Apr
29
2025

I'd Use Different Adjectives, But…

How about "Dumb" and "Dumber"? Not very creative, but Daniel J. Mitchell certainly encourages that view when examining Bipartisan Economic Illiteracy. His primary examples are protectionism and price controls; economists are virtually unanimous in considering them to be dreadful policies, while politicians … well, here's an example highlighted by Daniel:

You'll probably see less economist unanimity about "central planning", but "central planning run totally amok" might tip the scales to: "Yeah, that's bad too."

Also of note:

  • It's the University Near Here, but a lot of the students aren't from Near Here. David Randall of Minding the Campus serves up UNH in his article's lead paragraph: Public Universities Should Serve Citizens—The In-State Enrollment Act Enforces It.

    An extraordinary number of public state universities now admit a majority of their students from out of state. At the University of Vermont, the number is 75 percent. At the University of Delaware, the number is 66 percent. Other universities with a majority of out-of-state students include North Dakota State University (65%), the University of Alabama (63%), University of Maryland, University College (62%), University of Rhode Island (59%), University of New Hampshire (58%), University of Mississippi (57%), and University of Arkansas (50%). The number of public universities with at least one-third of their students from out-of-state is staggeringly larger.

    The "In-State Enrollment Act" is the brainchild of the National Association of Scholars, and you can read the details here. The sample legislative text caps out-of-state enrollment at 18% of incoming undergraduates. To put it mildly: that would make a huge difference at UNH.

  • Andrew C. McCarthy apologizes for pointing out a brutal truth. Specifically: Sorry, Ending the Killing in Ukraine Is Not a Vital American Interest.

    I agree with our excellent editorial, arguing that President Trump’s squeezing of Ukraine to, in effect, surrender to Russia — to make concessions even beyond what may be rationalized by Kyiv’s battered position on the battlefield — is “no path to sustainable peace.” I also take our reference to “sustainable peace” as, not NR’s assessment of America’s highest interest, but rather our explanation that, even on the president’s own terms (he just wants peace, you see), his appeasement means to not line up with his stated end — assuming we’re talking about a “peace” that’s something other than a temporary cease-fire during which Vladimir Putin rests and rearms for the next invasion (since Putin’s objective is conquest, not peace).

    My point here is to challenge the premise that peace, even sustainable peace, is the top priority of the United States.

    I don’t doubt that it is the top priority of Donald Trump. For all his bloviations about the progressive left, he craves its approval, echoes its conciliatory blandishments (toward the war criminal, not the victim), and would love to be seen as Nobel material. And like his predecessors over the last three decades, he has deluded himself into believing he is the one who is going to convert Putin, a dyed-in-the-wool American enemy, into a partner with whom he’ll do great deals — would that he’d negotiate with Putin as “Mafia Don,” the persona he’s adopted in dealing with American law firms and universities.

    I regret to say that I am out of NR gifted links for April. So you should subscribe. His bottom line:

    Meantime, there should be no more preening about how our top goal is to stop the killing when we aren’t the ones doing the dying. Ukrainians continue to be willing to fight and die for their country against our enemy. Our national interest is to help them.

  • Where have all the flowers gone? Matthew Hennessey might inspire a new verse to that old song, as he wonders: Where Did All the Classy Americans Go? (gifted link)

    I’ll bet it’s been a while since you heard someone in public life described as “classy.” The word, and what it represents, has gone AWOL. The culture has time only for outrageous characters—F-bombers, exhibitionists, interrupters, slobs. The sublime has given way to the garish, the sacred to the profane.

    Personal qualities once synonymous with good character have fallen so far out of fashion as to seem like rumors from an ancient age. Did athletes really once accept defeat with dignity? Did people really restrain themselves from saying everything that popped into their heads? Did known philanderers refrain from trying to mount political comebacks? Did ex-presidents stay out of the limelight as a courtesy to their successors?

    Yes, kids, there was a time when prominent people were expected to exhibit grace. You couldn’t smack someone in the face on the Oscars broadcast and expect to resume your career in Hollywood. Shooting a CEO in cold blood earned you no fans. All that’s gone. Sorry you missed it.

    Matthew provides examples a-plenty, and times are such that you wouldn't have any trouble thinking of more yourself.

  • Speaking of a place that used to be classy. Dave Barry recounts a recent trip to New York City. And he rapidly diverts to…

    Recently I spent several days in New York City, having traveled there for the same reason that, over the years, has compelled so many millions of people to visit that world-class center of art and culture: My daughter was having her wisdom teeth extracted.

    You may wonder: Why do we even have wisdom teeth? To answer that question, we must go back millions of years to the Paleolithic Era, which gets its name from the Greek words "paleo," meaning "a whole lot of," and "lithic," meaning "chewing."

    Paleolithic humans ate what we call the Paleo Diet, or, as it was known back then, the Regular Diet. It consisted of naturally disgusting foods such as roots and raw mastodon meat. Because this food was unprocessed, early humans had to chew it for a long time before they could swallow it, especially if the mastodon was still moving. Legend has it that one tribe chewed on a mastodon for three full weeks, trotting alongside it all the way across the land bridge from Asia, which led to the discovery of North America, or, as it was known back then, North Mexico.

    But eventually, he swings back to …

    Fortunately, nothing bad happened to us. In fact we had a fine time in New York. The bagels are still spectacular, and the weather was great. The streets were full of people enjoying the kinds of urbane and sophisticated activities that New Yorkers love to engage in, such as forming long lines for no apparent reason.

    I'm going to spend some non-dental time in Boston next month, and I hope things go as well for me as they did for Dave and his family.