79 Comments

Mr. Ramaswamy is getting angrier. As he should.

There was a story today accusing “Moms 4 Liberty” of getting a book banned in York County, PA, about girls learning to code. The author whipped up a frenzy against this group as “book burners” and racist bigots who want girls to fail in life. One of the main leaders of the group was taken back, not having even heard of the book. 20 minutes of investigation proved the story wrong, but not before news outlets and screaming liberal moms started crying for blood.

Damage done. Which is, I assume, the point.

And no one bothered to verify the truth of the claim. Journalism is truly dead, isn’t it.

Expand full comment

I live there. It was 1000% fake news. No one local was even aware of it before the fact.

Expand full comment

I try to not wade into those stories too much. But that one made me angry. The author is apparently forming her own parents coalition to put an end to the book banning. But the actual truth is completely irrelevant in their quest to destroy and build up their own moral authority. (And quite frankly, I doubt the intelligence of the people who bought the claim in the first place.)

Expand full comment

For clarification, the book was indirectly included in a long list of CRT books that were voted off the curriculum (which is far less sexy than saying "banned"), was never actually removed from use, and the library expressly denied ever "banning" it.

To be clear, York Central has repeatedly voted against CRT and gender-studies type curricula. Saying that certain textbooks will not be purchased by the district for use in classrooms or the library is not "banning" anything.

Expand full comment

So sensationalized truth twisting. Ugh.

Expand full comment

That's been going on forever... It's the censorship and sidelining of the rational people that's really the problem...

Expand full comment

Bioleninism. The movement takes people of mediocre ability who compensate with low morals and rewards them far beyond their natural gifts if they do the dirty work.

This formula works.

Expand full comment

Liked: "Journalism is truly dead, isn’t it."

It died when the MSM/legacy media business models changed in the Techno Age. In the new Digital Age, the only option left is to lie, divide, and fearmonger in order to "get the clicks" needed to survive. So, yes. Journalism is truly dead.

Expand full comment

I read that story (the hysterical initial version) and marked on my "to do" list as it smelled like complete bullshit. Glad I can cross that one off.

Expand full comment

Maybe it's not journalism that is truly dead (although MSM is surely a serious disease), maybe it's CRITICAL THINKING that is in danger of sinking below the waves.

But at least there's this little life raft that's still afloat here, called Substack!

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

Ah…poor Mr Bump. I take it he never had to make a trip to the HR department or sit through annual DEI trainings. Maybe the WAPO doesn’t have those things. He must have also been absent during the 2008 financial crash, and subsequent corporate bailouts where cash was printed and shoveled out to Wall Street by the truckload against the back drop of millions of foreclosures of family homes. That’s not an attack on the family! It was probably just a coincidence that corporate America decided to hide behind the shield of wokism right about the same time occupy Wall Street was revving up and families were being decimated. The new and improved corporate branding policy became: “We’re not bad, YOU are. And, don’t you forget it.” But, all is forgiven if you just be quiet and buy our shit. In fact, they now have entire departments dedicated to train you on just how rotten you really are for wanting a home, a family, a nation, a border, a history and culture.

Yeah…that was a cute little head fake Mr Bump, in your attempt to diminish Meloni’s content of universal truths. You failed. Weak sauce.

Expand full comment

There's probably nothing really "wrong" with him besides his utter lack of morality... ;)

Excellent slap upside his head, tho, cheers.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

Oh sure, you write brilliantly, but I (and I think many others) owe you for wading through so much mental rot. Then, after you've forged a path through the drivel, you have the fortitude to map out the dangerous parts of the journey. You've given me new ways to think about the world. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022·edited Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

We could use dozens like her! I've watched a couple of her speeches and read the translations. And what do we have? Einstein Harris and Nasty Pelosi. I really, really hope she, and Italy, do well! That witch that's threatening her and Viktor Orban is scary, and I hope they both have good security.

If people had good sense or listened to normal people, Vivek could do a lot more good in the world. Instead, people listen to mainstream media and their lives get ruined.

Expand full comment

Everything rests on the First Amendment, everything. That's why it's the FIRST Amendment.

This insanity will pass, but at what cost? I look forward to when the Globbies are seen for what they are... Genocidal usurpers of Human Decency.

Expand full comment

As Chris Rock says, the Second Amendment is in case the First Amendment doesn't work out.

It *is* the most important one. That's hard to remember that when people are saying hateful, inflammatory things. The meanness of people is upsetting; manners would keep a LOT of the world's problems from boiling over into wars. Or so I was taught.

Expand full comment

Yes, Chris Rock is right, and it's all about government, that A2...

We can NEVER stop people from saying mean, or stupid things. So trying to stifle EVERYBODY just to avoid that is damn childish, not to mention stupid and tyrannical... Remember the quote (there is some debate about just who said this) "I may not a agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Without freedom of speech / a free press, there is no freedom.

That's how I see it, she barked, LOUDLY and with a stomp of her paws! ^_^

Expand full comment

Good post, Chris. Woke mob feels so morally superior. Where is their bible and their 10 commandments. These people can have their opinions but what makes them think they must be forced on everyone. I read Vivek Ramaswamy's book on Woke Capitalism and recommend it; exposes the shallow performative wokesters as shams. He started his own non ESG investment fund that he said on a business show is doing very well. I wish him luck.

Expand full comment

Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

George Orwell

We’re living in a shameless age where for the social, economic, and political elite, notions of decency, integrity, truth, honor, compassion, valor, conscience and other timeless universal virtues have been replaced by a performative facade of presenting the virtue du jour, almost always in service of some selfish,banal, frequently damaging ( to others) objective, and for the social climbers, FOMO. For those unable to achieve virtue by strength of character and/or through witnessing exemplary behavior, then there must be the appreciation of serious consequences for bad behavior. Where are these consequences? We are becoming less civilized from the top down.

Expand full comment

THEY are, WE are okay, as long as we can see the difference.

Expand full comment

I've only heard the msm screeching and know little about her. But that snippet of her speech was very good. I was cheering her on. But I also remember being very inspired by Sarah Palin's acceptance speech and nothing came of it. Time will tell. And thanks for the heads up. I'll never even glance at a piece by this Bump clown.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

We can only hope for a Meloni. Disgusting what is going on this country. And what happened in the last nearly 3 years. I have no faith of anything improving any time soon. The government is hijacked in DC and nefarious.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

They don't argue or present evidence or reasoning. They are giving the talking points to the media and pundits to repeat. It doesn't have to make sense or be true. In fact the less sense it makes, the easier it is for the academic types to repeat it authoritatively and then sneer at your lack of understanding.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

I take it as a great development that these clowns - “Bezos” - are taking this approach. It is supposed to be nudge theory in action, you may be assured this idiot is steeped in that theory, however they are now under the cosh; the people are waking up to their ploys and their nudge theory method is becoming more shrill and less subtle such that soon even the most blinded of the sheeple will see it. America has some hope with the likes of Rand Paul, Jordan and DeSantis (not Trump, please no, he cannot unite the tribes of the centre moderates and the right against the self proclaimed elite globalists - AKA NeoFeudalists - and their hard left dupes) but Europe has been a waste land of woke technocrats for years (of course the Woke thing is a ploy too, they aren’t really woke, just playing the neoMarxist like a cheap tin whistle).

No longer! Italy just returned it’s first Democratically elected leader for 14 years. All the rest were appointed technocrats of the WEF kind. Draghi, that tool (In all senses of the term) of the WEF, just as Powell and his predecessor are in the US and Carney was in The UK and Canada, was the final straw. Sweden ushered in a right leaning government (no they are not “far right” as the nudge theory would have you believe, this is Sweden after all, poster child for the socialist model). Well if it can happen in Sweden then it can happen anywhere. And we desperately need it too and especially in America this November if we are to preserve freedom and democracy. Joey “the puppet” V is for Viden is the one who is attacking US freedom, democracy and trampling the constitution, and consequently besmirching the American heroes of the past who fought and died for freedoms we enjoy. The same is true for European leaders, Merkel, Macron, Draghi, Rutte et al, WEF acolytes and Young Global Leaders Alumni all. And Trudeau and Ardern. Wherever you see a YGL realise that they are not patriots and not on your side.

We need this new politics and we need to root out all these neoFeudalists. You will know them by their rhetoric. They are the Climate Alarmist, Pro experimental vax, war on Covid, Lockdown pushing, censorship nudge theory proclaiming, Woke pseudo intellectuals whose policies are anti family, anti country autonomy, anti freedom of speech and choice, and anti human. The wake up call is long overdue. Listen to Sweden and Italy. The message is crystal clear... Time to stand up and act if you value freedom and honour your fore-bearers and the foundation of your countries. And do not let this moment descend into right/Left squabbles about divisive issues like abortion. That is what the globalists want. This is about preserving and renewing freedom and democracy (that includes freedom to chose); elimination of censorship and false narrative (AKA disinformation propaganda); empowering people to succeed and focusing on the future for our children without the lies and scare tactics of climate alarmism and Covid.

Expand full comment

Meloni is a WEF player, she's EU, pro lockdown, vaccine mandates etc. Italy lost its nationhood when they traded the lira for the euro. She will change nothing.

Expand full comment

I'm not totally convinced of this...except the part of Italy not amounting to much. The EU bit player part is a perfect fit for Italy. So your "She will change nothing" is probable. But you can't fault the Italian people for putting up a fight by electing her given their choices in this election. Maybe we'll see a favorable swing in her--which is exactly the opposite of what we saw in the Boris Johnson metamorphism. THAT was frightening to see!

Expand full comment

Correct- I can't and don't fault them at all.

Expand full comment

That is the smear campaign alright. Like the woke MSM referring to her as “far right”. Check out Dr Robert Malone on SubStack or Telegram for some perspective. I also got similar from Italian friends. Things are never as portrayed these days…

Expand full comment

Archbishop Viganò's letter was very enlightening too. Glad Malone put that in there. On a completely different note, John Droz, Jr. is now on Substack. This addition from him to my email signature is getting some likes:

"It’s fascinating to see how good people can have diametrically opposite views about the same situation, especially when the facts are largely indisputable. -- John Droz, Jr."

Expand full comment

Indeed. That’s why debate and respectful exchanges of views is so important these days. And in science especially. Shame the mainstream don’t seem to agree.

Expand full comment

Doesn't fit its lie, divide, and fearmonger business model. It's trite to say but "follow the money" with that crowd.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

"There’s an enormous pull to believing that you are fighting nefarious forces bent on making the world worse," says a man writing a polemic against the nefarious force of nationalism, which he believes makes the world worse.

Also, what assault on the family? Oh, I don't know:

https://www.amazon.com/Abolish-Family-Manifesto-Care-Liberation/dp/1839767197

Expand full comment
author

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022·edited Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

What offends me most is that his "what?" is on the public record. It's in a newspaper that will be microfiched (or digitally archived or whatever) and quoted for a long time. And it's a fiction. Forget about anything as recent-ish as "wokeism." Corporations want to separate parents from kids so they can sell stuff to kids. They want to break up families to make people rely on governments (to whom they only have to make one sale, instead of thousands). They want to remove faith, and keep the faithful from gathering together, because people with their eyes on the hereafter are harder to sell stuff to.

Ages ago, I was out with a friend at the kind of coffee shop where people offer you their newspaper as they leave. The guy at the next table offered us his NYT. I declined, and the two of us later said that if we had thought faster, we'd have declined by saying, "I only read the *Post* and the *News.*" WaPo is in the NYT category for me. Navel-gazing tautological BS that has its own internal language. Give me the tabloids of the early 2000s any day.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

Bump is a dipshit, and Meloni seems awesome.

Expand full comment
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Chris Bray

I feel like Chris is the guy who is looking around and noticing things that would just pass me by while I go about my daily routine. He is saying look at this crazy shit over here while pointing passionately towards an unfortunate truth. I curiously pause my day and open the Substack app. He then draws my attention to said truth and I think “holy shit! That IS totally f*$ked up.” And once again I’m reminded of the quote by Theodore Dalrymple he pointed me to. “...when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they loste once and for all their sense of probity.” More and more I think a possible answer to Chris’s question is... “Not well.” (BTW I am in no way insinuating that Chris would use or condone foul language. It’s just my “dramatic” mind at work.)

Expand full comment

You are officially in Mattias Desmet's 5%. (That's a huge compliment, btw.) Welcome to the group. Chris Bray is worth the subscription cost, isn't he?

Expand full comment

Chris,

Maybe you can help me understand this article, for some reason it seems to take issue with doctors treating minors without parental consent... what could go wrong?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cerebral-treated-a-17-year-old-without-his-parents-consent-they-found-out-the-day-he-died-11664416497

Expand full comment
author

Paywalled, but I got the gist of it.

Expand full comment

I love it when real people call out idiot, paid-off performers for the Globbies.

Good job!

Expand full comment