Feats Of Progressive Self-Admiration
Matthew Yglesias suggests a “compelling vision of progressive politics“:
It’s curious that Mr Yglesias should pick a fictional character from a fictional world where commonplace human motivations have been done away with, simply written out of existence – a world with no discernible economic costs or constraints, and in which, as said character puts it, “money doesn’t exist.”
A possible series.
Oddments For The Weekend
Including a turtle of girth; the rise and fall (and rise) of Rome; a brief history of the Cornish pasty; and three theories regarding pubic hair.
All this and more.
Tales Of Terror
That wouldn’t do.
Fright Night
Will Hallowe’en approaching, some uncanny goings-on.
Brown Science, Racist Light
Four tales from the land of endless progress:
Mr Kaufman – who can doubtless detect racism in the motions of subatomic particles – would have us believe that his friend was using the word white as a racial descriptor, rather than, as seems more likely, an unremarkable acknowledgement of a traffic light’s colour when talking to a child.
In light of which, Mr Kaufman’s claims of being “bombarded” with racism – daily, everywhere – become at least explicable, if not convincing.
Oh there’s more. Lots of it.
In Parenting News
Oddments For The Weekend
Visiting Bedlam
In this case, a gathering of the American Psychological Association.
Ms Lewis’ tugging on the intersectional crack pipe has been touched on before.
As when telling us, quite emphatically and with occasional chuckling, that abortion, via drugs or dismemberment, is a corrective killing, a righteous “unmaking.” A means of “going on strike against gestational work.” Says she, “We need to move away from… arguments around when human life begins.”
Which sounds terribly convenient for those with sociopathic leanings.
Oh, there’s more.
Because They’re Poor, You Say?
On crime, poverty, and the determination of many progressives to superimpose motivations entirely different from those that are actually in play:
At which point, readers may wish to revisit the carjackers mentioned above and their delight in seeing their victims soiling themselves in terror. Because, to quote a carjacker named Tall, “It’s a rush thing… I feel good.” Or as a female carjacker named PoPo put it, “It’s funny just to see them shaking and pissing all over theyself.”
The latter being a charming creature who assaults and terrorises random people, at gunpoint, robbing them of their cars and wedding rings, before getting her hair done.
Oh, there’s more.
Touching Themselves
Oddments For The Weekend
Including a game of relativistic Asteroids; a guide to your dynamic vagina; some Star Trek percentages; and Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb, sung in the style of the 1500s.
All this and more.
A Snapshot Of Our Times
On being impossible to please; on making others mouth absurdities; and on supposedly racist traffic cameras:
Those presented as victims of injustice, of “racial inequity,” include Mr Rodney Perry, whose photograph accompanies the piece, and who, in a single year, has received eight tickets for speeding and three for running red lights. The article appears not to have had room to include the views of those injured or bereaved by Chicago’s law-breaking motorists, despite an eye-widening spike in accidents, fatalities, and hit-and-run crashes.
Nor, it seems, was there room to consider the possible effect of endless, widespread excuse-making for antisocial behaviour, and its role in making such behaviour more likely, not less.
It seems we’re supposed to believe – emphatically and indignantly – that Mr Perry and Mr Olatunji Oboi Reed, our candidates for victimhood, are being induced to break the law and to drive in ways that are dangerous to others, including repeatedly running red lights, because of “fewer pedestrians and more vacant lots.”
And so, Mr Reed, an “activist for racial equity,” expects city officials to “eliminate any racial… disparities in camera ticketing,” while avoiding any mention whatsoever of behaviour and personal responsibility. “The root cause of traffic violence in our society that is disproportionately impacting Black and brown people is structural racism,” says he.
As a result, the default narrative, the woke conceit, is just a little odd. Namely, if black people are being injured or killed as a result of reckless driving, very often by other black people, this is “traffic violence” and “structural racism.” But attempts to enforce the law and reduce the number of such incidents are also “structural racism” and must therefore be done away with.
Oh, there’s more.
Always Respect The Media
And in crime news, via the Chicago Tribune:
News of the stabbing had one leader of an advocacy group calling the incident emblematic of how quickly violence can affect the trans community.
Isa Noyola, transgender activist and Director of the Border Butterfly Project, pointed to the wider political climate and lack of violence prevention resources as an overarching reason the situation happened in the first place.
The situation, since you ask, was one in which Mr Kelly Day, a cross-dressing man, aged 32, stabbed to death a fifty-year-old stranger named Larry Young. Such was the vigour of the attack, Mr Young was stabbed no fewer than thirteen times – in the head, neck and shoulder – with the tip of the knife breaking off and remaining embedded in his skull.
Mr Young, the party being stabbed to death, was, one might conclude, rather more directly affected by the incident than some notional trans community.
Oddments For The Weekend
Including beer of sulphuric acid and other inadvisable recipes; low-allergen pet food made from feral camels; and an interactive guide to the lighthouses of the world.
All this and more.
The Urge To Call You Names
On avoiding the realities of immigration in favour of name-calling:
Such are the travails of dealing with people who can only engage with objections to massive, indiscriminate immigration, and its predictable social effects, in terms of some presumed racial animus. Which can then, of course, be seized upon and denounced in order to elevate one’s own status.
And so – to add a European perspective – if you have visible reservations about this kind of social trajectory, or the prospect of periodic eruptions of lively tribal antagonism, or simply regarding everyday courtesies that can no longer be assumed, then, in their minds, conveniently, this can only be because you dislike people lacking in pallor.
No other possibilities being permitted.
In Name Only
A telling illustration of human types:
As illustrated here many times, there are people, generally of a progressive leaning, who struggle to conceive of just how degenerate the degenerate can be. People who somehow remain clueless – one might say wilfully impervious – to the psychology and motives in play, as expressed, often vividly, by the criminals themselves.
And yet, there are creatures walking among us, in significant numbers, for whom the words human being would be a merely technical term and inaptly flattering.
Not an uplifting read, perhaps, but a necessary reminder.
Oddments For The Weekend
Including the world’s largest collection of bedpans; an unconvincing claim of sobriety; and a mushroom with bionic arms playing a synthesiser.
All this and more.
First, You Have To Invert The Meanings Of Words
For those with a stiff drink to hand, a compendium of progressive racial agonising:
You see, expecting students to meet basic standards of behaviour, punctuality, and, it seems, probity – say, resisting the urge to cheat – is “not fair,” according to San Diego Unified School District Vice President Richard Barrera, who adds that the new policy is – and I quote – “an honest reckoning.”
Indeed, we’re told that this self-satisfied obliteration of standards, all in the name of racial fairness, is “a change that’s been a long time in coming,” one that “reflects reality.”
Again, an intriguing choice of words.
Oh, there’s more. Much more.
Oddments For The Weekend
Including a feat of vertical filing; an oddly filled bun; a sports-bra riot; and the 70s portable TV you’ve always wanted.
All this and more.