The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Rule 5 Sunday: Mrs. Santa

Posted on | December 19, 2022 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Cosplay by u/MarieWithDDs on Reddit.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

NINETY MILES FROM TYRANNY: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1932, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. 

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule 5 Climate Cult Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: MAGA – Trading Trump, Vintage Christmas, Berlin Aquarium Disaster, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, The Banshees Of Inisherin, Seal Team, The Bad Guy, Fusion Breakthrough, and December 11, 1620

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Vinessa Vidotto, What Christmas Means to Me, Fish Pic Friday – Candice Mishler, Please Come Home for Christmas, Is That a Striper or a ‘Wiper?’, Thursday Tanlines, Run, Run Rudolf, The Wednesday Wetness, Gasoline, Can Crabs Save the World?, The Monday Morning Stimulus and Palm Sunday

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Category: Rule 5

Secondhand ‘Stolen Valor’? Lying Joe Invents Purple Heart Story About Uncle

Posted on | December 18, 2022 | 2 Comments

Very early in the 2020 presidential campaign season, I called attention to Joe Biden’s habit of saying that he gave “my word as a Biden” in vouching for the truth of whatever he was saying. It seems Joe believes (or at least wishes his audience to believe) that not only is he trustworthy, but that the Biden family in general has a well-established reputation for honesty.

Of course, Joe Biden is an infamous bullsh*t artist, a braggart who habitually exaggerates his own accomplishments or just makes up “facts” that turn out to be false, as was the case Friday:

But I want to tell you, it is — it is — it doesn’t go noticed enough, how many of you who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and all through these last wars we’ve had — how many mothers and wives and sons and daughters sat at that empty birthday — saw that — an empty chair at the birthday party.
And the difference is a lot of you of my — my generation, on — after — on December 7th that we celebrated the bravery of all the — those who showed up. On the Finnegan side of the family, four brothers. Every single one volunteered the very next day, on Monday, to join. My uncle, Frank Biden, joined. My father was working in the shipyards.
The fact of the matter is that, you know, it wasn’t a second thought. They just showed up. And there’s a generation, represented by you, Ray, that doesn’t look for accolades.
You know, I — my dad, when I got elected Vice President, he said, “Joey, Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge.” He was not feeling very well now — not because of the Battle of the Bulge. But he said, “And he won the Purple Heart. And he never received it. He never — he never got it. Do you think you could help him get it? We’ll surprise him.”
So we got him the Purple Heart. He had won it in the Battle of the Bulge. And I remember he came over to the house, and I came out, and he said, “Present it to him, okay?” We had the family there.
I said, “Uncle Frank, you won this. And I want to…” He said, “I don’t want the damn thing.” (Laughter.) No, I’m serious. He said, “I don’t want it.” I said, “What’s the matter, Uncle Frank? You earned it.” He said, “Yeah, but the others died. The others died. I lived. I don’t want it.”

Is any part of this story about Uncle Frank true? Some of it is certainly false, as the New York Post reported:

Biden’s father, Joseph R. Biden Sr., died in September 2002 — more than six years before his son was elected vice president. Frank Biden, Joe Sr.’s brother, died in 1999.

We know for a fact, then, that this claim that Joe helped his uncle receive the Purple Heart after he became vice president is false.  There was no presentation to Uncle Frank where “we had the family there,” no request from his father, etc., at least not during Biden’s vice-presidency, by which time both Biden’s father and uncle were dead. What we don’t know is whether the story about Uncle Frank being wounded (during the Battle of the Bulge or any other time) is true. Frank Biden indeed served as a sergeant in the Army during World War II, but the Post could find no record of him being awarded the Purple Heart, nor is there any record of Joe Biden telling this story about his Uncle Frank before.

And by the way, to say somebody “won the Purple Heart” is just wrong, because being wounded in combat is no one’s definition of “winning.”



 

Category: Joe Biden

Crime Is Not Just a Statistic

Posted on | December 18, 2022 | 5 Comments

A friend sent me the video of a robbery in Chicago this week in which the victim was his mother-in-law. The robbers stole her $50,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and police tell CWB Chicago that this gang of robbers is believed to be responsible for many other such recent crimes.

Finding data about crime in the United States has gotten more difficult since Joe Biden became president and Merrick Garland became attorney general. It used to be, I could link to the exact page of FBI stats that showed the data I wanted to highlight, but now they’ve installed some kind of cheesy app called the “Crime Data Explorer,” and you’ll have to navigate that yourself to find the numbers I’m citing here. In 2021, there were 22,900 murders in the U.S., according to the FBI. Of those crimes, the race of the victim was reported in 14,677 cases and the race of the perpetrator was reported in 14,963 cases. So in about 35% of homicides, the FBI provides no data on the race of either the victim or the perpetrator. With that stipulation in mind, of the homicides in 2021 for which the race of victims and perpetrators were known, 8,534 of the victims (58%) and 7,868 of the perps (53%) were black. Comparing those numbers, you may be tempted to tbink nearly 700 black people were murdered by non-black perps, which may be true, but probably not. The more likely explanation is that this discrepancy reflects unsolved homicides in which no information about the perpetrator is available. The far more important insight from this data is that black people (13.6% of the U.S. population) are vastly overrepresented in homicide statistics.

But what about robbery? According to the FBI, of the 159,985 robberies for which the race of the perpetrator was known, 93,252 were black (58%), while among the victims, 43,164 were black (32%) and 79,566 were white (59%). Again, we must stipulate that these numbers are incomplete, as not all police agencies report their crime data to the FBI, and many of those that do report such data don’t list the race of victims or perpetrators. Still, the key statistic is the vast overrepresentation of blacks among the perpetrators of robberies, and the fact that (in comparison to homicide), whites are more likely to be the victims of robberies. Also, robbery is a much more common crime than homicide.

What about Chicago, where this robbery took place? According to the Chicago Police Department, there were 7,935 robberies in the city last year — that’s an average of 22 robberies daily, or about 150 robberies per week. Also, in 2021 Chicago had 10,651 motor vehicle thefts — an average of 29 stolen cars daily, more than 200 auto thefts a week. And then there’s the murders. According to the excellent Chicago crime aggregator site HeyJackass, so far this year, 711 people have been murdered in Chicago, of whom 646 were shot to death (meaning that about 9% of Chicago homicide victims died from stabbing, strangulation, etc.). In addition to those shot to death, Chicago has also had 2,856 people wounded by gunfire who survived being shot. Which means that, on an average day this year, 10 people were shot in Chicago, of whom 1.8% died and 8.1% survived. Thank you, Mayor Frogface!

When your city is averaging 70 shootings a week, in addition to all those robberies and car thefts and whatever other crimes are happening, it can truly be said that nobody in Chicago is safe from this uncontrolled mayhem, not even my friend’s mother-in-law, visiting from Wisconsin:

A 70-year-old woman was walking her dog in one of Chicago’s most affluent neighborhoods Wednesday when she was confronted by a masked stranger who pointed a pistol in her face and shouted, “Give me your f***ing purse or I’ll kill you and your f***ing dog, too.” She instantly complied, whereupon the robber grabbed her purse, reached in and took her car keys, flung the purse aside, and got into a blue Honda with three other accomplices. They rolled up the block to where the woman’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was parked, then two of the thieves exited the Honda and climbed into the woman’s Jeep, and both vehicles sped away.
It was all over in a matter of seconds, and this brazen daylight robbery in the Lincoln Park neighborhood took place at the exact same time that the chief of Chicago’s police department was downtown giving a media briefing about the arrest of four other criminals who were apprehended and charged in a recent spree of dozens of robberies. A few hours later, the son-in-law of the Lincoln Park victim called to tell me the story of the robbery, which was captured on surveillance video that was soon broadcast on local news programs on several Chicago stations. . . .

Read the rest of my latest American Spectator column.



 

Category: Chicago, Crime

FMJRA 2.0: Rogers Hornsby Was Right About That, Anyway

Posted on | December 18, 2022 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Rogers Hornsby Was Right About That, Anyway

— compiled by Wombat-socho

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. – Rogers Hornsby

Well, it’s all over for this year. My Senators finished 61-101, nine games worse than the historical team, but then Ted’s boys didn’t have to cope with the Giants, Reds and Pirates. We were 2-20 against those National League squads, and I think we would have fared better if we’d only had to play the American League teams. None of my starters had a winning record; Jim Kaat came closest at 11-13, while in the bullpen Jim Bouton was 6-1-1 and Moe Drabowsky 5-8-21 with ten blown saves. As for my hitters, acquiring Steve Garvey and Willie Mays in trades helped a little, but in the end we only scored 582 runs while allowing 836, and you can’t win ballgames like that. I guess I can console myself that I wasn’t the worst team in the league – Montreal finished 57-102.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Our long national nightmare is over…until spring ’71.

Crazy People Are Dangerous (and Keep Getting Shot by Cops in Detroit)
357 Magnum
EBL

#TwitterGate Update: Shadowbanning Is Real, and Vijaya Gadde Lied About It
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

The Other Podcast
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: Mental Door
A View From The Beach
EBL

Florida ‘Predator’ Charged With Murder After Girl Dies From Fentanyl Overdose
357 Magnum
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Mrs. Verlander Goes To New York
Animal Magnetism
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
EBL

The ‘Misinformation’ Crisis
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.12.22
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.13.22
Proof Positive
357 Magnum
EBL

Fire Matt Patricia?
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.15.22 (Afternoon Edition)
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.15.22 (Evening Edition)
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Late Night With In The Mailbox: 12.16.22
Proof Positive
357 Magnum
EBL
A View From The Beach

Top linkers for the week ending December 17:

  1.  EBL (14)
  2.  357 Magnum (10)
  3.  A View From The Beach (9)
  4.  Proof Positive (5)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Posted on | December 17, 2022 | Comments Off on Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Click the link to order your T-shirt now, commemorating one of the worst terrorist attacks in American history. We all remember that fateful Christmas Eve in 1988, when the nation was gripped by fear as notorious international terrorist Hans Gruber (who was German, you know, despite speaking with a distinctly British accent) and his gang held dozens of hostages inside LA’s famous Nakatomi Plaza. Those of us who watched it still remember the feeling of shock — it was so incredible that we couldn’t believe it was actually happening — followed by the sense of relief and gratitude as we learned that the hostages (most of them, anyway) had been rescued by the heroic New York City Police Lt. John McClane (who, by an amazing coincidence, happened to be visiting his estranged wife Holly, a Nakatomi executive who was attending the party).

This is why, every year during the holiday season, patriotic Americans have been showing the documentary film Die Hard to our children, so that the memory of this night of heroism — when McClane, with the courageous help of LAPD Sgt. Al Powell, showed us all the true meaning of Christmas — will never be forgotten.

During our family’s annual commemoration of that historic night, one of the younger children — now including our grandkids — is sure to ask, “Grandpa, did it really happen that way?”

To which I answer, “Of course. And reindeer can fly, you know.”

Shop our Amazon links, and have a “yippee-ki-yay” Christmas.

NEVER FORGET 12/24



 

Category: Christmas

Propaganda, ‘Misinformation’ and Other Lessons From Communist History

Posted on | December 17, 2022 | 3 Comments

“Marxism criticizes the achievements of all those who think otherwise by representing them as the venal servants of the bourgeoisie. Marx and Engels never tried to refute their opponents with argument. They insulted, ridiculed, derided, slandered, and traduced them, and in the use of these methods their followers are not less expert. Their polemic is directed never against the argument of the opponent, but always against his person.”
— Ludwig von Mises, 1922

Everything you need to know about the motives and methods of the 21st-century Left can be learned from studying 20th-century Communism. What Mises said about Marx and Engels, and the ad hominem quality of their rhetoric — slander and insults, rather than actual arguments — was even more true of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, et al. Having once seized power, the Bolsheviks immediately proceeded to suppress all potential rivals. Within a month, they established the Cheka (predecessor of the NKVD and, later, the KGB) and appointed Felix Dzerzhinsky as its leader. Eight months later, the Red Terror began in earnest, and within a matter of weeks, the Bolsheviks had summarily executed more victims than were sentenced to death in the entire preceding century by the Tzarist regime.

Lenin had a habit of sending telegrams urging more executions — round up 100 kulaks and hang them in public, to “make an example of these people” — and such state-sponsored mass murder was committed without any semblance of justice. No trials, no evidence, no witnesses, no testimony — just round up some “class enemies” and kill them, for the sake of intimidating the survivors. The Bolshevik regime was baptized in the blood of innocents, with the executions averaging 500 a week for four years, from 1918 to 1922. After the German socialist Karl Kautsky published a pamphlet criticizing the unprecedented and systematic brutality of the Bolsheviks, Trotsky replied with a polemic, Communism and Terrorism (Anti-Kautsky), justifying the Red Terror as a necessity:

Intimidation is a powerful weapon of policy, both internationally and internally. War, like revolution, is founded upon intimidation. A victorious war, generally speaking, destroys only an insignificant part of the conquered army, intimidating the remainder and breaking their will. The revolution works in the same way: it kills individuals, and intimidates thousands.

This was published in 1920, about midway through the Red Terror, and certainly Trotsky at that time could not have believed that the deadly instruments of revolutionary terrorism would one day be turned against him, as he was finally murdered by one of Stalin’s agents. But such is the logic of radicalism which, unable to refute its critics, instead resorts to slander and which ultimately must resort to mass murder as “a powerful weapon of policy.” And nothing has really changed in the Left’s methods, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union. American Democrats now support the arrest and incarceration of their enemies for daring to protest an election that the protesters believed to have been stolen and, in a remarkable feat of rhetorical jiu-jitsu, it is the protesters who are accused of being enemies of Our Democracy, rather than the officials who demand such prosecutions (and who advocate censorship of any criticism). We have not yet reached the point of telegrams to the secret police demanding public hangings of kulaks, but be patient.

All of that is preamble to David Strom’s take on “prebunking”:

The other day I wrote a piece about how the Left can’t argue anymore. My thesis was pretty simple: because they have owned the cultural means of production so long they have lost the need for or ability to argue things logically.
I still believe that. Having rarely been exposed to a conservative argument that [they] haven’t been able to dismiss merely through repeated ridicule the Left pretty much only engages in ad hominem attacks. Even very smart prominent Lefties . . . seem incapable of doing much more than insulting their opponents any more. It all boils down to Bad Orange Man or MAGA simps. . . .
But I ran into a slightly different perspective on the matter while cruising Twitter, and I think it deserves consideration: sometimes, at least, the person throwing out an absurd take isn’t actually hoping to convince you of anything. They are, rather, trying to discredit the source and do nothing more. The ad hominem attack is the only point — to destroy the credibility of their opponent, without actually convincing you of any particular argument.

Sic semper hoc — nothing has changed in the century since Mises succinctly described the rhetorical methods of Marx and Engels. You can study the history of “McCarthyism” (where the most prominent public enemy of Communism was defamed and destroyed, in order to prevent further exposure of Communist infiltration) and see where these methods have been practiced in the past. The example chosen by Strom, in which Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D., falsely accuses Elon Musk of promoting “QAnon” conspiracy theories, is typical of such methods. Because Musk has ended the Left’s control of Twitter (thus threatening their power to suppress opposition), he is an enemy who must be destroyed, and any slander will do, no matter how implausible it may be.

The claim by the Left that their opponents traffic in “misinformation” and conspiracy theories is, as Strom says, part of their effort “to destroy the credibility of their opponents,” no different than Trotsky’s attack on the socialist Karl Kautsky who, because he criticized the Red Terror, was denounced as an “enemy of the proletariat.” Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, and is anyone really surprised that our education system — controlled by Democrats — doesn’t teach anything useful about the bloody history of Communism?

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.)



 

Category: History

Late Night With In The Mailbox: 12.16.22

Posted on | December 17, 2022 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts, also, maybe, a book post.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

…and now, a little chillwave.

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Ronna McDaniels Squandering Money at the RNC, Giant Berlin Aquarium Bursts, and Don’t Cry For Me John Boehner
Twitchy: Elon Musk Trolls The Press On Freedom Of Speech, Tucker Carlson Roasts Adam Kinzinger For Fury Over Catturd Meme, and Super “Patriot” Ex-LTC Vindman DEMANDS Elon Musk Explain Himself
Louder With Crowder:  Elon Musk hops on Spaces, informs whiny woke journalists they aren’t special and the rules apply to them too, also, Elon Musk lays out his reasons for suspending alleged ‘journalists’ from Twitter
Vox Popoli:  Free Speech Was Always Fake, also, We Don’t KNOW It Was the Vaxx
According To Hoyt: A Forgotten Sale And An HR Complaint, Comfort and Safety, and Hurty Speech
Monster Hunter Nation: WriterDojo S3 E22: Titles (& Why We Suck At Them)
Stoic Observations: The Subway Bike Story
Gab News: Musk Is In Over His Head

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Cathedral Turns Torquemada On Elon Musk, also, Congress Wages Total War on America’s Interests
American Greatness: First-Ever Emmy Awards for Children Heavily Pushes LGBT Content, also, Senate Votes Against Measure to Reinstate Troops Kicked Out over COVID Vaccines
American Thinker: Creative Historical Interpretations Are Not History, also, What the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ Really Respects
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Climate Cult Friday
Babalu Blog: Cuban dictatorship thanks the U.S. for $2 million in aid with no strings attached, Cuban priest speaks out, condemns the lack of religious freedom in Cuba, New study claims small number of Cuban natives survived Spain’s genocidal massacres, and Surprise! Havana Cuba wins major prize: ‘Slowest Internet on Planet Earth’
Baldilocks: Why Firefly Got Shot Down
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For December 16, 2022
Behind The Black: SpaceX launches oceanography satellite, Ingenuity completes 36th flight; preps for its 37th, Astronomers determine that two super-Earths are not as rocky as previously believed, and The edge of the Martian south pole ice cap
Cafe Hayek: How ‘Nature’ Has Fallen, also, Daniele Struppa on the ‘Degrowth’ Paper
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Da Tech Guy: If It Wasn’t For Double Standards
Don Surber: “You’re not special because you’re a journalist.”, also, 249 years ago, the Boston Tea Party begat a revolution
First Street Journal: Killadelphia, also, I take no joy in seeing Washington Post employees getting laid off
Gates Of Vienna: Solipsism in the 21st Century, Get Vaxed or Get Brain Damage!, and And Unto Us a Vax is Given
The Geller Report: Twitter Suspends Reporters from CNN, NYT, WaPo for ‘Doxxing’ Musk’s Family, also, Hear Freedom Ring! Pamela Geller is Back on Twitter
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, The Wheel of Karma, Yelling, “Theatre!” at a Crowded Fire, and I’m Not Making This Up, You Know
Hollywood In Toto: Dozed and Confused Shares Laughs, Hope and a Classic Roger Ebert Story, Right-leaning Private American gets canceled by Kickstarter, Daily Kos, and Kirk Cameron Mulls Lawsuits Against Drag Queen-Friendly Libraries
The Lid: Happy Birthday Bill of Rights, also, Majority of Democrats Are Saying ‘No’ to Biden 2024
Legal Insurrection: STEM Is DEI-ing, How to Fight Critical Race Theory Legally and Successfully, Five Left-Wing Activists Arrested for Domestic Terrorism in Georgia, #TwitterFiles Part Six: “Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary”, and Yeshiva University Must Recognize LGBTQ Club, Appeals Court Rules
Nebraska Energy Observer: Twitter, Free Speech, and the Wonder of the Internet
Outkick: Fan Denies Threatening Draymond Green, Says Police Back Him Up, Miami Redhawks Honor Mike Leach With Pirate-Inspired Decal During Bahamas Bowl, SMU Surprised To See All The Wives Of BYU Players At Bowl Game: ‘That’s Different’, Trent Dilfer Spends Day 1 On Job Showing UAB Cheerleader His Super Bowl Ring At Bahamas Bowl, and Aaron Rodgers’ Alleged Girlfriend, Blu of Earth, Is Stuck In Peru & It Might Be Over Between These Two
Power Line: A Twitter Files footnote, An Updated Lexicon, and Elon Agonistes [Updated]
Shark Tank: Rep. Byron Donalds Calls Out Murder Turtle For Omnibus Spending Compromise
Shot In The Dark: It Seems Appropriate, also, The Real Authoritarians Debate Part I – Defining The Terms
The Political Hat: 12 Posts of Christmas, 2022 (Day 4)
This Ain’t Hell: U.S. Army to train 500 Ukrainian troops a month in Germany starting in January 2023, CDC removes pro-gun findings under pressure from Gun Control groups, ‘Survivor’ Winner’s Class Act, Russian troll strikes Valor Guardians!, and Valor Friday
Transterrestrial Musings: California’s “Assault Weapons” Ban, Try, Try Again, Silicon-Valley Fraudsters, Ron DeSantis, and Brian Binnie
Victory Girls: Twitter Is Just The Tip Of The Big Tech Leviathan
Volokh Conspiracy: An Assessment of the Oral Argument in 303 Creative
Watts Up With That: Elevated Living Standards Contradict Climate Doomsayers, also, Claim: Computer Models Predict a Third of Vertebrates will Die by 2100
Weasel Zippers: Biden: U.S. Taxpayers To Pay South Africa $8 Billion To Shut Down Their Coal Power Plants, Providence To Fix Racism With $10 Million Payout For Slavery Reparations, Special K Claims The Trump Administration “Completely Gutted” The Immigration System, and Iran Halts Funding For Palestinian Terror Groups… Joe Biden, Not So Much
The Federalist: No, It’s Not ‘Fair-Minded’ To Defend ‘Journalists’ Who Use Twitter To Dox Their Political Enemies, Fight ‘Zuckbucks’ With Laws, Not Lawsuits, Is HBO’s White Lotus A Reactionary Masterpiece?, EXCLUSIVE: West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore Joins Calls For BlackRock CEO Larry Fink To Resign, and Leftists Call Free Speech ‘Violence’ To Mute Critics Of Barbaric Transgender Surgeries For Kids
Mark Steyn: You Gotta Have Heart!

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Category: Linkagery

Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning

Posted on | December 16, 2022 | Comments Off on Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning

Aaron Rupar was among several left-wing journalists whose Twitter accounts got suspended Thursday for promoting the “doxxing” of Elon Musk’s private jet. Having been permanently suspended myself — for nothing — all I can say is, “Gosh, it’s terrible what’s happening to you.”

When I say I was suspended “for nothing,” what I mean is that the reason given — “participating in targeted abuse” — provided no explanation specific enough that it could be challenged, and this rule had been concocted just a few months prior to my February 2016 suspension. It seems that the “targeted abuse” rule was intended to shield various SJWs who, by their obnoxious behavior, had attracted swarms of Twitter critics (e.g., “A Tattoo-Covered, Mentally Ill Ex-Stripper Whose Real Name Is Chelsea Van Valkenburg”). Certainly some of these people suffered what could fairly be called “abuse,” but the accusation of “participating” in such abuse is broad enough to implicate lots of people through guilt-by-association. So if someone with tens of thousands of followers (as I had on my @rsmccain account) happens to RT something about such a target, he can be accused of “participating,” even if (a) the message he retweeted wasn’t abusive and (b) he himself had otherwise scarcely paid any attention to the person claiming to be a victim of abuse.

Because the “Trust & Safety” crew at Twitter was apparently 100% left-wing, it was always conservatives who had to fear banishment for Thought Crimes, and now that Elon Musk has started cleaning house, the Left is claiming victimhood because not only have they lost the power to silence their enemies, they themselves are now at risk of being silenced for engaging in abusive behavior that they’ve become accustomed to dishing out, but never taking. Aaron Rupar was among those leftists who celebrated the banning of their opponents, and it is thus impossible for me to stop gloating that the shoe is now on the other foot.

Many others share my sentiments, obviously.



 

Category: Liberals, Media Bias
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