Weekend Update FM
Taylor Lorenz is a hack, Americans are getting mugged by the Pentagon, Libs of TikTok versus the groomers, culture war fuels Gov. DeSantis' popularity in the polls, Disney is over.
Good evening.
Here is a summary of the debate down in Florida, which I tweeted earlier.
Disney smeared a bill designed to protect kids and guarantee parental rights, vowed to help repeal it after it became law, and pressured lawmakers by pledging to stop Florida campaign donations.
I’m going to be writing about the critical reaction from some conservatives against Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has, rightly, gone tit for tat with Disney, and place it in the context of this broader war against the groomers.
Taylor Lorenz’s War on Normal People | The Washington Times
In mythology, harpies are a race of half-human, half-bird creatures with pale faces and long claws who descend on prey as fast as the blowing wind. In these disenchanted times, we have, instead of those shrill hybrids, the liberal journalist.
A good example is found in Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz. She recently used data gathered by a far-left activist named Travis Brown, whose activities are subsidized by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, to shred the privacy of an American citizen.
Also: in the thread below, you’ll find another bizarre aspect of Lorenz’s story. The Washington Post is not sending its best.
Pedro L. Gonzalez @emeriticus
Something else worth mentioning here: Lorenz wrote that Libs of TikTok "promoted a dubious story about a child sex trafficking ring," pointing to a New York Post article about a law enforcement operation in Florida. Here's what Lorenz wrote and what she linked to: https://t.co/nwcrCwGGIpWhose War Is This Anyway? | Contra
The ruling class has decided that the most important issue for Americans isn't the surging cost of food and fuel or the crisis brewing on the border or the rising tide of crime, but our unwavering commitment to another foreign war.
Come Home, America | Chronicles
by Wayne Allensworth
The proxy war in Ukraine is a globalist creation that has little to do with American interests. Americans should not emotionally invest in a fight that is not their own but focus on more important matters at their own borders.
The Unholy Marriage of Marx and Ayn Rand | COMPACT
by Patrick Deneen
In the 1960s, when anti-totalitarian intellectuals were focused on the threat posed by the Soviet Union and Maoist China, the Italian philosopher Augusto del Noce saw a different danger on the horizon. It stemmed not from the Marxist East, but from the liberal West. Rather than employing state terror, it would exert control through soft and indirect means. The society it would create would look less like George Orwell’s 1984 than Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
What @LibsOfTikTok exposed | The Spectator
by Bill Zeiser
Pedophilia, sex liberation for kids—these were not innocent teachers.
Taking the Right Off Autopilot | American Compass
by James M. Roberts
Here is an interesting critique of the “libertarian-foundation complex” by a former Heritage Foundation research fellow.
Whither Center-Right | National Populist Newsletter
by Ryan Girdusky
We are witnessing the collapse of center-right parties and governments that failed to meet the demands of the national populist right around the globe.
Bullet Points
Reuters: EU companies may be able to work around Russia’s demand to receive gas payments in rubles without breaching sanctions if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency.
Washington Times: Florida’s Department of Education rejected 54 of 132 titles that textbook publishers submitted for use next year, including 71 percent of proposed elementary school books, because they did not meet state benchmarks, or they contained examples of critical race theory and social-emotional learning.
CNN: Culture war fuels DeSantis’ popularity in the polls.
Braddock: Several food processing plants across the U.S. have been disabled under strange circumstances recently.
Rufo: Disney has lost $41 billion in shareholder value since the release of internal videos exposing the company’s plan to inject gender ideology into its children's programming.
Loved your quick read weekend update!