. “Cuomo and de Blasio have grown-up kids, so their comedy-of-errors leadership doesn’t affect them. One day of supervising virtual kindergarten, and they would be forced to taste their folly.”
CHANGE: House To Vote On Bill That Would Delist China-Based Companies If They Fail U.S. Audit Standards. “As we reported about 2 weeks ago, the proposal will be issued for public comment in December, and will address a problem that has plagued Chinese companies on U.S. capital markets for more than a decade: China hasn’t let the work of Chinese auditors be inspected.”
WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH GLENN GREENWALD IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Biden Appointee Neera Tanden Spread the Conspiracy That Russian Hackers Changed Hillary’s 2016 Votes to Trump.
AMERICA’S RIDICULOUS “RACIAL” CLASSIFICATIONS: Speaking of East Asians and Covid, it would be useful if we could compare Covid rates among Americans of East Asian descent to other Americans, to see if there is an indication that genetics plays a role in infection rates. But the U.S. gathers health and medical data via the same unscientific categories it uses for civil rights enforcement and affirmative action programs. So we have an “Asian” category, but 40% or so of that category is made up of people with origins in the Indian subcontinent or the Philippines; both groups are genetically distinct from East Asians. I address the implicit racism and stupidity of the U.S. government requiring researchers to use racial rather than genetic classifications in medical research here, and I have a forthcoming article on the origins of our official racial and ethnic classifications. Want to know how Indian-Americans got lumped into the same category as Chinese-Americans? Read on.
IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, A NICE REVIEW for Joe Pappalardo’s Inferno: The True Story of a B-17 Gunner’s Heroism and the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History.
Excerpt:
In “Inferno,” Joe Pappalardo tells the story of B-17s over German-occupied Europe before long-range escort fighters could help them survive. His major character—and what a character!—is an over-aged juvenile delinquent, a 31-year-old among teenagers who as a little guy gets the ball turret.
Maynard Smith doesn’t have much to commend him, but the American military isn’t fussy in 1942. The Army willingly takes him on when he is delivered to the induction center in handcuffs. (He failed to pay child support, and the judge made him choose between prison and patriotism.) He earns sergeant’s stripes at the end of his training, such as it is, and finds himself in England as part of the nascent 8th Air Force.
On his very first mission, Sgt. Smith runs into the worst sort of trouble, and for once he does everything right. He saves himself, the airplane and those still alive in it. For this, he is awarded the Medal of Honor, the first enlisted airman to receive America’s highest award for valor. Naturally, he will eventually lose those stripes and finish the war as a private.
I haven’t read it yet, but Pappalardo never disappoints.
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Communist China Lies Worse Than Our 10-Year-Old Does.
Insanity Wrap needs to know: What does it take to get a Communist to tell the truth?
Answer: No, you may not use a car battery and nipple clamps.
Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.
- Another Colorado town joins the COVID #Resistance.
- Separated at Birth: Donald Trump and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?
- News media turns the gaslight down to -11.
And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
UNEXPECTEDLY: AOC’s Latest Viral Post Flunks Econ 101.
OUR RISIBLE ACADEMIC SECTOR: Academics: Biden administration will have to undo US’s ‘history of hate.’
As taxpayers tire of paying for this, we’re told it’s because of “anti-intellectualism.”
JAMES LILEKS ON MINNEAPOLIS IN THE WAKE OF “DEFUND THE POLICE:”
At 8 AM a few days ago a housekeeper was sitting in her car outside the house where she worked. No, let’s say 7:58. She started at 8. That was probably the arrangement. She was probably looking at her phone, whiling away the time as we do when we have these empty moments in between. What did we do before? Twiddle the radio knobs, woolgather, try to sort our marginal thoughts into little packages we can put on the shelf before the day begins.
A car came up and stopped, angled, boxing her in.
* * * * * * * * *
No, I am not getting out. No, I am not sitting back and posting twitter snark because lol they have a Biden sign. The people in other threads on other sites are dunking on the people who put up the sign, but they don’t know that the victim in this case was a housekeeper who doesn’t live in this neighborhood. Is she entitled to our sympathy? Of course. As are my neighbors. But if you want to go the whole lol Biden route, then we’re indifferent about the fate of millions of our fellow citizens. Do I stop caring about a neighborhood and its inhabitants who may have, in the aggregate, voted a certain way, if they’re 12 blocks to the north? Fifteen? Seven? It would be good to know the rules so I can lol at the right people.
Then again . . .
This isn’t to say there’s no connection between how one votes and what happens down the road. Of course there is. I’m pretty sure they would have voted for Crime Bill Joe if he’d been the nominee years ago, because the alternative is unthinkable. (The other side would also want to put crooks in jail, but for the wrong reasons.)
Plus a look at the Hollywood adaptation of Inherit the Wind — co-starring Gene Kelly(?!) as H.L. Mencken.
Read the whole thing.
EVERYTHING GETS HACKED: A Bluetooth attack can steal a Tesla Model X in 90 seconds.
WHY HAVE EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES FARED SO WELL WITH COVID-19?: Maybe it’s genetics: An ancient coronavirus-like epidemic drove adaptation in East Asians from 25,000 to 5,000 years ago. A lot of commentators, including one I heard on the radio this morning, have suggested that China, Japan, South Korea, and so on have had few deaths from the Coronavirus because of some combination of an obedient, public-regarding culture and good government. But in China, the virus was raging undetected for two months or more, and during peak holiday season. Culture and government can’t respond to a pandemic that no one yet knows exists. In fact, back in the winter I was optimistic about how bad Covid would be, in part because the Chinese, even accounting for state censorship, didn’t seem to be hit that hard even though they had many weeks where the virus was silently spreading. So, a higher level of genetic or other immunity makes intuitive sense, and here’s a study that backs that theory up.
THEY’RE STUDENTS BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW MUCH. DON’T GIVE INTO THEIR IGNORANCE, EDUCATE THEM: Catholic University, under fire from students for espousing Catholic views.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Are We Ready for the Hell of a COVID-19 Days of Christmas? “Christmas is a bigger deal for most of us, however. Thanksgiving is about celebrating America, which liberals hate. Christmas is about religion, which liberals hate even more. That’s why everybody’s least favorite elf on a shelf made sure he got in front of a camera on Sunday to let everyone know he’s going to try and crap all over that.”
HOW TO EXPLAIN TAIWAN, FEWEST COVID DEATHS AND LEAST RESTRICTIONS: Taiwan has one of the world’s densest populations, has tested only those with symptoms, yet has suffered the fewest Covid deaths (per capita), while imposing the least restrictive public health measures.