Author Archive: Stephen Green

LIZ WOLFE: “Contra Matt Yglesias’ newsletter, I really don’t think it’s all that hard to understand why the kids are shifting rightward, or what cultural + policy preferences this amounts to.”

More:

When you’ve been fed an original sin gospel by nature of your status as a white male, you at a certain point grow disdainful and come to reject it. When you see your cities ransacked in the name of fighting police brutality––which the “experts” said was fine as a one-time exception to the otherwise-pervasive lockdowns to control a virus that minimally harms you––you begin to wonder whether this actually helps minorities, and whether this is actually the level of public order we seek to maintain, whether our laws mean nothing.

My hunch is that, by and large, young people who have voted for Trump want slightly better cost of living––rent prices, food prices, ability to get education without going deep into debt––and, mostly, to be left alone by the hectoring scolds in the expert class and the little lackeys they’ve bred via academia, who’ve gone forth into a hundred different industries and multiplied like hydra heads. To have cities where you can expect to have the police show up when someone has committed a crime against you. To have genuine choice––both actual ability to pursue the lives they want *and* the freedom that comes from these choices not being culturally deemed heretical––to pursue the things that will fulfill them without being looked down on by fourth-wave feminists or vast swaths of the other gender.

Maybe these are my own blinders, but I mostly believe that people want a touch more “live and let live”, that we’ve been in a cultural moment where the laws are, socially, quite permissive but where the culture is profoundly judgmental about any more “traditional” choice or path.

More at the link but don’t miss this from the replies:

You said “we’ve been in a cultural moment where the laws are, socially, quite permissive but where the culture is profoundly judgmental…” I would add, “and punitive” to this sentence.

In other words, we live in an increasingly anarcho-tyrannical society that the progressive-left managerialists have crafted. Everyone senses the rules are different for different groups & they are arbitrarily imposed often on the whims of the elites in charge.

Also, while, as you note, young white males in particular have a negative experience with all of this it the most for obvious reasons with the constant “anti racist” messaging of the uniquely evil nature of white males, males writ large experience this as well, as the suppsed purveyors of “toxic masculinity,” “rape culture,” & receivers of “male privilege.”

For young male US citizens of *any* racial background attempting to make a start in the world, this message is oppressive, dehumanizing, objectionable, insulting. Males are the enemy. This is the message.

Progressives believed that they could build a winning coalition by treating a huge group of voters as an enemy while failing everyone but the rich and/or well-connected at basic governance. And at Pacific Palisades earlier this month, even being rich and well-connected wasn’t a safeguard from Democrat malgovernance.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Elon Musk Needs to Sue Everybody.

Back in the dark times when I actively practiced law – I gave up my partnership on December 31st after 30 years of litigating on behalf of everybody from individuals to Fortune 500 companies – one of the things I spent a lot of my time on was counterintuitive. I spent a lot of time telling people they didn’t have a good lawsuit and shouldn’t bring one because they were going to lose or at least not gain enough to make the litigation nightmare worth living through. After doing that job, you can look at a case and have a pretty good idea of where it will end up. Of course, every case looks it’s very best the day the client brings it to you – it’s only after you file suit that you start seeing the problems, often brought to your attention by your opponent. In any case, talking people out of getting into lawsuits – whether bringing them or not settling them early if they are being sued – is a big part of any good trial lawyer’s practice. So, when I say that Elon Musk should sue a bunch of people over this Nazi salute lie, I don’t say it lightly.

Defamation lawsuits are among the hardest cases to win, and they should be because they involve speech, and the great weight of presumption in the law is in favor of free speech. To that end, the First Amendment fully protects an enormous amount of lying, deceit, and generally obnoxious comments. The burden is even higher when you’re bringing a case as a public figure – we presume that people are allowed to say pretty much whatever they want about public figures with some narrow exceptions.

Well, regarding the Elon Musk Nazi salute hoax, those exceptions apply. And it’s very important to discipline both the regime media and the individual liars to stop such hoaxes. Elon can do that by suing and hitting these scumbags where it hurts – the wallet.

That’s Kurt Schlichter so read the whole thing. And it’s a shame he’s retired from practice because Musk could do a lot worse than hire Kurt.

RESULTS MATTER:

Full text:

• While SpaceX put more than 300 rockets into orbit for less than $10 billion, California has built 1,600 feet of elevated rail for $11 billion, and now projects its high speed rail project will cost a total of $128 billion.

• Congress earmarked $7.5 billion in 2021 for a half-million electric-vehicle charging stations. By May 2024, only eight had been built. Not 8,000. Not 800. Eight.

• The federal government allocated $42.5 billion on rural broadband and has connected zero homes after three years.

• Unimaginably large parts of Los Angeles were just destroyed by a devastating fire while its fire hydrants didn’t work, and while fire department leadership seemed more focused on DEI than saving lives.

Something has to change. Our politicians can no longer remain fixated on steady, predictable preservation of the status quo. Instead, we need a leader who will fight for the country, is willing to risk change, and who realizes America’s exceptional potential.

Not just potential but real results from companies like SpaceX. That’s exciting stuff and, I’d wager, a yuge reason why young Americans have swung hard for Trump.

BRAVE SIR ROBIN BRAVELY TURNED AND FLED:

By choice or did NBC’s legal department make her do it?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Team Trump Packed a Month’s Worth of Work Into Its First 2 ½ Days. “It sure is weird having a president who shows up to work every day and can stay awake past 4 PM, isn’t it? I’m not going to double check this, but I think that Joe Biden had taken three vacations by Wednesday of his first week in office.”

BEHIND THE CURVE: Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins defends DEI.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins defended DEI initiatives during an Axios interview on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.

Why it matters: Robbins also serves as chair of the Business Roundtable, one of America’s most powerful corporate trade organizations.
The big picture: Corporate DEI has become a political flashpoint, with President Trump on Tuesday encouraging the private sector to eliminate such programs.

He did so in an executive order that dismantled DEI policies at federal government agencies and set the stage for DEI-focused government employees to be laid off.

What Robbins said: “I think the pendulum swings a little wide in both directions. And for us, it’s about finding the equilibrium … You cannot argue with the fact that a diverse workforce is better. There’s too much business value …”

Business value, eh? Over the last five years, shares in Cisco have underperformed the S&P, with an overall return of 42%. The S&P 500 grew 82% in that same period.

WHEN THE TRAGEDY OF GUN CONTROL DESCENDS INTO FARCE: Tougher checks on knife sales fast-tracked after Southport attack.

People trying to buy knives online will face tougher measures to prove their age under new restrictions being brought forward in the wake of the Southport knife attack.

Axel Rudakubana, who has admitted murdering three young girls last July, bought a knife from Amazon when he was just 17, despite existing laws which prohibit the sale of most knives to under-18s.

Online retailers will be forced to ask anyone buying a knife for two types of identification under government plans, with buyers asked to submit an identity document, such as a passport, and record a live video to prove their age.

Amazon has said it takes its “responsibility around the sale of all age-restricted items – including bladed products – extremely seriously” and has launched an investigation.

In an opinion piece for The Sun newspaper, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote that it “remains shockingly easy for our children to get their hands on deadly knives”.

“The lessons of this case could not be clearer,” he said.

“Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them.

Huh, you think maybe there’s more to that last part than to Britain’s failed attempts at knife control?

CHRISTIAN TOTO: The Crazy Reason ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Rejected Tyler Fischer.

“We don’t want you because of the things you say, you can’t joke about this,” Fischer said of the industry’s take on his talents.

He still sought out mainstream Hollywood earlier in his career.

“I’ve definitely tried to get on ‘The Tonight Show,’ Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel,” Fischer told the podcast. “Jimmy Kimmel’s booker said I can’t do impressions in my stand-up on the show because Jimmy’s friends with the celebrities and he might get upset.

“That’s actually what she said,” Fisher added. “Once you start adding these things up, I’m not really welcome there, which is fine.”

Read the whole thing.

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT…

To be fair, not everything the Left does is projection. Some of it is corruption.

INDEED:

The Left will come to regret the day they cheated Trump out of a second consecutive term that likely would have been less effective than the first. In fact, they probably already have.

“WE ARE THE MEDIA.”

The mainstream media is Gollum, deep inside Mount Doom and unwilling to let go of its precious narratives, even as the fiery pit they launched themselves into burns them alive.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Correcting Progressive Errors About Why Trump Won.

Some Harris supporters, especially among the D.C. professional class, attribute Harris’ loss to Trump voters’ gullibility or malice. They say that America is thriving, crime is down, employment is low, and Biden passed major legislation to combat inflation and enhance America’s ability to compete with China. Therefore, only a public that fell for right-wing misinformation or backs Trump’s authoritarian dispositions could have elected him president. Among other things, this assessment overlooks that inflation, which surged during Biden’s presidency, battered working-class voters who form the core of Trump’s support, and that declining inflation does not mean that prices have returned to pre-inflation levels. It also underestimates the impact of lawless borders on middle-class and working-class voters. It avoids consideration of the consequences of mainstream-media gaslighting of Americans about Biden’s declining cognitive capabilities. And it ignores the electoral significance of Harris’ inability to distinguish herself from the Biden administration – known early on as the Biden-Harris administration – and to separate herself from the hard-left positions she took in 2019 in pursuit of her party’s presidential nomination and as a senator from, and attorney general of, California.

Other Harris supporters blame her loss on racism and sexism. They maintain that the American people’s bigotry foiled the election of an African-American woman to the highest office in the land. Well-known facts undercut this accusation. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama defeated John McCain – a center-right, white war hero – to become the first black person elected president of the United States. Following his January 2009 inauguration, President Obama enjoyed sky-high approval ratings that cut across party lines. Obama coasted to reelection in 2012 against Mitt Romney – a center-right, white, former businessman and former Massachusetts governor. And former President Obama and his African-American wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, remain popular. Moreover, though losing to Trump in 2016 in the Electoral College, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, demonstrating that a majority of Americans can prefer a woman in the White House.

In early January in the New York Times, James Carville took a crack at explaining Harris’ loss. He, too, offered an implausible, one-dimensional account.

Let them keep their delusions for many more election cycles.

WHAT HAS GLENN BEEN SAYING LATELY ABOUT THE PREFERENCE CASCADE HAVING CASCADED?

Those aren’t quite Reagan’s youth numbers but, oddly enough, Trump is only getting started in his second term — when most presidents are fading.

SKYNET FROWNS: Altman Tells ChatGPT Fans To Stop The Hype On AGI & Superintelligence.

Achieving AGI (artificial general intelligence, another name for superintelligence) is the driving mission of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The accomplishment represents the holy grail in the world of machine learning, and it is a priority for tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. In a recent post on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tried to quell rumors and crush the hype surrounding superintelligence and AGI (artificial general intelligence), where fans and enthusiasts are saying it’s already here. The attempt to quiet the noise went viral, receiving 3.1 million views (as of this writing).

Fortune reports that rumors of AGI, which is a type of artificial intelligence that can understand, learn and perform intellectual tasks like a human, has been gaining publicity and posts. Is the hype warranted, or a wish, from ChatGPT enthusiasts? Altman said in a recent blog post that the company behind ChatGPT knows “how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it”. He went on to say, “We are beginning to turn our aim beyond that, to superintelligence in the true sense of the word. We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence, we can do anything else.”

“We are not gonna [sic] deploy AGI next month, nor have we built it,” Altman declared.

Then do they really understand how to build it?