NO. FULL STOP; NO: Nikki Haley vows to abolish anonymous social media accounts: ‘It’s a national security threat.’

CALIFORNIA IN 2023 IS TOO WEIRD FOR EVEN THE BABYLON BEE TO FULLY SATIRIZE: ‘Bad actors’ used state program to store pallets, hand sanitizer under 10 Fwy before arsonist struck, Newsom says.

This weekend, a large fire damaged the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles, shutting down a primary transportation route for hundreds of thousands of people.

State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said investigators “have been able to confidently determine” that the blaze was caused by arson, though the person or persons involved have not been identified.

The investigation is ongoing into “what we believe to be malicious and willful intent of starting a fire,” Berlant said.

But how did those flammable materials end up under the freeway? It’s part of a government program that leases that space to private citizens and companies.

Gooder and harder, California: 10 Freeway “closed indefinitely” — thanks to a burning cache of hand sanitizer.

Since Newsom likely wishes to carry on Jerry Brown’s “road diet,” I’m sure in his heart of hearts, he considers these developments to be extremely good news.

JIM TREACHER: I Apologize for Making The Marvels Bomb So Hard.

I never watched Ms. Marvel, which is the only other place that other character has appeared. I know she’s a Muslim-American, which makes my lack of interest both sexist and Islamophobic.

And I barely even remember Captain Marvel, other than wishing I’d been watching the DC Comics version instead.

So, this is all my fault:

You might think $47 million is a lot, but not when the movie cost five times that much to make and market.

Sorry, everybody. It’s my fault this movie is bombing. It’s my fault the “female Loki” on the Loki show is boring and no fun. It’s my fault She-Hulk was a cringey, convoluted mess. It’s my fault Black Widow bit the big one. It’s my fault that the more Marvel tries to appease feminists, the more money they lose.

I just didn’t believe hard enough. Girls can be superheroes too! When they scold us, we deserve it.

Oh, and I also accept blame for the failure of the three female-led Marvel shows scheduled for Disney Plus: Echo, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, and Ironheart. It’s my fault nobody cares about any of those. Unless they end up being successful, in which case it will have had nothing to do with me.

None of this is Disney’s fault. How could they have predicted getting woke would make them go broke? Since when does that ever happen…

Okay. I said what I’m supposed to say. Can I go now?

You may say Treacher is a dreamer, but he’s not the only one:

21st CENTURY HEADLINES: Edith Piaf AI-Generated Biopic in the Works at Warner Music.

“La Vie en robots”? More than 60 years after her death, legendary French singer Edith Piaf will come to life in a new biopic that will use AI to recreate her voice and image.

Warner Music Group announced that it has partnered with Piaf’s estate for “Edith,” set to be a 90-minute film set in Paris and New York from the 1920s to the ’60s. (Piaf, known as the “Sparrow of Paris,” died Oct. 10, 1963.) The film will be narrated by an AI-generated facsimile of Piaf’s voice and promises to “uncover aspects of her life that were previously unknown.”

“Animation will provide a modern take on her story, while the inclusion of archival footage, stage and TV performances, personal footage and TV interviews will provide audiences with an authentic look at the significant moments of Piaf’s life,” the music company said in announcing the project.

Warner Music Entertainment is working with production company Seriously Happy to develop the biopic. A proof of concept has been created, and Warner Music Entertainment plans to team up with a studio to develop the full-length film.

According to Warner Music, AI technology trained on hundreds of Piaf’s voice clips and images — some of which are over 80 years old — will allow for her “distinct voice and image to be revived to further enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story.” Recordings from her original songs will be used in the film, including iconic hits such as “La Vie en rose” and “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

I have to confess that 19 years ago, when I predicted the entirely virtual pop star at Tech Central Station, in a piece titled “The Making of a Pop Star, 2010,” an AI clone of Edith Piaf was the furthest person in my mind.

PRODUCTION HELL — BATGIRL (WHAT REALLY HAPPENED): The latest video from the Critical Drinker on a recent DC movie that quickly became samizdat.

QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING: With Covid Back and Winter Approaching, Is It Safe to Dine Indoors?

Recommendations in the early stages of the pandemic included social distancing, masking and staying home. As time went on, people got tired of being cooped up and having outdoor meals in the freezing cold, bundled up in outerwear and blankets. Covid also became far less lethal, allowing both health officials and the general public to relax a bit.

“Increased population immunity and the availability of vaccines and treatments are the main reasons we no longer see closures or returns to strict mandates during Covid surges,” says Wallace.

But some people are still at risk of getting very ill from the virus. Some people may also simply be feeling more cautious than others — or they want to avoid getting sick during the holiday season.

So the health advice experts are doling out is more tailored to both your vulnerability and personal preferences.

To go back to the question of indoor dining, ask yourself: How worried are you about getting sick? And are you vaccinated and boosted? Will you be around loved ones with risk factors, such as illness or age, that make them more likely to become severely ill?

To assess how big the risk of illness is in your area, which might inform your thinking, there are a couple of data sources Wallace suggests investigating. They include Covid data from wastewater(New Yorkers can find state data here) and ER Covid trends.

She also points out there are ways to make indoor dining safer. You can visit restaurants during slower periods, or pick places that are relatively spacious. Wallace says she also carries a carbon dioxide monitor with her to check whether places are well-ventilated. But keep in mind there’s no way to completely eliminate the possibility of catching Covid.

Somebody should remind Bloomberg News that it’s November of 2023, not March of 2020. But for many on the left who loved the days of lockdowns and washing all of their produce in Purell, they’ll likely never move on from what they look back with fond nostalgia as their Finest Hour.

Or to put it another way: Ignoring Them Is the Only Way Out.

GOODER AND HARDER SAN FRAN: Two Czech journalists visiting SF for APEC robbed at gunpoint in North Beach.

Two Czech television journalists visiting San Francisco to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit were robbed at gunpoint in North Beach, according to officials and multiple media reports.

The San Francisco Police Department said it responded to a report of the robbery near Broadway and Columbus Avenue, in front of the famous City Lights Bookstore, just before 5 p.m. Sunday. The journalists told police that three individuals with firearms exited a car and approached them, SFPD spokesperson Allison Maxie said in an emailed statement. The individuals demanded that the production crew hand over their equipment and then fled the scene in their car, Maxie said.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE!

Joe Biden honors the Vegas NHL team and then randomly asks the team to keep the Philadelphia Eagles from moving to Vegas. Does Joe realize the Raiders are there? Super weird: pic.twitter.com/HJsTJqEXJq

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 14, 2023

MARK JUDGE: The Left uplifts its artists. Why doesn’t the Right?

When a gifted young singer or filmmaker emerges on the left, the entire media ecosystem works in tandem to lift that person up. They are noticed in Vanity Fair, the Hollywood Reporter, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. There are profiles on the morning shows, grants and financial support. Everybody pulls in one direction.

On the right, it is almost the opposite effect. “There is a lot of gatekeeping,” Roland tells me. “Everyone is protecting their own turf.” Conservative media companies want to promote their own product. Whereas on the left everyone lends a hand to uplift talent, on the right there is more of an effort to ignore it.

As I’ve spoken to Roland since his film came out, we’ve found ourselves in similar situations. Last year I published a book, The Devil’s Triangle, recounting my nightmare experience as a target during the 2018 Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. It’s not only a political work but a cultural one about life in the 1980s. It has gotten good notices on Amazon, but not many reviews in the conservative media. One that did appear was barely coherent.

Another conservative site, the Washington Free Beacon, did a lengthy interview with me — that never ran. Imagine the liberal love fest if I had caved to the Left’s bullying and witness tampering and dragged Kavanaugh down. I’d be the editor of Vanity Fair and the king of Hollywood.

Read the whole thing.

BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT: Thursday night at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas: Lee Harvey Oswald And The JFK Assassination: Experts In Dialogue.

Even if you can’t make it to the Oswald exhibition, it’s worth going for the Prohibition exhibition alone, where you’re invited to sample recreations of the absolutely vile hooch that Prohibition-era bootleggers distilled during this dark era in American history.

OH, THAT DEATH OF THE GROWN-UP: She Should “Just Be Able To Have” Things.

I've been saying it forever: they're upset that they've been asked to participate in their own survival. No clearer distillation of the worldview than here. https://t.co/QRawwks7eU

— wanye (@wanyeburkett) November 13, 2023

David Thompson writes:

Rafi adds,

I like that you tagged this ‘parenting’.

Well, addressing the matter earlier might have spared our unhappy madam a lot of pierced and tattooed grumpiness.

There is, of course, plenty of scope for grumbling about the seemingly endless range of things that can be taxed. And existential angst – or existential pouting – can be difficult to avoid, the human condition being what it is. See the aforementioned “bug reports to God.” But the emotional assumption that Things Should Just Be There For Me, Forever, In Unlimited Quantities™ is, I think, something best addressed before one’s children venture out into the world.

Goodnight Western Civilization, it’s been a good run.

(Classical reference in headline.)

EFREM ZIMBALIST JR. LEFT THE HOOVER BUILDING A LONG TIME AGO:

Signs that an FBI employee was a “right-wing radical and disloyal to the United States,” were “failure to wear a face mask, refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccination and participating in religious activities.” https://t.co/cycYjI0HHa

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) November 13, 2023

ICYMI: DISPATCHES FROM THE HAMAS WING OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Six Tlaib Fundraisers Linked to Terrorism, Report Says.

(Bumped, by Glenn).

BEN RHODES SMILES: Investors have never been this confident bond yields are headed lower: BofA survey.

In 2016, the failed novelist turned Obama’s Middle Eastern policy “expert” (in)famously told the New York Times, “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

Thanks to the above Yahoo Finance headline, now we know the same lack of experience applies to budding financial journalists and their editors as well.

GOLDEN HEAVEN — CHINA’S POTEMKIN AMUSEMENT PARKS: Golden Heaven (NASDAQ: GDHG) down 28% on Hindenburg report – how much lower?

The basic business line: “Golden Heaven Group Holdings Ltd., an offshore holding company, engages in the development, construction, management, and operation of urban amusement parks, water parks, amusement projects, and amusement facilities in China. It operates six amusement parks, water parks, and complementary recreational facilities.” Now that may sound good. 6 facilities the size of DisneyWorld would be a pretty big group in fact. But they’re not – even in Golden Heaven’s own documentation they’re parks with capacities of 1,000 and 2,000 people at any one time. Universal Studios sized operations these just are not.

The Hindenburg allegations are here. They’ve checked the business levels at the parks and they seem to be nothing like what is claimed. And 6 pretty small parks don’t, we think, add up to $1.2 billion in market capitalisation anyway. But there’s more to it as well. The brokers who brought the IPO to market back in the spring all have, hmm, interesting track records, as do the auditors. The CEO and senior management have even more fruity and spicy business records and backgrounds.

I don’t know what this so-called “Hindenburg Research” is on about — Golden Heaven is doing boffo business:

Here is a video of the rollercoaster for $GDHG's claimed highest-traffic park during peak weekend hours.

(16/n) pic.twitter.com/TuTuOriulA

— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) November 13, 2023

The CCP has a long history of building enormous centrally-planned ghost cities, with lots of tall skyscrapers that are virtually or completely empty. But hey, all those imaginary people have to have somewhere to go for fun, right?

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Newsom Deploys Giant Can Of Febreze Over San Francisco To Mask Poo Smell.

Meanwhile, Newsom himself tells California voters that Xi Jinping is far more important to him than they are:

NEW: California governor Gavin Newsom admits the only reason Dem leaders cleaned up San Francisco was because world leaders were coming for APEC.

“Folks say: ‘oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town.’”

“That’s true because… pic.twitter.com/o2tVpeHvLu

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 13, 2023

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Singer Pink Plans to Pass Out Banned Books at Florida Concerts.

Pop singer Pink plans to pass out thousands of books that are prohibited in Florida classrooms when she reaches the Sunshine State during her “Trust Fall” tour.

Pink announced the news via an Instagram post saying, “Did you know there have been nearly 6,000 book bans since the fall of 2021? And nearly 40% of the books bans in the last school year occurred in Florida? As a mom of two young readers, I can’t imagine letting someone else decide what MY CHILDREN can and cannot read! That’s why this week at my Miami, FL and Sunrise, FL shows, I’m partnering with @penamerica and @booksandbooks to give away banned books to the first 1,000 fans who want them at each show!”

The left has been using the phrase “book bans” as a way to make it seem like the right are trying to be dictators and control kids. Realistically, the right doesn’t think that pornographic books should be accessible to young, impressionable minds. The right also doesn’t think that the government should be providing these books to kids!

For example, a book called “Gender Queer” shows vivid images of characters performing oral sex, engaging in intercourse and the practice of masturbation. Another book called “Flamer” talks about sucking someone’s penis. And the book, “Let’s Talk About It,” informs kids why and how to watch porn and how to masturbate with way way way too graphic of images. Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation to help keep some of these inappropriate books away from kids.

Pink, however, thinks that these books and these concepts should be available for any young person to read.

Flashback: There Are No Banned Books. “‘Activists’ buying books at a local Barnes & Noble, where an endless supply exists, and handing them to other people’s children against the wishes of parents isn’t so much “creative” as it is creepy. NPR makes it sound as if these people were risking their lives trading Samizdat one step ahead of the Secret Police. Any dope with a car, a bus pass, a bicycle, legs, or an internet connection can hand some impressionable kid softcore porn. Because there are no banned books.”

More:

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1724118635596087578

ROGER KIMBALL: Why Atheism Is Insufficient.

In short, “Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?”

The answer that secular prophets like Bertrand Russell gave oscillated between a more or less hedonistic nihilism and the sterile liberalism of the do-gooder and social-reformer.

To a large extent, Ms. Hirsi Ali points out, “the God-hole” that secularism has bequeathed to us has been filled not by uplifting nostrums from the liberal catechism but by “a jumble of irrational quasi-religious dogma.”

The result is a society where zealous groups “prey on the dislocated masses, offering them spurious reasons for being and action—mostly by engaging in virtue-signaling theatre on behalf of a victimized minority or our supposedly doomed planet.”

The truth of the matter, as Edmund Burke saw, is that “man is by his constitution a religious animal.”

Islamism understands this. That is the secret of its mass appeal.

Christianity also has a profound grasp of this fundamental datum of human anthropology.

The ways in which they schematize that understanding are very different.

We see one alternative working itself out on the streets of London, New York, and other metropolises where the supporters of Hamas are praising Hitler and baying for Jewish blood.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali outlines a different and more accommodating possibility.

As Hirsi Ali writes, “We can’t counter Islamism with purely secular tools. To win the hearts and minds of Muslims here in the West, we have to offer them something more than videos on TikTok.“

BREAKING: Photos of Cocaine Found at White House Released… And I Have Questions. “You’ll also notice the lockers are numbered and have locks. So we’re expected to believe that the Secret Service doesn’t know who was assigned that locker and provided a key for it. According to reports, there were roughly 500 potential suspects. Are we expected to believe the White House doesn’t have a record of who used which locker on a particular day? Is it possible the White House doesn’t know who has which locker and its corresponding key at a given time? Sure. But, again, this is the White House we’re talking about here. You can’t just waltz in with cocaine and not get discovered. Unless you get to bypass security, of course. As former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has said, the Secret Service knows exactly who brought the cocaine to the White House, and that someone is likely in the First Family or a friend.”

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?

Antifragility applies to emotional health as well. When you guard children against every possible risk – do not let them outside to play or walk home alone – they exaggerate the fear of such situations and fail to develop resilience and coping skills. Stresses are necessary to learn, adapt and grow. Without movement, our muscles and joints grow weak. Without varied life experiences, our minds do not know how to cope with day-to-day stressors. Measures designed to protect children and students are backfiring. Fragility is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think certain ideas are dangerous, or are encouraged to do so by trigger warnings and safe spaces, you will be more anxious in the long run. Intellectual safety not only makes free and open debate impossible, it setting up a generation for more anxiety and depression.

Haidt and Lukianoff use an array of data that shows a shocking increase in American youth anxiety, depression, and suicide in the last five years, but particularly for young women. By 2016, one out of every five American girls met the criteria for having experienced a major depressive episode in the previous year – an increase of almost two-thirds over five years. There has also been an increase in male suicide by one-third, and female suicide has doubled since the early 2000s, reaching the highest recorded since 1981.

And these temper tantrums, by people attending what holds itself out as one of America’s most elite schools, is the inevitable result of the intersection of Safetyism, and well, Intersectionality:

The antisemitism we encountered at Columbia is the WORST we've seen yet. See for yourself. pic.twitter.com/FMxBdbDw2Y

— Adam Guillette (@adamguillette) November 13, 2023

RIP: Former Assemblyman Jim Morrissey, RIP (1930-2023).

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: Examining Seven Accusations of Harassment Against Moms for Liberty.

GUEST COLUMN: God Here. Megan Rapinoe’s Career-Ending Injury Is Proof That I’m Real.

God Almighty
November 13, 2023

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN—Hey, folks. God here. I’m writing in response to recent comments from Megan Rapinoe, a human female best known for playing the so-called sport of soccer, or “Satan’s Folly” as we call it up here.

Rapinoe invoked my name on Saturday after injuring her Achilles tendon in the opening minutes of the National Women’s Soccer League Championship. It was the final game of her professional career.

“I’m not a religious person or anything and if there was a God, like, this is proof that there isn’t,” Rapinoe told the demonic cretins you call journalists during the post-game press conference. “This is f—ed up. It’s just f—ed up. Six minutes in and I eat my Achilles.”

LOL!

I knew this would happen, obviously, but that doesn’t make it any less hilarious. The last game of Rapinoe’s career—the league championship, no less—and she injures herself immediately then has to watch her team lose from the sidelines. I’m still laughing about it.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I technically “created” Rapinoe and “love” her the same as all my “children,” even the ones who deny my existence. Even the ones who worship Satan and play soccer, to the extent there is a difference.

Needless to say, it would be providential to read the whole thing.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Newsom Assures Homeless They Can Resume Pooping On Sidewalks Once His Boss Leaves.

SAMIZDATA QUOTE OF THE DAY; Ideological Insanity Edition:

“There is an ironically neocolonial feel to the cultural elites’ absolution of Hamas. It is their indoctrination into the politics of identity that leads them to view Israel as the culpable adult in this relationship and the Palestinians as blameless children. Critical-race-theory narratives about white privilege and brown victimhood have led to a situation where not only are whites demonised as powerful and destructive but also non-white people are patronised to an obscene degree as non-powerful and pathetic. This hollow, pat explanation for every political event has now been cut-and-pasted on to the Middle East (despite the fact that Israel is not a ‘white’ country). The end result? Both Israelis and Palestinians are denuded of their humanity, the former damned as the conscious authors of all ills, the latter reduced to the moral infants of world affairs, whom ‘nobody should blame’ even ‘for the things we do’, in Hamad’s words. The anti-Israel elites take a far more racially paternalistic view of Palestinians than Israel does.”

– The relentlessly quotable Brendan O’Neill, at Spiked.

Related: The Media’s Savior Complex Is Warping Hamas/Israel Coverage. “When you add it all up — the Ramirez cartoon, the slowness to report on Kessler’s death and the general unwillingness to be specific about the circumstances of his demise, and the U.S. press’s rush to report Palestinian falsehoods, including that Israel had leveled a hospital in Gaza, not to mention repeating unverifiable ‘Gaza Health Ministry’ (a.k.a. Hamas) casualty numbers — one gets the distinct impression that American newsrooms have their finger on the scale for Palestinians. Whether it’s for sinister reasons or out of a misguided understanding of their own role, they’re not serving the public interest.”