You Say McKinley; I Say Denali

America, Constitution, Federalism, Race, States' Rights

To me it seems natural and organic for the people of Alaska to name the hilly protrusions along their stomping ground.

Aaron Goldstein, at The American Spectator, doesn’t wish “to make mountains” of the fact that his Highness, Barack Obama, changed the name of Mount McKinley to Denali. Instead, Goldstein laments the president’s flouting of the Constitution or the federal scheme (not quite sure which).

Can we agree that federalism, like freedom, is long dead, and is the stuff of nostalgia?

The other thing I wonder about is the ease with which my fellow Americans offend native Americans (Indians), as opposed to the crippling fear they have of saying anything that might make blacks mad.

It’s to the credit of native Americans that they are less menacing.

Oregon Oink Sector And The Urban-Renewal Trough

Business, Federalism, Government, Taxation, The State

Broadcaster Lars Larson did a bang-up job, today, in shaming City of Oregon Mayor Dan Holladay for his ambient lawlessness: first, for securing appropriations in the cause of urban, central planning; next, in his haste to frustrate the democratic will of the outraged citizens.

The circumstances, courtesy of the Portland Tribune:

Mayor Dan Holladay’s opinion piece published in the Autumn 2015 Trail News, a publication providing citizens information on most city departments, told every household in the city that a petition to kill urban renewal would have a “very chilling effect on economic development” not just in the downtown urban renewal district, but throughout the city.

After the state received a complaint on Aug. 25 from petitioners, Holladay said he “made a mistake” by submitting the piece for the Trail News.

State law (ORS 260.432) says that elected officials shouldn’t publish letters advocating a political position in “a newsletter or other publication produced and distributed by public employees.” Oregon City’s mayor has for years submitted a piece to the “City Matters” column on page 2 of the city’s Trail News publication.
…

John Williams, one of the petitioners, offered this trenchant condemnation:

Holladay doubly misstepped by submitting the argument for a city publication before the measure had even gotten enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“He has the right to express his opinion, but he shouldn’t be using citizens’ taxpayer dollars to try to put a halt to a democratic process,” Williams said. “Signing the petition in question will not ‘put a halt to these programs and many others’ as he claims, but only put an issue on the ballot for citizens to debate.” …

And no representative ought to use “citizens’ taxpayer dollars” for job-creation programs. The narrowest interpretation of a local government’s authority ought to be pursued and adhered to by all local representatives, whatever their political stripe.

That government job-creation programs are a racket for the locality is abundantly clear in our neck of The Evergreen State. Paving over quaint, perfectly lovely trails is a political hobbyhorse around here.

Local politics is not my bailiwick; but when I do venture into the miasma, the blood boils at the excesses in the pink state.

Those who’re better suited to confront the juggernaut that is local government might find it useful to apprise themselves of the history and politics of Urban Renewal, a history that has a lot to do with making poor people go away by demolishing their homes—gentrification, if you will. City officials—they live off wealth others generate: taxes—“grow” concerned over “declining incomes in and tax revenues from certain neighborhoods.” They then use their power to designate them as “blighted.” Government’s hope, ultimately, is to generate more tax revenues from the neighborhoods.

The CATO Institute speaks to how cities use tax-increment financing (TIF) in the service of “crony capitalism and social engineering.” If you want to slum it, read about the history and politics of TIF.

Trump Restoring Truth To Language

Critique, English, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Political Correctness

Here, paraphrased, is a collection of Trumpian straight-talk on the Zeitgeist. (Or, Donald’s “most notable insults,” as The Hill would have it):

We are led by stupid people. Media are dishonest. Talking to Anderson Cooper is a waste of time. War-all-the-time Charles Krauthhammer is an overrated, clueless clown. Anthony Weiner is the definition of a perv (or, as one very good Jewish writer put it, the “Weiner Worm is a Poster Boy for Anti-Semitism”). Elizabeth Beck is disgusting (read about her pukeness in “Motormouth Megyn Kelly & The Mad Matriarchy”). The once-great National Review … (the point: NR is no longer great). “George Bush sends our soldiers into combat, they are severely wounded, and then he wants $120,000 to make a boring speech to them?” (Superb insight, shared by the aforementioned excellent columnist, who put it even more bluntly: “G. Bush Screws Soldiers … Again.”) Penn Jillette’s show is terrible. And on the conflict-of-interest riddled, corrupt press: “Shouldn’t George Will have to give a disclaimer every time he is on Fox that his wife works for Scott Walker?”

Donald Trump’s tone is unhelpful, intoned Jeb Bush, one of the deserved targets of Trump’s derision. As someone who’s vested in linguistic accuracy, I think that Trump’s blunt, in-artful language is immensely helpful. The closer the language we use approximates reality—and, by extension, the truth—the greater the likelihood that our actions will follow.

We Are The World

Europe, IMMIGRATION, Nationhood

Sanctimonious British and American media have covered the refugee crisis in Europe with distinct disdain for … the native populations. After all, aren’t the latter strangers in their own land? What right have they to worry about and wall-off their small piece of the world?

The Greeks, you will agree, have enough problems of their own. The islanders of Kos struggle to make a living. But now they have to fight for their small, compromised corner of the country. The Greek island lives off tourism. This will not last.

So many migrants have slipped into the small Greek island that its 30,000 population is struggling to cope amid rising fears that disgruntled tourists will begin boycotting the idyllic holiday destination, a long-time favourite of Britons.

The new — and very unwelcome — arrivals sleep under trees in the park, on sun loungers at the beach, and on the ground by the police station. Or they take their chances at a dirty, makeshift camp, set up in a derelict hotel close to Lambi beach where the traffickers’ inflatable dinghies creep in each dawn with their next load of human cargo.

(Daily Mail.)

A picture of refugee men ogling British tourists: