Noah Feldman: "Trump Defense Memo Is Wrong About High Crimes And Obstruction"

Yeah, some of these arguments by the defense just don't seem plausible.

Paul Sperry: "Whistleblower" Overheard Discussing "Taking Out" Trump in '17

Significant, IMO.
Vindman sounds even worse, actually.

NYT: Summary Of Arguments For Impeachment And Rebuttals Thereof

Dunno why the two columns are "evidence for" and "Repubicans have argued" instead of "evidence for" and "evidence against" or "Democrats have argued" and "Republicans have argued"...but I'm on a hair trigger about such things now, and it's a little kooky, frankly.
   Anyway, there's nothing new here, but it's a nice, short review. I keep thinking that the Dems must have some arguments that I don't know about...but I suppose not. The case just doesn't seem sufficiently strong to overcome the rebuttals at what seem to me like the crucial points. But I've never been sure how heavy the burden of proof is. Naively, my old self wants to say: it should be a light burden, because any whiff of wrongdoing should be enough to give the president the boot. But that doesn't seem to be how it's been through of up til now, and we can't introduce a lighter burden at this point. My newer self says: look what a witch-hunt this, in fact, is. Given this witchhuntiness, you're going to have to do better than this. When I don't trust your motives, I'm permitted to set the bar higher. But I don't matter, of course.

Brandon: Based Shitlord Of A Patriot, Honorary Virginian

/r/WeekendGunnit vs. The DNCMSMNPCs

link

How Far Left Will Democrats Push Virginia?

God knows.
At least the General Assembly isn't my fault. I was onto them by then, and voted my first-ever straight-Republican ticket.

Progressive Delusions Great And Small: The Covington Kids

This was a small one.
   But, I think, extremely telling.
   It's a tiny little, largely self-contained, object lesson in contemporary progressivism.
   I called it as soon as it came out, and I've gone over the appalling details before. And Soave does a great job of the same.
   In short, the most astonishing thing about all this was the ability of the progressive hive mind to look right at black and hysterically proclaim it white white WHITE. One thing Soave doesn't mention: the comments section of the WaPo. Insane, delusional, spittle-flecked comment after insane, delusional, spittle-flecked comment, almost every one proclaiming that Sandman and the other kids were obviously horrible--because little Trumps--and deserved punching, and there could simply be no doubt about it... Their race was emphasized over and over and over: punchable white boys with punchable faces, filled with mythical "privilege," and therefore deserving of violence and ruination. Some put out calls for college admissions officers to covertly deny them admission in the future. Seriously. These are kids we're talking about!
   And this, of course, isn't an outlier. That's just progressivism. That's what it is at its core. We see these same traits manifested over and over and over again, in cases big and small. It's Russiagate. It's transgenderism. It's the same unhinged hatred and denial of reality over and over and over again.

Did Racial Hate-Crime Hoaxes Undermine Race-Relations In The U.S.?

Kinda sounds like it.

The FBI Did Find Three White Supremacists Headed For Richmond Rally

Including one illegal alien.
Honestly, that's three more than I expected them to have actually identified.
Some of what went on apparently was merely hoping for violence. But it also sounds as if they were possibly planning violence, too. It sounds a lot more like bullshitting than actual planning...also they were surrounded by hundreds or thousands of people with AR-15s...so it actually would have been just about the worst place imaginable to try to start shit. But these guys aren't likely to be among the sharpest tools in the shed.

Dershowitz: The ACLU Is No Longer A Civil Liberties Organization

No secret, of course, but it's gone full-bore lefty.

As Dershowitz notes, we need an organization that does what the ACLU used to do.

ADL Progressive Bullshit: The Boog

Wow, they did actually manage to get this mostly right...until, of course, they pull the now-standard progressive move: "some" "white supremacists" have allegedly adopted x, ergo x is now TEH RACIST!!!!!11
Here's a laughable bit toward the end:

Care must be taken when evaluating boogaloo-as-civil-war references, as some people—even those in extremist movements—still use the phrase jokingly, or to mock some of the more fanatical or gung-ho adherents of their own movement.

"Some" people "still" use the phrase jokingly. Similar to: Care must be taken...some people still use the OK sign to mean OK!
   How many actual white supremacists are there in the country? Or "white nationalists"? As opposed to autists who shitpost on subs like /r/WeekendGunnit? A miniscule number, that's how many.
   But, as the saner side points out a lot: the demand for white supremacy radically outstrips the supply.
Of course the ADL could have easily said something true: lots of people joke and mostly-joke about the boog. Virtually none of them are "white nationalists," nor racists, nor do they actually want a civil war. But progressivism gets more and more insane by the day. And sanctimonious horseshit begs to be made fun of. And, honestly, by this point one has to wonder exactly how insane progressivism is might get. Because it gives no sign of stopping. The boog's a joke...but, obviously, it's dark humor. Because it's not exactly 100% clear that progressivism is going to let up on the crazy. So it's not exactly 100% clear that it'll all remain a joke forever... Recognizing that is not equivalent to wanting it to happen. How dense does one have to be not to understand that point?
   Honestly, how can anyone take progressivism seriously anymore? It virtually can't get any more ridiculous. They've managed to turn conservatives into the sane, level-headed ones. How the hell do you manage that?
   Remember, these are people who think signs saying It's okay to be white are the very height of racism.
   Keep pretending that anyone who disagrees with your insanity wants civil war...or you might just manage to start making it true.

The Op-Ed That Got Jon Caldera Fired From The Denver Post: The AP Stylebook Is A Progressive Propaganda Handbook

According to me, this is 100% right--and actually an important column.
Of course you've got to silence the truth-tellers if you're going to keep your propaganda operation running smoothly.
Caldera thinks it was the bit about there being two sexes that got him fired.
The Lysenkoist left has always hated biology. Sadly, that's not even a joke.

Great Videos of "White Supremacists" From The Lobby Day 2A Rally

There's something strange about these white supremacists, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Eric Felten: Analyzing The Dems' Repetitive Impeachment Text

I find myself gravitating toward the view that this particular Democratic dog probably won't hunt.

Mate: Dems' Impeachment Case Very Thin; Russiagate/Ukrainegate Are Excuses For Losing; Clinton Corruption

I really trust Mate.

Joined #Rising w/ @krystalball & @esaagar this morn to discuss Democratic centrists' two-pronged failure: pushing a weak, all-consuming, Russiagate-addled impeachment case and attacking Bernie Sanders https://t.co/83YMaB20hv via @HillTVLive

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 21, 2020

AOC: Dems Are A Center-Right Party; You Didn't Make That

As to the first point: ridiculous.
As to the second: look, I'm not speaking so much about billionaires. But the general attitude seems to me to be juvenile, and largely based on ressentiment. JQ and I have the equivalent of a small business. We had help from her folks starting it, and couldn't have done it without them. But after that, it was blood, sweat and tears. I mean we took a risk, put a lot on the line, worked our asses off, employed a lot of contractors along the way, and channeled a lot (by our standards) of money into the community. I took a career hit for it. And our part of the community is a lot better off for our efforts. And we pulled all this off while JQ was experiencing very serious help problems. We did not single-handedly accomplish what we did. But we mixed a shit-ton of our labor with the thing in question, others directly benefit from it, and they often express gratitude for what they receive from the relevant transactions.
   People like AOC basically seem to think that everybody who succeeds in business is Scrooge McDuck. It's just plain ignorance.
   None of which is to say that I know, say, what the top marginal tax rate should be, nor any such thing, of course.

David Harsanyi: "Never Trump" Revisited

I wasn't a conservative in 2016 (I'd say I'm still not, but whatever), but, other than that and other minor differences (e.g. I'm not a "pundit"), this basically describes me and my attitude toward Trump.
   In '16, I thought Trump was beyond the pale--maybe even the end of everything. In retrospect, that was TDS. I mean the second thing. He is beyond the pale... Like Harsanyi, I had no idea how respectable Trump's actual policies would be, nor how crazy the left would go, nor how quickly. Or, rather: I knew the crazy left was already off the scale; but I thought the Dems would keep them at bay. Somehow it hadn't sunk in how far left the Dems had already gone, and I in no way expected them to capitulate so quickly to the crazies. And it never in any way occurred to me that they could so flip their shit as to perpetrate Russiagate, Ukrainegate, and the impeachment fraud. I mean: they could turn out to be right about the latter two--but even if they are, their actions have been...dare I say deplorable? Or so it seems to me currently, anyway.
   Anyway. Aside from the trade stuff, about which I have and deserve virtually no view, Harsanyi might as well be describing me.

Dems Must Disavow Every Normal Position They've Ever Held

I came to more-or-less that same conclusion awhile back, though not expressed so clearly and pithily:

Dems must disavow every normal position they’ve ever held. https://t.co/5jL85U6Uwu

— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) January 21, 2020

Should English be the official language? I actually don't have much of a position on that. It seems pretty reasonable on its face. But I don't know anything about the issue, the hidden advantages and disadvantages, the likely unintended consequences. I used to think that there wouldn't be much wrong with having a more bilingual country...and it's spare us some of that supercilious Euro-ridicule.
   But that was before the Great Lurch Left. Now they advocate so many policies that aim at dissolution of social cohesion that fighting back with, e.g., an official language might be a good idea.
   Of course capitalism, too, seems to work against social cohesion in certain ways...but I have no idea what to say about that...
   I'm more interested in the point that progressive leftists must ceremonially apologize for believing basically anything normal. And yet everybody keeps acting like they are part of a normal political faction/party/movement. Everything's just fine. Surely the Raze-It-All-And-Set-Your-Calendars-To-Year-Zero party* is better than Drumpffff!



* Hyperbole warning!

Even The Dems Don't Seem To Understand What The Charges Actually Are

Back to bribery? Or what?
J'accuse!...vous...d'etre le Trump! Or however you say it in Frog.

ARMED MILITIAS FORGOT TO STORM THE CAPITOL

TRIGGER WARNING AS IT WERE:
Vice: not an actual news source.

"It's Like A Foreign Language": Trump's Struggle With The Constitution Did Not Go Well

(1) I find this entirely believable
(2) I realize I can't believe any of the sources involved here when they're reporting on Trump.
(3) Honestly, it is a little bit like the Constitution is written in a foreign language. I don't read aloud particularly well anyway, and I'm sure I'd be nervous and screw it up.
(4) Would anybody be at all surprised to find out that Trump had never read the Constitution? I wouldn't be all that surprised if there were parts even I haven't read. I think I read it straight through as a kid, but, other than that, I've only read whatever bits were relevant at some time.

Impeachment Trial: Day 1

Sucks being an atheist, because, were I a believer, I'd probably pray for the Senate to do the right thing--whatever that is.

I suppose that, speaking for myself, I couldn't vote to convict on the basis of what I think I understand. But, as I've said, I haven't had time to attend to the evidence with sufficient care. I'd like to see the Dems rebuked for this ridiculous shitshow they've engineered. But that's not a particularly good reason to acquit, obviously.

Heather Heyer's Mom Owns Guns, Thinks VA Dems Have Gone Too Far

When you've lost Heather Heyer's mom...

MSM Propaganda Montage: 2A-Supporters At Richmond Lobby Day = White Supremacists/Nationalists/Extremists

One would think that, at some point, this nonstop stream of progressive propaganda would become such an embarrassment that even the left would find it repulsive.

#NEW MONTAGE from me showing how @CNN and @MSNBC spent their mornings hyping fears that "white nationalists" and "extremists" would cause "violence" at #VirginiaRally for the #2A like in 2017 at Charlottesville #LobbyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/wR91mMPfmR

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 20, 2020

Times-Dispatch: Photos From Lobby Day

Inspiring, TBH.

Northam Blackface Jokes

Totally unfair.
It was never proven that he wasn't the guy in the Klan outfit.

The Governor Spends Some White Privilege

An African-American man waving a Trump flag jokingly tells the crowd: I am Gov. Ralph Northam and I am in blackface today.#VirginaRally pic.twitter.com/z32mnR5Tzp

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 20, 2020

No Step On Snek

Thus be it ever to snek-steppers

NO STEP #VirginiaRally pic.twitter.com/dxh5TQRIKN

— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) January 20, 2020

For The Record: I'm Not Inveterately Opposed To Seriously Considering Additional Firearm Restrictions

I've gone back and forth on more stringent background checks, some kind of sane-but-greater restrictions on something like "assault weapons" (Though we'd need to figure out a sensible characterization of the category)...hell, I even recently expressed a willingness to hear more about "red flag" laws.
   But after this latest madness by Northam and the VA Dems, that's over. For now, I mean. When the Dems' fever breaks--as I still hope it will and expect it to at some point (though not soon)--then we can go back to the table and think about additional restrictions. This madness, however, has probably permanently increased the burden of proof I'll expect them to bear.

Armed Minorities Are Hard To Oppress

One of the best signs I've seen all day #VirginiaRally pic.twitter.com/5VzJLuMIzN

— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) January 20, 2020

Jeff Dove (Candidate For Congress VA10) Is At The Day Of Lobbying

What a great day expressing our First Amendment rights in Richmond today at the #Richmond2ARally. We will not be quiet as our Constitutional rights are trampled on. #VA10 #LobbyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/rENZ9gE3np

— Jeffery A Dove Jr. (@JefferyADoveJr) January 20, 2020

LOL@Politi"fact"

I mean, good on them for getting out the truth about the bogus Klantard tweet--no question about that.
But you gotta marvel at the clear implication that, while cutting off people's electricity would be a "drastic measure," sending the police to confiscate firearms isn't. Whew! No "drastic measures"! Just using the cops (and the Guard, perhaps) to confiscate private property in contravention of the Second Amendment! Nothing to see here, bigot...move along...
It could be worse, obviously. But when that sort of bias is so pervasive, one becomes irritable about it.

VSSA Tweet

A view of the crowd in Capitol Square.  Still coming in. pic.twitter.com/be9DwO3XaD

— Virginia Shooting Sports Association (@VSSA) January 20, 2020

And I'm An Idiot For Voting For Him

Capitalism on display outside the capitol grounds. #LobbyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/5mJrEXU6KH

— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) January 20, 2020

MLK Day Twitter Account

here

Noah Rothman On Trump's Alleged Quid Pro Quo: Big If True...Also True

link

Cam Edwards From The Day of Lobbying

The crowd is filling the capitol square now. Chants of “USA, USA” from various sections of the crowd. #LobbyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/RwU59FkxJE

— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) January 20, 2020

VCDL Twitter Account

here

VCDL: Huge Turnout At Second Amendment Day Of Lobbying In Richmond

Huge turnout! pic.twitter.com/Yk6K2EYMeC

— Phil Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) January 20, 2020

Is The Second Amendment Day Of Lobbying In Richmond Being Set Up?

   There certainly are reasons for thinking that the answer is in the affirmative. Keep in mind that Democrats and the media aren't exactly two separate entities--they're both aspects of a multi-faceted, on-a-trajectory-toward-totalitarian progressivism. And both are working to promote the idea that this is somehow an analog of Charlottesville, and that the Second Amendment advocates are analogs of the Unite the Right attendees. The right tends toward conspiracy theories, IMO, and they particularly tend toward "false flag" theories.* And obviously the participation of Antifa is suspicious. So there are rumors of Antifa false flags, plans to attack anti-firearm counter-protestors. Seems to me that, were Pantifa planning such a thing, it wouldn't also admit to attending the rally. But Pantifa is a loose collection of kooks, not a tightly-organized group. So I guess the other is possible.
   Progressivism's more-or-less only argument is you're a racist. But since rhetorical escalation is always required, they've upped that to You're a white supremacist. And they've deployed that one and only argument from the beginning against the VCDL et al.
   Jonny Quest suddenly insisted, yesterday, that we needed to get ourselves down to Richmond, but I just can't work it in. Conservative Yoda argued forcefully that we shouldn't do it--he thinks a disaster is a real possibility.
   I think what we really need to worry about is progressive control of the public "narrative" (I really hate that term). They have a supply of tales they tell to achieve their ends. One of them is that everyone on the right is a racist. Another is that everyone who owns a gun is a white supremacist. You'd think at least the first one would be absurd enough not to work. But you'd think wrong. Seems to me that liberalism, when we had it, was particularly concerned to undermine such brainwashing. Progressivism, on the other hand, simply wants to make sure that it, rather than the other side, is the one that controls how our brains are washed.



* I don't think the right is any more prone to conspiracy theories than the left; in fact, if anything, they're less so. As usual, they're not as sophisticated about it. No conservative conspiracy theory gets taught in schools, so far as I know, nor treated as fact in the media--whereas an enormous number of left-wing conspiracy theories do--everything from "the patriarchy" to Russiagate…

McGregor Destroys Ceronne In 40 Seconds

JFC
Is the shoulder strike the next advance in MMA?

Almost Heaven...

...West Virginia...

The MSM Controls The Discussion To Promote Progressivism: The Boog And Why It Has Nothing To Do With Race Nor White Supremacists

I currently think that merely seeing through the deceit of the mainstream media would be enough to redpill a very large percentage of more centrist people on the left. This isn't an isolated case. It's very similar to what they did with Pepe the Frog, and with Gamergate. Here's what they wrote on Friday:

For weeks, discussions about the rally have lit up Facebook pages and chat rooms frequented by militia members and white supremacists. Various extremist organizations or their adherents are calling Monday’s rally the “boogaloo.” In the lexicon of white supremacists, that is an event that will accelerate the race war they have anticipated for decades.

To be clear, this is bullshit.
   Of course it's possible that some white supremacists latched onto this terminology, but I kinda doubt it. But who knows?
   'The boog' is a joke from /r/WeekendGunnit. Which I frequent. And which is, IMO, approximately the funniest sub I've ever seen. It's all a big joke. The entire sub is dedicated to shitposting. Such as this shitpost:

And this one:

And, oh, hell, this one:

Alright, alright, one more:

AND THIS ONE:

Also:

These are mostly boog-related, though that's basically accidental. There are other shitthemes on the sub. But whatevs. 

   The NYT wants you to believe this is about a white supremacist race war. Instead of obvious shitposting. Other progressive bullshit-outlets have said that the term 'boog' is a racial slur. 

   My God, these people are ignorant liars. If you're still being manipulated by them, it's probably largely your own fault.

   In actual fact, 'boog' is from 'boogaloo'...which progressives also desperately want to be racist. But nothing could be further from the truth. This is about on the level of CNN's "the hacker known as 4chan." In fact, 'boogaloo' is short for "Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo." Which, you see, is what we on the interwebs call a goddamn joke. It has nothing to do with racism, nothing to do with white supremacy, nothing to do with anything serious whatsoever. Again: it's a goddamn joke.

   It's a joke about something serious--the totalitarization of the left, and its clear intention to begin taking our firearms away...but it's still a goddamn joke.

   It is, of course, possible that some white supremacists have picked up the phrase. And that's the progressive MO: if one bad person has latched onto something, even post facto...etc.etc.

   And, of course, no deviation, no matter how minor, from the progressive orthodoxy will be tolerated. And humor is, of course, verboten. And anything characteristic of men is evil. So this is all right out before guns even come into it... Iconoclastic humor that aims to undermine the sanctimonious bullshit of progressivism is waaaay too heterodox, way too politically incorrect, way too dangerous, and, let's face it, way too male to be allowed to survive in the brave new world of the bleeding-heart Orwellians. 

   You'd think progressives would get tired of the MSM manipulating the shit out of them... But eventually one must conclude that they are either dense or eager to be manipulated.

   And, of course: this is just one tiny bit, one tiny fragment, of the massive, complex, multi-layered manipulation in which the MSM engages. This should be below their radar, for the freakin' love of God! The fact that this even registers, and they are willing to expend space and time and energy to try to distort it... Seriously, dude. That's scary as hell. They cannot let one single shitposting subreddit escape their web of manipulation and deceit and control. If this doesn't alarm you...well...then...you're wrong.

Robert W. Merry: Democrats Ignore The Immigration Elephant In The Room

IMO this is exactly right:

   Indeed, in their 2018 book, The Great Revolt, Salena Zito and Brad Todd posit that Trump got an extra boost from working class Americans put off by the attacks on him from prominent politicians of both parties who called his immigration concerns “unhinged,” “reprehensible,” “xenophobic,” “racist,” and “fascist.” Zito and Todd write that many Trump voters “saw one candidate, who shared their anxiety about immigration’s potential connections to domestic terrorism, being attacked by an entire political and media establishment that blew off that concern as bigotry.”
   In this great political divide, the Democratic candidates at the debate represent the elite preference for policies that embrace or nearly embrace open borders. An NPR study of candidate positions indicated that, on the question of whether illegal crossings should be decriminalized, four of those on the debate stage say yes, while the positions of the other two remain “unclear.” On whether immigration numbers should be increased, four say yes, while two are unclear. On whether federal funding for border enforcement should be increased or decreased, five have no clear position, while one says it should be decreased. A separate Washington Post study on the candidates’ views as to whether illegal immigrants should be covered under a government-run health plan found that five say yes while one has no clear position.
   The Democratic Party has become the party of the country’s elites—globalist, internationalist, anti-nationalist, free-trade, and open borders. Those views are so thoroughly at variance with those of Trump voters that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that we have here a powerful issue of our time, perhaps the most powerful issue. Yet the journalistic moderators at Tuesday’s event didn’t see fit to ask about it. And the candidates weren’t inclined to bring it up in any serious way.

Read more »

Trump Admin Rolls Back M. Obama's School Lunch Program On Her Birthday

That's the kind of petty bullshit that helps fan the flames of TDS. In fact, it's a rational reason to dislike the guy. Petty, mean-spirited, seemingly obsessed with extirpating every remnant of Obama's legacy. I don't in any way think he's the monster the left feverishly imagines him to be. But he does seem to be an asshole. I have no idea whether the program was good or bad, nor whether the new program will be better or worse. But that birthday thing is just repulsive.

Racism Is Unconstitutional, Anyone Voting For Trump Is Racist, and Unconstitutional Votes Are Both Invalid and Punishable By Law

"NBC News: Think."

I.e.: not even a fringe source.

One hardly knows what to say anymore.

Progressivism has lost its mind.

Mann And Ornstein: Five Myths About Bipartisanship

These are, so far as I can tell, arguments they've been making for years now, and props to them for their work.
I either tend to agree with or could probably be persuaded of just about everything they say right up to the end. It's a little difficult for me to believe that the Pubs are that radical, and it's incredible to me that anyone could say that the contemporary Dems are a "traditional" "center-left" party. The Pubs have definitely tended to be way more conservative than I've been--have they really moved that far right of the traditional American center? Perhaps the move to extreme free-marketism could be what did it in their eyes. That's something of which I could be convinced anyway.
   But today's Dems are a "traditional" "center-left" party? I'm utterly baffled by that claim. They seem to be going on voting records--probably a significantly better indicator than Crazy-Left Twitter and the stuff that gets said in this primary... But that stuff can't really be left out...
   Look: just take an issue that I don't have much of an opinion on: abortion. It's easier for me to be objective about that. You basically can't be a Democrat if you don't advocate Constitutional protection of abortion on demand. Northam, for example, has defended what's been called "fourth-trimester" abortions. If anything, I tend to lean more Democrat on this one on general libertarian grounds. But it's extremely difficult for me to believe that this--significant as it is both objectively and for the Dems--is an indicator of a "traditional center-left" party. The equality act, which entails that men can become women and vice-versa for a variety of insane reasons--feeling that it's so, believing that it's so, dressing as if it's so--rejects observable, empirical facts, empirical lexicographical facts about English, and a central logico-metaphysical foundation of all reason: thinking so (in and of itself) doesn't make things so. (And I think Dems voted unanimously for the "equality act). I suppose the ideas of race-based and sex-based hiring, and that people should be evaluated morally on the basis of their sex and skin color are pretty traditional alright...so there's a couple of things. Socialism has a significant history in the U.S., so that seems ok to me... One could go on--but I wonder whether they're actually focusing on economic issues and, perhaps, using Europe--which has, of course, kinda lost its mind--as a touchstone...
   Anyway. Obviously my opinions on this don't really stack up well against actual research.

Northam Setting Up False Flag Op For The 2A/VCDL Rally In Richmond

The right loves false flag conspiracies. 

Somebody on Twitter assured him he had killer sourcing on this though!!!!

Not buying it.

Andrew McCarthy: There Is No Impeachable Offense

Well, when you put it that way...
   I have no settled view on this because I've had very little time and energy to put into understanding it. I've been reduced to trying to do drive-by reads and puzzle out a guess about what the hell is going on.
   McCarthy makes a pretty good...what? Second-order kind of case or something. I probably can't understand the legal arguments...but if we look at all the surrounding stuff...the way the Dems are acting and approaching all this...it sure does have the hallmarks of another bullshit, Russiagate-esque hoax.
   That's, of course, the best-case scenario for the country.

Larry Elder Gets A Hate Call

I don't know why this cracked me up so much. There's really nothing at all funny or original in it. It's just objectively not that funny. But it did. Crack me up, that is.

Carolina 52 - Pitt 66

At this point, I'm not even sure we're going to make the ACC tournament.

Everything Is White Supremacy: The NYT Is White Supremacy

I mean it's basically the Volkischer Beobachter, amirite?
Nobody is left enough for the new new left, bigot.
Remember back before 'racist' was redefined to include all and only white people in its extension, and 'white supremacists' were, like, the Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood and suchlike? That is, before 'racist' meant white person and 'white supremacist' meant racist?
Good times.
Thing is, now we need another term that means white supremacist--you know, the Klan and whatnot. But, so far as negative rhetorical valence goes, I'm really not sure where we go from 'white supremacist'… I guess that's really the point, though, isn't it? Now that all whites are racist and all racists are white supremacists, all white people are white supremacists...well, I guess that's probably congenial to the progressive left, actually. In fact, I guess it should have been obvious that that's where we've been going all along.
You're literally Hitler, Hitler.
Denying it just makes you Hitlerier.

Everything Is White Supremacy: Brexit Is White Supremacy

God, is this ever par for the current course.
Progressivism has become a massive web of transparent fictions.

Trump Adds Dershowitz and Starr To Legal Team

facepalm
   I mean seriously. No Judge Judy? Perry Mason unavailable? Judge Roy Moore? Too bad it's too early to cull any JAGs from Spaaaace Fooooooooorce…
   If Trump were salvageable, he'd have gone after Jonathan Turley...though, as Reynolds (or somebody) said: maybe he did. Dershowitz is smart, tho. Dunno anything about his lawyerly chops.
Here I'm tempted to add: we are so screwed... But that's loser-talk. I've gotta stop saying that shit. Ten years from now, it's pretty likely that we'll look back on this as a dark, but transient, era. Trump will be gone and Orwellian progressivism will have retreated back, defeated, into the Mordor of ed schools, administration, and women's studies departments...but always watching...waiting...longing for its chance to emerge and defile the.....oh, hell, forget that last part... Would a little optimism absolutely kill me?

Walls and Fences Never Work!...But Northam Inexplicably Orders Fencing Erected For Pro-Second-Amendment Rally

More importantly: the FBI did seem to scrape up three neo-Nazi militiamen who were going to go to the rally. Which...I mean, obviously f*ck those guys...but there's nothing illegal about being a Neo-nazi. Stupid assholes have First Amendment rights, too. But I don't know the details in this case. They are apparently members of "The Base," which is notorious for having some sort of commitment to / plans for actual violence. Which is different. Though... Antifa is openly attending the rally, and they're openly violent, anti-democratic leftist totalitarians...
   But as for the other point: we were assured repeatedly that Trump's border barrier wouldn't work, because no barrier has ever worked to do its job in the entire history of mankind! After all, the Great Wall of China only worked for like 2,000 years or something... I mean, look, Northam can put up the fence around the capitol...but people will just climb over it...or tunnel under it! Fences never work!
   Consistency is the hobgoblin of politically incorrect minds, I reckon.

Why You Should Finish With A Hook, A Jab, Or a Rollout

RIP Christopher Tolkein

link
(h/t SR)

Dystopian Equality Now!

Handmaid's Tale: Politically correct dystopianism! Despite the fact that there is basically no sign of this one ever coming to pass, we are, weirdly, always on the very verge of it! You can also make a tv series out of it, have billboards, and dress up like it every time the other guys do something you don't like, and parade around DC.
Camp Of The Saints: Politically incorrect dystopianism! Despite the fact that this one actually seems to have been kinda prescient, do not read! In fact, you are not permitted even to have heard about it, bigot.

Actually, I haven't read CotS. Maybe it really is a racist (or whatever it's supposed to be) screed. But I doubt it.

VDH: "The New Post-Trump Constitution"

I'm skeptical of this.

   I'm more inclined to think that we're at a pretty unrepresentative time, when things have gone very bad. The bleeding-heart Orwellians drove the blue team hard left, this gave us Trumpo the Clown, this made the blue team completely lose it, this led to the attempted coup that was Russiagate/Pee-Tapegate...then the streams of crazy seem to have crossed big time in Ukrainegate. Seems to me like the Dems just mindlessly reloaded their mindless anti-Trump fantasy investigation after the failure of Rg/PTg...but it turns out that Trump was (or so it seems) up to some kind of shenanigans or other in Ukraine. Yahtzee! 

   Maybe I'm an optimist, but I think it's too soon to declare this the new normal.

Antifa Blackshirts To Join VCDL Pro-2A Rally In Richmond

My first thought was that this was a way to tarnish the rally...but since the average vocal progressive seems to be pro-...or at least not anti-...Antifa, I suppose that doesn't actually make much sense. Both sides have noted that gun-control has often been used in the U.S. to oppress blacks, but I've never been sure how good an argument that is. Democracy has been used to oppress blacks, too... Such historical arguments have to be handled carefully. It's more important to ask what the parameters of a generic American's rights are without regard to race. My inclination is to think that the Dems' hoplophobia harms contemporary blacks, because it harms us all. Though perhaps the point is: everyone should be concerned...but blacks should be especially concerned. 

   Leave it to Antifa to ignore all the bigger issues and find the racial angle, I reckon...

   It could also be a way to provoke violence, again, in order to tarnish the cause. 

   I ought to go, but I'm just too damn busy. Lame on me. Talks a big line, but not willing to schlep his scrawny ass down to Richmond to demonstrate on behalf of the Constitution. Lame, lame, lame.

   Hey, there's always tons of announcements about climate hysteria rallies at and around my university...wonder why I didn't see any announcements urging students to leave in the middle of class to go demonstrate for the Second Amendment? Weird, right? Must have just overlooked 'em.

   Institutional neutrality is dead at public universities. But that's a different aimless lament for a different time.

David A. Graham: "We Can't Afford To Ignore Lev Parnas's Explosive Claims"

My God what a shitshow.
   On one side, DJT, Rudy G., and the ever-more-unlikely array of crooks, nuts and petty con men that they apparently do "business" with routinely. Behold the debasement of the office of the president of the United States... On the other side: thorough-going lunacy. Bleeding-heart Orwellianism. Fantastical stupidity propped up by the foolishness and dogmatism of ruling "elites" who cannot really even envision the possibility that they might be wrong.

Jerry Kammer: "I'm A Liberal Who Thinks That Immigration Must Be Restricted"

This is so right I can hardly believe the NYT published it.

Progressives Scare Themselves Again: The "OK" Hand Sign Is Not A Racist Thing...

...and this is not even the "OK" hand sign.
OK?
This is the OK sign:

As has been pointed out: the demand for white supremacy outstrips the actual supply by many orders of magnitude...  Actually, stupid shit like this is great. Were the USA even 1/100th as evil and white-supremacistical as the left wants it to be, we'd all be too busy fighting Klansmen to waste so much energy making up hate-crime hoaxes all the time. White supremacism is the devil for the progressive left, which is the new religious right. And the OK sign is their devil horns:

Who's Zoomin' *Whom*...

Yeah, I also agree that, were Warren telling the truth, she'd have been more likely to have said something like "You know you said it." Or "Bernie, you lyin' sack a' shit..."

Delusions Should Not Be Codified Into Law And Become A Reason To Put Women In Danger

Apparently we live at a time when "delusions should not be codified into law," on its own, isn't enough. I'm against putting women in danger, too...but I sure wish the first bit were sufficient. 

"The Problem With Switching Gender In Prison"

And speaking of "gender," here's another idea for an article: The Problem With Having A Term That Means Whatever You Want It To Mean.

Taibbi: CNN's Debate Performance Was Villainous And Shameful

And this is how they treat someone who is barely distinguishable from the candidate they support.
   I can't believe I used to watch CNN. A lot. I am an idiot in a large number of ways. Jesus, I even used to watch MSNBC! When their sleazy mendacity came into focus I was disgusted at myself. I have no earthly idea how I could have been so blind to it. IT'S RIGHT THERE. IT'S VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO SEE.
   Really, it's like my brain isn't even on sometimes.

Go Elise Stefanik!

That is all.

GAO Says Trump Broke Law By Witholding Ukraine Funds

Sumbitch is looking guiltier all the time IMO...
   When I saw the headline I thought it was going to be some bullshit progressive "watchdog" organization like the SPLC or ACLU. Hey, remember when those used to be legit organizations? I'm so old I remember back before they were merely parts of the progressive propaganda/cultural-control apparatus...
   But it's the GMFAO.
  This doesn't, however, sound like confirmation of the articles of impeachment to me. Sounds like the GAO found some law-breaking, but it doesn't sound as if it's saying that it was exactly the kind that would do the impeachment trick. Still, it might count toward impeachment to some extent.
   If you only had some kind of...I don't know...public information source...or...maybe broadcast... I don't know what idea I'm grasping at here...something like...like the NYT or WaPo...but without the political affiliation. Some sort of objective source of accounts of new events....extremely current events...oh, I don't even know what I'm saying. This is some kind of sci-fi pipe-dream...
   It'd actually be kind of funny--in a catastrophic, Dems-take-power, end-of-American kind of way--if, after the two-year, non-stop, Russiagate hoax, Trump did himself in with this Ukraine foolishness. Especially if Biden turns out not even to be the nominee.
   If that happens I'll LOL myself to sleep every night, even unto the complete opening of our borders, mandatory transgender surgery for all, and absorption of the U.S. into the Greater EU.

MSM-Watch: Progressives Reaping What They Done Sowed

Bon appetite!

NHS Leader: "Stop Prioritizing Your Own Health"

Since private health insurance will be illegal in the brave, blue new world, I guess we won't have this "problem."

Bernie Gets The Pub Treatment From CNN

Whelp, "Berniebros," now you know what the Pubs have felt like for the past, well, basically, ever...:

   Even in her set up, Phillips seemed to reject Sanders’ earlier denials of the story: “Senator Sanders, CNN reported yesterday, and Senator Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018, you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that?”
   While Sanders made these points and repeatedly denied the allegation, Phillips left many of us confused when, literally just after he again denied the story, she asked him again if he denied the story. Some in the audience laughed at the weird follow up but that was followed by gasps when Phillips then turned to Warren and said “Senator Warren, what did you think when Senator Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?”
   Phillips then turned to Klobuchar and asked her how she felt about people making such comments to female candidates.  [My emphasis]

   Holy crap. That's blatant.
   I'm too lazy to look for it, but there's a tweet bopping around (FWTW) asserting something like: the "lesson" of "#MeToo" is that women should not be doubted. Ergo we should not doubt Warren's accusation. So now it's not even: every accusation of sexual assault made by a woman is true; it's every accusation of any kind made by a woman is true. Or, perhaps: everything ever said by any woman is true. Wonder what the rule is if a woman accuses a woman?
   I've always been 100% on-board with efforts to identify and address actual sexual harassment. Like everybody else I know. It's hardly an exceptional view. As far as I'm concerned, one actual case of serious, clear sexual harassment is enough to give someone the boot, no second chances. I've got no tolerance for that shit whatsoever. But the history of feminism for about the past 40 years is a story of moving past the reasonable positions of old-school, liberal feminism. A story, that is, of radicalization. Which means: crazification.
   Identify and address actual instances of sexual harassment is a sound and unobjectionable principle that we'd all go to the mat for. Believe every accusation is lunacy. Take the case at hand: Warren is a known liar, and she's known to lie in order to advance her career. Bernie's kind of a nut, obviously, with a crackpot view of government and economics...but I, at least, don't know of any major (i.e.: more-than-ordinary-for-a-politician) accusations of lying against him. He has a perfectly coherent set of reasons for the proposition that he doesn't believe what she accused him of saying--for example he thinks that, in a sense, a woman already did win. And it's kind of slimy to accuse someone of calling you a liar when they deny a scurrilous accusation against themselves. Anyway, as Bernie points out: in this sense, Warren's calling him a liar, too. In fact, she's calling him a liar and a sexist.
   Anyway. Warren's accusation isn't credible. And she isn't credible. I'd be willing to bet some money against the truth of her accusation. I'm not a betting man, nor a rich one, but I don't think I'd hesitate to bet $100 on it.

Northam Declares State Of Emergency To Discredit Pro-Second-Amendment Rally

Allegedly there's information that other groups aim to show up to cause trouble--but I doubt it. I could be wrong, but my guess is that this is largely a political move. Wonder whether that's impeachable?