Cathy Young has an interesting column digging deeper into the data. Here’s how it starts: Ever since the “Tea Parties” gained national attention, the debate has raged on whether they are a grass-roots protest movement in the proud tradition of American dissent, or a hysterical mob driven by fear, intolerance and selfishness. Recently, two much-discussed […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Forthcoming TNR Piece on Human Rights Watch
Word on the street is that the next issue of The New Republic will have an extensive investigative article on Human Rights Watch and its hostility to Israel, written by young journalist named Ben Birnbaum. On cue, Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss–a Nation Institute sponsored anti-Israel and often anti-Jewish blog (really, how many “introspective” posts by […]
Bleg: Where to Look for Artist on the Internet
I have an idea for an illustration for the cover of my forthcoming Rehabilitating Lochner book. (If you must know: A drawing of Lochner author Justice Peckham and Lochner dissenter Oliver Wendell Holmes in a boxing ring, with Peckham knocking out Holmes). I’m skeptical that the press will accept this idea, but even if it […]
Enough with the Ridiculous Hyperbole!
One of the fun, albeit somewhat disheartening, things about having written a book about the encroachment of antidiscrimination laws on all aspects of civil society is watching hypotheticals your critics dismissed as “absurd” or “ridiculous hyperbole” turn into real cases. For example, while the Boy Scouts of America were sued for refusing to allow homosexual […]
Epstein for the Supreme Court?
Dahlia Lithwick often seems to live in a different world than I, and, I think, other mortals. Take this line from a recent Slate piece: This has political implications, certainly, but my concern here is with the next generation of liberal law students, who continue to hear the message that their heroes are presumptively ineligible […]
Whitewashing Progressivism
Conservatives are frequently accused, with various levels of justice, of whitewashing the history of conservatism in the U.S. to ignore, evade, or cover up inconvenient historical truths. Well, whatever sins conservative scholars have committed have now been matched by the Center for American Progress, which has published a monograph on the Progressive tradition in American […]
More on “What if the Palestinians Don’t Want a State?”
Yesterday, I wondered whether the Obama Administration has pondered whether the Palestinians are at this point willing to accept a state based on the formula that “everyone knows” is the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian state in all of Gaza, and 90%+ of the West Bank, plus land swaps to make up for […]
What if the Palestinians Don’t Want a State?
With the Obama Administration apparently prepared to ramp up the pressure on Israel to arrive at a settlement with the Palestinians, including the possibility of the Administration presenting its own peace plan as a more or less done deal, I hope someone in the Administration pauses to ask the question “what if the Palestinians don’t […]
Remarkable Window into Amnesty International’s Worldview
Despite widespread condemnation from many of its own allies and fellow-travelers (e.g.), Amnesty International continues to have no compunctions about its close association with the pro-Taleban former Guantanomo detainee Moazzam Begg. According to Amnesty Secretary General Claudio Cordone, Amnesty may disagree with Begg on the “role of jihad in self-defense,” but otherwise Begg’s support of […]
Creative Writing Assignment
A few weeks ago, I was walking in the Miami airport, and I found a green business card on the floor (I’ve changed the names). The front of the card announced J&P Tree Service. The card belonged to Guillermo “Steve” Smith. On the otherwise blank back of the card was a handwritten note, in black […]
Verizon FIOS
A while back, I blogged in praise of Verizon FIOS, and especially my happy experiences with its customer service relative to Comcast. I’m not as happy now. First, I switched to a Triple Play plan. I was promised a mini-computer. I never received the minicomputer. I called twice. Both times I was told that I […]
A Strange Thing About the Controversy Over Jerusalem
President Obama is insisting that Israel cease building housing in East Jerusalem, purportedly to help lure the Palestinians into peace talks. (I say purportedly, because the way Obama has gone about it, creating a huge crisis in relations with Israel over building in Jewish neighborhoods that no one thinks are going to be returned to […]
Paul Robeson, “Let My People Go”
Happy Passover!
Rehabilitating Pharaoh
Inspired by an Arnold Kling post, I’ve been thinking that we Jews, especially those who consider ourselves Progressives, have been way too hard on Pharaoh in our recounting of the Passover story. Consider Pharaoh’s achievements: (1) Green jobs: The Hebrews built the cities of Pithom and Ramses while emitting no greenhouse gases beyond their own […]
“Nazi Scandal Engulfs Human Rights Watch”
That’s the title of an excellent piece today in the Times of London. Despite the lurid title, the piece is actually a tough-but-fair overview of the various controversies surrounding HRW’s coverage of the Middle East. A taste: Some conflict zones get much more coverage than others. For instance, HRW has published five heavily publicised reports […]