N.Y. Times Doxxes Scott Alexander Because They Hate Free Speech

Posted on | February 14, 2021 | Comments Off on N.Y. Times Doxxes Scott Alexander Because They Hate Free Speech

Once upon a time — young people may imagine that I’m speaking of an antique, mythical era — liberals believed in the First Amendment.

Or at least, that’s what liberals said at the time.

Liberals once insisted that the First Amendment protected everything from the right of Communists to teach in public schools to the right of pornographers to produce films of women getting gang-raped. If you wanted to burn the flag? Cool — the First Amendment protected that “free speech,” too, according to liberals.

Liberals are still in favor of Communism, flag-burning and pornography (some things never change), but the kind of First Amendment absolutism that once characterized liberalism (e.g., the ACLU insisting Nazis had a right to march through Jewish neighborhoods) is long gone.

Destroying anonymity on the Internet for bloggers who stray outside the prescribed lines of acceptable opinion was a project undertaken last year by Cade Metz of the New York Times when he decided to dox the proprietor of Slate Star Codex (SSC). When Metz contacted the (inarguably brilliant) blogger known as Scott Alexander, the SSC proprietor immediately shuttered the blog and put up a post explaining what the New York Times was doing, i.e., trying to destroy his private life in order to punish him for allowing free discussion on his site.

Why? Because Slate Star Codex had become influential among certain computer geeks and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

See, that’s the thing about Internet anonymity — you can create a blog or a Twitter account using a pseudonym to say whatever you want, and this probably won’t get you in trouble unless you are so good at it that you attract a following and having real influence on public opinion, in a way disapproved by the liberal Thought Police. People like Oliver Darcy of CNN work more or less full-time to dox conservatives, and this is to say nothing of the SPLC’s massive research staff, which specializes in what Laird Wilcox called the “links-and-ties” smear method.

After briefly summarizing some of the distortions in the New York Times attack on him, Scott Alexander says:

They further presented a more general case that I am six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon-style linked to right-wing / pro-Trump figures in Silicon Valley like Peter Thiel. This is true — I can think of a friend of mine who also knows Peter Thiel. In fact, I met Peter Thiel once, kind of unexpectedly, at a party, long before Trump was in the news, and exchanged about two sentences of conversation with him (I don’t think he had the slightest idea who I was, nor was there any reason he should have). I have never personally met the other right-wing figures named in the article. I wrote a 30,000 word condemnation of one of them on my blog a few years ago, and we have since had some email exchanges about to what degree this was unfair. I received a sympathetic email from another of them about the Times article. Others I have had literally no contact with. Again, it would not surprise me if I was a few degrees of social separation from some of these people. I don’t feel like this means I have done anything wrong, and I assume most people are a few degrees of social separation away from a Republican or Trump supporter. I myself am a Democrat, voted Warren (IIRC) in the primary, and Biden in the general.

This “six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon” game of trying to portray someone as connected to people with whom they have no actual connection is, really, the essence of what the Left calls “McCarthyism.” The thing is, Joe McCarthy was fundamentally correct about Communist infiltration of the U.S. government, as M. Stanton Evans demonstrated. So it has never been my habit to accuse liberals of “McCarthyism,” which would wrongly imply my disapproval of Senator McCarthy. But I digress . . .

What is so wrongheaded about the “links-and-ties” smear is the way it attempts to blame people for things they didn’t say or do, because of their “association” (however casual) with others. For example, I first met Kevin DeAnna back around 2007 when he was a Leadership Institute staffer, and often showed up at libertarian events in D.C. At the time, there was a general disgust among right-wingers with the failures of the Bush administration, failures that were blamed on “neoconservatives,” and the organizational focus for many of those activists was the GOP presidential campaign of Ron Paul. I knew Kevin and, because the Thought Police had identified me as a dangerous Wrongthinker, there was a certain natural friendship. We’d see each other at events and chat briefly, but I honestly had no idea what Kevin was up to behind the scenes.

Then a couple of years ago, Kevin’s ex-girlfriend, Katie McHugh (someone I met a few times at CPAC) decided she was a liberal and started dumping emails and everything else into the lap of the SPLC, and I was like, “Whoa!” Kevin had gone off into some really crazy neo-Odinist pagan thing called “Wolves of Vinland,” among much else. The point of this long digression is that if Kevin Deanna had sought my advice, certainly I would have counseled against what he did, and yet my “association” with him could be used by dishonest smear artists to imply that I was somehow complicit in all Kevin’s ill-advised adventures.

This is what the New York Times is doing to Scott Alexander. Slate Star Codex became a hub for the so-called “Rationalist” community, some members of which are skeptical about the mindless “diversity is our strength” nonsense spewed by Social Justice Warriors (SJWs). Despite the fact that Scott had specifically condemned the self-declared “reactionary” faction of Rationalist community (e.g., Mencius Moldbug and Michael Anissimov), the Times nonetheless tries to depict Scott as sympathetic to (or at least, tolerant of) reactionary Rationalism.

This is not merely false, but completely dishonest.

It’s even more dishonest than if the SPLC tried to claim I was down for Kevin DeAnna’s “Wolves of Vinland” agenda, because while at least DeAnna I are both generally right-wing, Scott Alexander is a liberal who voted for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 primaries. The main difference between Scott Alexander and the New York Times is that Scott believes “Reactionary” ideas are best countered by free discussion, whereas the New York Times is pursuing a Stalinist agenda of silencing dissent.

Here’s the thing: If your political beliefs cannot withstand criticism — if open discussion is an existential threat to your ideology — you cannot solve this problem by attempting to silence your critics. You can send a Solzhenitsyn to the gulag, but truth always ultimately wins.

Liberals seem determined to learn this lesson the hard way. “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”

More at Instapundit.

UPDATE: I’m waiting for Ed Driscoll to declare that WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH MATTHEW YGLESIAS IS A VOICE OF SANITY, but in the meantime, I’ll quote Yglesias observing that the New York Times article “is structured as a kind of syllogism”:

Scott Alexander’s blog is popular with some influential Silicon Valley people.
Scott Alexander has done posts that espouse views on race or gender that progressives disapprove of.
THEREFORE, Silicon Valley is a hotbed of racism and sexism.

This is “specious,” as Yglesias says. What is really going on here? Perhaps it’s that Cade Metz, an old white guy who works for an organization where old white guys are now routinely getting purged by newsroom mobs of “woke” young staffers, feels that it is unfair for someone like Scott Alexander to be able to write without fear of SJW reprisal.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

In the comments over there, a troll is calling me — me! — a “cuckservative”! It’s not just the ignorance of this insult that disturbs me, but the ingratitude. There are people who actually know what harms I’ve suffered for daring to hold the right flank, as it were, for 20 years, and I would expect them to defend my honor, so that it would never be necessary for me to speak in my own defense. Who was it, after all, who finally flushed LGF’s Charles Johnson out into the open, huh? For that feat alone, you might suppose people would be eternally grateful to me, but I suppose one ought not expect gratitude in politics.

Category: New York Times

Impeachment 2.0 Farce Is Over

Posted on | February 13, 2021 | Comments Off on Impeachment 2.0 Farce Is Over

The Democrats spent the past week staging a Stalinist show trial in the Senate, which came to a predictable end today, when they failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority for conviction. Our President — you know, the guy who actually won the election — issued this statement:

This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few months ago.
I also want to convey my gratitude to the millions of decent, hardworking, law-abiding, God-and-Country loving citizens who have bravely supported these important principles in these very difficult and challenging times.
Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!
We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future.
Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
We remain one People, one family, one glorious nation under God, and it’s our responsibility to preserve this magnificent inheritance for our children and for generations of Americans to come.
May God bless all of you, and may God forever bless the United States of America.

Here is a fact that should not be forgotten: 61% of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen, and a majority of Americans don’t believe anyone should be punished for saying they believe it was stolen. What Democrats were doing in this impeachment was an attempt to criminalize dissent, to make it a “high crime and misdemeanor” for President Trump to say what most Republicans believe. If it’s “inciting insurrection” to say Democrats stole the election for Biden, then they’re going to have to put a lot of us in prison. And they might as well start with me.

Category: Donald Trump, Senate

The Lincoln Project Implodes

Posted on | February 13, 2021 | Comments Off on The Lincoln Project Implodes

Once the “useful idiots” of #NeverTrump were no longer useful to their Establishment benefactors — once Trump was vanquished, and the rationale of #NeverTrump was over — suddenly the “open secret” of John Weaver’s predatory homosexual behavior became newsworthy.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Everything is now collapsing in #NeverTrump land, where the real scandal was how the founders used the reported $90 million they collected as their own personal piggy bank, paying their own consulting firms far more than was ever spent on actual campaign operations.

The exit of creepy Steve Schmidt from the Lincoln Project was particularly weird. Schmidt has always exuded an aura of sadism, as if he were restraining an urge to inflict violence on others. During his numerous appearances on MSNBC, Schmidt’s unblinking emotionless stare — his “flat affect,” as a psychologist would say — seemed either a tough-guy pose calculated to intimidate others or, if genuine, the mannerisms of a cold-blooded killer. Steve Schmidt struck me as a man thoroughly convinced of his own inherent righteousness, and such personalities are dangerous. The apparent absence of self-doubt, a lack of awareness of one’s own flaws and weaknesses, is always a troubling trait.

From the Wikipedia entry on Schmidt:

Schmidt voiced his support for gay rights at a meeting of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group. He said: “I just wanted to take a second to come by and pay my respect and the campaign’s respect to your organization and to your group. Your organization is an important one in the fabric of our party.”
Schmidt said about his lesbian sister and her life partner: “On a personal level, my sister and her partner are an important part of my life and our children’s life. I admire your group and your organization and I encourage you to keep fighting for what you believe in because the day is going to come.”

This is rather interesting, and perhaps relevant, now that Schmidt has made his Lincoln Project exit by telling a tale of being molested at summer camp and, bizarrely, announcing his conversion to Judaism.

And people said I was crazy?

Schmidt went from being de facto manager of a Republican presidential campaign at age 38 to being an ex-Republican pariah at age 50 and yet seems to think he can still count this in the “win” column by (a) telling his adolescent summer-camp story and (b) playing the Jew card.

See, if you criticize Schmidt — an ex-Catholic gentile — now he can turn around and accuse you of anti-Semitism. “Political strategist”!

Ed Driscoll has a rundown of the rats fleeing the Lincoln Project’s sinking ship, and I commend this brief summary from Professor Reynolds:

Remember, the Lincoln Project was supposedly a bastion of decency fighting against the depraved Donald Trump. Also, as with Harvey Weinstein, everyone knew and everyone kept quiet until the usefulness of keeping quiet ended. Because decency!

“Heh,” indeed.

From @politico, a headline that has been coming a long time: 'The Lincoln Project implodes amid infighting and scandal.' https://t.co/Yc6avMYOQR

— Byron York (@ByronYork) February 13, 2021

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! My colleagues John Hoge, Dianna Deeley and I discussed this (and much other news of the week) Saturday night on The Other Podcast.

Category: Republicans, Scandal

In The Mailbox: 02.12.21

Posted on | February 13, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 02.12.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

First peak of tax season is over, so I should be able to return to a somewhat normal schedule of posting these. Usual deadlines for the usual weekend linkagery.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

The $64,000 question.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Security Is Never a Priority, also, A Heavy Metal Fairy Tale
EBL: Gina Carano, also, Immigration Up, Wages Headed Down
Twitchy: Rats Are Jumping Ship! also, Story The Lincoln Project Tried To Kill BY Releasing Jennifer Horns’ DMs Drops And HOLY COW
Louder With Crowder: Gina Carano Strikes Back, also, Andrew Cuomo Lied About COVID Numbers
Vox Popoli: Never Trust A Male Feminist, also, Amazon Shows Its Allegiance
According To Hoyt: The Left & The MIrror
Stoic Observations: On The Proper Failure Of America

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Lesbians Don’t Exist
American Conservative: Use All Necessary Tools To Rein In Big Tech, also, Inside A Dead-On-Arrival Impeachment
American Greatness: Raphael Warnock Under Investigation In Georgia For Election Law Violations, also, The World Goes On While America Sleeps
American Power: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Prey
American Thinker: Biden’s Misery Index, also, The American Police State – No Questions Allowed
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Socialism Success Stories News, also, Rule Five Animal Farm Friday
Babalu Blog: Cuba’s Endless Struggle For A Glass Of Milk, also, Cubans Suffer Through Water Shortage While Battling A Raging Pandemic
BattleSwarm: Se7en, also, LinkSwarm For February 12
Beyond The Black: Today’s Blacklisted Americans, also, Josh Tanner – Decommissioned
Cafe Hayek: Is Economic Theory Worthless? also, “This Is The Most Politicized Disease In History”
CDR Salamander: Sleepwalking Into Decline, also, Fullbore Friday
Da Tech Guy: Reality Doesn’t Care – Under The Fedora, also, The Left Would LOVE President Trump On Social Media Right Now
Don Surber: Twitter Stands Up For Free Speech – In India, also, Nikki, They Still Hate You & Want You To Die
First Street Journal: MA Bureaucrat Who Said “We Must Break The Will” Of Citizens Resigns, also, Bad Causes Attract Bad People
The Geller Report: Democrats Appoint Ilhan Omar (D-Jihad) To Leadership Post On Foreign Affairs Committee, also, Nikki Haley Criticizes Trump, Says He Has No Future In GOP
Hogewash: Sound & Fury, CZ Buys Colt, and Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Hollywood Sold Its Soul To Red China – Now What? also, Disney & Journalists Don’t Care If You Call Out Their Glaring Hypocrisy
The Lid: Biden Builds Tent Cities For Illegals While Putting Energy Sector Workers Out Of Jobs
Legal Insurrection: Recall Newsom Petition Hit Required 1.5 Million Mark, also, Parler Vindicated – Facebook Was Most Used Social Media By Capitol Rioters
Michelle Malkin: Maxine Waters, Racial Insurrectionist
Nebraska Energy Observer: I Have To, also, Men Of Freedom
Power Line: Remembering Mr. Lincoln, also, Wind & Solar Energy Don’t Work
Shark Tank: Wasserman-Schultz Lies About Trump Supporters
Shot In The Dark: I Tried, also, Of Consequence
The Political Hat: Making Animals With Super-Brains Means One Thing – The Age Of Clever Catgirls Draws Near
This Ain’t Hell: Mutiny On The High Seas II, also, Air Force Concerned Atoll Might Sink
Transterrestrial Musings: Starship Upgrades, also, Being Patronized By Our Inferiors
Victory Girls: Psaki Circles Back To School Opening Goalposts
Volokh Conspiracy: Redefining Anti-Semitism In The Gina Carano Controversy, Or Just Sloppy Reporting?
Weasel Zippers: Dems Include Money For Abortion Providers In COVID Bill, also, Oakland Now Has Gangs Of Asian Teenagers Patrolling The Streets To Fight Crime
The Federalist: Trump Legal Team Obliterates Democrats’ Case With Videos Of Their Violent Rhetoric, also, Five Times Joe Biden Openly Urged Violence Against Political Opponents
Mark Steyn: Rwanda On The Potomac, also, Cuomo’s Blood-Soaked Coverup

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 02.11.21 (Morning Edition)

Posted on | February 11, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 02.11.21 (Morning Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

this morning’s status

OVER THE TRANSOM
90 Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1259
357 Magnum: Replacing Police With Social Workers, Epic Fail Edition
EBL: Mary Wilson, RIP
Twitchy: #CancelDisneyPlus Trending After Lucasfilm Gives Gina Carano The Boot
Louder With Crowder: David Hogg Pillow Update – The Pillow Has A Name, And It’s Stupid
Vox Popoli: The End Of Instapundit, also, The Books On Boomers
Monster Hunter Nation: The Culture War Is Coming For You Whether You Like It Or Not

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Danger Of Having A Catholic President
American Greatness: Don’t Be The First To Stop Clapping
American Power: Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Orders Team To Stop Playing National Anthem & Nobody Noticed
American Thinker: Beating Democrat Electoral Corruption
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Dissident Rapper Maykel Osorbo Dedicates Song To Minister Of Culture, Arbitrarily Arrested By State Security
BattleSwarm: Biden’s CIA Pick Runs Think Tank Filthy With ChiCom Money, also, Immodest Proposal – Tax The Homeless
Behind The Black: The Lie That Was COVID, also, Red China’s Tianwen-1 Enters Mars Orbit
Cafe Hayek: Am I A Guinea Pig In An Evil Scientist’s Experiment?
CDR Salamander: The New Way of War Is The Old Way of War
Da Tech Guy: Report From Louisiana – Loose Thoughts, also, Boomers Are In Trouble
Don Surber: Democrats Improve On Reichstag Fire
First Street Journal: He’s Out Of Office Now, But TDS Still Rules The Minds Of So Many, also, Remember How The Teachers’ Unions Acted The Next Time They Play The “For The Children!” Card When Looking For More Money
Fred On Everything:
The Geller Report: Nauseatingly Politicized Super Bowl Generates Worst Ratings Since 1969
Hogewash: Hoax de l’Annee, also, Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Run Hide Fight Director Shares Film’s Amazing Journey, also, Why Free Lunch Express Doesn’t Give Bernie The Baldwin-Trump Treatment
The Lid: Why Did Joe Biden Reverse Trump’s Order Banning Chicom Propaganda In Schools?
Legal Insurrection: Fourteen State AGs Tell Biden They’re Reviewing Legal Options Over Keystone XL Pipeline, also, Judge Nixes LA County DA’s Questionable Directives & Criminal Justice “Reforms”
Nebraska Energy Observer: Shrug… also, Press On – An American Story
Power Line: Coronavirus In One State (153)
Shark Tank: DeSantis Announces Florida Retail Pharmacy Program
Shot In The Dark: Poster Child
The Political Hat: Woke Gender In Education – Inclusive Curriculum, Compelled Speech, Financially Punishing “H8rz”
This Ain’t Hell: Mutiny On The High Seas, also, Medal Of Honor Winner Gets Ship Named After Him
Transterrestrial Musings: The Election, also, The “Elites”
Victory Girls: Stimulus Package On Hold While Impeachmentpalooza Continues
Volokh Conspiracy: Did Police Play Copyrighted Music To Prevent Video Streaming Of Citizen Interactions?
Weasel Zippers: Mitch McConnell Urging GOP Senators To Convict Trump? also, Aunt Jemima Has A New Name And It Sucks
The Federalist: Africans Plead With Joe Biden To Stop Paying Their Countries To Kill Children, also, NYT’s Glenn Thrush Lies About Sen. Lee’s Choice To Put Charity Above Politics
Mark Steyn: Edelweiss, also, Tal Bachman – A Quick Post-Mortem

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Category: Linkagery

‘Fame Whore’ Update: Hurry Up, Guys, Julia Allison Is Available Again

Posted on | February 11, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘Fame Whore’ Update: Hurry Up, Guys, Julia Allison Is Available Again

Julia Baugher, a/k/a Julia Allison, in a 2012 interview.

“Young women who believe they can whore their way into a committed, long term relationship with top quality men have mental health issues.”
— from a recent Reddit thread about Julia Allison

Readers may remember Julia Baugher, a/k/a Julia Allison, the erstwhile Internet celebrity who tried to make Sex in the City her guide to the happy life, only to suffer shame and heartbreak as a consequence. At one point in 2010, she was publicly recognized as the girlfriend of John Sidney “Jack,” McCain IV, son of the Arizona senator and then a 25-year-old Navy pilot, but like all of Julia’s relationships, that ended badly. About six months into their affair, after she had moved into Jack’s apartment, Julia was reportedly evicted by Jack’s mother.

In 2014, Julia “married herself” at the Burning Man festival and, falling head-first into the whole “alternative” culture, began dating a New Age hippie musician who called himself “Rain PhuturePrimitive.” That ended in 2017 when he decided he was into “polyamory,” and in 2018, Julia had an epiphany and decided it was time to settle down with a “reasonable choice” — a relationship which a few months later predictably went down in flames like the Hindenburg at Lakehurst.

“File it and forget it” is my usual modus operandi, and I hadn’t given any thought to checking up on Julia Allison for more than two years until Tuesday, when I noticed some incoming traffic from a Reddit thread, reporting that Julia had been dumped — again! — and was now back on the dating market at age 39. Unfortunately, the anti-Julia hate site “RebloggingDonk” has disappeared, so there is no longer an online clearinghouse for gossip about the erstwhile relationship-advice columnist. According to a tipster, however, what happened was this: Julia had been dating a doctor in the San Francisco area, who shall remain nameless. She used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to move in with him, but after a few months of her craziness, he kicked her out.

Allegedly, I hasten to add. Julia’s father is a lawyer who has been known to threaten lawsuits, and it is therefore my obligation to emphasize that this is just “sources say,” as unverified as anything a D.C. journalist reports from anonymous “White House officials.” However, a quick glance at her Instagram account reveals that Julia is now in Bali, and has apparently deleted all posts about her previous relationship.

Did you know that Julia Baugher once published a 73-point checklist of conditions for any guy who wanted to date her? A digital copy of the complete list has been archived at Reddit, and you have to marvel at the lack of self-awareness of a woman who begins her list by stating that a man must love her “unconditionally,” then sets out 72 conditions necessary for her to reciprocate his love. Meanwhile . . .

Speaking of updates, you are simply not going to believe this one. Do you remember Kaitlyn Hunt, the teenage Florida lesbian who briefly became a gay-rights cause célèbre in 2013 after she was charged with illegally having sex with a 15-year-old? What made that story so fascinating was not necessarily Kaitlyn’s legal problems — what part of “take the plea bargain” is so hard to understand? — but rather the deranged behavior of the online #FreeKate cult that sprang up around the case.

Indian River County Jail inmate Kaitlyn Hunt in November 2013

It was, really, not much different from most other statutory rape cases, except that Kaitlyn and her deranged supporters seemed to believe they could pressure prosecutors to drop the charges by accusing them of “homophobia.” The problem with that belief, however, is that such a precedent would have rendered Florida’s age-of-consent laws effectively null and void. If the people of Florida really wanted to declare 15-year-olds “fair game,” they could lobby their legislature to change the law, but the #FreeKate lunatics thought they could turn Kaitlyn into a civil-rights hero for underage homosexuality. There were several obvious problems with this belief, including the fact that Kaitlyn was sending sexual videos of herself to her underage girlfriend, providing prosecutors with digital evidence that could not be ignored. When all was said and done, Kaitlyn spent Thanksgiving 2013 in the Indian River County Jail. She was eventually sentenced to three years probation. She then married an older lesbian named Latisha Thomas, with whom she had a son, reportedly conceived by artificial insemination. Well, guess what?

1. Kaitlyn and Latisha broke up;
2. Last year, Kaitlyn announced she was engaged again;
3. And also, pregnant;
4. She recently gave birth;
and
5. She’s actually in a relationship with . . . a man!

How she boomeranged around into heterosexuality is, I’m sure, a very interesting story. When a tipster informed me of this development, I could scarcely believe it, and asked if there were some online evidence. Now that I’ve actually seen the photos, I believe it, even though I find it impossible to understand. How does someone go from being a lesbian cause célèbre at 19 to being a heterosexual housewife at 27?

Is there a moral to this strange tale? Well, I guess if you’re a guy looking to settle down, you’ll have better luck with a lonely lesbian than you would with Julia Allison. But your mileage may vary.

Category: Celebrities, Kaitlyn Hunt

The Question of Motive

Posted on | February 11, 2021 | Comments Off on The Question of Motive

Ryan Williams, president of the Claremont Institute, examines the motives of Republicans who support impeachment 2.0:

They hope this impeachment will cast Trump into the outer darkness and they can get back to normal politics. But a dishonest traditional media, aided and abetted by social media giants acting as the elect arbiters of “true” political information, has helped our political establishment maneuver America into an intractable position on impeachment. North of 40% of actual American voters consider the forces arrayed against Trump as fundamentally dishonest. Trust and respect, once lost, are hard to recover. The elite simply has no reputational capital in reserve to conduct a serious political exile of a president who just received 74+ million votes.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.) Trump never could have been elected in 2016 if the “normal politics” of the GOP did not yield such abysmal failures as, e.g., the hopelessly doomed 2008 John McCain presidential campaign and the misguided House speakership of Paul Ryan. And it must be said that many “conservative” pundits failed to appreciate the potential for a populist uprising against the GOP Establishment. Trump elicited support from people who never would have voted for any of the Republican candidates preferred by the establishment. These were voters who were sick and tired of being sick and tired, and whatever else you say about Trump, you must give him credit for inspiring hope in Americans who had lost hope in the political system. As easy as it is to recite Trump’s flaws, what he represented to disillusioned voters was a willingness to fight back against the decadent elite of both parties.

Establishment Republicans hate Trump because he spoiled their polite little clubhouse, where insiders got money and power by doing the bidding of their corporate donors. A return to “normal politics” is only possible for the GOP Establishment if they purge Trump — which will also mean, necessarily, telling his 74 million voters to go away. But how can politicians get money and power without votes? That’s the real puzzle, but these “Never Trump” Republicans don’t seem to care. They would rather be part of a permanent minority than to let those rowdy populists have any influence inside the “Big Tent.”