Dec
17
2018

URLs du Jour

2018-12-17

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  • Corie Whalen bemoans: I Can’t Figure Out What To Do. Like a lot of us.

    It’s been three months since I left my job as Rep. Justin Amash’s Communications Director. Part of the reason I quit was to start publishing under my own name again as I did for years before the move to Capitol Hill. But I’m stuck. It’s not just writer’s block, although I think that’s part of it. As I’ve told a few people, I’m still trying to find my voice.

    The fact is, I spent the better part of a decade as a mouthpiece for liberty Republicans predicated on the notion that the GOP was improving and had a more libertarian future ahead of it. I naively believed this like gospel for a long time. I wishcasted this destiny for a living. It was arguably a part of my identity. Now, the very thought of calling myself a Republican makes me feel gross, and the respect I had for many conservative politicians and pundits has waned precipitously, to phrase it perhaps more politely than I should.

    I almost left my mantra as a comment: "Just say to yourself: 'Well, I guess I'll just have to be content with being right about everything, all the time.'"

    Too glib, though. Not for nothing is Jonah Goldberg's podcast called "The Remnant". With all its Old Testament implications.

  • Kevin D. Williamson writes at the NYPost: Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drives conservatives crazy.

    One can partly understand why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the hilariously ignorant young socialist recently elected to a House seat from The Bronx and Queens, has soared to the top of the Republicans’ naughty list.

    For one thing, the Democrats and their reliably obsequious media allies already have elevated her far above what one might expect for a safe-seat shoo-in from an abjectly Democratic district who has not yet served a single day in office: They’re already asking her about running for president, perhaps sharing a ticket with Robert Francis O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat formerly known as “Who?”

    KDW makes an excellent comparison between the media's treatment of AOC and its treatment of Dan Quayle, who was lampooned mercilessly for saying far less stupid things than does AOC.

  • You may remember Politifact. You may even remember that it awards "Lie of the Year" to … well, what it feels was the most egregious lie of the year. But this year? David Harsanyi writes Why PolitiFact's Winner of the 'Lie of the Year' Award Is Misleading.

    This week, the allegedly unbiased fact-checkers at PolitiFact awarded their “Lie of the Year” award to the “online smear machine” that attempted “to take down” the survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

    “The attacks against Parkland’s students stand out because of their sheer vitriol,” the piece explains. “Together, the lies against the Parkland students in the wake of unspeakable tragedy were the most significant falsehoods of 2018.”

    It should go without saying that those who spread the conspiracy theory that the activists in the wake of the horrific school shooting were “crisis actors”—kids only pretending to be victims—are exceptionally terrible people.

    It’s debatable, though, whether this conspiracy theory, which had no effect on policy or the students’ ability to march or speak out, should be considered the most significant political lie in 2018. I’m relatively positive that the vast majority of Americans have never heard it.

    Politifact is hopeless, so it's unlikely that they'll reconsider. But, honestly, with all the lying going on, that's the best they could do?

  • I missed the 245th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party yesterday. Let me make it up to you by linking to Jay Cost's National Review article: Boston Tea Party: Lessons for Today.

    In a country with a story as long and colorful as ours, there is hardly a date on the calendar that was not — at some point — an important day in American history. It would be tedious to comment on all of them, yet I cannot help but note that yesterday marked one of my favorite events in American history, the Boston Tea Party.

    There are two reasons I like the Boston Tea Party so much — one “low” and one “high.” The low reason is that it is a good reminder that the Founding generation was not all about highfalutin philosophy and earnest debate about first principles of government. Far from it! There was a lot of mob-like activity during the eleven years between the end of the War of 1765 and the Declaration of Independence. There was also, to be blunt about it, quite a lot of booze consumed by said mobs.

    The higher reason? Well, RTWT.

  • At American Consequences, P.J. O'Rourke provides Useless Christmas Trivia. Specifically, things you can say at your Christmas dinner to deflect political discussion. Examples:

    “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 for a Montgomery Ward Christmas promotional coloring book. The character was originally rejected by the department store’s executives because red noses were associated with alcoholism. Did Rudolph ever get so drunk that he guided Santa to any of your houses?”

    “We call St. Nick ‘Santa Claus’ because we get many of our Christmas traditions from the New Amsterdam Dutch. The way the Dutch pronounce ‘St. Nicholas’ is Sinterklass. And speaking of Rudolph’s red nose, this is how some people at this table are beginning to pronounce their words. I spiked the eggnog with Everclear, in the hope that at least a few of you would pass out face-first in your plates. Santa’s helpers are standing by at EMS.”

    I may give a dramatic reading of P.J.'s column for our dinner this year.


Last Modified 2024-01-24 11:52 AM EDT