Saturday Miscellany

First, novelist Lionel Shriver warns us not to be too cocky. It might appear that wokery is dead, but its proponents will likely do everything in their power to keep it on life support

Writing in The New York Post, Shriver tallies up the cost of woke.

A decisive death knell for identity politics dangles the blessed possibility of no longer squandering our brief duration on this Earth on stupid conversations and debates over whether women can have penises; racial discrimination cures racism; advancement in employment and education should be determined by skin color; the Western civilization that gave us penicillin, Rembrandt, Bach and the Hubble Space Telescope is a disgrace; being grotesquely fat is healthy; and wearing a sombrero that you bought yourself on Amazon is theft.

Friends, the folks who’ve really been stealing — and high-value items: our precious time, energy and attention — are the doctrinal morons who’ve roped us into addressing these painfully self-evident questions. 

I have devoted whole afternoons to seriously considering whether a mass movement to sterilize children and cut off their healthy body parts is a good idea.

Nicely put.

Second, New York City has been suffering from a crime wave. Most especially from a subway crime wave.

Other countries have figured out how to stem the epidemic. Consider El Salvador, and its president Nayib Bukele. The young leader has shut down crime in his country. 

Mario Nawfal reports:

BUEKELE DELIVERS: EL SALVADOR HOMICIDES DROP TO RECORD LOW El Salvador hits historic low of 114 homicides in 2024, down from a staggering 6,656 in 2015. Bukele's tough approach dropped the murder rate to just 1.9 per 100,000 - making it the Western Hemisphere's safest nation. Citizens who once lived under gang terror now freely walk their neighborhoods. The dramatic turnaround came after Bukele's March 2022 crackdown dismantled the country's notorious street gangs. The success earned Bukele a landslide reelection victory, with voters backing his proven security strategy. 

Food for thought.

Third, maybe our energy future is not blowing in the wind. So suggested president-elect Trump yesterday. Better to drill in the North Sea than to waste resources putting up more inefficient windmills. 

In truth, oil companies have been shutting down operations in the North Sea. Time to go back to fossil fuels.

Newsmax reports:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called to "open up" the North Sea and get rid of windmills in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday.

Oil companies have been steadily exiting the North Sea in recent decades with production declining from a peak of 4.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day at the start of the millennium to around 1.3 million boed today.

Trump's post was in response to a report about U.S. oil and gas producer APA Corp's unit Apache's plans to exit North Sea by year-end 2029. The company expects North Sea production to fall by 20% year over year in 2025.

Fourth, the gang rape scandal is not the only thing that is damaging the electoral prospects of the British Labour Party. The British public has completely lost faith in Keir Starmer and his cohorts.

As I have suggested, the current attack on Starmer and his party for their willingness to countenance rape gangs is surely connected to the fact that the British public believes that Labour is grossly incompetent.

Thomas Brooke reports at Remax News:

Britain’s Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, is facing mounting criticism from voters, with fresh polling by YouGov for The Times newspaper painting a grim picture of the government’s performance and public sentiment.

Descriptions of Labour as “incompetent,” “dishonest,” and “unsuccessful” have become prevalent among a majority of respondents, with only 12 percent of voters considering the government a success so far.

Labour’s once-strong lead on economic trust has dissipated, with just 21 percent of voters now favoring the party on economic management compared to 24 percent for the Conservatives. This marks a significant reversal from last year when Labour held a nine-point advantage. Economic dissatisfaction is widespread, with 71 percent of respondents expressing a negative view of the government’s handling of the economy, up from 4 percent earlier.

Think about it, 71% of the public does not trust Labour to manage the economy. That’s worse than Joe Biden, which is really, really bad.

Of late Elon Musk recommended that King Charles dissolve parliament and call for new elections.

Fifth, it’s a new world. The master of cancel culture on Facebook, one Nick Clegg, is retiring, to be replaced by a Republican, Joel Kaplan.

Meta’s Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said on Jan.2 that he is stepping down from his role at the social media giant after nearly seven years. He will be replaced by prominent Republican and longtime policy executive Joel Kaplan.

The announcement comes shortly before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office.

If you thought that Mark Zuckerberg’s trip to West Palm Beach, to the court of Donald Trump, was mere show, you are wrong. The Meta CEO did not get rich by failing to read the prevailing winds.

Sixth, if you think that corporate media is bad, what about state media, as in the BBC.

In 2007 the BBC proclaimed that the Arctic would be ice-free by 2013.

In truth, the Arctic had more ice last year than it had in 2007 or 2013-- by some 26%. So much for the state media.

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