November, September, same difference…
Well, yesterday’s “Moby-Dick” reflections were supposed to be the intro to a warm-up that never was; it got too long and ate the post, just like Moby (or Mocha) would have. So here is what was supposed to follow, with a few updates…
1. This was almost an ethics quiz, but I’m pretty certain about the answer. Peloton has blocked users of its website from displaying hashtags reading “Let’s go Brandon” in their personal profiles.The company says the phrase violates their guidelines. The question is, does it? “Hateful, offensive, or obscene speech is strictly forbidden on the Peloton Service,” the company’s guidelines say. “This includes any leaderboard names, locations, profile pictures, Tags or any other User Content that promotes, relates to, or condones lack of respect, discrimination, or violence of any kind against individuals or groups based on [the usual list]… or political affiliation.”
Since “Let’s go Brandon!” is code for “Fuck Joe Biden,” it is “Fuck Joe Biden” just like “SOS” means “Help!” That certainly is somewhere in “hateful , offensive, or obscene” whether some people find it funny or not. [Pointer: JutGory]
2. The cliche for this is “kabuki theater.” The sham of the Glasgow climate change summit was highlighted at the very end, when China and India, among the world’s biggest burners of coal, raised last-minute objections to language in the unenforceable pact pledging a “phase out” of coal and demanded that it be changed to “phase down,” whatever that means. Since their only option was to accept this crucial weakening of the terms or not to have an agreement they could wave to claim “progress,” the change was accepted. COP26 President Alok Sharma said he was “deeply sorry” for the let-down. “I understand the deep disappointment. It’s also vital we protect this package,” Sharma said. Without China and India’s full commitment and supportive action, the goals of the climate change reforms can’t be met, making the sacrifices, if really made, by the United States and other nations virtue signaling without purpose….you know, like the Biden administration shutting down pipelines.
3. Jonathan Turley finally weighed in on the Rittenhouse trial, criticizing prosecutors for “overcharging,” as we have already discussed here and also charging based on public opinion rather than sound prosecutorial principles. The latter is an ethics violation. but one that many prosecutors have engaged in to pander to protesters, journalists, pundits, race-baiters and Black Lives Matter going back to the Zimmerman-Martin mess.
4. More on Rittenhouse…Ann Althouse, a law professor whose comments on Turley’s analysis might be enlightening, mentioned Turley’s post and then spent the rest of her blog entry obsessing over his use of the phrase “walk the cat back.” Althouse’s strained efforts to show her detachment from matters of some seriousness and importance to her readers, the nation, the culture, the society and the law in her quest to radiate “fierce neutrality” becomes arrogant and insulting at this level.
A 17-year-old teen is being used as a political football while his future hangs in the balance, and Althouse is concerned with the linguistic distinction between walking back and walking backward? What kind of priorities is that?
5. And Saturday Night Live weighs in...For some reason, the New York Times thinks that SNL is of such cultural importance that it devoted a full-half page to its show over the weekend. No news day could be THAT slow. And here is what Weekend Update co-host Michael Che said about Rittenhouse:
Legal experts are saying that Kyle Rittenhouse crying on the stand as he described how he shot his victims will help him with the jury. Man, is there a White Tears Law School that I don’t know about? I notice that every time y’all get in trouble, you start crying, and everything just works out for you, whether you’re trying to beat a murder charge or trying to be a Supreme Court justice (as he showed a picture of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.)
That was called a “joke of the week” by the Times. Yeah, race-based mockery and stereotyping while slandering a kid and a Supreme Court Justice is always comedy gold.
6. Expect a lot more of this excuse in coming months…CNN reported that Vice President Kamala Harris’s allies and supporters are suggesting that the Biden administration is sexist and racist for not doing “more” to defend Harris publicly while her popularity continues to fall. What exactly are they supposed to do? She’s a dud. About all the administration could do is accuse Harris’s critics of being sexist and racist, which is always Harris’s default position when she gets the reactions she deserves.
“She’s perceived to be in such a weak position that top Democrats in and outside of Washington have begun to speculate privately, asking each other why the White House has allowed her to become so hobbled in the public consciousness, at least as they see it,” the report said. “Republicans and right-wing media turned Harris into a political target from the moment she was picked for the ticket. And implicit racism and sexism have been constant.”
When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Harris’s failure was a certainty from the moment Biden was cornered into selecting her as his VP.
Ethics Alarms 
#6. – But are Republicans really even talking about Harris at all? There’s zero chance she gets elected after Biden, and if Biden does make another run at the WH next cycle, he almost has to replace her on the ticket. She was a poor choice for any office. In business, you can get promoted beyond your abilities, which ultimately leads to getting let go. It appears Harris has found herself in this boat.
Think about it: Harris is polling lower than any other V.P. Lower than Cheney, Al Gore, and Dan Quayle, just to mention a few of them. That is saying something.
jvb
Or Mike Pence. 10 months ago someone made up a picture of Biden and Harris embracing at the inauguration while McCain, Lewis, and Ginsburg look down from heaven – evil had lost and good had won, things were going to be great going forward. Boy, must the artist feel like a fool now.
What has Kamala done since she has been in office? Giggled at inappropriate times and talked to the French in a fake French accent? I’m actually a little confused as to why her approval numbers are so much lower than Biden’s are. He has destroyed the economy, screwed up the Afghanistan withdrawal and stranded American citizens, completely opened the borders, and destroyed American energy independence. Republicans don’t talk much about Kamala because Kamala doesn’t do anything. There isn’t anything to talk about. Why do people hate her more than Biden is my question.
1. All things considered, I agree.
2. So lots of high-minded (so called) people burn tons of hydrocarbons to go to Glasgow to agree to continue to stop global warming by signing on to an unenforceable agreement to impoverish themselves and their citizens. Can it still be called virtue signaling when the very process acts in opposition to the stated goal?
3. The latter is an ethics violation. but one that many prosecutors have engaged in to pander to protesters, journalists, pundits, race-baiters and Black Lives Matter going back to the Zimmerman-Martin mess.
“Nice community you got there. Be a shame if something (else) happened to it.” I’m not sure it’s pandering so much as capitulating to blackmail. Either way, the ethics verdict is the same.
6. CNN reported that Vice President Kamala Harris’s allies and supporters are suggesting that the Biden administration is sexist and racist for not doing “more” to defend Harris publicly while her popularity continues to fall.
At least they are consistent. Everything must be viewed through the lens of race, apparently. And you’re right about Biden being cornered into picking her, although my memory is that he cornered himself into doing it.
My initial response to reading this was, “Harris is still alive? I’d forgotten.” Thank you, Elon Musk.
I think we have to give Joe a break on this one and agree he was trapped. After Hillary’s fail, they had to have a woman on the ticket, and after his party capitulated to the Black Lives Matter narrative, an all white ticket wasn’t an option.
“They’re consistently sending her out there on losing issues in the wrong situations for her skill set,” summed up one former top Harris aide to CNN.
And her skill set would be right for … ?
Yes, I think you have a point, Jack. He had a lot of help wedging into that corner.
5. From Wiki: His father named Michael after the revolutionary Che Guevara. Nice. His surname is Campbell. I looked him up on wiki to see of what color he is.
It is plainly obvious that the prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse has one purpose only- to validate rioting.
I think that’s close to fair.
Or prevent rioting, which is what a conviction was supposed to do.
6) I’m no defended of Harris. But really, in the history of America, have VPs ever really meant to accomplish anything other than sitting around waiting for the dreaded call that the President is dead?
No duties other than that and presiding over the Senate. Nixon was the first VP given substantive assignments; Bush was involved in a lot. Cheney, of course, acted like Chairman of the Board.
One VP answered that “I go to funerals.”
Wel, they did send her off to Paris to smooth relations with the Macron Administration decided to sell nuclear subs to Australia in direct competition with a French-Australia deal. Then she did that odd press thing where she was talking in a weird French accent. Oopsie.
jvb
4. Anne’s persona is that of a light weight dilettante. It’s really not that great a look. Particularly for a woman? She seems to want to be Martha Stewart or a Today Show hostess, at times.