I LIKE THIS IDEA: Walther Launches 30-Day Trial Period for Handgun Purchases.
Archive for 2019
February 23, 2019
COLOR ME UNENTHUSED ABOUT PREDICTIONS FOR 80 YEARS IN THE FUTURE: Study: Most nations could eliminate cervical cancer by 2100.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Life Among The Wokescolds.
I thought you’d enjoy this signs-of-the-times story. It’s good for a laugh—or perhaps a cry.
In one of my classes yesterday we were talking about current events, and a student mentioned that the soldier in the famous Times Square kissing photo had died. “Yes,” I said. “Too bad. Such a beautiful image, and such a moment of joy.” One of my least favorite students, a smug know-it-all in the back row, piped up. “You actually like that photo?” she said. “Well, yeah,” I replied, a bit taken aback. “That’s an iconic image of a moment of unbridled joy.”
“And do you think she consented to that kiss?” she said icily. “No, no she did not. That is a photo of an assault. That man should have gone to jail.”
Now, this happens with some regularity in classes these days. I don’t use Twitter, but I’m familiar with the term “wokescold,” and it’s incredibly accurate. Most of my students are just pure scolds. They’re deeply puritanical (though they have no idea who the Puritans were, given their virtually nonexistent awareness of history). So I tried to play it off a bit.
“Well, okay…” I said. “I acknowledge that it may not hold up with our contemporary standards of morality—”
“What were we even celebrating?” interjected another student, a gay man who can’t get through a sentence without mentioning that identity.
I couldn’t help it: I laughed. “Uh, winning World War II?” I said. “Pretty big deal, no?”
He scowled. “Yeah, if colonialism’s your thing.”
I admit I was dumbfounded by this, and I figured the best thing to do was escape the situation quickly. But I couldn’t help it. “What was our colonial project in that war?” I asked. “Did we go over there to occupy France? I’m pretty sure it was something more like the opposite.” This got a couple laughs, which helped defuse the tension, and even the student in question chuckled and rolled his eyes. I turned back to the girl. “So,” I said. “You don’t like this photo, I take it.”
“No,” she said. “It should not be shown to people.”
“Hang on,” I said. “Because this feels like an important point. Do you mean this photo should be banned? Kept out of public view?”
“Exactly,” she said. “Why should I be forced to see a woman’s sovereignty violated? That’s a picture of a victim, and nothing else. There’s nothing to celebrate.”
But what did Greta Friedman, the woman in the photo, think of that moment?
How horrific was the assault on Greta Friedman? Well, afterwards, she went back into her office… and never even mentioned the kiss. That’s right: it made that big of an impact on her. And what has she done in the decades since the terrible, awful, earth-shattering assault? Reunited with him several times. She even reenacted the kiss in 1980, and speaks of it in overwhelmingly positive terms.
Well, I think he was the one who made me famous, because he took the action. I was just the bystander. So, I think he deserves a lot of credit. Actually, by the photographer creating something that was very symbolic at the end of a bad period…it was a wonderful coincidence a man in a sailor’s uniform and a woman in a white dress… and a great photographer at the right time.
So nowhere does Friedman actually call it assault. After the fact, she went back to work proclaiming that the war was over. And in the decades after that iconic moment, she repeatedly took the time to meet up with the sailor in the photograph.
But the woman “assaulted” doesn’t get to say whether or not she was assaulted, right? That’s up for the feminazis to decide, because clearly, women are too dumb to make those kinds of judgements for themselves.
When exactly does the Great Relearning that Tom Wolfe promised us in the late 1980s actually begin?
NOW DO WOMEN: What Men Get Wrong About Sex. But it’s actually not as bad as the headline suggests.
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WELL, IT’S ONE OF THEM: The Divide Between Silicon Valley and Washington Is a National-Security Threat.
YEAH, I HAVE TO SIDE WITH DIFI ON THIS:
Honestly, this kind of political deployment of ignorant kids as mouthpieces is contemptible.
WELL, OF COURSE NOT, THEY’RE DEMOCRATS: No call from Democratic governors for Virginia leaders embroiled in scandals to step down.
The Democratic Governors Association won’t ask embattled Democrats Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax or Attorney General Mark Herring to resign their posts in Virginia, even after maintaining that Gov. Ralph Northam should step down following a blackface scandal that has roiled the commonwealth.
“Obviously very disappointing and challenging set of circumstances in Virginia,” said association Chairwoman Gina Raimondo, who is also governor of Rhode Island, in answer to a question by the Washington Examiner about what should happen in Virginia, where Fairfax faces allegations of sexual assault and Herring, like Northam, has admitted to appearing in blackface.
The next in line for the top job in Virginia is a Republican, Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox.
Yes, that last item is the crucial factor. They’re happy to lecture you about morals and standards, but their number one standard is hanging on to power for Democrats.
BIG IF TRUE: Navy files for patent on room-temperature superconductor. Actually, it’s hugely gigantic, if true. But stay tuned.
WHILE ELITE BRITS DIS CHURCHILL, ORDINARY BRITS DO THIS: Dream comes true for the man who honoured his heroes: Pensioner weeps as thousands join him to watch fly-past to honour WWII airmen whose memorial he tended for decades – and BBC presenter Dan Walker who helped organise event even cries too.
A pensioner broke down in tears today after his lifelong dream was realised when thousands joined him for a flypast in memory of ten Second World War heroes whose plane crashed as they tried to avoid him and his friends.
Huge crowds applauded and cheered for Tony Foulds, 82, in emotional scenes as they gathered at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch the aircraft pay tribute to the American crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed Mi Amigo.
Mr Foulds was eight years old in February 1944 when he witnessed the fireball crash in the park 75 years ago – claiming the lives of ten US airmen – as the pilot tried to avoid him and his friends.
He has dedicated seven decades of his life to the memory of the airmen he never met, spending up to six days a week tending the memorial to them. Mr Foulds said: ‘It’s more than bravery, what they did. They saved me.’ . . . .
A crowd of thousands of people cheered following the flypast, with a clear day meaning the audience had a good view of the planes flying over.
Speaking earlier on BBC Breakfast, Mr Foulds told the crowds: ‘Thank you very much for coming, it’s lovely see you. I can’t wait to get among you.’
The programme also showed footage of Mr Foulds meeting the families of some of the airmen who lost their lives in the crash 75 years ago.
He said: ‘I never thought I would ever meet any of the families of this pilot and crew.’ The pensioner described them as ‘lovely, lovely people’.
And Mr Foulds told Charlie Stayt and Steph McGovern on BBC Breakfast today: ‘Thank you very much, I can’t believe it. Yorkshire people, this is what they’re like.’
Wish this had gotten some coverage here in the States; as far as I can tell it didn’t.
More here.
JIM TREACHER: If You #BelieveVictims Without Question, You’ll Get More of Them.
Which is exactly what today’s left wants. The 21st century is not working out as I had hoped, to coin an Instaphrase.
PICK UP THE PACE, BETSY: 356 days: How long Department of Education has sat on anti-male bias complaint against UNC System.
BIG, IF TRUE: Hate Crime Hoaxes are More Common than You Think.
For at least the past decade or so, I think most conservatives have viewed all “hate crimes” as hoaxes until the evidence overwhelmingly proves otherwise.
HOSTILE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: UC Berkeley employee elated by violence against conservative.
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I HAD MISSED THIS STORY YESTERDAY: Trump Admin Ecstatic with Late-Night Deal That Broke Deadlock Over Natural Gas Exports. “Once complete, Calcasieu Pass terminal will export up 12 million metric tons of LNG a year. Brouillette said the project already has buyers, including in Europe, waiting for American natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling spurred an oil and natural gas boom over the past decade, making the U.S. the world’s top hydrocarbon producer. However, a limiting factor on oil and gas is the lack of export terminals and pipelines.”
Biggest loser: Vladimir Putin.
MICROSOFT EMPLOYEES DEMAND THAT COMPANY STOP WORK FOR U.S. MILITARY.
BACKGROUND TO THE TRUMP-KIM HANOI SUMMIT:
No one is astonished that North Korea’s criminal regime still has nuclear weapons. In many respects, nukes and ICBMs are Kim’s only bargaining chips.
Many, however, are warily amazed that the diplomatic process continues.
For the deep background, read Chapter 2 of Cocktails from Hell. Remember, The Korean War isn’t over.