Yet Another Poll Finds Leftist Bias, Radicalism and Student Self-Censorship on Campuses

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Biden On The Boog

There's a lot of funny Boog memes and whatnot out there...on the right.

As we know, the left can't meme.

But I find the below pretty weird. And not funny. And dumb. You realize about half those F-15 will be on our side...right?  Not that we'd necessarily need 'em. 

Brandon just got his ass handed to him by a gang of medieval fanatics, like, two months ago. How many F-15s did they have?

Also: so far as I'm concerned, this is an argument for private F-15 ownership:

NOW - Biden: "For those brave right-wing Americans... if you want to fight against the country, you need an F-15. You need something little more than a gun." pic.twitter.com/ce3BJEEo7G

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 30, 2022

Thomas Fazi: The Lab-Leak Theory Isn't Dead

   For most of the time since the emergence of the batflu, based on the information publicly available, the lab-leak theory has, in my estimation, been the lead/most-likely hypothesis. For a little while now and again, it seemed to me to be the less-likely one--but that never seemed to last long.

   As Fazi basically notes: even if the theory turns out to be false, it doesn't matter much to the point about political correctness: the lab-leak theory was illicitly rejected/downplayed on ideological grounds.

   I haven't read the latest round of death notices for the theory. By induction, I conclude they are ideologically motivated. Fazi says they are, as were past attempts to refute the hypothesis, pretty thin gruel.

   The left's bizarre friendliness toward China, combined with its TDS, that seems to mainly be driving this. But to some extent, as with many of its positions, it's arbitrary. They deemed the term 'China virus' racist--like everything else they take an anti-shine to--and that term got associated with the lab leak hypothesis. Which makes no sense, since the wet-market hypothesis is every bit as Chinese as the other one. Of course the left at first REEEEed that the wet market hypothesis was racist....sorry: racist too...because reasons. Actually: because these "wet markets" are disgusting. So they ultimately chose to defend that hypothesis out of desperation. At least then China and the CCP seemed less culpable. If the lab-leak hypothesis weren't so far in the lead, they wouldn't be insisting so hard on the other one--and so they could do a PC two-step, arguing for the wet market hypothesis because racism and then arguing against it because racism. Actually it just came from wild bats flying around! Despite their massive propaganda apparatus consisting of all of academia, science, and the media, I think that would now be a little hard even for them to pull off, given how hard it's been to tamp down the lab-leak theory. 

   Of course if they turn out to be right, they'll insist that none of their politically correct lying and cheating matters--they'll contend that they were right all along, and those of us actually interested in the evidence are and have always been "conspiracy theorists." 

   And also of course: we're all losing our patience with their crazy PC nonsense...which, in my case, anyway, is making it harder for me to evaluate the evidence objectively. 

   Blah blah blah.

Wilfred Reilly: The Moral Case For American Goodness Endures

I think I may have posted this before, but I don't care.

WSJ: The Mar-a-Lago Documents: Is That All There Is?

huh.

"Bill Barr Calls Bullshit": A Bari Weiss Interview

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   I'm extremely pro-Barr, as I've said many times.

   I agree with him about Trump basically 100%. This pleases Philosoraptor! Since I admire Barr, and he's got an insider perspective, I take my agreement with him as confirmation of my Trump theories. 

Although, on the disconfirmation side: I'd convinced myself that Trump was less loony and more misunderstood than Barr indicates. I gave in to wishful thinking on that score.

   I also agree with Barr that Trump could have been a great President if he'd have been just a little less Trumpy. Also that, as things stand now, the progressive left is off-the-scale dangerous. So, like Barr, I'm basically prepared to vote for the GOP candidate in '24. Even if that's Trump. Like Barr, I hope it isn't.

   Barr's also got insights into the crime surge, "mass" incarceration, and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. Especially about the latter point, he's also very reasonable. Re: the latter: his view is that we have to wait and see. We're not yet in a position to know whether it was justified.

WSJ: The Half-Trillion-Dollar Student-Loan Executive Coup

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Not something I know much of anything about, but I'm inclined to think this is right:

Well, he did it. Waving his baronial wand, President Biden on Wednesday canceled student debt for some 40 million borrowers on no authority but his own. This is easily the worst domestic decision of his Presidency and makes chumps of Congress and every American who repaid loans or didn’t go to college.
   The President who never says no to the left did their bidding again with this act of executive law-making, er, breaking.
...
  Worse than the cost is the moral hazard and awful precedent this sets. Those who will pay for this write-off are the tens of millions of Americans who didn’t go to college, or repaid their debt, or skimped and saved to pay for college, or chose lower-cost schools to avoid a debt trap. This is a college graduate bailout paid for by plumbers and FedEx drivers.
   Colleges will also capitalize by raising tuition to capture the write-off windfall. A White House fact sheet hilariously says that colleges will “have an obligation to keep prices reasonable and ensure borrowers get value for their investments, not debt they cannot afford.” Only a fool could believe colleges will do this.

Worst President of My Lifetime?: Student Loan Debt Cancellation Edition

My God these people are despicable.

If you worked your way through college, or went hard after your debt to pay it down...tough shit, Poindexter. Financial responsibility is white supremacy or something. 

Bet you feel like a dumbass now, don't'cha?

P.S.

Thanks for the $$$, sucker.

Fauci/Lockdowns

[facepalm]

Unbelievable! Does Fauci NOT know that the Internet lives forever? HERE are the receipts:

Fauci: "I didn't shut anything down..."
Oh really? Roll tape! pic.twitter.com/73L2pDpABS

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) August 23, 2022

FBI Unit Leading Mar-a-Lago Probe Also Ran Russiagate Investigation

Really makes ya think...

"All Republicans Are Now Terrorists"

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Woke Lysenkoism at CDC

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Democrats accused the Trump Administration of politicizing the CDC, but HHS’s seizure made data more transparent. The CDC now posts more Covid data, but often late and it omits critical information. Instead of publishing raw data for outside scientists to analyze, the CDC often only releases studies that support its policies, such as mask mandates. 

Politics drives many CDC decisions, including one last spring not to collect information on breakthrough Covid cases lest this show declining vaccine efficacy. Its school reopening guidance was written in part by American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten. 

Most egregious was its eviction moratorium. The eviction ban was first imposed under Donald Trump, but the Biden Administration repeatedly extended it based on dubious science that purported to show it reduced the virus spread. The Supreme Court eventually ruled it illegal. The CDC’s usurpation of Congress and states continued with its illegal mask mandate on public transportation, also based on thin science.

   The agency’s public guidance is often confusing. But the larger problem is that its recommendations are seemingly arbitrary and don’t acknowledge scientific uncertainty. The agency has also been slow to adjust its guidance. Last spring it was still advising the unvaccinated to wear masks outdoors. 

   While failing at its core responsibility, the CDC has stretched its powers and mission. Consider a CDC study in May, which attributed increased gun violence in 2020 among young, black men in part to “longstanding systemic inequities and structural racism.” Its suggested remedy: More government transfer payments.
***
Dr. Walensky now plans to make the agency more “action-oriented.” But the CDC’s problem isn’t inaction. It has taken wrong and often counter-productive actions, including support for lockdowns and other government coercion. (See John Tierney nearby.)  

Ms. Walensky commissioned a review of her agency in the spring, and it’s ironic that she hasn’t made it public since one criticism is the CDC’s lack of transparency. Instead she has released boiler-plate recommendations such as “promote results-based partnerships,” “translate science into practical, easy to understand policy,” and “prioritize public health communications.”

More spending is Dr. Walensky’s other proposed remedy. The agency received a 7% raise this year, but she wants more for a new office of “equity” to increase workforce diversity and improve communications with minority groups.

The World Climate Declaration: There Is No Climate Emergency

I didn't see any reason to be impressed by the signatories--a lot list themselves as doctors, former teachers, etc. But the thing is right: there is no climate emergency.

   I've half-heartedly tried to figure out some sort of bet that would work in the short run--say, that would pay off in 2030. Actually, the apocalypticists should be doing that, actually... But, anyway: there is no climate emergency. I'd bet a very large amount of money on that...if I could think of a way to do so.

Jordan Peterson: Pedlars of Eco-Doom Have Shown Their True Totalitarian Colors

This.

This.

A thousand times this.

The Case for an American Revolution in Morals: James Hankins on the USA's Intellectual and Political Leaders and Their Lack of Virtue

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Wilfred Reilly: The Moral Case For American Goodness Endures

Forced to choose a place to stand for practical political and cultural purposes, this is roughly it.

Obviously that position could easily be wrong.

Michael Goodwin: Dems' War on Ex-President Donald Trump is Without Precedent

Unfortunately, I think this is basically right. The other side of the story is well-known--Trump's anti-Presidential demeanor, his erratic words and actions that contributed to his loss, and his unhinging after that loss, setting the stage for the Capitol riot. No sense in going on about the no-win situation we found ourselves in, and will find ourselves in again if Trump runs in '24. Trump doesn't belong anywhere near the Oval Office. But the Dems have become so abjectly unhinged that, IMO, mitigating the damage they can do by minimizing their power has to be job one in American politics. Trump's policies are decidedly sane in the main--better than merely sane. Downright good. It's Trump that's the problem, not his policies. OTOH, the Dems have been taken over by a radical, irrationalist, anti-Western, anti-American, pseudoscientific cult. They've managed to maintain some kind of superficial demeanor of politeness where it matters...mostly separating their public faces from, e.g., the sexual mutilation of children and the burning-down of American cities... So was can have that thin gloss of normality and civility...at the cost of catastrophically insane and destructive policies that include more than one that's likely to wreck the American economy. (Trans)gender ideology, BLM+CRT and their cognates and adjuncts, climate apocalypticism...madness... And now they are turning the USA into a banana republic by implementing a two-tiered system of justice in which Republicans are prosecuted to the full extent of the law--and beyond--whereas Democrats and Democrat-favored groups are given a pass whenever possible.

   Madness, madness, madness.

   Though, in closing: turns out Trump was right about Wisconsin... Right yet again. His main virtue really is: he's about 5% as loony as the progressive Democrats running the other side. Loony though he is...

Can We Ban Diversity Training?

I'm inclined to think yes, but I'm not entirely neutral on the subject. The bill--like almost all similar bills--basically bans woke indoctrination, not discussion of the issues. Woketarianism is not liberalism, and does not value free speech, institutional neutrality, or intellectual freedom. Woketarinism is committed to the rightness of left-wing--but not right-wing--indoctrination at the level of principle. Brainwashing is a feature, not a bug, of postmodern progressive leftism. I'd in no way support a ban on discussion, especially at universities. I'm committed to the free expression even of the most crackpot Woketarian ideas. Needless to say, the reciprocal view is not supported by our progressive interlocutors--or not by their apparent principles, anyway. My free speech near-absolutism and my anti-Woketarianism more-or-less balance out on this one, so I can rely on at least some degree of objectivity about this one.

Bari Weiss Interview With Larry Summers: Inflation and the New McCarthyism

I don't agree with Summers about everything--e.g. the threat of climate change and the wisdom of lying about the nature of the "inflation reduction" bill. But he's a smart guy who I tend to respect. His opinions are generally more to be valued than my own meagre offerings--and immeasurably more so on the topic of economics, as should go without saying. Anyway: interesting interview.

Adam Soble: The Inflation Reduction Act Is A Huge Victory In This Existential Fight

Couldn't finish this piece of shit.

Manchin sold out the country. 

Of course the whole bill is a lie and a farce. 

Not even the hysterical IPCC thinks climate change is an "existential threat." 

The fact that progressives can't even get that bit straight is telling.

They are addicted to hysteria.

They never let a good crisis--real or imagined--go to waste.

I'll bet anybody whatever they want that we will not reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. 

So at least this stupid bullshit won't work.

But it will still do a helluva lot of damage to the country.

Carlson on the Mar-a-Lago Raid and Democrat Politicization of the Justice System

Again I marvel at the fact that Tucker Carlson is now a voice of reason:

TAC: Overturn Griggs v. Duke Power

I can't read the article, but: yes...yes...a thousand times yes...

"Disparate impact" theory is killing us.

Andy McCarthy: Trump's Privilege Claims Are Beside The Point

I'm no lawyer, but McCarthy is. And all this makes sense. And is consistent with what I think I know about the non-legal aspects of the case.

I'm suspicious of the DoJ and FBI--but willing to believe that they were driving between the ditches.

'LGB' Dropping the 'T'?

via Insty.

Transgenderism has always been a very different kind of thing. Acceptance of non-heterosexuality doesn't require a weird metaphysics, rejection of science/biology, nor denial of obvious, observable facts.

Heather Mac Donald: The [Woke] Corruption of Medicine

You'd think I'd have reached peak depression/disgust already...but I guess not. This is a harrowing read.

The Ministry of Truth Evolves

Or should that be prevolves?

Meet "prebunking"

SPSP Requires DIE Statement To Submit Papers To Annual Meeting

Utter.

F*cking.

Insanity.

A Rare Victory over DIE: ABA Scraps "Diversity" Proposal After Blowback

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"Getting Things Done" in Government is Not A Good Thing

Getting things done is neither good nor bad. 

Because it depends on what you're doing.

Democrats--lately, at any rate--tend to do things that would better go undone. e.g. throwing a shit-ton of money at climate hysteria. Which means, largely: Dem-friendly businesses and interest groups. 

Not to mention: lying about it / pretending it's an anti-inflation measure.

This is a funny paragraph for several reasons, though:

Democrats have been acting like Republicans lately. They’ve been strategic, disciplined and tough — racking up accomplishments that will affect people’s lives, jobs and health; strengthen America, its allies and its institutions...

Well, that does sound a bit more like the Pubs than the Dems... 

But the real point is: currently, at least, we'd be better off if the Dems did fewer things. I actually suspect that's true in general. Just stop f*cking things up.

First, do no harm.

Trump: All Documents Were Declassified; And All The Government Had To Do To Get Them Was Ask

This seems to turn, inter alia, on a disagreement about what is required in order to declassify documents.

Salmon Rushdie Stabbed

Thoughts and prayer-like thoughts.

Dreher on Orban on The Left's War on the West

I've only heard one interview with Orban and read a few things, but I'm strongly inclined to agree with this. Needless to say, I could be wrong. Or: every culture must be defended except that of the West...

NSFW heads up: Dreher ends with some images from the graphic (in both senses...) "novel" Gender Queer. Progressives are pushing for keeping/putting it in school and public libraries...but it's not the sort of thing you want to have on your browsing history at work.

John Sailer: DEI is Tearing Academia Apart

Rather: it's destroying academia. Sadly, I'm inclined to think it's not tearing it apart, because there's little opposition to it. Nobody wants to oppose it because if you do you're accused of racism. Needless to say, that's the left's M.O. 

Rove: The Dems' Delusional "Inflation Reduction Act"

I'm no economist, but this seems cracked to me. It also seems to be yet another example of Dems using the pretext of a crisis (inflation) to effect something unrelated they've been trying to do anyway (climate crap, health-care whatsis). Calling this an "inflation reduction" measure seems to be a flat-out lie. But, then, using the names of bills to lie about their content is so common I'm not sure we even get to complain about it anymore. 

Turley: The Mar-a-Lago Raid

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   Turley is level-headed, as usual. His main points: other high-profile violations of the PRA didn't result in this kind of action. Trump had already surrendered a lot of other documents. The FBI has a demonstrated record of bias against him. He'd have to basically be nuts to withhold anything very important under those conditions. 

   The TDS crowd is dancing in the streets. The Trumpistas are saying this is the last straw, and now Trump must run and we all must vote for him. 

   Me, I'm very concerned about what seems like the latest case of criminalization of dissent by the totalitarian left...but with Trump ya never know. I expect they'll have found enough documents to wave around and at least muddy the waters and make it possible for the blue team to convince itself that this was justified. 

  But I'll wait and see.

J. Peder Zane: Trump Raid is More Democrat Gaslighting

It does seem that way.

Rufo: Soldiers for the Revolution

 Left-wing activists have smuggled radical gender theory into more than 4,000 schools.

Jeffrey H. Anderson: Masks STILL Don't Work (Against the COVID)

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Here's the way I'd put it: the Masks stop the China Virus hypothesis still hasn't carried its burden of proof.

Problems of Affirmative Action Foreseen in 1969

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FBI Raid on Mar-A-Lago: Suspending Judgment

We know that elements of the blue team will do just about anything to torpedo Trump. We know there are corrupt elements of the FBI that will assist them. We know that the rationale for the raid sounds like bullshit. So it's pretty clear where the smart money is on this. 

However, seems unlikely that even these people would do something so ostentatiously nuts as to illegitimately raid the home of a former President.

All we can really do is wait and see what they have to say for themselves.

"Social Construction" is Bullshit: "Health is a Social Construct" is Bullshit

Mar-A-Lago "Under Siege by FBI"

The Pomo-Prog-Democrat Axis of Crazy has--just guessing here--gone even farther over the edge this time.

I mean...with Trump, it's possible that there's something real and legit afoot...but...given the history of the PPD AOC, I'm gonna guess that this is basically more Russiagate-type bullshit. Basically, not being an insane progressive Democrat has now been criminalized.

[That post was written in anger. 

I am concerned about this, because I do think that the government and the legal system is being weaponized against non-Democrats, especially Republicans and conservatives. And especially especially Trump and anyone associated with him. 

But--as I do manage to say above--with Trump you never know.

So we should wait and see.

(But I am suspicious...)]

"Dark Brandon," or: The Left Still Can't Meme

They really, really can't.

Predator: Prey; or: The Predator is No Match for the Power of Woke

I like that kind of thing--e.g. the girlpower theme...when done well (paradigmatically: Buffy). I'd say that the vastly underrated Alien vs. Predator did it pretty damn well. But the girlpower-underdog setup in Prey is so over the top that it just gets stupid. A few you're-just-a-girl comments do the trick. I mean, they're objectively off-pissing. But Prey lays it on so thick that it quickly becomes stupid irritating, and turns itself into a preachy woke pain in the ass in less than fifteen minutes.

   Of course the Rotten Tomatoes critics loved the woke: 93%. For comparison, the vastly superior original only garnered 80% from them. The vastly underrated (IMO) AvP gets 22%...

   I wanted to like this movie. I did like the super-cute protagonist. And her dog. And the overall idea--in fact I thought that was great. But the writing and execution is so bad that I was barely paying attention by the end. I could go on about all its flaws--believe me. But I'll just shut up about it now.

The Pandemic of the Quadruple-Vaccinated

Oh, Bee...

Pelosi Cancels Taiwan Trip Over Fears of New CCP Vodka-Seeing Missile

Abort! Abort! Abort!

F*ck the CCP

I don't know what to say about all this. We obviously can't let the psychotic CCP tell us where the Speaker of the House can and can't go.. So now we're committed...or so it seems to a layperson. 

Of course I have no idea what's really going on. I'm looking for reliable China experts to read. Few of us deserve an opinion on this...and I probably won't deserve one no matter how much I can read between now and Pelosi landing in Taipei...

As at least one commenter at WSJ noted: obviously we can't let this interfere with the main mission of the U.S. military: addressing climate change. No, wait...more importantly: getting everyone's "preferred pronouns" displayed on their uniforms. No, wait...is indoctrinating troops with CRT race-communist propaganda more or less important than that? Well, anyway. We certainly can't let a pronoun gap open up with between us and the CCP! If they xey sense weakness, we zyrm are done for!

Are Dems and Pubs in a "Statistical Dead Heat" re: the Midterms?

Well, the Pubs are doing a pretty good job of making it close than it should be--and needless to say, the media is doing whatever it can, too...but it's a bit hard to believe that Americans are really that stupid. I mean...we're stupid, sure...but that stupid? Doesn't that seem to be a stretch even for us? The Dems lost their shit around 2014 and have become even crazier since then...kinda hard to believe that the Pubs are really considered too extreme when compared to the party of drag queen story hour, open borders, domr men are women, child sexual mutilation, unchecked inflation, and critical race theory...but who knows? The media is an almost unparalleled force multiplier. It could happen.

   My guess is that this is one of those polls that finds whatever conclusion it takes to maximize the Dems' chances in the upcoming election...but the abortion-and-gay-marriage freakout on the Pubs' right wing might could do the needed trick.

   The future of the nation depends on you not fucking this up, Pubs. 

   Do try to do something right for once.

CIA Drone Takes Out Al-Zawahiri

Rest in pieces, sonofabitch.

To whatever extent Biden deserves credit for this, I happily acknowledge it.  (I'm skeptical that he deserves any--but this isn't the time. This is a relatively happy time.)

   I still blame '43 for not taking out every last rat-fuck one of these guys asap after 9/11...but also I acknowledge that I really have no idea how hard that would be. But we clearly let a lot of people--including OBL and Al-Zawahiri--get away at Tora Bora. And by "we" I mean: Bush. He allegedly let them get away because he was stockpiling resources for an invasion of Iraq he'd already decided would happen. Dumbass. Every terrorist in the world needed to see us puree every member of al Qaeda in Tora Bora asap. Finally getting the SOB in 2022, 20 years after th fact, is almost as bad as just letting him die of old age.

BUT: this isn't to deny Biden (again) whatever measure of credit he deserves.

Good on him...or, y'know...the CIA...