URLs du Jour

2019-02-11

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  • At Reason, Elizabeth Nolan Brown welcomes the latest Oval Office contender: Scandal-Plagued Sen. Amy Klobuchar Announces 2020 Presidential Run.

    In front of a snow-drenched crowd on Boom Island, Minnesota, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced her 2020 presidential intentions. "I am running for this job for every person who wants their work recognized and rewarded" and "every parent who wants a better world for their kids," said Klobuchar. "I am running for every American." And no matter what, "I'll lead from the heart."

    She went on to call for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, for passing a law that automatically registers Americans to vote at age 18, for universal background checks for gun owners, for "sweeping" legislation addressing climate change, and for "net neutrality for all."

    Y'know, if a guy candidate identifying as male advocated "sweeping" legislation, I'm pretty sure he'd be branded a horrible Handmaid's Tale-advocating sexist pig.

    But, yes, Senator Amy advocates "fixing" (i.e., partially repealing) the First Amendment, ignoring the Second Amendment, and otherwise restricting liberty.


  • A long and dismaying article from Mary Hudson at Quillette: Public Education’s Dirty Secret. Ms. Hudson was a teacher in the New York City system of government schools, 2001-2009. The horrors are detailed, and they are worth your attention. But the bottom line:

    It is not poor teaching or a lack of money that is failing our most vulnerable populations. The real problem is an ethos of rejection that has never been openly admitted by those in authority.

    Why should millions of perfectly normal adolescents, not all of them ghettoized, resist being educated? The reason is that they know deep down that due to the color of their skin, less is expected of them. This they deeply resent. How could they not resent being seen as less capable? It makes perfect psychological sense. Being very young, however, they cannot articulate their resentment, or understand the reasons for it, especially since the adults in charge hide the truth. So they take out their rage on the only ones they can: themselves and their teachers.

    They also take revenge on a fraudulent system that pretends to educate them. The authorities cover up their own incompetence, and when that fails, blame the parents and teachers, or lack of funding, or “poverty,” “racism,” and so on. The media follow suit. Starting with our lawmakers, the whole country swallows the lie.

    Why do precious few adults admit the truth out loud? Because in America the taboo against questioning the current orthodoxy on race is too strong and the price is too high. What is failing our most vulnerable populations is the lack of political will to acknowledge and solve the real problems. The first step is to change the ”anti-discrimination” laws that breed anti-social behavior. Disruptive students must be removed from the classroom, not to punish them but to protect the majority of students who want to learn.

    Since reading John Taylor Gatto, I've been in favor of abolishing compulsory attendance laws.


  • At National Review, Kevin D. Williamson examines Sandy's War, aka the Green New Deal of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

    “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” is, at 16 syllables, a mouthful. The day before yesterday, she was “Sandy,” a pleasant-seeming young woman who liked to dance, worked in a bar, worried about her family, and chafed that her advantages and elite education (Boston University shares Case Western’s academic ranking and is significantly more expensive than Princeton: Is there a more appropriate preparation for life in Washington?) left her struggling, obscure, and unsatisfied. And so she set after glory and personal significance in politics, to which she is relatively new — the hatreds and grievances she dotes on are obvious enough and familiar enough that one assumes she has been in possession of those for some time. They are not newly acquired.

    If you spend enough time around politics and/or media, you have seen this figure before. Years ago, a young woman beginning what would turn out to be a successful turn on the Washington cursus honorum asked me, earnestly: “Is it wrong to want to be famous?” I asked her what she intended to do with the celebrity she sought — for what purpose did she want it? “Why?” The question obviously had never occurred to her. I might as well have asked her why she wanted two eyes rather than one. She has a lot of Twitter followers now.

    Very insightful. Have I mentioned that I've already ordered Kevin's new book The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics, due in July? Well, I have, and maybe you should too.


  • Jonah Goldberg is also on Sandy's case in his recent G-File: Green New Deal’s War on Cows.

    Contained within the FAQ for the Green New Deal is one of the greatest sentences ever written with the intention of being taken very, very seriously:

    We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.

    I love this sentence so much I want to stand outside its house holding up a boom box blasting Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.”

    Unfortunately, this quote and other manifestations of looniness were withdrawn (and lied about). Jonah's tweet about that:


  • And finally, Mr. Ramirez's cartoon comment on Sandy's Green New Deal is thousand-word eloquent.

    [Utter Nonsense]

    As always with Mr. Ramirez, click through for the glorious big version.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:52 AM EDT