Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

February 5, 2024

UNCANCEL WOODROW WILSON? HOW ABOUT HELL NO.

There is no recognition or discussion in Frum’s defense brief of this central aspect of Wilson’s thought and legacy. I doubt Frum is even aware of the critique, or if he is, he does not take it seriously or think it worth trying to refute.

For a thorough antidote, see William Schambra’s fine extended treatment of Wilson and the recent conservative response to him in his 2007 lecture at the Heritage Foundation entitled “Revisiting Woodrow Wilson’s Progressivism, America’s transformation, and the conservative response.” Or R.J. Pestritto’s indispensable book, Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism.

Chaser: One especially fun quotation that Frum includes that ironically undermines his case is from Arthur Link, Wilson’s most devoted biographer. Here’s Frum’s account:

Arthur S. Link, who edited 69 volumes of Wilson’s papers and wrote five volumes of biography, paid Wilson this tribute: “Aside from St. Paul, Jesus and the great religious prophets, Woodrow Wilson was the most admirable character I’ve ever encountered in history.” [Emphasis added.]

This is precisely why I have always referred to him as “the missing Link.”

Flashback: The Hater’s Guide to Woodrow Wilson. “I come now not to explain Wilson, but to hate him. A national consensus on hating Wilson is long overdue. It is the patriotic duty of every decent American. While conservatives have particular reasons to detest Wilson, and all his works, and all his empty promises, there is more than enough in his record for moderates, liberals, progressives, libertarians, and socialists to join us in this great and unifying cause.”

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

HMMMMMM: Apple’s ‘Vision Pro’ Is the Infancy of Technology That Society Will Soon Revolve Around.

In 2022, I wrote about how the big players in the tech industry are attempting to be the first to reach the building of a virtual reality world where people can work, play, interact, go to school, hold meetings, and live with each other seamlessly. At this time, the concept is called “The Oasis,” based on a book called “Ready Player One” (now also a movie by Steven Spielberg) written by Ernest Cline.

The concept of “The Oasis” is so seductive that Mark Zuckerberg has been racing to its creation, even going so far as to rename his company “Meta” and put a lot of time and effort into developing VR technology and interactivity with the “Oculus” and the “Metaverse.” Something very similar happened in the book for the company that developed The Oasis. It’s even rumored that Zuck hands out the book to the employees who work on the Metaverse.

Why race to The Oasis?

Because whoever controls it effectively controls the world.

Whoever creates the dominant VR realm will become a central business hub for corporations worldwide. Billions of people will don their headsets and haptics to go to work, hang out with friends, go on adventures, watch professional sports, movies, or shows, tour museums, go to class, play video games, and more. As Cline wrote in his novel, so huge will this virtual world be that it will even have its own political system.

It will totally change the way we live, work, and socialize, and the company that gets there first will become so powerful and wealthy that it’s hard to fathom it.

The only thing holding these companies back right now is just that the tech necessary for this kind of thing hasn’t been perfected yet…but it’s getting closer all the time.

Apple, for instance, just proved that it has actually made some real progress, at least in terms of the visual aspect of it with its new Apple Vision Pro.

Last week, Apple released its commercial for the product, attempting to show off what it can do, but it frankly fell short of getting the message across despite the show-and-tell looking like something straight out of a sci-fi movie of the near future. However, one of the Apple Vision Pro’s users uploaded their own demo of the product, and you can see just how impressive this tech actually is.

Star Trek debuted on NBC in 1966. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey first hit theaters in 1968. Walter Cronkite was showing the future of household computing on his 21st Century TV show in 1967. Which means we’ve been conditioned for nearly 60 years to the idea that we would be sitting and typing in front of video screens working and communicating with others. Star Trek’s tricorder and 2001’s flat panel newspads conditioned us as well that some of these screens would be small and handheld. With the exception of a few elderly luddite holdouts, nearly everyone today has a cell phone, and thanks to 15 years or so of updates, by now most of these phones have some “smart” capabilities such as cameras, texting, and apps. Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web is accessible in some form from virtually every type of computing device, from desktop PCs and laptops to iPads and iPhones to the Roku box for TV sets.

But Apple goggles are in their infancy. According to Fast Company last year, the original goal was to sell glasses, but,“One Apple insider told [Business Week] that the company is at least four years away from delivering a smaller ‘glasses’ design. A number of miniaturization breakthroughs are needed to fit powerful chips and battery power inside the smaller-form factor, industry sources have told Fast Company.”

The key word there for battery power is eventually being “inside.” As for now, though: The One Part of the Vision Pro That Apple Doesn’t Want You to See. Apple’s latest series of Vision Pro demos carefully obscures one important hardware feature.

So what, if anything, will be the killer app for early adopters that could make the concept stick, even if it makes today’s early adaptors feel like 1980s laser disc buyers, when players for the five-inch DVD finally rolled out in 1996?

UPDATE: Apple Vision Pro Turned the Real World Into a Black Mirror Episode Overnight.

“The good news is that there’s very little chance of that sci-fi dystopian future coming to pass anytime soon. The viral content around the Vision Pro so far is just that: Content made by professional posters that is purposefully outlandish and provocative in order to get a reaction.”

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

WE ALL WERE LIED TO: Gaza was a modern developed city before October 7th.

I was recently released from reserve duty in Gaza, after serving 100 days in the IDF. Since the world can’t see firsthand the things I saw there, I feel I have to share.

For years, well before October 7th, we’ve heard about how terrible life is for the poor, oppressed Gazans. How anti-Israel activists and media outlets claim the Gaza Strip can be compared to an open-air prison. This became the standard, accepted narrative about life in Gaza, promulgated by Al Jazeera and international human rights groups. But now, having experienced it myself, I can confidently tell you that we were lied to.

This won’t be all that shocking a development for many longtime Insta-readers: A Taste of “Concentration Camp” Gaza: Roots Club.

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

GLEICHSCHALTUNG: Amazon Bowed to White House Pressure to Suppress Books Skeptical of COVID-19 Vaccines.

Amazon yielded to pressure from President Joe Biden’s White House to suppress books that opposed COVID-19 vaccines, according to documents reviewed by The Daily Signal.

The House Judiciary Committee obtained the emails, which demonstrate the White House’s pressure on Amazon to suppress “anti-vax books” and the company’s decision to take action against the books.

Amazon employees strategized for a meeting with the White House on March 9, 2021, openly asking whether the administration wanted the retailer to remove books from its catalog.

“Is the [a]dmin asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?” one employee wrote.

It’s so odd, considering that the CEO of Amazon also owns a newspaper whose motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” But wait until the Biden administration discovers who was a vaccine skeptic back in 2020: ‘I will not take his word for it:’ Kamala Harris says she would not trust Trump alone on a coronavirus vaccine.

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

KING CHARLES III DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER, NOW UNDERGOING “REGULAR TREATMENTS,” BUCKINGHAM PALACE SAYS: “Doctors have detected cancer in Britain’s King Charles III, Buckingham Palace said in a statement Monday. The unspecified cancer was discovered as doctors treated the monarch for an enlarged prostate just over a week ago. CBS News partner network BBC News quoted royal sources as saying the king had been diagnosed with cancer elsewhere in his body, not of the prostate…Buckingham Palace said Charles had ‘commenced a schedule of regular treatments,’ and that during that treatment he would ‘postpone public-facing duties.’ It said he would continue with his official business and office work as usual.”

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

QUESTION ASKED: Is it wrong for Tucker Carlson to interview Vladimir Putin?

In September, 1934, William Randolph Hearst, the most famous journalist and publisher in the world, visited Berlin and interviewed Adolf Hitler. At the time, Hearst admired Hitler, and was rather taken aback when the Fuhrer asked why he was so “misunderstood” in the English-language press. Hearst replied that Americans love democracy and distrusted dictatorships, to which Hitler answered that he had been democratically elected by a vast majority of Germans.

Hearst then said that Americans were concerned about the treatment of a certain unnamed minority. Hitler duly pointed out that Americans had mistreated Native Indian tribes and assured Hearst that Nazi discrimination was being curtailed. Hearst told Hitler that his public would be pleased. He was then surprised to be photographed with various Nazi leaders as part of what was obviously a press stunt for the Third Reich. “Visiting Hitler is like calling on the President of the United States,” he grumbled. “One doesn’t talk about it for publication.”

Journalism has changed a lot since in the 1930s, but that Hearst story is worth bearing in mind as self-righteous pundits queue up to denounce the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for visiting Moscow, apparently to interview Vladimir Putin.

Bill Kristol, the director of Defending Democracy Together, said, kidding on the square: “Perhaps we need a total and complete shutdown of Tucker Carlson re-entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital who writes books about the awfulness of the Kremlin, said that Carlson is “either remarkably stupid or consciously evil.” “He’s not stupid,” replied John Harwood the former Wall Street Journal and CNN man.

Related: Adam Kinzinger’s Reaction to Tucker Carlson’s Russia Trip.

On Saturday, Kinzinger took to X with his own reaction to Carlson’s Moscow visit, dubbing the former anchor a “traitor” and sharing a poll asking his followers if Carlson is “on Putins payroll,” with the answers being either “yes,” “of course,” or “no he just LOVES him.” As of Sunday morning, “yes” led the poll with 62.4 percent of the vote from over 16,000 respondents.

“He is a traitor,” the former congressman wrote in one of his posts.

If Kinzinger thinks that Carlson is a “traitor” for interviewing a tyrant like Putin, surely he holds Pinch Sulzberger, Dan Rather, and the late Barbara Walters, Henry Luce, and the aforementioned Hearst to the same standard. I thought Kinzinger was the proverbial RINO, but that’s some serious hardcore hatred of past and present MSM elites!

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

JOHN NOLTE: Tracy Chapman’s Grammy Moment of Pure Americanism.

Using only her art, the legendary Tracy Chapman took to the Grammy stage Sunday night and made the most American of statements.

The story behind Chapman’s iconic, Grammy-winning hit “Fast Car” dates back 36 years to 1988, when it was first released. She was only 23 then, but in the synthesized-saxophoned eighties, “Fast Car” was something all its own.

The Clevelend-born Chapman was lucky. America was still a young country then, a country eager to embrace The New, an anxious culture always glancing over the shoulder of the latest superstar, eager for whatever was next.

The stagnant America we live in today, a culture crippled by nostalgia that still watches Law & Order, anticipates the next Star Wars movie, attends Rolling Stones concerts, and pays to see an 80-year-old play Indiana Jones was inconceivable then. And so, during a year that gave us “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Milli Vanilli, and Tiffany, seemingly from nowhere came this beautiful, moving, and vivid folk-rock song, a young woman’s desperate lament to escape the quicksand of poverty and “be someone, be someone.”

* * * * * * * *

Superstardom and awards followed, as did another big hit in 1997 with “Give Me One Reason.” Through it all, Chapman never lost her poise. On top of her physical beauty, Chapman’s charisma is primarily a product of how we are drawn to her remove. We know she’ll always give us our money’s worth. We also know she’ll never tell us her secrets. She doesn’t need us. She knows who she is. And who she is is none of our business.

Throughout her life, Chapman was having none of it when it came to fame. She kept her personal life personal, quietly supported her causes, and turned down untold riches from rap artists who sought to sample her music — and when Nikki Minaj did so without permission, Chapman sued and won $450,000.

But in the realm of “having none of it,” nothing will ever top the moment when Tracy Chapman’s humanity met America’s modern-day culture — this obscene, cancerous, ignorant, smug, divisive, oversharing, narcissistic, mean-spirited glob of hate and stupidity.

Speaking of which:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

DE-GLEICHSCHALTUNG* IS BEGINNING: Shocker: New York Times Opinion Piece Highlights Detransitioner Stories.

To quote esteemed NYPD detective John McClane, “Welcome to the party, pal!”

* Which also means it’s time to breakout the airbrushes on a Stalinist level: The Trans-Children Era is About to Be Memory-Holed and the Perpetrators Will Be Disavowing Involvement.

UPDATE: I Was Told to Approve All Teen Gender Transitions. I Refused. For six years I worked at a hospital that said all teenagers with gender dysphoria must be affirmed. I quit my job to blow the whistle.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2024

February 4, 2024

THE CORBYNIZATION OF JEREMY CORBYN’S PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Amid disbelief that ‘chemical attacker’ was allowed to stay in Britain, BBC editor who is paid to help 15 Somalian criminals stay in the UK quits the Beeb after shocking Daily Mail exposé.

A BBC editor was hired as an expert witness to help at least 15 Somalian criminals fight deportation – including a vile offender who sexually attacked a deaf teenage girl.

Last year, The Mail on Sunday exposed how Mary Harper, Africa Editor for the World Service, was paid to give expert witness evidence for Somali gang rapist Yaqub Ahmed during his five-year legal battle to stay in the UK.

Now an investigation by this newspaper can reveal Ms Harper has given expert witness evidence in a string of other controversial deportation appeals by Somali offenders – including for another three sex attackers, three drug dealers and a career criminal who spent a decade in British jails.

Following a series of questions from the MoS, the BBC last night announced that Ms Harper was leaving the Corporation, but refused to say whether she had been sacked or had quit.

In one of the most shocking cases, Ms Harper warned that a Somali man who committed a horrific sexual assault on a profoundly deaf 17-year-old girl would be at ‘severely heightened risk’ if he was sent back to Somalia because he had committed a sex crime.

Earlier: BBC employee called Jewish people ‘Nazis’ and whites ‘parasites.’

Posted at 6:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

THE ATLANTIC: “Is American Journalism Headed Towards an ‘Extinction-Level Event?'” As Ace of Spades quips, “Dear Jesus, please, I don’t ask for much:”

Is American Journalism Headed Toward an ‘Extinction-Level Event’?

The news industry has been in decline for decades, but the latest round of layoffs is especially ominous.

By Paul Farhi

For a few hours last Tuesday, the entire news business seemed to be collapsing all at once. Journalists at Time magazine and National Geographic announced that they had been laid off. Unionized employees at magazines owned by Condé Nast staged a one-day strike to protest imminent cuts. By far the grimmest news was from the Los Angeles Times, the biggest newspaper west of the Washington, D.C., area. After weeks of rumors, the paper announced that it was cutting 115 people, more than 20 percent of its newsroom.

On the other hand, Jim Geraghty writes: The Collapse of News Is Nothing to Cheer.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to publicly cheer on the layoffs of other people, even if you’ve vehemently disliked their past work. (I’ll make an exception for certain NFL head coaches.) It certainly isn’t very Christian to take pleasure in other people’s suffering and misfortune. If you want to privately feel a sense of satisfaction and say to yourself, “Good, they had it coming,” I suppose there’s less harm in that. But what goes around comes around, and the axe comes for us all sooner or later. I don’t see why you would want to advertise to the world, via social media, that you’re the kind of person who takes glee in kicking a person when they’re down.

When you see larger-scale layoffs or buyouts at major media institutions, the management’s perception of who should stay and who should go probably won’t align with yours. The columnists whom you know, who irked you so, have a better shot at surviving the cuts because they’re well-known enough for you to have heard of them. It’s the less-known figures like the assistant city-hall reporter and the copy editors who are most likely to get the axe. That said, there’s an inverse effect, as the younger, less experienced staffers are also likely cheaper.

And on the gripping hand:

* Classical reference.

UPDATE: ‘A Racist and a Tyrant:’ David Frum Tries to Uncancel Racist Woodrow Wilson in the Atlantic, Gets Schooled Instead.

(Updated and bumped.)

Posted at 2:44 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY:

But why not eliminate the rot right from the start? Question Asked: Will Cancel Culture Find Out About Karl Marx The Racist?

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

Good question. How much time do you have for the response?

Posted at 1:17 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

ROGER KIMBALL: Biden’s action in Iraq and Syria is merely delayed reaction.

What do you think of the apothegm “Better late than never?” I think it is often dubious. For confirmation, I adduce the airstrike the Biden administration just conducted against eighty-five targets in Iraq and Syria. The attacks, against infrastructure associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, are billed as the opening salvo in response to last week’s drone attack by Iranian assets in Jordan that left three Americans dead and more than forty injured. Taking a page from an earlier, square-jawed time, officials from the administration tersely commented that America’s “multi-tiered” response would continue at a “time and in a manner of our choosing.”

Spoken like a real administration. I wonder from what storeroom they got the script? Memo to the memo writers: if you are going to conduct a a military campaign, it’s generally advantageous to avoid telling your adversary when you are planning to strike. The Biden administration forgot that detail — or perhaps they were worried about causing too much damage to Iranian assets. For several days leading up to yesterday’s strike, the administration reported that a strike was in the works and that it would take place in just a couple of days. As it did.

Wasn’t it kind of Joe to tell the Iranians when he was planning to strike?

In fact, he has been the soul of courtesy, for he has also said that America would not be striking Iran itself.

Unexpectedly, given who is Joe’s boss: How Obama Paved the Way for the Iran-Promoting, Israel-Pummeling, Squad-Like Biden White House.

Posted at 12:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

NIKKI HALEY MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE IN ‘SNL’ COLD OPEN:

Republican presidential candidate popped into Rockefeller Plaza on Saturday for a surprise appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” where she called out former President Trump’s resistance to debate and ongoing legal battles.

Haley, playing a “concerned South Carolina voter,” stood up in the mock audience during a fake CNN Town Hall with Trump — played by James Austin Johnson — and asked, “My question is why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?”

Her appearance prompted cheers from the audience and a not-so-happy reaction from Johnson.

As John Hinderaker of Power Line wrote in 2017, the core audience of today’s incarnation of NBC’s Saturday Night Live is the DNC-MSM:

Democratic Party news outlets report on Saturday Night Live skits because they want to amplify SNL’s anti-Trump message. “Respectable” news outlets like the AP can’t publish absurd comedy skits ripping President Trump, much as they might like to. But by covering Saturday Night Live, they turn such meaningless attacks into fake “news.”

And Haley can look back at the successful Republican presidential administrations of John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Gerald Ford’s brilliant second term to see how sucking up to NBC invariably ends: And With That Embarrassing Move, Nikki Haley Has to Know She’s Finished.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

LARRY DAVID ATTACKED ELMO ON LIVE TV BECAUSE HE ‘WAS GOING ON ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH’ AND ‘I COULDN’T TAKE IT:’ ‘I Throttled Him … I Would Do It Again!’

Larry David‘s viral attack on Elmo became the focal point of his visit later in the day to “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” where the host grilled David on answers for what would make a person want to attack the beloved “Sesame Street” character on live television. Both David and Elmo were guests on the Feb 1. edition of NBC’s “Today” when David crashed the morning show set during Elmo’s interview and throttled his face.

“The clip is going around online, Larry. You can’t hide from this,” Meyers told David. “Elmo, some might say, is loved by all.”

“Yeah, yeah. I did it,” David said when asked for an explanation. He then impersonated Elmo’s high-pitched voice and continued: “Elmo was talking. I was waiting to be interviewed, and Elmo was going on about mental health and I had to listen to every word. And I was going, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, I don’t think I can take another second of this!’ And so I got off my chair and I approached him and I throttled him! I couldn’t take it!”

David then wisecracked: “And you know what? I would do it again!”

Just think of David’s Elmo-driven freakout as a homage to another great comedian, Zero Mostel. After appearing on The Muppet Show in 1977, Mostel quipped that Jim Henson “has the best possible actors. If you have a disagreement with them, you can always use them to wash your car.”

It’s been a rough week for the little red blob of polyester: Here’s a life lesson, Elmo: don’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answer to.

On Monday afternoon, the furry red monster posted this on Twitter (latterly known as X): “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”

Big mistake. Huge.

* * * * * * * *

What learnings can be made from this in (relatively) buttoned-up Britain? Don’t ask anyone how they are feeling. Ever. Strangers’ overwrought emotions are always better in than out; it’s gruelling enough trying to keep the stopper on your own yawning chasm of Weltschmerz.

Can you imagine what would happen if, say, Paddington Bear checked in on the nation? I’d struggle not to howl; the last time we saw him he was taking tea with Her late great Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, remember?

Yes, that’s better. Have a little private cry now and you won’t need another for decades. And certainly not on social media where, for every kind action, there is an unequal and opposite overreaction.

Poor Elmo is probably in hiding. Definitely in therapy. Will he be cancelled? In the Twittersphere no good deed goes unpunished. See, now I’m emoting. I really need to go where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

America’s Newspaper of Record advises its readers that they better hurry — it’s going to become much gritty and vibrant soon:

Posted at 10:45 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

BORG DEPROGRAMMED IN REAL TIME:

Posted at 8:44 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

JOSEPH ROBINETTE GUMP:

 

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2024

February 3, 2024

THE CORBYNIZATION OF JEREMY CORBYN’S PARTY CONTINUES APACE: BBC employee called Jewish people ‘Nazis’ and whites ‘parasites.’

A senior BBC employee branded Jewish people “Nazis” and white people “parasites” in a string of social media posts.

The BBC has been informed of statements made online by Dawn Queva, who is a scheduling coordinator at BBC Three, according to her online profile.

Posts made on her Facebook page include calling Jewish people “Nazi apartheid parasites” that funded a “holohoax”.

Her posts repeatedly attack white people, calling them a “virus” and “mutant invader species”.

Ms Queva, whose location is listed as London on her Linkedin profile, also brands the UK “bigoted” and “genocidal” and claims white Europeans are “melanin-recessive parasites”.

Why is the BBC such a cesspit of a antisemitism?

Posted at 2:44 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 3rd, 2024
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