Jamie Reed is a gay woman, a parent of five children and is married to a transgender man. So, what led her to publicly pull back the curtain on what was happening at the Pediatric Transgender Center at Washington University in St. Louis, MO and to talk of the immense harms being done to children, especially young girls?

We discuss the reasons for the explosion of transgender cases we’ve seen in America over recent years, including the role of schools, social media, and healthcare economics. Reed also talks about how being a whistleblower has impacted her own life, and her current advocacy work on behalf of children.

Henry Kissinger is gone after a century on Planet Earth. The most influential diplomat of the last fifty years, he’s never been short of fierce criticisms from both the left and right. The great war historian Victor Davis Hanson returns to the Ricochet Podcast to give a careful review of the controversial emissary.

Plus Lileks, Robinson and Long are reunited after a couple weeks to evaluate Thursday’s much touted DeSantis/Newsom face-off, and they give their early impressions of Argentina’s triumphant Milei and the seemingly vindicated Geert Wilders.

Quote of the Day: Stupid Is Not Like Soup

 

“Stupid so thick you could eat it with a spoon. But use a fork, you’ll want to miss every drop. And stab it. A lot.” — Sisyphus

I’m sure most of us here are old enough to have seen the old Chunky Soup commercials with the tagline that the above statement is parodying. (Whether we’re too old to remember is another question.) Perhaps a week ago, @sisyphus used this when discussing a subject here on Ricochet, and I thought it needed to be more widely seen than it was in that one thread. I know I have seen many things in the news over the last week where this applies.

Cultural Appropriation

 

OK, I know this is a rhetorical question that has been asked in many ways over several years, and has no real answer, but the recent controversy over the boy who wore an Indian novelty feathered headdress to a Kansas City Chiefs football game and painted his face in the team colors of black and red causes me to ask again:

If it is wrong for white people of European descent to use or enjoy things of other cultures (American Indian headdresses, Mexican sombreros, black people’s dreadlocks, African hoop earrings, etc.), is it not similarly wrong for people who are not white of European descent to use things created by white people? Or to wear warm and water-resistant tweed clothing if you’re not of Scottish descent? Or wear suits and ties if you’re not white of European descent? What about technology (electricity, telephone, the automobile, airplanes, air conditioning), or music (J.S. Bach, the Beatles), etc.?

George Santos Expelled from the House

 

George Santos, the fabulist and unlikeliest member of the US House of Representatives has become the 6th person in the history that chamber to be expelled by a vote of his fellow members. The final vote was 311-114, including 105 Republicans.

Santos is currently facing 23 charges of fraud, to all of which he has pled not guilty. His Long Island/Queens district must now hold an election with 90 days to put a successor in place.

Madame Justice: Sandra Day O’Connor

 

The first “Madame Justice” of the United States Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor, has passed at age 93. Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981, she served on the Court for 25 years. With George W. Bush’s re-election she chose to retire in 2005. She twice extended her departure to accommodate the passing of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the botched nomination of Harriet Miers.

 

Will the Deep State ‘Save’ Argentina from Javier Milei?

 

I wish the Argentinians well. Like Americans in 2016, the Argentinians see things going in the wrong direction and have elected Javier Milei to take things in a different direction. But not so fast. UK writer Craig Pirrong at The Conservative Woman asks

Will Milei be able to deliver? Some early commentary has doubted his ability to govern based on the fact that his party’s representation in the legislature is well below a majority. That may be an issue, but not the major obstacle to Milei’s ability to transform Argentina into what it was at the dawn of the 21st century: an advanced, rapidly growing economy and a relatively free society.

Info Wars and Today’s Triple Tyranny

 

Quick post on some very disturbing news items.

1) Under Obama a group of non-government persons and government moles started a group (CTI League) that worked with multinational corporations and spy agencies in the US/UK and military agencies in US/UK to control the spread of information. This spawned all kinds of little “disinformation police” groups and sought/seeks to control your thoughts and actions.  Schellenberger has the details (it is a complex industry) and the House should have hearings soon.

Hamas Rebranding

 

Hamas Logo ShiftDear Sympathizers & Supporters,

Asaalam Aleikem… we at Hamas have been shocked by the stunning electoral victories of President Milei of Argentina and Geert Wilders (curse be upon him) of the Netherlands. These elections have served as a wake-up call for our global messaging strategy, and we are urgently calling for a change of direction in this space.

Why We Need a Change

Argentina is a country in South America that has long elected socialist-leaning Peronist statist governments. These governments turned a blind eye when Hezbollah and the Iranian government killed 85 devil Jews at the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires. They even killed the lead prosecutor in that case. They were reliable allies.

The Hard Task Ahead

 

I think that many of us have a fantasy that if ever the levers of power are returned to the “Normals” that with a capitation strategy we can readily restore our culture. That is, we have often heard that the “rank and file” are just fine, it is leadership that is the problem. If so, change leadership — in government, in education, in media — and voila, problem solved.

Well, as time marches forward and more and more miseducated/indoctrinated souls populate all levels of society, this task may have become unmanageable. Are we there already? I don’t know. It is only the ranking members in various organizations that are highlighted for their wokeism given their influence within the organization. I would love to believe the “silent (intimidated) majority” is still there just waiting to be able to express their normality again.

46-Minute Video of Hamas Massacre: Ted Cruz Podcast “Verdict”

 

I strongly recommend listening to Wednesday’s “Verdict” podcast in which Sen. Ted Cruz describes the scene yesterday morning in a viewing of a 46-minute video provided by the Israeli government, attended by 50 Senators of both parties. I had included what I understood was a small portion of that video in a post I did recently. I commented then that I wish every single American citizen could be required to view it in order to have some very small understanding of what was done to Israel that morning of soulless depravity.

As I listened to Cruz’s description of what they saw, I found that same feeling coming to the fore, only much stronger. What they saw, as he said, is, in the true sense of the words, unimaginable and indescribable. He also said that he planned to make a request to the Israeli government to release it to the world so that everyone could see what those animals did to those innocent, unsuspecting Israelis (and Americans and Thais and others) on that lovely morning of October 7.

Input Guarantees Outcome?

 

I recently encountered a statement that I thought an interesting illustration of logic differences that lead to some of our conflicts about getting to the best solutions. The statement had to do with the potential electoral contest between President Biden and former President Trump. But this post is not about that electoral contest. This post is about the logic behind the statement.

The statement was that Biden is obviously in better health than is Trump, and thus more suited to be elected, because Biden eats better than Trump does (noting Trump’s fondness for fast food hamburgers, French fries, and diet sodas); we see Biden exercising while we see no evidence that Trump engages in physical exercise; and Biden is relatively thin while Trump is visibly overweight.

The Two-State Solution is Impossible

 

Solving the conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians has been a long-term contest. And people always complain about how complex it is: disputes about borders (although the Left rarely talks about including Israel’s security as an issue); disputes about settlements (although they have been built in the land originally settled by the Jews, called Judea and Sumeria); the so-called long-term issue of the two sides not sitting down together (even though Mahmoud Abbas has refused to meet for years). The list of reasons and concerns is endless, and inevitably, Israel is blamed for most of them.

Many observers claim that the dispute is mainly over land, and that religion is a secondary concern. Those observers are either naïve, foolish, or misinformed (or all of the above). This is a conflict primarily about religion and ideology. The Arabs have hated the Jews from the time of Mohammed, particularly at the end of the 19th century, when they began to return to the land they had been given by G-d. Any ridiculous argument about how many Jews remained after the diaspora (as if you have to maintain a certain population to have claim to a country) is misguided.

There is one fact that matters when a two-state solution is presented: neither country wants it to take place. At this point, Israel would always be threatened by Palestinians living next door to them, even if Hamas is destroyed; Palestinians still favor the Hamas agenda. And that agenda has been stated in the mission statement of Hamas, which is still in place: the Jews must be driven into the sea and Israel must be destroyed.

Turkey Day is behind us and we’re back to business. Elon Musk has gone to war – with Media Matters, with the woke corporations being manipulated by them and literally walking into a war zone in Israel.

At home we check in for the latest from Arizona politics with fellow podcaster Amber May and then Dennis fights a little battle of his own – with a billionaire of a different stripe.

You’ve had your fill on turkey, now it’s time to get back to the races! In fact, we’re so eager to get back in that Beyond the Polls will be coming out weekly going forward.

This week Henry sits down with John Hood of the Pope Foundation for a tour of North Carolina, a state set for competetive elections for both GOP contenders and in the general. Then James Johnson, cofounder of JL Partners, takes us through his findings on an electorate which largely disapproves of the presidential rematch that’s likely to come in ’24.

Towards a Phenomenology of Deep Stupid

 

The widespread emergence of Deep Stupid threatens to become the defining aspect of our era. Not to be confused with “stupid” as a byproduct of innate cerebral defects or low IQ, Deep Stupid is a self-reinforcing cognitive and behavioral state that can be found in persons who at one time may have exhibited above-average intelligence. Nor is Deep Stupid synonymous with ignorance or the mere absence of data or information so much as it is a predilection for embracing self-contradictory, patently wrong, or absurdly caricatured ideas. Deep Stupid means not only being wrong but passionately so and about several things.

The prevalence of Deep Stupid is evidenced everywhere:

An Unfair Swipe at the Federalist Society

 

It looks as if the next presidential election—less than a year away—will feature a rerun between two road-tested candidates: President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, who at present seem, with all their evident flaws, to push other candidates aside. Not only does Trump lead in the run-up to the Republican primary, but, contrary to many expectations, he seems to have edged into the lead against Biden for the general election.

It is no surprise that columns in the New York Times seek to bolster Democratic fortunes. A recent heartfelt op-ed in the Times by three veteran Trump opponents—George Conway, J. Michael Luttig, and Barbara Comstockseeks to bolster Democratic fortunes. They insist that re-electing the former president could undermine the Constitution, the rule of law, the independence of the courts, and much else besides. They offer no specifics to document these claims, and maintain a conspicuous silence about any activities of the Biden administration that arguably flout these very principles, such as its overgenerous use of executive orders on such matters as student loan forgiveness and the use of fossil fuels, which undermine the separation of powers; as well as the attacks on conservative Supreme Court justices, coupled with dangerous suggestions by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has denounced a Code of Conduct recently released by the Supreme Court. Whitehouse proposes: “My ethics bill would create a transparent process for complaints and allow a panel of chief judges from the lower courts to investigate and make recommendations based on those complaints.” But, as the Wall Street Journal noted editorially, this move would inspire an endless array of public complaints, many generated by Whitehouse’s loyalists, to be investigated under uncertain procedures that clearly amount to the politicization of the judiciary and an assault on the independence of the Supreme Court. Just how would those justices operate, knowing that their legal decisions are subject to the review by the judges whose work they are supposed to review? And to whom are these recommendations made, and for what purpose?

The most bizarre claim in the Times op-ed is to point an accusing finger at the Federalist Society (with whom I have worked closely since its inception over forty years ago), as derelict in failing to control the asserted dangerous activities of any planned Trump administration. The charge wholly misunderstands the role that the society has played as an incubator of conservative and libertarian lawyers—who, for all their differences on such key long-standing issues as judicial review and the protection of speech and property rights, will never be mistaken for the progressive rivals.

Only the ‘Best’

 

In 2016, Donald Trump promised to “only hire the best people.” By 2018, he was openly trashing most of them. What Trump demands is absolute personal loyalty. Not to the office, not to the country, but to him.

When Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds endorsed fellow governor Ron DeSantis, Trump issued a statement that said, “Two extremely disloyal people getting together is, however, a very beautiful thing to watch.” Kneel before Zod, peasants.

The Aftermath in Dublin

 

I won’t do a long-form tonight as I am writing on my phone. Instead, I will keep it to ten points, as by now most people know the score. I want to thank everyone on Ricochet for their prayers and comments relating to my country. Here is a brief summary of the aftermath:

1. Two Irish citizens remain in hospital. The woman who responded and defended the children in her care, a creche worker is still in critical condition. As is one of the children stabbed brutally in the neck (so I am told). The other two innocent patients have been set free from hospital.

2. The outrage and disgust at this allegedly mass murder attempt is felt still by many Irish people. However, the government and the media here are deliberately not focusing on this. There has been an almost deliberate attempt to focus on the riots, that you would not know three children and an adult were stabbed.

Biden and the Democrats Are About to Abandon Israel

 

We knew weeks ago that Biden’s support of Israel, no matter how resolute it sounded, was not on solid ground. He is being battered by his staff, the overall Administration, and now Congress, trying to get him to tie the hands of the Israelis in their efforts to defeat Hamas. Naturally, everyone couches their recommendations in “humanitarian concerns”; I think, instead that all these protests are determined to ensure that Israel loses the war.

Let’s review the strong words that Biden used at the beginning: