Link Dump 2: Electric Boogaloo

I'm traveling this weekend to pick up two cats MamaGeek and I adopted, so behold: more links!

The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot, 
by Glenn Greenwald

The January 6 Capitol Riot was bad. But as Greenwald explains, it was not an "armed insurrection," the rioters didn't beat a cop to death with a fire extinguisher, and they didn't plan ahead of time to take lawmakers hostage. The left is spreading lies to justify unconstitutional crack downs on their political opponents. Don't let them get away with their BS.

Orwell’s Cookbook,
by Rod Dreher

Bon Appetit and its related website Epicurious are editing articles and recipes in their archives to suit the tastes of exquisitely sensitive SJW's by editing out suddenly "bigoted" words like "exotic" or "ethnic". Dreher points out correctly that altering records like this makes it difficult for scholars of social history to do their jobs. (I would add that it also conveniently allows media companies to escape accountability for uncomfortable aspects of their pasts.)

FISKING THE WAPO EDITOR WHO IS SAD HE DOESN’T GET TO ACT LIKE THE MAFIA ANYMORE, by Larry Correia

I highly recommend Larry's fisks. They're always way funnier than mine. Here, he takes down journalists in the mainstream media for being ridiculously biased -- and, of course, really effing bad at their jobs.

Why Are Conservatives So Naïve That They Refuse to See the Beam in the Eye of Those Who Hate Their Very Existence?

This is an excellent blog post that chides establishment cons like Jonah Goldberg for obsessing over the faults of the Trumpian wing of the GOP in the face of the left's active attempts to destroy our country. As James Lindsay has tried to emphasize over and over again, the current situation is not normal. If we continue to abide by Marquess of Queensberry rules in the vain hope that the folks over at ABC/NBC/CNN/DNC will one day some day actually start to like us, we will be squashed.

How Identity Politics Revives Slaveholders’ Argument For Group Rights,
by Katharine Gorka

This article brings up a fantastic point: southern slave holders adopted the same historicist critique of our classically liberal founding principles that is now being deployed by the totalitarian left. That said leftists aren't disturbed about that connection says quite a bit about their diabolical designs.

COVID Rules Force Us To Trade Substance For Sterility,
And Will Change Our Culture Forever,
by Elle Reynolds

"There are things in life worth risking our safety for. Those judgments will and should be different for different people — but valuing security above all else can trick us into forgetting what those things are. And if you have nothing in your life for which you would risk your comfort and safety, for what are you truly living?" Precisely the same point I've been trying to make!

Five Links

The Comprehensive Timeline of China’s COVID-19 Lies, Jim Geraghty

Another essential read on China's culpability. China lied, people died.

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Via Local Commie Underlings, Beijing Officially Disapproves, Tim Blair

Read the epic Aussie fisking that recently went viral!

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False Media Narrative of Red State Negligence In Wuhan Virus Response, Stacey Matthews

Experts Give Wyoming an 'F' for Social Distancing, Which Is All You Need to Know About Experts, Jim Treacher

These cover the same theme: that ignoring regional differences and demanding that Trump nationalize our pandemic response is deeply, deeply irrational.

(And you know what's also irrational, oh by the way? Arresting people just for being outside, where it's stupidly easy to stay six feet apart. There's absolutely no reason to bar people from playing t-ball in the park or paddle-boarding in the ocean -- other than to exercise fascistic power over others.)

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Dave Barry confronts coronavirus armed with bandanas and ready to stock up on spatulas

Dave's characterization of the news right now is highly accurate -- and I definitely laughed at his complete inability to sew. I'm not an award-winning costume designer like my mother, but I do know how to sew on a button!

Idiots in Power

Well, well. I've certainly been forcefully reminded why I hate our elite power-brokers. Have you?

(Stupid question, I'm sure.)

It's really effing simple: We need immediate temporary cash relief for every American who's taking it in the teeth during this shutdown. We need aid to small businesses that have been forced to shutter or severely limit operations. We need to devote funds to research into this pathogen so we can find a way to combat it quickly and get the economy started again. And we need to spend some more money expanding our hospital capacity so that similar pandemics won't necessitate extreme responses in the future. That's it.

What we don't need is bullshit -- no matter who's shoving it in. We don't need corporate diversity quotas, stealth Green New Deals, or bailouts for the well-connected. But of course, our aforementioned elites simply can't help themselves. Cynical opportunists that they are, they're determined not to let a good crisis go to waste -- even if that means screwing the rest of us.

Why do we keep voting these assholes into office? What the hell's the matter with us?

I've also been firmly convinced that large swaths of our media class are now full-on enemies of the people. I know that seems extreme, but what else am I supposed to conclude when so many of them are using one couple's straight-up stupidity - fish tank cleaner is not the same thing as hydroxychloroquine, you filthy liars - to discredit a possible treatment for C-19?

Obviously the jury's still out on the hydroxychloroquine/z-pak combo, but that's really my point: we should be allowed to explore this without all the shrieking and deeply misleading headlines claiming that hydroxychloroquine is poison. I have news for you, media douchecanoes: when I was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, the first things Dr. B put me on were prednisone and hydroxychloroquine. True: I was told at the time that the hydroxychloroquine might damage my eyesight over the long term and that I should start seeing an ophthalmologist on a regular basis. But if we're talking about using hydroxychloroquine to treat a respiratory infection like C-19, we're not talking about long-term use.

Clearly, these reporters know jack shit about medicine. Lots of meds are poison, actually. The prednisone I'm still on is weakening my bones and trashing my teeth. Methotrexate can damage my liver. And if I ever get back on a biologic like Enbrel or Humira, I may develop serious infections or lymphoma. But those of us with chronic medical conditions are willing to take those risks if it means an alleviation of our disabling symptoms. Similarly, whatever dangers may come with short-term therapeutic doses of hydroxychloroquine might be totally worth courting if it means fewer people die of coronavirus-induced ARDS.

In conclusion: shut the eff up, CNN, and let the adults in the room do the necessary research. None of us are interested in your petty attempts to get the Orange Man. What we want are real, nonpartisan solutions to our current predicament.

ETA: Thank you, Matt, for your sane and critical voice!

Crowder on China's Culpability

"China is asshole," indeed!

ETA: "The Top 10 Lies About President Trump's Response to the Coronavirus," by Matt Margolis, is an essential addendum to the above.

Coronavirus Inspires Clowns to Self-Identify

A series of grumpy thoughts.

The other day, I was mostly amused by the newly popular charge of bigotry that was zipping around Twitter. Lefties gonna lefty, right?

Now, however, I'm legitimately angry that this bullshit is still being spread. Are we really doing this? Are we really treating pro-CCP propaganda as legitimate? We're talking about a government that right now is frog-marching its ethnic minorities into concentration camps. We're talking about a government that muzzled its own doctors when they attempted to sound warnings last fall about this emergent disease -- and a government that rejected offers of US aid.

Obviously, this should not blow back on ordinary East Asian people. It's not their fault the Chinese government is evil. But take care in your zeal to appear unprejudiced that you don't cover up the truth: COVID-19 originated in China. The Chinese government then tried to cover it up, which permitted the virus to spread beyond Chinese borders. If you're actually buying into the narrative that calling this disease the Wuhan Virus or the Chinese Virus is racist, you're a dupe at best -- and the rest of us are absolutely within our rights to flip you off and call you names.

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Also, I'm a little confused: What exactly was Trump supposed to do weeks ago? Because I guaran-damn-tee that if he had been aggressive any earlier - if, for example, he had restricted foreign travel before the panic set in - his detractors would've complained about his xenophobia.

Yes, the feds were slow to respond. But how much of that was Trump, how much of that was the bureaucracy and its standing regulations, and how much of that was a lack of reliable data? We must carefully tease out all sources of error; tarring Trump alone with the blame is the simpleton's response.

There are many things the administration is doing right now that are sound reactions to the situation. Pushing back the tax deadline? Yes, good idea. Allowing people to consult with their doctors remotely? Also a good idea. Bringing in private-sector partners to distribute more test kits to the public? Excellent! Devolving some of the responsibility to state and local governments? Eminently constitutional -- despite what a certain idiot at the Bulwark thinks.

The roll-out of all of this was not without its hiccups, but try to have some perspective. There are very few countries who are dealing with this pandemic 100% successfully. Actually, most of Europe is doing much, much worse.

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ETA: I'm kicking myself for forgetting this, but all y'all Twitter socialists posting galaxy-brained hot takes about our temporarily empty grocery aisles can kindly STFU. Yes: a capitalist nation in a crisis looks like a socialist nation on any random Tuesday. By Jove, you've got us!

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Lastly, if you're reading this, you probably know this already, but: you can't trust anything the mainstream media report. They lie routinely about everything Trump and his surrogates say; indeed, in just the past few days, the media have spread rumors about a national quarantine (false) and have claimed that Trump told states looking for respirators that they were on their own (also false). So for heaven's sake, double and triple check anything alarming you hear on the news before you go off half-cocked -- because the probability approaches one that if it sounds scary, it's been purposefully distorted.

Stay calm, stay alert, and God bless you all.

The Most Peaceful Riot Ever

BLUF - Second Amendment defenders didn't deserve to be smeared ahead of Virginia's Lobby Day. Governor Blackface owes us an apology.

Prior to yesterday's pro-gun rights demonstration in Richmond, the usual suspects in the media were spreading feverish, delusional rumors that our state capital was about to be overrun by white supremacist militias. Clearly, these so-called "journalists" were laying the groundwork for a Charlottesville 2.0 narrative -- paranoia the governor quickly legitimized by announcing a "state of emergency" designed to disarm any protester who made an appearance.

Oops. Turns out the "riot" was a giant nothingburger. Roughly 22,000 people showed up, and based on the reporting of those on the ground, there were no Nazis and no violent altercations -- despite the fact that, yes, many demonstrators were armed. Indeed, these supposedly dangerous protesters came with - brace for it - assault trash bags to pick up after themselves at the end of the rally. The horror! 

As it turns out, we lawful gun owners are generally peaceful and compassionate citizens who simply value our ability to protect others when the police cannot. All memes aside, we don't actually want a boogaloo. We hope that the oft-stated theoretical reason for the Second Amendment - to protect our natural rights when we are denied recourse via the soap box and the ballot box - will never become relevant. And it won't so long as our state legislators listen to the concerns expressed by the dozens of county governments that have passed gun sanctuary resolutions in the past few months.

(Oh, and by the way: Folks of all sorts turned out to defend the 2A. Gun rights as a white supremacist dog whistle? Oh, please! Tell that to the guys wearing the "Black Guns Matter" shirts -- or the people waving the rainbow flags. Many who aren't "straight, white cis-men" understand that a gun is an excellent equalizing tool; I have a Facebook connection with a trans woman who offers gun education to members of the LGBT+ community for precisely this reason. No matter who you are, if you have a gun, you're less likely to be a victim.)

The party lean of our statehouse might've flipped, but that doesn't mean Virginia Democrats have a mandate to radicalize. No: we are still a southern state. I live in urbanized Northern Virginia currently, but I can get in my car right now, drive to my south or southwest, and within an hour, I'll find open countryside. And wherever there's open countryside, there's an established gun culture. If your goal is to govern the whole state, you can't discount those who live outside the urban clusters -- or, at the very least, you can't do so without generating a groundswell of potentially damaging resentment. New York and California should not be the examples Virginia follows. 

BLATE - Don't believe the media lies about the gun rights movement. The governor had no justification for calling a "state of emergency" -- and if he wishes to regain even a little respect, he should call for moderation within his own party and can the threats.

TRUMP Derangement Syndrome - Still Obscuring the Truth

BLUF - We need 4 more years of a TRUMP Presidency to completely reverse the long, slow slide towards a Social Democracy; and restore a Constitutionally organized Democratic Republic of the several states.

The latest Victor Davis Hanson column on the Liberal/Socialist/Communist American Elite, and their media toadies, complete derangement as TRUMP reverses the slide towards a European Socialist state.

The media piles on lie after lie aiding the silent coup attempt to bring down the sitting president. And the real good news is never mentioned - growing economy, lowest unemployment, more money in the average citizen's pocket, ending China's mercantilism excesses at our expense, oil and gas production way up, reversing many of Obama's "I have a pen" fiat changes to bypass our constitution - I could go on. They lie by spreading lies, and by omission - NOT telling the whole story.

Previous Republican administrations tried to slow the "long march" toward a Democratic Socialist Peoples America; and was often a failure. TRUMP is trying, and succeeding, at reversing the slide. Give him more time to reverse the course of the country.

Here is the URL for the column:  http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0919/hanson091919.php3