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Hey, Joe Camel can afford some primo lobbyists.

The State Department may have gotten a pretty good deal on the camel, since Baldessari has sold even less inspiring works for millions. But they could have done even better if they had opened the opportunity to competition. The department didn’t do that though, insisting that only this camel could satisfy the “unique artistic criteria” for the embassy.

After all, it’s not as if the American taxpayer has anything better to do with that money.

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If you consider stealing from people and wasting their money an economy.

And you’re paying for it. Aren’t you proud?

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Hey, it’s what they do best.

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That’s it, throw the book at ‘im. (Snicker)

Perhaps an appropriate sentence would be to average the sentences that he has handed out to his birds of a feather.

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Only two Republican districts make the list of the top 10 richest House districts, according to an Associated Press analysis.

All are in one of the Left Coast states.

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Hey, California + Obamacare signup = Democrat. You can take that one to the bank. It’s like driving a Prius.

After all, they’re just trying to get out their base.

Steve Sailer limns the decline of a once-great journalistic institution.

 I’m not a stickler about proper usage of the English language (mote, log, own eye, etc.), but still, the decline of the word “disinterested” represents a decline in moral as well as literary standards….

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FBI agents posed as transit-oriented developers willing to bribe the mayor of Charlotte to get his support for a streetcar line, light rail, and related projects. The now-ex-mayor Patrick Cannon gladly accepted bribes in exchange for lying to investors and pushing city planning agencies to fast track the developments. When on the city council, Cannon had opposed construction of a streetcar line, but mysteriously changed his vote when he became mayor.

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President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security caught then released 68,000 aliens who had previously been convicted of a crime, a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies shows.

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A taxpayer-supported conference that trains teachers of public schools and universities how to “dismantle” the “white privilege” and “white supremacy” in American schools being held in Wisconsin refused to allow a reporter to attend its sessions, claiming that the conference was a “private function.”

The White Privilege Conference, held from March 25 to 29 in Madison, Wisconsin, is a conference geared toward educating the state’s teachers on how to destroy all that white power coursing through the school system.

Steve Sailer tries to help Voices of the Crust get their act together.

 Obviously, an even more disproportionate number of Asians took the computer science AP test, but we don’t have a conceptual category for whites and Asians combined.

Is there some well-known dessert that combines vanilla and lemon flavors? It would sure help the quality of discourse on education and demographics and discrimination if journalists had a food-based ethnic slur that lumps together whites + Asians.

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Analysis of the bodies and of wills registered in London at the time has cast doubt on “facts” that every schoolchild has learned for decades: that the epidemic was caused by a highly contagious strain spread by the fleas on rats.

Now evidence taken from the human remains found in Charterhouse Square, to the north of the City of London, during excavations carried out as part of the construction of the Crossrail train line, have suggested a different cause: only an airborne infection could have spread so fast and killed so quickly.

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The embryonic stem cells responsible for producing every other type of cell in the human body gained their power from an ancient virus that copied itself into our DNA millions of years ago, according to new research. National Geographic reports that the discovery could lead to more effective stem-cell treatments for diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease, among other ailments.

Soon to be known as ‘the God virus’, I predict.

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Here’s a simple test of who is “rich”: If you can afford $40,000 a year for your kid’s college tuition, congratulations, you’re rich.

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“If successful, Houstonians will have a reliable, private alternative that will help alleviate traffic congestion and drastically reduce travel times,” Houston Mayor Annise Parker said at a press conference at Houston City Hall.

Yeah, if you want to go from the center of Houston to the center of Dallas — or, worse, halfway between Dallas and Ft Worth — when they want you to go rather than when you want to go. Nobody, so far as I know, wants to do that.

Texas Central Railway announced in 2012 its plans to build a 200 mph rail line that would transport passengers between Dallas and Houston within 90 minutes. The company has said it will not require any public subsidies to fund the multibillion-dollar project, which it is developing in partnership with a Japanese firm, Central Japan Railway.

And if you believe that one, they’ll tell you another one.

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At The Atlantic’s Health Care Forum in Washington on Thursday, health care and business professionals said that there’s an increasing trend in the industry toward cutting insurance companies out of the process entirely, as large, regional hospital systems move into the insurance business.

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There was a time in the not too distant past when all of our clothes were truly organic, created along a clear path from seed to seam. Nowadays though, our textiles are not so much grown by farmers as they are developed by scientists who continuously search for new ways to make our clothes better, faster, and stronger.

This quest to meld textiles and technology has given us a whole new set of fabrics that continuously push the boundaries on what a garment can achieve, and today these cutting-edge materials have become almost commonplace. Performance wear and sportswear designers now share the common goal of crafting garments that not only stand out, but also out last their competitors, and so with these fabrics moving from REI up to Barneys, we figured we’d give you all a primer on some of the biggest names in high-tech textiles.

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Takao Hensch, a Harvard professor of cellular biology who is part of the Boston Children’s team, has found that behavioral drugs like donepezil can help return the chemistry of the brain to so-called “critical periods” in its development—the times during early childhood when the brain was rapidly growing. Critical periods help explain why children younger than about 7 can pick up new skills, like language and music, much faster than adults can. This is why you see parents attempting to plant foreign languages in their kids while they’re still in Pampers. It’s much easier than trying to conjugate French verbs for the first time when you’re 30.

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Over-the-counter liquid bandages are great for sealing up minor cuts and scrapes, but sutures are still required to close most surgical incisions and deeper wounds. A group of scientists at the University of Maryland, however, have devised a way to apply a layer of 370 nanometer-wide biodegradable fibers to close and protect wounds using a standard airbrush machine.

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Mainly because you trusted Voices of the Crust … like the Guardian.

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Everything bad is good for you.

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Scientists have created the first synthetic chromosome for yeast in a landmark for biological engineering.

Previously synthetic DNA has been designed and made for simpler organisms such as bacteria.

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Maryland lawmakers are proposing to use the power of eminent domain to seize the property of the production company behind the Netflix streaming drama “House of Cards” unless the series keeps filming in the state.

The eminent domain threat was written into an amended budget bill passed by the state’s lower chamber Thursday. The Senate hasn’t taken it up.

More blue state fascism. Not really news, but a useful reminder.

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A few years ago, I moved from a blue to a red planet. No, wait, I moved from Minnesota to Arizona, but my point still stands. A metric ton of tedious lip service is paid to the concept of “diversity” in Minnesota (motto: “It’s Not Just the Landscape that Is Lily White!”)

My dusty little village in Arizona is the most diverse place I have ever lived. There’s obviously so much intermarriage that people no longer fit neatly into Census Bureau boxes. But, you’ve got your Native-Americans; you’ve got your African-Americans; you’ve got your Latinos, many of them legal; and you’ve got your Geezer-Americans, retirees of every hue and creed, dumping their Social Security checks into the slot machines and supporting the Native-Americans in a beautiful Circle of Life.

Everybody gets along. Everybody eats at the same three local diners. Everybody is polite. Everybody is smiley and friendly, even teenagers! Why?

Because everybody is armed to the teeth – cowboys, geezers, Iraqi vets, tattooed Latinos, nuns.

You see ranchers ambling through Walmart with .45 caliber 1911s on their hips in glorious Open Carry and nobody even bats an eyelash. In Minnesota, someone would dive under the Size 4XL Clearance Rack and call SWAT. In Arizona, you say “Good morning,” and the cowboy tips his Stetson and says, “Ma’am.”

That’s because they all share a common culture, i.e. Normal American. Try that in Neuww Yahk and some gangbanger from Bed-Stey would blow you away for ‘dissin’ him.

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The mainstream media don’t want you to know it, but the rise of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe is largely an Islamic phenomenon. The vast majority of harassment and attacks against European Jews — probably more than 95% — are committed by culturally enriched “New Europeans” carrying out the scripturally-prescribed actions demanded by their religion.

Jim Goad finds that his Bullshit Detector has gone off.

Like all societies before it, our society considers nothing more shameful than to be shameless. Thus, the Internet—which binds our society together like cheese binds a colon—is crammed with so much public shaming, it should be ashamed of itself.

Sticking your fist into the electronic beehive, you will be bitten by a thousand types of public shaming: age-shaming v. youth-shaming, slut-shaming v. virgin-shaming, fat-shaming v. skinny-shaming, and poor-shaming v. wealth-shaming. You will find liberals shaming liberals in the ongoing intersectionality wars, resulting in gay-on-gay shaming and black-on-black shaming.

Ain’t that a shame? Yes, it is. It’s a shame indeed, but don’t expect the public shamers to feel ashamed of their public shaming. Have they no shame? No, not for themselves. Like all moralists, they exist only to shame others.

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It was a clear violation of Section 14 (B) the Federal Reserve Act to buy $1.5 trillion of mortgages not guaranteed by the federal government. The agency hid behind Section 13.3 language allowing a broad scope of action under “unusual and exigent circumstances,” but the statute states clearly that Section 13.3 loans can only be short term and backed by high quality collateral, a requirement that was blatantly ignored.

It was also a violation of both the Fed statute and the Constitution to offload potential Fed losses from its hedge fund-like operations onto the Treasury, as was done stealthily via a note to the Fed’s Statistical Release H 4.1 dated January 6, 2011. The Treasury (ie. the taxpayers) having to bail out the Fed is not just a theoretical possibility. The just released Fed’s annual report shows a $53 billion unrealized loss.

It would also appear to be a violation of the Constitution to locate the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the Dodd- Frank Act inside the Fed. The Constitution requires that all government expenditures be authorized and funded by Congress. The Fed has always been treated as an exception. It uses income on securities it has bought with newly created money to pay its bills and has not even been subject to Congressional oversight.

Having a secretive, self-funded, extra-constitutional agency inside government was bad enough when the Fed consisted of seven governors and a few staff members. The new Consumer Bureau already employs an estimated 1,359 people and keeps growing. Many of these employees were transferred from other government agencies where they formerly had been counted as part of the federal budget, but are now suddenly off-budget. If this is allowed to stand, what other federal agencies will be slipped inside the Fed in the future in order to reduce the reported Federal deficit?

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When a liberal says it’s time for you to shut up, it usually means they’re losing an argument.  When they want you arrested and prosecuted, well. . .  Two weeks ago I noted here that the climatistas were getting so desperate that they were starting to call for climate skeptics to be arrested and prosecuted, because, like the Inquisition, the climatistas are in possession of the complete truth, so shut up.  Because science.

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Admiral Jeremiah Denton died yesterday at the age of 89. Admiral Denton served seven-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Denton’s is a story that should be known by all Americans. In captivity Admiral Denton gave something beyond the last full measure of devotion. His is a story of almost unbelievable endurance, courage and patriotism.

And a reminder that for about a decade we were at war with a government that paid no attention to any Geneva Convention and treated our military about the same way that the S.S. treated Jews in concentration camps — and we buy shit from that country, under that government, today. That is the saddest thing about history that has happened in our lifetime.

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How’s that War on Poverty coming?

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One size fits all … if you’re all that one size.

Solar Illuminated Address Mailbox.

Monkii Bars.

Carbon Fiber 3D Printer.

Flying Fire-Breathing Dragon.

Droplet Robotic Sprinkler.

MicrobeScope.

Flask Bracelet.

Fat Trike.

Cat Burger Pillow.

Foodini 3D Food Printer.

Laser-Engraved Rolling Pins.

Fuloon Inflatable Backseat Car Mattress.

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The Arizona Supreme Court last week declined to hear the appeal of the teacher’s union to rule the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account Program (ESA) as unconstitutional. The appeals court’s ruling now stands, paving the way for more children to enroll in the program.

The ESA currently allows families of disabled students to attend the school of their choosing. They are allotted 90 percent of the funding that would have been spent for their education at a public school.

…

The state’s unions have opposed the ESA since it was introduced three years ago. The Arizona Federation of Teachers  (AFT) claims the program guts funding from public schools and diverts taxpayer funds to private schools. They called the program a “boondoggle” and said it is “unconscionable” that legislators would approve of it.

Look for … the Union label….

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The experts were staggeringly wrong about saturated fat…but they couldn’t possibly be wrong about “sugar and ultra-processed foods”. That makes no sense, but that’s what Bittman wrote (“increasingly apparent”). To me, what is increasingly apparent is that nutrition experts shouldn’t be trusted.

I don’t know what “ultra-processed foods” are but I am beginning to believe the experts are utterly wrong about sugar, too. As far as I can tell, sugar in the evening improves sleep — by a lot, if you get the details right — and nothing is more important than good sleep. If you have read The Shangri-La Diet, you already know that sugar alone cannot have caused the obesity epidemic. It is more complicated than that.

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Historically, the left has had an ambivalent relationship to what used to be derisively called “bourgeois freedoms.” From Marx’s On the Jewish Question to Herbert Marcuse’s notion of repressive tolerance, some of the most interesting thinking on the left has been devoted to examining the limits of what for lack of a better word I’ll call the liberal defense of freedom and rights. And of course this tradition of thought has often—and disastrously—been operationalized, whether in the form of Soviet tyranny or the internal authoritarianism of the CPUSA.

But if we think about this issue from the vantage of the 1960s, my sense is that today’s left—whether on campus or in the streets—is far less willing to go down the road of a critique of pure tolerance, as a fascinating text by Marcuse, Barrington Moore, and Robert Paul Woolf once  called it, than it used to be. (As Jeremy Kessler suggests, that absolutist position, which is usually associated with content neutrality, historically went hand in hand with the politics of anti-communism.) Once upon a time, those radical critiques of free speech were where the action was at. So much so that even liberal theorists like Owen Fiss, who ordinarily might have been more inclined to a Millian defense of free speech, were pushed by radical theorists like Catharine MacKinnon to take a more critical stance. But now that tradition seems to be all but dead.

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You won’t see the glory of human achievement if you abide by the World Wide Fund for Nature’s recommendation that you spend an hour in the dark this Saturday night to allegedly “show your commitment to a better future.” Rather than take that anti-technology approach, why not leave the lights on and celebrate human achievement, including a new invention that will help even blind people see?

The Other McCain is on the case.

Patterico catches Matthew Yglesias in a big fat stinking lie and the liar Yglesias reacts by lying about his lie. Yglesias actually blocked Patterico on Twitter, and Ezra Klein defended Yglesias’s lie.

Meanwhile, “Harry Reid Lied About Americans Being Liars, and Now That He’s Busted, He’s Lying Again“ – this is not unusual. Harry Reid is one of the most dishonest men ever to serve in the Senate, perhaps rivaling even the notoriously mendacious Ted Kennedy.

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Anita Belle’s granddaughter accused her spanking her, prompting an investigation by Michigan’s Child Protective Services (CPS). The investigation cleared her of abuse. But CPS placed Belle on a state registry of child abusers anyway. A Detroit TV station reports the list includes the names of about 275,000 people. Those people haven’t necessarily been charged with, much less convicted of any crimes. And many people aren’t even aware their names are on the list, since all it takes is one CPS worker to decide they should be on there to end up on the list.

The Other McCain turns over a rock.

The problem with trying to keep up with feminist insanity is, while you’re distracted by one deranged nutjob — say, Amanda Marcotte, or that fat chick with paranoid rape fears — another one is likely to go off her meds and completely melt down while you’re not looking.

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Send your kid to a government school,
And he will turn out a fool;
That’s the way
Things are today:
Your tax bucks at work and play!

Read it.

Thanks a bunch, Barry.

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… most of the state’s minions don’t think of themselves as criminals. That’s because (a) they don’t think deeply, they just do what they’re paid to do, and (b) they’ve been brain-washed into believing that the state (as long as it’s their state) can do no wrong. (Well, it can do no wrong today, though its past wrongs are sometimes perceived through the lens of hindsight.) If the “criminal” label applies to anyone, it applies to the politicians whose wishes are their minions’ commands. Criminality is a manifestation of psychopathy: a common trait among leftist politicians and the pundits and academicians whose facile rationalizations for statism give aid and comfort to leftist causes.

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Yet another good reason not to fly.

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“There were some reports that passerby were coming in and loading up on some of those corn dogs for dinner,” Shreveport Police Corporal Marcus Hines said. “Everything you need to make a good corn dog was in the middle of the road.”

America, Land of Opportunity.

It doesn’t say whether they were my wife’s favorite, State Fair Corn Dogs.

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Williamson observes: “It is a perversion of the English language that our so-called liberals are the least liberal faction in our polity. American liberalism is the creed that you are entitled to think as you like and entitled to do as you are commanded.”

But liberals want to control our thoughts too. They seek to stigmatize heterodox thought as bigoted or criminal or otherwise beyond the pale. They seek to destroy those with whom they disagree.

Read it.

So wash your hands before you use it.

John Derbyshire, Patron Saint of Dyspepsia, reminds us of the poetry we’ve (mostly) lost.

Turner’s idea was to gather together poems that late-Victorian children would have committed to memory and recited at family gatherings or school concerts: “Poems”—I’m quoting from his preface—“of the highest moral rectitude…with plain, easy rhythms, uncomplicated heroics, and unabashed pathos.”

He says that the tradition of family reciting in the actual parlor—the living room—of middle-class homes died out with the coming of radio in the 1920s, but recitation lingered on in the educational system. It certainly did: I learned to recite some of these poems—Byron’s “Sennacherib,” Browning’s “How They Brought the Good News”—in my own 1950s school days.

Time spent memorizing poetry is like putting money in the bank; when you pull it out again years later, you’re always surprised at how valuable it’s become.

Read it. And watch the video.

I guess we’re all Trayvon Martin now — except for white people, of course.

The Other McCain pulls back the curtain.

From time to time, it seems necessary to remind readers that there is no such thing as “moderate feminism.” Feminism is inherently radical — indeed, revolutionary in its aims — and if you are not a radical, you are not a feminist. This is not what I say, this is what feminists themselves say. Women who think of themselves as “moderate feminists” simply have not paid attention to actual feminists.

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Federal agents raided the offices, home and a hotel room of Democratic New York assemblyman William Scarborough Wednesday morning as part of an investigation over his expense claims, NBC4-NY reports.