MICHAEL WALSH: “Not One Step Back.”
Ron DeSantis has made his first unforced error in his nascent, as yet still-unannounced, campaign for the Republican presidential nomination 2024. Even worse, he showed weakness – and that, in this late-Roman Republic political climate, is an unforgiveable sin. If DeSantis is not to be bullied out of the primaries by the raging bull elephant that is Donald Trump, he needs to do better, asap.
Read the whole thing.
IT’S COME TO THIS: Basic training without yelling: Army recruits get 2nd chance.
So far, 5,400 soldiers have made it through the prep course since it started in August at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. That’s an important boost since the Army fell dramatically short of its recruiting goals last year, due to low unemployment and general wariness about military service. And at least one other military service, the Navy, took notice and is setting up a similar course.
For those who make it through the program, it can be life-changing. Holiday, 23, said many of her peers in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, didn’t make it out of high school, with some “dead or in jail.” Sitting outside the class building in her Army fatigues last summer, she talked about trying to pass the academic test for two years with no success.
She said she wanted to set an example, especially for her younger siblings. The prep course gave her a second chance. She raised her academic score by more than 20 points.
The course, she said, was like “basic training without the yelling.” It also allowed her to bond with fellow students. “We helped each other out throughout basic training, so it was easy,” she said. “All of us actually passed, so it was a good experience. And we all keep in touch.”
Army leaders say the program — it involves classroom instruction and training ranging from how to wear the uniform and properly make a bed to fitness and discipline — gives recruits like Holiday an advantage.
As the first commenter to the AP article on Yahoo notes, “The real take away here is our public education system is so bad that these kids can’t even pass a very basic entrance exam. Rather than put money into the schools, we’re paying to have the military tutor kids so they can pass. We’re talking about the ASVAB. Most high school sophomores can pass it without even knowing what they’ve done. And what about the other kids who don’t enlist?”
Flashback: An army of snowflakes. The British Army wants to recruit snowflakes to its ranks. What is it thinking? “Its new PR campaign features posters and TV ads calling on ‘snowflakes’, ‘selfie addicts’, ‘class clowns’, ‘phone zombies’ and ‘me me me millennials’ to sign up. One poster says: ‘Snowflakes – your army needs YOU and your compassion.’”
TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! How Feeble Is He? “This feeble:”
Shocking Biden hot-mic reveals how handlers program his every move
WATCH.
Yes, this is 100% real.pic.twitter.com/Qgsii21QBe
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 28, 2023
WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF VIOLENCE? Josselyn Berry, Katie Hobbs’ press secretary, tweets gun-toting image ripping ‘transphobes.’
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ press secretary ignited an uproar with a tweet blasting “transphobes” with an image of an armed woman, an image posted the same day that six students and staff at a Christian school were killed by a transgender shooter.
Josselyn Berry, spokeswoman for the Democratic governor, posted a Monday evening tweet with the caption “Us when we see transphobes” and a gif of a woman brandishing two handguns — a post viewed as shockingly tone-deaf.
The unidentified woman in the image is actress Gena Rowlands and comes from her 1980 movie “Gloria.”
The Arizona Freedom Caucus responded by calling for Ms. Berry to be “fired immediately.”
“Less than 12 hours after the tragic shooting in Nashville by a deranged transgender activist @katiehobbs’ Press Secretary calls for shooting people Democrats disagree with,” the caucus tweeted.
“Calling for violence like this is un-American & never acceptable,” the group added.
Late Tuesday night, Berry locked down her Twitter account, but here’s a screenshot of the tweet in question:
Earlier: Are You Ready for the “Trans Day of Vengeance?” Update: Joe Biden Makes Ice Cream Jokes.
● Are Democratic leaders encouraging political violence?
● ‘Not fitting their narrative’: Waukesha feels abandoned after tragic parade attack.
● Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.
UPDATE: Apologize and resign, says … Olby; Update: Resigned. “Credit where credit is due. [Olbermann] could have kept his mouth shut. So far, most of the Left is still doing just that. (To be clear, he’s talking about Berry, not Hobbs.)”
🚨Breaking: Katie Hobbs's press secretary has resigned after posting a tweet that advocates violence against "transphobes." pic.twitter.com/rvKDc3vltQ
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) March 29, 2023
ANOTHER GALAXY BRAIN TAKE FROM THE VIEW: Sunny Hostin suggests Chinese internment of Muslims not as bad as U.S. mass incarceration.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin compared the Chinese internment of Uyghur Muslims to the U.S. on Tuesday and said “they’re putting more Black people in jail here.”
Hostin said she doesn’t see American exceptionalism due to the threats her children face as minorities.
“I don’t see that part of American exceptionalism. I’m sorry. I think this country has a lot of problems. They could be solved. Yes, maybe they are putting Muslims in jail in… China,” she began, turning to co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin. “They’re putting a lot more Black people in jail here.”
Farah Griffin said earlier in the segment that if America is not the number-one global superpower, it was going to be China and slammed it for its dreadful human rights record. The Chinese Communist Party has long claimed its re-education camps are voluntary, but its forced labor, sterilization and killing of the subjugated peoples has been deemed a genocide internationally.
I’m shocked to see a cast member of a Disney-produced show defending the CCP!
Assigning moral equivalence to the human rights records of the United States and China is more than factually incorrect. It’s delusional. https://t.co/2qApJMnXXw
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 29, 2023
Flashback: Biden Sold Out America To China While Working For Hollywood.
And from America’s Newspaper of Record: Disney Editing Blunder: An Uighur Concentration Camp Can Be Clearly Seen In The Background Of ‘Mulan.’
FIRST TO THE MOON: Documentary Commemorates Apollo 8, First Flight to Leave Earth Orbit.
My latest, over at Ed Driscoll.com.
ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Martin vs Taylor: What’s the difference between these two iconic acoustic brands?
Finding an acoustic guitar that resonates with your soul can feel like discovering your voice as a guitar player – and that instrument is going to be different for every guitarist. Now, the sonic identity of an acoustic guitar comes primarily from the way it’s made, with each and every brand doing things a little differently. Every minute detail, from the manufacturing process to the type of materials used, culminates in the DNA of the instrument – so it pays to know the main differences between the brands.
Today we’re taking a deep dive into two of the most important – and popular – acoustic guitar brands, Martin and Taylor. Both of these historical companies bring their own unique voice to the table – and no matter if you love the bellowing nature of a vintage dreadnought or prefer the nuance of a smaller-bodied flat-top, one of these brands will most definitely have a guitar for you.
So, if you’ve ever wondered; Martin vs Taylor: What’s the difference? Don’t worry, as Guitar World is here to help you uncover which is the right one for you.
I can’t vouch for Martin, though as the article notes, “It would probably be quicker to list all the guitarists who haven’t used a Martin guitar over the years. Everyone from the man in black, Johnny Cash to grunge icon Kurt Cobain, as well as Elvis, Ed Sheeran and David Gilmour have relied on the heartwarming tone of Martin to bring their songs to life.” But my Nashville-tuned Taylor GS Mini is an excellent, affordable little guitar.
STOP LYING: Watch How the Nashville School Killer Case Destroys Left’s Myth About Guns. “But here’s today’s lesson for the Left. You’ll want to commit this to memory, so pay attention as I explain this in words of one syllable. Repeat after me: good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns. And I can prove it.”
THAT’LL RUIN YOUR DAY: Man spent his life savings on a Hellcat and finds out it is a rental, as the company comes to confiscate it.
Man spent his savings on a $26,000 Hellcat, but then realized it was a rental 😳
🎥: https://t.co/CNs7uk7N2L IG pic.twitter.com/BmGxwXrHO3
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) March 28, 2023
UNEXPECTEDLY: The Nashville school shooting brings out the worst in our media.
ABC’s Terry Moran noted the passage of Tennessee’s legislation during his live report, as a possible and thus far speculative motive. New York Times and NBC News contributor Benjamin Ryan, in a since deleted tweet, noted that Nashville “is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @MichaelJKnowles.”
Several other outlets, including NPR, the New York Times and USA Today took time to correct Nashville law enforcement for previously misgendering the mass shooter and not using “his” desired pronouns. Prior to the confirmation of the shooter’s identity, the Washington Post, also in a since deleted tweet, wrote “GOP congressman from Nashville district ‘heartbroken’ by shooting. A 2021 photo shows his family with firearms.”
This sorry display bears hallmarks of the reaction to the 2017 congressional baseball field shooting by James Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer and avid MSNBC viewer. Shortly after that attack, host Joy Reid attempted to vilify House representative Steve Scalise as he was fighting for his life. “It’s a delicate thing because, obviously everybody is wishing the congressman well and hoping that he recovers. But Steve Scalise has a history that we’ve all been forced to sort of ignore on race.” The trope that coursed through the liberal media was that while the shooting was tragic, because of the politics of the people being shot at, they kind of deserved it.
DISPATCHES FROM THE TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF MUSCLE CARS: The Yenko/SC 2023 Chevrolet Camaro SS Offers More Horsepower Than a Dodge Demon 170. Specialty Vehicle Engineering ups the ante with a 1,150 horsepower Yenko Stage II kit.
BILL COSBY, CALL YOUR OFFICE! People ‘Roofied’ At Downtown San Francisco Gaming Industry Party, Organizers Say.
GOODER AND HARDER, MICHIGAN: Michigan Democrats just stripped away workers’ rights—with Biden’s approval.
FILM LADD: Dr. Who is Doomed (Video).
SUCKING IN THE SEVENTIES: The ‘Population Explosion’ Myth Blows Up.
The UK’s far-Left Guardian admitted Monday that “the long-feared ‘population bomb’ may not go off, according to the authors of a new report that estimates that human numbers will peak lower and sooner than previously forecast.” The Club of Rome study, which was “carried out by the Earth4All collective of leading environmental science and economic institutions, including the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Stockholm Resilience Centre and the BI Norwegian Business School,” predicts that “on current trends the world population will reach a high of 8.8 billion before the middle of the century, then decline rapidly.” This being the Guardian, it added: “The peak could come earlier still if governments take progressive steps to raise average incomes and education levels.”
It’s jarring to read this. Population explosion hysteria has been a staple of education for decades, and there are no doubt millions of people who still take the idea that soon there will be many more people on earth than can possibly be fed as axiomatic fact. Americans have so internalized this belief that people with large families are guilt-tripped on a routine basis. I myself can remember being inundated with this propaganda in public school at all levels, although of course, no one recognized it as propaganda in those palmy days, as far back as the early 1970s. The population explosion myth became the basis for many of the Left’s other favored agendas, including the “climate crisis,” the bug-eating plan, and even the sexual revolution, which was in large part made possible by the contraception and abortion that we were told had to be readily available in order to try to bring the world’s population under control.
The ’70s was awash in doomsday conspiracy theories, when “Progressives” were suddenly against progress.
In 1972, Sir John Maddox, editor of the British journal Nature, noted that though it had once been usual to see maniacs wearing sandwich boards that proclaimed the imminent end of the Earth, they had been replaced by a growing number of frenzied activists and politicized scientists making precisely the same claim. In the years since then, liberalism has seen recurring waves of such end-of-days hysteria. These waves have shared not only a common pattern but often the same cast of characters. Strangely, the promised despoliations are most likely to be presented as imminent when Republicans are in the White House. In each case, liberals have argued that the threat of catastrophe can be averted only through drastic actions in which the ordinary political mechanisms of democracy are suspended and power is turned over to a body of experts and supermen.
Back in the early 1970s, it was overpopulation that was about to destroy the Earth. In his 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich, who has been involved in all three waves, warned that “the battle to feed all of humanity is over” on our crowded planet. He predicted mass starvation and called for compulsory sterilization to curb population growth, even comparing unplanned births with cancer: “A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people.” An advocate of abortion on demand, Ehrlich wanted to ban photos of large, happy families from newspapers and magazines, and he called for new, heavy taxes on baby carriages and the like. He proposed a federal Department of Population and Environment that would regulate both procreation and the economy. But the population bomb, fear of which peaked during Richard Nixon’s presidency, never detonated. Population in much of the world actually declined in the 1970s, and the green revolution, based on biologically modified foods, produced a sharp increase in crop productivity.
“Progressivism” — where time stands still:
WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF VIOLENCE? Are You Ready for the “Trans Day of Vengeance?” Update: Joe Biden Makes Ice Cream Jokes.
DEVELOPING: Staffer for U.S. Senator Rand Paul was stabbed multiple times with a knife “in broad daylight” in Washington DC.
— The Bloodstone™ 🎸 Dylan (@BS2KZ) March 27, 2023
UPDATE: Rand Paul staffer stabbed in brutal attack in Washington, DC.
JOHN TIERNEY: A California Covid Postmortem.
No state was in a better position than California to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. It had a relatively young population, a climate that encouraged people to spend time outdoors, a tech industry that profited from the pandemic’s surge in online traffic, and top-flight medical and research institutions with some of the world’s leading experts on public health and epidemiology. But no state inflicted so much needless suffering for so long on its children and adults.
When the pandemic began, researchers in California were the first in the United States to analyze the threat accurately and offer sensible advice, urging focused protection for the elderly, while warning that school closures and lockdowns were futile and destructive. But instead of heeding their expertise, the progressives dominating the state’s public and private institutions launched campaigns to defame, ostracize, and silence them. These experts, like so many other fleeing Californians, had to leave the state to find leaders who embraced scientific analysis and rational policies.
No other state infringed upon individual liberties more zealously. California was the first to lock down and the last to end its state of emergency (at the end of February of this year). It closed not only schools and businesses but also playgrounds, parks, and beaches. A police boat in Malibu chased down a solitary surfer so that he could be arrested and handcuffed; another surfer was fined $1,000 for endangering precisely no one. Church gatherings were outlawed for nearly a year, until the Supreme Court finally overturned the ban. Other courts had to intervene to keep public schools in San Diego and Los Angeles from mandating vaccines for students.
As Juliette “Baldilocks” Ochieng wrote yesterday, “I-10 West leads to the 405, and obviously to all points west of that like Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Beverly Hills. And the 405 North leads to cities where people of means live: entertainment professionals, actors, producers and the like — in other words, rich people. So, all these fine, working gentlemen were heading out to service the houses of these people — to cut their grass, to service their swimming pools, to fix any construction and plumbing issues, and so on. You have to remember how afraid everyone was back then — that some kind of new, virulent disease was destined to kill us all. But the rich did not believe it, and neither did I.”
HEY, YOU KNOW WHO ELSE BURNED BOOKS? Now trans activists burn Harry Potter books: JK Rowling ridicules Australian campaigner over video showing copy of the ‘Goblet of Fire’ being torched — as Brit women’s right’s protester Kellie Jay-Keen leaves Down Under after violent clashes.
JK Rowling has ridiculed a trans rights activist who posted video of a Harry Potter book being burned, mocking the firestarter’s copyright mark as ‘Just in case people try and submit to the Academy Awards without your approval’.
The disturbing footage from Tess Hall was put on a public Twitter feed and showed a fire pit before the novel was added in.
It came in the wake of violent scenes as women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen -also known by campaign name Posie Parker – was attacked in New Zealand.
Over video of the fourth book in the series Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire being torched, without a hint of irony Hall bemoaned ‘hate we’ve been seeing of late’.
Earlier: Brendan O’Neill: The shameful persecution of Posie Parker in New Zealand.
Next time you’re reading a history book and find yourself wondering how Salem came to be consumed by such swirling hysteria, watch the clips of Posie’s persecution in New Zealand. This is how it happens. This is how the fear of witches can overrule reason and unleash the darkest, most punitive passions of the mob.
And what is Parker’s crime? What did this witch do? She said, ‘A woman is an adult human female’. That’s it. Parker, whose real name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, is well known for her criticism of the ideology of transgenderism. She thinks a man never becomes a woman, no matter how many hormones he takes or surgeries he undergoes. She thinks if you were born male, you will die male, and in the time in between you have no right whatsoever to enter any women-only space.
This is heresy. Dissenting from the gospel of gender ideology is to the 21st century what dissenting from the actual gospels was to the 15th. And so Parker must be punished. It was a modern-day stoning, so mercifully they only threw soup and water and planks of cardboard at the blasphemer.
Parker organises public events called ‘Let Women Speak’. She has done it across the UK, in parts of the US, and for the past couple of weeks she’s been doing it in Australia and New Zealand.
It’s a genius initiative. She knows these gatherings of women who merely want to give voice to their profane belief that sex can never be changed will draw out crowds of intolerant trans activists and their allies. She knows the ‘Be Kind’ mob will do everything in its power to stop women from speaking. And she knows it will all brilliantly illustrate her core belief: that trans activism is misogyny in disguise, misogyny in drag, if you like, and that it has devoted itself to silencing women who believe in biology.
Why is the left such a cesspit of misogynistic hatred?
Somebody needs to ask themselves, “Are we the baddies?”
JEFF GOLDSTEIN: A Re-Declaration of Independence. Tyranny is already upon us. To defeat it, we must first learn to reject its premises. And to say so aloud.
Be it so understood:
I refuse to “unpack white violence.” I reject the idea that my existence “perpetuates white power structures.” I will not — and in fact cannot — “examine my implicit biases.” I’m an individual. I refuse to grant determined interpretive communities authority over my being. My meaning is mine. It is what makes me me.
I’m not taking any “journey” to “discover” the impact of my “privilege” on “black and brown peoples.” I will not become “anti-racist” or “anti-fascist” to satisfy your demands. I reject Cultural Marxism. I am an individual. I’m not defined by my color, my religion, my sex. I’m Jeff.
I will not “respect your pronouns” or “celebrate” your “queerness.” I am hostile to your sexualizing of children. I reject your neologisms, your “triggers,” and your desire to control my speech. I know who and what you are: you are my presumptive master, or else the Useful Idiot who empowers him. But I will grant you and your ideology no power over me.
Jeff’s just getting started; definitely read the whole thing.
SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST: The cult of the climate apocalypse. Green campaigners are not ‘following the science’ – they are promoting a Biblical fantasy:
Given this denigration of the achievements of humanity, it is no surprise that Just Stop Oil activists are happy to attack canonical artworks, from Renaissance artists like Vermeer to modernist greats like van Gogh. As far as these eco-zealots are concerned, everything humans have achieved is worthless, in the unforgiving light cast by the coming day of judgement.
As in Biblical times, it seems the green apocalypse is playing the role of a revenge fantasy once again. But it is no longer the fantasy of an oppressed people wishing harm on their oppressors. It is the revenge fantasy of a minority of activists wishing harm upon humanity – for not agreeing with them, for not waking up to their sinfulness, for not repenting.
In sum, green apocalypticism is a deeply anti-human narrative. By casting the achievements of humanity as sinful, it deprives us of many of our sources of strength and of hope. That’s why it must be resisted. We should look around us, and over our shoulder, at the enormous ingenuity and resourcefulness that human beings have shown in the past, and continue to show today. We are making advances in all areas of human knowledge, from energy to medicine to transport and space travel. Nature has never been as unthreatening as it is today.
All of this ought to call into question today’s green apocalypticism and the climate of pessimism it has fostered. And it should remind us that the future is not foretold and that reports of our imminent demise are, as ever, greatly exaggerated.
Woe betide any one who isn’t a true believer in the cult: What’s wrong with being an apocalypse denier? “This week, on BBC radio, I made a confession: I am a denier. Not a climate-change denier – an apocalypse denier. I thought it was a clever point – to distinguish between my acceptance that climate change is happening and my scepticism that it will imminently bring about the fiery destruction of Earth. Apparently not. You should have heard the intakes of breath. Apparently even apocalypse denialism is unacceptable in polite society now.”
(Classical reference in headline.)
DISNEY’S RACE-BAITING REMAKES:
There’s a new remake of Peter Pan called Peter Pan & Wendy, which race-swaps Tinker Bell, which has generated the same controversy as the other race-swaps because people don’t like to see the classic films they grew up watching tampered with. Though this change isn’t nearly as jarring as the bald Blue Fairy, and not nearly as controversial as the other changes to the story that were revealed in the trailer.
There’s been a lot of hype over the forthcoming release of The Little Mermaid, and I’ve seen countless articles claiming, without evidence, that there was “racist backlash” over the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel the mermaid. These allegations are only by woke liberals on social media immediately linking any criticism of the race swaps to racism.
I have come across articles and social media discussions claiming that the remakes of The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio have been met with a supposed “racist backlash” However, none of these sources provide any concrete evidence of such racism despite my thorough search. Since Bailey’s casting for The Little Mermaid was announced, there have been allegations of a “racist backlash.” However, it seems that this controversy has largely been manufactured by the media. Even HuffPost, in an article from last year discussing the supposed “racist backlash“ the film has received, didn’t even provide a single example of actual racism.
Ever since “Lady Ghostbusters” bombed spectacularly in 2016, Hollywood has gotten plenty of free PR by claiming that wide swatches of their potential audiences are racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. It’s a way to excuse the failure of an otherwise mediocre reboot instead of actually producing something new and creative.
2. Director Paul Feig: ‘Ghostbusters’ Haters are ‘Misogynistic,’ ‘Right-Wing Radio Monsters’
After a large proportion of the population expressed their distaste for the Ghostbuster remake’s trailer, the production team had to work fast in order to turns thing around. The solution? Brand everyone who criticized the remake as a misogynistic right-wing monster.
“[I have been] hit with some of the worst misogynistic stuff in the last two years,” said Feig during a diversity panel in June. “[As] someone coming from a liberal family and hearing right-wing radio for the first time. It’s like, my God, what’s happened? They’re monsters.”
Several other colleagues and collaborators also joined in, with Judd Apatow saying, “I would assume there’s a very large crossover of people who are doubtful Ghostbusters will be great and people excited about the Donald Trump candidacy. I would assume they are the exact same people.”
What we didn’t know at the time was that such shock tactics were going to become de rigueur by Hollywood marketing departments.
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