At Middlebury, spoiled rich brats protest against racism and sexism by assaulting a woman. 

Everything is a feminist issue. Except for actual feminist issues, of course. 

great post on “dangers of technology.”

Loved this post about a legendary latinist

Jobs are there. Skills are not

Why is it that one never reads an in-depth piece on Latin America like this one outside of a conservative website?

Muslims and Jews stand together in solidarity in St Louis. 

31 responses to “Sunday Link Encyclopedia ”

  1. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    An improved mechanical hand:

    Like

  2. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    The depravity of private prisons.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/05/thousands-of-ice-detainees-claim-they-were-forced-into-labor-a-violation-of-anti-slavery-laws/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_pn-detainees&utm_term=.38e1ba11988f

    Tens of thousands of immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were forced to work for $1 day, or for nothing at all — a violation of federal anti-slavery laws — a lawsuit claims.

    Like

  3. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    While the media is busy analyzing Trump’s twitter outbursts, republicans carry on with their evil work behind the scenes.

    http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/will-drug-prices-come-down-donald-trump-promised-his-regulators-help

    A week before his inauguration, Donald Trump said that when it came to drug prices, pharmaceutical companies were “getting away with murder” — and he pledged to take decisive action to reduce the rising cost of medicine. Six weeks into his presidency, though, his government has moved to help drug companies block shareholder initiatives designed to help bring more scrutiny to drug price increases.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Exactly. So he said something dumb about Obama. Who cares? Obama is not in office. Let’s discuss things that actually impact us.

      Like

  4. Z Avatar

    Capital punishment is actually a feminist issue … and I think Americans misunderstand free speech. It means no prosecution for speech, no deportation, etc. It doesn’t mean I am obliged to listen, invite to my campus, etc. Meanwhile I’d like a legal opinion on this but I suspect that if free speech rights were violated they were the professor’s, as it was her speaker. Furthermore, isn’t it Congress that can’t make a law abrogating free speech — not I who must listen to Nazis out of respect for free speech?

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar

      “not I who must listen to Nazis out of respect for free speech?”

      I’m pretty sure no one was forced to listen to Murray…

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      1. Clarissa Avatar

        I really wish the feminist websites I keep reading in vain hopes of finding something remotely feminist on them had something to say about a woman who was assaulted by a group of angry men in the workplace for doing her job. But no. It’s everything but the problems of actual women.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. el Avatar
          el

          \ something to say about a woman who was assaulted by a group of angry men in the workplace for doing her job

          But this woman is racially, economically, educationally and politically priviledged (have I missed something?).

          Unlike illegal immigrants (of both genders), she deserves no protection.

          When I wrote “politically priviledged,” I meant that those students think she votes Conservative, because why would she protect that speaker otherwise?

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          1. Clarissa Avatar

            Feminism is about the rights of women. Not about the rights of men in prison to be serviced by women. (I’m contrasting the lack of interest in the Middlebury assault with the “death penalty is a feminist issue”.)

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      2. Z Avatar

        Yes, and the university is a place for the free exchange of ideas, and so on.

        BUT. I reserve the right to picket offensive speakers and possibly even physically block Nazis. (I went out of politeness to a dog-and-pony show against Castro on campus last week and it made me less liberal on freedom of speech, actually, because it was 100% ideological and almost 100% content free, and so fraught with emotion that a rational question could not be asked … I don’t think it was appropriate to assign students without major contextualization, and this isn’t because it was right-wing . But anyway: my point is, Murray has free speech if he’s allowed to speak without persecution by authorities. I think free exchange of ideas is a different issue, and who you want to have speak at your university is another

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    2. Clarissa Avatar

      Whether it’s an infringement on freedom of speech depends on whether it’s a state University. Which Middlebury isn’t. This isn’t a freedom of speech issue. It’s a rich spoiled brats issue. 😆😆😆

      Like

      1. cliff arroyo Avatar

        “This isn’t a freedom of speech issue”

        I disagree. Do you seriously think those who tried to prevent him from speaking (and attacked the professor) would hesitate to use the government to stop speech they disagree with? No matter what they think of him personally those who tried to prevent him from speaking (and those who support them) are enemies of free speech (and therefore my eneemies).

        People who don’t support freedom of expression will lose freedom of expression.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar

          Middlebury is a lily-white campus full of affluent folks with a messianic streak a mile long. What did Murray think was going to happen?

          I find it hard to believe that speakers like Murray and the Greek guy don’t choose these campuses specifically to provoke conflict. There is a whole country out there, desperate to hear what Murray has to say. But he goes to Middlebury?

          Like

          1. Shakti Avatar
            Shakti

            Oh, that is absolutely what they’re doing, so they can claim they’re being victimized and censored by the liberal media and academia to reaffirm their conservative street cred.

            I don’t understand why any academic institution would invite Murray though. He’s intellectually bankrupt and not even mildly entertaining.

            Of course if you think people need to take phrenology seriously as a legitimate academic discipline and drapetomania as a serious phrenology illness, then it makes all the sense to invite this man to discuss “ideas.”

            Like

            1. Shakti Avatar
              Shakti

              Bah typo!
              Again:
              Of course if you think people need to take phrenology seriously as a legitimate academic discipline and drapetomania as a serious phrenology mental illness, then it makes all the sense to invite this man to discuss “ideas.”

              Let me put it another way: if a high school sophomore who has never written a single paper longer than 10 pages in his/her life finds all kinds of glaring holes in this dude’s work, it cannot be of the greatest intellectual caliber.

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            2. Clarissa Avatar

              Middlebury has had a couple of less than stellar years in terms of attracting students. So they organized this brouhaha to attract prospective students who can’t make Columbia or Yale and want the next best thing.

              Like

          2. Dreidel Avatar
            Dreidel

            “But he goes to Middlebury?”

            Why? He was invited to speak by the university AEI chapter and was offered money for speaking. That’s what a LOT of people whose opinions are valuable enough to generate a paying audience do — whether you agree with their opinions or not.

            At least he wasn’t charging half a million bucks for sharing his brillance, like a certain failed Preisdential candidate used to do.

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            1. Clarissa Avatar

              If they want him to jump and twist on cue for their money, then that’s what he’s got to do. Hookers don’t get to choose their favorite positions. 😆

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      2. cliff arroyo Avatar

        Even if you don’t believe this is a free speech issue, free speech is definitely under attack from the left.

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      3. Z Avatar

        Still: protest is also a form of speech, and interests me that that is precisely what is being criticized now, whereas not wanting to listen to someone or have them on your campus is seen as infringing upon their right to speak (it isn’t — I’m not the police and I am not penalizing them for speaking).

        Like

  5. el Avatar
    el

    Deterioration in relations between Turkey and Western Europe
    Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan quoted as saying that German actions in stopping political meetings ‘were no different to those of the Nazi period’; Dutch far-right leader Wilders calls for ban on Turkish ministers to enter the country.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4930944,00.html

    AND

    Government gives green light to decriminalize marijuana use
    Marijuana use is relatively commonplace in Israel; the country is a leader in medical cannabis research; the Knesset must still ratify the measure; selling and growing marijuana to remain criminal offenses.

    According to the new policy, people caught smoking marijuana would be fined rather than arrested and prosecuted. Criminal procedures would be launched only against those caught repeatedly with the drug.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4930920,00.html

    Like

  6. el Avatar
    el

    \ Why is it that one never reads an in-depth piece on Latin America like this one outside of a conservative website?

    Ironically, I read “never reads … outside of a conservative website” after reading the post on Feministe and completely failing to see any explanation why capital punishment is a feminist issue. I clicked on the first link at the end of their post, and it took me to an article behind a paywall. Couldn’t they summarize the arguments in a few sentences?

    Some sites do not offer in-depth analysis of anything. To be fair, it is not unique to feminist sites.

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      Yes, I know. That was an insane post. “Feminism” has come to mean “something vaguely good” just like “fascism” stands for “something vaguely bad.” This is why the Sarah Palins and the silly starlets everywhere can so easily chirp “I’m a feminist!” while doing clearly anti-feminist things.

      Like

  7. cliff arroyo Avatar

    Feministing does it again, choosing to focus on a guy who was deported (rather than any of the women who have been deported).

    http://feministing.com/2017/03/03/in-defense-of-bad-hombres-the-case-of-romulo-avelica-gonzalez/

    I’ll repeat: By the late 1980’s feminism’s next challenge was to take on non-western misogyny (through Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia).

    They didn’t and because they didn’t they’ll probably lose most of the gains they made from the 1960s to the 1980s.

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      “Feministing does it again, choosing to focus on a guy who was deported (rather than any of the women who have been deported).”

      • That’s exactly what I’m saying. There is such a terror that somebody might think they are the kind of feminists “who hate men”, that they will throw women under the bus every single time. The rush to service every man in sight is scary.

      It also looks like they try never to use the word “woman” unless it’s “trans-woman.”

      Like

      1. cliff arroyo Avatar

        ” they try never to use the word “woman” unless it’s “trans-woman.”

        vaguely related (it made me laugh, but I’m kind of a terrible person)

        https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6EkrlfWMAAD5iH.jpg:large

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  8. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    Why is it that one never reads an in-depth piece on Latin America like this one outside of a conservative website?
    The American Interest doesn’t appear to be a “conservative” or “liberal” website in the boring current definitions of the word. I recognize several of the contributor names on their Wikipedia page (though not from the article itself) from my undergraduate major readings. Its founder’s focus on international relations would suggest a broader scope of focus than simply how everything relates to America.

    My program head must be flabbergasted at all of the events at the State Department.

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar

      They often have good stuff at this website. Lots of crazy stuff, too, of course. Pat Buchanan and stuff.

      Like

  9. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    For later, when my stomach stops roiling.

    War on the Rocks
    War on the Rocks is a platform for analysis, commentary, debate and multimedia content on foreign policy and national security issues through a realist lens.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. cliff arroyo Avatar

    Speaking of modern “feminism” turning into a tool to service men…

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/pm-trudeaus-wife-wants-celebrate-men-womens-day-020836419.html

    You must be so proud to be Canadian at this moment….

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    1. Clarissa Avatar

      The Trudeau family is such an embarrassment, God.

      Like

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A conservative literary critic and college professor