Comments 4-23-14

Four Pinocchios for Vox ‘Explainer’ on ‘Everything You Need to Know About Israel-Palestine’
"A Free Beacon fact check of page 1 out of 23, because nobody’s going to read 23 pages of this crap anyway." Indeed, it's crap. See for yourself. Via @JohnEkdahl. [rdbrewer]

If It Quacks Like a Duck It's Probably an Antarctic Minke Whale
Scientists find the animal that's been making strange "duck-like" sounds and driving them crazy for years... My one question: Have these guys ever heard a duck? This sounds nothing at all like a duck. It sounds, if anything, like a giant frog croaking

Jim Geraghty: Knee-Jerk Finger-Pointing on Race Spreads to the Supreme Court
She talks about microagressions, Geraghty says. "Do we want the Supreme Court litigating 'everyday slights and indignities,' particularly if they’re unintentional?" Two years ago, Laurence Tribe said, "[H]er reputation for being something of a bully could well make her liberal impulses backfire and simply add to the firepower [of conservatives on the court]." That's why you choose judges with the right temperament for the job. [rdbrewer]


Michelle Malkin: NBC's Cognitive Dissonant Hack Syndrome
"Gregory is the anti-Russert. His boorish behavior around D.C. is legendary -- from his juvenile tantrums with the Bush press staff to his drunken radio appearances to his diva snit fits with innocent bystanders while filming news segments." [rdbrewer]

Pundit Press: Muslim Leaders Slam 9/11 Museum’s Unflattering Portrayal of Al Qaeda as 'Deeply Offensive'
You can mention the terrorists, but don't mention their religion. Sure, that makes sense. [rdbrewer]


Hamas, Abbas's PLO Announce Reconciliation Agreement: Peace Process Now Totally DEAD
"If there were any remote signs of life in the Israel/Palestinian peace talks, they died today with the announcement of a reconciliation agreement between terrorist group Hamas, and the "moderate" terrorists of Fatah who run the PLO." [rdbrewer]


Camille Paglia, Time: The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime
"The age 21 rule sets the United States apart from all advanced Western nations, and it has pushed kids toward pills and other anti-social behavior.... Congress was stampeded into this puritanical law by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who with all good intentions were wrongly intruding into an area of personal choice exactly as did the hymn-singing 19th-century Temperance crusaders...." [rdbrewer]

Mail Online: Benghazi attack could have been prevented if US hadn't 'switched sides in the War on Terror' and allowed $500 MILLION of weapons to reach al-Qaeda militants, reveals damning report
A lot of significant claims here. [rdbrewer]


Krauthammer hails ‘towering’ affirmative action decision: ‘Exactly the way you want to do it in a democracy’
Appearance on Special Report. Also from TheDC: Greg Gutfeld: The real story on Earth Day is ‘how anti-poor the green movement is’. [rdbrewer]

VA Viper: People with low blood sugar stick twice as many pins into voodoo dolls representing their spouses
"The researchers studied 107 married couples for three weeks. Each night, they measured their levels of the blood sugar glucose and asked each participant to stick pins in a voodoo doll representing his or her spouse. That indicated levels of aggression." [rdbrewer]

George Will: The Cubs won the Cold War
"In 1934-35, in the mid-30s, a radio broadcaster who did the Cubs games by recreation talked to his station in Des Moines and said look, would you send me to Catalina Island to cover the Cubs spring training? His name was Dutch Reagan. They sent him out there, and while he was out there, he said you know, I am going to try and get a screen test." And the rest is history. [rdbrewer]

Comments 4-22-14

The Editors: Half a Win on Racial Discrimination
"In a perfectly Orwellian dissenting opinion, which she read dramatically from the bench, Justice Sotomayor argued that the decision of the people of Michigan to end racial discrimination is itself an instance of racial discrimination and that the only way to mitigate such racial discrimination is through the mandatory maintenance of racial discrimination." Remember when Laurence Tribe said Sotomayor wasn't all that smart? Nailed it. [rdbrewer]

Entertainment Weekly: Aaron Sorkin apologizes for 'The Newsroom': 'I feel like I'm just now starting to learn how to write it'
(Thanks for the links, Drudge.) [rdbrewer]


Victor Davis Hanson: Elites’ Sacrificial Victims
"In a word, liberal ideology so often proves more important than people. Noble theories about saving humanity offer exemption from worry about the immediate consequences for individual humans. In a personal sense, those who embrace progressive ideas expect to be excused from the ramifications of their schemes." [rdbrewer]


Urban Ghosts: Has a Full Scale Millennium Falcon Been Built for Star Wars: Episode VII?
"The news will be welcomed by the multitudes of Star Wars fans who weren’t overly enamoured by the excessive reliance on CGI in the previous three installments, as well as those of us who’d like to sit in the Falcon’s cockpit should it one day be open to the public." [rdbrewer]


Dorothy Pomerantz: The Johnny Depp Problem
"The real lesson here is that movie stars are no longer the power they once were." Eh, those movies were bad, and I can't think of a case where an otherwise bad movie was fixed by choice of actor. Maybe the real lesson is choose your movies wisely--which might be harder for Depp since he's more of a character actor than a leading man. [rdbrewer]


Joel Kotkin: Does The GOP Have A Shot At Wooing Disgruntled Millennials?
"Besides a tepid economy, the millennials confront paying off huge public debts, much of it due to the generous pensions of boomer public employees. This constitutes what economist Robert Samuelson has labeled 'a generational war' in which the young are destined to be losers in the 'withering of the affluent society.'" [rdbrewer]


Peggy Noonan: Mrs. Clinton’s New Memoir
"Third, the very fact of the book allows Mrs. Clinton to attempt to counter a growing perception, at least among Republicans, that she didn’t really have any accomplishments.... [H]er successor, John Kerry, like him or not, is an example of what a secretary of state who takes chances and claims some autonomy looks like. To counter the perception that she has little to tout, Mrs. Clinton will probably go heavy on recollections of personal meetings...." [rdbrewer]


Robert Tracinski: Why Democrats Are the Party of Inequality
"They are the political faction that has a vested interest in inequality, because they depend on appeals to guilt and envy. To upper-middle-class elites, they promise to alleviate any spiritual discomfort caused by contemplating their relative good fortune.... For the poor, they promise to take the rich down a notch and distribute some of the loot." [rdbrewer]


Ted Cruz invites Sriracha company to Texas
Irwindale, California designated them a public nuisance because of spicy odor complaints, and now they can enter the factory and screw with them. (Sidebar: I'm guessing there isn't much barbecue in California.) [rdbrewer]

The Air Vent: Climate Today
"Then there are those who have the gall to write against this powerful climate industry. Because that is what climate science is. A smog-belching, economy-sucking, rule-making, profit-taking industry.... Because at the root, taxation is their food, nutrients, power, and hope for the future of their industry. The best colleges, the most influence, the best jobs. They need your fear to get your taxes...." [rdbrewer]

Bumped: Iowahawk's 9th Annual Earth Week Cruise-In "Celebrate the climate-correcting miracle of internal combustion, and honor Mother Earth - the Ultimate MILF®!"

Comments 4-21-14

Bob Shrum: Jeb Bush is your only chance against Hillary, Republicans
Of course Democrats will promote Bush: 1) There is a good chance he would split the party and lose when conservatives stay home, and 2) if he does win, he's the most like them. Win-win. And note, this is Bob Shrum. He's never been right about anything. [rdbrewer]


Study: Fuels from corn waste not better than gas
But it makes progressives feel good about themselves. That's the important thing. [rdbrewer]


M.G. Oprea: The Closing of the Academic Mind
"In other words, Korn would have the university cease to be a forum for open debate and free inquiry in the name of justice, as defined by mainstream liberal academia. This is already a reality in most universities across America, where academics and university administrators alike are trying, often successfully, to discredit and prohibit certain ideas and ways of thinking. Particularly in the humanities, many ideas are no longer considered legitimate, and debate over them is de facto non-existent." [rdbrewer]

Jim Geraghty: Enough Puff Pieces About Chelsea Clinton Already
"Dear friends on the left: You can't bemoan the death of opportunity in America, and rail against the richest one percent, and then devour puff pieces on how exceptionally talented and wonderful the offspring of our super-wealthy political leaders are, earning plaudits just by showing up with their famous last names." And the fawning would be embarrassing to anyone with a sense of shame. [rdbrewer]

John Hinderaker: The Epic Hypocrisy of Tom Steyer
"Steyer is the ultimate rent-seeker who depends on government connections to produce subsidies and mandates that make his 'green' energy investments profitable.... Today, he is a bitter opponent of fossil fuels, especially coal. That fits with his current economic interests: banning coal-fired power plants will boost the value of his solar projects. But it was not always thus. In fact, Steyer owes his fortune in large part to the fact that he has been one of the world’s largest financers of coal projects." [rdbrewer]

Interview: James Delingpole on The Little Green Book of Eco-Fascism
"'I’m not a scientist and actually given what I’ve seen of scientists in my experiences following the global warming scam, I’m glad I’m not a scientist because a lot of these guys are basically shysters and crooks. They’re not some kind of white-coated elite with a special hotline to the truth. In fact, they’re just ordinary guys and girls trying to earn a living like the rest of us but slightly more dodgily....'" [rdbrewer]

NYT: In Cold War Echo, Obama Strategy Writes Off Putin
"Strategy" gives Obama too much credit. "Reaction" might be a better word. [rdbrewer]

Frontpage: Obama Praises Muslims in Easter Message
Nice touch, Slick. [rdbrewer]

Victor Davis Hanson, PJM: Cliven Bundy and The Rural Way
"[T]his administration has a long record of not following the law — picking and choosing when and how to enforce immigration statutes, depending on the particular dynamics of the next election; picking and choosing which elements of Obamacare to enforce, again depending on perceived political advantage; and picking and choosing when to go after coal companies.... In other words, the Obama administration regularly breaks the law as it sees fit. " [rdbrewer]

The Telegraph: China on course to become 'world's most Christian nation' within 15 years
"The number of Christians in Communist China is growing so steadily that it by 2030 it could have more churchgoers than America." [rdbrewer]

AoSHQ Podcast

This week's guest: Jonah Goldberg

Stream | MP3 Download | Ask The Blog | Archives

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TED Video: Helen Fischer: The brain in love [rdbrewer]

ThePantographPunch: A Dream Of A Fantasy: Looking For Lori Watt
"Lori’s total lack of inhibition and the earnest investment in what she does is both refreshing and confusing, for the simple fact that she does it so badly.... Lori doesn’t care, doesn’t back down, makes no apologies or explanations, struggles on with a self-belief born of earnest ambition and delusion. I love her. Adore her. I soak up her videos, her KoRn hoodie, her every word with cringing relish." A few seconds to savor. Bonus Lori Watt: Pinkdolly. How can you not love that? [rdbrewer]

Always Faithful I don't recall who linked this but I will never forget it

Fox News: Ohio couple married 70 years die 15 hours apart [rdbrewer]

Video: You can't reason with babies
Via @DoreenHDickson. [rdbrewer]

Comments 4-18-14