Schadenlayoff

Yes, I know it is bad to mock the recently unemployed. We all could fine ourselves on the wrong end of economic bad luck. Still, given how the lefty media (and some on the right) were particularly unfeeling and unsympathetic to those in economic straights in the recent past, I am less than sympathetic to Buzzfeed and other media groups suffering layoffs now.  Especially since it is partially (actually largely) brought on by their own bad behavior.

EBL: Buzz Kill and How long will National Review survive?

AoSHQ: Therapy puppies at Buzzfeed and Remember what Obama said

Don Surber: Paper apologies to Melania, pays damages and Learn to code, media

TOM: BuzzFeed is Democracy, Would you hire her?, 'Learn To Code' and the Collapse of the Millennial SJW Clickbait Bubble and 'Get It First, Get It Right'

Instapundit: Jim Treacher: Karma Stick, Apologies, America's shutdown indifference, Buzzfeed HuffPo Karma, Instant Karma, 15% layoff, Buzzfeed meet buzzsaw

Sandwich making classes at the #FeministJobForum this coming Tuesday. Cats welcome (carriers, please!) pic.twitter.com/4EKhtBRVip

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 26, 2019

I've dealt with a lot of media outlets over the years. The two most dishonest, untrustworthy, don't care if they got it wrong ones are Buzzfeed and the New York Times. So yes, I am glad people got laid off from Buzzfeed. If the rest of them got laid off, that would be even better

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) January 26, 2019

Kevin Williamson finds there is no love from the left, even for a NeverTrumper...

Dumped

Ace is absolutely spot on. So is Victor Davis Hanson.Some of these NeverTrumpers don't get what is going on.  

If Kevin Williamson and @bariweiss are too controversial for Leftists to allow a platform, this raises a serious question: is there anyone to the right of David Frum who isn’t?

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2018

I was a fan of Kevin Williamson (back in the day), but his arrogance to those of us he disagreed with on the right was annoying. He is entitled to his view and I can recognize merits in some of his arguments even if I disagreed with them in part. I am not surprised however he was essentially wooed, screwed and then abandoned by The Atlantic. It is not surprising at all, it was so predictable.  

There is a culture war going on and Kevin Williamson remains in the ghetto on the right. Perhaps he some of the other holdouts at the Weekly Standard, RedState, and NRO should consider joining the resistance and recognizing the real enemy. Hint: Donald Trump is not the problem, whether you agree with his positions or not, his election victory was a reaction to the problem. Roseanne Barr is not the problem. Bill Kristol, David Frum, David Brooks, and Evan McMullin are not the future for conservatism (they are weak pitiful fools and sell outs).  Jennifer Rubin, Ana Navarro, and Joe Scarborough are actively hostile to conservatism.  

This thread is exactly right, and why I always say you must NEVER try to find middle ground with the Left. That just shows them weakness, and at the end of the day, if you are not 100% with them, THEY HATE YOU. Even if you don't like Trump much. https://t.co/B2vWluOHVb

— Nick Searcy, INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) April 6, 2018

American Power: The Cultural Revolution

Hot Air: S.E.Cupp and Defending Kevin Williamson

Powerline: The Goldberg Variations on Kevin Williamson

Legal Insurrection: I didn't want to write about Kevin Williamson, but...

Daily Caller: What Ingraham, Sinclair, and Williamson have in common?

NRO: Victor Davis Hanson and On The Cowardly Firing of Kevin Williamson

TOM: The 'Controversial' Kevin Williamson and Compulsory Approval Doctrine

Don Surber: What Williamson was peddling and Whelp, the Trump Effect Hits Again

AoSHQ: As wrong thoughts go, Williamson's arguments are weak and The Atlantic fires Williamson

Wombat: Twitchy: Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s Rationale For Firing Kevin Williamson Actually Gets Worse

American Greatness: Why Williamson Matters, This is chilling: Reaction to Williamson firing and Take the loss, NeverTrumpers, and move on

Instapundit: Why Williamson Matters, Battle of Woke Island, Brad Thor learns about Twitter, Cold Civil War, Advantage, VDH, Yeah, pretty much, Chickenshit,and The Atlantic becomes a laughing stock

To let everyone judge for themselves, we've re-published the episode of the podcast that The Atlantic fired Kevin Williamson over. https://t.co/PDjVItgFsg

— jon gabriel (@exjon) April 5, 2018

If you see folks like @BillKristol @RadioFreeTom @JRubinBlogger pearl-clutching about Williamson's firing, remember -- they want Democrats to take over Congress and prefer Michelle Obama to Donald Trump in the White House. https://t.co/lTt4wJHkfl

— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) April 5, 2018

Nicholas Eberstadt: Our Miserable 21st Century

Nick Eberstadt's article at Commentary is a sobering must read...

Nicholas Eberstadt outlines the economic decline facing most of the United States (beyond our coastal states). We have millions of men in America, in what should be their working prime, unemployed and not seeking work.  This is the continuation of working class decline pointed out by Charles Murray in Coming Apart. The trend is definitely not going in the right direction.  

Read this article. Donald Trump with coaching from Rick Santorum recognized this dynamic early on and ran on it. There have been some very heated exchanges on the right (and also the left). While there is serious disagreement on how to address it, we can all agree this is a serious issue.  

TOM: Bill Kristol's White People are Lazy and Immigrants work hard... and Twitter Coup d’Etat?

Kevin Williamson: The White Ghetto and The Father-Führer
Don Surber: Prius Cons! and Don addresses Goldberg

Breitbart's Rick Manning's rebuttal to Williamson 

David French's defense of Williamson

EBL: Bill Kristol: Asshat of the Day

Hogewash: Duke for Ellison!

March for Life 2017

NRO: Kathryn Jean Lopez March for Life 2017 and Save The Storks

Video: On #POTUSonABC @realDonaldTrump scolded @DavidMuir about media’s record of not covering #MarchforLife #TTT pic.twitter.com/Zhtd5qRLSg

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) January 26, 2017

Donald Trump is hardly perfect, but as Ace notes, he is willing to take the media on over their own biases in a way none of us have ever seen. And that is something to be thankful for. And Vice President Mike Pence is the highest ranked politician ever to attend this march (and this is not mere posing, since Pence has a long history of attending before today).  

So while the left spins itself into butter, the right needs to focus on the opportunity right in front of us. I'm quickly getting tired of conservative pundits like Kevin Williamson and John Podhortez lecturing us. I generally like Kevin and John, but they are not being objective (perhaps they need a White Russian, and no not some pale prostitute in a Moscow hotel). As a former #NeverTrumper Erick Erickson notes, there is a lot to be thankful for. And it's week one. 

With all due respect Kevin, you state "[i]f the Right gets a couple of good Supreme Court justices, corporate-tax reform, and some meaningful regulatory relief, we can call that a win." Really? Try to control your enthusiasm. Pause a second and then think what that really means. That would be an awesome victory. Think of what could have been if Hillary Clinton won (an alternative dystopian future I thought we would be heading into on the morning of November 8). Trump will also likely appoint half the federal bench during his first term. For me, it's been a little Christmas morning every day since.

When Trump screws up (and he will) then you critics can say something. Until then, I am going to enjoy the winning and encourage the Trump Administration to do more positive things.

DaTechGuy: March For Life Update and Mainstream Media Continue to Ignore March for Life

Instapundit: Melt down, If Schumer hates it you know it's good, Schumer lies, Media Bias

Legal Insurrection: Hundreds of Thousands March For Life

Hot Air: No, Joe, the media does not always win

The Lid: Chris Matthews wets himself

TOM: The Clinton News Network

Shark Tank: March for Life

Wombat: Twitchy: People Are Noticing What ISN’T Happening At The March For Life and Da Tech Guy: Fausta – It’s March For Life Day, also, Echoing Pius VII On Trump – Et Tu, Erick Erickson?

Market bubbles and intervention...

Instapundit (be careful of market intervention): 

Kevin Williamson: From Real Estate/Housing to Chinese Stocks

Here is a real lesson from Holland's Past

Instapundit: There is a cure to this disease: Fiscal responsibility and free markets work and what is Trump tapping into

So will conservatives become the new gays?

Super Gay Emeritus John Waters says separation is for losers

Yet conservatives are being driven into the ghetto of isolation (so are they are the new gay): Smitty sees hope and opportunity in this. 

EBL: John Waters predicted decades ago that gays would never be satisfied and this gay stuff is getting mighty complicated

Kevin Williamson: Ayatollah Roberts

AoSHQ: Let's Play Some Calvin Ball

Darleen Click: Resistance is Futile!

DaTechGuy: Who knew everyone was bigots and dopes before...

Instapundit: Look how quick Elena Kagan evolved!  and judges on justices (they can be as caddy as well...)
Rush Limbaugh: What Kennedy and his four cronies have unleashed, the prospect of normalcy makes gay activists sad, and Christians are the left's true target (Islam will get a pass)

George Stephanopoulos Had One Disclosure Job and He Blew It: George Has Got To Go

Kevin Williamson make the case on why Stephanopoulos has got to go

Instapundit: What will ABC News do next? 

ABC News' Tom Cibrowski, left, with Ben Sherwood and James Goldston:

 ABC News, way more shameful than even MSNBC

Instapundit: When George Stephanopoulos visited Democrat Insider and Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's Orgy Island, Ouch: ABC's Lloyd Grove says Stephanopoulos is not a real journalist and Why ABC shouldn't have hired Stephanopoulos in the first place

Page Six: Threats of Stephanopoulos suspension?

John Fund: Stephanopoulos way too cozy with Clintons

Michael Goodwin: Stephanopoulos has forfeited all trust as a newsman

Peter Schweizer: Stephanopoulos links to Clinton Foundation much more than told

Regular Right Guy: Mika Brzezinski shocked ABC News hired someone with political ties

AoSHQ: Former College Carole Simpson dumps on Stephanopoulos (he is not a real journalist)

NY Post: ABC's $105 million dollar gamble with Stephanopoulos

Newbusters: 10 times George Stephanopoulos has sucked up to the Clintons
Instapundit: Nothing from Clinton's past matters, everything from Bush's past is of the highest significance, Stephanopoulos was never a journalist in the first place, will "Sid Vicious" upend Hillary, Stepanopoulos was also involved in another Clinton Foundation offshoot, George Stephanopoulos--Brian Williams and the media's shrinking reputation, and Clinton Cronies and Wall Street

Rush Limbaugh: Little Stephanopoulos: Too Big To Fail
Washington Free Beacon: George Stephanopoulos’ ABC Contract is Worth $105 Million
Mark Steyn: By George, I Think He's Got It

#BaltimoreRiots: The end result of decades of Democrat and Leftist policies

Baltimore is the Left fighting the Left over the failed policies of the Left.
— Kevin D. Williamson (@KevinNR) April 28, 2015

Kevin Williamson: Riot Plagued Baltimore is a catastrophe of the Democratic Party's own making 

EBL: What did happen to Freddie Gray?
Instapundit: The Failure of the Blue City Model, why do riots happen in Democrat controlled cities, and Martin O'Malley back in Baltimore
Rush Limbaugh: Man Made Liberalism On Display, Baltimore's Mayor did what she wanted to do, and the Democrat Party needs to be held accountable
John Nolte: Baltimore is a Democrat problem

David Alexrod gets reality check on who's to blame for the #BaltimoreRiots

Katie Pavlich helps Hillary Clinton connect the dots on Baltimore

@karl_nittinger @ChristineSisto @rsmccain @LilMissRightie @instapundit @KevinNR #BaltimoreRiots @ali I remember this https://t.co/ev5c9aQB12
— JeSuisEBL (@MsEBL) April 29, 2015

Twitchy: O'Malley heckled in Baltimore (they really love you man)

The Federalist: Why Ta Nehisi Coates is Wrong About #BaltimoreRiots

Brian Williams on today's #Orioles #WhiteSox game pic.twitter.com/2l9zAEoXG2
— Baseball Memes (@MLBMeme) April 29, 2015

Twitchy: Ouch

Getting weird at the Orioles game pic.twitter.com/8DAKFUhxCR

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) April 29, 2015

Protein Wisdom: Is your city burning? Thank a Democrat.
Instapundit: Thanks Democrats
Wombat: American Thinker: Democrat Run Gangsta Paradise

Kevin D. Williamson is making way too much sense…

Property and Peace is spot on…

Kevin Williamson is spot on with this observation...

This is not a woman...

The treachery of images indeed...

Update:
Rage, Rhetoric, and Reform (the usual suspects go off...)

The continuing curious lies of Andrew Sullivan on the economy...

Before his abandonment of conservatism, Andrew Sullivan used to mix things up on a regular basis with Paul Krugman.  Back then (and still to this day), Krugman's positions was never objective when it came to his op-eds.  Good things always were due to Democratic and progressive-liberal policies.  Anything bad was due to Republicans and conservatives.

"intellectually dishonest, shamelessly manipulative and propagandistic in his arguments..."

While he would deny it, Sullivan has over the years completely morphed into Paul Krugman's partisan style.   Ever since his epiphany and crisis of faith about George Bush and the Iraq War a little more than half way through Bush's first term, virtually everything bad that has occurred to the economy is George Bush's fault (I suppose Sullivan would blame Sarah Palin for the 2008 economic meltdown if he could, but Sullivan has not yet figured out a way to tie it into Alaska gubernatorial politics yet).


And because he is taking the fight to conservatives, the left rarely ever calls him on anything anymore.  But occasionally, even left leaning publications cannot ignore Sullivan's insanity.  Of course it later turned out that Andrew Sullivan was not telling the truth about The Dish being a "one man political blog."  But why let facts get in the way of his ego?


Andrew Sullivan's continuing mantra is that economic crisis is George W. Bush's fault and but for Barack Obama, things would have been far far worse.  He takes regular pot shots at Glenn Reynolds and others, claiming that all data contrary to Sullivan's view is "bullshit."  As Sullivan noted yesterday:

But yesterday Reynolds reprinted the graph with the same bullshit analysis. Proof of an out-and-proud propagandist, who cannot even address the single point of a criticism.

This circular on Sullivan's part.  Sullivan also ignores the other six graphs Reynolds referenced.  I guess this is not surprising.  As others have noted, Sullivan lacks a understanding of economics and history.


That is not to let President Bush off the hook. Bush, Rove, Alan Greenspan, and some Republicans certainly played a role and share some responsibility in what happened, and Bush has to take responsibility because it happened on his watch.  There is plenty of bipartisan responsibility to go around.  But Sullivan's blaming of Bush, Paulson and Republicans is disingenuous given that Bill Clinton relied on Rubin, Geithner, and Summer (all tied into Goldman Sachs as Paulson was) in his term, and Barack Obama is again relying on Geithner and Summer now.  Wall Street players are Barack Obama's and the Democratic Party's biggest supporters.   As noted by Kevin Williamson, Wall Street players are promoting policies that benefit their positions currently, by having key people embedded throughout the Obama Administration. Williamson's critique of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's past business experience is particularly well stated (and scathing).  Sullivan is completely silent on such issues.  


The biggest players and contributor to the economic meltdown were Freddie and Fannie Mac.  Democrats in the center of this crisis agree that the problem arose in the housing markets.   And the biggest player and contributor to the meltdown were Freddie and Fannie Mac:

In "Reckless Endangerment," Morgenson and Rosner offer considerable censure for reckless bankers, lax rating agencies, captured regulators and unscrupulous businessmen. But the greatest responsibility for the collapse of the housing market and the near "Armageddon" of the American economy belongs to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to the politicians who created and protected them. With a couple of prominent exceptions, the politicians were Democrats claiming to do good for the poor. Along the way, they enriched themselves and their friends, stuffed their campaign coffers, and resisted all attempts to enforce market discipline. When the inevitable collapse arrived, the entire economy suffered, but no one more than the poor.

How Democrats Nearly Destroyed The Economy.


If we were going to pick the two most responsible for the mess we are in, it would be Chris Dodd (D) and Barney Frank (D).  

Fannie Mae lied about its profits, intimidated adversaries, bought off members of Congress with lavish contributions, hired (and thereby co-opted) academics, purchased political ads (through its foundation) and stacked congressional hearings with friendly bankers, community activists and advocacy groups (including ACORN). Fannie Mae also hired the friends and relations of key members of Congress (including Rep. Barney Frank's partner).

As Newt Gingrich noted on October 11, 2011, what occurred with Dodd and Frank may have gone beyond mere mistakes of policy:

“Well in Chris Dodd’s case, go back and look at the Countryside deals,” Gingrich insisted. “In Barney Frank’s case, go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at Freddie Mac. All I’m saying is that everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start to go after the politicians who have been at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country.”

Back in 2004, Sullivan promoted John Kerry's candidacy because he claimed the Democrats would never spend as recklessly as Bush (with the influence of Karl Rove) had done (that the guy he promoted for president has subsequently been found to have engaged in self serving insider trading and tax avoidance has not seemed to have bothered Sullivan).  Many conservatives spoke out against Bush's spending and the Medicare Prescription Drug Expansion at the time.  And of course, most of the Democrats in Congress supported it, which is how it managed to become law.


Is Andrew "The Conservative Soul" Sullivan promoting a Paul Ryan approach to government spending and entitlements?  Is Sullivan calling the Obama administration out the way he called out the Bush administration?  No, Sullivan is silent on the massive deficit spending being done by the Obama Administration, or, using the excuse it is all Bush's fault and Barack Obama just has to do the heavy lifting.  But wait a second, didn't the head of the DNC claim that the Democrats and Barack Obama own the economy now?  How long can we blame George Bush for the situation we are in?  Well, from Sullivan's perspective, at least through the 2012 election I suppose.  


Rather than periodic attacks on Glenn Reynolds, perhaps Andrew Sullivan could examine his own "conservative soul" and reflect on how he lost it and how he can get it back?  


Prior Post:  Andrew Sullivan is confused on the economy.


Update:  Welcome Instapundit readers.  


Kudos for Sullivan for creative insult writing:  In The Dish today Sullivan (or perhaps one of his employees) wrote this:  "Gingrich is a festering white-head of loathing. Which is why his smile looks so terrifying and false."  

More evidence of delusion.  Sullivan has a post today entitled:  "Iran:  "The Sarah Palin of Nations"  Not as witty as the Gringrich snark above, but it shows when it comes to Sarah Palin, Andrew Sullivan cannot quit her.  


Update II:  Barney Frank, Serial Liar