The Biden Administration's Diversity And Bias Obsession

Heather Mac Donald, depressingly on-target, yet again:

   According to Biden, we are a "great nation" and a "good people." But we also oppress minorities with an ever-rising fervor. "Growing inequity" is among the greatest challenges facing the country, according to Biden, along with the "sting of systemic racism" and encroaching "white supremacy." Only now are we confronting "a cry for racial justice, some four hundred years in the making."
   One might have thought that more than 50 years of civil rights legislation; the banishing of Jim Crow segregation; the ubiquity of racial preferences throughout corporate America, higher education, and government; trillions of dollars of tax dollars attempting to close the academic achievement gap; and the election of black politicians by white voting districts would have reduced inequity, not increased it. But to Biden's speechwriters, steeped in academic victimology, racial inequity is always with us, requiring constant remediation from government.
   Biden rattled off a litany of white America's sins: the "harsh, ugly reality" of "racism, nativism, fear, [and] demonization"; "anger, resentment, hatred, [and] extremism." He did not name white Americans as such, but he did not need to. That qualifier is inherent in the language he chose to adopt.
   This characterization of America's worsening racism is not just factually ungrounded, it is also a tasteless rhetorical move in an inaugural address. Reflexive invocations of "systemic racism" and "white supremacy" have become the Tourette's Syndrome of left-wing professors and activists. They are au courant, shallow terms of the moment, lacking depth or weight.
   In fact, such terms are so overused today that it is easy to tune them out. But that would be a mistake. The "systemic racism" conceit means that every American institution is illegitimate and needs to be reconstructed. Biden's cabinet nominees, whether in health, finance, environmental policy, or education, have declared that eradicating systemic racism is their top priority. How this agenda will play out has already been adumbrated in the CDC's initial priority list for Covid vaccinations: hold off on vaccinating the elderly, despite their higher risk levels, because the elderly are disproportionately white. Racial quotas will become even more the order of the day than now.
   The diversity obsessives in the federal science bureaucracies waited out Donald Trump's presidency. They will now redouble their efforts to treat a researcher's race and sex as scientific qualifications in the awarding of federal research grants. Expect to see any mention of merit or excellence denounced as a form of bigotry, a response that the University of California and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as an army of corporate diversity trainers, have already perfected.

How Bad Are Things At Universities?

Pretty fuckin' bad, fren. 

Pretty fuckin' bad.

Interview With Chauvin Juror

Pretty damn interesting. Seems to include substantial evidence against the jury intimidation thesis.

U.S. To Restrict Travel From India Over COVID-19

WHAAAAAAT?????

But...but...BUT....

Remember how this was racist when Trump did it to China?

Of course that arc went like this:  IT'S RACIST AND ALSO WHY DIDN'T YOU DO IT SOONER AND TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS CAN'T WORK ANYWAY BUT LOCKDOWNS ARE INDISPENSIBLE BUT MASSIVE RIOTS ARE MANDATORY BUT ANTI-LOCKDOWN PROTESTS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL BUT OPEN UP THE SOUTHERN BORDER AND LET EVERYBODY IN...

...but not, y'know, them Indian folks...

Honestly, you just can't make these people up.

Alex Byrne: "Are Women Human Females?"

Apparently there was a huge dust about this paper, in which Byrne argues for a proposition that every human being not blinded by leftist propaganda knows to be true. Women are adult human females is now, as you know, thoughtcrime. 

   I haven't read much about the dust-up, as I avoid depressing tales of philosophy's decline, but it's clear that the favorite argument of philosophical "trans"-ideologues makes an appearance: (1) philosophical arguments in favor of "trans" ideology are sooooo complicated that no one but a super-duper expert on feminist philosophy can possibly understand them, and, (2) if you reject "trans" ideology, then you don't understand them. So (3) Byrne doesn't understand them, and (4) the "stakes are so high" at this "moment" of something something pro-"trans" policy revolution that (5) only someone with nefarious motives could possibly "insert himself" into such a debate while being so woefully ignorant of the super-duper technical technicalities of the super-duper technical arguments. Also, (6) "women are adult human females" is something that non-progressives say, and (7) all non-progressives are Nazis, so (8) Byrne is a Nazi with nefarious motives. QED.

   Philosophy beclowns itself apace.

Progressives Shout Down Debate: Lab-Leak Hypothesis Edition

link

It's amazing to me how downright eager the left is to stifle debate--and on such a wide variety of issues. Basically, they politicize everything, and then label any disagreement with their politicized positions to be politically incorrect. And their current favorite replacement for 'politically incorrect' is 'conspiracy theory.' This is the most pressing reason the progressive left must be defeated--their subordination of truth to leftist dogma. Even if you don't care about the noble project of human inquiry, you ought to care that political correctness can get us killed. Reflect on this: the evidence available to the hoi polloi makes the lab-leak hypothesis the most likely one. At worst, it's tied with the natural origin hypothesis. At the very worst, the lab-leak hypothesis is reasonable--it's clearly a contender. For whatever reason--probably something something racism something something Trump--the lab-leak hypothesis has been declared un-PC. So, if progressives have their way, that hypothesis should be categorically ruled out--IT'S A CONSPIRACY THEORY BIGOT!!!!111 Which presumably means that we shouldn't sink any money/energy into figuring out how it happened. Nor should we stop funding gain-of-function research in China. This is the sort of practical insanity that's consequent on prope-Lysenkoism. The PC left would rather risk killing us all than endure the outrage of having people disagree with them.

"Anti-Racism": The Left's New Secular Religion

This person is not well. Creepiest part:

We need to deeply embed anti-racism into our identity, our purpose and every facet of our life. This work requires our full-throttle empathy and total commitment to dismantling an archaic, dangerous white supremacist system. 

Look, it doesn't take any great insight to see that this is unhinged. 

Feel The Joementia!: 1/6/21 "Worst Attack On Our Democracy Since The Civil War"

Did he actually say that?

I wouldn't know because I didn't watch.

People are making fun on the grounds that he leaves out at least 12/7/41 and 9/11/01--which is richly deserved. But my favorite bit of that is how contrived it is to get in a shot at the Confederacy, which is progressives' newest bete noir. Getting in a shot at the Confederacy highlights slavery (an actual example of institutional racism) and white racism, throws an elbow at the south (which is often a symbol of rural American more generally), and gives a shout-out to the progressives' ongoing project of damnatio memoriae. Really disgusting. Lincoln and the better angels of our nature be damned...even if that means ignoring Pearl Harbor et al.

Daniel Halperin, Monica Ghandi: "Take Off Your Mask And Go Outside"

Done and done.

But, then, I don't think I've ever worn a mask outside.

When did Americans become such sheep?

Michael Collins, Dead At 90

damn

Jason L. Reilly: "Race Relations In America Are Better Than Ever;" But The Left Conceals This

link

First and foremost: the PC / progressive / IdP left conceals the facts.

Second: they promulgate pseudoscientific theories of racism that are much more difficult to confirm or disconfirm--e.g. "structural" racism, unconscious bias.

Third: they actively spin racism out of stories in which there is none--e.g. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ma'Khia Bryant, Donald Trump...and on and on and on.

I say again: the most important point is that political correctness is their cornerstone: and that means: the subordination of truth to dogma. 

Compared to that, almost nothing else matters.

But there is more. The progressive left--which includes media and universities...and everything else...now including government pushes the lie that white people hate black people, and are killing them with impunity, and that the government as an institution, is structured to oppress them. This is destructive of the country and of black Americans. Progressivism pumps out this lie over and over and over: your country and your countrymen hate you...your country and your countrymen hate you...your country and your countrymen hate you... What the hell do you think this does to people, hearing this lie over and over and over?

When we bring objective data to bear on this lie, it is exposed.

And that's why progressivism has retreated to largely untestable hypotheses about difficult-to-detect forms of "systemic" and "unconscious" racism...

NYC Mayoral Candidate: "Young, White, Affluent People" Lead Defund Police Movement

Seems plausible.

             Counterpoint: BLM.

Progressivism Is A Mass Of Lies And Delusions; Or: What The Hell Is Going On?

• Russiagate: massive, complex, total hoax.
• BLM / the open season hoax:  massive, complex total hoax.
• Global warming: massive, complex, near-total hoax.
• Transgender ideology: massive, not-even-all-that-complex, utterly batshit crazy hoax...though an actual, real crisis has been created by the hoaxers brainwashing kids. Self-fulfilling prophecy... One of the few things that actually can be called a "social construction" (or, better: social creation).

Look: the major components of the progressive worldview are provably false. And yet not only do progressives continue to live in their fantasy world--and to consider themselves to be superior to those who aren't in the grip of their delusions--but you basically cannot talk sense to them about these things. The evidence is right there! It's easily-available! In the Russiagate case, it was rubbed right in their faces...and yet they continue to keep that theory hanging around. To see that the BLM / open season hoax is a hoax, all you have to do is look at like ONE TABLE of crime data--or read ONE Heather Mac Donald article. Books and articles debunking climate hysteria are also easy to find. And transgender mythology...Jesus... If you're clueless enough to ever have believed that, there's nothing I can do for you.

   What the hell is going on???

   How can any single political faction be so incredibly, ridiculously wrong about basically all their major positions? Not a little bit wrong...but massively, absurdly, 180 degrees wrong...

   It's almost unbelievable. I mean the right had its creationism spasm--that was some crap. Of course it had the WMD/Iraq fiasco/hoax. And the TOTALLY STOLEN 2020 election... But those were spread over like 30 years. Those just don't stack up to the massive web of crazy happening right now on the left. 

Progressives Live In A Fantasy World, Episode MCLXVIII: They Think We're Wearing Masks Outside

Normally, I'd chalk this up to the Joementia...but the CDC apparently thinks this, too. 

So who's gonna tell 'em?:

Joe Biden tells Americans that "beginning today" they can now picnic in a park outdoors without a mask - as long as they are vaccinated pic.twitter.com/DPZYs7lr3j

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) April 27, 2021

MSM Unhappy That Batflu Cases Are Declining

If you think cases are decreasing, you won't be afraaaaaaaaiiiiiid....

WHAT ABOUT THE VARIANTS??????????? SURELY THEY WILL KILL US?!?!?!

CDC: Fully Vaccinated People Can "Unmask" Outdoors In Some Cases

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well, I guess I'll stop wearing that mask outside, then... 

Idiots.

Edward J. Erler: Illegal Immigration Destroys Sovereignty

Yes it does.

   In the eyes of the vanguard of progressivism, that's much of the point. It's a familiar pattern: the vanguard is genuinely radical, anti-American, anti-West, anti-Enlightenment, etc. Its ideas trickle down to the newly-radicalized progressive core--by which point their overt anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism, etc. has largely been concealed. By the time the ideas get to the relative centrists on the center-left, the really crazy bits are hazy enough to just ignore. In fact, many such folk genuinely have no idea that they're accepting radical ideas and supporting radical positions. Most of them don't think anything much at all about illegal immigration beyond Oh, let's be nice. They certainly don't realize that they're on the trailing edge of a view that seeks to eliminate nations--starting with the worst nation of all, the United States. If you asked them outright whether we should surrender our sovereignty, most (though no all...) would reject the idea. They don't realize that they're helping row a ship that's steered by radical globalists. But that's what they're doing.

Peter Wood:: Biden's CRT Plan For Schools Is A Death Ray Aimed At Children's Minds

link

CRT is about as plausible and well-supported as Scientology. Now, if you believe in Scientology, that's your business. Similarly: critical race theory. But if Scientology took over basically every university in the country, and from there suddenly spread out to take over all news media, K-12 education, book publishing, Hollywood and the rest of pop culture, sports, the bureaucracy...even the military...well...you'd be concerned. You'd be crazy not to be concerned. You'd be crazy not to be at FretCon 1. Now imagine that the government decreed that school kids should all be indoctrinated with the believe that Xenu is everywhere--including at the foundation and philosophical justification of the USA. Oh and: anyone who doubts this is an agent of Xenu...

   Whelp, that's basically where we are with CRT. An utterly daft theory, unsupported by significant facts and argumentation, has taken over. The new religion has swept through the blue team. They've seen the light. They've accepted Diversity Jesus as their lord and savior. And they've decided that you will, too. If you don't, they will wreck you. And they're crazy and powerful enough now to do it.

   Woe be to them who have kids in school... They're now going to be indoctrinated with crackpot race-ideology to go along with the crackpot "gender"-ideology. 

   Cue former liberals patiently explaining that This is no big deal and it's limited to campus and it'll all blow over soon and it's all really kinda right anyway, isn't it?

Biden's Approval At 100 Days: Third Lowest Ever (52%)

Still higher than Trump's, if that matters. 

Biden would, IMO, rank as the worst president of my lifetime--probably by far--if not for Dubya's catastrophic Iraq lies. Dubya, however, didn't attack the very foundations of the republic...so...there's that... 

Conversation I Just Had With My Dog

Me: [earnestly] You're a good boy but I can't just give you cheese all the time.

Him: [Executes perfect sit; stares me in the eye exactly as he's been taught.]

Me: Goddamn it. [gives him cheese]

The Progressive Consensus On Climate Change Is Apocalyptic; That View Is Clearly Unproven; It Is Not "The Science"

It's clear that the progressive consensus about climate change is apocalyptic. It's also clear that that view is unproven. It is NOT "the science"--i.e. it is not the consensus among climate scientists. How long have progressives, Democrats and the MSM (but I repeat myself) been hawking this bullshit? I bought it, too, until, what, maybe five years ago? The evidence that it's bullshit is out there...it just doesn't easily penetrate the powerful epistemic forcefield of progressive groupthink.

   Needless to say, there's a lot we don't know about this stuff. But we can say unequivocally: progressive apocalypticism is NOT "the science." 

   Academia is so in the thrall of progressivism that, as soon as progressives commit to something scientists can speak on, scientists will appear seemingly out of nowhere to back them by declaring their view to be certified "the science." Look at the head-spinning speed with which transgender pseudoscience manifested to back up that nonsense. At this point, progressives basically just cut out the middleman and declare all of their views "the science" without waiting for backup from scientists (or: "scientists"). They know the cavalry is on the way--so why wait? 

   But don't let them cram this one down the memory hole. For something like a decade (longer?) now, they've been insisting that "the science is settled." It wasn't. It isn't. This whole time they've been able to keep the actual evidence on the DL--so much so that even reasonably diligent and non-nutty liberals such as my (old?) self are barely aware of it. They don't have to hide it completely. They just have to tamp it down enough that it's ignorable. And that's the kind of thing the progressive propaganda industry excels at.

Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide

Good for Biden.

It's way, way past time the U.S. did this.

I Wanna...Oh, Whatevs

 

MC 900' Jesus: Truth Is Out Of Style

 

The Great Paul Harrell: 10mm vs. .45

 

Obvs. I'm a 10mm guy all the way...though I was pro-.45 as a kid...before the 10mm was a thing...but there's something to be said for propelling that big ol' slab 'o lead downrange...

But...10 rounds vs. 15. You make the call...

I guess if you wanna kill grizzlies, you ain't gonna get 15 shots off...but, then, that extra penetration is gonna matter...

We've Entered Some Insane Hell-World In Which Tom Cotton Is The Voice Of Reason; Also: AOC's Incoherent GUT: Racism --> Climate Change!!!

Title template ripped off of Insty, natch'.

Go to the 5:00 mark for AOC's laughably nonsensical Grand Unified Theory of Climate Hystericism and Race Hystericism:

No one with two neurons to rub together and a half an ounce of intellectual integrity can possibly find that utter bullshit even a little bit plausible.

   Actually, AOC is only the proximate source of this bullshit. Leftist academicians are, as usual, the source of this "climate racism" nonsense. (Note: there's a different version of climate racism that's actually not half dumb: that poor nonwhites usually get the shit end of the stick with respect to e.g. toxic waste dumps. White Yuppies and BoBos and whatnot are good at organizing and getting that shit NIMBY...)

Obama Admin Scientist Seven Koonin: Climate Catastrophism Is Bullshit

Also: Cal Tech provost...

Flat Screen, Flat Screen On The Wall, Which Is The Crisisest Of Them All? Or: Climate Apocalypse vs. Ubiquitous Racism SMACKDOWN!

So, wait a second...if all life on the planet hangs in the balance...and can only be saved if we do the near-impossible (reduce carbon emissions to paleolithic levels or whatever)...shouldn't that be our number one priority? Shouldn't it eclipse everything else? Shouldn't even the righteous arsony cleansing of all those white supremacist businesses in Minneapolis (and all those other places) matter...y'know...carbon-wise? Shouldn't absolutely every other issue no matter how near and dear even to Woketarians be put on the back shelf until we've done absolutely everything possible to save "the planet"?

   Surely even the pervasive systemic, systemic super-racist systemic super-awfulness of the USA should not distract us right now when we face THE GREATEST CRISIS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND PEOPLEKIND...right?

   Well, as I've said before, if progressives really believe in this farce they ought to shelve all the other farcical things they believe in and tell the Pubs that they can have anything else they want (for right now) if they'll agree to a massive decarbonization initiative. But they're not doing that. Of course. Because they don't really believe this climate shit. I mean...they believe it like they believe that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman... That is: they believe it enough to shriek their heads off at you for "misgendering" him...and to genuinely think you are a moral criminal for believing that he's a dude... But they don't believe it enough to have sex with him or anything. And climate-wise: they don't believe it enough to stop having children, nor to give all their money (or even 5% of it) to decarbonization efforts...

   They certainly don't believe it enough to ask BLM to hold off for 9.5 years until the fate of the Earth is decided. Nor enough to ask BLM honchos to give that $95 million they collected to save the world. Nor enough even to ask them to stop accumulating mansions... 

   And, not that it would make much sense, but: they also don't think that racism is such a crisis that it warrants diverting attention and resources away from the Climate Hysteria Project... 

   So I guess neither crisis wins the smackdown... Just like when the Hulk fought The Thing...

NYT--And, Allegedly, Many In WSJ's News Division--Pressure The WSJ (Esp.: The Editorial Page) To Go Woke

 Because, you see, even one major news outlet not passionately devoted to the new religion is too many.

Taibbi: Russiagate and Rachel Maddow As The New Bill O'Reilly

Good take.

PC Climate Hysteria And The Most Democrat Question Ever; Or: How Does It Make You Feeeeel That We're All Going To Burn To Death Next Tuesday?

So Saint Greta of Thunberg--a kid with, as I understand it, a 9th-grade education and no particular expertise in climatology--testified before Congress about climate change. Her shtick consists of overwrought, fervid denunciation of her elders and smarters for failing to take extraordinary steps to combat Lord Voldemort the climate apocalypse.

   Representative Katie Porter (D (of course) - CA (of course)) said that her daughter said that "the Earth is on fire and we're all going to die soon." Porter then asked her daughter how that made her feeeeel .... and, uh, she understandably said that it pissed her off. (My paraphrase.) If she's nine and she really believes it, it also probably terrifies her--but Porter didn't report that. So who knows? 

   So: Porter asks St. GoT what she should tell her daughter--in order, y'know, to make her feeeeel better about the End of Days:

“And I asked her how that made her feel, and she said that it made her feel angry,” Porter continued. “What should I tell my daughter and how should I help her and the youngest generation bear the emotional toll of the actions that we’re taking, fossil fuel companies are taking to destroy our planet?”

This is the most progressive-left-Democrat question of all time. Oh, revered child spokesloon, I advertise to you my virtue so that all may hear! My questions is about teh feelz! Feelz most virtuous! The feelz of a child! I beseech thee, oh other child, to instruct me on how to feel about what to say to my kid about her feelz and how to make all the feelz appropriate to a feel-time such as this when EVIL WHITEMALE FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES AND CAPITALISM AND SHIT ARE DESTROYING OUR PLANET AND BURNING OUR CHILDREN ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE WITH NO REGARD FOR THEIR FEELZ ABOUT IT WHATSOEVER!!!!!1111

   Now. Porter must believe this utter nonsense, else she'd just tell her daughter that it's all bullshit. Well, that or she's doublethinking, and thinks that maintaining the dogma is more important than her daughter's fear. Which, again, she does not explicitly reference. So the whole thing may be made up. Which...look: if she did believe it, I doubt she'd be fretting over her kids' feels. She'd be doing everything possible to avert their horrible and imminent deaths. But either way it's bad. Either this Congresswoman believes patent nonsense, basically because she doesn't think that being a Congressbeing obligates her to read even one book on what, by her lights, ought to be the biggest crisis in human history and certainly the biggest of our lifetimes. Or she is bullshitting the nation in order to get the Green New Socialist Jobs Program passed. Or she's engaged in doublethink like a good little totalitarian apparatchik. None of those is good, needless to say.

   RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT!

Joe Biden, Moderate: AOC Says He's Exceeded Progressive Expectations

If you fell for the story about him being a moderate, you've been had.

Kerry: Fictional "Climate Migrants" Should Be Given Refugee Status

It's astonishing how many things these people are wrong about.

The fictitious "climate crisis" is just another excuse for packing more semi-legal immigrants into the country.

Crazy Woman Uses Racial Slur, Makes National News

It's hard to believe that racism is a massive problem when this story makes national news.

It's Not Justice! Ayanna Pressley Edition

No true justice anyway...

True justice, you see, requires the impossible: resurrection:

The truth is that we never expected justice in this trial. The American criminal legal system remains deeply broken and could never deliver true justice for George Floyd and his family. True justice would be George Floyd, alive today, at home with his fiancée, children, and siblings.

We'll never have justice in this case! Oh, what? Um...well...not true justice...because there are other (alleged) injustices afoot...
   Their theory--dogma, actually--predicts that the system can't generate a just verdict. When it (by their lights) does, it's time to distract and dissemble. Disconfirmation is not allowed. Is there a progressive anywhere who said Hm...guess we were wrong?

Don't Forget: The Chauvin Verdict Was Not Justice!

It's never enough.

It'll never be enough.

"This isn't justice" is the newest bullshit talking-point/sophistry sweeping the left.

After all--if you think this was justice, you're not really an SJW...bigot. To be satisfied with anything--when your comrades are not--shows your commitment to be insufficiently hysterical. 

Even when they get the conviction they want, it's not enough.

Their reasoning, as usual, is idiotic. It's too garbled to really make any sense of, but it may be something like:  This verdict didn't end all injustice; ergo this verdict was not just(ice?). Ridiculous. But God knows what they're trying to say. "This isn't justice"--to the extent that it means anything at all--is ambiguous at best. What the hell can it mean? This isn't justice itself? This isn't the property justice? (I don't that justice is a property, anyway...) If you interpret it as this isn't just, it makes sense--but that can't be what they're saying, since they think it is just--that it's a just verdict. But this garbled formulation is a way of saying, basically: Nothing that appears to disconfirm our dogma of pervasive, universal race-sin can possibly be what it appears to be. An individual righteous event is nothing--it is not even righteous--for race-sin remains... Since it's not final justice, the elimination of all injustice, it is not just(ice).

How can people this stupid be winning? How can the United States fall to such abject bullshit?

Satan is everywhere, you see, as are his witches. The righteous must hysterically decry them at every turn, and see them everywhere--and devil take the hindmost. Whoever is least-hysterical is witchiest. Even insufficiently hysterical hysteria is grounds for suspicion. Expressing actual skepticism is tantamount to a confession. Thus the spiral of hysteria sustains itself.

The PMSM Looks For Ancient Dirt On Tucker Carlson

Carlson is dangerous to the progressive revolution. He's got a prominent platform, he's not afraid to call a spade a spade, and he tends to speak the truth. So, of course, the PMSM is deploying its favorite tactic: character assassination. They've gone back to his college yearbook and found that he was "associated" with groups that have bad-sounding names... 

This is, of course, what you do when you can't answer someone's arguments. Progressivism does not debate. It aims to avoid debate, and it has several different standardized tactics. But what it loves most is intimidation, and one way it achieves that is to make it clear that anyone who opposes it will be subject to relentless dirt-digging and character assassination.

WSJ Repeats Biden's Bullshit Argument For Carbon Reduction

link

You don't get to count the 2020 decrease--as if it were normal--in order to argue that a 50% reduction by 2030 will be easy (or even achievable).

If you scoffed at "the great reset" as a conspiracy theory...well...looks like you might want to rethink that.

Christopher Rufo: How To Fight Critical Race Theory

"The Courage Of Our Convictions"

That's an excellent piece, according to me.

I'm surprised at how quickly lots of non-philosophers brought themselves up to speed on this largely-philosophical madness. They've done a hellofalot better than philosophers have. Philosophy--at least its more public face, on the web--has beclowned itself. It's part of the problem.

I don't necessarily agree with Rufo about not taking CRT on on theoretical grounds...but he's probably right and I'm probably wrong. Though that's the ground I've been fighting it mostly on ever since graduate school. It lose there, too--though it's easier to flim-flam people on that ground..so, yeah, Rufo's probably right.

Um, and I can't resist adding: as for whether or not this nonsense was dangerous, and as for whether it could just be ignored, and as for whether it would remain isolated to academia: I was right. You can't just hunker down and hope it will go away. It won't. It's a bunch of stupid ideas that are destructive as hell.

Police Shooting Person A To Prevent A From Gutting Person B With A Big-Ass Knife: SYSTEMIC RACISM!!!!1111

"Systemic racism" is bullshit. Like "implicit bias," it's mostly a way for the left to play the race card in an unfalsifiable way.

   Which is exactly what's going on here.

   I'm no cop, nor am I a "police use-of-force expert"... But I don't see that you have to be to know that the cop did the right thing. Ms. Bryant, you see, was about to gut that other girl. Who was also black. Since racism is the new not-racism, that's what really matters. Of course, if Ms. Bryant had been about to gut an evil "cis"-hetero-able-bodied-white-male, it'd be different...

   Actually, that give me an idea for a trolley problem for our brave new world: a trolley is headed down the tracks toward a black woman...but you have the ability to switch it onto a side-track where sits a white male...  Is there any doubt what anti-racism requires of you, bigot?

   To be clear: there *is* such a thing as institutional racism (a better, more precise term than "systemic racism"...which suggests a different thing). It's just a lot less common than the illiberal left would have you think. Slavery--in the U.S.--was a racist institution. But the U.S. is not made of "systemic racism." Which is why, when asked for examples, they either give the same ones over and over (slavery, Jim Crow, redlining), or point to things that aren't racist (e.g.: the shooting of Ms. Bryant). Unconscious and semi-conscious bias are also things--but, again, they're less common and much less important than progressives want you to think. Progressives want more racism. But we have less of it. So they pretend that we have the same amount we always did...just undetectably. It's like there's a law of the conservation of racism--it never goes away, it just goes stealth.

   For all the left's obsession with race, they sure are bad at it. But, then, it's a religion, so it's not supposed to make sense...

   Oh, yeah, and: though I'm too lazy to look it up, don't miss the stories about how at least one of the networks edited the knife out of one scene, and cut the 911 call so that there was no mention of a knife. This on the heels of a different MSM network cutting the gun out of the Adam Toledo video. 

   Even in the story above, from the Washington Examiner, it says that Bryant was seen "with a knife," and that it "appears that she was about to swing it" at another girl. When in fact, she had a big-ass knife and was in the very act of swinging it with all her considerable heft with the intention of gutting another (black) girl. 

   Psaki--who seems almost literally unable to tell the truth--of course twists this story to fit the preferred blue worldview. Kayleigh MacEnany was an unusually truthful press secretary--so something of a contrast with Trump, who was Trump. Psaki, like the rest of her side, cares nothing for the truth. In fact, they don't even care about racism--unless you mean: care to exaggerate it for religio-political reasons. If they really cared about it, they'd stop trying to convince black Americans that their country hates them and is trying to kill them.

Greensboro Zoning Commissioner Fired For Refusing To Use Black Woman's Title (Dr.) During Zoom Zoning Meeting

 This guy is just an asshole, and there's no getting around it. Rosario makes a perfectly reasonable and ordinary request. Collins goes way, way out of his way to be a jackass about it. I'm glad they kicked his ass off. This really does seem like he's got a problem with her because she's black or a woman or both. Though there was that weird thing on the right--briefly, I thought--about how no one but medical doctors should be called "doctor." That was all because Jill Biden apparently insists on being called "doctor" too often... It was so dumb I thought it'd just go away. Both insisting on being called "doctor" all the time and refusing to call Ph.D.s "doctor" when appropriate are bush-league, jackass behaviors. In this case, there's absolutely nothing objectionable about Rosario's request. In a meeting of this kind, you'd normally call people "mister," "miss," etc. So if somebody's a Ph.D. or medical doctor, you'd call them "doctor." These conventions really aren't strange or hard to master. Anyway: dud's an asshole.

The Left's New Mantra: Convicting George Floyd's Killer Is Not Justice

Justice requires doing everything else the left wants, too.

Because something something "systemic racism."

Because one, extremely atypical interaction that led to a death because of myriad unusual factors...somehow means it's the system what done it.

John Lott: Data Undercuts Myth Of Racism In Police Killings

Progressitarianism doesn't care about your facts and your evidence, bigot.

The Transgenderism Fad: Reverse Satanic Panic

I've said this before, but: 

The transgenderism fad is, in certain ways, like the Satanic Panic. Like a mirror-image of it. Both started off with some few people making up an obviously false and crazy story. Then the authorities got into the act--and everything went to hell. In both cases, the authorities took the crazy story seriously--something no sensible person would ever have done. In the Satanic Panic, the authorities went looking for superstitious child-mutilators. In Trans Panic, the authorities do the child-mutilation themselves. In the SP, no children were actually mutilated--but the lives of many innocent people were destroyed. In the TP, again it is the authorities who are ruining people's lives--the lives of children and of their parents. Parents are not allowed to object--in some places, they can go to jail if they object. Again: they can go to jail for objecting to the brainwashing and mutilation of their children. In the SP, the superstition is hypothetical--believed only by cultists--who are themselves purely hypothetical. In fact: non-existent. In the TP, the superstition is real--that is: believed by actual people. In fact: it is the semi-official metaphysics of the progressive left: social constructionism. In its strong, metaphysical version--social creationism--social constructionism is pure bullshit. But, of course, it survives, like so much of leftism, on the motte-and-bailey maneuver: there is a strong version, used to amaze the masses, and a weak version, used for more sober purposes. Like rebutting criticisms. In fact, the weaker version comes in several flavors. One is: society sometimes makes things up, and transmits false beliefs. Wow. So radical. Another is: there is such a thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Are you not amazed?

   Anyway. In both cases, it was the authorities that were/are responsible for most of the chaos and destruction. In SP, for their loony efforts to uncover sexual mutilation that obviously never existed. In TP, for creating and amplifying an obviously false theory--that sometimes children should be sexually mutilated--then actually executing the mutilation when delusional children do as they've been deluded to do. That is: requesting it. Oh and: threatening all who object with mobbing. Oh and: forcing doctors to participate. Oh and: threatening parents who hesitate to go along with it all.

   Note that now, in the Trans Panic, the authorities include left-wing academicians. Or: "scholar-activists" as many prefer to be called. They invented the superstitions that drive the current madness.

Dawkins's Support For Progressive Insanity Was Merely Lukewarm: CANCELLED

Also, he had the temerity to mention the Contradiction The Must Not Be Seen: the Jenner / Dolezal asymmetry.  STOP NOTICING THINGS, BIGOT.

Outdoor Dining In NYC w/ BLM Chorus

Utter, abject insanity.

   Trying to chase a disturbed assailant from your neighborhood because his victims asked you to help them: WHITE SUPREMACY--YOU GO TO JAIL.

   Mob tells all white people to leave NYC because they're not wanted there: heroic BLM racial justice.

   Is anybody unclear as to where this is headed?

CIA Claims 2017 Attempted Massacre Of GOP Lawmakers Was "Suicide By Cop"

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Switch the parties and this would be a "white supremacist" "insurrection."

link

Heather Mac Donald: Americans Should Be Deeply Concerned About The Future Of The Rule Of Law

Obvious, but important.

   The PC left is devoutly devoted to the principle that the "privileged" should be treated differently than the non-"privileged." Specifically, of course, that the latter should be given special treatment to make up for the terrible and illicit--though purely theoretical--advantages enjoyed by the former. 

   People let them get away with spinning their fantasy tales about "privilege" because, hey, the truth per se doesn't matter all that much and why risk the blowback for calling bullshit on bullshit? And now they're moving into Phase II, which will involve different actual treatment of the two groups by government and the legal system. This is similar to what happened with transgenderism. First came the false claims to the effect that men can become women by fiat. When people objected, they were told they were being unreasonable because it was just words. They just want you to use certain words...why are you being so mean? Why do you even care? When they coerced those concessions, they started in with the substantive, practical demands: sex-integrated public restrooms, locker rooms, girls' and women's sports...then came the trial balloons about straight men and lesbians being bigots for refusing to have sex with them...

   The crazy theoretical claims ought to be opposed because they're false--and because truth matters. But even if you don't care about that, you might care that it's never just theoretical with them. Practical consequences are always just around the corner.

   Now the left can get away with burning down cities--but people are getting harassed and cops are getting fired for giving less than 30 bucks to help Kyle Rittenhouse pay for legal defense. In academia, you can build a career on proclaiming that whites are by definition oppressors--but even perfectly innocent comments can end your career if even one person on the left decides to misinterpret them to be expressions of racial thoughtcrime--even if that misinterpretation is hilariously absurd and clearly malicious.

   This is your blue future, America. And this is what the Democrats now stand for.

Greenwald: The Very Day The Media's Credulous "Russian Bounties" Propaganda Was Disconfirmed...They Promote Another BS CIA "Collusion" Tale

This is almost beyond belief.

Almost.

These two things happened on the very same day:

(1) The ostentatiously bullshit story about Russia putting bounties on the heads of U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan was conclusively disproven...though it's been obvious that it's bullshit for months.

(2) "Journalists" get wind of a new--also unproven--rumor of "collusion" between the Trump campaign and the Rooskies.

   If you're ever foolish enough to to onto Twitter, you know that the left has never given up on Russian collusion. It's like the Mueller investigation never happened. The ridiculous SSCI report is held up as proof...but they really don't need proof. It's dogma.

   As Greenwald notes, journalists are, in this respect, just scribes for the intelligence apparatus. They're just a conduit. I'd say: we're really just talking about progressive apparatchiks in two different jobs. They pass their feverish speculation along from one to the other.

Biden: One Minneapolis Cop = "Systemic Racism"

Systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism systemic racism 

   And, in conclusion: systemic racism.

   This way you never have to prove it's there, and when you do find some racism and it's rectified, you can claim that it doesn't count because the real problem remains.

   Pretty clever bit of sophistry, actually.

   There's absolutely nothing "systemic" about the Chauvin case. Unless you mean: the deck was stacked against him from the beginning by the anti-racist witch-hunt atmosphere and looming threats of violence if he was acquitted...

Great Kendi: Is Justice Convicting A Police Officer, Or Is Justice Convicting America?

Um...the former?

Crisis? What Crisis?

Oh...that crisis...

HIGHWAYS ARE RAZIZT!!!!1111...Which Is Why We Need To Tear Them Up And Replace Them With Public Transportation, ACORN Offices, Absentee Ballot Collection Boxes, And Testosterone Vending Machines For Minors

Well, you can only rail against this idiocy in so many different ways...

   Everything is racist because America was racist in the '50s and everything was either made back then or thought of back then or has some tie to something from back then. Though, weirdly, American is even more racist now...but undetectably so...because...something something implicit something...or something something structural something! But at any rate, the really super-duper racist stuff is stuff that Democrats don't like. Like equality before the law and guns and free speech and freedom of movement. So, inter alia, "equity"--which is our totally new thing as a country, like "social justice"--says that we have to tear up highways and use only electric cars with like 200 miles between charge-ups. BECAUSE RACISM! Then more stuff that NPR-types want--like illegal immigration, community gardens, and drag queen story hour. If you aren't on board with this you are on The Wrong Side Of Historytm, jack. 

   But all this is perfectly normal. Because it's part of the leftist project that nothing needs to make sense anymore. Making sense, valid reasons, stuff like that are all retrogradestraightwhiteWesternmale. Which means: RAZIZT!!!111

   Remember when we had liberals? And they used to make sense at least a fair bit of the time? I mean, they made sense a lot less than I used to think they did... But at least they tried. I don't remember them just automatically shrieking RAZIZM!!11 every time they disagreed with something.

   Right before our eyes the "elites" that run our society have adopted a patently insane tangle of reality-denying, cultish dogmas... And basically everybody left-of-center is just going along with it like it were the most ordinary thing in the world. Our universities--which one might think should be beacons of honesty and clear thought, filled with people who would be eager to skewer cultish crazy--are the ones who inflicted this on us. They created it, and they are the most slavishly devoted to it. 

   Utter. Fucking. Madness.

Biden admin PC Bullshit: Nixes 'Illegal Alien'

link

I don't have any commitment to the phrase, obviously, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Well, I guess I do kinda like the term 'alien'... It's kinda cool.

   The Biden admin is obviously full of PC idiots But, hey--no more mean tweets, so...worth it!

   If 'alien' were an insulting term, then there would be a problem with 'resident alien.' But there isn't. If 'illegal x' were an insulting phrase, then we wouldn't have 'illegal contractor' and 'illegal truckdriver.' But there's nothing wrong with 'illegal' and there's nothing wrong with 'alien', so it's extremely unlikely that there's something wrong with 'illegal alien.' It's not illegal aliens complaining about 'illegal alien,' anyway. It's PC/progressive activists. And their reason for doing so is that they want a less-honest term. The point, as usual, is to get us moving on an ever-more euphemistic chain of jargon. They used to prefer 'illegal immigrant,' of course. But then they thought up "undocumented immigrant"...as if they'd lost their library cards or something. Then they tried 'unauthorized'...and I don't know what it is now. Then they realized that 'migrant' was better than 'immigrant' because, hey, then you don't even specify whether they're coming in or going out... Eventually it will be Freedom Nomad or some such thing. Our old friend TVD had the best term, though: 'undocumented Democrat.'

Officer Brian Sicknick: Yet Another Bald-Faced Anti-Trump Lie By The MSM

Pure propaganda. The story was nowhere near the truth. And it helped elect possibly the most catastrophically horrible president of my lifetime...well...second to Dubya. Though if progressivism sticks, the Great Awokening will end up making the Iraq War look like the f*cking Renaissance.

But, hey, no more mean tweets, so

Your Blue Future: Norfolk Police Officer Fired For $25 Doxxed Contribution To Kyle Rittenhouse

So, how much loonier can this abject insanity become?

Rittenhouse was defending himself against rioters who were attacking him and, in at least one case, apparently trying to kill him. He defended himself--morally and, probably, legally. Names of contributors to his defense fund were doxxed...and now they're being harassed by the establishment media and fired for it. Are cops fired for contributing to BLM? BLM is a giant hate-crime hoax / quasi-terrorist organization. 

   W.T.F?

   This is abject madness.

   Allegedly, he was fired for the message he left. But that makes no sense whatsoever. The message is as follows:

   “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
   “Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”
   Rittenhouse is accused of multiple murders after crossing state lines and shooting protesters at an anti-police rally in Kenosha, Wis. after Jacob Blake was shot by police in August.
   Kelly was previously the department’s executive officer of internal affairs
   In a statement, city manager Filer said Kelly’s actions were against city and department policies.
   “His egregious comments erode the trust between the Norfolk Police Department and those they are sworn to serve,” Filer said. “The City of Norfolk has a standard of behavior for all employees, and we hold staff accountable.”

This should be nationwide news. There should be outrage about this. Instead, it's just one of innumerable incidents on one day. Nobody bats an eye anymore. Progressivism is insanity, and it's taken over the  nation.

[LOL that story is bullshit, incidentally:

Rittenhouse is accused of multiple murders after crossing state lines and shooting protesters at an anti-police rally in Kenosha, Wis. after Jacob Blake was shot by police in August.

That's clearly intended to make it sound like he crossed the border with the intention of shooting protestors, and just walked in and started shooting.
   Utter. Fucking. Madness.]

Cornel West: Howard's Removal Of Classics Is A Spiritual Catastrophe

I...agree with Cornel West...?

Well, when he's right he's right.

Chauvin Guilty On All Charges

Now that does surprise me. Not that I deserve an opinion on this. But I thought the 2nd-degree murder charge was a travesty/joke, and that there was no way that was really even on the table. Seems pretty crazy to me--but, then, I don't really know what I'm talking about, and I only watched a couple of hours of highlights of the trial. 

It does seem nuts that there wasn't a change of venue and/or sequestration. I mean, the psychotic left was leaving pigs' heads on jurors' doorsteps before the verdict was even in. Seems like everyone realizes that Minneapolis (and, well, much of the country) would burn if there was a not guilty verdict. Surely jurors were aware that their lives would be wrecked if they acquitted.

But I'm under the impression that people who do know what they're talking about think that at least the other two charges are within the realm of reason.

Chauvin Verdict Imminent

Glad I don't have to figure this one out.

Ben Carson Contra Enforce Race-Based Outcomes (aka "Equity")

link

Demand For Racism Still Far Outstripping Supply: Adelphi U. Edition

Even obvious lies and hoaxes are treated like national emergencies. They're a chance to virtue-signal--a chance to broadcast how very seriously you take such things even if they're obviously fictitious. I hate racism sooooo much that here's what I would do if only this fake report were true! I'd to this and this and this and then I'd do that and punch them like so! Why, I'd be the very model of furious outrage and righteous rage!...

   Yeah, yeah.

   You can't even stand up for truth against some obviously dishonest tweets. You're terrified of the effete, effeminate left because they can call you mean names. You'd fold like a cheap suit against actual Nazis and genuine shoot-you-in-the-head commies and realio-trulio white supremacists.

Dawkins Stripped Of 1996 "Humanist" Award Because He Questions Woketarianism

Still pretending that this is all gonna go away on its own?

   These jackasses went all the way back to 1996 to strip Richard Dawkins of this (meaningless...but that's not the point) award because he raised fairly moderate questions about the cult of Woketarianism. And on top of that, they pretended that said questioning was inconsistent with science.

   Because war is peace, freedom is slavery, and religion is science.

"It's Like We're Getting Ready For A War": Minneapolis Braces For Chauvin Verdict

link

Of course it'll be "white supremacists" who are responsible.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Not Killed By Rioters

Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.

That's all they got.

Um...Leftists Discover Reality?

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says "regardless of the decision made by the jury, there is one true reality, which is that George Floyd was killed at the hands of police." pic.twitter.com/PFfby2aT1a

— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) April 19, 2021

"Journalist" Goes To Home Of Doxxed Paramedic Who Donated $10 To Kyle Rittenhouse Defense Fund

This is not journalism.

   This is "reporter" Jason Nguyen of ABC4, Salt Lake City, Utah using doxxed information to publicize the fact that a private citizen had donated ten f*cking dollars to the Kyle Rittenhouse defense fund--and doing it specifically in order to publicize the information in order. Why? Well, to direct the wrath of the mob against said private citizen. Gosh, I sure hope nobody doxes Jason Nguyen of ABC4, Salt Lake City, Utah in order to direct the wrath of the counter-mob at him... 

   Here's another story disseminating doxxed information as if it were scandalous. 

   OMG PEOPLE CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEFENSE FUND FOR AN INNOCENT KID WHO IS BEING RAILROADED FOR DEFENDING HIMSELF AGAINST BLM/PANTYFA RIOTERS/TERRORISTS!!!!!1111 SOME WHO DONATED WERE COPS!!!!1111 

   Here, incidentally, is the url for GiveSendGo, in case you, like me, want to contribute to Kyle's defense fund.

   As you may know, our progressive-totalitarian overlords got him dropped from other, more popular sites like GoFundMe. They've also gotten the January 6th capitol rioters dropped from such sites.

   Because the totalitarians are getting more an more total. You aren't permitted to raise funds for unapproved / politically-incorrect causes. Of course if you're a male accused of sexual assault on campuses, they also don't want you to be permitted to face your accuser... If you think it won't get worse if their power increases, you're a fool.

   And don't forget:

   1. GiveSendGo

and

   2. Jason Nguyen of ABC4, Salt Lake City, Utah

Biden Has Always Been A Doofus

I'm afraid this is right. I've long had a soft spot for the guy...but jeez...his antics at the Thomas confirmation hearings are almost impossible for me to watch. He clearly has no idea what he's talking about, and just won't stop with the We lawyers understand natural law...but it'll be almost impossible for everyone else to understand it...but you know and I know... Just painful. Thomas's commentary is brutal and right on the money.

Did BLM and the BLM/Antifa Riots Cause 4k Extra Deaths in 2020?

Maybe.

That's a big number, so I'm skeptical. They clearly caused an increase in violence, death and other mayhem. They caused billions of dollars of damage. And BLM's lies have done incalculable damage to race relations. 

[I'm changing this to: probably not.]

Drone Swarms: The Future WMD

Well that's just great.

Democrats Want Your Guns

To their credit, they've become pretty damn open about it. I can grudgingly respect their honesty. Currently on deck: they want your high-capacity mags.

MSM Produced Propaganda To Control The Way You Think

Yes.

I hadn't seen some of that CNN footage. Dude admits their goals were to dump Trump and help Biden. Part of that involved pouring out panic porn--e.g. the "death clock" on the side of the screen that apparently disappeared after Biden took office. Though part of it was: they wanted ratings and fear sells. Though I'm not wild about the locution: the MSM is, indeed, the enemy of the people.

[And don't miss the bit about it being inconvenient for their pro-BLM project that so much anti-Asian violence is perpetrated by blacks...  Political correctness is the subordination of truth to dogma.]

UFOs?

link     My guess is always the same: the Skunk Works.

[In fact, I'll specifically guess it's the HTV2]

Is "The Myth Of The Dangerous Traffic Stop" Killing Black Men In America?

If so, it may be the first time ever that Mark Joseph Stern got anything right.

   I'm certainly willing to consider diminishing the role of cops in traffic stops--though the objections to such a suggestion are obvious.

   But Stern seems to think that the fact that very few traffic stops involve violence shows that the cops are wrong about the danger they pose--but he doesn't note that BLM etc. are even wronger. He also doesn't tells us how often the police use violence unjustifiably. Nor does he compare the danger to black men to the danger to police. Nor does he note that in some of his headline cases (Daunte Wright, Philando Castille) the actions of the victim played a major role in causing the police's use of violence.

   Eh, upon reflection, typically crappy, PC Stern piece. But this still may be a promising line of inquiry.

Samantha Bee Is Wrong About Comedy

link

Also bad at it.

Black Guns Matter

They do.

Free Burma Rangers

 Please give.

Biden (Temporarily (?)) Keeps Trump's Refugee Cap

Well, at least this is one respect in which he didn't just throw the doors open automatically and immediately...but it won't last.

My view, as you may know, is that our first priority should be taking in people fleeing political oppression. However, people are gaming the system. And that should be dealt with mercilessly. 

Glad to see some way in which Biden is being moderate about immigration...but I don't expect it to last. If we'd keep economic illegal immigration even a tiny bit under control, we could take in more (legit) political refugees.

Take in every single one of the HK protesters, I say.

Is The Ammo Shortage Over?

Just in time for the boog...

"The Difference Between Sweet Potatoes And Yams Is Structural Racism"

Ambiguous--and idiotic--title.  Half the country seems to have a broken bullshit detector.

Psaki Indicates The Dems Are Fine With The Fact That They Spouted Lies About Russian "Bounties" In Afghanistan To Win The Election

Yet another outright lie--like the "very fine people" lie--that was known to be a lie at the time. Trump was unfit for the office. These people are worse. 

Another Blow Against Climate Hysteria: Steven Koonin, *Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us And What It Doesn't*

Thing is, this is kinda right:

Barack Obama is one of many who have declared an “epistemological crisis,” in which our society is losing its handle on something called truth.

   However, it's the left that's the main culprit now, not the right. In fact, it's not even close. The left has subordinated truth to dogma on principle. The right at least feels embarrassment when it does such things. They don't count it as virtue...

   Sadly, philosophy has beclowned itself by becoming pervasively, progressively political. Calls for papers are common now in which the theme is a thinly-veiled epistemic criticism of non-progressives.

   Anyway, none of these comes as a surprise to even mere laypeople who have been paying attention--and who haven't drunk the climate hysteria Kool Aid:

   Mr. Koonin is a practitioner and fan of computer modeling. “There are situations where models do a wonderful job. Nuclear weapons, when we model them because we don’t test them anymore. And when Boeing builds an airplane, they will model the heck out of it before they bend any metal.”
   “But these are much more controlled, engineered situations,” he adds, “whereas the climate is a natural phenomenon. It’s going to do whatever it’s going to do. And it’s hard to observe. You need long, precise observations to understand its natural variability and how it responds to external influences.”
   Yet these models supply most of our insight into how the weather might change when emissions raise the atmosphere’s CO2 component from 0.028% in preindustrial times to 0.056% later in this century. “I’ve been building models and watching others build models for 45 years,” he says. Climate models “are not to the standard you would trust your life to or even your trillions of dollars to.” Younger scientists in particular lose sight of the difference between reality and simulation: “They have grown up with the models. They don’t have the kind of mathematical or physical intuition you get when you have to do things by pencil and paper.”
   All this you can hear from climate modelers themselves, and from scientists nearer the “consensus” than Mr. Koonin is. Yet the caveats seem to fall away when plans to spend trillions of dollars are bruited.
   For the record, Mr. Koonin agrees that the world has warmed by 1 degree Celsius since 1900 and will warm by another degree this century, placing him near the middle of the consensus. Neither he nor most economic studies have seen anything in the offing that would justify the rapid and wholesale abandoning of fossil fuels, even if China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and others could be dissuaded from pursuing prosperity.
   He’s a fan of advanced nuclear power eventually to provide carbon free base-load power. He sees a bright future for electric passenger vehicles. “The main reason isn’t emissions. They’re just shifted to the power grid, and transportation anyway is only about 15% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. There are other advantages: Local pollution is much less and noise pollution is less. You’re sitting in a traffic jam and all of these six- or four-cylinder engines are throbbing up and down burning fuel and just doing no good at all.” [My emphasis, obviously.]

CBS Crops Footage Of Police Killing Of 13-Year-Old--Crops Out His Gun...?

Had to be an honest error since they were destined to be busted for it. Pretty dumb tho.

UnScientific UnAmerican And "Race Is 'Socially Constructed'": The Picture

When I was complaining about that bullshit article, I didn't even realize how extra-hilarious it is when juxtaposed with the picture at the top of it. 

Who you gonna believe, bigot? Your elite progressive overlords or your lyin' eyes?

Schools Can Open Safely Despite The ZOMG BATFUL WE ALL GWINE DIE!!!!!!

Gosh, again, this is so weird...

It's really too bad that absolutely nobody anywhere realized this like six months ago...

Daunte Wright Choked, Robbed Woman At Gunpoint, Had Arrest Warrant

Gosh, this is so strange that the media would report the case with no mention of this, and so many people would say that he was basically a little angel and whatnot and then it would--and, again, this is so weird as to be basically unprecedented--turn out that he was actually a violent criminal psychopath who threatened a woman with a gun. He had the gun, that is. Not the woman.

   Has such a thing even ever happened before?

   Gosh, I sure hope this doesn't have the completely unwanted and totally unjustified consequence of making people question the media! Especially when it comes to race issues!

Idaho Woman Says Bag Full Of Maggot-Infested Feces Left In Her Yard, Biden Flag Torn Down

Eh, sounds like a fair trade.

MSM Intro

 

Pelosi Blocks Court-Packing Bill

Good on her for it.

Huh. Notice Anything Weird About Banned Books Week?

No mention of any right-of-center book anywhere on the site, so far as I can tell... 

   When they've even gotten to Banned Books Week...

Biden's Afghanistan Drawdown

Uh, yeah, I don't deserve a strong opinion about this. But my view remains the same it's been for quite awhile now: the mere possibility that things might get worse if we leave can't be enough to keep us there. The burden of proof is on those who want us to stay. I'm absolutely willing to consider arguments to that effect. And I'm nowhere near qualified to make pronouncements. But, given the information I've bestirred myself to examine, I'm inclined toward getting out. That means virtually nothing--I'm just stating my view. Despite my dabbling in military groupiedom, I don't know what I'm talking about on this score.

Moderate Dems Moderately Introduce Moderate Court-Packing Legislation

Thank God the moderates are back in charge and we can start healing and uniting and returning to normalcy. I mean...new normalcy, of course...not normal normalcy. Which is totally racist and stuff.

'Infrastructure' Means F*ck Your Neighborhood, Your Peace, and Your Property Values

IT'S EQUITY, MOTHERF*CKER!

In the name of socjus "equity," your actual equity must go.

Sorry about your retirement...

Your Blue Future: The Racial Double-Standard Re: Violence

One of the many things conservatives recognize but liberals and progressives don't--or that they refuse to recognize--is the new double-standard with respect to black-white violence: violent confrontations between blacks and whites will be spun in favor of blacks / against whites. They will usually only be covered at all if the violence is either white-on-black...or can be spun that way. In a country where even black-on-Asian hate crimes are white supremacy, what do you think's going to be said about a fight between a white guy and a black guy? This is downright unbelievable to me. Honestly, I absolutely, positively, never would have predicted this. Not only did I not predict it, but I never would have. In fact, to my shame, I kind of resisted believing it. And I resisted that in part because I knew that if I acknowledged it, then I'd have to say it. And if I said it, it'd only be a matter of time before I was accused of being a racist. And there's just no appeal from that one. This is one of the truths that you absolutely cannot speak out loud now outside of conservative circles. And yet it is a truth, and an obvious one at this point.Read more »

Dems Are REALLY Against Auditing/Recounting The Ballots In Maricopa County

link.  Of course if it's all done by Pub volunteers, then there's good reason to oppose it and dismiss the results. But if it's done properly...how is this not a great thing to do? This nonsense about "gaslighting" and whatnot...sound suspiciously like bullshit.  (Also, as an aside: have there ever been more ardent and accomplished gaslighters than contemporary progressives? Speaking of which: You can't recount the votes because it will cast doubt on the election?  Really?)

PC Lysenkoism: Pseudoscientific Gibberish About The "Social Construction" Of Race

facepalm

O.

M.

F.

G.

If you want to take a concentrated hit of progressive-left PC bullshit, this is the article for you--from the the (currently, anyway) woke as a joke unScientific UnAmerican. I can't quite say that all the crazy left's greatest hits about race anti-science are here...but most of the main ones are represented. The obvious political motives are ostentatiously on parade. Word magic makes an appearance (they're not races! They're populations...) The no-single-gene fallacy is there. The only one I didn't see is the Continuum Fallacy--surprisingly. Also throughout is one of my personal faves: races don't exist...but they do...because they have social consequences...so they're real...and it's important to recognize this so that we can keep the hustle going... Oh, and I almost forgot: the tacit acknowledgement that it's racial IQ differences that are the real bogyman they're fleeing...

   Oh and: Nicholas Wade's A Troublesome Inheritance is rrrraaazzziiizzziiizzzttt!!!111

   The last bit of sophistry I'll mention is the claim that "racial categories are weak proxies for genetic diversity" BS. First: if racial categories are proxies for anything, it's genetic similarities. I know what they mean--but jeez, just try to be a little bit precise, willya? Second: facepalm. You could say the same thing about species, for the lova... From the perspective of genetics, features at the phenotypic level are always going to be "weak proxies." So as soon as you guys can do biology, zoology, and medicine better from the level of genes and genotypes...well you just let us all know and we'll switch right over...

   Lysenkoism. Sophistry. Pseudoscience. Condescending stupidity. Blindness. Sanctimony. 

   Good thing the cult doesn't control the Presidency, too, huh?

Progressive-Left Censorship Afflicts Both Amazon.com and Bookshop.com

The cult now determines which books you can buy.

Two that you can't: Ryan Anderson, When Harry Became Sally and Roger Kimball, Tenured Radicals.

Whew, good thing these guys don't control the presidency, too, huh?

Eric Kaufman: The Media Is Creating False Perceptions Of Racism

Obvious, and no surprise whatsoever to anyone outside the PC echo chamber...but good to have something like scientific evidence for it.

   But it's not exactly that the media is creating it. It's that the progressive/PC/identity-politics left is creating it--and the media (other than the dedicated righty media and some freakish, niche outliers like Quillette) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the P/PC/IP/IDP left. 

   This point goes far beyond the above, but it's true, ergo I write it: they want there to be more racism. It's rather hard to deny that at this point. This isn't an unusual phenomenon in politics. When you really, really dislike the other side, you take a kind of joy in being right, and in discovering depravity on the other side...because you knew it was there all along!!!11 The cult of the left has become religiously devoted to the discovery and publicization of their version of sin--i.e. racism (and the lesser-racisms: sexism, anti-homosexual ideas, "transphobia," etc.) They just know that everyone who opposes them is an evil bigot. So they exult in every "discovery" of "racism." This is why there's a racism industry exaggerating it all. 

   It also matters that much of the left's elite makes its living off of racism and pseudo-racism. Leftist scholars, activists, and "activist-scholars," consulting firms that charge exorbitant fees to to into organizations, do "climate studies," "discover" "racism"...then charge another round of exorbitant fees...to eradicate that which is, by their own lights, ineradicable... 

   And, of course, this is the source of the left's current social, cultural, and political power. 

   So partly they've adopted the religion for whatever reason people have always adopted religion...but the rails are greased by the fact that that's where their bread is buttered (to mix metaphors in an icky way...)

   Anyway: yes. The left and the media (but I repeat myself) are creating false perceptions of racism. Just as they did in the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases: they're picking out unrepresentative cases that help their case...then they're lying about them...because even those unrepresentative cases don't do what they need them to do. They fabricate a story about whites--and, in particular, white cops--driven by racism to murder blacks. Then, when the courts find this bullshit to be bullshit, they use that, too, as evidence of white racism...oh, sorry...of course I mean "white supremacy"...: See? Even when the racist murder is undeniable, racist Amerikkka refuses to punish it! 

   But this insanity continues virtually unchecked because the cult controls the media, universities, the bureaucracy, publishing....everything. This control of the mainstream message--plus the reign of terror that prevents liberals from speaking up (or even acknowledging) all this--permits this utter. fucking. insanity. to destroy more and more of the country.

   Furthermore and finally: it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. All of this is making more racism. It's got to be creating more racism among blacks, and that's got to be creating more anti-black racism among non-blacks. 

   Progressivism is a type of insanity.

Progressivism Is A Mental Disorder: Now That You Can See Your Family Again, Yell At Them About Your New Made-Up Religion

Via Insty. First, you're probably a nut if the batflu kept you from seeing your family all year. Second, you're a nut if you think your new lunatic, made-up, full-of-shit religion is worth yelling at your family about when you finally do get around to seeing them. Third, in the Woketarian lexicon, "hard conversation" means hard for non-progressive people involved, who are expected to tolerate being yelled at about Diversity Jesus and other made-up shit like "white privilege" and "systemic racism." It doesn't mean hard for the progressives involved...because they expect you not to argue back...or use hatefacts...or rebut their dumbass arguments... 

   What a piece of shit this person must be:

Many of us are getting vaccinated and will be seeing extended family for the first time in a long time soon. There will be a desire to avoid hard conversations since you’ve missed them.
Don’t do it.
Start preparing now to call out your racist relatives. There are no excuses.

— Sarah Jane Glynn (@SarahJaneGlynn) April 12, 2021

Wanna have a "hard conversation" for you? I'll start: Black Lives Matter is the world's biggest hate-crime hoax--and crime data proves it.

Project Veritas's Biggest Bust Yet? CNN Directors Admit That They Produced Propaganda To Get Rid Of Trump; Next Project: Global Warming

Honestly, how can progressives buy this bullshit?

Paul Rossi: I Refuse To Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated

Oh, that stuff is limited to campus, and it never really happens anyway, and when it does it's really not that bad, and when it is it still gets blown out of proportion, and even when it is it's still better than the right, and why are you so interested in this stuff anyway...?

   They are still getting crazier and crazier. And if you're still not concerned, then your bullshit-detector is completely busted:

   Recently, I raised questions about this ideology at a mandatory, whites-only student and faculty Zoom meeting. (Such racially segregated sessions are now commonplace at my school.) It was a bait-and-switch “self-care” seminar that labelled “objectivity,” “individualism,” “fear of open conflict,” and even “a right to comfort” as characteristics of white supremacy. I doubted that these human attributes — many of them virtues reframed as vices — should be racialized in this way. In the Zoom chat, I also questioned whether one must define oneself in terms of a racial identity at all. My goal was to model for students that they should feel safe to question ideological assertions if they felt moved to do so.
   It seemed like my questions broke the ice. Students and even a few teachers offered a broad range of questions and observations. Many students said it was a more productive and substantive discussion than they expected.
   However, when my questions were shared outside this forum, violating the school norm of confidentiality, I was informed by the head of the high school that my philosophical challenges had caused “harm” to students, given that these topics were “life and death matters, about people’s flesh and blood and bone.” I was reprimanded for “acting like an independent agent of a set of principles or ideas or beliefs.” And I was told that by doing so, I failed to serve the “greater good and the higher truth.”
   He further informed me that I had created “dissonance for vulnerable and unformed thinkers” and “neurological disturbance in students’ beings and systems.” The school’s director of studies added that my remarks could even constitute harassment.
   A few days later, the head of school ordered all high school advisors to read a public reprimand of my conduct out loud to every student in the school. It was a surreal experience, walking the halls alone and hearing the words emitting from each classroom: “Events from last week compel us to underscore some aspects of our mission and share some thoughts about our community,” the statement began. “At independent schools, with their history of predominantly white populations, racism colludes with other forms of bias (sexism, classism, ableism and so much more) to undermine our stated ideals, and we must work hard to undo this history.” [My emphasis. That's got to be my favorite psychopathic PCism yet.]

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.