From this guy, talking about the Iranian Ass-Kicking Exercise and BritPM Starmer’s reaction thereto:
“Progressive realism has met reality: when the chips are down, nobody cares about international law; nobody cares about tolerance and diversity; nobody cares about human rights; nobody cares about doing the right thing. They care about winning.”
Yup. It works at both the macro- and micro levels, btw. (see: Righteous Shootings)
I know that this is just stating the obvious, but here it is anyway:
Babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic are ‘falling behind’ on key milestones including talking and crawling because of a lack of social interaction, early learning staff and scientists have warned.
Studies have also revealed children born after March 2020 are less likely to be able to vocalize than their peers were at this age, and are yet to develop social skills such as sharing and waiting their turn — leading to more fights.
Scientists suggest a lack of social contact with family and relatives due to restrictions is behind the shift.
The long-term impact of the pandemic on children is not yet clear, but experts have warned keeping children away from their peers for so long with lockdowns is bound to have harmed their development.
Look, I’m not remotely an expert on this stuff, but it’s a well-known fact that childhood learning (particularly during the early years) requires continuous stimulation — and by “continuous” I mean uninterrupted.
While it is generally acknowledged that children’s brains are absolute sponges when it comes to learning, it is also true (to continue the metaphor) that letting the sponge dry out during the process, even for short periods of time, can affect its absorption capacity. And once that is lost, there is no recovery of the ability.
So for the (dubious) purpose of saving a few lives, an entire group of children has been irremediably harmed.
A paper published in JAMA in January this year that looked at 225 children born in 2020 revealed babies were less likely to be crawling and smiling at themselves in a mirror within six months. It also showed they had reduced social and problem solving skills.
And a UK-based survey of teachers released last month found those teaching children in the early grades were now seeing more biting and hitting in the classroom than previously. [New Wife reports the same from her preschool, incidentally]
British-based charity Ofsted has also suggested in a report that after reviewing more than 280 educational settings, children are struggling with basic skills such as writing and speaking in the wake of the pandemic.
They said some teachers even said they had seen youngsters lack confidence in group activities, and struggle to share and take turns.
Similarly, Brown University scientists, who assessed 1,000 children, found there was a 23 percent dive in ‘pandemic’ babies scores in three cognitive tests.
Any time in the future that the Panic Purveyor Set (e.g. Fauci) suggests that we isolate ourselves in the Covid-19 manner, we should set about them with baseball / cricket bats (apply according to national preference).
For the children.
Here are a few A.I. videos that I think are worthy of consideration, so if you care for the thesis — and you might, because it’s all very much focused on the economic scenario in various countries and not so much on politics (although the two are pretty much entangled, as you will see).
The first has to do with Canada; the second with France; the third with the EU and the fourth with the U.K.
Finally, if you want to see yet another (but shorter and more superficial) article which (because it’s CNN) looks at the actions rather than the motivations behind the actions, there’s New Zealand. And if you want to really chuckle, note that the fleeing New Zealanders are mostly heading for Australia — as the video calls it, “the new Argentina” (and to be clear, they’re referring to Peronist Argentina, not the Argentina of Milei).
Now the chilling bit. If you distill all the events in the above, it will become clear that even with MAGA, with DOGE, and with all the Trumpism reorgs, the U.S. is heading down the same path. The manifestations thereof are well known: the citizens of ur-European soviets (New York, California and Illinois, etc.) fleeing their failed states for states that aren’t being run into the ground by their respective state governments.
And the spoiler: all the above — all of it — can be ascribed to Marxism and the mindset it creates.
Sometimes I wonder how people stay afloat. Here’s the latest example:
Mercedes’ upcoming baby-G was supposed to be the cute, chunky electric-only gateway into G-Class ownership. But the automotive market is changing fast, and so are Benz’s plans, as it reacts to cooling demand for EVs in some markets, especially for its own electric cars. As a result, the boxy SUV will now come with hybrid power.
Internally nicknamed Little G, Autocar reports, the compact, GLB-sized, two-row off-roader is due in 2027 and will still be available as a pure EV. But a companion hybrid model is now in development, using the turbocharged four-cylinder from the latest Mercedes-Benz CLA sedan.
The change speaks to a wider reset inside Mercedes. The company has stepped back from its earlier EV-only plans, with CEO Ola Källenius confirming it will keep selling combustion models well into the 2030s to stay flexible across different markets. Tepid demand for the electric G-Class has, by most accounts, helped concentrate minds.
Okay, I would ordinarily be crowing at MB’s total stupidity in chasing after the Net Zero-inspired push to all–electric-and-only-electric mantra, and gleefully pointing at their corporate privates at having to change course. Been there, done that.
But here’s where stupidity crosses the line into gibbering idiocy, because about that four-banger they’re going to use?
The hybridized 1.5-liter unit is designed by Mercedes and built by Horse Powertrain in China, a joint venture involving Geely and Renault.
So much for that vaunted German engineering and manufacturing prowess, hey?
Now let’s just talk a little about MB’s other idiocy, this time in marketing:
After years of speculation and teasers, Mercedes-Benz’s smaller G-Class is finally edging closer to production, The compact G-Wagen sticks closely to the blocky proportions of its full-sized counterpart, aiming to carry over much of its tough, go-anywhere character.
Shrunk in scale but not in identity, it’s being positioned to take on Land Rover’s downsized Defender in the growing premium off-roader market.
The whole point of the G-wagen is that it represented a badass vibe: mil-spec toughness, powerful engine, and serious offroad capability. The fact that it had the aerodynamic qualities of a brick and used gasoline faster than you could throw it out the window in 5-gallon cans was just another middle finger to the eco-fairies, and the G-wagen’s stratospheric price made its target market all the more likely to be use it mostly in suburban commuting rather than where it outperformed almost every other UV on the market: in challenging offroad adventuring.
In short, the G-wagen was always just an exercise in conspicuous consumption (both of money and of fuel), as was (and is) the Range Rover.
What I find quite risible is that MB is going to use the “Baby G” (good name, guys) to compete with the effeminate new version of the Defender (on which I have poured scorn before).
Here’s what’s going to happen: Baby G is going to cannibalize sales from Big G, not from the Defender. And as Big G’s sales start to dip, the marketing rationale for Big G will likewise start to erode until MB has to pull it off the market. And the massive profits currently earned by Big G will be replaced by the much-smaller profits from Baby G.
You heard it here first.
I know there’s going to be some kind of uproar about this:
The gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team is turning down President Trump’s invitation to attend the State of the Union (SOTU) address, citing conflicting “academic and professional commitments.”
Actually, I’m going to file this under “Whatever”, because it doesn’t matter. I remember when Michael Jordan turned down an invitation from Bill Clinton to visit the White House, giving as a reason the fact that Clinton’s latest tax increase had severely impacted his financial state.
I didn’t care then, and I didn’t care now. Some time ago, I think I asked the question about getting an invitation from Obama or Biden to visit the White House, and being surprised at the vitriolic response.
And yes, I know that these girls were representing the United States, and how dare they turn down an invitation from the President of the United States.
To borrow a line from the Left: he’s not a king, and the invitation is not a Royal Summons.
Al that said, however, I do find it difficult to believe that every single member of the team has an “academic and professional commitment” which would make accepting an invitation impossible. My question is: who first suggested that these kids turn down the invitation as a team, rather than allowing individuals to make up their own mind? Or do all the team members hate Trump that much?
And let’s be honest: an invitation to attend the SOTU address would be a way for these kids to be recognized and applauded by the nation, on prime time TV. If they want to be churlish and tun down that opportunity, well, there’s no law against bad manners.
Finally, I think it would e very wrong to think of punishing the team, its members or the USOC in some way – e.g. by cutting off their funding or something like that. Now that would be churlish.
It’s not the end of the world. Forget about it, and them, and let’s focus on more important matters.
All that said, I’m glad to see how the gold-winning men’s team has responded to the same Presidential invitation. The above article makes no mention of that, but here’s one that does:
The president went on to extend an invitation to have the team at his State of the Union address on Tuesday, to which a chorus of players immediately answered, “We’re in!”
One player asked if they could have help getting to Washington, DC.
“We’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump replied, garnering more cheers from the athletes.
At the end of the call, Trump said, “We love you guys. Congratulations… I’m going to shake hands with everybody, but I got to shake hands with that goalie!”
There ya go, and the hell with the chicks.
Finally, the rest of the world discovers what we conservatives have known for years: the Brooklyn Barmaid is a vacuous Marxist with little intelligence and an astonishing ignorance of, well, just about everything.
I actually started to watch AOC’s little speech at the Munich conference and had to quit because I was embarrassed by the spectacle of her complete meltdown. I mean, she had no idea of any of the topics she was quizzed on — she couldn’t even recall her party’s talking points, let alone formulate any cogent or reasoned responses to the simple questions put to her.
The only negative outcome I can see coming from this is that she should have been exposed during the 2028 primaries instead of now. She wouldn’t be able to debate prospective candidates from her own party*, let alone heavy hitters like Marco Rubio or J.D. Vance.
*I’m assuming that the Social Democrat Marxists might actually have a better candidate than this fool, but I could be mistaken.