AT AMAZON, Shop the Memorial Day Sale. #CommissionEarned
May 27, 2024
IN FLANDERS FIELDS: The origin of the Remembrance Poppy.
BEEGE WELBORN: On Serving Your Country: Honor and Remembrance.
Memorial Day weekends are especially hard at our house. As a military family with someone in uniform for every conflict this great nation has faced going back to the Revolutionary War, we have a reverence for this land, what it takes to defend it, and those who do. We cherish the time spent in the uniforms representing her, and have been so damn proud to wear them.
We had also been singularly blessed through all those generations that we never lost a family member while wearing one. There have been close calls. The most spectacular is my memory of the story of my Uncle Bobby, a young Marine at the time, who fell three decks on the USS New Jersey during the chaos of a typhoon while off the coast of Korea during that conflict. Months in the hospital in traction, and they weren’t sure if he’d even walk again.
He did.
But that run of good fortune and health changed in 2016, when, as I recounted in my Memorial Day post last year, we lost SSG John Perry to a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Read the whole thing.
#GREENFAIL: Those ‘All Electric’ Fire Trucks are a Sad Joke. “The supposedly ‘all-electric’ fire engine has a diesel engine in it. The pumps that actually deliver the water to put out fires run off of the diesel engine and the truck itself can run off of diesel when the battery inevitably runs out. So the entire description of ‘all-electric’ is a farce.”
WELL, GOOD: HPV vaccine linked to sharp reduction in risk of cancers in men. It’s too bad, though, that dishonesty and malfeasance among public health people has led to an increased skepticism of vaccines in general.
OUR ACADEMIC CLASS’S SELF-MARGINALIZATION CONTINUES: Shrieking Eel: Had That Been My Commencement When Ken Burns Spoke, I’d Want My Tuition Back.
DESPITE ALL THE LEFTY HYSTERIA: Firearm-Related Fatalities are Third Lowest on Record.
IF PUTIN DOESN’T LIKE HIS NEIGHBORS JOINING NATO, HE SHOULD TRY NOT INVADING HIS NEIGHBORS: Sweden’s NATO Membership Unlocks the Baltic Sea for Alliance, Ends 200 Years of Neutrality.
BE PREPARED: Victorinox Jetsetter Swiss Army Knife. #CommissionEarned
HIS QUALIFICATION FOR OFFICE WAS THAT HE LIKES TRAINS: Buttigieg Blames Increase in Extreme Turbulence on Climate Change Because… Why Not?
DIED IN BED AS A TRIPLE ACE, 80 YEARS AFTER THE WAR: Bud Anderson, America’s last World War II ‘triple ace,’ dies at 102.
I know Memorial Day is for those who died in combat, not in bed, so here’s to all the guys who didn’t manage to achieve this kind of an end.
LIBERTARIAN PARTY REJECTS RFK JR. BID FOR NOMINATION, RULES TRUMP INELIGIBLE:
The presumptive Republican nominee was booed when he told those at the Libertarian Party convention to “combine” with his campaign. He also pledged to place a Libertarian in his cabinet and senior posts. Trump received just six write-in votes in the first round of voting, and the Libertarian Party chair said the former president was ineligible to be the party’s nominee.
“We cannot give Crooked Joe Biden four more years,” Trump said, adding that the party should join forces with his campaign.
“Only do that if you want to win. If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your three percent every four years,” Trump said.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon that even if he were selected as the Libertarian Party’s nominee, he couldn’t accept it since he is set to be nominated by the Republican Party in July.
“Regardless, I believe I will get a Majority of the Libertarian Votes,” he added. “‘Junior’ Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, who’s destroyed everything he’s touched, especially in New York and New England, and in particular, as it relates to the Cost and Practicality of Energy. He’s not a Libertarian. Only a FOOL would vote for him!”
Of course, both candidates failed the libertarian test, but for different reasons: Why libertarians don’t trust RFK Jr.
RFK Jr. is himself a former Democrat, of course — and a progressive one, at that. He has a long history of energy and climate activism completely contrary to the limited government ethos of libertarianism. He previously called the National Rifle Association a “terrorist group”, although he does support the second amendment. He said the Koch brothers should be prosecuted for treason on environmentalist grounds. He also supports student loan debt forgiveness and affirmative action, both liberal stances.
Nevertheless, after RFK Jr. formally left the Democratic Party in October 2023 — opting to face-off against President Joe Biden in the general election rather than the primaries — widespread speculation ensued that he might seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination. Last summer, he attended FreedomFest, an annual gathering of libertarians, and emphasised his involvement in issues that matter to us: most notably, the federal government’s efforts to suppress dissenting speech on social media, particularly relating to Covid-19.
Indeed, RFK Jr.’s contrarian views on Covid-19 policies like mandates, lockdowns, and the vaccines themselves have made him a target of social media censors, who were often pressured by government agents to take down provocative speech. (The Supreme Court is currently weighing whether these actions violated the First Amendment in Murthy v. Missouri.) Many of the underlying views are themselves attractive to libertarians; one need not agree with everything RFK Jr. has said about vaccines to nevertheless admire his opposition to making them compulsory.
It was RFK Jr.’s opposition to mandates and lockdowns that first drew the attention of some libertarians. When I spoke with her in June 2023, McArdle was optimistic that his views on the pandemic had “stirred an awakening within him, causing him to reconsider many of his other political stances.”
Following the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, RFK Jr. expressed unqualified support for the US continuing to send aid to Israel, a stance that alienated many libertarians, who do not believe American taxpayers should be required to fund foreign wars. Support for RFK Jr. among rank-and-file LP members now appears lukewarm at best; at a California Libertarian Party convention in February, Kennedy garnered just one vote in the straw poll.
America’s Newspaper of Record notes that Trump was rejected for yet another reason besides his policies: Trump Booed For Wearing Deodorant At Libertarian Convention.
HANGING A FEW LEGISLATORS FROM LAMPPOSTS ALONG THE HIGHWAY WOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT KIND OF CAUTIONARY EFFECT: Speeding cars could start beeping to nag their drivers into slowing down: If passed, a California bill would force new vehicles to send out visual and auditory alerts every time a driver goes 10 mph past a speed limit.
OUT ON A LIMB: Nellie Bowles: ‘It’s not healthy to tell kids that being white is bad.’
What’s happening in schools, where the “toxic trends of whiteness” are being taught to young children, is one example, and in the book Bowles writes about a four-day “toxic whiteness” workshop she attended in 2021, where she listens to various white people self-flagellate about how their very existence “perpetuates whiteness” and how shameful that is.
“Because I really don’t think it’s healthy to tell young kids that they are white, and that their whiteness has enormous [negative] meaning,” she says, citing the “white traits” that controversial critical race theorists such as Robin DiAngelo insist exist. “It’s also just so reductive, this reification of race, and I think a lot of it is very counterproductive.” Neither is it helpful “for people to be constantly reminded of their supposed ancestors’ crimes,” she points out.
Another example of small factions having an outsized impact is what is happening at her alma mater, Columbia University, right now, and campuses across the US. “It’s the soldiers of a movement who are extremely effective at public shaming and dominating the conversation,” she says. “But it’s not the majority of people at these places.”
There were always protests when Bowles was at Columbia, she says. “And I think it’s great when college kids protest. It’s awesome – in general. But these protests? They’ve obviously got out of control. You’ve had the kids trapping janitors in the buildings and it has clearly escalated beyond a simple college demonstration.” So, at this point, what should be happening? “At this point you say, ‘this crosses the line and we’re going to call the police in on this situation.’ I honestly don’t think that’s crazy! And it’s especially clear cut at public universities, like, say, UCLA. Because when you have students taking over swathes of campus and saying: ‘Jewish students can’t walk down this path anymore’ – well, that’s illegal. So you have to call the cops.”
I tell her how Rishi Sunak called the leaders of Britain’s top universities to Downing Street earlier this month and insisted a “zero tolerance” approach to anti-Semitism be taken on campus. Has Biden been clear enough on this? Bowles pulls a face. “No. I don’t think so. And it’s beyond what we’re seeing at the universities. We’re in a dark moment in that particular story.”
When she asks me whether I’ve seen more anti-Semitism in the US or the UK, I have to be honest and say that although there has obviously been a clear escalation here since Oct 7, I personally noticed a marked rise in America from the start of the pandemic.
“It’s very worrisome watching the rhetoric,” she murmurs. And it didn’t come out of nowhere. Bowles is sure of this because she didn’t ignore Antifa, even when her NYT colleagues told her it was “a nothing burger”, “a non-story”. And when she flew to Seattle where the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone group had occupied six blocks of the city, she found young men with guns on their laps guarding their “autonomous zone”; she saw looting and anarchy.
“What Antifa brought in those years was the idea that violence could be part of the conversation. That a little bit of tension in the air and the possibility of violence was a good thing for protests. Now, we’re seeing that attitude, which was so fringe, normalised in a way that is so dangerous. In these protests on college campuses, we’re seeing the threat of violence woven in proudly. Now, I think it’s fine to call for war if you want to call for war, but let’s be clear: if you’re doing this, you’re not anti-war, you’re pro-war.”
Not anti-war, just on the other side, to coin an Instaphrase.
Earlier: Look Back In Anger: Nellie Bowles’ Morning After The Revolution Documents the Insanity that was 2020.
LEAK, SCHMEAK: NASA Gives Go Ahead for Manned Starliner Launch.
STILL A FEW BUGS IN THE SYSTEM: Google’s “AI Overview” can give false, misleading, and dangerous answers.
MAYBE THE DOGS JUST DON’T LIKE THE INFLATIONARY, MULTIPLE WARS DOGFOOD: Democratic strategist James Carville blasts own party — again: ‘Messaging is full of s–t.’
PUBLIC HEALTH “EXPERTS” HAVE DAMAGED THE BRAND OF VACCINES FOR SOME TIME: As states loosen childhood vaccine requirements, public health experts’ worries grow.
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: Buttigieg defends Biden’s EV strategy after question on how only 8 federal charging stations have been built.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended the Biden administration’s push to build half a million electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along U.S. highways by 2030 after being questioned about how just eight have been built since President Biden signed the legislation two years ago.
Buttigieg appeared Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” where he tried to ease doubts about reaching Biden’s goal of 500,000 chargers by the end of the decade when asked why it wasn’t happening more quickly.
“Now, in order to do a charger, it’s more than just plugging a small device into the ground,” the secretary said. “There’s utility work, and this is also really a new category of federal investment. But we’ve been working with each of the 50 states.”
“Seven or eight, though?” host Margaret Brennan said with a laugh.
“Again, by 2030, 500,000 chargers,” Buttigieg said. “And the very first handful of chargers are now already being physically built.”
Buttigieg knows how royally he’s screwed up at his job when he’s being dunked on by someone at CBS. Or as friends at Twitchy note: The Look on Pete Buttigieg’s Face When CBS Journo Dares Disagree With Him About EVs is Glorious. “We admit it, we were shocked to see someone at CBS hold Buttigieg or any Democrat accountable.”
WATCH: CBS’s Margaret Brennan laughs in Pete Buttigieg’s face when he is unable to explain why only 7 or 8 electric vehicle charging stations have been built despite the Biden admin spending $7.5 BILLION to build chargers. pic.twitter.com/BmFK17Dk5O
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 26, 2024
And she wasn’t done: ‘He’s Not Wrong:’ Margaret Brennan Presses Buttigieg On Trump’s Stance Over Electric Vehicles Purchased.
Evergreen:
Related QED: If you can’t blame racist roads, blame global warming: Buttigieg Blames Increase in Extreme Turbulence on Climate Change Because…Why Not?
President AOC will eventually solve both issues by banning “farting cows and airplanes,” of course.
MATT MARGOLIS: Why a Hung Jury Is Likely in the Trump Case.
IT’S NOT NEW SCIENCE: People have observed animals self-medicate with plants for millennia.
CHANGE: The death of the dollar store. “Once a 99 Cents Only store starts selling stuff for a few bucks, its competitive advantage has started to disappear.”
Also: “Others, like Dollar General, say they continue to grow, even if it’s been a rocky road. Dollar General recently opened its 20,000th store and plans to open even more this year.”
There must be an interesting story behind why Dollar General is thriving while the others are failing but KTLA chose not to tell it.
