There's an excellent op-ed piece in today's NY Post by William McGurn, who profiles Jason Riley, author of Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed. Here are highlights, edited by yours truly:
It’s not only Park Slope progressives such as Mayor DeBlasio that Riley has in mind: “One lesson of the Obama presidency — maybe the most important one for blacks — is that having a black man in the Oval Office is less important than having one in the home.” His fundamental question is this: “At what point does helping start hurting?” And it comes at a timely moment in our history, 50 years after the War on Poverty and with our first black president now in his second term. And it has a special urgency for New York City, where our new mayor sees himself in the vanguard of a resurgent progressivism that Riley regards as deadly to the aspirations of blacks. “Up to the 1930s,” he says, “black Americans had a lower unemployment rate than white Americans. Up to the 1950s, the unemployment rates were roughly the same. But for the last five decades, black unemployment has been roughly double the white rate. And the turning point was in the 1930s, when Congress passed minimum-wage laws.” He disputes those who tout the minimum wage as an antidote to poverty: “For most black households, the problem isn’t a worker not earning enough. The problem is no one in the household has a job.” In the end, his book isn’t about numbers. It’s about the high human toll good intentions have inflicted on people least able to afford them. “The left’s sentimental support,” writes Riley, “has turned underprivileged blacks into playthings for liberal intellectuals and politicians who care more about clearing their conscience or winning votes than advocating behaviors and attitudes that have allowed other groups to get ahead.”
I'm sure he will get a lot of flack from the usual suspects. It brings to mind a quote from John Milton: “Truth never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her birth.” The book is in both the top 100 in hardcover and Kindle sales at Amazon. Good luck, sir.
RIP Gerry Goffin, one of the most successful songwriters of the rock n roll era. At 20 he married Carole King, who was 17. Eventually, they split. Their relationship is the basis of King's Broadway hit show, Beautiful. Here's a list of their Top 40 hits:
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Take Good Care of My Baby
Some Kind of Wonderful
Halfway to Paradise
Chains
Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
The Loco-Motion
He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)
Go Away Little Girl
Point Of No Return
It Might As Well Rain Until September
Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)
I Can't Stay Mad at You
Hey Girl
One Fine Day
Up on the Roof
I'm into Something Good
Oh No Not My Baby
Don't Bring Me Down
Pleasant Valley Sunday
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Smackwater Jack
These were written by Goffin with others:
Who Put the Bomp
Just Once in My Life
I'll Meet You Halfway
I've Got to Use My Imagination
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)
Someone That I Used to Love
Tonight, I Celebrate My Love
Miss You Like Crazy
The weather was a ten and business was an eight for the floating book shop today. My thanks to all the buyers and donors.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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