URLs du Jour

2017-05-01

■ PETA would not approve of two-thirds of Proverbs 26:3:

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!

But for you, dear reader: a basket of puppies.

■ At NR, Deion Kathawa looks for The Roots of Campus Progressivism’s Madness.

The first thing to know is that the picture that is painted in the media of campuses as incubators and hotbeds of far-left radicalism is, too often, accurate — and depressing. What’s more, too many of the most politically active liberal students understand neither free speech nor one of its prime functions: to discover what’s true. And why would they? After all, free speech and truth itself are nothing more than oppressive, white-supremacist social constructs! Nearly every liberal college student with whom I have spoken in-person or engaged online believes that the First Amendment proscribes so-called hate speech, by which they seem to mean nothing more than speech that expresses ideas with which they disagree or that offend them. And when they find out that the First Amendment does not actually achieve this, to them, desirable end, they bristle: Well, it should!

Let me say up front: Kathawa's not wrong! But his article doesn't seem to contain the word "Marcuse", according to my browser's search function. I found that kind of surprising, and left a comment to that effect at NR.

■ Charlie Martin records yet another outbreak of Trump Derangement Syndrome. President Trump Declares Loyalty Day: Collapse of Democracy Imminent. The reactions Martin records will probably not surprise you. Nazi Trump! Fascist Trump!

Now, I get it. "Loyalty Day" is kind of creepy. (I don't care for the Pledge of Allegiance either.) But, tweet-spoiler alert:

■ Oh, yes. That "first 100 days" thing. KDW@NR reviews them and declares: A Show about Nothing. Except for Gorsuch (KDW: "well done, whoever had the job of explaining to Donald Trump what a Gorsuch is"), things have been iffy:

Trump’s first 100 days are a bust. For the next 100, Republicans should try something else: Having Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell send him useful and responsible pieces of legislation to sign. These need not be dramatic and far-reaching: In fact, it would be better if they were not. Send him a bill reforming corporate taxes instead of a tax-reform omnibus. Create stronger federal penalties for employing illegal immigrants and see to it that federal law-enforcement agencies get serious about enforcing them. Figure out what you think about health care, if you can. Republicans will get reform the same way Johnny Cash got his Cadillac: one piece at a time.

KDW doesn't mention deregulation. That's pretty good too.

■ And here's the great Ramirez:

[First 100 Days]

Yes, I'd have to count that as a plus as well.

■ And if you need a laugh, or a few dozen laughs, let Dave Barry provide them via this 20-year-old article: Classic '97: Altered States - The success seminar to end all success seminars.

What is the secret of success?

Why is it that one child grows up to become just an ordinary, ho-hum, middle-of-the-pack, blah of a person such as -- no offense -- you; while another child grows up to become a Theodore Roosevelt, a Mother Teresa, a Donald Trump, an Attila the Hun?

Is it luck? Is it genes? Is it upbringing? Did Mr. and Mrs. Hun teach young Attila some secret lesson that put him on the path to becoming No. 1?

Or is success something that any of us can achieve, even later in life, if we're willing to work hard, use our imaginations, learn from our mistakes, keep a positive mental attitude and -- above all -- pay money for a seminar?

Yes, kids, Donald Trump was a punchline even 20 years ago.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:51 AM EDT