I've wanted to talk for some time about a dynamic I've observed here at Common Sense but never knew when to bring it up. I guess I should raise it before the nukes go off.
The majority of the writers on this site are people who have historically voted Democratic. And while this site is clearly critical of moder progressivism, I haven't seen any writers come out to say they will vote Republican now or in the future. Yet it's increasingly clear the vast majority of commenters - and it can be assumed then that the vast majority of readers - are conservative. I wonder how the writers feel about this, and if this shouldn't be a cause for concern for anyone, writer or reader, who like me look to this site as a sign of hope that my Democratic-voting friends and family will finally be exposed to the type of stories that have led me to forsake voting Democrat since 2016.
Common Sense recently gave me the opportunity to share a 1-month free subscription with three friends. I shared it with three friends who all vote Democrat. They all accepted, but when I asked about a month later what they read it was clear they really hadn't read anything and they all said something along the lines of "yeah, it's good but I think it misses the point of what Democrats are trying to accomplish". There is such a strong mindset among Democrat-voters these days that the Democrats are simply the good guys and Republicans the bad guys that the levels of ignorance around truly important stories - Hunter's laptop and business dealings in China/Russia, Joe's dementia, the Democrats' overall "means justify the ends even if the means destroy our system of governance" attitude - are truly frightening to me. And while I enjoy the commraderie I find in this comment section, I fear that, like just about everywhere on the internet these days, Common Sense is yet another place where only like-minded people go, the only difference being the writers still think they have a chance at getting their messages through to the side they felt they once belonged to, when that ship sailed a long time ago.
I don't really know what my point is with this, other than that I love the work featured here, but fear the people who really need to read it never will. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
1. Georgia voters have been given a crap choice between Warnock and Walker but let’s not pretend that Warnock doesn’t have plenty of domestic drama skeletons in his own closet. Considering that Kemp is polling +7 over Abrams it’s hard to imagine that enough Georgians will split their tickets to save Biden’s flack in November.
2. The “consequences” segment appears to be missing a paragraph or two. Sounds like the only person to deal with any consequences is in fact the professor. This should scare the sh*t out of everyone since classes like organic chemistry are often the make or break credits for medical school.
3. Putin was pretty clear about his intentions for invasion on day one. He wants a neutral Ukraine bc he views anything else as an unacceptable threat to his country. Regardless of how you feel about the war no honest person can deny this.
4. Ron DeSantis is the best governor in America and he proved that yet again this week. It’s pathetic that folks like Rothman can’t seem to pass on even the slightest bit of praise without prefacing it with some kind of dig.
Has the author seen the bridge that is now carrying heavy trucks across a temporary bridge in Florida? Whether you think DeSantis is too republican for you, the guy is getting shit done! And Biden shows up for a photo op with Jill wearing high heels. Remember when they criticized Melania for wearing heels. And now Dr Jill is doing the same. Part of me is surprised she didn't show up in wellies holding a shovel. Joe could drive the dump truck. Didn't he say he used to drive a truck?! I hope DeSantis runs and crushes Biden or any other opponent from the Dems.
I'd like to highlight how serious it is that the Democrats are releasing the country's strategic oil reserves purely for political gains in the midterms. I'm shocked something so unethical and so detrimental to the country can be legal at all. I feel like these people have no respect for the country, its infrastructure, or its people.
Biden’s visit to Florida was anything but non political and dignified. There was the obligatory hair sniffing of a young woman, the fake mafia Don use of the F Word and finally the delusional pronouncement that Ian proves climate change. DeSantis to his credit didn’t bite. That was the one kernel of hope I gleaned from another abysmal week in the Biden nightmare.
One of the things I enjoy the most about Nellie’s TGIF is her superb sense of humor. I don’t expect other contributors to parrot her style slavishly, but the absence of a sharp wit is noticeable. This week’s effort by Rothman is sparse, and omits a glaring, fire-bell-ringing campaign by the FBI/DOJ to harass, intimidate and terrorize pro-life advocates and their families with wholly unnecessary, gun-toting raids on their homes. Perhaps the irony will not be lost on my fellow readers that the people cheering on these repressive tactics are the same ones wanting to abolish guns for ordinary people and send therapists instead of police to deal with criminals.
What a coincidence that the foreign policy scene seems to be deteriorating at the same time that the President is looking for dead people in the audience at an event.
Organic chemistry is the hardest course I took in college, harder than Physical Chemistry and Calculus. It requires an ability to see complex molecules in your mind in 3D and to rotate them along axes. I took it in the 70s, and I bet there are all kinds of apps that help with that now. Still, it requires serious study and dedication, hours in the TA’s office and study sessions. Blaming your failure on the prof is ridiculous. This is a course you teach yourself.
“Not since Sarah Palin rapped in a cotton-candy-colored bear costume have we been forced to witness such a cringe-inducing spectacle.” Actually, every time Biden puts his hand out to shake when no one’s there, I cringe. And when he panders to every single audience, most recently saying he was raised by Puerto Ricans, I cringe. And when he spoke about little kids rubbing his leg hair in a swimming pool, and looking at his watch as the caskets came off the plane, and his daughter saying he took showers with her, and when he said Hunter was the smartest person he knew. Yeah, lots of cringe to go around.
I honestly don't understand the snark against DeSantis.
Americans are crying out for competent leadership, and whether you want to like him or not the Florida governor is the very definition of that (did you happen to notice the bridge built in three days?)
But people who spend their time writing for MSN can't seem to grasp that point. Sad.
Thank you for this week's offering. Hopefully Nellie is enjoying her maternity leave.
This is my view from the UK
This is Northumberland Calling 7 October 2022
This was the week that the Warren Zevon song ‘Send Lawyers, Guns and Money’ seemed to be playing for scandal hit supposedly trans-children supporting charity which is beloved of some many celebrities and institutions Mermaids.
After last week’s revelations about sending chest binders to all who asked and highlighting Discord as an appropriate place for vulnerable children to chat, it was revealed Mermaids’ trustee was paedophile apologist. Once reported in the Times, he duly resigned. Mermaids claimed not to know about it, even though he spoke at a high profile conference in 2011 and his latest book has a chapter on queering (ie removing boundaries) in children’s sexuality. . https://unherd.com/2022/10/mermaids-is-endangering-children/
The National Lottery which funds a great deal of charity in the UK has paused all money to Mermaids while the investigation is on-going. This is a huge blow to the scandal hit charity. https://archive.ph/OnaiB
On Thursday afternoon, Mermaids pulled its helpline. One of the things they recently put up was something called MANGO (Mermaids Activist Network Group Online) with references to people being creamy and spicy etc. It sounds dodgy because of the Citrus Scale – something which was used to get around censors on Tumblr where fruit became euphemisms for various sexual acts..
The Conservatives are very weak in the polling at the moment because the markets did not like Kwarteng’s mini-budget and interest rates will be going up ( causing huge problems for people whose fixed rate mortgages are ending and potentially crashing the over-heated property market). However, they do not need to hold an election until December 2024 and a couple of years can be a long time in politics. It was their conference this week. Suella Braverman had a good showing as did Kemi Badenoch. They are now the rising stars. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/05/liz-truss-has-right-vision-uk-not-enough/
The big news this morning is that Britain needs to be prepared for rolling blackouts this winter as basically Britain failed to invest sufficiently in infrastructure, starting back in the late 1990’s. It takes a long time to bring a power plant on stream and nobody considered that Russia would go to war with Ukraine. Apparently it has been discussed that people might be paid £10 to use their washing machines in the depths of the night. ‘Wash your grundies at midnight’ was how one tabloid put it this morning.
My MP the former pensions minister Guy Opperman suggest the government should follow some of the things that France, Germany Spain etc are doing to save energy. This include:
- no public buildings warmer than 19C (France)
- turn off overnight lighting of buildings / ads etc (Spain and Germany have said lights out by 10 pm for shop windows etc)
- turn off hot water for hand washing / public spaces (Germany)
The dollar continues to be strong against the pound and the euro so now is an excellent time to visit Europe in general. It is a chance to get some bargains and apparently the American tourists have started flocking over. The Telegraph has given a primer on what to expect from the average American tourist. Sometimes you can not make up people’s perceptions. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/truth-american-tourists-why-see-lot-year/
I've wanted to talk for some time about a dynamic I've observed here at Common Sense but never knew when to bring it up. I guess I should raise it before the nukes go off.
The majority of the writers on this site are people who have historically voted Democratic. And while this site is clearly critical of moder progressivism, I haven't seen any writers come out to say they will vote Republican now or in the future. Yet it's increasingly clear the vast majority of commenters - and it can be assumed then that the vast majority of readers - are conservative. I wonder how the writers feel about this, and if this shouldn't be a cause for concern for anyone, writer or reader, who like me look to this site as a sign of hope that my Democratic-voting friends and family will finally be exposed to the type of stories that have led me to forsake voting Democrat since 2016.
Common Sense recently gave me the opportunity to share a 1-month free subscription with three friends. I shared it with three friends who all vote Democrat. They all accepted, but when I asked about a month later what they read it was clear they really hadn't read anything and they all said something along the lines of "yeah, it's good but I think it misses the point of what Democrats are trying to accomplish". There is such a strong mindset among Democrat-voters these days that the Democrats are simply the good guys and Republicans the bad guys that the levels of ignorance around truly important stories - Hunter's laptop and business dealings in China/Russia, Joe's dementia, the Democrats' overall "means justify the ends even if the means destroy our system of governance" attitude - are truly frightening to me. And while I enjoy the commraderie I find in this comment section, I fear that, like just about everywhere on the internet these days, Common Sense is yet another place where only like-minded people go, the only difference being the writers still think they have a chance at getting their messages through to the side they felt they once belonged to, when that ship sailed a long time ago.
I don't really know what my point is with this, other than that I love the work featured here, but fear the people who really need to read it never will. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
1. Georgia voters have been given a crap choice between Warnock and Walker but let’s not pretend that Warnock doesn’t have plenty of domestic drama skeletons in his own closet. Considering that Kemp is polling +7 over Abrams it’s hard to imagine that enough Georgians will split their tickets to save Biden’s flack in November.
2. The “consequences” segment appears to be missing a paragraph or two. Sounds like the only person to deal with any consequences is in fact the professor. This should scare the sh*t out of everyone since classes like organic chemistry are often the make or break credits for medical school.
3. Putin was pretty clear about his intentions for invasion on day one. He wants a neutral Ukraine bc he views anything else as an unacceptable threat to his country. Regardless of how you feel about the war no honest person can deny this.
4. Ron DeSantis is the best governor in America and he proved that yet again this week. It’s pathetic that folks like Rothman can’t seem to pass on even the slightest bit of praise without prefacing it with some kind of dig.
Has the author seen the bridge that is now carrying heavy trucks across a temporary bridge in Florida? Whether you think DeSantis is too republican for you, the guy is getting shit done! And Biden shows up for a photo op with Jill wearing high heels. Remember when they criticized Melania for wearing heels. And now Dr Jill is doing the same. Part of me is surprised she didn't show up in wellies holding a shovel. Joe could drive the dump truck. Didn't he say he used to drive a truck?! I hope DeSantis runs and crushes Biden or any other opponent from the Dems.
Nice roundup, and a good laugh or two.
I'd like to highlight how serious it is that the Democrats are releasing the country's strategic oil reserves purely for political gains in the midterms. I'm shocked something so unethical and so detrimental to the country can be legal at all. I feel like these people have no respect for the country, its infrastructure, or its people.
MSNBC dot com? That is no credential any self respecting human would display.
Biden’s visit to Florida was anything but non political and dignified. There was the obligatory hair sniffing of a young woman, the fake mafia Don use of the F Word and finally the delusional pronouncement that Ian proves climate change. DeSantis to his credit didn’t bite. That was the one kernel of hope I gleaned from another abysmal week in the Biden nightmare.
One of the things I enjoy the most about Nellie’s TGIF is her superb sense of humor. I don’t expect other contributors to parrot her style slavishly, but the absence of a sharp wit is noticeable. This week’s effort by Rothman is sparse, and omits a glaring, fire-bell-ringing campaign by the FBI/DOJ to harass, intimidate and terrorize pro-life advocates and their families with wholly unnecessary, gun-toting raids on their homes. Perhaps the irony will not be lost on my fellow readers that the people cheering on these repressive tactics are the same ones wanting to abolish guns for ordinary people and send therapists instead of police to deal with criminals.
What a coincidence that the foreign policy scene seems to be deteriorating at the same time that the President is looking for dead people in the audience at an event.
What would a conversation between a Senator Fetterman and President Biden sound like? I’m supposed to worry about Walker?
This is awful and so so slanted. Ugh. Most Floridians luuuuv DeSantis. A threat to you, Noah?
Organic chemistry is the hardest course I took in college, harder than Physical Chemistry and Calculus. It requires an ability to see complex molecules in your mind in 3D and to rotate them along axes. I took it in the 70s, and I bet there are all kinds of apps that help with that now. Still, it requires serious study and dedication, hours in the TA’s office and study sessions. Blaming your failure on the prof is ridiculous. This is a course you teach yourself.
God, when do we Nellie back?
“Not since Sarah Palin rapped in a cotton-candy-colored bear costume have we been forced to witness such a cringe-inducing spectacle.” Actually, every time Biden puts his hand out to shake when no one’s there, I cringe. And when he panders to every single audience, most recently saying he was raised by Puerto Ricans, I cringe. And when he spoke about little kids rubbing his leg hair in a swimming pool, and looking at his watch as the caskets came off the plane, and his daughter saying he took showers with her, and when he said Hunter was the smartest person he knew. Yeah, lots of cringe to go around.
I honestly don't understand the snark against DeSantis.
Americans are crying out for competent leadership, and whether you want to like him or not the Florida governor is the very definition of that (did you happen to notice the bridge built in three days?)
But people who spend their time writing for MSN can't seem to grasp that point. Sad.
Thank you for this week's offering. Hopefully Nellie is enjoying her maternity leave.
This is my view from the UK
This is Northumberland Calling 7 October 2022
This was the week that the Warren Zevon song ‘Send Lawyers, Guns and Money’ seemed to be playing for scandal hit supposedly trans-children supporting charity which is beloved of some many celebrities and institutions Mermaids.
After last week’s revelations about sending chest binders to all who asked and highlighting Discord as an appropriate place for vulnerable children to chat, it was revealed Mermaids’ trustee was paedophile apologist. Once reported in the Times, he duly resigned. Mermaids claimed not to know about it, even though he spoke at a high profile conference in 2011 and his latest book has a chapter on queering (ie removing boundaries) in children’s sexuality. . https://unherd.com/2022/10/mermaids-is-endangering-children/
The National Lottery which funds a great deal of charity in the UK has paused all money to Mermaids while the investigation is on-going. This is a huge blow to the scandal hit charity. https://archive.ph/OnaiB
On Thursday afternoon, Mermaids pulled its helpline. One of the things they recently put up was something called MANGO (Mermaids Activist Network Group Online) with references to people being creamy and spicy etc. It sounds dodgy because of the Citrus Scale – something which was used to get around censors on Tumblr where fruit became euphemisms for various sexual acts..
ON Friday morning the Telegraph’s leader was entitled ‘We must learn for the Mermaids’ fiasco’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/07/must-learn-mermaids-fiasco/
JK Rowling told prominent activist that she wants Mermaids to sue her and her name would be the first on any petition. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11283915/JK-Rowling-takes-thinly-veiled-swipe-Emma-Watson-backing-trans-charity-Mermaid.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top
JK Rowling has also come out swinging towards the celebrities who supported the scandal rocked charity. Nicola Sturgeon is the first minister of Scotland and claims to be a feminist to her fingertips. She supports self-id. Rowling does not. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jk-rowling-t-shirt-calls-nicola-sturgeon-destroyer-of-womens-rights-r2nskrcx5/
This article is also good on the need to protect children from abusers. https://thecritic.co.uk/It-is-not-reactionary-to-protect-children/
The Globe has had to delete its Creative Response page to I Joan (the play where Joan of Arc is portrayed as non binary). One of the poems with its violent imagery was very degrogatory towards women in general and Gender Critical women in particular. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/06/shakespeares-globe-rushes-delete-derogatory-poem-transphobic/
The Telegraph is reporting that literacy rates have fallen in primary school aged children due to the lockdown. Unsurprisingly, the poorest children have been hit the hardest. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/06/lockdown-left-children-lowest-literacy-levels-almost-decade/
The UK rate of 75% being able to read at grade level aged 8 is nowhere near as bad as the 2% rate for Black children in Decateur IL where teachers were given 100% marks for excellence by the school administration. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-teachers-given-top-marks-pupils-struggle-illinois-262r62pwk
In political news:
The Conservatives are very weak in the polling at the moment because the markets did not like Kwarteng’s mini-budget and interest rates will be going up ( causing huge problems for people whose fixed rate mortgages are ending and potentially crashing the over-heated property market). However, they do not need to hold an election until December 2024 and a couple of years can be a long time in politics. It was their conference this week. Suella Braverman had a good showing as did Kemi Badenoch. They are now the rising stars. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/05/liz-truss-has-right-vision-uk-not-enough/
Braverman wants to stem the flow of illegal immigration and is resisting a trade agreement with India which would visas being relaxed. Badenoch also says that she would resist such a plan. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/05/suella-braverman-says-will-resist-open-borders-migration-plan/
The big news this morning is that Britain needs to be prepared for rolling blackouts this winter as basically Britain failed to invest sufficiently in infrastructure, starting back in the late 1990’s. It takes a long time to bring a power plant on stream and nobody considered that Russia would go to war with Ukraine. Apparently it has been discussed that people might be paid £10 to use their washing machines in the depths of the night. ‘Wash your grundies at midnight’ was how one tabloid put it this morning.
My MP the former pensions minister Guy Opperman suggest the government should follow some of the things that France, Germany Spain etc are doing to save energy. This include:
- no public buildings warmer than 19C (France)
- turn off overnight lighting of buildings / ads etc (Spain and Germany have said lights out by 10 pm for shop windows etc)
- turn off hot water for hand washing / public spaces (Germany)
The dollar continues to be strong against the pound and the euro so now is an excellent time to visit Europe in general. It is a chance to get some bargains and apparently the American tourists have started flocking over. The Telegraph has given a primer on what to expect from the average American tourist. Sometimes you can not make up people’s perceptions. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/truth-american-tourists-why-see-lot-year/
From: https://t.me/drawandstrikechannel
Wrote this back in July.
Some people need to either read it again or read it for the first time:
https://briancates.substack.com/p/elon-musk-closes-the-trap-on-twitter
From: https://t.me/CognitiveCarbonPublic
The state of things:
1. Elon to Twitter: "I bought stock in Twitter."
2. {Yawn, both eyes closed}
3. "I bought a lot."
4. {one eye opens}
5. "I bought enough to be a board member"
6. (Twitter, alarmed) "You can't!"
7. Elon: "I want to buy the whole company"
8. Twitter: "you CAN'T!!!"
9. Elon: here's my bid
10. Twitter: We hate it
11. Twitter shareholders: We like it
12. Twitter: OK fine
13. Elon: Too many bots. I'm out.
14. Twitter: You can't not buy us!
15. Elon: sue me
16. Twitter: OK
17. Twitter: you MUST buy us
18. Elon: No
19. Twitter: We insist
20. Elon: OK
21. Twitter: "You can't buy us!"