Carnival mask

Jessica Krug’s Lucrative Lie

Carnival maskEvery once in a while we see different news stories collide in such a way that one sheds a revealing light on the other. Such an illuminating convergence has just occurred in the unrelated cases of both Jessica A Krug and Charles Negy. By now there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about Professor Krug confessing to a lifetime of lies about her ethnic background. Her story has baffled and disappointed supporters and observers alike, yet it’s the more obscure case of Professor Negy which gives us some insight into the higher profile story of a white woman posing as a black woman. It isn’t the first time that’s happened.

So what did Professor Negy do to attract the attention of the Guardian newspaper? Well, he did the one thing that’s guaranteed to instantly end a career. He sent the following tweet, questioning the new woke orthodoxy:

“Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. Action [sic], special scholarships and other set asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege. But as a group, they’re missing out on much needed feedback.”

It will come as no surprise that Charles Negy is now under investigation by the University of Central Florida as the twittersphere explodes with indignation. This virtue-signalling dogpile serves two purposes; firstly it gives the wokerati a chance to burnish their public credentials. Secondly, and much more importantly; the chorus of organised, indignant screeching creates so much fog and noise that the original idea is quickly forgotten. That is not an accident or an unintended consequence; in fact it’s the whole point of trial by social media in the first place.

So, is Professor Negy right; is black privilege real?

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Laura Loomer

Twitter’s Looming Censorship Problem

Laura LoomerThe way some Silicon Valley giants have behaved of late leads me to wonder whether they’re spectacularly short sighted, or whether they’re so convinced of their own invulnerability that they believe they can act with impunity and never be challenged. Their politically driven editorialising must surely stem from either hubris or foolishness.

Social media and its fellow travellers have a long and well documented history of highly partisan political interference which doesn’t need to be regurgitated here. However, something’s just happened which has left the tech titans in a very precarious position.

Last night, conservative campaigner Laura Loomer won the Republican nomination for Florida’s 21st Congressional District. In fact, she won just over of 40% of votes cast, which is a remarkable achievement considering that she’s been handed indefinite bans by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as being blacklisted by PayPal and GoFundMe. Despite this serious communication and fundraising handicap, she’s managed to amass way over half a million followers on Parler and the backing of one of the United States’ biggest political parties.

Now that Laura Loomer is an official, bona fide political candidate, will Twitter, Facebook and the rest let her speak freely?

In fairness, I’m not the only one asking that question, but I’m actually surprised that more people aren’t making a fuss about this in the blogosphere. Oh wait a minute; Laura Loomer is Jewish and critical of Islam…so of course I’m not surprised.

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Kanye West for President? Seriously?

clownOnce again Kanye West has put himself firmly in the spotlight with his unexpected and some would say bizarre announcement that he will run for president of the United States. To be clear, both his much discussed Twitter announcement and his #2020VISION hashtag leave enough ambiguity for a run in 2024 or perhaps even later. He’s still relatively young and he has plenty of time.

The only question that matters right now is whether he’s serious about challenging Donald Trump for the presidency come November. To be honest, it’s difficult to imagine him putting forward a viable presidential run this late in the day, but at the same time it would be foolish to dismiss West’s announcement as the empty daydreams of a vainglorious clown.

Kanye West has a plan, and it doesn’t involve becoming president of the United States in 2020. He’s a smart boy and he understands the media, just like the current occupant of the Oval Office.

In truth, Kanye is probably still figuring out whether he really has any interest in public office. In the meantime he’s got plenty of ground to break and money to make, so we won’t know where he really stands until sometime after 2030.

So why do it?

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Money Trap

The Curious Case of Ghislaine Maxwell

MoneyIt should be no surprise that the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell has lifted the Jeffrey Epstein saga off life support with a potent shot of adrenaline and steroids. Whilst it’s too early to know what she might or might not reveal in exchange for some sort of immunity or lesser sentence, the circumstances surrounding her capture are curious to say the least.

Bearing in mind that she’s facing some pretty serious criminal charges, we’re forced to wonder whether it’s really credible that the US authorities had no idea where she was hiding this whole time. The majority of people who live in the real world will raise an eyebrow when they learn that Ms Maxwell has been holed up in a million dollar mansion in New Hampshire the whole time, yet nobody was able to track her down until recently. If you or I wanted to go on the run we’d be forced to channel our inner Charles Bronson and vanish into blinking neon motel obscurity. Even then there would be no guarantee that the very capable and well-resourced FBI wouldn’t catch up with us eventually. After all, the Feds know that flophouse central is a likely place to look.

The idea that the US authorities were completely unaware that Ghislaine Maxwell was living a comfortable life right under their very noses is about as believable as the Pakistani government having absolutely no clue that Osama bin Laden was hiding just a stone’s throw from a military academy.

This does of course lead us to ask why the one person with the most direct knowledge of Epstein’s affairs made no serious attempt either to leave the country or disappear into some sort of serious hiding. The answer is obvious really; because although she needed to escape from the press and the public, Maxwell never seriously feared arrest or prosecution.

So what’s changed?

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Matryoshka doll

Who’s Behind Biden?

Matryoshka dollWow, it must really suck to be a Democrat right now; I mean, seriously!

With Super Tuesday out of the way it’s looking more and more like the party’s top brass has decided to throw its weight behind Joe Biden as the best and only hope of beating Bernie Sanders to the nomination. Of course there are plenty of delegates still to play for and anything could happen, but it’s clear that the DNC will not permit Sanders to clinch the nomination, even at the cost of running Joe Biden against a rampant and increasingly popular Donald Trump.

Even if Sanders manages to force a brokered convention, anyone but Bernie is now the unofficial party line and delegates will act accordingly. Letting slow Joe face Donald Trump in the general election might seem like a suicidal strategy, but when it’s the only available option the decision-making process becomes extremely simple.

The DNC top brass must surely know that backing yet another ageing neo-liberal who’s showing clear signs of failing health is not a way to win elections.

So why do it?

It’s mostly because they don’t really have much of a choice at this late stage; but that doesn’t mean they can’t yet pull something that resembles a rabbit out of the hat. Everybody in the world knows that forgetful Joe has no chance against the Donald, especially as Trump’s quite willing to go there when it comes to Hunter Biden and the whole Ukrainian gas thing. In fact it’s reasonable to wonder whether Biden can even make it to election day without his cognitive performance deteriorating rapidly.

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