URLs du Jour

2018-10-10

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  • A recent example of the Suicide of the West as revealed in a quick-developing Twitstorm:

    1. Ex-astronaut Scott Kelly makes a point by quoting Winston Churchill;
    2. Numerous lefties freak out at him about Churchill's numerous failures to abide by 21st-century Progressive norms;
    3. Kelly says mea culpa (although, since the Romans kept slaves, who knows how long that phrase will remain unproblematic):

    Ben Shapiro at NR urges Spaceman Kelly: Stop Apologizing for Our History.

    But, of course, we cannot come together as one nation so long as we engage in the foolish exercise of savaging our civilizational history. Good-faith conversations about American history recognize the multifaceted moral nature of human existence: the fact that George Washington was a slaveholder does not render his status as father of the country moot; the fact that Abraham Lincoln spent most of his career advocating for colonization of black Americans in Africa rather than their full integration into American life does not obliterate Lincoln’s role as the Great Emancipator. Human beings are products of their time — and they are capable of holding viewpoints that resonate down through the ages and the prejudices of their own age. Undoubtedly, a century from now, few will look kindly at even the most broadminded Americans’ views on a variety of issues.

    I'd double down on that last thought: a century from now, people will especially be aghast at the views of "the most broadminded Americans" of today.


  • And the latest in Google's kowtow to the Chinese Communist dictators is from the Next Web: (via Slashdot) Google to launch censored Search in China despite denials.

    Google intends to launch a censored version of its Search app for China sometime in the next six to nine months, according to a leaked transcript from a private employee meeting held last month.

    The Intercept’s Ryan Gallagher today reported the company’s Search engine chief, Ben Gomes, held a meeting to congratulate a room full of employees working on the platform, dubbed Project Dragonfly.

    To Google's credit, a Google search for Google China Dragonfly gives plenty of results.


  • On the latest (accurate) characterizations of unhinged screamy protesters as "mobs", Ed Driscoll@Instapundit chronicles the horde of independent media minds pushing back:

    … and more in the same vein. (You would think the propagandists would give up on the "Republicans Seize" thing by now, since it's been lampooned so much.)

    Also cited: a recent CNN interview between anchor Brooke Baldwin, Matt Lewis, and Mary Katherine Ham, as detailed by Joy Pullmann at the Federalist: Hey CNN: Organized Groups Screaming At You In Public Is The Definition Of A Mob.

    Yesterday during a discussion of midterm voters’ motivation levels, CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin cut off commentator Matt Lewis when he said, “I believe it’s the overreaction of the left. When you see people like Ted Cruz getting chased out of restaurants by a mob, when you see — ”

    “Oh, you’re not going to use the mob word here,” Baldwin interjected.

    Are too, replied Matt and Mary Katherine. Good for them.

    Baldwin also deployed another dishonesty:

    “Let me move past the m-word, because I do feel like that’s part of the weaponization of what’s happening now, on the right,” Baldwin said, then pivoted to another topic.

    Accurate language is considered to be "weaponization" when wielded by people you don't like.


  • At Inside Sources, Michael Graham wonders about the contest to become Pun Salad's next CongressCritter: Could the Kavanaugh Controversy Turn NH-01 Into a Toss-Up?.

    The day after Eddie Edwards won the NH-01 GOP primary, people began writing him off. The Cook Political Report moved his race against Democrat Chris Pappas from “Leans Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.”  An ARG poll gave Pappas a 55-33 point advantage over Edwards. The conventional wisdom has been that Edwards might be able to run a good enough campaign to beat Pappas, and maybe he could run one good enough to ‘beat’ Trump (the president’s low poll numbers). But there’s no way he can beat both.

    But now Edwards’ prospects are getting a second look–thanks to Justice Kavanaugh and the ‘Brett Bump.’

    Pappas's ads have started appearing on the local news, and they are standard focus-grouped moral-posturing pablum, full of meaning-free phrases: "an economy that works for everyone", "Congress is tilted in favor of the special interests and big corporations", "universal healthcare" (even for Klingons?), etc. If that works, so much the worse for us. (Pappas issue page here.)

    The GOP candidate, Eddie Edwards, has his issue page here. I find it better, but… I'll probably vote for the Libertarian Party candidate, Dan Belforti.


  • As I've more or less continually noted since this blog's inception, I'm a sucker for state-ranking studies, especially when they come from places like Cato. Their latest: Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors 2018.

    Mediocre news, everyone! Chris Sununu scores a "B", tied with a bunch of other Republicans for 12th place.


Last Modified 2024-01-24 3:31 PM EDT