Tuesday, January 14. 2020
Saturday, January 11. 2020
Scott Alexander: WHAT INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS DID I MAKE IN THE 2010S?
Wow
Glaciers refuse to melt at Glacier Park
Progressive Minded Washington City May Ban Use Of Natural Gas To Solve Hotcoldwetdry
US emissions are falling under Trump, thanks to fracking's war on coal
"Despite a new imperative to be scrupulous about affirmative consent, young men are still subject to incessant messages that sexual conquest... remains the measure of a 'real' man..."
Tucker Carlson Masterfully Debunks the Transgender Murder “Epidemic” Myth
Once Again, Government-Subsidized Projects Fail to Deliver. Trump’s Foxconn failure shows that targeted subsidies don’t pay off.
What is private equity, and why is it killing everything you love? Private equity led to the closing of Toys R Us and cost 30,000 workers their jobs — and it’s hardly the only example of a deal gone wrong.
Willing seller meets willing buyer. Isn't that ok?
More Chinese students arrested for photographing US naval base '
Prof calls college a 'racket,' blasts diversity hires
Is Fauxcahontas Sane?
Texas Governor Announces the State Will Not Be Accepting Any More Refugees, Becomes First in Nation to Decline Them
The Reagan Revolution Gives Way to the Trump Revolution - As with Reagan, Democrats and the media panic.
New Lawsuit Claims Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Sharyl Attkisson’s Computers
FBI Apologizes To Court For Surveillance Of Carter Page, Pledges Fixes
Intelligence Community’s Inspector General Is the Link Between FISAgate and Impeachment
Trey Gowdy Reveals Real Reason Democrats Impeached Trump
How McConnell Outplayed Pelosi
WE NOW KNOW: THE STEELE DOSSIER BACILLUS
Under pressure, Iran admits it shot down jetliner by mistake
The IRGC Just Admitted All The Terrorism/War Proxies They Are Working Behind Across Region
Iran’s attacks against the US in Iraq accomplished what was intended. Behind the Lines: A large amount of noise and smoke
Trump's Approval Rating Among Terrorists Hits All-Time Low
Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter. President Trump’s opponents cannot forgive him his victories. But it has become increasingly clear that it doesn’t matter
No Senate Democrats Support Measure Praising Military For Killing Soleimani. All GOP Senators Supported Same Resolution About Bin Laden During Obama Years
Five Obama Foreign Policy Messes That Trump Is Cleaning Up
Democrats Are Out of Touch on Foreign Affairs, Too
The new socialism, like the old, will not protect Jews
Or Christians, or Muslims
Friday, January 10. 2020
OOPS: Worship Band Accidentally Worships For Real During Rehearsal
Virginia Ban On Woods And Backyard Shooting?
An insane ‘feminist’ attack on Alcoholics Anonymous
Climate Change Advocacy: Application Of Science, Or Religious Cult?
Has Saint Greta become a joke?
The Climate Decade that Was: Failed Predictions, Tour De Paris, and the Gretas
Progressive Eco-Group Admits It: Renewable Energy is a Hoax that Benefits its Greenie Elmer Gantries like Al Gore
California to Throw Another $1.4 Billion at Homelessness
Brilliant
Academia's Leftism becomes more aggressive and more stupid
New York Bar Association Calls on Congress to Launch Investigation Into Attorney General Bill Barr
Medical Journal Declares War on Natural Gas
Idiots. That's not their expertise.
The Big Farmer Bailout Was Never Debated
TRUMP WINS IN COURT ON BORDER WALL
White House unveils plan to speed big projects permits
How Bernie Sanders Became Your Child’s Economics Teacher - Without proper education, it's demagogues who will teach voters about political economy, to the nation's detriment.
Taco Bell Dangles $100,000 Salary Amid Tight Worker Market
I blame Trump
Why Warren Buffett is right to warn about Illinois: The state’s true retirement costs now total 50% of annual budget.
At some point, you run out of other people's money
Democratic Minority Voters Overwhelmingly Favor School Choice. Don’t downplay party’s racial divide on charter schools
This Is The Washington Post On Crack
Elizabeth Warren Gives Advice On Boyfriends, Pets; Gets Crushed Online
New York Democrats Move to Register Illegal Aliens, Non-Citizens to Vote
Trump's second term: Trump Unbound
Trump wows the crowd at Toledo rally – and takes no prisoners.
The guy's energy is impressive. In his mid-70s, right?
MSNBC Katie Tur is OUTRAGED After President Trump Delivers Speech with “Stern White Military Men”
Iran’s Fawning Western Apologists
Democrats And The Media Are Blaming America Because Iran Shot Down A Passenger Plane. This Is Beyond Despicable.
Trump reset the Obama Grand Bargain with the Mullahs by taking out Soleimani and staring down threats of retaliation
The Chicken Littles got everything wrong on Trump and Iran: Goodwin
Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Still Faces a Host of Economic Problems
Iran's Options in Showdown with America Are All Bad
China: Beijing's Arctic Power Grab
That's why Trump offered to "buy" Greenland. We bought Alaska, and it worked out well.
U.S. congressional study urges sanctions on China over 'crimes against humanity'
Thursday, January 9. 2020
40-year-old tractors are now a hot commodity
What It’s Like to Date After Middle Age
Another Expensive Solar Scheme Bites the Dust
If you say you care about the environment but you oppose nuclear power or fracking, then you’re an idiot or a liar.
Bill Gates Calls For Instituting “Robot Tax” For Companies That Replace Workers With Robots…
Don't all machines replace people? Like even washing machines?
The Lost History of Western Civilization Is Coming
Why the NY Times’ 1619 Project Fails the Truth Test
Canada Touts How 'Assisted Suicide' Is Providing Human Spare Parts. So Hurry Up and Die, Already.
The US Has the Least Poverty In the World
Attorney General William Barr, ‘Adult of the Year’ - Kimberley Strassel has his critics’ number.
VDH: What Is the Middle East In the Middle Of Anymore? The United States is trying to square a circle, remaining strong and deterring dangerous elements, but to do so for U.S. interests—interests that increasingly seem to be fewer and fewer in the Middle East.
True
Enemy of the Republic Media Now Openly Mourning That Iran Didn't Kill Americans & Thereby Damage Trump's Political Standing
Joe Scarborough gets it wrong: Trump’s ignorance has created an international crisis
No, an opportunity
Defense Secretary Esper: Soleimani’s Attack on Americans Was Just Days Away
CNN International doesn't mention guest was spokesperson for Iranian hostage-takers during 1979 crisis
State Department Official Shutdown CNN Anchor & Leaves Her Speechless
The right strategy for Iran isn’t regime change. It’s regime collapse.
Venice mayor: Anyone who shouts 'Allahu Akbar' will be shot
Wednesday, January 8. 2020
Tuesday, January 7. 2020
Beats me, but lots of people are talking about it. I do not even know what Golden Globes means.
VIDEO
25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites - Stumble into the looking-glass world of contronyms.
Can Intermittent Fasting Reset Your Immune System?
Three meals/day is long obsolete except for manual laborers. If you want to be healthy, a protein shake after morning workout, an apple and a coffee for lunch. Meat for supper, preferably cow meat.
WHY DOCTORS THINK THEY’RE THE BEST
Val d'Isere: The doctor who hid a Jewish girl - and the resort that wants to forget
Irish Data Centers Are Killing Us With Carbon Pollution
Police Working on Premise that Arsonists Started Bushfires in Australia – 200 People Arrested So Far – 85% of Fires Blamed on Humans
Pre- & post-citizens by Victor Davis Hanson - On the meaning of citizenship in the twenty-first century.
Chelsea Clinton Hauls In $9 Million From Corporate Board Position
That's called the gig economy
Judge halts California’s new “gig worker” law that’s impacting truckers
"Gig workers" are basically the self-employed
UC-Berkeley Threatened With Lawsuit For Mandatory Diversity Statements In Hiring
'Great example for the rest of this country': Bloomberg sees California as model for U.S.
Saturday, January 4. 2020
Friday, January 3. 2020
High-School Wrestling Was Fading. Then Came The Girls.
Oxford Historian On The 1619 Project: ‘A Preposterous And One-Dimensional Reading’ Of American History
From TNR: When “Biology” Becomes a Cover for Anti-Trans Bigotry - How an employment case in the United Kingdom revealed the ugly contours of anti-trans discrimination
Expert: Half of UK Farmland Must Be Abandoned
DeVos restores fairness to campus sexual misconduct cases - A survey suggests that attempts to address sexual assault on campus, although well intentioned, have done so at the expense of fairness, and, in many cases, the truth.
U.S. jobless claims dip to 222,000 to end 2019 back near a half-century low
Literally the first word that WaPo prints in 2020 is a lie.
Joy Reid Calls Attack on US Embassy in Baghdad “Trump’s Benghazi” – Don Jr. Drops in and Sets Her Straight
Joe Biden’s Latest Ad About Trump Is a Complete Lie
MSNBC: By Bombing Hezbollah, Trump Is Bombing ‘War Heroes’…
America just took out the world’s no. 1 bad guy
This Is Not 1979, And Donald Trump Is Not Jimmy Carter
USA Today Op-Ed: It Is 'Terrifying' Other Parishioners Were Armed During Texas Church Shooting
The Fundamental Legitimacy of Donald Trump - The democracy-is-doomed crowd was wrong. Trump’s tyranny has never materialized.
Even CNN Is Calling out Chuck Schumer’s Impeachment Trial ‘Impartiality’ Hypocrisy
The United States as a Developing Nation
Scandinavia: Can The New “Parental Team” Replace Marriage?
Boris Johnson’s Victory and the Political Realignment Shaking Western Democracies
Former Google executive Ross LaJeunesse blasts company’s work in China - ‘Just when Google needed to double down on a commitment to human rights, it decided to instead chase bigger profits and an even higher stock price’
'This is the shareholders' money': Billionaire Warren Buffett argues that companies should stop making decisions based on their social beliefs
Kim Jong Un, Choose Your Future
He can't - he is China's pawn
Maximum Pressure on Iran Is Working. That’s Why It’s Lashing Out. Let’s Keep It Up.
With pro-Iran groups at helm, Iraq 'risks becoming pariah'
Thursday, January 2. 2020
Is Notre-Dame Too Fragile to Be Saved? The cathedral’s rector says there is a “50 percent chance” that scaffolding will collapse, causing further damage
Policing Parents and Kids: The Year's 8 Most Paranoid Moments - And five examples of parents wisely letting their kids go—and grow.
History Without Truth - The 1619 Project has been thoroughly discredited, but many professional historians remain reluctant to criticize it.
In August, the New York Times Magazine unveiled its 1619 Project, which dates the founding of the United States not to 1776, with the Declaration of Independence, but to 1619, with the arrival of the first African slave. Five prominent historians (Victoria Bynum, James McPherson, James Oakes, Sean Wilentz, and Gordon Wood) challenged the Project’s thesis, first in interviews with a socialist website, then in a letter to the Times urging factual corrections. The paper responded dismissively, and the broader reaction among historians suggests that the profession isn’t up to the challenge of defending factual accuracy—at least, not if doing so threatens what many scholars see as the ideological greater good.
Two tribes aren’t recognized federally. Yet members won $500 million in minority contracts
How Cognitive Bias Destroyed the Livelihood of California’s Gig Workers. We ignore the intelligence trap at our own peril.
We have an implicit [but wrong] assumption that intelligence and rationality go together—or else why would we be so surprised when smart people do foolish things?
Related, 2019 Was Another One Of Those Tough Years For The "Experts"
Smart doesn't mean wise
The Most Absurd PC Moments of the 2010s
Two Professors at University of Wisconsin – La Crosse Are Leading the Way on ‘Fat Studies’
If at least 1/2 of Americans are fat, it hardly seems like an oppressed minority. It's normal in the USA.
The 'Transgender' Endgame
Some commentators are telling us that we never had it so good. They are even saying that the world never had it so good.
FREE STUFF, DEMOCRATIC PARTY STYLE
Turns Out, Trump’s ‘Evil’ ICE Raids Benefited American Workers
House Ethics Complaint Filed Against Rep. Omar
Get Ready for a Nasty 2020 Presidential Campaign
New York Times finally comes back to admitting Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election
Unable to find new fake news, Vox editor recycles old fake news
Democrat Rep. Al Green Admits ‘Genesis of Impeachment Was… When Trump Was Running For Office’
The "Afghanistan Papers" and the delusions of nation-building
Why It’s Time To Shut Down The Scandal-Plagued U.N. Palestinian Refugee Program
Wednesday, January 1. 2020
An old pal has opened a new commentary website covering Connecticut and some national policy.
The Red Line
RIP: The Historian of Moral Revolution - Gertrude Himmelfarb argued that a great deal is lost when a society stops aiming for civic virtue and is content to aim merely for civility.
The Lost History Of The ‘City’ Of Brooklyn. It was once outshone by Manhattan, but this new book rediscovers New York's most interesting borough.
Anti-Semitism isn't about your political narrative
It’s America for the Commoners! Get Used to It, Wokies!
Three Years In, No Sign Of Trump’s Replacement For ObamaCare
A Retrospective on The Past Four Years of Fake News Trump Hysteria
Chuck Todd Suggests That Trump Voters 'Wanna Be Lied to' Because Noah's Ark or Something
NYT Reporter Implies Conservative Media Made Black Man Stab Hasidic Jews
NY Times Plays Defense for Iran: Claims Thousands of Organized Iranian al-Quds Thugs Storming US Embasssy in Iraq are Grieving “Mourners”
Mike Bloomberg targets doctors for racial 'reeducation'
If you're so rich, how come you ain't smart?
Buttigieg Tells Schoolkids American Founders ‘Did Not Understand Slavery Was A Bad Thing.’ He Gets Slammed For His Ignorance.
VDH: Impeachment Fallouts
How Not to Argue with Bill Barr
The ‘Deep State’ and the Impeachment Conspiracy - What did John Brennan know and when did he know it?
We Were Warned About The Deep State, But Refused To Listen
John Durham Is Investigating Deep State Coup Plotter John Brennan, and Other Deep State Coup Supporters Are "Concerned"
Hunter Biden Accused of $156M Counterfeiting Scheme With Burisma, CrowdStrike, Legal Filing Claims
Analysis: Trump gained little ground this year in China trade war
Fine with me. They are bad people.
'Shattered': Inside the secret battle to save America's undercover spies in the digital age
The U.S.-Iran Showdown Begins in Iraq - America hits Ktaib Hezbollah, one of Tehran’s most effective militias.
Fighting the Demonization of Israel at the International Criminal Court
Turkey’s Libyan Gambit Reveals Erdogan's Delusions of Grandeur
Book review: The Secret Files of the Soviet Union - Judgment in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity by Vladimir Bukovsky, translated from the Russian by Alyona Kojevnikov
Tuesday, December 31. 2019
Photo from a friend in Yucca Valley this week
Your Bedroom Is Too Hot
Intermittent Fasting: Live ‘Fast,’ Live longer?
Healthiest people tend to be small eaters
Accessibility, Ableism, and the Decline of Excellence
UNESCO: Unmaking the world's literature
Clint Eastwood Portrays the American Greatness of Ordinary Americans
Extinction Rebellion Founder Confirms That Global Warming Is Voodoo Science
Why 2019 has been the best year in human history
Chuck Todd Attacks Religious People
Surely California Has Done Away With Racism By Now
The mass murder that didn’t happen because Texans are smarter than New Yorkers, Californians and progressives everywhere
CNN: House Dems Implying “They Didn’t Have Enough Evidence,” Dems Just Want To Impeach
From Understanding Dems' March Toward Electoral Defeat
Thanks to the Department of Justice Inspector General's report, we now know for certain what has been, for those paying attention, fairly obvious. The Steele dossier played a central role in the genesis of the Russia hoax and was used to justify extensive spying on former naval officer and Annapolis graduate Carter Page.
The top two leaders of the FBI were closely involved in this fiasco. Other powerful people knew what was happening and lied to cover it up. That all was confirmed by the IG report. The report was a disaster for the credibility of top leaders in Barack Obama's FBI, and it's also a big problem for the American news media...
List of things Trump has done for America
Germany Puts Its Head in Russia's Energy Pipeline Noose
Soros’ War Against the Jews - The shame, hatred and megalomania driving the world’s wealthiest anti-Semite
Monday, December 30. 2019
The $100 billion reason not to return gifts this holiday season - 90% of products returned during the holidays won’t be resold—and some will end up in a landfill.
Online sales tax ruling challenges small businesses
‘Little Women’ Is Just ‘Too White,’ Critic Says
Madrid goes bonkers for waffle willies
Ancient humans procreated with at least four other species. In 2019, the human family tree got a little more complicated.
NYT Cuts Controversial Study From Bret Stephens’ ‘Jewish Genius’ Column
Everybody knows that Jews tend to be smart
Five years on, the lessons from the Rolling Stone rape story
A book: Stand Down: How Social Justice Warriors Are Sabotaging America's Military
Tales of the Deplorables - For decades, Richard Russo has written about the blue-collar residents of small towns left behind by the American economy.
Virginia increasing corrections budget anticipating jailing gun-owners
Biden Attacked Texas Governor For Signing Law Letting Churchgoers Carry Guns: ‘Totally Irrational’
California Shocked To Find Bill Decriminalizing Retail Theft Resulted In… More Retail Theft
If This Has Been Super-Decade, Why Are We Still so Angry?
I'm not angry
Here’s A List Of Hoax ‘Hate Crimes’ In The Trump Era
Yale Psychiatrist Who ‘Diagnosed’ Trump As Unfit Has Dirty Secret That’s Just Been Exposed
Michael Moore: You Should Be Afraid Of White Guys, Because 2/3 Of Them Voted For Trump
So did more than 1/2 of white women, so fear them too
Suck it, doomsayers! The past decade was the best ever
WE NOW KNOW: IT’S A MAD, MAD MADDOW — AND BEYOND
Williamson still doesn't like Trump
No good reasons
Turley: Testifying for Republicans should not be a sin for academics
THE GENEALOGY OF FREE STUFF: THE TRUMP CARD
INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION: Two Possibilities in Trump Wiretapping, and Neither Is Good.
Sunday, December 29. 2019
Saturday, December 28. 2019
I'm sitting watching "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" during the holidays, enjoying myself and the general happy tone of the season, and I check my email. I get a notice from a college roommate that he has pancreatic cancer. He's happy, has had one round of chemo, and is in good spirits. Christmas was great, family is good, and he just thought my inquiry into his health deserved an answer. Admittedly, he's got the absolute best outlook on life of anyone I know or am associated with, and that goes a long way in situations like this.
I'm a fairly young person, or I like to believe I am. I've never had to deal with the mortality of any of my friends. Yet. Hopefully not for a while longer. I wish him the best, but his news got me thinking about how we deal with mortality.
I can't say much that hasn't been said by others already. I have no special insights or points of view. Generally, I enjoy dark humor and make jokes about this kind of thing. It's easy to do when it's not too close to home (though I certainly hope if things get tough with me, people don't hold back...I'll need a laugh and it's easy to laugh at myself).
News like this opens the door to taking stock, and that's something I'll be doing as I enter 2020. I'm not prepared (who is, after all?) to really think about the worst outcomes for a dear friend. So I'll remain positive that he's going to be fine. It takes quite a bit to bring me to tears, and I squeezed a few out as Mrs. Bulldog and I talked about this.
2019 isn't ending on an up note, so that only means 2020 is going to be great. All of you be well, and I hope your year ends well and gets better into 2020.
Don Imus, RIP
Enjoyed his radio show on and off for years. Stubbornly refused treatment for his prostate cancer - chose herbal treatments.
Nordstrom's Bans 85-Year-Old Salvation Army Bell Ringer
Hard to believe, but true
What any of this has to do with “A Christmas Carol,” God only knows.
Sex Differences in Cognition
Weather: Failed Serial Doomcasting
Court Upholds Obama's Atlantic Ocean Monument
The FBI’s FISA Frauds - Until this scandal is addressed squarely the FBI’s reputation will remain mud.
Rachel Maddow Called Out By WaPo Columnist For Shamelessly Peddling Fake News
David Brooks: The media is broken
The guy lives in a bubble
Billboards Pop Up Around Virginia Amid Second Amendment Uprising: Bloomberg Gun Confiscation Starts In 2 Weeks
Two More Virginia Counties Declare Themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries, Making Ninety One Percent of Counties in Rebellion Against Democrat Gun Confiscation
Sheesh, like the Whiskey Rebellion
Bernie Sanders is starting to scare them
How about Bernie vs. Biden?
Friday, December 27. 2019
Tucker: The Terrifying Evolution of the Left
VIDEO
Thursday, December 26. 2019