I SPOTTED THAT TOO: Adam Kinzinger admits Patriot Front are feds?
Archive for 2023
June 28, 2023
I’VE HEARD THIS CLAIM BEFORE: Is Disney about to enter a less woke era?
FOR THE RECORD: Sorry to be AWOL. We were at Liberty con. And we lost a cat.
I am back, though still not…. well.
June 27, 2023
OPEN THREAD: We’re all just walkin’ each other home.
In the 21-second clip, circulated by a right-wing web streamer channel, dozens of people march in the streets and are clearly heard chanting, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going shopping.” But one voice that is louder than the crowd — it’s not clear whose, or whether the speaker was a member of the LGBTQ community — is heard saying at least twice, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children.”
To conservative pundits, activists and lawmakers, the video confirmed the allegations they’ve levied in recent years that the LGBTQ community is “grooming” children.
But to Brian Griffin, the original organizer of the NYC Drag March, if that’s the worst they heard, it’s only because he wasn’t there this year.
Griffin said he chanted obscene things in the past, like “Kill, kill, kill, we’re coming to kill the mayor,” and joked about pubic hair and sex toys during marches. People at the Drag March regularly sing “God is a lesbian.”
“It’s all just words,” Griffin said. “It’s all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us.”
The “coming for your children” chant has been used for years at Pride events, according to longtime march attendees and gay rights activists, who said it’s one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people. And in this case, they said, right-wing activists are jumping on a single video to weaponize an out-of-context remark to further stigmatize the queer community.
Conservative politicians and pundits have increasingly referred to advocates for LGBTQ rights as “groomers,” associating people who oppose laws that restrict drag performances or classroom discussions of gender identity with pedophiles. The charge is an echo of a decades-old trope anti-gay activists have used to paint the community as a threat to the country’s youths, an allegation that some advocates say endangers LGBTQ people. And the intense reaction to the video has scared some attendees, who insist the quip has been taken out of context.
Sideshow Bob could not be reached for comment:
Evergreen:
UPDATE: Rod Dreher “Law of Merited Impossibility” states: “It will never happen, and when it does, you bigots will deserve it.”
GONE?
She's gone insane https://t.co/ByHK3cly1F
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 26, 2023
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China conducts parachute tests for asteroid sample return mission.
GRAY LADY DIVES FOR FAINTING COUCH: New York Times Attacks Gutfeld For Promoting ‘Nihilism,’ Fox For Threaning Democracy.
MICHAEL WALSH: Tent, Meet Camel.
But the walls have fallen, the dams have burst, and there is no end in sight. In accordance with the late Robert Conquest’s Third Law of Politics, we are now ruled by a cabal of our enemies. As they were in National Socialist Germany, the universities have become hotbeds of intolerant socialist orthodoxy. Thought-crime laws are being bruited world wide; the concept of “protected classes” makes a mockery of equality before the law. George Floyd, a obese, violent drug addict who died in police custody after the commission of a crime, has become a secular saint, the apotheosis of “blackness” to a generation that has no memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., much less the Harlem Renaissance. Whole cities have been sacrificed on his altar.
Hunter Biden, the louche crackhead sex-pest issue of the President’s loins, skates on serious income-tax and firearm charges even as he and the demented paterfamilias of this crime family are being publicly accused, in Congress, of being the principals of multi-million-dollar international bribery racket, thanks to Joe’s employment of the FBI as his personal police force and his corruption of the Justice Department. Merrick Garland, who ideally would be cast as Beria in a road-show production of Stalin’s Henchmen of 1953 is the attorney general of the United States, perhaps soon to be facing impeachment. As the late Bob Dole wondered during his quixotic campaign against Bill Clinton in 1996: “Where’s the outrage?”
Long gone, along with Americans’ former personal independence and self-reliance. It’s still hard to believe that the country of Paul Revere and John Dillinger went so sheepishly into the fascist pens of the Covid Hoax lockdowns, surrendering their First Amendment freedoms without a fight while the useless judicial branch under the effete John Roberts sat by and didn’t even squeak. The Roberts Court — thanks, George W. Bush! — appears to believe it sits on Mars, far away from the hugger-mugger mess of representative democracy, with no patriotic duty to use at least its moral authority on the issues of the day before they wend their way through the crapulous intestines of the “justice system.”
Read the whole thing.
SHOULD’VE HAPPENED TWO DECADES AGO: Two Weeks Ago, The BMI Was Quietly Wound Back as The ‘Go-To’ Weight Measure in The US.
BMI was never meant to be a health measure for individuals. It got turned into one because it’s easy and seems scientific. As I wrote 20 years ago:
Case in point: me. I’m 6′ 3″ tall. When I first started working out again over ten years ago, I weighed 194, which, according to the Body Mass Index calculator gave me a BMI of 24.2, which is healthy. Now, after many years of aerobic exercise and weight training, I weigh 210. That gives me an unhealthy BMI of 26.2 today. But when I started working out, my bodyfat was, if I recall correctly, 23.7%. Now it’s between 15 & 16%. My resting heart rate, always low, is lower than it was. My cholesterol is 150. I look better. And despite being at the computer a lot, I have fewer aches and pains than I had then. So am I really less healthy as the result of adding a good deal of muscle and losing a good deal of fat? I don’t think so.
Most people who lift heavy have “obese” BMIs, even if they’re ripped. Sure, not reflective of the general population. But on the other hand, BMI also misses people who have too much bodyfat, but carry so little muscle that their BMI is “normal.”
I will say, though, that I’m squatting a lot heavier than I was back then, in my pre-Rippetoe days.
BYRON YORK: The stuff Hunter Biden didn’t get indicted for. “But there is a second IRS whistleblower whose testimony was also released last week. This whistleblower, who is anonymous, was the lead case agent for the Hunter Biden investigation. As such, he had a detailed, hands-on knowledge of the evidence in the case. He is the IRS agent who would have testified against Hunter Biden had any case against him gone to trial.”
CAN CONGRESS CONTROL LEVIATHAN? Not unless it quickly adopts the recommendations of two experts on the Administrative State from the Foundation for American Innovation. (FYI: Epoch was having technical difficulties this evening that may linger a bit. If so, please try again in a little while).
Another great read on the Administrative State is one I think Glenn has previously recommended, but it warrants another boost: “Is Administrative Law Unlawful?” by Prof. Philip Hamburger.
PROFESSOR CARRINGTON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Radiant Fury: Sun Unleashes Powerful X1.0 Class Solar Flare.
FINALLY: Report: Top Anheuser-Busch Marketing Executives Behind Boycott Are No Longer Employed.
The two top Anheuser-Busch marketing executives who were placed on leave amid the company shakeup no longer work for the brand, a source inside Anheuser-Busch confirmed in texts obtained by the Daily Caller on Tuesday.
Group Vice President for Marketing Daniel Blake and Bud Light Marketing Vice President Alissa Heinerscheid are “gone gone,” according to obtained text messages with a current regional head of marketing. The Caller is granting anonymity to the source to discuss legally fraught internal company policy.
“To my understanding if we publicly announced the word ‘fire’ it opens up the potential for them to sue us. Thats why we said leave of absence,” the source said in a text message obtained by the Caller.
“The wholesalers would have had an absolute HAY DAY with leadership if they didn’t remove her,” the source inside the company also said.
“To be fair- Daniel Blake was actually awesome. I think he was just caught in cross fire. But also he did hire her… so that’s a fault,” the source continued.
“Wholesalers were told they are both gone for good by leadership during in person conversations. They already shifted all their direct reports to new people and the head of marketing,” the source added in another text message obtained by the Caller.
If Anheuser-Busch’s CEO issued an actual apology for the Dylan Mulveney debacle, and for Heinerscheid insulting Bud Lite’s (former) customers, he might see begin to see sales turn around.
In the meantime: Get Ready for More ‘Bud Lighting.’
WHAT IT DOES IN THE SHADOWS: Unraveling the Mystery: How AI Models Process Language Without Truly Thinking. (VIP)
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: CDC: First cases of locally acquired malaria in 20 years detected in U.S. “Health officials have recently detected five malaria cases in the United States, marking the first locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria to be diagnosed in the country in two decades. The handful of cases has prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a warning to health officials and the public about the disease.”
If only we had some economical way of killing mosquitoes in large numbers.
EPSTEIN DIDN’T KILL HIMSELF: Jeffrey Epstein’s unsupervised, unfilmed death while in federal custody was totally a suicide, feds declare.
WELL, THAT’S A TAKE: Harrison Ford Is 80. He’s Proof: Silver-Haired Stars Are the New Box-Office Gold.
It could have been a pickup line at a gym, but instead it was a question at the Cannes Film Festival. A woman wanted to know how Harrison Ford, 80, prepared to go shirtless in the new Indiana Jones movie. “I think you’re still very hot,” she said. “How do you keep fit?”
“I’ve been blessed with this body,” he told her. “Thanks for noticing.”
This summer belongs unapologetically to old men.
Ford hoists his famed franchise on his shoulders for the fifth time this month with “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” In July, Tom Cruise, 60, old enough for a senior discount at many movie theaters, sprints into “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One.” On streaming, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75, saves the world in “FUBAR.” By Labor Day, Denzel Washington, 68, will be delivering vigilante justice in “The Equalizer 3.”
“These movie stars literally invented blockbusters in the ’80s,” says Richard Gelfond, chief executive of IMAX, the entertainment technology company. “There is a reason these old men are still around.”
Celebrities from the ’80s have a link to most every generation alive right now. Studio executives call them holdouts from a time when scarcity ruled and streaming was naught. Big stars released a movie a year, an original story with their name above the title on the marquee. Then they disappeared so everyone could miss them before they came back and did the whole thing all over again.
As John Nolte noted last month: Hollywood Forced to Admit the Movie Star Is Dead.
“The hottest package at this year’s Cannes Film Festival stars a 76-year old action star and is a reboot of a movie that first dazzled moviegoers in 1993.” Variety is talking about Sylvester Stallone and his hit movie Cliffhanger. Yep, Cliffhanger 2 is the biggest deal at a prestigious worldwide film festival: a sequel to a 30-year-old movie starring a guy old enough to be a great-grandfather.
I love Stallone. I hope he lives forever, but imagine the year is 1974, and the hottest property at Cannes is Notorious 2, starring a 76-year-old Cary Grant*. What would the state of the industry have looked like then?
But in 1974, America was buried in young superstars: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Sidney Poitier, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Pam Grier, Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman, Richard Pryor, Gena Rowlands, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Roundtree, Ellen Burnstyn, Jane Fonda, James Caan, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Jill Clayburgh, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Sean Connery, Peter Fonda…
Wrap your mind around this: In 1974, Charles Bronson, Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau were still younger than Matthew McConaughey (53) is today.
Other hot items at Cannes include 75-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Breakout, 59-year-old Nicolas Cage’s Lord of War sequel, and a movie starring 69-year-old John Travolta.
In her 2013 book, Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business, veteran Hollywood producer Lynda Obst wrote that Hollywood didn’t need movie stars — they had franchises to mine:
Obst explains the formula for ‘The New Abnormal” thusly:
1. You must have heard of the Title before; it must have preawareness.
2. It must sell overseas.
3. It should generate a Franchise and/ or Sequel (also a factor of 1 and 2).
As Nolte concludes:
Here is what happened: the studios believed they could sell movies based on brands and high concepts forever, but now they are all out of brands and high concepts, and there is nothing left to put butts in seats.
What is more, actors believed they could continue to be cruel, bigoted, humorless, self-righteous scolds, and the world would always fall at their feet.
Well, haha.
Fortunately, there’s fresh talent to take all of the aging stars’ places: Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Oh wait, what am I saying?! Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a franchise murderer — and Indiana Jones is her next victim.
The Critical Drinker agrees:
UNEXPECTEDLY! The media isn’t checking Hunter Biden’s white privilege.
The attorney for hip hop artist Kodak Black has spoken out on behalf of his client, who was given a three-year prison sentence for similar offenses in 2019 relating to lying on a federal background check. Black falsified information on federal paperwork to purchase at least four guns.
Attorney General Merrick Garland took to the podium last week to defend the deal made between Hunter Biden and his Department of Justice. “Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department by claiming that we do not treat cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy… Nothing could be further from the truth.” Garland is not only arguing that a statistical fact is somehow an Attack on American Democracy, but that the “racial disparities” in the American justice system, that the Biden administration have been pushing for years, with the media echoing, do not exist. If all cases are treated equally under the law, then poor Americans of color would have received the same plea deal as the rich white son of the sitting president. Would anyone in the media like to investigate whether that’s the case? I’ll wait…
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their silence makes perfect sense.
Evergreen:
WOW, THE TRANS-WOMEN’S-SPORTS THING HAS GOTTEN SO UNPOPULAR THAT David French is attacking it, in the New York Times, instead of calling it one of the blessings of liberty.
TO BE FAIR, DISNEY’S TROUBLES HAVE MORE TO DO WITH THEIR STREAMING SERVICE’S AWFUL ORIGINAL CONTENT AND DRIVING BOTH THE STAR WARS AND MARVEL FRANCHISES INTO THE GROUND:
On the other hand, DeSantis has done a fine job of exposing Disney’s woke policies and revoking the special privileges they used to enjoy.
GUITAR PLAYER’S JAS OBRECHT: Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House:” The Story of a Song.
DISPATCHES FROM THE DOOM LOOP: Is reporting on San Francisco unfair or just accurate?
The story ends with a long list of articles from major media outlets about San Francisco’s problems. The list includes one story from FAIR titled “The Character Assassination of San Francisco” which seems like it might have been the jumping off point for this story. FAIR concludes, “This is media outrage focused not at systemic injustice, but based in disgust at the victims of injustice.”
That really does sum up what all of this is about. For the most part, the Chronicle isn’t complaining that the stories by CNN, Good Morning America, the Financial Times, etc. are untrue. The facts are what they are. San Francisco does have a downtown with more empty commercial space than most cities. It does have a string of closing retailers who have cited crime and street conditions as part of the problem. It does have a failing public transportation system that can’t survive apart from handouts from the state. And it does have a serious problems with homelessness, open-air drug dealing, retail theft and car break ins, all of which are worse than in many other cities.
Rather they are arguing that the coverage is wrong, the articles are arguing it’s wrong-think. These things shouldn’t be mentioned so often not because they are false but because they are true and embarrassing to those who would prefer to view the city as a progressive wonderland where everything is gong swell.
Related flashback: Detroit’s comeback is a myth.