Archive for 2021

#RESIST: Resisting ‘anti-racist ed.’ “Resistance to anti-racism and Critical Race Theory is neither racist nor unreasonable.”

NOTHING BUT RED INK AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE: That’s Hans Bader’s assessment of Biden’s $6 Trillion federal budget proposal. I would add to the red ink, inflation, poverty, economic stagnation …

NEW EVIDENCE FOR THE GOSPELS: Erik Manning points to Richard Baucham’s analysis of the significance of the named eyewitnesses rendering problematic the argument of critics like Bart Ehrman that it’s all based on legends.

BETTER DEAD THAN RUDE: Nancy Rommelmann: Kids and Cowards: What Really Happened to Donald McNeil at the New York Times.

I don’t know who leaked the information (neither does McNeil). But the why seems easier to fathom: It’s one way to get ahead these days, a shortcut whereby you can chop down someone’s 45-year career in a few days, killing their reputation while burnishing your own as someone who’s fighting the unassailable good fight. And in 2021, that fight is combatting racism. Drop that blood in the water and watch it spread.

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The repercussions were swift. As Baquet kept repeating, “Donald, you’ve lost the newsroom.”

“Let me give you an alternative view of ‘who’s lost the newsroom,” McNeil countered. “If you fire me over this, you’re going to lose everybody over age 40 at the paper, all the grown-ups.”

“We’re not firing you,” Baquet said. “We’re asking you to consider resigning.”

It was the exact same abdication of leadership Baquet has become famous for. What kind of executive editor allows the newsroom—indeed, the most activist subset of the newsroom—to lead him?

McNeil’s replacement isn’t lighting up the scoreboard:


HEH: Mendocino cafe owner says he’ll add an extra $5 fee for mask-wearing patrons. “‘I’ve been told this whole time that wearing a mask is a small price to pay,’ [restaurant owner Chris Castleman] said. ‘Some people get shocked by the sign but to see them turn around and get disgusted … when they’re asked to pay $5 [for charity], it’s not in their wheelhouse. It’s not something they’re choosing to do.’”

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Granholm’s Green Energy Millions. “On Wednesday, Granholm confirmed she earned a $1.6 million profit on her shares of Proterra amid a firestorm over her financial ties to an electric vehicle company repeatedly promoted by the Biden administration. In selling off her shares, Granholm was able to defer paying capital gains taxes on the $1.6 million sale because cabinet officials are not penalized with the tax on assets they are required to sell as a condition of joining the administration. The Biden administration is seeking to raise the capital gains tax on America’s wealthiest families.”