URLs du Jour

2017-01-05

Pet peeve du jour: sites that post huge generic pictures at the top of each article, forcing you to scroll down to get to content. Maybe that's impressive on some mobile devices, but to the Rest of Us, it's just pointless and irritating. I'm looking at you, Daily Signal.

  • You'll hear it over and over: ohmygod, repealing Obamacare will be so disruptive! Don Boudreaux says all there is to say about that:

    I have little respect for those who, when seeking to maintain interventionist legislation, argue that repeal will be disruptive, but who, when seeking to implement such legislation, either ignore or dismiss concerns about the disruption that the legislation will unleash.

    Me neither. ObJimmyWebbLyric: "The Yard Went On Forever"

  • In other double-standard news: Patterico notes the eminently predictable partisan weathervane that is the editorial section of the New York Times on the US Senate filibuster. History is recited, and the bottom line is:

    You could get whiplash trying to follow the way they careen back and forth between positions — unless you kept their actual principle in mind: we support whatever helps Democrats. Then their positions become very easy to follow.

    I like the idea of a filibuster, but it's kind of pointless if it's only used to obstruct one party.

  • You may have seen the latest video with a bunch of self-righteous celebrities urging Congresscritters to oppose, oppose, oppose… oh, you know who. At Reason, Robby Soave takes it to the dumpster. (I especially like the article's literate subtitle: "A boot stomping on a human face and muttering 'Dear members of Congress,' forever.")

    Too many people in the media and entertainment industries don't seem to understand that folks hate being treated like morons. I'm not thrilled about America's choice for president, but I wasn't thrilled about the other choice, either. I'm supposed to be shamed for not wanting Hillary Clinton, a key supporter of the disasters in Iraq and Libya, to fly the plane?

    Personal note: I've found some of those celebrities (the ones I recognize, anyway) have given powerful performances portraying nuanced, human characters in the past. It somehow makes those performances even more impressive when you realize they're such partisan political airheads.

  • At FEE, Steven Horwitz says what needs to be said about Trump's trade policy. Although his (vague) promises to deregulate many areas of economic activity are promising, everything else … not so much.

    It’s good to hear Trump talk of regulatory relief – every sector desperately needs this! – but true regulatory relief, as well as broad economic growth that will benefit all Americans, comes through the free movement of goods and people. Genuine free trade requires no new regulations or bureaucracies – in fact, it requires that we eliminate things like the Ex-Im bank and the intrusive and rights-violating immigration bureaucracy.

    ObMovieQuoteInvocation: Horwitz, you magificent bastard, I read your book!

  • Also taking Trump to task on trade: Sheldon Richman:

    President-elect Trump complains that trade with China is "one-sided." Does he speak English or what? One-sided trade is like one-sided triangle: you can say it, but you can't mean (think) it. Chinese folks deliver goods to Americans (through Walmart, etc.), and we willingly buy them. The Chinese then invest some of their proceeds in the United States. Well, I guess that is one-sided -- but wait! They later reap rewards from their successful investments.

    ObOrwellQuote: "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity." Trump has waged war on clear language for many months.

  • I'm not a huge Glenn Greenwald fan, but when he's right, he's very, very right: "WashPost Is Richly Rewarded for False News About Russia Threat While Public Is Deceived"

    In the past six weeks, the Washington Post published two blockbuster stories about the Russian threat that went viral: one on how Russia is behind a massive explosion of “fake news,” the other on how it invaded the U.S. electric grid. Both articles were fundamentally false. Each now bears a humiliating editor’s note grudgingly acknowledging that the core claims of the story were fiction: The first note was posted a full two weeks later to the top of the original article; the other was buried the following day at the bottom.

    Greenwald provides other examples of MSM hyping of scary Russkie stories detailing how the inevitable corrections and retractions never quite catch up to the original allegations. It's an important story.