The Bookworm Beat 4-14-15 — the procrastination edition and open thread

Woman writingI have work to do today, but no actual deadlines, so naturally I’m procrastinating like crazy. And what better way to do so than to share a few interesting things with you? How about my starting with the most inspirational. I’ll go from the sublime to the ridiculous, which means I’ll end with links to articles about Hillary’s candidacy.

Noah Galloway, American soldier, DWTS contender

Noah Galloway lost his left arm and leg in Iraq. His appearance on Dancing With The Stars was a little bit by way of being a gimmick because how can someone dance without an arm and with a totally lost leg (i.e., no knee)?

The doubters have been put firmly in their place. Thanks in part to Sharna Burgess’s beautiful and imaginative choreography, Noah is proving to be a real competitor. He can’t swoop around the floor, but what he can do is perfect: beautiful upper body movement, incredible strength, perfect timing, and real grace.

Last week, Noah danced to “I’m an American Soldier,” and blew everyone away. The video has gotten more than 34,000,000 views on Facebook:

Emotional. Inspirational. Beautiful. #DWTS #TeamShway #noexcusesnoah

Posted by Dancing with the Stars on Wednesday, April 8, 2015

(You can view the video here if it doesn’t show up above.)

Transgender student rejected from diversity position

When you’re female, you’re a victim and entitled to all sorts of special consideration. When you’re transgender, you’re a victim, and entitled to all sorts of special consideration. But when you’re a former white girl who transitioned to becoming a white man — well, you can’t be the class diversity officer because, in your new incarnation as a white man, you’re a member of the dreaded patriarchy. No kidding. This farce is happening at Wellesley.

I don’t think that any of us ever anticipated that, when the Leftist revolution finally happened in America, it wouldn’t involve the masses of poor clustered at the Statue of Liberty’s feet. Instead, the revolutionaries would be hyper-entitled, overly-sensitive, disgustingly-spoiled, and moronically-stupid children of the Middle Class.

Obama’s embrace of the Devil

Obama’s not just dancing with the Devil, something that implies a mobility that allows escape. Instead, he’s clutched Iran in a deep embrace. Robert Avrech reminds us that Iran is indeed evil, and that Obama allows it because its greatest animus is directed against Jews and not some politically correct victim group.

And Victor Davis Hanson adds to the anti-Jewish feeling that burns within Obama. Obama is also acting out the academic Left’s love affair with movement that sells itself as a revolutionary alternative to America and the evils of great white capitalism.

Thomas Sowell on the New Inquisition

What makes Sowell brilliant is his knack for distilling complicated ideas to their essence and then presenting them in straightforward language. After reading his article about the “global warming denier” witch hunt, you will pretty much know everything you need to know on the subject, especially when it comes to offering reasoned, polite, and irrefutable challenges to those of your Leftist friends who have drunk deep of that Kook-Aid. (No, that’s not a typo. It just seems right.)

Despite Obama’s best efforts, OPEC is hurting

Wolf Howling caught OPEC’s cri de couer: How dare people start getting oil from supplies other than us! As Wolf Howling points out, Obama tried to save OPEC, but the free market kept stopping him.

THE HILLARY ROUND-UP

What the media should ask Hillary

We know that the media won’t ask Hillary a single hard question. Within one day of her candidacy, the love fest had already begun with drooling stories about Scooby buses and burritos. (It’s depressing to think how many Americans will lap this up as proof that Hillary’s time has come.)

Kurt Schlichter dreams of an America in which the media asks Hillary actual questions relevant to her long career in the public eye:

“Your bio leaps from a 1995 speech in China to your 2000 election as New York Senator. Why did you not discuss Bill’s second term?”

“Did your husband lie to the American people about Monica Lewinsky? If he did, why did you support him?”

“You defended your husband Bill Clinton when he was impeached for perjury. Under what circumstances do you consider it acceptable for a president to violate the law without being removed from office?”

“Your husband was a serial adulterer. Do you agree that he brought great shame on the office and distracted the country from serious business? How can you reassure the American people that Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades will not overshadow your presidency?”

“Do you believe women who make accusations of sexual abuse should be listened to and treated with respect? How do you square that with the vicious treatment of women abused by Bill Clinton?”

“Do you think America’s enemies like Putin and the mullahs will see you as weak for your inability to stop your husband’s serial cuckolding of you?”

I’d love to see the Republican candidates do what Rand Paul did and, when faced with a stupid “gotcha” question, say, “I’ll answer that when Hillary answers [fill in the blank].” In the past, with the exception of Newt, Republicans have just meekly stuck their heads into the media guillotine and said “Let ‘er rip.”

J. Robert Smith also has suggestions for conservative candidates to avoid media traps.

Sadly, I doubt anyone will take his or Kurt’s advice.  Every single year, well-meaning conservative opinionators, from the syndicated ones to the true pajama bloggers, offer the same advice, and every single year conservative candidates who are desperately seeking media love ignore it. Don’t they understand that there’s a virtue to playing “hard to get” and that, if you run after them with your tongue hanging out, you just look like a pathetic victim?

Taking the mickey out of Hillary’s logo

Power Line has a wonderful collection of the fun people had with Hillary’s new logo, including the one my friend created.

Never underestimate the power of branding, though. We may laugh at it, but it will stick in people’s brains and might subliminally influence low-information voters.

The Onion knows what Hillary really meant to say in her announcement

It’s not safe for work, but it’s definitely funny. The Onion went to the heart of the matter.

Or you can watch the surprisingly funny Saturday Night Live cold open which does an almost scarily good job of capturing Hillary’s cold-blooded ambition. Watching it is a reminder that her ambition isn’t tied to America’s well-being. It’s tied to Hillary’s well-being.

Hillary just needs to be breathing for the media to be happy

What do you get when you cross Jonah Goldberg with Hillary’s newly announced candidacy? Depressing Hill-arity! It’s hilarious because Goldberg’s writing it; it’s depressing because it clearly conveys the realities of the 2016 election:

Hillary Clinton went to Chipotle yesterday. ABC described this as an “adventure” as Patrick notes below. An. Adventure.  No wonder she thinks she’s named after Sir Edmund Hillary, they’re both such bold risk takers, pushing the envelope.

Hillary — the original lying liar

Since the moment Obama burst upon the scene, I’ve written post after post about his lies. Like most pathological liars, he lies about everything, whether he needs to or not.

It’s Bret Stephens, though, who reminds us that it was the Clintons who inoculated a generation of Progressives against the disastrous consequences of political lies. It was they who introduced the concept that lies, rather than tearing apart the body politic, are the best way to achieve Leftist ends. As long as every good Democrat knows the truth — nudge, nudge, wink, wink — it’s all good. (If you can’t get past the paywall, trying linking through Google, here.)