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Author Archive: Stephen Green
July 8, 2020
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Cancel Culture Almost Canceled Itself on Tuesday Then Canceled That Idea. “It’s Christmas in July! We’re going to have conversations and cancel culture is about to be canceled by people on the side of cancel culture! OK, I did feel super awkward about being on the same side as Chomsky — I kind of wanted a Silkwood shower — but, not to worry, the Kumbaya moment didn’t last long. No sooner had the news about the Harpers article begun to get a lot of attention than many of the enlightened co-signatories decided that some of the company were too icky for them to be associated with.”
CYBERSECURITY: Over 100 Wi-Fi routers fail major security test — protect yourself now. “Not a single model passed a security examination, including D-Link, Linsksys and Netgear.”
On the advice of a friend in the industry, I switched to Ubiquiti’s UniFi line of network gear a few years ago and have been impressed with their security, performance, and frequent updates.
SPACE: NASA Teases ‘Psyche,’ A Robot To Explore An Asteroid Worth More Than Our Global Economy. “The metals that make-up this one-of-a-kind asteroid could, according to some, be worth $10,000 quadrillion.”
Being able to manufacture in space with metals already outside the Earth’s gravity well is priceless.
THEN MAYBE IT’S TIME TO LET GO OF THE HATE: Angel investor Jason Calacanis says he hates Trump but president’s small business loan program worked.
THE WAR ON PROSPERITY: House Dems Look to Resurrect Harmful Obama-Era Labor Regulation. “Industry study found that Obama rule cut 375,000 jobs.”
The Trump administration in 2019 rolled back an Obama administration regulation that held parent companies responsible for labor violations committed by franchisees or contractors—otherwise known as the “joint employer standard.” House Democrats, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), are attempting to bring that regulation back.
DeLauro inserted language into a recent Labor Department funding bill that bars the use of funds “to implement or enforce, or take any actions in furtherance of” the Trump administration’s joint employer status regulations. If passed, the move could harm franchise businesses during a time of economic uncertainty, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) told the Washington Free Beacon.
Small beer in the current scheme of things, but telling that there’s little the Dems won’t do to keep the economy in the gutter until at least after the election.
July 7, 2020
CHARLES LIPSON: The Fierce Fight Over America’s Ideals and History. “Most Americans think our nation’s history and aspirations are good, sometimes noble, sometimes flawed, not rotten to the core. They recognize the cruelties, such as slavery and Jim Crow, and want them taught, not glossed over. But they do not think our republic was founded to perpetuate those cruelties. Rather, they think our collective story is one of hope and progress, of confronting and overcoming the worst abuses. It is a story of expanding opportunities, sometimes too slowly but ultimately for everyone.”
LIVING HISTORY: Sixth-Great Grandson Of Thomas Jefferson And Sally Hemings Says Americans MUST Unite.
UPDATE (From Ed): W. Joseph Campbell, of the Media Myth Alert blog emails, “I don’t believe it’s ever been conclusively proven that Jefferson had children by Hemings. That, at least, was the finding of a panel of Jefferson experts who issued a hefty report back in 2011. It’s available on Amazon. And here’s a link to a CSPAN3 video of the book launch. The principal editor, a UVA law professor named Robert Turner, retired early this year. I haven’t kept up with developments in the controversy but Turner may have. Here’s a pertinent link from the Jefferson Heritage Society. I’m no expert on Jefferson or this topic, but I did want to mention the dispute, FYI.”
COMMUNIST FRONT CORPORATION: TikTok Banned in US? SecState Pompeo Says We’re ‘Looking At’ It.
PRIVACY: Security cameras can tell burglars when you’re not home, study shows. “Researchers found they could tell if someone was in, and even what they were doing in the home, just by looking at data uploaded by the camera and without monitoring the video footage itself.”
HOW DO YOU SAY ‘CHUTZPAH’ IN MANDARIN? Chinese ambassador says UK ban on Huawei would damage trust.
That’s rich, coming from the ambassador from a country that just abrogated a treaty with Britain in order to impose full Communist rule on a once-free city of 7.5 million people.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Beware America—Crazy Joe Biden Wants to ‘Transform’ You. “The Democrats’ constant refrain about America needing to be changed is wearisome. It’s also being taught in public schools. The woke youth of today go into adulthood truly believing that the United States is terribly broken and in desperate need of a socialist fix. That’s really the end game for modern Democrats. It wasn’t just a few years ago but the whole party has rushed off of the far-left fringe. They aren’t so much interested in ‘transformation’ as they are ‘undoing’.”
#RESIST: US tech giants halt Hong Kong police help. “Facebook and Twitter have confirmed they have suspended processing demands for user data from Hong Kong authorities following the introduction of a new Beijing-imposed national security law.”
CHARMING: Dem Law Firm Behind Weinstein Defense Takes Millions in PPP Aid. “Boies Schiller Flexner, a white-shoe firm founded by former Al Gore lawyer David Boies, applied for and obtained between $5 and $10 million through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the federal program aimed to support small businesses hurt by the pandemic. Boies Schiller Flexner earned more than $400 million in gross revenue in 2019, making it one of the highest-grossing law firms in the world, according to The American Lawyer. The multinational firm’s partners took home more than $3.3 million on average in 2019, but it still capitalized on the taxpayer bailout that was designed to help mom-and-pop shops.”
THERE’S NO ‘MAY BE’ ABOUT IT: TikTok may be ‘data collection service disguised as social media.’
JOANNE JACOBS: What’s wrong with ‘work hard, be nice?’
I’ve always liked KIPP‘s motto: “Work hard. Be nice.” It’s clear and concise.
It’s not a false promise, like “if you can dream it, you can do it.” Furthermore, students can work hard and be nice right now, not in some distant future. It stresses effort and good character, rather than being “special.”
After 25 years of educating primarily black and Latino students, the charter network is retiring the slogan and rejecting “the illusion of meritocracy,” writes Richard Barth, KIPP Foundation CEO.
In addition, KIPP will review discipline practices, reassess security and use “restorative” conflict resolution practices.
In a letter to alumni, co-founder Dave Levin apologizes for a culture that “perpetuated white supremacy and anti-Blackness.”
Click over for the whole thing.
I’d just add that this should serve as your daily reminder of O’Sullivan’s Law: “Any organization or enterprise that is not expressly right wing will become left wing over time.”