BLEG–WINDOWS MOVIEMAKER WON’T CONVERT FROM WLMP FORMAT [SOLVED!]: Windows MovieMaker is an old, discontinued, easy to use program to make videos and slideshows. I used it two years ago, it was glitchy, but I was familiar with it, so I used it again to create a montage, mostly pictures with a few short video clips, about 9 minutes long. It made the montage (with some captions and a musical background) just fine, but absolutely refuses to convert the project into a usable format. I’m posting the problem here because I couldn’t find a solution, and an answer would help me and others. I am using Windows 7. I tried loading a new copy of the program. I tried deleting the video clips in case MM was having trouble with the .mov format. I tried saving to .MP4. I tried saving to .WMV. I tried saving to Facebook and Youtube. The program just acts like it’s going to do something, but gets stuck at 0/100%.

I tried downloading converters that claim, falsely, that they accept WLMP format. I tried an online program that did convert the file to .MP4, but not in a way that will actually allow it to play.

At this point, I’ve spent more time trying to resolve this than it would take to create a new montage with a different program. But if anyone has a solution, let me and the rest of the world know in the comments. Thanks.

THE SOLUTION: For whatever reason, MM didn’t like the music files I had added to the montage. Having deleted those files, I was able to save the montage in .MP4, and now I can put the the music back in via another program. UPDATE: I converted my .MP3 files to .WAV, and that solved the problem entirely. So, if you are reading this and have the same problem, first thing to do is to see if you are have any .MP3 files in your video, MM apparently doens’t like them.

4,700 AND COUNTING: My article on the importance of the Second Amendment right of armed self-defense in the context of widespread police “standdowns” during this Summer’s rioting has been download almost 5,000 times. But I’ve heard from some Instapundit readers that they have wanted to download the article, but not to create an SSRN account. Easy! After you click on “download this paper,” the next page has a link at the bottom right-hand corner, “download without registration.”

*REALLY* DON’T GET COCKY: Trump is losing. Badly. That’s what the recent polls shows. That doesn’t mean he will lose. There’s almost a month left, and if he can turn around 2.5% of current Biden voters, and thus get within around 4% of Biden, plus pick up a few “shy Trump” voters, he can win the electoral college while losing the popular vote by several points. But right now he’s losing, and it’s not because the polls are biased, not because of any conspiracy by the media to cover up his success. He’s basically getting the vote of every voter who approves of his job performance, and no one else. He’s more popular than he was in 2016, but Biden is much more popular than Clinton was. Worse yet, a lot of people think the race is much closer than it is right now, and are sending in early ballots voting for Democratic Senate candidates to “check” Trump. I’m telling it like it is, and I’m sorry that’s bad news for most Instapundit readers. And note that I am totally not averse to calling things for Trump against the media consensus when I see things going his way.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Really, don’t get cocky. You should be donating and working on this election, and putting out the max effort, because everything is up for grabs. And encourage your friends to turn out and vote too.

ANOTHER UPDATE (FROM GLENN): A Facebook friend sends this:

Someone asked me what feedback I am getting with door knocking in Bristol/Levittown PA. I’ve been doing this 3 days/wk, for 3 wkends. Working class to upper middle neighborhoods, all registered voters, all ages, roughly equal by party.

1) if it’s Biden they usually say Biden, occasionally apologetically.
2) if they say I’m undecided but don’t close the door, if you ask what are your issues or how will you decide, they say Trump or give you clues it’ll be Trump (ex: “I’m pro life.”)
3) I always ask if anything in the debates changed their mind – so far always no, they already were going to vote for that person.
4) So far no mind changes at all, or they didn’t say.
5) sometimes they refuse to say, period, and close the door.
6) if Trump – they are going to vote in person.
7) if anti Trump – why? 2-3/day – emotional negative reaction to him (“he’s disgusting”) or media memes (“wants to be a dictator”)
8) I always get maybe 1 in 25 who are vociferously Democrat or pro-Biden and let me have it.
9) but most aren’t home or don’t answer the door.

10) this weekend I want to ask if Trump’s covid diagnosis and choices around that changed their minds.

Interesting.

THE BIGGEST SICK JOKE RIGHT NOW: Our old Stalinist friend Angela Davis has come to fame as a “prison abolitionist.” Which is strange, because she was perfectly happy to have dissidents in the USSR and East Germany, including Soviet Jews seeking to practice their religion, consigned to prison. It’s worth recounting this anecdote from Alan Dershowitz: Dershowitz appealed to Davis, with her very close relationship with the USSR (as she was a high-ranking member of the Soviet-controlled Communist Party USA) to intercede on behalf of imprisoned Soviet Jewry activists. Dershowitz recounts, “Several days later, I received a call back from Ms. Davis’ secretary informing me that Davis had looked into the people on my list and none were political prisoners. ‘They are all Zionist fascists and opponents of socialism.’ Davis would urge that they be kept in prison where they belonged.” That anecdote is reasonably well-known, but I found a related anecdote from 1972: “Angela explained that the situation of Jews in Russia ‘has been totally blown out of proportion by the bourgeois press because they’re going to do everything they can to discredit socialism.'”

And here are a couple of pictures of her with her buddy Eric Honeker the dictator of East Germany, whose political prisoners Davis was at best indifferent do. I’ve searched for any evidence that Davis regrets these positions and her general support for Communist tyrannies and haven’t found any (and this source says it’s because she hasn’t expressed any remorse). Prison abolitionist my ___.

MORE ON SELF-DEFENSE AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT: From my colleague Joyce Malcolm: Self Defense, an Unalienable Right in a Time of Peril: Protected and Preserved by the Second Amendment. An excellent complement to my article.

A reminder that this series of articles on the Second Amendment (there will ten in all!) is brought to you by the Scalia Law School’s Liberty and Law Center. If you would like to help with our work, you can contribute here. We also have a match until October 15th for our free speech clinic, so if you would like to designate a gift for the clinic, it will be doubled.

DOWNLOAD IT WHILE IT’S HOT [bumped]: The Right to Armed Self-Defense in the Light of Law Enforcement Abdication.

This is my contribution to the Scalia Law School’s Liberty and Law Center’s series of working papers on the Second Amendment. It’s forthcoming in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy.

The article notes that gun control advocates argue that to the extent the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms was meant to ensure people can defend themselves, that concern is anachronistic in modern times when we have professional police. I then argue that this claim is undermined by what happened in cities across the country this past Summer, when police were given stand-down orders by mayors and public safety chiefs, mostly for political reasons, allowing rioters and looters carte blanche to destroy significant swathes of urban America. Finally, I give examples of individuals and groups defending themselves and their property with firearms in the face of police abdication.

Among other contributions that the article makes, people who should know have told me that the article has by far the most detailed and extensive account of stand-down orders, police abdication, and attendant violence they have yet seen. I also point out that progressives who have taken up the “defund the police” mantra are in no position to argue that the police will protect us if people are not allowed to own guns. So what are you waiting for?

NEW FROM SCALIA LAW SCHOOL’S LIBERTY AND LAW CENTER: My colleague Nelson Lund on The Future of the Second Amendment in a Time of Lawless Violence. I’m executive director of the center, and we have several Second Amendment-related papers forthcoming in our working paper series, many if not all of which will be of interest to Instapundit readers. I will link to them as the working papers are published.

A REAL HUMAN RIGHTS HERO, RIP YURI ORLOV: Natan Sharansky: With Yuri Orlov’s bold vision, we lit a fire under the Soviet regime. While Orlov was being sent to a prison camp in Siberia, woke-hero-de jure Angela Davis was acting a shill for the USSR as a prominent member of the Soviet-controlled U.S. Communist Party. It’s worth recounting this anecdote from Alan Dershowitz’ book, Chutzpah. In the late 1979, when Jews in the USSR were being locked up for asserting their right to live Jewish lives, teach and learn Hebrew, and emigrate to Israel, Alan Dershowitz appealed to Davis, with her very close relationship with the USSR to intercede on their behalf. “Several days later, I [Dershowitz] received a call back from Ms. Davis’ secretary informing me that Davis had looked into the people on my list and none were political prisoners. ‘They are all Zionist fascists and opponents of socialism.’ Davis would urge that they be kept in prison where they belonged.” Yet somehow Ibram Kendi makes her the primary “anti-racist” hero of his book Stamped.

POLITICS IS THEIR RELIGION: I can’t believe this is real and not a Saturday Night Live skit, but a Reform temple in New Jersey actually substituted the traditional haftorah reading on Rosh Hashanah (the additional reading from the Torah beyond the requisite portion of the week) for a reading, with the traditional haftorah tune, of some of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s writings.

Putting aside the substitution of politics for religion, I think more than anything else I’ve ever seen this makes the case that we need to reform our judicial system to eliminate the cult of personality that develops around long-serving Justices. And I say that as someone who admired Ginsburg, despite my disagreements with her.

SPEAKING OF COVER-UPS: Until my research assistant gathered these names for me, I would not have recognized what they have in common, because of what can only be described as a widespread unwillingness of the MSM to cover important things that conflict with the narrative reporters and editors collectively want to establish. Do you know what these names have in common?
1. Javar Harrell
2. Dave Patrick Underwood
3. Chris Beaty
4. Dorian Murrell
5. Italia Kelly
6. Marquis M. Tousant
7. Marvin Francois
8. John Tiggs
9. Jose Gutierrez
10. Victor Cazares Jr.
11. David Dorn
12. Horace Lorenzo Anderson
13. Tyler Gerth
14. Antonio Mays Jr.
15. Secoriea Turner
16. Jessica Doty Whitaker
17. Aaron Danielson
(more…)

WHEN AYN RAND NOVELS BECOME OUR LIVED REALITY: NPR decides that now is a good time to showcase an author of a book called “In Defense of Looting.” NPR’s Report starts: “In the past months of demonstrations for Black lives, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about looting.” Handwringing? H/T Wally Olson.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Dear Looters: Feel free to visit NPR Headquarters in DC!

IN SHORT, SHE’S NO MODERATE: Hans Bader: The Progressive Media Mislabels Kamala Harris. Anyone who isn’t the favored candidate of the woke far left (in this case it was Liz Warren) is now a moderate.

THERE IS NO BOX ON GOVERNMENT FORMS FOR “JUST AMERICAN”: Is Kamala Harris Legally African American, Indian, Both, Neither, or Something Else? And I’m somewhere between amused and bemused that the progressives who insisted that Biden must pick a “woman of color” or “African American” woman are all like, “how dare you discuss what Sen. Harris’ race is, she’s just an American!” This is how American racial categories roll. The left wants everyone to be categorized by the government, but for the categories to never be discussed because they are so obviously arbitrary, counter-productive, absurd and ultimately indefensible.

My wife, who is apparently a glutton for punishment, listened to an entire Arlington County school board meeting last night. School is online only indefinitely. She reports there was great concern expressed about, and discussion of how to help: (1) the teachers, especially those who will have kids at home (the proposal was to give teachers with kids ten and younger child care, and no one else); (2) the staff, who should not be subject to any layoffs or hours reductions, even if, like extended-day staff, they have nothing to do; (3) poor kids who rely on school lunches; and (4) poor kids who have trouble accessing the internet.

Other than (4), there was essentially no discussion of educating students, which was a disaster online in the Spring, nor concern expressed for parents who can’t afford childcare, can’t afford tutors to help their kids, and who are otherwise experiencing a looming disaster with indefinite school closure.

The way at least my county school system has reacted to this crisis would have been considered outrageous ideological propaganda if a libertarian-oriented public choice scholar had predicted it. I’ve heard the same about other districts.

WE ARE LIVING IN BIZARRO WORLD, WHERE EVERYTHING IS OPPOSITE: CEO of Boston’s Tatte bakery chain steps down amid discrimination accusations.

A petition signed by nearly 300 current and former employees details comments and actions that they found offensive or discriminatory, including “crude, sexual remarks made about customers, performative alignment with LGBTQ+ organizations, promoting ‘inclusive’ optics on social media, queerphobic and ableist comments by management, and firing employees who do not fit the ‘Tatte aesthetic.'”

So one of the accusations is that she supported LGBT etc. organizations, and another is that she made sure that the company’s ads were “inclusive,” i.e., included a ethnically and otherwise diverse group of models. This is seen as evidence as racism and homophobia (as it would be if she had done the opposite.)

THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT CONTINUES TO MAKE ITSELF LOOK FOOLISH: Drudge linked this study, which purports to show that “recovered” Covid patients have high rates of heart issues as detected via imaging. I read the study and I saw a lot of problems, the most glaring of which is the way the authors define “recovered.” Recovered means that the subject tested negative for Covid after previously testing positive. The subjects may have just tested negative the day before they were imaged. In other words, while they no longer had Covid, their bodies did not have time to heal/recover from whatever damage Covid wrought.

I thought to myself that perhaps, though I do teach scientific evidence and thus know how to read a study, surely I’m missing or misunderstanding something. But then I read the accompanying editorial comment, which states, “There are important residual questions about potential selection bias and generalizability and not all of the patients may have recovered…”

What? You can’t (well, you obviously can, but shouldn’t) publish a paper that purports to be about “recovered” Covid patients when you, the editor, has doubts about whether (or how many of) the subjects were actually recovered!

SPOILER: IT’S THE “PROGRESSIVE” LEFT THAT INSISTS THAT THE GOVERNMENT FORCE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS TO USE TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC “RACIAL” CATEGORIES: Two Decades Ago, The FDA and NIH Mandated the Use of Race to Categorize Subjects and Report Results in Medical and Scientific Research They Oversee. It was a Huge Mistake. If you don’t have time to read the link, just consider this. The FDA and NIH require researchers to break down their results by various categories, including “Hispanics.” Putting aside the dubious scientific salience of ‘race,’ Hispanics can be of European, Indian, Asian, or African origin, or any combination of those. What possible scientific rationale could there be to report the results of, for example, a drug trial by Hispanic status? But that’s exactly the sort of voodoo that the government requires.

WHEN WOKES AND RACISTS ACTUALLY AGREE ON EVERYTHING: Video here.

BAD EXPERIENCE WITH LORDANDTAYLOR.COM AND THE CAPITAL ONE SPARK CARD: Long story short… My wife bought a dress for L&T.com. They had, at the time, a 60-day return policy. She returned it within the 60 day period. They refused the return because it was not within their 15-day return policy. It turns out they had changed their return policy after her purchase. Wife called, explained this. They refused to budge. Challenged the charge with Capital One, with full documentation. Capital One sided with Lord and Taylor. I called to ask why, and was told that “visa policy” was that we needed an acknowledgement from the merchant that they accepted the return. I explained that the problem was that they didn’t accept their return, contrary to the existing return policy when she ordered the dress. The phone rep. was sympathetic, but said she was powerless to help. Guess which credit card I am canceling as soon as I finish this blog post?

UPDATE: Someone gave me a tip that physical Lord and Taylor stores are being much better about returns than the website, so I called and they told me they would take the dress back if it was unworn and still had tags. The closest store is almost a half-hour away, but this was an unusually expensive dress for my wife (a candidate for mom-of-the-bat-mitzvah-girl dress), so it was worthwhile. Still not happy that I had to waste that time and energy, but better than not getting a refund.

BARI WEISS RESIGNS FROM NEW YORK TIMES, ALLEGING THE PAPER IS RIFE WITH GROUPTHINK, SELF-CENSORSHIP, AND AN ANTISEMITIC HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT: Her resignation letter is something… Weiss is only conservative by Upper West Side standards, but her letter validates what a lot of people on the right have surmised goes on at the Times.

LET’S RENAME THE REDSKINS TO BETTER REFLECT LOCAL CULTURE: “The Washington Lobbyists.” “The Washington Special Interests.” “The Washington Underpaid Holders of Useless Masters’ Degrees Working at NGOs.” “The Washington Logrollers.” “The Washington Vulnerable Incumbents.” “The Washington Expense Accounts.” “The Washington Blusterers.” “The Washington Anonymous Sources.” “The Washington Backstabbers.” “The Washington Midlevel Bureaucrats.” “The Washington GS-13s.” “The Washington Gridlock.” “The Washington Demagogues.” For my academic friends, “The Washington Rent-Seekers.”

MORE: “The Washington Scandals.” “The Washington Deep State.” “The Washington Cover-Ups.” “The Washington Talking Heads.” “The Washington Kinsley Gaffes.” “The Washington Tax Loopholes.”

ONCE AGAIN, THE MEDIA IS LYING: I’ve seen countless stories about ICE’s “new” student visa requirement barring student visas for students who would be taking only online classes. The idea that this is “new” is false. Foreign students are required to take a “full course of study” to fulfill visa requirements. The longstanding rule is that a study may take only one online class per semester as part of the full course of study. ICE *may* allow a student to take more than one online course, but any additional course must be taken in the physical presence of a university instructor. Here is the DHS webpage from 2012, in the Obama years:

An F-1 student may only count one online or distance education course without the physical oversight of a school employee (or the equivalent of three credits) toward a full-course of study per academic term. F-1 students may be eligible to take more than one online class to maintain their status as long as the class is physically proctored or monitored by a school employee.

ICE waived the rule for the Spring and Summer 2020 semesters due the Covid emergency. Given that Congress has now had four months to address the issue but has not, it’s not clear what the “emergency” would be that would allow ICE to ignore a binding regulation.

In any event, given that the regulation is clear that foreign students may not stay in the U.S. on student visas if they are taking online only classes, and given that universities knew they may have to go all online this Fall, why are so many university “leaders” acting like the government actually enforcing the rule once the immediate emergency has passed is a complete surprise? Surely it was *possible* that ICE would agree to continue to not enforce a rule, but surely any decent university lawyer would have understood that it was not a certainty, and would have been advising the provost to make contingency plans for foreign students. And, though the answer here is obvious, why are so many reporters stating that this is a “new” rule?

I INCREASINGLY THINK WE ARE LIVING IN SUPERMAN’S BIZARRO WORLD: Re the below, note (1) that New York Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi is, for lack of better terminology, white/Caucasian; (2) she is criticizing white people, from which she inexplicably implicitly exempts herself, for weighing in on diversity, etc.; (3) the article she links to quite explicitly states that the letter in question was initiated by an African American man; and (4) thus, by her own logic, she is barred from weighing in. This is today’s New York Times–lies, deceit, and some very convenient claims of victim status to shut up anyone not fully marching in the woke parade.

UPDATE: As for privilege, from Fassihi’s Wikipedia bio: “Her great-great grandmother is said to be Taj Saltaneh Qajar, the most notable daughter of Naser al-Din Shah, who ruled over Iran from 1848 to 1896.”

AND JUST TO BE CLEAR, “PUSHED A NARRATIVE” MEANS “LIED THROUGH HIS TEETH:

INTERESTING WHAT YOU ARE STILL ALLOWED TO SAY IN THESE OH-SO-SENSITIVE DAYS: Here’s someone whose Linkedin profile identifies her as an Assistant Attorney General in Vermont arguing, if I interpret this word salad correctly, that if a Jewish student isn’t actively working to undermine Israel, he or she should not be in college. Somehow, I don’t trust her to administer justice in a nondiscriminatory way.