FOR A DEPARTMENT NOT YET TWENTY DHS IS SURE TURNING BAD QUICKLY: New emails show DHS created Stanford ‘disinfo’ group that censored speech before 2020 election.
Archive for 2023
November 6, 2023
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST:
https://twitter.com/zechariahsharab/status/1721641456174030948
UNEXPECTEDLY: WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, files for bankruptcy.
Office-sharing company WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court Monday, saying that it had entered into agreements with the vast majority of its secured note holders and that it intended to trim “non-operational” leases.
The bankruptcy filing is limited to WeWork’s locations in the U.S. and Canada, the company said in a press release. The company reported liabilities ranging from $10 billion to $50 billion, according to a bankruptcy filing.
“I am deeply grateful for the support of our financial stakeholders as we work together to strengthen our capital structure and expedite this process through the Restructuring Support Agreement,” WeWork CEO David Tolley said in a press release. “We remain committed to investing in our products, services, and world-class team of employees to support our community.
WeWork has suffered one of the most spectacular corporate collapses in recent U.S. history over the past few years. Valued in 2019 at $47 billion in a round led by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, the company tried and failed to go public five years ago.
The pandemic caused further pain as many companies abruptly ended their leases, and the economic slump that followed led even more clients to close their doors.
It’s quite a contrast to WeWork’s absolutely bonkers early days: ‘This Is Not the Way Everybody Behaves.’ How Adam Neumann’s Over-the-Top Style Built WeWork.
For Mr. Neumann and the investors, the premise has always been that the market would look at We as more than real estate. The high valuation—twice that of United Airlines Holdings Inc. —has enabled the company to continue to raise money to fund new desks and offices and keep growing, even as losses persisted.
He has created a distinct culture in his mold. T-shirts and signs sport slogans such as “hustle harder” and “Thank God it’s Monday.” Employees are often big company boosters, creating a work-hard, play-hard office, with a millennial hipster vibe.
Alcohol has been a big part of the culture, particularly in We’s first half-decade. Mr. Neumann has told people he likes how it brings people together, and tequila, his favorite, flows freely. Executive retreats sport numerous cases of Don Julio 1942, with a retail price of more than $110 a bottle, and pours sometimes start in the morning.
A few weeks after Mr. Neumann fired 7% of the staff in 2016, he somberly addressed the issue at an evening all-hands meeting at headquarters, telling attendees the move was tough but necessary to cut costs, and the company would be better because of it.
Then employees carrying trays of plastic shot glasses filled with tequila came into the room, followed by toasts and drinks.
Soon after, Darryl McDaniels of hip-hop group Run-DMC entered the room, embraced Mr. Neumann and played a set for the staff. Workers danced to the 1980s hit “It’s Tricky” as the tequila trays made more rounds; some others, still focused on the firings, say they were stunned and confused.
In 2019, Neumann reportedly received $1.7 billion to leave WeWork.
OPEN THREAD: Let’s do this thing.
QUESTION ASKED: Why Are Holocaust Museums Cowering in Silence?
On Oct. 7, Hamas executed a well-planned attack explicitly seeking to annihilate the Jewish nation. Since then, the group has explained that it will continue to do so until the Jews have been wiped out. The tactics were so monstrous they immediately called to mind the worst atrocities that have been visited on the Jewish people, including the Holocaust. Oct. 7 was the deadliest day for Jews since—yes—the Holocaust. Massive, organized gatherings to support Hamas’s final solution have featured Nazi signage and openly genocidal chants, echoed by a member of Congress. Jewish students chased in a university were told they could hide in the attic. Speaking of which, this week a German day care center named after Anne Frank decided to change its name at the behest of “migrant” families, who claimed to struggle in explaining who Anne Frank was to their children.
If that’s not the Bat Signal for an entire vocation built around One Big Thing, I don’t know what is.
Yet as Daniel Greenfield notes in a column at World Israel News, our caped crusaders are stepping a bit lightly: “Most Holocaust museums surveyed did issue some sort of statement about the attacks, even if it was only to retweet a message from the local Jewish federation, and sometimes only on social media, where they are less widely visible. Some issued stronger press statements on their own sites but virtually none then followed up with further updates beyond one press release… Holocaust museums have generally continued with their pre-existing programs.”
Holocaust museums are not shy, and they are not unconcerned with the news.
“The Museum continues to have grave concern about the global refugee crisis and our response to it,” declared the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the highest profile of all institutions, in February 2017 after the Trump administration’s announcement of a refugee pause. “During the 1930s and 1940s, the United States, along with the rest of the world, generally refused to admit Jewish refugees from Nazism due to antisemitic and xenophobic attitudes, harsh economic conditions, and national security fears.”
Exit questions: “Do the people running them actually care about the moment, or are they fearful their ‘outreach’ to everyone else will be compromised? Or…do some of them have some philosophical uneasiness about siding with Israel at this moment?”
Very likely yes in many cases, sad to say, regarding the second question.
THIS IS AMERICA, AND THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED, NOW: Elderly Jewish Man Murdered by Mask-Wearing “Pro-Palestinian” Thug.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Netherlands, Iceland sign Artemis Accords for moon exploration. “The number of signatories now stands at 31.”
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Planned Parenthood Says Proper Term For Unborn Baby Is Now ‘Womb Colonizer.’
REPORT: Manifesto of Nashville trans shooter released by Steven Crowder.
“Kill those kids!!!” Hale allegedly wrote in a page dated in February. “Those crackers going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis & sports backpacks [with] their daddies mustangs & convertibles.”
“F*ck you little shits,” the alleged terrorist continued. “I wish to shoot you weak*ss d*cks with your mop yellow hair. Wanna kill all you little crackers!!!”
“Bunch of little faggots [with] your white privlages [sic] fuck you f***ots.”
On the day of the shooting, dated March 27, 2023, the alleged shooter exclaimed in a page titled “DEATH DAY” that she was “a little nervous, but excited too. Been excited for the past 2 weeks.”
“Can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready… I hope my victims aren’t,” Hale allegedly wrote. “My only fear is if anything goes wrong, I’ll do my best to prevent any of the sort (God let my wrath take over my anxiety) It might be 10 munutes tops. It might be 3-7. It’s gonna go quick. I hope I have a high death count. Ready to die haha”
Hale signed off with the name “Aiden,” a name she went by.
As Ed Morrissey adds, “We should know soon enough whether Steven’s source got this right. If so, then this would be a very good time for law enforcement at the state and federal levels to release the full diary and stop playing around for the benefit of a dead mass murderer.”
MORE: Nashville Mayor Furious Over Leak of Transgender Shooter’s Manifesto, Demands Investigation. “If there was any question about whether the photos released by Crowder were real, this answers them. You don’t start an investigation into the leak of something that doesn’t exist.”
(Updated and bumped.)
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTOR SUSPECTED OF KILLING JEWISH MAN IN L.A.:
According to witnesses at the scene, a verbal altercation broke out between an older Jewish man and a young pro-Palestinian protester. Suddenly, the protester struck the older man in the head with a megaphone he was holding.
The injured man fell to the ground bleeding and was rushed to the hospital. His death was confirmed to have been caused due to a brain hemorrhage. Israelis who were present at the scene described it as “a terrifying sight” and expressed shock that such an incident took place in their neighborhood.
The incident was filmed on the attacker’s mobile device and has been seized by local police as evidence in their investigation into the incident. While the police have confirmed the case was being looked into, they haven’t provided further details at this time, including whether the suspect has been arrested.
I’m sure the Biden administration will get right on this one. Or not: The White House is working on a strategy to combat Islamophobia. Many Muslim Americans are skeptical.
THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF BAD SCIENCE AROUND SALT: Huge Study Implicates Salt in Type 2 Diabetes, But Let’s Look At The Facts.
MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: The Wheels Are Coming Off The Biden Administration — And Democratic Insiders Know It.
WHY STANFORD’S LEADERS TOLERATE ANTI-SEMITISM:
After Hamas massacred some 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, many Stanford students marched in support of the terrorist group, chanting “2, 4, 6, 8, smash the Zionist settler state.” University leaders responded with a statement supporting “academic freedom,” including the “expression of controversial and even offensive views.”
This is the same university where administrators last year undertook an Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative, which published a catalog of words and phrases to be removed from the school’s websites. Among the proscribed terms: “American,” “immigrant” and “blind study.”
Stanford’s motto is “let the winds of freedom blow,” but many administrators and faculty want it to blow only from the left. Denouncing anti-Semitic protests wouldn’t chill academic freedom on campus; it would serve as a desperately needed show of moral clarity amid a tempest of false equivalence.
But cowardly university leaders are afraid of provoking leftist professors and staff. Recall what happened to Stanford’s previous president. Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, announced his resignation in July following a series of reports in the student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, that accused him of research fraud. Much of the reporting turned out to be inaccurate, but that didn’t matter. The die had already been cast against him. . . .
The lesson is clear. When leaders at Stanford and other universities refrain from denouncing anti-Semitisim in the name of “free speech,” it’s probably because they’re scared of being driven into exile by radical professors.
Cowards.
HOW ABOUT A BULLSHIT TAX ON POLITICIANS? Eat the Bugs Update: Denmark Pushing for Carbon Tax on Its Own Farmers.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: The 10 Manliest Firearms.
THE THERAPY DOESN’T WORK BECAUSE THE THERAPISTS ARE GENERALLY SUBPAR AND POLITICIZED: These Teens Got Therapy. Then They Got Worse. “Maybe everybody thinking about how anxious or hurt they are might not be the best idea.” Ya think?
It wasn’t a complete failure, though, since it got the kids to turn against their parents. In the education world, that’s more likely to be seen as a feature than a bug.
THAT WOULD BE NICE: Is Marvel Learning the Lessons of ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’?
READER FAVORITE: Calphalon Premier Nonstick 5-Quart Saute Pan with Lid. #CommissionEarned
THEY AND THEIR FUNDERS SHOULD BE SUED FOR DAMAGES AND POSSIBLY PROSECUTED: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Blockade Tacoma Port to Delay Ship Headed to Israel.
I PRACTICE A FAIR AMOUNT BUT I’D LIKE MORE TRAINING: Why Firearm and Self Defense Training are Worth Your Time and Money.
NEVER BEND THE KNEE TO THE MOB: #SwiftiesForPalestine Trends As Fans Try to Bully Taylor Swift Into Opposing Israel.
CHANGE? Disney Taps PepsiCo Veteran Hugh Johnston As CFO, A Rare Outsider In A Top Executive Role.
It’s the Woke creatives who need to be given the boot at Disney, but maybe a cost-conscious CFO is the person to make the cuts.