AS RIOTERS TOPPLE STATUES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, DNC SINGLES OUT ANOTHER SYMBOL OF ‘WHITE SUPREMACY:’
All the Democrats have to do is not be crazy, and they can’t even do that.™
Archive for 2020
June 30, 2020
WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN CITIES SUCH CESSPITS OF CORRUPTION? Federal agents take Toledo city council members into custody amid bribery probe. It’s not quite “name that party” territory, but it does take wading past 15 paragraphs in this Toledo Blade article to finally discover: “Matt Cherry, president of city council and a Democrat like his accused colleagues, said he and other councilmen are cooperating with the investigation.”
CTRL-F NOT FOUND: “PROTEST.” There’s not one reason California’s covid-19 cases are soaring—there are many. The story does mention that “people are becoming cavalier,” but doesn’t mention that one reason why people are becoming cavalier is that all the stern “public health experts” told us it was just hunky dory to turn out en masse in support of the right cause. That led to people taking the disease less seriously, which was a perfectly rational thing to do given the “experts'” behavior.
Plus: “Part of what’s driving the soaring case loads in Imperial County is the influx of positive patients from Mexico.”
JOHN HINDERAKER: SCIENCE AND “SCIENCE.”
When Walz issued his harsh shutdown order, he attributed it to “science” in the form of an allegedly super-duper Minnesota Model that forecast doom from COVID in terms of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. It later turned out that the model was created by a couple of graduate students over a weekend, but never mind. It was “science” and it was the basis for the governor’s assumption of dictatorial control over six million lives.
When Version 1 of the model turned out to be an embarrassment, woefully wrong by every metric, it was succeeded by a less pessimistic Version 2. Version 2 then fell to Version 3, which was issued on May 13, less than seven weeks ago. Version 3 was supposedly “science” informed by experience. How did it fare? My colleague John Phelan tells the sad story. . . .
So the model was off by a factor of 24. This might be funny, except for the vast damage that our governor has inflicted on Minnesotans in reliance on politicized “science.” A dart board would have produced a far more accurate result than the much-touted “Minnesota Model.”
A cynic might suspect that Governor Walz knows the model is ridiculous, but simply enjoys exercising dictatorial powers under his own emergency decree–a decree that apparently continues in force in perpetuity. He also knows that he has the press on his side. If a Republican governor bungled an issue as badly as Walz has bungled COVID, in reliance on a pathetic arithmetic construct that is wrong by a factor of 24 times, it would be the the scandal of the age. But every reporter in Minnesota, with one exception (not counting Scott) runs interference for Governor Walz and his brutally failed policies. Why? Because they are loyal Democrats, and they went into journalism to serve their party.
Plus: “This is a Minnesota story, but the same story has been replicated in many states around the country.”
Think of them as — at best — Democratic Party operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong. Though thinking of them as running a Psychological Warfare operation against the American people won’t take you far wrong either.
THE STATE OF THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE: “What were things like in July 1988? Oh that’s right—Michael Dukakis led George H.W. Bush by 17 points.”
And unlike 2020’s daily craziness, other than the hangover of the October ’87 stock market crash, the daily tenor in America was perceived by the MSM to be so calm in President Reagan’s last year of office that Jack Germond and Jules Witcover’s book recapping the election was titled Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency, 1988.
THIS IS WHY THEY’VE BEEN HIDING HIM IN THE BASEMENT: Joe Biden rips Trump over coronavirus, calls reporter ‘lying dog face.’
IF THIS KIND OF VIOLENCE WERE HAPPENING AT RIGHT-WING PROTESTS, IT WOULD BE ALL OVER THE PRESS, INSTEAD OF — DELIBERATELY — BURIED: Gunman shot driver, then hid weapon and continued to protest, Provo police say.
The victim was driving a white SUV on University Avenue and was attempting to turn onto Center Street when a group of protestors began “crowding around the vehicle. A male protester ran to the SUV on the passenger side, pointed a handgun at (the) driver and shot one round through the window,” according to a a synopsis of the incident by Provo Deputy Police Chief John Guyerman.
The driver, who was struck by a bullet, “hit the gas trying to leave the situation,” Guyerman said.
CNN headline, probably: Right Wing Extremist Runs Over Crowd of Mostly Peaceful Protesters.
Plus:
As the SUV is speeding away, the gunman ran after the vehicle and fired a second round that went through the rear passenger window, according to police.
After the shooting, video shows the gunman then “conceals the firearm and continues to protest,” Guyerman said. “This same protester later approached another vehicle at 500 North and University Avenue, striking and breaking the window with the handgun.”
Like I said.
UPDATE: From an updated version of the story: “Salt Lake police confirmed Tuesday night the suspected shooter had been arrested, and Provo police would pick him up. No additional details were released.”
KAROL MARKOWICZ: Cops out! The Thin Blue Line Has Had It.
Well, we’ll see a lot of vigilante justice. And what are people gonna do about it? Call the cops? Remember, in the end the police aren’t there to protect the public from criminals, they’re there to protect criminals from the public. Communities dealt with crime long before police were invented, usually in rather harsh and low-due-process ways. The bargain was, let the police handle it instead. No police, no bargain.
LET THEM FIGHT: Seattle’s moonbat mayor brings up possibility of expulsion of socialist councilwoman for ‘political theatre.’ “So the mayor didn’t exactly appreciate [Councilwoman Kashama Sawant] leading a mob of protesters to her home, huh? But Durkan has said CHOP is all about First Amendment expression, even if that form of expression is taking over a police precinct and several city blocks.”
Earlier: Seattle Mayor Durkan Very Upset that CHOP’s ‘Summer of Love’ Has Landed On Her Doorstep.
DEMOCRATS, MEDIA HARDEST HIT: Dow posts best quarter since 1987 as stocks rebound from coronavirus lows.
STOLEN VALOR: The NYT glorifies the woman who shot Andy Warhol.
The question of whether or not speech incites dangerous behavior has prompted many cultural battles (and First Amendment lawsuits) over the years. Violent language sometimes does lead to actual acts of violence. When it does, the media should report it as such, as it has done in the past, such as in its coverage of the manifesto written by Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.
Which is why it was odd for editors at the New York Times to choose feminist writer Valerie Solanas as a featured person in the paper’s “Overlooked” series. (For those not in the know, the Overlooked section “is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in the Times.”)
What makes Ms. Solanas “remarkable” in the assessment of the Times? “She made daring arguments in ‘SCUM Manifesto,’ her case for a world without men,” the obituary notes, “But it was her attack on [Andy] Warhol that came to define her life.”
The “SCUM Manifesto” did far more than make the case for “a world without men.” It advocated killing them, or at the very least castrating them all. And “her attack” was, in fact, attempted murder, although Bonnie Wertheim, who wrote the piece for the Times, is too squeamish to say so outright (“soon, there were gunshots” is how she describes Solanas’ effort to kill Warhol.)
Solanas didn’t just shoot Warhol, who barely survived the attack that no doubt shortened his life and drove him into semi-reclusiveness. She also shot art critic Mario Amaya, whom the Times neglects to mention, but who was with Warhol at the time. She would have killed a third person, Warhol’s manager Fred Hughes, whom she attempted to shoot at point-blank range, but her gun jammed. She was a cold-blooded murderer.
The Times’ treatment of Solanas would likely not have been so flattering if she had been a mentally disturbed male loner who had written a misogynist screed and targeted a famous female artist. Is Solanas’ call for gendercide only worth resurrecting because we are now living through a time where anger—even irrational, violent rage—is valorized as long as it is in service to the right ideological cause?
Beginning their 2017 pieces praising the glories of capital-C Communism on the anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, the “1619 Project” last year, and more recently, meltdowns over Tom Cotton and Bari Weiss, endorsement of statue toppling, attempted doxxing of the Slate Star Codex blogger and now the glorification of Andy Warhol’s would-be assassin, the New York Times has descended into something resembling the student newspaper at Oberlin. (Or as one wag quipped on Facebook at the start of the month, “We are coming ever closer to the singularity where the New York Times and Teen Vogue are indistinguishable.”) I’m worried that their young staffers are reading Rob Long’s “New York Times Autonomous Zone” article as a how-to guide, rather than satire.
Speaking of satire, all is happening in accordance with the prophecy:
NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS. AOC says proposed $1B budget cut to NYPD isn’t enough: ‘Defunding police means defunding police.’
Which is a curious stance from someone who wanted to make pretty much everything illegal last year, including all of America’s planes, internal-combustion vehicles, cow farts, and outlaw every existing building unless rebuilt. Ultimately, those laws would need to be enforced, with, well, force. Who would she propose be the Stasi of her Green Nude Eel?
SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST: The Story Forbes Censored, Exploding The Myth Of Climate Crisis Alarmism.
Forbes is now pro-global warming? If only the czar knew!
(Classical reference in headline.)
THIS IS KIND OF COOL: The New Ford F-150’s Onboard Generator Can Power a Ridiculous Amount of Equipment. “It started with market research that showed many F-150 customers use gasoline-powered generators at job sites, lugging them around in the back of their truck and fueling them separately. Any pickup truck can turn engine output into electrical power—why not utilize that capability and make the conventional generator unnecessary? . . . Three different onboard generator systems are available. F-150s with conventional non-hybrid drivetrains get a 2.0-kW system, while hybrid trucks get upgraded to 2.4 kW or, optionally, a massive 7.2 kW of power, made possible by the hybrid’s 48-volt lithium-ion battery pack. Ford claims that the top-spec 7.2-kW system can power a plasma cutter, TiG welder, chop saw, air compressor, angle grinder, and work light, simultaneously. That mobile welding shop can run for 32 hours continuously on a full tank, making all-day, heavy-duty work possible. If you don’t need that much wattage, Ford says the 2.4-kW system can run a jackhammer or a mobile theater setup complete with a projector, loudspeakers, and popcorn machine for up to 85 hours.”
Honestly, the 7.2 KW model could power your house in a pinch.
“GREETINGS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES AUTONOMOUS ZONE:” In this week’s edition of National Review On Dead Tree (possibly behind subscriber paywall) Rob Long has a satiric (and very funny) article headlined “Communiqué 17 from NYTAZ,” which includes a request for “Someone with video skills and social-media expertise…for the recording, editing, and distributing of The Confessions of Bari Weiss, which is planned for early next week,” and announces the upcoming “trial of NYTAZ v. Bret Stephens, at which point Stephens will be released from captivity in the sixth-floor break room and led to the events space formerly known as the ‘Carlos Slim Family Auditorium’ — now known as ‘Safe Space Number Two’ — and found guilty of crimes against [TBD],” etc.
But given the events of the past couple of months, any satirical piece will likely run straight up against what Tom Wolfe dubbed “Muggeridge’s Law:” “We live in an age in which it is no longer possible to be funny. There is nothing you can imagine, no matter how ludicrous, that will not promptly be enacted before your very eyes, probably by someone well known.”
Which brings us to this BuzzFeed News photo spread proffering “26 Pictures From Occupy City Hall Protest In New York,” the first of which features “A ‘City Hall Autonomous Zone’ sign” in front of City Hall, along with a sign labeled “THIS IS WHAT COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE,” which apparently is not meant satirically, despite the filth and squalor of the leftwing squatters lurking just behind it.
But I’m not sure of the point of this week’s “Occupy City Hall” protest. Isn’t there already a hard left occupation there that’s been going on since January 1st, 2014, when Bill de Blasio took office?
HARVARD ENDS BLACKLIST POLICY AGAINST MEMBERS OF SINGLE-SEX ORGS: No, it didn’t have a change of heart and decide that McCarthyism isn’t OK when Harvard does it. But after the Bostock decision, Harvard’s claims not to have discriminated went from likely loser to sure loser. The biggest losers from this decision, though, are former Harvard President Drew Faust and current Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana, the architects of the policy, both of whom are a testament to what happens when you control infinite money and have no accountability.