Posted on May 9, 2024 by John Hinderaker in Anti-Semitism, Fake News, Media Bias

Who Are the Anti-Semites?

The New York Times, alarmed that its fellow leftists have outed themselves as anti-Semites on campuses and in the streets (not to mention in Congress), has published an interminable article, with four reporters’ bylines, claiming that Republicans are the real anti-Semites. There isn’t much need to read the article, as the headline says it all: “How Republicans Echo Antisemitic Tropes Despite Declaring Support for Israel.”

The Times purports to use sophisticated techniques to count “antisemitic tropes,” but its dodge is not at all complicated. The reporters simply assume that all references to “globalists,” “globalism” or George Soros are anti-Semitic. Voila!

They quote one Republican after another denouncing globalists; in not a single case is there any mention of Jews. Are Times reporters so dimwitted that they haven’t noticed that the Davos crowd–gentiles, for the most part–are unpopular with conservatives, for excellent reasons?

Likewise with Soros: he is denounced by Republicans because he funds far-left, anti-American causes. In defending Soros, the Times produces a classic howler, denouncing Representative Beth Van Duyne as one of “the Republicans who have blamed Mr. Soros for the pro-Palestinian protests.” But Soros is, in fact, prominent among those who are behind the anti-Semitic protests, as we pointed out here. The Times is trying to sell the idea that George Soros can’t be criticized, or, I take it, disagreed with.

The Times has become such a pitiful rag that it is scarcely worth correcting. But the self-delusion continues; a box in the linked article says that “Times journalists are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes.” I would say that Times “journalists” do hardly anything else.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in 2024 Election, Crime

Princeton Takes the Cake?

The kill-the-Jews protests at one “elite” university after another have exposed the low level of both information and intelligence of some students, and even some professors. But the Princeton protest has established a milestone of sorts, as one of its leaders complains of “starving,” a condition she apparently blames on the university. She and the others are on a hunger strike. They also, she says, are “immunocompromised,” a weird claim that perhaps relates to covid obsession. I note that this girl is wearing a mask, for no apparent reason.

Here she is:


News reports indicate that Democrats are increasingly worried that campus protests will hurt them in November. I think they are right to worry, especially if protests turn their convention into a nightmare as happened in 1968.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen finds today that Republicans’ advantage on the crime issue is growing:

Less than six months before Election Day, the Republican Party has widened its lead over Democrats in terms of who voters trust more to deal with the issue of crime.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 53% of Likely U.S. Voters trust Republicans more to handle crime and law enforcement issues, while 35% trust Democrats more. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure. This marks a net increase of six points in the GOP margin since February….

Independent voters favor Republicans on crime by an overwhelming 54% to 24% margin.

No doubt some voters associate the massively-unpopular campus disorders with the Democratic Party, given that the anti-Semites are obviously on the left, not the right, and that prominent liberals like Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have supported the riots. Beyond that, I think that most voters understand that Democrats are soft on crime, and Republicans less so. That difference comes to the fore when voters’ concerns about crime are on the upsurge. Which doesn’t bode well for Democrats, since in the same Rasmussen survey, 79% of respondents said that the crime issue will be important in this year’s presidential election.

Posted on by Steven Hayward in The Daily Chart

The Daily Chart: Big Mac Bidenflation

I still argue that the only good thing that happened during the Obama years was all-day breakfast at McDonalds, and COVID took that away from us. Which is when I started saying that COVID won’t be truly over until we get all-day breakfast at McDonalds back again. And it looks like that isn’t going to happen.

One reason might be that consumers can’t afford it:

Part of a general pattern of understating the real inflation Americans face every day:

P.S. For comparison purposes:

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Biden Foreign Policy, Hamas, Israel, Joe Biden

The Biden betrayal

President Biden publicly acknowledged his betrayal of Israel’s anticipated offensive in Rafah in an interview with Erin Burnett on CNN. The CNN story on the interview is here. As a practical matter, Biden supports Hamas. Biden opposes Israel. Biden’s declaration of “ironclad” support for Israel is “inoperative,” to borrow a term from Watergate.

On Tuesday Biden gave a Holocaust remembrance speech decrying those calling for “the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish State.” Biden asserted that his support for the “security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.” In Biden’s world, the usual principles of rational thought do not obtain. Who says A need not say B. Who says A also says not A.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said in reference to the 2,000-pound bombs that Biden is withholding from the IDF. Biden also told Burnett that he’s withholding artillery ammunition.

Biden labored to articulate his thinking, or his “thinking.” This is how he put it on CNN: “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,”

Biden has proved himself a fool many times over. It has long since become redundant. This episode merely puts an exclamation point on it. Every friend of the United States must weigh the price of friendship, Biden style. Every enemy of the United States is experiencing the kind of pleasure that is usually limited to private experience.

The IDF has sustained casualties as a result of its extraordinary efforts to avoid and minimize civilian casualties. It has also lost soldiers in its efforts to appease Biden’s demands. This week it lost four soldiers at the Kerem Shalom border crossing for humanitarian aid.

John Spencer is chairman of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He has demonstrated many times over that Israel has created a new standard for urban warfare. Spencer wrote the linked March Newsweek column anticipating Biden’s current “thinking”:

In their criticism, Israel’s opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians—even as it confronts a ruthless terror organization holding its citizens hostage. Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF’s tactics for protecting civilians, despite the fact that these militaries would almost certainly be extremely reluctant to employ these techniques because of how it would disadvantage them in any fight with an urban terrorist army like Hamas.

Spencer expanded on his observations, most recently, in a podcast with Sam Harris this week that is posted here on YouTube.

It is a fool’s errand to apply standards of reality and rationality to Biden. Clownworld is his domain. We’re just living in it (as Senator Graham demonstrated yesterday).

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Minnesota, Music

A benefit for my friend Scottie

I wrote about my friend Scott Sansby last year in “My friend Scottie.” We have been friends since my family moved from Moorhead to St. Paul in 1958. In other words, we have been friends since the Eisenhower administration.

Scottie has an incredibly wide network of friends and admirers, but we stayed best friends through high school and have remained friends ever since. I share so many memories with Scottie I feel like they fill half my brain.

This past August he suffered a catastrophic injury and has sustained related financial burdens since then. Scottie’s family has set up a GoFundMe page for him here.

Mike Shaw owns Shaw’s Bar and Grill in northeast Minneapolis. Mike stepped forth to arrange a two-day benefit for Scottie this Saturday and Sunday. Bands will be playing inside and outside Shaw’s through the afternoon and evening on both days. The poster below provides a handy summary of the lineup and times.

A gentleman named Neal Bond created a video tribute to Scottie in support of the benefit. Neal’s video comes with this summary and appeal:

Scott Sansby is a legendary musician and entrepreneur in Minnesota. He has played drums with many influential bands and artists since the early 1970s. These include Zarathustra, Passage, The Doug Maynard Band, Joe Juliano, Mick Sterling, Scottie Miller, Paul Mayasich, Walking Wounded, Jeff Dayton, Moses Oakland, and the Lisa Wenger Band. He has truly been one of the building blocks of the Minnesota music scene.

Scott also toured and recorded with national acts like Leon Russell, D.J Rogers and Mary McCreary. His impeccable drumming, professional approach, and personable style put him on the short list of anyone looking for a great drummer or percussionist. People loved watching Scott play. You could feel the passion in his playing, and nothing fulfilled him more than helping pack a dance floor.

Please help Scott in his journey of recovery! Scott is in desperate need for funding so that he can get the help he needs to recover. His injury has an uncertain prognosis and he needs specialized care. Help us raise money to help him cover his healthcare costs and hopefully recover more movement in his limbs.

We are looking for donations for the silent auction for the May 11-12 fundraiser. You can either drop off items at Shaw’s Bar & Grill or contact us about picking up. 100% of the money we raise through donations will go to addressing his healthcare costs.

Help us help someone who has brought joy to people through over five decades of music.

Check out Neal’s video below and join us this weekend if you can.

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Lloyd Billingsley in History, Music

Plead the Fifth Dimension

Back in 1965, Barry McGuire told fans to “look around you boy, it’s bound to scare you boy.” That is good advice in 2024, and other old songs may provide the same service. For example, as the Buffalo Springfield noticed back in 1967, “there’s something happening here,” and if you stepped out of line “the man” would come and take you away. So “stop, children what’s that sound, everybody look what’s goin’ down.” The parallels should be obvious and Jimi Hendrix was on to it.

“Will I live tomorrow?” Jimi wondered, “well I just can’t say. But I know for sure, I don’t live today.” It’s easy to feel that way if you stop and look around at what’s going down, with neo-Nazi leftists in the street, Iran working three shifts to build a nuclear weapon, 10 million more illegals in the country, and the Delaware Democrat Joe Biden in the White House. As Mose Allison said, his mind is on vacation and his mouth is working overtime. Mose also noted that the world was “one big trouble spot,” and “there’s always somebody playing with dynamite.” Even so, Mose didn’t worry about a thing, because he knew “nothing’s going to be alright.”

“The time has come today,” sang the Chambers Brothers, and “there are things to realize.” As Steve notes, things are bound to get worse before they get worse. So while there’s still time, “go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do.” In other words, plead the Fifth Dimension. It’s the American way.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in Fake News, Media, Media Bias

Is The New York Times Hopeless?

Well yes, of course. But at the Wall Street Journal, James Freeman highlights an interview with the Times’s current executive editor, Joseph Kahn. Hope springs eternal, I guess:

Regular news consumers may recall Ben Smith as the Buzzfeed editor who helped define post-journalistic coverage of the Trump presidency by publishing the bogus Steele dossier in 2017 while admitting he didn’t know whether it was true or false. Naturally Mr. Smith was later hired by the New York Times. But he then wrote about “weaknesses in what may be called an era of resistance journalism.” By 2020 Mr. Smith seemed to appreciate—at least conceptually—the value of confirming the accuracy of a story before publication.

Now at Semafor, Mr. Smith goes back to the New York Times to interview the newspaper’s executive editor, Joseph Kahn, and finds some encouraging news for Times readers who thirst for straight reporting.

I guess that depends on what you call straight reporting. Kahn says:

It’s also true that Trump could win this election in a popular vote… It is not the job of the news media to prevent that from happening. It’s the job of Biden and the people around Biden to prevent that from happening… I don’t even know how it’s supposed to work in the view of Dan Pfeiffer or the White House. We become an instrument of the Biden campaign? We turn ourselves into Xinhua News Agency or Pravda and put out a stream of stuff that’s very, very favorable to them and only write negative stories about the other side? And that would accomplish — what?

It would help the Democratic Party stay in power, which is all the Times has ever cared about. But is the paper really seeing a new dawn of objectivity?

Ben: Do you think that an alien reading The New York Times would come away thinking Joe Biden is a good president?

Ah, the rubber meets the road!

Joe: I think you would see a much more favorable view of Biden’s conduct over foreign policy at a difficult time than the polling shows the general public believes.

Then follows a paean to Biden’s foreign policy record that concludes that, in the Times’s coverage, Biden…

…shows a degree of engagement and mastery over some of the details of foreign policy. … I think you’d get a very favorable portrait of him.

Actually, the best you can say for Joe Biden on foreign policy is that he has been president for two and a half years, and World War III hasn’t broken out yet. Not that the Times would blame him if it did.

On to domestic policy:

I also think we’ve done much more — whether it’s the Inflation Reduction Act…

No acknowledgement that the Inflation Reduction Act caused massive inflation, making all Americans poorer.

…whether it’s the infrastructure bill — on the details of the legislation that passed, and the efforts of this administration to actually implement that and get the money out there.

Getting money “out there,” whether we have the money or not, is of course what Democrats do best.

So I think you’d get a pretty well-rounded, fair portrait of Biden. Of course, you’d also see some coverage about his frailty and his age. But it depends. Is this alien a voracious reader who comes every day? If he did, he’s not going to see that much about [Biden’s] age.

Let’s not make people nervous about the fact that our president is senile! The Times may profess to have given up “resistance journalism,” but we can’t expect them to be right-wing extremists. And if Trump wins in November, the resistance will be back.