Ed beat: Colleges’ Proxy Race Preferences
“Top law school administrators are brainstorming ways to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ban on race-based admissions,” while “warning that proxy ‘socioeconomic preferences’ will result in too many white and Asian students” admitted, reports The Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium. At a July conference, some also advised that creating a “record” revealing their intent to bypass the ban could give plaintiffs ammo for a lawsuit. Oops: “Lawyers who reviewed footage of the conference said it could form part” of that very record. Indeed, the event is “perhaps the most brazen example yet of universities seeking to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling.” Schools are clearly seeking proxies for racial preferences; “critics are right to suspect an ulterior motive” behind any admissions changes.
Media watch: A ‘Pro-Democracy’ Call To End Voting
“Why do so many media folk who constantly warn that our form of government is under attack also constantly promote misleading attacks on our form of government?” wonders The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman. See a New York Times piece by psychologist Adam Grant arguing against “the entire concept of voting.” Writes Grant: “If we want public office to have integrity, we might be better off eliminating elections altogether,” and though ancient Greeks “invented democracy,” in Athens, they chose government officials randomly. No: Athenians, Freeman clarifies, actually retained most of the power for citizens themselves, gathering by the thousands to vote on “major issues” — “a direct democracy.” “Can you imagine trying to use this history as an argument against democracy?”
Libertarian: Carlson’s Softball Trump Treatment
In a prerecorded interview released right before the first GOP primary debate, which former President Donald Trump did not attend, Tucker Carlson “never once questioned Trump’s assertions” that the 2020 election was rigged and gave Trump “the same softball treatment on the subject of his four indictments,” gripes Reason’s Jacob Sullum. Carlson was “so eager to court the favor of a man he once privately condemned that he abandons any pretense of challenging, or even elucidating, his interview subject’s positions,” and on issues ranging from the war in Ukraine to the Jan. 6 riot, Carlson “never tried to keep Trump on track, never asked for clarification, never even noted what people who disagree with Trump might say. But he was quick to laugh at Trump’s jokes and agree with his sentiments.”
Conservative: Subpoenas for Hunter Testimony
After nearly two months of waiting for “voluntary testimony concerning the DOJ’s alleged cover-up” of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes, the House issued subpoenas to compel testimony, reveals Rep. Jason Smith at the Washington Examiner. At an Oct. 7 meeting, US Attorney David Weiss says he was denied the ability to bring charges against Hunter. Three House committees asked Department of Justice and IRS officials with knowledge of the meeting to testify to what occurred, but the “agencies have thrown up roadblocks to the truth.” “Why refuse to share what they know with Congress” unless there is something to hide? IRS whistleblowers have already provided evidence that the DOJ “stonewalled and slow-walked” their Hunter investigation for years, so “the House Republican majority will continue to demand answers because the public deserves” an honest justice system.
Econ watch: Why the US Will Never Be Norway
At City Journal, Brian Riedl & John Gustavsson answer the query, “Why can’t the U.S. build a social democracy like those in the Nordic countries?” Well, “key aspects of their economic systems would be unpopular and unworkable in America.” Consider health care: “Nordic-style generosity would merely layer new benefits on top of America’s bloated cost structure,” “combining Nordic generosity with American inefficiency.” The US “spends 3.5 percent of GDP on defense” and “is not likely to disarm itself significantly.” And in Scandanavia, the top income-tax rate kicks in at an average 160% of each country’s average wage — equivalent to $96,000 here. Remember: “No country has ever built a massive welfare state on the backs of the rich. Enough millionaires and billionaires simply don’t exist.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
Source link: https://nypost.com/2023/08/25/carlsons-trump-treatment-colleges-proxy-race-preferences/