Once again, it was a bad week to be a Senators fan. Not only did we get swept by the (formerly) cellar-dwelling A’s, we got swept by the Dodgers as well, and just for good measure lost two out of three to the Red Sox when we came home for what would have been next Tuesday’s games. We traded our second-round draft pick to the Braves for 3b Steve Braun before the series against Boston, but his left-handed bat didn’t help much since the Sox started three lefties against us. Welp. Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.
If you were in need of expert guidance, wouldn’t you seek out someone smarter and more knowledgeable than you? Wouldn’t you try to research their background to determine if they were qualified to advise you? Or at least ask around for recommendations from friends? If you were looking for insight on the current political situation, who would you trust?
The headline refers to two well-known cognitive biases: “The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities” — sometimes oversimplified to “why dumb people think they’re smart.” And the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect refers to the fact that, when the media reports on a subject we know well, we easily spot their errors, and yet continue to trust them to report accurately on everything else — we forget how wrong they were, thus suffering a sort of amnesia about media inaccuracy.
Why are people still watching The Majority Report? Some recent episodes (e.g., “Chuck Schumer Is a Disaster,” March 19) have gotten more than 100,000 views, which is a rather substantial audience for a YouTube channel. Where is the evidence that Sam Seder actually knows anything about politics or public policy? Is he any more knowledgeable or insightful on this subject than the typical member of his audience? And what about his youthful protégé Emma Vigeland? What sort of credentials does she bring to the table as a political commentator?
As Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed it by that much.”
Emma Vigeland was not just slightly wrong, but completely wrong.
Emma suffered a credibility-destroying humiliation and yet, she’s still blabbering away on YouTube every day, and tens of thousands of people are still watching. The question is, why? What would cause someone to spend their leisure hours watching a political pundit with a track record of catastrophic error? If you are sincerely interested in politics, wouldn’t you prefer to become better informed by watching someone who actually knew what they were talking about? What kind of people would choose instead to become misinformed, by relying on a source like Emma Vigeland who is demonstrably ignorant of basic electoral politics?
Emma said Kamala Harris would “eke out a victory in Iowa” — Trump won Iowa by a 13-point margin. How can you possibly be that wrong, and still be taken seriously as a commentator on American politics?
Emma Vigeland has proven herself to be of “limited competence” in politics, a field in which she preposterously claims to possess expertise — a classic example of Dunning-Kruger Effect, and the fact that she still has an audience is proof of the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. No matter how wrong a liberal pundit may be, liberals don’t care — they’re like a junkie craving another fix of the drug that’s killing them.
Watch the “highlights” (if such is the proper term) of Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland’s Election Night live podcast:
If you look at the timeline on the graphic, you realize that the Biden administration’s unprecedented policy of mass importation of Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians seems to have been implemented right around the time Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats lost their House majority in the 2022 midterm elections. Was that timing coincidental, or was there a political calculus involved in this decision?
Now that the Trump administration is in office, and have access to all the communications of the agencies involved — DHS, State Department, etc. — is it possible there could be an investigation to reveal the decision-making process behind this policy? Because I can pretty much guarantee that there’s not a single Democrat in public office who wants to discuss this. If most voters had been aware of the numbers involved, Trump would have won by an even larger margin, and unless Democrats emphatically repudiate this Biden-era policy, they might never win another election. Start asking questions, and demanding answers.
Perhaps you’ve forgotten what 2021 was like, and forgive me for reminding you of that nightmare, but it’s kind of relevant. Remember when Merrick Garland declared white supremacy the top terrorist threat to the United States? And do you also remember how the Left tried to stir up fears of the “Christian nationalist” menace? These were obviously not unrelated, because what they were really doing — the underlying motive behind these messages — was attempting to convince Jews that any kind of “right-wing” movement was a threat to them. See, it’s one thing to lecture about the evils of racism, but that word doesn’t carry the same significance to Jews as does the phrase “white supremacy,” and then when you add “Christian nationalism” to the message, it sort of puts an exclamation mark on this carefully targeted propaganda.
Which brings us, roundabout, to Xavier Louis Lopez, a young resident of the Henrico County suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. In August 2020, Lopez went on a vandalism spree in his neighborhood, slashing tires, while carrying a Confederate “Bonnie Blue” flag. He was convicted of a felony, which prohibited him from owning firearms. After being released from jail, however, Lopez sought to acquire weapons and, using an online alias (“Cru54d3r”), advocated violent extremism. This resulted in an investigation and Lopez’s arrest on federal charges. Let me share with you an excerpt of the transcript of a hearing in that case:
“All that needs to be done is for us to truly unite in Christ Jesus and make total war against the Satanic occultist government and the Zionist devil worshiping bankers who control it, and the Lord God will give us victory . . .
“Jews, liberals, communists, degenerates, Zionists, progressives, capitalists, globalists, and Green Party PETA-type environmentalists are the greatest enemies of God and the primary representatives of the devil himself in the spotlight and everyday life. Learn how to spot them and how to destroy them.”
As I keep warning you, Crazy People Are Dangerous. Certainly, many readers will agree with some of Xavier Lopez’s rant — e.g., disliking liberals or “Green Party PETA-type environmentalists” — without going completely crazy with the “total war” Zionist conspiracy stuff, and stockpiling weapons in anticipation of such a “total war.”
There has been a lot of outrage over the FBI’s “Catholic memo,” and most of the commentary omits mention of the Xavier Lopez case, but the point I wish to make is this: Because the DOJ under Merrick Garland had identified “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” as the No. 1 terrorism threat in America, and because this one crazy Jew-hater in Richmond happened to be associated with a Catholic group, a shadow of terrorist suspicion was cast on all conservative Catholics by the FBI.
A researcher studying at Georgetown University was detained by federal immigration authorities on Monday over allegations by the Trump administration that the foreign exchange student spread Hamas propaganda through social media, according to reports.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national in the US on a student visa, was arrested at his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, by masked agents from the Department of Homeland Security, his lawyer alleges in a lawsuit obtained by CBS News and Politico.
Suri, who both teaches and studies at the university as a postdoctoral associate and is married to a US citizen, was told by the DHS agents that his student visa had been revoked, the suit stated.
The Trump administration alleged that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” CBS reported.
A DHS spokesperson claimed the Georgetown student had “close connections” to a senior adviser to Hamas, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined “rendered him deportable” under the Immigration and Nationality Act on March 15.
A lawyer for Suri filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Eastern District of Virginia challenging the detention.
Georgetown University said it was unaware of any allegations of nefarious or illegal behavior against its post-grad.
“Dr. Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United states to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a Georgetown University spokesperson said in a statement to The Post.
Suri was told by the DHS agents that his student visa had been revoked, the report stated.
Suri, who both teaches and studies at the university as a postdoctoral associate, was told by the DHS agents that his student visa had been revoked, the report stated.
Getty Images
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the statement read. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
Suri has a doctorate in peace and conflict studies from a university in India and is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, according to the elite school’s website.
“If an accomplished scholar who focuses on conflict resolution is whom the government decides is bad for foreign policy, then perhaps the problem is with the government, not the scholar,” his lawyer said in an email to Reuters.
The Indian national’s wife is a US citizen originally from Gaza and still has close ties to the Palestinian enclave, working with its foreign ministry and writing for Al Jazeera and other Palestinian outlets, according to Georgetown’s website.
Suri’s lawyer argued that his client was being targeted over his wife’s heritage and their support of Palestinian rights, Politico reported.
Oh, the Democrats are in an uproar over this!
Va Rep Don Beyer (D) on CNN calls ICE detaining of Georgetown U fellow Badar Khan Suri “a blatant attack on the first amendment.” A judge has temporarily halted efforts to deport him. pic.twitter.com/1N8oTY0887
Exclusive: Trump is trying to deport a Georgetown academic in the country legally who says he’s being targeted for the pro-Palestine views of his U.S. citizen wife. https://t.co/Ddgslpf4IN
It’s “a blatant attack” on free speech to deport a foreigner with “close connections” to Hamas, according to Democrat Rep. Don Beyer, and Politico would have us believe Suri is being “targeted” because of his wife’s “pro-Palestinian views.” What they’re not telling you, however, is that Suri’s wife is the daughter of longtime senior Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef, and that Suri used his social media accounts to post pro-Hamas videos. How is it that none of these Democrats defending “free speech” for Jew-hating foreigners like Badar Suri ever said a word in defense of Xavier Lopez calling for “total war” against “the Satanic occultist government and the Zionist devil worshiping bankers”?
Because of Lopez’s craziness, the FBI issued a memo warning about the dangers of “radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology,” but here you have Suri — whose father-in-law is a senior Hamas official — on the payroll of Georgetown University and where’s the FBI memo warning about that? There’s a blatant double standard here, where Democrats excuse the kind of “extremism” that involves Hamas terrorists murdering Jews, because Democrats consider the real danger to be the kind of “extremism” that might cause Americans to vote Republican.
Did you know that every Tesla automobile has a built-in security camera? The idiots committing these acts of terroristic vandalism don’t seem to be aware of this security feature, and the fact that they could spend years in prison doesn’t seem to have occurred to them, either. And I just want to say, Thank you, stupid Democrats, for giving us an excuse to send you to prison with a felony conviction that, in most states, will prohibit you from voting. Wile E. Coyote could not be reached for comment.
Our good friend Deb Heine had the story of Justin Thomas Nelson, a/k/a “Lucy Grace Nelson,” a 42-year-old Democrat who is facing multiple felony charges in Larimer County, Colorado, after police say he/“she” repeatedly visited a Tesla dealership and committed acts of vandalism. The charges include “Explosives or Incendiary Devices Use During Felony.” But while contemplating this criminal’s stupidity, could we just mention that no one will ever mistake Justin/“Lucy” for a woman?
He does not pass. Period. Until rather recently, the inability to “pass” as female would have deterred a person like Justin Nelson from transgenderism. What is the point of this masquerade if no one believes it? That is the question any sane person concerned with facts and logic would ask about such behavior, but facts and logic are transphobic, you see, and thus sane people are deprived of the First Amendment right to speak the blunt truth: “That’s not a woman. It’s a lunatic in a dress.”
We are not supposed to notice the bullying inherent in the transgender agenda, where people are compelled to play along with this nonsense. And the fact that lunatics like Justin/”Lucy” feel empowered to engage in terroristic crime — well, isn’t that a logical consquence of this?
Today, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced charges against three individuals responsible for the violent destruction of Tesla properties. All three defendants will face the full force of the law for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars and charging stations.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”
— One defendant, also armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle, was arrested after throwing approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon.
— Another was arrested in Loveland, Colorado after attempting to light Teslas on fire with Molotov cocktails. The defendant was later found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons.
— In Charleston, South Carolina, a third defendant wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails.
Each defendant faces serious charges carrying a minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison.
The Department of Justice is committed to ending all acts of violence and arson directed at Tesla properties and otherwise.
Five years in federal prison! Congratulations, you ugly freak.
