SABRE RATTLING: US Conducts Nuclear Missile Test Launch. “The U.S. launched an unarmed but nuclear-capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Thursday night in what the Pentagon characterized as a display of the U.S.’ effective nuclear deterrent against hostile foreign powers.”
Author Archive: Ed Driscoll
February 11, 2023
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: A Black Professor Trapped in Anti-Racist Hell.
In a recent book, John McWhorter asserts that anti-racism is a new religion. It was an idea I quickly dismissed. Last summer, I found anti-racism to be a perversion of religion: I found a cult. From Wild Wild Country to the Nxivm shows to Scientology exposés, the features of cults have become familiar in popular culture. There is sleep deprivation. Ties to the outside world are severed. The sense of time collapses, with everything cult-related feeling extremely urgent. Participants are emotionally battered. In this weakened state, participants learn about and cling to dogmatic beliefs. Any outsider becomes a threat.
The dozen participants in this summer program were spending almost every hour of every day together, I was almost the only outsider they were encountering, and I was marked as a threat.
The feature of a cult that seems to be missing from this story is a charismatic leader, enforcing the separation of followers from the world, creating emotional vulnerability, and implanting dogma. Enter Keisha. A recent graduate of an Ivy League university, mentored by a television-celebrity black intellectual, Keisha introduced herself as a black woman who grew up poor and “housing vulnerable,” whose grandmother’s limbs had been broken by white supremacists, and who had just spent four years of college teaching in prisons and advocating for prison abolition. She told the class that she had majored in black studies, had been nurtured by black feminists (though her famous mentor is a man), and she was planning to devote her life to transforming the academy in the direction of black justice.
Keisha was tasked by Telluride with serving as a teaching assistant in my class and organizing workshops for the students in the afternoon. I welcomed Keisha into the class, suggesting that we find some days when she could lead discussion or share her own research. Instead, she largely remained silent during class for the first three weeks, counter-programming the seminar in the afternoons. During a week on the racist background of the US immigration system, Keisha found one of our texts, the foundational Asian-American memoir Nisei Daughter, insufficiently radical, so she lectured to the students that afternoon about the supposedly more radical Yuri Kochiyama. Keisha was frustrated that our week on incarceration began with George Jackson and not a black feminist, so she lectured on Angela Davis that afternoon. I talked at length with both Keisha and the class about learning unfolding over time, about the need to wrestle with an idea before moving on to the next one, and about the overall direction of the course, but for her (and soon for the students), everything had to happen now.
Keisha and I were supposed to meet weekly, but she told me she couldn’t schedule in advance, and she would let me know when she had availability. She never did. But Keisha did find time to intervene when a student was “harmed.” During one class, when we discussed Brown v. Board of Education, my co-instructor explained what the “doll test” was that provided a psychological basis for the Supreme Court’s decision: It involved showing children black and white dolls and asking what language they would use to describe them, “colored,” “white,” or “negro.” During the seminar break, a student had reported this to Keisha, and she rushed in to tell us that a student had been harmed by hearing the word “negro.”
She’d get the vapors reading the late Stanley Crouch. Or watching Pulp Fiction.
THIS STUDY COULD BE ‘SCIENTIFIC NAIL IN THE COFFIN’ FOR MASKS:
One of the largest and most comprehensive studies on the effectiveness of masks found they do almost nothing to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.
The study reviewed 78 randomized control trials—experiments that have long been considered “the gold standard” for medicine—which assessed the effectiveness of face masks against flu, COVID-19, and similar illnesses. It found that wearing masks “probably makes little or no difference” for the general public, no matter what kind of mask is used. Even N95 masks, considered the most effective at filtering airborne particles, showed no clear benefit for health care workers.
The study was published on January 30 by the Cochrane Library, a world-renowned medical database that is famous for its high-quality evidence reviews. It comes as a battering ram to the recommendations of the U.S. public health establishment, which urged children as young as two to wear masks throughout the pandemic.
“This amounts to the scientific nail in the coffin for mask mandates,” said Kristen Walsh, a clinical professor of pediatrics in Morristown, New Jersey. “I just can’t wrap my mind around the fact that some schools are still actively forcing children to wear masks, much less children who need to see faces to learn.”
One would hope, but as Jennifer Sey, the former brand president of Levi Strauss, who was forced out for being insufficiently woke, writes:
What seems clear is that the enthusiastic, religious devotion to the dogma — “masks work” — signified adherence to a set of beliefs: I mask therefore I am good. I mask my children therefore I am loyal to the Democratic Party and public health diktats. I mask therefore I care. I am a loyal follower of “the Science.” My faith is unwavering.
Those who claim to be on the side of “the Science” will continue to push unscientific policies in order to prove that they were right all along. This is the sunk cost fallacy writ large. Don’t admit mistakes. Ignore the actual science in favor of “the Science.” And continue to punish those who challenge. As well as those most vulnerable who simply aren’t in a position to challenge at all.
“Science” has apparently been rebranded by the left. It is now a slogan — a tagline — shouted at heretics to signify one’s moral superiority and loyalty to the party. What we have now is “science” that ignores the scientific method, which means “the science” is a cult. And a dangerous one at that.
Indeed.
February 9, 2023
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Romney Attacks George Santos: ‘There’s Only Room For One Fake Republican In Congress.’
DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: San Francisco Mulls Creating a Red-Light District.
Theoretically, the concept would make things safer for residents and those of legal age who are willingly involved in the sex trade. But for those who are underage, or who have been forced into prostitution, the problem of locating and rescuing them remains. And pimps and gang members are not exactly known for adhering to any laws, and can hardly be expected to respect the boundaries of a red-light district.
And what of Ronen’s desire to legalize sex work in California? I’m sure Gavin Newsom would be more than happy to sign such a bill into law, and not just because it would generate revenue through taxes and licenses or because it would add one more tourist attraction to the Golden State. But also because it is one more boundary to push. One more way to “lead” the nation. One more thing to legalize to keep California on the cutting edge. And while consenting adults will be allowed to do what they wish, the door will still be left open to victimize the young and the helpless. Perhaps before forging ahead, San Francisco could benefit from conversations with women who left the sex trade and with those who have been trafficked and exploited.
Earlier: Why San Francisco Is Nearly The Most Crime-Ridden City In The US.
San Francisco’s last Republican mayor left office at the beginning of 1964.
IRON HORSE CODY, WARD CHURCHILL, FAUXCAHONTAS: PIONEERING TRENDSETTERS! Dolezal ahead of her time? The “Pretendian” wave in Academia. “Even eight years ago, I point out, Dolezal justified her posturing as a black woman — who wound up running a local NAACP chapter in Washington — because, as she told Matt Lauer, she ‘identifies as black.’ Was she just ahead of her time? If biology has nothing to do with sexual identity, can anyone argue that it has a role in ethnic identity? And if so, what does that do to the entire edifice of affirmative action in both admissions and faculty hiring, especially in Academia?”
I THOUGHT I WAS SAVING TRANS KIDS. NOW I’M BLOWING THE WHISTLE:
I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.
For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.
All that led me to a job in 2018 as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which had been established a year earlier.
The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.
During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.
I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.
Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.
Read the whole thing.
US AND THEM: Roger Waters From Anti-Israel To Pro-Russia.
February 8, 2023
OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND: Riffs and tutus: Black Sabbath ballet to be staged in Birmingham.
A ballet soundtracked by the music of Black Sabbath will premiere in September, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director Carlos Acosta has announced.
Billed as “the world’s first heavy metal dance experience”, the three-act ballet will feature eight songs by the Brummie band, including Paranoid, Iron Man, War Pigs and the eponymous Black Sabbath, re-orchestrated for the Royal Ballet Sinfonia – with added drums and electric guitars. The rest of the score will be newly composed, inspired by the band’s music.
Ever since Cuban ballet star Acosta joined Birmingham Royal Ballet as artistic director in 2020, his aim has been for the company to reflect its home city, both in the diversity of its dancers, and the subject matter of its ballets. They previously staged City of a Thousand Trades, about the city’s history of immigration and industry.
“Black Sabbath is probably Birmingham’s biggest export, the most famous, and infamous, cultural entity to ever emerge from the city,” said Acosta, “so I was naturally drawn to the idea of a collaboration between what most people might think are the most unlikely of partners.”
Spinal Tap, call your office! The parody of this, with all of the backstage antics, would be a hoot to watch.
UNEXPECTEDLY! Disney To Cut Thousands Of Jobs To Save Money As DeSantis Set To Take Control Of Company’s Orlando District Under New Bill: Report.
The announcement comes after newly released legislation by Florida Republicans this week will allow Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint all five leaders of Disney’s tax district in Orlando and will officially rename the district.
The bill will turn the Reedy Creek Improvement District into the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and will deliver on DeSantis’ promise last year to take over the district.
DeSantis’ office said that the special tax district, which has allowed Disney to govern themselves since 1967, turned the theme park into “an unaccountable Corporate Kingdom.”
“Florida is dissolving the Corporate Kingdom and beginning a new era of accountability and transparency,” DeSantis’ office said. “These actions ensure a state-controlled district accountable to the people instead of a corporate-controlled kingdom.”
Also a possibility for Disney? A hostile takeover: Thwarted Meetings, a Sailing Trip Excuse and an Angry Investor: Why Activist Nelson Peltz Threatens to Disrupt Bob Iger’s Disney Comeback.
The Critical Drinker drinks all of Disney’s self-inflicted chaos in and laughs:
INTEL, PARKERVISION SETTLE CHIP PATENT LAWSUIT DURING TEXAS TRIAL:
Chipmaking giant Intel Corp (INTC.O) on Tuesday settled a patent lawsuit brought by wireless technology developer ParkerVision Inc (PRKR.PK) on the second day of a West Texas jury trial in the case, court records showed.
A ParkerVision filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said it would receive $25 million in a settlement that also includes a patent licensing agreement.
An Intel spokesperson confirmed that the companies settled but declined to provide further details. A ParkerVision spokesperson declined to comment. ParkerVision stock was down 48% Tuesday afternoon.
Related: ParkerVision still pursuing claims.
ParkerVision has no products on the market and is focused entirely on its patent infringement claims against Qualcomm and other companies. However, the company, founded in 1989, has offered several products over the years.
When the company went public in 1993, it was marketing an automated video camera control system that allowed consumers to take home movies without having to stand behind the camera. It also was developing that technology for videoconferencing systems.
It expanded that technology to create a complete television studio system called PVTV, which allowed one person to operate all the cameras and the control room for a broadcast.
Meanwhile, its researchers developed radio frequency receiver technology that the company said delivered superior performance for wireless devices, the technology that has become the focus of its legal fights.
ParkerVision sold off the camera control systems by 2004 to focus on the wireless technology.
The company launched and abandoned several consumer products with its wireless technology, including an in-home Wi-Fi device called Milo introduced in the fall of 2017.
The company discontinued the product in April 2019 after disappointing sales.
That left ParkerVision with just the patent infringement lawsuits.
As a personal aside, despite living almost 70 miles away from Waco, I was summoned to sit on the jury for the case in the first link. I arrived at 7:30 in the morning on Monday at the courthouse, and was out the door at 9:02 am. Finally, my background in writing for Instapundit, PJ Media, and prior to that numerous computer, consumer electronics and home automation magazines (and being married to a veteran Silicon Valley and ASIC chip design attorney) really pays off!
MITT ROMNEY IS TONE POLICING A FELLOW REPUBLICAN: ‘You Ought to Be Embarrassed:’ Romney Scolds Santos at State of the Union.
Representative George Santos (R., N.Y.) and Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah.) traded some choice words last night just minutes before President Joe Biden addressed the nation.
Multiple camera angles captured Romney confronting Santos as he walked down the center aisle in the House chamber. The veteran lawmaker scolded the freshman for claiming one of the sought-after seats near the president’s path to the rostrum.
“You don’t belong here,” Romney can be seen telling Santos, adding “you ought to be embarrassed.”
* * * * * * * *
“He’s a sick puppy, he shouldn’t have been there,” Romney told NBC News. “Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president.”
Setting aside Santos’ many woes, if only Romney had that level of passion over Obama, Candy Crowley, and the rest of the DNC-MSM, 2012 might have turned out very differently for him.
JOHN PODHORETZ IS TONE POLICING THE NEW GOP CONGRESS: The Goons of the Right.
Go ahead, call me—a conservative journalist for more than 40 years and speechwriter to Ronald Reagan—a RINO if you like, but I’ve never been more embarrassed to be associated with the Republican party than in the middle of the State of the Union when House members started openly heckling the president of the United States.
They screamed “liar and “bulls—” in the House chamber when Biden said there were Republican proposals to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare.
In point of fact, Biden is narrowly correct here. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida issued a weird proposal to make all federal legislation sunset after five years. That would include Social Security and Medicare. It was a stupid and ill-considered proposal, in part because it opened up the GOP to exactly the attack Biden staged last night.
And these barbaric House members fell right into Biden’s trap. Rather than shaking their heads, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy did behind Biden, they behaved goonishly. That’s exactly what Biden wanted. In yelling at him like drunken attendees at a WWF match who seem not to know the proceedings are fake, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her hearty band of repellent maniacs provided Biden and the Democrats with visuals and sounds they can use for the next two years to rally their own troops—and independent voters sickened by the bad behavior of politicians generally—against Republican crassness and incivility.
However: GOP congressman scoffs at complaints about ‘lack of decorum.’
Biden claimed during his State of the Union address that some Republicans wanted to sunset Social Security and Medicare every five years.
“That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away,” Biden said. “Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.”
His remarks were met with loud disapproval from the Republican side of the House Chamber, including several members who accused him of lying. Media reports following the State of the Union address referred to the GOP caucus as “animated,” “rowdy,” “unruly” and lacking decorum.
[Freshman GOP Rep. Andy] Ogles dismissed the characterization, asserting that the GOP’s response was completely appropriate given Biden’s claims.
“He levied false accusations trying to scare seniors,” Ogles said. “And look, we are going to take care of our seniors. We’re not going to get rid of Medicare and Social Security and anyone who says that is not being truthful. And so I was offended by it. I was disappointed in it.”
Naturally, the left feigns surprise at the slippery slope from Nancy Pelosi’s performance art during Trump’s last State of the Union speech: Nancy Pelosi fans complain Republicans have no decorum.
But then, as Noam Blum of Tablet, then still tweeting under his “Neontaster” handle wrote in 2017:
UPDATE: The time Joe Biden proposed sunsetting every federal program — even Medicare.
In the summer of 1975, U.S. News & World Report informed its readers about a new breed of Senate Democrat.
That week, Biden proposed his budget reform: S. 2067, “A bill to limit the authorization of new budget authority and to require comprehensive review and study of existing programs for which continued budget authority is proposed….”
Biden took to the Senate floor to deplore the size of the federal budget and its growth rate. “It took this country 185 years to reach an annual expenditure from the federal budget of $100 billion,” Biden explained. “Just nine years later, we had reached the $200 billion level, and after four more years, we have exceeded $300 billion.” (Adjusted for inflation, that would be $544 billion, less than 10% of our current federal expenditures.)
Biden called for reform: “One thing we have all observed is that once a federal program gets started, it is very difficult to stop it … regardless of its performance in the past. It is time for us to require, on a regular and continuing basis, that both the administrators of these programs and we legislators who adopt the programs examine their operations with care and detail.”
His bill, he explained, “limits to 4 years the length of any spending authorization for a program. … The purpose is to assure a uniform scrutiny of all programs on a regular basis.”
U.S. News & World Report lauded this bill, cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Pat Leahy of Vermont. “It gets to the heart of the problem of Big Government.”
This happens to be very similar to the proposal of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) that Biden made the centerpiece of his partisan attack in his State of the Union.
I’m sure it’s different when Democrats do it — even back in the ’70s.
FASTER, PLEASE: Company using drones to deliver food makes Texas debut in Granbury.
A crazy futuristic new delivery option for food and retail is making its debut in Texas — in little old Granbury.
Flytrex, which specializes in on-demand, ultrafast delivery for food and retail, is bringing food and grocery orders via drone to front and backyards.
According to a release, the service will be based in Granbury, in a partnership with restaurant chain Brinker International, home of Chili’s Grill & Bar, Maggiano’s Little Italy, and two virtual brands: It’s Just Wings and Maggiano’s Italian Classics.
The service is operating in cooperation with longtime partner Causey Aviation Unmanned under a newly granted Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver allowing a delivery radius of one nautical mile – reaching thousands of potential homes. Eligible households can order food via the Flytrex app.
Their focus is on the suburbs, where on-demand delivery has previously been viewed as commercially unviable, since traditional couriers can make only two deliveries per hour in such areas. They have a video showing a drone at work on YouTube.
Well, this is the 21st century you know, to coin an Insta-phrase.
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: Shock as unknown blues singer beats Beyonce, Adele, Taylor Swift, to win Song of the Year Grammy.
Bonnie Raitt appeared gobsmacked as she scooped the Song of the Year award at the Grammys on Sunday, beating a star-studden field that included superstars Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Adele and Harry Styles.
The 73-year-old singer’s ‘Just Like That’ beat Swift’s (All Too Well (10 Minute Version), Lizzo (About Damn Time), Styles (As It Was), Steve Lacy (Bad Habit), GAYLE (abcdefu), Beyonce (Break My Soul), Adele (Easy On Me), DJ Khaled (God Did), and Kendrick Lamar (The Heart Part 5) to take home the coveted prize.
Related: “Twenty million albums sold” and, “Earlier in the evening, [Raitt] earned two additional trophies: best American roots song for ‘Just Like That’ and best Americana performance for another song, ‘Made Up Mind,’ giving her a total of 13 Grammy wins over the course of her career, including a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2022…In 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
IT’S COME TO THIS: Bruce Springsteen’s ticket prices are so high that his fan site Backstreets is shutting down after 43 years.
Springsteen’s team has defended the prices as being in line with what is charged today by many of his peers. Like many artists, he says he’s annoyed when unscrupulous ticket brokers — not the musicians — benefit from high markups.
Ticketmaster has said the vast majority of fans were able to buy tickets at face value, which averaged $202. The tour began Feb. 1 in Tampa, Florida.
Many Springsteen fans have been with him for decades, appreciating his working class New Jersey roots, and can remember when a ticket for a four-hour, high-energy show on the “Darkness on the Edge of Town” tour in 1978 could be had for $7.50.
That’s not reality anymore. Springsteen hasn’t backed down, telling Rolling Stone magazine that fans unhappy with the price after seeing the show can have their money back.
“You certainly don’t like to be the poster boy for high ticket prices,” he told the magazine, but said you have to own your decisions and do your best.”
[Former publisher Christopher] Phillips wrote that many Backstreets readers have lost interest because they can’t afford to go to the show.
Just say goodbye, it’s Independence Day.
FORMER SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” STILL TRYING TO GENERATE PR: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Suggests Border Patrol Agents Should Be Fired for Working With SPLC-Designated ‘Hate Groups.’
SOMEBODY’S GETTING READY TO GO OUT ON THE ROAD WITH ROGER WATERS: Joe Rogan Slammed for Saying Jews Are ‘Into Money.’
PROFILES OF THE FUTURE: Five Technologies That Five Billion Will Use by 2050. New video from Reason TV:
Note this section:
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans for delivery drones a decade ago, progress has been slow.
Today, there are only a few thousand delivery robots currently operating in the U.S. But that’s about to change: In December, Prime Air successfully completed commercial deliveries in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California.
On the other side of the world, Meituan and Alibaba have just started rolling out this service to customers.
In the U.S., delivery drones have been hindered by the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval process, and it’s the same regulatory story in China. But I predict that won’t be true much longer because of the overwhelming benefit this service brings in terms of convenience for customers and in reducing the traffic problems caused by delivery trucks clogging up our streets.
By 2050, I’m confident that the urban skyline will be buzzing with what will look like a swarm of carrier pigeons bearing books, spatulas, bottles of vinegar, or whatever else you might order on Amazon—not to mention, hearts and kidneys racing toward hospitals.
The guys at the “Birds Aren’t Real” parody* conspiracy theory Website are going to have a field day over that.
* Well, that’s what they want you to think…
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A MUCH BIGGER BLOG: Four misleading claims in Biden’s State of the Union address.