Leftist defends fascist police state arrest.

floppy cameldork has been running his mouth again, and saying my name. As he continues to block my responses to his provocations, I will continue to post them here. No links, unless he stops playing puerile games with the blocking of comments. Camel spewings in italics:

"As I wasn’t present I’m not going to magically make a judgement as to whether Robinson’s behaviour was or was not a breach of the peace."
There's video. Try not to be a prat.

"The police certainly thought so and you usually defend police decisions or do you only defend police decisions when they are killing people?"

Examples?

"More amazingly, indeed gobsmackingly amazing is that YOU are apparently totally cool with this same fraudster trying to disrupt court proceedings in a way that could have led to a mistrial and the release of the defendants."

If some guy standing on the sidewalk with a phone can "disrupt court proceedings in a way that could have led to a mistrial and the release of the defendants" then the British justice system has larger issues that need to be addressed. But it is fun watching you defend this.

Here's the thing floppy. Everybody knows Tommy Robinson is a fame seeking, self-promoting dick. I think he's a dick. I wouldn't vote for him. But he's the one bucking the system today, and the system just crushed him. That would be the same system that actively moved to protect the "Muslim grooming gang" at trial in the first place, don't forget.

The issue that you are pretending does not exist is that if the State can arrest and jail Tommy Robinson for quietly holding up his phone on the sidewalk in front of the court house, they can arrest and jail -me-. Or you. You've got a blog. What is to stop some chair polisher deciding they don't like you and chucking you in jail? All it would take to change your politically protected status is an election.

The other issue is the gag order. Controversial political figure gets arrested and jailed in six hours? That's a pretty big deal. Publication ban on top of that? That's how police states do things.

An extremely dangerous precedent to set. But here you are, perfectly okay with it and using the occasion to bash your political enemies, because you don't like the guy they arrested. I'm certain that you would be screaming with rage if the same thing was done to someone you do like. Which means either you don't understand the principles at play here, or you're fundamentally dishonest. Or both.

I'm embracing the power of "and".

The Phantom

Fascists passe, SJWs now punching butchers.

As part of the Government celebration of all that is fascist and totalitarian, we now are treated to Vegan Brownshirts.

Attacks on small businesses by vegan activists are on the rise, according to the Countryside Alliance.

Death threats, stoked by social media and encouraged by international groups of activists, have caused butchers and farmers to "live in fear."

Marlow Butchers, in, Ashford, Kent, was targeted earlier this month by activists who daubed red paint on the doors and windows of the shop.

Since then, the business has been subjected to online abuse.

Wayne Marlow, who runs the business with his father and brother, told Kent Online: "On the internet it has been very threatening.

"It has got ridiculous - activists from as far away as Australia are getting involved.

"The internet is the worst thing as not only are they threatening to physically destroy our business, but they are also tying to ruin our reputation online, too, by leaving negative reviews and comments.

"They want to close us down and people are threatening to smash the windows or petrol bomb the store.

Well well, nasssty on-line behavior. And what are the big online companies doing to shut these cretins down?

Mr Bonner also said that social media companies to not take the threats seriously enough: "None of the social media platforms view the abuse of those involved in meat production as they would other minorities. This is understandable but there has to be an equality of response when people like this butcher or others are being targeted.

"It's both personally threatening and people feel unsafe, they are not putting themselves forward on a controversial issue, they are just carrying on the business that their family has for generations.

"There's a really nasty and cowardly tactic, using things like TripAdvisor and other online platforms to do fake reviews and it can have a direct effect on their livelihood."

Right. You will be shadowbanned by Twitter and ghosted on other platforms for Conservative views. But for death threats against a meat shop, nothing.

 

At the same time that the British government basically disappeared Tommy Robinson and placed a gag order in the media to conceal it.

The Phantom

Dear SJWs, this is why we don't like you.

This showed up in my Wordpress summary today: A post at the odious flopatron cameldung blog, to which I will not link, had this in the comments...

posted by Kathodus:
@Phantom – Despite Antonelli’s admission that he was wrong about the one piece of damning evidence he thought he had in his mangled doxxing attempt against Camestros and Meadows, members of the MGC are still upholding the “Fieldsy” libel . As we’ve seen, Freer would rather double down than admit his error, and the rest of the MGC admins, presumably to avoid conflicts within their ranks, have mostly dropped the issue. It’s also apparent that most MGC regulars do not read the “opposition’s” posts or comments, unlike you (and Camestros, and me, and several other regulars here). Because of the MGC admins’ failure to admit their mistake, and the MGC readers’ disinterest in opposing viewpoints, many of them appear to have no idea that they are upholding a debunked doxxing. It’s also possible that they are just doing it because they revel in dishonesty, but giving them the benefit of the doubt… shouldn’t you be correcting the MGC folk who continue to spread Freer’s lie? You present yourself as a defender of truth. Sometimes confronting your own allies when they are dishonest is the most difficult task. Show us your character.

I love the nerve of this guy. "Show us your character."

Just wondering, Kathodus, where were you when floppy was claiming Sarah Hoyt's blog advocated genocide? And where were you defending Larry Correia, or John Ringo, or Brad Torgersen from the egregious lies being said about them? If I remember rightly, you and floppy habitually call me a liar no matter what I say and no matter what link I post as support.

Where's your character, big boy? Inquiring minds want to know.

And speaking of Britain having fallen to the Fascists...

[Redacted] Arrested for [Redacted] Outside [Redacted]: Leeds Crown Court Issues Media Ban

Shortly after the issuance of the press ban on the case, several media outlets, including Breitbart London, the Mirror, the Daily Record, Birmingham Mail, and the Russian state broadcaster Russia Today, complied with the restriction and removed articles concerning [redacted]'s case.

Several other media outlets have kept their coverage of the arrest and the subsequent court details up, despite potentially falling foul of the court-issued ban which is to be lifted following the conclusion of a separate case.

The media ban, along with [redacted]'s arrest has sparked a wave of controversy on social media with many criticising the arrest and the court proceedings that followed it.

Supporters of [redacted] have called for a mass protest in front of number 10 Downing street with the hashtag [redacted].

Best piece of reporting on the whole thing. A glorious troll.

For you poor English bastards whose government is doing this shit to you, Tommy Robinson is reported to be in Hull Prison, Kingston upon Hull. So far Google hasn't taken it out of Google Maps, so the reach of Her Majesty's Gubmint does not appear to stretch all the way to California yet.

The Phantom

Knife control! Britain is doomed.

British judge's solution to the epidemic of stabbings in his country: round off the end of every knife in the country.

A judge has proposed a nationwide programme to file down the points of kitchen knives as a solution to the country's soaring knife crime epidemic.
Last week in his valedictory address, retiring Luton Crown Court Judge Nic Madge spoke of his concern that carrying a knife had become routine in some circles and called on the Government to ban the sale of large pointed kitchen knives.

See, you thought I was kidding, didn't you? But no, some intolerable asshole really said that. You don't need a sharp knife, Mrs. English Woman. We'll just take that potential murder weapon away from you. You can hack open your turkey dinner with a nice safe rubber spatula.

Because it is so much easier to incarcerate people for political reasons when they can't fight back.

The Phantom

Update: I was reminded today of this previous missive. Chopsticks are deadly weapons too. The problem with making comments about chopsticks and pencils is that they are not jokes anymore. Now they are predictions. The only question is how long, not if, the authorities get around to banning your yellow HB with the little eraser on the end.

Spotify stops removing artists for "hate."

Last week or so, I noted that Spotify was following the SJW Way and removing certain artists from all their suggested playlists over "hate." That's in scare quotes because the Spotify definition was fairly SJW Sketchy.

Well, nobody liked that.

While Spotify's move was applauded in some circles, the policy also fueled censorship concerns. "Whoa. Are they censoring the music? That's dangerous," Top Dawg Entertainment president Punch tweeted. A representative for Kendrick Lamar, a TDE rapper, reportedly called Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to "express their frustration" over the policy, Bloomberg reports. Spotify's industry liaison Troy Carter also reportedly threatened to leave the streaming service if the policy wasn't revised.

The point was to ding R. Kelley, so how did that go?

 As the Associated Press reported, after Kelly was taken off of streaming services' playlists (but not the services themselves), the singer actually saw an uptick in his streaming numbers in the week following the removal.

That's right, you slap "V" for Violent Content  on a video game and it flies off the shelves. Duh.

So, due to the double helping of fail, Spotify will be reinstating authors being ghosted for "hateful conduct." Except R. Kelley, because screw that guy, apparently. Maybe he stole some Spotify nerd's girlfriend.

The Phantom

American newspapers all owned by hedge funds.

For those wondering why American newspapers suck so horribly, this article is illuminating.

Several hedge funds have become newspaper barons in recent years. Alden Global now owns about 60 daily newspapers through a subsidiary, Digital First Media. New Media Investment Group, which is managed and controlled by private-equity firm Fortress, owns almost 150 newspapers in smaller towns like Columbus, Ohio, and Providence, Rhode Island, through a unit, GateHouse Media. And hedge fund Chatham is one of the largest shareholders and bondholders in McClatchy Co., publisher of the Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald.

Whenever you see a bunch of "independent" companies all doing the same thing, there's a reason. Usually money.

The Phantom

What have I been saying? Modern music SUCKS!

I've been saying for years that modern music and modern radio is CRAP. I cut the TV and radio cord somewhere around 2010 and I've never looked back.

But-why- is it crap? Evidence today from a data experiment is thus:

After analyzing the attributes of more than half a million songs released over a period of 30 years, a computer algorithm was able to sort the successful songs from also-rans with an accuracy of up to 86%.

A team of mathematicians from UC Irvine described how — and why — it accomplished this feat in a study published in Wednesday's edition of the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The article gives an outline of their methodology, but this is the part here that caught my eye:

"Successful songs are happier, brighter, more party-like, more danceable and less sad than most songs," the team wrote.

That may sound like an obvious recipe for pop-music success. But it actually went against the dominant musical trends.

Over the decades, songs exhibited "a clear downward trend in 'happiness' and 'brightness,' as well as a slight upward trend in 'sadness,'" the study authors reported. "The public seems to prefer happier songs, even though more and more unhappy songs are being released each year."

That observation matched up with previous studies of song lyrics that found they contained fewer "positive emotions" and made more references to loneliness and social isolation as the years went by.

"It is interesting that, in this particular instance, acoustic characteristics of songs indicate similar patterns to those uncovered in lyrics," the researchers wrote.

Almost as if the music business were ignoring financial success and giving us the music they thought we deserved. Kind of like the book business, and the movie business, and the TV business, right?

And that is why I do not have TV or radio, and why I no longer frequent the bookstore.

The Unplugged Phantom

Spotify starts removing artists for "hate".

This is not at all alarming: J'accuse...!

Beginning today (May 10), Spotify users will no longer be able to find R. Kelly's music on any of the streaming service's editorial or algorithmic playlists. Under the terms of a new public hate content and hateful conduct policy Spotify is putting into effect, the company will no longer promote the R&B singer's music in any way, removing his songs from flagship playlists like RapCaviar, Discover Weekly or New Music Friday, for example, as well as its other genre- or mood-based playlists.
"We are removing R. Kelly's music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly," Spotify told Billboard in a statement. "His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don't censor content because of an artist's or creator's behavior, but we want our editorial decisions -- what we choose to program -- to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator."

So, what heinous crime did R. Kelly commit? Well, that's interesting.

Over the past several years, Kelly has been accused by multiple women of sexual violence, coercion and running a "sex cult," including two additional women who came forward to Buzzfeed this week. Though he has never been convicted of a crime, he has come under increasing scrutiny over the past several weeks, particularly with the launch of the #MuteRKelly movement at the end of April. Kelly has vociferously defended himself, saying those accusing him are an "attempt to distort my character and to destroy my legacy." And while RCA Records has thus far not dropped Kelly from his recording contract, Spotify has distanced itself from promoting his music.

He's a dirt bag. He allegedly beats women, does weird and wrong things to them, and etc. He's allegedly worse than Bill Cosby, who only drugged and raped women. And his music is shit, I might add.

The difference between R. Kelly and Bill Cosby is a CONVICTION. Cosby is busted. He has had his due process, and he is guilty. What there is against R. Kelly is at this point -nothing-. It is a series of allegations, which have in several prominent #MeToo cases been proven spurious.

The case of Jian Ghomeshi shows something else. Jian Ghomeshi is a woman beater and sexual pervert too. But in his case, it was proven in court that the women asked for it. They asked for it repeatedly, and in writing. They actually requested that Jian Ghomeshi slap them around and etc, and made dates for it. So in R. Kelly's case, given the current popularity of S&M/bondage/general perversity, maybe they asked for it.

But the really damaging thing going on here is Spotify. They are introducing an extra-judicial punishment against a man who has not even been charged with anything. They're calling it "hate content" but if you look at almost any rap artist or song you'll find all kinds of hate in there. They hate the cops, women, crackers, the gubmint, Jews, each other, they pretty much hate everything. Loudly. It's hateful. Therefore, Spotify is just another bunch of Silicon Valley pencil necks, lying through their teeth to make a buck.

One more reason to not use Spotify. Buy the music you want, keep it on your own hardware, tell Big Streaming to cram it. It is safer that way.

The Streaming Phantom

Wrinkle In Time loses ~$100 million bucks.

Incoming.

When you take a popular book or comic, and you jack everything in it around to your "new vision!" for the movie, including changing the race of characters, deleting existing characters and adding new ones, all to make a purely political statement, it will bomb. Like a B-52.

"A Wrinkle in Time" hit US theaters on March 9 after heavy marketing promotion by Disney and abundant media appearances by cast members like Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon, and director Ava DuVernay.

The movie bombed. It made $33 million in its opening weekend, compared to $202 million by "Black Panther" and $258 million for "Avengers: Infinity War." It has grossed just $126.8 million globally to date, according to Box Office Mojo and confirmed by Disney.

Disney did not disclose in its earnings report exactly how much it lost on "A Wrinkle in Time," but we can arrive at a ballpark figure using the film's reported budget. The New York Times reported that the movie had a combined production and marketing budget of around $150 million, while Deadline pegged the budget much higher, at $250 million. Studios typically make back around half of the box office gross, which means Disney lost between $86 million and $186 million on "A Wrinkle in Time." (Yahoo Finance has reached out to Disney for comment on the film's losses.)

Disney's 2012 movie "John Carter" famously flopped so brutally that Disney had to take a $200 million writedown on it. (The film had a $350 million budget and grossed just $284 million at the box office.) Disney did not disclose a writedown on "A Wrinkle in Time," but the film was the clear and only big loser in Disney's smash-hit box office performance in the second quarter.

We know that Disney, of all the companies in Hollywood, knows exactly how all this works, and they have mastered getting it right. Infinity War, $258 million, bigger opening than Titanic. Black Panther, huge hit. Huge. John Carter, huge, massive flop, was only six years ago. All those guys still remember that, it is very fresh in their minds.

The same thing that killed John Carter killed Wrinkle In Time. Therefore, it is not an accident. It's a propaganda film. You can tell by the casting alone. A $100 million dollar gift to the DemocRat Party of the USA from the numerous SJWs that "work" at Disney.

I'll be catching it on Netflix, if at all.

The Phantom

English majors and actors to be replaced by robots.

We all know that the actual career path of people majoring in English and Drama (and History, the various "Studies" and etc.) usually involves waiting tables and slinging java at Starbucks. Eventually they either get Real Jobs or they get married, but barista is where a very large number of young scholars end up for a while.

This will no longer be the case.

The robot revolution is here, at least for your morning caffeine fix. Cafe X Technologies is a new, $25,000 automated barista designed by the award-winning team behind Dr. Dre's Beats headphones and speakers: the Ammunition Group. The Jetsons-style coffeemaker can sling 120 cups of joe per hour at specs that satisfy finicky roasters (and project partners) like Intelligentsia, Ritual and Equator.

This is a small-volume, fancy machine that is designed to be a showpiece bit of performance art in the lobby of a fancy hotel or big office building. Even at that, it is only $25k. It replaces a human, and you're going to see a lot of machines like this Real Soon. Because $15 minimum wage, that's why.

She's praying this thing doesn't take her crappy job from her.

The joke of course is the the revolution already happened, and we didn't notice. The machine that makes your Starbucks or McDonald's cappuccino is a fully-automated unit that costs more than $25k. Your "barista" is a minimum-wage schlub who pushes a button and moves the cup from one place to another. They don't know how to make a cappuccino, or a latte, or any of it. The machine does everything.

This is why your Starbucks Italian-style coffee drink tastes boring and crappy. Because it isn't made on a proper cappuccino maker, and the kid running it knows -nothing-. Which is why I don't go to Starbucks if I can help it. I go to Second Cup, or any ACTUAL ITALIAN CAFE that has a manual cappuccino maker, and a manual grinder, and a barista that knows an Americano from a latte. Then I get a good coffee, and it is usually cheaper than the Starbucks trash. And the workers are usually nicer than Starbucks too, without the forced, brittle, fake cheerfulness.

The Phantom Coffee Snob

New York Attorney General resigns because #MeToo.

Another giant falls!

Eric Schneiderman, New York's attorney general, has long been a liberal Democratic champion of women's rights, and recently he has become an outspoken figure in the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. As New York State's highest-ranking law-enforcement officer, Schneiderman, who is sixty-three, has used his authority to take legal action against the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and to demand greater compensation for the victims of Weinstein's alleged sexual crimes.

[snippage]

Now Schneiderman is facing a reckoning of his own. As his prominence as a voice against sexual misconduct has risen, so, too, has the distress of four women with whom he has had romantic relationships or encounters. They accuse Schneiderman of having subjected them to nonconsensual physical violence. All have been reluctant to speak out, fearing reprisal. But two of the women, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, have talked to The New Yorker on the record, because they feel that doing so could protect other women.

There you go, another top-level Dem with a taste for S&M and beating women, and he's been pretending to be a big fan of #MeToo this whole time. Massive moral and political corruption in that most socialist of cities, NYC. Wow, didn't see that coming, right?

Leaving aside anything else out there, either legal or moral, this incident illustrates the danger of mainstreaming S&M as an acceptable practice between "consenting adults." People can continue to pretend it's all just sex, and role-playing is good clear fun, and all the rest of that happy horse shit we've been told these last 10 or 15 years. But it's horse shit.

No, beating and whipping random women at sex clubs is not okay. No, tying up your squeeze-du-jour and making the bitch cry uncle is not okay. It is double-plus not okay if she begs for more. Those people are suffering from major mental illness, the kind that is a short step from suicide. Wanting to beat them is another serious mental illness.

Everyone instinctively knows this, but it has become increasingly "edgy" to promote this type of abuse in books and movies.

It's not edgy, you twerps. It's fucked up. Stop doing it. Stop talking about it.

The Phantom

Update: This is what I'm talking about. Metropolitan Art Gallery gala. Lots of creepy "art" involving bondage. Ew.

Hollywood B-list virtue signaling, with armed guards of course.

I'm sure the irony here is utterly lost on all of them. Showing up to an anti-gun, anti-NRA protest with armed, private security.

In video captured by Ben Howe, NRA member Will Haraway asked Milano's security if he was armed and the man clearly wasn't amused by the question.

"I'm going to ask you to leave," the guard said repeatedly, physically backing Haraway up by getting in his face.

"How far do I have to go?" Haraway asked.

"I'm going to need you on the sidewalk," the agent responded.

Yeah, pleb. Get on the sidewalk where you belong. The video is really quite disturbing, pure physical intimidation in its least refined form. Completely illegal of course, the security guard has zero legal power to require anyone to do anything. He's an armed civilian.

I guess Alissa Milano needs another part.

The Phantom

Time crystals!

This is extremely cool.

Ordinary crystals such as salt or quartz are examples of three-dimensional, ordered spatial crystals. Their atoms are arranged in a repeating system, something scientists have known for a century. Time crystals, first identified in 2016, are different. Their atoms spin periodically, first in one direction and then in another, as a pulsating force is used to flip them. That's the "ticking." In addition, the ticking in a time crystal is locked at a particular frequency, even when the pulse flips are imperfect.

It ticks! So cool!

The Phantom

Apparently white people are not allowed to do yoga anymore.

This is so friggin' half-caf latte I can't even.

I had never been to a yoga class where I hadn't lost awareness of my surroundings, but under the pagoda in Tallala, my attention would just hop from one colored Lululemon sports bra to the next.
I felt surrounded by mirrors, like I was watching the classes from outside myself, poised and ready to Instagram the next shape I made and acutely aware of my complicity in Mary-Kate's spectacle of appropriation.

 

Because, y'know, Mary-Kate is a white chick. White chicks can't yoga like brown chicks, everybody knows that. Make mine a soy latte.

I knew that when a cultural practice is co-opted by the masses it wasn't just about class, that there was also the loss of meaning and transfer of power when tradition becomes mainstream, but here I was, taking notes down on my phone about my fellow yogi's favorite brand of carob chocolate.
I knew I was complicit in a festival of self-absorption and cultural appropriation but there was a small part of me that had sipped the kombucha and thought transcendence might strike me. I was secretly waiting for some sort of insight. In the mornings, we were encouraged to write out our thoughts in a stream of consciousness and I hoped for even a single line of profundity but the closest I got was earnest descriptions of how beautiful the beaches were.

 

You want an insight? You are a vapid, catty bitch. Start with that.

The Phantom

Update, welcome you vast unruly horde from Instapundit!

Toronto van attack update.

The update today, two days after Monday's atrocity on Yonge Street, is that there's no update. There is no further news.

Well, there is "news," as in the police are dribbling out the names of the dead one at a time, with lots of coverage of each person. The names of the wounded have been posted too. Fortunately for me, nobody I know.

Then there are the inevitable pictures of concrete barriers rushed into place at Union Station to protect pedestrians, and the equally inevitable bleating by the usual morons about how we are "Sterilizing The City!!!" by putting up barriers.

So far there's no graffiti saying "Thanks, Justin!" on the new barriers, but in the wise guys of the world's defense it's raining today, and concrete doesn't take paint well when its wet. First nice day, they'll be out there.

There is also a continuing buzz about "Incels" on the major Canadian media, which is a confirmed 4Chan troll. Clearly they know its a troll, and they're running with it anyway because they've got nothing and they want to make those Alt-Righties look guilty.

In actual news, the mayor of NYC knew all about this van driver guy on Monday. As soon as the name came out, US authorities said he was on their radar for terrorism. None of that is in the Canadian media. But it is in the Brit and US media, if you duckduckgo the driver's name.

So that's your update today; lots of sorrow, special interest pieces and kvetching about barriers, zero information about the van driver. In two days they've peeled him like a fricking grape, and he's rolling over on his grandmother at this point. We get told nothing.

Welcome to Canada, where "you can't handle the truth!" is public policy. Shut up and get back to work, taxpayer.

The Phantom

Update: Welcome, vast swell of readers from Instapundit! Incidentally, today is May 2nd and we still have nothing better than "Incels" from police and government officials. Apparently the newspapers are printing "some guy in the jail said off the record that Driver guy said..." and that's what passes for news in Canada. Terrorism? Mental Illness? Suicide-by-cop? Something else? We don't know.

#Metoo turns to #ScrewYou!

The much ballyhooed $5 megabuck assault lawsuit against Russell Simmons has been dismissed "with prejudice."

A $5 million lawsuit brought against Russell Simmons by aspiring filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik has been dismissed, according to court papers filed Wednesday and obtained by TheWrap.

According to the papers, the suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be filed again at a later date.

"Mr. Simmons is hereby dismissed with prejudice from this action in its entirety including all claims asserted by Ms. Jarosik in the operative complaint," the court papers read.

The "with prejudice" part is the important bit, meaning the court found the complaint by Jennifer Jarosik to be without merit. Which is legal-speak for "Dude, this is bullshit."

While it was nice to see a lot of disgusting Lefty perverts getting their dicks caught in the car door, the female fruitcakes and gold hunters have frigged it up for everyone. As expected.

So here we are, back at "due process" again. It was a nice tantrum while it lasted, eh Lefties?

The Phantom

Van attack in Toronto.

So today a guy ran over a bunch of innocent people on Yonge Street. They released a name, I'm not going to repeat it here.

Its very hard to know what to say about this. So many people are dead, through no fault of their own, so many more wounded, and horribly wounded too it must be said. They were run over by a van, on the sidewalk.

The perpetrator was captured alive. Everything he knows will be drawn out of him in due time. I can wait before offering an opinion.

However I will say one thing. I'll be strongly reconsidering entertainment events in Toronto. Any situation where you're lined up on the sidewalk is a perfect target for vehicle attacks. As we know from London and Europe, as soon as there's one attack, there are more coming. There is nothing at all the police can do to prevent it, short term. The only solution is a personal one. Don't be a target.

My condolences to the families of the dead, my prayers for the wounded.

The Phantom

A great musician passes: RIP Avicii.

From the press release:

Artist, DJ, and producer Tim Bergling, a.k.a. Avicii, died Friday afternoon in Oman, according to a statement from his rep. He was 28.

"It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii," the statement reads. "He was found dead in Muscat, Oman this Friday afternoon local time, April 20th. The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given."

Avicii is all over my playlist. This is a real tragedy, whatever the circumstances were. God speed Tim. The music in Heaven just got better.

The Phantom

Nice rant by Sarah Hoyt.

Sarah is in fine form on PJ Media, talking about John Ringo, one of my favorite authors of all time, being DIS-invited to an SF/F convention because the con management was afraid they couldn't guarantee his safety.

I became aware that something was going on between ConCarolinas (a science fiction convention in Charlotte) and my friend John Ringo, in a tiny private group on Facebook.  This is literally the group for my innermost circle, the people I trust.

They were talking about Ringo being Mau-Maued out of ConCarolinas.

I perked my ears up at this, first because of course, ConCarolinas has been a Baen adjacent con, meaning that Baen authors have more or less always attended, and I've heard stories of "so we were at con Carolinas, when—" and second because I lived in Charlotte for seven years and still have friends there.

It's been known for years – as long as I've been published in SF/F – that conservatives get invited to be guests of honor at conventions far less often than leftists in SF/F and infinitely less than red-diaper-babies in SF/F, but ConCarolinas seemed like a weird place for a conflagration of snowflakism.

I went over to John Ringo's page and read about it.  As far as I could tell, a bunch of people on Twitter had been badgering both the con-committee and the other (very leftist) guest about inviting someone who was… what the heck was he?  I don't know.

In the beginning, the accusation against him was that he was "Puppy Adjacent."

Sarah goes on to point out that Sad Puppies has been over for two years. Even the Rabid Puppies of coat-tail rider Vox Day has been over for a year, which tells you that every last candy has been beaten out of the WorldCon pinata. that thing is -empty-.

Which means the SJWs don't have anyone to push back against. We stood up to them, spit in their collective eye, flipped them off, and then walked away. Leaving them there alone, with nothing to do.

So they did what bullies always do. They ran after us and yelled for a while, two years for the Sad Puppies. Every other post from the Usual Suspect SJW blogs (no, I'm not giving those pricks a free click. If you're dying to see, check out Vile666 or floppy cameldung) has been raging on at those evil Sad Puppies. Now, this year, they can't stand it that we're still ignoring them. So they started shoving. I think we're up to three separate incidents of self-identified conservatives being dis-invited or pre-emptively barred from attending SF/F conventions. At least two, could be more as I don't pay that much attention to the drama. Joke's over, right? Moving on, right?

Nope. This is the hill the Lefties have chosen to die on. They're going to see to it that every single SF/F con out there excludes conservatives. One death-threat at a time if need be, apparently.

To which I must say, be my guest, you useless assholes. I can't boycott SF/F conventions any harder than I already am.

I used to stumble through a couple of comic book conventions a year, but last year they started frisking everyone. I have to put up with being frisked at the airport. They have guns. I do -not- have to put up with being frisked at a fucking comic book convention. I am not going ever again.

Conventions are entertainment. They are supposed to be fun. If every panel and every booth and every speech is a political soapbox used to bash my life, my culture and my freaking skin colour, am I going to pay money for that? Am I going to go someplace where people scream at me in the corridors because I have a Monster Hunter International patch on my jacket? No, not really. I'm not that different from other people. I expect that the conventions which allow SJW twitter mobs to dis-invite conservative authors will presently find out that SJWs are too few in number to keep a convention alive. Too bad, so sad.

The Phantom

Update: Welcome, vast wave of Kate McMillan's Flying Monkeys! She's got the Big Wing up tonight. ~:D

Starbucks abases itself.

Starbucks, after this shirtstorm here, will grovel and kiss the feet of SJWs.

Starbucks said Tuesday it will be closing all of its company-owned restaurants in the U.S. during the afternoon of May 29 to conduct a racial-bias education program.
"I've spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it," Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, said in a statement Tuesday. "While this is not limited to Starbucks, we're committed to being a part of the solution. Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities."
Some 8,000 of the company's U.S.-based locations will participate so that nearly 175,000 employees attend the training program that will address implicit bias, promote inclusion and help prevent discrimination.

This is the Lefty equivalent of the Moment of Silence on November 11th for Remembrance Day.

Update, from Ace of Spades who has this to add:

26. I don't even want to defend Starbucks; I want them to have the full taste of Social Justice Warrior progressivism. If this is the company's ideology, then they should live that ideology to the full.
27. I have a feeling Starbucks is just claiming this policy until the Social Justice Warrior locusts find a new business to harass, and then, when they do move on, they'll quietly shift the policy back to "Paying Customers Only," but I think it would be a hoot if conservatives monitored them to make sure they're sticking with this new, idiotic policy of letting anyone just sit and lounge without actually buying anything.
28. I think it would be funny if rightwing blogs made sure they were continuing this policy and made sure everyone knew they were backsliding when they do, inevitably, backslide into a non-insane position.
29. Because fuck them.

Indeed.

Why #BLM is doodoo.

Dear Black Activists: this is why we don't like you.

Two black guys got arrested at Starbucks. Racism, right? Well, no not really.

"What did they get called for, because there were two black guys sitting here, meeting me?" Yaffe asks in the video. "What did they do?"

Commissioner Ross said in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday afternoon that police responded around 4:40 p.m. Thursday to a 911 call reporting a disturbance. The men had refused to leave the cafe after asking to use the restroom without placing an order, which violated Starbucks policy, staff members told police.

The men were detained after they refused officers' requests to leave as well, Ross said.

"The police did not just happen upon this event — they did not just walk into Starbucks to get a coffee," he said. "They were called there, for a service, and that service had to do with quelling a disturbance, a disturbance that had to do with trespassing. These officers did absolutely nothing wrong."

How to avoid getting arrested at Starbucks: buy the cheapest thing on the menu before you ask to use the bathroom. I, a white dude, have had to do this before.

The Practical Phantom

TV discovers humor. But only in Belgium, sorry.

It seems a show that pokes fun at all kinds of things the New Puritan Progressives have forbidden is getting huge play in Europe. Shockah!

"This is the show that laughs with people who you should not really be laughing at," says its presenter, comedian Philippe Geubels at the start of each Sunday night episode on the Flemish public broadcaster Een.

The line-up of "victims/guests" on the first series included obese and poor people, dwarves, those with terminal and mental illness, gays, blind people and people of colour.

Geubels first invites them to spend a few days in the country with him where they tell their story to him and a documentary filmmaker.

A few months later the comedian invites them to a packed theatre filled with people like them to watch him do a hugely politically incorrect comedy routine based on them or their afflictions.

It's cripple humor. Just not the rubber-crutch kind, which is nice of them. Clearly these people are fascists.

So how many fascists are there out there, who needed a laugh?

The show has been watched live or on replay by more than a quarter of the country's Flemish-speaking population, according to Een, and praised for helping to take on embarrassment and prejudice.

"No matter how bad your situation is, you still have to be able to laugh. Not to laugh at people but to laugh at the little everyday things," Geubels told a theatre full of people with terminal illnesses and their families in one show.

The show's producers Panenka said it had already been bought to be shown or adapted in the US, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Finland, Denmark and Norway, even though the first series has only just ended.

Yep, as suspected, everybody in Europe is a fascist. And America. And Britain.

The Fascist Phantom

Actual fascism vs. the pretend kind.

Pretend fascist, Tony Robbins. No, really.

I didn't discuss famous life coach/motivational speaking Tony Robbins much in my series on Jordan Peterson and the wider phenomenon of self-improvement as gateway to fascism.

Point of information, this website, Cameltoe Flopatron, is nominated for a Hugo award for fan sites this year. So really, no surprises here. I advise against going there, that's the first line in that post and it goes rapidly downhill from there. Floppy Cameltron sees fascists everywhere. According to the flopster, Ayn Rand is a fascist. You'll feel stupider for half an hour after reading it

Actual fascist, this guy.

Richard Pan is a far left California state senator.

Pan recently introduced legislation to crack down on free speech on the internet.
Pan's legislation would force online publishers to utilize state-sanctioned fact checkers to approve content before it is posted online.
Jon Rappaport reported:
The bill is titled "SB1424 Internet: social media: false information: strategic plan."
It targets social media based in California. But as you read the bill, you see it appears to define social media as any Internet blog, website, or communication.

Its very simple, really. Under this bill you apply to a government censor for permission to make a blog post. You can say anything you want, as long as its government approved. Just like in Communist China, where it appears Mr. Richard Pan might be from. But he's a good progressive. Great guy.

So remember kids, if you want a Hugo rocket of your very own some day,  Richard Pan is a "brave, freedom fighting progressive." But Tony Robbins, Jordan Peterson and Ayn Rand are all "fascists."

Just so we are all clear what's what.

Update: Welcome, huge wave of visitors from Instapundit! ~:D Sarah Hoyt buried me again!

Update, Richard Osborn-Brooks murder charge dropped.

Here's some news, Mr. Richard Osborn-Brooks has been released by the London police, and they are saying he will not be charged with murder. Somebody blinked.

The pensioner arrested over the killing of a serial burglar who broke into his home has today been released with no further action.

Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, allegedly stabbed career criminal Henry Vincent, 37, at his home in south-east London this week, leading to the burglar's death.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder but has now been told that no action will be taken following discussions between the Met Police and Crown Prosecution Service.

On Friday afternoon, Mr Osborn-Brooks' house was boarded up and CCTV cameras were installed amid fears the pensioner might be attacked. 

Interesting comments from MPs on the issue:

A former Tory defence minister last night called Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody.

'There is clear case law on this involving a man some years ago in Fulham who had a sword on his wall. Confronted by an intruder, he ran him through with the sword. The householder was acquitted by a jury. The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.'

Tim Loughton MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'Due process of law needs to take place but every constituent who has contacted me about it said (Mr Osborn-Brooks) should be treated as a hero rather than being in the frame for a crime.

'You are talking about a vulnerable 78 year-old pensioner with a disabled wife in a house interrupted by two burglars. Why on earth is he being investigated for murder?

There is no question that Mr Osborn-Brooks was innocent of murder. They took the man on Wednesday and didn't release him until Friday, over a mater of lif-or-death self defence. Which is obscene.

The police were clearly operating -outside- the law in this case, for reasons as yet unexplained. The lack of any sort of case must have been pointed out to them rather strenuously by the Crown attorney's office. One suspects higher influence being brought to bear, and then frustrated by publicity.

The Phantom

Knife control: The parody becomes reality.

A common joke of very long standing among firearms enthusiasts is "What next, knife control?"

Last week, TheBlaze reported the number of murders in London, a traditionally safe city, surpassed the number of murders in New York City in February and March for the first time in modern history. The murders were mostly carried out in stabbing attacks with knives.

Now, London Mayor Sadiq Khan is taking action — by implementing knife control.

What is Khan doing?

In response to the spike in crime, Khan deployed over 300 additional London police officers to the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods to stop and search anyone they suspect is carrying a knife. In the U.S., such policies are very controversial and possibly violate the Fourth Amendment, but in England, police are able to stop and search anyone they suspect is carrying a knife.

The "tough, immediate" measures also ban home deliveries of knives and acid, two of the most common weapons in London today.

You can get home delivery of acid in London? Dang!

But here's my absolute favorite part here. I did not make this up, this is a direct cut-and-paste quote:

"No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law," Khan wrote on Twitter, sharing his new policies.

Seriously, this son of a bitch said "there is never a reason to carry a knife."

Keep voting socialist, my Leftard friends. Pretty soon, they'll be saying "there is never a reason to carry..." and it will be something you need. Like a cane because you have a bum leg. Or an umbrella.

The Disarmed Phantom

Ian Thompson vs. Richard Osborn-Brooks: which is the greater outrage?

In the news today, seen first at Small Dead Animals, is the story of Mr. Richard Osborn-Brooks, who was attacked by two armed men in his own home, and managed to drive them away by allegedly stabbing one of them.

A 78-year-old homeowner has been arrested by murder detectives after a suspected burglar he fought with in his own kitchen died of a stab wound. 

The pensioner, named locally as Richard Osborn-Brooks, was upstairs asleep with his wife when he was woken by the two men breaking into his suburban home in Hither Green, south-east London last night.

He was forced into his kitchen by one of the men, who was armed with a screwdriver, before a struggle ensued.

The intruder, a 38-year-old man, was left with wounds to his chest and local residents say he collapsed in a neighbouring road and died in hospital.  

The homeowner was initially detained on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm but was later arrested on suspicion of murder. The case has been compared to that of Tony Martin, who was jailed for killing an intruder at his home in 1999.

The break-in comes amid a surge in violence in the capital, with 49 people already having died in crimes in London in 2018. Last night's death brings the toll to 50.

So, arrested and charged with murder by the British Crown after defending himself in his own home, and letting the perps escape to boot. That's pretty bad. But I can top it.

Ian Thompson.

Early one August morning in 2010, four masked men shouting death threats began hurling firebombs at Mr. Thomson's home. One of his pet dogs was injured; several fires in and around his home were set.

Mr. Thomson, an experienced firearms instructor, called 911 immediately. He also armed himself with a .38 calibre revolver, stepped outside his home and fired three shots — one into his lawn, and two into a stand of trees. His attackers fled, and were later arrested. All four pleaded guilty to arson and disregard for human life, and were sentenced to between two and three years in prison.

So ended the first threat against Mr. Thomson. The next began immediately thereafter.

Mr. Thomson was charged with four crimes: careless use of a firearm, pointing a firearm and two charges of careless storage of a firearm, one for each of the pistols he had removed from his gun safe (the second, a 9mm pistol, was never fired during the incident). The first two charges were dropped — it's hard to imagine a more cut-and-dry case of lawful self defence than firing on men trying to burn down your home while you're inside it. But the Crown insisted on pursuing the charges of careless storage.

What tyrannical hell hole does Mr. Thompson live in? Port Colborne Ontario, down the road from me.

So while it is plain the the British government has decided that law abiding citizens are not allowed to use force to defend themselves, the Canadian government has decided that we are not to be allowed to even frighten deadly attackers away. We are expected to let them burn our houses down.

Just so we are all clear what the deal is, okay?

The Phantom.

Gun Control: working well in London!

Offered without further comment: London England, (an island, remember) has a higher murder rate than New York City. For real.

Gun control for the win!

The Well Regulated Phantom

Safe Shorts: for when you have no gun.

Gun control and immigration working well in Germany. Seen first at Small Dead Animals, Safe Shorts!

A woman in Germany has created anti-rape shorts, which began as a personal project after she was attacked while out running.

There are two types of Safe Shorts – underpants and running shorts – and both are made from slash and tear-resistant material, and have a lock as well as an alarm.

The shorts are fastened with a cut-resistant cord, which is attached to the waist or pelvic area (depending on which style you have), and then secured with a clip that has a coded padlock.

You can access this padlock in seconds with the code, but if someone else tampers with it, a 140 decibel alarm sounds.

The wearer also has the option of setting the alarm off themselves, should they feel threatened.

The shorts come in black, but you get a choice of lock colours.

The shorts were created by Sandra Seilz from Germany, who was attacked by three men while out running.

Turning personal tragedy, governmental breakdown and societal collapse into a business opportunity! Safe Shorts! For when the government won't let you protect yourself from rapists, the private sector has a solution! Wrap your nether regions in kevlar running pants. Because that will totally work, right?

But hey, at least she's making an attempt, within the obscenely small space left to her by EuroLeftists. Top marks for trying.

I like this bit farther down in the article.

Of course, in an ideal world, men would learn not to rape, and women could go about their lives without fear of being violated.

However, we don't live in an ideal world – not even close – and until these men learn to view women as human beings and not objects, it makes sense that women should want to take preventative measures in high risk situations.

You can exercise your right to not be raped all you want, but it doesn't mean you're safe.

Reminds me of something I said once.

The Phantom

Trump EPA to scrap fuel mileage regulations.

This has the potential to be a true game-changer in our lives, my friends.

The Trump administration is poised to abandon America's pioneering fuel economy targets for cars and SUVs, a move that would undermine one of the world's most aggressive programs to confront climate change and invite another major confrontation with California.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce in the coming days that it will scrap mileage targets the Obama administration drafted in tandem with California that aim to boost average fuel economy for passenger cars and SUVs to 55 miles per gallon by 2025, according to people familiar with the plans.

The agency plans to replace those targets with a weaker standard that will be unveiled soon, according to the people, who did not want to be identified discussing the plan before it was announced.

EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said a draft determination was undergoing interagency review and a final decision would be made by Sunday.

This is exactly the kind of thing that Trump was elected to do. Who else but The Donald could tell the Greenies to stick it like this?

I fricking love Donald Trump. This is awesome!

The Phantom

Gun Control: No lie too ugly.

Larry King stays classy:

We got the ex-talk show host Wednesday at E. Baldi in Bev Hills, where we asked what he thought of former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' NYT op-ed calling for the amendment giving Americans the right to bear arms to be repealed.

Larry says he's completely on board [with repealing the Second Amendment], adding that the antiquated provision needs to be rewritten due to unclear language ... and also, because it's "real" purpose is moot now.

He backs a widely discussed theory that the Second Amendment was pushed for by Southern senators who simply wanted to fend off potential slave uprisings. How about that?

Yeah, how about that? Larry King, historically illiterate douche-bag. So unexpected!

The Phantom

For those too young to remember, adultery is A-Ok!

Thanks to the Drudge Report for pointing this out:

New York Times, DEC. 19, 1998...

Adultery is a private choice. The important rejection of it comes from love, not intimidation. The reason not to commit it is that it is likely to devastate someone you love if he or she learns about it. And the only way that person won't learn about it is if you tell a lot of lies. Telling a lot of lies eventually harms your ability to maintain a trusting relationship; secretiveness undermines intimacy. And tending a committed, intimate relationship is a deeply meaningful part of life, though we all know it has its share of bad days.

While biographers have described people who are exceptions and seem able to countenance adultery and marital intimacy at the same time, by and large the reason not to choose adultery is that the pleasure it offers is taken in trade for harming more enduring love and more important loved ones.

But publicly humiliating anyone for consensual adultery is draconian, and wrong. It teaches children cynicism. What they see is how little respect there is for privacy, and how gratuitously and harshly adults will harm one another to gain a little power. And using adultery or any aspect of consensual adult sexuality as a weapon in political battles is more abhorrent than the act itself.

You might say that how and why we disapprove of adultery is as important as whether we do.

Janna Malamud Smith

Listen carefully: I am lying right now.

Also found at Drudge, this timely reminder:

"Is It Only About Sex?" wrote the New York Times in August 1998.
"Maybe It Is About Sex," wrote Slate the same month.
"High crimes? Or just a sex cover-up?" Time magazine wrote the next month.
That was the tack back then, after 50-year-old Bill Clinton was accused of having sex with a 22-year-old White House intern, often in the Oval Office. Clinton vehemently denied the allegation, wagging a crooked finger as he spat: "I want you to listen to me. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. I never told a single person to lie, not a single time, never."
Before the whole mess unraveled, Clinton also said: ''It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life."

So that's pretty much my whole comment for y'all on Stormy Daniels and her massively dilated pupils on TV last night, talking about an affair that took place in 2006, not in the White House last week. An affair that, to my uncertain knowledge, no one is actually denying.

Now she can get back to her strip club tour of the USA. Peel in peace, Stormy baby.

The Phantom

Gun Control: determined to repeat history?

From today's Washington DC gun control march, a perfect visual: skinny white kid in a black shirt giving a one-arm power salute in support of big government.

Where have I seen this before?

Previously this imagery was written off as tone-deaf, historically ignorant kids, but I'm starting to wonder if it isn't deliberate.

The Phantom

$15 min wage = robots!

This is what $15/hr minimum wage gets you. Walmart is rolling out shelf-reading hardware in California.

The company [Walmart] is launching a small army of autonomous scanning robots.

The robots are 6 feet tall, equipped with an array of lights, cameras, and radar sensors.

It then goes up and down each aisle on its own, at 2 to 3 mph, scanning the shelves for empty spots, and also checking the price tags.

And because its California, they spent a good part of the video on this:

Shopper Deborah Espinoza was at the Walmart store in Milpitas and spoke with an employee about the robot.

"Wow, so it's like taking somebody's job?" Espinoza asked.

A Walmart employee said, "It's not taking someone's job. It's designed to improve the job."

"Oh really?" Espinoza responded.

Espinoza is skeptical. She works at San Jose International Airport and says when automated checkout was introduced there, cashiers were laid off.

Walmart says they are freeing up their associates to provide better customer service. We asked Espinoza if she buys that.

"Uh, no. No," Espinoza said.

Walmart says it is still too early to say how the robots will impact their workforce.

Yes, obviously the store will be laying off shelf reader people. At $15 an hour, PLUS BENEFITS mind you, a multi-billion dollar robotics solution is fantastically cheaper than minimum wage workers. Added benefit, the robots won't steal stuff. Shrinkage at a Walmart from employee theft is ~25%. That's a lot of fricking money over a whole store chain, bro.

But everybody knew this would happen. It is obvious, painfully so. Companies will either fire staff, or go under. So why do people like Deborah Espinoza seem so surprised and stuff when Walmart and the airport lay off workers? Because they are MORONS who believe in magic, that's why. Keep voting DemocRat, everything will be okay. They'll magic it all better.

Better than those Republican fascists, right? They'd have kept the minimum wage low, and Walmart would have skipped the robots. Too iffy, too expensive. Then all these dumb shits would have jobs to complain about... oh, wait.

However, one day soon the fully automated Walmart stores will not have any customers. Because their primary customer base is magic-believing morons who work minimum wage jobs, and they will all be fricking well fired and replaced by robots.

Robots don't steal, but they don't SHOP either.

But hey, keep voting DemocRat/Liberal and it will be okay, my friends. Because magic. And hope! Yeah, that's the ticket. Hope, and change. Say, that's catchy. Somebody should use that.

Cancel English to handle Uni debt?

"At last, one of them has understood." Lord Raiden, Mortal Kombat

The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point is reportedly discussing a plan to eliminate 13 majors including English, philosophy, history and Spanish. 

The campus — one of 11 campuses in the University of Wisconsin system — would instead focus on programs that have "clear career pathways," The Washington Post reported.

Under the proposal, the school would expand areas such as marketing, management, graphic design and computer information systems — areas that "have demonstrated value and demand in the region," according to the school.

The school's administration is framing the idea as a way to increase its declining enrollment and to deal with a multimillion-dollar deficit, according to the Post.

Because a degree in Angry Studies don't put food on the table.

The Phantom

Highschool walkouts: parents not amused.

A whole highschool full of kids out in the parking lot protesting something makes an old hippie feel nostalgic for the 1968 DemocRat convention, when they took over. Look great on TV, generates lots of sound-bites for the news.

But this time, it is different. This time, nobody is buying it.

Chris Cleveland, chairman of the Chicago Republican Party, said he worried that the walkouts, aimed at pushing for tougher gun restrictions in the wake of the deadly Parkland shooting, have provided the template for advocacy groups eager to co-opt the public schools for progressive activism.

"If they get away with this, they'll be free to engage in any kind of political activity in the schools that they wish," said Mr. Cleveland, who has a third-grader in the Chicago Public Schools.

The party is moving to avert that scenario by preparing a lawsuit against the school system, arguing that the district violated state and federal law as well as its own policies by organizing a political demonstration — and pressuring students to attend — on the taxpayers' dime.

 

One thing that happened, while on "walkout" a bunch of Chicago kids trashed a local Walmart. But it isn't merely politicians in crooked Chicago:

He is not alone. Connecticut lawyer Deborah G. Stevenson said she has fielded calls from parents and others across the nation, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, after reports about her clash with the New Milford Public Schools.

She urged the district last week on behalf of several parents to cancel the high school walkout, arguing that the schools had "condoned, facilitated, and supported an event that clearly advocates for students to be part of a partisan political 'movement,'" but the district refused.

All over the country, parent groups are doing the same thing. They are suing the schools and school boards for political activism on school grounds using their kids as sign holders.

The Phantom

Decolonize science!

Because skin colour matters more than anything else!!!

If you suggest that the laws of electromagnetism don't dramatically alter depending on the melanin levels of the person doing the maths, then you just don't care about "students of Colour" being "victims of deculturalization" and being "invalidated."

"Yeah, that's right! Science is too White! Its all that Whiteness! Math is murder!"

Too much sciency Whiteness? Or not enough?

Good luck with that, dudes.

The Phantom

Gun Control: doomed to repeat history?

It appears that the kids at that Parkland high school didn't get much out of their history classes.

I've seen this somewhere before, haven't I?

Before you break out the hammer and nails to crucify me, I'm not saying the kids are Literally Hitler. I'm not a leftist, after all. I know their choice of armbands wasn't intentional and they're copying student hippies from the '60s. Alls I'm saying is a group of armband-clad underaged lemmings marching in the name of big government isn't the best look, regardless of their intentions.

People on the Left conveniently forget that everything they are championing with gun control was pioneered by the Nazi Party in Germany. That's not hyperbole, that is an inconvenient historical fact.

Stay classy, Lefties.

The Phantom

Supreme dictator of Iran supports gun control

Offered without further comment:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is calling on America to "make guns illegal" in light of deadly shootings that have taken place across the United States, according to comments made by the Iranian leader over the week.
"In U.S., 100s are killed every week by homicide for no crime,—no reason—not at the hands of police, as US police brutality is a separate issue," the Iranian leader wrote. "The accessibility of guns leads to homicide; it's created problems for a country like U.S., everyone admits, fears, & is concerned about it."
Khamenei also accused U.S. lawmakers of corruption and of kowtowing to the gun industry, which has lobbied against certain restrictions on firearms.
"Gun companies are so powerful that House representatives and U.S. senators don't dare pass prohibition of guns, and U.S. president doesn't dare speak out, rise against it," he wrote. "This is corruption."
"Corruption means domination of a mafia greedy for power & wealth, in a way that the big political & military system like U.S. won't dare stand up for prohibition of guns—which is clearly positive," the leader added. "This is due to lack of spiritual ideals, leading western societies to this point."

There you go, Lefties. The Ayatollah is 100% on your side.

The Phantom

Comic Book Industry digs harder!

Two pieces of utter genius today. Emerald City Comic Con excludes white males from industry "mixer" parties, and a transgender comic artist wishes a guy was blown up by an IED in Assghanistan.

First, Emerald City Comic Con.

The comics industry seems to be doubling down on their policy of completely excluding anyone who is straight, white, male, or conservative. This year's Emerald City Comic Con released its schedule of events on its app recently. Anyone who is male, white and identifies as heterosexual found himself excluded from industry mixers and professional mixers.
A source attending the event who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons spoke to PJM about the blatant discrimination.

I'm not going to post all the tweets, because tedious. Cutting to the chase, there was an "industry LGBQTCIAFBIKGB mixer" party, and a "industry people of colour mixer" party listed. No other listings. So the wise guy "source attending the event who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons" asked the con where he could go, as a straight white cis male. Their response was interesting.

"Hi there. We do not have a specific industry mixer for your category this year."

Okay then.

Next, the reason why "source attending the event who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons" thought he might need to be a little concerned about his safety.

Comics creators really hate criticism. Every time "Diversity and Comics" creator Richard Meyer reviews a comic book he doesn't like, industry professionals lose their minds and wish violence on him. The last time it happened he was threatened by a Marvel professional and told to stay away from Comicon. This time, Image Comics transgender writer Michelle Perez tweeted that he wishes Meyer had died in an IED attack.

Again, it is presented as a tweet list. The money quote, as it were, is Perez: "hes a war veteran, so of course he's a cryptofacist. unfortunately, an IED didn't blow him up." [Punctuation and lack of capitalization preserved from the original.]

This of course stays up on twitter, while they are busy purging conservatives. (I don't mind that it stayed up, it is always nice when fruitcakes self-identify like this. I do mind that twitter is purging conservatives.)

Image Comics, which employs Perez, is utterly dismissive of the issue.

Bounding Into Comics reported that Erik Larson, Image Comics co-founder and board member, responded to the uproar."Larsen's initial reaction was to explain Perez's wish for Meyer to be killed is part of freedom of speech, "I can't control what other people say or do anymore than they can control what I say or do. It's just words, man. Nobody was hurt. That's the freedom of speech in action. None of us have to like it.""

There you have it, wishing death on a critic is perfectly cool, just free speech in action my friends. But don't show up to the wrong industry mixer, or you might get your ass kicked. YEAH!!!

That sound you are hearing is my eyes rolling at the thought of these pasty, pencil-necked dickweeds trying to kick somebody's ass. Like a kindergarten slap fight.