Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea.

Local Snow-Lovers' Delight (VIDEO)

It's been cold weather around here this last few days, and that's great new for local resorts.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Lightning Deals

Shop today, at Amazon, Today's Deals New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

See especially, OMorc Ski Goggles, Anti-Fog &100% UV400 Protection, OTG Snowboard Goggles with 180° Wide Viewing Angle and Big Spherical Dual Lens, Helmet Compatible Snow Goggles for Men Women Adult & Youth.

And, MistAire Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier - Premium Humidifying Unit with Whisper-Quiet Operation, Automatic Shut-Off, and Night Light Function.

More, Ray-Ban RB3025 Aviator Large Metal Unisex Sunglasses.

Here, Remington PR1385 R8000 Series Wet/Dry Men's Electric Razor, Red.

Also, Craftsman Evolv 3 Piece Adjustable Wrench Set With Ergonomic Grips Handles, 9-10063.

Still more, Legendary Whitetails Men's Archer Thermal Lined Shirt Jacket.

BONUS: Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

How Progressives Win the Culture War

From David Brooks, at the New York Times:

What’s happening today is that certain ideas about gun rights, and maybe gun ownership itself, are being cast in the realm of the morally illegitimate and socially unacceptable https://t.co/2mXNbOi04X

— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) March 2, 2018

I wonder if I’m wrong on the subject of guns. I started this latest round of the debate with the presumption that supporters of moderate gun restrictions are popularly strong but legislatively weak. Since Sandy Hook in 2012, more than two dozen states have passed gun laws and almost all of those laws have LOOSENED gun restrictions. Roughly 360 gun bills have been introduced in Congress, and they have all failed but one, which also loosened gun use.

The blunt fact is that Republicans control most legislatures. To get anything passed, I thought, it would be necessary to separate some Republicans from the absolutist N.R.A. position. To do that you have to depolarize the issue: show gun owners some respect, put red state figures at the head and make the gun discussion look more like the opioid discussion. The tribalists in this country have little interest in the opioid issue. As a result, a lot of pragmatic things are being done across partisan lines.

The people pushing for gun restrictions have basically done the exact opposite of what I thought was wise. Instead of depolarizing the issue they have massively polarized it. The students from Parkland are being assisted by all the usual hyper-polarizing left-wing groups: Planned Parenthood, Move On and the Women’s March. The rhetoric has been extreme. Marco Rubio has been likened to a mass murderer while the N.R.A. has been called a terrorist organization.

The early results would seem to completely vindicate my position. The Florida Legislature turned aside gun restrictions. New gun measures in Congress have been quickly shelved. Democrats are more likely to lose House and Senate seats in the key 2018 pro-gun states. The losing streak continues.

Yet I have to admit that something bigger is going on. It could be that progressives understood something I didn’t. It could be that you can win more important victories through an aggressive cultural crusade than you can through legislation. Progressives could be on the verge of delegitimizing their foes, on guns but also much else, rendering them untouchable for anybody who wants to stay in polite society. That would produce social changes far vaster than limiting assault rifles...

More.

Trade War

I personally favor free trade, mainly because I studies lots and lots of economics in college and grad school and the evidence is overwhelming. Also because the 1930s. But I see President Trump's announcement of tariffs in the larger context of the populist revolt against the elites, elites who impose penalties and unpopular policies on the rubes. I can relate standing up for your own people when the rest of the world looks like it's going "pear-shaped," to borrow from Pat Condell.

In any case, at the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "In Retaliation for Trump's Plan, E.U. Leader Threatens Tariffs on Bourbon and Bluejeans."

And at Bloomberg:

Trump's steel tariff shakes global trade order, EU group warns https://t.co/JO1TCv1tmm pic.twitter.com/zmlGrECGPM

— Bloomberg (@business) March 2, 2018

Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind

Out in paperback, Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left.

Florida Shooter Nickolas Cruz Left 180 Rounds of Ammunition Inside the School Along With His Rifle (VIDEO)

Earlier entries on Parkland are here.

Release the Florida School Shooting Surveillance Video

From the irrepressible Michelle Malkin:

Open government isn’t just good government. It’s the public’s right.

In Florida, the Broward County Sheriff’s office and Broward County school district are fighting to keep exterior surveillance video from the day of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hidden from view. As journalists and citizens who’ve waged uphill battles against secrecy well know, government agencies too often invoke broad disclosure exemptions in the name of protecting public safety when they’re really just trying to protect their own jobs.

Feckless Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and media-luvin’ school Superintendent Robert Runcie are defendants in an open records lawsuit filed Tuesday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald and CNN.

Here is the lawsuit petition...

Click through to read the petition and the rest of the post.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Tipped Off Illegal Aliens Ahead of ICE Enforcement

At the Washington Post, via Memeorandum, "Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tipped off immigrants about ICE raid and isn't sorry she did."

And at Althouse.

More at the San Francisco Chronicle:

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be conducting an operation in the Bay Area in the next day or so.https://t.co/xcqWge3VRX

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) February 25, 2018

Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War

At Amazon, Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa.

By More Than 2-1 (63-29 Percent), Public Says Semi-Automatic Weapons Like the AR-15 Should Be Banned

From Susan Page, at USA Today, "Poll: Americans support tougher gun laws, don't expect Congress to act."

Just posted: President Trump's job-approval rating drops to a new low, 38%, in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, and the intensity of feeling is hardening against him. https://t.co/h38qKTGlRs via @usatoday

— Susan Page (@SusanPage) February 25, 2018

The USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll of 1,000 registered voters nationwide, taken Tuesday through Saturday, has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

On guns, a nation that is often divided on issues is remarkably united:

* By almost 2-1, 61%-33%, they say tightening gun-control laws and background checks would prevent more mass shootings in the United States.
* By more than 2-1, 63%-29%, they say semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, used by the Florida shooter, should be banned.
* By more than 6-1, 76%-12%, they say people who have been treated for mental illness should be banned from owning a firearm.

Even gun owners are inclined to support those three measures. But a majority of Republicans say tighter gun laws wouldn't prevent more mass shootings, and they oppose banning semi-automatic weapons.

Easy test. Run on it. Every single one of you. Run. On. It. Dispense with the euphemisms. Primary everyone who won’t submit. https://t.co/Rdc2m4FnWd

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 26, 2018

Also, Republicans & @NRA say *real* agenda of gun control advocates is to ban all semi-automatic weapons. This is supposed to scare the public, but would it?

Majority favors the idea, 44% "very strongly" in new @YouGov @TheEconomist poll. https://t.co/HqldiyPZXk pic.twitter.com/QiCPCUpZnX

— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) February 26, 2018

RUN. ON. IT.

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 26, 2018

James Damore at Portland State University

From Andy Ngo, at Quillette, "Damore, Diversity, and Disruption at PSU."

We invited @JamesADamore to speak about viewpoint diversity & his memo. Some were determined to shut us down. Full video: https://t.co/nmoWgMTmi7 #JamesDamorePSU pic.twitter.com/0BDdKf1K4a

— Andy C. Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 26, 2018

No Party in Britain Speaks for, or Even Appeals to, the Working Class

At Spiked Online, "How the Working Class Was Shut Out of Politics."

The Homeless Are Not Who You Think They Are

Following-up, "Los Angeles' Homelessness Crisis is a National Disgrace."

At LAT, "Los Angeles' Homelessness Crisis is a National Disgrace."

"A city cannot say it’s full. The region must build denser and taller to make space for the people who are already here." https://t.co/rr3libu4xB

— L.A. Times Opinion (@latimesopinion) February 26, 2018

'Decolonizing' Everything

I tell you, I'm dealing with more and more of this kind of radical ideology even at my school, at the community college level.

It's unreal, frankly.

At the American Conservative, "The Censorious Left’s Latest Mania: ‘Decolonizing’ Everything":

Their obsession with destroying white, euro-centric ‘domination,’ wherever it may be, has become patronizing and authoritarian. https://t.co/RSesKUbLBk

— The American Conservative (@amconmag) February 24, 2018

At Northern Michigan University, students can discover how to “decolonize” their diet. That means learning “about where the common foods and ingredients come from, what a ‘decolonizing diet’ is, and how they can incorporate the diet into their daily lives.”

Meanwhile, the editors of the American Historical Review have announced plans to decolonize the journal and confront its “past lack of openness to scholars and scholarship due to race, color, creed, gender, sexuality, nationality and a host of other assigned characteristics.”

In the UK, London’s School of Oriental and African Studies has announced plans to “decolonize” its degree courses following high-profile student campaigns such as “Why is My Curriculum White?” that are critical of “the domination of white ‘Eurocentric’ writers and thinkers.” Last year, students at Reed College protested the Eurocentrism of their Introduction to Humanities course. At Yale University students petitioned for the removal of a course in Major English Poets that featured, surprisingly enough, mostly white men. Thanks to their efforts, that course has now been downgraded to optional.

The fight to decolonize Harvard led to the removal of the Royal family seal, for fear that it might “evoke associations with slavery.” At the University of Oxford a plaque honoring Cecil Rhodes, the British imperialist who established the Rhodes Scholarships, has been taken down. At Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, professors can take a course in decolonizing education in order to “understand indigenous perspectives in the history of colonization to contemporary realities in Canada.” All around the world, universities are decolonizing courses, buildings, libraries, and reading lists.

The drive to decolonize is not confined to academia. In the UK we have discussions about decolonizing health care, translation, and feminist art. There are campaigns to decolonize architecture in the United Arab Emirates, the media in New Zealand, design in Mexico, bookshelves in South Africa, and seemingly the whole of Alaska. Throughout the U.S. we’ve seen the removal of Confederate monuments. Clearly, we have many unresolved issues with the past. But too often the rush to decolonize evades a discussion of history and instead paints everything that happened before today as irredeemably racist and wicked—in need of obliteration rather than discussion.

Last year, the journal Third World Quarterly published an article in which Bruce Gilley set out “The Case for Colonialism.” Those who read the piece criticized it for shoddy scholarship and historical inaccuracies. But most of us will never know how it measured up, as the publication was soon withdrawn following threats to the journal’s editor. In the UK, Oxford University’s Professor Nigel Biggar wrote a newspaper article arguing that people should not “feel guilty about our colonial history,” and as a consequence received a critical letter from over 200 colleagues and scholars condemning him as “an apologist for colonialism.” Biggar said: “There is a view that people with views like mine are not to be reasoned with, but only to be silenced.”

Preventing all discussion of colonialism erases, rather than confronts, the past. Indeed, the logic of the decolonize movement is that colonialism is not a legacy of history but a malignant impact upon the present. This sleight of hand allows campaigners to equate past invasion, murder, oppression, and exploitation with being made to sit through a lecture on Kant or Shakespeare in an expensive and elite institution...

Sill more.

Los Angeles' Homelessness Crisis is a National Disgrace

The L.A. Times begins a series of editorials on the city's homeless crisis today.

It's a thoughtful piece, putting a lot of things in context, including recent local voter initiatives to fund new programs and housing to alleviate the crisis.

See, "Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis is a national disgrace":

"Years of infighting, mixed messages and failures of political will on homelessness must come to an end." https://t.co/ycV8YpVvg0

— L.A. Times Opinion (@latimesopinion) February 25, 2018

How did we get here? From the founding of this newspaper in 1881, the pages of The Times have been filled with stories of those we have called, at various times, vagrants, hobos, tramps, transients and drifters. And for as long as there have been homeless people, there has been a tendency to blame the victims themselves for their condition — to see their failure to thrive as an issue of character, of moral weakness, of laziness. Since the “deinstitutionalization” of the mentally ill in the second half of the 20th century, and the subsequent failure of government to provide the promised outpatient services for those who had been released, the problem has grown significantly worse.

Today, a confluence of factors is driving people onto the streets. The shredding of the safety net in Washington and here in California is one. (Consider the inexcusable shortage of federal Section 8 vouchers for subsidized low-income housing, or the dismally low level of “general relief payments” for the county’s neediest single adults.)

At the same time, California is experiencing a severe housing shortage. Gentrification is taking more and more once-affordable rental units off the L.A. market, and restrictive zoning laws along with high construction costs and anti-development sentiment make new affordable units hard to build. Over the last six years, the rent for a studio apartment in Los Angeles has climbed 92%, according to UCLA law professor emeritus Gary Blasi, so that even people who have jobs can find themselves living on the streets after a rent spike or an unexpected crisis. As Blasi notes: “In America, housing is a commodity. If you can afford it, you have it; if you can’t, you don’t.”

Contrary to popular belief, the homeless in Los Angeles are not mostly mentally ill or drug addicted, raving or matted-haired or frightening — although a sizable minority meet some of those descriptions. They are not mostly people who drifted in from other states in search of a comfy climate in which to sponge off of others; the overwhelming majority have lived in the region for years. Today, a greater and greater proportion of people living on the streets are there because of bad luck or a series of mistakes, or because the economy forgot them — they lost a job or were evicted or fled an abusive marriage just as the housing market was growing increasingly unforgiving.

It will surprise no one to learn that it is the most vulnerable among us who usually end up without a place to live. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, more than 5,000 of the county’s 58,000 homeless people are children and more than 4,000 are elderly. About one-third are mentally ill. Some 40% are African American. Also heavily represented: Veterans. The disabled. Young people from the county’s overwhelmed juvenile justice system and its foster care programs. Men and women just released from jail, without the tools or skills needed for reentering society. Patients released from public hospitals — often with untreated cancers, infections, heart disease or diabetes. Victims of domestic violence.

All the great social issues of American society play out in homelessness — inequality, racial injustice, poverty, violence, sexism. Naturally, life expectancy for the homeless is short: about 47 years, according to skid row doctor Susan Partovi, compared with 78 in the population as a whole...

RTWT.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel with Jake Tapper on CNN's 'State of the Union' (VIDEO)

The sheriff actually claims "I've given amazing leadership to this agency..."

I can't believe he hasn't been fired yet.

At Hot Air, "The Brutal Waterboarding, Er… Interview of the Broward County Sheriff.

The Gun-Control Debate Could Break America (VIDEO)

From David French, at National Review, and with Michael Smerconish below:

I was just making this argument from @davidafrench to @SethAMandel and of course, David already wrote it and better than I ever could. https://t.co/EZPVRxEEsb

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) February 25, 2018

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Disastrous Visit to India

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "The Gross Cultural Appropriation Sideshow of the Trudeau Family in India."

And at Blazing Cat Fur, "Trudeau Deals With Fallout From Disastrous India Trip."

More, via Iowa Hawk:

The indispensable Tim Blair reviews Canadian Lampoon's Subcontinent Vacationhttps://t.co/SULqN2DYGw

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 25, 2018

Dana Loesch on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' (VIDEO)

At Twitchy, "Tough as NAILS: WATCH Dana Loesch SCHOOL George Stephanopoulos while BLASTING Sheriff Israel."

And at ABC News: