Links - 15th April 2019 (2)

Retaining the royals: why has the British royal family survived and why is it so popular? Why does the British monarchy still exist? - "The 1689 Bill of Rights placed strict limits on the monarch’s power, which continued to dwindle under successive Hanoverian kings as parliamentary reforms saw their rights of patronage whittled away... William IV and Victoria after him were horrified to learn they could not even choose their own prime minister. It was the great Victorian Walter Bagehot who wrote provocatively that Britain was “a secret republic”. But that was the secret of the royal family’s survival, perhaps"

Which British monarch was the last one to have "real power?" : AskHistorians - "The two main events (from an English perspective - my background is English constitutional law) for limiting the powers of the monarch are the execution of King Charles I of England (and of Scotland and Ireland) for treason in 1649 (using the modern calendar - 1648 in the calendar used at the time), and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.King Charles I had claimed divine, and thus absolute power, but his Parliaments had rejected that, trying to curb his authority in various areas. This led to a series of wars (the Wars of the Three Kingdoms) and King Charles's execution for treason. This is probably the clearest indication of the difference between constitutional and political power; constitutionally Charles should have had absolute power, but politically he had none by the end.After a brief flirt with republicanism, Charles's son was invited back from exile and crowned King Charles II in 1660. In theory, again, Charles II had absolute constitutional power. But his political influence varied depending on the composition of Parliament and how popular he was publicly... William and his wife were crowned joint monarchs, King William III and Mary II.Having invited the new monarchs to rule, Parliament felt it had the power to impose conditions on them"

Will the monarchy survive the death of the Queen? - "“The royal family owe a huge amount to the current Queen's skill and character. She enabled Britain's monarchy to survive the general collapse in perceived legitimacy of the hereditary principle in the 20th century. The next generations will have a tough job to weather the inevitable storms of the 21st,” cautions Snow. The Queen sustains remarkable popularity by being an uncontroversial, unifying figure. She does not give interviews, and her public pronouncements reinforce largely innocuous Christian values. The Queen has not been scandalised, nor does she act divisively. Her intervention in the Scottish Referendum was minimal, and she remained entirely silent on the subject of Brexit. Prince Charles is more opinionated, and William may not be satisfied to live a life saying barely anything, either... It is a strange thing to be born a royal, to have limited control over your life, to be forever exposed to public criticism, scrutiny, and forced into a life of service. Prince William and Prince Harry continue to experience intrusions by a press whose conduct has likely scarred their lives. The Queen’s success has been predicated upon a level of commitment, restraint, sacrificing anonymity and the right to self-expression that would not suit everybody. There may come a time when the heir to the throne determines that this sacrifice is simply too much for them and their descendants to bear. It would be a remarkable legacy, for the monarch and the royal family to campaign for their own end"

Daniel Freeman - Wow, there is a criticism out there of the new... - "Wow, there is a criticism out there of the new documentary on Michael Jackson's abuse about how it fails along racial lines by not addressing that the victims are white people accusing a black man. Fucking pathetic. This isn't some narrative about a wide group of people, this is about ONE PERSON. Who preyed on CHILDREN"
"Even pedophilia apparently equals power plus privilege now."

92% of Berlin left-wing activists live with their parents - "The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fuelled offences in Berlin are young men who live with their parents, a new report found. The figures, which were published in daily newspaper Bild revealed that 873 suspects were investigated by authorities between 2003 and 2013. Of these 84 per cent were men, and 72 per cent were aged between 18 and 29... A third of them were unemployed... in four out of five cases the victims were police officers.In 15 per cent of these cases, the victims were right wing activists... Between 2009 and 2013, the Bild report claims, left-wing assassins attempted to commit 11 murders"

Caleb Hull on Twitter - "A real quote from @AOC's former campaign aide: "Democracy means preventing an aristocracy. Democracy should mean taking power and wealth from those who hoard it and making sure it belongs to everyone."

Trouble in the Democratic party - is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez secretly a white supremacist? - NPC Daily - "In a stunning revelation, a photo surfaced from deep within AOC’s Instagram feed from 2013 of her flashing the white power “OK” hand gesture – the very gesture made by white supremacists, Trump and alt-right trolls in order to instill fear and hatred... Keep in mind, she isn’t the only Democrat to show signs of white supremacy. Nancy Pelosi has also been criticized for both her white power salute as well as her unwillingness to follow through with any impeachment measures against Trump. Furthermore, Beto O’Rourke has been caught flashing the white power hand gesture as well. Though he is by far the most threatening and capable Democratic candidate to date, this blatant display of white nationalism is problematic for the entire Democratic party."

More New Yorkers View Ocasio-Cortez As Villain Rather Than Hero After Sabotaging Amazon Deal - "Only 12 percent call her hero, while 38 percent label her a villain... Ocasio Cortez may be popular with New York Democrats, but by and large, the rest of the electorate in New York state can’t stomach her. The poll found that 31% of respondents overall had a favorable impression of Ocasio-Cortez; 44% viewed her unfavorably... After Amazon canceled the deal, Ocasio-Cortez offered her addled version of why killing the deal was a good idea, huffing, "If we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district ourselves, if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that money, if we wanted to."Crain's New York Business editor Erik Engquist was left nonplused by that explanation, tweeting, “I’ve been telling @AOC critics that she is smart, but what do I say when she says nonsense like 'we could invest those $3 billion in [@amazon tax breaks] in our district. We could hire more teachers. We can fix our subways, we can put a lot of people to work for that money.’”"

Survey of Top Economists Suggests Ocasio-Cortez Is Out of Her Depth - "Progressives have lately been abuzz about an economic theory that can be used to justify a nearly indefinite expansion of government.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for one, said last month that Modern Monetary Theory, as it is known, “absolutely” needs to be “a larger part of our conversation.”However, 42 leading U.S. economists were recently asked to weigh in on MMT, and their response was unanimous rejection"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Controversy Playbook - "being hated by the right people is the best way to get not just a big following but an intensely loyal one. I’ve written about this before, but I think it’s worth revisiting in the context of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the “it girl” (sorry, “it person”) of the Left these days.The head of the DNC not long ago referred to her as “the future of the Democratic party.” She’s received fawning, glowing-to-the-point-of-incandescent coverage from the mainstream media and outsized critical attention from Fox News and other right-leaning outlets.AOC, as many call her, is attractive, young, Hispanic, and almost eloquent in her passion for some ill-defined notion of socialism or social democracy. She also says many untrue and silly things. Just this week, she suggested in a tweet that the Pentagon misplaced some $21 trillion in funding that could have paid for most of a $32 trillion “Medicare for All” scheme. A Defense Department spokesman told the Washington Post’s Fact Checker column: “DoD hasn’t received $21 trillion in (nominal) appropriated funding across the entirety of American history.”In recent months, she said unemployment was low because so many people are working two jobs (that’s not how it works), that the “upper-middle class doesn’t exist anymore” (it does), and that we’d save money on funeral expenses if we had “Medicare for All.”If you point out the absurdity of these things, the almost instantaneous defense is that her critics are obsessed with an incoming-freshman congresswoman. In some cases, they’re right. The fixation some conservatives have with her clothes is over the top (though I did love one wag’s phrase, “Neiman Marxist”).But what her defenders leave out is their own obsession with the woman.In other words, AOC is quite brilliantly playing a lot of people for suckers. She already has more Twitter followers than the other 60 incoming freshman Democrats combined.Ocasio-Cortez, wittingly or not, has appropriated a technique mastered by President Trump"

Twitter Locks Writer's Account After Asking Why Ocasio-Cortez's Boyfriend Has a House.gov Email - "Twitter locked the account of writer and podcast host Luke Thompson after he sent a tweet questioning why the boyfriend of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appears to have an official house.gov email address... Twitter immediately sprung into action to lock Thompson’s account after he questioned a public official."

Ocasio-Cortez Living in Luxury Navy Yard Apartment Building - "Ocasio-Cortez's living situation was frequently misrepresented during her successful campaign focused on being relatable to the "working-class struggles" of fellow New Yorkers, with reports falsely indicating that the family had to "fight off foreclosure" on the Bronx apartment."In 2008, Ocasio-Cortez's father passed away from cancer when he was just 48," wrote CNBC. "In order to help fight off foreclosure on her family's apartment in the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez took on several jobs in restaurants—often working 18-hour shifts."The confusion was caused by Ocasio-Cortez, who avoided mentioning, before it was revealed by the Daily Mail, that her father had purchased a second residence—a three-bedroom home about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester—where she moved as a young child."

Ryan Saavedra on Twitter: "Ocasio-Cortez on Trump's speech - "I think that the president was unprepared. I don't think that he did his homework" 76% of Americans approved of Trump's speech AOC repeatedly refused to stand and applaud, including when Trump called for a crackdown on child sex trafficking"

SHOCKER: WaPo Gives Ocasio-Cortez Three Pinocchios, Says She's 'Fast And Loose With The Facts'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s $21 trillion mistake - "Ocasio-Cortez is not the first Twitter user to mangle information from a news report. But it’s unconvincing to try to pass this off as a rhetorical point being misread. She cited the $21 trillion figure and said “66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.”That’s a direct comparison. It’s badly flawed. The same article she referenced on Twitter would have set her straight. The tweet is still up, probably causing confusion. So we will award Four Pinocchios to Ocasio-Cortez."

'POMPOUS LITTLE TWIT': Greenpeace Co-Founder Unloads On Ocasio-Cortez - "Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, slammed socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Saturday for being a hypocrite over living a lifestyle that does not align with her extremist views on climate change. Moore, who has a Ph.D. in ecology, called out Ocasio-Cortez after she mocked a New York Post article that highlighted her numerous flights and car travel — which are things she attacked in her Green New Deal... "Yup. If you don’t like the #GreenNewDeal, then come up with your own ambitious, on-scale proposal to address the global climate crisis," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on February 22. "Until then, we’re in charge - and you’re just shouting from the cheap seats." Moore responded: "Pompous little twit. You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities. Horses? If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating. You would bring about mass death.""

Everyone Who's Never Read A History Book Shocked As Socialist Turns Into Authoritarian At First Whiff Of Power | The Babylon Bee - "After a recently elected democratic socialist politician suddenly began using authoritarian, elitist-sounding language mere weeks after getting her first whiff of power, every single person in the country who's never read a history book expressed their shock and surprise at the sudden transformation.The woman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted "We're in charge" in the context of a proposed sweeping government takeover of the economy, saying her critics who haven't proposed an alternative were "shouting from the cheap seats.""