The Other McCain

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

In The Mailbox: 08.31.21

Posted on | September 1, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 08.31.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The Emerald Robinson piece was linked at Instapundit, but since not everyone reads Instapundit* I figured I better link it here. She takes NO prisoners.

Silicon Valley delenda est.

DO IT.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Red Pilled Jew: A Curious Incuriosity 
357 Magnum: The Police State Down Under
EBL: Ed Asner, RIP
Twitchy: “It’s A Defamatory Lie”, also, “Sit This One OUT, Sparky”
Louder With Crowder: Biden Offends Pregnant Widow Of Marine Killed In Kabul By Making It About His Son Beau
Vox Popoli: Rumors Of Invasion, Why Parler Failed, and Neoclown World Is Not Our Culture
Stoic Observations: An Appeal For Unity
Gab News: How To Survive In A Post-Truth World Of Chaos
Emerald Robinson: How The National Review Sold Its Soul To Google

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Philia Is Not Gay
American Conservative: Say No To Vaccine Passports, also, Unworthy Of The Sacrifice
American Greatness: Biden Officials At Kabul Airport Warned American Rescue Plane To Turn back or Be Shot Down, also, Afghanistan – The Big Con
American Power: It Wasn’t a Choice – Biden Just Abandoned Americans To The Barbarity Of Jihad
American Thinker: The Surprising Origins Of Critical Race Theory, also, We Could Have Dodged The COVID Delta Bullet In The U.S.
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Venezuelan Chavistas Flood Social Media To Defend Cuba’s Communist Regime, also, Another Cuban General Is Dead, The Ninth Since Massive Protests Began
BattleSwarm: One Day To Flatten The Curve, also, Taliban Blocks Dog Rescue
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted American, also, SpaceX Successfully Launches Cargo Dragon To ISS
Cafe Hayek: The Risk Is That Civilization Will Be Destroyed Under The Pretense Of Protecting Public Health, also, Hidden Inflation?
CDR Salamander: The Navy’s Unmanned Programs On Midrats, also, Pentagon Leaders Need To Define Their Pronouns
Da Tech Guy: The Coming Extremist Tsunami In The Navy, The Incomplete List of People To Blame For The Biden Debacle, and Assert Your Freedom With The Handshake Challenge
Don Surber: To Survive, We Must Fire Them All, Biden Did Worse Than The Soviets, and No, Media, The War Is Far From Over
First Street Journal: Some Central Bucks Karens Want To Force Others Into Masks – Anonymously, also, Ignoring A Very, Very Large Elephant In The Room
The Geller Report: Trump Declares “Georgia Has Been Caught”, also, Seven Busloads Of American Women Seized By Taliban – NO COVERAGE By Corporate Media
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, Everything Is Proceeding As I Have Foreseen
Hollywood In Toto: War Widow Gets To Bitter Truth Behind Husband’s Death, also, The One Amazing Thing About The Mediocre Vacation Friends
The Lid: Team Of Radical Feminists Rescues Thirty Afghani Feminists, also, Norks Move To Resuming Nuke Work
Legal Insurrection: St. Joseph’s U. Alumni Withholding Donations Over School’s Drift To Far Left, also, Jonathan Turley – Statements By Lt. Byrd Demolish The Two Official Reviews That Cleared Him Of Killing Ashli Babbitt
Michelle Malkin: Coward Cuomo’s Last Act Of Treachery
Nebraska Energy Observer: Old Testament Historical Content
Outkick: Jerry Jones Continues His Love Affair With Tony Romo, also, Even In Moments Of Crisis, Nobody Wants To Buy Anthony Davis’ Chips
Power Line: What We Left Behind, also, Loose Ends
Shark Tank: Three FL Dem Reps Become Apologists For Biden’s Disastrous Bugout
Shot In The Dark: Turnabout, also, The Drones Of August
The Political Hat: Scottish Rape Crisis Center Tells Rape Victims The Real Evil Is Their Transphobia
This Ain’t Hell: Unrest In Canuckistan, also, Active Duty & Retired ONI Members Being Told They Can’t “Disrespect” Leadership
Transterrestrial Musings: Automakers, also, Hey, Biden Voters!
Victory Girls: LTC Scheller Got Fired, But LTC Vindman Was Praised, also, Honor Them & Say Their Names
Volokh Conspiracy: Mother’s Contact With Child Restricted Because She’s Unvaccinated
Weasel Zippers: Biden Calls Black Senator “Boy”, also, Nearly 90 Retired Admirals & Generals Call On Austin & Milley To Resign
The Federalist: Pretending COVID Is An Emergency Is Killing America, also, Joe Biden’s Presidency Has Gone Off The Rails And The Democratic Party Will Pay
Mark Steyn: A Shine On Your Shoes, Trapped In A Corner, and A Great Voice Stilled
*I don’t know why, but they don’t.

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Category: Linkagery

Biden Speech Signals Beginning of Media Effort to ‘Pivot’ Away Afghanistan

Posted on | August 31, 2021 | Comments Off on Biden Speech Signals Beginning of Media Effort to ‘Pivot’ Away Afghanistan

What comes next is predictable. The media will try to pretend that the catastrophe that just happened in Afghanistan was inevitable, that nothing Joe Biden did could have averted this disaster which (it will at least be heavily implied) was really Trump’s fault anyway. And anyone who says otherwise will be ignored, or treated as a disgruntled “partisan” who’s just trying to “play politics.” The main point, in the Democrat/Media Complex narrative, is that Afghanistan is over — it’s no longer a story worth mentioning — and anyone who does mention it will be accused of trying to “distract” from the really important thing, i.e., ramming the Left’s domestic agenda through Congress.

Will they get away with this “pivot”? I’d say that’s up to the Taliban. Because we’ve left behind at least 100 American civilians, and perhaps more than 500, all of whom are at risk of becoming hostages. So if the Taliban decides to play rough, this story won’t be over any time soon.

Anyway, here’s today’s news from Bonchie at Red State:

Joe Biden finally spoke today to mark the end of the war in Afghanistan. After showing up hours late for the originally scheduled event, something that has become a habit for this president, Biden took to the podium. What transpired was surprising and shocking at times.
He delivered a cold, blame-shifting speech in which he simultaneously claimed there was no disaster in Afghanistan while blaming others for the disaster in Afghanistan. Little of what he said made sense, and at the beginning of the speech, Biden yelled as he read the teleprompter in what can only be described as an incredibly odd scene.
The president also tried to claim victory, lauding his handling of the bungled withdrawal that ended up costing the lives of 13 US service members and countless Afghans (he also never mentioned the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice last Thursday). Yet, just minutes later, he changed his tune and blamed Donald Trump for supposedly tying his hands. The incoherence was both breathtaking and infuriating as he continued on, staring glassy-eyed at the teleprompter, desperately trying to insert emotion into his shrill, robotic voice.

The fact that the speech was inherently self-contradictory, and that Biden’s delivery was . . . uh, idiosyncratic, will not prevent the media from hailing it as the finest oration since Churchill.

Prediction: The Media Will Lap Up
Biden’s Afghanistan ‘Victory’ Speech
Like Dogs Returning to Their Vomit

That line about dogs returning to their vomit is from Proverbs 26:11, and perhaps also an allusion to Kipling’s once-famous poem. Some things are predictable. Never bet against The Gods of the Copybook Headings.




 

Category: Joe Biden

Bill Belichick Bets Big on Mac Jones; Patriots Release Veteran QB Newton

Posted on | August 31, 2021 | Comments Off on Bill Belichick Bets Big on Mac Jones; Patriots Release Veteran QB Newton

Forget about Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida, this is the big news:

In a stunning move, the New England Patriots released veteran quarterback Cam Newton on Tuesday, turning things over to rookie Mac Jones as the starter, ESPN has confirmed.
Coach Bill Belichick had said repeatedly that Newton was the team’s starting quarterback but that he had to reestablish that position, or someone would have to play better than him. Jones has done that, in Belichick’s view.
Jones finished the preseason 36-of-52 for 389 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions, playing 107 snaps, easily the highest total among Patriots quarterbacks.
Newton had started every preseason game but didn’t play as much overall (39 snaps). He finished the preseason 14-of-21 for 162 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
In releasing Newton, who was a team captain, it clears a path for Jones to grow into more of a leadership role without having the presence of the former NFL Most Valuable Player behind him. . . .
Belichick had previously said he was looking for consistency and production over a period of time when evaluating quarterbacks — which naturally included practice and games. One breakthrough for Jones came when Newton missed three practices because of a COVID-19 protocol “misunderstanding” last week, and Jones took over the team.
Jones was particularly impressive in one joint session with the New York Giants, continuing a theme of him running the traditional Patriots offense that includes empty formations, setting the offensive line protection at the line of scrimmage and checking out of plays when the situation called for it. Jones had said he felt like he was in a “game flow” that day.
On Sunday night, after the preseason finale, Jones said he was preparing as the starter but was ready for all possibilities. “I’m here to play any role I can play, help in any way I can, and I’m going to be ready whenever my time comes,” he said.
Jones has quickly earned respect from teammates, with veteran offensive tackle Trent Brown previously saying, “I think he can be special. To be so young, I think he makes some throws that not a lot of young guys can make.”

Everybody has praised Jones’s maturity, but starting as a rookie for a team with such a Super Bowl tradition? High pressure, man. Personally I had hoped that Jones would at least begin the season as Cam’s backup, then take a wait-and-see approach — if the team was winning with Cam, let him keep the job, but if it went the other way, give Mac a shot. I guess what Belichick saw during pre-season convinced him Mac was ready, and certainly it’s difficult to second-guess a coach with Belichick’s record, but still it’s a high-stakes gamble, and tremendous pressure on Jones.

New England won six Super Bowls with Tom Brady at QB, and last season was the first time in 20 years they didn’t make it to the playoffs. Patriots fans will expect that at the very least, Jones will take the team to the playoffs. The AFC East isn’t a powerhouse conference, and New England won seven games last season with Newton at QB, so if Jones can make enough of a difference to get the team to 10 or 11 wins, they’ve got a shot. Of course, Jones comes from Alabama, where anything less than an undefeated season and a national championship is considered failure, so it’s not like he hasn’t faced high expectations before.

The Patriots open the season Sept. 12 against Miami, where Jones’s former Alabama teammate Tua Tagovailoa is the quarterback. That will be a shootout worth watching, especially for ’Bama fans. #RollTide!




 

Category: Football

All ‘Male Feminists’ Are Creeps, and This Guy Is Exhibit A for the Prosecution

Posted on | August 31, 2021 | Comments Off on All ‘Male Feminists’ Are Creeps, and This Guy Is Exhibit A for the Prosecution

You may have forgotten who Noah Berlatsky is, or perhaps you never heard of him, but he first came to my attention in 2015, when radical feminist Meghan Murphy called him out for posing as a “male feminist” while Berlatsky was writing articles for Playboy. “Noah Berlatsky perseveres in his quest to become America’s Next Top Feminist” was the headline on Murphy’s article about this obnoxious creep.

Nevertheless, he persisted, and went from bad to worse, so that by January 2020, I was prompted to ask this question:

Is Noah Berlatsky a Pedophile?

You see, Berlatsky had wandered off in a predictable direction:

 

Such expressions raise the question of motive. It is possible, of course, to believe that concerns about pedophilia are disproportionate, and one might wish to discuss policy about related issues in a disinterested way. For example, many people have noted how travesties of justice like the McMartin Preschool Case were fueled by exaggerated fears, fueled by nonsense theories of “suppressed memory,” etc. But it is a completely different thing when, as in the case of Noah Berlatsky, someone starts arguing that the real problem is not pedophilia, but rather the “stigma” attached to pedophilia. Really? You want to destigmatize pedophilia?

We’ve seen this before, when Salon-dot-com published a series of articles in this vein, and we know that it never leads anywhere good. Now comes this bit of sadly predictable news:

NBC contributor Noah Berlatsky is now the Communications Director for Prostasia, a not-for-profit group that is reportedly attempting to legitimize pedophilia under the guise of helping children. As part of his work with the group, he has written about legitimizing “trans children,” conducted interviews about the positive impact of pornography on children, and how the best way to help children who are trafficked into the sex trade is to “decriminalize the sex industry.”
Prostasia offers pedophiles a MAP Support Club, which “is a peer support chat for minor attracted people who are fundamentally against child sexual abuse and committed to never harm children, and is a safe space to have peer support in times of trouble.” This group is for people who are aged 13 and up.
Prostasia bills itself as “a new kind of child protection organization” that has a different approach to protecting children than the current methods of social work and law enforcement, saying that these approaches “are less effective than they should be, because they are driven by emotion rather than evidence.”
That is one that involves embracing those that are self-identified pedophiles. The idea is that with support, these “minor attracted persons” can be “committed to never offending.” . . .
Berlatsky promotes the work of UC Berkeley lecturer Alexandra Lutnick, writing “Most young people who trade sex don’t see themselves as victims, Lutnick emphasizes. They often see themselves as resourceful individuals who are doing what they need to survive in difficult circumstances.” . . .
Berlatsky writes for Prostasia that there’s an issue with the term “trafficking” itself, saying that it “conflates underage people trading sex, consensual sex work, immigration, and all kinds of labor exploitation in all industries.” He claims that to use the word trafficking for child sex trafficking is a “deliberately obfuscating term which is basically designed to target sex workers rather than labor exploitation.”

Again, we must make an important distinction. On the one hand, there may be legitimate concerns about some of the issues Berlatsky is addressing; on the other hand, who in their right mind would go to work for an organization as creepy as the Prostasia Foundation?

Feminist Anna Slatz writes:

Prostasia sees the threat pedophiles pose to children as a bogeyman dreamed up by the alt-right, while condemning anti-pedophile sentiment as harmful “Nazi-like” rhetoric which requires mass censorship across social media.
The organization’s efforts have dedicated themselves to crusades against child pornography bans, letter-writing campaigns to state representatives demanding child-likeness sex dolls be kept legal, and funding research into “fantasy sexual outlets” for pedophiles.
Once these threads quickly unravel, Prostasia’s goals and underlying purpose becomes increasingly clear. Despite its attempts to role play as a mere progressive activist organization, all of Prostasia’s goals and campaigns lead to the exact same conclusion: The total normalization and acceptance of pedophilia in wider society.

Creepy is as creepy does, and Prostasia is trying to leverage “progressive” sentiment in support of a creepy agenda. The fact that “male feminist” Noah Berlatsky is involved is the least surprising part of it.




 

c

Category: Progressivism

Rule 5 Sunday: Rebecca de Mornay

Posted on | August 30, 2021 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Rebecca de Mornay

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Most people remember Rebecca de Mornay from Risky Business, but to me, she’ll always be the treacherous Lady de Winter from The Three Musketeers. Here she is discussing something with her eeeevil boss, Cardinal Richelieu, played to the hilt by Tim Curry.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1456, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. 

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Freedom Of Association Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Rolling Stones (and sundry wives/groupies), “Summer Romance”, “Rip Her To Shreds”, Emerald Robinson, “Sweet Summer Sun”, Beloe Zlato, Bananarama, The Miniaturist, and Rule 5 MAGA.

A View From The Beach: Chasty Ballesteros, Fish Pic Friday – Gracee Ireland, Gone Fishin’, Thursday Tanlines, Oregon, My Oregon, Wednesday Wetness, Saving Light, New Striper Regs Succeed in Cutting Catch, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Palm Sunday, They is Nuts and Rules are for the Little People

Brian Noggle: Summer Musical Balance Update

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

 

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Ricochet

Posted on | August 29, 2021 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Ricochet

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Some women are never happy.

Rule 5 Sunday: One From The Vaults
Animal Magnetism
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

‘Gosh, I Wonder Why Hunter Biden Is Such a Hopeless Basket Case of Failure?’
Bacon Time
Dark Brightness
EBL
357 Magnum



FMJRA 2.0: Welcome To Planet Motherf***er
A View From The Beach
EBL

In The Mailbox: 08.23.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

Biden Turns His Back on America
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.24.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

R.I.P., Charlie Watts
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.25.21
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

The Woman Who Killed #NeverTrump
EBL

Coming This Fall: ‘That 70s Show 2.0’
EBL
357 Magnum

BIDEN LIED, AMERICANS DIED
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 08.26.21
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

Biden’s Bagram Bungle
EBL
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 08.27.21
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
Proof Positive

Top linkers for the week ending August 27:

  1.  EBL (14)
  2.  347 Magnum (11)
  3.  A View From The Beach (8)
  4.  Proof Positive (7)

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Category: FMJRA Award

College Softball Lesbian Sex Scandal!

Posted on | August 28, 2021 | Comments Off on College Softball Lesbian Sex Scandal!

C.J. Browder and Katie Rietkovich were softball teammates in college, and also teammates off the field, as the two lesbian softball players got married in December 2019. C.J. had been an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, while Katie got a job as assistant coach at Ole Miss.

This was not a scandal. Everybody in college sports knows that “varsity softball” is a synonym for lesbian. There may be heterosexual women playing Division I softball somewhere, but I’ve never heard of one. Despite the notorious prevalence of homosexuality in women’s varsity athletics, however, you don’t expect to see this kind of story:

Members from Ole Miss’ softball coaching staff are under a Title IX investigation after complaints were filed against assistant Katie Rietkovich Browder for her involvement in a sexual misconduct case involving two players from the team. The team’s head coach, Jamie Trachsel, has also been cited in the report for knowing of the situation, but remaining silent on the misconduct from Browder. . . .
Browder’s sexual misconduct was detailed as the assistant coach being romantically involved with a student-athlete on the team, who was concurrently dating a teammate on the Rebels’ softball squad. Texts sent by Browder were discovered by the partner, alerting her of the affair going on between her girlfriend and coach. The events took place in July.
Once coaches got involved in the case, the two student-athletes were reportedly bribed with “scholarship money” to keep the story under wraps.
“Based on these new allegations, Head Coach Jamie Trachsel has now violated NCAA Bylaw for Unethical Conduct and the Conduct of Athletic Personal Responsibility of the Head Coach,” states the letter to [Ole Miss athletic director Keith] Carter. . . .
The two coaches under investigation were also cited for strange declarations in their time at Ole Miss after making subtle political commentary regarding conservative-minded players on the team.
“If my wife or other people in my family voted for Trump then all they would be doing is hurting me,” said asst. coach Browder, during a Zoom call with Ole Miss officials.

The lesbian coach who molested one of her players hates Trump? I’m shocked, but what’s even more shocking is the suggestion that there could be “conservative-minded players” — Trump voters? perhaps even heterosexuals? — on a Division I varsity softball team.

But of course, it’s impossible to confirm such a far-fetched rumor.

UPDATE: Of course, the Daily Mail is on the story — the British press loves lesbian sex scandals as much as I do — but still no confirmation that there may be heterosexual players on the Ole Miss team.




 

Category: Gays, Mississippi, Sports

Atrocity Narrative in Action, or Why Is @BenMakuch Obsessed With Neo-Nazis?

Posted on | August 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Atrocity Narrative in Action, or Why Is @BenMakuch Obsessed With Neo-Nazis?

Everybody was enraged Thursday when Vice published an article by Ben Makuch entitled “Why Are So Many Marines Neo-Nazis?” This on the same day 12 Marines and a Navy corpsman were killed in Kabul.

The outpouring of indignation from conservatives overlooked the really important issue: Why is Ben Makuch obsessed with neo-Nazis?

A sampling of Makuch’s recent articles at Vice illustrates the point:

Neo-Nazi Leader Gets Prison
for Disturbing Threats Against Journalists
— Aug. 25

Infamous Capitol Hill Attacker Was Allegedly
Posting Inside Neo-Nazi Chatroom
— Aug. 24

Unmasking ‘Dark Foreigner’: The Artist
Who Fueled a Neo-Nazi Terror Movement
— July 8

Ex-Marine and Neo-Nazi Told Followers How
to Shoot Truckers to Dismantle Supply Chain
— June 22

Ex-Canadian Soldier Linked to Neo-Nazi
Terror Plot Pleads Guilty in US
— June 10

Mass Shooting Plotter Is Allegedly
Sending Prison Letters to Influential
Neo-Nazi and Is Calling for Violence
— May 26

Neo-Nazi Group The Base Is Recruiting
Again, Despite FBI Takedown
— May 20

This list could be extended almost indefinitely, but you see the point — Ben Makuch is basically a one-man SPLC on the Vice payroll, writing multiple articles monthly about the neo-Nazi menace. Let us stipulate (a) all of the people Makuch is writing about are reprehensible, and (b) their activities are newsworthy. But how much of a menace are they, actually?

In terms of statistical probability, are your chances of being killed by a neo-Nazi greater than being hit by a bolt of lightning? According to the National Weather Service, “Lightning kills an average of 49 people each year in the United States and hundreds more are injured.”

In other words, if neo-Nazis aren’t killing 50 people a year, you’re more likely to be killed by a lightning strike, but the relative rarity of murders committed by neo-Nazis is irrelevant to Ben Makuch’s purpose in publicizing the activities of such people, namely politics.

Saturation coverage of neo-Nazis functions as a guilt-by-association smear against right-wingers in general. This guy over here with the Nazi tattoos, spewing hate against Jews in some Internet forum? Why, he’s just like you, the suburban Republican voter. Both of you are “right wing” and therefore, dangerous. Such is the underlying theme developed by Ben Makuch and others like him who spend their time “unmasking” or “exposing” various “right-wing extremists” on the Internet. Let there be no doubt, of course, that some of these characters are actually dangerous, and the online audience for neo-Nazi sentiments is almost certainly numbered in the hundreds of thousands, at least.

So while I would not wish to dismiss the real danger posed by violent extremists, or deny the possibility that online forums could have a radicalizing effect, it is nevertheless the case that the actual threat is not as great as Ben Makuch’s reporting would imply. Permit me here to quote a CNN report from May:

A newly released government report on domestic violent extremism warns lone wolf attackers with easily accessible weapons present the greatest terrorism threat to the U.S. and the number of people dying at the hands of racially motivated extremists every year is on the rise since 2017.
The joint report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security shows 2019 was “the most lethal year” for domestic violent extremist attacks since 1995 — with 32 people killed, 24 of them by white supremacists. The report focuses on data from 2017-2019.
“In 2019, the FBI and DHS assessed RMVEs (Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists), primarily those advocating for the superiority of the white race, likely would continue to be the most lethal DVE threat to the Homeland,” the report said. “Our agencies had high confidence in this assessment based on the demonstrated capability of RMVEs in 2019 to select weapons and targets to conduct attacks, and the effectiveness of online RMVE messaging calling for increased violence.”
There were 57 domestic terrorism-related deaths between 2017 and 2019, the data shows, 47 of them racially motivated, mostly by white supremacists.

You can read the full FBI/DHS report and see for yourself. The point is that in “the most lethal year” of 2019, the number of people killed by white supremacists in the United States was 24 — about half the number of Americans killed by lightning strikes in an average year.

In other words, neo-Nazi violence is statistically rare, and Ben Makuch’s obsessive coverage of neo-Nazis is therefore an example of what I have called the “Atrocity Narrative” method of propaganda:

Find some particularly heinous type of crime, which is actually rare, then call attention to it as a trend — a “growing problem,” an “epidemic”!
People having sex with dogs, for example. If the producers at CNN decided to report every time someone in America was arrested on bestiality charges, we’d probably have a federal dog-sex prevention task force by now. . . .
In a nation of more than 320 million people, incidents that are statistically rare (i.e., less than 1% frequency) will occur quite commonly. For example, there are about 250 million adults (18 and older) in America and, if lesbians are 2% of the population, that means there are 5 million lesbians. If only 1% of those lesbians are pedophiles, that means there are 50,000 lesbian pedophiles in America. Well, if some national news organization decided to carefully scrutinize reports from around the country, compiling a list of every case in which a woman is arrested for molesting a girl, how easily could a daily drumbeat of media coverage generate a climate of paranoid witch-hunt hysteria?
Keep in mind, as you contemplate this hypothetical, that an irresponsible tabloid editor could gin up such a frenzy despite the fact that (a) far more than 90% of women are heterosexual, and (b) only a tiny minority of lesbians are pedophiles. Yet it would still be possible to generate lurid headlines on an almost daily basis, thus making these highly anomalous crimes seem as if they were commonplace.

I first became aware of this phenomenon — excessive coverage of unusual crimes — during the 2014 “campus rape epidemic” hysteria that inspired the gang-rape hoax at the University of Virginia. Data demonstrated that, contrary to the media hype, female college students were less likely to be raped than women in the same age group who did not attend college. Campus activists, however, were engaged in a propaganda campaign to make it seem as if sexual assault had reached “epidemic” proportions among students, and the media engaged in uncritical hype of these claims, which led directly to the Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at a UVA fraternity which turned out to be entirely fictitious.

Returning to Ben Makuch’s hype of the neo-Nazi threat in the Marine Corps, what are we looking at? Well, there are about 180,000 active-duty Marines, and if only 1% are neo-Nazis, that would translate to 1,800 neo-Nazis in the ranks. Out of such a number, it would probably not be difficult for a diligent investigator to identify three or four Marines engaged in online neo-Nazi activity every month. So that’s three stories about neo-Nazi Marines in May, four stories in June, three stories in July, and so forth. This means that a journalist like Ben Makuch, who has devoted himself to “exposing” such cases, is never going to run out of material for articles about the “extremist” threat in the U.S. armed forces, even if 99% of the troops have no involvement in neo-Nazi activity.

Ben Makuch takes advantage of a readership that is not willing to do the kind of critical thinking necessary to put this in perspective. In 2019, there were about 19,000 homicides in the United States. According to the FBI/DHS report, 24 of those were committed by white supremacists, or barely 1/8th of 1% (0.126%, to be more exact). Or to put it another way, if you got murdered in 2019, there was a 99.8% chance that the person who killed you was not a white supremacist, which perhaps will be of some comfort to your family. So far in Chicago this year — as of 10 a.m. ET Saturday — 518 people had been shot to death. That’s more than 20 times larger than the total number of people killed by white supremacist violence in 2019. Which is more dangerous: Chicago or neo-Nazis? The answer is obvious, unless you’re Ben Makuch.

And why is he ignoring the really important news?

Florida veterinarian, 40, pleads guilty
to sexually abusing dogs in his care,
possession of more than 1,600 files
of child porn and making
‘crush videos’ where he tortured
and trampled small animals to death

Is the dog-rape epidemic being covered up by the media? Somewhere on the Internet, a conspiracy theorist is probably blaming the Jews.




 

Category: Media Bias, Military
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