One of the Nastiest Dunks in Carolina-d00k History

Stackhouse FTW:

Micaiah Bilger: Harvard President Admits Faculty Activism is a Problem

link

It's bad enough outside the classroom.

Any self-respecting university should at least ban it inside the classroom.

Professors should, IMO, be able to argue--as many on the left do--that activism should be part of scholarship. Now, that's a fucking idiotic view...but it's permissible to argue for idiotic views.

However, in my current opinion, they should not be able to engage in activism as part of their paid professorial duties. Analogous to: you can argue for the view that cannibalism is permissible as part of your scholarship and teaching. But you shouldn't be paid or promoted on the basis of your cannibalism...

Noelle Merring: Cutting Off Your Parents Is Identity Politics, Not "Boundaries"

Meh, this isn't so good.

I link to it not because I think it's right--in fact I don't get the argument that "going no-contact" is identity politics at all.

It is a leftist fad--part of the left's general anti-familialism. They've been pushing that twisted BS since Marx and Engels. And that's worth noting.

Juan S. Gonzalez: The End of the Beginning in Venezuela

I'm clueless about all this.

But this seems reasonable.

Neutering Dogs: Not the Norm Everywhere

link

My dog, Ajax, is not fixed. He's my best bud, and I'm not having his 'nads cut off.

I'm very sure he hasn't sired any pups, and I'll make sure he never does.

But I'm a responsible owner. And he's not uncontrollably girl-crazy like some dogs. He's never, e.g., jumped the fence because he got a whiff of a female upwind somewhere.

Anyway, though we'll probably expand the pack beyond Ajax and Charlie at some point, and though we'd like to help out dogs at the shelter, we'll never have anything to do with VA animal shelters again. We had already lined up Charlie's adoption in WV...but the day JQ showed up to get him, we were told that some fuckwits from a VA shelter up near DC had snatched him up b/c border collie mixes are popular. And the WV shelter had made a paperwork mistake. But VA shelters require that you sign a contract saying that you'll castrate or spay pups you adopt. JQ signed the papers b/c she really had no choice...but we began plotting how to circumvent that bullshit.

   The shelter started hassling us about it, and we made their lives as miserable as possible in return. After about seven months, the pandemic hit, and they dropped it for awhile...but started calling again in about a year. I told JQ we should just ignore it and fight it in court if we had to--shelters aren't exactly rich, and we could likely outspend them...but she was torn on the issue anyway, and decided to go ahead with the operation. I still say we should have fought the sons of bitches...but that's just me...

   Anyway, I do think irresponsible people or people with difficult-to-control dogs should get them fixed...but I'll never to it to one of my dogs. Hell, canine vasectomy is a legit option now, and that's the route I'd go if I had to. There are, apparently, more complications associated with those, I'm told.

Casey Jones--Professional Engineer: Is 3 Gorges Dam Invasion Insurance for Taiwan?

Think Before You Sleep: Women Are Converting to Islam for Clicks

facepalm

I thought this dipshit fad was over:

Obviously, Not All Democrats are Like This...

...but holy crap:

NEW: Liberal podcaster Jennifer Welch suggests the Dem establishment needs to get on board with wanting conservatives dead or else far-leftists will come “after you in the same way that we come after MAGA.”

Welch: *Plays video of protester celebrating Kirk's murder."

Welch:… pic.twitter.com/qJFSZBX8Bb

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 28, 2025

I thought that this blue-team madness would abate long ago.

I'm kinda starting to worry that it never will... 

Jonathan Alpert: Ozempic Melted Away Weight--and the Idea of Body Positivity

As I've said before: something analogous would happen if someone were to develop a shot that actually changed people's sex. Insisting that a man can become a woman simply by saying that he is, or dressing as a woman, or having plastic surgery, is basically a fallback position given the medical/technological (and perhaps scientific) impossibility of actual sex-changes. Were sex changes to actually become possible, then men who really wanted to become women and women who really wanted to become men, would avail themselves of the treatment.

   There would probably still be some people remaining--ideological transgenders--who wouldn't do so. "Queer theory" isn't really about homosexuality or transgenderism. It is, rather, a left-wing theory about how to undermine Western Civilization by trying to case its categories, concepts and kind into doubt. So those people, of course, might not take the treatment. Actually changing sex (or "gender") isn't their goal. They want to engage in "praxis" that (allegedly) challenges reason.

Carolina 83 - SMU 97

Carolina's second-worst defensive performance, according to Kenpom, since Kenpom started Kenpomming.

Oh well.

WSJ: MN's Fraud Problem Isn't Immigrants

This seems silly--or at least perversely partial.

The problem seems to be:

[a] Irrational, irresponsible government largesse of the kind described by The Editors...

and

[b] Mass immigration from a failed state, bringing in a large number of people with alien sensibilities--including an insular, corrupt, tribal culture--who don't speak (and probably won't learn) English and who live in ethnic enclaves. Being Muslim is another reason to carefully vet. There's no doubt that many Muslims make good Americans. But, in general, not really so much. (Remember, according to at least one survey, 51% of American Muslims want Sharia law... If it's even half that, that's very, very bad.)

   That's to say: it's both things--though not immigration per se, of course. The error is to think that immigrants are interchangeable--and that there aren't better and worse ways for immigration to be conducted.

   Again, it goes without saying that many Somali immigrants probably make good Americans. But it's not a demographic that we should import en masse. Unless I've been extremely misinformed, immigrants from places like Somalia need to be vetted more carefully than immigrants from, say, Norway. Or, for that matter, Nigeria. And--again, unless I've been extremely misinformed--Somalians in Minneapolis have not, overall, made it a better place.

Dan McLaughlin: Addressing the Actual "Root Causes" of the Venezuelan Refugee Crisis

When quasi-border-czar K. Harris went to South America to investigate the "root causes" of the refugee crisis, my expectations were low. Democrats play the "root causes" card when they (a) don't want to do what it would take to mitigate a problem, and (b) see a way to push one of their pre-existing, not-necessarily-related commitments. So, with respect to crime: they don't want more cops and don't want to put crooks in prison...but they do want more money going to NGOs and whatnot in blue cities. So we get a lot of midnight basketball and the like. I figured the "root cause" of the refugee crisis would turn out to be climate change--that's their usual go-to. But, honestly, I don't remember what her verdict was--if any.

   But I agree with McLaughlin on this: here's how you deal with the relevant "root cause"...

   That's not necessarily saying that I support this operation. I neither have nor deserve much of an opinion on it. Getting rid of Maduro is at least narrowly good. But it comes at a cost. And, like most Americans, I've had a bellyful of nation-building. All I can really do is hope for the best...

U.S. Captures Maduro

Holy shit.

Delta and the Night Stalkers apparently bagged him.

Maybe that's why we saw what seemed like a little more training activity by the160th around here...

Oh and: I have no idea whatsoever what to make of this.

"We Should Have the Right Not to Like Men"

Sure, knock yourself out, homes.

Everybody has the right to dislike any group they want, so far as I can tell.

Sometimes it makes you an asshole--but that's a separate point, really.

[But for the love of God, learn the difference between a blog and a blog post. Now that does annoy me. It's the 21st Century. This is a 20th Century platform...]

Stephen Moore: It's a Wonderful President

Probably the best President of the 21st Century thus far.

He drives me nuts. And he's often an embarrassment to the nation.

But waddaya gonna do?

Coulter: Come All Ye Fake Christians

Eh, not sure which way to go on this.

I mean, I think Christians rather clearly ought to be opposed to "transgender" pseudoscience...

But as to whether they should be opposed to letting criminals out of prison...no idea. For all I know, Coulter's wrong, and that's real Christianity.

I mean...obviously it's insane...I just don't know whether it's Christian or not...

Related views of mine:

[1] I'm very, very glad that we're not a Christian nation...and not a religious nation at all.

[2] I'm pretty glad that the dominant religion is Christianity, and am glad to have it around to crowd out all the worse religions...Islam in particular.

"How to Leave the USA"

Don't let the national screen door bang your ass on the way out.

Yet another advantage of a Trump Presidency.

And another reason to win as many in a row as we possibly can.

MSM that Accused Musk of Nazi Salute Ignores Mamdani's

They're all idiots, of course.

But inconsistent idiots, to boot.

The Critical Drinker on the Stranger Things Finale

This is just about exactly what JQ and I thought. And my summary judgment was exactly the same as TCD's: 

Coulda been worse.

(Spoilers, ofc.)

Turley: "We Are The Free World Now"

Words spoken by some eurotrash leftist or other...but in fact true of the United States.

But here in the USA, of course, freedom--especially free speech--is under attack from our own left--and, to a very much lesser extent, from the right / the Trump admin, too.

This is not a good situation.

I've just been reading Cheney's biography of Madison, and she's just got done with the Constitutional Convention. I've always in principle sided with Madison's arguments against a Bill of Rights--it would inevitably lead people to think of our rights as enumerated...

But, in actual practice, imagine the catastrophic consequences of having--especially--no First or Second Amendments...

Sam Sanchez, Massey Villarreal: Why Trump is Quickly Losing Hispanic Support

link

Quick summary:

Norman Soloman: Why are the Dems Hiding Their 2024 Autopsy Report?

link

Many of us start out with preconceptions about such a thing.

Me, since it seems to me that the Dems have gone batshit crazy since about 2013, that's the most obvious explanation--to my mind. It's perhaps the most notable political trend in America in my lifetime. They went from being a pretty ordinary political party to being absolutely nuts, riddled by Woketarianism.

   But nowhere in this piece is any mention of that. Nothing about Woketarianism generally, nothing about "trans" ideology/pseudoscience, sexual mutilation of children, CRT or their general moral panic about racism and a dozen other varieties of alleged bigotry, their anti-free-speech and general anti-freedom turn, their religious devotion to climate apocalypticism, open borders and the tidal wave of illegals... Nothing.

   The report does apparently mention "rising prices"...but not that Democrat policies were mostly responsible for them. It also mentions the Dems' "failure" to basically go even more pro-Palestine...i.e., as I'd put it: pro-Hamas/anti-Israel...

   Anyway.

   Political correctness--i.e. the subordination of reason, truth and evidence to leftist ideology--is the hallmark of the contemporary left. I see it as the root of all their other various madnesses. There's no reason to expect them to abandon it with respect to this explanation of their loss. This is just more of what they're already doing: weaving an ideologically pleasing "narrative" (lol) about why they lost. It had absolutely nothing to do with their insane ideology--it was all Biden's fault. Young people "inexplicably" abandoned them...but that had nothing, apparently, to do with their batshit crazy worldview.

   Usually we also hear the more-or-less equivalent of "we weren't radical (i.e. insane) enough"...though here that only really shows up with respect to Israel and Gaza...

   Well, as is obvious: their failure to acknowledge their own insanity is good news and bad news. Good because it means that they're currently more likely to lose again in '28...bad news because, if they do win, they'll take the country down the highway to Woketarian hell again...

   Oh and: there is the little matter of famously blowing $1.5 billion in (infamously) 105 days... Also apparently unmentioned in the report. My view: look, this is just how Democrats handle money. That's how they handle their campaign funds, and it's how they handle your tax dollars. They are profligate. They shower mony on their friends and fellow-travelers. That's what we're seeing in Minnesota. That's what we saw with "Build Back Better." If you've ever been part of grant projects, you know that some people are more frugal and deliberate with the funds, others are more profligate. Some researchers who are unused to having that kind of money throw it around like there's no tomorrow. The Dems threw it at Beyonce and Megan The("e") Stallion...they threw it at "consultants"... Look, I'm no insider. I've got no special knowledge. What I'm really asking is: does anybody really find it so surprising that the Democrats blew a lot of money to no good effect?

(Counterpoint: Now let's talk about the Iraq war...)

But, I'm more interested in the earlier stuff above than in the money stuff.

Because until the Democrats come back to their senses, and snap out of this Woketarian moonbattery, the nation--ergo the world--is in trouble.

Will Iran Finally Throw Off The Regime?

Maybe?

We don't have the best record at this sort of thing...but I agree with The Editors that we ought to stick our oar in on this one. Sometimes toppled regimes bring in worse ones...but is that really likely in this case? Iran used to be progressive (in the not-political sense) and pro-Western.

Maybe we shouldn't have messed with Mossadegh...maybe we should be more modest about our ability to shape the world. Maybe such foreign adventures aren't consistent with "America First"...

I'm no expert--in fact, I'm ignorant as hell about this.

But it seems to me that we should take what measures we can to help out the opposition in this case.

Happy New Year Everybody

That is all.

Jeffrey Meitrodt of the MN Star-Tribune on the Public Fund Fraud Scandal

Props to Mr. Meitrodt and ABC.

I expected a bunch of blue-team dissembling and excuse-making.

Instead, this sure has the ring of the straight dope to it:

Democrat Lesbian Pediatrician Confesses to Wrongly "Transitioning" Children

I think all such "transitioning" is wrong, of course...

link

Of course she could be exaggerating or lying...but this sounds consistent with other things I've heard and believe.

The Scramble to Cover Up Minnesota's (Somali) Fraud Problem is On

You see, uh, the "Quality Learing Center" [sic]...the alleged daycare for alleged toddlers...is only open from...uh...2:00 to 10:00! And, uh, it was closed down last week anyway...

   If I didn't know better, It'd kinda sound like the state and the fraudsters were working together to cover this up...

   (To be clear: no, I do not think that...but I DO think they both have an interest in covering it up...)

link

Sean Stevens: Push for Campus Censorship Hit Record Levels in 2025

Sounds like this may be in part because the right is starting to get in on the act in a major way--e.g. targeting Students for Justice in Palestine...though I'd have to see the details. Of course SJP is known for physical intimidation of Jewish students...so that complicates the picture.

But we know the right is not above censorship.

Sounds like both lunatic fringes may now going after free speech on campus.

W. J. Lee: A Judicial Coup in Utah is a Warning to the Nation

I haven't heard the other side...but this sounds utterly indefensible. And like the Democrats' general M.O., just pushed to the extreme.

OTOH, of course, it's the Pubs who started this ad hoc redistricting fight.

OTOOH, I'm basically in favor of playing extreme hardball so long as illegal aliens count towards apportionment...

WSJ: Trump Banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for Creeping on Female Spa Worker(s)

That's the long and the short of it.

The unhinged, online left can twist just about anything into just about anything...but this story has come from both Trump and others, it's been consistent, and it's documented.