Jeff Cunningham: Women of the Left and the Cult of Violence

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I don't see why he thinks we can rule out a glitch in women's nature. It seems like a very live hypothesis to me. People seem pretty ready to accept that there are glitches in men's nature...

Orwell:

It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy.

See also:

Diversity is our strength

No one is illegal on stolen land

Trans women are women

Sex work is real work

... 

WSJ: Will Trump Bail Out Iran's Regime?

Starting to sound that way.

However: both the Mullahs and the MSM have an incentive to spin things anti-Trumpward. So we're unlikely to be getting the straight dope.

We'll have to wait and see...and none of us know even a significant fraction of what, say, Rubio knows about the situation. We're all thinking about the equivalent of a cartoon. Most of us--me included--don't even deserve an opinion.

And yet...I don't like what I'm hearing.

Memorial Day

Remember them.

NPR: HUNDREDS OF SCHOLARS SAY TRUMP IS LITERALLY HITLER!!!!!!1111

Well...I mean...obviously Orange Man bad....

   Thing is, I DO think that Trump is acting more and more autocratically. I honestly don't know how you could deny it. It's all legal...apparently...and the vast majority of what he's doing is good. And some of it's very good. 

But he's basically just doing shit. He seems clearly to be pushing the limits of Presidential authority.

   And I'm not very happy about it.

   I mean, look: the Democrats have a broad, deep, powerful system that they use to control the bureaucracy, universities, the media...just about everything. And they're borderline crazy and borderline totalitarian--or they have been for the last decade at least. And much of what Trump is doing is rolling them back. And all that's good. Very good, actually.

   Nevertheless, I'm concerned about his methods.

   I don't care what bunch of whiney lefty professors NPR is whining about. LOL you've gotta love the bit where they say he's an authoritarian--like Orban!--because he cut their funding... He cut funding to a shitty, ideologically captured network that claims to be able to survive on donations anyway...

Literally Hitler, amiright??

   During the Biden administration the government was actually setting up a system of censorship and colluding with social media to suppress conservative speech...that, you see, was just dandy. Not at all Orwellian!

   Trump comes back to town, smashes that project, issues EOs protecting free speech...and cuts public funding for a leftist propaganda network...and THAT, you see...THAT'S authoritarian...

   Anyway.

   Look.

   The important point is that I am concerned about how he's exercising his authority. Certainly some of the stuff like the lawsuits against news networks is just not right. He really needs to throttle back.

   I understand why he's doing it. He discovered in his first term that the Dems control most of the levers of power. And the Deep State will just stop him from doing anything if he does go about things the normal way. And, of course, there will never be a single NPR story about the left's totalitarian tendencies, nor its stranglehold on all our institutions... 

   So maybe this is the only way.

   Nevertheless...I'm not wild about it.

Trump is Fixing DC

Funny how you don't really hear about this on the news...

Rep. Maxine Dexter (D--OR) Did Not Say that Whole Milk is "White Supremacist"

That's not what she says.

   What she says is, basically:

   If you're going to put whole milk in schools, make sure it's based on sound nutritional evidence, not on whatever RFKjr says or on "whatever white supremacist dog-whistling is happening right now."

   So there's some whiney woke BS in there--but she's not saying what a lot of wingnuts are saying she's saying--she's not saying that putting whole milk in schools would be "white supremacy."

   Apparently there is some bioethics dude who does seem to make roughly such claims. He claims "Milk-drinking is political." [facepalm] He claims the Nazis were all about whole milk, and apparently some white supremacists are into it for whatever reason. 

   Now...if that were the reason RFKjr wanted to put whole milk in schools...though of course it is not...then there'd be something worth discussing here...obviously... But there isn't.

   Incidentally, I grew up on a dairy farm and have drunk whole milk my entire life and will never stop. (Actually, I quit for a couple of years during the height of the fat is bad insanity. But I couldn't keep it up and quit. Then eventually quit listening to anything the nutrition people said...)

   Maybe I'm white supremacy too!!!!!

"Diversity" --> Weaker Business Performance

link

Same in academia--undoubtedly.

Is Transanity Now the Orthodoxy?

I don't know anything about this site though Bing seems to like it:

Factually.co

   I had a discussion with a student the other day, and he--like many progressives--adamantly denied that anyone really believes that "Trans women are women" is literally true. Again, like many progressives, he insisted that it's just politeness to pretend that a man is a woman if he wants you to. I assured him that many people really do believe it...but he basically wouldn't believe me. Which...is good in a way, I suppose. It's a sign that he really does understand how insane the view is.

   Now, there is absolutely no doubt about it, the orthodoxy on the vanguard of the left is that "trans women" actually are women. They mean it literally and believe that it's true. And it's certainly the orthodoxy among feminist "theorists" and feminist philosophers. I have one friend who I know actually believes it. She isn't wild-eyed nor dogmatic about it--but she really, actually does believe it.

   This is one of the ways that insane views like this survive on the left: some lefties take them literally, but others don't--and the latter group either doesn't realize or doesn't care that many of their coreligionists actually believe the crazy thing. This is probably true of "reality is socially constructed," for example...

   Incidentally I've long predicted that, if this madness completely fades away--which I no longer think is guaranteed--the left will need a cover story. Stories plural, actually (for reasons I won't go into now.) And one they'll use is this one. Why...we never actually believed it!...

   Anyway, the craziest thing about the article (entry?) at the inaptly-named "Factually" is that it treats loony leftist gender theory as the orthodoxy and the normal, sane, view-from-the-beginning-of-time as heterodox dissent:

Is a Transgender Woman Really a Woman?

Here's the conclusory paragraph:

Based on the reporting and authoritative sources surveyed, the prevailing definitions used by medical organizations, major dictionaries and LGBTQ advocacy groups identify trans women as women — that is the standard factual position across those sources.... There exists a coherent and substantial opposing viewpoint that defines “woman” by biological sex rather than gender identity, and that disagreement is a political and philosophical reality reflected in public debate...This analysis is limited to the provided sources and does not adjudicate philosophical questions about the nature of sex or gender beyond reporting how institutions and commentators define and use the term (reporting limitations: no original empirical research cited here beyond source definitions).

What this should really say is:

No, of course not. But the orthodoxy among lefty groups, especially gay, lesbian, etc. groups, is that the answer is yes. And many medical organizations have been ideologically captured in the last decade, and rewrote their definitions. But rewriting definitions doesn't change facts. Why do we have to say this?

   Of course the natural guess here is that "Factually" is ideologically captured--just like Wikipedia, Snopes, FactCheck.com, the media, etc. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. I quickly asked it:

Did Trump call Nazi's very fine people?

It delivered the following equivocal and semi-correct answer:

Executive summary

Donald Trump uttered the phrase “very fine people on both sides” during a tumultuous Aug. 15, 2017 news conference about the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally; the full transcript shows he also said he was not referring to neo‑Nazis and white nationalists and that they “should be condemned totally” . Many news organizations and critics interpreted the remark as morally equivocating the violent extremists with counterprotesters, a reading that shaped public outrage and sustained debate.

1. The exact words on the record

The primary source is the transcript of Trump’s Aug. 15, 2017 remarks: after being pressed by reporters, Trump said, “you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both

The first para is probably AI-generated. At least it does get the facts in there--but then, of course, makes a dishonest excuse for the liars. Section 1 then does exactly what the (other) liars do: quotes only the first part of what Trump said. It would be interesting to know what this site said before last year when Snopes was forced to admit the truth...

   See me not commenting on the misuse of the term 'equivocate'? I think I'm growing as a person.

   Anyway: yeah. It'd be some kind of miracle if a site like this weren't biased to the left.

   Oh, also: it lists the entry about "trans" "women" in its "society" section rather than its science section. That seems at least somewhat significant...

Dems Sink Women's Museum Over "Transgender" "Women"

The Dems have not given up on gender ideology.

It's now a fairly solid orthodoxy on the left.

Madness.

WSJ: Trump Has Lost the Governing Plot

Agreed.

I didn't support Trump in the primary.

In the general, there was no alternative.

The two three things about Trump that have always concerned me most:

[1] That he'll so alienate centrists as to put a Democrat in the White House at the end of his term.

[2] That he'll wreck our foreign policy...and possibly start WWIII

[3] That he routinely fans the flames of political division and enmity

   He's already done [1] once--and I fully expect him to do it again.

   He's done his best to do the first part of [2]. Though if he succeeds in Iran, he'll be a hero. Cuba would just be icing on the cake.

   [3] is just a constant... The Democrats are worse. But Trump is POTUS. And: he's off-the-scale bad in that respect. The Dems are in a different dimension...the dimension in which everyone who doesn't think that women have penises is literally Hitler... But an even vaguely savvy President would have basically destroyed the Democrats as a viable political party by now. Instead, Trump is basically the only thing sustaining them...

   Anyway...

   Yeah. The slush fund is not good. But I've already stated my reservations about the case against it: Trump knows--as we all do--that the left will move Heaven and Earth to destroy him--and his family--after he leaves office. I mean, they tried to destroy him when he was in office last time. Then tried to destroy him after he was out. And this time they've tried to kill him three times already...and their rhetoric clearly indicates that they think it is justified. So, even though I disagree with the slush fund idea (knowing very little about it), I understand.

McCarthy: The Trump Slush Fund is an Abuse of Political Power, Not a Legal Wrong

link

   At least every week or so Trump does something that makes me ashamed to have voted for him...despite the fact that there wasn't really any alternative...

   OTOH, the Dems have already deployed really despicable lawfare campaigns against him--both when he was in office and out of it. And they've made it clear that they'll come after him and his family (and possibly anyone in his administration) when he leaves office for good. And Democrat judges and Democrat juries will be only too happy to do their part. Not to mention a (saints preserve us) Democrat administration...

   So, as angrifying and appalling as this is...I can't quite blame him to the degree I, perhaps, ought to.

   And I'm going to add that the Dems do roughly the same sort of thing, having handed out hefty settlements to several of the Russiagategate conspirators. Not even mention their pervasive sue-and-settle schemes...which are somewhat different...but much more harmful than anything Trump is doing.

   Nevertheless: I wish Congress would grow a pair and fire a shot across the Presidential bow...

Dems Release 2024 "Autopsy"

Ok, here's my prediction about what's in it:

• We didn't go woke enough
• We didn't go socialist enough
• The Republicans are big meanies and we are good and principled
• We didn't get our message out
• Evil Svengali-like YouTube "influencer" guys like Andrew Tate and Hitler mesmerized youmg men
• Trump lies and we virtuously tell the truth
• SEXISM
• RACISM
• TEH HOMISECKZISM
• TRANSISM
• HATE HATE HATE
• America just not ready for a black female-identifying Prez
• MERIKKKA STOOPID
• WITE SUPREMAZY
• Deplorables
• Bitter clingers
• Garbage peoplez

Both parties do some version of this bullshit when they lose. "We didn't get our message out" is probably the most frequently-occurring bit of bullshit. It means you don't have to admit that any of your policy positions are bad, and also constitutes a preliminary plea for more $$$ next time.

Spanberger Vetoes Retail Weed

Well, I disagree with the decision, but my disagreement is uninformed--I don't know what is in the legislation, and don't know what e.g. enforcement stuff the Governor objected to. She says she's for it in principle. And, since I wasn't interested enough to read the bill, I don't know what I'm talking about...so I can only really tentatively and conditionally disagree.

She knows more about what's actually going on than I do...obviously.

It's kinda disappointing because I thought retail weed was the one good thing that would come out of Democrat rule...

I do at least semi-agree with those who say we have to think harder about it because (allegedly) some new evidence indicates marijuana is extremely bad for young people. I don't believe that...it's just the kind of research conclusion you can basically predict will become fashionable every now and then--regardless of the facts...but who knows...maybe it's right.

But anyway.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed, but I don't count this one all that much against the Governor. Seems to me that it's within the realm of reason.

Glaciers are "More-Than-Human" Beings

It's not clear what this is supposed to mean, but there's some indication that it may just be a bad way of saying that they have some degree of intrinsic value.

People in this general region of intellectual space like to express their views inaccurately, with a kind of literary inflection, so that they can suggest something cool and weird and revolutionary...but retreat to something boring and defensible when challenged. They build their views with motte-and-bailey-ing in mind. So maybe it's just that.

Robert Orlando: The Gospel According to Karl Marx

Pretty much this.

Wesley Hunt Explains It All To You

The SAVE America Act should not be controversial.

The only people terrified of it are those invested in fundamentally transforming America into a country where citizenship no longer matters and questioning it gets you smeared, censored, and called every name in the book.

This… pic.twitter.com/pHgUB9o5cw

— Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) May 21, 2026

Long Branch, NJ Implements Curfew Following "Pop-up Gathering" Violence

New Newspeak just dropped: "pop-up gathering."

Meaning: rioting by "teens"...

But they're handling it--six (6)(!) "teens" were arrested...:

Harvard to Limit 'A's to Fight Grade Inflation

link

Friend of mine who did his graduate work in religious studies at Harvard told me that giving out 'A's is basically a strategy among harried Harvard grad students and precariously-employed junior professors. No student complains about an 'A' nor asks for a conference about it...and giving out 'A's means that you don't have to grade the papers as carefully. And, of course, grading is one of the most tedious, soul-sucking parts of college teaching. Also of course: high grades mean happy students, and happy students mean better course evals...but everybody knows that...

Matthew Continetti: Woke Isn't Dead, or Even Resting

Sad but true.

It's a little misleading to focus on woketarianism. That's just one way of talking about certain aspects of the problem. It's fine for many purposes. But the general problems, IMO, are:

[1] The radicalization of the American left

[2] The ideological capture of many of our institutions--including the Democratic party--by this radicalized left.

The contemporary radical left is largely characterized by "woke" issues--that is: race, sex (including so-called "gender") and related matters. Unlike some, I wouldn't quite include socialism, climate apocalypticism, nor open borders in wokeness. But all such categories have fuzzy boundaries. That's NBD.

Anyway:

DEI was never the main problem. "DEI" was a useful catspaw that the academic left used to advance radical left-wing ideology in its various aspects. It was a way to hire women and non-white men over white men--demographic groups that all trend left--to hire people with left-preferred sexual orientations and other so-called "identities"...and just to outright hire leftists. A straight, white male leftist would stand a good chance against a black conservative if a hiring decision came down to the two of them.

(Note: I don't speak of my own department, which is notably sane.)

Finally, ridding academia of its leftist bias will be just a tad easier than going down to your local First Baptist Church and getting the congregation to give up on the divinity of Christ...  We can't give up. But it's not going to be easy. It will not happen in my lifetime...

Spanberger Issues Executive Order 16(2026) Aiming to Pressure State Employees Not to Cooperate with ICE

link

Relevant to me:

The Virginia Department of Education [and] State Council of Higher Education for Virginia...shall develop guidance for schools, including ... public institutions of higher education in their engagement with persons with the lawful authority to perform civil arrests who conduct or attempt to conduct a federal civil immigration arrest in a school building or on school grounds, with such guidance informed by input from relevant stakeholders.

Yeah, no.

Regardless of what "guidance" they produce, I'll cooperate with ICE.

Prease Accept Our Aporogy...or: Find Someone Who Loves You Like NBC Loves the CCP

link

The weird pro-China attitude is pretty common on the left, IMO.

Though for the record, I don't think the left loves China as much as the wacky right loves Russia...since they invaded Ukraine, anyway... The right's sudden attack of Russophilia was just nuts. Well, is... I just had a conservative friend forward me some pro-Russian screed the other week. He's way smart enough to know better.

Anyway, the left's sinophilia was part of what drove/drives its refusal to admit the COVID lab-leak hypothesis. Though...the alternative explanation often involves really disgusting Chinese gustatory habits...so...I don't really see why they think it's any better that the LLH (which involves incompetence).

LA Mayoral Race: Dems vs Pubs

Spencer Pratt: I’m gonna remove the homeless druggies from in front of your kids’ elementary school, let you rebuild your homes, and arrest criminals

Karen Bass: Taxpayer funded teeth for meth heads

Nithya Raman: I’m gonna ban BBQs

How is this even a choice

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 18, 2026

Turley: Kamala's "No Bad Ideas" is a Uniquely Bad Idea

As Turley notes: many Dem leaders have decided that if they can't win, they should wreck the system.

I'd add: the Democrats are currently made of bad ideas.

If it weren't for bad ideas, they'd have no ideas at all.

Since the Dems embraced the unhinged woketarian left, they've become an actual danger to the country--and Western Civilization.

Worse than Trump, even.

In fact, Trump's biggest political selling point is that he's not the left--and, in fact, is doing a hell of a lot to roll back their disastrous policies.

DEI, CRT, gender ideology, open borders, the massive, Orwellian attack on free speech that was the "anti-misinformation"-industrial complex...just to name some of the headline crackpottery...

Their problem has been embracing crazy, unproven, obviously disastrous and anti-liberal ideas.

The solution is obvious: give up what every sane person can see as terrible, radical ideas. That is: move back to the center.

Brainstorming to come up with even crazier, more destructive, and more radical ideas is the very last thing they need to do.