Victor Davis Hanson deals out some inconvenient truth.

The common target of all these populist pushbacks is an administrative and cultural elite that shares a set of transnational and globalist values and harbors mostly contempt for the majority of their own Neanderthal citizens who are deemed hopelessly unwoken to environmental, racial, gender, and cultural inevitabilities.

In a word, the Ivy League, Oxbridge, and the Sorbonne masters of the universe assume that the world is on a predetermined trajectory. We are to follow an arc of history bending toward state-managed social justice if you will—to end up as a sort of global Menlo Park, Malibu, Upper West Side, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Schwabing, or Kensington. No wonder, it is their ethical duty of transnationals to goad the fated, but sometimes stalled, process along.

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Nearly half of Google workers worldwide are contractors, temps, and vendors (TVCs) and just slightly more than half are full-time employees (FTEs). An internal source, speaking anonymously to The Guardian, just revealed that of about 170,000 people who work at Google, 49.95%, are TVCs and 50.05% are FTEs. As The Guardian reported on Dec. 12, a nascent labor movement within the company led to the leak of a rather awkward document, entitled “The ABCs of TVCs,” which reveals just how seriously Google takes the employment distinctions.

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There was a two-year cap on contract extensions and a weird caste system that excluded us from meetings, certain cafeterias, the Google campus store, and much more. Most notably, contractors wore red badges that had to be visible at all times and signaled to everyone our lowly position in the system.

Think ‘white people’ and ‘colored people’ in South Africa.

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Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your brains! You have a turd to win!

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The prospect of a purple and eventually blue Texas thrills progressives who see the Lone Star State as the key to their drive for post-Trump domination. Before draining their champagne glasses and filling their bongs, the coastal crowd should sober up enough to consider what happens if the Texas miracle comes to an end.

Many Republicans, meantime, have come to consider Texas their sovereign territory, a deeply conservative place where even Democrats were generally pro-business and growth was the prevailing religion. This last election ended what remained of that hallucination. In virtually every big metro—the increasingly dominant geography of Texas—the Democrats grabbed control.

The same process has corrupted New Hampshire. Immigrants from high-tax high-regulation states like Massachusetts and Vermont are turning New Hampshire into a clone of the places they fled.

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On 11 December the South African Constitutional Court delivered a scathing judgment against former president Jacob Zuma’s decision in 2014 to support a Mugabe-initiated pseudo-legal maneuver to block a South African Development Community (SADC) tribunal ruling. This court had been constituted at the time of the formation of SADC and was designed to arbitrate disputes within the member states. The founding fathers of the community were explicit in the prohibition of any action taken against any person or entity motivated by race. This worked until Mugabe forcefully evicted 4,000 white farmers on the grounds of their skin color. When Zimbabwean courts were found wanting, the farmers took their case to the SADC tribunal and won. Suddenly a deified “freedom fighter” was conclusively proved to be a vicious and destructive racist, that his actions were illegal, and (all credit to the brave judges) his government was instructed to compensate the dispossessed. This was too much for Mugabe and his regional acolytes, so they simply closed the court and annulled the ruling.

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Women and minorities hardest hit….

Didn’t know that wars had hands … and, if the world has ignored it, how did Kathleen Kern come to know about it?

Must be psychic or something.

Because we didn’t pay attention to the thousands of Kurdish villages Turkey destroyed in the 1990s, the Turkish state still believes it can act largely without scrutiny.

Seems to be working so far.

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If you listen to management pundits, “collaboration” is all the rage. While the term is a bit fuzzy, what’s usually meant by “collaboration” is 1) plenty of ad-hoc meetings and 2) open-plan offices that increase the likelihood that such meetings take place.

In previous columns, I’ve pointed out that open-plan offices, with all their interruptions, distractions, and noise pollution, are productivity sinkholes. I’ve also pointed out that collaboration tends to penalize the competent who end up doing most of the work.

A recent study published in Applied Psychology has now confirmed that a collaborative work environment can make top performers–the innovators and hard-workers–feel miserable and socially isolated.

Unfortunately, open-plan offices are cheaper than giving each worker his own space, and it’s easier to point to the amount of money saved than to try to evaluate the amount of productivity lost.

‘Diversity’ works the same way. All scientific studies that have been allowed to test the supposed benefits of ‘diversity’ have demonstrated that having a ‘diverse’ workforce (in the Political Correctness sense) actually impairs productivity. But that’s not in line with the Narrative so anybody who tries to say that in public is immediately silenced.

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Yeah, good luck with that.

Audacious Epigone rips the mask off of the news.

In last week’s Power Hour, the Z-Man noted that one major reason Trump gets so little Establishment push back for tangling with China–despite the real dangers involved–is because our elites are legitimately worried about the Middle Kingdom. Crowding out top American colleges, stealing the intellectual property elites live off of, pricing them out of major cities–these are problems the Chinese pose to the cloud people a country like Mexico does not.

Oh noes!

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It is curious to note just how far Dr Zuckerberg’s work has been shaped by her reactions to avowed personal enemies: Valizadeh turns out to be the most frequently-discussed author in Not All Dead White Men, with twenty-four works cited in the bibliography, and far more entries in the index than any classical writer.

Never trust any person who has died part or all of their hair a color not found in nature.

Such people are attention whores and walking sinks of narcissism.

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How could any reasonable person oppose diversity and inclusion in the workplace? Answer: Because “diversity and inclusion” in the work context is actually a euphemism for something else.

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“A desire for equal outcomes among all identity groups, and disadvantaging individuals in overrepresented demographic categories.”

I have yet to see any supporting evidence for the popular proglodyte myth that ‘diversity’ is a strength rather than a weakness. All of the actual studies I’ve seen suggest that working with people who don’t look like you raises questions of trust and coordination rather than otherwise.

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As a Democrat, no doubt. That’s where the sleazy people go.

Maybe he could give Cohen a run for the New John Dean position.

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A seven-year-old migrant girl died just hours after being taken into the custody of U.S. Border Patrol, suffering from dehydration and exhaustion as a result of the strenuous journey — but a Washington Post headline made it appear as though Border Patrol bore responsibility for her death.

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But beginning in the fourth paragraph, the Washington Post’s own report refutes the notion that Border Patrol bears responsibility for the girl’s death.

Noting that she began to suffer from seizures just over eight hours after being taken into custody and that her temperature quickly spiked to 105.7 degrees, WaPo reported that emergency responders were called right away and the girl was revived and taken to a hospital.  She died within 24 hours of being transported, and Border Patrol records show that she had not been given food or water for several days prior.

To quote Al Franken: Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

UPDATE: Homeland Security Secretary says family are to blame for child’s death under Border Patrol custody

That seems fairly obvious.

UPDATE: DHS: 7-Year-Old Migrant Who Died Was Not Ill Upon Initial Screening

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Our Hungarian correspondent CrossWare sends the following report to give you a fuller picture of what is happening in Hungary — how outside forces are arranging for domestic disturbances in an attempt to destabilize the Orbán government.

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The Federal Election Campaign Act holds that an “expenditure” is any “purchase, payment, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money, or anything of value, for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office.” According to Cohen and the U.S. Attorney, the hush-money payments were, it appears, made in the hopes of preventing information from becoming public before the election, and hence were “for the purpose of influencing” the election. This means that, at a minimum, they had to be reported to the Federal Election Commission; further, if they were authorized by Mr. Trump, they would become, in the law’s parlance, “coordinated expenditures,” subject to limits on the amounts that could be spent. Since the lawful contribution limit is much lower than the payments made, and the payments were not reported, this looks like an open and shut case, right?

Well, no. Or at least not in the way some might presume. To the contrary, the law — following our common sense — tells us that the hush-money payments outlined by the U.S. Attorney are clearly not campaign expenditures. There is no violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.

So why would he do that? Obviously because that gets The Law off his back with as little lost skin as possible. By getting Cohen to plead guilty to something that wasn’t a crime, they create the illusion that it actually was a crime, which is all part of the attempt to railroad Trump. They can’t indict a sitting President, so this claim will never be tested in an actual court during Trump’s term of office, but it does provide a Clever Plastic Disguise for use by Congressional Democrats in potential impeachment activity.

Steve Sailer watches the crazies so you don’t have to.

Jewish publications have been getting worked up lately over how several of the celebrated leaders of the anti-Trump Women’s March are big fans of the anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan and employed the Black Muslims’ bully boy squad, Fruit of Islam (or “Fruit” for short … yeah, that’s the name), as security. What’s funny is how the whole story nicely illustrates Ann Coulter’s point about how the only thing intersectionalists can come together over is hating the White Man.

I have never seen any aspect of Louis Farrakhan that could reasonably be said to qualify as ‘attractive’. I am therefore at a loss to explain why various Big Name Lefties waste their time schmoozing him, OTHER THAN the fact that he influences a lot of Voters of Color.

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One of the law firms involved in a trove of California lawsuits targeting ExxonMobil and other energy companies is poised to rake in millions of dollars from their climate crusades, according to Climate Litigation Watch.

Sher Edling LLP could capitalize on a big pay-day if San Francisco’s lawsuit against the oil company settles, according to documents obtained Wednesday by the watchdog. The contract between the firm, San Francisco and the county is complex and lays out a multi-tiered payment method for Sher Edling. Altshuler Berzon LLP also represents the city.

The California-based firm’s pay is dependent on the amount of the settlement. If the city secures a $100 million settlement, then lawyers could take home roughly $25 million; if the settlement exceeds $100 million, then they get $32.5 million; and roughly $36.5 million for any settlement hitting $200 million, according to the document obtained by CLW.

Political activism pays pretty well these days.

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Continuing to chronicle the degeneration and dissolution of California.

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Research suggests that elite colleges don’t really help rich white guys. But they can have a big effect if you’re not rich, not white, or not a guy.

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Oh brave new world, that has such prices in it….

Eventually companies will have to provide housing to their employees, which will lead to the ‘company apartment house’ in place of the ‘company store’.

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And the spirit of Ned Ludd roams the open spaces….

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Let that be a lesson to us all.

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And yet, as in ‘Zimbabwe’, you have clueless white people sticking around and waiting for things to get better, like Jews in 1930s Germany, never thinking that the mobs will eventually come for them.

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The L. A. Times published a story presenting scientifically disproved claims of sinking island assertions which were supposed to show the terrible consequence of rejecting the exaggerated IPCC climate report which was based on flawed and failed climate models.

,,,’

The Times ignored the results of scientific studies which clearly showed that Pacific island groups are not sinking and in fact are growing in stark contrast to the phony alarmist claims of sinking islands.

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Perhaps it was something she said.

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Basically, because he’s an ignorant ideologue asshole, I suspect, who wants to tell other people how they can live their lives.

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How about that GREAT government-provided health care! Don’t you wish we had a system like that in the U.S.?

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But you knew that.

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People of Color behaving badly — what are the odds?

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How about that GREAT government-provided health care! Don’t you wish we had a system like that in the U.S.?

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Google has revealed ambitious plans to redevelop its hometown of Mountain View following a major land grab in California.

The technology giant submitted a development proposal to the city on Friday, titled ‘A Shared Vision for North Bayshore’, which describes Google’s vision to transform the neighbourhood “from a place for cars to a place for people.”

The plans include new office space, affordable housing, bike and foot paths, as well as provisions for climate change events predicted over the next century.

Google’s proposal explains: “Protecting development and infrastructure against projected sea-level rise in the year 2100, with development generally located in upland areas; expanding the Charleston Retention Basin by over 2 acres to provide an additional 5 acre-feet of stormwater detention volume during larger storm events; and exploring a series of both public and private partnerships to plan for and fund regional level strategies to address sea-level rise (and associated climate risks).”

Cue weird music from a Brave New World science fiction utopia movie. Think of the volcano caldera from Our Man Flint.

David Cole scopes it out.

As a weapon of leftist ideology enforcement, deplatforming is proving to be strikingly effective, because it accomplishes two things: It removes opposing viewpoints from the marketplace (if one team can’t get to the playing field, the other team wins by default), and it scares potential dissenters into silence, forcing them to self-censor so as not to lose their online presence. Deplatforming is how the left is taking its bubble, that safe terrarium occupied by Hollywood elites and mainstream journalists in which opposing views are out of sight and mind (the “rather special world” lovingly spoken of by the late Pauline Kael), and making it everyone’s bubble.

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Can’t say that I blame them.

Plenty of room in Texas.

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Reading the headlines this week is like taking a trip to an alternate universe. Ten years ago, if you’d have said that in 2018 teachers would get fired for calling a girl a girl, most people wouldn’t have believed you. Unfortunately, that’s the ridiculous world Americans are waking up to every morning. But to most people’s relief, not everyone is playing along with this charade. And that includes President Donald Trump.

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But, presumably, not ‘far-left’ ones.

Evidently, the ‘far-right’ (i.e. anybody to the right of Barack Obama) will need to create their own ‘crowdfunding’ sites in addition to their own online social networks.

The new civil war appears to be on.

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I am not making this up.

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The French are pretty serious about riots.

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• The former CNN contributor and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill was fired from the network on Nov. 29 for comments he made about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• Hill said Palestinians should be able to use violence to defend themselves against Israel and invoked the term “From the river to the sea.”
• Calls for Temple to terminate his teaching contract continue to grow, and supporters and protesters have clashed over what to do next as Hill maintains he’s not an anti-Semite.

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This could be frustrated by shops putting cashpoints in the back of the shop, but for some reason they always put them up front where it’s easy to extract. Ah, well.

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That would explain the Kennedys.

Too bad qualification for office can’t be inherited as well.

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Let that be a lesson to us all.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Note to self: Avoid nightclubs.

The Other McCain does some digging.

One of the dishonest rhetorical tricks that liberals have recently played is to substitute “white supremacy” for “racism” as an accusation with which to smear conservatives. You might imagine we were living through a neo-Nazi revival, the way liberals keep finding “white supremacy” lurking everywhere. The use of this scary term, which conjures up images of goose-stepping Nazis and cross-burning Klansmen, became necessary after groups like the SPLC discovered that merely calling someone a “racist” had become ineffective. Liberals have so overused “racist” as to deprive it of any meaning other than “a white person I don’t like.” If you spend much time analyzing political rhetoric, you realize why liberals developed this habit of name-calling. Because they advocate policies that won’t work or which taxpayers can’t afford (the U.S. government is already $20 trillion in debt), liberals must engage in deception to gain support. Identity politics is once such deception: Claim that a policy will benefit a particular group that is disadvantaged or oppressed, and then accuse opponents of the policy of “hate” against the group.

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Just before Halloween, the U.S. streaming giant Hulu sent out a tweet: “If you’re dressing up for #Huluween this year, this is your reminder to wear a costume that is culturally appropriate and respectful to others. Let’s celebrate the holiday in a way that we can all enjoy.”

The question of whether some Halloween costumes are “appropriate” is one of the hottest flashpoints in the culture wars right now. The mainstream media, university professors and left-wing politicians seem to agree that dressing up as people of another race is inherently offensive while a large proportion of regular people believe that costumes are only offensive if there’s an intent to mock. Unsurprisingly, Hulu’s finger-wagging tweet pissed off a lot of people who wondered why a streaming service was suddenly sounding like a social justice warrior. Hulu deleted the tweet.

The problem is that companies are filling up with snowflakes who have been trained to political correctness since their childhoods, and who think of this sort of ThoughtControl as a perfectly natural thing for a social organization like a company — it wouldn’t occur to them that there is a difference between a business and some sort of club — to do.

That is even ignoring pseudo-businesses like Ben & Jerries whose business model is catering to the special snowflake crowd and depending on charging hipster prices for a virtue-signaling vehicle.

Sammut points out that the corporate virtue-signaling almost exclusively tends to favor the political tastes of the “elites” over the “ordinary” people, and that’s what makes it so dangerous. When Hulu tweets about being “culturally appropriate” at Halloween, it’s affirming values primarily held by rich urban-dwellers in California and New York, while attacking the values of white rural voters who overwhelming elected U.S. President Donald Trump or voted for Brexit.

Again, it’s largely a matter of corporations taking their managerial leadership from Children of the Crust who are more and more products of the Marxist March Through The Institutions and who see absolutely nothing wrong with promoting rigid conformity with proglodyte nostrums. The rabid GoodThink promoted in Silicon Valley is just a sign that things have progressed farther there than elsewhere. In that sense, California is truly ‘ahead’ of the rest of the nation.

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The detention in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO and the daughter of its founder, is further inflaming tensions between the US and China. Her arrest is linked to a US extradition request on undisclosed charges, but China says it’s a human rights violation and is demanding her swift release.

Behind this very public drama is a long-running, behind-the-scenes one centered on western intelligence agencies’ fears that Huawei poses a significant threat to global security. Among the spooks’ biggest concerns are:

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I’m sure Donald Trump is somehow to blame.

Victor Davis Hanson watches things slide.

Apparently, Obama believes that all of Trump’s successes are due to Obama, and all of Trump’s setbacks are his own.

There used to be a custom that ex-Presidents went off to play golf or something and didn’t attempt to continue meddling publicly in politics, and especially refrained from making any comment about their successors.

That hit the trash can with Bill Clinton, who is apparently is incapable of life other than as the center of attention. It stepped back a notch with Bush younger, but the election of a second Democrat narcissist as President has apparently made it one with the snows of yesteryear. (François Villon — great poet.) And I suspect that this is one custom that President Trump will consider an area in which he will not hesitate to push back, as he is wont to do.

So. The world changes. We slide down the slippery slope, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, and wonder what is waiting for us at the bottom. I suspect that it will not be pretty.

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Still waiting for the Usual Suspects to get all hot and bothered about this threat against a Journalistic Colleague.

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Beth Kulow, 35, was arrested on Monday for falsifying public records and three counts of second-degree theft, according to The Associated Press on Thursday. She was released from jail with a court appearance pending for later in December.

Southwestern Community College hired auditors to look into Kulow’s spending history after she said she attended a training in Ohio that never happened, The AP reported Thursday. An audit found she stole $15,000 from the school between 2015 and 2018, and sent altered emails so she wouldn’t be caught.

I wouldn’t care to be this woman’s husband.

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Thanks for the laugh — I needed that.