Tag: news

More “campus rape crisis” weirdness came from the White House
today, where President Obama and Vice President Biden announced the
launch of a new initiative called “It’s on Us”. The campaign will feature
celebrity-studded public service announcements aired during college
sporting events and promotions from the likes of MTV, BET, and
video-game company Electronic Arts. 

In explaining the initiative
on the White House blog, Jeffrey Zients—Obama’s economic
adviser (because nothing about this makes any sense)—wrote that
“It’s on Us” is “not just a slogan or catchphrase”:

It’s the whole point. Because in a country where one in five
women on college campuses has been sexually assaulted— only 12
percent of which are reported—this is a problem that should be
important to every single one of us, and it’s on every single one
of us to do something to end the problem.

Reading Zients’ post, I was reminded of author and professor
Joel Best speaking on the hallmarks of how media hype (and
the attendent bogus statistics) get promulgated: First there is
a high-profile tragic event, then the need to define the event as
part of an identifiable Problem (“the heroin epidemic”), and then a
desire to quantify the problem so as to place it in a larger
context. I put “campus rape crisis” in quotes not to diminish the
seriousness of sexual assault but because I think the phrase is a
prime example of the phenomenon Best describes. Rape is a problem
wherever it happens, which is sometimes on campus and more
frequently not. The “campus rape crisis” is a thing perpetuated by
people interested in profiting from the fear in various ways.

When you make up a problem—and again, let’s be clear that I’m
not saying rape, the underreporting of rape, or the way campuses
handle rape is a made-up problem, but rather the idea that college
campuses are some sort of rape epicenter—it is much easier to get
credit for solving that problem. The White House doesn’t actually
have to impact rape rates or rape prosecution rates or anything
tangible, because that’s not how it has defined the problem. It’s
central concern is raising awareness about rape on
college campus, a goal both amorphous and measurable in Facebook
likes.

What’s “on us”, according to the newly-launched campaign
website, is the imperative “to recognize that non-consensual sex is
sexual assault”, “to identify situations in which sexual assault
may occur”, “to intervene in situations where consent has not or
cannot be given,” and “to create an environment in which sexual
assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.” If you agree
with these vague statements, you can take The Pledge: “a personal
commitment to help keep women and men safe from sexual assault” and
“a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part
of the solution.” I took the pledge and received the following
message:

Thank you for your commitment to stopping sexual assault. Turn
your profile photo into an It’s On Us badge to show your pledged
commitment to helping stop sexual assault.

The It’s on Us site also offers sexual-assault prevention tips,
which range from the banal (“keep an eye on someone who has had too
much to drink”) to the oddly aggressive. “If you see something,
intervene in any way you can”, says one. “Get in the way by
creating a distraction, drawing attention to the situation, or
separating them” says another. The focus on “bystander
intervention” comes across unsettling—less an insistence that
friends help friends avoid creeps than a world where one’s to be on
the lookout always for ways to stop strangers from serving each
other drinks. 

It’s not a terrible campaign, all-around. Some of the tips are
sensible. And a sexual-assault prevention initiative aimed equally
at men and women that explicitly eschews victim blaming and
highlights the importance of consent is actually pretty radical. If
this were a campaign run by MTV or a private foundation or a
network of college campus-groups, I might be more applauding of
their efforts. But I reject that this is a job for the President
and Vice President. 

And I reject the larger premise of the It’s on Us campaign: that
all societal problems require federal government action, and that
college sexual assaults in particular are an area in need of
“bystander intervention” from Uncle Sam. Zients says “this new
initiative will help move (the Administration’s) work forward
by creating a new energy and awareness around these issues on
campuses across America.” I’m convinced this campaign is designed
to advance the White House’s goals, just not in the way Zients
suggests. 

While the Obama administration splits hairs over
whether literally having armed American soldiers on Iraqi soil
counts as “troops
on the ground” (hint: It does) and quibbles about whether it’s
a good idea to arm so-called moderate rebels in Syria to fight ISIS
(hint:
The CIA says it’s not), the U.S.’s primary strategy in Iraq War
III has been airstrikes. How many billions of dollars is this going
to cost America, though?

It’s an important question posed by
Foreign Affairs, which calculates that “current estimates
put the yearly price tag for ISIS bombings at anywhere between $2.7
billion, if the current pace continues unchanged, and $10 billion,
if the United States escalates the air campaign and expands it into
Syria.” Obama has
suggested that fighting the Islamic state will take three
years. The U.S. began conducting air surveillance over Syria last
month, but so far has not dropped bombs.

Foreign Affairs contrasts this war with the
March-October 2011 bombing campaign in Libya, which “was shared
among several allies,” and cost about $1.1 billion. The global
price tag of bombing the Islamic State will rise since France just
initiated its own campaign
today.

The journal has put together some
impressive data on this war alongside comparisons to the U.S.’s
other air campaigns in countries like Yemen and Somalia, and notes
that “in the sheer number of strikes, the intensity of the U.S.
effort against ISIS has already exceeded both of these much
longer campaigns.” The U.S. has already conducted 174 strikes in
about a month’s time (two since
this Wednesday), compared to 350 in Pakistan, which we’ve been
bombing since 2008. 

Also notable is that in past campaigns, “airstrikes took a small
but significant toll on the civilian population.”

The three-year war plan makes a big assumption that things go
smoothly, which looks less and less likely as more volatile groups
emerge.

There are now over 50 Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militias
fighting ISIS, which is Sunni Muslim. Foreign Policy

notes that these “highly ideological, anti-American” groups
commit human rights violations that make them hardly better than
the Islamic State. They’re doing just as much as their enemy to
undermine the Baghdad government’s claim to authority, and they’re
throwing a huge wrench in “Obama’s stated
goal of working with an inclusive Iraqi government to push
back [ISIS].”

There’s a big can of worms, and the president can’t seem to
resist opening it. 

A lot of
folks are fervently forecasting that U.S. shale gas and oil
production is a bubble about to pop, possibly producing an economic
collapse similar to the one in 2008. For example, the left-leaning
Center for Research on Globalization in Montreal piled on earlier
this week citing reports that dismiss the shale revolution as a
“Ponzi scheme” and “this decade’s version of the Dotcom bubble.” On
the other hand, back in 2012 President Barack Obama claimed, “We
have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100
years”? Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey delves
into the data behind domestic oil and gas production projections to
find out who is right.

View this article.

A lot of
folks are fervently forecasting that U.S. shale gas and oil
production is a bubble about to pop, possibly producing an economic
collapse similar to the one in 2008. For example, the left-leaning
Center for Research on Globalization in Montreal piled on earlier
this week citing reports that dismiss the shale revolution as a
“Ponzi scheme” and “this decade’s version of the Dotcom bubble.” On
the other hand, back in 2012 President Barack Obama claimed, “We
have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100
years”? Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey delves
into the data behind domestic oil and gas production projections to
find out who is right.

View this article.

Seven weeks before Election Day, a
new Marist poll finds that 65 percent of voters in Washington,
D.C., favor Initiative
71, which would make it legal for adults 21 or older to possess
up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home.
The survey, sponsored by The Washington Post and the
local NBC station, found that just 33 percent of voters opposed the
initiative, with 2 percent undecided. “Voters in the District of
Columbia are poised to follow Colorado and Washington state into a
closely watched experiment to legalize marijuana,” the
Post concludes.
“The results show an electorate unshaken—even emboldened — nine
months after legal marijuana sales began in Colorado and six months
after D.C. lawmakers stripped away jail time for possession,
making it just a $25 offense.”

The initiative’s 2-to-1 advantage is especially impressive
in light of the Yes on 71 campaign’s meager resources. The
Post says the measure’s backers “have almost no money
in their campaign account and may not run a single ad.” Yet
“support seems increasingly hardened.”

The Post notes that “a complete reversal of opinions
among African Americans,” who account for half pf Washington’s
population, helps explain the initiative’s popularity. Although
white residents are still more likely to favor legalization, black
residents are much more inclined to vote that way than they used to
be. Four years ago, 55 percent opposed legalization, and now 56
percent support it.

Concerns about the racially disproportionate impact of marijuana
prohibition probably have a lot to do with that dramatic shift in
opinion. Nationwide, according to a 2013
ACLU report, blacks are about four times as likely to be
arrested for marijuana possession as whites, even though they are
about equally likely to smoke pot. In D.C., blacks are eight
times as likely to be busted for pot. D.C. also has a far
higher marijuana arrest rate than any other jurisdiction in the
country: 846 per 100,000 residents in 2010, compared to 535 in New
York City (D.C.’s closest competitor) and a national average of
256.

Because of restrictions on the policy changes that can be made
through ballot measures in D.C., Initiative 71 does not legalize
commercial production or sale of marijuana, although it does allow
people who grow it at home to transfer up to an ounce at a time
“without remuneration.” Legalization of the cannabis industry would
be left to the D.C. Council, which could be overridden by
Congress.

The
last congressional effort to stymie marijuana reform in D.C.,
led by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), consisted of an amendment that
would have barred the District from spending public money “to enact
or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise
reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or
distribution” of a controlled substance. The House approved Harris’
amendment in June, but it was
dropped from the final version of the spending bill. Harris

plans to try again if Initiative 71 passes.

The
prospects for legalization in Alaska look considerably dimmer.
A Public Policy Polling
survey conducted at the end of July put support for Measure 2,
that state’s legalization initiative, at 44 percent, with 49
percent opposed. In a
survey by the same organization last May, 48 percent of voters
favored Measure 2 and 45 percent were against it.

Support for legalization in Oregon seems to fall somewhere
between the numbers in D.C. and Alaska. Last May a
DHM Research survey commissioned by Oregon Public Broadcasting
found that 54 percent of voters favored “legalizing marijuana for
adults 21 and older,” as  Measure 91 would do; 38 percent
were against legalization, and 9 percent were undecided. A

June poll by SurveyUSA found that 51 percent of voters favored
legalization, including commercial production and distribution,
while 41 percent were opposed and 8 percent were undecided.

Amendment 2, which
would make Florida the first Southern state to approve medical use
of marijuana, is also ahead in the polls. As a constitutional
amendment, it needs 60 percent support
to pass. A Quinnipiac
University Poll conducted in July put support at a whopping 88
percent, which helps explain the opposition’s
hilarious hysteria.

I considered “Where
Pot Might Be Legal Next” in a column last July. 

Seven weeks before Election Day, a
new Marist poll finds that 65 percent of voters in Washington,
D.C., favor Initiative
71, which would make it legal for adults 21 or older to possess
up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home.
The survey, sponsored by The Washington Post and the
local NBC station, found that just 33 percent of voters opposed the
initiative, with 2 percent undecided. “Voters in the District of
Columbia are poised to follow Colorado and Washington state into a
closely watched experiment to legalize marijuana,” the
Post concludes.
“The results show an electorate unshaken—even emboldened — nine
months after legal marijuana sales began in Colorado and six months
after D.C. lawmakers stripped away jail time for possession,
making it just a $25 offense.”

The initiative’s 2-to-1 advantage is especially impressive
in light of the Yes on 71 campaign’s meager resources. The
Post says the measure’s backers “have almost no money
in their campaign account and may not run a single ad.” Yet
“support seems increasingly hardened.”

The Post notes that “a complete reversal of opinions
among African Americans,” who account for half pf Washington’s
population, helps explain the initiative’s popularity. Although
white residents are still more likely to favor legalization, black
residents are much more inclined to vote that way than they used to
be. Four years ago, 55 percent opposed legalization, and now 56
percent support it.

Concerns about the racially disproportionate impact of marijuana
prohibition probably have a lot to do with that dramatic shift in
opinion. Nationwide, according to a 2013
ACLU report, blacks are about four times as likely to be
arrested for marijuana possession as whites, even though they are
about equally likely to smoke pot. In D.C., blacks are eight
times as likely to be busted for pot. D.C. also has a far
higher marijuana arrest rate than any other jurisdiction in the
country: 846 per 100,000 residents in 2010, compared to 535 in New
York City (D.C.’s closest competitor) and a national average of
256.

Because of restrictions on the policy changes that can be made
through ballot measures in D.C., Initiative 71 does not legalize
commercial production or sale of marijuana, although it does allow
people who grow it at home to transfer up to an ounce at a time
“without remuneration.” Legalization of the cannabis industry would
be left to the D.C. Council, which could be overridden by
Congress.

The
last congressional effort to stymie marijuana reform in D.C.,
led by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), consisted of an amendment that
would have barred the District from spending public money “to enact
or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise
reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or
distribution” of a controlled substance. The House approved Harris’
amendment in June, but it was
dropped from the final version of the spending bill. Harris

plans to try again if Initiative 71 passes.

The
prospects for legalization in Alaska look considerably dimmer.
A Public Policy Polling
survey conducted at the end of July put support for Measure 2,
that state’s legalization initiative, at 44 percent, with 49
percent opposed. In a
survey by the same organization last May, 48 percent of voters
favored Measure 2 and 45 percent were against it.

Support for legalization in Oregon seems to fall somewhere
between the numbers in D.C. and Alaska. Last May a
DHM Research survey commissioned by Oregon Public Broadcasting
found that 54 percent of voters favored “legalizing marijuana for
adults 21 and older,” as  Measure 91 would do; 38 percent
were against legalization, and 9 percent were undecided. A

June poll by SurveyUSA found that 51 percent of voters favored
legalization, including commercial production and distribution,
while 41 percent were opposed and 8 percent were undecided.

Amendment 2, which
would make Florida the first Southern state to approve medical use
of marijuana, is also ahead in the polls. As a constitutional
amendment, it needs 60 percent support
to pass. A Quinnipiac
University Poll conducted in July put support at a whopping 88
percent, which helps explain the opposition’s
hilarious hysteria.

I considered “Where
Pot Might Be Legal Next” in a column last July.