June 11, 2025

MORE EVIDENCE FOR MY THEORY THAT “POLICY” IS A DIRTY WORD:

Posted at 3:28 pm by Stephen Green 0

ADAM MOSSOFF: The Film of Hamas Selfie Videos on October 7.

I will not describe or detail any of the film’s horrors, and so you can read this post knowing that you will not be ambushed with a nightmare that will haunt you for the rest of your days. I will say the film is horrific. In fact, it’s beyond horrific. But if one is to bear witness to evil so that one can better defend the good (Israel) and speak out against evil (genocidal antisemitism and supporters of this nihilism in the West), one must know the evil of which one speaks. Thus, I considered it important for me to see the film, but given the shocking and sickening content of this film, I don’t begrudge anyone not watching it.

Here’s some background context and general information about the film: The IDF created this film in November 2023 given worldwide denials of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. Similar to the Holocaust denials that began in 1945 and continue to this day, the denial of the vile atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 began on October 8 and continue to this day. It’s not just denial of murders of children and babies and other war crimes as “Israeli propaganda.” There’s also the denial of the rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas soldiers on October 7, which has prompted Sheryl Sandberg to create her first documentary as her own act of bearing witness to October 7. It’s called, “Screams Before Silence,” and if you have not yet seen it, I recommend doing so (https://www.screamsbeforesilence.com/).

Given its content, the film is closely controlled by the IDF. I already knew this from an opportunity I had last November to see it, which I declined at the time. One can only see the film through an application, a special invitation, or to be invited to a showing for specific audiences, such as political leaders or media industry representatives who have been invited to watch it.

I’ve seen enough of the publicly available video to have a good idea why the IDF keeps their stuff tightly held, although I still question the wisdom of doing so.

That said, Adam just started a Substack so he could get this essay seen outside of Facebook — and it’s powerful stuff.

Posted at 2:48 pm by Stephen Green 43

I’M SORRY DAVE, I CAN’T ALLOW YOU TO ORDER THAT VENTI, QUAD, HALF-CAFF, NO FOAM, EXTRA HOT, PEPPERMINT, WHITE CHOCOLATE MOCHA: Starbucks to roll out Microsoft Azure OpenAI assistant for baristas.

Starbucks plans to roll out a generative artificial intelligence assistant created with Microsoft

Azure’s OpenAI platform to 35 locations this month as part of its strategy to simplify baristas’ jobs and speed up service in its cafes.

The coffee chain showed off the new technology to more than 14,000 North American store managers at its Leadership Experience in Las Vegas on Tuesday. A broad launch of the “Green Dot Assist” platform across the U.S. and Canada is slated for the company’s fiscal 2026, which starts in the fall.

The three-day event comes as Starbucks pushes to revive its sluggish U.S. sales and “get back to Starbucks,” as CEO Brian Niccol has described the effort since he took the role last year. Niccol’s priorities include slashing service times to four minutes per order. Quick, accurate answers to barista questions could help achieve that goal.

Starbucks running on Microsoft AI just feels so déclassé, but that’s what happens when Apple’s lagging behind in AI: Apple’s AI Siri Update Reportedly Facing Uphill Battle.

Incidentally, how long before Starbucks goes all the way, and implements the coffee equivalent of the Bionic Bar on Royal Caribbean cruises?

 

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 42

THE ULTIMATE HECKLER’S VETO: Karen Bass’s Imbecilic Riot Evasions.

We’ve all heard of the heckler’s veto. Karen Bass wants a rioter’s veto.

The Los Angeles mayor maintains that everything would be fine if federal agents weren’t enforcing federal law in her city.

“This was chaos that was started in Washington, D.C.,” she said at a press conference the other day.

She’s not suggesting that the feds secretly gave agitators masks, stones, and fireworks, and provided them the coordinates of the retail stores most ripe for looting.

No, she’s complaining about law enforcement officers engaging in acts of law enforcement that resulted in their getting targeted by violent protesters.

“On Thursday,” she continued, “the city was peaceful. On Friday, it was not, because of the intervention of the federal government.”

She glosses over the fact that it is quite possible — as, in fact, has happened for decades in this country — for federal immigration officers to conduct raids without being confronted by mobs.

It is her assumption that federal immigration laws cannot be enforced in her city without a violent reaction. This shouldn’t be a condemnation of the raids, but of her city, or at least the people in it who feel compelled to resist federal agents.

Bass’s attitude would take Los Angeles well beyond its status as a sanctuary city, which involves not affirmatively cooperating with the feds, and make it something else — effectively a no-go zone for immigration officers and a jurisdiction that affirmatively resists them.

“We need to stop the raids,” Bass said at her press conference. “The only thing it does is contribute to chaos.”

And now, a word from Barack Obama:

Related: A Karen divided against itself cannot stand!

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 67

PEACHY KEENAN: L.A. 2025: Welcome to the Future, America.

“California” the way it was when I was growing up is gone forever. Illegal immigration, followed by mass amnesty and permanent one-party rule (Communism) took care of that.

Many of the law-abiding Latino citizens of California may want law and order and may even be in favor of stopping new illegal immigration, but they also remember the stories of their abuela who had to dodge alligators and La Migra to cross the Rio Grande and then got called a “wet back” at work. They don’t really want to see mass deportations of their cousins.

What this means is that actual, lasting, meaningful deportation efforts in southern California will be done against a hostile regime and their murderous shock troops, who will do everything to stymie it and to (their real goal) Make Trump Look Bad.

If he succeeds in deporting all illegals down to the last day-old newborn with pierced ears, he is Satan. If he doesn’t, he is a failure.

But despite the risks, he should still do it.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green 75

ACTUALLY, I’D SAY THAT GAVIN NEWSOM MAY HAVE ENDED GAVIN NEWSOM’S 2028 PRESIDENTIAL BID: Victor Davis Hanson Might Have Ended Gavin Newsom’s Political Career.

“He [Newsom] said this was chaotic, this was reckless, and he said that they were just trying to have an arbitrary, deportation quota,” said Hanson.

Gavin, Gavin 12 million people came into the country illegally. That was 3 million a year. That was 250,000 per month. That was over 8,000 a day. They have not been able to deport more than a thousand on most days, sometimes 500. They would have to deport 8,000 people every single day for four years to get back where we were with 20 million illegal aliens, when Joe Biden entered office. So it’s not a quota. It’s an effort to stop an invasion.

He also wrecked him on the National Guard deployment:

Now Gavin is mad that they nationalized the California Guard. Trump has that ability. And people said, no, no president—they have to request it. No they don’t.

You think that JFK said to George Wallace when he nationalized the Alabama National Guard, said, would you please let us nationalize your guard so you can be removed from stopping African-American people going to the University of Alabama? No.

CNN recently did a deep dive on the immigration issue and found that Democrats have lost the plot here, too. There’s been a 40-point swing to the GOP from immigrant citizens, who are also now viewed as being better at handling immigration matters. They’re on the MAGA train regarding deportations, too. It’s amazing how Democrats still don’t get how unpopular their agenda has become to normal voters. They’ve lost the working class, the middle class, and now immigrant citizens. And Newsom, viewed as the man who can help Democrats rebuild, is letting his city burn and peddling anti-Trump nonsense.

As Jon Gabriel notes:

Mrs. Newsom isn’t helping her husband either, with optics such as this: California’s First Lady shrugs off riots crisis to shop in Beverly Hills.

No word yet if the couple will be dining at the French Laundry this weekend.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 92

JOEL KOTKIN: What’s the matter with Los Angeles?

The riots fit a pattern a steep decline. Over the past 20 years, the LA region has lost 750,000 people under 30 – the biggest decline in youth among all large U.S. counties. Even the immigrants are leaving; between the 2010 and 2020 Censuses, the number of foreign-born residents actually dropped. Looking ahead, the state’s Department of Finance predicts no population growth and a reduction of well over a million people for L.A. County.

What went wrong? You can start with the political takeover of the city by ever more leftist leaders. Once dominated by Republicans and conservative Democrats, the city has fallen ever more into the progressive mold, genuflecting to green, gender and racial ideology, which has left LA with an awful reputation among businesses and particularly developers. Indeed despite the city’s advocacy for more housing, it is among the least proficient in building them. There have been declines in everything from manufacturing to Hollywood.

Not everything is failing. There are pockets of success, particularly in the revived aerospace industry, located south and west of the city, but also in spots such as the Asian-dominated San Gabriel Valley or a host of largely successful Latino-dominated cities to its south.

But overall Los Angeles, particularly its central core, now suffers from all the plagues associated with older cities, such as Detroit, Cleveland, Manchester or Liverpool. Far from being “the better city”, Los Angeles is now best known for riots and failing to solve a massive homeless problem, the second worst in the country, despite billions in expenditures.

Fox Butterfield, call your office! In December of 2009, SF Weekly had this classic Fox Butterfield-esque line: “Despite its spending more money per capita on homelessness than any comparable city, [San Francisco’s] homeless problem is worse than any comparable city’s.”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 52

RIP: The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies at 82. “Wilson, the co-founder and primary songwriter of the Beach Boys, has died, his family announced. The beloved musical auteur, who helped pioneer the studio-as-instrument, influencing generations of musicians in pop and beyond, was revealed in early 2024 to be living with a neurocognative disorder akin to dementia.”

UPDATE: John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd take Brian Wilson Surfing in 1976:

Posted at 1:05 pm by Ed Driscoll 138

READER FAVORITE: TUMELLA Strongest Windproof Travel Umbrella. #CommissionEarned I have a couple of these in my car and they are very good in wind or rain. They are compact but feel very sturdy.

Posted at 12:59 pm by Helen Smith 4

DECLARING CIVIL WAR?

Well, it wasn’t quite that exciting:

Posted at 12:40 pm by Glenn Reynolds 146

YOU DO IF YOU’RE A LEFTIST:

Posted at 12:38 pm by Glenn Reynolds 40

BIAS BY OMISSION: Greg Gutfeld Can’t Help But Notice What’s Missing From Media Coverage of L.A. Riots.

Fox News’ [Greg Gutfeld] calls out liberal media’s L.A. coverage: “What I find interesting is how come the networks aren’t interviewing the protesters? There’s a selective shielding going on. They know the protesters are the worst spokesmen for the protest.”

“So, as the media ‘we’ll take care of that for you, we’ll become the spokesman.’ Their delusional commentary alongside the videos  of the rioters and the arson is a perfect juxtaposition of reality and ideology. They’re trying to tell us it’s ‘mostly peaceful’.”

“Every video strengthens Trump’s position and reminds us how wrong the media was on everything from the ‘summer of love’ to the fall of Biden.”

This also explains why Brian Stelter went into full Summer of Love mode yesterday:

It goes without saying at this point, after five years of the media explaining away Joe Biden’s endless malfunctions, but just think of them as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense. I’m not sure I agree with Ann Coulter’s recent statement that “Contrary to popular belief, the media is not the handmaiden of the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party is the handmaiden of the media,” but certainly, the regime media are doing whatever they can to get their side back in power.

Evergreen:


More from Matt Margolis at PJM: Here’s What’s Curiously Missing From Riot Coverage.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 39

THE LEFT’S RIOTS ARE JUST GETTING STARTED: Richard Pollock knows a thing or three about how and why the Left so often seeks to spark riots such as have been going on for a week now in Los Angeles. Richard once was one of those on Left who sparked riots.

In his latest Substack column, he looks at the LA violence and observes how familiar the present riots appear in the context of Saul Alinsky’s handbook for political violence, “Rules for Radicals:”

Alinsky explained how radical activists can and must create political chaos in modern Western societies. His first main observation is that truth really doesn’t matter. Alinsky openly counseled his minions, ‘To begin with, he (the revolutionary) does not have a fixed truth – truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing.’ (italics is in original)

“Just as distressing, Alinsky’s revolutionary radicals have a particularly nasty point of view about ethics. ‘The rule of ethics of means and ends is that in war, the end justifies almost any means,’ Alinsky wrote in his book. ‘Ethical standards must be elastic to stretch with the times.’

“’Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics,’ Alinsky counseled. He told activists, ‘you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.’

“Alinsky further argues that morality of using certain tactics shouldn’t be a primary factor. ‘The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or victory,’ he wrote. ‘In short, ethics are determined by whether one is losing or winning.'”

Just keep scrolling, as Glenn would say, because Richard sees a long, hot, destructive summer ahead.

 

Posted at 12:27 pm by Mark Tapscott 58