Trump and the Press: A Metaphor

Kind of an insightful point buried here.

For every ugly or threatening thing Trump has ever said about press, he’s gotten back ten-fold from reporters. If this is war, it’s surely been an asymmetrical one, with Trump tossing stones as the press lofts cruise missiles. Carl Bernstein, the New Republic’s Jamil Smith, and Robert Kagan have called him a fascist. David Remnick, Jill Abramson and Andrew Sullivan have likened him to a demagogue. Dana Milbank, BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith and the Huffington Post have labeled him a racist....

It sounds alarming enough, but the anthropologist in me views the Trump-press contretemps as the endemic and persistent warfare associated with the stylized combat sometimes observed between tribes in the Papua New Guinea Highlands: The two sides pair off, shouting insults and derision at one another, claiming the other side started it. Much noise and many insults are traded, grudges are captured and preserved. Skirmishes break out here and there, followed by temporary truces until the cycle begins anew.

A lot of people pay attention. Only rarely does anybody die.

In Iraq we used to say that "Violence is a form of negotiation." That was to remind us that actual violence, like rockets being shot in our laps or bombs being placed outside our gates or a machinegunning in the night, shouldn't be taken as a commitment to war-to-the-knife. Much more often in that tribal environment, it was an expression of displeasure at something we'd done or were expected to do. With the right negotiating tactics -- which could also include some violence -- we could restore a working relationship.

The metaphor here isn't to war like in Iraq, which was already better than war like in Stalingrad. It's to a stylized form of war in which the consequences have almost completely been replaced by demonstrations. And this is less violent than that: it's a metaphor of what is already just a metaphor of war.

Californian Completion

The California state Senate voted 28-8 Wednesday to exempt itself from the pointless gun-control laws that apply to the rest of the populace. Legislators apparently think they alone are worthy to pack heat on the streets for personal protection, and the masses ought to wait until the police arrive.

Is the Spiking Crime Rate in Some Cities a Function of Incarceration?

For the most part, US crime rates remain very low versus 20 years ago. Some major cities, however, are seeing spikes in violent crime. This has gotten some media attention lately.

So what I wonder about is the downward curve in these BJS figures for incarceration. The prison population seems to have peaked around 2009, and then entered a decline. Federal prison population kept rising for a few more years, but is now on a downward curve too.

I'm not sure how much the overall trend of not locking up as many criminals directly leads to more crime, although it's not implausible prima facie. I'm thinking particularly about the failure to enforce the Federal laws on gun carrying by felons. Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, whose city has seen the most famous increase in violent crime, has been calling for more robust prosecution of these violations.

It's the one kind of gun control that the NRA has generally completely supported. Instead of trying to prevent law-abiding citizens from having guns, why not prevent criminals from having guns? On the other hand, there is legitimate concern about the mandatory minimum aspect of the Federal law -- especially the way that the offenses can quickly 'stack' so that a first-time offender is treated as a multiple-time offender. A 25 year mandatory minimum sentence is draconian if the offense is just carrying a gun, even if it is while selling drugs or while a convicted felon.

Of course, it may not be that there's one simple fix. It could just be that the society is trending more chaotic and competitive as economic times get harder. If so, increasing prison populations may merely be a band-aid for the real issue.

Deceptions

An ongoing column on elite lies in the media, this one treating Katie Couric and the State Department's erasures.

By the way, fun report in the AP yesterday evening that the election was over -- right before election day. We'd all heard that the press was going to call it for Clinton tonight no matter how the elections turned out. Apparently they decided they couldn't wait for people to vote.

Dangerous, letting people think for themselves.

A Crack at the Bone-House

It's easy to forget how fragile the human body really is. Most of the time I feel pretty tough. I can lift big weights, I can raise an 800 pound motorcycle with one hand, I can split logs and what have you.

Yesterday, however, I got smacked on the thumb with the fiberglass handle of a mattock I was using. I don't think the finger bones broke, but the thing has swollen up enormously and bruised. It hurts to touch anything. Just one little touch, the contact lasted less than a second, and for a while all my strength is gone. I can't grip anything with that hand.

Such a strange world. You forget how strange, sometimes. This is a minor complaint that will soon heal, I suspect, but it reminds me of how precarious life in the bone-house really is.

It's Obiously Sexist to Run Against Hillary

A New York Times reporter has a question for Bernie.

“What do you say to women that say you staying in the race is sexist because it could get in the way of what could be the first female president?” she asked. It is unclear which women believe that it is sexist for the 74-year-old to continue running for president against Clinton.

Oh, I think it's pretty clear.

"99% of Women Are Happy With Sharia"

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board says that no changes to Islamic law will be tolerated, and that it's totally cool to divorce your wife by text message.

Asked about talaq messages being sent by WhatsApp and SMSes, Zehra told Hindustan Times, “At least the woman has a proof in the form of WhatsApp message or an SMS that she has been divorced. This proof will help her in charting out a new course in life. But in other religions, women are just being abandoned by their husbands. For such women, there is no help forthcoming.”

Indeed, if only women in other faiths had the benefit of a text message to prove their legal status.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

The Islamic State joined world leaders and veterans organizations Saturday in numerous ceremonies throughout the caliphate honoring WWII veterans through mass genocide and unchecked, forcible expansion into neighboring countries.

Sources report that ISIS simply continued its current takfiri doctrine and changed absolutely nothing to pay homage to the intolerance and megalomaniacal ideologies tacitly accepted by most nations almost 80 years ago.

“While they are of the kuffar, we can’t help but admire their methods,” ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani told Duffel Blog. “That whole ‘exterminate the Jews’ and appropriating land thing? I know they would never admit it, but I could tell someone had been studying their Al-Anfal and Prophet Muhammad’s letters.”

From the DB, of course.

Rasmussen Hints Trump Will Win

Nearly a quarter of voters won't say whom they prefer. Why not?

Undecideds in single digits are not unusual at this stage of the election season, but when nearly one-in-four voters say they’ll vote third-party or stay home, it’s time to wonder why.

Are they really looking for another candidate? Are they still trying to make up their minds between Clinton and Trump? Or are they just not telling the truth?...

From general experience when we poll on highly controversial topics (e.g., a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country), it’s not unusual to see a higher number of undecideds. This suggests that many of these respondents don’t want to publicly state their position on this topic, fearful perhaps of being branded anti-PC, just to avoid controversy or maybe, who knows, because they think the NSA is listening in. It wouldn’t be surprising if many voters regard support for Trump that way: It’s the topic you don’t bring up at the dinner table because you don’t want to argue.

Everything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

This is becoming something of a theme. Trump University is a scandal. It really is. But it's dwarfed by the Clinton for-profit-education scandal.

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s attack on Donald Trump over Trump University could invite increased scrutiny of the Clintons’ involvement in a for-profit education scandal in which a company that runs shell colleges paid Bill Clinton $16.5 million to be its pitchman.

While the Clintons were collecting millions, Hillary Clinton’s State Department funneled at least $55 million to a group run by the college company, Laureate Education Inc., according to Peter Schweizer’s book “Clinton Cash” as Breitbart reported.

Clinton abruptly resigned from his post as “honorary chancellor” in April 2015 when the disclosure was publicized.

Documents uncovered by Washington-based watchdog Judicial Watch show Laureate Education paid the former president through a “shell corporation” pass-through account that evidently passed State Department scrutiny while Hillary was secretary of state.

Further, in a story showing how for-profit colleges encourage huge student debt, Forbes found the biggest borrower on the for-profit college list is Laureate Education’s Walden University, whose grad students borrowed $756 million in 2014.

Every time I read something and think, "Wow, this guy really should not be President," a little later I find out that the Clintons did the same thing but worse.

A Victory Lap...

...without winning.

F-35 Update: Still No Good

Via Bob on the FOB, who says of it, " It's as if the project was specified and managed by the VA."

This Is Hilarious: Scott Adams Endorses Hillary

I will just post the first three paragraphs to get you started, but the whole thing is great ... in a really dark and twisted, it's better to laugh maniacally than scream in terror sort of way.

I’ve decided to come off the sidelines and endorse a candidate for President of the United States.

I’ll start by reminding readers that my politics don’t align with any of the candidates. My interest in the race has been limited to Trump’s extraordinary persuasion skills. But lately Hillary Clinton has moved into the persuasion game – and away from boring facts and policies – with great success. Let’s talk about that.

This past week we saw Clinton pair the idea of President Trump with nuclear disaster, racism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and whatever else makes you tremble in fear.

Step One Is What Now?

I think this looks like an awesome project, but I can't get past the first step.

Questions Candidates Have Trouble Answering

For Trump, as we were just discussing, it's whether his opinion about a judge of Mexican ancestry makes him a racist.

For Clinton, it's whether or not she is prepared to recognize that the Second Amendment guarantees a real right.

Clinton's answer was apparently to reject the idea, adding that if hypothetically it did she would still be free to regulate it. Well, not just her: she thinks that this hypothetical Constitutional right should be subject to regulation by every level of government: the Federal government, yes, but also "states and localities." Not that she admits that there is such a right.

And Did You Mean It, Did You?

Obama calls for an end to Catholic schools, apparently. You can see where he's going with the point he's trying to make, but it seems he didn't think this all the way through.

The Lost Voice of Ancient Britain

A flattering reading of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Chicago Gangsters, Amateur and Professional

The professionals wear suits and hold political office.

H/t: Instapundit.

Oh, Good

Headline: "Elite's AI Created Super Weapons and Started Hunting Players. Skynet is Here."

Amusingly to me, I'd never heard of this game but knew immediately what they were talking about because I played the original back in 1984. I was Elite, once.

Range 15

The Athens, Georgia show has locked in. If any of you are close enough and want to come, I have a few extra tickets.