019): ‘That Shapiro Meltdown: What It Says About Him—And Conservatism, Inc.’

Argument, Conservatism, Neoconservatism, Pseudo-intellectualism, Republicans

An excellent piece on Ben Shapiro is “That Shapiro Meltdown: What It Says About Him—And Conservatism, Inc.“

- - - - Shapiro was expecting to promote his new book The Right Side Of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made The West Great, the latest in the long series of Beltway Right slop defining the West and/or conservatism as post-Enlightenment prattle about “individualism” or “liberty” or “Judeo-Christianity” or anything other than a people (white, by the way) with a real culture and civilization.
        
        Shapiro expected to appear in his traditional American role as gatekeeper, eager to condemn populist nationalism and to portray himself as an “intellectual conservative.” But Shapiro’s popularity, such as it is, depends on titillating a conservative audience. Like every would-be celeb in Conservatism Inc., he must simultaneously push and enforce boundaries. This inevitably leads to problems.
        
        [B]aiting transgenders is edgy on campus, while safe (for now) within the general conservative movement.
        
        Shapiro claims to be part of the “Intellectual Dark Web” (IDW), which has emerged as sort of faux Dissident Right. And in a 2016 interview with one of its supposed members, Dave Rubin, Shapiro declared,”Of course, there are legitimate racists and we should target them and we should find them and we should ruin their careers because racism is unacceptable.”
        
        Shapiro has a platform precisely because he is allowed to have a platform. He complains about campus protests and online abuse he suffered during the 2016 campaign, but I can confidently predict that Ben Shapiro will never lose his Stripe account, his PayPal account, his checking account. He will never lose his Twitter—while his critics (some undoubtedly abusive but definitely not all) mostly have.
        
        He is “New Media” only insofar as he is promoted by Legacy Media, and because any competition to his right, including the grassroots activists who drove the 2015-2016 Trump insurgency, is being persecuted and purged by Big Tech.
        
        Neil was right when he identified the lack of intellectual energy coming from the Beltway Right. Again, partially this is because most of the incisive critics have been deplatformed, cut off from financial resources, or simply intimidated via direct threats. Yet it’s also because the Beltway Conservative Movement is fundamentally a product of corporate donors. Not surprisingly, they aren’t coming up with anything except the usual calls for tax cuts and deregulation.
        
        Ben Shapiro has no stake in political success, no skin in the game. His job is to remain in the political sweet spot of triggering the hysterical campus left, while gatekeeping for the Beltway Right. This allows him Main Stream Media access, fundraising, and bookselling opportunities, while repeating the same tired slogans like it’s still the Reagan years.He and those like him love to mock Leftists for staying in their safe spaces. But as we’ve now seen, once Shapiro is out of his Conservatism Inc. safe space, he really has nothing to say.
  MORE @VDARE: “That Shapiro Meltdown: What It Says About Him—And Conservatism, Inc.“
  
  UPDATED (7/22/019):
  
  “While Shapiro finds Trump supporters “vile” and “disgusting” for chanting “send her back,” he himself openly advocated for ethnically cleansing all “5 million Palestinians and Israeli Arabs” from Israel in a column titled, “Transfer is not a dirty word.”
  
  https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1152941294714597381

WHITE MALE MISERY In America

America, Drug War, Economy, Multiculturalism, Psychiatry, Race, Racism

The Economist’s writer is no angel. But he is dancing like so many angels on the head of a pin in order to minimize the effects of systemic hostility toward white men in America:

… thoughts of suicide were slightly higher on average amongst less-educated whites than other groups.
… heavy drinking was higher amongst whites than other groups.

… opioid abuse along with other prescription drug abuse and illegal drug use remain much higher amongst non-college educated whites. Other research has shown that whites commit suicide at a higher rate than blacks and Hispanics: according to the CDC, white non-Hispanic Americans commit suicide at around three times the rate of blacks and Hispanics, with the highest and growing toll amongst older men.

…increased suicide rates among white men may be caused in part by a decline in income and status.

The Economist also cleverly attempts to minimize the dire situation of white men in America by implying that these “poorly educated” white ingrates are still “better off than women and minorities.”

Then of course, there are the solutions of shallow economic reductionism:

Increase the minimum wage. Provide more generous earned income tax credits. (“Because of lower incomes, minorities and women are more likely to be eligible for EITC payments, and to benefit from minimum wage increases.”)

READ: “Depression is increasing among Americans reaching middle age: Misery is spreading across all groups, but poorly educated white men remain the unhappiest.” (5/15/019)

NEW COLUMN: Too Bad Kirstjen Nielsen Isn’t Trump’s Daughter

Donald Trump, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Law, Republicans

NEW COLUMN IS “Too Bad Kirstjen Nielsen Isn’t Trump’s Daughter.” It’s now on WND.COM and The Unz Review.

An excerpt:

“More than 76,000 migrants crossed the border without authorization in February” this year, reported the New York Times.

March saw 100,000 merry migrants waltz into the U.S., undisturbed.

Caravans are getting larger, not smaller. “Newcomers continue to arrive, sometimes by the busload, at the rate of 2,200 a day,” said the same source.

Border agents are said to be bracing “to meet the medical needs” of the newcomers.” Silly me. I thought their duty was to meet the security needs of the American people.

Monthly apprehensions average 32,012.

“Apprehension”: Now that’s Orwellian speak for you. A more accurate description is: briefly stopped for a cursory wellness check before being sent on their way to the interior.

All you need to know is that children are the charm, a magic amulet. If you don’t quite get it, here’s a reenactment of “apprehension”:

Customs and Border Protection agent to migrant: “Got kids?”

New arrival at the U.S. scouthern border: “You bet.” (Turns to a large, brooding male.) “Pepito, say hello to the nice policeman.”

American agent: “Pepito is a little hairy for a kid and he’s covered in ink.”

Future American citizen from Salvador (with the aid of a translator paid for by the U.S.): “Pepito is just mature for his age. It’s the chemicals. They’re killing us. Asylum. Hurry. We’re dying.”

Agent sworn to protect Americans: “You’re good to go. (Stamps a bit of paper and waves the new Americans by.) “Don’t forget to return for your asylum court hearing, amigos.”

Instead of this “apprehension” farce, Kris Kobach, the former Kansas Secretary of State, has highlighted the many tactical strategies that could—still can—be operationalized at the border to halt the treasonous Catch-and-Release policy ongoing.

Kobach faults former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for looking to Congress for a legislative remedy.

This seems a little harsh. The two chambers were dominated by Republicans for two years. It was hardly unreasonable for Nielsen to have expected from these legislators an immigration bill for the ages. Instead, she got a tax cut.

Confession: I have a soft spot for the ice princess, whom Trump summarily dumped. …

… READ THE REST. “Too Bad Kirstjen Nielsen Isn’t Trump’s Daughter” is now on WND.COM and The Unz Review.

Archie Windsor Not The Most Famous Archie Ever

Britain, Celebrity, Comedy & Humor, English, Political Correctness

Well, whoop dee do! A royal baby is born.

Archie is a good name for the royal baby. Full name of the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

Who doesn’t love Archie Bunker, one of the great characters of good American TV, RIP? (Fine comedy/satire is a thing of the past.)

(Joke alert to the chronically mirthless.)