FMJRA 2.0: Dance To The Plastic Beat

Donald Thurman is a 26-year-old Chicago man who has been charged in the murder and sexual assault of University of Illinois at Chicago student Ruth George. The 19-year-old UIC student was raped and strangled in her own car in a university parking garage, police said.
Thurman followed George into the garage and then sexually assaulted and killed George because he was angry that she ignored his catcalls, prosecutors said in court, according to The Associated Press.
Thurman was taken into custody not long after George was found dead on Saturday, November 23. UIC Police identified Thurman as the suspect in a press release on November 25 after charges were filed.
Thurman was charged with first-degree murder and criminal sexual assault, police said. “His most recent address was near the UIC campus. He has no affiliation with the University or the victim,” police said.
George was reported missing by her family [Nov. 23]. She was found by police after they tracked her location using her cell phone. George was a sophomore from Naperville, Illinois, who had been studying kinesiology at UIC, the university said. . . .
Police Chief Kevin Booker said, “The offender has a criminal record and was released from prison in December 2018 for armed robbery. He was sentenced to 6 years, but only served two and is currently on parole.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, Thurman was accused of snatching an iPhone from a woman’s hands and then fleeing in a stolen car. The incident occurred in 2016. Thurman was scheduled to remain on parole until 2021, according to state records.

Given how often feminists have expressed concern about “violence against women,” and considering how loudly feminists insist that sexual assault on university campuses is a problem deserving national attention, you might suppose that feminists would have mentioned this crime. And yet they remain strangely silent about it, for some reason.

Category: Chicago, Violence Against Women

Deranged Cyberstalker Deb Frisch Ph.D. Wins Colorado Holiday Vacation

Posted on | December 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Deranged Cyberstalker Deb Frisch Ph.D. Wins Colorado Holiday Vacation

Jeff Goldstein shared the happy news Thursday that former psychology professor Deborah Frisch had been arrested in California for violating terms of her release from the Colorado prison system. If you don’t know who Dr. Frisch is, my post from October 2018 (“Deranged Ex-Professor Deborah Frisch Sentenced to Four Years in Prison”) has the basics. You can also check the compilation of online resources here.

Her persistent pattern of criminal behavior seems to suggest that Dr. Frisch’s years of alcohol abuse have inflicted organic brain damage. Of course, I’m not a trained professional with a Ph.D., so my diagnosis of her problems is just a personal opinion. However, I do know for a fact that Crazy People Are Dangerous. Enjoy your trip to Colorado, Dr. Frisch.

Category: Crime, Protein Wisdom

In The Mailbox: 12.20.19 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | December 20, 2019 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: So What If Pete Buttigieg Likes To Hang Out In Billionaires’ Caves?
Twitchy: Ted Cruz Drops Chuck Todd’s Old Tweet Defending Comey & Steele Dossier Right On His Head
Louder With Crowder: CNN Explains Why Voters Are Moving Toward Trump & Away From Democrats
According To Hoyt: Toxic Femininity
Monster Hunter Nation: December Update Post
Vox Popoli: The Secret Federal Stasi, also, Not 4GW…Yet

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Friday Hawt Chicks & Links – The Christmas Holiday Edition
American Conservative: Impeachment Is Already Backfiring On The Democrats
American Greatness: Iowa Man Gets 17 Years For Burning LGBTQ Flag
American Power: The Queen’s Speech Introducing Boris Johnson’s Tory Government
American Thinker: The Justice Department’s High Crimes & Misdemeanors
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five UFO Kookery News
Babalu Blog: Cuban Doctor Threatened By State Security For Exposing Deplorable Hospital Conditions In Cuba
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For December 20
Cafe Hayek: Grammatically Impeccable, Technically Imprecise, & Economically Impossible
Da Tech Guy: The Democrat Debate – Thoughts Under The Fedora, also, Da Tech Guy On The Radio This Sunday Morning
Don Surber: Suddenly, Liberals Are Christian, also, Highlights of The News
The Geller Report: Jihad Reps Omar & Tlaib Make “Top Ten Antisemites” List, also, Study Says Immigration Will Dramatically Shift Electoral College In Favor Of Democrats
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, Deb Frisch – Arrested
Hollywood In Toto: It’s Official – National Lampoon 2.0 Is Woke On Steroids, also, “Appalling” Authors Punch Back Against PC Scolds
Legal Insurrection: Biden Says He’s Willing To Sacrifice Hundreds Of Thousands Of Blue Collar Workers For Green Economy, also, Yang Zings 2020 Democrats – “Stop Being Obsessed With Impeachment”
The PanAm Post: Venezuelan “Opposition” Supports International Financial Aid For Maduro Regime
Power Line: Is It Really About The Supreme Court? also, No Relief From Ilhan Omar
Shark Tank: DeSantis Says Less Expensive Canadian Rx Drugs Coming To Florida
Shot In The Dark: Slap A Layer Of “Feminism” On It
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, also, Friday FGS
Victory Girls: Cadets Cleared After Media Freaks Out Over Circle Game
Volokh Conspiracy: An Impeachment Counterfactual
Weasel Zippers: CA Gov Newsom Lashes Out At Trump For Not Helping With Homeless Crisis Democrats Created, also, New CNN Poll Shows Trump Surging, Leading In Battleground States As Economic Satisfaction Soars
Mark Steyn: Snowed Up With Horse Out, also, Home For Christmas

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 12.20.19 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | December 20, 2019 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.20.19 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
EBL: Vintage Christmas
Twitchy: Rosie Meme-Gloating Over Day 2 of Trump’s Impeachment Does NOT Go Well For Her
Louder With Crowder: J.K. Rowling Sides With Woman Fired For Saying Transwomen Aren’t Women

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Anti-Porn Crusade, or, Why The Sudden Interest In The Welfare of Straight White Men?
American Conservative: Five Most Hyperbolic Impeachment Moments
American Greatness: Durham Zeroing In On Brennan’s Role In Russia Hoax
American Power: Pelosi’s Impeachment Disaster
American Thinker: Secretary Hillary Clinton & The Deep State – A RICO Criminal Conspiracy
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Hot Peppers News
Babalu Blog: What “Universal Healthcare” Really Looks Like In Socialist Cuba
BattleSwarm: Slow News Day
Cafe Hayek: “Progressive – Not!”
CDR Salamander: DDG-1000 Is Worse Than Even I Predicted – No, It’s THAT Bad
Da Tech Guy: How Well Do You Understand The Bill Of Rights? also, Shut Down The FISA Court
Don Surber: Democrats Impeach, America Yawns
First Street Journal: Good News From New Zealand!
The Geller Report: American Airlines Mechanic With ISIS Ties Pleads Guilty To Sabotage, also, Several Dead In Terror Attack On Russian Intel Agency HQ In Moscow
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Sanctuaries
Hollywood In Toto: DVD Autopsy – Christmas With The Kranks, also, Blacklist Script Shows Barron Stopping Trump’s Presidency
JustOneMinute: Real Men (And Women!) Of Genius
Legal Insurrection: Murder Turtle Sneers – Dems “Too Afraid” To Hand Senate “Shoddy Work” On Impeachment Articles? also, Rep. Tlaib Posts Giddy Video On Her Way To Vote For Impeachment
Power Line: 90% Of Virginia’s Counties Now 2A Sanctuaries, also, Impeachment Without A Crime
Shark Tank: Radical Leftist Enviro Group, Trump Foe Continues To Side With Brian Mast
Shot In The Dark: Civics Education
The Political Hat: Twelve Posts Of Christmas (Day 8)
This Ain’t Hell: Ty Hampe – The Rest of The Story, also, Putin Opines On Trump Impeachment
Victory Girls: McConnell Roasts Impeachment In Senate Speech
Volokh Conspiracy: Crossfire Hurricane – What Went Wrong At The FBI?
Weasel Zippers: More “What The Heck Is Nancy Pelosi Saying?“, also, ABC Report – The Bipartisan Vote Was Against Impeachment
Mark Steyn: Getting A Jump On Next Decade’s Russia Investigation, also, Dog Whistling for Christmas

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Category: Linkagery

The Cargo Cult Mentality

Posted on | December 20, 2019 | Comments Off on The Cargo Cult Mentality

One of the basic mechanisms of human culture is emulation, or as my parents used to call it, “Monkey see, monkey do.” Children will tend to emulate whatever behavior they see, which is how peer pressure operates: If your teenager’s friends start acting in ways that you disapprove, you can expect your child to emulate this misbehavior, whether it involves sexual promiscuity, substance abuse or criminality: “Monkey see, monkey do.” And if parents don’t exercise discretion in terms of what their children are watching on TV (or consuming via the Internet), it’s possible that your child could be drawn into very dangerous behaviors by the same principle. This is how, for example, the transgender cult has spread among adolescents by “social contagion.” Indeed, even terrorism is spread by the process of “monkey see, monkey do” emulation, which is why violent radicals post videos of their atrocities and publish “manifestos” on the Internet, justifying their violence and urging others to take up their extremist “cause.”

To understand how emulation operates, it helps to study the so-called “cargo cults” that proliferated in the South Pacific in the 20th century:

A cargo cult is a belief system among members of a relatively undeveloped society in which adherents practice superstitious rituals hoping to bring modern goods supplied by a more technologically advanced society. These cults . . . were first described in Melanesia in the wake of contact with more technologically advanced Western cultures. The name derives from the belief which began among Melanesians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that various ritualistic acts such as the building of an airplane runway will result in the appearance of material wealth, particularly highly desirable Western goods (i.e., “cargo”), via Western airplanes.

To say that Pacific island societies were “relatively undeveloped” is a euphemism; they were primitive backward people who, when first encountered by European explorers, lived in a Neolithic stage of development far behind that of Mesopotamia in 1,500 B.C. That natives of Melanesia were at least 3,000 years behind Western civilization is simply a fact, but facts are now racism. Nevertheless, the point about cargo cult thinking is that these primitive islanders were unable to comprehend the advanced social and economic systems that produced, e.g., steam-powered ships, airplanes and the manufactured goods that the white man’s mechanical contrivances delivered. Utterly ignorant of how and why “cargo” had been produced and transported to their remote islands, the natives were understandably mystified when the arrival of “cargo” was interrupted. So they resorted to imitative rituals by which they believed the return of “cargo” might magically be reinstated.

The 21st-century American might laugh at these primitive superstitions, except that similarly ignorant “monkey see, monkey do” behaviors can be observed in our own society every day. My favorite example is the teenage boy who observes that girls are interested in athletes. The star basketball player in high school is popular with the girls, and so lower-status teenage boys — including the ones with zero athletic aptitude — will often emulate the athletic boys in terms of their attitudes, manners and clothing. This is why you see so many dorky suburban white boys wearing Nikes, NFL jerseys, etc., slouching around and speaking in a rap-influenced slang: “Wazzup, bruh?” These behavioral styles are an attempted imitation of popular black athletes. The clumsy adolescent white boy lacks the essential substance of the black athlete’s appeal, yet superstitiously believes (in cargo-cult manner) that he can obtain popularity by performing a superficial imitation.

The pioneering sociologist Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) was the first systematic attempt to explain how status displays (e.g., conspicuous consumption) operate to communicate class membership among social elites. Most people never learn to think critically about such status-display behaviors, so that their emulation of the “elite” is thoughtless and unconscious. This behavior often takes the form of displaying symbols of wealth (e.g., designer-label clothing or luxury automobiles) as if mere possession of these symbols meant the same thing as actually being wealthy. Driving the same car or wearing the same clothing brands as a movie star, a software entrepreneur or a professional athlete is not the same as having millions of dollars in the bank, but we often see people who don’t seem to grasp this fact. The young guy with a $45,000-a-year job driving around in a new Cadillac Escalade wants to impress people by pretending to have wealth he doesn’t actually have. His luxury SUV is a status symbol, but the status he’s attempting to display is an illusion, if he’s leasing this vehicle for $1,800 a month (nearly half his annual income) while living with his mother. This is a cargo-cult type of behavior, and is in fact quite the opposite of behaviors that actually produce wealth. A young man who hopes to become wealthy would be best advised to live within his means, preferring to put money in the bank rather than engaging in ostentatious displays of a luxurious lifestyle. Nevertheless, we often see young people go deeply in debt to indulge their appetite for status symbols, and this cargo-cult mentality can also be witnessed in acts of criminal stupidity:

A bank employee from North Carolina is accused of stealing $88,000 in cash from the bank’s vault, then foolishly posing with the stacks of dough on his social media pages, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
The man, Arlando M. Henderson, was arrested by the FBI on Dec. 4 in San Diego — but not before dropping $20,000 on a down payment for a Mercedes-Benz, the indictment alleges.
Henderson, 29, had access to the bank vault and allegedly stole money from deposits made by customers on at least 18 occasions over the past year. He then made cash deposits into an ATM near his workplace.
But the glory didn’t last long — especially after he shared images of his riches on Facebook and Instagram. In several posts, he can be seen grinning with massive wads of cash. In one, he poses next to his new Benz.
“I make it look easy, but this s–t really a PROCESS,” a caption from an Aug. 4 post read.
In another, he wrote, “Looking at my brand thinking this how I got rich.” . . .
Henderson has been charged with two counts of financial institution fraud, 19 counts of theft, embezzlement and misapplication, and 12 counts of making false entries, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, per count; and transactional money laundering, which carries a penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Flashing actual stacks of money is the crudest possible status display, and I can 99.9% guarantee you that anyone who does something like this on social media is engaged in some kind of criminal behavior. People who obtain wealth by honest means are not prone to such shameless ostentation, and this kind of cargo-cult behavior exhibits a level of stupidity that is not usually compatible with economic success.

Category: Crime, Culture

Democrats Aren’t Hitler, But . . .

Posted on | December 20, 2019 | Comments Off on Democrats Aren’t Hitler, But . . .

Trying to avoid Godwin’s Law here:

One of the basic methods of propaganda is reversal — make an accusation against your enemies that is so blatantly false as to be the exact opposite of truth. This technique has become known as “the Big Lie” because of a passage in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses … more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”
Hitler claimed that “the Big Lie” was a trick of the Jews, who had used it to falsely blame the German high command for defeat in World War I; Hitler, by contrast, blamed the Jews “and their fighting comrades, the Marxists” for Germany’s defeat. Of course, Hitler’s so-called “stab-in-the-back” myth of why Germany lost in 1918 was false; the German army was simply incapable of winning once the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies, and it was the German high command’s authorization of unlimited submarine warfare that had brought America into the war. Thus even in his now widely cited description of “the Big Lie,” Hitler was engaged in the propaganda technique that he pretended to deplore — reversal, or what is known in psychology as projection.
Americans so far have been fortunately protected by our Constitution from outright totalitarianism, but this protection does not make us safe from propaganda. When I was a schoolboy in the 1970s, my teachers as early as eighth grade taught us to recognize the techniques of propaganda, including the “false dilemma” fallacy and “glittering generalities.” Evidently, not every student gets such lessons, an educational deficiency that probably explains why some people believe what is broadcast as “news” on CNN and MSNBC nowadays. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.