Oil Companies: Please Support Trump!

A person could make it his life’s work to respond to all of the ignorant, unfair and dishonest attacks that liberals make on Donald Trump. I don’t want to do that. But I do want to comment briefly on the latest Trump “scandal”: At a Dinner, Trump Assailed Climate Rules and Asked $1 Billion From Big Oil.*

Many outlets tried to make it sound like Trump was soliciting a bribe: support my campaign and in return I will favor your industry. But of course, that wasn’t the case. Trump’s exact words are unknown, but this is how the hostile New York Times put it:

Over a dinner of chopped steak, Mr. Trump repeated his public promises to delete Mr. Biden’s pollution controls, telling the attendees that they should donate heavily to help him beat Mr. Biden because his policies would help their industries.

Trump makes a good point. And it is exactly the same point that Democrats make to the “green” industries. Democrats funnel countless billions of dollars to “green” industries and companies, in return for which they receive lavish political support. Why? Because the Democrats’ policies are in the “green” industries’ financial interest.

What’s the difference? The difference is that Trump’s energy policies are right, and the Democrats’ energy policies are wrong. The Democrats’ support for “green” energy hurts consumers to the tune of many billions of dollars, and, perhaps worse, damages the national security. Trump’s support for reliable, affordable American energy will be good for all Americans. Except, I suppose, those who have invested in “green” companies in reliance on the Democrats’ anti-consumer subsidies and mandates.

* I love it when liberals refer to “Big Oil.” As though they think our gas tanks should be filled courtesy of Bob’s Oil Company. And, of course, their lexicon doesn’t include “Big Wind” or “Big Solar.” Although, to be fair, it would be more accurate in those instances to speak of Big China.

Eurovision, Take 2 [Updated Again]

I wrote here about how Israel’s presence has roiled Eurovision, the big European pop music competition. Each country is represented by an artist, either an individual or a group. After two semifinals, the lineup for the final evening is now set. Somewhat remarkably, the Israeli contestant passed through the semifinal round and will compete in the finals.

The result is predictable; the London Times reports: “Thousands protest over Gaza as Israel makes Eurovision final.”

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Malmo, Sweden, on Thursday evening before the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest where Israel’s contestant, Eden Golan, performed her song Hurricane.

The police said about 12,000 people took part in the protest, though organisers claim the number was higher. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, was in the crowd, wrapped in a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf that has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance. “Young people are leading the way and showing the world how we should react to this,” she said.

Greta Thunberg is a detestable human being. Security, happily, is tight:

Police mounted a major security operation and called in reinforcements from neighbouring Denmark and Norway for the semi-finals this week and Saturday’s grand final.

The major protest is expected tomorrow night:

More than 20,000 people from across Europe are expected to converge on Sweden’s third-biggest city to join demonstrations against Israel. Golan’s presence has become a focal point of the protest.

During an earlier rehearsal on Tuesday, she was met with boos and cries of “Free Palestine” and in the auditorium, a Palestinian flag appeared to be removed from a member of the audience.

You would think that after October 7, these people would have the decency to be ashamed. But no.

The organizers of the Eurovision event deserve a lot of credit. They refused demands to bar Israel from the competition:

The European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision’s organiser, said only flags that represented countries taking part, and the rainbow flag…

Of course.

…could be brought to the event.

Any other “flags, symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalising the TV shows” would be removed, the EBU said.

It rejected calls to disqualify Israel from the competition as it had not broken broadcasting rules.

Eden Golan’s semifinal performance came off without a hitch:

Golan’s performance passed without incident during broadcast, with loud cheers heard during the song. The camera panned to audience members dancing with an Israeli flag, while Golan blew kisses to the crowd and thanked them for their support. She went on to qualify for the final.

The judges deserve credit, too. Golan must have been good–talk about performing under pressure!–but the judges knew that including her in the finals would generate a big demonstration and, perhaps, violence. Speaking with the press after the semifinals, Golan was asked whether she was concerned that her presence may endanger others:

She was then asked if she had considered that her presence might be endangering others or increasing the security risks around the event. A moderator interjected and told Golan she did not have to answer the question, when Joost Klein, the Netherlands act, chimed in saying: “Why not?”

Golan replied: “I think we are all here for one reason and one reason only and the EBU is taking precautions to make this a safe and and united place for everyone,” she replied. “I think it is safe for everyone and we wouldn’t be here [if not]”.

This is the old heckler’s veto: you should go away, because your presence might enrage someone. Kudos to Eurovision for not knuckling under.

UPDATE: I assumed, I guess by analogy to American Idol, that a panel of judges decided which contestants would advance. My friend John Phelan points out that the rules are much more complicated than that. Semifinal winners are in fact decided by “televote,” which I take it is an online popular vote. I still don’t understand the mechanics, but check this out:


So the Italian “televote”–I assume random viewers–was overwhelmingly pro-the Israeli entrant. She may simply have been the best performer, but if her advancement was the result of a pan-European popular vote, it also suggests that the anti-Semitic protesters represent a small minority in Europe, as they do in the U.S.

FINALLY, THIS:

The Daily Chart: Peak Climatism?

Matthew Yglesias, a progressive-leaning writer with a popular Substack site, reflected recently on how his views about climate change have departed from progressive orthodoxy. He writes: “I’ve come to see the mainstreaming of this fairly extreme approach to climate change as probably the central error of the contemporary progressive movement. . . Voters don’t care that much about the Democrats’ top priority.”

Maybe, just maybe, we have reached and passed peak climate hysteria:

Douglas Murray: Choose life, not the death cults

This past Monday evening our friends at the Manhattan Institute recognized Douglas Murray (“for his unwavering defense of Western values”) and Ross Perot, Jr. (“for representing the best of civic engagement in Dallas and throughout Texas”) at the institute’s annual Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner. In his acceptance speech Murray describes his recent time in Israel and Gaza. He celebrates the spirit and heroism of the living Israelis he met and departed Israelis who died resisting Hamas, but the speech is intended to warn and to inspire us.

The New York Post adapted the text of Murray’s speech into a column published here The Manhattan Institute has just posted its video of Murray’s speech; I have embedded it below. It makes for a rewarding 25 minutes. Murray concludes: “I want to dedicate [this award] to the people of Israel of all ages, who, in the face of absolute death cults—in the face of people who most people in this country have no idea of, can’t imagine what these people are capable of—I want to dedicate my acceptance of this award to the people of Israel, who, in the face of death, choose life.”

The institute explains:

The Alexander Hamilton Award was created to honor those individuals helping to foster the revitalization of our nation’s cities. We chose to name the award after Hamilton because, like the Manhattan Institute, he was a fervent proponent of commerce and civic life. Through the years, we have expanded the scope of the prize to celebrate leaders not just on the local level, but also at the state and federal levels, who have made remarkable things happen in the realms of public policy, culture, and philanthropy. We hope our celebration of these awardees encourages replication of their efforts.

Past recipients of the award are listed here.

Begin & Bibi v. Biden

In a November 2020 Wall Street Journal column Tevi Troy recalled “When Biden Met Begin” (posted in accessible form on Pundicity). Tevi recounted how Biden and Begin once clashed in a private June 1982 session with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

Mr. Biden, 39, lectured the 68-year-old [Israeli Prime Minister Menachem] Begin over Israeli settlements, jabbing his finger at the prime minister and banging his fist on the desk. Mr. Biden warned that eroding support for Israel threatened U.S. aid. Israel was at war in Lebanon and far more dependent on American assistance than it is today.

Begin wouldn’t be cowed. “Don’t threaten us with cutting off aid to give up our principles,” he shouted back, according to Time magazine. Former Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon later recalled that Begin went further: “I’m not a Jew with trembling knees,” he reminded Mr. Biden.

In the lore that has since developed, Begin’s response supposedly continued: “I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”

Tevi leaves open the possibly apocryphal nature of the end of the quote. In the Hebrew-language message below, Prime Minister Netanyahu now echoes Begin’s words, apocryphal or not, and responds to the same old Biden:

The Nine-Percent Solution

In his interview with Erin Burnett for CNN, President Biden most notably announced his betrayal of Israel the day after proclaiming his “ironclad” support. We had seen it coming. It wasn’t a surprise. It was obviously top of what is left of his mind.

He also unleashed a series of whoppers that suggest he is lost in a senescent fog. The editors of the New York Post tabulate and itemize a total of 15 in the 15-minute interview. My favorite is this one: “[Inflation] was 9 percent when I came to office.” Indeed, the Post editors declare it the lie of the night. See also Steven Nelson’s Post story on this whopper.

Students of ancient history may recall that inflation rate was actually 1.4 percent when Biden took office in January 2021. It didn’t reach 9 percent until June 2022.

Biden appears not to recall who was president at the time. He’s vague about that. His time in office as president is already way too long, but we devoutly hope that it can soon be deemed transitory — to borrow a word that the Biden team applied to the inflation that dogs us still.

Referring to the hero’s supposed cocaine addiction, Nicholas Meyer titled his first Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. Biden appeared to have someone’s 7 percent mojo working as recently as his State of the Union Address. Maybe someone needs to up it to 9 percent.

Thoughts from the ammo line

BRIDESMAIDS OF HAMAS — not better than brides. Ammo Grrrll writes:

Some years ago in the U.K. a 15-year-old ninny decided to run to Syria to become a “Bride of ISIS.” When the reality of that life sank in, of course she demanded to be let BACK IN to the U.K. She even claimed she would be a force to fight terrorism if allowed to come home. By some miracle, her appeal was denied.

Looking at the Campus Islamofascists shrieking and threatening Jewish students, one is struck dumb that even after the savagery of 10/7, a large majority are women. At least the ones the brave jihadist creeps put out front as a barrier between themselves and possible trouble. They are used to that because, back in Gaza, they put weapons of war and Hamas soldiers under mosques, schools, and hospitals, the better to use women and children as human shields.

But why would American women fall for their propaganda and sign up to be a Hamas Handmaiden?

I have some ideas. The ugly women forming the avant garde of the paid professional Jew-haters and rape-supporters could not even hope to become a BRIDE of Hamas. Bridesmaid is about the highest they could aim for. (Possibly an Usher of Hamas: “Sunni or Shiite?” “Friends of the useful idiot or the groom?” “Tunnel or above ground?”)

Many of these misfits are extremely unattractive, but not just in their person. Plenty of women who are not “Hollywood beautiful” are kind, nurturing, smart, good cooks, selfless mothers, and fine partners. Of course, everybody likes pretty people, but there is a wide range of what different people find pretty. So although it would seem that a significant percentage of these women are also physically unappealing, it’s their personalities and character that leap out at you.

First of all, they are cowards. They wrap themselves in their ugly keffiyahs – which always make me think, “Gentlemen, start your engines” for some reason – often with a COVID mask to boot. They shout their ugly racist, genocidal Jew-hating slogans from behind barriers, often even protected by the cops they want to ban. Who wants a coward for a life partner? When times get tough – and they always WILL, some sooner, some later – you need someone with inner strength and courage.

Most readers are aware of my early life as an “activist”. I regret quite a few things about that period, but I’m also proud of a few other things: Hey, for one thing, guys, they taught me how to organize a conference! Also, I never once disguised my identity; I was known publicly as the face of the Student Mobilization Committee in the Twin Cities.

One time, the police said we could not march because a threat had allegedly been called in that “some sniper” was going to “shoot the first person to step off the curb of the rally site.” Even at 23, I knew that if we gave in to that threat we would never have another march where a threat would not be grounds for cancellation. But, as the organizer, I was responsible for my troops’ safety, so the first person to step off the curb was me.

It should go without saying that that does not compare to being the first into a burning building; the first on an active shooter scene, or the first in an assault on a machine gun nest in a war. But it has to say SOMETHING about my character, I hope.

Then these weak, spoiled, easily led little girls also believe that their actions should be consequence-free. If their checkered Hate Rags somehow slip and they are “outed,” they cry for Mommy and Daddy to make sure that they suffer no loss of future job opportunities.

Joe and I both lost several jobs for our views when we were in Minneapolis in the ’60s and ’70s. When we moved to San Francisco, we lived in a two-room hovel right on Market Street. As it happened, our super was an ex-con who had no love at all for the Feds. As it also happened, he had been taught barbering in prison and. whereas most of the freaks in San Francisco in the ’70s had long hair, Joe had nicely groomed short, curly hair, so our super liked him! And I would give the super freshly baked muffins, cookies, and such when we paid our $125 monthly rent on time – and in cash! (We have landlords among the commentariat who would surely understand how appreciated that was!)

One day he came to us and said he had been visited by the FBI asking about us. He said that he told THEM to flake off – or words to that effect. We showed him some photos we had that a guy we suspected of being an agent had taken. He confirmed that those were the ones the Feebs showed him. I have those photos to this day. We never saw the photographer again.

Much later, back in Minnesota again, we also lost comedy and music jobs when we decided not to be Democrats anymore. I can’t win!! We were all told to hate Bushitler – and we didn’t. Boy, no wonder one of my favorite songs is Bob Seger’s “Running Against the Wind.” Why does it aways seem to be blowing TOWARDS me?

The generation that spawned the women Hamasniks has been schooled by feminist mothers and perhaps even their grandmothers to believe that men are toxic, that asking for a date is “harassment,” and that consensual sex when engaged in while drunk or stoned is “rape.” Sometimes to the point that young men around them are terrified to be male. Perhaps the swaggering machismo of the rich boys from Qatar or Saudi Arabia is attractive to them?

A sane person would like to think that October 7 would be repugnant even to these awful women. But it’s not.

Is it surprising that, when an overwhelming number of young women believe it’s perfectly okay to kill your own baby three days before delivery, they are also fine with killing kibbutzniks’ babies? The prevailing talking points on the October 7 atrocities are: 1) It didn’t happen; but 2) if it DID happen, they had it coming. And 3) the Israelis probably did it themselves. Never mind that the 7th Century savages who did it FILMED their monstrous acts with pride.

Of course, it’s not the first time that we’ve seen Pro-Rape Feminists. Even after many of Bill Clinton’s accusers came to light, those Feminist Leaders advertised their willingness to don their kneepads to reward Wee Willie for saving their right to kill babies. Nice. Sisterhood is powerful as long as you’re one of the favored sisters and not some “trailer trash” victim.

These young pro-Hamas women are, sadly, very easily led. And after 20 some years of brainwashing in schools and at home, pretty much irretrievably stupid. When anorexia was a thing, thousands of girls developed eating disorders. Then that just disappeared, as it is crystal clear that America has solved its anorexia problem and then some. Then even before the trans nonsense, it was cool to be a lesbian in college. They even had a name for it – LUGS – Lesbians Until Graduation.

And now, the cause du jour when they aren’t clamoring to be males is not even genuine anti-war activism. They don’t hate war – they have a SIDE in the war – it’s “from the river to the sea,” though not one in 10 can name ANY river or sea, let alone one in Israel – but they know that Israelis – all Jews, really — must be eliminated. Because racism, oppression, whiteness. Or something.

Terrorism is illegal in this country or was until Joe Biden and his minions got in power. These campus terrorists are not peaceful protesters. Arrest all the miscreants and sort them out later: Deport all the foreigners; expel all the legitimate campus residents – I can’t bring myself to call them “students” because they truly know nothing – and arrest the professional hired disrupters along with Soros and a myriad of other Biden donors on a RICO charge for funding terrorism.

Good Lord, is it NOVEMBER yet? Trump cannot win soon enough. And win he will. Even cretins like Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders know it and are panicking. Am Yisrael Chai! And thank God for fraternity boys. And the South. Live long and prosper, all y’all.