Arrival of the libertarian moment or libertarian fantasies? and other news and views for Sunday 10 August

  • Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived? – “Libertarians, who long have relished their role as acerbic sideline critics of American political theater, now find themselves and their movement thrust into the middle of it. … the age group most responsible for delivering Obama his two terms may well become a political wild card over time, in large part because of its libertarian leanings. Raised on the ad hoc communalism of the Internet, disenchanted by the Iraq War, reflexively tolerant of other lifestyles, appalled by government intrusion into their private affairs and increasingly convinced that the Obama economy is rigged against them, the millennials can no longer be regarded as faithful Democrats — and a recent poll confirmed that fully half of voters between ages 18 and 29 are unwedded to either party.”
  • Libertarian Fantasies – “… libertarianism is a crusade against problems we don’t have, or at least not to the extent the libertarians want to imagine.”
  • ‘Abbott Lies’ trick backfires on Liberals – Samantha Maiden in the Sunday Telegraph: “The Liberal Party has embraced the unusual political strategy of registering the domain name “Abbott Lies’’ as a web address and redirecting all that traffic to its website promoting this year’s Budget. … Allabbottlies.com.au web traffic is immediately diverted to www.liberal.org.au.”
10-08-2014 gradedistribution
  • Grade Inflation: Evidence from Two Policies – “Grade inflation in U.S. higher education is a disturbing phenomenon.”
  • Classy Dames in Desperate Straits - Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert in ‘The Maids’ at City Center – “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. That’s largely because of Ms. Blanchett … Once again, she proves herself to be the ruling mutation master among contemporary actresses.”
  • Isis consolidates – “As the attention of the world focused on Ukraine and Gaza, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) captured a third of Syria in addition to the quarter of Iraq it had seized in June. The frontiers of the new Caliphate declared by Isis on 29 June are expanding by the day and now cover an area larger than Great Britain and inhabited by at least six million people, a population larger than that of Denmark, Finland or Ireland. … A new and terrifying state has been born.”
10-08-2014 italyeconomy

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