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I hereby forgive the CIA for Abstract Expressionism

Steve Sailer — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:32:07 +0000

One of the interesting unanswered questions about post-WWII arts and literature (e.g., the Mad Men era) is how much was it funded and molded by the CIA as part of a "twilight struggle" to make America look cooler than the Soviet Union. For example, old CIA agents have long claimed to have played a sizable role in the triumph of abstract expressionist (or "New York School") painting.

Economists v. Child Labor and Immigration Laws

Steve Sailer — Thu, 31 May 2012 03:27:51 +0000

Over at Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen links to a study of why child labor expanded so much during the laissez-faire era of the industrial revolution. The comments are mostly the usual libertarian chest-pounding, leading up to Roy Swanson's:

I got my first job when I was nine. Worked at a sheet metal factory. In two weeks, I was running the floor. Child labor laws are ruining this country.

A Reader Reminds Us That Ben Wattenberg Has Been Gloating Over The “Non-Europeanization Of America” Since 1984

VDARE.com Reader — Thu, 31 May 2012 03:06:23 +0000

Re: James Fulford’s blog post Ben Wattenberg Optimistic About American Demographics—But Are They, In Fact, American?

A Reader In Connecticut: [Email him]

Congressman Silvestre Reyes Defeated In A Primary By Amnesty Supporter

James Fulford — Thu, 31 May 2012 01:01:03 +0000

Congressman Silvestre Reyes has just been defeated in a primary, apparently for not being pro-immigration enough. Reyes, a Democratc, was defeated by El Paso councilman Beto O'Rourke. Beto is acutally Irish, and his name is Robert, not Roberto, but he's assimilating. Reyes was a Border Patrol Sector chief before getting elected to Congress.

In the 90s, Reyes was something of a hero to immigration restrictionists--in Alien Nation, [PDF] Peter Brimelow wrote (P. 238)

Obama Honors Anti-Borders Activist Delores Huerta

Brenda Walker — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:22:46 +0000

President Obama handed out Medals of Freedom on Tuesday, and they well reflected his political beliefs. Rock legend Bob Dylan got a lot of attention, and he was a famous social rebel in the sixties.

Switzerland: Neighborhood Watch Observes Criminal Asylum Seekers

Brenda Walker — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:52:22 +0000

Swiss citizens have at times shown less interest than many Europeans in PC celebrations of diversity, as demonstrated by their voting against minaret construction (pictured below) and for deporting criminal aliens.

Comparative Sentencing in England's "Increasingly Naked Police State"

James Fulford — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:35:52 +0000

Compare the sentence given to two black teenagers named Kalee and Precious by a British court in a case where they attacked and viciously beat a 41-year old legal secretary:

Legal secretary attacked by girls who 'rained fists' slams court for letting thugs go free

Kalee and Precious got community service and a fine, and get to go home. The secretary doesn't feel she got justice.

"Immigrants Today Aren't Einstein"

Paul Nachman — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:30:43 +0000

I especially liked this line in my friend Jame Fulford's current post concerning Ben Wattenberg's woolly-headed triumphalism about the American future:

And please don't tell me about Einstein—immigrants today aren't Einstein.

James's cogent statement was anticipated several years ago by Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies:

Acemogluism: Daron Acemoglu Has Answers That Don't Embarass Economists

Steve Sailer — Wed, 30 May 2012 06:12:05 +0000

From my column in Taki's Magazine:

Conor Friedersdorf, Conservatism, Inc, And Kiddie Cons Who Won’t “Read, Say, Or Think” Anything Un-PC

James Kirkpatrick — Wed, 30 May 2012 03:48:02 +0000

Topic:

On Topic

Conor Friedersdorf [Email him]is an editor for The Atlantic and a self-proclaimed man of the Right, though not of course so disreputable as to call himself part of the conservative movement. On his inevitably PC pontification on L’Affaire Derb, [How John Derbyshire Perceived Racial Attitudes at National Review, Atlantic Blog, April 9, 2012] Friedersdorf interpreted the departure of the self-described “mild and tolerant” racist as part of the inevitable marginalization of the “retrograde faction” of the conservative movement. Apparently, what Friedersdorf calls the “limits of ‘standing athwart history yelling stop’” are reached right about when one dared to question the merits of transition to a majority-minority society.

Friedersdorf noted that, some years ago, Derbyshire himself had described the generation gap over race at National Review in these words:

The kind of thoughtful and intelligent young people that NR would like to have as readers understand that there are problems and absurdities connected with race in our public life, and are happy to hear arguments pro and con about racial profiling, affirmative action, and so on. They laugh with us when we lampoon the more outrageous kind of black race hustler—a Sharpton, a Farrakhan, a Johnny Cochran. They are, however, determined to make the multiracial society work, they believe it can be made to work in spite of the hustlers and liberal guilt-mongers, and they are unwilling to read, say, or think anything that could be construed as unkind towards people of other races. The pessimism and cynicism on this topic that you rather commonly find among conservatives—including NR readers—born in 1930, or even 1950, are profoundly unappetizing to these younger conservatives. Highest common denominator: An interview with John Derbyshire, By Bernard Chapin, Enter Stage Right, May 19, 2003 (Emphases added)

Friedersdorf gloated that the termination of Derbyshire has brought National Review

“a step closer to relying on the younger rather than the older generation of conservatives. On subjects related to race that’s a good thing.”

Why is refusing to “read, say, or think” a good thing? Friedersdorf doesn’t say, of course. But we can assume he thinks that the never-ending dispossession of whites is so self-evidently virtuous it doesn’t require defense.

But is Friedersdorf correct to gloat (and Derbyshire correct to be pessimistic) about the younger generation of conservatives?

Well, I am significantly younger than Friedersdorf (he’s over the hill at 30-something) and I’ve worked extensively with college students on behalf the Beltway Right. He has a point: as I myself have argued on VDARE.com, campus conservatives and libertarians are typically broken to Politically Correct orthodoxy and even eager to serve as enforcers. However, a deeper look shows that that circumstances that underlie this system of control are shaky, and may not last much longer.

If every movement starts as a cause, becomes a business, and ends as a racket, the conservative movement, or what can now more properly be called Conservatism Inc., has passed into its terminal stage. Its success in achieving nominal political power, in the 1980 Reagan and 1994 Republican Revolutions, has created a genuinely new profession, that of a movement functionary.

Whatever else one can say of William F. Buckley and the founders of the conservative movement, none had anything to gain materially beyond what they could have gotten as conventional liberals. But that is simply no longer true. Young “conservatives” can dream of being pundits, columnists, or (shudder) “strategists”—and even the ultimate apotheosis, becoming a Token Conservative in the Mainstream Media.

But these career ambitions absolutely require that they must avoid saying interesting or challenging things. If these “conservatives” want to make a living shadow boxing with liberals on TV, it’s all very well to talk about fighting entitlements, but they know they must toe the line on the issues that really matter to liberals, namely, race, immigration, and culture. Conservatism Inc. collaborates in not rocking the boat and keeping debate within the approved parameters.

But the same time, the American Right is straining from within. Young conservatives may avoid

An Anonymous College Student Asks What His Generation Can Do About People Being Fired For Heresy; James Fulford and Peter Brimelow Reply

VDARE.com Reader — Wed, 30 May 2012 03:17:56 +0000

From: An Anonymous College Student [Email him]

Englishwoman Sentenced To 21 Weeks In Jail For Shouting At Minorities On The Subway

James Fulford — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:56:18 +0000

A white English woman named Jacqueline Woodhouse has been sentenced to 21 weeks in jail by an English court for "racially aggravated intentional harassment" while drunk in the London Subway.

Tube racist whose champagne-fuelled tirade was viewed by thousands on YouTube is sentenced to five months in prison

Michelle Obama's Above-The-Fray "Civilian" Act Is Hard To Swallow

Michelle Malkin — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:52:49 +0000

Topic:

Off Topic

The first lady of the United States is on a whirlwind publicity tour for her hefty new food and gardening book ($30), which the White House hopes will bolster Team Obama's favorability ratings. I'd say it's a classic recipe for rank campaign hypocrisy and media double standards.

Radical Left Confirms Railroading Of George Zimmerman

Federale — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:20:59 +0000

The left-wing blog Talk Left has confirmed that the conclusion of this blog that the Florida Division of Law Enforcement investigation of the Trayvon Martin shooting has been a farce from the start. (h/t The Volokh Conspiracy)

Allan Wall on Chuck Wilder's Talkback, May 30th at 3:20 P.M. Eastern Time

Allan Wall — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:44:29 +0000

Allan Wall is scheduled to be on Chuck Wilder's Talkback show, on Wednesday, May 30th, at 3:20 P.M. Eastern Time.

You can listen here and Chuck's blogspot is here.

Ben Wattenberg Optimistic About American Demographics—But Are They, In Fact, American?

James Fulford — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:00:35 +0000

Veteran immigration enthusiast Ben Wattenberg is being optimistic about America's population in the Wall Street Journal--America's 21st-Century Population Edge | Birth rates are dropping all over the world, often below replacement rates. But not in the U.S. May 23, 2012.

He writes

The Queen Versus The "Rebel Regime" Of Rhodesia

James Fulford — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:36:06 +0000

Sean Gabb mentions in his Diamond Jubilee piece that in 1979, the Queen " bullied Margaret Thatcher to go back on her election promise not to hand Rhodesia over to a bunch of black Marxists." Here's the story(with emphasis added):

“[Margaret Thatcher's]deference played to Elizabeth H’s advantage in her very first cont acts with her new prime minister. A Commonwealth Conference was coming up in August 1979, with the status of white-controlled rebel Rhodesia at the top of the agenda. For nearly a decade and a half, the former colony of Southern Rhodesia had been an ongoing embarrassment to the British government. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Southern Rhodesia’s white settlers in 1965, and the obstinate survival of the white rebel regime, were deeply resented by the black nations of the Commonwealth. Economic sanctions had failed and freedom fighters operating from neighbouring black African countries had made no headway against the white government, headed by Ian Smith.

Thoughts on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Sixty Years a Rubber Stamp

Sean Gabb — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:48:42 +0000

Topic:

On Topic

Those of us who pay attention to such things will have noticed a difference between the BBC coverage of the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and of the present Diamond Jubilee. Ten years ago, the coverage was adequate, though reluctant and even a little stiff. This time, it has been gushing and completely uncritical. There are various possible reasons for my observation. The first is that I was mistaken then and am mistaken now. I do not think this is the case, but feel obliged to mention it. The second is that Golden Jubilees are rare events, and Diamond Jubilees very rare events, and that extreme rarity justifies a setting aside of republican scruples. The third is that the BBC was taken by surprise in 2002 by the scale of public enthusiasm, and does not wish to be caught out again. The fourth is that, while not particularly conservative on main issues, we do now have a Conservative Government, and this is headed by a cousin of Her Majesty. There may be many other reasons.

However, I believe the chief reason to be that the new British ruling class has finally realised what ought always to have been obvious. This is that, so far from being the last vestige of an old order, dominated by hereditary landlords and legitimised by ideologies of duty and governmental restraint, the Monarchy is an ideal fig leaf for the coalition of corporate interests and cultural leftists and unaccountable bureaucracies that is our present ruling class. The motto for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee was “Sixty Years a Queen.” The motto now might as well be “Sixty Years a Rubber Stamp.” If, during the six decades of her reign, England has been transformed from a great and powerful nation and the classic home of civil liberty into a sinister laughing stock, the ultimate responsibility for all that has gone wrong lies with Elizabeth II.

Now, I can – as Enoch Powell once said – almost hear the chorus of disapproval. How dare I speak so disrespectfully of our Most Gracious Sovereign Lady? Do I not realise that, under our Constitution, Her Majesty reigns, but the politicians rule? How, in all conscience, can I shift blame for what has happened from the traitors who

Is Bill Kristol The GOP's Darth Varder On Immigration?

Patrick Cleburne — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:36:23 +0000

Bill Kristol: Dictating more than just Foreign Policy?

Pat Buchanan’s report of Bill Kristol’s gloating about driving all but servile servants of Zionism out of the Republican Party brought back memories.

When Alien Nation (<A href="http://www.vdare.com/sites/default/fil

Mexifornication Update: Oaxacan Slurs Banned in Oxnard Schools

Brenda Walker — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:47:13 +0000

Newbie Mexicans have a habit of enforcing the primacy of their home culture among Hispanics who reside in this country. In the dear homeland, for example, Spanish speakers look down on indigenous Mexicans who speak Triqui, Nahuatl and other tribal languages, and they bring that ethnic discrimination with them when they hop the border to the United States.