ONE TERRIBLE DAY, SO FAR: Bob McManus: Kathy Hochul’s terrible judgment leads to one terrible day.
Archive for 2022
April 12, 2022
DAMN NEAR KILLED HIM: Brazilian Man Allegedly Lost A Dumbbell In His Anus.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Woke Mob Hunts Down Student Who Invited Col. Allen West to Speak at U. Buffalo.
The Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the University of Buffalo invited Colonel Allen West to speak about American values, his life, and how he overcame racism.
A student mob disrupted the event and was so threatening that West had to be escorted off campus by police.
The student who organized the event had to hide from the mob in a bathroom as they hunted her down.
Evergreen:
WALMART TO PAY TRUCKERS $110,000 A YEAR, MORE THAN DOUBLE AVERAGE COLLEGE GRAD SALARY: “For context, Walmart drivers make more than the average college graduate with a four-year degree. College graduates start out with an average salary of $55,260. Walmart truckers make double that, without the debt and wasted hours in the classroom with a nutty professor. Society sells college as a must. It’s a hustle. For some students, like those who enroll in STEM programs, college is ideal. Then there are the others who spend $100,000 in tuition for some useless degree and make far less than truckers, plumbers and welders do.”
21st CENTURY HEADLINES: Space balloon company offers first look at luxury cabins.
ROGER KIMBALL: The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands, Part 876945.
The emails recovered from Hunter’s laptop “make clear that Hunter was cashing in on the Biden name, including as a board member of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. That influence-peddling was a potential political liability for Mr. Biden, which was why the facts deserved an airing before the election.”
Yes, they did deserve airing, but the country’s in the very best of hands, so that didn’t happen.
Now, courtesy of the Associated Press, we learn that the rot surrounding Washington has insinuated itself into some alarming spots.
“Federal prosecutors,” we learned, “charged two men they say were posing as federal agents, giving free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents, including one who worked on the first lady’s security detail.”
The names of the men?
Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali.
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to suspect that the game’s afoot.
Powerline’s Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker have been devoting serious attention to this story (and here, here, and here).
The men, though apparently American citizens, are likely in the pay of a foreign power, most likely Iran.
They were allegedly armed to the teeth and lavished free rent and other goodies on four Secret Service agents, all of whom are currently suspended.
According to a story in The Daily Mail that Johnson quotes, one of the agents was assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris’s security detail, another was on the “presidential protective detail, and regularly traveled with President Biden on Air Force One.”
But how did all of this come to light?
It was uncovered “by luck” during a routine investigation conducted by a United States Postal Service inspector.
As Johnson put it, “You have got to be kidding me.”
The country’s in the very best of hands.
Indeed.
MASS SHOOTING IN NYC SUBWAY: “several undetonated devices” found? Update: 13 wounded (Video).
More: “Earlier, the NYPD official told Newsweek that the suspect is believed to be a Black male, 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 175 to 180 pounds. After he entered a northbound R train, a dispute ensued, followed by the detonation of a smoke bomb. The nature of the altercation remains unknown.”
UPDATE (6:50 PM): Yet another known wolf, as the FBI keeps knocking it out the park: Brooklyn subway shooting suspect was on FBI’s terrorist radar until 2019 — but was cleared following ‘multiple interviews:’ Gunman’s Philly-rented U-Haul is found abandoned on Brooklyn street 5 miles from where he shot ten straphangers before weapon jammed.
UPDATE (7:30 PM): Brooklyn subway shooting suspect has been identified (Update: Photo).
UPDATE (8:05 PM): Andy Ngo explores the suspect’s social media posts:
(Updated and bumped.)
WHEN THE DEAD RISE: A ‘Dead’ Sunspot Just Exploded, Launching a Plasma Ball Toward Earth. “The sunspot explosion released loads of energy in the form of radiation, which also led to a coronal mass ejection (CME) – explosive balls of solar material – both of which could spur more intense northern lights in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The material in that CME is likely to impact Earth on April 14, according to SpaceWeather.”
ALSO SOLAR-POWERED NIGHT LIGHTS: What If Europe Loses Russian Natural Gas? Electric heaters might help people cope. What will they burn to make electricity? Coal, probably.
Actually, the plan is mostly just to be cold: “The IEA’s 10-point plan calls for reducing temperatures by just 1° C. But if push truly came to shove, the EU as a whole could in theory save enough energy to displace all imported Russian gas by implementing the IEA plan and fuel-switching measures if people also reduced indoor temperatures more drastically—by something like 8° or 9° C, which would be the amount needed according to the IEA’s estimate that each degree lower on everyone’s thermostats would result in an annual savings of 10 billion cubic meters of gas.”
It’s probably a bad idea to let environmentalists do your energy planning. They actually prefer for you to be uncomfortable.
ROBERT REICH IN THE GRAUNIAD: Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense. “Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an ‘uncontrolled’ internet. That’s also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue.”
Because if there is one thing that Iran, CCP China, North Korea, and Putin’s wartime Russia are all famous for, it’s the sweet, unfettered, free flow of information.
Screencap, in case the Grauniad comes to their senses:
UPDATE: As Ace of Spades writes, “We are literally now at the ‘Slavery is Freedom’ part of the takeover.”
MARK JUDGE: When Jackie Robinson Voted for Nixon and Rebuked Malcolm X.
Major League Baseball is gearing up to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the sport’s color barrier.
After becoming the first black player in the big leagues on April 15, 1947, when Martin Luther King Jr. was 18, Robinson went on to have a Hall of Fame career, batting .313 lifetime and playing in six World Series. His jersey has been retired by every team, and all MLB players, managers, coaches, and umpires will wear Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in Dodger blue on April 15.
As a fascinating and well-researched new book points out, Robinson (1919-72) was also outspoken about politics. In “True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson,” sports writer Kostyra Kennedy reminds readers that while Robinson was a devoted friend to King and a supporter of the civil rights movement, he also voted for Richard Nixon in 1960 and rebuked a militant black leader, Malcolm X.
“The Democratic Party, Robinson felt, took the Black vote too quickly for granted,” Mr. Kennedy writes. . . .
Robinson’s endorsement of Nixon cost him. At the time, he was retired from baseball and acting as a goodwill ambassador for Chock full o’Nuts and a columnist for the New York Post. According to “True,” the Nixon endorsement forced “a temporary leave of absence” at the coffee company and ended his column. . . .
Soon after, Robinson began writing a syndicated column that appeared in such publications as the New York Amsterdam News and the Chicago Defender. According to “True,” Robinson “chastised Malcolm X, objecting to his brand of militancy and to his separatist views.” Malcolm X responded “with unveiled ire,” rebuking Robinson “for his allegiance to his ‘white boss’ and his ‘white benefactors’ and for supporting Nixon, and for his general approach.” Malcolm X charged that Robinson would “never take an interest in anything in the Negro community until the white man himself takes an interest in it.”
Robinson shot back, “Coming from you an attack is a tribute,” and added that he was proud of his association with baseball’s Branch Rickey and with New York’s governor, Nelson Rockefeller, for whom Robinson would work.
The book also notes that when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, Robinson “asked that his plaque make no mention of his role in integrating baseball.” Robinson’s wife Rachel later had it changed to describe the tremendous courage Robinson displayed in 1947 and after.
Robinson was a hero. Malcolm X was an “activist.”
JIM TREACHER: Disinformation Is Bad Unless You’re a Democrat.
Last week, The Atlantic held a conference on “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy.” That’s not the funny part. The funny part is that they claimed to be against it!
* * * * * * * *
But here’s the best part: The guest of honor at the disinformation festival was… Barack Obama! That’s right, Captain IYLYDYCKYD (If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor) is very concerned about disinformation being spread by people other than himself.
Read the whole thing.
Of course, there are limits to how much disinformation viewers are willing to voluntarily pay for: Here we go: CNN+ already set for “big cuts” after few consumers subscribe following launch.
Now, help me with the math. CNN, a network whose most popular show pulls in around one million viewers a night, was going to convince two million people to pay for supplemental programming — and 15 million people to do so within four years?
To put that in perspective, per Charles Cooke, NFL Sunday Ticket has two million subscribers. Granted, Sunday Ticket costs much, much more than a CNN+ subscription does, but the NFL fan base is much, much, much larger and more enthusiastic than CNN’s. And still: “Only” two million subscribe. So where did CNN get its target numbers from?
Care to guess how many viewers per day CNN+ is actually averaging lately? According to sources who spoke to CNBC, it’s … just 10,000.
Flashback: The Chickens Come Home to Roost for Chris Wallace. “My thought bubble on this is: What the hell did Wallace expect? Even absent the Cuomo/Zucker scandals, it wasn’t exactly a big secret how bad things were at CNN, not just from a ratings perspective but a coverage perspective. Between Brian Stelter, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon and others, they’ve been an embarrassment for years, so much so that even reliably left-wing news outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have taken to criticizing some of the decision-making and reporting styles there.”
STILL POPULAR: Garage Light – LED Garage Light 2 Pack – 8000LM Glare-Free 360° Illuminator Garage Light. #CommissionEarned (Bumped)
XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT! Fantastic Beasts 3 Gay Dialogue Removed in China, Warner Bros. Says ‘Spirit of the Film Remains.’
References to a gay relationship in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” were edited out of the movie by Warner Bros. for the film’s release in China. Only six seconds of the movie’s 142-minute runtime were removed. Dialogue that was edited out alluded to the romantic past between male characters Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen). “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling revealed Dumbledore was gay in 2009, but the movies had never explicitly referenced the character’s sexuality until this third “Fantastic Beasts” entry.
Warner Bros. accepted China’s request to remove six seconds from the movie. The dialogue lines “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love” were cut from “The Secrets of Dumbledore” release (via News.com.au). The rest of the film remained intact, including an understanding that Dumbledore and Grindelwald share an intimate bond.
“As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors,” Warner Bros. said in a statement to Variety. “Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets.”
Gotta keep that sweet, sweet money flowing in from China. As Jim Geraghty wrote in October of 2019, when the CCP-NBA connection exposed for millions of Americans to see: We’re Not Exporting Our Values to China — We’re Importing Theirs.
THIS IS CNN: Watch the Corporate Puff Piece Chris Cuomo Aired To Silence an Accuser.
As Jim Treacher tweets, “Love to be lectured about disinformation by these assholes.“
KIRA DAVIS: Told Ya So.
Al Sharpton stunned the media watchers on Monday when he issued a warning to Democrats that their “woke” agenda is pushing away Black voters.
In an interview with Joe Scarborough, the Reverend responded to the host’s complaints about “wokeism” by admitting that Black Americans have other things to worry about right now, something the Democrat Party seems wholly uninterested in.
Scarborough: Let me say it slowly for my Democratic friends in Washington D.C. Black voters are more conservative than you are, white woke leaders in Washington D.C. Hispanic voters are more conservative than you are, white woke leaders in Washington D.C. Asian American voters are more conservative than you are, white woke voters in Washington D.C. and they’re more conservative on crime, they’re more conservative on education, they’re more conservative on ‘these woke issues.’ Get off of Twitter!
Sharpton: They’re losing people of color because they really don’t get the people of color’s life. If you are living in a city neighborhood that is inundated with crime and you act like that is not an issue, you’ve already lost me. That is an issue. Yes, we must deal with policing, I’ve been out front with that. But you cannot ignore when 12-year-old kids, whose somebody’s niece and neighbor’s kid, get killed and you act like that’s a non-issue because you’re too elitist to live on the ground.
It was a revelation of sorts. If even Al Sharpton is saying all this has gone too far, things must really be bad.
I was less than impressed with his sudden moment of clarity. He’s right, of course, but this falls squarely underneath the umbrella of “too little, too late.”
We really have descended into some sort of bizarre hell-world when Al Sharpton is a voice of sanity.
Speaking of which, let this notion sink in: The Democratic Party Is Further Left than Al Sharpton.
IF I WERE LOOKING FOR AN EXPENSIVE LUXURY SEDAN, IT WOULD BE HIGH ON MY LIST: 2022 Audi S8 Is a Luxury Sedan That’s Fun in the Front or the Back. “The S8 plays in the same price bracket as other V-8-powered executive sedans such as the BMW 750i and the Mercedes-Benz S580, but it offers a more engaging driving experience than those rivals.”
But since I don’t have a driver and don’t want one, the cavernous luxury of the rear seats is kind of wasted: “The ultimate setup requires the $5900 Rear Seat Comfort package that includes a full-length center console, fold-out tables, heated and ventilated cushions, massage functions, and more.”
However, although I’ve always liked sports cars, I’ve also had a strong admiration for luxury sedans, going back to 7th Grade when Norman Pih and I argued the relative merits of Cadillac Fleetwoods vs. Lincoln Continentals. In retrospect probably the last year either was worth a damn, but we were happy in our ignorance of what was to come. And while it’s not a sports car, the S8 does 0-60 in 3.2, which would have blown our little 7th Grade minds.
I REMEMBER WHEN THIS WAS MANDATORY FOR SIXTH GRADERS, BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, I SUPPOSE: Bipartisan bill would require civics course for NJ college students.
WELCOME BACK, CARTER! Inflation increased again to an insane 8.5%, the highest its been since Jimmy Carter.
Fortunately, the big three networks were quick to cover for Brandon this morning:
Sure, Americans might not be able to buy food, pay their rent, or afford gas, but ABC has us covered with an even more important lesson in queer theory!
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
Evergreen:
Related: New inflation data just broke Biden’s silly ‘Putin’s price hike’ excuse.
RIP: Gilbert Gottfried, iconic comedian, dies at 67 after long illness.
Flashback: Gilbert Gottfried on His Infamous 9/11 Joke and ‘Too Soon.’
You can do jokes about the Lincoln assassination and the Titanic, and no one says anything because everyone involved is dead, and their grandchildren are dead. I actually think that’s in worse taste. You’re saying, “Screw all those people who died, I waited for it to become unimportant to us.” When I do a joke about September 11, or the Japanese tsunami, what’s funny is that it shocks the audience. They are responding to the fact that it’s tragic, and you’re acknowledging it.
With the Challenger explosion, or any other tragic event pre-internet, there were always a bunch of jokes that would come out immediately. Everyone was in a rush to tell their friends, everyone was laughing about it, and it was okay. Now, with the internet, it makes me feel sentimental about old-time angry mobs. In a mob you actually had to throw on your jacket, go outside, use your hands. Now you can join a mob sitting on your couch in your underwear. I feel like people who get outraged like that are patting themselves on the back. “You see, I was offended.”
Read the whole thing — the punch line is a riot.
FEAR IS ALL THE ANTI-GUNNERS HAVE: Selling Fear in the Fight Against Constitutional Carry.
TYPHOID MARYS: 32,000 travellers from mainland China arrived on hundreds of flights over four weeks in early 2020. “After two years of delays, Transport Canada finally coughed up data about travellers from China at the beginning of the pandemic.”