Wednesday Potpourri

First, it was a cold day for the radical left when their champion, that would be Noam Chomsky, was asked about his views on the war in Ukraine.

Noam Chomsky, in an interview this week, says "fortunately" there is "one Western statesman of stature" who is pushing for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine rather than looking for ways to fuel and prolong it.

"His name is Donald J. Trump," Chomsky says. 

Second, strange things are happening at CBS. First, there was the vice presidential debate, conducted by two suitably biased females.

Now, Heather Mac Donald wrote in City Journal that the questions and the lines of argument were completely feminized. What a shock and surprise:

No, it was the choice and presentation of topics that most revealed the feminization of the elite world view. The moderators turned subjects that should have been landmines for the Biden–Harris record into indictments of Trump–Vance. This transformation was driven not just by contempt for the GOP ticket. It grew out of a reflexive focus on putative victims of conservative policies. More abstract questions of costs and benefits and less favored victims were all ignored.

Third, but then CBS interviewed Kamala for their 60 Minutes show. By all accounts the interviewer did an excellent job. His name was Bill Whitaker:

60 Minutes: "What I was asking was, was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?"

Kamala: "I think-- the policies that we have been proposing are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem, okay?"

60 Minutes: "But the numbers did quadruple under your watch."

Kamala: "Because of what we have done-- we have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half. We have cut the flow of fentanyl by half. But we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem."

Fourth, as though that was not bad enough, CBS ran an interview with the anti-Semitic Ta-Nehisi Coates. As you know, Coates just brought forth a new book denouncing Israel for being an apartheid state and for being racist. He has done his best to make it safe to be anti-anti-Semitic. He has helped mainstream the question of whether Israel has a right to exist. 

So, in a brilliant move CBS chose Jewish journalist Tony Dokoupil to interview Coates. He called Coates an extremist and was later called to account by CBS News’ female CEO”

Ahead of their blockbuster interview with Kamala Harris, CBS News has lurched into chaos over Tony Dokoupil's tense interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates over the author's anti-Israeli views in his new book. 

Dokoupil accused Coates of being an 'extremist' during a tense on-air chat about his latest release, 'The Message' on CBS This Morning.

CBS News' CEO Wendy McMahon reportedly dragged Dokoupil - who converted to Judaism and whose ex-wife and children live in Israel - over the coals, claiming he 'did not meet editorial standards for impartiality.' 

Dokoupil was quick to criticize the author for not including an Israeli perspective in his work claiming it delegitimizes the pillars of the country.

'The content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,' Dokoupil said.

'Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it?

'Is it because you just don’t believe that Israel in any condition has a right to exist?'

Fifth, in her 60 Minutes interview Kamala tried to put some distance between her and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Apparently, her nonsense has been edited out of the version that was shown.

Amid friction with Israeli leadership, Vice President Kamala Harris sidestepped a question about whether she considers Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be a “real, close ally.”

“I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes,” Harris told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in a preview clip.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in which 1,200 Israelis were killed, the Harris-Biden administration has, at times, found itself at loggerheads with Netanyahu over his response.

To which Morgan Ortagus replied on Twitter:

Refusing to stand by the democratically elected leadership of an ally state is quite literally breaking norms and institutions she is supposed to protect. The left loves to undermine democratic leaders around the world if they get in their way.

Sixth, meanwhile, New Zealand, more woke than thou, gave a woman command of a naval vessel. Her name was: Yvonne Gray. The result, the vessel sank:

The Royal NZ Navy ship’s HMNZS Manawanui sank this morning after running aground on a reef near the southern coast of Upolu, Samoa, last night and catching fire.

To which Roger Kimball responded:

But at least the NZ Navy (like, unfortunately, the US Navy) gets good grades on hiring females and promoting them beyond their capability.

Seventh, remember when Joe Biden, our commander in chief, told the Israeli government that it should respond to Iran’s attack proportionally. 

Myron Magnet responded on Twitter:

An analogy: Japan destroyed our naval fleet in a sneak attack. We obliterated two of their cities with atomic bombs. Overwhelming force, not “proportionality,” wins wars. War is not ping pong, where you just volley.

Eighth, now that Columbia University has allowed itself to be embroiled in anti-Semitic violent protests, lo and behold, its donors have been cutting back on their giving.

The New York Post has the story:

Columbia University saw donations at its annual fundraiser drop nearly 29% after the spate of anti-Israel protests on campus earlier this year.

The annual “Giving Day” event brought in $21.4 million in 2024, compared to $30 million in 2022, the last time the event was held, according to campus newspaper Columbia Spectator. Giving Day was postponed in 2023 due to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ensuing protests.

The Ivy League university also saw a nearly 28% drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015, the paper said.

Ninth, just in case you missed the earlier stories of Doug Emhoff’s misogyny, the Daily Mail has more details:

Kamala Harris's husband was 'inappropriate' and 'misogynistic' at work, his former colleagues tell DailyMail.com.

Attorneys who worked with Doug Emhoff at his former firm Venable say he yelled expletives, held a men-only cocktail hour in the office, revoked work perks from women who didn't flirt with him, and took only young, attractive associates in a limousine to a ball.

A 2019 lawsuit also claimed sex discrimination by other partners in the LA office Emhoff ran, and that while engaged to Harris, he hired an 'unqualified' part-time model as a legal secretary 'because she was young, attractive and friendly with the powerful men in the office'.

A true feminist, don’t you think?

Tenth, we are so accustomed to our mealy-mouthed president telling Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, that the following remarks, from the Canadian opposition leader, come as something of a shock.

When asked whether he would support Israel striking the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Canadian opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, responds: “It would be a gift by the Jewish state to humanity.”

Eleventh, apparently Joe Biden is not a full throated supporter of his vice president.

Collin Rugg reports:

This is hilarious. Kamala Harris told reporters that Ron DeSantis was being selfish and ‘utterly irresponsible’ for not taking her call regarding Hurricane Milton. Hours later, Ron DeSantis says in her 3 and a half years in office, Kamala Harris hasn’t called him once to offer assistance. “She has no role in this. In fact, she's been vice president for three and a half years.” “I've dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts.” “She's the first one who's trying to politicize the storm, and she's doing that just because of her campaign.”

And then, someone asked President Biden about his work with Ron Desantis:

“The Governor of Florida has been cooperative. He’s said he's gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday and I said — a — boy — I said I know you're doing a great job. It’s being all — being done well, we thank you for it and I literally gave him my personal phone number to call, so I don't know — there was a rough start in some places, but every governor — every governor — from Florida to North Carolina, has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing and they're doing an incredible job. But we got a lot more work to do.”

Twelfth, apparently transmania is big business. Billboard Chris reports:

Between 2019 and 2023, U.S. hospitals charged at least $120 million for sex-change procedures on 14,000 children! Actual numbers are even higher. These numbers don’t include self-pay, Veterans Affairs claims, or patients covered by Kaiser Health Plans.

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