URLs du Jour

2019-03-01

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  • The Club For Growth has issued its latest Congressional Scorecard, updating for 2018. It "ranks the voting behavior of Members of Congress based on issues relating to limited government and economic growth." And should you wonder why advocates of "limited government and economic growth" are so incredibly pissed off at Republicans these days…

    “Despite Republicans being in control of both houses of Congress, profligate spending was the norm,” stated Club for Growth President David McIntosh.  “Looking at these scores, it’s no wonder that Republicans lost control of the House.  Instead of seizing on the opportunity to get our nation’s fiscal house in order, the Republican-led House brought big-spending bills to the floor time and time again.”

    “The one positive point is that the more fiscally conservative a member was, the better their reelection chances were.  For example, incumbents who did not win reelection had an average lifetime score of 64 percent.  Whereas, the incumbents that won reelection had a 72 percent lifetime score,” concluded McIntosh.

    [Alternate explanation: GOP members vulnerable to Democrat challenges felt the need to move leftward in their voting patterns. Duh. But it didn't do them a lot of good, did it?]

    Need you ask how New Hampshire members did? Awful: In the Senate, Jeanne Shaheen ranked #68 and #70, respectively. And in the House, Annie Kuster and (now-retired) toothache Carol Shea-Porter ranked #345 and #380, respectively.

    Our new Congresscritter, Chris Pappas, has not shown any indication of improvement.


  • David Henderson notes A Missed Opportunity for Dianne Feinstein. Specifically, what she should have said to those children haranguing her to support the Green New Deal.

    Do you have any idea what the Green New Deal would cost? What if it cost $50 trillion, which is more than double the output of the whole U.S. economy this year? Would you still want to do it? Let’s say that you asked your parents to buy a new wide-screen TV; what if the cost of that TV were $10,000? Do you think your parents would buy it? Shouldn’t we look at the cost of programs before deciding whether to implement them?

    Do you think any of you would ever want to fly to Europe? How would you feel if ten years from now the federal government prevented anyone from ever flying to Europe or to anywhere else? Would you feel upset that you would never ever after that be able to fly?

    You say that you’re the ones who would be affected. That’s true. You’ll be around much longer than me. If the whole of the GND were adopted or even if some major parts were adopted, what would be the effect on world temperatures?

    You say that some scientists have said that we have 12 years to turn this around. Which scientists said that? Are you aware that most scientists who have studied the issue disagree with that?

    Asking such questions of children might seem unfair. How about asking them of allegedly responsible adults?


  • If you buy the rationale of the Food and Drug Administration is to protect food safety or consumer health, Reason's Mike Riggs provides a wake-up call: The FDA's Fixation on Nut Milk Labeling Is Not About Food Safety or Consumer Health.

    Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb announced earlier this week that his agency is reviewing "more than 10,000 comments" it has received about whether plant-based food products may market themselves using language more commonly associated with animal products. More simply: Can almond milk call itself milk?

    The FDA proposed in July that no product could use the word "milk" on a label unless the substance inside was a "lacteal secretion...obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.'' Gottlieb noted at the time that "an almond does not lactate."

    I, for one, think that all dairy product labels should be required to say "CONTAINS LACTEAL SECRETIONS FROM ONE OR MORE MAMMALIAN SPECIES" in letters large enough to be read from ten feet away.


  • A publication called Liberal First—don't worry, readers, it's based in Liberal, Kansas—brings us LFOD commentary from its publisher, Earl Watt: Why a Wall Would Benefit Hispanics Fleeing Corrupt Mexico. He tells the story of his younger days, working in a meatpacking plant with a diverse set of co-workers:

    I saw a scar on the face of an older Vietnamese man in packaging, something that I thought happened in the plant. His wife also worked in packaging, and neither of them spoke English, but I got to know a younger Vietnamese worker who could speak English.

    I was always aware of the man with the scar on his cheek. It was a deep gash that left an opening to his mouth, and I once saw him entering the plant while smoking, and the smoke actually leaked out of the opening in the side of his cheek.

    I asked the younger Vietnamese man during work one day, “What happened to his cheek?”

    “When he tried to escape from Vietnam, he was caught, and they hung him in the village square on a meat hook,” I was told.

    Still being a naive 18-year-old, I asked, “How did he get here?”

    The answer, “He escaped again.”

    Had he been caught, he surely would have been killed since he already had a scar from trying to escape before, and yet he still wanted to leave the communist nation so bad that he was either going to live free or die trying.

    Anyway, it has something to so with the proposed wall, and Earl gets there eventually, but that's a pretty powerful story about the Vietnamese guy.


  • And a publication called Jezebel employs a writer named Rebecca Fishbein, who is (apparently) paid to write articles with headlines like Jordyn Woods May or May Not Have Also Hooked up With James Harden, Not That It Matters?.

    Problem one: I have no idea who these people are. But the article rang the LFOD news alert, so…

    I remain unconvinced this entire Jordyn Woods/Khloé Kardashian/Tristan Thompson saga isn’t some Kris Jenner-orchestrated effort to get the Kardashians back in the news now that we’ve collectively moved on to Ariana Grande. Still, now there is some new alleged scandal: Woods allegedly also hooked up with former Khloé flame James Harden. Which, fine? Sleep with whom you want? All’s fair in love and war? IDK.

    I remain unconvinced this entire Jordyn Woods/Khloé Kardashian/Tristan Thompson saga isn’t some Kris Jenner-orchestrated effort to get the Kardashians back in the news now that we’ve collectively moved on to Ariana Grande. Still, now there is some new alleged scandal: Woods allegedly also hooked up with former Khloé flame James Harden. Which, fine? Sleep with whom you want? All’s fair in love and war? IDK.

    Still not following. Although I'm pretty sure I've heard of two or three of those names before. Where's LFOD? Ah:

    I guess on the one hand it does really suck when a “friend” hooks up with an ex, but also, who cares? Live free or die. No press is bad press. Kris, can you come out from behind the curtain now?

    This makes me sad for Rebecca Fishbein. How much money would you have to make in order to be happy writing such stupid pap? Whatever number you came up with, I bet she's not making that much. And I bet she knows it.


  • Also on the LFOD front, a story from Arizona Central: State Rep. Kelly Townsend says mandatory vaccinations are 'Communist'. At issue is her Facebook post from yesterday:

    See? If you click through, LFOD on the bottom, probably a little more applicable in this case than most. Wonder if her water's fluoridated?


Last Modified 2024-01-24 6:35 AM EDT