Archive for 2021
January 30, 2021
IT WAS 52 YEAR AGO TODAY: The Anniversary Of The Beatles’ Rooftop Concert.
JOSH HAWLEY: I’m not backing down to a leftist mob.
AFFLICTING THE AFFLICTED AND COMFORTING THE COMFORTABLE: The new marshmallow media in the Biden era.
GREAT MOMENTS IN SELF-OWNS: Anti-Trump PAC Demonizes the Whole GOP: ‘They’re No Different, in My Mind, Than ISIS.’
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why You Should Trust Your Gut With Personal Defense.
THEN THEY MUST KNOW LITTLE ABOUT ISIS: Anti-Trump PAC Demonizes the Whole GOP: ‘They’re No Different, in My Mind, Than ISIS.’
JONAH GOLDBERG: The Running With Scissors Party. A good conservatism is a boring conservatism. That’s not what we have right now:
If you think that distancing yourself from someone who believes in Jewish Space Lasers isn’t worth it for fear that the very conservative voters in her district—or elsewhere—will never forgive you, you don’t think much of those voters. Nor do you think you have even the slightest responsibility to be a leader.
Look, I get it. Our politics is so messed up, it may be true that drawing a bright line around the dregs and saying, “That’s not us” could actually alienate some decent Americans who’ve been deluded by cable- and Facebook-fueled culture war tribalism. But what choice do you have? Where does that thinking end? George H.W. Bush repudiated David Duke when he ran for office because it was the right thing to do, but also because a party that welcomes David Duke will be unwelcome to millions of Americans. Better Americans.
The rules state: If you create a monster, the responsibility for stopping the monster—not feeding it—falls to you.
A party of conspiracy theorists and would-be secessionists will be a failed party—I hope. A party merely perceived as a party of conspiracy theorists and would-be secessionists will be a failed party—I hope.
But let’s say I’m wrong. How is that good news? If a new GOP of gasoline-fighters, meme-warrior entertainers, grifters, and tinfoil hatters succeeds, the country will fail. You can debate all day where you should amputate a limb to keep gangrene from taking over. But the longer you wait to find the exact spot, the more likely it is that the rot will spread beyond it.
I’m down for a stupid party. But not this kind of stupid.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Yes, QAnon is stupid — and probably a disinfo program intended to harm the Trump movement — but it’s pretty rich, after four years of Russian Collusion and #Resistance and “hacked election” talk, to act as if this is somehow a largely Republican problem. And “the rules?” What rules are those? Not any rules that we’ve been operating under since 2016.
SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Survey: Heterosexual men like sports more than all other groups.
CONTROVERSIAL STATUE OF GANDHI RIPPED DOWN, VANDALIZED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PARK:
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi that has generated controversy in Davis’ Sikh community for several years was ripped from its base in Davis’ Central Park early this week.
According to Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Department, the statue, broken off at the ankles and the top half of its head broken off, was found by a park worker around 9 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators are still unsure of when exactly the statue was torn down or what the motive may have been.
“Seeing as it’s a cultural icon to a portion of the people in Davis, we are taking it very seriously,” Doroshov said. “If anybody from the public has any information as to who did this and why, we’d really like to hear from them.”
The 6-foot-3, 650-pound bronze Gandhi Statue of Peace has stood in the park since 2016. It was a gift from the Indian government. But its installation was met with protests and outrage from Sikh residents and activists, who have accused Gandhi of genocide, racism and molestation.
Gandhi is often revered as a figure of peace and nonviolent protest, but questions have emerged in recent years over his beliefs on race and sex. In 1903, as a lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi wrote that Black people were “troublesome, very dirty and live like animals.”
And although he promoted getting women into politics, he also regularly slept naked next to his grandniece, then a teenager, when he was in his 70s. He claimed he wanted to test his willpower to remain celibate, but most people today would call such action abusive.
In a statement, the California Sikh Youth Alliance board of directors said it did not support how the statue was removed, but added it opposes monuments that lionize Gandhi.
Violence is never the solution, no matter how damning the Commentary movie review. (Text also online here, if article is behind the subscriber paywall.)
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): I was told this was about Confederate generals.
CDC ISSUES SWEEPING PUBLIC-TRANSPORTATION MASK MANDATE:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a sweeping order Friday evening requiring travelers to wear face masks on most forms of public transportation in an effort to slow the rising number of coronavirus cases across the country.
Travelers and commuters will be required to don a face mask on all airplanes, ships, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares. Masks must also be worn while waiting, boarding, traveling, and disembarking at airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations, and seaports. The order applies to “all passengers on public conveyances” traveling to or within the U.S.
The CDC’s order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday.
Federalism: It was fun while it lasted.
ANDREW CUOMO BLAMES TRUMP ADMIN FOR HIS COVID-19 NURSING HOME SCANDAL.
Exit quote: “‘We’re below the national average in number of deaths in nursing homes,’ he argued. ‘But who cares [where people died]? … They died.’”
It’s an Emmy Award-winning tough guy performance.
THE DEATH OF MID-ATLANTIC MAN:
Today’s young thrusters will have to come up with a different vision of the good life. At the time of writing, it looks almost certain that the British government will insist upon everyone entering the country spending at least 10 days in a ‘quarantine hotel’. We’re not talking about the Connaught, which gets a mention in Wolfe’s original essay, but a Sofitel or Holiday Inn Express just yards from the airport. You won’t be able to open the window or leave your room, which you’ll have to clean yourself, and the only thing to eat will be lukewarm airline meals left outside your door. The only ‘Nylon’ thing about it will be the sheets.
Will the Mid-Atlantic Man ever make a comeback? It feels doubtful, even if this is only a temporary measure. A combination of SARS-CoV-2 and global warming looks likely to bring the age of cheap air travel to a close. Shuttling between different world cities, whether for work or fun, will be a luxury of the super-rich, just as it was before the Swinging Sixties. We may come to look back on this period, when middle-class people could enjoy some of the same luxuries as the international jet set, as an aberration. The headline on Tuesday’s Sun captured the new reality. Above a picture of a couple sitting in deck chairs was the headline: ‘Looks like it’s Bognor again, dear.’
This also dovetails with James Delingpole’s “Drawbridge Effect:” “You’ve made your money. Now the very last thing you want is for all those trashy middle class people below you to have a fair shot at getting as rich as you are. That’s why you want to make energy more expensive by opposing Keystone XL; why you’re all for environmental land sequestration (because you already own your exclusive country property); and Agenda 21 – which will make all Americans poorer, but you not so much, because you’ve enough cash to cushion you from the higher taxes and regulation with which the greenies want to hamstring the economy.”
Covid and Biden are extremely useful tools for the left to accelerate this process.
WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN CITIES SUCH CESSPITS OF POLICE MISCONDUCT? Two Federal Lawsuits Say the Houston Police Department’s Culture of Corruption and Impunity Killed an Innocent Couple.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Did Everyone Buy a Guitar in Quarantine or What? Online music instrument sales rose dramatically in 2020. “We’re now selling a thousand guitars every day,” says the CEO of Sweetwater, which posted more than $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
DISPATCHES FROM THE SWAMP:
● The Biden Administration Just Made Peter Strzok’s Wife A Top SEC Official.
● Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith given probation after guilty plea in John Durham probe. Clinesmith was sentenced to “12 months probation, 400 hours of community service, and no fine.”
● Vengeful Dems persecute stellar NSA general counsel Michael Ellis.
I’LL TAKE HEADLINES I NEVER EXPECTED TO SEE AT BLOOMBERG FOR $500, ALEX: Short Sellers Face End of an Era as Rookies Rule Wall Street.