HEINLEIN WOULD APPROVE:  DAILY ART FIX: Trump Takes Aim at National Endowment for the Arts.

I’m quoting from memory, and of course what stuck was the Portuguese in which I read it first.  “An artist who needs government support is a whore. An incompetent one.” (More or less Robert A. Heinlein’s meaning if not his exact words.)

EVERY TIME THE SECRET OF THE CONFESSIONAL IS PIERCED:  Montana Prepares to Make Martyrs of the Confessional.

Every time the state gets a look in, it’s never for the purpose they claim, however laudable.  And seriously, how many pedophiles do you guys think confess? or confess to THAT? (Even those who were priests, pedophiles tend not to be big on following the rules of the man above.) And proving it in a court of law? Don’t make me laugh. No. No matter the excuse used to obtain it, the reason the state pierces the secret of the confessional is ultimately always to spy on the people. To gather information about how angry you are at the regime, and what thoughts you’ve had, and–

And sure, Montana is nominally conservative. But is it always? Same as the Federal government. Does it stay on the nominal right? Does it? Forever?  What about Washington, who’s trying the same gambit? You trust them? We already saw Biden sniffing around traditionalist Catholics.

Stay out of my religious beliefs and leave the confessional alone. Good investigators don’t need to violate the conscience of believers and bad investigators will corrupt everything.

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

A PINCH OF PROJECTION BY THE GRAY LADY:

How odd that the New York Times, which arbitrarily decided in 2019 that America’s real founding was 1619, not 1776, and got a number of schools to sign on that notion, is angry about Trump arbitrarily renaming the Gulf of … Oh wait, I don’t want to deadname something that has fully transitioned to its new aquatic identity:

In February when Don Surber wrote “Mocking Woke Speech: The real reason is it is the Gulf of America is the name bugs the right people,”

Glenn responded that “Changing names and words and demanding that people go along with the change has been the left’s game for as long as I’ve been alive. It’s always a power move disguised as courtesy.”

SURE, WHY NOT? Trump says he will reopen Alcatraz prison.

President Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a hard-to-reach California island that has been closed for more than 60 years.

In a post on his Truth Social site Sunday evening, Trump wrote that, “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” he wrote, adding: “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”

And a jail that criminals will really not want to escape from!

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: How it started:

How it’s going: Dave Portnoy vows to ‘come for throats’ over vile antisemitic act at his Philadelphia Barstool bar.

In a heated rant posted to his account on X, Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy called out patrons at one of his company’s branded bars for an anti-Semitic sign that was held up in Philadelphia.

An enraged Portnoy posted an ‘Emergency Press Conference’ video on Sunday after being informed that a light-up sign at the Barstool bar that said ‘F*** the Jews’ was spotted by his fans.

The Massachusetts native says he has been tracking down those responsible and promised to ‘come for throats’ over the despicable display.

Portnoy said he was getting ready to attend an event over the weekend when his phone started ‘blowing up’ over the sign spotted at the Barstool Sansom Street located in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood.

‘Usually a great bar. You know, bottle service, people buy drinks, you get a sign. There was a sign yesterday that said, “F*** the Jews”,’ Portnoy said.

‘I’ve been shaking. I’ve been so mad for the last two hours. Like I instantly got on, this is why the Emergency Press Conference is late, because I was so over the top.’

Language alert:

UPDATE: Portnoy announces fitting punishment for bigots who launched vile anti-semitic attack on his Philly bar. “It’s cliché and very unlike me, but I talked to both the culprits who I know are super involved in it, talked to the families. I’m sending these kids to Auschwitz. They’ve agreed to go. That’s, of course, the Holocaust concentration camps. Been in touch with [New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — who runs the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism]. We’re going to send these kids to Auschwitz, and they’re going to do a tour of the concentration camps in Germany [sic] and hopefully learn something and maybe their lives aren’t ruined and they think twice.”

IF IT WEREN’T FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS THEY’D HAVE NO STANDARDS AT ALL: