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Archive for 2021
December 19, 2021
GOT WOKE, WENT BROKE: Companies Need to Learn From the Salvation Army Suffering From Their Wokeness.
One recent example of this signaling foolishness cropped up last month, involving the Salvation Army. It was revealed that the church/charitable organization had produced an internal guide about racism, focused entirely on white privilege and what must be done to correct many ills as a result of systemic racism. As I covered a few weeks ago, the claims by the group’s PR division that they were not targeting whites — and they had not called for apologies for being racist — were completely false, based on the contents of the very guidebook they had produced.
Well, this is the time for corporations to take notice. It’s clear that pandering to the activists by telling the bulk of your donors that they are racist, as you ask them for continued support, is not paying off. In just a few short weeks, we are seeing the direct impact this adherence to a woke agenda has had on the Salvation Army, as across the nation they are reporting that donations are not just lower but significantly down. It is sad and amazing to witness, as a completely unneeded social activist agenda has led to severely depleted levels of support.
I have spoken to a number of people who have significantly altered their giving to the organization. One close friend has been an annual donor, and she steered her giving to other outfits. Another said they have turned to local charities. And as a sign of this not being a seasonal effect, one explained they chose to give to a local group, who told him that they are experiencing a flush donation season and cited the drop in Salvation Army donations means more is coming their way.
While I feel for the nice people standing in front of the local Kroger*, I suspect more than a few of these have ended up in Salvation Army kettles this year:
* Speaking of which: Kroger, The Wokest Supermarket.
NEW YORK SUN: The Woke Constitution.
To those who wonder why the Founding Fathers made the United States Constitution so difficult to amend, we commend the series the Boston Globe is publishing under the headline “Editing the Constitution.” It reckons that our national parchment “is undergoing massive changes in the Supreme Court” and that it’s “time to put the founding document in the hands of the people.”
Bah, humbug, we say. It adds up to one of the most cockamamie compendiums that’s ever been compiled in respect of the 8,000 or so words of the compact that every officer, judge, and legislator of the federal, state, and county governments must be bound by oath to support. If Geo. Washington, James Madison, and the boys ever happened onto this issue of the Globe, they’d fall out of their knee socks.
Well, the people who run our institutions and media are both kooks, and not very bright. But, to be fair, their intentions aren’t good.
FREDDIE DEBOER: Where to Now, Chris? Where to Now?
[Chris] Hayes clearly hates Trump. But Trump is just as clearly a force that has given his life meaning. It’s hard to look at Hayes’s public persona and not conclude that he begins and ends each day with thoughts of Trump. It reminds me of the obvious but essential insight that our hatreds can structure our lives, lend them purpose, make the hazy and unsatisfying feelings of adult life coalesce into something that feels real and vital. And in all of this Hayes epitomizes liberalism’s essential sickness, its absolute inability to think systemically, its desire to be the pained and righteous victim instead of the compromised leader, its deep attachment to whining and complaining that the system’s not fair, its allergy to power, its implacable dedication to being a sighing chorus that laments the world instead of changing it. He dreads a Trump win in 2024, and he so desperately wants Trump back. A tragic figure.
Donald Trump is 75 years old and unhealthy. Whether he wins back the presidency or not, he will die sooner than later, and will no longer be present to serve as the lodestar for contemporary liberalism and its antipolitics, its addiction to negation. And then where will American liberals go? I suspect their movement will crawl even deeper into a bitter and paranoid culture of zero-sum racial fatalism. That is not a plan; that is total surrender.
Back when he was a writer, Hayes quoted Harry Reid:
After the election, I conducted a kind of exit interview with retiring Senate minority leader Harry Reid. I asked him what the Democratic Party stands for, and after speaking of his own upbringing in deep poverty in the rural town of Searchlight, Nevada, he said: “People have asked me the last year, ‘What message do you want to leave with people?’ And here’s the message: I want everyone in America to understand, if Harry Reid can make it in America, anyone can. And I want those young men and women out there who are looking for a way out to realize, if Harry Reid can make it, anybody can. That’s what America is all about.”
This is, in some ways, a perfect summation of the Democratic Party’s message in the Obama era: In America, anyone can make it out, anyone can rise to the highest heights. Immigrant, native-born, black, white, disabled, gay, straight, male, or female—no matter your background, there’s a place at the top for you.
Does that sound anything like the message American liberalism wants to deliver now? Absolutely not. Today, American liberalism wants to tell you not that America can be a place of justice and equality where we all work together for the good of all, even as we acknowledge how badly we’ve failed that ideal. In 2021 liberalism wants to tell you that the whole damn American project is toxic and ugly, that every element of the country is an excuse to perpetuate racism, that those groups of people Hayes lists at the bottom are not in any sense in it together but that instead some fall higher on an hierarchy of suffering, with those who are perceived to have it too good in that hierarchy deserving no help from liberalism or government or the Democratic party – and, oh by the way, you can be dirt poor and powerless and still be privileged, so we don’t want you, especially if you’re part of the single largest chunk of the American electorate. Anyone who tows the line Harry Reid takes here is either a bigot or a sap, and politics is a zero-sum game where marginalized groups can only get ahead if others suffer, and Democrats fight to control a filthy, ugly, fallen country that will forever be defined by its sins. That’s the liberalism of 2021, a movement of unrelenting pessimism, obscure vocabulary, elitist tastes, and cultural and social extremism totally divorced from a vision of shared prosperity and a working class movement that comes together across difference for the good of all. In fact, I think I learned in my sociology class at Dartmouth that a working class movement would inherently center white pain! Better to remain divided into perpetually warring fiefdoms of grievance that can accomplish nothing. Purer that way. Now here’s Chris with part 479 of his January 6th series, to show us the country’s biggest problems.
Read the whole thing. Yes, there’s plenty of anti-Trump throat clearing, and no, I don’t think Harry Reid is the perfect person to be delivering a patriotic message, either. Wrong guy obviously — but it’s the right message. And with the exception of Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Tulsi Gabbard, there aren’t many Democrats left who can deliver it.
FIGHT THE POWER: Loudoun County Freedom of Information Request #1: The Equity Collaborative Documents.
There’s still no record of how the Collaborative came to win the original Equity Assessment contract, and the chronology in which the firm submitted a formal bid for further work only after it had already won a no-bid, $500,000 contract remains, to say the least, confusing. . . .
In September of 2019 — in other words, a full year after the company originally began working for the county — the Equity Collaborative finally submitted a formal bid for public services. There is no record of other bidders.
This was the first step toward Loudoun agreeing to allocate hundreds of thousands more on equity training for the Fiscal Year 2022. And what training! The documents collectively read like a Swiftian satire about an island culture whose citizens speak entirely in gibberish terms like “intentionality,” “feedback loop structures,” and “onboarding action steps,” but are dying out because they’ve forgotten all the words they once used to find mates (“primary stakeholders”). It’s unfortunately all too real to be genuinely funny, but these reports are a literary spectacle nonetheless.
The fix was in, with the usual mixture of graft, grift, and thuggery that accompanies woke politics. And stupidity. Lots and lots and lots of stupidity.
December 18, 2021
JULIETTE “BALDILOCKS” OCHIENG: A Californian’s Day: “Over a year ago, I walked into Trader Joe’s without donning a mask and no one said a thing. Since then, I’ve never put on a mask there, though almost all other customers do, as does the entire staff. Keep in mind that we’re talking about Los Angeles here. Every member of the staff has said nothing about my maskless face and has been unfailingly polite and friendly, as was so before January 2020.”
MCGILL UNIVERSITY SCIENTIST PAT KHAMBAMPATI ON HOW WOKENESS IS RUINING SCIENCE:
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED: I’m caught up on thank-you notes now. If I somehow missed you, please accept my thanks here. The support is much appreciated.
OPEN THREAD: I wonder if my rope’s still hanging from the tree.
Background here.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s new rocket for crewed moon missions to launch around 2026.
SCIENCE, UNSETTLED: It Turns Out That Everything We Know About The Runner’s High Could Be Wrong.
Related, a friend’s comments on pandemic policy: “The problem is the government told people to stay home and watch Netflix to keep everyone safe. If they’d said eat your veggies and go run a mile, people would have said this is bullshit.”
TOP SELLER: RIVBOS Polarized Sports Sunglasses Driving Sun Glasses shades for Men Women Tr 90 Unbreakable Frame. #CommissionEarned
THIS IS CERTAINLY TRUE FOR SOME FRIENDS OF MINE: Dogs are unsung heroes of COVID-19 pandemic for many, experts say. “Coping with the isolation, fear and sadness of the pandemic may have been a little easier if you had a trusting and loving dog by your side.”
It’s more the isolation, fear, and sadness of the lockdowns.
NO THANKS TO THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: 39 Americans Evacuated From Afghanistan In First Major Airlift Rescue Since Taliban Takeover.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Now That The Beatles’ Get Back Is Out, Why Can’t We See Let It Be?
However, in the 2010s, the bitter feelings within The Beatles’ camp toward Let It Be started to fade a bit. McCartney expressed interest in seeing the film re-released in 2016, saying that if anyone should be wary about people seeing Let It Be, it should be him (referencing the sometimes bossy manner in which McCartney is seen trying to corral the other Beatles). He then became even more receptive about re-releasing the Let It Be footage in some form when Peter Jackson came to McCartney with the idea of reappropriating the material into Get Back, convincing the Beatle that there was actually a lot of joy and camaraderie in the footage, despite the fact that it also shows some of the internal rifts within the band at the time. While Get Back shows a much more comprehensive view of the Let It Be/Get Back project, it was never meant to replace Let It Be as the definitive document of this time period, as Jackson specifically wanted Get Back to be a companion to Let It Be, intentionally only using footage that wasn’t featured in the 1970 documentary unless they were essential shots where no other footage existed.
Additionally, when the release of Get Back was announced, it was also announced that a remastered version of Let It Be would be released for consumption. Any more specific details about when or where this release will be available haven’t been elaborated on, though one would assume (and hope) it will be available on Disney Plus in the near future. This, of course, is an easy thing to be cynical about, considering how ridiculously hard The Beatles have made it to see Let It Be over years and how many aborted attempts there have been to make it more widely available. Yet considering the warm reception that Get Back has received (both from fans and from the living Beatles themselves), there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic that Let It Be will easily be available. Either way, Get Back serves as ample compensation for fans that have been waiting to finally see (or revisit) Let It Be for all these years.
I’m hoping Let It Be will be bundled with the Get Back Blu-Ray discs in time for next year’s Christmas shopping season. And maybe even a limited theater release to promote it. Who wouldn’t want to see a restored version of the rooftop concert on a 25 foot tall movie screen?
Earlier, from your humble narrator:
● The Beatles get Back in Peter Jackson’s New Three-Part Documentary.
● The Beatles’ get Back: The Long and Grinding Road.
● I Question the Premise: The Beatles: Get Back shows that deepfake tech isn’t always evil.
GOOD NEWS IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS: KCHD: Omicron variant detected in Knox County. The less-deadly Delta strain being displaced by the basically-not-deadly Omicron strain is good news, right?
I’M HOLDING OUT FOR SUPER-DUPER IMMUNITY: COVID-19 vaccine plus breakthrough infection may offer ‘super immunity.’ But this isn’t really surprising.
IT’S COME TO THIS: Quidditch to change name, citing J.K. Rowling’s ‘anti-trans positions.’
Real-life quidditch, inspired by the magical game in “Harry Potter,” is changing its name, citing author J.K. Rowling’s “anti-trans positions in recent years.”
US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch announced in a joint news release Wednesday that they will conduct a series of surveys over the next few months to decide on a new name for the sport, which resembles soccer and field hockey, but as a contact sport with broomsticks.
“For the last year or so, both leagues have been quietly collecting research to prepare for the move and been in extensive discussions with each other and trademark lawyers regarding how we can work together to make the name change as seamless as possible,” Major League Quidditch Commissioner Amanda Dallas said in the release.
The leagues say there are a few reasons for the name change. Among them is that the name “quidditch” is trademarked by Warner Bros., which produced the “Harry Potter” movies, and as a result the sport’s expansion has been limited in its sponsorship and broadcast opportunities.
The name change is also part of an effort by the leagues to “distance themselves from the works of J.K. Rowling,” according to the statement, “who has increasingly come under scrutiny for her anti-trans positions in recent years.”
Stunning and/or brave.
WE NEED TO START WORRYING ABOUT WHAT KIND OF WORLD WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE FOR KEITH RICHARDS: Happy 78th Birthday, Keith Richards!
Past performance is no guarantee of trunalimunumaprzure:
I LOVE BARBECUE AND I LOVE ETHIOPIAN, SO THIS SOUNDS LIKE A WINNER: An Arlington Family Has Created a New Must-Try Cuisine, Tex-Ethiopian Barbecue. And any loser scolds concerned with cultural appropriation or whatever can fuck right off.
NEWS YOU CAN USE? 12 things you should never put in your vagina including whipped cream and Vaseline.
Via Iowahawk who tweets, “gotta say that’s a surprisingly short list.”
JAMES LILEKS: “I’m looking forward to the female-centric retelling of 1984.”
Really. There’s no prohibition on telling other sides of a famous story it’s all the rage these days. We retell Oz from the Witch’s point of view, 101 Dalmations from the dog-napper’s side. The trick will be making Julia adhere to the book, and I don’t think that will happen. What we know of her will be chalked up to the Male Gaze, and the character will take inspiration from Susanna Hamilton’s stern performance in the remarkable movie of the same name, and year. She radiates a fierce sense of self-contained power and intelligence.
The Julia of the book is a rather shallow. Almost lightweight.
Publisher Granta said that Julia understands the world of Oceania “far better than Winston and is essentially happy with her life”.
See, that’s not quite right. She has no interest in understanding it at all. She’s “essentially happy” in the sense that a file clerk in Hitler’s office was happy in 1941.
Read the whole thing.
READER BOOK PLUG: From Hodge Golson, Ph.D. Leadership in Organizations: A Blueprint for Success (Active Leadership Update). #CommissionEarned