“No one will weep for these liars who have misled generations of people by deceit, or omission, of the reality of this World. For Collectivist fantasy. The Unicorns are finally goring themselves. When Stalin was a big name they lauded him. Mugabe was the Savour of Africa. Mandella the new Moses of racial harmony. Hitler a great economist. Look how it all turned out. Mass Murder hidden by these maggots of myth. The so called intelligentsia of journalism is just a common bawdy house full of decrepit whores of totalitarianism. The mammals in the end will win.”
Uncomfortable Facts About Voluntary Generosity
New facts released about personal charity challenge the long standing canard that Leftist/Socialist policies breed nicer, kinder people. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), further compiled by Cato scholar Dan Mitchell, reveal some interesting revelations about voluntary social spending:
- 10.2% of GDP – Americans
- 6.0% of GDP – Dutch
- 5.3% of GDP – British
- 5.1% of GDP – Canadians
- 2.8% of GDP – French
- 2.0% of GDP – Germans
Related: This is no surprise to Dennis Prager, who has been arguing the same for years.
Oh, Shiny Pony!
I trust Justin Trudeau will give dope a wide berth because he’s already the political embodiment of stupid, a callow fellow who’s parlayed genetic pedigree — and not much else — into public office, the putative saviour of the federal Liberal party. Cute but silly, Liberal-lite on policy and vision rather than the transformative figure plumped by Grits yearning for a return to preeminence.
Reader Tips
There are very few songs about smugness. Bob Dylan’s Disease of Conceit falls in the general ballpark, but his quiet, spiritual, almost dispassionate look at a widespread societal malaise is more philosophical than biting. Tonight’s Tips music selection, on the other hand, a pithy vignette written satirically in the first-person voice, is a full-on, gorpy wad of insufferable, imperious, in-your-face, elite-level self-absorption fired from a colossal smugness cannon: here’s Randy Newman singing My Life Is Good.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
“There is life on earth”. (h/t Bob H)
Deep Impact
In any case, it’s all over for the MSM. When I started at Time in 1981 under its last great managing editor, Ray Cave, it was commonly acknowledged that the Big Seven media outlets decided what was and was not news for the American public: the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek and the three broadcast networks. Today, not so much. In their place have come the small furry mammals of the Internet, harassing and ultimately supplanting the Manhattan- and Washington-bound dinosaurs. Somewhere along the line, Sousa’s Washington Post March turned into a march of the falsettos. The old media continued to bleat, but once they proudly jettisoned the outdated notion of at least nominally “objective” journalism in favor of “higher truth” and partisan cheerleading, their audience abandoned them.
[…]
The irony is that many mainstream journalists spent the better parts of their careers striving to become opinion journalists and talking heads instead of grubby reporters, and all of a sudden they find themselves in a democratized world in which everybody is a talking head and opinion journalist.
Related: Fear and Loathing at the Newstands
Deny THIS, Deniers
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
Following the seven armed undercover agents required to confront a female college student in last month’s sparkling-water stand-off and the 13 armed officers needed to take down a baby deer called Giggles, in Cook County the other day five-to-seven police officers showed up at the Victory Centre senior living facility to tase, fire at, and kill a 95-year-old man for refusing to take his medication…
Forward.
He’s Also Returning The Bust Of Lenin
In a rare diplomatic snub, President Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
General Electric Co. is permanently scrapping plans to build the largest solar factory in the U.S. near Denver. […]
The factory was to have been bigger than 11 football fields and have an annual capacity of 400 megawatts. State officials said it would create 350 jobs.
Not even cronyism can save it now. (h/t peterj)
From The People Who Bring You “Global Warming”
Discovery‘s Shark Week Web page and Facebook and Twitter sites filled after the show with complaints from fans who objected to the program, saying they were surprised a science-based network seriously discussed the existence of a fearsome creature when there is no evidence it exists today.
From Campaign Office To Candidate
A sideways career move, if ever there was one: Toronto Star columnist Linda McQuaig seeks NDP nomination for Toronto riding
(h/t Travis)
Bin Laden is Dead And Ambassador Stephens Is Dead
Undecimated: Al-Qaida’s Won This Round–So Far
“Killing people is a means to an end for most groups,” says Bruce Hoffman, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies. “The terrorists’ stock in trade is creation of fear … as much the threat of violence as the act of violence itself. It’s all about getting people to respond or react in a manner that the terrorists think will be beneficial to their cause.” For those doubting the severity of al-Qaida’s ability to terrify Americans anymore, despite a decade of war, look no further than the 19 embassies that are shuttering their operations across the Middle East and the Persian Gulf for more than a week; the worldwide travel alert; the Air Force transporting personnel from Yemen.
Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors
Academic Sugata Mitra has suggested that spelling & grammar no longer needs to be taught to children.
Yet one less thing for teachers to be held accountable for. Their unions will undoubtedly be ecstatic!
Reader Tips
In tonight’s Tips music selection, from Martin Scorcese’s 1978 documentary film The Last Waltz, the late Levon Helm, drummer for The Band, takes the mic for a performance of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Those Moderate Muslims!
I forget – is this the holiday where they slaughter goats in third floor apartments, or a different one?
On Saturday, the annual Al-Quds Day protest in downtown Toronto included a speaker, reportedly identified as Elias Hazineh – former President of Palestine House, who called for the murder of Israelis.
Video footage appears to show Hazineh declaring: “We have to give them an ultimatum. You have to leave Jerusalem. You have to leave Palestine… When somebody tries to rob a bank the police get in, they don’t negotiate and we have been negotiating with them for 65 years. We say get out or you are dead. We give them two minutes and then we start shooting and that’s the only way they’ll understand.”
Awkward.
Hazineh was also President of Mississauga Erindale Liberal EDA & managed Trudeau-advisor Omar Alghabra's campaign.Hope they'll repudiate him
— Jason Kenney (@kenneyjason) August 6, 2013
Benghazi: Did Valerie Jarrett Issue The Stand Down Order?
Y2Kyoto: I Miss The Arctic Ice Cap
Quote Of The Century
“Remind me again, who thought it was a good idea to make critical infrastructure accessible via the internet?
We Don’t Need No Stinking Sparky Cars
General Motors announced Tuesday that it will knock $5,000 off the sticker price of a new Chevy Volt, making it the latest electric car to be steeply discounted as automakers battle for buyers.
Customers will be able to get the discount on 2014 Volts, reducing the car’s starting price from $40,000 to $35,000. Government tax rebates can bring the price down as low as $27,495, GM says.
Pricing and incentives on electric cars have been getting more aggressive recently as automakers try to improve sales.
GM (GM, Fortune 500) has already offered steep rebates on the 2012 and 2013 editions of the Volt. In similar fashion, Nissan and Honda have offered aggressive discounts on their Leaf and Fit EV electric cars.