May 9, 2025

OPEN THREAD: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. These are nice. Little Roquefort cheese morsels rolled in crushed nuts. Very tasty. Very subtle. It’s the way the dry sackiness of the nuts tiptoes up against the dour savor of the cheese that is so nice, so subtle, especially when attending that Radical Chic Open Thread at Lenny’s.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

HUGH HEWITT: Vice President J.D. Vance Returns To The Program For The First Time To Discuss, Of Course, Pope Leo XIV, President Trump, and SCOTUS.

HH: I have been spending the morning listening to the American cardinals talk about Leo XIV and reading about Leo XIV, because like you, I am a Catholic. I’m wondering what your reaction is, sort of at length over the course of the day since that news came down?

JDV: Yeah, well, look, I watched with baited breath. I think they, you know, they let the white smoke go off, and then they just sort of, you know, hold us there without giving us the news. I was starting to sort of, you know, I was watching it with my staff, and I was like, my God, we’ve had white smoke for a long time. Why can’t they just, you know, show this guy, because I was on the edge of my seat like a lot of other people. I mean, look, I have a few thoughts in response, Hugh. First of all, a big moment, of course, for American Catholics, and I think the American people, writ large. So many people my entire lifetime has said you’re never going to have an American pope. Obviously, now we do, so I think that’s a great thing. The second thing I’d say is you know, we don’t know a whole lot about him, but I just wish him the best, right? I’m a Catholic. He’s now the head of the Catholic Church, and we’ll pray for his wisdom, for his good decisions, and his good health, and hope that he has a long and successful papacy. And then the third thing, Hugh, and this is, you know, these things always get discolored a little bit by American politics or by politics writ large. You know, people are asking is he a conservative or is he a liberal. Will he attack President Trump and J.D. Vance on certain things, and hasn’t attacked Democrats on other things. And I guess my response to this is it’s very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025 America. I try not to do that. I am a Catholic convert, and so I come at this maybe with a slightly different perspective. But I try not to play the politicization of the Pope game. I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the Church despite it all and through it all, and that’ll be the way that I handle it.

Related: Why Pope Leo XIV probably isn’t that liberal. “Crucially, in a 2012 address to bishops, Prevost took a dim view of the popular culture that fostered ‘sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.’ Two cases in point being the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ and ‘alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.’ And as a bishop in Chiclayo in Peru, he opposed a government plan to add teachings on gender in schools. ‘The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,’ he told journalists. Granted, he may have changed during Francis’s pontificate, but all that sounds to me like normal Catholic teaching, not the kind of approach that progressive Catholics might favor. Let’s see what he actually says in the job.”

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

GET WOKE, GO…: Jaguar Land Rover hunting for new advertising agency after disastrous woke rebrand unveiling new Tesla Cybertruck-style car.

Jaguar Land Rover is looking to replace its current advertising agency just months after the company faced a backlash over its controversial rebrand.

The company launched a review of its global creative account – currently held by Accenture Song and its in-house agency Spark44 until mid-2026 – following widespread criticism over its campaign, The Telegraph reported.

Critics of the radical rebrand – including Nigel Farage and Elon Musk – accused the carmakers of abandoning their ‘jag-man’ heritage.

It comes after the company announced plans to shift to electric vehicles with a bizarre new advertisement featuring brightly dressed models but no cars.

The group also abandoned its iconic ‘growler’ cat badge, replacing it with a curved geometric J and L symbol.

Defending the campaign late last year, JLR’s Managing Director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times: ‘If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out.’

However sales plunged by more than a quarter in 2024 with Jaguar selling 33,320 cars, a significant drop from the 61,661 sold in 2022 and the 161,601 sold in 2019.

Related: As Tesla Sales Decline, Ford’s EV Sales…Fall Off a Cliff.

With the EV-loving media having recently refocused its venom on Elon Musk because of his alliance with President Trump, Tesla has become a target for the left. The media has gleefully been reporting any bad news about Musk’s electric car company, celebrating not only falling sales and financial repercussions, but also legitimizing vandalism against Tesla vehicles because of Musk’s politics.

The media has also been desperate to report that competitors are benefiting from Tesla’s woes. If you have the stomach for it, this nasty piece of journalistic bias from the AP dated 4/02/2025 hit all those marks, including the blaming of Musk himself for vandalism against Teslas: ”Tesla sales tumble 13% as Musk backlash, competition and aging lineup turn off buyers”

But something funny is happening. As Tesla sales decline, competing electric vehicle brands are not capturing the lost sales. It’s just the opposite, in fact. Legacy automakers who tried to make a big splash in the EV market are seeing their already nominal EV sales decline precipitously as the electric vehicle fad wanes. Ford had anticipated that by 2025 its electric lineup would be a major component of its product lineup, but now its EV sales are barely an asterisk, with sales plummeting from any already low peak.

“Ford’s EV sales fell by 40% in April and now it’s adjusting plans for another major project” [Elektrek – 5/01/2025]

The left spent the last 20 years pushing electric cars as a moral imperative. Once the batsignal went out that was okay to torch and vandalize Musk’s cars because they don’t like the cut of his jib, that also signaled that earlier moral imperative has been concluded. Why would anyone go through the headache of owning an electric car when its true believers hate one of its most prominent manufacturers?

Posted at 8:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

SOUNDS AWFULLY INSURRECTION-Y TO ME: Democratic Congress members storm ICE facility gates, clash with federal officials in NJ.

Three members of Congress, as well as Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, tried storming through the gates of the 1,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Jersey on Friday.

A heated argument broke out when federal officials blocked their entry, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.

“There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez said. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.”

Baraka has previously pushed back against the construction and opening of the ICE detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.

Baraka got the photo op he was seeking: Newark mayor arrested at ICE detention center amid ‘yelling and pushing.’

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week, a federal prosecutor said.

Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by private prison operator GEO Group.

Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law” and added that he was taken into custody.

Baraka, a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over illegal immigration.

He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.

Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

Speaking of McIver:

UPDATE: Great moments in amnesia:

MORE: Heh, indeed:

Posted at 7:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

JIM TREACHER: Kuck Fanye — Antisemitism Is Going Mainstream.

Ever since Hamas butchered over 1,000 Jews on October 7, 2023, there has been an explosion of antisemitism all over the world. That cowardly massacre of innocent people was like a starter’s pistol, and now the antisemites are sprinting their asses off.

A few examples from just this week…

Columbia

Rioters trashed the Butler Library at Columbia University while students were trying to study for finals. The Jew-hating morons spray-painted slogans like “Columbia will burn 4 the martyrs,” and hanged signs like “Strike for Gaza,” “Liberated Zone,” and “Free Mahmoud.” Police made 80 arrests, which sounds like a lot, but I still want more.

And you know who did it? Not these guys.

The Dems still bring up Charlottesville, going on a decade later. Meanwhile, rich kids are trashing college libraries and other public places because they hate the Jews. But to the press, it’s not antisemitism unless it’s wearing a MAGA hat.

The Dems still bring up Charlottesville, going on a decade later. Meanwhile, rich kids are trashing college libraries and other public places because they hate the Jews. But to the press, it’s not antisemitism unless it’s wearing a MAGA hat.

As Seth Mandel noted last year, after October 7th, it was Charlottesvilles all the way down in Joe Biden’s America:

Hopefully, that’s changed under the new administration: Rubio: You’d Better Believe We’ll ‘Review’ Visa Status for Columbia’s Pro-Hamas Rioters.

In other words: Pro-Hamas Protesters Finding Out that 2025 Is Not 2024.

UPDATE: Kanye West’s controversial ‘Heil Hitler’ song removed from streaming platforms amid backlash.

Posted at 5:50 pm by Ed Driscoll

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Will John Fetterman Be the First Casualty of the Left’s Civil War?

Democrats love to talk about “democracy” and “unity” — until one of their own dares to think independently. Now Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is learning the hard way what happens when you stop parroting the party line and start trying to get things done.

I’ve never been a fan of Fetterman, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he misled voters in 2022 about his medical condition to get elected. But his party backed him up completely then. Now they’re throwing him under the bus.

This hit job against Fetterman isn’t just about his meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago or his support for Israel. This is about sending a message to any Democrat who dares to step out of line with the party’s radical agenda. New York Magazine’s hit piece, which questions everything from Fetterman’s mental health to his decision-making abilities, reads like a Soviet-era character assassination.

And who is calling out this flagrant display of leftist cannibalism? None other than former CNN host Chris Cuomo.

“Fetterman has been reaching across the aisle too much for them,” Cuomo observed on his show on NewsNation. “The senator crushes Hamas and campus protests, which, as we all know, is a pet project of the radical left. He met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago — that’s a huge sin. And he worked with Republicans on passing the Laken Riley Act and voted for 10 of Trump’s cabinet picks.”

Fetterman isn’t really living out this classic Babylon Bee headline…

…But Capitol Hill’s favorite hoodie enthusiast is simply trying to be a senator in a purple state, much like Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema who received a similar drubbing from the DNC-MSM, which worked — she chose not to run for reelection in 2024. The left will not permit anyone to move towards the center, especially when it comes to defending Israel, so now it’s time for Fetterman to receive a similar pounding from the media wing of the Democratic Party.

Also, axing Fetterman now has strategic advantages for the Democratic Party:

Posted at 5:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

HOW IT STARTED: Gavin Newsom, Mandy Moore Discuss Covid-19, Climate Change and 2020 Election.

Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith interviewed California Governor Gavin Newsom on some of the biggest topics impacting their state, including climate change, Covid-19, and the upcoming 2020 presidential election, for Rolling Stone‘s first Fridays for Unity event.

Moore addressed climate change by bringing up the recent devastating wildfires in California; she and Goldsmith live in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where wildfires have only become a greater hazard over the past few summers. Newsom expressed sympathy for his state’s residents who are dealing with the realities of climate change, stating, “You may not even believe in science, but you gotta believe your own eyes.”

—Rolling Stone, October 19th, 2020.

How it’s going: Mandy Moore Slams Protocol to Rebuild House After Wildfire Destruction: ‘Maddening and Heartless.’

It’s been four months since Mandy Moore and tens of thousands of others were displaced because of the Los Angeles wildfires and every day comes with a new set of problems.

The This Is Us alum, 41, gave fans an update on her house rebuild on Tuesday, May 6, slamming Los Angeles County for making it so hard to pick up the pieces following the January fires that destroyed more than 16,000 structures.

“Thanks, LA County for making it as frustrating and impossible to rebuild after the fires as possible,” Moore quipped via an Instagram Story statement. “Shouldn’t be surprised but it’s mind boggling the red tape and hoops they’re putting us all through.”

The actress, whose house in Altadena was partially spared, noted that amid the “fury” of her initial post her message might’ve come out “a bit convoluted” so she penned a second statement directed at the county.

“It’s maddening and heartless … the endless hoops and meaningless protocol LA County is asking of fire victims who want to rebuild and get their lives back,” Moore wrote, asking, “Wasn’t California going to make this as easy as possible?”

Err, no. After the fire, Newsom was still uttering the S-word, this time to explain away all of the delays and red tape that Democrats like Moore would have to jump through to rebuild:

In accordance with the prophecy:

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

HARVEY WEINSTEIN AND THE DEATH RATTLE OF #METOO:

Weinstein’s retrial is a do-over of legal proceedings that were originally marred by judicial error, and that raised questions even at the time about whether prosecutors were cutting corners in their eagerness to topple one of the #MeToo movement’s biggest bad guys. New York’s highest court found that the judge in his first trial improperly allowed testimony from accusers not named in the official charges. (A similar technicality—this one a more serious case of judicial error—triggered Bill Cosby’s release from prison in 2021.) Weinstein’s lawyers are now arguing that he didn’t get a fair trial in California, either—and are appealing his conviction of rape there, too.

These ambiguities may spell an acquittal for Weinstein; they also provide an opening for someone like Owens to claim the entire case was corrupt. But the architects of #MeToo also bear a certain amount of responsibility for the shape of this conversation. Because while the original purpose of the movement might have been to protect women from sexual predation, what it became—and what it will likely be remembered as—is a machine that wrecked the lives of men by labeling them sex offenders, without due process, and often without even the most perfunctory concern for whether the allegations were true.

That #MeToo so quickly became a tool for destroying reputations and dispensing vigilante justice is only surprising if you don’t recognize the movement’s true ideological origins—which had absolutely nothing to do with Harvey Weinstein or Hollywood sexism, and everything to do with the election of one Donald J. Trump.

Ah, Trump: the living embodiment of gross sexual entitlement, a multiply-accused alleged frotteur who bragged about grabbing women by the you-know-what. The subtext of #MeToo, which broke into the mainstream almost exactly one year after the release of that infamous Access Hollywood tape, was that Trump’s election to the presidency despite all these things revealed something deeply rotten in the culture—and that while we’d missed our chance to punish him for his misdeeds, it was not too late to build a movement that would punish men like him. Not just accused rapists like Bill Cosby or R. Kelly, but every man who crossed lines, took liberties, and failed to treat women with the respect they deserved. The boors, the bastards, the gropers and grabbers; men who flirted with their coworkers or cheated on their wives or committed the vaguely sexual-sounding offense of sliding into a woman’s DMs—which seemed a lot more scandalous before I realized that it just meant sending any kind of message on social media, including professional correspondence.

I suspect that Weinstein’s convictions, one of the movement’s few legal wins, were such a big deal—symbolic, even—because it felt a bit like taking down Trump by proxy. Here was a man of a certain age, a certain type, who had a certain way of throwing his weight around to extract what he wanted from unwilling women. And for those who had long been agitating for a more victim-friendly criminal justice system and more dedicated prosecution of sex crimes, his first conviction, which was in New York, was groundbreaking. Not just a rare win, but perhaps even the start of something transformative.

But looking back, Weinstein was an outlier. Mostly, MeTooings were a wild extralegal west of unfalsifiable accusations, social media innuendo, or allegations via anonymous spreadsheet laundered into the news cycle by enthusiastic journalists. The men who suffered the worst consequences were rarely the most credibly accused, and the lack of both process and restraint emboldened both the press and ordinary people alike to go to extremes.

This latter phenomenon is starkly illustrated by the case of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who outside of Weinstein is probably the movement’s most memorable target. As a nominee, Kavanaugh was not only recklessly accused by the media of being part of a teen rape gang, and put through a surreal Congressional struggle session over the contents of his high school yearbook, but was later subject to an assassination attempt by a disgruntled liberal: His would-be murderer pled guilty last month.

* * * * * * * * *

But it also feels, sometimes, like the moment has passed. It’s not just that Weinstein, whose convictions were the biggest and most sparkling jewel in the #MeToo crown, might now be acquitted of some of the most heinous charges against him. It’s that the thrilling momentum of the movement has vanished, leaving its participants both too jaded and too tired to resume the business of witch-finding.

Curiously CTL-F “Biden” brings up zero results on the above article at the Free Press. Because mentioning him would have allowed us to pinpoint the exact day in which “the moment passed:” April 8th, 2020:

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont ended his presidential candidacy on Wednesday, concluding a quest that elevated him as a standard-bearer of American liberalism and clearing the way for a general election between the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and President Trump at a time of national crisis.

Flashback: When #Metoo Is Sold Out For #Orangemanbad.

Posted at 4:00 pm by Ed Driscoll