Archive for 2022
June 23, 2022
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Acupuncture may ease common tension headaches, study suggests.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Mr. Bean Accidentally Torches Woke Amy Schumer. “The man known to millions as Mr. Bean is a staunch free speech defender. Now, he’s laying out exactly why Cancel Culture’s hold on humor betrays the craft in a new interview with The Irish Times.”
OUT ON A LIMB: WHO Chief Believes COVID-19 Likely Did Come From Lab Leak.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): As I’ve mentioned before, what’s notable about this is not the belief, which every rational person entertains, but rather that the chief of WHO, which China went to great lengths to control over the past few years, is now willing to openly break with the Chinese here. This indicates a dramatic weaking of China’s position.
CHANGE: Post-recall San Francisco school board rescinds vote to cover controversial Washington High mural.
The 1936 fresco, painted on wet plaster, is the work of Russian artist Victor Arnautoff, and part of the Works Progress Administration public art program under President Roosevelt’s New Deal employment projects. The 1,600-square-foot “Life of Washington” mural features multiple panels with scenes from the life of the first president.
According to Wikipedia:
Arnautoff taught sculpture and fresco painting privately and at the California School of Fine Arts, first during summer sessions and as a regular instructor beginning in 1936. He taught art at Stanford University from 1938 to 1962. Beginning in 1947, he also taught art courses at the California Labor School, including printmaking. At Stanford, Richard Diebenkorn was one of his students; Diebenkorn considered Arnautoff a mentor and admired his intellectual and political stances.
Beginning with his association with [Diego] Rivera, Arnautoff’s political views moved to the left, and he joined the Communist Party[5] as well as the American Artists’ Congress and the San Francisco Artists and Writers Union. His style was generally more subtle than Rivera’s and other social realists, but his politics were nevertheless reflected in his work, which has been described as being part of a mural arts movement that “hoped to inspire change through criticism of the present political system”.
In 1955, an Arnautoff lithograph titled “DIX McSmear”, associating Vice President Richard Nixon with McCarthyism, created controversy. As a result, there were calls for Stanford to dismiss him. The lithograph was then used as the cover for an issue of The Nation. After he was interrogated by a House Unamerican Activities Committee subcommittee, there were again calls for Stanford to dismiss him. However, the faculty committee that reviewed his case declined to make such a recommendation to the president, and Arnautoff remained a faculty member.
So a Nation Magazine-approved future Communist (who later returned to the Soviet Union and died in Leningrad) employed by the Roosevelt Administration who eventually drew an anti-Nixon illustration titled “DIX McSmear” was considered too conservative for the San Fransisco School Board, circa 2019?
UPDATE: More change: San Francisco School Board Votes to Return Elite High School to Merit-Based Admissions.
UKRAINE WAR UPDATE: God Is on the Side of the Heavy Artillery. “While force generation is without a doubt a serious problem for Russia, I’m less certain that it’s a fatal flaw. Historically, Russia has relied on artillery — and lots of it — to make up for any deficiencies in the quality of their infantry.”
NICE GESTURE, BUT I’D RATHER SEE THEM DO THIS ONCE THEY HAVE THE MAJORITY BACK: House Republicans Introduce Legislation To Eliminate Federal Excise Tax On Guns, Ammo.
DEAL OF THE DAY: Bekhic Chef Knife. #CommissionEarned
AS A COLORADO RESIDENT, I CAN’T WARN YOU STRONGLY ENOUGH AGAINST OUR GOVERNOR: Polis plots presidential run as Dems wheel Biden towards Shady Pines Rest Home. “Make no mistake about it, Polis is positioning himself to run for president the minute the Democrat Party checks poor old Joe Biden into the Shady Pines Rest Home.”
JON GABRIEL: Who needs a right-wing plot when progressives are busy eating themselves alive?
In [Ryan] Grim’s [Intercept] piece, one senior progressive congressional staffer (anonymous, of course) couldn’t hide his frustration. “There are wins to be had between now and the next couple months that could change the country forever, and folks are focused on stuff that has no theory of change for even getting to the House floor for a vote.”
“I’m not saying it’s a right-wing plot,” another executive chimed in, “because we are incredibly good at doing ourselves in, but – if you tried – you couldn’t conceive of a better right-wing plot to paralyze progressive leaders.”
The midterms are less than five months away and Democrats have a lot of ground to make up. But progressives are too busy rolling tumbrels through their cubicles and admiring their own tails.
If November goes as expected, the left won’t need to worry about new legislation distracting them from their main job: eating themselves alive.
Don’t get cocky.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Feminists Just Want to Stick It to the Man (and the Woman)!
STAND UP TO HIGHER EDUCATION BIGOTRY: Lawmaker says she is holding NYC university accountable for anti-Semitism.
FEAR IS THE POINT: Majority Of Republicans, Independents Fear Abuse Of ‘Red Flag’ Laws.
OVERSTRETCHED CONSUMERS CUT BACK: Food and Beverage Industry Takes Hit as Consumers Save Money.
Seventy-two percent of U.S. consumers intentionally took steps to save money because of inflation in May, according to a Morning Consult survey, which showed that the food and beverage industry is being impacted significantly by consumers’ cost-savings techniques.
Over half (53%) of U.S. adults said that they have changed their eating and drinking habits as a result of inflation last month. More than 8 in 10 survey respondents said that they are eating out less often, and roughly three-quarters are going to bars less often. Consumers are also purchasing less meat—72% of consumers say they are doing so, and the number rises to 81% among baby boomers. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported that they are consuming less alcohol.
Demographics that earn less than $50,000 and who have children under 18 years old in the household are more likely to cut back on spending, with those in the Midwest the most likely to have made adjustments, and those in the Northeast being the least likely. Women are 13 percentage points more likely to have said they’ve adjusted their spending habits, which could reflect that women are more likely than men to identify as the household’s primary grocery shopper.
But this is good because it’s forcing people to be healthier, right? Not so much:
Health and wellness habits are decreasing with the increase in inflation—57% of respondents are buying less produce, while 52% have stopped buying organic produce. Twenty-two percent of respondents have stopped a specific diet, and that number jumps to 28% when looking at the millennial demographic.
Thanks, Joe.
GRANDPA GETS FRUSTRATED, DEAR: Biden Gets Snippy with Reporter Asking a Not-So-Tough Question — Non-Comedy Ensues.
WELL, THAT’S JUST BECAUSE IT’S A STUPID GIMMICK: OPEN LETTER FROM ECONOMISTS OPPOSING THE GAS TAX HOLIDAY. Oh, wait, this is under Bush, not Biden.
Wonder if we’ll see something similar in regard to Biden’s proposal. I’m guessing no.
WHY DO I HAVE THE FEELING THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A DIAPER SHORTAGE? Diaper sales tax eliminated in Denver.
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE:
● ‘The Jewish Factor, It’s Money’: Biden Ambassador Pick Under Fire for Anti-Semitic Tirade.
● ‘Proud’ of Funding: Qatar Defends Work With Biden USAID Nominee in Letter to Senate.
WHEN MEN WHO IDENTIFY AS WOMEN RAPE WOMEN, NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT IT: The World’s Most Taboo Legal Case:
I’d made a point of pride of not reading a line of commentary about Heard-Depp, but listened to an episode of Blocked and Reported that touched on it after it was over, and learned three things that made me furious and think immediately of Chandler.
One, the ACLU, in apparent exchange for a pledge of $3.5 million, ghost-wrote Heard’s offending editorial, and in particular a line about her having “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” Two: Guardian writer Moira Donegan declared, “We are in a moment of virulent antifeminist backlash.” Three: Vice proclaimed without irony, “We’ve all failed Amber Heard.” Almost as one, the establishment press declared itself concerned with the suffering of a rich actress. However, there’s a gaping loophole in their concern for women, and Chandler sits in the middle of it.
Let’s talk about “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” in the context of this case:
Chandler is the headline legal action in a nationwide battle over whether or not prisoners who self-identify as women, including those with histories of rape or sexual abuse, should be allowed to transfer to women’s correctional facilities. There have been both official and unofficial policy changes on this front in a growing collection of states across the country. These often happen with little to no public debate, because this issue may be the most impenetrable media taboo in America now.
The group bringing the suit, WoLF, has been targeted from every conceivable angle by pressure and censorship campaigns. While we at least heard about protesting Canadian truckers having their GoFundMe campaigns frozen, WoLF didn’t even bother trying to raise money on that platform, “because they just ban you really easily,” as legal director Lauren Adams put it.
They moved to a purportedly speechier platform, GiveButter, hoping they would have “less of a censorious kind of view.” But even GiveButter soon gave WoLF the boot (I reached out to the company, which hasn’t provided public comment yet). “It was just a general fundraiser,” Adams explains. “And they said we violated their community standards. So now we’re on GiveSendGo, which is a Christian crowdfunding site.”
If there’s a better illustration of the upside-down state of politics in 2022 America, it’s a feminist activist group forced to seek cyber-refuge in a Christian fundraising company.
It’s become tantamount to career suicide to be associated with WoLF.
You know, I’ve kinda had it with all this lefty censorship bullshit.
Plus: “Even if you believe that transgender people need a full complement of rights and better protection in prison, and I’m in that category, there can’t be that many people willing to stand up and argue in favor of housing un-transitioned inmates with penises and criminal sex-abuse records in cells with women. Can there? If agitating against that is bigotry, what’s progress?”
KEEP ROCKIN’! The L.A. Times assures its readers: Yes, a recession looks inevitable. But will it be that bad?
Whether it’s President Biden insisting a recession is avoidable or his critics arguing that the wolf is at the door, both sides are acting as if the nation faces an unprecedented catastrophe.
Partly it’s political theater — Biden fighting on behalf of an already beleaguered presidency and many of the doomsayers hoping a downturn could be the coup de grace for Democrats.
Behind the rhetoric, the reality is that recessions are a normal part of American economic life. The U.S. has had one, on average, every 6½ years since 1945.
And in the present case, most professional economists think any downturn now is likely to be relatively mild, with a fairly quick recovery.
“We’re calling for a small ‘r’ recession,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital. “It means it’s not going to be protracted and things aren’t going to fall apart,” as they did during the Great Recession and again in 2020 when the pandemic struck.
Many households are flush with cash, and jobs are plentiful with demand for new workers strong. Banks are well capitalized, which gives them a solid buffer against a business contraction.
The L.A. Times is dismissing how painful a recession — combined with supply chain woes, out-of-control fuel prices and inflation in general — will be for millions of Americans — in much the same way they dubbed unemployment during the administration led by Biden’s former boss as “funemployment:” “For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome!” — after all, it’s a chance to “Keep rockin’”!
YOU’LL LIKE THE CUT OF HIS JIB: Dave Chappelle Owns the Snowflakes Once Again.