1075 Comments
founding

“Trump in a cash crunch: Trump has posted a whole lot on Truth Social (seven times in two hours) about his need to secure half a billion for his bond and how hard it’s been.”

———————————————————

The Trump judgement in New York is the most Jamaican shit we have ever done as a country.

Expand full comment

Did you see where cnn ran a whole segment about Trump needing to sell properties to pay Letitia James? They said he could sell Mar a Lago for around $240 million to pay the half billion fine levied for valuing it at more than $18 million. The cognitive dissonance is Soviet level

Expand full comment
founding

I once heard an MSNBC guest explain that Trump does not pay his taxes AND that all of his businesses lose money within like 30 seconds (not how taxes work).

Democrats are retarded magicians.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Some guy from Shark Tank was livid, explained, cogently, to two blank-faced women, I think on CNN, that political prosecution and the punitive taking of private property and business was abominable and unAmerican and will further kill business in New York. It was on YouTube. Here he is in NY Post

https://nypost.com/2024/03/20/us-news/shark-tank-star-kevin-oleary-rips-trumps-454m-civil-fraud-penalty-as-an-attack-on-america/

Expand full comment

Mr. Wonderful is 1000% correct.

Expand full comment

Yes. Not being able to defraud will kill NY businesses.

Expand full comment
founding

This would be a better line of attack if we thought that you actually thought it was fraud.

Letitia James is an obese sociopath who should be driving a forklift or playing linebacker.

How’s the Soros NGO sock puppet farm going? I just realized I’ve never asked how many of your coworkers are transvestites. Gotta be 50%, right?

Expand full comment

As a professor of “we are not sure what, because you haven’t the courage to write prose in your own name” - but having over the recent past shown us all that you have a very deep knowledge in many areas, I am suspect that you have the actual knowledge of having worked through a commercial

real estate transaction, from due diligence to closing. If yes, please forgive me. If not, STFU.

Expand full comment

Kevin O'Leary. Very sober response.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Sorry for calling him "some guy." He was righteous, angry, and surgically articulate at the same time. That's really hard to pull off,and he did it splendidly.

Expand full comment

No worries, fine lady, I was just further admiring what he said. :-D

Expand full comment

One of the women was definitely not blank faced. She smirked throughout his comments. Her vapid glee was palpable.

Expand full comment

Yes. Let's call it blank glee. Patronizing smiles are part of the tool kit. But it didn't work with him because he was splendid.

Expand full comment

Some fiddle while their world collapses. Others try to put on a brave face. Neither stops the inevitable.

Expand full comment

That was a Douglas Murray quality beatdown.

Expand full comment

Not being able to defraud is going to kill NY businesses.

Expand full comment

Who did he defraud? He paid back the loan as agreed, the bank was satisfied. Banks don't loan out money by simply taking the owner's word for the valuation of the things put up for equity. That would just be stupid. No victim here, except President Trump.

Expand full comment

Don't talk to it , compost2.0 is vile, and a waste of your time

Expand full comment

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Major New York City developers and property owners knew about Trump and how he was gaming his properties for decades. It was an open secret. O'Leary is talking apocalyptically. Nothing happened then - and nothing will hamper New York developers now. Trump was too brazen for too long fudging his numbers and now he’s caught. New York will survive.

Expand full comment

Except that anyone who owns a property, including single family residences, do exactly what Trump did. If I want a home equity loan to make improvements to my property, the bank determines what they think the property is worth to secure the loan to me. I’ve done this, should I be sued for fraud too?

Expand full comment

In Trump’s case, as he was such a high profile developer, his lenders were taking Trump’s word on his buildings’ worth. For mere pedestrians like you and me, banks will do their own due diligence.

Expand full comment

It doesn’t matter how much you hate Trump, if you’re it very disturbed by what is happening to him, there is something wrong with your moral compass. You can justify it all you want, saying he didn’t pay taxes, he didn’t pay this bill or that, but until he is convicted of tax evasion or loses a judgement to a vendor, all that is just gossip. (The judgement against him in the sexual harassment case is as bogus as this one.)

If he had remained a private citizen, none of this would be happening. I subscribe to FP because it is a site run by liberals that still adheres to the Founders’ intentions. Or so I thought. To see all the glee at this Stalinist crucifixion is very worrying to me.

Expand full comment

Totally agree. Just when you think the TDS has hit max, it skyrockets again. Who, as you say, with any moral compass can believe this is a good thing for America. As Kevin O'Leary says, this is not about Trump, not about Biden. It's about the law screwing Americans and America.

Expand full comment

I miss the days when our court systems were committed to "equal justice under law." Used to be seen as an admirable concept.

I'm no Trump fan, but I may vote for him after these New York travesties.

Expand full comment

If you don't vote for him you're voting for 4 more years of this disaster.

Expand full comment

No, I'm not. I haven't voted for either party's candidate since 2012.

Expand full comment

It is not about the individual but the system. Take the individual out of the equation and then solve the problem. rump is the shiny object to distract from the Dems destruction of our systems that make our country great. And different in a good way.

Expand full comment

You used the wrong term. They are not magicians. They are malignant assholes.

Expand full comment

Trump has tax attorneys and he pays what he owes . If he’s not making money he doesn’t pay taxes . The libs r uneducated on finance and business . Also , civics !

Expand full comment
deletedMar 22
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

It works like this: have your daddy's DOJ run interference on a failure to pay $2 million in back taxes.

Expand full comment

Generally if you lose money, you don’t pay taxes on a negative.

Expand full comment

Yep. And the combination of massive depreciation allowances and debt - are what made Donald Trump what he is today. It’s truly the American way!

Expand full comment

He did what any accountant would advise you to do. In fact, real estate is specifically treated to depreciation in the tax code every year you file. If you owned a commercial property, would you not take that deduction because it might make you rich?

Expand full comment

When my corporate finance class introduced the concept of the debt tax shield, it was like a light went on. I finally understood why a company with no immediate need for debt would take it on.

Expand full comment

Real estate operations are designed to generate tax losses and cash flow positive. Depreciation is the big driver.

Expand full comment

When marginal rates were higher during the Eisenhower years the depreciation rules allowed for double declining balance. Now that was a tax shelter!

Expand full comment

Yes !

Expand full comment

You seem to forget that Trump's tax returns were released by an unknown source. And what dirt did they produce? Brian can tells us I'm sure.

Expand full comment

Please remind me, what did they find ?

Expand full comment

Still getting your news from Rachel Maddow?

He happens to get an IRS audit every year.

What part of that don't you get, or are you deeply infected with TDS?

Expand full comment

Clearly deeply TDS infected 234.

Expand full comment
founding

This is the most shocking thing. His assets weren’t worth warm spit in the trial but in the capture of the penalty the court and prosecutor are clearly validating Trump’s experts and his defense!!!

Expand full comment

It's a violation of the clause against unreasonable punishments. Democrats are fully at war with the Constitution and the people are still voting for them.

Voting for Democrats is voting to end the USA.

Expand full comment

LOL Kind of reminds me of the Biden evaluation, where he is too old and has a poor memory so he can't be put on trial for his corruption....but hey, he's competent to run this country, right???

Expand full comment

You just used my phrase of the year: cognitive dissonance.

Expand full comment

Nellie did have consistency in thought between Daniel Penny getting prosecuted for being Good Samaritan on NYC subway, and the video this week of everyone ‘noping out’ when given the same ‘opportunity’

But cognitively dissonance creeps in when she fails to mention all the Minorities flocking to support Trump in same breath as effeminate Pence saying ‘no thanks’… nor was there enough copy to highlight Trump plan to tax car imports 100% AND also mention Biden directing EPA to outlaw tailpipe emissions (and if not reversed) will have outcome of 2/3 cars being all electric by 2032.

Our Republic is lost if another Brown Jackson makes it to SCOTUS. Sasha Stone again makes another stellar substack post today she titles ‘Too Black to Fail’:

https://sashastone.substack.com/p/too-black-to-fail?r=1dig2i&utm_medium=email

Expand full comment

Anecdotal. Earlier this week, my wife and I were stuck with an overnight stay at the Airport Hilton in east Oakland (courtesy of Southwest Airlines). We just made it into the restaurant across the parking lot before the kitchen closed and last call. So, we were the last ones still there after they closed. A black security guard came in and chatted with us a bit. Said he would escort us back to the hotel when we were done. Said that crime there had become unbearable, and that the mayor may get recalled over it. Then, in a hushed voice, said "things would be different if Trump was in charge" (as if saying something positive about Trump had to be said in hushed voice).

Expand full comment

It is now time to rise up across our great land and destroy the evilness that leads us currently, we have got to vote right in Nov 2024 and vote strong to get these lunatics out🇺🇸🇺🇸

Expand full comment

I followed that link. Thank you. What a great essay.... thank you.

Expand full comment

Sasha is pure gold. Truthful and authentic voice formerly from the Left.

Expand full comment

A great essay Aunt Polly!

Expand full comment

"Minorities flocking to Trump."

Lol.

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

Oh, "purposely?" So, NOW the MSM is credible?

Lol...ok :)

I'm sure he'll get 30%.

Gonna be kinda hard for a mass exodus when the GOP/MAGA keeps fighting to make sure it's as difficult as possible for blacks, hispanics, etc. to vote.

Check back in with me after the election.

Let's bet. What's your over/under on this "mass exodus" or "flocking to" for Trump?

Expand full comment

Squatters in NY have murdered a homeowner and stuffed her body in a duffle bag. They fled in her car to PA and have not been caught.

Expand full comment

He'll get a bond against his stake in Truth Social, no problem.

Expand full comment

It's almost Karma. The lawfare against him creates value in truth social. If he had not been kicked off tweeter, there would be no truth social.

Expand full comment

And I hope Devin Nunes has a nice ownership stake as well. He's kind of a dunce, but he was really treated poorly during all the Russiagate shit.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

With unpunished crime rampant, New York prosecutes a veteran who tried to contain a violent attacker, releases illegal migrants who violently attacked police, and arrests a homeowner trying to dislodge a squatter for changing the locks in her own house ( If you go away-- to Europe or the beach or Florida for a month-- squatters can bust in -- what happened to illegal entry? -- change the locks, and you're out of a house? Welcome to the abolition of property.) James has made Banana Republic hay with political prosecutions, including Cuomo - she wanted to run for governor and lost the primary for all her corrupt efforts. Firemen who booed her are to be "hunted down," per the threat in the initial memo. The prosecution of Trump for overinflating value and defamation and the judge's allowance of an outrageously punitive financial penalty, and James bragging that she's eyeing his buildings is sickening. One needn't be a fan of Trump to see the degradation and abuse of our legal system, our country, but hatred seems to blind.

Expand full comment

AND THE STUPID PEOPLE IN NY WHO VOTE DEMOCRAT KEEP VOTING DEMOCRAT. YES THEY ARE STUPID ‼️

Expand full comment

Sounds like they’re working on toppling America. And doing a pretty good job.

Expand full comment

Yip they are!

Expand full comment

Well summarized, Susan.

Expand full comment

The lefties seem to think people will just put up with crap like that, but I don't think many of them will. If the government won't vindicate people's rights, people will do it themselves. In this case it'll be by hiring groups of goons, who won't be as fair or humane as the NYPD. The whole point of having a government, of having police, is that we don't have rule by goon. That is why I don't call lefties "progressive:" in this and many other ways, their polices would cause society to regress, back to the very bad old days.

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

Jordan Neely was attacking people in the train car?

Expand full comment

Let’s imagine a time when a Trump appointed AG decides to seize the assets of TheFP. Why not? Maybe the AG didn’t even pass the bar, but so what? Will Nellie be so cavalier?

Expand full comment

For even more fun, think about a Trump-appointed AG deciding to seize, say, Facebook or Instagram.

Expand full comment

I wish!

Expand full comment

Agree.

Expand full comment

Outstanding response, NC. TheFP are part of the 'insulateds'(vs accountables).

Expand full comment

Why would Trump encourage seizing the assets of a pro-Trump site?

Expand full comment

Pro-Trump? I am very fond of Nellie, but the weekly rip on the Donald is never-ending.

Expand full comment

NinCOMPoop 2.0 is the TFP troll. Engage only if you’re willing to lower your IQ and be showered with winking smilie faces and Reddit links.

Expand full comment

😂😂God this post was good!

Expand full comment

"Troll": to correct erroneous information on TFP discussion board.

Lower your IQ. That's odd, especially since every prediction I have made has turned out to be correct. You should engage more. You might learn something.

Expand full comment

I thought Nellie did an excellent job of defending President Trump on his use of the word Bloodbath, even giving good examples of previous uses of that word by other news media. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Nellie!

Expand full comment

Good point, I didn’t get that far at work. I admit I do not get her prose sometimes because I am a dumb engineer…. but I am very fond of her and her work. Have a wonderful weekend!

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Weekly rip?

By that do you mean, "The media is always manipulating what Donald says" or "He didn't do anything illegal and all these trials are politically motivated." Yes, so mean!!!

Think it's rubbing off on her. Interesting that she's already calling the Penny trial rigged when she has no idea about the law or evidence involved.

Expand full comment

Penny trial is rigged as most are considering 95% of all prosecutions in the United States are plea-bargained. 2nd manslaughter might apply in his case, but considering most prosecutors are liberal and NYC is mostly communist there is no way he will receive a fair jury pool.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Yeah....ok.

Think all he/his attorneys have to do is bring forward witnessess who were attacked/assaulted.

Easy.

So funny there was no similar The Free Press love for Jordan Williams. So odd.

Expand full comment

There you are, the good little foot soldier for government tyranny, hoping they won’t ever pick on you. News for you, they will. But you’re still not wise enough to see it coming obviously, and I’m guessing you never will be.

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

There you are, the good little foot soldier for QAnon/Alex Jones/Jan.6.

You have no problem with "government tyranny," hypocrite. You just want yours to be instituted.

Lol. Nothing you ever say makes and sense. It's like irrelevant mad libs. Especially now, as there is nothing re: government tyrannu

Expand full comment

You have to be insane not to feel the madness, the fascism, and the organized criminality that characterize Biden and everyone who is capable of supporting him.

Biden is an enemy of everything good that was built by better people than most of us. He is an insult to our dead soldiers, a turd on the Constitution, and someone who clearly belongs both in jail and a nursing home. They probably have geriatric prisons.

What is wrong with you people? Do you want to live in Venezuela? If so, you can move there now and take it for test spin.

Expand full comment

Biden derangement syndrome much?

Expand full comment

I will ask this question, too: when you found out that Hillary lied about the whole Russian collusion thing--that it originated more or less in her office and that she knew it was BS all along--did you get mad? You didn't, did you? You are probably unwilling even now to let it go.

And you are happy about what is happening to Trump, but you don't REALLY understand what he was accused of, what the evidence was, and how it should be contextualized relative to the NORMAL practice of law when done with integrity, do you?

Expand full comment

Huh? Nice left field questions. What do those have to do with your Biden derangement syndrome?

Expand full comment

Forgive me. I mistakenly thought we shared some residual caring about truth. If you value insincerity and misdirection, far be for me to ask you to change your ways.

Expand full comment

I saw very little in the way of actual truth in what you've written so far. Sounds way more like talking points that conservative media told you to parrot. What I like about The Free Press is that generally it tries to veer away from the excesses of either side of the media bias spectrum. But, what I've noticed is that the comment sections are filled with people who, while claiming to "speak the truth" and "think for themselves", just repeat the same biased blurbs that I saw posted on Fox last week. It's not really thinking for yourself if you're just repeating what you read somewhere else.

Expand full comment

You claim to "speak the truth", but all you did in your original comment was post conjecture, opinions and broad sweeping statements devoid of substance. As a follow up, you then tried to turn it around on me, by trying to predict what I would say or believe, with no actual evidence that those are the things I might believe in. So, I'm confused as to how you would claim that anything you said above equates to truth?

Let me introduce you to a little secret... opinions != truth, and if you claim otherwise, that sure does smack of some kind of rationale misfire.

Expand full comment

Does Biden derangement syndrome include ignoring the scum who raped and brutally murdered Laken Reilly, and inviting more like him in across an open border?

Expand full comment

That's certainly a prime example of Biden derangement syndrome. Let's choose some random, senseless, brutal crime, and attribute it to Biden because our conservative media firehose told us to do so.

Expand full comment

Unsaint Finbar's strategy is to constantly ask conspiracy-laden questions while answering none....because he/she cant.

Expand full comment

I am speaking the truth without hysteria. That is what differentiates me from Trump's many mouth frothing critics, who are hysterical, and deal only in lies.

I have dealt nearly daily in some form or other with these people since late 2015, so I know whereof I speak, which is likely where I differ from you.

Expand full comment

Great post!

Expand full comment

He apologized for using the work illegal to describe an illegal alien who murdered women . He misnamed the victim. Or maybe in today’s world the victim is the illegal

Expand full comment

U.S.Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-CT, diffident Squad member, former National Teacher of the Year who still holds $200k+ in college loans, came out with this beauty about Trump yesterday: “A jury of his peers has decided on this case. It's not in the hands of Congress. So I think that people should obey the law."

There’s a reason AOC tells Jahana to keep her mouth shut. She makes Kamala sound positively articulate. Yet Harris, AOC, Engoron, James, Hayes, Willis, et. al. are the faces comprising the rich and diverse mosaic that now passes for government in 21st Century America.

Expand full comment

And AOC proclaimed this week that conspiracy to commit fraud isn't illegal. Or maybe it is, depending on who's doing it.

Expand full comment

Hey she represents the idiots that put her in office. What do you expect?

Expand full comment

CT is represented by some of the dumbest people alive

Expand full comment

Tell me about it — every single one of them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Chris Murphy with his X fiasco this afternoon. Yet the spineless, conniving, self-destructive state Republican Party is so dysfunctional that to be called worthless would be a step up. I apologize to the world for the whole stinking lot of them.

Expand full comment

AND THEY ARE ALL MORONS

Expand full comment

8th amendment to the constitution...meh...whatever.

Expand full comment

How dare you quote that archaic thing written on paper with a feather by a bunch of old white guys; guys who proudly called themselves “colonists”?!

Don’t you understand we’re decolonizing here?! Referencing the Constitution is literally white supremacy. Double plus ungood for the wrongthink, comrade.

Expand full comment

No worries....it's written in script so most won't be able to read it anyway.

Expand full comment

A.I. will get it all straightened out.

Expand full comment

Dig your sarcasm. My favorite form of humor.

Expand full comment

It's bad that Trump allegedly wants to cancel it... because we want to cancel it first.

Expand full comment

Many Jamaicans I know are hard working, decent people. I'd call it Haitian shit. Maybe we should just install Leticia James as Queen of Haiti and let things rip.

Expand full comment

Very apt! James is a pure communist. She got elected on 'running to jail Trump' and won. May GodSpeed more illegals to NYC and we should not allow New Yorkers out of their shitty.

Expand full comment

Maybe we should do like Mexico and let the illegals into NYC, but not let them out.

Expand full comment

My God, leave the poor Haitians alone.

Expand full comment

I don't know any Jamaicans or Haitians. Can I have Beliz? I bet they could use a good (white) king

Expand full comment

Be my guest King Steve enjoy the role!

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

The few Haitians I've known were also solid people. One I knew well enough to say something about was a U.S. Marines veteran and a solid engineer I was always happy to work with. Let's not go trashing entire nationalities on the basis of what's in the news.

OTOH, Queen Barbecue does have a ring to it.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Plus they made Red Stripe which I occasionally enjoy.

Expand full comment

The best is Hillary laughing (diabolically, I’m sure) that Trump is the only one who’s worse off in the last four years. Wow. Just WOW. So how much money have the Obamas, Clintons, and Bidens netted the last four years? Meanwhile, the gov’t is trying to ruin Trump. Anyone who is paying an iota of attention should be able to understand the politics of this. Also: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2023/11/09/you-dont-have-to-love-trump-to-laugh-at-letitia-jamess-fraud-case/?sh=3d8ca0c73108

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

The Biden & friends propaganda machine & media influence is truly frightening. This week we have Ketanji's bizarre interpretation of the 1st amendment-truly upside down Orwellian newspeak. She brings shame on the standing of the Supreme Court. Was her bar exam in Beijing? And we have Pelosi, the zombie carrion (looks dead but still talking), pushing the calculated Trump "bloodbath" hoax. Her position of power juxtaposed with stock market gain remains an internet legend. Most terrifying... Biden is deemed somehow too old & incompetent to be prosecuted like Trump, yet somehow he remains King of our Armed Forces, meaning we must continue to rely on Putin's good sense not to start a nuclear war. Meanwhile Zuckerberg builds his safe island compound. So little time, so much corruption.

Expand full comment

Thank you. Good article.

Expand full comment

This!!!

Expand full comment

I have a friend whose grandfather was Papa Doc's personal lawyer. From the few things he's told me I believe this is much more Haitian than Jamaican.

Expand full comment

Bruce Miller implied that the Haitian people are lazy and indecent. It’s the Government's that is indecent and beyond corrupt. Just like the ordinary citizens of most countites, the Haitian people are hard-working and decent.

Expand full comment

Good news today! He's 3 billion dollars richer. Truth Social deal is a go. Happy for him. Sincerely.

Expand full comment
founding

$3.5 billion but he won’t get a margin loan on a stock with trading volume that thin. Would have to liquidate and tank the stock.

Expand full comment

Whoa. You are much smarter than me in this area. Didn't know that. Thanks for info.

Expand full comment

As a person that has been employing attorneys for the past 4 years, and had to fire two firms for bizarre incompetence, in a state with a tough bar exam... I shudder at the prospect of no bar exam.

Attorneys are the most arrogant, overpaid, mostly lazy, group there is. The standards of the profession are beyond abysmal. Courts are corrupt. Those attorneys that are competent have gaping holes in their training and abilities.

The proliferation of scam attorneys is outrageous. These firms prey on the desperate, demand a retainer between $10,000 and $35,000 (or whatever the traffic will bear) and then... do little or nothing... do just enough to have a story to tell the bar. I have avoided those. But I can tell you that those who try are not too much better, quite sadly.

Expand full comment

The MOST? Wow, you may be right.

Expand full comment

Cute pun - but the nonsense that has gone on here would not happen in Jamaica - the country - I know - I live here.

Expand full comment

At GiveSndGo there is a fundraiser for a loan to President Trump that is already almost at $250,000. Soooo...I think he's going to make it. I hope scum sucking Latitia and Engoron will be satisfied.

Expand full comment

Sometimes it seems as tho TFP's tone can't help but continue to cheer for all those who win against bad orange.

Expand full comment

At least you acknowledge that James goal was to get Trump Nellie. I know the left is chortling with glee over the lawfare but on its face this whole deal was a kangaroo court and the “fine” is excessive and unconstitutional.

Yes Trump is boorish but those NY thugs are criminals

Expand full comment

Yes when all the dust has settled on the political mayhem of the last few years, what History will record is that this was the time when the American courts descended to the level of kangaroo courts. What was it again that was supposed to distinguish the free West from the dismal rest?.....Oh yes, I remember now.....its incorruptible judiciary!

Expand full comment

That's exactly what Kevin O'Leary is saying. It's the law fare that will kill property ownership and so much more.

Expand full comment

The globalists would love to get rid of private property ownership. To them, that's a feature, not a bug.

Expand full comment

I have a strong feeling that they will feel differently when and if they acquire any private property that is vulnerable to being seized by an authoritarian state. The wealthier globalists, which includes most if not all of the American upper middle class, have never in their lives had to live without their property, and their horde of spoiled brats are still living off their parents. In addition, none of these people have had to live under true totalitarianism, except for the situation they themselves have created in Western Civ. They all have gotten their way their entire lives. It never occurs to them that authoritarian communism would not serve them similarly.

Expand full comment

So sad and so true.

Expand full comment

It's an abomination.

Expand full comment
founding

Hmm. Get the bad guys, you know ,the ones that break the law. Isn't that the fundamental part of any prosecutor’s job description?

Expand full comment

Not anymore. In this new Woke world, a prosecutor's job is to make sure that anyone with the proper DEI credentials is not charged with the crime they committed. DEI criminals are actually VICTIMS, and we can't prosecute victims.

Expand full comment

I’ve seen victims turn to rage in LA streets attacking their perceived oppressor.

This is getting out of hand.

Expand full comment

It is. But, since we know for a fact that New York is constantly letting people go who broke the law, that means we also know that this is not being done because NY cares about law and order.

Many people's issue with this is not that they went after Trump. Its that they ONLY went after Trump.

Expand full comment

Kevin O'Leary calls NY univestable. I say it's unlivable too. NYC is the worst - dirty, crowded, expensive and user-unfriendly. But the rest of the state has a deteriorating infrastructure, high taxes and shitty winters. Yuck!

Expand full comment

Its funny to me to watch NYC come full circle. When I was young I remember every movie showing NYC city as dirty and violent. Heck, they made a movie where they turned the place into a prison. So I had assumed it was not a great place. Then I visited (after it was cleaned up) and thought, wow, this is nothing like TV/Movies. But it only took a few Democratic mayors to bring it back to where it was.

Expand full comment

Grant Cardone ($600 million net worth) will not be investing in NYC any more (because of the Trump witch hunt) and believes that many institutional investors will also choose not to: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grant-cardone-won-t-invest-120008232.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEnE0FbjPUMYCuXJt7ALTIVT4TrysmBrkp_M1yrQ3XXJ_QVByEzVavouSx86FVvJ1P0awYvcZxeFwYM0OoXqB9wY-9MHtMpyMpMfOK7zi5b4a7-XDnSJ9Jx60Y3Q0MBdWpOkr9Z3enY6s6PyKXn0tXyw9cNG_bz5ai07nmuDAE6y

In fact, he advised to not invest in ANY sanctuary city.

Expand full comment

I'd like to introduce you to Kim Foxx, outgoing DA for Cook County, IL. And Clayton Harris her hand-selected successor (by Cook County Board Prez Toni Preckwinkle).

(Right now Harris' opponent has a decent lead from Tuesday's primary, but there are tens of thousands of "mail-in" votes still be counted. Watch for a miraculous come-from-behind victory for Harris being announced around 1 am Sunday)

Expand full comment

My husband was a Cook County Probation Supervisor for his 30 year career. Toni Preckwinkle is the machine in CC and has been for a very, very long time. We've left IL (thanks be to God) and nothing will ever change there because the political Democrat machine squeezes the vote like none other. Just look at the fact that a more insane progressive beat out Lori Lightfoot for mayor. Or going back further, that JFK wouldn't have been president had it not been for election fraud in Chicago.

It's really disgusting.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Congrats on escaping, madaboutmd. You and your husband are smarter than me.

Chicago always took a certain rogue-ish pride in its corruption, in terms of "yeah, we know it's like that, but at least it's open, unlike the crooks running your town." And the city did function reasonably well.

Now we're loaded with craft beer Marxists and tote bag progressives, who actually believe the horse crap they were taught in college (over past 25 years, my ward has become full of bungalow teardowns replaced by $900K homes with "In This House" signs on the front lawn). Outside of maybe Mt. Greenwood or Portage Park, there's really no white working class anymore to counterbalance them - Chicago is about as blue collar as the Joffrey Ballet.

Expand full comment

"Chicago is about as blue collar as the Joffrey Ballet." LOL

Expand full comment

Ugh. Sorry to hear that.

Here's a throwback; my husband had to get Mike Madigan's "blessing" in order to get his job at Cook County Probation. He always worried about how he voted and often did not vote in primaries because they would know if you voted R. So pathetic.

All the best in the once great city of Chicago. At least some of your African American neighbors are starting to see the light.

Expand full comment

I'll take Rich Daley any day over this crew. Daley was a Democrat but of the old school variety, and didn't tolerate hooligans.

Expand full comment

Yep.

Expand full comment

And exactly what law did he break? He over valued his property? Didn't the banks check the values before they lent him the money? When I bought my house, they checked the value themselves - they didn't rely on the owner to over value the home. So, in the words of my favorite politician AOC, What's the crime?

Expand full comment

Terrible for our country, will have significant consequences down the road.

Irresponsible, petulant, and devious dems.

Expand full comment

T is a NY thug wanna-be

Expand full comment

Unwoke, if the the Supreme Court ultimately rules that Trump does not have immunity to prosecution- will they be criminals too?

Expand full comment

Love the machinations you go through Nellie re America in the world. Joey is

Literally creating literal bloodbaths and you want more - good to know

Female genital mutilation bad. Girls getting genital mutilated with the transgender con good. You cannot make leftist shit up

Expand full comment

I go straight to comments. She's become unbearable to read.

Expand full comment

This is getting tedious. And even the comments (including mine) are preaching to the choir. Meanwhile, Joe Rogan has 14.5 million viewers per latest Spotify. There are lessons there for TheFP.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

To be fair, Bari does have a podcast called Honestly.

But in no way does this compare to Joe Rogan.

Expand full comment

And it used to be a regular gig with Bari but she's spread way too thin now to pay attention to it.

Expand full comment

But why does he have to say the F word so much? Can he not communicate without it? I find it very distracting

Expand full comment

I just scan the issues to find ones I’m interested in.

Seems on some Fridays there is a lot of “filler.”

But still zero mention of the case in Fulton County Georgia.

Fani Willis will surely be disbarred once the proper oversight board finishes its investigation.

Expand full comment

One would hope🤪🤨😩

Expand full comment

Same boat Brian, same boat.

Expand full comment

Oh come on, this one's better, playing to the Fox News crowd.

Expand full comment

Or…….is it that the left has jumped so many sharks that you can’t make this shit up?!

Expand full comment

Tons of truth in that statement

Expand full comment

As Jeffrey Blehar puts it, the bloodbath hoax is a Democratic attempt "to keep the memetic image of ‘Donald Trump as January 6 chaos agent’ fresh in the minds of a public whose tolerance for four more years of Joe Biden is now lower than his actuarial chances of survival over the next five years."

https://www.euphoricrecall.net/p/the-bloodbath-hoax

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

I read that as joy behar and couldn’t understand how she could have sounded so smart.

Expand full comment

That was so witty. You made my day! :)

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

On the last point: it's because mutilation isn't the point, from that perspective. The overarching value is *chosen liberation* -- the basic morality of: only if you choose it, then it's okay! Literally consent-based morality, first- and second-order effects and human dignity be damned.

Expand full comment

Oh, and consent based on brainwashing is TOTALLY legit.

Expand full comment

Or what about the time-honored, common sense standard called “age of consent”?

Expand full comment

Don't be silly! Toddlers know exactly who they are and what they want!

Expand full comment

As long as it's what *we* want. A toddler gravitating toward traditional interests and roles has been brainwashed and must be corrected.

Expand full comment

This is the fundamental conflict that the American constitution tried to solve - you can’t have both liberty and democracy. Democracy is government by the majority - liberty is government by me. They attempted to solve this by protecting certain well defined “fundamental rights” while also making “majority rule” as local as possible. Over time we’ve corrupted both of those principles but that attempt to walk the line on an unsolvable conflict is why the US was both so special and so destined to fail. Because what inherently selfish people ultimately want is liberty for them and rule for others accordingly to their principles. Selfish desires ultimately corrupt both liberty and democracy.

Expand full comment

Maybe one bitchy post per TGIF is enough? We get it.

Expand full comment

Ooooh, seeing something you don’t agree with. Boo hoo.

Expand full comment

My guess is you talk back to your tv.

Expand full comment

Trump has to be elected so we don’t get another Supreme Court justice who doesn’t understand the First Amendment.

One has to wonder if any of the other justices take Ms DEI aside and offer her some refresher reading materials. It has got to be embarrassing to have to sit for photos with that “can’t define a woman” moron.

Expand full comment
founding

Justice Jackson is consistent in that she cannot understand the term woman or the construct of the US constitution. Was she an early adopter of the don’t pass the law bar phenomenon?

Expand full comment

This is what happens when we select based on how someone looks vs merit. We should not be surprised, look at the VP

Expand full comment

She passed "the looks" department???!!!???

Expand full comment

Yes. She passed the “looks like she has the right skin color and genitalia” department.

Expand full comment

I thought the new standard was to have the wrong genitalia, or both or neither.

Expand full comment

Well it's not even required to be a lawyer to be a Supreme Court Justice......so there's that.

Expand full comment

Can you imagine if the court was made up of common sense Americans who actually understand the common sense of the Constitution?! Now that’d be a great day in America!

Expand full comment

Too black to Fail

Expand full comment

Justice Jackson graduated from Harvard both as an undergrad and as a law student. She was on the law review. She then clerked for two federal judges before going into private practice. She has no excuse for not understanding that the First Amendment was designed to hamstring the government from censoring speech.

Expand full comment
founding

Has she taken and passed a bar exam? Does anyone know?

Expand full comment
founding

It was a joke. Yes I am sure -at her age- she was subjected to passing the bar.

Expand full comment

If she didn’t get someone else to do it for her.

Expand full comment
founding

I like comments that aim to point out inconsistencies and disagreements while being as respectful as possible of every human. I am confident she herself took the bar and passed it.

Expand full comment
founding

To which bar(s) are you confident she was admitted? Being confident isn’t the same as knowing.

I’m not joking. Her questions regarding the Missouri/Louisiana case betray either 1) a lack of knowledge of the law or the Constitution, 2) a low intellect, or 3) an unwillingness to reach a cogent decision based on the established rules of the road. Or 4) some combination of the above.

Expand full comment

It's a case of ideology. There's no reason to doubt that Justice Brown Jackson was taught that the First Amendment exists to allow the people to tell the government to go to Newark, so to speak, or tell one another that the government is made up of nincompoops and gerbils, and they're ugly and their mother dresses them funny, too.

She simply doesn't think the people should be allowed to do that. All the elements of the Bill of Rights are about the people's not having to submit to the government. Of course authoritarians in government don't like it. That's why the Bill of Rights exists.

Expand full comment
Mar 28·edited Mar 28

Did you hear her complain that the 1st amendment didn’t allow the government to censor people as she believed they should be able? Actually, I am NOT convinced at this point whether she ever attended and took constitutional law class let alone passed a bar exam. The ignorance shown by a Supreme Court justice about the most basic of meanings of the constitution is boggling….

Expand full comment

One doesn't even have to be a lawyer to be a Supreme Court Justice.

Expand full comment

Hey Shanahan - if that's your real name - you virtue signal much?

Expand full comment

She understand just fine. She doesn't LIKE it. And she was put in a position where despite the fact that it is her literal JOB to uphold the constitution, she doesn't actually like or respect it. She is an example of one of the people I want out of my country. She does not like America. Its like putting a hardcore vegan in charge of a butchers shop.

Expand full comment

Her comment was taken out of context and distorted. In fact her take on the issue has to do with clarifying the government’s role and rights and limitations when it comes to persuading or calling for a kind of speech. This article in Reason explains. It also notes how Trump’s bloodbath comment was similarly distorted. I know she isn’t popular in this crowd, and she refused to answer that no-win question re: the definition of a woman, but these crazy attacks in her here are mostly mean spirited and unwarranted. https://reason.com/2024/03/19/hamstringing-the-government-a-viral-narrative-distorts-ketanji-brown-jacksons-understanding-of-free-speech/#:~:text=%22My%20biggest%20concern%2C%22%20said,the%20government%20in%20significant%20ways.%22

Expand full comment

I very much appreciate the context. Having read the article, it doesn't change my overall feelings on this. It does however make me question ever more of our Judges. I also don't think the Bloodbath and Jackson issues are even the same. The Bloodbath is a deliberate misrepresentation. The Jackson issue still sounds like what I thought it was: Judge thinks there are instances where the government should be allowed to push private industry to censor people. To me, it is still the Government wanting to be able to censor and control. And it seems like several of our Justices think that is A-Ok in whatever various situations they can justify. Which means this stuff is going to ramp up.

Expand full comment

There question of the role of the federal government in advocacy regarding speech, which is one way to characterize this issue, is not as easily settled as your comment would suggest. It at least deserves due deliberation and exploration. That’s what I see Justice Jackson doing. The distortion of her comments is willful and deliberate insofar as it’s a part of a an effort to simply discredit her. Note how the comments here devolved into questions about her basic qualifications. Yes the Trump bloodbath distortion was perpetrated by news outlets…but this story about Jackson didn’t come from nowhere.

Expand full comment

I agree that she could be playing devil's advocate to bring out the best arguments. Her past actions, however don't exactly give me any indication that she either understands the constitution or cares to.

Expand full comment

Do you argue with the fact that because the left is hard pushing DEI, her and every future black person and woman of color will have their qualifications questioned?

Proof positive is to just look what we got with Kamala Harris.

Expand full comment

Exactly

Expand full comment

It's difficult to understand how asking a judge to define "woman" is a "no win question." Perhaps you could clarify that.

Expand full comment

Well, first, why did Blackburn ask in the first place? What is an answer that is universally true? Any lawyer worth her salt knows that no single word has a stable, clear cut, always applicable definition. When it comes to the word woman, so many answers are true, but not 100% of the time. A woman is an adult version of a female. A female is someone born with two x chromosomes except in the cases where she isn't, such as Turner syndrome or Swyer syndrome or others. And then how would she account for people who are trans in a way that would not result in crazy headlines and viral moments that might risk alienating everyone, not just some people. Instead, she deferred to biology, which I get.

Expand full comment

I can't speak to Blackburn's intentions. It is important to me to know that legal professionals know what a woman is, because women's legal rights are based on how the term is defined. When the definition of "woman" includes males, women's rights are undermined, as is happening across the country in many contexts. It is not necessary to "account for people who are trans" when speaking about women's rights. Adult female humans can identify as long haired white cats and they still qualify for women's rights. Adult human males do not qualify for women's rights, they qualify for men's rights. There is no definition at all for "trans," so that category does not refer to anyone and does not need to be considered in the law.

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

You said it, Sandra. Thank you.

There is no scientific definition of "is trans". We are all happy to be tolerant of confused/fetished men in dresses - but they are men and the distortion of language and therefore reality is Orwellian. Plus, the Cult of Gender is destroying so many young people, especially girls and young women - and tearing families apart - which is part of the goal I believe.

I would like to see more discussion of the WPATH Files.

We cannot have any more justices like Doesn't Understand What Biology Is Jackson.

Expand full comment

I generally agree. I see your thinking. But in today's environment, the question who can claim the mantel of "woman" in different contexts is being actively worked out right now and will be worked out in the courts. Any sweeping statement about the definitive definition of woman made by a Supreme Court nominee risks eclipsing this whole process. .I can't help thinking that this question is truly an issue of context. There may be women's rights issues that would apply to a trans woman, while there are others, the right to play for a particular team or compete in a particular sport, that don't. What if we substitute another equally fundamental question, like when do life begin? Would we expect a justice to answer that question?

Expand full comment

no-win question??????

Expand full comment

It is if you're beholden to nonsense ideology.

Expand full comment

What would you give to sit in on the closed door discussion the other 8 justices had when this dim bulb spoke her empty mind?

Expand full comment

Imagine when she is made Chief Justice

Expand full comment
founding

Oh, the pride we will all feel for the First Black Female Chief Justice!

Expand full comment

The pride and her prejudice

Expand full comment
founding

By that point the president will be Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.

Expand full comment

Thank you for reminding me that I have to make time to watch that movie. From everything I've read, it's like Nostradamus, but if Nostradamus was right.

Expand full comment

We'll all be beaming with pride for her from the gulags.

Expand full comment
founding

We’ve always been at war with Eastasia, and diversity is our strength!

Expand full comment

If you were a textualist (which many of the conservative justices are), then the first amendment should be narrowly read to indicate that free speech protections only check congressional laws, not executive branch actions, or judicial branch actions. For instance, in the justice system, judges occasionally issue gag orders, preventing certain parties involved in an ongoing trial from speaking publicly about certain things, or from speaking to certain people, ostensibly putting fair trial requirements above speech protections.

Of course, there are lots of different approaches towards interpretation of the free speech clause of the first amendment. It's sad that so many here are raking Justice Jackson over the coals just because they don't happen to like her rationale... while clearly themselves not really having a deep grasp of 1st amendment issues.

Expand full comment

Are you trying to suggest that the founders were only trying to limit Congress, and would not have a problem with the executive branch imposing limits on speech? That is quite a stretch. They went to great lengths to make sure the chief executive did not have the power of a king.

Expand full comment

They envisioned the executive simply executing the laws, so if Congress couldn't do it, that settled it. Being a textualist doesn't mean focusing on one part of the text and ignoring the rest.

Expand full comment

If the founders had wanted to limit the executive branch's ability to limit speech, they would have explicitly called that out in the amendment. What actually happened is that the 14th amendment introduced a due process argument into the mix, which clarified that the 1st amendment covers all government, at all levels (from federal down to municipal) and across all branches. This amendment wasn't passed until 1868.

Another wrinkle here is that the executive branch doesn't actually have any powers to create laws. Those powers only rest in Congress. And, with a narrow reading of the first amendment, the free speech clause is very specific in only limiting the government from "making laws" to "abridge" the freedom of speech. If, e.g. the president were to hold a press conference, and say, "we strongly encourage social media companies to block or show warnings about the viral posts driving kids to jump out windows, and if they don't, we might do things that could hurt those companies who don't comply", that is not at all in the realm of passing a law. That is much more in the realm of executive policy and politics, rather than legislative action. It might also be reprehensible, depending on the topic. This ultimately is why I think this issue is much more complex than presented by many media sources. Vilifying Justice Jackson for somehow "not understanding" the 1st amendment is political exaggeration, rather than an expression of real merit or fact.

Expand full comment

Peter shamelessly shilling for the intel agencies and getting paid per word.

Expand full comment

Years from now people will scratch their heads and ask, "Under whose administration was she appointed & confirmed?" She'll be known as the forever stain on the Biden admin.

Shakespeare, the everlasting voice of reason....."Out, damned spot"

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

The Supreme Court is 6-3 already on the conservative side. What more do you want, NC? You never know, they may grant the Donald with complete immunity! Won’t that be fun for future Presidents?

Expand full comment

Justice Jackson’s question is being deliberately misunderstood and taken out of context just as Trump’s bloodbath comment was. Anyone who cares to look at the facts behind this viral story can go here: https://reason.com/2024/03/19/hamstringing-the-government-a-viral-narrative-distorts-ketanji-brown-jacksons-understanding-of-free-speech/#:~:text=%22My%20biggest%20concern%2C%22%20said,the%20government%20in%20significant%20ways.%22

Expand full comment

I’m not deliberately misunderstanding anything, I take her words at face value. The point of our liberties is to hamstring government. She thinks hamstringing government is a bad thing.

Expand full comment

Thank you. So many of the commenters here are arm chair justicing, but clearly have no actual idea what they're talking about, but rather are just pissed off at yet another liberal bogeyman propped up by all of the biased conservative media, that they've been programmed to shout about.

Expand full comment

A liberal, Matt Taibbi was the one to raise alarms over her questioning. I have read the transcript and it is troubling.

Expand full comment

What are you even talking about? Why are you trying to redirect to talking about Hilary Clinton. I have no reason to defend her?

Expand full comment

“Arm chair justicing” says the law school grad trolling for the government because he could not get a job in the private sector.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

You continue to refuse to report on the larger and more deeply concerning failures of the Biden administration and their repeated efforts to undermine every American, our laws and the very fundamental standards of our constitution. "Common Sense" and a commitment to journalism should obligate you to report on the ugliest and most unpleasant truths you seem to be willing to ignore. We are at a tipping point in our current politics and I am fearful that the cliff is quickly approaching.

Joe Biden has been accused of the highest form of corruption. If the dots are impossible for TFP to figure out after testimony from Tony Bobulinski stating that "Joe Biden was the brand being sold.", TFP is indeed just another news source unwilling to face the fact that Biden is a Manchurian candidate!

Expand full comment

My favorite part of the Bobulinski testimony was watching him treat the Congress critters with the disdain and contempt they deserve.

Expand full comment

Loved that he was going to take none of their petulant bs.

Expand full comment

Yup

Expand full comment

Shhh, that Bobolinski testimony? Never happened.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Look...over there....abortion.

Expand full comment
founding

But but in this random red state one doctor said he’s doing _____ because he fears falling afoul of draconian GOP anti-abortion laws. He’s lying but let’s report it anyway!

Expand full comment

Nellie has a story like this every single week. She’s worthless as a writer and a thinker.

Expand full comment

But, unless I missed it (which is very possible), nothing about the lunacy on the other side, like Kamala Harris touring an abortion clinic, or that Arizona state senator announcing on the floor she was going to have an abortion, or singer Olivia Rodrigo giving out abortion pills at her concerts like candy.

Expand full comment
founding

Yes, and there’s always a teacher in Florida who’s afraid to talk about MLK because of DeSantis and his evil anti-CRT policies 🤡

Expand full comment

Look, Tucker Carlson said a thing again!

Way more important than a corrupt president at war with the Constitution!

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

No kidding.

If the Free Press is for Free Speech, what does Nellie give a crap about what he says?!

Expand full comment

Yeah, enough about Tucker Carlson. He is insignificant. The only time I ever think about him each week is when I'm led to him by reading TGIF.

Expand full comment
founding

Squirrel!

Expand full comment

...and IVF!

Expand full comment

Watching the Bobolinski hearing is chilling beyond words. Mike Benz has been explaining the CIA -Biden -Burisma connection that has been longstanding since at least 2014 takedown of the elected Ukraine president. Once one hears the details it’s impossible not to see the depth of corruption and attempts at cover up. Elon Musk and X is the biggest threat to the Deep State. Destroying the First Amendment, Elon Musk and X I’d their number one priority.

Expand full comment

Mike Benz on Tucker was amazing. He talks so fast with so much content and shocking (but not really) information taking us through the history of censorship that I’m actually reading the transcript again after watching.

Expand full comment

Yes, especially Benz’s bit on the ‘pre-censorship’ that occurred in run up to 2020 vote.

Expand full comment

Rep. Crockett to Tony Bobulinsky: "When I AXE you a question...".

This sort of mis-use of the English language just drives me crazy.

Expand full comment

She’s speaking in African American. It’s a thing now , just like Ebonics.

Expand full comment

It's common for people from NYC, of all ethnicities. I heard a fair amount of "I've got to axe my advisor" when I was in grad school. In the Stanford Math Dept, it could mean a real axe; there's already precedent for a hammer.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the link. Arrogant incompetence on display.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

But wait.....Isn't Di-versity our strength?

Cretins electing corrupt nitwits. Nothing more.

Expand full comment

The Real Housewives gets a job.

Expand full comment

LAWD!

Expand full comment

IRS have been asked to testify.

I’m certain DOJ will try to block.

Expand full comment

Biden derangement syndrome on aisle 1...

Expand full comment

Sounds like you have a case of Biden derangement syndrome Jen.

Expand full comment

I just go by results. Joe Biden's weakness as a leader is best seen in the results of his policies.

Expand full comment

That's right, outcomes are all that matters! Ibram Kendi said so.

Expand full comment

Peter repeating himself because trolls get paid by the post

Expand full comment

New York's infatuation with protecting squatters who occupy a house for at least 30 days will end when people discover those lovely summer homes in the Hamptons.

Expand full comment

Abbott should send busses there. Stat

Expand full comment

Except the 30-day rule is only New York City, not the rest of New York State where it’s a 10-year rule.

Expand full comment

And those ritzy places in Manhattan have doormen to keep people out...

Expand full comment

That won’t matter if they are already in the space as renters and then just decide not to pay rent anymore.

Expand full comment

They'd have to pass the renters check. Rich people spend a lot of money to make sure riff raff don't get near their spaces.

Expand full comment

NY is making it harder and harder everyday for owners to have full control over their spaces. One bill that is in committee is called the “good cause eviction” it will severely dictate what owners can and can’t do.

https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2021/03/new-york-legislation-would-prohibit-eviction-without-good-cause

Expand full comment

Right… Nellie had an error there?

Expand full comment

This isn't a New York thing. It's true in most places. Squatters "rights" laws were a thing back in the 1700s. These laws desperately need to be updated.

Expand full comment

In most states to acquire title to property by adverse possession one needs to also pay the property taxes that apply. I don't think these squatters are in to paying taxes.

Expand full comment

The thing about those kinds of home (like those multi-million dollar homes down here in Naples where I'm spending some weeks) they have live in housekeepers and or security to be sure that they never have this problem. It's the little guy/the woman who inherits a house or the guy who has a cabin in the woods for the weekends or summer that get screwed.

Expand full comment

Like illegal immigrants landing in Martha's Vineyard.

Expand full comment

The ‘bloodbath’ debacle is the most recent example of corporate media capture that’s staring us in the face. Doesn’t matter how you feel about Trump, it highlights the complete lack of journalism left in this country by large ‘news’ organizations. And now Google changes their definition of ‘bloodbath’? For people who haven’t made up their minds about the path we’re on, it can’t get more clear.

Expand full comment

The NY Times in 2027: "Why using the word 'bloodbath' is actually a good thing."

Expand full comment

There's a supercut video floating around the internet of media pundits saying "It'll be a bloodbath for Republicans" (usually in reference to the 2018/2020/2022 elections). Clearly the majority of the MSM literally want to kill Republicans.

Expand full comment

Merriam Webster still has "a major economic disaster" as one definition of bloodbath.

Expand full comment

After the phony outrage, I went to the internet archive to save the Merriam-Webster definition, and found that it already been done hours earlier. I’m sure others thought as I did, that MW might change the entry for political reasons, as they did with “sexual preference” during the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearing.

Expand full comment

Somewhat similar to how Newsweek retconned the definition of Army Ranger from "graduate of Ranger school," which they used while celebrating the first women to do so, to "member of the Ranger Regiment," when it was necessary to score a point on Tom Cotton.

Was it also MW who redefined "court-packing" to conform to the Dems' latest talking points?

Expand full comment

You have to hand it to the CIA...errr, Google, for being on top of the spin. Just eliminate those pesky definitions that don't fit the message. Of course if Biden slips-up and uses the same word, switch the definitions again! This is somewhat akin to wack-a-mole. No wonder the Neo-liberals lustfully crave AI.

Expand full comment

As of now Google even more narrowly defined “bloodbath”

blood·bath

/ˈblədˌbaTH/

noun

noun: bloodbath; plural noun: bloodbaths

an event or situation in which many people are killed in a violent manner.

"he allowed the protest to go ahead despite warnings that it would spark a bloodbath"

Expand full comment

Perhaps one day Free Press will see the connection between 1000's of livelihoods destroyed in Midwest America, the destruction of US industry and the race driven madness and antisemitism that dominates the affluent and progressive power bases in this country.

Expand full comment

Better is this:

https://sashastone.substack.com/p/too-black-to-fail?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=66221&post_id=142797928&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=yyzmm&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

I think Nellie is just a pure liberal pointing out the absurdity of progressives. I guess pure liberals are waiting out this era of insanity. I prefer Sasha Stone, a former true believer who figured it out. I’m astounded that there is anyone over 40 who’s a liberal, like figure it out. Where is the common sense I grew up with??

Expand full comment

Love Sasha

Expand full comment

I recently subscribed to her. She has been on absolute fire lately. A former woke true believer who actually escaped the cult of leftism. She is very therapeutic. Recommended.

Expand full comment

I love her description of the left "the new Puritans".

Expand full comment

Sasha Stone was (maybe still is) a subscriber here. I'll have to check out her Substack.

Expand full comment

She's good and on a roll.

Expand full comment

Thank you for that link, I will subscribe. I'm astounded anyone over 50 especially is still a liberal, but they are. Most liberal policies are such evident, manifest failures. Just look at the recycled 1960s and 70s criminal justice policies we're suffering through now. I think a lot of it is posturing and social acceptance and virtue signaling. Not informed or thought through.

Expand full comment

I couldn't agree more Kate. Liberals are also usually in big blue cities where being a liberal is like a warm hug. Plus, they never hear opposing points of view, and/or if they do, they're too busy protesting/shaming/censoring to hear the common sense of the other side. I think of liberals as highly emotional and intellectually lazy. Virtue signaling on steroids.

Expand full comment

The liberals I know do seem to be driven more by emotion than logic. I have also read, I think it might have been in TFP among others, that for urban liberals it's all about getting invited to the right dinner parties. SMDH.

Expand full comment
Mar 23·edited Mar 23

Kate, Sasha is my favorite Stack. She covered Hollywood most of her adult life as well, and has a knack for sprinkling her essay’s w/ cinema clips to drive home points. She also ends many posts w/ great pieces of music. Some of her best works are following her road trips across the country, mingling w/ the deplorable’s she has come to love.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the link - what a great article. I just became a free subscriber to her substack and will upgrade to paid when I can. Already subscribe to TFP, Public, and Tucker Carlson Network. We on the sanity side are already spread too thin.

Expand full comment

I subscribe to TFP, Public, Racket (Taibbi) and Sasha. Sasha reposts all of Tucker's interviews so I see those for free. Matt Taibbi (Racket) is an excellent Substack. These sane writers are doing God's work.

Expand full comment

No, Nellie is just a dimwitted progressive who found a grift.

Expand full comment

... who you're paying $5/month to

Expand full comment

I do think you ought to refrain from direct insults.

Expand full comment

Yeah, someday and over the rainbow.

Expand full comment

Yes. Perhaps real journalists will see something that they cannot but a rando internet commentator can.

Expand full comment

Feel free to joke , we have an affluent powerful elite who are hollowing out all of us and using race as a shield from criticism. Trust me I love free press Friday but I swing between chuckling at the posts to annoyance at the flippancy.

Expand full comment

I can see why the black elites are power grabbing ( much to the detriment of most blacks and all of society) but what’s in it for the white elites( Jamie Rawlings , Dan Goldman , etc) . They look and sound ridiculous.

Expand full comment

It should read Jamie Raskin but auto correct has been very aggressive

Expand full comment

You can edit your own comment. Click on the "..." at the bottom right

Expand full comment
founding

I’ll take a rando internet commenter over 99% of journalists. They recently gave themselves a Pulitzer for their Russiagate reporting, so, uh, yeah.

Expand full comment

This week Anthony Fauci was given an award for Ethics in Government from the University of Illinois at an event in Washington DC. This is simply not digestible. Orwellian .This can’t be. How can this be happening? All is lost. Worse is coming since evil is rewarded, idiots are exalted, Truth is scoffed at ....

Expand full comment

Good luck with that! Please do report back on what you learn.

Expand full comment
founding

I’m pleased to report that I’ve already learned the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop were fabricated by Russia, that teenage kids can change their gender, January 6 was a riot but the 2020 protests were mostly peaceful, and JoS is an intelligent person.

Expand full comment

I just learned that JoS isn't thin skinned, she's just fighting against the patriarchy. Thanks Mark D!

Expand full comment

But where did you learn to fall back on personal attacks when you have a weak argument?

Expand full comment
founding

From your mom?

Expand full comment

No "rando internet commentator" here. That's Johnny Spaghetti Stain to you.

Expand full comment

> 1000's of livelihoods destroyed in Midwest America, the destruction of US industry

Millions, not thousands. There's a great deal of abstract questions, though, about how globalization, automation, or even things like fertilizer have affected the workforce, and how to handle a post-scarcity (and soon enough post-labor) world. People are understandably more than angry their way of life is being ripped away from them. Heavy protectionism (eg tariffs) could partially solve this, but it's a losing fight where we need to constantly give ground to the inevitable march of technology and the inevitable rise of higher-populated regions like India.

IMO,much greater credence needs to be given to considering how to make people's lives fun and meaningful in a world where there's no longer any work available. Especially since religion has eroded so precipitously. Politics or race is people's new religion.

Expand full comment

Bloodbath-gate is the best example why people should not trust MSM, it is literal propaganda and fake news.

I talked to my friend of mine(democrat) about this, he told me Trump is fascist and has again threaten democracy. I showed the full video and he was confused buy entire thing, but then went in to trying to explain it as mistake and that it was not big deal (years of brainwashing by MSM are hard to overcome).

One thing I am thankful is that with internet we are not dependent on MSM and NTY, I just wonder before internet how much propaganda was around and was unnoticed, simply because they had monopoly of information.

Expand full comment

How cute...your friend was confused by reality.

Expand full comment

I'm envisioning the NPC meme getting the angry face.

Expand full comment

🤣🤣🤣

Expand full comment

It’s been ever thus.

Walter Cronkite lied about the Tet offensive in 1968 saying we lost when in fact the battle was won by the south and the US

Expand full comment

It's been ever thus and that's why we're getting a bloodbath as Trump tries to overthrow the scam.

Expand full comment
founding

Really..............while it was a military victory it was also the turning of the public against the war. While the government had been telling us a win was imminent, Tet demonstrated it wasn't when the military asked for 500,000 more soldiers. The President, not Cronkite, told the military no and de-escalation of the war was put into effect and negotiations eventually ended it after 7 more years. Basically, Tet demonstrated the lies of the military at the time and made it clear the costs to America (its 18-19 year old males) would escalate encouraging many people on the fence to turn against the war. Cronkite was just the messenger.

Expand full comment

Glad someone is paying attention. ;-)

Expand full comment

I don't know if Cronkite actually said we lost Tet, or if he said (figuratively speaking) we had lost the war. On the latter we was right.

I know there are those who claim we did not lose the war....and it was not officially a war but a police action.

Believe it, when lead is flying and soldiers are killed, it was a war, and we lost....maybe by choice, but we lost.

Expand full comment

Actually we won and then gave it away.

Expand full comment

I just cannot trust even the internet since the "providers" are curating the "news" that they publish. We are in "information no-mans-land"!

Expand full comment

Please read the book Bias by Bernard Goldberg. It explains exactly what they do. It has been going on for years.

Expand full comment

I stand by the message on a t-shirt that I bought recently...No, things aren't getting worse, they're just getting more obvious

Expand full comment

Can it be both worse and more obvious?

Expand full comment

Yes, but with this new bill against Tik Tok (which Biden puppet masters are saying he wants to sign so he can access his new censorshop powers), how long will the internet remain open???

Expand full comment

'... is that landscape paintings might make a British soul feel something deep and weird. Of particular risk are “rolling English hills,” ...'

Murders. When you see a picturesque English scene, you think of murder. The more bucolic the scene, the higher the death toll. Seriously, am I the only one who watches BritBox?

Expand full comment

Oddly, among all the alarming pieces of news in this TGIF, I found the anti-landscape move the most alarming.

Expand full comment

Because it says they are making British nationalism immoral, soon illegal.

The goal is to destroy white countries entirely.

Expand full comment

It's happening here also. They are calling everyday Americans "Christian Nationalists". I'm not even sure what that means?

Expand full comment

They are just making stuff up now. As long as it sounds plausible, it must be true.

Expand full comment

I paint landscapes but I stick to American scenes, not those dark and deadly English countrysides.

Expand full comment

You paint pictures of all of the land that was taken from native peoples?! You MONSTER!

Expand full comment

The majority of people in England under 30 are not English. The new majority have no connection to that land. And they have great fear of anyone who does hold a sentimental connection to those rolling hills, pastoral villages, or the hedgerows that have been carefully planted and kept since the 8th century Anglo-Saxon period.

Expand full comment

Next they'll go after Tolkien. Wait, never mind. Amazon beat them to it.

Expand full comment

Were you aware that reading Tolkien is apparently (according to the government) a sign of dangerous extremism?

Expand full comment

Hobbits rise up! Scour the Shire!

Expand full comment

They might go after the last line of Jerusalem: "In England's green and pleasant Land."

Expand full comment

Ditto.

Expand full comment

It's certainly among the weirdest.

Expand full comment

Aren't the bodies usually found in libraries, or beneath well-trimmed shrubbery, or in family mausoleums on the grounds?

I love landscapes, especially English landscapes. And BritBox. Let the dead fall where they will.

Expand full comment

They're in the copses, across the fields, beneath the spreading oak, in the car parks, littering the quaint greens ... basically dead people everywhere.

Expand full comment

I spent a couple of months this autumn belatedly watching years of Poirot mysteries. My blood pressure was never lower, except perhaps when I was a young person. Murder is so relaxing.

Well, on screen anyway.

Expand full comment

The writer Alexandra Fuller - a lady of just my age (born in 1966) but brought up in British Central Africa instead of American suburbs - used the term "soothing British murders."

The Poirot series has magnificent costume and scene design as well as terrific casting.

Expand full comment

But they kill rarely with guns.

Expand full comment

As a famous TV character said, "Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?"

Pushed out of a window was done in "Midsomer Murders," but the lack of guns just makes everything more creative. "Would it make you feel any better if they was chopped to death with an old colonial sword?" Yuck.

Expand full comment
founding

There’s nothing to beat a cosy and a cuppa.

Expand full comment
founding

“Nancy Pelosi went on CNN: “He’s even predicting a bloodbath. What does that mean? He’s going to exact a bloodbath?””

—————————————————

Yeah Nancy it will be a bloodbath like that time your husband’s gay meth dealer prostitute smashed him over the head with a hammer.

(was probably a dildo not a hammer)

Expand full comment
founding

Nellie…you and Bari really need to work harder on attracting less whacked out readers.

Expand full comment

Maybe you'll get less whacked out readers on Scotty's Substack? If you ever get it up and running.

Expand full comment
founding

Scotty has trouble getting it up.

Expand full comment
founding

Nellie, Bari,

As I was saying…

Expand full comment
founding

Aw shoot Scotty, you know I’m referring to the lack of content on your Substack, not the fact that you struggle to get an erection. I would never mock you for that, only for your literary impotence.

Expand full comment

Kevin is a particularly "out there" guy, who in previous comment threads has gone on at length about how much he thinks day in and day out about gay parades. If you check out his own substack, it's filled with pretty extreme "angry white man" musings that verge on invoking only the best fascist talking points.

Expand full comment
founding

Context! Thank you.

Expand full comment
founding

Why not a hammer-shaped dildo?

Expand full comment

Maybe their fettish is hammers😁

Expand full comment

And sickles

Expand full comment

“…Islamic fundamentalist lawmakers in the Gambia just voted to lift the nation’s ban on female genital mutilation?”

——————————————————-

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Democrats and the medical establishment continue to defend and encourage both female breast mutilation and male appendage mutilation, and bodily mutilation of hormone injections calling all of it “care” or something, while the U.K. And other sane European countries have outlawed such procedures on the young.

Expand full comment

This week’s hearing on allowing males in female sports illustrates how willfully stupid and ignorant the Dems are on this issue. Most adults were live and let live for trans adults. But nooooo the ideologues just had to go for children and males in female sports and spaces. Most people are seeing the dangers posed by these nihilistic, Marxist, tear society down fringe leftists. They started a war that we sane people must win. Stop worrying about being called racist and intolerant. It is they who are racist and intolerant.The shame is on them ( see the WPATH files/ Michael Schellenberger)

Expand full comment

Great post!

Expand full comment

They are not stupid and ignorant on the issue. They know exactly what they are doing and it is intentional.

Expand full comment

The phalloplasty we're doing here might be worse than the FGMs they're doing in Africa. Here's info you can stomach it:

https://www.tumblr.com/thestruggletobecomeagain

https://uploads.ovarit.com/7706a9bc-6097-5942-bc67-a6d1149d6844.jpg

77% complication rate: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2050052122000129

Expand full comment

I "liked" your comment, yet admit that I don't have the stomach to pursue the links.

Expand full comment

Don't blame you. And we're all supposed to pretend this kind of drastic voluntary self-mutilation is not a mental illness.

Expand full comment

Sometimes I feel like my TFP subscription funds this glorious comment section--no complaints!

Expand full comment

The comments section is like "baiting the bear", journalistically. The authors KNOW what they are doing and KNOW that what they say will produce outrage or negative comments, thus ensuring repeat subscribers to continue paying them for being insulted.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

While partially true, I also believe it to be a mark of their commitment to free speech that they rarely delete or disable comments.

Expand full comment

No, the reason for the lack of censorship is that the TFP comments is a MAGA voters club where everyone complains about the writers and editors, but the subscription fees they pay allow those writers and editors to say what they want to without caring if the comments don't like it. The comments finance the content.

Expand full comment

Yeah, a real MAGA voters club here! Definitely not completely disillusioned and recently scandalized liberals who make up the core of TFP's readership!

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Are you being sarcastic? I don't see any "scandalized liberals" in the TFP comments. Maybe one or two every couple of weeks, if that. Mostly it's just MAGA voters complaining that Bari, Nellie and Oliver aren't conservative enough.

Although, the Intelligencer article on TFP and Bari accused Bari of being a conservative and even a neocon in the original Jewish journalist use of the word.

Expand full comment

I personally have very little interest in what Intelligencer writes. It's pretty clear that TFP editorial team have domestic and foreign policy positions that don't neatly go into neocon, neolib, or otherwise. I think the bulk of the commenters here have only connected many of the dots that TFP has drawn with their coverage of topics.

Expand full comment

Very true. The WSJ comments section is notorious for comment censorship, plus it has been overrun by trolls since you can now subscribe for the monthly cost of a Starbucks crappachino

Expand full comment

S & M for a low yearly fee!

Expand full comment

Not sure I'd give Nellie that much credit. Bari's the brains behind this business. Nellie would probably like to cancel/silence her critics, gnawing off the and that feeds her wife.

Expand full comment

I'm a little bit addicted!

Expand full comment

💯

Expand full comment
founding

“All I’m saying is if the right wants to fetishize a place as Western Culture Bastion, can’t they pick somewhere nice like Australia? Paris? Uh, Rome? “

—————————————————-

No because those places have been taken over by Arab Muslims.

Expand full comment
founding

I also feel like Nellie has never seen any great Russian art or architecture. Understanding that it exists doesn’t make me a Stalin apologist.

Expand full comment
Mar 22·edited Mar 23

It is because Tucker said it is beautiful. Everything is partisan and removed from reality now. Why not admit that Moscow is one of the prettiest cities in the world? Yes, Moscow is amazing and they have good selection of groceries in supermarkets and shiny subway stations. This may come as a surprise if you expected Russians to grow horns and hooves. It doesn’t make all of them peace and democracy loving people though. And it doesn’t make Putin a benevolent leader concerned with well being of his constituents and the world community. The truth is more complex than Tucker or Nellie want us to believe. I am getting tired and disappointed in both.

Expand full comment

I don't think Tucker or Nelly either one are particularly partisan. Yes, they both garner attention through the use of snarky comments, but who amongst us can honestly say that we don't derive a small pleasure from their rhetoric.

Expand full comment

You are right. I should not have used the word partisan. What I meant is each of them sort of stays strictly within their political lane. The reality is more complex. I find both Tucker’s reporting from Moscow as well as Nellie’s comment on Moscow architecture nearsighted. I don’t want to be reading Pravda again when everything happening on one side of the iron curtain was dull and grey and rosy in the other side.

Expand full comment

Says the guy who has probably never actually been to any of those places in real life. How's the conservative echo chamber treating you Kevin? Don't get out much?

Expand full comment
founding

I’ll buy you a ticket to London, Paris, and then Stockholm if you agree to walk through the neighborhoods I tell you to walk through.

(I’ll get a refund after you don’t make it out of London)

If you follow my comments, I am constantly referencing what I saw on MSNBC and CNN and we are currently on a lesbian Democrat’s website.

So, yeah. Real echo chamber.

Expand full comment

I've been to all of those places and more, and certainly have noticed that there are larger middle eastern populations than before. I'm also certain that there are neighborhoods in which those populations are majority. But, guess what... that's kinda what happens in cities in general, and that has happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future. Your screechy statement that "those places have been taken over by Arab Muslims" points out the obvious... that you haven't actually been to any of those places. They are not at all "taken over". Yes, there's been an impact, and yes, I believe that it's a good thing for those cities (and their countries) to carefully consider immigration policies to better balance ingesting new populations against the existing culture.

Expand full comment
founding

That’s a fair and thoughtful response so I appreciate that. You kinda just don’t understand what Islam is.

When I say “taken over” I really mean that the end result is inevitable now, and also that it’s shitty enough at this point that it’s not worth visiting.

The UK will not turn into a magical brown and beige country with a parliament and a king and queen with western values. It will turn into a shithole because that is the culture you are importing. Skin colors are not superior or inferior. But some cultures *are* superior. Vastly superior.

Expand full comment

You don’t understand KevinD. He works in hyperbole to induce outrage. Sometimes, though, he gets into lengthy and thoughtful discussions and can be quite sane!

Expand full comment

what's happening in London is not a good thing.

Expand full comment
founding

In the case of Paris and London…he’s not wrong. At least for certain areas.

Expand full comment

I spent 36 years in the automotive marketing world. Bloodbath to the American auto industry would actually be the proper term should $25,000 Chinese EV’s be allowed in to the country. You see the problem is the US Auto world cannot build profitable vehicles that Americans want for $25,000. This is why both Ford and GM announced a few years ago that they would be exiting building sedans.

Many Americans want big SUV’s and Trucks. That is what Ford and GM make. Chrysler Dodge Jeep did make some sedans....Muscle cars, they are dropping them. People like Jeeps. Anyway, not American manufacturer can make a $25,000 Sedan at a profit. They certainly cannot make a %25,000 EV and make a profit.

Joe Biden and the Democrats insane push to kill the internal combustion engine by making emission rules so cumbersome that is may kill off those companies and their jobs. What is so odd is that the hierarchy gave Biden their endorsement all the while Biden is ending their jobs. The Rank and File know it.

As I have said breathlessly for 4 or 5 years know. Fuel Cell technology is better than battery. So to start we have gone down the wrong road. Finally, there are 275 million registered cars and truck. It will take a really long time to replace the transportation fleet. That fleet accounts for 15% of the US CO2 emissions.

Building the charging infrastructure to charge them will also take a long time and frankly is the insane part. There are apartment complexes with hundreds of Apartments. Who’s going pay for those charging stations. Not the land owner.

Meanwhile rather than chasing 275 million cars and trucks with plugs and extension cords, we only have 28,000 power generating facilities. They don’t move. They are stationary. They produce 40% of our CO2 emissions. That is target of opportunity. You’re not fucking with a market where the consumer makes the choice. Currently the consumer doesn’t want EV’s and certainly not at an avg. price of $64,000.

All of our efforts should be on power generation. Oh, besides solar and wind...you’ll need nuclear. The sun doesn’t shine all the time and neither does the wind blow all the time. The stupidity of the American politician is never in doubt.

Expand full comment

My wife and I researched getting solar and an EV car long and hard and came to the conclusion it wasn't going to save us any money and that it wasn't really environmentally friendly either. It's not a practical solution to high gas prices (we're in California) in any way.

The entire EV and "renewable" revolution is basically just a way for Democrats to pander to their supporters who are hypnotized by green buzzwords.

Expand full comment

Indeed, I suspect you are right. There is a fanaticism within the climate activist community that seemingly cannot see anything other than soar and wind and electricity for cars. Ignoring science completely.

Expand full comment

The American politician is not stupid - the American politician is corrupt.

Between buying votes and handouts to their donors/benefactors, maybe more accurately to their "John's", they are the best politicians money can buy.

Expand full comment

oof. Deep breath. Cocktail and walk at sunset. I do believe within the context of what you have to do to be a politician there are and have been a few good ones. I’ll grant you not enough. Certainly not enough these days.

Expand full comment

Stupid and corrupt 🧐

Expand full comment

Think Joe Biden, John Kerry, AOC, or any Democrat knows it takes burning two tons of coal (much more a pollutant than gasoline) to drive just one EV 15,000 miles?

Expand full comment

I refer you back to Chris' post. It was concise and commendable.

Expand full comment

In NYC, a mandate that emergency services vehicles use batteries means that the fleet and garage space will have to increase significantly because a large fraction are charging at any given time.

Expand full comment

the US car manufacturers have been fighting US govt MPH mandates for decades now. I believe that they stopped making sedans because of the stooopid govt regulations were different for sedans and SUVs.

The combustion engine is so refined and emissions are so low it makes is suspect who wants to ban them

Expand full comment

That SAT score and graduation rate graph is painful. What “equitable grading” and other progressive educational reforms has done to schools across the nation is going to hurt everyone. At least the crazy math “researcher” from Stanford has been called out. So much more needs to happen, though.

Expand full comment

This is also why employers now demand a college degree, which fuels skyrocketing student debt.

Educators have debased the value of a high school diploma in the name of social engineering. It's no longer a guarantee that graduates can read, write, and do basic math. So today's average college graduate has the skills of yesterday's high school graduate.

Expand full comment

Given the outcomes of schooling, I think we should stop using the term "educators" for schooling industry employees.

Expand full comment

I may steal that.

Expand full comment

Please do. They started saying "educators" to create the impression that education is occurring. They started saying "learning" - as in "virtual learning" during Covid - to create the impression that "learning" is happening when children sit in front of a screen (or don't, after logging on).

The outcomes show that this new terminology is dishonest.

Expand full comment

I like that. I also think the term 'sheep herders' applies as well.

Expand full comment

Sheep herders perform a useful function in the wool and lamb/mutton industries.

Expand full comment

That is true but, if I was in need of one to watch my flock, I would feel better served by an actual mentee of an actual, experienced herder than an idiot that had been trained by another idiot that had read about it while publishing studies espousing better ways to herd sheep that he had never physically seen or interacted with. The Democrat sheep are very compliant, they should stick to them instead of the woolly boogers.

Expand full comment

"So today's average college graduate has the skills of yesterday's high school graduate."

From looks of today's college campuses, I don't think that's true anymore. Hell, I think a junior high grad of yesterday would be better educated.

Expand full comment

Even that will be debatable once AI is doing all the work!

Expand full comment
founding

Nostalgia for things in the past color our perception. While there is ample evidence for grade inflation, basic academic abilities have not decreased for native speakers. What might have decreased (I am not going to bother to search for this research) is the amount of students with advanced academic skills coming from our best HSs. The SAT/ACT testing can no longer separate out those top students from the next level down. Now, we don't know what the next cohort of HS students will be like, the ones that went through the pandemic and schools more concerned with social-emotional concepts than academic concepts. Stay tuned.....................

Expand full comment

"basic academic abilities have not decreased for native speakers"

Is there a source of data that supports this assertion?

Expand full comment

US education results are determined by tests. The problem has always been the failure of the tests' ability to judge actual cognitive thought. The skill of passing these tests is not indicative of of subject comprehension. So, we end up with a lot of "educated" idiots. The only thing that a degree is proof of is that the holder of said degree completed the subjective requirements required by an institution. It shows that the degree holder was able to fulfill the arbitrary hours and, I suppose, shows that the degree holder is well versed in following orders.

Expand full comment

To be fair, many employers don't give a rats ass about skill. To wit the 80% of Twitter employees laid off by Elon when he took it over or the incompetent marketing VP over at Bud Light...

Expand full comment

Employers are actually demanding degrees less than they used to from what I have read recently (insert grain of salt here).

Expand full comment
founding

It's instructive but gives a false impression. SAT scores over time is a meaningless metric.

1975 Eliminate Data sufficiency questions (most difficult math questions)

1994 Take out Antonyms

Most math questions become multiple choice

Allow calculators

Change reference group from 1940 to 1990

Rescored raising average score to 500 for each section (had been 430 for math and 480 for verbal)

2005 Eliminate Quantitative Comparisons (hardest math questions)

Extended time for certain class of students

2016 Wrong answers not penalized

Calculus questions eliminated (hardest math questions)

4 rather than 5 choices of answers

Vocabulary downsized

Rescored to bring average scores up to 500 for each section

2023 Shortened to 2 hours from 3

All these changes (despite the specified reasons) raised test scores across the board but not evenly. Compression is highest in the top 10% of scores producing 8 times more perfect scores. In 1975 less than 25 got a perfect score, now between .7% and 1% of the 3 million test takers get a perfect score. (no public accounting has been released since 2015)

Expand full comment

Excellent rundown. Yes, the decline in SAT scores over time understates deteriorating academic performance because the test has become easier. Most notably, there is no longer a penalty for wrong answers.

It used to be that a score over 1300 was considered impressive. Now, kids who can't game "holistic admissions" are expected to break 1500 if they want to have a shot at the most competitive 50 or so schools.

Expand full comment

It certainly highlights why Gates and the high tech firms continue to push for foreign professional work visas. We no longer educate for even literacy let alone abiltiy to think and create. Even many college graduates can't get through 8th grade algebra.

Expand full comment
founding

And why Wall Street is reaching beyond the Ivy's + for high level finance professionals. Silicon Valley reaching out beyond Cal, Cal Tech and Stanford is another example.

Generally, there has been a lot of hiring folks complaining about the quality of their hires, but can't tell if that is DEI oriented or more generalized issues.

Expand full comment

My son is currently taking these tests. As far as we can understand (his focus is the ACT), the SAT math section 2 becomes either harder or easier depending on how you did on math section 1. The tests are computerized now so it can be determined on the fly. If you get the easier math section, you cannot score as high because the problems are scored differently than the harder math section. I’m not sure how all of this turns out in practice… ACT is still a paper test so this cannot be done. I could be suspicious for no good reason but it does tickle my senses.

Expand full comment

I did very well on these tests a long time ago (my math score should be represented as DCCC, from ancient history) and I did the math out of order, doing questions of each type separately. I also needed 3 rounds of checking, the third pass was 'am I solving the correct problem?' and in 2 cases, I realized I wasn't. This isn't possible with a computerized test.

Expand full comment

Is an id required to take the tests, or is that reserved for underage drinking at the local bars near our finer institutions of higher learning?

Expand full comment

College Board is going to do that with AP tests soon, or so I assume since those are transitioning computer based tests over the next few years. I hear the LSAT and GRE are similar now, but I don’t know. Maybe it generates more accuracy. Maybe not. I’m waiting to see.

Expand full comment

Wasn't it interesting that education collapsed right when Obama took over. And has gotten worse ever since.

Expand full comment

I actually believe it started with No Child Left Behind, which was a GW Bush initiative.

Expand full comment

I'm talking about the graph shared in the article. The point where education drastically turns for the worse is almost exactly 2008. There's undeniable correlation with Obama in the data.

Expand full comment