March Grab Bag

This was one of those weeks, where the show could have been much longer, as I had no shortage of items that bugged me in some way. It’s not a busy news time, but for whatever reason there are lots of little things that got my attention. It’s also a lot easier to verbally grapple with items in the news than items in the history books. Most of what constitutes the news today is aimed at the sort of people who never got why the movie Idiocracy was funny to the rest of us. The news is a 24×7 argument against democracy.

I was tempted to just do a whole show on Ben Shapiro, but I think I may skim his new book first. The nonsense that comes from Conservative Inc, especially the Zion division, is great material for a book review. My review of Goldberg’s book got a ton of traffic and I enjoyed writing it. I’m thinking the Shapiro book is every bit as vapid and stupid as everything else churned out by these guys. When you actually examine what these guys say in detail, it’s clear they have the depth of a teenage girl.

Beyond the shallowness, watch the video of Shapiro I have linked below. The image of this creepy little goblin, who is right out of central casting, standing in the shadow of Reagan, captures the sense of the age perfectly. Late stage empire is a age where mediocrities like Shapiro pick over the bones of the dead culture. His whole act is based on convincing decent people that we can go back to a better time, when off-stage he and his sort work to make sure sure that can never happen. He’s a shameless grifter.

This week I have the usual variety of items in the now standard format. Spreaker has the full show. I am up on Google Play now, so the Android commies can take me along when out disrespecting the country. I am on iTunes, which means the Apple Nazis can listen to me on their Hitler phones. The anarchists can catch me on iHeart Radio. YouTube also has the full podcast. Of course, there is a download link below. I have been de-platformed by Spotify, because they feared I was poisoning the minds of their Millennial customers.

This Week’s Show

Contents

  • 00:00: Opening
  • 02:00: Progressive Paranoia (Link) (Link)
  • 12:00: Unreasonable Men (Link)
  • 22:00: The Public Space (Link) (Link)
  • 32:00: Bust Out America (Link)
  • 42:00: Carny Folk (Link)
  • 47:00: A Deceitful Little Bugman (Link) (Link)
  • 52:00: The Minstrel (Link)
  • 57:00: Closing 

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44 thoughts on “March Grab Bag

  1. As to “surf music being “the whitest music ever”, the Dick Dale variant was highly middle eastern-influenced, presumably because of music he heard due to the Lebanese origin of the father’s side of his family. Dale also played the tarabaki and oud.

  2. With apologies, I think your position on student-loan-debtt was that since we are living in clown-world-America, we should all gobble as much as we can from the disabled body of the once-great nation.

    I agree that we are moving toward racial and economic collapse, toward el Mexico del Norte, but shouldn’t we try to damage our mortal enemies as much as possible on the way down? Our mortal enemies being the American universities.

    Why not do the following? Make all new student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy, just like all other debt. Let’s make all existing student loans dischargeable after 5 years. If we care about the current Sallie Mae bondholders, then we should give them some discounted FedGov debt to partially offset the damage. It shouldn’t fully offset the damage, because investors in govt-sponsored debt should be damaged. They are out enemies too.

    The key is that the subsidized cash flow to our enemies in the Grievance Studies departments of U.S. universities would be hammered. Sallie Mae would not be able to flog their newly issued debt unless they gave some consideration to the credit-worthiness of the degrees.

    And you would get the same enthusiastic response from the existing student debtors. And new student debtors would be forced to make real economic decisions.

  3. I guess the U.K. is just an idea too, just like the U.S. I guess all European countries are just ideas. But the rest of the world is made up of ethnically-based countries. I’m sure the Littlest Chickenhawk has some sort of theory to explain this.

  4. I had an argument today with a CivNat today at work about Trump’s emergency declaration. He kept pontificating about the Constitution, separation of powers, etc. Then he told me it wasn’t a real emergency because it has been going on for years and if we let Trump get away with “going around” the Congressional power of the purse, it’ll allow the Democrats to do the same inevitably when another Commie bastard occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

    I shrugged my shoulders and replied “Do you think our enemies give a gee whiz about the US Constitution? They’ll do it anyway and thanks to the demographic changes wrought unchecked Third World immigration, they’ll be in the White House forever.”

    I told him I’d rather survive with no principles than die with them intact.

    He and many CivNats are completely unaware of the stakes for us and our posterity.

    Since we live in the ATL metro, I cited the MARTA sales tax referendum and how the ruling class will keep bringing it back until they get the result they want. As Zman said the other day, they have zero respect for the will of the people or the process. To them, it’s a bus that takes them where they want to be and then they get off. No more referendums required.

  5. The loan forgiveness plan is silly. However, I think that Z missed an angle: The impact on the marriage prospects of women with stupid degrees.

    The plan would promote higher tuition and higher borrowing for worthless degrees from worthless colleges, which are heavily skewed toward women. These women could run up $50k to $100k debt, get a low-paying job and wait it out. Good plan IF you don’t get married.

    The 18-year-old girl who thought she was being clever might find herself in a bit of a jam in her mid to late 20s when she discovers that men might not want to marry a women who comes with that debt load. He’ll be on the hook for 12.5% of his income for the next ten years. That’s a lot to ask a guy.

    Fixing the loan problem, at least for future students, is straight forward. Allow the loans to be discharged through bankruptcy and demand that colleges be on the hook for all or a substantial portion of the loan. Watch how fast colleges drop dumb majors and keep a lid on tuition increases.

    Skin in the game is a wonderful thing.

    • “The 18-year-old girl who thought she was being clever might find herself in a bit of a jam in her mid to late 20s when she discovers that men might not want to marry a women who comes with that debt load. He’ll be on the hook for 12.5% of his income for the next ten years. That’s a lot to ask a guy.”

      It’s an interesting spin on the Dowry concept, no?

  6. Um, I sort of don’t know how to say this without seeming like an ingrate but, here goes…

    Z, you are a brilliant polemical writer, and you are also a really, very great prose stylist. You probably don’t even realize that, but people in my line of work can’t help noticing. And a sharp thinker, too. And a good analyst. Clear, lucid, well-constructed, memorable turns of phrase…. And you have a lucid view of political and social matters as they currently stand. You consistently make highly original, thought-provoking commentary, you are at the top of your field in many, many ways.

    And the podcasts suck. They are horrible. You have a great radio voice, and maybe that’s worth something, buuuut…. In terms of resource-management, you spend a hella time putting together a collage of boring audio-drones when you could be out slicing ’em to pieces, every day of the week. You’re a bloody master-swordsman, man, with the written word. ( Ask me how I know this; on second thought, don’t ask me how, it’ll only cause a ruckus.).

    You took forever to slightly kick a goose like Ben Shapiro in the shins, when in print you could have disemboweled that worthless schmuck in two or three short spurts.

    Have a look at Adventure Time, some time: you’re a Finn the Human in need of a Jake the Dog.

    • Z Man, old sport, I love your podcasts. I like to take a walk on Friday afternoons and listen to them. Did so today. Quite enjoyable. I’ve nothing negative to say about this fellow. To each his own, but I love you just the way you are, so if if you keep doing what you’re doing, I’ll keep walking, listening and enjoying! Cheers.

      • I, for one, enjoy a rather deliberative approach to the monologue. It adds strength to the arguments. I find most broadcasts, including Adventure Time, too fast paced, vapid, and cutesy for someone my age.

        I have watched this show, because while the kiddos are way out of their warranty period, they do sometimes come over and watch our TV at all hours of the night.

      • I’m going through all of them now. A different way of looking at things other than InstaPundit.
        Full of useful information.

    • I actually really look forward to Friday’s and listening to the podcast. It sounds like you, on the other hand, should stop listening to them. I am curious though, what’s your motivation for telling him you think they suck? What do you think’s going to happen?

          • JFC. Here we go again with Pepe.

            Awhile back Some hateful ignoramus took that beautiful biblical painting of the frogs raining down on the Pharaoh of Egypt – and photoshopped Pepe’s face onto every single one. I had to go to the hospital from the laughing cramps I got. I lost my chit when I saw that painting again in a PowerPoint the church guys were doing one Sunday and had to get up and leave…!

            Now this. Will Pepe never die…?

    • Um, I sort of don’t know how to say this without appearing like I read your comment, but, here goes….
      Marceline, you are able to successfully type a response into a blog comnents box, with surprisingly few spelling errors, buuuut…..
      Sorry dear, what were you saying again? I’m sure you might have a worthwhile point somrwhere in there. I for one will keep a sharp eye out for any future Queenie gems from you.

    • *in my best emo sob*

      Why doesn’t everyone just leave Ben alone?

      I feel sorry for him. Like most celebs he lives in the fast lane with some seriously chatty people. He’s like Jonah Goldberg or Justin Trudeau… would have been a good man if he had been raised right. Think of what cock ups those two guys are… and Ben is just a kid.

      The life of the cuck is a wretched one. They know their moral and intellectual superiors aren’t right about anything but they don’t know what to do about it.

      I see tough times ahead for Ben.

  7. “Most of what constitutes the news today is aimed at the sort of people who never got why the movie Idiocracy was funny to the rest of us.”

    A great, “it’s funny ’cause it’s true” sentence. I’m looking forward to listening to this week’s podcast (on my HitlerPhone, natch.)

  8. Z Man, while it doesn’t provide immunity from libel, etc., 47 U.S. Code § 230 (c)(2) provides essentially carte blanche to Faceberg, Twatter, etc., to “curate” (read: censor) content on their systems without them being designated as content providers:

    “Civil liability. No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of — (A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or (B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (A).”

    According to David Cole at TakiMag, this “out” was provided at the behest of former Republican Congressman Chris Cox in order, he thought, to keep pornography off of the internet, but it is now being used to silence criticism of our ruling class and their ideology.

    This law, of course, hinges on the phrase “in good faith.” and while I’m not a lawyer, I expect that establishing “bad faith” on the part of the provider(s) would be a VERY high hurdle…

    • That may be how the court sees it, but I think I can make the argument that Twitter is not making a good faith effort to limit objectionable material. Instead, they are actively promoting what is, in this case, libelous material. That makes them culpable. Again, I don’t really care about the details here, as much as it escalates their cost of operation. Twitter can go back to playing a passive, neutral role in moderation or face crippling litigation and threats of regulation. That’s the point of lawfare.

      • And I completely agree with you about what they are doing — “bad faith” is an understatement. That said, the Left has branded (rather successfully) anything that contradicts their world view as objectionable: Restrict immigration? That’s racissss! Men who say they are women are mentally ill? That’s sexissss! The blank slate is nonsense? AHHHHHHH!

        Lawfare is a last resort I suppose, but man are things looking desperate…

  9. Well done Z, especially the segment on unreasonable men. They’ve gamed us reasonable men on so many levels that it is we who should be ashamed of ourselves for letting them do it. When a prog flips out in rage, our first instinct is to question ourselves. When we simmer them down we feel obligated to negotiate and compromise with them. Its what reasonable adults do. But now, We’ve created an entire demographic of people that behave and act like children… Stupid children.

    Learning to deal with them is like martial arts. In most disciplines, there are moves where your instinct is to throw up a guard or evade your adversary’s strike… And the proper move is to step inside their swing and let them have it right up close and personal. We can’t afford to be nice guys anymore. They have a reckoning coming and I don’t like hurting or being mean to people… But they are killing us and it has to stop. It’s time to put the foot down.

  10. I try to understand the many conservatives who think Shapiro is great. My basic disagreement with them is that they believe that Shapiro and his allies can convince many of the coalition of the fringes to abandon their tribalism and vote as individual economic actors (to become civic nationalists). I simply don’t believe the Shapiro group can do this.

    The Shapiro group must persuade many of the fringes because without them the group will be outvoted. I just don’t believe such persuasion is likely and so Shapiro is diverting us from the real issues.

    • Shapiro is obviously wrong wrt his civnat inclinations, however he (as others) have their usefulness. To wit, name another conservative voice willing to take the fight directly onto university campuses. There are a few—and I agree they are often grifters of one sort or another—but Shapiro these days seems to do the most heavy lifting. Colter and Dinesh used to be more active, but I’ve not seen much from them of late.

      Anyway, as one who spent a lifetime in such a milieu, the benefit of a conservative speaker challenging the snowflakes in their personal bubble space can not be overestimated. On any campus of size there may an overwhelming majority of Leftists, but there is always a population (albeit smallish) of conservative minded or undecided students. The morale effect if nothing else from a Shapiro visit is worth the price of admission.

      • To wit, name another conservative voice willing to take the fight directly onto university campuses.

        We’re not allowed on the campus, you’re undermining your claim here. It’s because Shapiro is harmless and largely working to support the progressive hierarchy, he get to skitter around on the big Progressive platforms. That’s because his basic argument is, “Those people to my right are immoral, so ignore them.”

        • Z-man, that you or Jarad Taylor are not allowed on any college campus is not at issue. If you were allowed, I’d be rooting for you to expose the grifters and false prophets. However, it is what it is and at this point Ben seems all there is with some success at presenting an alternative viewpoint on our predominantly Leftist college campuses. (I admit to not having an understanding of how Ben’s campus appearances supports a Progressive hierarchy (CivNat?) I have only seen his blunt and basically rude refutations wrt gender fluidity, and the like—wrt the latest Leftist fads. His Progressive support seems to elude his audience.)

          Your dislike of him, and any number of others, blinds you to their service in disrupting the ideological bubble that surrounds the modern campus today. Ben has had problems as well getting onto campuses when invited. Most recently here in AZ. The flack he (Ben) took and the bad publicity it produced for the school in question will only make it easier for those that follow him.

          Coincidentally, today it was on the local news that students on my former campus hounded two Border Patrol officers off of the campus who were invited to talk wrt “career week”. Ironically, my daughter was speaking/interviewing students there herself. But she’s in a technical field, so she won’t attract any of the losers in Mex Am Studies chanting slogans at BP officers.

          Let’s hope that Trump’s recent executive order wrt first amendment protections on Fed funded campuses has beneficial effect for those of us immoral folk to the right of Ben Shapiro. 😉

      • I dont understand why people in our thing dont use Shapiro, Petterson, et all as cover for their own meetings. While the Progs are losing their minds at Shapiro’s insipid rambling, have a meet up or a tiki torch party on the other side of campus. I look forward to Yang rallies becoming UnitetheRight memorials. The right wing liberals have infrastructure to use as cover, if not to capture for our own use.

        Imagine our guys inviting Candace Owens, letting lefties buy up all the tickets to “fight hate” and then while those two parties go at it, doing a banner drop or plastering the entire campus in flyers.

    • While we (rightly) see Shapiro as a subversive, to the moderate/left part of the audience he just looks like another rich white guy. That’s the real reason he can’t appeal to youth, not to mention that youth are going to be alienated from the Right as long as there is massive student debt that is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy court.

      • I’m skeptical as to whether Conservatism Inc. can get non-whites to abandon tribalism, but they aren’t going to be able to do it unless the public faces of the Establishment Right “look like America”, that means a lot of white and Jewish males would have to get real jobs, and sinecures given to Candace Owens-types. It would also help their cause if useless sacks like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) resigned and endorsed a Hispanic successor.

      • Ben does not appeal to the college aged student? You’ve not watched his videos? The audience cheers when he tells off the whining snowflakes that line up for questions (more like accusations). That’s one for our side no matter how you slice it. Is he the best to carry the message, no—he’s the only one carrying the message, as incomplete as it may be to those of this group’s understanding.

  11. Surf music is so outwardly bright and zesty, but because it’s so closely associated with a happier era in our history, it always fills me with a melancholy nostalgia.

    • Nokie Edwards died almost exactly 1 year ago (the Ventures). Lots of great surf music including most of the soundtrack for the original Hawaii 5-0.

      Dale and Edwards would often perform together.

  12. We are long past the point of dialogue. How can there by any dialogue when only one party is permitted to have a voice? There is no compromise position in We Want You Dead .v. We Want You Dead.

    • Our side has pretty much learned this lesson. The civnats are beginning to get it, excluding (((them))).

      If we should be engaging anyone it’s the coalition of the ascendant. Give them a bit of rope and let them do what they do. The whole Omar episode is still paying us dividends. AIPAC is still a news story.

      We should follow Zman’s idea and request a final reckoning for slavery. Their endless and eternal demands will force many whites to start paying attention.

  13. Actually, you can get debt forgiveness if you work for gov’t agencies or non-profits for a certain length of time. They of course have all sorts of rules, but that is the general idea.

    My college plan would be that any school wanting their students to be eligible for Federal loans has to meet the following rules:
    1. Tuition and fees may not exceed what a student can earn at minimum wage for 35/hrs for three months and 15/hrs for 8 months.
    2. Housing costs can be any amount only if the college does not require the student to live on campus. Otherwise some limit is assigned for the required school years.
    3. Loan limits are indexed to average profession earnings.
    4. Finally, place a tax on all endowments to cover loan defaults.

  14. Lizards do run the world and I ain’t giving up my David Icke addiction. In all seriousness, I find the guy fun to read.

  15. Haven’t listened to the podcast yet. But what a strong introductory blurb! “Creepy little goblin…”; “picking over the bones….” I see it in so many realms of life, not only the rarified mists of political punditry. Thanks for giving voice to the observation.

  16. Party at my house TONIGHT! We’ll put on some Zeppelin. We’ll put on some Z. We’ll scream to the heavens LET OUR PEOPLE BE FREE!

    My place 8:30. Full bar. Bring your girl. Let’s rock!

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