Monthly Archives: June 2014

Crony capitalism and the GOP fault line

Featured image Yesterday, I discussed a new study by the Pew Research Center. It identifies two main groups of Republicans — “business conservatives” and “staunch conservatives.” The two factions agree on much, but they part company when it comes to their attitude towards corporations. Most steadfast conservatives say too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few large companies, and they are evenly split as to whether the economic system »

Rip van Media?

Featured image That is Michael Ramirez’s comment on the media’s performance with regard to the scandal-ridden Obama administration. Click to enlarge: This time, I think Ramirez gives the press a little too much credit. I don’t think reporters and editors have been sleeping through the Obama scandals; I think they have been wide awake, actively running interference. It takes hard work to suppress news for the benefit of your party. »

“The Dread Signal of Armageddon”

Featured image Today is the 100th anniversary of Gavrilo Princep’s assassination of the Archduke Francis Fertinand and his consort in Sarajevo, what Churchill called “the dread signal of Armageddon.”  We’re about to start a four-year palooza of commemorations of the signal episodes from the Great War, including lots of chin-stroking about whether something like it could happen again in the heart of Europe (or on the periphery, like, say, Ukraine).  I offered »

How Are the Democrats Like Hollywood?

Featured image In this way, for one: they have figured out how to make childishness pay. I have highlighted, from time to time, the low-grade emails that the Democratic Party uses to fire up, and seek donations from, its supporters. To put it gently, the party’s communications suggest that its leaders believe most Democrats are stupid. Currently, the Democrats are using John Boehner’s plan to sue President Obama, seeking a judicial declaration »

World Cup preview — the Round of 16

Featured image The Round of 16, which begins today, usually doesn’t produce many upsets. And, although this year’s World Cup has been exceptional, I wouldn’t expect major upsets this time around, either. Argentina, France, and Germany have all drawn clearly inferior opponents (Switzerland, Nigeria, and Algeria, respectively). Brazil faces a good opponent in Chile, but it would take a very brave man to pick Chile to defeat Brazil in Brazil. Still, the »

Clouded with a chance of meatballs

Featured image New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan solicits a response to criticisms of the Times’s coverage (or lack thereof) of the IRS scandals from David Joachim, who is the Times’s man on the case. Sullivan links to Joachim’s stories and provides his response in “Is the Times ignoring a scandal at the IRS?” Joachim holds that “we’ve paid copious attention to this story, and we will continue to do so. »

The Week in Pictures: Video Edition!

Featured image We’ve never included videos before in the Week in Pictures, but there’s always a first time. There’s a couple of good ones making the rounds right now.  Meanwhile, Hillary’s penury has legs, which spells trouble for her in the long run.  And Obama?  Obama who?  He’s now on the receiving end of 13 unanimous Supreme Court smackdowns.  Nixon only had one (the tapes) that I’m aware of. I think the »

How deeply divided is the GOP?

Featured image The Pew Research Center is out with a study that, as characterized by the Washington Post, shows “the GOP faces continued instability because of profoundly different views on some issues held by those who identify with the party.” To me, the study presents a more mixed picture. The Pew study identifies two main Republican groups — the “business conservatives” and the “steadfast conservatives.” It finds significant commonalities between the two. »

World Cup Update — Where have all the fullbacks gone?

Featured image I have always thought that the key to success in the World Cup is being “strong up the middle” — i.e. at goalkeeper, center back, central midfield, and center forward. But on reflection, I can’t think of a team that has won the World Cup in the last few decades without a good pair of fullbacks (the members of the defensive back four who patrol and protect the flanks). The »

Voters Blame Obama, Bush Equally for Iraq Crisis

Featured image That is what Rasmussen Reports finds, anyway: Voters are evenly divided over whether it was the actions and policies of George W. Bush or Barack Obama that have contributed more to the crisis in Iraq today, but the current administration gets lackluster reviews for its response thus far. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the Obama administration’s handling of the situation »

CIS Study: All Growth In Employment Since 2000 Has Gone to Immigrants

Featured image The Center for Immigration Studies released a bombshell report today. You can read the whole thing at the link, but here are a few highlights: Government data show that since 2000 all of the net gain in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). This is remarkable given that native-born Americans accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the »

The Week’s Climate Embarrassment

Featured image Tough competition for the most egregious embarrassment of the week for the Climatistas.  But you can add one more thing to The Warmlist’s 883 items caused by global warming climate change: the rise of ISIS in Iraq.  So says Slate.com: Could there be a connection between climate change and the emerging conflict in Iraq? The short answer is a qualified yes . . . You know, I’m really not interested »

Hillary “disrespects” Obama

Featured image One of the assertions made on the robo calls to black voters in Mississippi on behalf of Sen. Thad Cochran was that the Tea Party, whose favored candidate Chris McDaniel was Cochran’s opponent, has engaged in “disrespectful treatment of the country’s first African-American president.” This is an oft-expressed complaint among certain blacks. Sure, America elected a black president. But, the complaint goes, the lily-white Tea Party has disrespected him to »

Crimes of the IRS: John Eastman comments

Featured image Our friend John Eastman is the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. After months of evasion and denial, the IRS has now admitted that it illegally leaked the names of NOM’s donors to a third party who saw to their publication. The IRS agreed to settle NOM’s case against it on the basis of a consent judgment under which it will receive $50,000 as actual damages. I wrote about »

Rachelle Fraenkel speaks

Featured image Times of Israel editor David Horovitz sat down for an interview with the mother of kidnapped Israeli teenager Naftali Fraenkel (video below). Naftali has been kidnapped by Hamas operatives at work in the area that is the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority. David briefly introduces the video and posts the transcript in “A mother’s plea for ‘prayer, positive energy, whatever it takes to find’ kidnapped teens.” Writing from Jerusalem this »

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured image Our friend Ammo Grrrll ends the working week with a bang. She takes a look at the invasion occurring on our southern border and declares: “HALLELUJAH, IT’S OBVIOUSLY THE END OF RACISM!!” She writes: Many years ago, Albert Brooks wrote and starred in the wonderful movie Lost in America. Briefly, a highly-paid ad executive and his ditzy wife chuck the high life to go on a quest to discover America »

Lois Lerner’s emails — an IT trade association’s take

Featured image The IT world remains skeptical of the IRS’s claim that Lois Lerner’s emails were destroyed innocently, or even that they were destroyed at all. We noted here the skepticism of a former IRS IT specialist. Now, the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM) expresses its skepticism. By way of background, this organization administers internationally accepted certifications for information technology professionals. Here is what IAITAM’s president, Dr. Barbara Rembiesa, »