Elsewhere (183)

Thomas Sowell on tax and false promises: 

A recent article in the New York Times says that raising the tax rate on the top one percent of income earners to 40 percent would generate “about $157 billion” a year in additional tax revenue for the government. This ignores mountains of evidence, going back for generations, showing that raising tax rates does not automatically mean raising tax revenues -- and has often actually led to falling tax revenues. When the state of Maryland raised its tax rate on people with incomes of a million dollars a year or more, the number of such people living in Maryland fell from nearly 8,000 to fewer than 6,000. Although it had been projected that the tax revenue collected from such people in Maryland would rise by $106 million, instead these revenues fell by $257 million.

There was a similar reaction in Oregon and in Britain. Rich people do not simply stand still to be sheared like sheep. They can either send their money somewhere else or they can leave themselves. Currently, there are trillions of dollars of American money creating jobs overseas, in places where tax rates are lower. It is easy to transfer money electronically from country to country. But it is not nearly so easy for unemployed American workers to transfer themselves to where the jobs have been driven by high tax rates.

Heather Mac Donald on the “campus rape” pantomime: 

The mother of all campus rape surveys, conducted by feminist researcher Mary Koss and written up in Ms. magazine in 1985, found that 73 percent of respondents whom the study characterised as rape victims said that they hadn’t been raped when asked the question directly. (Not surprisingly, campus rape researchers stopped asking that question. Campus rape researchers also quickly shelved an equally deflating question from the Koss survey: whether the victim had sex with her alleged rapist again. Forty-two percent of Koss’s alleged rape victims said that they had, another inconceivable outcome in the case of actual rape.)

And again, on crime and incarceration: 

“The bottom line is that in too many places, black boys and black men, Latino boys and Latino men experience being treated differently under the law,” President Obama told the NAACP conference in July. Incarceration “disproportionately impacts communities of colour,” Obama said. “African Americans and Latinos make up 30 percent of our population; they make up 60 percent of our inmates.” Naturally, Obama said nothing about crime rates. It is not marijuana-smoking that lands a skewed number of black men in prison but their elevated rates of violent and property crime.

A 2011 study of California and New York arrest data led by Pennsylvania State University criminologist Darrell Steffensmeier found that blacks commit homicide at 11 times the rate of whites and robbery at 12 times the rate of whites. Such disparities are repeated in city-level data. In New York City, blacks commit over 75 percent of all shootings, according to the victims of and witnesses to those shootings, though they are only 23 percent of the city’s population. They commit 70 percent of all robberies. Whites, by contrast, commit under 2 percent of all shootings and 4 percent of all robberies, though they are 34 percent of the city’s population. In the 75 largest county jurisdictions in 2009, blacks were 62 percent of robbery defendants, 61 percent of weapons offenders, 57 percent of murder defendants, and 50 percent of forgery cases, even though nationwide, blacks are 12 percent of the population.

Links and sources in the original.

And Theodore Dalrymple on the cartoonish class warrior Jeremy Corbyn: 

He is a stater of, rather than an arguer for [his opinions]: any contradiction of his views tends to bring forth a repetition rather than an attempt at persuasion or even explanation… If you dislike Hamas and Hezbollah, Mr Corbyn is not going to change his opinion or stance merely to canvass or capture your vote. He is sincere, terribly and frighteningly sincere. 

As regular readers will know, the absurd and the sinister aren’t mutually exclusive. Note also this:

No one in a modern democracy is intrinsically unelectable merely because of his opinions or proposed policies; for people tend to vote against rather than for someone. 

Feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for. 

 

Heavens, a button. I wonder what it does? 

Comments

[rjmadden]

Janet Daley on Corbyn and Milne:

"What might have seemed like a weakness in the Corbyn position – that it has no plausible programme to offer as a potential government – is, in fact, no problem at all. Corbyn-Milne Labour is not interested in being a credible democratic alternative. At its heart, there is the sincere conviction that democratic elections are a deceitful sideshow... If Labour can persuade people that their own lives, or at least the lives of many unfortunate people, are blighted by injustices and deprivations that the elected Government will do nothing to remedy, he is making real progress toward his goal of persuading them that democracy is useless to them."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11952862/Jeremy-Corbyn-and-his-crew-dont-want-to-win-elections-they-want-to-discredit-them.html

[David]

Christina Hoff Sommers on grossly misleading “rape” statistics:

If someone rubbed up against you in a sexual way at a party — that could count.

And in the Wall Street Journal, on the rise of the censorious student:

Some 800 students at a variety of colleges across the country were surveyed. The results, though not surprising, are nevertheless alarming. By a margin of 51 percent to 36 percent, students favour their school having speech codes to regulate speech for students and faculty. Sixty-three percent favour requiring professors to employ “trigger warnings” to alert students to material that might be discomfiting. One-third of the students polled could not identify the First Amendment as the part of the Constitution that dealt with free speech. Thirty-five percent said that the First Amendment does not protect “hate speech,” while 30 percent of self-identified liberal students say the First Amendment is outdated.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Anna]

found that 73 percent of respondents whom the study characterised as rape victims said that they hadn’t been raped when asked the question directly.

False consciousness, obviously.

[David]

False consciousness, obviously.

By the standards employed in such surveys – in which a hand on the shoulder or being brushed against suggestively at a party or in a club counts as sexual assault - I’ve been “sexually assaulted” at least half a dozen times. Which is news to me. And yet this nonsense is repeated widely and often, whether by the current incumbent of the White House or the various ideologues and hustlers employed by the Guardian. (See, for instance, today.)

And the fact that it’s a lie, a ludicrous distortion, doesn’t seem likely to stop them repeating it. As we’ve seen many times, feminist “scholarship” is only reliable in its wrong-headedness.

[David]

More from Heather Mac Donald, on crime and incarceration:

“The bottom line is that in too many places, black boys and black men, Latino boys and Latino men experience being treated differently under the law,” President Obama told the NAACP conference in July. Incarceration “disproportionately impacts communities of colour,” Obama said. “African Americans and Latinos make up 30 percent of our population; they make up 60 percent of our inmates.” Naturally, Obama said nothing about crime rates. It is not marijuana-smoking that lands a skewed number of black men in prison but their elevated rates of violent and property crime.

A 2011 study of California and New York arrest data led by Pennsylvania State University criminologist Darrell Steffensmeier found that blacks commit homicide at 11 times the rate of whites and robbery at 12 times the rate of whites. Such disparities are repeated in city-level data. In New York City, blacks commit over 75 percent of all shootings, according to the victims of and witnesses to those shootings, though they are only 23 percent of the city’s population. They commit 70 percent of all robberies. Whites, by contrast, commit under 2 percent of all shootings and 4 percent of all robberies, though they are 34 percent of the city’s population. In the 75 largest county jurisdictions in 2009, blacks were 62 percent of robbery defendants, 61 percent of weapons offenders, 57 percent of murder defendants, and 50 percent of forgery cases, even though nationwide, blacks are 12 percent of the population.

Links and sources in the original.

[ Added to main post. ]

[Tim Newman]

Via the comments at Tim Worstall's:

Chrissy Keenan, a UCLA senior, is the president of Bruin Consent Coalition, a campus group that works to raise awareness regarding sexual assault on campus. “When people know of me but they don’t really know the work, they hear the term ‘feminist’ or ‘sexual-violence prevention,’ they think, ‘super-extreme, bra-burning feminism,’” she explains, which often puts people on the defensive.

Keenan herself, though, sometimes finds it hard not to go on the offensive. She’s so used to laying down the nitty-gritty details of consent that she’s been known to open romantic interactions with a spiel that feels straight out of a student handbook.

She animatedly tells a story about a recent Tinder rendezvous: “One time, I agreed to meet with this guy at 8 or 9 at night. Before we met, I said to him, ‘This is the work I do, I know the chief of police … so, don’t try and get creepy; I know all my rights.’ And five minutes later, he was like, ‘Actually, I’m really not OK with how you just assume I’m a bad guy. And I get very bad vibes from that, so we shouldn’t hang out anymore.’”

“I was in a rage. He was a total fuckboy about consent,” she said.

[David]

Chrissy Keenan, a UCLA senior,

Another creature rendered stupid by schooling.

[Sporkatus]

Chrissy seems bemused that anybody would object to her claiming the position of Sex Dictator, however bloodlessly.

[wtp]

And the fact that it’s a lie, a ludicrous distortion, doesn’t seem likely to stop them repeating it.

A BJ hasn't been sex since 1998. Nothing incongruous about any of this if you get yer mind right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y28pFJqDkkU

[bgates]

I was in a rage

One marvels at the degree of self-awareness required for her to identify an emotional state so obviously foreign to her experience.

[Watcher In The Dark]

"As I’m fond of putting it, find the dumbest guy you know and give him a veto over your life. That’s democracy."

The words of Z in his usually entertaining blog:

http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=5705

[R. Sherman]

"As I’m fond of putting it, find the dumbest guy you know and give him a veto over your life. That’s democracy."

Precisely. Which is why a republican form of government which protects citizens' rights from the tyranny of the demos is what's necessary. Alas, in the U.S., too many of our compatriots no longer learn about republics; they just get all tingly about democracy without realizing that when majority rules absolutely, there's a good chance the majority will treat you like crap.

[Karen M]

A 2011 study of California and New York arrest data... found that blacks commit homicide at 11 times the rate of whites and robbery at 12 times the rate of whites. Such disparities are repeated in city-level data. In New York City, blacks commit over 75 percent of all shootings, according to the victims of and witnesses to those shootings, though they are only 23 percent of the city’s population. They commit 70 percent of all robberies.

You mustn't mention facts. You'll hurt people's feelings.

[PiperPaul]

"...Incarceration “disproportionately impacts communities of colour..."

To hell with actual statistics, we demand equal representation in correctional facilities!

What could possibleye go wrong? Uhhh...

[David]

You mustn’t mention facts. You’ll hurt people’s feelings.

It does seem rather indelicate to point out the obvious. But as Heather Mac Donald has shown many times, ethnicity in arrest data closely matches reports by the victims of crime, and witnesses to crime, and has done for decades, across a wide range of criminal activity. I can’t offhand think of why the victims of say, mugging and carjacking would lie about the ethnicity of their assailant. Unless one assumes that a huge number of victims wanted to make their attackers harder to catch and put behind bars. Which doesn’t seem terribly likely.

[[+]]

"...Incarceration “disproportionately impacts people who commit crimes..."

FTFY.

[Jeff Wood]

"...when majority rules absolutely, there's a good chance the majority will treat you like crap."

Absolutely, RS, and I regret that it took being on the wrong end of two British firearm confiscations, in 1987 and 1987, for me to understand this.

Registration and minority status made those possible. Always make sure you have at least one piece they they cannot know you have, and introduce a new shooter every year.

[Jeff Wood]

The second date was 1997, of course. Why does one carefully proofread, then see the obvious error only after posting?

[jabrwok]

In the 75 largest county jurisdictions in 2009, blacks were 62 percent of robbery defendants, 61 percent of weapons offenders, 57 percent of murder defendants, and 50 percent of forgery cases, even though nationwide, blacks are 12 percent of the population.

This is actually a bit misleading, or such is my impression. She's attributing these crimes to "blacks", with no further distinctions. I'm reasonably sure (I've read, but have no cites at hand) that the vast majority of black criminals are young, black men (aged 15-25 or thereabouts). That's roughly 1% of the national population, responsible for over half the violent crime in the country.

[David]

Somewhat related, Thomas Sowell:

Media outlets that do not report the race of people committing crimes nevertheless report racial disparities in imprisonment and write heated editorials blaming the criminal-justice system.

Perhaps it’s that “white privilege” we hear so much about.

[R. Sherman]

@Jeff Wood,

Given the current immigration/invasion of Central Europe, it would appear that many Europeans who used to poo-poo the "cowboy" culture of the U.S. and its Second Amendment rights are rethinking that position. I read this week that Austrians are buying long guns like there's no tomorrow to point where they are completely sold out. Evidently they're worried there's no Prinz Eugen around.

[mike fowle]

"The second date was 1997, of course. Why does one carefully proofread, then see the obvious error only after posting?"

It's probably some law known to journalists. A friend of mine once wrote a feature article in a magazine about the island of Madeira, and it was only when it appeared that he saw the heading - in large type - was Madiera. I have a vague memory that Bernard Levin once mentioned how it was only reading the printed version of his articles the following day that horrible errors suddenly struck him.

[David]

how it was only reading the printed version of his articles the following day that horrible errors suddenly struck him.

Can confirm. Also works with blogs once you hit ‘publish’.

[ Added: ]

I’d guess it’s because when you’re reading back your own prose, you generally check for meaning and how it flows (or doesn’t), how it would sound if said. And reliably spotting your own typos seems to require a more detached type of reading. If I re-read something from the archives, I sometimes have to fight an urge to re-edit the damn thing, tweak commas and whatnot. Needless faffing. Borderline madness.

[R. Sherman]

Needless faffing. Borderline madness.

When I blogged years ago, I had the same problem, augmented by a lovely spouse with a Ph.D. in English. I finally got to the point where I'd just say to myself, "Bugger off, Grammar, Spelling and Syntax."

[wtp]

Also works with blogs once you hit ‘publish’.

Also works with software. Usually becoming boldly obvious when presented on a projector during code reviews when the quality rep has actually bothered to show up. On a positive note, I've learned over the years how to move quickly through such sections before the QE notices. This is often referred to in the trade has having experience or "maturity".

[dicentra]

She’s so used to laying down the nitty-gritty details of consent that she’s been known to open romantic interactions with a spiel that feels straight out of a student handbook.

Huh.

In my Mormon community, the default assumption is that if ya want it ya gotta put a ring on it. People can of course "opt in" to fornication [yes, that word], either by direct consent or by letting things "just happen," but when the default assumption is "no, we will not," it decomplicates things rather nicely.

If the default social assumption is "by the third date at least," those who attempt to opt out are mocked as stodgy and Puritan. Women feel like they have to put out to keep him interested, given that so many other women are giving it up for free. But when Society's default message (mostly to men) is, "You're not getting any until you man up and take responsibility," people can still discreetly "opt in," and yet women are relieved of the burden of saying no all the time and having to justify it--or worse, feeling like they have no option but to let guys use them as scratching posts until something better comes along.

From the Globe and Mail:

Ironically, today’s feminists are serious about consent but casual about sex. And to their shock, they’ve discovered that there’s an awful lot of bad sex out there. They did not expect this. They’ve been told they are supposed to be having a super-positive sex life – unconflicted, joyous, casual and abundant. They’ve been told they should be able to have as many partners and initiate sex just as often as men do. And they’ve tried that. And it hasn’t worked out very well. Instead of feeling super-positive, they feel sexually dissatisfied, emotionally disconnected and more than a little used.

The surprise is that so many young women are surprised by this. Haven’t they watched Girls? [And risk seeing Lena Dunham's nekkid body? Are you HIGH? --Ed.]

...

Female sexual desire can be as powerful and urgent as men’s. But most women are only able to have good sex with men they feel connected to and trust; for most men, that’s not the case. Most women really do not want sex unless it might lead to commitment. Men really do not want to invest a lot of time in women unless it leads to sex. And so it goes. Women’s best reproductive strategy is to be selective. Men’s best reproductive strategy is to be promiscuous. As Woody Allen once wrote: “Sex without love is an empty experience … But as empty experiences go, it’s one of the best.”

The sexual revolution was touted as liberation for women but instead it favored male sexual strategies at the expense of women's.

HATE to say we told you so.

But we told you so.

[Nikw211]

Watch the Lady in Red. Listen and learn.

[David]

Oh lord.

[Hal]

Oh lord.

Yes, David?

[Deborah]

Re: the (ahem) lady in red

This is the emperor with no clothes writ large, as we are now required to treat the ravings of the lady in red, and her ilk, as if it is intellectual discourse lest we be called racists

An aside: please recall that the lady in red once donned tampons as ear rings. Nuff said.

[Ted S., Catskill Mtns., NY, USA]

Watch the Lady in Red.

I am watching her: she's dancing with me. Cheek to cheek, no less.

Oh, you had some other woman in mind.

[Greg Allan]

"Incarceration “disproportionately impacts communities of colour"

Gender is a far more relevant predictor of sentencing. A recent study indicated that if males were given the same sentences as women for the same crimes the prison population would be reduced to about twenty percent of it's current level.

[Greg Allan]

"“I was in a rage. He was a total fuckboy about consent,” she said."

Ah, yes. Consent for me but not for thee.

[David]

Watch the Lady in Red. Listen and learn.

I was recently introduced to the term “concern whore.” Meaning, someone who ostentatiously affects concern for unlikely things – puts it about - in order to attract attention and improve their own position. I think it applies in the case of Ms Harris-Perry.

[David]

Meanwhile in academia’s Clown Quarter, students are lectured on agriculture by a clown:

Though an author of 12 books with titles such as Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism and her memoir Manmade Breast Cancers, [professor of politics, Zillah] Eisenstein has never worked in or studied agriculture. The professor explained that she was speaking as part of a seminar series on women in agriculture by stating, “My point here is you’re thinking agriculture and I’m thinking capitalist racialized patriarchy.”

Students were also informed that “revolutionary agriculture” requires the end of all war, and that the United States is a “fascist democracy.”

[R. Sherman]

Via Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom, "Cleaner Mistakes Installation at Italy's Museion Bozen-Bolzano Museum for Trash."

[R. Sherman]

Students were also informed that “revolutionary agriculture” requires the end of all war, and that the United States is a “fascist democracy.”

IIRC, Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge tried "revolutionary agriculture" back in the '70s. It wasn't the glorious success they intended if the number of skulls left behind are any indication.

[David]

Well played, cleaning lady.

[Anna]

[professor of politics, Zillah] Eisenstein has never worked in or studied agriculture.

Perfect.

[David]

Perfect.

In much the same way that lecturers in gender studies are much more likely to have a qualification in English literature than in, say, biology or neuroscience. This enables question-begging theories to flourish and multiply, uninhibited by things like facts and reality.

One might almost call it fraud.

[Watcher In The Dark]

"[professor of politics, Zillah] Eisenstein has never worked in or studied agriculture."

You really don't expect our shining lights to actually get their hands dirty, do you? *Shudders in sympathy*

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Well played, cleaning lady.

The cleaner was new, and was asked to clean up the room where we held a book presentation the night before...Instead, she “cleaned up” an installation by artists Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari called “Where shall we go dancing tonight,” which the museum’s website says is meant to represent hedonism, consumerism and financial speculation in the 1980s Italian political scene.

I would have though that the financial speculation in the 1980s bit would have been obvious to anyone.

[David]

And in other Clown Quarter news:

The Kansas University student senate has voted to banish gender-specific pronouns such as “his/her” from its Rules and Regulations document because they’re “microaggressions” against the students who don’t use them… It’s not clear if any “individuals who don’t use” gender-specific pronouns had actually reported that the existence of them in the document had been causing them distress, or if the student senate was just being pre-emptively heroic. In any case, the bill’s primary author seems pretty darn proud: “This is a key first step in making our campus more inclusive,” the student senator, Harrison Baker, told the Journal-World. “Hopefully this will be a catalyst to create discussions on campus and cause change to happen elsewhere.”

They really are just pretentious little robots. Uniformly presumptuous, uniformly stupid.

[R. Sherman]

The Kansas University student senate . . .

Which is why smart people attend Mizzou.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Which is why smart people attend Mizzou.

Perhaps in the olden days, but now no institution is immune from stupidity:

George Smith despises Israel. The University of Missouri (Mizzou) biology professor has called the creation of the Jewish State “a shameful chapter in Jewish history.” Smith finds humor in Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli citizens. When Sderot (Israel) resident Noam Bedein came to Mizzou to discuss the nearly 13,000 rockets Hamas has fired, killing and injuring the people of Sderot, Smith showed up and distributed fliers that mocked the attacks—justifying terrorism because the average Palestinian has to “go through a checkpoint every time he has to take a sh*t.”

But in their infinite wisdom, university officials at Mizzou felt that Smith’s decades-long history of denouncing the Jewish State and its right to exist did not disqualify him from being a fair and objective lecturer on Israel’s history. They also saw no need for him to have any formal education or expertise in Middle East studies. Mr. Smith, a scientist, was approved to teach … wait for it … Perspectives on Zionism.

[R. Sherman]

@Farnsworth

True enough. That's why it doesn't get any of our alumni money. I just couldn't resist the KU snark. I'm genetically disposed to dislike that university inasmuch as some of my ancestors may have had a hand in burning their town some years back. The older relatives were always rather coy about our family's mid-19th century history.

[David]

#ThugLife

[Drake D]

That "total fuckboy" who rejected Ms. Keenan gives me hope that young men are wising up at last.

Clearly, he recognized that hooking up for casual sex with this raving feminist was a bad, bad, bad idea no matter how attractive she is (and she is, in fact, a pretty young woman). He'd have to worry about retroactive rape accusations until the day he graduated.

Instead, he walked away to her chagrin. Well, to her "rage" to use her own words, which testifies to his good decision. Bravo, young man. That's Bullet-Dodging 101.

[Captain Nemo]

Re: And in other Clown Quarter news...

If I ever return to university, which I had to leave due to my appendix rupturing, I will make sure that the only permitted way to address me is as "Your Imperial Excellence, Emperor Archduke Nemo" What? It's the pronoun with which I self-identify. STOP OPPRESSING ME WITH YOUR MICROAGGRESSIONS!

[Sam]

"Woman Arrested For Masturbating With Jimmy Dean Sausage In Walmart Bathroom"

http://now8news.com/jimmy-dean-sausage-in-walmart-bathroom/

[David]

Oh dear.

[R. Sherman]

@Sam

So much for tomorrow's planned fry-up.

In other matters, Mr. Jimmy Dean sings "Big Bad John."

[Ted S., Catskill Mtns., NY, USA]

and that the United States is a “fascist democracy.”

To be fair, considering the extent to which business is nominally in private hands but the government regulates policy (especially health care and GM), the US is a "fascist democracy". As is much of Europe. Of course, the left's solution is to make the places more fascist.

Besides, "fascist" is no longer used as the general-purpose term of opprobrium with no real meaning the way Zillah presumably intended. People of her ilk moved on to "neoliberal" a decade or more ago.

[Ted S., Catskill Mtns., NY, USA]

I always preferred Jimmy Dean as Willard Whyte.

[Captain Nemo]

"Woman Arrested For Masturbating With Jimmy Dean Sausage In Walmart Bathroom"

Brings a whole new meaning to the term pork stuffing. Don't judge me, we were all thinking it.

[Caroline]

In much the same way that lecturers in gender studies are much more likely to have a qualification in English literature than in, say, biology or neuroscience.

I have wondered how they'd cope with biology. My qualifications are in biology - it's been a while, but I seem to remember even the introductory zoology paper including rather a lot of discussion about the differences between males and females in various species. I can only imagine how some sensitive souls might be triggered.

[Joe Schmoe]

"Woman Arrested For Masturbating With Jimmy Dean Sausage In Walmart Bathroom"

Obviously, a cancer risk.

[JL]

"Woman Arrested For Masturbating With Jimmy Dean Sausage In Walmart Bathroom"

Which bit of that is actually illegal? She hadn't paid for it yet?

[SteveGW]

"Cleaner Mistakes Installation at Italy's Museion Bozen-Bolzano Museum for Trash."

Mistakes, or identifies?

[Watcher In The Dark]

Didn't the sainted Tracey Emin get rattled once when someone rearranged her "art" of an unmade bed?

Anyone with a better memory than me -- and that is most of you -- may recall the exact details, but I thought the whole point of this sort of "art" was that the ordinary peasant could be involved and thus provide both capitalism and the patriarchy with a slap in the face.

[Jonathan]

Cleaner Mistakes Installation at Italy's Museion Bozen-Bolzano Museum for Trash.

Excellent trolling. Or was it the ghost of Brian Sewell?

[wtp]

Didn't the sainted Tracey Emin get rattled once when someone rearranged her "art" of an unmade bed?

Yeah, I'm guessing that was marketing hype. I see it sold last year for £2.5 million. That we should live long enough to find who the winner of that Greater Fool Theory contest is.

[Tim Newman]

how it was only reading the printed version of his articles the following day that horrible errors suddenly struck him.

This is why, in engineering, somebody is always assigned to check a person's calculations and reports. It is simply not possible to check your own work to the degree necessary to maintain an acceptable quality. A second set of eyes will always find simple errors overlooked by the author.