Yet another slate of primaries that are bringing us closer to the nadir of American politics: Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump.
The Empty Pantsuit. Kevin D. Williamson, National Review Online - There's been a lot of good stuff from Mr. Williamson lately, whose rapidly becoming one of the better writers on politics.
Just Imagine. The Houston Chronicle's Bag of Idiots, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$) - Imagine that Texas became California? Where people are fleeing by the buckets? Editorials of this type only make sense when viewed through the lens of hating the poors. THEN you start to see where this group of relatively well-off, primarily Caucasian, progressive writers is coming from.
Why I fight for the $15 Minimum Wage. Tanzine Dorough. HoustonChronicle.com ($$$) - Because you want to lose your job?
A Victory for Free Speech - And Democracy. National Review Online. - I disagree. I think this is just a pause. A much needed pause for sure but one that will only result in the anti-free speech forces on the left doubling down on their oppressive techniques.
Mayor wants to cut trash subsidy for Houston HOAs. Mike Morris, HoustonChronicle.com($$$) - Under the "Turner Way" it appears that most Houstonians are going to have to pay (a lot) more in taxes and fees while receiving (a lot) less so that Turner's patronage system can flourish. In other words, despite supposedly having a Mayor that has not been given the imprimatur of Pope Lanier, we're still dealing with the Houston Way.
No Apparent Downside for Miller, Hagar, over allegations. Mike Ward, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$) - The Lock Step continues their sad that the rest of Texas is not as angry about all of this as they are. You stupid rubes.
Obama joins Merkel in pushing trade deal to wary Germany. New York Times hidden behind the paywall at HoustonChronicle.com ($$$) - Remember when Obama went to Germany and was greeted with adulation and rapturous applause?
Black Lives Matter Gave Him Fame, but Baltimore isn't Biting. AP hidden behind the paywall at HoustonChronicle.com ($$$). - If you want to know why America's cities are failing Baltimore is a good case study. Going broke, full of crime, and about to re-elect a politician who was previously ran out of office due to ethics violations.
Minimum Wage and the Dangers of Government by Decree. Kevin D. Williamson, National Review Online. - There is some conservative pundit on Twitter, whose name currently escapes me, who says (rightly) that the true minimum wage will always be zero. If the Fight for 15 is successful more people than ever are going to come to this harsh realization unfortunately.
Bernie Sanders doesn't seem to understand what poverty really is. Tim Worstall, Forbes. - To be fair, Bernie Sanders doesn't seem to understand much of anything other than shouting and dodgy logic.
The Green Unreality Show. Holman Jenkins, WSJ ($$$) - Because, Gaia. (or some such)
Our Beleaguered Planet. Marcia Angell, The Prospect. - When you cut through all of the pseudo-scientific rhetoric the only workable solution to the problem green progressives are trumpeting is to kill off the world's poors. ALL of the world's poors. The other option, far less workable, is to imprison and enslave them into a subsistence life where they are allowed no choices for themselves. Since mass murder is, for now, politically unworkable on the left the solutions tend to trend toward the latter option.
$40 Oil and the twilight of "scarcity ideology". Robert Bryce, National Review Online. - A much more positive, and realistic option is to understand that humanity has a great ability to use technology to get ourselves out of jams. The climate on Earth is changing, becoming more inhospitable and less inhabitable all of the time. This, contrary to what you are used to hearing, has been occurring for Millions of years. Instead of working to enslave the population and worthlessly attempt to stop the rising of the sea, sane fiscal policy should be focused on freeing technology to help us deal with a situation that is, for the most part, 100% out of our control.
None of this should be mistaken as giving humans, or corporations, Carte Blanche to pollute. To the contrary, since we're going to be on this planet for a while we should want to keep it as clean as possible.
What passes for deep thought in Matthew Yglesias' world. - Only a dipshit to the level of Yglesias would think that being sexually assaulted by ones partner somehow equates to one's "greatest achievement". He is a horse's ass who should be laughed out of the public square.
The Criminal Constituency. Kevin D. Williamson. - Repeating: Whatever follows the GOP must focus on the restoration of the rule of law.
The Working Class Meltdown, Rich Lowry, National Review Online - This new GOP should also focus on re-equipping the working class to compete in the modern marketplace. Of course, this would mean abandoning progressive plans to have the government act as nanny.
What will Republicans learn from 2016? Jim Gerghaty, National Review Online. - If history is a good indicator, almost all of the wrong lessons.
Obama's Brexit Overreach is typical of his arrogance. Tim Montgomerie, The Spectator - Initially heralded as a hero it's been amazing to watch the world cop to the truth behind President Zero.
And finally.....
Lena Dunham: Why I chose Hillary Clinton. Time.com - Years from now, when future historians do a postmortem on the US of A I truly believe that they will view our reliance on celebrity to determine our political views to be one of the leading factors in our decay. Allowing the likes of Dunham, Beyonce, Clooney and Damon to have a say on political discourse has proven to be a grave error. To the same extent, allowing Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and Ingraham to drive thought on the Right has been just as bad if not worse.
Not only has idiocy of this sort brought us to this position, but it's dulled our ability to think and reason as well. While bemoaning the shallowness of sound-byte politics we fail to realize that we lionize celebrities whose sole contribution to society is a romantic comedy, some nudity or just a penchant to say controversial things. In short. There's no "there" there and we should return entertainers to their rightful position in our intellectual pecking order.
