Is Masculinity On The Ballot?

When Hulk Hogan spoke at the Republican National Convention, it never occurred to me that he might be anything more than one of a handful of has-been celebrities who would show up for Trump. After all, it was Trump backer Peter Thiel who financed his suit against Gawker, and if nothing else, he owed Thiel a huge debt. Did anyone even know if Hulk Hogan, who no doubt deeply regrets turning down a chance at Dancing with the Stars as his tiny star faded to black, was still alive?

But David French suggests that he was on the dais as an exemplar of the Trumpian exemplar of masculinity. Continue reading →

Karens Defining Kamala

Elizabeth Nolan Brown at Reason was on the call so you (and I) didn’t have to be, not that we were invited.

“Karens for Kamala?” actress Connie Britton joked.

Britton was one of two celebrities, several politicians, and, reportedly, more than 100,000 others on a Zoom call advertised as a way for white women to “show up for Kamala Harris.”

Good white women showed up for this call. Continue reading →

Did The NYT Sanitize Illegal Pro-Hamas Protest? (Update)

To read the New York Times, protests against Israel Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu were not only peaceful, but protesters were the victims of needless police force and abuse. For this reason, one might be hard-pressed to question why people who read the paper of record might believe that this was a lawful exercise of First Amendment rights in support of Palestinians.

But how did the New York Times manage to miss the rest of it?

Continue reading →

The Beatification of Biden

It has the same vibe as not speaking ill of the dead. Immediately upon Joe Biden’s announcement that he was withdrawing his candidacy for president, gushing praise was ubiquitous.

Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern posted on X that he was “feeling overwhelmed with gratitude toward Joe Biden for making this sacrifice.”

“An actual hero,” wrote New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.

Biden “has placed the national interest above his own pride and ambition,” wrote the Times editorial board. Continue reading →

Tuesday Talk*: Is Kamala The Savior Of The Democrats?

It took about a day for Kamala Harris to lock up enough delegate support to nail the nomination. The money spigot that turned off after Biden’s cognitive decline could no longer be denied has been turned back on. Her history as a prosecutor, despite the great many abhorrent things she did (remember Celeste Guap, as Chris Seaton reminds us), is being touted as a strength this time around in order to set up “the prosecutor v. the criminal” campaign against Trump.

Whether Harris is the candidate Democrats want seems besides the point. What they want even less is a chaotic floor fight that will leave everyone bloody. What they want is to pretend Harris is suddenly a desirable candidate where she was a failure of massive proportions before. What they want is to see the first woman of color elected president. What they want is to bring back the pro-Hamas fringe who hated Genocide Joe for what was happening in Gaza, but didn’t connect Harris to the policy, as she declined to be present for Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu’s speech to the House and her and has spoken of the pro-Hamas protesters as “showing exactly what the human emotion should be.” Continue reading →

Harris Must Earn The Nomination

From a political perspective, Nancy Pelosi made an important observation when calling for an open process should Biden drop out. If anointed successor nominee, without going through a competitive process, Kamala Harris’ candidacy will lack the imprimatur of legitimacy. She was handed the nomination and never earned it.

But as of now, it appears that Harris is the anointed one. As vice president, she is the natural successor to Biden, who endorsed her candidacy. She spent much of Sunday calling the Democrat elites to lock up their endorsement before it was known whether anyone would challenge her for the nomination. Continue reading →

The Other Weed Prohibition

Years ago, I spoke with a fellow who worked in the White House on the defense against computer hacking. At the time, hackers were basically kicking the butt of the government, and the government was having a really bad time trying to counter their incursions. Why, I asked. His answer was that almost all people with great computer skills either are or were pot smokers. The United States did not hire pot smokers. Consequently, the United States refused the very people it needed desperately. It would rather get its butt kicked by hackers.

Finally, a bill has been introduced in the House to end the government’s refusal to hire or give security clearances to people who have smoked pot. Continue reading →

No Constitutional Right To Enforcement

It’s long been clear that the police have no general duty to do their job. Forget the public relations schtick, useful primarily to get budget increases and cool new equipment, about “defend and protect,” the cops can turn their back and walk away without violating your constitutional rights. But can the government simply abandon a portion of a city to crime and criminals? According to Northern District of California Judge Jon Tigar, yes. Yes it can.

Plaintiffs are residents and businesses in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco. Plaintiffs allege that the City treats the Tenderloin as a “containment zone” for narcotics activities. Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that “for years the City has allowed individuals to openly buy and use narcotics in the Tenderloin, and to remain, under the obvious influence of drugs, on the sidewalks and public spaces of the neighborhood.” “Addicts living on the Tenderloin’s streets foreseeably support their habit by stealing (e.g., shoplifting, car break-ins, burglaries, robberies) and hawking the stolen merchandise on the sidewalks.” Continue reading →

Seaton: Americans Reject Calls To End Political Violence Because “They Started it!”

Americans, divided as ever in the wake of a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump, refused to heed calls from political leaders to tone down incendiary political rhetoric because “they started it.”

No one questioned about who “they” are offered any sort of coherent or meaningful answer. In fact, the responses largely depended on who answered the question.

President Joe Biden, when asked to clarify his position following his remarks from last Sunday, said “When I said ‘we’ need to tone down the rhetoric in America, I meant everyone else, not me. I’ve made it my mission to point out how Trump is an existential threat to democracy and I’ll continue to do that right up until November.” Continue reading →