Brickbat: Cultural Revolution

The Cato Institute

The Chinese government has closed the social media sites of economist Mao Yushi as well as a think tank he is associated with. Mao, who received the 2012 Milton Friedman Prize, is a proponent of free markets and a critic of those inspired by the late Communist leader Mao Zedong.

Comments

[Jerryskids]

The shuttering of Mao's account came after he drew a flurry of online criticism from leftist groups in China, who have engaged in a string of public protests targeting prominent liberal intellectuals in recent weeks.

Interesting. He's a liberal being targeted by an authoritarian government - shouldn't that make the Chinese government right-wing? Oh, I see it's RFA - American government propaganda. Trying to make us believe there's such a thing as a left-wing extremist. Or that they're sympathetic to "free markets".

[Adans smith]

He;s a classical liberal, That means he's a libertarian .That means he is a right wing extremest.

[Jerryskids]

Ah, that makes sense now. I was worried there for a minute over the idea that the government propaganda outlet was the only place where you could hear of Communists being referred to as "left-wing" in a derogatory manner.

[Jerryskids]

On a tangential subject, just looking up to see who's running RFA and I came across this.

U.S. President Barack Obama has approved legislation that would consolidate oversight of U.S. nonmilitary broadcasting in the hands of a single chief executive, an overhaul that supporters laud as a much-needed reform but critics warn could endanger journalistic independence.

The legislation, part of a larger bill on U.S. defense spending in 2017 that Obama signed into law on December 23, restructures the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the agency that oversees civilian government broadcasting and media operations such as RFE/RL and Voice of America.

The new law will replace the BBG's bipartisan board with a presidentially appointed advisory board that will not have decision-making powers. Instead, those powers will be placed in the hands of a CEO appointed by the White House and subject to Senate confirmation.

Proponents of the law, which was spearheaded by Representative Ed Royce (Republican-California) and backed by Obama's administration, say it will improve performance of U.S. international broadcasting by scrapping a board consisting of members who served part-time and met infrequently.

I find it hard to believe anybody in Washington does anything for other than ulterior motives, so why this?

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Makes it easier to tweak content by appointing one lackey instead of a while board.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

While

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Dammit

Whole

[Fist of Etiquette]

You had a whale of time with that.

[Crackers Boy]

I assumed you mean White... white privilege and all.

CB

[Pompey:? Class Mothersmucker]

You know, your odds of making that list would be better if you would corpsefuck threads before he gets to them.

[Adans smith]

It's three degrees from Adam Smith.

[Mickey Rat]

Great, now you have gone and triggered Gillespie's angsting about libertarianism not being right wing.

[thrakkorzog]

That's not anything new. Back during the cold war, conservative Americans would clash with conservative Russian conservatives. They were both conservatives, but with diametrically opposing views.

Yet somehow my parents never had to figure out who should they shoot? Reagan or Brezhnev? After all they were both conservatives.

Yes, it would be nice if words were more consistently applied, but as a grammar Nazi, but what can you do? I'm still fighting the battle of "I could care less." It's a really sad hill to die on.

[Mr Drew]

It's a really sad hill to die on.

But totally worth it. "I could care less" is the red flag to my mindless bull.

[lafe.long]

It's a really sad hill to die on.

All of the sudden, I agree with you.

[Bra Ket]

People have been referring to the Chinese authoritarians as "right wing" for a long time. I assumed from the story that these "left wing" groups must be outside the govt or something. Pretty much the only point of any kind of reductionist political language is always just to associate one's domestic political opposites with the foreign bad guys.

[Ted S.]

He shouldn't have posted about sexagenarian nurses getting roughed up by the police.

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

[standing applause]

BTW, did anyone contact, or suggest contact with, Balko to see if he would write about her story?

[(((Renegade)))dicksoutforkaren]

Crickets. He's not interested unless the grievance pyramid points in the correct direction.

OTOH, at least the Brickbat today is legit. So we got that goin' for us. Which is nice.

[lafe.long]

Brickbat: We'll Beat Some Sense Into You: - Jan. 27, 2017

Oklahoma prosecutors have dropped charges of resisting arrest against Pearl Pearson Jr. Pearson was beaten by state troopers for not obeying their commands during a traffic stop. Pearson said he tried to tell them he was deaf and could not understand them but they would not listen. The district attorney cleared the troopers of any criminal wrongdoing.

An example of NOT "too local".
/KMW

[(((Renegade)))dicksoutforkaren]

Grievance pyramid.

[Mr Lizard]

Angry lesbian yet ironically gun themed punk band name?

[Monty Crisco]

LMAO

[Fist of Etiquette]

HOW COULD YOU LAUGH AT THIS???

[Radioactive]

like this...hahahahahahahahaha...now wasn't that easy?

[Monty Crisco]

Did no one notice the dude's name is MAO?!?!?!? Hence, "LMAO".....

For fuck's sake, people.... I expect BETTER!!!!

[Monty Crisco]

Did no one notice the dude's name is MAO?!?!?!? Hence, "LMAO".....

For fuck's sake, people.... I expect BETTER!!!!

[Monty Crisco]

And squirrelz

[Cyto]

You could look at this as either a brickbat, or as astonishing progress. They only closed his social media accounts. Just a few short years ago he would have been "dissapeared" in the middle of the night.

[Mr Lizard]

The lack of true authoritarian commitment is truly dissapointing. Your species just lacks motivation

[straffinrun]

No kidding. Where the hell is Wang Chung?

[Radioactive]

tonight?

[Mickey Rat]

Sleeping off last night's fun.

[Jerryskids]

OT but speaking of brickbats and the free market, my niece wants me to take a look at her dryer because it doesn't do a very good job and she thinks maybe the vent is stopped up. I explained to her she's got a crappy dryer. It's a nice new fairly expensive dryer, a high-efficiency one. You know how they make it efficient? They put a smaller heating element in it. It doesn't use as much electricity. It takes a certain amount of btu's to dry stuff, it's a certain amount of btu's per minute for a certain number of minutes. A smaller heating element means you gotta run the dryer longer, it uses the same number of btu's as the old cheap low-efficiency dryers. Like the low-flow toilets that save water by making you flush the toilet three times, it's actually less efficient because now you gotta remember when the dryer stops, your clothes are still damp and you gotta go reset the timer and run the dryer for a second cycle. If you forget, the next day you've got a dryer full of damp musty clothes you gotta run through the washing machine again. The idiots that come up with this need to be thumped upside the head, making us pay more for crap that doesn't work as well and calling it "efficient". And give me back my 100 watt incandescent light bulbs while you're at it, I'm sitting here with three lights on in the room because they're those damn high-efficiency bulbs I can't see shit with.

[sarcasmic]

A weaker heating element means the motor runs longer, so it uses more juice in the long run. Efficiency!

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

That's right up there with printers that go into energy saver modes after ten seconds so you have to wait 30 seconds while the unit warms up in order to print.

[Griffin3]

And Europe's bizarre obsession that electric kettles must use less power. As long as the outside of the kettle is not getting unreasonably hot, then all the power goes into the water. 1000 watts for 5 minutes, or 500 watts for 10 minutes. No difference, except one wastes the customer's time.

It's almost like the EC wants people to get tired of waiting, and decide lukewarm tea and stiff ramen is just as good as the new 30g ration of chocolate.

[sarcasmic]

Government idiots are so stupid and arrogant that they honestly believe they can change the laws of physics with their dictats.

[ColoradoKook]

They're trying to acclimate everyone for a return to the 19th century sailor's diet. The upside is you'll get daily grog, but it won't be in a pint as that unit of measure is now illegal.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Along those lines, I started performing EGR deletes on my diesel trucks. Wish I had done it sooner, more horsepower and 50% increase in fuel efficiency. Nevermind the improvement in reliability.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Bureaucrat (after being told people use too many bulbs. Snaps finger): 'Hm. I got it! No one is allowed to buy more than one bulb per month! No one needs more than one anyway.'

[UnCivilServant]

I don't get the love for incandescents. They put out a muddy brown light and a lot of heat. CFs and LEDs put out brighter, cleaner and cooler light.

[ace_m82]

They are much cheaper. You may purchase what you like. Our main point isn't that original light bulbs are the greatest, it is that we can't buy them anymore due to men-with-guns (government).

[Radioactive]

it's a sciency thing, you wouldn't understand...top men, blah, blah, blah

[UnCivilServant]

No, it's a bureaucracy thing. The regulators, who know nothing about product design or science dictate that "you must use less than X Watts or less than Y gallons or less than..." not realizing that they have no authority over the laws of physics.

[Radioactive]

butz we can regulate anything...cantz we?

[Nunya]

We should regulate the physics then. We could manifest destiny the shit out of the solar system then.

[Bra Ket]

Yes its irritating to pay extra for a trade-off advertised as an improvement. My wife always is always drawn to electronics that is lighter, quieter, cordless, etc, and it's always annoyingly inferior at its actual job for the extra money. I must have half a dozen cordless little drills around that suck to much to bother using half the time, if they aren't totally dead already anyway, and one good wired one that I have used dependably for decades. Vacuums are a worse racket. I must have spent a thousand bucks on vacuums my wife picks out that are great in every way except actually vacuuming dirt, and $100 bucks on one nice loud, bulky, corded one, that has done most of the real cleaning work.

[Radioactive]

yeah I know what you mean, vacuums really suck...

[Mickey Rat]

Use LEDs. They are efficient, last a long time and can be made into whatever brightness and temperature suits the application. Though they need need a bulb or globe so they are bot overly intense point sources.

[UnCivilServant]

The biggest downside for LEDs today is size and weight. lumen for lumen they are oddly bulkier and heavier than other bulbs. I think it's because they need the diffusion bulb and the step down the 120vac current to something that can run through the LEDs. Nothing else explains the weight.

[Radioactive]

overeating & too little exercise are the usual culprits...

[AddictionMyth]

Suddenly Somalia doesn't seem so bad after all.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Justin Trudueau marvels at their ability to shut shit down.

[Mickey Rat]

Anf Tom Friedman's in his bunk.

[Radioactive]

shut shit down...band name?

[UnCivilServant]

No, Album

[Monty Crisco]

Duh

[Bra Ket]

Reason missed opportunity to work in a dig at Trump's foolishness at failing to treat these authoritarian thugs with sufficient deference and respect. From back when he unwisely had a respectful conversation with the elected leader of the liberal democracy that dares to operate via self-rule on land the authoritarians covet.

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