'Under Pressure'

From Tuesday's drive-time, at 93.1 Jack FM Los Angeles, Queen and David Bowie:

Sweet Dreams
EURYTHMICS
6:31am

Small Town
John Mellencamp
6:20am

Just Like Heaven
Cure
6:17am

Jane Says
Jane's Addiction
6:12am

Start Me Up
Rolling Stones
6:09am

Under Pressure
Queen & David Bowie
6:05am

The Middle
Jimmy Eat World
6:02am

Crazy Train
Ozzy Osbourne
5:55am

Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberals?

I donated my copy to the library a couple of years back, but maybe I shouldn't have. The Democrats are hatin' on the Jews like there's no tomorrow. We're going to see some partisan realignment in 2020's voting, or we should see some. If Jewish voters keep backing the racist Dems I'll be gobsmacked. *Shrugs.*

At Amazon, Norman Podhoretz, Why Are Jews Liberals?

And prompted by John Hinderaker's post, linked at Instapundit, "THEY’VE EMBRACED IT: John Hinderaker: Do The Democrats Hate Hate? No."

Like the Labour Party in Great Britain, the Democratic Party has become a haven for anti-Semites.

Seriously.

Is 'War and Peace' the 'Greatest of All Novels'?

I don't think so, but then, it's been 30 years since I read that brick, lol.

At Amazon, Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (Penguin Classics, Deluxe Edition).

And at the New Criterion:

Just 150 years ago, in 1869, Tolstoy published the final installment of War and Peace, often regarded as the greatest of all novels. https://t.co/nuTW57V6At

— The New Criterion (@newcriterion) March 6, 2019

Nazi Swastika at Newport Harbor High School Kegger Party

This is mind-boggling to me, but then, it's almost 75 years since the end of World War II and the defeat of the Nazis. Perhaps there's something to the effect of "historical amnesia" among today's youth. Still, the education system is doing Generation Z no favors. Sooner or later folks have to take responsibility, and some of these kids at the party could have their futures seriously effed up.

At the Los Angeles Times:

Teens involved in swastika party apologize as outrage grows. ‘My actions were disgusting’ https://t.co/6dZfYjXtXt

— L.A. Times: L.A. Now (@LANow) March 5, 2019

“Ignorance is the soil from which evil takes root. When we get to a point where it’s elected officials appearing in blackface in younger days and younger people today making light of the Holocaust, it shows an incredible stressor on the civic fault lines” https://t.co/NS77ss2f6W

— Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) March 6, 2019

When Kaitlyn saw the Snapchat photos of fellow Orange County teenagers posing around a swastika made of red Solo cups, she immediately posted a screenshot to social media, expecting outrage.

Instead, she got a mixed response. Some people were offended by the display. But others said they were more surprised by the outcry — arguing that students, some posed with their arms raised in Nazi salutes, were just joking.

“How can these kids who have been educated about [the Holocaust] still find it funny?” said Kaitlyn, a 17-year-old student at a private Jewish school in Irvine.

The Holocaust is a standard topic covered in history classes, and “The Diary of Anne Frank” is often required high school reading. But with time, knowledge of the Nazi atrocities among young people has decreased. And some darker ideas are filling the void.

A study commissioned last year by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany showed that 66% of U.S. millennials did not know what the Auschwitz concentration camp was. Four in 10 millennials thought 2 million or fewer Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust; the actual number is around 6 million.

For people born after 2000, post-millennials, the Holocaust feels less real, as they’re less likely to hear from the ever-dwindling number of survivors and WWII veterans, said Edward Dunbar, a UCLA clinical professor who has researched hate crimes and violence for two decades.

“These forms of atrocities are fading far into the distance for young non-adults, adolescents and teenagers, and it’s no closer than the Civil War would be for them,” Dunbar said.

Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino's Center on Hate and Extremism, said revisionist history about issues like the Holocaust can eventually lead to hate crimes.

What’s most disturbing about incidents like the Costa Mesa party last weekend, he said, is that most of the students likely are not “hardened bigots” but that Nazi symbols have become so mainstreamed that their meaning has been diluted.

“What’s scary is that there’s far more ignorance in America than evil, but ignorance is the soil from which evil takes root,” Levin said. “When we get to a point where it’s elected officials appearing in blackface in their younger days and younger people today making light of the Holocaust, it shows an incredible stressor on the civic fault lines.”

The Orange County incident comes as hate crimes are spiking nationwide. From 2014 to 2017, anti-Semitic hate crimes rose 54%, according to the FBI.

Particularly alarming, experts on hate and extremism said, is the rise in incidents on school campuses. In California, there was a 65% increase in hate crimes on elementary and secondary school campuses from 2012 to 2017, according to a report by the state’s Department of Justice.

There has been a huge jump in recent years of reported “papering” incidents on high school and college campuses, with hate groups posting fliers with slogans like, “It’s OK to be white” and “protect your heritage,” Levin said.

The Orange County teenagers, who were attending a Costa Mesa house party, were far from the only ones to have invoked Nazi iconography or gestures.

In December, students at Matilija Junior High School in Ojai lay down on a field in the shape of a swastika and shared a photo in a group chat that included racist comments. In 2016, a sophomore at Shadow Hills High School came to class dressed as a Nazi on Halloween, and the school held sensitivity training after pictures of her circulated on Twitter and Snapchat.

High school students in New Jersey, Florida, Kansas and Georgia have been punished in recent years after posting photos of a beer pong-style drinking game called “Jews versus Nazis,” in which teams arrange plastic cups in the shape of swastikas and the Star of David.

After Kaitlyn, who did not want her last name used out of concern she would be targeted online, posted screenshots from the party, a friend texted her screenshots showing a Snapchat conversation among some of the students at the house that night. They were making insensitive jokes about the Holocaust.

“Yaaaa no, phones gonna die,” one student wrote. “Just like the Jews.”

The students had titled the conversation “master race.”

One said to be at the party posted an Instagram story with what initially looked like an apology, saying he was “very sorry for my actions as I am guilty by association.” In the next image, he wrote that he was just joking, that “last night was awesome” and that he had “absolutely no sympathy” for anybody who was offended. He claimed to be Jewish. Then he deleted his account...

I Was Assaulted at Berkeley Because I'm Conservative

Great, great piece from Hayden Williams, at USA Today:

I was assaulted at U.C. Berkeley because I'm conservative. Free speech is under attack. #HaydenWilliams #Berkeley #RadicalLeft 😣 https://t.co/WeQQXNkntv

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 7, 2019

And his attorney today at his arraignment demanding the "presumption of innocence," when it was all caught on video, lol. The dude will take a plea deal of some sort, but if it doesn't include time behind bars conservatives should riot just like leftists, heh.

Irony: Zachary Greenberg’s lawyer demanding the presumption of innocence “a right,” after her thug client was recorded on camera repeatedly punching a guy in the face over free speech, the victim’s right. Throw the book at him. https://t.co/b9bFZ0g4rg

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) March 6, 2019

Faith Goldy Interviews Michelle Malkin at CPAC (VIDEO)

Following-up, "And to Think, I Was Actually Following This Guy *SHRUGS*."

Faith Goldy's a correspondent for V-Dare now, I guess. I like both Faith and V-Dare. I just don't like so-called conservatives veering over into Nazism, which is what that idiot Nick Fuentes is doing.

Nice interview with Michelle, in any case:

And to Think, I Was Actually Following This Guy *SHRUGS*

It's Nicholas Fuentes, who I thought I'd give a follow a month or two ago, but then I saw him tweeting vile anti-Israel tropes, and dink! Unfollowed the f***er.

And for some reason, I just came across this editorial, out today, at the Iowa State Daily, "Editorial: Iowa State deserves the right to know about controversial speakers."

I'm not for punching Nazis, but I don't think top conservatives should be mainstreaming racist goons like this guy, and apparently Fuentes was getting some attention from "alt-right" icons at CPAC, including Faith Goldy, who I like (but who is too close to genuine racists).

In any case, we live in interesting times, as they say.

Completely unedited pic.twitter.com/l9psFUvwZg

— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) March 3, 2019

Batya Ungar-Sargon is Just Wow

Batya Ungar-Sargon writes for the Jewish Daily Forward, and this piece is incredible, at Memeorandum, "The Left Is Making Jews Choose: Our Progressive Values or Ourselves."

This piece is da bomb dang! #IlhanOmar #AOC #RashidaTlaib #Democrats #AntiSemitism 👀 https://t.co/GXk6LPdfJp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 6, 2019

While reading it earlier I googled her and found that she's got a shady history, to put it mildly. What can you do? I followed her, in any case, but see this post, "Haredim in Ramapo: A Dishonest Account From a Dishonest Writer."

Cardi B on a Yacht

At Drunken Stepfather, "Cardi B – Stripper on a Yacht."

She's crazy hot lol.

Issa vibe pic.twitter.com/P2TQelSpK1

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 5, 2019

PLEASE ME MUSIC VIDEO OUT NOW !!!https://t.co/KjukhV6aHi pic.twitter.com/7oITviHbiN

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 2, 2019

Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing: A Novel.

Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps

At Amazon, Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps: 10th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author.

Porsche is Trying to Reinvent Itself in the Wake of Germany's Diesel-Emissions Scandal

I don't love electric cars, but if any company could change my mind, it's Porsche. (Tesla's don't do it for me at all.)

At Der Spiegel, "Electric Dreams: Porsche's Quest to Make Eco-Friendly Sports Cars":

Porsche is trying to reinvent itself in the wake of Germany's diesel-emissions scandal by turning itself into an environmentally friendly sports-car company. It's a billion-euro bet with enormous possibilities -- and enormous risk. https://t.co/nJDT1YyiIH

— SPIEGEL ONLINE English (@SPIEGEL_English) February 27, 2019

The Porsche of the future is still so secret that it's not allowed off the company's premises without an elaborate disguise. Two fake exhaust pipes stick out the rear, while a green pollution badge adorns the windshield. It's all an act to mislead competitors. Under the hood, there's neither a combustion engine nor an injection system. Instead, there are two electric motors and a heavy battery.

So far, it's just a test vehicle inconspicuously parked in front of Porsche's development center in Weissach, near Stuttgart. Porsche, however, is planning to unveil its first electric car at the end of 2019, and revamp its brand from the ground up.

Even for the engineers responsible for its roll-out, the new e-model is a culture shock. Ever since the first sports car hit the pavement 70 years ago, the name Porsche has stood for flashy combustion engines that roar when drivers hit the gas. Poor emission values and high fuel consumption were practically part of the brand's DNA. But the company's new model, the Taycan, is emissions-free -- and it's as quiet as a toy car.

For Porsche, this means it's no longer competing with the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, BMW or Mercedes. It's now in a direct contest with Tesla, the pioneering electric-car company from California. "Our goal is to be a technological trailblazer," says Porsche CEO Oliver Blume.

The End of an Era

Blume's plans are more ambitious than those of other German automobile manufacturers. By 2025, he wants at least half of the cars Porsche sells to be electric. Five years later, according to the company's own forecasts, Porsche will hardly have any vehicles on its assembly line with conventional combustion engines.

In late 2018, the company's supervisory board resolved to outfit Porsche's best-selling car with an electric motor within the next few years. The new version of the Macan, a compact off-road vehicle, will soon be fully electric. For the petrol-powered model, there will be only an update. After that, the era of the gas-guzzler will gradually come to an end.

It's a billion-euro bet with enormous possibilities -- and enormous risk. If Blume's plan works out, Porsche could become an ecologically oriented sports-car company, a role model for the entire German automobile industry. It would be proof that the industry has learned its lesson after the diesel scandal -- in which Porsche's parent-company, the Volkswagen Group, was found to have tricked emissions tests to make its vehicles seem more environmentally friendly than they really were -- and that it has not entirely slept through the transition to electric mobility.

The problem, however, is that Porsche's offensive comes at a time of great uncertainty. Nobody knows whether the company will be able to sell enough of its new e-cars. The brand has many loyal fans with a penchant for combustion engines. Even one of Porsche's brand ambassadors, Walter Röhrl, an ex-rally driver, has said e-mobility is the "wrong track."

Porsche's Dirty Past

Meanwhile, demand in the world's two largest automotive markets, the United States and China, is slowing, and disputes are further weighing on business. If U.S. President Donald Trump makes good on his threats to impose punitive import tariffs on foreign cars, Porsche would be more adversely affected than other German manufacturers. The sports-car maker sells nearly a quarter of its vehicles in America, yet has none of its production facilities there. The result would be a sharp drop in profits.

Then there's the fact that Porsche, in its quest toward a clean future, is regularly confronted with its dirty past.

At the end of January, the carmaker filed self-indictments with Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and the U.S. environmental authorities. The reason: Porsche's iconic 911 sports car was emitting more CO2 than the company had previously disclosed. And it wasn't just older models: its 2016 and 2017 models were affected as well. The authorities are now investigating whether Porsche's failure to disclose was a mere oversight -- or possibly Germany's next exhaust scandal. The Public Prosecutor's Office in Stuttgart has initiated a so-called inspection process. Porsche has added that it's continuing its own internal investigations.

Porsche is also still under pressure for its role in Germany's "Dieselgate" scandal. Three company employees are under investigation on suspicion of fraud and false advertising. And the case against them is getting stronger, sources familiar with the investigations say. The defendants have yet to be granted access to the evidence against them, but it is conceivable that charges will be filed against them in 2019, the sources add.

To this day, Porsche rejects any blame for the German diesel scandal. The company has remained firm on its assertion that it didn't build the motors in question itself, but rather bought them from its sister brand Audi. Porsche has even considered pursuing financial compensation from Audi to the tune of 200 million euros ($227 million)...

Combustion engines are the best, and it'd be sad if this environmental push destroyed the brand.

But what the hell? It's the culture we have now. Better for American car-makers, I guess. (*Shrugs.*)

Still more.

Kim Strassel Interview with Harmeet Dillon at CPAC (VIDEO)

This is extremely fascinating.

Ms. Dillon is someone you'd definitely want on your side. She mentions Meghan Murphy's case at the interview, for example, as well as a bunch of other inside baseball on Silicon Valley ideological intolerance.

Good stuff:

Adam Makos, Spearhead

At Amazon, Adam Makos, Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II.

Hailey Clauson Brings the Heat (VIDEO)

She's a lovely tart, isn't she?

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

At Amazon, David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present.

Greg Grandin, The End of the Myth

Out today, at Amazon, Greg Grandin, The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America.

The Slow Creep of Socialism (VIDEO)

Here's Dennis Prager, on Judge Jeanine's, from over the weekend when Prager was in D.C. for CPAC.

At Fox:

Don Winslow, The Border

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Don Winslow, The Border: A Novel.

Belgian Carnival Float Features Puppets of Grinning Jews and Money Bags

Following-up, "Labour Party MP Chris Williamson Warns of 'Dark Forces' Undermining Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn; Theresa May Calls for His Suspension (VIDEO)."

I shouldn't be so optimistic that citizens of democracies will rebuke the hate, if Belgium is any example.

At JTA:

Half a lifetime ago, I lived in Belgium. I have never seen something more shocking and yet, been totally unsurprised. https://t.co/E97MONGaiF

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) March 4, 2019