John Pilger at Counterpunch calls the Brexit vote "an act of raw democracy," and notes that the British elites who "can't" understand why "these people" wanted Brexit "are the products of an affluent, highly privileged, educated middle class, groomed in the fakery and political treachery of post-modernism." At least one member of the British "liberal" media just comes out and says "(n)ow surely we can agree referendums are bad for Britain." Always Our Glorious elites stroke themselves over their love of democracy -- until it gives them the results they don't want, and then they turn on it. If children did that, we'd call them spoiled brats.
In a related note, Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept reminds us that Brexit is "a glaring repudiation of the wisdom and relevance of elite political and media institutions" which "have spawned pervasive misery and inequality, only to spew condescending scorn at their victims when they object." The good news? Some "liberal" media outlets are starting to suspect that maybe they should share some of the blame for what happened. I doubt that spreads, though, at least not in the short run. Right now, it looks a little like a safety valve, a typical trick of Our Glorious Elites who pretend to "understand" our grievances and "care" about us right as they're about to put the screws to us again.
Even a House subcommittee thinks that a fraud case against Exxon Mobil is little more than a "conspiracy" to deprive Exxon Mobil of First Amendment rights Remember: this isn't about ExxonMobil honestly analyzing the climate situation and honestly finding nothing wrong, but about them honestly analyzing the climate situation and finding things very wrong and lying about it to their shareholders and to the rest of us. And this bears repeating: fraud is not "speech." What's next? Are we going to call murder "speech"? How about pollution? Or burglary? This is what happens when courts are so hot to declare money "speech." It's also what happens when courts declare that corporations have the "rights of people," as disgusting a fiction as I've ever heard. What's next? Is my chair going to have the "rights of people"?
California prepares to launch experiment to find out whether it can replace the gas tax with a per-mile charge. I suppose it would be less regressive (but only if poor working families can get a rebate), but it'd be a boondoggle for privacy reasons -- your government could track your movements with it. I'll brook no if-you've-done-nothing-wrong-you've-got-nothing-to-fear, because you know our government always "discovers" things you're doing to be "wrong" when their backs are to the wall. (Of course, with California, I can't complain that taxes on millionaire income aren't high enough, because they are. But I'd still look at their corporate welfare giveaways.)
Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the University of Texas's method of considering race in college admissions, ProPublica reminds us of Nikole Hannah-Jones's 2013 article on the subject, in which we learn that the white student who alleged that she didn't get into UTexas-Austin because she was white was very likely full of soup. Key facts: of the 47 students with lower grades and test scores than Ms. Fisher who got in ahead of her in 2008, 42 were white; more than 160 black/Latino students did as good as or better than Ms. Fisher also didn't get into Austin; and Ms. Fisher didn't actually graduate in her high school's top 10 though more than 90% of Austin's admittees that year did. And note how cavalier her lawyer is about the quality of his own argument. Nice work if you can get it!
Finally, at least one ardent Texas secessionist is heartened by the Brexit result. To which I say the same thing I always say: if you wanna leave, then go! Make your Oklahoma relatives get a passport to come to Texas, and don't count on any more federal assistance with your public schools. Also, prepare to lose the Cowboys, so they can remain "America's Team." I think Las Vegas would be the perfect landing place for them -- unless the Oakland Raiders get there first.
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