May 14, 2025
I CONTINUE MY TRECK THROUGH THE SCIENCE FICTION IMPRINT THAT MADE ME A SCIENCE FICTION READER… AND WRITER: The Martian Chronicles – Reading the Future of the Past.
GEORGE GASCON* SMILES: Menendez brothers have sentenced reduced to 50 years in prison opening possibility for parole.
Erik and Lyle Menendez are eligible for parole 35 years after they were imprisoned for murdering both of their parents.
The brothers faced Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, where Judge Michael Jesic reduced their sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life.
This change means they’re now eligible for parole under California‘s youthful offender law because they committed the crime under the age of 26.
* Which means George Soros smiles. Gascon may have been tossed out of office, but plenty of Soros-backed D.A.s remain. As Tom Cotton wrote in 2021: Recall, Remove & Replace Every Last Soros Prosecutor.
HOW IS IT THAT EVERY NEW SCHOOL REFORM MAKES THINGS WORSE? I dread to think where this Schools Bill will lead us.
FARAGE HAS TO PROVE HE CAN DELIVER: Farage is spearheading a political revolution.
CALL THE PEST CONTROL: Top GOP Members of Congress Call for Destruction of Hamas.
LET’S SEE SOME ARRESTS: First-in-the-Nation: U.S. Indicts Sinaloa Cartel Leaders for Narco-Terrorism.
SHE DOES LOVE REGULATING FOLK: Trojan Horse for Increased Regulation’: Groups Raise Alarm on Elizabeth Warren’s Plan for Banking Sector.
TIP OF THE ICEBERG, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: ICE cracks down on DC-area businesses, nearly 200 illegal immigrants arrested.
THE TALK TED IS SCARED TO SHOW: When ideas become too dangerous to platform.
WE DON’T OWE ANYONE REFUGE. BUT IF WE GRANT IT, THEY SHOULD HAVE SKILLS, THEY SHOULD HAVE FAMILIES, THEY SHOULD ARRIVE WAVING AMERICAN FLAGS: A hearty warm welcome to the genuine refugees from South Africa.
THE QUESTION SHOULD BE: “SHOULD WE GIVE HARVARD ANY OF THE TAXPAYERS’ HARD EARNED MONEY?”: Trump administration pulls $450M more from Harvard.
Me? I vote for not one red cent for the blue!
DRINKING YOUR OWN INK WILL POISON YOU: Herd Learning of False Lessons.
HE SHOUTED “FIRE” IN THE CROWDED GHOST DANCE: DNC Panel Starts Process to Remove David Hogg as Vice Chair.
May 13, 2025
OPEN THREAD: Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed. Roger, ready to thread out!
I NEED A SURVEY TO TELL ME THIS? Poll: college-educated women end friendships over politics.
If you wanted to drill down to the biggest dividing factor here, it’s the portion of the coalition made up of college-educated women – a cohort that now dominates the politics of the Democratic coalition. In their circles, they say differences of political opinion have led to broken friendships with friends and neighbors at a more than 40-point rate – 67 percent to 24 percent.
One factor here could be an underlying belief that your friends and neighbors are just flat-out racists over their political opinions. Of Kamala Harris voters, Cygnal’s poll found that 62 percent say race relations have gotten worse in the past five years (since the summer of George Floyd), while 55 percent of Trump voters say race relations have improved or stayed the same. And again, the same cohort shows up to double-down on that belief: fully 75 percent of white female Democrats with a college-degree say race relations have gotten worse since 2020 – compared to just 41 percent of black men.
It’s the allyship that matters most, you see – not friendship.
Just as a reminder of how ephemeral most tribal political battles are, the late Charles Krauthammer wrote:
To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
That was back in 2002, when the then-Hitlers on the left were George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Both of whom the Harris campaign eagerly sought endorsements from last year.
CHANGE:
In case you missed it, the below EO is a big deal. Trump is forcing the federal government to spell out everything that is a crime under federal law. The other thing the EO does is to force the government to add a "mens rea" element to most of these "crimes"; i.e., you have to… pic.twitter.com/8SmaPXtota
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) May 13, 2025
Read the whole thing.
THIS IS CNN: Someone Should Be Fired After CNN Analyst Goes on Wild, Racist Rant Against White South Afrikaners.
South Africa’s ruling party has infamously made singing “Kill the Boer,” which translates to “kill the farmer,” a staple of their political rallies. For context, the song specifically refers to white farmers (Afrikaners) and dates back to the country’s apartheid days. Laws to confiscate their land and extra-judicial killings have taken center stage over the last several years.
For some reason, though, that has greatly offended Democrats, who have finally found refugees they do not want to admit into the country. Funny how that works, right? I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. On the other hand, here’s Ashley Allison making it clear that it’s not one.
ALLISON: So if the Afrikaners don’t actually like the land, they can leave that country.
JENNINGS: They are. They’re leaving to come here. These refugees are coming here.
ALLISON: No, they can leave and go to where their native land is, which is probably Germany or…
JENNINGS: Are you against them coming here?
PANELIST: Holland…
ALLISON: Holland, yes.
JENNINGS: Are you against them coming here?
ALLISON: I’m against the hypocrisy of this administration…
JENNINGS: No, no, that’s not the question. The question is are you against them coming here.
ALLISON: If there was actually a genocide happening like there is other places in Sudan and the Congo, I would not, I’m not opposed for Congolese and for the Sudanese to come to Africa [America?] just like I’m not opposed to Venzualans and South Americans coming to America if they are fleeing and looking for asylum. What I am against…
JENNINGS: So just these 50 people, you’re against…
ALLISON: What I am against is that they are being given special treatment when there is not a genocide happening in South Africa, and they just don’t like the law of the land!
What an absolutely deranged thing to say on so many levels. Imagine, for a moment, if a Republican CNN panelist told black Americans that they can “leave and go to where their native land is” if they don’t like laws that physically and financially persecute them. Do you imagine that person would still have a job right now?
Related: Based on This CNN Panel, the Lib Media Is Going to Go Insane Over This South African Refugee Issue.
You need to pay attention to this outrage cycle and think about why they’re mad.
See, those sinful Whites were supposed to stay there and be punished. To be dispossesed, robbed, tortured, and eradicated.
That’s “justice” in the eyes of our media. Trump stole it from them. https://t.co/AmV7fQR3Qa
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) May 12, 2025
UPDATE: MSNBC’S Yamiche Alcindor awakens from her four year slumber, finally finds something to be “appalled” about once again: Never Go Full MSNBC: Journo Claims People Are Appalled That White South Africans Aren’t Dangerous.
NEW: MSNBC's Yamiche Alcindor hyperventilates over the White South Africans who were granted refugee status by Trump.
"So the Trump admin, they're saying that essentially these white South Africans assimilate better, and they're also not as much of a security risk."
"That's… pic.twitter.com/xfgXJIvLZs
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 12, 2025
MORE:
I mean, their leaders are on video calling for the murder of South African whites. And they’ve spent the last 20 years stealing land and murdering South African whites. But other than that… https://t.co/YoECv2A2pW
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 13, 2025
SCHADENFREUDE OVERLOAD: Silly Socialite and Aged Madame of the Deep State Whorehouse Sally Quinn Whines That Liberals Don’t Feel “Safe” or Social in Trump’s DC.
Watergate-Era Washington Was Less Toxic Than This
It’s spring in Washington, D.C., the most beautiful time of the year. Dogwood, forsythia, cherry trees, tulips and daffodils decorate every sidewalk, wisterias weep from porch overhangs, and redbuds pop up at every corner. The air is redolent of blossoms, a soft breeze sharing their scent through the streets. It’s the perfect backdrop for the columned monuments and buildings that remind us of the miracle of our democracy. Spring is normally the happiest time of year here.
But not this spring.
This spring Washington is a city in crisis. Physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It’s as if the fragrant air were permeated with an invisible poison, as if we were silently choking on carbon monoxide. The emotion all around — palpable in the streets, the shops, the restaurants, in business offices, at dinner tables — is fear. People have gone from greeting each other with a grimace of anguish as they spout about the outrage of the day to a laugh to despair. It’s all so unbelievable that it’s hard to process, and it doesn’t stop.
Nobody feels safe. Nobody feels protected. This is a city where people seek and, if it all goes well for them, wield power. But today in Washington those who hold — or once held — the most power are often the most scared. It is not something they are used to feeling. I lived through the paranoia and vengefulness of Watergate. This time in Washington, it’s different. Nobody knows how this will end and what will happen to the country. What might happen to each of us.
Quinn’s headline is amazing. We’ve endlessly pointed out that every incoming GOP president is Hitler, only to be rehabbed into the proverbial Wise Elder Statesman to attack the next incoming Hitler. Quinn is using that hoary old Democratic Party cliché to describe how much better past life in her one industry company town was when a previous Republican was in office. (See also, previous Democrat grandees finding newfound respect for the man they spent the mid-1970s hounding out of office.)
No word yet if Quinn will block Trump’s policies with her Ouija board though.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?
Earlier this semester, an NYU professor told me how he had AI-proofed his assignments, only to have the students complain that the work was too hard. When he told them those were standard assignments, just worded so current AI would fail to answer them, they said he was interfering with their “learning styles.” A student asked for an extension, on the grounds that ChatGPT was down the day the assignment was due. Another said, about work on a problem set, “You’re asking me to go from point A to point B, why wouldn’t I use a car to get there?” And another, when asked about their largely AI-written work, replied, “Everyone is doing it.” Those are stories from a 15-minute conversation with a single professor.
Related: Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College. ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.
UM…:
Face it, you cant tell if this is real or not can you? https://t.co/ezVzD85aYe
— varifrank (@varifrank) May 13, 2025
(But it is real.)
Related (From Ed): If you missed it yesterday: David Hogg’s Critique of Democrats: Men Want to Get Laid.
UPDATE (From Ed): Hogg rides the left’s intersectional Mobius Loop!
HE’S RUNNING: Gavin Newsom calls on California cities to ban homeless encampments.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on Monday called on hundreds of cities and counties to ban homeless encampments on sidewalks, bike paths, and other public property, increasing pressure on local governments to follow the state‘s lead.
His office released a model for a local ordinance that municipalities can adopt to make encampments illegal and clear existing ones.
The template would prohibit camping for more than three days, creating a semipermanent shelter, or camping in a way that blocks sidewalks. It is a very different approach from the traditional liberal one, which has been to emphasize government housing and treatment but not criminalize homelessness.
“There’s nothing compassionate about letting people die on the streets,” Newsom said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity — the courts delivered. Now, we’re giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and with humanity, to resolve encampments and connect people to shelter, housing, and care. The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses.”
Just as the Pravda media hid Obama’s radical chic past in 2007 and 2008, and Joe Biden’s infirmities from 2020 to 2024, California’s PR rehab over the next four years will be astonishing to watch.
