National Review vs. Lena Dunham

This is making the conservative blog rounds, and the left-wing outrage rounds, so it’s worth commenting on. Kevin Williamson has a new National Review cover story on Lena Dunham, the writer and actress of HBO’s Girls fame and well known (notorious?) Obama supporter. She has a new way TMI memoir out. The article is behind a paywall, but you can read the first few paragraphs. I went to the bookstore to buy the hard copy so I could read it, but they still had the Oct 20 issue. Here is a NR blog post that is free that gives a feel for where the article is coming from.

Here is an example of liberal outrage.

I take it that the main gist of the article is that vocal Democrat Dunham, who is presumably all down with the poor and downtrodden, is actually from a quite privileged background. Her father is from those Dunhams, the ones who came over on the Mayflower. (This got me thinking, “I wonder if Lena is related to Obama whose mother is a Dunham,” but a Google search produced a lot of noise.)

First of all, the conservative commenters who criticize Miss Dunham for her weight and looks are out of line. It is neither Christian nor gentlemanly to do such publically. It also sets you up for the charge of protesting too much. While Miss Dunham is not your typical Hollywood beauty, I suspects she looks at least as good if not better than the girlfriends and wives of many of the people yapping about her looks. (The manosphereites can now commence accusing me of white knighting, but read on.)

What makes Miss Dunham unappealing is not her looks but her attitude, behavior and mindset. She is an exhibitionist of sorts. She is already known for frequently appearing nude in her TV series, which she writes so she has no one to blame but herself. She made a video encouraging young people to vote for Obama where she equated voting for the first time with another first time activity. And now she is out with a reportedly all too detailed memoir. I commended gentlemanly behavior above and therefore by implication commended ladylike behavior as well, and this ain’t it.

Aside from how the popularity of Dunham in some circles and Dunham’s willingness to “expose” herself (literally and figuratively) speak to the general decline of our once civilized society, what I find interesting about this is how did Mayflower descendants largely come to embrace a philosophy of liberalism that is so hostile to the country and system that allowed them to flourish. And how did the upper crust, who were once the guardians of proper behavior, become OK with their children tatting themselves up and parading around nude on TV? Where were mom and dad to tell young Lena, “Honey, proper ladies don’t do such things”

Time Magazine Writer Goes After Ron Paul

I’m shocked that an organ of the liberal establishment media still doesn’t like Ron Paul (and wants to house break Rand Paul). But there is nothing new here except the Ebola stuff which has only been in the news recently. As anyone who has followed Ron Paul at all knows. he has always believed in the right of secession, and he has always made the blowback argument, and both positions are easily defensible if the gatekeepers of acceptable opinions would stop hyperventilating long enough to listen.

The article suggests that the elder Paul is hurting Rand’s chances of securing the GOP nomination by continuing to sound off. One could easily see an implied threat here, although I’m not sure that the writer, Denver Hicks, was actually threatening. He could easily just be a blue who imagines that everyone else will be as appalled by “unacceptable” thinking as he and his circle of blue friends and co-workers are.” But the clear message is “Go away Ron Paul and shut up, or we’ll make life hard for Rand.” I suspect we’ll be hearning more of this message as 2016 ramps up.

Here is the response from the Ron Paul Institute.

Ralph Nader Video Clip on Ron and Rand Paul

Here is the video interview of Ralph Nader spoken of in the post below. He says Rand is “changing by the month” and blames Presidential ambition.

I disagree with Ralph Nader on a lot of things, but he tells it like he thinks it is unlike so many politicians and pundits these days. He has very harsh words for Hillary in here as well.

Ralph Nader Disses Rand Paul

Says he needs to be more like his father. Ain’t that the truth?!

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader had some biting words about Rand Paul, saying the self-described “libertarian-ish” lawmaker is retreating from his roots as he broadens his appeal for a potential presidential bid.

“What he ought to do is go back to his father, sit on his knee and become more like Ron Paul,”

See more here…

Has Mark Steyn Gone Birther?

He’s flirting with it at least.

As an aside, this article illustrates the problem with so many articles at WND. First of all, the headline is misleading. Mark Steyn is a significant figure within conservatism, but he is not a “media star.” Also, only the first few paragraphs contain the new story. The rest is a rehash of old news. That stated, Mark Steyn toying with birtherism is an interesting development since most “mainstream conservatives” won’t touch the issue with a 10 foot pole.

For the record, since the old site archives are gone (for now) and we haven’t discussed this issue in a while, I don’t believe Obama was born in Kenya. I do think it is possible that his birth story does not match reality or he otherwise has some embarrassing details that he is attempting to hide, and I don’t think the press has done their job of actually investigating. Instead, they have shilled for the official version and been deliberately incurious when questions have been raised.

Alex Jones in the Waking Life

Here is the Alex Jones vignette I spoke about in the thread below. Remember this is circa 2001. It is conspiratorial (them vs. us) but not specifically so (as in 9/11 was an inside job) and perhaps more easily embraced by liberals since he attacks “corporate slavery,” but these populist anti-elite themes are still there today. That is how he can be embraced by liberals like Charlie Sheen. Whatever you may think of the guy, you have to admit he has a certain talent for oratory.

Richard Spencer Appears on Alt-Right Podcast

Here is Richard Spencer talking about his recent arrest in Hungary.

So have Spencer and Alt-Right put their differences behind them? They say they have at the beginning of the podcast.

Justin Raimondo Does Not Like Alex Jones

This is interesting. It is an article by Justin Raimondo describing the interaction he had with Alex Jones at a conference they both spoke at. Raimondo is not a fan.

I get Raimondo’s point, but as I have observed before, when you reside on the political fringes as we do, conspiracy theorists are a fact of life. I’m sure all of us believe things that many mainstream conventional wisdom types would consider conspiratorial or otherwise “out there.” So I don’t know how you police this kind of thing. How conspiratorial is too conspiratorial? The way I see it is we should make common cause with people when we can and don’t when we can’t. And when our enemies say that the presence of conspiratorialists among us taints the whole, we should call them out for their simple-mindedness.

Straight from the SPLC to the Pages of Salon

Here is a Salon article by Keegan Hankes on some disputes within the “white nationalist” community. The most interesting part of the article is this: “This article was originally published by The Southern Poverty Law Center.” So Salon, which already has a reputation as a PC thought policing organ, is now just reprinting articles straight from the SPLC? Was Jamie Kirchick not available to write a separate article to at least give some pretense of objectivity? The PC police at Salon are laughably intellectually unserious.

Of note, the article is based off a Hunter Wallace post at Occidental Dissent about “beefs” among white nationalists.

“Journalist” James Kirchick Attacks Richard Spencer (Again)

And in other news, a bear just…

James Kirchick has just churned out another formulaic PC hit piece against Richard Spencer. Kirchick, of Ron Paul newsletters “exposé” fame, appears to be the go-to guy for PC hit pieces. Seriously James? You went to Yale University. Is this really how you envisioned your “journalistic” career going? Writing trashy insert-a-smear hit pieces for a sensationalistic leftist website? Did you really as a little kid think, “Gee, I want to grow up and be a thought policer?” Only intellectual cowards make their main strategy against their ideological enemies calling them a “big fat poopie-head.” Here’s an idea James: actually make an argument.

Can’t you just image little Jamie on the playground? “Woo woo! I heard that! I’m telling Teacher! Teacher, teacher, Ricky just said a naughty word!” Kirchick is a glorified tattletale. How did he allow himself to become a hitman for the thought police? Isn’t he demeaned by this intellectually unserious role at least a little bit? Here’s another idea James: investigate something, report on something. You know, do what real journalists do.