21ST CENTURY WARFARE: Russia Deploys Silok Jammers To Ground Ukraine’s Drones. Ukraine Hunts Down The Siloks With, You Guessed It, Drones.

THEY’RE NOT WRONG: Voters: Obama is Biden’s puppet master. “Most voters, including a majority of Democrats, believe former President Barack Obama is the controlling influence on President Joe Biden as he pushes forward much of his ex-boss’s liberal agenda.”

HE REALLY SHOULD: Next Vacation For Biden: Dementia-Friendly Tourist Spot.

JOHN O’SULLIVAN: Parkinson’s Law in the Persian Gulf.

MAKE THE RUBBLE BOUNCE, JUST TO BE SURE: Andy Kessler: Pop Goes the DEI Bubble.

Have we reached peak DEI? The unraveling of “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives had already begun—five states banning DEI programs; Google, Facebook
and others cutting DEI staff; Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard—well before Harvard President Claudine Gay was demoted.

Author Christopher Rufo, echoing 1960s student activists, called the rise of DEI a “long march through the institutions”—a 50-plus-year ideology infiltration into universities, K-12 schools, government, media and corporations with the goal of telling us all how to live. That’s why I enjoy that the word “rot” is back in style to describe what is happening inside the walls of academia.

Like everything based on the writings of Karl Marx—seeing oppressors and colonial struggles everywhere—DEI was doomed to fail. The uniformity of thought known as intersectionality, fostered by DEI, meant all oppressed people must support all others who are oppressed. But that idea burst on Oct. 7 when Hamas raped, murdered and kidnapped Israelis. Many liberals, especially Jewish ones, couldn’t support genocidal “colonized” terrorists. Pop! The long march is in retreat.

By the way, ESG, or investing based on “environmental, social and governance” principles, peaked last June, when BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he would stop using “the word ESG anymore, because it’s been entirely weaponized.” Never mind that performance of ESG funds has been sketchy and that BlackRock had been adding the label “sustainable” or “ESG” to funds and charging up to five times as much. Then a study published in December by Boston University’s Andrew King found “no reliable evidence for the proposed link between sustainability and financial performance.” Pop!

Most offensive to me was DEI’s devious underlying agenda: societal design. Blinded by fanatical devotion, activists were pawns for the cause of reshaping the world into a collective utopia to be run, of course, by progressive, self-identifying elites. That was the “my truth” that Ms. Gay invoked on her exit. Critical theories and Marxist techniques would take power from you and me, using big government as the enforcer.

The new societal design, embedded in DEI and ESG, envisioned idyllic communal progress. History shows this never works because power corrupts. Diversity meant ideological conformity. Equity meant discrimination. Inclusion meant blurring the sexes. Men winning women’s athletic events would be considered normal. It was all theatrics, like the tampons I’ve seen in men’s bathrooms on Ivy League campuses. Somewhere George Orwell is rolling on the floor laughing.

One goal of progressive societal design is to shrink—depopulation. Twenty-somethings now question having children. Net zero and degrowth, both World Economic Forum approved, are pushed via energy myths: carbon bad, cows bad. A plant-based chicken in every pot and two electric cars in every garage. They envy the merit-touting rich, shout “inequality” and wear “Tax the Rich” dresses. They tear down statues to erase history. How did we let this happen?

You get what you tolerate. Don’t tolerate this.

Related: Are Our Elites Crazy? Yes, yes they are.

Also:

AT AMAZON, Shop the Winter Sale. #CommissionEarned

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: The Coldest Place. And the survival power of bitching.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (CHINA EDITION): China’s Lackluster GDP Growth.

China’s reported economic growth of 5.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023 might look like the envy of the world. But look closer, and worrying signs appear.

The data released Wednesday show a Chinese economy growing at its slowest pace since 1990, excluding the pandemic years. Growth in industrial production slowed from month to month in the quarter. Fixed-asset investment offers hope, but much of the growth was supported by government spending while housing continues to struggle.

Chinese officials have long said they’ll accept growth slower than the 8% or more a year of the 2000s if it’s higher quality, meaning derived from rising productivity and less dependent on rampant credit creation. That doesn’t appear to be happening. The struggling parts of the economy—such as consumption, measured by slowing retail sales—ought to be expanding if growth were more productive.

Instead China appears to be leaning again on easy credit.

For the last 20 years or so, this country relied on easy credit, too — right up until we couldn’t.

ROGER KIMBALL: Ramaswamy Defies New York Times Narrative: Suspends Campaign, Backs Trump. “I think it was a writer for Time magazine who, back in the day, illustrated the point by noting the difference in tone between ‘Truman slunk from the room to huddle with his cronies’ and ‘Ike strode from the chamber to confer with his advisors.’ Truman and Ike were doing the same thing, but the description of their activities cast them in very different rhetorical spaces. The Times obviously had Vivek slated for a Truman-like role.”

JOEL KOTKIN: California: where freedom goes to die. Gavin Newsom has turned the Golden State into a woke dystopia.

HE’S FINE, REALLY: Yikes! Did Biden Threaten To Use Military Jets Against American Citizens?

ON SUNDAY I RUN A PROMO POST (MOSTLY) FOR INDIE WRITERS, AS WELL AS A FUN VIGNETTE WRITING CHALLENGE: Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

TIME TO COUGH UP SOME REPARATIONS, I GUESS: LeVar Burton shocked to discover he’s descended from a Confederate soldier. “Burton, who famously portrayed a slave in the 1977 TV miniseries, ‘Roots,’ was floored to find out his great-great grandfather fought to protect the institution of slavery during America’s Civil War. . . . Other celebrities have been shocked to learn about their heritage on the hit PBS show. Last year, former Black Panther Angela Davis was surprised to discover her ancestors came over on the Mayflower.”

I WOULDN’T BE TOO SCARED OF AMAZON GLAMORIZING SATAN, REALLY. THE LEFT IS COMPLETELY UNCOOL AND UNCREATIVE:  Hazbin Hotel Is Like Your Granddad Telling You A Story [VIDEO].

THE ENTIRE CLIMATE SCAM IS BASED ON INSUFFICIENT AND CRAZILY SPUN DATA:  Climate chiefs admitted net zero plan based on insufficient data, leading physicist says.

NAH. OBAMA WAS IRAN’S MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. EVERYONE PAYS JOE BIDEN, BUT HIS BOSS STAYS BOUGHT:  Our Weird Passivity Toward Iran’s Aggression.

AND RETAINS VIABILITY FOR 2028. WELL DONE:  Ron DeSantis calls it quits.

WHAT A STRANGE COINCIDENCE/SARCASM OFF:  Chinese Scientists Submitted Genetic Sequence of Coronavirus to U.S. Database In 2019, Two Weeks Ahead of China’s Official Disclosure.

SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED:  The Los Angles Times Announces Significant Employee Layoffs.

ONE CAN HOPE:  Has Biden’s Border Crisis Driven Chicago’s Mayor to the Hospital for Panic Attacks?

JOHN RINGO TO THE COURTESY PHONE PLEASE:  Ancient zombie viruses trapped in Arctic ice could unleash deadly new pandemic: ‘Tangible threat’.

But don’t be too afraid. Viruses don’t strike on election years on command. Psyops do.

YALE BEING TONE DEAF?  Yale Law dean whose controversies include meager response to campus antisemitism now ‘frontrunner’ to become president.

NO. JUST NO. GIVE THEM NO AUTHORITY TO HURT US OVER THE NEXT COLD:  WHO calls for world pandemic treaty to prepare for deadly ‘Disease X’.

This is all psyops and grabs for power.

POPCORN FUTURES SOARING!  Trump case could go off rails as Fani Willis love triangle, corruption investigation heats up.

THIS IS NO TIME TO TAKE THE FOOT OFF THE PEDAL:  Israel has only killed 20-30% of Hamas terrorists, US intelligence says.