REVIEW: 2018 Lincoln Navigator. “The long-wheelbase Navigator L with all-wheel drive comes in at 221.9 inches and well over 6000 pounds. Ford builds some Super Duty pickups and commercial trucks that are heavier, and during World War II it knocked out four-engine B-24 bombers to defeat fascism, so this isn’t the biggest Ford product ever. But it sure isn’t small.”
Archive for 2017
October 31, 2017
AT AMAZON, Deal of the Day, Abba Patio Outdoor Patio Umbrella 9 Feet.
BREAKING: Two Dead, Five Injured Following Incident in Tribeca Area of New York City.
Early reports of an incident in the Tribeca area of New York City: Local media is reporting two dead, five injured, in a combination of a shooting and a truck running over bicyclists.
NYPD says they have a suspect in custody.
* * * * * * * *
And there appears to be an incident at Stuyvesant High School with reports of people shot and something running into a school bus. No indications if these two incidents are related.
Developing.
UPDATE (5:16 PM Eastern): “Six people killed after gunman driving Home Depot truck rips through bike lane, yells ‘Allahu Akbar!”
(Bumped.)
ANOTHER UPDATE (FROM GLENN): New York City vehicle attack an ‘act of terror’ with at least eight dead, mayor says.
IS THIS RELATED TO THE INCIDENT IN MANHATTAN? ISIS Calls for Attacks on Halloween Celebrations: ‘Get Out Before It’s Too Late.’
A BIG BRITISH STUDY OF MEN AND MASCULINITY: “Our findings counter the fashionably negative view of men and masculinity as being somewhat tainted by toxicity. This distorted view probably impacts how men are treated and how men feel about themselves. A more rounded view of men is needed.” You think?
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE:
The protesters were particularly antagonized by Foster’s contention that police violence against African-Americans has been statistically exaggerated. When he started explaining the methodological research behind his claim, the audience exploded. “Facts?! Facts?! Don’t tell me about facts!” one person screamed. Foster tried to finish as five or six people shouted at him. “Do facts matter?” Foster asked, and repeated it several times in mounting frustration. “Do facts matter? Do facts—”
The resounding, devastating answer was no, facts do not matter. One of the things that struck me over and over was the protesters’ complete intolerance of complexity. Despite intersectionality’s roots in academic theory, the politics of the intersectional Left are deeply anti-intellectual. It’s not just that many intersectional activists seem to have no capacity for nuance; they fear and hate it, because they hate anything with the potential to complicate their narrative. Things are right or wrong; you’re with us or against us. Human beings, rather than complex agents with independent motivations and intellects, are nothing more than the sum total of their identities. Get on the bus or get under it.
“Despite.”
PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOES OLD SCHOOL, DUSTS OFF ITS MARGARET SANGER COSTUME FOR HALLOWEEN:
If this sounds like something the alt-right might tweet, as Elliot Kaufman wrote at NRO in August, “contrary to NARAL’s protestations, the leaders of the alt-right are actually pro-choice. They don’t oppose abortion because it’s good for racial minorities; they support abortion because it kills them. They hate black people and think America would be better if fewer of them were born. Though this is terrifying to contemplate, it should not be unfamiliar. In fact, the alt-right tends to praise abortion for the same reasons that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, praised birth control: They help to rid the country of ‘undesirables.’”
Hey, it’s not like Planned Parenthood’s founder herself ever actually spoke at a KKK rally or anything.
Sunkara adds, “Original author can still view it, but can’t share it because it’s ‘inappropriate’.”
Hat tip to Reason’s CJ Ciaramella, who also found Rachel Bale having Google lock her out of her draft of her story on wildlife crimes.
SwiftOnSecurity claims that “according to this thread some Google spam system has gone rogue and is randomly blocking some Google Docs.” So this doesn’t appear to be corporate censorship, but rather an important lesson about the dangers of giving your full trust to somebody else’s cloud.
Face ID could tell the twins apart, but was also able to correctly unlock the phone when one of the twins tried on a hat, a scarf, and sunglasses at the same time.
That’s a pretty neat bit of technology — until it falls into the wrong hands.
AT AMAZON, save in Vision Care.
IT AIN’T OVER EVEN WHEN IT’S OVER: The Left’s Long Post-Election Tantrum.
THE DAM HAS BURST: Women activists stage topless protest at Roman Polanski event as new rape allegations reported.
Around 80 protesters outside the Cinémathèque Française, which is showcasing Polanski’s films next month, banged on windows and carried placards with slogans such as, ‘If rape is an art, give Polanski all the (French movie award) Cesars’.
A few members of the Femen group exposed their breasts and shouted ‘no honours for rapists’ in the presence of Polanski before security pushed them outside.
Polanski, who had entered the building through a back entrance, was set to present his new movie ‘Based on a True Story’ at the event.
Earlier this month, Swiss prosecutors said former German actress and model Renate Langer had told authorities that Polanski raped her at his mountain chalet in 1972 when she was 15 years old.
Langer is one of four women who have publicly accused Polanski, 84, of sexually assaulting them when they were teenagers.
Is this the year Hollywood finally stops making excuses for Polanski?
SOY NO JOY: FDA Moves to Revoke Claim About Soy and Heart Health. “In a statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that it is, for the first time, proposing a rule to revoke the health claim that soy protein reduces a person’s risk for heart disease. The agency has currently authorized 12 health claims that are allowed on packaged foods (like the claim that calcium can help lower the risk of osteoporosis, for example). In 1999, the FDA allowed soy protein products to say that the protein could reduce risk of heart disease, but many studies since then have questioned the link. The FDA says there is some evidence that supports the connection, but that available evidence as a whole raises skepticism.”
THAT’S NOT ENTERTAINMENT: Hollywood actors speak of ‘rampant’ problem of male abusers targeting men.
MILLENNIALS DITCHING RELIGION FOR ASTROLOGY: The “psychic services” industry is now worth $2 billion. I’m not sure whether Chesterton (“The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything“) or Barnum (“There’s a sucker born every minute“) is more appropriate here.
FASTER, PLEASE: French Regulators Approve Human Trial of a Bionic Eye.
THIS COULD BE FUN: Tony Podesta Threatens to Sue Fox News Over Tucker Carlson Report.
TRIGGER TREAT:
IF HE HADN’T GONE TO WORK FOR TRUMP, HE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN: Ken Silverstein: I’ve Covered Foreign Lobbying for 20 Years and I’m Amazed Manafort Got Busted. That’s because the foreign lobbying laws are so toothless that you can count on one hand the number of people prosecuted for what Manafort is accused of.
DOES THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS KNOW ABOUT THIS EGREGIOUS DISCRIMINATION? DNC Email: Straight White Men Need Not Apply. “I personally would prefer that you not forward to cisgender straight white males, as they are already in the majority.”
TWO CNNs IN ONE!
● Shot:
Front page of
@USAToday: “63% of Americans say Halloween is a great way to escape political talk this year.”
—Tweet by Brian Stelter, CNN’s “senior media correspondent,” today.
● Chaser:
Your Halloween costume has never been more politically loaded.
—Headline, CNN.com, yesterday.