Politico Europe reports the Baltic Republics - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - are currently part of the Russian electric power grid/system, established before their independence. They want out.
Their preference is to be integrated into the European Union grid. Their reasons are several but probably the most critical is that, in the event of a Ukraine-type conflict with Russia, Moscow could turn off the electricity, crippling their economies.
Meanwhile, a small piece (5,800 sq. miles) of Russia called the Kaliningrad Oblast sits on the Baltic coast surrounded by Lithuania and Poland. Entirely separated from the rest of Russia, it is slightly larger than Connecticut.
The Russian Baltic Sea naval home port and three air bases are located in Kaliningrad. Formerly a part of Germany, its population is now overwhelmingly Russian.
Russia isn't happy about the Baltic Republics changing grids. If they change, Kaliningrad's power becomes an issue. It is now part of the same Russian grid the republics are now on, controlled from Moscow.
This poses a dilemma for Russia, as the Politico article points out. Given the current weakness of the Russian economy, heavily dependent on the sale of oil and gas for which prices have fallen, Russia doesn't need this sort of expensive problem.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Bill O'Reilly's Cutlass vs. George Will's Rapier
Steven Hayward at Power Line links to a George Will column taking Bill O'Reilly further to task for historical inaccuracies in his novel-pretending-to-be-history entitled Killing Reagan. I read O'Leary's Killing Patton and reviewed it here, my conclusion:
A good read but only so-so as history.Hindsight, always more acute, suggests I was too charitable. After trying once or twice, I've refused to watch O'Reilly on Fox News, for as Steve Hayward writes,
O’Reilly is a typical playground bully who runs from anyone able to standup to him.I've described him elsewhere as follows:
At COTTonLINE we aren't big fans of Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, finding him often an oversimplifying blowhard.Upon further reflection, I'd characterize O'Reilly as a "oversimplifying bombastic blowhard." We all know how cutlass vs. rapier turns out, don't we? Rapier wins.
The Deadly Cheeseburger
Project Syndicate has an article about "religious" intolerance in India, under the Modi government. More specifically, a growing intolerance for those who slaughter and/or eat beef. A number of individuals suspected of doing so have been murdered.
Presumably everyone in India not a Hindu might be guilty. According to the CIA World Fact Book, that means 20% of India or one person in five.
Actually, the article says some poor Hindus also eat beef as it is cheaper than other meats. That is certainly unlike the West, where beef tends to be more expensive.
Americans eat roughly 80 lbs. of beef per person per year, according to industry sources. Do you suppose some of the difficulty India has in feeling close to the U.S. stems from our well-documented proclivity for eating beef nearly daily. It could be a factor.
Presumably everyone in India not a Hindu might be guilty. According to the CIA World Fact Book, that means 20% of India or one person in five.
Actually, the article says some poor Hindus also eat beef as it is cheaper than other meats. That is certainly unlike the West, where beef tends to be more expensive.
Americans eat roughly 80 lbs. of beef per person per year, according to industry sources. Do you suppose some of the difficulty India has in feeling close to the U.S. stems from our well-documented proclivity for eating beef nearly daily. It could be a factor.
Follow the Money
President and Chancellor of the University of Missouri both resigned, under fire from Black Lives Matter activists. RealClearPolitics links to two articles about it, the Breitbart piece explains how the protestors were jerks, undoubtedly both true and very intentional.
The article in The Atlantic explains why the university leadership couldn't tough it out: the issue was money. With half the football team refusing to play, a contract between Missouri and the team they were to play on Saturday - BYU - specified if either team forfeited they must pay the other school a million dollars.
Missouri has two more games scheduled after BYU, meaning cancellation fines could have totaled $3 million. Also understand Missouri's football coach makes 9 times the salary its president makes. Instead of a university with a football team, the University of Missouri should be more properly thought of as a football team with a collegiate subsidiary. Whatever interferes with football cannot be permitted to persist, there is too much money at stake.
The article in The Atlantic explains why the university leadership couldn't tough it out: the issue was money. With half the football team refusing to play, a contract between Missouri and the team they were to play on Saturday - BYU - specified if either team forfeited they must pay the other school a million dollars.
Missouri has two more games scheduled after BYU, meaning cancellation fines could have totaled $3 million. Also understand Missouri's football coach makes 9 times the salary its president makes. Instead of a university with a football team, the University of Missouri should be more properly thought of as a football team with a collegiate subsidiary. Whatever interferes with football cannot be permitted to persist, there is too much money at stake.
Monday, November 9, 2015
She Served on the Search Committee
We wrote earlier about craziness happening on campuses, including Yale. The Daily Caller has an article which does what journalists are supposed to do, checks out the perps at Yale who were causing all the fuss.
In particular, it looks into the young woman who screamed "Who the fuck hired you?" at the master of Silliman College, a campus residence hall. It turns out Jerelyn Luther is from a comfortable home in Connecticut and had worked as a master's aide, what my former university called a Resident Assistant, in the College. Also,
In particular, it looks into the young woman who screamed "Who the fuck hired you?" at the master of Silliman College, a campus residence hall. It turns out Jerelyn Luther is from a comfortable home in Connecticut and had worked as a master's aide, what my former university called a Resident Assistant, in the College. Also,
One of the most fascinating revelations regarding Luther’s identity, though, is the fact that she played a role in Christakis becoming master of Silliman College in the first place. In her tirade, Luther screams “Who the fuck hired you?” at Christakis. But further research reveals that Luther actually served on the search committee that chose Christakis as the master of Silliman College. So, when Luther screams “who the fuck hired you,” the answer is, in some part, herself.Today's college students do not countenance free speech. If any individual might not like what he, she or it hears spoken, they want that speech banned. What pathetic wusses!
A Time for Choosing
Robert Tracinski writes at The Federalist about the current troubles on various university campuses, including most recently Yale and Missouri. He concludes:
Higher education is well on its way to becoming as dysfunctional as the public schools, and for similar reasons. The inmates are running the asylum.
A clear majority of Americans say the country is on the "wrong track." They have ample reason for that judgment.
The universities have done this to themselves. They created the whole phenomenon of modern identity politics and Politically Correct rules to limit speech. They have fostered a totalitarian microculture in which conformity to those rules is considered natural and expected.Sadly, the presidents of both campuses folded like umbrellas. I cannot express to you how happy I am to no longer be an academic.
Now that system is starting to eat them alive, from elite universities like Yale, all the way down to, er, less-than-elite ones like Mizzou. They created this Frankenstein monster, and it’s up to them to kill it before it kills them.
Higher education is well on its way to becoming as dysfunctional as the public schools, and for similar reasons. The inmates are running the asylum.
A clear majority of Americans say the country is on the "wrong track." They have ample reason for that judgment.
Defining Conservatism
British philosopher, conservative, and professor Roger Scruton, as quoted by Jay Nordlinger in National Review, on the subject of conservatism, sounding like Professor Dumbledore.
Scruton's definition is nice, and largely true. However, he overlooks how easy it is to reflexively despise those who hate what you love, viewing them as vandals.
I think that, in the end, there is something that unites all conservatives, which is that they are pursuing something they love. My view is that the Left is united by hatred, but we are united by love: love of our country, love of institutions, love of the law, love of family, and so on. And what makes us conservatives is the desire to protect those things, and we’re up against people who want to destroy them, and it’s very simple.We love those things because they work for us, and we wish to "conserve" them. Liberals hate those same things because they do not work for them.
Scruton's definition is nice, and largely true. However, he overlooks how easy it is to reflexively despise those who hate what you love, viewing them as vandals.
Quote of the Day
Laura Washington, an African-American columnist, writing in the Chicago Sun Times, about the black-on-black violence and murder in her city:
When will black Chicago stop accepting its own self destruction?Long overdue perhaps, but entirely welcome nevertheless. The whole column is good.
When will we admit that black lives don’t matter to us?
When are we going to stop waiting for white people to beg us to change?
Sad Joe and Jill Sixpack
Some research out recently shows that middle aged U.S. whites' life expectancy is actually going down, if only slightly. Naturally, the pundit class is having a field day, why should I abstain?
The New York Times' Ross Douthat writes the causes of this increased mortality appear to be increases in suicide and alcohol and drug abuse. It is centered among late middle aged whites with little education.
This group has been left behind by globalization and the offshoring of manufacturing. The good union jobs they once got in factories are no more, and the service jobs into which they should have transitioned have been filled by illegal immigrants who will work harder for less.
Only whites with little education in the U.S. have been so affected. Why so? Because unlike non-whites, they had expectations which have not been fulfilled.
Things for their cohort are markedly worse than for earlier cohorts who had similar education and experience. They expected to be able to make a living, support a family, and buy a home.
Very often these expectations have proven unrealistic. Hence drinking, abuse of Rx and street drugs, depression, cirrhosis and suicide.
A Social Darwinist would say they've proven unfit for survival in today's environment. I'm more inclined to blame disappointment, feelings of failure directed inward.
They can't blame discrimination or racism for their shortcomings, can't externalize it as various minorities do. That's because in the U.S. we have no tradition of social class conflict, no history of class warfare like that in the U.K. or France.
The New York Times' Ross Douthat writes the causes of this increased mortality appear to be increases in suicide and alcohol and drug abuse. It is centered among late middle aged whites with little education.
This group has been left behind by globalization and the offshoring of manufacturing. The good union jobs they once got in factories are no more, and the service jobs into which they should have transitioned have been filled by illegal immigrants who will work harder for less.
Only whites with little education in the U.S. have been so affected. Why so? Because unlike non-whites, they had expectations which have not been fulfilled.
Things for their cohort are markedly worse than for earlier cohorts who had similar education and experience. They expected to be able to make a living, support a family, and buy a home.
Very often these expectations have proven unrealistic. Hence drinking, abuse of Rx and street drugs, depression, cirrhosis and suicide.
A Social Darwinist would say they've proven unfit for survival in today's environment. I'm more inclined to blame disappointment, feelings of failure directed inward.
They can't blame discrimination or racism for their shortcomings, can't externalize it as various minorities do. That's because in the U.S. we have no tradition of social class conflict, no history of class warfare like that in the U.K. or France.
Public School Malaise
The Washington Post quotes presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, being interviewed, on the subject of charter schools. She said:
In an earlier day when U.S. public schools actually did a good job, they were not dumping grounds for kids who were unable or unwilling to take advantage of what was offered. Youngsters handicapped physically or behaviorally were accommodated in schools for "special needs children."
This segregation is no longer the case, and the public schools no longer "work" very well. Do you suppose there is a causal relationship there? Of course there is.
Charter schools have become the low cost "work around" for the dysfunction of the public schools which now take anyone and do poorly as a result. Many who can afford to do so put their children in private schools which likewise do not take "all comers."
In essence, the charter and private schools have replaced the public schools of yesteryear and today's public schools have become schools for special needs pupils. No wonder parents of children with promise want their kids out of the public schools.
Earlier we documented that many public school teachers in major metropolitan areas send their own children to charter or private schools. Who is in a better position to know where a child can best learn and, more particularly, where they cannot?
Most charter schools, they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them. And so the public schools are often in a no-win situation, because they do, thankfully, take everybody, and then they don’t get the resources or the help and support that they need to be able to take care of every child’s education.This is why parents want to get their kids into charter schools. A school which only teaches kids who are willing and able to learn, and who show up regularly, can do a much better job than one which takes every age-appropriate individual regardless of condition, attitude, or behavioral peculiarities.
In an earlier day when U.S. public schools actually did a good job, they were not dumping grounds for kids who were unable or unwilling to take advantage of what was offered. Youngsters handicapped physically or behaviorally were accommodated in schools for "special needs children."
This segregation is no longer the case, and the public schools no longer "work" very well. Do you suppose there is a causal relationship there? Of course there is.
Charter schools have become the low cost "work around" for the dysfunction of the public schools which now take anyone and do poorly as a result. Many who can afford to do so put their children in private schools which likewise do not take "all comers."
In essence, the charter and private schools have replaced the public schools of yesteryear and today's public schools have become schools for special needs pupils. No wonder parents of children with promise want their kids out of the public schools.
Earlier we documented that many public school teachers in major metropolitan areas send their own children to charter or private schools. Who is in a better position to know where a child can best learn and, more particularly, where they cannot?
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Blame the Boomers?
Senator Russell B. Long (D-LA) was the longtime chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a master writer of tax bills. He loved to quote an old saying, "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree."
What Long meant, of course, is that everybody agrees we need more tax revenue but nobody wants to be taxed. Long has been dead for over a decade, but the truth of his aphorism is as great today as when he first uttered it.
An article in The Washington Post, written by Gen Xer Jim Tankersley, blames the baby boomers for our economic problems, especially those dealing with unaffordable entitlements - Social Security and Medicare. His solution, redolent of Sen. Long's wisdom, "Let's make them pay for it."
Not me, not you, them - the boomers. Tankersley's "fellow behind the tree" is everyone's favorite generational punching bag, the profligate baby boomers.
Boomers are now retiring; if history is any guide they will become compulsive voters. Good luck with putting the tax monkey on their back. Down that legislative path lie primary challenges and failures to reelect.
Tankersley criticizes GOP presidential aspirants for suggesting the problem will have to be borne by those yet to retire. The aspirants are forced to be political realists, Tankersley chooses not to be. Due diligence: the other DrC is a baby boomer.
What Long meant, of course, is that everybody agrees we need more tax revenue but nobody wants to be taxed. Long has been dead for over a decade, but the truth of his aphorism is as great today as when he first uttered it.
An article in The Washington Post, written by Gen Xer Jim Tankersley, blames the baby boomers for our economic problems, especially those dealing with unaffordable entitlements - Social Security and Medicare. His solution, redolent of Sen. Long's wisdom, "Let's make them pay for it."
Not me, not you, them - the boomers. Tankersley's "fellow behind the tree" is everyone's favorite generational punching bag, the profligate baby boomers.
Boomers are now retiring; if history is any guide they will become compulsive voters. Good luck with putting the tax monkey on their back. Down that legislative path lie primary challenges and failures to reelect.
Tankersley criticizes GOP presidential aspirants for suggesting the problem will have to be borne by those yet to retire. The aspirants are forced to be political realists, Tankersley chooses not to be. Due diligence: the other DrC is a baby boomer.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
A White Thanksgiving
The Wyoming Department of Transportation (aka WYDOT) maintains a network of webcams on highways around the state. I frequently check a couple near where we live when away for the winter, to see how much snow is about.
Our area got its first snowfall a couple of nights ago, now there is enough snow on the ground to make everything pretty and white. It will likely stay that way for the next five months, and start melting in April.
Normally the snow doesn't get too deep, maybe a couple of feet where both undisturbed and not drifted, maybe less. For sure it's no Buffalo or Erie.
An odd thing about the cold in our region, people say it doesn't feel as cold as the thermometer says it is. Likely low humidity causes that perception. Sometimes the snow doesn't even melt into water, but sort of evaporates if it unfreezes gradually.
Our area got its first snowfall a couple of nights ago, now there is enough snow on the ground to make everything pretty and white. It will likely stay that way for the next five months, and start melting in April.
Normally the snow doesn't get too deep, maybe a couple of feet where both undisturbed and not drifted, maybe less. For sure it's no Buffalo or Erie.
An odd thing about the cold in our region, people say it doesn't feel as cold as the thermometer says it is. Likely low humidity causes that perception. Sometimes the snow doesn't even melt into water, but sort of evaporates if it unfreezes gradually.
Latin America - the Long View
See a good overview article about the opportunities and challenges facing Lain America in the next decade, by Stratfor's Reggie Thompson for RealClearWorld. The good news is that the wave of leftwing governments - largely resistant to U.S. interests - is ebbing as their ability to undertake populist income transfers is damaged by slack Chinese demand for the region's commodity exports.
Venezuela is in a slow-motion meltdown that will end no one knows when. Argentina appears to be moving toward more economic realism, and the anti-corruption resistance to the Rousseff regime in Brazil continues. Chile needs to move back to economic policies first implemented under Pinochet, and Mexico will continue to outsource welfare to the U.S. via illegal immigration.
An intriguing thought: Ukraine suffers below-the-radar invasion by Russia's "little green men." In a similar fashion, the U.S suffers a below-the-radar invasion by Mexico's "little brown men." In both cases it is slow-motion aggression, an attempt to take over gradually enough not to provoke a massive countet-response. La Raza has actually bragged of this intention.
Venezuela is in a slow-motion meltdown that will end no one knows when. Argentina appears to be moving toward more economic realism, and the anti-corruption resistance to the Rousseff regime in Brazil continues. Chile needs to move back to economic policies first implemented under Pinochet, and Mexico will continue to outsource welfare to the U.S. via illegal immigration.
An intriguing thought: Ukraine suffers below-the-radar invasion by Russia's "little green men." In a similar fashion, the U.S suffers a below-the-radar invasion by Mexico's "little brown men." In both cases it is slow-motion aggression, an attempt to take over gradually enough not to provoke a massive countet-response. La Raza has actually bragged of this intention.
Hookups Need Abortion
I read a headline somewhere earlier today that inferred abortion was a new religious belief on any American campus, second perhaps only to race. This ferocious commitment to abortion didn't just appear magically from the forehead of Zeus.
I believe it to be a logical outgrowth of the wide-spread acceptance of guilt-free hookup recreational sex, often with no commitment between the partners. An accidental pregnancy arising out of such behavior cannot be other than a disaster, so preserving a way to terminate said pregnancy must be protected at all costs.
To accept casual sex as normal is to mandate abortion; attacking abortion while ignoring its underlying cause is worse than pointless. It's like trying to teach a pig to sing, you won't succeed but you'll seriously irritate the pig.
If you would reduce abortions, you must first get people to reject commitment-free hookup sex, a genie that is already out of the bottle. Good luck with that project.
I believe it to be a logical outgrowth of the wide-spread acceptance of guilt-free hookup recreational sex, often with no commitment between the partners. An accidental pregnancy arising out of such behavior cannot be other than a disaster, so preserving a way to terminate said pregnancy must be protected at all costs.
To accept casual sex as normal is to mandate abortion; attacking abortion while ignoring its underlying cause is worse than pointless. It's like trying to teach a pig to sing, you won't succeed but you'll seriously irritate the pig.
If you would reduce abortions, you must first get people to reject commitment-free hookup sex, a genie that is already out of the bottle. Good luck with that project.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Ben Carson's Brian Williams Moment
Yesterday we wrote of Dr. Carson's unconventional beliefs about the Egyptian pyramids. Today comes a story at Yahoo Politics that Carson has consistently lied about being offered a spot at West Point. Dylan Byers at CNN debunks the story, to some degree.
What seems beyond doubt, Carson was an outstanding cadet in Detroit's high school ROTC program. It is likely a high ranking Army officer suggested the young man could get an appointment to West Point, which in view of the military's efforts to identify and promote talented minorities was probably true in 1970.
Carson claims he thanked the general but told him of his intention to go into medicine, and let it drop. In later years, however, he remembers it as being offered a spot at "Hudson High." He has called it a "full scholarship" without mentioning (or perhaps knowing) that every West Point student gets the same no-cost package.
Chances are Carson has overstated the event, simplified it to make the point that he was an outstanding kid from a tough town. At the very least, it suggests fact checking Carson's other personal claims for signs of a pattern of Brian Williams-style exaggeration or braggadocio.
Honestly, I'm more concerned with his rejection of evolution, which to me seems both self-evident and non-controversial.
What seems beyond doubt, Carson was an outstanding cadet in Detroit's high school ROTC program. It is likely a high ranking Army officer suggested the young man could get an appointment to West Point, which in view of the military's efforts to identify and promote talented minorities was probably true in 1970.
Carson claims he thanked the general but told him of his intention to go into medicine, and let it drop. In later years, however, he remembers it as being offered a spot at "Hudson High." He has called it a "full scholarship" without mentioning (or perhaps knowing) that every West Point student gets the same no-cost package.
Chances are Carson has overstated the event, simplified it to make the point that he was an outstanding kid from a tough town. At the very least, it suggests fact checking Carson's other personal claims for signs of a pattern of Brian Williams-style exaggeration or braggadocio.
Honestly, I'm more concerned with his rejection of evolution, which to me seems both self-evident and non-controversial.
The Field Narrows
The lineup for next week's GOP debate has been announced. Based on criteria dealing with minimum poll numbers in the most recent four national polls, Politico reports Pataki, Gilmore and Graham won't get to participate at all, not even in the undercard.
The larger news is that Christie and Huckabee get bumped from the main stage down to that undercard. Both failed to meet the 2.5 percent average-over-four-polls cutoff.
Remaining on the main stage are these eight: Trump, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina, Paul, Bush, and Kasich. They all met the 2.5 percent cutoff.
I ask myself who among that last eight I would actually vote for happily, knowing what I now know. I answer only two: Cruz and Fiorina.
How many more could I vote for as the lesser of two evils where Clinton represented the other evil? Trump, for sure, the others would require soul-searching I'm unwilling to contemplate at this juncture.
I'm reasonable certain there are people on the list who, if nominated, could cause me to vote for neither major party candidate. For a variety of reasons, I have a hard time contemplating a President Kasich, Carson or Paul. I don't trust Rubio or Bush on immigration, they'd be better-than-Clinton on other issues.
The larger news is that Christie and Huckabee get bumped from the main stage down to that undercard. Both failed to meet the 2.5 percent average-over-four-polls cutoff.
Remaining on the main stage are these eight: Trump, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina, Paul, Bush, and Kasich. They all met the 2.5 percent cutoff.
I ask myself who among that last eight I would actually vote for happily, knowing what I now know. I answer only two: Cruz and Fiorina.
How many more could I vote for as the lesser of two evils where Clinton represented the other evil? Trump, for sure, the others would require soul-searching I'm unwilling to contemplate at this juncture.
I'm reasonable certain there are people on the list who, if nominated, could cause me to vote for neither major party candidate. For a variety of reasons, I have a hard time contemplating a President Kasich, Carson or Paul. I don't trust Rubio or Bush on immigration, they'd be better-than-Clinton on other issues.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Mythbusters ... Fade to Black
The guys at TV's Mythbusters - extrovert Adam Savage and introverted Jamie Hyneman - have announced the upcoming 14th season will be their last. They have fired every weapon you can imagine and blown up more cars, trucks, buildings, and crash dummies than anyone not at war. It has been a wild ride, and fun.
In all candor, the show lost much of its punch when they cut loose the three kids who were the second shift: Grant, Kari, and Tory. Still, I suppose the show will soldier on in reruns, their archive contains some 248 episodes.
Maybe it will be available on-demand as online TV. See a story about the show at The New York Times.
The Rest of the Story
Do you remember hearing or reading about someone who knifed four people on the University of California, Merced campus recently? Who was then shot dead by police? Why should I have to go to a British paper - the Daily Mail (U.K.) - to learn the knife-wielder was a freshman engineering student named Faisal Mohammad?
Can Palestinian knife attacks on Israelis, much in the news recently, have been an inspiration to this kid? It seems a logical conclusion.
I presume his identity was suppressed locally in order to avoid the appearance of Islamophobia. And it's reported the bomb squad detonated a mysterious something from his backpack, which also contained duct tape, zip-tie handcuffs, and a hammer.
In my 30+ years as a professor, I wondered if I'd encounter something like this on my campus. Happily, I did not. Hat tip to the late broadcaster Paul Harvey for popularizing "the rest of the story."
Can Palestinian knife attacks on Israelis, much in the news recently, have been an inspiration to this kid? It seems a logical conclusion.
I presume his identity was suppressed locally in order to avoid the appearance of Islamophobia. And it's reported the bomb squad detonated a mysterious something from his backpack, which also contained duct tape, zip-tie handcuffs, and a hammer.
In my 30+ years as a professor, I wondered if I'd encounter something like this on my campus. Happily, I did not. Hat tip to the late broadcaster Paul Harvey for popularizing "the rest of the story."
Trace Amounts
Ed Rogers blogs for The Washington Post. Today his topic is climate change, a topic which causes OCD in some individuals.
According to NOAA data, the amount of total CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere is approximately three one-hundredths of 1 percent, or .0003 of the total atmosphere. And the man-made contribution to that total amount of CO2 is only .0004 of that number — bear with me; yes, they will be talking about only four one-hundredths of that three one-hundredths of a percent in Paris. Never has so much been spent on so little.
What are we willing to sacrifice in terms of economy and the human quality of life to make a tiny fraction of a small number slightly smaller? Given what we know so far, it is fair to ask if it is possible to make an impact, or if it is even measurable.
It's the Illegal Immigration, Stupid
For RealClearPolitics, Victor Davis Hanson looks at the way the 2016 election is overturning shibboleths of conventional wisdom.
Trump’s candidacy was largely created by underestimated popular outrage over the federal government’s politically motivated refusal to enforce immigration law. That issue divides elites, who are not so much affected by their own open-borders advocacy, from the middle classes, who certainly are.That's classic Hanson, linking Trump's rise to the same factors cratering the career of Merkel. Hat tip to the endearingly weird James Carville for his "It's the _____, stupid" trope.
Trump saw that angry divide and so far has brilliantly capitalized on it. Illegal immigration sent the Trump candidacy from nowhere to front-runner status — in much the same way that uncontrolled borders have all but imploded the once-popular German chancellor Angela Merkel.
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