Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- A look back at Dr. Pauly and the poker boom.

- The real victims of the Long March.

- From the archives: 50 ways to unplug and feel human again.

- Groomers lose in Florida court.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Rob Henderson on Why Cancel Culture is Fading. Disagree with his takes on DEI and Cracker Barrel but his overall premise is correct.

- Glenn Reynolds from Rabble Rousing to Rabble Snoozing. The corporate media is evil.

- Why Washington's panic over Kennedy tells us he's close to the truth. Think it's a mistake to pair RFK Jr. with President Trump. His active allies are doctors the establishment tried to censor or cancel because they were speaking the truth about Covid.

- Trump's national Guard deployment and the art of the 80/20 issue.

Truth

Via

Truth

Via

Heh Heh

Prodigal son kicked back out after old Tweets surface.

From the archives but still funny in our cancel culture.

Shame on MIT - Shame!

MIT abandons its mission - caves to woke culture and cancel culture. Cowards! 

"I am a professor who just had his prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter. My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit. This is the story of how a cancellation is carried out, why it should worry all of us, and what we can do to stop this dangerous trend."

"I mostly just wanted to do my science and not have anyone yell at me," that's the attitude which is so dangerous to even the hard sciences today. And when the Professor spoke up - getting cancelled was the sad reality. 

Be sure to read the advice at the end on how to best confront and beat cancel culture on campus. 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Bari Weiss: The Books are Already Burning. I support Abigail Shrier.  

- VDH: The Biden No-Go Zones

- Enjoy the Perks of Private Flying - Without the Price Tag

- Matt Ridley: Flawed Modeling is Condemning Britain to Lockdown 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Sometimes success is 3% brains and 97% not getting distracted by the Internet." - Shane Parrish

"Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?" - Charles Bukowski

"Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things." - G.K. Chesterton

"It is not enough to have great qualities, we should also have the management of them." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time." - Donald Rumsfeld

"Everyone seems to think the censorship movement won't come for them. If you think for yourself, it eventually will." - Matt Taibbi

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Naval Wisdom

- What excuses can you possibly have? 

- VDH - Optimism Inc.: The Exhilaration of Being Ostracized

- Noah Smith: Economically are we better off today?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In the Dark Ages questioning any dogma of the Church got you labeled as a heretic. Today questioning any leftist dogma can get you labeled as a racists/homophobe/ name the slur and cancelled. This process eventually got old in the Dark Ages and helped lead to the Enlightenment. Hopefully some light will shine through in our age as well... Detachable Racism would be a good name for a band (or a cable news network)... When exactly is yodeling season? Did I miss it?... Who is the most underrated band of all-time? The critic goes with Los Lobos partly on the logic they are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You know who else isn't in the Hall of Fame and is even more underrated? Bad Company... Who knew? Steven Glass was just ahead of his time in the new journalism... I know my ass from my elbow but I couldn't tell you the difference between a castle and a keep... Do you think deep down the climate change people are upset with the BLM people for stealing all the political oxygen (and fund-raising dollars)?... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- What happened to the actors who were performing the night Abraham Lincoln was shot. (HT Daddy Pundit)

- Matt Taibbi: Rachael Maddow is Bill O'Reilly. "With Maddow in the lead role, MSNBC has become Fox, but somehow more craven, jingoistic, and shameless."

- The Irish academic who s getting his PhD in Irish "Ghost Whiskeys." Very cool. (HT Daddy Pundit)

- Bari Weiss: You have to read this letter. Loved this line, "But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there." Bravo!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not to pat myself on the back but I called that the Russian Bountygate story was BS from day one. I suggested that both the White House and the Pentagon should have immediately pulled the NYT press credentials until they substantiated their claims. It was and remains a completely irresponsible act by the NYT - shame on anyone who buys that paper... So the current woke generation seems to have no problem with pulling Mark Twain's classic Huck Finn from schools and libraries - so how likely will it be the future generations will likewise "cancel" classic TV shows like The Wire? I hope that doesn't come to pass... Haunted Tabasco would be a good name for a band or even better name for a hot, hot sauce...  Heh Heh... Why does it seem that those who are quickest to denounce others as fascists are also the same ones who have fantasies about seeing people "frog marched" to prison?... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thought and observations. 

Can't help but wonder from time to time how things in this country would be different if a Gary Johnson won the Presidential Election in 2016 or a Tulsi Gabbard in 2020... Cancelled Media would be a good name for a place for "cancelled" members of the media (say a Bari Weiss) could ply their trade and people could go to show support for the "cancelled." Kind of have that already in Substack but I like the name Cancelled Media better... Who knew? A number of people die every year in the US from getting tangled in their bedclothes - a fairly significant number at that... Irish drinking toast - It is better to spend money like there is no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money... Joe Biden's been in office for 54 days now and "the walls are closing in" from today's "bombshell" (hey the media said that every day for four years during Trump so turnaround's fair play)... 

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting - during the pandemic year of 2020 fewer cars on the road led to higher vehicular deaths in the US. (HT  Steve Layman)

- Seven Tips from Ernest Hemingway on Writing Fiction

- Modern Cancel Culture (Via Gina Carano's Twiiter feed)

- Culling 1,500 books from your stash

-  A 10-count in honor of the late, great Marvelous Marvin Hagler

- Heh Heh

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Today should have been the annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Worcester. This is one of the 5 largest St Patty's parades in the country but because of Covid we can't have nice things... Reminder - we knew exactly who President Obama picked in his NCAA pool but we never learned where he was the night our Embassy in Benghazi was attacked... Cancel culture may have started with lawn darts. First they came for Jarts and I said nothing... The Quest for Good Explanations would be a good name for a blog... Happy 88th birthday to Michael Caine. Remember if you say "my cocaine" you are also saying Michael Caine's name in his own voice... 

Gina Carano

Bari Weiss: Gina Carano and Crowd-Sourced McCarthyism. Weiss writes "my baseline assumption is that 99 percent of cancellations are unwarranted." I think she's probably right. 

I've followed the firing of Gina Carano but have yet to learn who at Disney authorized her termination. Something that has the capability of effecting subscriptions and quarterly revenues like this should warrant someone being held responsible. Right? Or if the move was morally defensible - shouldn't someone be taking credit for her departure? 

The silence on that front is deafening. Isn't that something "journalists" should be inquiring about?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Not one to advocate for breaking the law but in this case I have to applaud the initiative.

- You have to admit this is a good point

- Interesting - Hey Cancel Culture: What About Buffalo Soldiers?

- Heineken reports 52.5% decrease in half-year earnings. Because people stuck at home for months picked beer they actually liked?

- And Joe Biden's message is?

- This is absolutely true!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Fascinating thread about the possible inspiration for Lord of the Rings

- Matt Taibbi - If it's not "Cancel Culture," what kind of culture is it?

- Interesting data. My take-away is that overall deaths are back to where they were pre-Wuhan Virus,

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Lebanon: from Ponzi to Antifragility

- Robert DeNiro says the coronavirus decimated his finances. And just like that Rocky and Bullwinkle II and a Bad Grandpa sequel are green-lit.

- On this day in history

- Lying liars who lie.

Carson King and the Cancel Culture

Carson King became an instant celebrity when he held up a sign asking people to donate to his Busch Light beer fund via Venmo in front of ESPN's College Gameday crowd before the Iowa / Iowa State game.

Carson King became a hero when the amount donated became well in excess of what he'd actually need and he decided to donate the money to Iowa's Childrens Hospital. People appreciated the gesture so much that the amount donated to his Venmo account quickly topped $1 million.

Then Aaron Calvin, a "reporter" for the Des Moines Register tried to harm Carson King's reputation by digging up a couple of stupid Tweets from King from 2012 - when King was just 16-years old.

Carson King was acting from a pureness of heart. Aaron Calvin and the Des Moines Register acted solely out of malice. A malice brought on by the sick "cancel culture" gotcha ethos and lack of common sense. Where were the adults at the newspaper?

There was a backlash.

People were so disgusted by the actions of the paper that the Governor of Iowa honored Carson King for his actions and the amount raised has now topped $2 million for the children's hospital. Meanwhile people looked into Aaron Calvin's social media and found racist and homophobic posts from his past. The Des Moines Register was forced to fired the dick.

So it's a story with a happy ending.