I am genuinely afraid to ask my Facebook friends if they find this tweet trenchant. It’s a perfect “Has bias made you stupid?” test.
Of course, none of the Brewers are illegal immigrants.
Details, details….
From The “Res Ipsa Loquitur” Files:
“bias makes you stupid”
Malcolm Gladwell Jumps The Shark
I’ve enjoyed several of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, though their quality has been on a definite downward slope since “The Tipping Point.” But like so, so many other relatively intelligent people who have let political bubbles and partisan bias infect their brains, Malcolm finally capitulated to the progressive mob and decided to wade into fact-infested waters he wasn’t prepared for. Too bad.
Don’t you love it when non-lawyers, especially journalists, start criticizing Supreme Court decisions that they haven’t read carefully and can’t understand? That’s Gladwell’s new, pro-gun control screed “The American Way of Killing,” released last month. American law isn’t all Gladwell doesn’t understand: he’s clueless about American culture too (Malcolm is Canadian). In this interview with TIME, he says, “There’s no reason why the United States cannot have the same level of homicide as its Western European peers. It just chose a different direction.” That statement is ignorant and delusional, but I’m not writing about his unfamiliarity with U.S. roots, culture and history here. The issue at hand is guns.
In his book, Gladwell defaults to the hoary “1619 Project”-redolent claim that the Second Amendment was designed to protect Southern slave patrols, which would be quite a surprise to the Massachusetts delegation to the Constitutional Convention. That’s dumb, but he goes beyond that to attack the SCOTUS ruling that the right to bear arms is not restricted to militias but is an individual right. Gladwell compliant is its alleged reliance on an old English case from the 17th Century. He states that Court’s conclusion that the Founders believed there was a right to bear arms for self-defense was “bananas” because it used an old obscure precedent to interpret a law in the 20th Century. What Justices should use to address legal controversies is “common sense,” the British-Canadian intellectual without a whiff of legal comprehension intones.
Another Pit Bull Defamation Story From Ignorant Dog Bigots…[Corrected]
I have sworn to flag this every time it happens, which is too often. A popular conservative news aggregating website. “Not the Bee,” headlined its story, “The thing that never happens just happened again. Are we allowed to talk about it yet?” The “thing” was a dog attack that killed a 6-year-old child in Virginia, and the topic we are supposed to talk about is how pit bulls are deadly. The site has been stumping for “pit bull” bans for years. But the linked news story did not describe the dog involved a “pit bull” or even one of the six or seven dog breeds dog ignoramuses call “pit bulls.” That one said the dog was an American Bully, which is not one of the several breeds frequently lumped into the “pit bull” category.
Notice of Correction: I originally included a photo of what one source indicated was the dog involved. I learned from commenter mardybum that it was a stock photo. So we have no photos of the actual dog called a “pit bull” by “Not the Bee” and an American Bully elsewhere. Heck, reporters, police and others are so bad at identifying dog breeds, the dog could have been anything. A cocker spaniel. As long as the photos being used are stock photos unrelated to reality, I’ve replaced the one the post had before with my favorite pit bull photo, which better reflects the dogs’ personality.
Never mind. This is how the dogs get banned in many counties and countries—it was how my pit bull mix ended up on a three year Hell-journey among three abusive owners until Grace and I rescued him.
Ethics Dunces: The Reported 1/3 of American Jews Who Say They’ll Vote For Democrats
One of the many puzzling aspects of the upcoming mid-terms is that any voter of either the Jewish faith or who is of Jewish heritage is considering voting for a party that has flipped to open and almost full anti-Semitism. I don’t get it. I would ask some of my long-time Jewish friends about it if so many of them weren’t so Trump Deranged that they can barely utter any sounds other than a Frankenstinian, “Arrgagrhah!”
I just saw this on “X” (I guess its time for me to drop the “Twitter”):
…I know, polls. Still, based on my own group of friends, 30% seems too small. What (the hell) is the matter with these people? I know that many German Jews voted for Hitler too, but you know, live and learn (or die and learn). This is an ethnic group renowned for their wisdom and resilience; in other words, Jews are supposed to be smarter than this. What’s going on here?
Here’s the ad that just dropped in the Michigan Senate race for the Democratic candidate, Muslim Brotherhood supporter Abdul El-Sayed:
…Yes, those damn Jews are causing inflation! Funny, I though President Biden said that Republicans were the Nazis.
This seems like a propitious time to look in on a lamented ex-Ethics Alarms commenter, “Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat” and cripplingly woke political cartoonist “Ampersand,” who was long one of the most articulate and engaging progressive commenters here until bias made him stupid, sadly the fate of most EA readers from his side of the ideological divide. That’s his latest creation above, and here is the main section of Amp’s explanation of it:
Nah, There’s No Mainstream Media Bias! [Corrected]
The amazing part is that they are so shameless about it! Can you imagine the Axis media calling the J-6 riot—which lasted a single day—“mostly peaceful” based on all the video showing protesters casually touring the Capitol while the physical confrontations were going on? Even the conservative media didn’t try to spin the protest-turned-riot as “peaceful.”
In 2021, as the George Floyd Freakout, the BLM scam and The Great Stupid spread their dark wings over the land, CNN national correspondent Omar Jimenez was reporting live on the violent rioting taking place in Kenosha, Wissonsin following the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake…who absolutely, unequivocally, undeniably provoked it and got it.
[Notice of Correction (and my stupid mistake): I carelessly wrote “fatal” with “shooting” while describing ever so briefly the Jacob Blake affair. That one, of course, was the one police-involved-shooting where the perp survived. I didn’t check my own sources, including EA, because the details were irrelevant to the reference. Stupid, as I said.]
Standing in front of a raging fire, Jimenez was accompanied by the fake news chyron at the bottom of the screen reading, “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING.” The moment became an iconic example of Axis media dishonesty and spin, and rightly so. “The phrase ‘beyond parody’ doesn’t begin to describe this,” conservative commentator Matt Walsh said. “Clowns. Irresponsible clowns. It’s not even funny. Months of enabling violence and destruction by ignoring and downplaying it, thereby eliminating any pressure on politicians to take action,” conservative writer A.G. Hamilton reacted.
Naturally, the Axis news media—the Times, the Post, PBS, the rest— circled the wagons and featured no criticism or even mention of CNN’s mendacity. And now, here is the BBC, pretending that kind of gaslighting is “independent journalism,” doing the exact same thing again as if it is competent reporting.
Over to you, Frank Drebbin…
Pre-Election Trump Derangement Update:
I haven’t done a Trump Derangement check on my Facebook friends for a while now, and that nonsense above compelled me to return to the field. Curmie posted something almost as idiotic a few days ago, and it just made me sad; I couldn’t bear to chronicle the shocking intellectual and ethical deterioration of EA’s former esteemed columnist since President Trump was sworn into office.
The thing above was posted yesterday by long-time friend from Harvard, a sharp, indomitable woman whom I admire in many ways and have always found delightful in person. But that dishonest, ignorant, gaslighting rant is beyond redemption. It’s so stupid that I have to wonder if my friend just posted it without thinking, as a lazy virtue-signaling exercise.
Just to address two items that are easily debunked:
- The highest national average gas price during the Biden administration was $5.02 per gallon in June of 2022. The national average was $2.39 per gallon on January 20, 2021, the day Biden took office. The national average was $3.10 per gallon when Biden left office in January 2025. Gas was not “1/2” what it is now.
- Inflation always goes up. The inflation rate fluctuates. Making that error is signature significance: anyone who makes it doesn’t know what they are talking about.
We were “friends” with Canada, Mexico, and “Europe”! Who wrote this, a third grader? Not one single thing is “better”? Gee, I don’t know, I’d call not having 2.5-3 million fewer illegal immigrants in the country “better” than having the law breakers still here. Not having open borders is also “better” unless one’s perspective is, you know, legally, historically and logically insane. The whole list is, or should be, an embarrassment to anyone who would post or “like it.” Once again, I wrestled my fingers to the ground. My friend is a lifetime theater community denizen despite the Harvard degree, and I suspect her sophistication regarding current events is approximately that of Elmo’s. But why would she post such garbage, knowing that she’s asserting talking points without research or understanding? If elite college-educated voters are this addled, what are the rest like?
New York City’s Ethics Horse Carriage Wreck
The famous “Dancing in the Dark” number from “The Bandwagon” (one of Fred’s best) ends with Fred Astaire and the ethereal Cyd Charrise seamlessly collapsing in to a horse-drawn Central Park carriage. Can’t have that! New York’s communist mayor Zohran Mamdani (“There’s your party! There’s your party!”) has accomplished what New York City’s previous communist mayor Bill DeBlasio couldn’t. The New York City Council voted on last week to ban horse-drawn carriage rides from Central Park in two years.
Why? Because they could. Because a progressive constituency, albeit a wacko one, had been trying to put the Central Park carriage ride drivers out of business for decades: it’s cruelty to animals, see. It’s so much better to have those horses end up as dog food and their owners on Welfare. Anyway, it’s the principle of the thing.
Let’s look at the ethics elements in play:
Another Glamorous Conservative Woman Who Never Should Have Been Appointed Embarrasses Herself and the Trump Administration and Gets Sacked
Wait, isn’t that Kristi Noem? No, too young; it has to be Pam Bondi, right? No? It can’t be Kimberly Guilfoyle, she’s a brunette. I’ve got it: that’s Katie Zacharia! No?
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sick of this pattern. The Biden administration may have put a lot of incompetent, unqualified women in various positions based on DEI bias, but hiring women because somebody thinks they are hot and have sexy hair is just as unethical, and arguably even worse.
“MAGA Barbie” is a derisive moniker these days used to describe Indiana Fever WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham, but she’s actually very good at her job (playing women’s pro basketball) as well as her avocation (calling out the racist, anti-white lesbian thugs in her league and reminding the public that biological males have no right to play women’s sports). I think it would be wise to apply expand the employment of the term to professional bimbos like former ESPN reporter and Fox News personality Britt McHenry, who was just fired as a US State Department press adviser.
How hard is it to behave in a dignified, professional fashion when you know you represent the United States and also know that everyone has a camera at the ready to record your behavior in public? Too hard, I guess, for people like McHenry—you know, morons.
McHenry, 40, was hired as the Trump State Department press adviser covering Europe and Africa. Despite the fact that she also was responsible for handling press for Kimberly Guilfoyle’s text message scandal (Heluva job, there, Britt!), she was promoted three days ago to a new job managing External Affairs & Press for Under Secretary Jacob Helberg’s team. Then she did this, according to the New York Post:
“The Great Stupid” Headline Of The Month: TMZ
TMZ, the celebrity news site, has always been pretty stupid (along with its readers), but I thought this headline had to be a joke. When have you ever heard of a news story involving someone who isn’t famous saying a word? Apparently TMZ’s audience is so woke and unfamiliar with the core value of freedom of speech that a stranger uttering the two-syllable word “nigger” is as news worthy as an actual crime. Readers are expected to react with horror: “How could this happen? What is the country coming to? What can we do to halt this unbearable assault on our sensibilities?”
What ever happened to “Sticks and stone can break my bones but words will never hurt me”? TMZ never even reveals to whom the dangerous word was addressed, if anybody.
A Delta passenger was caught on video using the n-word while being escorted off a flight by cops … after allegedly screaming “death to America” and pretending to shoot fellow travelers. Video circulating on X shows the unruly passenger being removed from a Delta flight Thursday, which was scheduled to travel from New York City’s JFK International Airport to Atlanta.Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … the passenger has been identified as Jerome Anixter, a 60-year-old Brooklyn man, who was arrested and charged with assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration. We’re told Port Authority Police responded after Delta reported a disruptive passenger who appeared intoxicated while the plane was at the gate preparing for departure. ..
And so we see what TMZ considers, in order, worst, bad, and least bad: the uttering of a word, “Death to America,” (a threat) and “pretending to shoot fellow travelers.” (With what, his finger? But that still can constitute criminal assault).
TMZ is also deliberately trying to get the man, whose disruptive behavior seems to have fallen well short of actress Selma Blair’s recent flying freakout, attacked or killed by some anti-hate speech vigilante by branding him as a racist. Nice. If that word is the lead, then presumably simply using the word would justify a TMZ story if the guy didn’t do anything else. Perhaps we can look forward to future news flashes like “DoorDash delivery man says “Poopy-head”! and “Dog-walker says supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” If the non-famous are going to be publicly shamed for mere words now, the least TMZ could do is start headlining real affronts to communication with headlines like “Woman on bus says “Statue of limitations!” or “Teacher uses “Irregardless”!
This is The Great Stupid, my friends. Banishing it from the culture will be like trying to get rid of bedbugs.
[WordPress suggests that I tag this story “Art.”]
Stop Making Me Defend Sydney Sweeney!
The degree to which progressive and Democrat hysterics have decided that Hollywood sex symbol Sydney Sweeney is evil.,.EVIL! has truly exposed the festering insanity of the Left. Now the comely and curvy actress, who has nothing to fear at this stage of her career, can happily troll these fools while making the whole liberal end of the ideological spectrum reveal how completely its occupants will reverse its stereotypical endorsement of all things sexual if it can be weaponized against the Right.
Sweeney’s unforgivable crime is that she is suspected of being conservative, or something, as a result of her cheeky “good jeans/genes” ad. You know, white supremacy. Only a black bombshell is allowed to make such a commercial or play on words. Sydney refused to apologize, then had the audacity to make a sexually provocative sports commercial that was no more offensive that the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues have been since the Sixties.
Now the Political Correctness Furies have descended on Sydney with their talons out again. What did she do this time? In the latest video for her SYRN lingerie line, she was costumed as a character from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (above).
Quick, now: who is that supposed to be?
Social media condemned the portrayal as“disgusting” because the actress was allegedly sexualizing a “beloved child character.” “Is she actually turning Cindy Lou, the [purest] sweetest child into a sex symbol!?!? Fire that creative director and get a brain Sydney Sweeney,” one person wrote. Another asked, “Why is she posing as child characters in a lingerie ad?”
Let me clarify some things that reveal how strained this outrage is…
