"Subsidy is for art, for culture. It is not to given to what the people want. It is for what the people don't want, but ought to have!"
~ Sir Humphrey, from the episode 'Middle-Class Rip-Off' from Yes Minister
Ayn Rand overcame tremendous challenges to publish her first bestseller, The Fountainhead.
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Steve, a musician, tells me that over the past three elections, he has moved from Bernie Sanders (until the DNC "rigged" the selection) in 2016 to Trump in 2020 to RFK Jr in 2024. "Kennedy talks about issues that the other two candidates totally ignore," he says. "This is Kennedy against the uni-party -- something I thought Trump did until he became President."Uh-oh.
To borrow from the UnHerd piece, the reasons former Trump voters might defect to RFK, Jr. range from the credible to the crankish, but I think it is a real possibility that a second candidate positioning himself as outside the establishment is more dangerous to the other such candidate among voters most unhappy about that establishment.Suzanne, another Bernie-Trump-RFK supporter, admires Kennedy for his commitment to prising the US out of "foreign misadventures". "He's not an America First-type like Trump," she says. "His positions are much more considered -- he doesn't want to withdraw us from the world, but merely thinks that we should not be funding all these wars abroad." Along with various other people I speak to there, Suzanne has particular ire for the man she voted for in 2016. "Trump talked a big game, but the debt blew up under him and he was the one that implemented all the Covid shutdowns ... I'll never forgive him for that."
Anti-vax nuts have been popping up in conservative circles longer than lots of us would care to think. This photo comes from a Tea Party protest. (Image by Fibonacci Blue, via Wikimedia Commons, license.)
While RFK's views on Covid are well-documented, ranging from the credible to the crankish, it would be misleading to characterise all his supporters as militant anti-vaxxers. Many would rather emphasise the importance of medical freedom in general. "I was vaccinated but I was against the shutdowns and mandates," John Myers tells me. "But this isn't just a Covid thing -- it's about the right to choose what's best for you and not have the government tell me what to do."
Stephen Colbert discovered free speech this week.
For years, Colbert either ignored attacks on free expression or even cheered them on.
He looked the other way when intrepid journalists revealed Big Tech significantly suppressed speech, courtesy of the Twitter Files. He tut-tutted the rise of Cancel Culture and its insidious impact on comedy.
He chortled when the woke mob canceled books by beloved author Dr. Seuss.
Now, suddenly, Colbert is using his CBS pulpit to defend speech. What changed?
Politics.
The pro-Palestinian protests raging across campuses all hail from the Left. They’ve destroyed property, prevented students from attending class, threatened Jewish students and echoed terrorist talking points.
All of the above coaxed Colbert to rise to their defense.
“It’s their First Amendment right,” Colbert said on Tuesday’s “The Late Show” telecast, assuming it’s done peacefully. Note: It isn’t, something he aggressively downplayed.
Instead, the propagandist attacked police officers summoned to restore order on multiple campuses.
“And it’s not just at Columbia. Yesterday, cops arrested at least 100 protesters at UT Austin. This morning they arrested at least 30 protesters at UNC Chapel Hill. Yes, college administrators are using the classic de-escalation tactic of sending in heavily armed police and threatening to call the National Guard,” Colbert said, ignoring the obvious context.
He also ignored a Jewish student getting physically blocked from attending class at UCLA along with many antisemitic chants across the country.
Brave Jewish UCLA student who was denied entry to the university building by anti-Israel protesters delivers powerful speech calling out the masked activists.
“Whilst they cower behind their masks and hide who they are, we stand tall and proudly voice our message to the world.” pic.twitter.com/iZDZ0kjWsd
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 30, 2024
It’s possible the show taped before he could learn about this:
100+ Californian Jews and their allies have arrived at the “Liberated Zone” on the UCLA campus and are tearing it down.
It comes after the pro-Hamas students and activists beat a Jewish girl unconscious on campus grounds a few hours earlier. pic.twitter.com/dlNKQvg2wf
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 1, 2024
But that’s what Colbert does best, leave out vital information that clashes with his progressive narrative. It’s why he pretended Special Counsel Robert Hur’s blistering assessment of President Joe Biden’s mental state actually declared the leader mentally sharp.
It’s noteworthy that in another part of the monologue, Colbert and his sycophantic audience cheered the notion that former President Donald Trump might be jailed for violating his gag order.
It’s even worse, though.
RELATED: CAN COLBERT IGNORE ‘GENOCIDE JOE’ CHANTS?
During the pandemic, Colbert shamed small business owners who peacefully protested against lockdowns we now know were both ineffective and cruel.
Did Colbert defend their free speech rights at the time? Did he agree to disagree with their points of view?
No. He mocked them, tying their messaging to the MAGA movement.
The New York Times cited at least three times when Colbert’s anti-science shtick got the better of him. And it’s worth noting Colbert didn’t use this logic to mock BLM protests of the same era.
“Many of the protesters lamented the loss of their everyday activities, like this woman in Wisconsin with the sign, ‘I want a haircut.’ Uh, looks like your sign has a typo. We fixed it for you. It should read, ‘I want to endanger the lives of your grandparents in exchange for frosted tips.’”
“Now we’ve all been isolating for over a month now, and some of us are starting to go a little kooky in the old squirrel cage, like a handful of idiots who were out this weekend protesting against social distancing. For instance, this man in Washington State, carrying the sign ‘Give me liberty, or give me Covid-19.’ Buddy, you’re in a large crowd, you’re not wearing a mask, you’re not six feet away from people — you might not need to choose.”
“Just because you have cabin fever doesn’t give you the right to go out and spread ‘fever’ fever!”
All the lockdown protesters had to do was destroy property, scream antisemitic slogans and interrupt college education for thousands to earn Colbert’s approval.
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