Posted on May 19, 2024 by Lloyd Billingsley in History

May 19 Mayhem

May 19 marks the birthdays of Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh, the pair who inspired the May 19th Communist Organization, according to William Rosenau, “the first and only women-created and women-led terrorist group,” and “sort of an offshoot of the Weather Underground.” In 2020 Rosenau authored Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol, which the May 19s pulled off on November 7, 1983, hardly their only terrorist action.

The gals collaborated with the Black Liberation Army, whose member Joanne Chesimard was imprisoned for killing a police officer. May 19 bomber Susan Rosenberg played a role in Chesimard’s escape from prison, and the group’s Judy Clark was Rosenberg’s accomplice in the 1981 Brink’s robbery that took the lives of police officers Peter Paige and Edward O’Grady and security guard Waverly Brown. In 2001, President Clinton pardoned Rosenberg and in 2016 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted Clark’s sentence and she was granted parole in 2019. Other May 19 vets are still on the run.

The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information on Elizabeth Ann Duke wanted for “alleged involvement in a series of criminal activities during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.” The fugitive, born in 1940, is “armed and dangerous” and an escape risk. The FBI is offering up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Donna Joan Borup, an “alleged domestic terrorist.” If captured now, Joe Biden would doubtless pardon the pair.

As the people might note, the FBI failed to prevent most of the M19 terrorism, including the bombing of the Capitol. By contrast, the FBI helped stage the events of January 6, 2021, which Sen. Mitt Romney called an “insurrection incited by the president of the United States.” That day capitol police officer gunned down U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, and others who committed no crime remain in prison.

The FBI is now putting out the word that anybody less than worshipful of Joe Biden is a domestic terrorist, violent extremist and so forth. Last August, an FBI squad gunned down Craig Robertson, a 75-year old woodworker, based on threats he allegedly made on line. Still no Inspector General report or congressional hearings on the FBI killing. In the meantime, a few more takeaways.

As Rosenau noted, there is still some mystery about Joanne Chesimard’s escape to Cuba. Now known as Assata Shakur, the BLA cop-killer is the icon of BLM, Black Lives Matter. What goes around comes around.

Back in the day, May 19 member Marilyn Buck, joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), whose members would chant, “Ho! Ho! Ho!, Ho Chi Minh! the NLF (National Liberation Front) is gonna win!” So despite what you may have heard, the sixties’ radicals were not “anti-war” activists. See Peter Collier on Vietnam and the rise of the New Left.

The Stalinist Ho Chi Minh, born on May 19, 1890, died of a heart attack on September 2, 1969. Muslim convert Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, was shot dead while delivering a speech on Feb 21, 1965. This year, members of his family claimed to have found new evidence in the case.

Posted on by Scott Johnson in 2024 Election, Donald Trump, Doug Burgum

Trump comes to town: The video

I commented on President Trump’s remarks to the Minnesota GOP’s sold-out Lincoln Reagan dinner in St. Paul on Friday night in “Trump comes to town.” I assessed that Trump was in good form. Below are a few video highlights via X. I stand by my assessment.

Video of Trump’s remarks in their entirety is posted here on YouTube. Video of the entire event is posted here on YouTube — North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum introduces Trump at about 2:00:00 followed by Trump at about 2:15:00. I assess that Burgum will be Trump’s VP pick.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in Boxing, Sports

Fury versus Usyk

Last night’s fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk was big, for a number of reasons. For one thing, it yielded an undisputed, unified heavyweight champion for the first time in 25 years. I am not particularly a fan of the heavyweight division; in my opinion, the welterweight and middleweight divisions generally have better fighters and better fights. Still, a unified heavyweight title is a pretty big deal.

Beyond that, the boxers are premier talents. Usyk came into the fight undefeated at 21-0, while Fury, the lineal champion, was 34-0-1. Usyk is from Ukraine, a boxing hotbed, and Fury, the Gypsy King, is a colorful character, a Traveller who stands 6′ 9″, weighs 262 pounds and is known among other things for his defensive skills. Sort of a Jess Willard only three inches taller and a really skilled boxer.

The fight, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, proved a classic. Fury won most of the early rounds and was sometimes clownish in the ring, apparently mimicking one of Muhammad Ali’s less likable traits. But Usyk, six inches shorter and with a seven-inch reach disadvantage, came on in the fight’s second half, bloodying Fury’s face and, in the 9th, stunning him with a left, followed by a barrage that had Fury out on his feet. Fury was saved by an eight-count and the bell. One might have thought he was finished, but, with the amazing resilience that is typical of boxers, he fought three more rounds in creditable fashion.

This brief video shows some highlights, including the action in Round 9:

In the end, Usyk won a split decision and is now the undisputed, and lineal, champion. The above video might cause you to wonder how anyone could have seen Fury as the winner, but, as noted above, he won most of the early rounds, and boxing is scored according to how many rounds you win. The only two-point round was the 9th, when Usyk scored his knockdown.

After the fight, Fury rather classlessly claimed that he should have won, but Usyk was favored because of international sympathy for Ukraine. Usyk missed the press conference, as he was taken to a hospital for treatment of a broken jaw, which he apparently suffered halfway through the bout and fought with thereafter. This fight illustrates why some fans think that all sports other than boxing are child’s play.

Fury said he will invoke the rematch clause in his contract; the rematch will presumably be in the fall. It should be another great fight.

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Media

Baker versus Noonan

Susan Baker read Peggy Noonan’s recent Wall Street Journal column so that you don’t have to. Baker took issue with Noonan in a letter to the editor published yesterday. It’s hard to nail Noonan down in the column, but Baker bites on Noonan’s set-up:

Peggy Noonan starts out decrying Joe Biden as “too old and infirm” to be president and Donald Trump as “too crazy” (“2024: A Certain Fatalism Sets In,” Declarations, May 11). I think this gives Old Joe a pass; after all, who doesn’t feel for an old man?

Instead, I see a man who has spent his adult life living off the largesse of political power. I see a man who has weaponized law enforcement to attack his opponent as well as everyday citizens—concerned parents, pro-lifers, Catholics and even grandmothers praying in the Capitol.

I see a man who defies Supreme Court rulings by expanding regulatory overreach and canceling student debt. I see a man who throws allies under the bus to gain votes, holding back arms in Ukraine and Israel, and prolonging, not winning, wars.

I see a man who attacks dependable fossil fuels and mandates electric cars that few want to satisfy the noisy greens. I see a man who would sanction abortion through the third trimester and supports the mutilation of troubled children, both under the guise of health. I could go on—open borders, fentanyl, Afghanistan, Hunter, Tara Reade, inflation.

In short, I see a man destroying our country. This election, I’ll vote “crazy.”

Susan C. Baker
Mooresville, N.C.

Noonan concludes the column with which Baker takes issue by writing in a vein meant to persuade Trump’s enemies by appealing to their deprecation of Trump:

I end with a word to Trump foes who hope he’ll be found guilty in the New York case and sentenced to prison time. They think this will finish him off. It will not.

Donald Trump doesn’t know it, but he will love prison. He’ll be the most specially treated convict in American history, better than the mob bosses in “Goodfellas.” He’ll be in his cell with his phone—he’ll get one—live-streaming and live-Truthing; he’ll be posing thumbs up in his uniform surrounded by gangbangers and white collar hoodlums. He’ll philosophize about how a lot of people in prison don’t deserve to be there, the system’s rigged, he’ll consider pardons. All convicts tell you that they were railroaded, but this will be new to Trump, he’ll believe them.

He’ll be the king of Rikers. He’ll say he’s learned a lot and the guards are all for Trump and he’s going to get out and reform the justice system. It will be fabulous for him. He’ll put himself as Martin Luther King and he’ll be writing Truths From the Birmingham Jail.

People forget: He loves this, loves the game, the drama, and the devil takes care of his own.

Noonan’s fantasia purports to humor Trump’s enemies. Perhaps for that reason, Noonan’s train of thought may be a little off course. I doubt the Secret Service is on board with it.

The Journal must compensate Noonan handsomely for her deep thoughts. If she were as concise, commonsensical, or straightforward as Ms. Baker, she would probably struggle to make a living.

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Hamas, Israel

Hostages dead or alive

On October 7 Hamas brutally maimed and murdered — not necessarily in that order — Israelis attending the Nova Music Festival in Re’im. Hamas kidnapped the living and the dead to Gaza.

Hamas has sought to Gaza exchange the living hostages and the bodies of the murdered Israelis for a multiple of living Hamas murderers incarcerated in Israel. Hamas seeks freedom for its incarcerated murderers so that they can assist in the project of repeating massacres again and again until Israel is annihilated — as Ghazi Hamid explained on Lebanon TV.

Late last week the IDF undertook an overnight operations to recover the bodies of Itzhak Gelerenter, Amit Buskila, Shani Louk, and Ron Binyamin. The Times of Israel reports on this operation here. The New York Post focuses on Louk’s story here.

It took the authorities longer to identify Binyamin’s body. In the video below IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari announces the recovery of Binyamin’s corpse. The Jerusalem post reports the recovery and identification of Binyamin’s body here.

It is difficult fully to comprehend the special savagery of this aspect of the war. Hamas’s treatment of the dead “involves ostentatiousness and theatricality, aimed at showing contempt, discouraging opponents, sowing fear, and asserting superiority.” The genocidal essence of Hamas lies beyond civilized norms. This manifestation of it provides a graphic example.

Posted on May 18, 2024 by John Hinderaker in Anti-Semitism, Law, Riots

Will the Anti-Semites Pay?

Protesting for Hamas may have seemed like a lark to students at “elite” colleges and law schools, but it turns out that there might actually be consequences. Law firms, in particular, have expressed unwillingness to hire anti-Semites. Now we have this:


Sullivan & Cromwell is one of the world’s great law firms, I think in the top five by anyone’s reckoning. This is from the National Law Journal article linked in the tweet:

[Senior firm chair Joe] Shenker was in his Jerusalem synagogue’s bomb shelter when the Hamas-led attack on Israel began on Oct. 7.

Oops. So what will Sullivan do to try to identify students who turned out for terrorism?

The firm is now outlining some of its vetting processes in that effort, including reviewing resumes, social media, news reports and student group affiliations and employing third-party specialists for background checks.

“Third-party specialists for background checks.” That sounds serious; Sullivan obviously doesn’t want to inadvertently hire Hamasniks. And their clients–like Bill Ackman–likely appreciate that vigilance.

Of course, the average demonstrator’s chance of getting a job with Sullivan & Cromwell, even if he or she is a law school graduate, is vanishingly small. But other firms and companies may follow the lead of Sullivan and the other prominent law firms who have publicly said that they will not knowingly hire anti-Semites. Maybe there will be a trickle-down effect on the broader economy. We can only hope so.

Meanwhile, who had “John Fetterman is the most sensible senator” on his bingo card? Not me, that’s for sure. But Fetterman continues to impress:

Posted on by Lloyd Billingsley in China, Communism

Mutant Social Growths Revisited

In the course of writing From Mainline to Sideline I came across Huan-Ying: Journey Through Workers’ China, authored by Janet Goldwasser and Stuart Dowty and published by Monthly Review Press in 1975. “We wrote it to combat misinformation, ” explained Goldwasser in 2019. “China had a different way of setting priorities in terms of healthcare and working conditions, so we intended to get information to readers who weren’t able to visit themselves.”

Stuart Dowty, billed as an automobile worker who visited China in 1972, also showed up in China: People-Questions, published by the National Council of Churches (NCC) in 1975. As Dowty saw it:

While Liberation turned the whole society towards socialism, the Cultural Revolution deepened and continued that process. Mutant social growths were identified and unceremoniously uprooted. And, the Chinese conclude, there will be more cultural revolutions in the future as their society moves along a socialist direction.

Layoffs and unemployment were no problem because China’s planned economy could handle such changes rationally.

There is no doubt that socialist motivations, as opposed to individualist perspectives, have produced an impressive record of social and economic growth during the past two decades.

And so on. The editor of China: People-Questions was Michael Chinoy, who explained:

China’s Communist revolution has propelled a backward, poverty- stricken, virtually medieval society into the modern world. . . a violent revolution and bitter civil war were necessary to sweep away the decay, exploitation, and backwardness of old China. . . the revolutionary process did not stop. Indeed, it was accelerated.

Stuart Dowty is now listed as retired attorney in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the former chairman of the Washtenaw County Democratic Party, and former deputy supervisor in Pittsfield Township. Huan-Ying: Journey Through Workers China is still available on Amazon, but no second thoughts on the “misinformation” Goldwasser and Dowty set out to “combat.” And no tally of all those “mutant social growths” who were “unceremoniously uprooted.” For details see The Black Book of Communism.

Michigan State University established the Stuart N. Dowty and Janet Goldwasser collection of “radical materials” from1960-2004. Michael Chinoy became a China correspondent with CNN and is now listed as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California.