Category: links

Declarations of . . . regret? Partisans of Big Government will go quite a long ways to defend said modes of governance. See Townhall, this weekend, and then come back here:

• Washington Post: “Brexit is a reminder that some things just shouldn’t be decided by referendum,” by Emily Badger
• New Republic: “The Case Against Referendums: From Greece to California, They Always End Up Undermining Democracy,” David A. Bell
• Washington Post: “Does the Brexit vote prove democracies should not use referenda?” by Ilya Somin
• Townhall: “Think Longer” by Paul Jacob
• Newsweek: “Brexit Exposes the Flaws of Referendum Democracy,” by Jason Brennan
  The Atlantic: “Should the Brexit Vote Have Happened at All?,” by Uri Friedman
• Guardian: If referendums are the answer, we’re asking the wrong question, by Martin Kettle
• New York Times: “‘Brexit’ and the Dangers of Democracy,” by Peter Eavis
• Princeton University Press: “Brexit, Democracy, and Epistocracy,” by Jason Brennan
• Princeton University Press: “Against Democracy,” by Jason Brennan

Ah, how Britain’s Brexit vote surprised the world’s leaders and elites! If for no other reason than to see them squirm, there is something in the LEAVE [the EU] vote to glory in. But it’s more important than that.

Click on over to Townhall for this weekend’s Common Sense column. Then come back here for a bit more reading:

• MarketWatch: 5 arguments in favor of a U.K. ‘Brexit’ from the EU — and 5 against
• BBC News: Eight reasons Leave won the UK’s referendum on the EU
• AP: From benefits to bendy bananas: Fact-checking UK’s EU debate
• WSJ: Brexit Would Lead to 6% Drop in U.K. GDP, Government Warns
• The Week: Brexit Quiz
• The Atlantic: Why Britain Left
• Breitbart: Senior Cato Analyst — Obama Should Be Ashamed of His Arrogant, Ignorant, Counter-Productive Brexit Meddling
• Mises Institute: Britain Doesn’t Need the EU to Thrive
• New York Times: ‘Brexit’ Revolt Casts a Shadow Over Clinton’s Caution
• C-Span: Donald Trump News Conference in Turnberry, Scotland
• In These Times: After Brexit, European Left Calls for ‘Massive Political Opposition’
• Zero Hedge: The European Union: Government By Deception
• Common Sense: Hysteria, Assassination, and Big Government
• (Common Sense) Video of the Week: After-Brexit Perspective

Oh, the richness of this political season has made for something strange. What sea change comes next?

Paul Jacob, on Townhall this weekend, discusses one such possible, momentous motion of the rich and strange. Click on over, then come back here:

• Unbound: The Conscience of a Republican Delegate, Curly Haugland and Sean Parnell, Woodbridge, VA: Citizens in Charge Foundation, 2016).
• Detroit News: Two Mich. GOP delegates join new plot to dump Trump
• Politico: Anti-Trump GOP delegates start organizing
• The Hill: Several GOP delegates working to block Trump’s nomination
• Daily Beast: New Evidence Donald Trump Didn’t Pay Taxes
• The Hill: Trump Veepstakes in Overdrive
• CNN: How the GOP could cut ties with Donald Trump
• Washington Post: Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump

This weekend at Townhall.com, your Common Sense advocate for freedom tries to free minds from the constraints of the two major political parties. It’s easier, this year, since both parties seem bent on picking candidates that are . . . bent.

Click on over, then come back here for more reading:

• Daily Wire: Both Trump and Clinton Went To Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex Slave Island.
• New York Times: Hillary Clinton Turned $1,000 Into $99,540, White House Says
• Time: Hillary Clinton Says Bill Clinton Would Be in Charge of the Economy After Election
• Daily Caller: New Emails Show Hillary Assisting For-Profit College That Paid Bill $16 Million
• Jonathan Turley: Laureate Education Lawsuits Present Problem For Clintons
• Common Sense: Bernie’s Problem?
• National Review: “Conservatives against Trump” by Glenn Beck
• MSNBC: Meet the Republicans Speaking Out Against Trump
• New York Times: Meg Whitman Likens Donald Trump to Fascists, Shaking G.O.P.’s Brief Truce
• National Review: Not a Single Republican Delegate Is ‘Bound’ to Donald Trump
• The Libertarian Republic: Mitt Romney Is Considering Supporting Gary Johnson and Bill Weld
• Common Sense Video: Not Fringe

As the political summer heats up, violence wells. What are we to make of it?

Click on over to Townhall, for a full consideration. Then come back here for even more reading.

• YouTube: “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” by Dionne Warwick
• NBC Bay Area: “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like That in America”: Trump’s San Jose Rally Draws Protest, Turns Violent
• San Jose Mercury News: San Jose police chief defends officers accused of failing to protect Trump supporters from violence
• San Jose Mercury News: San Jose mayor scolds Donald Trump, protesters after post-rally violence
• Tweet by CNN’s Sara Murray: Trump supporter gets sucker punched
• YouTube: Woman surrounded and egged by protesters
• YouTube: Various San Jose Incidents
• YouTube: Albuquerque violence
• YouTube: Chicago violence
• Townhall: Worst Actors in a Freedom-Destroying Drama
• Common Sense with Paul Jacob: Trump Speech

Photo hails from KCRA.

This week at Townhall, an expansion of Monday’s Common Sense outing . . . to the outhouse. But whether the question is what is in and what is out, the reality is, WHERE and WHO must decide WHAT goes WHERE and WHY.

Click on over. Then come back here for an advanced education.

• The Obama Administration letter
• S. E. Cupp, CNN: “Trump is right on transgender bathroom laws”
• Alison Noon, Washington Post: “California Assembly passes gender-neutral restrooms bill”
• Wikipedia: Gender theory
• Wikipedia: Cisgender
• Age of Shitlords: “Complete List of Tumblr Genders (So Far)”
• Wirkman Virkkala, Discriminations: “Gender Hooey,” “More on ‘Gender’” and “The New Fear of Sex”
• Jeannie Suk, The New Yorker: “Who’s Afraid of Gender-Neutral Bathrooms?”

This week at Townhall Paul Jacob wraps up the big story this week. Click on over, forward to friends. But come back here for the necessary further reading of source material:

• Politico: The One Man Who Could Stop Donald Trump
• Common Sense VIDEO: The Delegates (Week in Review)
• NRO: Trump’s Refusal to Release Tax Returns Is a Ticking Time Bomb for the GOP
• Jennifer Rubin at WaPost: Trump created the grounds for a contested convention
• Crooked Timber: Does the primary system violate freedom of association?
• CNBC: GOP official Curly Haugland says, “We choose the nominee, not the voters“
• Curly Haugland Truthers
• FairVote: National Poll Highlights What Republican Voters Really Think
• Kathleen Parker at Washington Post: After Trump, the GOP may need a better voting system
• Common Sense: Fat Lady Score
• Common Sense: Listen to Whom?
• Common Sense: Delegates Unbound

Can you identify Hillary’s apparent co-partner in anti-coal? This weekend Paul Jacob asks the question,  and puts it in context.

Click on over to Townhall, then come back here for more reading.

• Wall Street Journal Video: Hillary Clinton Is Challenged on Coal Comments
• Washington Post: Emotional unemployed W.Va. coal worker confronts Hillary Clinton over comment about putting coal ‘out of business’
• Infowars.com: Hillary’s War on Coal Will Make YOU Poor, Not Just Coal Miners
• HotAir.com: No, Hillary did not apologize for bragging about putting coal miners ‘out of business’
• HillaryClinton.com Factsheet: Hillary Clinton’s Plan for Revitalizing Coal Communities
• CBN News: Obama’s War on Coal Decimating ‘America’s Powerhouse’
• America Rising: “We Are Going To Put A Lot Of Coal Miners & Coal Companies Out Of Business”

Ah, what a difference an epithet can make! But, in the case of last week’s biggie, will the harsh words backfire?

A more extensive look at the logic of insider invective, at Townhall this weekend. Click on over, then come back here for kinder words:

• Common Sense: The Most Hated
• The Stanford Daily: John Boehner talks election, time in office
• NBC News: Former Speaker Boehner calls Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh”
• The Federalist: John Boehner – I Won’t Vote For Ted Cruz Over Hillary
• Ted Cruz’s Tweet on Twitter
• New York Times: John Boehner, House Speaker, Will Resign From Congress
• YouTube: Republican Minority Leader John Boehner explains why he handed out bribes on the House floor