Author Archives: Scott Johnson

Judy Collins turns 85

Featured image When the Dakota announced a few months ago that Judy Collins would be appearing on April 30, I jumped on the tickets to get a table up against the front of the stage. Tickets for the first show sold out quickly. The Dakota then arranged for a second show, this one on April 29. Tickets again sold out quickly. We bought tickets for the April 29 show as well, up »

Feeding our fraud goes to trial

Featured image I went to federal court in downtown Minneapolis yesterday morning for the opening statements in tbe first Feeding Our Future fraud trial. When it comes to Covid fraud, we’re number 1. The case features a cast of “diverse” defendants without much diversity. They are almost all Somali, I am sorry to say. By the same token, I believe that one of my Somali friends helped expose the fraud and assist »

The Mapes miasma

Featured image I am warming up to watch the documentary Rather, celebrating the career of the disgraced former CBS News anchor. It is to be aired this coming Wednesday on Netflix. Apparently having access to a screener for media critics, the Star Tribune’s Neal Justin found the documentary to be wanting (“when it comes to the stumbles, like walking off the set when a tennis match went long, the legendary broadcaster goes »

Columbia running out the clock

Featured image The Columbia Spectator brings us up to date on the state of play in “Columbia does not plan to call NYPD to campus, according to community email.” The Spectator story draws on the email from the president, provost, and co-chairs of the board of trustees that is included in the tweet below. The tweet provides an executive summary that can also be translated into the words of the old song »

Weekend at Biden’s

Featured image Who is Sasha Stone and why is she saying these things about Joe Biden? You can look her up online to try to get a handle on her. She is saying these things because she has seen President Biden’s public performances in recent days. Stone doesn’t invoke Weekend At Bernie’s as a metaphor, as I do in “Dead man walking,” but she assesses his recent recent public performances to arrive »

Rathergate: 100 proof fraud

Featured image The Daily Beast’s John Fiallo reports that Dan Rather returns to CBS News today 18 years after his involuntary departure. Fiallo writes (emphasis added): The former CBS News anchor Dan Rather will make a brief return to the network Sunday, appearing in a live interview 18 years after his controversial exit. Rather, 92, is slated to be profiled on CBS News Sunday Morning through an interview with correspondent Lee Cowan, »

Screams before silence

Featured image Sheryl Sandberg has fronted the documentary Screams Before Silence that was posted to YouTube on April 26. The documentary highlights the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during and after its October 7 massacre. The trailer is below. Click on “Watch on YouTube” to be taken to the 56-minute documentary. Last year I saw more than a glimpse of the crazed sexual violence in the atrocity video compiled by the IDF »

Dead man walking

Featured image Hugh Gallagher explored what he called FDR’s Splendid Deception in his 1985 book of that title. In the title Gallagher was referring to FDR’s concealment of the polio-related paralysis that struck him in 1921. Gallagher was also a polio victim who understood the pain underlying Roosevelt’s efforts. Researching the book, Gallagher found that among the 35,000 photographs of Roosevelt at his presidential library, only two featured him in his wheelchair. »

Take Columbia’s Khymani James — please

Featured image Well, they may be ignorant or stupid, they may be evil, but they may also need help. Take, for example, Columbia undergrad Khymani James — please. James may be in need of help, but he appears to be busy negotiating with the authorities at Columbia to stand down. One of the Columbia students leading the “protest” posted this video stating that “Zionists do not deserve to live” Some in the »

Don’t mess with Texas, “protest” edition

Featured image Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed his support for the removal of the pro-Hamas kill the Jews crowd from their nascent “occupation” of the University of Texas at Austin. In the tweet below Governor Abbott reported: “Arrests being made right now and will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail.” Shut up, he explained: “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period.” Arrests being made right now »

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured image Ammo Grrrll reports: DOOM-SCROLLING TAKES A HOLIDAY! Commenter-Con3 in the Rearview Mirror (things are closer than they appear). She writes: Well, Commenter-Con3 (April 14-16) has come and gone and, as my hometown newspaper used to report on all social gatherings, “a good time was had by all!” I TRIED asking attendees to hold off a week on discussing CC3 because I had an earlier – now defunct — version of »

The Arizona indictment

Featured image Now an Arizona grand jury has handed up a 2020 election-related indictment procured by Arizona’s Democratic attorney general. The indictment includes charges against Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and others in connection with the scheme Trump was pursuing in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Trump is named an unindicted co-conspirator. The indictment is posted online here. Politico’s story on the indictment deciphers the names redacted from the indictment at »

Half a mind to be president

Featured image I have set the over/under on President Biden’s mental capacity at 40 percent. He has half a mind to be president. Yesterday he read the instruction inserted in the text of his remarks to “Pause” for the crowd to take up the chant of “Four more years.” The White House has posted the transcript of Biden’s remarks to North America’s Building Trades Union National Legislative Conference here. However, Biden’s reading »

Leadership from the Speaker

Featured image In an act of leadership that contrasts with the malicious indifference of President Biden and his team, House Speaker Mike Johnson went up to Columbia University to call for the restoration of order on campus. He spoke from the steps of Low Library to denounce the treatment of Jewish students on campus. I have posted video below. Johnson was joined by a GOP delegation including Reps. Virginia Foxx, Anthony D’Esposito, »

A word from Obama’s wingman

Featured image We haven’t heard much from Barack Obama about the 10/7 massacre or Iran’s missile assault on Israel. Former Obama wingman Eric Holder gives us a taste of what we are missing in the Washington Free Beacon story “Eric Holder Says Columbia’s Campus Agitators Have ‘Legitimate Concerns.'” Both Obama and Holder are Columbia alumni. Collin notes the contradiction between Holder’s defense of the pro-Hamas campers at Columbia and the stated position »

Extension, Columbia style

Featured image The pro-Hamas kill the Jews crowd in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the heart of campus has received an extension. Not to get the campers’ term papers in, of course, but rather to vacate the encampment at the heart of the campus. The encampment is unauthorized and was supposed to be removed days ago. Columbia President Minouche Shafik then set a deadline of this morning at 8:00 a.m. She has »

The trouble with Columbia

Featured image Columbia University presents an extreme case of the rot infesting our major institutions — elite organs of higher education, corporate America, the mainstream media, the entertainment business, the legal profession, the teachers’ unions, and so on. We can learn from Columbia’s extremity. It highlights elements of the phenomenon that otherwise remain beyond our view. The rot at Columbia runs through the students, the administration, and the faculty of the university. »