I have no idea if the various scandalous theories about the Paul Pelosi beating have any truth in them, but I will say this: the Democrats and members of the media that immediately leaped to the Gabby Giffords replay that Republican rhetoric seeded the attack richly deserve to be humiliated, which they will be if the incident turns out to be a gay hook-up gone wrong. The Axis immediately defaulted to exploiting the incident before they had the facts—if they are settled, I haven’t seen them— and now there at least appears to be some chance that the whole thing was misrepresented. The key takeaways ethically are 1) leaping to use the attack as a political weapon was indefensible and 2) if we had ethical journalists, reporters from major outlets would be digging to find the facts. Right now, it is only the fringes of the conservative media and blogosphere that even appears curious. Why did Paul Pelosi refer to his attacker as “a friend”? Why wasn’t there evidence of a break-in? Is there security footage, and what does it show? Glenn Greenwald tweeted, “Many journalists see the glaring questions and evidentiary holes in the Paul Pelosi narrative. But they also know how important that narrative is to Dems right before the mid-terms. So why stick their heads up, provoke a liberal Twitter mob, and be branded? That’s the climate.”

Well, it’s an unethical climate.

1. How hard should we be on Eric Burton? The Texas native and the founding member of The Black Pumas took the field at Minute Maid Park to start off Game #1 of the World Series with his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and botched the lyrics. This has happened to many more prominent singers before, most famously Robert Goulet, in a performance he was mocked for until the end of his career. Having botched lyrics I know cold in a public performance myself (more than once, in fact), I am inclined to be kind and forgiving, but his rendition was also pitchy, and just didn’t sound very good. To my ear, it seemed that he was more interested in showing off his voice and riffs than actually doing the song justice, and that song deserves respect.

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Wow. The news media and Democrats are really going all in in trying to use a sick maniac’s attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband as a campaign issue. Again, desperate, and as usual, stupid. The theory is that this can be a tipping point, except that it will take more than the usual mainstream media selective obfuscation of facts to make it even fly as high or as far as the Spruce Goose. Pelosi’s attacker was and is a long-time wacko. There is as much in his rants and beliefs to link him to either side of the political spectrum. The Left has had an absurd amount of success blowing up single incidents into generalizations (See: Trayvon Martin; George Floyd; the Capitol riot) but this is lame. Naturally we’re getting the “prove you don’t approve by condemning it!” tactic aimed at Republicans, a trick that somehow never is dusted off and employed when Republican, conservatives or their family members are attacked. I’m not surprised that Trump hasn’t issued some pro forma expression of sympathy or condemnation. He should, of course, but Nancy Pelosi has treated him with more disrespect than any House Speaker ever treated a President, and graciousness is not in his vocabulary. I just hope he avoids saying, “Good!”

The current narrative that Republicans have used hateful rhetoric against Democrats while Democrats have not equaled or surpassed them in pure viciousness is so transparently a lie that even Democrats can’t believe it. The President called Republicans fascists and a clear and present danger to democracy just a month ago! Never mind, though: they have nothing better now. Any voter who is going to hear and read this garbage and think, “Gee, I better vote for Democrats because a mentally-ill Canadian attacked the husband of the Speaker of the House with a hammer” is so incompetent that his or her votes could probably be bought by a promise of Twizzlers. Friends of the party and its media propagandists would be kind to whisper, “Just stop. You’re embarrassing yourselves.”

1. What should one make of this? Trans comedian Jordan Gray, on the UK comedy show “Friday Night Live,” ripped off his clothing, and, naked, began to play his keyboard with his erect penis while singing his song “Better Than You.” It’s lyrics included, “I’m a perfect woman, my tits will never shrink. I’m guaranteed to squirt, and I do anal by default … I am the lizard king, and I can do anything that any other woman can’t … I used to be a man, now I’m better than you.” We are told that the audience was delighted, but the misogynist lyrics have feminists up in arms.

Two words: Freak show. That’s all: this is in the same category as Joseph Pujol, better known by his stage name Le Pétomane, who entertained vaudeville audiences by farting out melodies. If trans individual wanted to be regarded as better than circus acts, freaks of nature and exhibitionists, they need to avoid behaving like this. It seriously undercuts their claims of being normal, respectable members of society. [Pointer: Mrs. Q]

In a related category is this jaw-dropping video, which was released on Disney Plus last year but is only being widely discussed now:

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