News of the Week for March 12^th, 2017

• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Gun Rights

 

Abolition of concealed weapon permits clears first hurdle
A bill that would add Alabama to the list of states that allow people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

A Fit U.S. Shale Industry Challenges OPEC Once Again
Lower oil price forced industry to cut costs, boost efficiency. Now drillers plan to increase their spending in 2017 by 25%

Some caution is required in trimming the NOAA budget
One of the bits of significant good news for fiscal conservatives (and already a source of endless insanity for liberals) is the serious nature with which President Trump has approached budget-cutting measures and cost reductions. Many departments, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (among others), will have redundant services eliminated and be forced to tighten their belts along with the rest of the country.

Environmentalists Use Photoshop and Fraud to Deceive
Watts Up With That has a funny instance of warmist deception. You may have seen the headline, I did: Antarctica hits record high temperature at balmy 63.5°F. Where? Base Esperanza.

Pruitt: Should the EPA regulate carbon emissions at all?
For the last six years, the EPA has assumed the jurisdiction to regulate carbon emissions by citing the Clean Air Act (CAA), an assumption that state Attorneys General have repeatedly challenged in court. Now that Scott Pruitt, recently confirmed by the Senate after his tenure as Oklahoma’s AG, told a Houston conference that he plans to get an answer to the question.

A North Slope oil discovery already called huge just got bigger, company says
A Spanish oil company working with a small explorer in Alaska announced Thursday what it’s calling the largest onshore U.S. oil discovery in three decades.

About those “devastating” EPA budget reductions
Budget and personnel cuts reflect environmental progress and essential regulatory reforms

New UCLA End of Snow Prediction
UCLA thinks that by the end of the century, Climate will reduce the Sierra Nevada snowpack by 85%.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

GOP releases bills to repeal and replace ObamaCare
House Republicans on Monday unveiled their long-awaited legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

House Republicans Release Text of Obamacare Repeal, Conservatives Call for Action “Now”
A key conservative lawmaker is urging Republicans to make good on their promises to repeal Obamacare before they get distracted by other legislative issues.

What’s In The GOP Health Care Bill? Some Good. Some Bad; One MAJOR Problem
The worst place to get information right now about the GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill is Twitter. It’s a haven for lousy information, and people are merely repeating what they see in other tweets without having read the GOP bill. Several news organizations went through the bill and provided some useful information on what is contained within the GOP plan.

Right revolts on ObamaCare bill
Conservatives in the House openly rebelled Tuesday against legislation backed by their leadership to repeal and replace ­ObamaCare, sowing doubts about whether the legislation can pass.

ARE REPUBLICANS BLOWING IT ON HEALTH CARE?
Health care policy, like K-12 education and college sports handicapping, is an abyss I try my best to avoid, because energy and environment are so much more fun! Almost 25 years ago I wrote a cover story for Reason magazine about “The Medicare Monster,” and resolved never again to go through the torture of investigating health care policy, despite the fact that the great Richard Epstein still talks today about how great he thinks the article is.

Replacement Wish List – Part 1
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m pretty underwhelmed by the newest iteration of PubbieCare©. For one thing, it’s much longer than it needs to be, which means it’s more complicated and top-heavy than it should be. And I noticed that they simply swap insurance carriers for The Tax Man for mandate compliance

Conservatives to reveal their own healthcare plan in face of GOP’s “Obamacare Lite”
The introduction of the GOP’s new healthcare bill has raised some definite ire among Republicans and Libertarians alike. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is one such politician who has now seen the bill and expressed his extreme dislike of it, calling the GOP plan “Obamacare Lite.”

Dear Congress: Scrap The Current Healthcare Bill And Try Again
Dear Congress, It’s been two days since you released the bill to the public. It’s been an incredibly painful 24 hours for that plan, which has been torn apart and trashed every which way. Spare yourselves any more embarrassment and declare the bill dead. Then, go back to the drawing board.

This Is How You Got TrumpCare: Republicans Don’t Know What They Believe Any More
Ross Douthat has a column today titled “Why Republicans Can’t Do Health Care.” with a sentence that is jarring because of its obvious truth: “[T]here was no [health care] bill that could have united all of the right’s disparate factions, because on health care policy, as on a range of issues, the Republican Party as an organism does not know what it believes in anymore.”

Pence warns Republicans to back House bill: “If you like your ObamaCare, you can keep it”
Those are the two options, huh? ObamaCare or ObamaCare Lite? Megan McArdle summarized the logic of the House bill this way last night: “Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, this must be done.”

Conservatives Find Willing Negotiating Partner in Trump, Not in Speaker Paul Ryan, on Obamacare Repeal
Conservatives in the House and Senate may have come out swinging against the House GOP’s plan to replace Obamacare, but the skeptical lawmakers have stressed that on the future of Obamacare, they’re willing to negotiate.

Why Nobody Has A Right To Health Care
Just because our rights are secured by government, it does not follow that they must be provided by government.

Congressman: GOP Should Make Healthcare as “Simple” as an iPhone
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) told PJM that the Republican-led Congress has to eliminate most of Obamacare and create new legislation that makes health insurance as “simple” as a smartphone.

Obamacare’s Defenders Have No Idea What Insurance Is
Obamacare defenders think insurance is just “sharing,” as if all they need to know they learned in kindergarten and the field of economics didn’t exist.

The Stupidity of The GOP Congressman
ACHA. Another acronym that falls short on facing the real problem with our health care system.

 

War & Terror

 

Photos of Naked Female Marines on Facebook Spawns Investigation
Naked pictures of female Marines have reportedly been circulating on Social Media. Now the Marines are investigating. It was all over the chatboards this weekend and now USA Today has a really good round up.

New ISIS Command to EAT Infidels Has Islamic Roots
In light of recent revelations that the Islamic State is teaching its followers to eat non-Muslims, surely we can now all agree that — at least with this — ISIS is truly not Islamic?

Wikileaks Releases Alleged CIA Hacking Documents
The documents allege the CIA took malware from other countries to hide its own fingerprints.

EU Sets Up Unified Military Headquarters
Brussels-based central military command to be operational within months

Days of Rage
“People have completely forgotten that in 1972 we had over nineteen hundred domestic bombings in the United States.” — Max Noel, FBI (ret.)

These Kurdish, Assyrian, Arab Women are Taking Down ISIS in Their Capital
On International Women’s Day, the Islamic State is under threat from a force bearing down on their declared capital, Raqqa, that includes Arab, Assyrian and Kurdish women commanders and fighters.

Russia to Arm Nuclear Subs With New Supersonic Cruise Missile
The Russian Navy will arm its cruise missile subs with new weapons systems.

I Had Dinner With the Afghan Ambassador. What He Said About the Differences Between Trump, Obama Is Stunning
President Trump is already turning the world upside down in international diplomatic circles by taking a markedly different approach to global politics than his predecessor.

 

National

 

Berkeley condemns “disturbing” attacks on College Republicans
Just one day after a Berkeley student was caught on video destroying a College Republicans sign on campus, hundreds of flyers appeared calling CR members “baby fascists” and yet another sign was vandalized.

Professor: Leftist-driven refugee, immigration policies “existential threat to the US”
“What an insult to our kids, our educators, to suggest for a moment that a 20 yr old, raised in rubble and taught to hate you, gays, Christians, Jews, women’s rights, and western liberalism would be as good an American as your kid”

UN official: Tribe not properly heard in pipeline dispute
A United Nations official who visited North Dakota in the wake of months of protests over the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline believes the concerns and rights of Native Americans haven’t been adequately addressed.

Maybe Dark Matter Is All Just a Big Mistake
Mystery one: what is dark matter. Mystery two: how to unify physics. Are they the same mystery?

Teacher threatened student with Mafia retaliation for exposing sexual misconduct
A Connecticut high school teacher was sentenced to three years in prison for sexual misconduct with two teenage boys, one of whom she threatened with retaliation from the Mafia if he didn’t keep quiet.

A Bunch Of Questions (And Some Answers) About Trump’s Wiretap Claims
Donald Trump’s claim over the weekend that President Obama ordered wiretaps on his phones has raised many more questions than answers about the ongoing probe of Trump advisers’ possible ties to the Russian government.

TRUMP PICKS STRONG CRITIC OF PUTIN FOR KEY POST
Lost in all the fake news about President Trump’s alleged affinity for Russia is the real news that he has tapped a harsh critic of Vladimir Putin to be the White House senior director for Russia and Europe. The Putin-critic he reportedly has selected is Fiona Hill, a former intelligence officer now with the Brookings Institution.

March 8 International Women’s Strike platform calls for destruction of Israel
“The decolonization of Palestine” is “the beating heart of this new feminist movement”

Text: President Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration
The following is the text of President Trump’s executive order on immigration, as released by the White House on Mar. 6, 2017.

Anti-Trump “March for Science” Forced to Apologize for Calling Women “Females”
The so-called March for Science is a social justice movement planning a major demonstration next month to oppose President Trump’s policies on science and the environment. Its promoters have courted the progressive crowd, and now they’re reaping the consequences. Namely, they recently came under fire for using the word “female.”

To keep Tor hack source code secret, DOJ dismisses child porn case
DOJ: “Disclosure is not currently an option.”

Did Obama spy on Trump? Glenn Reynolds
It isn’t out of the question. The former president’s administration wiretapped journalists and spied on Congress.

Anti-Trump group riven by debate over mandating non-violence
An anti-Trump student group at The George Washington University was disbanded after a disagreement on whether to include a non-violence clause in its mission statement.

CSULB journalism assignments disparage conservatives
Two fall journalism classes at California State University, Long Beach used class assignments to disparage conservatives, including one involving a homophobic and sexist GOP primary candidate named “Ronald Plump.”

Report: Women’s and gender studies degrees have increased 300% since 1990
It seems increasing your job prospects in this tight employment market after college isn’t that high a priority – in the last quarter century college undergrads are more concerned with, as one student says, “understand[ing] and relat[ing] to peers and colleagues better.”

Liberal groups: A vote for Gorsuch is a vote to get yourself primaried
Progressive groups are certainly finding ways to keep themselves busy ever since their disastrous performance in the last election. One method of killing time is to take a break from their relentless attacks on the new president and form up the old circular firing squad to go after members of their own party.

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch has a message for “the resistance”
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch made a brief video which Senate Democrats published on their Facebook page last Tuesday. In the video, Lynch says that American’s rights are being “trampled on” and recalls past marches in which people bled and died are a model for how to respond now.

“Toni the Tampon” Coloring Book Reminds Kids: Men Get Periods Too
DC-based artist Cass Clemmer wants to destigmatize periods. But, in the process, she wants to “de-gender” them as well.

Trump taps Bush administration lawyer and Cruz friend as Solicitor General
If Reuters’ sources are correct, Donald Trump didn’t need to reach very far to finally select his new Solicitor General. Noel Francisco has served as principal deputy Solicitor General over the past few weeks, which meant that he had the top job on an acting basis until now anyway.

UT’s microaggressions laboratory: Where free speech is a priority?
In light of Tennessee General Assembly’s discussions about the University of Tennessee’s diversity programs – and a legislator’s wish to establish an “Office of Intellectual Diversity” to foster conservative speakers and thought on campus – it’s interesting to note that UT has a “microaggressions research laboratory.”

Middlebury Student: Riot Was Not Rioters’ Fault
When Charles Murray was slated to speak at Middlebury College, no one expected a riot like the one that occurred when Milo was to appear at Berkeley. One Middlebury faculty member was attacked and needed to receive treatment at a hospital.

Breaking: Piscopo Makes His Move in NJ Gov’s Race
Comedian-Actor-Radio Host Joe Piscopo summoned Tony Perry to his residence in Hunterdon county last weekend. Perry is the Chief of Staff to State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown). Piscopo, the morning drive time host on AM970, has been frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for governor this year, either as a Republican or Independent.

Nevada bill seeks legal sympathy for kids who kill abusers
A Nevada lawmaker is proposing courts take a favorable view of sexually assaulted or trafficked children who hurt or kill their abusers.

Nevada governor wants no qualifiers for Education Savings Account recipients
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said Tuesday he agrees with Sen. Scott Hammond and will not propose any kind of income or means test for the Education Savings Account program he is seeking to fund this session.

Vizio Fails To Dodge Class Action Over Its Spying “Smart” Televisions
So if you hadn’t been paying attention, most of the “smart” products you buy are anything but intelligent when it comes to your privacy and security. Whether it’s your refrigerator leaking your gmail credentials or your new webcam being hacked in minutes for use in massive new DDoS attacks, the so-called “smart” home is actually quite idiotic. So-called smart-televisions have been particularly problematic, whether that has involved companies failing to encrypt sensitive data, to removing features if you refuse to have your daily viewing habits measured and monetized.

Lawmaker shocked by “insane” boozing at Rhode Island State House
New Rhode Island State Rep. Moira Walsh told WPRO talk show host Matt Allen that she’s surprised by the “insane amount of drinking” that goes on in the State House. “You cannot operate a motor vehicle when you’ve had two beers, but you can make laws that affect people’s lives forever when you’re half in the bag,” Walsh said to Allen on Tuesday. “That’s outrageous.”

Too Bad That Statue of a Girl Staring Down the Wall Street Bull Is A PR Stunt By Wall Street Patriarchs
Last night, on the eve of International Women’s Day, news outlets and social media seized on the mysterious appearance of a statue of a defiant young girl staring down the famous Charging Bull statue. As it turns out, the statue of the little girl symbolically defying Wall Street was installed by… Wall Street itself. And not just any financial company, but State Street Global Advisors, the worlds third-largest asset manager, with $2.4 trillion under management.

NY Daily News’ Resident Race-Baiter Shaun King: Phrase “Working-Class Voters” Is Racist…
Sure it is, Shaun.

Oregon Investigates Claim of $22,000 Missing from Portland Women’s March
Officials in Oregon are reportedly investigating claims by a feminist organizer of the Jan. 21 Portland’s Women’s March that a transgender activist absconded with more than $20,000 raised for the event.

“Literacy” test for teachers may be nixed
State education officials plan to scrap a literacy exam given to prospective teachers and allow certification for some applicants who fail a performance assessment test – moves that critics warned will weaken the pool of candidates.

“Day Without Women” in Philly: Attacks on schools are “gendered attacks on female profession”
Half the teaching staff at one Philadelphia high school and three-quarters at a city elementary school are skipping work today in honor of “A Day Without a Woman.”

UMich sued for stonewalling on FOIA of Trump-related emails
The University of Michigan is being sued by The Mackinac Center for Public Policy after the school repeatedly failed to release internal correspondences related to Donald Trump’s election.

Pitzer College RA tells white people not to wear hoop earrings
A wall dedicated to free speech at Pitzer College was recently painted by a group of Latino students with the message, “White Girl, take off your [hoop earrings]!”

School administrators don’t have much tolerance for student’s “straight pride” posters
At least one student at Jasper High School has heard enough from his LGBT classmates.

IRS has 7,000 unreleased documents related to conservative and Tea Party targeting
The IRS has told a federal court that they’ve recently identified almost 7,000 more documents that could contain information on how the agency targeted the tax-exempt applications of Tea Party organizations or other conservative political groups starting back in 2010, according to a court document.

Vermont Mayor Loses Re-Election, Cites Backlash on Refugee Resettlement
The incumbent Mayor was still visibly shocked by his loss last night but acknowledges the precarious position some officials may find themselves on the issue of refugees.

How the 2016 Vote Broke Down by Race, Gender, and Age
The election has long passed, but debate over what happened continues in full force. In the data-driven and social science corner, it will be fueled by large-scale surveys of Americans conducted after the election asking the public about their voting behavior and a myriad other things.

Asked if Arnold Schwarzenegger might make a run for Senate, the former governor’s spokesman doesn’t say no
Former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may not have ruled out trying to get back into government, stoking speculation about whether he could challenge Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2018.

Congress begins rolling back Obama’s broadband privacy rules
ISPs will soon be able to sell your most private data without your consent.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson tells Mexico-born Univision anchor Jorge Ramos “you’re whiter than I am” in heated debate about immigration
Carlson and Ramos clashed during the latter’s appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight Wednesday night

College hosts “nap-ins” to guide students on “journey to diversity”
Southern Illinois University will soon host a month-long series of “nap-ins” to help guide students on their “internal journey to diversity.”

Former NC Governor McCrory Reemerges To Say “I’m Not Done Yet”
North Carolina’s former Governor Pat McCrory left some big shoes to fill – shoes the current governor may not be fit to fill out.

USDA Threatens To Shut Down Farm For Conservative Article In Break Room
Obama-era rules empower meat inspectors to become speech inspectors, and that’s created a crazy situation at one farm in Michigan.

“Anti-feminism” posters at American University investigated as a “hate crime”
Law enforcement personnel are searching for the person who hung up “anti-feminism” posters around American University’s campus late Tuesday evening.

Tucker Carlson and Jehmu Green Spar Over Planned Parenthood
Green: “no such thing as a federally-funded abortion”

Conservative Student Receives Death Threats, and His Car Is Vandalized
To say our nation is divided may well be the grandest of understatements. Neither side has any interest in even listening to the other or engaging in a real and meaningful debate. Instead, things seem to be getting uglier and uglier as time marches on.

Scientists Store Data on a Single Atom for the First Time
The world of high tech electronics is driven by packing more features into less space. That’s especially true for the electronic components, as described by Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law refers to an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention. He predicted that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

Liberal Bullying On Campus: A Case Study
Not all liberals are bullies, but a great many are. Where liberals are in the majority, the bullies among them try to make life miserable for those who fail to conform. Almost every college campus is in this category. A case in point, one of many, is St. Olaf College, where my youngest daughter is a sophomore.

Old Hotness: “Hands up, don’t shoot.” New Hotness: Brown’s Drug Dealing Justifies Throat Grab of Store Clerk
You think once an issue is settled, it stays settled and people who tried before to turn a story into something it isn’t would learn a lesson. In the case of Michael Brown, that’s not going to happen.

After Criticizing WikiLeaks, Ben Sasse Reports Hacking Attempts
The coolest man in the Senate, Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) hit at WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, hard this past week.

Bill proposes to turn Nevada into a “sanctuary state”
Return with us now to those thrilling days under the Articles of Confederation when every state made up its own rules regarding immigration and naturalization of foreigners, back before the Constitution gave Congress the sole authority to establish such rules.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

China’s Economy Continues to Decline
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told the National People’s Congress that China’s GDP growth rate would drop from 7 percent in 2016 to 6.5 percent this year. In 2016, the country’s growth rate was the lowest it had been since 1990. The precision with which any country’s economic growth is measured is dubious, since it is challenging to measure the economic activity of hundreds of millions of people and businesses. But the reliability of China’s economic numbers has always been taken with a larger grain of salt than in most countries. We suspect the truth is that China’s economy is growing less than 6.5 percent, if at all.

The Blue-State Model Collapses in Connecticut
Republicans have a chance to advance a better fiscal model and take control of the legislature.

Elon Musk Joins Trump To Hatch Infrastructural Spending Plan
Elon Musk is meeting with President Donald Trump and other business leaders to discuss how to hash out the president’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal.

39.1%: CBO Says U.S. Has Highest Top Statutory Corporate Tax Rate in G20
The United States has the highest top statutory corporate tax rate—39.1%–of any nation in the G20, according to a study released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office.

 

International

 

Masoud Barzani: Independent Kurdistan is loyal response to Peshmerga sacrifices
The fall of Mosul is likely to mark the beginning of the breakup of Iraq, as has been the case with countries who have come out of ethnic and religious conflicts, such as Czechoslovakia, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani says, adding that an independent Kurdistan would bring more stability to the Middle East, a region that otherwise has been troubled with massacres and conflict since the two world wars.

Who’s in… Ermine! 27 aristocrats compete for a spot in the House of Lords in the world’s most elitist election
27 male candidates with inherited titles will take part in by-election on March 21

“Black Hitler” to stand for election for far-right party in Finland
Joao Bruno Putulukeso will stand for the ultra-nationalist True Finns party in an attempt to moderate its thuggish image.

NSFW: BBC: “Anime & Manga Promotes Pedophilia”
Takeshi Nogami, character creator of Girls Und Panzer, recently shared his thoughts on Twitter regarding a 3-hour interview he endured with BBC lugenpresser Stacey Dooley for a documentary on Japan’s young whores (“sex workers”) – with the female reporter unsurprisingly attempting to push her feminist fake news agenda whilst condemning anime and manga for “promoting pedophilia”.

Japan loosens permanent residency rules to keep highly skilled foreign workers and lure global talent
The new rules will become effective as of the end of March 2017

Australian City Adding “Female Traffic Lights” to Combat “Unconscious Bias”
A push to include female symbols on traffic signals in an Australian city to fight discrimination against women has left public opinion divided.

Principal after rape: All three are victims
SWEDEN (of course) — Two teenage boys who raped a girl remain at the school, while the girl must be taught elsewhere. All three are victims, says the Principal, who did not provide any information to parents that two rapists were among their children – “it would have raised a concern.”

Canada: Federal victims’ aid program spent millions processing one application per month
Jerry Agar here: As I told you last night while guest hosting for Ezra Levant (who’s in Israel on assignment), the Liberal government’s “solution” to a shocking spending scandal is almost as pathetic as the program they’ll be investigating…

Memo to U.S. Mission in Vienna: Obama No Longer President
Quite likely you don’t spend a lot of time following the doings of Andrew J. Schofer, a career State Department officer who is currently the Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna (UNVIE). Nor was Schofer anywhere high on my radar until this week, when he delivered a statement on North Korea that seemed to me slightly at odds with what Ambassador Nikki Haley was saying at the United Nations in New York. Which sent me to the web site for his legation in Vienna … but before I get ahead of myself on that, here’s a bit more background.

Watch out, leftists: “Hate speech” laws have unintended consequences
Canada has laws against “hate speech;” Germany bans Holocaust denial, and places restrictions on journalism, too.

Watch out, leftists: “Hate speech” laws have unintended consequences
Canada has laws against “hate speech;” Germany bans Holocaust denial, and places restrictions on journalism, too.

India’s New Restrictions on Religious Liberty Threaten Critical Aid to the Poor
In a sad development, the government of India is clamping down on religious liberty, and impoverished children stand to lose the most.

Fukushima has been overrun by wild, radioactive boars
This sounds like it could be the plot for the next Godzilla movie but the NY Times reports the area of Japan where a Tsunami and subsequent reactor meltdown occurred in 2011 has been overrun with wild, radioactive boars.

MIGRANT GIRLS AS YOUNG AS 11 Arrive In Sweden Married And Pregnant
At least 61 minors were married when they sought asylum in Norway last year, figures from the Norwegian authorities show. The youngest was an eleven year old girl.

Turkish Riots in Rotterdam Threaten Dutch Political Stability Ahead of Elections This Week
The Reuters picture above of supporters of Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan are not from Istanbul or Ankara, but from riots overnight in Rotterdam that threaten the stability of the Netherlands ahead of Dutch parliamentary elections later this week.

Searching for the American Dream on the Edge of the War in Ukraine
At the public library in this eastern Ukrainian city about 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, from the war’s front lines, a group of teenagers gather on a Monday afternoon to learn about life in America.

Carleton University faces backlash after scale removed from gym
“Those who are offended by the scale can simply choose not to use the scale.”

 

Opinion

 

But He Folds! 5 Big Fights Where Trump Is Backing Down
The whole point of Donald Trump was supposed to be: BUT HE FIGHTS. But we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Trump administration’s bluster melting away.

Our Obsession With Midcentury Modern Design Is Out Of Control
There’s nothing wrong with Midcentury Modern design and open-concept houses. But we shouldn’t forget the artistry and beauty of older designs, either.

Liberals Hate Free Speech
I am old enough to remember the free speech movement at Berkeley in the 1960s. By today’s standards, it was conservative. And I think its leaders were actually in favor of free speech, something that would excommunicate them from today’s Left.

Only by denying science can Progressives push the transgender revolution
Progressives pretend that their transgender politics are based on science but they’re not; it’s fantasy all the way, which is a disservice to children.

Sawdust, chocolate cake, and New Coke
Regarding this item which crossed my desk over drill weekend, it’s typical of the attitude one finds among deck chair rearrangers – the men and women who think the answer to flagging trad pub sales, is to scold the genre for poor marketing while simultaneously scolding the audience for bad taste.

What if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Had Swapped Genders?
A restaging of the presidential debates with an actress playing Trump and an actor playing Clinton yielded surprising results.

Is Trump Responsible for Some of His Recent Troubles?
Is Donald Trump “deconstructing the administrative state,” as Steve Bannon and his allies claim, or is he helping to bring down his own administration? We know that Trump is angry about many things, but is much of what upsets him of his own making?

WILL LAW SCHOOLS DISCRIMINATE IN FAVOR OF TIFFANY TRUMP OR AGAINST HER?
Tiffany Trump, the president’s daughter by his marriage to Marla Maples, is applying to law school. The Washington Post’s report makes two points: (1) children of celebrities normally receive preferential treatment in admission to colleges and law school, but (2) it’s not clear that such treatment will be granted to the daughter of this particular celebrity, the non-liberal President of the United States.

Race And Racism
There is one thing in which liberal activists are right: everyone is racist. There is one thing in which they’re wrong: everyone is racist.

When campus microaggressions are real: Glenn Reynolds
Conservative and libertarian students have been long been “othered” on college campuses.

Conservatives: As Left Gets Violent, Never Be Itching for a Fight
With the two incidents of violence in Berkeley — riots that occurred at a scheduled Milo Yiannopoulos talk and at a pro-Trump rally — and the mob attack at Middlebury College, it’s clear that something alarming is happening on college campuses in this country. While American universities have been bastions of progressivism for some time, the move from activist to combatant is particularly worrisome.

Snowflakes Melting: Huge Rise in Personality Disorders Among Millennials
Psychologists are especially worried about a huge increase in I Just Can’t Even Syndrome.

Cultivating a New Generation of Racists on Campus
The hate-filed worldview and agendas of the student group MEChA.

Will Donald Trump Be the American Deng Xiaoping?
To mention Donald Trump in the same breath with Deng Xiaoping — the man who led China out of the Dark Ages of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and into the modern world — sounds ludicrous on its face. And to a great degree it is. Deng, after all, is — not just arguably, but actually — the man who personally is responsible for improving more human lives than anyone in history, lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese out of abject poverty and undoubtedly saving untold millions from starvation by upending Maoism. (Historians believe Mao was responsible of 45 million deaths during the four years of the Great Leap Forward alone.)

Feminism: Reality Is a Social Construct
Feminism was always crazy, but since the 1990s, the movement’s inherent madness has been augmented by the French-influenced postmodernism of academic intellectuals.

Politically Correct Juries
Justice Kennedy’s new racial standard to overturn verdicts.

Ending the Reign of the Administrative Law Judge
The system of checks and balances that the Constitution established is an essential safeguard against government overreach. Yet, the ever growing administrative state often undermines fundamental checks and balances. “Fourth branch” agencies frequently take on legislative, executive, and judicial roles simultaneously. And to make matters worse, administrative officials are much less accountable to the people than their counterparts in the traditional three branches.

Is intersectionality a religion?
If you’re surprised I’m about to recommend a piece by Andrew Sullivan, well, so am I. But as Madonna once said, “Beauty’s where you find it.” Or in this case, truth is too. Sullivan has written an interesting and fairly convincing argument that “intersectionality” is a religion or, perhaps more accurately, that it functions as a religion even if its adherents wouldn’t claim it as such.

Third-Wave Feminism Ruins Everything
While working on a longer post about something else this morning, I happened to notice this feminist discourse on Tumblr

Science by consensus dominates the pediatric transgender debate
CONSENSUS IS NOT SCIENCE, whether we’re talking about climate or sexual identity. As often as not, it’s simply greed and stupidity grossly magnified.

Famines are caused by awful governments — so stop giving those awful governments money
“Famine in South Sudan.” When I was growing up in the 1970s, it would have been an unremarkable headline. In those days, we were horribly habituated to images of African kids with matchstick legs and bloated bellies. Now, though, such headlines are startling, and for the best of reasons: Famines are slowly being eradicated.

Mean Girls Versus Western Civilization Versus Savages
I’m quite sure I’m not the only person who finds the whole spectacle of waving bits that ought to be kept between oneself and one’s significant other(s) rather off-putting, just as I’m sure that one’s genitalia is not where one stores one’s moral compass. Whether said genitalia are damp and somewhat salty or rise to the occasion to point the way to the nearest boobies… ahem… moral decision point is irrelevant.

“Fallacies” aren’t what you think they are—and they aren’t very useful.
If you spend any amount of time online following or taking part in debates, you’ll eventually see someone accuse someone else of committing or employing “a fallacy.” What exactly does this mean?

The Real Resistance
As soon as President Trump was elected, the left in America immediately began a campaign of opposition and efforts to delegitimize the Trump administration even before he was in office. Creaky, old leftist radicals such as Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann stepped out of the cobwebs and declared a resistance was on, as if America was occupied.