1. There is hope! The new Amazon Prime Jack Reacher series, “Reacher,” has no mixed race couples in it whatsoever. I was amazed, and wonder if this means the thing was made in 2019, before Hollywood decided that the accidental killing in Minnesota of a black perp by a brutal white cop in an incident having nothing to do with race meant that the world film and TV present to America must be one where nearly 100% of all married and unmarried relationships consist of two races. Isn’t it amazing that a casting feature that was once not only routine but accurate seems remarkable by its absence, and it was completely benign then and would still be accurate now?

2. Just for curiosity, I’m going to keep getting these Harvard alerts. The unethical though famous institution I graduated from once is marking this big reunion year with special online events for participants. The first one, not surprisingly, deals with…climate change! You would think that such a university, with all the subjects it covers and all of the departments available, could put together a schedule that didn’t consist of partisan obsessions, wouldn’t you?

But no. I fully expect subsequent programs to include, “Systemic Racism,” “Protecting the Right to Choose,” “The January 6 Insurrection” and “Mainstream Media Conservative Bias.”

I’m getting enough propaganda on climate change, thanks. Today I learned that “Once considered comic relief to anchors, television meteorologists are making it clear to viewers that they are covering a crisis in real time.” The “news story” headline begins, “As Storms Intensify…” Intensify based on what? There is no proof that storms are “intensifying” that justifies stating this as fact.

But you can’t deny that Al Roker is an “expert” on climate science though! After all, he attended the State University of New York at Oswego where he received a BA in communications in 1976….

3. Back to Part I for a minute, J.A. Adande appeared on ESPN to defend China against claims that it deserved international criticism for its ongoing human rights abuses. The director of sports journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School, actually said, on TV, where anyone could see him, “Who are we to criticize China’s human rights records when we have ongoing, attacks by the agents of the state against unarmed citizens and we’ve got assaults on the voting rights of our people of color in various states in this country?”

ESPN must have known the kind of Wild Left, “It isn’t what it is” crap this guy would be spouting, so unless the sports network has a new feature called “How Stupid Can You Get?,” it was beyond irresponsible for Disney/ESPN to give Adande a platform.

Yeah, China is sterilizing an ethnic group to wipe it off the face of the Earth, and the U.S. is requiring voter IDs. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Has there ever been a period in our history where such absurd opinions were presented to the public with such regularity as worthy of consideration? I don’t think so.

On the plus side, I’m beginning to understand why sports journalism is now even worse than news journalism…

4. I can’t bring myself to write a full post on the Joe Rogan/Spotify/Celebrity censorship conspiracy matter, because I have so little interest in everyone involved. The story was covered in some detail on yesterday’s Open Forum, for which I’m grateful. It does have many ethics issues involved. But some developments are worth noting here:

• The voice of the White House, Jen Psaki, told reporters that Spotify putting disclaimers on Wuhan virus “misinformation” is a good “first step,” but “there’s more that can be done,” presumably intimidation and censorship. I defy anyone to explain what the government can call “misinformation” involving the pandemic that doesn’t compel the question, “How does that information differ from all the mistaken, misleading or dishonest information put out by the CDC and Fauci?”
• Progressives and Sixties liberals are trying to silence Rogan by leaving Spotify. Yes, censorship and treating free exchange of ideas and opinions is now anathema to celebrities on the Left unless the opinions and ideas mesh with theirs. So far, those who have outed themselves as hypocrites by trying to remove the public’s choice—wait, aren’t these people all about choice?—include,

Neil Young

Joni Mitchell 

Nils Lofgren

Brené Brown 

India Arie 

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash 

Roxane Gay, and

…I know this has Spotify trembling in its metaphorical boots: Mary Trump.

• In order to “get” Rogan, someone assembled a video collection of all the times in his past podcasts over 12 years that he used the word “nigger” rather than , see, cleverly hiding the word he wanted to communicate (all wthiin quotes regarding events and controversies) and that was necessary to communicate for the issue to be discussed, but without using the approved nifty code “n-word,” which magically cleanses the taboo. Rogan responded to the despicable stunt by saying,

“I know that to most people, there is no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now. I haven’t said it in years. Instead of saying ‘the n-word,’ I would just say the word. I thought as long as it was in context, people would understand what I was doing. It looks fucking horrible. Even to me.”

Joe is a cowardly, groveling weenie who supports the language police, so to hell with him. Words are segregated by race now, Joe? “Most people’? Most intellectually lazy and intimidated people, you mean.

I’m not going to waste my time defending the speech rights of someone who enables the censors. To hell with Joe Rogan.