If the NPC Meme Didn’t Exist We’d Have To Invent It

I can think of nothing that captures the essence of last week’s Democratic debate participants better than the NPC meme:  a stage full of preprogrammed “non-player characters” in a video game who are only allowed to interact through a limited number of responses and catchphrases.  Still, a handful of the NPCs managed to make themselves stand out in the crowd.

Che de Blasio and Perpetually-Peeved-Pocahontas on Wednesday night:

And on Thursday, Rainbow (“did I mention I was gay?) Pete,  Joey, Forever Angry Bernie and  Kamala “I’m-Black-Like-Obama” Harris brought their game faces.

Everyone else served as interchangeable automatons programmed to move the game forward. So stay mindful of the Democrats’ end game, they intend to fundamentally transform America into a socialist paradise. It’s a virtual reality game. And they cheat.

At Least Nobody Spoke Spanish

It’s not exactly news but the only thing to be gleaned from last night’s “debate” is that Big Media has decided to throw in with Kamala. And she did not disappoint. Her handlers sent her in well groomed in every sense of the word armed with smug self-righteous clips and quotable sound bites. 

So there is a consensus today among “non-partisan journalists” that the angry woman of color and friend-of-Barack was the clear winner last night.

Grooming the New Guard of Fairy Tales

And we all know how important consensus, especially among journalists, is to a presidential campaign.

Sadly for Joey B, he was last night’s big loser, confirming people’s belief that the story run by ABC last week about the shady dealings he and his son Hunter entered into with the Ukraine and China was a sign that Big Media had already decided to deep six Joe. That they did so in favor of a woman who is decidedly sexier than the old dog was just rubbing salt into the wound. Finding a candidate as attractive and malleable as their legendary Obama is truly a dream come true for the J-Team. To paraphrase Joey B himself, "I mean, you got the first mainstream woman of color who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking gal. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Ouch, talk about being hoisted by your own petard.

Aside from that the only item of note from last night is how easy it is these days to move the political left even further left. When asked by a moderator for a show of hands of who would provide universal healthcare for illegal aliens, Every. Single. One. of them raised their hand.

The word “lemming” comes to mind

I’m so old that I remember when Barack Obama told the country that Obamacare would NEVER cover illegals.

President Obama, Sept. 9, 2009: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.: You lie!

Obama: That's not true. 

But as it turns out it was. And all 10 candidates last night confirmed it to be true. As Tucker Carlson pointed out last month:

The Democratic Party has abandoned any pretense that America exists to benefit Americans. They tell us our country is innately evil, that it was conceived in racism for the purpose of oppression, that we are a sinful nation. And to redeem ourselves, we must sacrifice for the world's poor, among many, many, many other things. This means paying the health care bills of foreign nationals who have no right to be here in the first place.

To a man (generically speaking) the Democrats have declared that no matter who their candidate is their platform can be summarized thusly: “We have to destroy America in order to save her.” If we were dealing with even marginally rational people the 2020 election wouldn’t be much of a contest.

Oh, and nobody spoke Spanish last night. So there’s that.

Charlatans Take Center Stage: Part I

I did not watch any part of the Democratic debate last night although I see that many of you did.

I gather from the outtakes this morning that there wasn’t much there there. Spartacus was upset that Beto Boy began speaking in tongues before he thought to do so. De Blasio and Warren were the first to step up and lie about being willing to give up their generous healthcare insurance plans in exchange for enhanced Obamacare plan, and most of them support the decriminalization of “border crossing” i.e. sneaking into the country illegally.

As we know, there’s no such thing as an illegal person

Throw in free college tuition to keep the massive Big Education Bubble going and it seems we can’t lose with any of these candidates. Literally.

The only noteworthy assessment of the candidates came from Scott Adams (h/t Francinepink):

“Brown Trump,” I sort of like that.

Unfortunately the PC police will not allow us to translate that to a “Brown Woman Bad” meme as it’s both a racial slur AND cultural appropriation.

Since SrDem promised to deliver a Cliff Notes version of the debate today I leave you to commiserate among yourselves about the fate of the first 10 Dem candidates among yourselves.  For my part, I have to drive Raj to an early PT appointment and I’ve somehow managed to come down with a nasty summer cold that refuses to move along. So I honestly don’t have enough energy left this week to care much  about any of these charlatans.

Save Yourself America

My brother told me that the HBO mini-series “Chernobyl” was very good and worth watching.

I haven’t seen it yet so this is not a review (although Gerard once told me I’d be a pretty poor journalist if I couldn’t write a review of a Sundance film without seeing it first) but a review of the reviews I’ve read. Most are positive, that indicate it is a well-made, compelling historical documentary that gets a few things wrong but most things about the disaster right.

A good number of the reviews however are quick to point out that Chernobyl is not an indictment of Communism. Perhaps it wasn’t written to do that but it seems from what I’ve read that it must be. Chernobyl is the cautionary tale of what can happen when a Communist behemoth cuts corners in both standards and materials, demonstrates a reckless disregard for human life and is willing to lie to everyone about everything in order to protect itself. The almost inevitable manmade disaster sounds like an indictment of Communism to me. In short, Chernobyl is about Communism, it's failures and lies.

PJMedia covered this:

The excellent miniseries Chernobyl, which just finished on HBO, is one of the most searing indictments of communism ever put on the small screen, at least since the halcyon days of The Americans.

Systematically and dramatically, Chernobyl exposes the communist disregard for human life and safety, socialism’s ineptness at designing anything that works as it should, and the totalitarian state’s fear that anything that exposes the sham is an existential threat to its existence.

And then cites several sources that don’t think it really is, including The Atlantic, the New Republic and CNN. But the best is Washington Post who thinks it’s not only not an indictment of communism, it’s and indictment of…wait for it… Trump!

“Depressing as it may be, “Chernobyl,” created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, is a fine study in the uses of sanctioned obfuscation — and how much easier that becomes in a country where media and scientific leadership are tightly restricted. There was a time when that sort of thing might have seemed entirely foreign to an American audience; now, it’s another resonant alarm sounding uncomfortably close.”

Of course there’s not much difference between Communism and socialism, even “Democratic” socialism, when the power of Big Government is in the equation. Best if America learns that before the next election.

Save yourself America: Communism/Socialism is deadly every time it’s tried

Congratulations! And Good Luck With Your Win.

Oh dear, it looks like a popular candidate – who is a thorn in the side of Turkey’s ruling party – won the mayoral election in Istanbul Sunday…for the second time.

Supporters of Republican People's Party candidate for Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, celebrate in the city after the elections re-do on Sunday.

ISTANBUL—An opposition candidate has won a repeat ballot for Istanbul mayor Sunday, ending President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s quarter-century grip on the megalopolis and exposing troubles at his long-dominant ruling party.

Mr. Imamoglu had defeated the AKP candidate in the initial March municipal ballot, but electoral authorities had voided the results after Mr. Erdogan complained of fraud and called for a do-over. - WSJ

As this appears to be a threat to Turkey’s ruling party, the media played down the victory:

“Istanbul has voted,” read the subdued headline of the usually rabidly pro-Erdoğan tabloid Yeni Şafak. There were no pictures of the fireworks and scenes of jubilation hours before. - The Guardian

Although it’s clear that the win could mean significant consequences for President Erdoğan and his party.

Imamoğlu ended 25 years of Islamist party dominance in the rerun for control of Turkey’s biggest city and economic centre, which accounted for 31% of GDP in 2017.

The result has serious financial implications for the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and its patronage networks, and will amplify the sense among the opposition and within Erdoğan’s party that the president’s power is starting to wane. - The Guardian

Yikes! That sounds like it could present a serious threat to the status quo.

Since the stakes were so high -

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who served as Istanbul's mayor in the 1990s and leads the AK Party - has famously said: "Whoever loses Istanbul loses Turkey". - Al Jazeera

Turkey went to extreme measures to ensure there was no voter fraud this time around:

One lawyer was appointed to each voting booth set up in nearly 2,000 polling stations across the city.

Esen told Al Jazeera it was an important development for Turkish politics, as the vote counting process has not been very accurate and fair in previous elections. – Al Jazeera

We intend to correct that in the future

While the opposition nurses a collective hangover, attention is turning to what the president’s next move will be. - The Guardian

I have a few suggestions: First, he should declare this is an illegitimate win, by an illegitimate candidate. Then produce any of the dirt your surrogates have been able to find or manufacture against Imamoğlu and launch an official “investigation” into the Mayor’s campaign. If nothing else shows up claim Russian Collusion and election interference because how else could such a reprobate win, eh? And if that doesn’t work, due to lack of evidence, there’s always allegations of obstruction.

I’ve even got the legal Dream Team for you:

And Good Luck!

We’re Unravelling

Yes, the world has officially gone mad. First YouTube and Facebook imposed their “standards” for group-think. Then the role-playing gaming site RPG.net joined the community opposed to free speech with this announcement:

We are banning support of the administration of President Trump. You can still post on RPG.net even if you do in fact support the administration — you just can't talk about it here.

Most generous of them to at least let you think things you are not allowed to speak of. So they haven’t yet gone full 1984.

Then, as noted here yesterday, Ravelry, a crafting website community of knitters and crocheters, couldn’t wait to not be first to “ban support of Donald Trump and his administration.”

The Unravelling of the American Mind

Somebody should remind the current crop of progressives that at one time “freedom of speech” was a core value of liberalism…and that it included freedom to speak things that they specifically don’t like, don’t want and don’t believe in. That’s what makes it “free,” free of your endorsement.

Progressives are seriously unravelling.

If they’re not careful they’ll come completely undone.

Reputation Is But A Shadow

“Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?” – Raymond Donovan

The media had a field day painting Donovan, Reagan’s former Secretary of Labor, as a mafia stooge after he had been indicted on corruption charges in 1985 for his work with a construction company accused of having mob ties.

The only problem was the charges didn’t hold up, in fact they spectacularly imploded. Donovan’s attorneys rested their case without ever calling a single witness, contending the prosecution failed to prove Donovan did anything wrong. The jury agreed, and Donovan was acquitted (along with all the other defendants) and walked out of the courtroom a free man. Yet free is hardly the same thing as untainted. Up until he was indicted on unsubstantiated, politically motivated charges Mr. Donovan had led an exemplary life as an individual and business man. In an instant his name would forever be associated with a criminal indictment – hence his now famous quote.

Which brings us to this year’s most outrageous act of character assassination – and there were many to choose from - Gibson’s Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio.

But this time there was retribution. Last week the bakery won a huge lawsuit against Oberlin College for its role in unjustly destroying the reputation and livelihood of the family business, as explained by David Gibson:

Despite the lack of any evidence, our family was accused of a long history of racism and discrimination. Oberlin College officials ordered the suspension of the more than 100-year business relationship with our bakery, and our customers dwindled. We were officially on trial — not in a courtroom, but in the court of public opinion. And we were losing….

The bakery fought back, as well documented by William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection, in the only way open to them, the legal system. When the dust settled in the libel, slander and defamation suit the bakery filed against Oberlin College and Meredith Raimondo, vice president and dean of students, for their role in destroying the bakery’s reputation, the jury awarded them over $44 million in damages.

Why did the family pursue this through the court for years? David Gibson again explains:

Gibson Bakery owners 91-year-old Allyn W. Gibson, R, and his son David Gibson

As the extended legal battle dragged on, many asked why I didn’t just quit. Wouldn’t it be easier to close up shop and move on?

What few understand is that this situation not only affected our business; it touched every aspect of our lives.

In the end, the words of my father inspired me to continue the fight. He said, “In my life, I’ve done everything I could to treat all people with dignity and respect. And now, nearing the end of my life, I’m going to die being labeled as a racist.”

There wasn’t enough time, he feared, to set the record straight. His legacy had been tarnished and he felt powerless to stop it. I had to see this case through.

This experience has taught me that reputations are a fragile thing. They take a lifetime to build, but only moments to destroy.

Like a fragile egg, once broken it can never be whole again.

Raymond Donovan would understand.

Fractured Fairy Tales

Everybody does.

Let’s start here: Julia Roberts reveals original ending for ‘Pretty Woman’ — and you’d be shocked.

In an interview in Variety magazine this week Julia Roberts revealed that the original ending of Pretty Woman as written was anything but the fairy tale ending of “prostitute-falls-in-love-with-a-rich-john-and-they-both-live-happily-ever-after.” She explained that the original script was “really dark and the ending was really heavy.”

In fact the original script ended with Robert’s character, the prostitute Vivian Ward, left sprawled out in a dirty alley where Richard Gere’s character, Edward Lewis, had chucked her out of the car. For good measure, and to get the point across, he also threw a bunch of money at her as he drove away. Clearly not a story ever intended to be a fairy tale.

But Disney, who bought the script before it went into production, does fairy tales so…they made it into a fairy tale. The public loves happy endings so give the public what they want. By 1990 Disney had already strayed so far from the studio’s original core value of creating wholesome entertainment for the whole family that profit was now the guiding factor. How else to explain a movie glorifying a prostitute’s way of life to deliver on the premise of happily ever after? The impact of such a story on vulnerable young girls was predictable.

Years ago, when I saw the movie through my middle class lens, I saw the title character as a beautiful, young woman who wanted out of “the life.” She’d entered a life of prostitution as a last resort… She was still plucky and moral, just down on her luck. Until one day, her luck turned for the better as a dashing millionaire in the wrong neighborhood needed directions.

But when the two young girls saw this movie, they saw it differently. They saw something that I never envisioned. They saw prostitution as a chance to meet their own Prince Charming, and the movie Pretty Woman was the catalyst for them to enter “the life.”

Each of these girls soon discovered that reality is far different from Hollywood. There was no Prince Charming, no fairy tale ending. They suffered abuse of the worse kind; they lost their freedom and their dignity, and they still experience flashbacks, PTSD, damaged emotions, and lifelong scars.

Yet in the Variety interview Julia Roberts tells interviewer Patricia Arquette the Disney ending placed the movie squarely “in her wheelhouse.” Roots of morality an eightieth of an inch deep, sad, really.

Much has been written about the debauchery of Hollywood, some going back as far as 1955.

Spoiler Alert: it hasn’t gotten any better

But nobody has excoriated the entertainment business as relentlessly and vociferously as Michael Savage. Love him or hate him, for 20 years he’s been calling out Hollywood for undermining the morals and values of America. He calls Hollywood a sewer pipe that pumps out fetid trash glorifying sluts and degenerates. I can think of nothing to add to that.

It’s certainly hard to argue he’s wrong when you pick up a copy of April’s Teen Vogue and see an article titled “Why Sex Work is Real Work” by Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng (I swear, that’s her real name, I did not make it up). Even if you agree with Dr. Mofokeng’s premise that sex work of all sorts should be legalized it’s hard to rationalize why promoting the idea of sex work as a career to 13 year old girls is a good idea. Especially when underaged human trafficking for sex is an ever growing problem in the world.

In a sane age any editor of a publication title “teen” anything would have rejected the article out of hand and fired whoever proposed it. But this is not a sane age, these are Heinlein’s crazy years and we’re just living in them (h/t Glenn Reynolds).

But back to Disney: I’m not saying they’re single-handedly responsible for the wretched state of affairs in the world. I do think however that if they’d stuck with the original ending of Pretty Woman instead of going the Cinderella-on-crack route there wouldn’t be so many young women today who think prostituting their way through college is a perfectly acceptable alternative to student loans.

Oh yeah, it’s a real thing

So what have we learned today? *sigh* Not much we didn’t already know: letting immoral pervs set the cultural moral standards will result in a fundamentally immoral society.

No Bill, it’s your mirror

And from that point forward all fairy tales will be fractured.