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

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   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

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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

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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

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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.

The Lab Coat Oscar: Delta Variant Edition

Jeez, I almost forgot about THE MOST DEADL PLAGUEDEMIC OF ALL TIMEZ...   

Rousey Beats Carano in 17 Seconds

If I'd have had to bet, I'd have bet on Rousey...but I wouldn't have bet much.

At least she did the smart thing. I find it painful to watch grapplers who fight strikers and then keep their distance the whole fight, occasionally tentatively shooting, and eventually lose on points or get KO'd. Jesus, just take your shot.

Rousey's striking is a joke--as her recent shadowboxing video made clear.

Anyway: smart move.

Progressive Judges Lead to Out-of-Control Crime

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   Not that you don't realize this, but: lighter sentences, lower bail, lower conviction rates, reclassifying offenses as lesser ones, lying about crime stats...not to mention "depolicing" and "decarceration"...all lead to more crime. There is no doubt about this. It's common sense--and well-established by reputable studies. Not that it needs to be. And, of course, not that all studies are reputable. Many aren't. Producing bogus studies in support of its idiotic policies is one the left's favorite weapons.

   The whole progressive package of ideas leads to more crime--including more serious crime. Including more violent crime.

   Their laughable responses are all just things they want to do anyway: midnight basketball, free needles, head start...and just generally more money showered on the leftist NGO-industrial complex.

   Yeah, none of those things work.

   Progressive alternate between denying the plain facts and tacitly admitting that they don't think increased crime rates are a big deal.

   Neither of these things is true.

   It's downright astonishing how many insane ideas the left has adopted over the past decade.

   Though I must admit, this is one of those issues such that the seeds of the madness were already present on the blue team back when it used to be liberal. It's just much, much worse now. I can't believe I put up with this kind of patent reality-denial when I voted blue... In my defense, this was something I was always skeptical of...but I fell for the propaganda just enough to prevent me from really objecting to the policies.

DEI Hire Captain to Face Court Marshal in Sinking of HMNZS Manawanui

Mostly I'm complaining about this because of the indignant response from the left and the RNZN when people noted that this was very probably the captain's fault...and that she was very probably a DEI hire... NO SHE'S A HERO we were told. It was a miracle everyone escaped with their lives! It's pure bigotry to think otherwise!

Everybody could see that this was likely incompetence.

Actually looking at the evidence is, like, x-phobic or something...

The Retail Crime-Closure Cycle: Another Democrat Debacle

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   The left lives in an alternate reality forged in their echo chamber. They advocate some of the most insane policies ever conceived. To make matters worse, they refuse to acknowledge the adverse consequences of the policies. Then, of course, they engage THE NARRATIVE(tm) to explain away their failures.

   In this case, what happens is: Dem "depolicing"/"decarceration" (i.e.: anarchophiliac) policies result in the failure of inner-city jurisdictions to enforce the law. In particular: shoplifting laws. These areas are already subject to higher crime rates--for reasons the left refuses to acknowledge. Businesses like Walgreens begin losing money hand over fist. Eventually they close. It's a business decision. Leftists/Democrats are committed to anarchophilia and especially don't want to enforce the laws in these places as they'll end up arresting mostly blacks. When businesses close, they engage their conspiracy-theory engines, which spit out: in-principle corporate hatred of blacks... So their policies actually end up mostly harming the very race they are near-religiously devoted to promoting.

Is The House a Toss-Up?

Sounds that way.