Archive for 2020

OPEN THREAD: Time is never worth my time.

OUT GEOPOLITICS. IN: LUNAPOLITICS.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: “The top 3 best selling vehicles in America are pick-ups. Question to reporters: do you personally know someone that owns one?”, Ace of Spades’ John Ekdahl asked on Twitter at the beginning of 2017. As Sean Davis of the Federalist noted in his article on that seemingly innocuous tweet, “Watch A Bunch Of Journalists Freak Out After Being Asked If They Know Anybody Who Drives A Truck.”

Here’s yet another MSM journalist who’s freaking out over the Ford F-350, and the GMC MEGA-PICKUP depicted below:

Dana Loesch admits she’s part of the MEGA TRUCK LOBBY by driving the pedestrian-targeting vehicle!

Not surprisingly, lots of people on Twitter had fun with the brave new world of MEGA-PICKUPS this afternoon:

Stick a chainsaw bayonet on that armed MEGA-PICKUP, and then we’re really talking.

RADICAL CHIC, FISHER-PRICE DIVISION: Behold, the Antifa Onesie:

“Born out of resistance to Mussolini and Hitler in Europe during the 1920s and ’30s*, the antifa movement (“antifa” is simply short for “anti-fascist”) has burst into the headlines amidst opposition to the Trump administration and the alt-right. Start your little one off early in the stand against fascism in a 100% cotton, 100% badass onesie.”

* Ahh, but by whom?

The modern Antifa movement derives its name from a group called Antifaschistische Aktion, founded in May 1932 by Stalinist leaders of the Communist Party of Germany. The group was established to fight fascists, a term the party used to describe all of the other pro-capitalist political parties in Germany. The primary objective of Antifaschistische Aktion was to abolish capitalism, according to a detailed history of the group. The group, which had more than 1,500 founding members, went underground after Nazis seized power in 1933.

A German-language pamphlet — “80 Years of Anti-Fascist Actions” (80 Jahre Antifaschistische Aktion)” — describes in minute detail the continuous historical thread of the Antifa movement from its ideological origins in the 1920s to the present day. The document states:

“Antifascism has always fundamentally been an anti-capitalist strategy. This is why the symbol of the Antifaschistische Aktion has never lost its inspirational power…. Anti-fascism is more of a strategy than an ideology.”

During the post-war period, Germany’s Antifa movement reappeared in various manifestations, including the radical student protest movement of the 1960s, and the leftist insurgency groups that were active throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, was a Marxist urban guerrilla group that carried out assassinations, bombings and kidnappings aimed at bringing revolution to West Germany, which the group characterized as a fascist holdover of the Nazi era. Over the course of three decades, the RAF murdered more than 30 people and injured over 200.

After the collapse of the communist government in East Germany in 1989-90, it was discovered that the RAF had been given training, shelter, and supplies by the Stasi, the secret police of the former communist regime.

Which is why, once the kids are a little older, and are members of the Party Youth League, and ready to spy on their parents for doubleplus ungood thoughtcrime, they’ll be issued much more impressive uniforms:

It’s fascinating that a book publisher is carrying Antifa togs (for all ages) on its Website. Perhaps they’re simply hoping that the revolution will devour them last: What Better Way to ‘Honor’ Christian George Floyd Than by Firing Up a Good Old-Fashioned Bible-Burning in Portland?

‘MURICA: Thoughts on July’s Record Gun-Buying Spree. “More Americans responsibly partaking in their constitutionally-recognized right to keep and bear arms would be a blessing, particularly in the neverending battle to keep that constitutional protection.”

This one is just for our PJMedia/Townhall VIP members, so if you’ve been thinking of becoming a member, you can do so here — and don’t forget to use that VODKAPUNDIT discount code.

WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY, IT DOES SEEM LIKE TEMPTING FATE: “Just in case extracting the DNA of the ancestor of bubonic plague from the teeth of neolithic skulls doesn’t trigger the final boss fight of 2020 A.D., scientists are also feeding nutrients to dormant hundred-million-year-old bacteria from the benthic mud of the abyssal plains of the ocean to wake them up and see what happens.”

CHARLES LIPSON: Woke Colleges Are Assembly Lines for Conformity.

What views are now considered beyond the pale? They almost always involve ordinary political differences. We are not talking here about direct physical threats. Those are already illegal, and universities rightly deal with them. They don’t have to face neo-Nazi marches. Nor is anyone advocating such noxious ideas as genocide, slavery, or child molestation. Speech about those subjects might be legal, but virtually nobody is making the case for them. That is not what the fight for freedom of speech on campus is about. It is about the freedom to voice—or even hear—unpopular views on topics such as merit-based admissions, affirmative action, transgender competition in women’s sports, abortion, and support for Israel.

These are perfectly legitimate topics, and students ought to be free to hear different ideas about them. They are hotly contested topics in America’s body politic. That’s how democracies work. Not so on college campuses, where the “wrong views” are not just minority opinions. They are verboten, and so are the people who dare express them. Challenging this repressive conformity invites condemnation, severs friendships, and threatens careers. It is hardly surprising that few rise to challenge it.

Worse yet, university leaders seldom do. They have a fundamental responsibility to defend open discourse, and they have largely abdicated it. Shame on them.

Read the whole thing.