The Real Problem: Latest Example: Even Questioning "Structural Racism" Dogma Is Verboten

Radical (and probably false) theory + punishment for questioning it:  link.

The Real Problem

   The real problem isn't that radical, outlandish political/philosophical theories like CRT are being publicly discussed, of course. That's obvious. The real problem is that a giant web of interconnected radical theories--radical politically and philosophically--have been accepted by elites on the basis of extremely weak arguments or no arguments at all, and are being imposed on the country. Part of this imposition is the stifling of disagreement--in fact, or any critical discussion or debate. These theories are committed, at the philosophical level, to illiberalism and antirationalism, and hold, among other things, that the stifling of disagreement--violently if necessary--is permissible or even obligatory. 

Lysenkoism Watch: Don't Forget...20 Scientists Called For Deploying RICO Prosecution Against Non-Climate-Hysteriacs

Because it's thoughtcrime.

Another Crack In Politically Correct Anti-Lab-Leak Dogma: Sanjay Gupta Goes Rogue

link

I just saw a podcast with a bunch of virologists that basically said that the lab-leak hypothesis was in tinfoil-hat territory. It isn't. It isn't close to being. This is, of course, the PC-progressive M.O.: all of their quasi-religious political dogmas are indisputable THE SCIENCEtm--and anyone who so much as questions them is crazy...or racist...or probably both. But--at least given the information currently available to laypeople--the lab-leak hypothesis is very much alive...and possibly the more reasonable of the available hypotheses.

Biden's Spinfrastructure Plan Is The Green New Deal In Disguise

I don't know enough to have anything interesting to say about this. You have to know quite a bit to be able to put together an objective picture of what's going on. WSJ here gives the side of the story that the rest of the MSM won't. But I don't know how accurate it is. I do think that this is driven by climate hysteria / mendacity and Democratic extremism and quasi-socialism. But it's possible that some of the provisions are good, anyway. In fact, it's almost certain that some are. But, look, it can't be that everyone on the left honestly believes the climate catastrophism... The authors of the GND don't believe it--they admit it's a jobs program in disguise. The "tipping point" / "existential crisis" bullshit is the WMDs of the progressive left, and the GND is a major front in their version of the Iraq War. 

Standard PMSM Disinformation Template Applied To: Daunte Wright

link:

As the officer on the driver side of the vehicle begins to handcuff Wright, a struggle ensues and Wright appears to reenter the driver side of the car. The third officer, who had approached Wright, is heard shouting "Taser" before she shoots Wright and the car drives away.

"...a scuffle ensues"! Then the car drives off! No wait--it appears to drive off! With Wright in the drivers' side! No wait--apparently in the drivers' side! Is it possessed? A kidnapping Tesla? WHAT??
   And no mention of his history of illegal weapons and resisting arrest! Just an "outstanding warrant." How can that be??? What an oversight! Ha, I'll be the reporters' face is red! He'll certainly take a razzing from his other professional journalists for this flub-up!
Later, police used "gas and a chemical agent" on "protestors" who had "gathered" at the police department...and were throwing bottles and bricks at them...so...it was actually the 'R'-word that we are not allowed to say...
   And, of course, the obligatory:

“I know my son. He was scared. He still (had) the mind of a 17-year-old because we babied him,” Wright told the Post.
Daunte Wright also had a 2-year-old, his father told the newspaper. He said Wright dropped out of high school because of a learning disability but worked various retail and restaurant jobs to support his son.
“He was a great kid,” Wright told the Post. “He was a normal kid. He was never in serious trouble. He enjoyed spending time with his 2-year-old son. He loved his son.”

   But good news, everybody--Al Sharpton is on the case!:

In a tweet Monday, civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said he had spoken with Wright's father and said his group, the National Action Network, "will stand w/ this family and demand justice in this matter."

So we can all rest easy...

Par For The Course: MSM Misrepresenting Chauvin Trial

As they did with the Trayvon Martin trial.

They're representing this as an open-and-shut case, thus, among other things, increasing the likelihood of riots if Chauvin is acquitted. 

Which...well, you can't really raise the likelihood of certainty, I guess...

link

They kinda want riots, obviously. Not wholeheartedly...but kinda.

I don't have the kind of understanding Jacobson has, of course...but what he says seems right to me: too close to call, but lots of reasons to expect acquittal on the more extreme charges. Of course it's going to be extremely difficult psychologically for the jury to acquit, given that they and their families face mob violence if they do--and their lives could well be ruined...or forfeit...

More Mostly Peaceful Protests In MN

 Those bricks that were hitting you were mostly peaceful bricks:

Holy shit https://t.co/oWQLBz4tSC

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 12, 2021

The Strange Case Of The Missing Veep

This is all just plain weird.

Democrats Are Leftist Radicals, And They Want To Destroy The Senate

Among other things.

Gosh, if only this had been foreseeable.

[1] SNL Spews Progressive Disinformation About Chauvin Case; [2] Hey, Did You Guys Know That SNL Was Still On The Air?

I actually found one or two seconds of this kinda funny... But it's pretty clear that they actually mean the shit they say about the case being "open-and-shut." Which means they're just part of the disinformation campaign that's setting the stage for more riots. This is very much like the Trump bullshit surrounding 1/6/21...except SNL may actually be outright endorsing violence. It simply isn't clear. If it's just a joke, and I'm misinterpreting, then my bad and my apologies...but it doesn't seem that way. 

This is--to just be straight up about it--typical progressive ignorance. They're fed bullshit by the serious media, they are insulated from the information that would throw them into doubt, and they spew misinformation right on out again, to be caught and incorporated by other low-information progressives...but I repeat myself...

Questions Asked And Answered: Are Liberals Getting Dumber? Micropronouns/Neoaggressions Edition

facepalm

Alright I made up that one stuff in the title.

But this really was in the alleged "newspaper of record"...seemingly written by a not-terribly-bright 12-year-old... The "neopronoun" chart may not even be the stupidest part of the piece. 

Kevin Drum On Border Security: Progressive Extremism And Hispanic Attitudes

This is basically right:

Roughly speaking, I think Trump suckered Democrats into becoming extremists on border policy. It's fine for Democrats to oppose the wall—most Hispanics oppose it too—but progressives, goaded by Trump, have staked out a position that's often only a finger's width away from not having any border security at all. And that's something that most Hispanics don't support.
To put it simply, Hispanics are like the rest of us: They care about other people, but they care about themselves more. When it comes to immigrants who are already in the country, legally or not, they're in favor of giving them a road to citizenship. But they're not especially keen on allowing lots of new immigrants in who will compete with them for jobs and housing. Trump may be a buffoon, but at least some Hispanics have decided that they can put up with that if the alternative is risking a big increase in the rate of illegal immigration.
Added to that, of course, is the well-known fact that many Hispanics are fundamentally conservative to begin with: Family oriented, religious, against abortion, in favor of low taxes, opposed to defunding the police, etc. It's been common knowledge forever that Republicans could win a big share of the Hispanic vote if they'd just moderate their base, but it turns out there's another way: Get the Democrats to radicalize their base instead. It seems to have worked.

A few things: first, it was lefty radicalism/quasi-open-borders nonsense that prompted Trump's views. There are feedback effects there, of course. But let's get the order right. Second: I've been saying the same thing for maybe ten years (with lots of pushback from liberals and progs): if you adjust the Dems' views about the border to make them a bit more consistent, they're hard to distinguish from open borders. And: you just can't make sense of a lot of what they say without attributing to them a commitment to basically open borders. Conservatives, however, have a very above-board, sane position: Come on in legally--and welcome! But don't come in illegally. If you do, we'll kick you back out.

Suicides Drop, Defying Expectations

Big if true.

"White Supremacy" Is To Blame For All Racial Violence In The U.S.

None of this makes even a modicum of sense.

It's all just pseudoscientific, quasi-religious, irrationalist gibberish. 

It's not even plausible enough to really be worth discussing--and that's saying something.

I'm not saying they can't discuss it, of course. I'm not them... But this shit doesn't even meet the extremely low bar required to be admitted as a legitimate hypothesis given that it doesn't explain anything. Even if it's admissible, it's immediately falsified by crime data. And when, predictably, it's insulated from falsification by simply repeating more dogma, it reveals itself to be pseudoscientific.

This is the level of bullshit that's tearing the country apart. If we succumb to such obvious horseshit, maybe we don't deserve to survive.

Joe Biden, Radical?

Not the kind of ideas I'm wild about anymore:

Perhaps most importantly, Biden himself has embraced the expansive view of what the federal government can do to boost the US economy. His repeated mentions of shifting "the paradigm" economically aren't hyperbolic, aides say. He sees this as a moment for transformation -- and has no plans to back off plans with a scale and ambition unseen for decades.

But waddoo I know?

   I'd guess that Biden's being pushed/pulled along by others in his administration. If someone were really a moderate his whole career, and then showed obvious signs of cognitive decline, and was surrounded by radicals, and then just happened to become radical himself...well...rather a coincidence. 

   Another depressing paragraph:

But Biden is surrounded by an economic team that, in many cases, has spent years writing, teaching or speaking about a dramatic rebalancing of the federal government's role in driving economic outcomes.

 Oh great. writing, teaching and talking. But I repeat myself. Forgive me if this doesn't fill be with confidence about their actual knowledge and experience. 

   Of course it's possible that their ideas are good. But I now incline to think that sweeping changes are bad changes--with few enough exceptions to ignore them for practical purposes.

   Eh, maybe I'm just feeling cranky.

Another Occasional Arendt Quote: Totalitarians Love Ad Hominems

One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.

              ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

That, of course, is the main tactic of the progressive left, too: disagree with any of their abstruse, occult, hermetic dogma and you're a racist, racist. The strength of your arguments and the implausibility of their dogma are both irrelevant.

Occasional Arendt Quote

The most striking difference between ancient and modern sophists is that the ancients were satisfied with a passing victory of the argument at the expense of truth, whereas the moderns want a more lasting victory at the expense of reality 

                                        ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

The Surge Of Illegal Aliens At The Border Is Not Merely Seasonal--And It's The Fault Of Biden And Progressives

Gosh, who could have predicted that irrational, idiotic policies and incentives could cause problems?

   Make no mistake about it: this is progressive immigration policy in action. It's Biden's fault--but, more generally, it's the fault of irrational, utopian, and-nation-state, globalist progressivism. The pandemic, you see, is so horrible that we should all cower in our homes and never even think of leaving!!! It's also so utterly nothing at all that it's totally fine if illegals pour across the border from the very areas suffering the most dangerous resurgence... 

   No, wait! Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, bigot. This is no harder to understand than that anti-lockdown protests are major superspreader events while BLM protests are actually healthful and awesome...

   This is the story of contemporary American politics and the culture war: reasonable policies vs. utterly insane ones. These are not the ordinary gray-area close-calls we face in ordinary times. What I long for is the days when most policy disagreements were somewhere in the six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other range. Sane vs. crazy is bad enough when sane is winning...but that's not what we're getting.

   Not to put too fine a point on it: but progressives are responsible for this humanitarian crisis in addition to everything else about it. 

   And, hey, just wait until we're also offering "free" heath care and UBI! That border surge will be a tsunami.

The Report That Shook Britain's Race Lobby: UK No Longer Rigged Against Minorities

The race-hustling industry across the pond takes a hit. 

   Imagine the meltdown here if someone had the temerity to suggest that the USA is not made of 110% racism structural white supremacism.

   But that's not going to happen, of course. Here it's booming! Witness "trained Marxist" Patrice Khan-Cullors's real estate collection. Needless to say I don't want to be that guy...but I'm not sure that her Marxist training really took... A more cynical guy might suggest that a Marxist ought to think that this is classic counter-revolutionary consumerist co-opting of the proletariat... But, then, I'm no more a trained Marxist than I am an expert on racism, oppression, diversity etc. So it's not my place to lecture the experts on their deep scientific knowledge in their area of expertise. Ha ha! That would be like me lecturing Stephen Hawking on physics, that's how dumb that would be! Because what they have is obviously actual scientific knowledge of truth, of course. It's not mere political opinion and half-assed interpretive bullshit!

The Pope Is A Nut

Not just for believing in the Guy In The Sky...

But because he's a globalist loon.

Honestly. This pope has made me even more thankful for the Establishment Clause. 

Chris Hayes Still Thinks The Hunter Biden Laptop Story Is False

Progressives live in a web of lies and delusions. 

PANIC PR0N: BRAZILLIAN VARIANT VARIANT!!!!111

Don't forget: 'Wuhan virus' is racist but 'Brazilian variant' and especially 'variant from Brazil' are totally O-K!

Also, notice that I am not making any How many is a brazillion? jokes. Because that would be very wrong.

Anyway, as always, the most important thing is that you continue to cower in terror. 

Needless to say: the only way to fight this "super-deadly," "world-destabilizing" "biological Fukushima"* is to fling open the southern border even wider opener and make sure that people with the virus can flood in unimpeded.

* As a commenter at Free Republic noted: Fukushima killed approximately 2 people**

** Though the reaction to Fukushima may have killed a thousand times that many.

ALSO DID WE SAY 10,FIVEMILLIONandSEVENTY-LEVEN TIMES MORE DEADLY THAN THE SUPER-DEADLY CORONAVIRUS?????????????

Reporter Barely Mentions The Fact That The "Hate Crime" She's Reporting On Was A Hoax

But the Albion students still insist that they're terrified...

Portland City Council: Unarmed Patrols To Combat Gun Violence

You simply can't make this shit up.

Even the cultists have to start balking at such insanity at some point...right?

I mean...what next? Foot-patrols to stop speeders? Innumerate tax prosecutors? Hydrophobic lifeguards? Really, the idiocy is unfathomable...

United Airlines: Sex And Race More Important Than Ability For Pilots

There is simply no way around it: United is putting progressive racialism ahead of passenger safety. You can't add additional, non-ability-related parameters without sacrificing the quality of hirees. Over 6', under 6', from east of the Mississippi, from north of the Mason-Dixon line, enjoys Bach...doesn't matter. 

   When I fly, it's very common for my decision about which tickets to purchase to come down to a near-coin-toss. Those decisions are going to go in favor of non-United carriers so long as this policy is in place. 

  This shit has just gotten completely out of hand. 

The Medicalization Of Everything: RACISM IS MEDICAL, RACIST!!!!!1111

These people are fucking nuts.

The left simply cannot resist injecting its crackpot politics into everything. For this reason alone they can never be trusted with power. Honestly, who is so insane as to look around and say...y'know what this country really needs? Some more screeching about racism... 

   Incidentally, this is also why people farther to the right--where the bulk of the sanity currently resides--have begun forcefully rejecting this bullshit pseudo-expertise. The left basically reasons like so: everything, in some roundabout way or other, impinges on everything else...so whatever x we're pushing right now undoubtedly has something or other to do with y...so let's say that x needs to be a priority of y... Religious fanatics use highways...so the DoT should be fighting religious extremism! 

   Jesus, these people are tedious. We've had their insanity shoved in our faces for more than half a decade now. I'm so sick of it that even when the right inevitably overreacts, I'll likely be happy to see it just for a change of pace from RACISM RACISM RACISM TRANS TRANS TRANS METOO METOO METOO.

HOW THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO SPIN THE MI BATFLU SPIKE BLUEWARD????

Wow.

Y'know...the MSM is evil...but they're pretty adept at it, I've gotta say. I particularly appreciated the bit about how it's unusual to find Democratic governors at odds with doctors and epidemiologists... Pretty slick, actually. I started skimming pretty quickly...but I'll bet there's not a single maybe we've been wrong in there...

Why Not Get Two Different COVID-19 Vaccines?

I've been wondering this for a long time. Why not, say, get one Pfizer shot and one Moderna shot? Or one J&J shot and one AstraZeneca shot? Or whatever? I mean, it's always sounded to me like a good idea to emphasize getting everybody over 30 or whatever one shot before starting in on the second round...but I know nothing about this so, I don't even deserve an opinion...but, anyway, mightn't it be a good idea to go with two different shots rather than two of the same? There are undoubtedly brilliant experts writing hundreds of pages on this somewhere...and running across ignorant shit like this on the interwebs probably makes them want to smash their monitors...

Did Trump Officials "Celebrate" Efforts To Alter CDC Coronavirus Reports?

Normally I'd just cry "Lysenkoism!" and then rant about it a bit.

I don't see why I should put such acts beyond the Trump team.

Though Trump was probably right about re-opening schools, so...

We could respond: yes, but he couldn't know that, and being accidentally right doesn't count for much.

In response to that, we could point to the fact that lots of alleged science was partly politically-motivated itself, and always in an anti-Trump/pro-hysteria direction...and this was no secret...

Anyway: Lysenkoism is Lysenkoism, and should always be condemned. But the deep state is also the deep state, and the Trumpistas were locked in battle with it. Final tautology of the day: the media is the media, and so we've gotta figure that this story is spun at maximum RPM in an anti-Trump direction... 

So in addition to the tautologies, I just have a conditional: if they were illegitimately interfering with legit science, then f*ck 'em.

The Chauvin Trial Is Really Complicated

Way, way more complicated than I realized it would be, and way more complicated than it seems from the superficial media accounts. 

Sohrab Ahmari On The MSM: "What Kind Of Bullshit Are These Ideologues Pulling On Me Now"

I've never worked in the media, of course, but otherwise this is my trajectory exactly:

The old establishment regime was thoroughly liberal, to be clear. It was the air they breathed.

But you couldn't imagine the old regime straight-up fabricating shit or claiming, as CNN did in a recent news story, that there is no scientific consensus for determining a baby's sex

— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) April 6, 2021

The Left Will Not Give Up Its Blue-Q Trump-Russian-Asset Fantasy: Jonathan Chait Edition

Kinda pathetic and embarrassing at this point.

"Coronavirus Variant First Found In UK"

'Spanish flu,' 'Ebola,' 'Lyme disease'....and on and on...all ok!

'Wuhan virus,' 'Chinese virus' NO!!! STIGMA!!! RRRRAAAAACCCCIIIISSSSTTTT!!!!!!

'UK variant,' 'Brazilian variant': Totally ok....whoops...no, wait...we can't say that because of the other crazy think we said...so....: 'variant first found in the UK'....there! Totally fine!

These people are loons.

Oh, also: I guess this is bad.

I'm scheduled for a pokin' tomorrow at noon. Then I can...hmm...well...apparently...though it's a miracle vaccine!...you can basically only go back to doing what you were doing a year ago which is nothing. 

'Infrastructure' Has No Meaning

Or, as Insty put it: Graft is infrastructure:

Paid leave is infrastructure.
Child care is infrastructure.
Caregiving is infrastructure.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) April 7, 2021

Kirsten Gillibrand: postmodernist...

Seriously thought: just bullshitter. 

I admitted yesterday that there's plenty of vagueness in 'infrastructure,' and both sides tend to stretch the meaning for political ends. But the word isn't just meaningless. 

Here are some things that are extremely clear: Paid leave is not infrastructure. Child care is not infrastructure. Caregiving is not infrastructure.