Month: September 2016

Naturally, now that I’ve got a #Prius, ‘experts’ forecast #OilPrice stability: Daily Bullshit, September 12, 2016

benfell

Oil prices

One of my motivations for insisting on a Prius was a fear that probably next year, gas prices would go through the roof. Understand I can’t justify this fear except through experience: Prices never remain low. And I remember all too well how in the final months of my time living in the Santa Cruz Mountains and commuting to California State University, East Bay, prices skyrocketed to well over four dollars per gallon.

So naturally, once I moved in with my mother, and as the financial crisis took hold, those prices plummeted. I won’t soon forget (and still long to see again) a $1.99 price advertised at the 76 station near her house. It didn’t last long, as prices climbed again. I don’t think they reached the levels they had in 2008, but at various points they came close enough to get my attention.

So since gas prices have plummeted, I’ve been expecting them to rise again. And naturally, now, thanks to help from my aunt and mother, that I’ve got the Prius, the forecast is for oil prices to be stable.[1]

A couple points here: First, my thinking has generally reflected the ‘expert’ consensus for relatively low prices to continue through this year, expecting rather to see skyrocketing prices next year. I don’t see much change in that in this article.[2] But the second point seems to me that banking on stability in a historically volatile market can’t work for very long.

Something will happen. I don’t know what. I don’t even know when. But I’m thinking I’m going to be a lot happier with the Prius (actually, I already am) than without.

Nicole Friedman, “New Reality for Oil: Steadier Prices Reflecting Role of Shale Producers,” Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-reality-for-oil-steadier-prices-reflecting-role-of-shale-producers-1473620140

Horse race (with apologies to real horses)

I do not disagree with John Zogby in much of his analysis. In fact, I think his comment that “a measure of just how polarized this electorate really is” lies in how “both candidates now cavalierly characterize each other’s supporters in stereotypical ways” and therefore that neither candidate is effectively running “to build a majority coalition”[3] is right on.

At this point, it doesn’t even matter how each of us individually may feel about either major party candidate. I’m talking about large aggregates in a profoundly polarized population.

No matter who wins this election, the losing side will feel tyrannized. And the winner will be illegitimate and demonized, whether for dissembling, for alleged protofascism, for criminality, for warmongering, for neoliberalism, for something else, or for some combination of these both for a large proportion of the electorate and for a large portion of the political class. We will be subject to eight more years of obstruction and eight more years of reason for dissolving the allegedly United States due to irreconcilable differences.

But that’s not all that’s bad. As I explained in my dissertation, authoritarian populists have legitimate grievances about the effects of neoliberal policy.[4] In his appeal to paleoconservatives in this election, Donald Trump has managed to sweep those grievances under the rug, which is just where Hillary Clinton wants them left.[5]

All that said, Zogby does not, nor have I recently heard any pollster or journalist, acknowledge the problems I pointed to on July 15:

First, I’ve been hearing for a while that survey-takers are facing increased difficulties in getting a random sample. People have changed their communication habits and solutions which worked in the past simply don’t anymore. But on top of that, I’ve heard that response rates have been declining precipitously because so many so-called ‘surveys’ are in fact marketing or fundraising ploys—people are ignoring even legitimate surveys. Both of these problems introduce skews, which I’ve heard poll-takers claim they can correct for. I think they’re overconfident.[6]

I continue to believe, as I wrote on July 27, that “[a]nything said by either major party candidate can be dismissed as bullshit. The polls this year are bullshit. So we know nothing until we have actual election results and begin to see what the president-elect does.” So my reasons for “pretty much ending my coverage of the 2016 race”[7] remain intact. However, see the following section.

John Zogby, “Clinton and Trump: How Not To Win a Majority,” John Zogby Strategies, September 11, 2016, http://johnzogbystrategies.com/clinton-and-trump-how-not-to-win-a-majority/

Hillary Clinton

Suggestions that Hillary Clinton may have to give up the Democratic Party nomination for president[8] seem overblown to me. My biggest concern—and I think that no matter what your feelings are about Clinton, that this should be our biggest concern—is that Clinton’s pneumonia will feed a narrative of women as the “weaker sex,” on either the superliminal or subliminal level. I despise Clinton, but I want her to lose (I also oppose Donald Trump) because she is a warmonger and a neoliberal, and I reject allegations that her opponents are necessarily misogynists or, in any way, sexists. Clinton is, I believe, an astonishingly weak candidate, but because of her personal characteristics not because of her gender, and if she indeed wins, a question that seems increasingly in doubt,[9] it will only be, as I said on July 11, because she is up against an even weaker opponent.[10]

Meanwhile, I think Richard Wolffe misconstrues both the motivation of Trump’s authoritarian populist supporters and Barack Obama’s 2008 comment[11] about those who “get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment.”[12] I covered these in my dissertation.[13] What’s remarkable is that even having included the full context of Obama’s remark, Wolffe misconstrues it, ignoring Obama’s expression of sympathy for people in places where “the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.”[14]

The real issue here, and I think this arises with Brexit as well, is that neoconservative and neoliberal policies, supported by so-called ‘experts,’ have gotten a lot of working class and poor folks (the ones who go fight in any war) killed and have failed to deliver prosperity. Such folks are entirely entitled to ask what good these so-called ‘experts’ are doing for them and why they should believe Clinton will do any different, especially when Obama has gotten a pass for the very failing he decried on the campaign trail.

Callum Borchers, “The Clinton campaign’s bad damage control just made the health story even worse,” Washington Post, September 11, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/11/the-clinton-campaigns-bad-damage-control-just-made-the-health-story-even-worse/

Chris Cillizza, “Hillary Clinton’s health just became a real issue in the presidential campaign,” Washington Post, September 11, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/11/hillary-clintons-health-just-became-a-real-issue-in-the-presidential-campaign/

Hill, “Clinton cancels campaign trip to California,” September 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/295361-clinton-cancels-campaign-trip-to-california

Ryan Tracy and Peter Nicholas, “Hillary Clinton Diagnosed With Pneumonia Friday, Became Dehydrated at 9/11 Ceremony,” Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-felt-overheated-and-left-9-11-ceremony-1473607626

Daniel R. DePetris, “Here’s What Happens if Hillary Clinton Quits,” National Interest, September 12, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/heres-what-happens-if-hillary-clinton-quits-17672

Laura Meckler, “Hillary Clinton to Release More Medical Records After Pneumonia Diagnosis,” Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-plans-to-rest-amid-health-concerns-1473694474

Amie Parnes, “Clinton allies criticize campaign over health secrecy,” Hill, September 12, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/295441-clinton-allies-criticize-campaign-over-health-secrecy

Andrew Prokop, “Hillary Clinton’s health news comes just as the race is close enough for Dems to worry,” Vox, September 12, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/9/12/12883010/hillary-clinton-health-polling-trump

Sputnik News, “Hillary Dragged Into Van After Fainting: Can Bernie or Biden Replace Her? Yes,” Global Security, September 12, 2016, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2016/09/mil-160911-sputnik04.htm

Richard Wolffe, “Hillary Clinton had a terrible weekend. The alternative is far, far worse,” Guardian, September 12, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/11/hillary-clinton-terrible-weekend-alternative-worse

  1. [1]Nicole Friedman, “New Reality for Oil: Steadier Prices Reflecting Role of Shale Producers,” Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-reality-for-oil-steadier-prices-reflecting-role-of-shale-producers-1473620140↩
  2. [2]Nicole Friedman, “New Reality for Oil: Steadier Prices Reflecting Role of Shale Producers,” Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-reality-for-oil-steadier-prices-reflecting-role-of-shale-producers-1473620140↩
  3. [3]John Zogby, “Clinton and Trump: How Not To Win a Majority,” John Zogby Strategies, September 11, 2016, http://johnzogbystrategies.com/clinton-and-trump-how-not-to-win-a-majority/↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  5. [5]Thomas Frank, “With Trump certain to lose, you can forget about a progressive Clinton,” Guardian, August 13, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/13/trump-clinton-election-chances-moderate-policies-economy↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “#NeverTrump says #NeverDie (updated again),” (Almost) Daily Bullshit, July 15, 2016, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2016/07/15/nevertrump-says-neverdie/↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Supreme Court partly to blame for police killings,” (Almost) Daily Bullshit, July 27, 2016, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2016/07/27/supreme-court-partly-to-blame-for-police-killings-daily-bullshit-july-27-2016/↩
  8. [8]Daniel R. DePetris, “Here’s What Happens if Hillary Clinton Quits,” National Interest, September 12, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/heres-what-happens-if-hillary-clinton-quits-17672; Sputnik News, “Hillary Dragged Into Van After Fainting: Can Bernie or Biden Replace Her? Yes,” Global Security, September 12, 2016, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2016/09/mil-160911-sputnik04.htm↩
  9. [9]John Zogby, “Clinton and Trump: How Not To Win a Majority,” John Zogby Strategies, September 11, 2016, http://johnzogbystrategies.com/clinton-and-trump-how-not-to-win-a-majority/↩
  10. [10]David Benfell, “Theresa May may be in a stronger position than it appears,” (Almost) Daily Bullshit, July 11, 2016, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2016/07/11/782/↩
  11. [11]Richard Wolffe, “Hillary Clinton had a terrible weekend. The alternative is far, far worse,” Guardian, September 12, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/11/hillary-clinton-terrible-weekend-alternative-worse↩
  12. [12]Barack Obama, quoted in Richard Wolffe, “Hillary Clinton had a terrible weekend. The alternative is far, far worse,” Guardian, September 12, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/11/hillary-clinton-terrible-weekend-alternative-worse↩
  13. [13]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  14. [14]Barack Obama, quoted in Richard Wolffe, “Hillary Clinton had a terrible weekend. The alternative is far, far worse,” Guardian, September 12, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/11/hillary-clinton-terrible-weekend-alternative-worse↩

#TTIP is dead, long live #CETA: Daily Bullshit, September 8-9, 2016 (updated again)

benfell

This issue of the (Almost) Daily Bullshit was incomplete when originally published because I was simply too tired to continue going through the news. It is now complete (but still subject to further updates) and it has been extended to cover Friday as well as Thursday.

I got up way too early Thursday morning to plunge into San Francisco Bay Area morning rush hour traffic to get to Oakland Airport in time to allow two hours for the TSA (I wound up needing only about five minutes but of course, if I’d allowed any less time, I’d have needed more). Oakland Airport’s Terminal One is not very vegan-friendly, then there was the flight, and then there was checking in for the conference and the welcoming session. I wound up not getting a proper meal all day until I found my way to Sage’s (the food was wonderful, the place is entirely vegan, they’re open until 10 pm, and if you’re in Salt Lake City, you absolutely, positively must go). And I had to be up early again Friday morning. And I wound up going to Sage’s again Friday night (the food is still wonderful).

I gave my talk on vegetarian ecofeminism Friday. My notes are here. It seemed to go well enough.

Unfree trade

Barack Obama is still pushing for ratification of the Transpacific Partnership, but with bipartisan (with Republicans refusing to concede Obama a victory and Democrats responding to populist opposition) opposition,[1] I just don’t see how it passes. Now it appears negotiations on the Atlantic version, TTIP, have broken down. But, according to George Monbiot, there’s another so-called trade deal on tap.[2]

George Monbiot, “Here They Come Again,” September 7, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/09/07/here-they-come-again/

‘Freedom’ Caucus

So, some folks deserve credit for forecasting that John Boehner’s ouster would not solve the problem Republicans have in the House of Representatives with the so-called Freedom Caucus.[3]

Scott Wong, “Ryan faces new pressures from House conservatives,” Hill, September 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/294913-ryan-faces-new-pressures-from-house-conservatives

For-Profit colleges

Mark Brunswick, “Globe U and Minn. School of Business must close, state says after fraud ruling,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, September 9, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/judge-globe-u-and-minnesota-school-of-business-committed-fraud-in-criminal-justice-programs/392801791/

Katherine Mangan, “After ITT Tech’s Collapse, Other Colleges Try to Pick Up the Pieces,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/article/After-ITT-Tech-s-Collapse/237732

The Bundys

This was exceedingly slow to hit my radar screen.

Bill Morlin, “First Guilty Pleas Entered in 2014 Nevada Standoff with BLM,” Southern Poverty Law Center, August 29, 2016, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/08/29/first-guilty-pleas-entered-2014-nevada-standoff-blm

  1. [1]John T. Bennett, “Despite Convention Jeers, Obama to Continue TPP,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, July 29, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/despite-convention-jeers-obama-to-continue-trade-push (link is external)↩
  2. [2]George Monbiot, “Here They Come Again,” September 7, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/09/07/here-they-come-again/↩
  3. [3]Dan Balz, “For Republicans, questions of who can lead them and can they govern?” Washington Post, September 25, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-republicans-questions-of-who-can-lead-them-and-can-they-govern/2015/09/25/34f45c74-639d-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html; Elizabeth Drew, “Congress: Reign of the Implacables,” New York Review of Books, October 9, 2015, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/oct/09/congress-reign-implacables/; Laurie Kellman, “Boehner slams some GOP hard liners as ‘false prophets’,” SFGate, September 27, 2015, http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Bush-Boehner-a-problem-solver-in-Congress-will-6533091.php; Cristina Marcos, “Furious Boehner allies lash out,” Hill, September 26, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255026-furious-boehner-allies-lash-out; Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes, “GOP Discontent That Helped Sink John Boehner Isn’t Easing Up,” Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-discontent-that-helped-sink-john-boehner-isnt-easing-up-1443399225; Todd S. Purdum, “The Cannibal Party: Being a GOP House speaker might be the worst job in Washington,” Politico, September 25, 2015, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/boehner-resignation-house-speaker-history-213193; Tierney Sneed, “Republicans Openly Wonder: Will Kicking Boehner To The Curb Change Anything?” Talking Points Memo, September 25, 2015, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/boehner-replacement-gop-turmoil; Scott Wong, “Republicans worry new Speaker could face old problems,” Hill, October 1, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255568-gop-worries-new-speaker-could-face-old-problems↩

@WSJ suggests having @BillClinton as honorary chancellor spared a for-profit: Daily Bullshit, September 7, 2016

benfell

For-Profit Colleges

The Wall Street Journal compares Laureate International Universities to ITT Technical, finds the former maybe a little worse (Vox’s Libby Nelson disagrees[1]), and strongly implies that the reason the latter was closed rather than the former is that Laureate “paid Bill Clinton $17.6 million to serve as its ‘honorary chancellor’” and “also donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. The company’s founder Doug Becker contributed $2,700 to Mrs. Clinton’s current presidential campaign.”[2]

It’s easy to see why the Journal thinks this situation stinks to high heaven as “[a] pack of regulators attack[ed] from all angles—i.e., the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state Attorneys General—and tr[ied] to run their target out of business before it [could] raise a legal defense. None of their charges have been proven in court.”[3]

But it’s a little too easy to cherry-pick a case like Laureate. While there have been a number of recent high-profile closings of for-profit institutions[4] and the regulatory vultures have their sights aimed at the University of Phoenix,[5] other for-profits,[6] and at an accrediting agency widely used by for-profits,[7] the Journal overlooks that Laureate is among a number of similarly-situated institutions that have yet to close.[8]

Now, should all those other institutions close except Laureate,[9] then there may be a smoking gun. But we ain’t got it yet.

Libby Nelson, “Bill Clinton’s $18 million job as ‘honorary chancellor’ of a for-profit college chain, explained,” Vox, September 7, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/9/7/12817676/laureate-education-bill-clinton-university

Ashley A. Smith, “The End for ITT Tech,” Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/07/itt-tech-shuts-down-all-campuses

Wall Street Journal, “The Clinton For-Profit College Standard,” September 6, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-for-profit-college-standard-1473204250

  1. [1]Libby Nelson, “Bill Clinton’s $18 million job as ‘honorary chancellor’ of a for-profit college chain, explained,” Vox, September 7, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/9/7/12817676/laureate-education-bill-clinton-university↩
  2. [2]Wall Street Journal, “The Clinton For-Profit College Standard,” September 6, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-for-profit-college-standard-1473204250↩
  3. [3]Wall Street Journal, “The Clinton For-Profit College Standard,” September 6, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-for-profit-college-standard-1473204250↩
  4. [4]Charles Huckabee, “Corinthian Colleges Inc. to Close Its Remaining Campuses,” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 27, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/Corinthian-Colleges-Inc-to/229685/; Michael Stratford, “Corinthian Closes for Good,” Inside Higher Ed, April 27, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/27/corinthian-ends-operations-remaining-campuses-affecting-16000-students; Jill Tucker, “Corinthian, Heald colleges shut down abruptly,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2015, http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Corinthian-Colleges-shuts-down-in-S-F-and-6225068.php↩
  5. [5]Samantha Allen, “Death of a Diploma Mill: University of Phoenix Going Down in Flames?” Daily Beast, July 31, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/31/death-of-a-diploma-mill-university-of-phoenix-going-down-in-flames.html; Eric Kelderman, “Why a Certain $21 Million Is Worth Much More to the U. of Phoenix,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 10, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/Why-a-Certain-21-Million-Is/233720; Ben Kesling and Douglas Belkin, “University of Phoenix Barred From Recruiting on Military Bases,” Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-phoenix-barred-from-military-bases-1444369975; Ronald J. Hansen, “University of Phoenix investors OK sale to private backers,” Arizona Republic, May 9, 2016, http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/economy/2016/05/06/university-phoenix-investors-ok-sale-private-backers/83997578/; Molly Jackson, “Why is the University of Phoenix being sold?” Christian Science Monitor, February 8, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2016/0208/Why-is-the-University-of-Phoenix-being-sold; Andy Thomason, “U. of Phoenix Faces Another Federal Investigation,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 22, 2015, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/giant-for-profit-u-of-phoenix-faces-another-federal-investigation/105960; Andy Thomason, “Apollo Education, U. of Phoenix’s Parent, Is Sold for $1.1 Billion,” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 8, 2016, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/for-profit-apollo-education-u-of-phoenixs-parent-is-sold-for-1-1-billion/108473↩
  6. [6]Goldie Blumenstyk, “Little for Students in ‘Historic’ Settlement of Education Management Case,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 17, 2015, http://chronicle.com/article/Little-for-Students-in/234229; Michael Stratford, “Getting Ready for Another Corinthian,” Inside Higher Ed, March 18, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/18/federal-loan-forgiveness-jumps-education-department-may-require-more-risky-colleges↩
  7. [7]Paul Fain, “Watchdog Barks — and Gets Slapped Down,” Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/04/controversial-accreditor-acics-tried-shut-down-profit-was-blocked-judge; Eric Kelderman, “Call to Shut Down a Controversial Accreditor Could Shake For-Profit Higher Ed,” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2016, http://chronicle.com/article/Call-to-Shut-Down-a/236829; Jennifer C. Kerr and Collin Binkley, “Panel votes against accreditor of for-profit colleges,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, June 24, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/panel-votes-against-accreditor-of-for-profit-colleges/384237391/↩
  8. [8]Michael Stratford, “Getting Ready for Another Corinthian,” Inside Higher Ed, March 18, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/18/federal-loan-forgiveness-jumps-education-department-may-require-more-risky-colleges↩
  9. [9]Michael Stratford, “Getting Ready for Another Corinthian,” Inside Higher Ed, March 18, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/18/federal-loan-forgiveness-jumps-education-department-may-require-more-risky-colleges↩

ITT Tech is “giving all employees Tuesday . . . off as an extra comp holiday”: Daily Bullshit, September 6, 2016

benfell

For-Profit Schools

It had looked like ITT Technical might be closing.[1] Now it has.[2] Suffice it to say, nothing in this story changes my view that

It is amply clear now that for-profit education is a scam preying on poor people who just want jobs, that it serves as a refutation of the neoliberal and capitalist libertarian prejudice that private enterprise can do anything better than government, and that it represents the worst of our neoliberal reduction of education to job training. These institutions have never been reputable and should be shut down across the board.[3]

Arunima Banerjee, “ITT Educational to shut institutes, lay off over 8,000 employees,” Reuters, September 6, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-itt-education-layoffs-idUSKCN11C15W

Michael Nunez, “ITT Tech Is Officially Closing,” Gizmodo, September 6, 2016, http://gizmodo.com/itt-is-officially-closing-1786243058

Roger Ailes

Fox News “sincerely regret[s] and apologize[s] for the fact that Gretchen [Carlson] was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.”[4] They will also apparently be paying her $20 million and have “also reached settlement agreements with two other women.”[5] But,

While the Paul, Weiss investigation interviewed more than 20 women, according to two sources familiar with the process, it never officially expanded to examine the broader culture of Fox News. The firm, according to numerous people familiar with the process, was apparently never ordered to scour the company’s hard drives for all evidence of sexual harassment or bawdy culture. In some ways, according to one person familiar with the process, the Paul, Weiss investigation simply got a revenue machine back on track.[6]

Roger Ailes’ threatened legal action against New York magazine and its reporter, Gabriel Sherman, for his reporting of the story[7] apparently remains unaffected.[8] Meanwhile, “Greta Van Susteren is leaving the company,” allegedly “due to a ‘financial disagreement.’”[9]

So now I guess we get to ask how many women Fox News will have left whose legs will be available to aim low camera angles at. And we should probably remain troubled that women who have made their careers bashing liberals and progressivism and advancing conservatism—a collection of ideologies in which women’s bodies are generally male property—now invoke protections made possible by liberals and progressives and resisted by conservatives.

Stephen Battaglio, “Fox News and Roger Ailes settle sexual harassment lawsuit by Gretchen Carlson,” Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-ailes-settlement-20160906-snap-story.html

Jessica Chasmar, “Gretchen Carlson settles with Fox for $20M, receives apology,” Washington Times, September 6, 2016, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/6/carlson-settles-harassment-suit-against-ailes/

Sarah Ellison, “Fox Settles with Gretchen Carlson for $20 Million—and Offers an Unprecedented Apology,” Vanity Fair, September 6, 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/fox-news-settles-with-gretchen-carlson-for-20-million

  1. [1]Ashley A. Smith, “Options for ITT Tech students if the for-profit chain collapses,” Inside Higher Ed, September 1, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/01/options-itt-tech-students-if-profit-chain-collapses↩
  2. [2]Arunima Banerjee, “ITT Educational to shut institutes, lay off over 8,000 employees,” Reuters, September 6, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-itt-education-layoffs-idUSKCN11C15W; Michael Nunez, “ITT Tech Is Officially Closing,” Gizmodo, September 6, 2016, http://gizmodo.com/itt-is-officially-closing-1786243058↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “For-Profit Institutions? Just shut ’em down already,” Daily Bullshit, September 1, 2016, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2016/09/01/for-profit-institutions-just-shut-em-down-already-daily-bullshit-september-1-2016/↩
  4. [4]Fox News, quoted in Stephen Battaglio, “Fox News and Roger Ailes settle sexual harassment lawsuit by Gretchen Carlson,” Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-ailes-settlement-20160906-snap-story.html↩
  5. [5]Sarah Ellison, “Fox Settles with Gretchen Carlson for $20 Million—and Offers an Unprecedented Apology,” Vanity Fair, September 6, 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/fox-news-settles-with-gretchen-carlson-for-20-million↩
  6. [6]Sarah Ellison, “Fox Settles with Gretchen Carlson for $20 Million—and Offers an Unprecedented Apology,” Vanity Fair, September 6, 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/fox-news-settles-with-gretchen-carlson-for-20-million↩
  7. [7]Kelsey Sutton, “Roger Ailes threatens lawsuit against New York magazine,” Politico, September 5, 2016, http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/09/roger-ailes-threatens-suit-against-new-york-magazine-004741↩
  8. [8]Sarah Ellison, “Fox Settles with Gretchen Carlson for $20 Million—and Offers an Unprecedented Apology,” Vanity Fair, September 6, 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/fox-news-settles-with-gretchen-carlson-for-20-million↩
  9. [9]Stephen Battaglio, “Fox News and Roger Ailes settle sexual harassment lawsuit by Gretchen Carlson,” Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-ailes-settlement-20160906-snap-story.html↩

Scotland’s government studying possibility of new independence referendum: Daily Bullshit, September 5, 2016

benfell

Scottish Independence

The headline on Rowena Lindsay’s article is, in my mind, a bit misleading. The government is studying the possibility of a new referendum on independence.[1] It seems to me that that falls short of reviving it. Still, it’s been several weeks now since the Brexit referendum, it’s clear there’s a lot of unhappiness—at least among Scottish politicians—about a ‘democratic deficit’ where Scotland voted handily to remain in the European Union but an English vote to leave apparently prevails,[2] and it’s almost certainly a mistake to write this off too hastily, even if polls apparently don’t yet support such a move.[3]

Rowena Lindsay, “Scotland revives independence bid in wake of Brexit vote,” Christian Science Monitor, September 2, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0902/Scotland-revives-independence-bid-in-wake-of-Brexit-vote

Roger Ailes

I guess the way I read this is that if even Ann Coulter, whom I would hardly imagine to be hostile to Fox News, understands that “every woman who has ever been employed by Fox” has been sexually harassed, apparently by Roger Ailes,[4] then it’s really hard to imagine New York magazine quaking in their boots over Roger Ailes’ threats.

Kelsey Sutton, “Roger Ailes threatens lawsuit against New York magazine,” Politico, September 5, 2016, http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/09/roger-ailes-threatens-suit-against-new-york-magazine-004741

  1. [1]Rowena Lindsay, “Scotland revives independence bid in wake of Brexit vote,” Christian Science Monitor, September 2, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0902/Scotland-revives-independence-bid-in-wake-of-Brexit-vote↩
  2. [2]Elisabeth O’Leary, “RBS says main office would move if Scotland were independent: BBC,” Reuters, August 15, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-scotland-rbs-idUSKCN10Q0QT; Alexandra Sims, “Scottish independence ‘fast approaching’ after Trident vote, SNP’s Angus Robertson claims,” Independent, July 19, 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scottish-independence-fast-approaching-after-trident-vote-snps-angus-robertson-warns-a7143861.html; Lawrence Wakefield, “Nicola Sturgeon takes steps to keep Scotland in EU,” Politico, June 25, 2016, http://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-eu-referendum-sturgeon-sets-out-path-for-second-independence-referendum/↩
  3. [3]Rowena Lindsay, “Scotland revives independence bid in wake of Brexit vote,” Christian Science Monitor, September 2, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0902/Scotland-revives-independence-bid-in-wake-of-Brexit-vote↩
  4. [4]Ryan Grim and Michael Calderone, “Ann Coulter Says ‘Every Woman Who Has Ever Been Employed By Fox’ Has Stories About Roger Ailes,” Huffington Post, July 19, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ann-coulter-roger-ailes_us_578e5fb2e4b07c722ebc5efd↩

For-Profit Institutions? Just shut ’em down already: Daily Bullshit, September 1, 2016

benfell

For-Profit ‘Education’

It is amply clear now that for-profit education is a scam preying on poor people who just want jobs, that it serves as a refutation of the neoliberal and capitalist libertarian prejudice that private enterprise can do anything better than government, and that it represents the worst of our neoliberal reduction of education to job training. These institutions have never been reputable and should be shut down across the board.

Ashley A. Smith, “Options for ITT Tech students if the for-profit chain collapses,” Inside Higher Ed, September 1, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/01/options-itt-tech-students-if-profit-chain-collapses

International Law

Butch Bracknell endeavors to refute Patrick Porter’s essay[1] from a few days ago. For me, Bracknell doesn’t really succeed even if Porter may have overstated his case.

Bracknell alleges that even if the “world order” is weak, it is still influential. Aggressions that contravene the United Nations Charter, he claims, are “less legitimate and more subject to international consequences—diplomatic, economic or military. It does not affect the legitimacy of the system which sanctions, or withholds sanction of, interstate conflict.”

Actually, such actions do affect legitimacy. One reason the World Court is accused of an “Africa-targeting bias” and the reason “certain known war criminals have escaped its grasp”[2] is that when countries with permanent seats and veto power in the United Nations, especially the United States, violate these rules, there is no effective means of enforcement. Even if we ignore examples such as the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, for which there have been no sanctions whatsoever, sanctions imposed on Russia show no sign of causing it to withdraw from Crimea or to stop supporting separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Something to bear in mind is that without permanent seats and veto power for those powerful countries in the only body of the United Nations that has any teeth at all, at least some of these countries would not have agreed to join the U.N. and it would have gone the way of the League of Nations. Bracknell writes that

codes, international law and international institutions were never intended to fully supplant state-interested behavior. They were intended, rather, to shape, influence, regulate and augment power politics. Vesting only five nuclear powers with veto power in the Security Council is the perfect, succinct example: the Security Council works to regulate interstate affairs, particularly with regard to the use of force, while acknowledging some state interests matter more than others.[3]

Which is to soft-pedal in the extreme that these aren’t just some state interests, but rather the interests of some states. In such circumstances, why should less powerful countries comply? Why shouldn’t they complain of a double standard? Law, for them, is something imposed on them by more powerful countries. It is a rather thin veneer for rule of the strong.

When international law appears to be a facade for the old colonial regime, as it does in much of the world, it entirely loses legitimacy. Which is why Binyamin Netanyahu does not fear accusations of crimes against humanity for his actions in the Occupied Territories. Which is why Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, escaped an international arrest warrant over Darfur even as he traveled outside his country. And why Porter could challenge the reality of the “world order.”

Butch Bracknell, “There Is a Rules-Based International Order. It’s Just Not Omnipotent,” National Interest, September 1, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/there-rules-based-international-order-its-just-not-17548

  1. [1]Patrick Porter, “Sorry, Folks. There Is No Rules-Based World Order,” National Interest, August 28, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/sorry-folks-there-no-rules-based-world-order-17497↩
  2. [2]Butch Bracknell, “There Is a Rules-Based International Order. It’s Just Not Omnipotent,” National Interest, September 1, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/there-rules-based-international-order-its-just-not-17548↩
  3. [3]Butch Bracknell, “There Is a Rules-Based International Order. It’s Just Not Omnipotent,” National Interest, September 1, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/there-rules-based-international-order-its-just-not-17548↩