In The Mailbox: 06.05.23

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.05.23

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Director Blue: The Origins Of The Global Warming Scam
EBL: Chuck Todd Out At “Meet The Press”, Biden’s Ex Nuclear Waste Leader Sam Brinton Arrested For Another Baggage Theft, and What Am I Eating? with Zooey Deschanel
Twitchy: Michael Shellenberger’s Thread Perfectly Sums Up Why Half Of Americans Don’t Trust The FBI, also, ARGLE BARGLE RAR! Gynecologist Who Insists Dylan Mulvaney Is A Woman Gets Big Mad About Being Mocked
Louder With Crowder: Family wins $125k settlement after school punished father, daughter for criticizing males in the girl’s locker room, US women’s soccer team gets WRECKED by an older male team of retirees, NBA star launches new conservative, anti-woke urban clothing line: “We don’t have to hide”, and “Influencer ad agency” responsible for Dylan Mulvaney/Bud Light fiasco is in serious panic mode too
Vox Popoli: Diversity is Why Nothing Works Anymore, Adjusted Metrics, Four Generations of Demoralization, and Same As it Ever Was
Flappr: Progressivism Is No Substitute For Tradition|
Stoic Observations: A Firelight Mourning

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Russians do indeed Love their Children
American Conservative: Partition For Peace, also, The ‘Root Causes’ of ‘Fare Evasion’
American Greatness: The Strange Pandemic of ‘White’ Disparagement
American Thinker: Will Wokeness Be Our Demise?, also, There Are No God-Given Rights without God
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Cuba, the new desitnation for social media influencers, Nicaragua’s socialist dictator surrounding himself with Cuban ‘advisers’, and Reports from Cuba: No sanitary pads in Cuba since January because sole producer can’t afford raw materials
BattleSwarm: Entire Contents Of Hunter Biden’s Laptop Now Online, Russia: We Destroyed Ukraine’s Patriot Batteries! Satellite Images: Not So Much, and Abbott Signs Law Banning Child Genital Mutilation
Behind The Black: SpaceX launches 22 2nd generation Starlink satellites, Three astronauts return to Earth safely from China’s Tiangong-3 space station, Russian communications satellite in trouble, SpaceX successfully launches cargo Dragon to ISS, and Pushback: Court victory for volleyball student and coach father who were blacklisted for disagreeing with queer agenda
Cafe Hayek: Creative Destruction Is Not An Externality, Part 1, also, Some Adam Smith Links
CDR Salamander: Strategy, Uncertainty, & The Red China Challenge, also, When The PRC Tells You Who They Are
Da Tech Guy: Youngkin being a great governor, Let’s go Brandon: a violent start to Brandon Johnson’s Chicago mayoralty, and Defining Woke: The Four Stages of Woke: Delusional, Crazy Batshit Crazy, Fully Woke
Don Surber: Democrats Went After Kids
First Street Journal: The left want to control your thoughts by controlling your language, There’s no threat quite like an empty threat!, and What could possibly go wrong?
Gates Of Vienna: The Heroine of Antifa is Released From Jail, Reprise of Taharrush in Peschiera del Garda, Tariq Ramadan: Persona Non Grata in Nice, and Your Secret Decoder Ring
The Geller Report: Ireland Plans to Slaughter 200,000 Cows to Save Planet from ‘Global Warming’, also, Children’s Choir Singing the Star Spangled Banner Forced to Stop by Capital Police “Because It Was Considered a Demonstration”
Hogewash: A Barred Spiral Galaxy, Hate Speech, I’m Not Making This Up, You Know, and Team Kimberlin Post of the Day
Hollywood In Toto: Roseanne Roasts John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, Disney’s Latest Problem? Movies Too Big for Their Own Good, Miss ‘Succession’ Already? ‘Industry’ Is the Perfect Replacement, and Why ‘Varsity Blues’ Couldn’t Be Made Today
The Lid: Supervising Detective in Bragg’s Case Against Trump Suspended For Ties to Michael Cohen, also, Victory: GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Gets ‘Child-Friendly’ Drag Show on Military Base Canceled
Legal Insurrection: U.S. Air Force Shoots Down Story that AI Drone ‘Killed its Operator’ in Simulation, Parents Protest Pride Event at Elementary School in North Hollywood, CA, The Irish Now Defending Their Iconic Cow Herds and Dairy Farms against Climate Cultists, Cal-Tech Scientists Transmit Space-Based Solar Power to Earth For First Time, and Former White House Doctor, Rep. Ronny Jackson, Says Biden Not Fit to Serve as President
Nebraska Energy Observer: Saturday – just for you, Trinity Sunday, and Be Ye Men (and Women) of Valor
Outkick: Indiana’s Starting Second Baseman Suspended For Regional Final After Getting Ejected Over Ridiculous Anti-Fun Rule, College Baseball Coach Torches Auburn AD John Cohen After Tigers Lose Their Own Regional In Just Two Games, Olivia Dunne Takes On Nashville, Sean Connery’s Granddaughter Does Some Influencing & Mount Everest Is Still Covered In Trash, Netflix To Release ‘Swamp Kings’ Documentary Following 2006-09 Florida Gators And It Should Be Incredible, and Stephen Strasburg’s Career In Jeopardy After Nerve Damage
Power Line: Sunday morning coming down, Thought for the Day: “Collective Intelligence” Is an Oxymoron, and CA Gov, AG Incensed After 16 Illegals Dropped off at Sacramento Church
Shark Tank: Soto Targeted By NRCC Again For Voting Against Energy Production
Shot In The Dark: Pronouns, also, Life Imitates The Babylon Bee
STUMP: Ranking the states by COVID age-adjusted death rates, June 2023 edition
This Ain’t Hell: What are we paying for?, Marine veteran, MMA fighter, subdues 10-foot alligator, An Afghan immigrant describes crime ridden San Francisco as worse than Afghanistan, Army musician vet Barry Newman dead at 92, and Virginia Military Institute DEI Head Quits
Transterrestrial Musings: Starliner, also, Biden’s War On The First Amendment
Victory Girls: Vivek Ramaswamy To Take The Debate Stage In GOP Primary Election, Daily Beast Aims Spittle-Flecked Rant at Casey DeSantis, and Salon: Taylor Swift’s Woke Handmaid Allyship Is Not Enough
Volokh Conspiracy: Urban Dictionary Definition Inadmissible in Trademark Case
Watts Up With That: Emails Reveal Bureaucrats censored radiation risk science fraud by cancelling whistleblowers; Huge implications for nuclear power and more, Solar Panels: The Unspoken Environmental Cost, and Climate fearmongering reaches stratospheric heights
Weasel Zippers: Biden Tells Americans He Wants To Raise Taxes, Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin: “Having A Debt Ceiling Statute Is A Threat To Us”, MSNBC Claims John Roberts “An Enemy of Black People Voting”, Texas Gov. Signs Law Banning Transgender Procedures On Kids, and California State Senate To Honor Anti-Cathoilic Drag Group
The Federalist: How SCOTUS’s Sullivan Ruling Denies Victims The Right To Defend Themselves From The Rich And Powerful, ‘Highly Credible’ Source Reveals Scandal Bigger Than Biden Bribery: FBI Election Interference, Climate-Crazed Bureaucrats’ ‘Home Of The Future’ Is Secretly A Costly Fixer-Upper, Majority Of Americans Want Corrupt FBI To Be Reformed Or ‘Shut Down’, and After Overseeing Weaponization Of Government Against Trump, James Comey Frets Trump Could Weaponize Government
Mark Steyn: Beauty, Nostalgia and Betrayal in Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Tal Bachman: Two Centuries of Rugby, Part IV, and My One and Only Love

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Category: Linkagery

Death by ‘Mommy Makeover’?

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on Death by ‘Mommy Makeover’?

Welcome once again to that recurring feature of the blog where I have to explain who a “celebrity” is, because this status has been extended to people who aren’t actually famous in the sense that word celebrity once designated. With so many shows on so many cable-TV channels (to say nothing of social media “influencers”) we seem to be approaching that moment once prophesied by Andy Warhol: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” The woman known as “Jacky Oh” (real Jacklyn Smith) at some point appeared on the hiphop comedy sketch show Wild ‘n Out, which originally aired on MTV but is now on VH1.

Probably not many of my readers have ever watched this show, as most of them are old enough to remember when MTV actually played music videos, which is ancient history to the 21st-century audience who know who Jacky Oh is. At any rate, it was while appearing on Wild ‘n Out in 2015 that Jacky Oh hooked up with Atlanta-based comedian John Whitfield, a/k/a “DC Young Fly,” who has over 1 million YouTube subscribers. The couple had three children, the youngest born last July.

Because I know my readership, I have researched the question I’m sure many of you are asking and, no, Jacky Oh isn’t one of those wannabe “cultural appropriators.” In interviews, she has explained that she’s only half-white, and growing up in Oakland, California, always identified more with her black father’s side of the family, which I’m sure Senator Bilbo would have expected (and perhaps even endorsed). However, we are not here to discuss the controversial opinions of long-dead Mississippi politicians, but rather to report the death of a 21st-century “celebrity”:

MTV star Jacky Oh had planned to have a “mommy makeover” surgery before her sudden death.
The former Wild N Out girl posed in a hospital gown with Dr Zachary Okhah as she boasted about her plans to go under the knife following the birth of her son Prince who was born last year.
“Getting ready for my mommy makeover with Dr Zach!! Stay tuned to my YouTube for the full reveal!” she wrote in her Instagram caption.
A mommy makeover typically includes any combination of a tummy tuck, breast augmentation, liposuction, and vaginal rejuvenation surgery. . . .

Without going into the details of such “rejuvenation,” what’s up with the apparently widespread belief that eternal youth can be (and should be) obtained through unnecessary surgical intervention? Isn’t there something vaguely creepy about this fetishization of youthfulness? Like, do we want middle-aged women running around boasting about having teenage vaginas? But anyway, now Jacky Oh’s dead:

Jacky Oh, born Jacklyn Smith, was staying at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Miami Downtown/Brickell where she was found unresponsive on the evening of May 31, according to a Miami Police Department incident report obtained by The Times. Police were dispatched and she was transported to Mercy Hospital where, despite resuscitation efforts, she was pronounced dead shortly before midnight. The case is still under investigation.

It would be an incorrect assumption — committing the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc — to suggest that Jacky Oh’s death was caused by whatever surgical “rejuvenation” she underwent in Miami. Also, you might get sued for libel for making such a suggestion:

Late Wild ‘N’Out star Jacky Oh’s plastic surgeon Dr. Zach faced previous complaints from patients over alleged botched procedures, according to a new report.
Oh died this week at age 32, a BET Media Group spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE, and her cause of death has not been made public. Since then, Page Six and other outlets report that the TV star visited Zach — real name Zachary Okhah — for a “mommy makeover” before her sudden death, as she reportedly updated fans about it in a since-deleted Instagram post.
And now, the outlet reports that the PH-1 Miami surgeon had sued multiple former patients over online reviews of his procedures in the past.
Okhah’s business PH-1 Miami did not immediately to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
According to a screenshot obtained by Hollywood Unlocked, Oh posed alongside the surgeon in a photo and teased a makeover before her death, asking fans to “stay tuned to my YouTube for the full reveal.”
In the days since, Page Six reports thay Okhah previous filed lawsuits against other clients, such as Leila Penn, who he reportedly sued for more than $30,000 in July 2021.
Penn, the publication reports, alleged that the surgeon “mutilated” her in a RealSelf review — claims that Okhah allegedly called “false.” He reportedly accused his former patient of “directly engaging with” prospective clients and encouraging them to go elsewhere, but dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice in December 2021.
Additionally, Okhah filed a lawsuit in September 2021 against Kyla Neirenburg for claiming that he doesn’t have “happy patients,” Page Six reports. She claimed his reviews on Google were “fake” and “written by their own staff or friends,” and Okhah filed a suit for $30,000, per the outlet He reportedly also had the suit dismissed without prejudice in December 2021.

Hate to keep using Latin phrases, but if a woman’s pursuit of “rejuvenation” results in her being “mutilated,” well, caveat emptor.

Far be it from me to risk a libel suit by suggesting that the late Jacky Oh died because “Doctor Zach” botched her surgery and, while dead people can’t sue for libel, I have no intent to blame Jacky for her own death, because de mortuis nihil nisi bonum, but there I go with the Latin phrases again. Pending the outcome of the investigation in Miami, we don’t know who is to blame for Jacky Oh’s untimely death. And neither Andy Warhol nor Senator Bilbo could be reached for comment.

Category: Celebrities

‘Our Recreational Drug Use Began About a Year Ago … It Increased Recently.’

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Our Recreational Drug Use Began About a Year Ago … It Increased Recently.’

Michael Griffin (left) and Meghan Griffin (right)

The Understatement of the Year competition just got tougher thanks to Meghan Griffin, who offered the quote above in a statement to police after an April incident at a QFC grocery story in Redmond, Washington, where her husband was found in a state of paranoia with “visible white powder on his lips” and carrying a loaded pistol. Did I forget to mention that both of the Griffins were employed as elementary school principals?

High on cocaine with a loaded gun – that’s what Redmond police say they saw when they confronted a local elementary school principal at a QFC.
The incident has now led to two elementary school principals in the Northshore School District – husband and wife, Michael and Meghan Griffin – to be placed on administrative leave.
Michael Griffin is the principal at Sunrise Elementary, while Meghan Griffin is the principal at Moorlands Elementary.
“It gives me goosebumps to kind of think that this stuff is happening,” said Aaron Gazes, a parent of a seven-year-old at Moorlands. “You have people looking up to you, it hurts bad. Because we’re down here and we’re trusting you. But the trust is just shot,” he said.
The district’s action is in response to the QFC incident that happened on April 30th.
Police documents say Mr. Griffin was “in a paranoid state likely under the influence of cocaine”. A responding corporal said Griffin had “dilated pupils”, and “visible white powder on his lips”, and was making “delusional statements.”
Griffin also “took his pistol to QFC chambered and unsecured in his front sweatshirt pocket”.
Documents say his eyes were darting around the parking lot, that Griffin at one point yelled at a stranger before his wife intervened, pointed to “uninvolved people,” and “believed his wife was in danger possibly being trafficked”. The police narrative also said Griffin had two bags filled with valuables and documents from his home that he tried to give to the Corporal to hold.
Police say Griffin was involuntarily taken to the hospital.
The district says it put Griffin on leave May 9th after learning about the incident.
Then on May 30, the district also placed his wife, Meghan Griffin, on leave. The principal at Moorlands Elementary sent out a letter to families, saying it did so because the district “became aware of statements made by Principal Meghan Griffin in a police report.”
The district doesn’t specify the content, but KIRO7 obtained the handwritten statement Meghan Griffin gave to Redmond police.
She wrote in her opening line, “Our recreational drug use began about a year ago while on vacation. It increased recently.” She went on to detail her husband’s worsening paranoia.
“Michael and I went to see our primary care doctor on March 22, 2023. The doctor told us we needed to stop the use of cocaine and that at the next check-up, the doctor would do a full workup to check for anything else that could be causing the delusions,” Meghan Griffin wrote.
Gazes says as a parent, he hopes the Northshore School District will learn from the experience.
“I leave my kid, and I trust he’s safe for the whole day. Right now I don’t,” Gazes said. “One school is enough. Two schools? I don’t want to believe something is broken within the district. I want to think it’s a one-off and someone just made a mistake and they will do whatever it takes to make right,” he said.
He’s appalled that students were under the Griffins’ leadership, while trouble — apparently involving drugs and firearms — was unfolding behind the scenes.
“If you have a problem, get help. That’s it. Until then, you cannot be around kids,” Gazes said.
Redmond police said no criminal charges were filed, but officers did apply for an Extreme Risk Protection Order, and now Griffin’s firearms are in police custody.
“The Redmond Police Department fears that Griffin’s paranoia will only continue to increase and could cause him to end up in an altercation with an uninvolved party.
Moreover, ‘Griffin’s mental state and access to firearms are made even more concerning as he is the principal at a local elementary school,” court documents said.
The school district said it can’t comment further on the incident because it’s a personnel matter, but said it will “continue investigating and take appropriate action.”

The school district can’t comment, but I can. More than a month before police found Michael Griffin ranting delusionally at the local grocery store, they went to their doctor because he was already suffering with delusional beliefs caused by his cocaine habit. Here’s a question: How much cocaine does it take to induce paranoid psychosis? And how could two public school employees afford such an expensive addiction?

A cocaine habit is not cheap, and you’ve got to be doing it pretty heavily — like, the Eagles on tour in 1977 — to reach the point where you’re in a grocery store parking lot babbling paranoid gibberish with a pistol in your pocket. How were the Griffins able to do this much coke while functioning as elementary school principals and nobody even noticed?

In conclusion: Crazy People Are Dangerous.

Category: Crime, Education, Washington State

Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Double-Scoop Swimsuit Edition!

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Double-Scoop Swimsuit Edition!

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Why are you not following @kbdabear on the Twitters? HAVE YOU THE BRAINWORMS? The man is a public benefactor, regularly posting dozens of pics in obeisance to Rule 5, and you spuds can’t be bothered to drop by and give his posts one measly like. Shame, I say! Shame! Still, you deserve an appetizer for this double-scoop Sunday, and here’s a couple of lovely ladies from his Swimsuit Sunday tweets.

By way of belated explanation, last week’s Rule 5 Sunday was preempted by an awesome dinner at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, well-known in Baltimore for their awesome seafood and world-wide for sticking it to PETA. (They have a “People Eating Tasty Animals” shirt for sale.) Vast quantities of excellent aquatic protein were consumed, and after I got back to the hotel I went straight to bed and passed out. Worth it.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

NINETY MILES FROM TYRANNY: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #2090, Morning Mistress, Girls With Guns, Hot Pick of the Late Night (2), The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #2097, Morning Mistress (2), and Girls With Guns (2).

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Nuclear Threshold Friday, Saturday Gingermageddon #435, Rule Five Civil War Friday, and Saturday Gingermageddon #436.

EBL: MAGA Big Red Button, Dolly Parton, Jean Trent, Tina Turner, Glen Or Glenda?, Tina Turner RIP, 50 Celebrities Part I & Part II, The Best Of Eva Vlaardingerbroek, Another Reason Epstein Didn’t Hang Himself, Cocaine Bear, The Firm, Noelle Dunphy & Rudy Giuliani, Saturday Night Girls With Guns, MAGA Alina Habba, In Bruges, Noor Alfallah, Catherine Herridge, June Is Bustin’ Out All Over, Kayleigh McEnany, Mahlagha Jaberi, Francoise Hardy, Taking Chance, and Memorial Day 2012.

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Amy-Jane Brand – There Was a Young Lady from Perth, Fish Pic Friday – Mia’s Adventures, RIP: Tina Turner, Tattoo Thursday, The Wednesday Wetness, The Debt Ceiling Approaches, Scott Throws Hat In Ring, Dates in Pickup Trucks, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Sunday Sunrise, The Lindsay Hancock, Be Careful Out There, Senate Passed Debt Ceiling Bill, New Hunter Pics Posted, The Old Man Takes Another Fall, Fish Pic Friday – Stacy Lynn, Going in Circles, Debt Ceiling Vote on the Edge, The Wednesday Wetness, Monterey Bay Aquarium Puts a Hit Out on Chesapeake Bay Oysters, Those Newfangled Chesapeake Blues, Debt Deal Published, Tuesday Tanlines, Memorial Day Flotsam and Jetsam, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Debt Ceiling Deal Reached and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S for June 2

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Das Herz Von Groenland

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Das Herz Von Groenland

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Well, the long agony of the draft is over, and play begins Tuesday. I’m thinking with this lineup I should do fine, especially in a division that includes Pete’s Mariners (oops, Brewers), the Oakland A’s, and expansion teams in Boston & Minneapolis.
C: Duke Sims/Dick Billings
1b: Mike “Super Jew” Epstein
2b: Cookie Rojas/Mike Andrews
ss: Ed Brinkman
3b: Ken McMullen/Toby Harrah
rf: Del Unser/Jeff Burroughs
cf: Willie Mays
lf: Rick Reichardt/Larry Biitner
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

The beer is cold, the hot dogs hot – let’s go, Senators!

From the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ to the Bulls–t Age of Wokeness: A Brief History
The DaleyGator
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Chicago Group Hired Gangsters to Be ‘Peacekeepers’ and It’s Working Out Just About the Way You Might Expect
Instapundit
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum
Flappr

CNN Warns of Weather ‘Misinformation’
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: Take It Away, Harry
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

How White Is @TizzyEnt?
EBL
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Flappr

Visit Exciting Lowndes County!
The DaleyGator
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.31.23 (Concentrated Punditry Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

What ‘Diversity’ Really Means
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.01.23
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

CBS News (Barely) Lets Catherine Herridge Report About the Biden Scandal
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Is the Left Breaking Apart?

Posted on | June 4, 2023 | Comments Off on Is the Left Breaking Apart?

Red Guards in China’s Cultural Revolution

Before getting into the issue addressed by the headline, would you mind if I tell you a bit of a personal story? Because I was a witness to the birth of the so-called “Alt-Right” circa 2007, and was directly acquainted with many of the personalities involved. When I had first come to Washington, D.C., a decade earlier, I was very much aligned more with the paleoconservatives than with the neocons, owing to the way I’d entered the conservative movement while working as a journalist in north Georgia. I joined the staff of The Washington Times, in the fall of 1997, about two years after the paleocon intellectual Sam Francis had been fired from the paper’s editorial page in what was widely perceived as a purge instigated by the neocons. Whether that perception is accurate is something of a question; Pruden fired Francis for insubordination, not ideological heterodoxy, and Pruden himself was about as “far right” as anyone might wish. Nevertheless, the firing of Francis reminded many observers of prior conflicts in the longstanding paleocon/neocon split, including the Mel Bradford/NEH controversy of 1981.

After his firing from the Times, Sam became an “unperson” as far as the paper was concerned, but I regularly saw him at various events that I covered around D.C., including the biennial American Renaissance (AR) conferences. Once, when some liberal writer sought to “expose” me as a racist, one of the accusations was that I was the only journalist to have covered four consecutive AR conferences (1998-2004), to which my reply might have been, “So? What’s your point?” Plenty of liberals also covered those conferences, and the only difference is that my coverage didn’t use the alarmist “OMG! RAAAAACISTS!” tone that characterized liberal journalists’ coverage. Jared Taylor was demonized for giving people a forum to discuss Things You’re Not Supposed to Talk About, and if some of those involved in these discussions held opinions that would frighten most people — well, it comes with the terrority.

My idea generally is that all the really interesting action in politics occurs on the fringe, which is where radical ideas begin before making their way into the mainstream, and this is true on both left and right. If you study Hunter S. Thompson’s career, for example, he never gave a damn about the Tweedleedee-vs.-Tweedledum arguments in D.C. that consume so much of the journalistic oxygen in America. No, Thompson was always poking around the fringes — biker gangs in Oakland, Chicano radicalism in L.A., drug culture and then a no-chance antiwar candidate named George McGovern in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries.

At any rate, to cut to the chase, by 2007 I had made the acquaintance of Marcus Epstein, who was putting together a panel discussion about the Duke lacrosse team rape hoax, and I was invited to speak about the topic in terms of media bias in the coverage of the controversy. Presenting the campus perspective on the controversy was a Duke graduate student named Richard Spencer, who became the notorious poster boy of the “alt right” about 10 years later. Another “alt right” activist I got to know about the same time was a campus organizer for the Leadership Institute named Kevin DeAnna. Think about what was happening in 2007.

The war in Iraq was becoming a catastrophe (just as many palecons had predicted it would be), and the sentiment on college campuses was very much anti-Bush and antiwar. These young men in their 20s didn’t want to shoulder the obligation of defending Bush’s unpopular policies, with which they disagreed, and were sick and tired of the whole post-9/11 Global War on Terror mindset. Democrats had just taken back Congress in the 2006 midterms, and meanwhile the GOP establishment was lining up behind Sen. John McCain as their chosen standard-bearer for the 2008 presidential election. What would later become the “alt right” was, at that time, organizing to back Sen. Ron Paul’s Republican primary campaign, and I distinctly remember the night in late 2007 when I accompanied an intern to cover a Ron Paul event in Arlington. Looking around the crowd in that packed room, I not only recognized many of my libertarian friends — whom I knew from attending Reason magazine happy hour parties — but also quite a few faces I recognized from covering American Renaissance conferences. There was a strange convergence going on, and you could arguably trace a direct line from that Ron Paul event in late 2007 to the rise of Trump eight years later.

All of this I relate in order to demonstrate my direct familiarity with how coalitions fracture and reconstitute themselves in our two-party system, as preamble to dicussing this headline:

Please Just F–king Tell Me What Term
I Am Allowed to Use for the Sweeping
Social and Political Changes You Demand

That’s the liberal writer Freddie deBoer (hat-tip: Instapundit) complaining that his fellow liberals won’t allow him to name the problem he’s talking about, whether it’s called “woke” or “identity politics” or “political correctness” or “critical race theory.” His comrades insist that any name for this “social justice” obsession must be some kind of racist “dogwhistle,” and Freddie seems to be reaching the end of his rope.

This is the third time I’ve called attention to Freddie’s complaints (see “It’s Almost as If Freddie deBoer Never Read ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’,” March 3, and “Freddie deBoer, ‘Elite Overproduction’ and the Inevitability of Competition,” March 12). Although he is a socialist, more or less, Freddie doesn’t like being told what to think, or told what he’s allowed to say, and he is thus running head-on into a familiar problem, i.e., the totalitarian tendency implicit in socialism.

This is exactly what Hayek was addressing in The Road to Serfdom and, in another way, what Eric Hoffer was talking about in The True Believer. Economic liberty cannot be separated from other types of liberty, including freedom of speech, so that advocates of a government-controlled economy must eventually demand government control of everything (to summarize briefly one of Hayek’s major points). And radical causes, which Hoffer called “mass movements,” always attract certain personality types, who bring with them characteristic problems, including the intellectual bullying and demand for conformity about which deBoer is now complaining. Sic semper hoc.

Is it possible that Freddie’s discontents might lead him to abandon the Left altogether? Well, he wouldn’t be the first to follow such a path. Lots of those who were Communists in the 1930s became anti-Communists in the 1940s, notable among them Whittaker Chambers. The conservative movement has recently benefited from the departure of the #NeverTrump crowd — is anyone on the right saddened by the exit of, e.g., Rick Wilson? — and if Freddie deBoer is sick and tired of being bossed around by intellectual midgets like Adam Serwer, certainly I’d be happy to extend him an invitation to switch his allegiances. A fed-up ex-lefty would be as welcome an addition as the departure of the #NeverTrump crew was a welcome subtraction to the movement.

You can call me “The Paleocon Whisperer.” Back around the time I was consorting with Richard Spencer and Kevin DeAnna, I received an email from a graduate student in political philosophy who applauded my success in defying the SPLC Thought Police. “Say nothing to anyone about this,” I wrote in reply. “Keep your opinions to yourself. Stay under the radar. Don’t wreck your career by being too obvious.”

There are stealth paleocons out there, you see. The young man who enthusiastically emailed me some 15 years ago is now an eminently respectable person, associated with a prestigious organization which of course I won’t name, but trust me when I say that not every “alt right” person is known as such. Screw the SPLC. Deo Vindice.

Category: Intellectuals

‘Comprehensive Gun Safety Measures’

Posted on | June 3, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Comprehensive Gun Safety Measures’

When the only tool you’ve got is a hammer, it is said, every problem looks like a nail. When you’re a Democrat, every problem looks like an opportunity for government regulation:

Advocates took a stand against gun violence Friday at the Chester County Courthouse. Cease Fire PA wore orange as they held a rally to kick off Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Survivors and gun control advocates came together to honor those lost and pushing for the state legislature to pass more comprehensive gun safety measures.
Many hospitals in Philadelphia feel like a war zone with so many gunshot victims. The team at Jefferson’s Einstein Medical Center is working hard to save lives in the hospital and the community.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to walk again,” said Thomas Hunter.
Hunter was temporarily paralyzed after being shot in the abdomen three years ago.
“It can happen to anybody,” he said.
Knowing the agony of gun violence, the 26-year-old now works at Jefferson’s Einstein Medical Center, helping other victims and their families.
“I meet them where they’re at. I instill them with hope, resiliency and empowerment,” Hunter said.
Einstein’s trauma center is ground zero for gun carnage. Hundreds of victims end up there and it’s taking an emotional toll on the staff.
“Every single shift, they feel that burden of the constant gun violence in our city,” said Sarah Misuro, who is a nurse. “It weighs very heavily on you – everybody.”
Orange flowers are planted in front of the hospital for Gun Violence Awareness Day and people are being encouraged to wear orange to honor victims and their families.
“Our healthcare team struggles with this every day,” said Juanita Way, with Jefferson Einstein Medical Center.
Desperate to do something, the team at Einstein sold t-shirts and raised $10,000 to buy gun locks that they’re giving away in the hospital.
“We aren’t making a dent in it, so we gotta figure out something to do,” Way said.
Way, along with Einstein’s gun violence prevention task force, thinks the gun locks can help protect children and reduce accidental shootings, as well as make gun owners more responsible.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.)

Has Ms. Way taken a close look at the kind of “gun owners” who are actually perpetrating the violence in Philadelphia? Has she examined the statistics or analyzed the various cases that make headlines in the city that has been dubbed “Killadelphia”? Grant that the city’s homicide rate is not as high as Memphis, St. Louis, Baltimore or New Orleans, but it’s high enough to be in the deadly category of Worse Than Chicago.

But the people who are committing the shootings in Philadelphia are not going to be deterred by any “gun safety measures” that the Pennsylvania legislature might conceivably pass, and they certainly aren’t going to become “responsible” by giving them free gun locks.

Crime is a people problem, and the only way to deal with it is to (a) identify the criminals and (b) put them in prison.

What has gone wrong in “Killadelphia,” as in so many other American cities, is that Democrats have elected a “progressive” district attorney, Larry Krasner, who doesn’t want to put criminals in prison. As a result, you have convicted felons running amok in a climate of lawlessness where criminals do not fear the police. This problem cannot be solved by passing new laws, when the existing laws are not being enforced.

Car theft? Against the law. Assault? Against the law. Narcotics trafficking? Against the law. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon? Against the law. Each of these laws present an opportunity to put criminals behind bars, where they can no longer endanger the public and yet, because Democrats in Philadelphia elected Larry Krasner as their D.A., the criminals who commit such felonies are being turned loose in the name of “social justice,” with the deadly results bemoaned by the kind of liberal idiots who think they can stop criminals by selling T-shirts and giving away free gun locks. A couple of years ago, I dubbed Philadelphia “Carjack City, U.S.A.” This was related to a case in which a convicted felon named Stanley Cochran went on a rampage that ended after he shot a 19-year-old woman in the head while he was trying to steal her car. The important question was, why was Cochran not behind bars? Why was he turned loose? And the simplest answer is, “social justice.”

The carjacking problem in Philadelphia hasn’t gone away. Instead, it’s gotten worse — more than 1,300 last year, a rate of more than three carjackings per day in the city — and Krasner’s response? He announced the formation of a new “task force” to deal with the cases.

How about this, Larry? PUT CRIMINALS IN PRISON.

Never hear that at “Gun Violence Awareness” rallies, I bet.

Category: Crime, Pennsylvania

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | June 3, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts, including a massive double-scoop Rule 5 Sunday.
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