Men of sense often learn from their enemies.
It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn
the lesson of building high walls and ships of war;
and this lesson saves their children, their homes, and their properties.
Aristophanes
Tweet of the Day
@realDonaldTrump has gotten a poll boost from the Paris attacks. He has managed to keep refugees out of his properties because of prices
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 19, 2015
@GeorgeWill is, next to Stossel and Napolitano, the best thing going on FNC. @realDonaldTrump should be thrown off Presidential Apppentice.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 20, 2015
Never forget the tragedy of the St. Louis, when FDR refused to admit European Jewish refugees. Obama should veto refugee restrictions.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 20, 2015
@GeorgeWill is right. Amateur hour in the GOP Presidential race is over. We need a principled governor, not Trump. https://t.co/HRpr9Pbst0
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) November 20, 2015
The NYT/State Fascism v Economic LibertyPolitical Potpourri
Trump does seem to have gotten a post-Paris tragedy boost, with two national polls putting Trump in front of Carson by 4 and 7 points respectively. Rubio places third and fourth (by 1 point behind Cruz) in the early teens. FNC released its NH poll, the third this month to show Trump with a double-digit lead and the second one showing Carson in single-digits. Rubio seems to have plateaued at about 13 points, but he continues a streak of second or third place finishes. But Trump seems to have been capped in the upper-20's. He is not getting any momentum, say, from the 3 governors who have discontinued their campaigns. I still think we're seeing something like a 1996 Dole-Buchanan situation, where the opposition to Trump coalesces around one candidate, which at this point looks most likely to be Rubio. I'm not counting Carson out yet; I need to see how his support shores up in state polls he recently won. We're probably overdue another Iowa poll soon.
City Policy Caused the Problem It Uses To Create Business Exit Barriers
Entertainment Potpourri
I wrote an earlier rant this week about "progressive" themes in cable holiday flicks, basically targeting the hoarding rich, etc. Rather than watching another holiday rerun, I decided to watch "You've Got Mail" for the umpteenth time.
This is not the first time I've discussed this flick in the blog. For the unfamiliar, Joe Fox, business executive for a massive family-controlled books chain, anonymously meets Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a NYC mom-and-pop children's bookstore, in an Internet chatroom. Kelly is concerned about a new Fox Books, knowing she can't compete with the book chain's scale and low prices and leads a quixotic populist protest against Fox Books. Joe eventually discovers that feuding Kathleen is his mystery pen pal; the boy eventually gets the girl, but as a free market guy, I'm particularly interested in the economics of the story. Kathleen, for instance, turns out to be a gifted children's writer, which she never learned until freed from the long hours of running a barely profitable bookshop. (There's a part of me rooting for Kathleen; one of my little sisters used to hold to do children's storytime, in her case at the local library.) But there's a fascinating scene where, as her business is starting to fail, she visits the children's section of the Fox bookstore and she notices kids reading and playing all over the place. I think she understands that low prices open up reading options for struggling families, and Joe's marketing gimmicks that made shopping for books a fun experience is positive. I think she begins to let go personalizing the loss of her store.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI |
Aretha Franklin, "Day Dreaming"
