I made a Substack

Honestly, WordPress doesn’t work the way it used to. Features that were once freely available are now impossible to find or behind some absurd pay scheme. I know I’ve been very critical of Substack somewhere on here in the past, because it effectively bans all dissidents who have gotten banned from Stripe from monetizing their work, and it does, in fact, have a prohibition on hate speech that can easily be exploited by the worst of the worst.

With that said, the people working for Substack who have been active on Twitter (yes, I know) seem to be pretty expressly pro-free speech, while I received a nice little email from Google Adsense warning me not to run afoul of the accepted narrative on Russia-Ukraine:

My WordPress is not monetized through Google AdSense; still, they felt the need to just let me know. Wink wink, nudge nudge, goodbye account.

I think the “lesser of two evils” argument makes Substack, for now, a better alternative. At least until some loser gets the site to start banning people for their views. Then, all bets are off.

If you’re interested in subscribing, here’s the link: https://communismkills.substack.com/

Alternatively, don’t be alarmed if I automatically add your email to my list of subscribers if, or when, I import things. It’s me!

Some reflections on what happened today in D.C.

I was at both the Stop the Steal rally outside the White House and the march to the Capitol. Although I stayed far away from the crowds at the Capitol, and I was way in the overflow area at the Ellipse, the sentiment from everyone appeared to be the same: we need to do something because we can’t keep living this way.

What if I told you that you don’t have a choice? There won’t be a civil war. There won’t be another revolution. All you’re going to get is more subjugation.

So many people seem to believe that we just can’t go on this way, that the government has to let people secede. Ha! People tried that already, and it didn’t work, and now they’re described as some of history’s greatest monsters.

Any kind of Biden-esque “reconciliation” is going to involve establishment GOP guys, like Kasich, and the Democrats will say, look, we reached out to you guys, and you wouldn’t accept it, and now you’re all crazy radical terrorists trying to form right-wing militias to overthrow a duly elected government.

Do you really think that after today, after the U.S. government killed a veteran*, that the government would ever let you you peacefully do your own thing?

No, the next however many years of American history is just going to involve the government taking away more and more of your rights, and you won’t be able to, or powerful enough, to do anything about it. And you know you’re just going to sit by and do nothing, because you can’t do anything.

*Edited to share new information about the woman killed

Why do people continue to think they have the power to fight back?

A lot of people are enraged by this story in the New York Times, of a reporter cheering on a boy who gleefully destroyed the life of one of his former classmate because she said that one big no-no word when she was a freshman. For summary:

“[…]

“I wanted to get her where she would understand the severity of that word,” Mr. Galligan, 18, whose mother is Black and father is white, said of the classmate who uttered the slur, Mimi Groves. He tucked the video away, deciding to post it publicly when the time was right.

“Ms. Groves had originally sent the video, in which she looked into the camera and said, “I can drive,” followed by the slur, to a friend on Snapchat in 2016, when she was a freshman and had just gotten her learner’s permit. It later circulated among some students at Heritage High School, which she and Mr. Galligan attended, but did not cause much of a stir.

The next month, as protests were sweeping the nation after the police killing of George Floyd, Ms. Groves, in a public Instagram post, urged people to “protest, donate, sign a petition, rally, do something” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“You have the audacity to post this, after saying the N-word,” responded someone whom Ms. Groves said she did not know.

Her alarm at the stranger’s comment turned to panic as friends began calling, directing her to the source of a brewing social media furor. Mr. Galligan, who had waited until Ms. Groves had chosen a college, had publicly posted the video that afternoon. Within hours, it had been shared to Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter, where furious calls mounted for the University of Tennessee to revoke its admission offer.

The consequences were swift. Over the next two days, Ms. Groves was removed from the university’s cheer team. She then withdrew from the school under pressure from admissions officials, who told her they had received hundreds of emails and phone calls from outraged alumni, students and the public.”

People seem to think that this is something new, but this is exactly what happened to Kyle Kashuv: he wrote some no-no words, and jealous classmates got mad, and so Harvard rescinded his admissions offer. The same exact thing happened to kids admitted to Harvard a few years ago over the memes they shared.

And, even as the article states, this is nothing new:

“Ms. Groves was among many incoming freshmen across the country whose admissions offers were revoked by at least a dozen universities after videos emerged on social media of them using racist language.”

This has been going on for a long time. None of this is anything new. People have had their college admissions revoked for supposed “racism” for years now.

A few well-meaning friends have been saying, we need to fight back. But how, exactly, can you fight back? Digging up tweets where these people like Galligan say they hate white people, or men, or anything like that, will have absolutely no impact on their lives. If anything, the university and corporate boardrooms will applaud and reward them for sharing their positions about diversity. They might even get a gig at the New York Times over it! The media won’t hold media figures “accountable” for saying far-left radical stuff, because they support and perpetrate far-left radical stuff. A right-wing echo chamber can get upset, sure, but these people will be protected by the mainstream at all costs, and emerge as folklore heroes who “hold power accountable.”

Sure, the system isn’t fair. It’s set up against people like you. All the state and corporate power is against you. The state and corporations support “reckoning campaigns” against teenage girls for being “racist” at 15. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll realize how truly bad things really are.

An example of who really holds power in the conservative movement… attacking conservatives

It looks like Curtis Houck, the managing editor of Newsbusters, decided to pick a fight with the wonderful Michelle Malkin for no apparent reason:

(Active link here)

I’m personally familiar with Curtis because of my years working at the same organization with him. In fact, we worked in the same department. You wouldn’t know this by the way he’s publicly posted about me in the past few years, however.

Here are some tweets/retweets Curtis has made about me over the years, and some of his “likes” about me. Some I can’t find anymore because they were so long ago:

Image may contain: text that says 'Curtis HouckRetweeted Kimberly Ross @SouthernKeeks Dec 14 Ashley's journey from ofnormal right- leaning political account supremacist apologist defending Vdare, has certainly been strange and witness. used follow MlUmWn KILLS Follow Ashley Rae Goldenberg @Communism_Kills Kills Ashley Goldenberg, AKA Communism Kills. "It's important to stay informed, the commentary to comment on." Free speech absolutist. DM DM me your tips. twitter.com/communismkills2 Joinec June 2012 1,915 Following 32K Followers 220'
Image may contain: text that says 'Curtis Retweeted Gabe Hoffman @GabeHoff Dec TFW you start Twitter drama & subtweet the same person 20 times, on Friday nite, and think the blockis badge fhonor Ashley Rae Goldenberg 27m $20 she's tweeting about me while having me blocked so her simps can cum all over themselves at her attacking an "ugly" woman. woman.| I found out was blocked in the middle of replying. Mindy Robinson @heartmindy 'reblocked piheartmindy's Leanmore'
Image may contain: text that says 'Curtis Curtis Houck Follow 48 Kimberly Ross @SouthernKeeks Dec 14 Ashley'sjourney from kind of normal political account white supremacist apologist defending Vdare, etc has certainly been strange and sad to witness. used follow her. Follow Ashley Rae Goldenberg @Communism_Kills Ashley Rae Goldenberg, AKA Communism Kills. "It's important to stay informed, the commentary to comment on." Free speech absolutist. DM me vour tins 64 27 220'
Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'Curtis Houck 45.7K Likes Follow lan Miles Cheong 18h I've lost my appetite. Who the fuck reuses plates with rotting food on them? Even characters in The Sims don't do that. 4 Retweets 29 Likes Ashley Rae Goldenberg @Com... -3h Damn I guess you guys had much different childhoods than me. If we used a plate for breakfast, and that plate was still on the table around dinner, our dinner went on it. 22 97 31 410'
Image may contain: text that says 'Follow Curtis Houck 45.7L.ks Mindy Robinson @iheartmindy Replying @GabeHoff the middle replying" which like every lying saying called her ugly" and told people happened post minutes. Lol. started fired which never said "ain't nobody Gabe Hoffman @GabeHoff Dec TFW you start Twitter drama subtweet ofhonor times, ona Ashley Rae Goldenberg 27m $20 she's still tweeting about me while having me blocked so her simps cum all over themselves her attacking an "ugly" woman. found out blocked in the middle of replying. 2 ARECONSERVATIVE'
Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text that says 'Curtis Houck liked Bethany S. Mandel @bethanys... 7h The only thing stranger than watching one Jewish woman cozy up to the alt-right is watching two of them do it. 38 72 113'

This is someone who had no problem with me when we worked next to each other. Weirdly, he never voiced a single concern about my views when we were in the same room together.

Similarly, here are some tweets Curtis sent trying to get Malkin’s attention on Twitter… just a year ago:

Also lol:

People who aren’t familiar with the inside baseball of the conservative movement might not know how important Curtis actually is. As the managing editor of Newsbusters, he has a ton of power over what stories ultimately make it on the website, the angle of the stories, and what language has to be included in the stories. There are people above him, but Curtis does most of the daily editing:

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text that says 'Curtis Houck Follow Houck Center NewsBusters Managing Editor Editor for the Media Research currently the Managing NewsBusters served he Analysis Division. During the best and shows, late-night comedy programs. January acted Sunday for NewsBusters. evening analyst, primetime to April 2016, the years that he's with NewsBusters, his featured various Fox Channel programs Breitbart, Review, Daily The Wire, Drudge Report, The Federalist, FoxNews.com Mediaite, Limbaugh Resurgent, Townhall, Washington The Washington appeared Cheddar, NRA-TV, and Newsmax coast coast both local and to hundreds after graduate ofPenn Arts History interning Heritage Foundation County Pennsylyania. University also the with Bachelor fall fLancaster Vienna.'

If you think you haven’t heard of Newsbusters before, you’re wrong. Their studies are regularly cited on Fox News. They’re the go-to website for any kind of study or measure of liberal media bias. Their social media posts regularly go viral, the White House has cited them, etc.

More inside baseball: Newsbusters is just one of the outlets that is owned by the Media Research Center, a nonprofit with the slogan “don’t believe the liberal media.” You’ve probably seen their signs before. MRC also owns CNS News, where Malkin is still a contributor to this day. The last column of hers that they picked up was a few days ago:

This means that Curtis is actively insulting one of the current contributors who actually gets people to read one of the MRC brands.

On a personal level, Curtis loves to talk about how much he cares about mental health. He talks about his depression. He talks about how he wanted to die after his short-term relationships failed. He references how he changes his Facebook default photo to a photo of Charlie Brown crying every time he gets dumped.

At the same time, he loves to dogpile on people and tries to insult them by pretending they are mentally ill and need “help.” He’s done the exact same to me. If he truly thought his political opponents were mentally ill, he’d offer them sympathy, instead of sending internet mobs against them. But of course, like so many people who go on and on about their mental illnesses, he just wants to make people feel bad for saying anything mean about him.

Curtis likes to pretend he’s better than the Bulwark and Lincoln Project crowd, but it’s unclear what actual conservative principles he holds.

He’s a big NASCAR guy, and here’s what he had to say when they banned the Confederate flag:

What, exactly, is he conserving?

(Archive here)

How ironic.

Got quite an interesting email today…

I subscribe to quite a few conservative org newsletters. Here’s one that really caught my eye today:

Here’s the description of the webinar:

“Once a year, the Center for Conservative Women hosts a distinguished male speaker. This year the President of Young America’s Foundation (YAF), Ron Robinson, will be joining us. We will learn about the history of the conservative movement and hear advice on moving forward.
Ron Robinson has served as YAF’s president for more than four decades. A native of Buffalo, New York, Robinson received a BA in political science at Canisius College and a JD from The Catholic University of America. He was previously an advisor to the U.S. Department of Education during the Reagan Administration and has co-authored a book. 

Robinson has led YAF through two successful landmark Supreme Court victories for student rights; the inauguration and development of the National Conservative Student Conference and the National High School Leadership Conference held annually in Washington; and the Foundation’s effort to save Ronald Reagan’s ranch. He received the 2017 Annie Taylor Award from the David Horowitz Freedom Center. 

Robinson serves as a director of Citizens United and the Citizens United Foundation, a director of the American Conservative Union, and vice president of the Free Speech Defense and Education Fund. He also serves on the boards of the Strong Charitable Trust and the D.J. Findley Family Foundation.

He is a member of the Virginia and U.S. Supreme Court Bars and resides with his wife, Michelle Easton, president of the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women, in Reston, Virginia.
The end of 2020 finds our nation at a crossroads. We must chart a strong path forward, fighting for conservative values and the U.S. Constitution. Join us for this valuable time with a key person in the conservative movement! We know that you will learn and be inspired to defend American values. Sign up today!”

In case you missed it: Ron Robinson here is the husband of the president of the organization he’s speaking to.

Ron seems to have a pretty cushy job, talking about the future of the conservative movement. From the most recent 990 tax form for YAF:

And his wife, organizing the whole thing, and giving a platform for her husband:

In case any of you wanted to know what pays big in nonprofit world: being the president of the nonprofit.

In Defense of Being Blackpilled

If only you knew how bad things really are.

Whenever someone gives me another example of media bias, or tech censorship, or political correctness to the extreme, my initial reaction is always the same: what did you expect?

Can you believe what Twitter did this time? Yes.

Can you believe what CNN said today? Yes.

Can you believe what they’re teaching in schools these days? Yes.

And, most of all, can you believe that Republicans are just going along with this? Yes.

If you’ve been paying attention to politics for very long at all, you’ll notice that these new outrages of the day aren’t exactly new. They’re just same things that happened before, but sometimes, on a different scale. Take, for instance, the Black Lives Matter riots over the country during the spring and summer. If you think you’ve never seen anything like this before, were you paying attention to the Ferguson riots? Or the Baltimore riots? Take Trump talking about his reparations plan for blacks and Latinos in the last few days of the campaign. Does this really seem any different to you than standard politician fare begging for votes? History just repeated itself, to a slightly different degree.

Nothing in the news particularly fazes me, and it shouldn’t shock or surprise you, either. It can upset you, sure, but it shouldn’t surprise you. All of this has been coming for a long time. It’s not out of nowhere. It’s just everything moving incrementally along the same line, towards the same goal. To see what’s happening next isn’t a slippery slope or predicting the future, it’s just knowing how things work.

Sure, there are things people can do to try to temporary halt the bad things from happening. But ultimately, they’re still going to happen one way or another. You can try to prevent the inevitable for a few years but the inevitable will always win out. You can try to take a stand, you can try to be loud about it, but remember, there’s really no way to ever go back.

Happy holidays, friends.

I’m old enough to remember about six months ago…

When talking about secession would get you branded a “racist” or a “white supremacist” by mainstream voices within the Republican Party. After all, it happened to me, personally.

Now, it appears, even Allen West is on board:

Image

I can’t wait for the folks at NRO, WashEx, etc. to call West a racist white supremacist who loves the Confederacy, too!

I’ve been offline again for Hanukkah so I have not seen many social media posts doing exactly that, but this from Nick Sandmann, conservative wunderkind who we all bonded together to support, is pretty disappointing:

(Archive here)

(Archive here)

And, of course, he fell for the “Lincoln is the best” trope.

(Archive here)

They’ve come for Thomas Jefferson–and won

Some more local news, courtesy of the Falls Church News-Press:

“After six months of a lengthy and often contentious debate involving the entire City of Falls Church community, the Falls Church School Board voted unanimously tonight to change the names of two of its five schools, ones named for U.S. founding fathers who famously owned slaves, George Mason and Thomas Jefferson.”

Yep, you’re reading that right, the Falls Church School Board voted unanimously to rename a school named after Thomas Jefferson.

Remember when everyone said it was just going to be Confederate generals?

This is why you never give an inch.

Falls Church also kindly provided an estimate of how much these renamings will cost the city:

“The cost to develop and administer the survey and provide reports to the School Board is $8,500.

Information on potential costs that may result if the Board decides to change the name of either school is available here. For George Mason High School, the estimated total is $96,760; for Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, the estimate is $13,500.  “

That’s $118,760, as a rough approximation.

There’s also a break down:

That’s some hefty price tag to get rid of your own history.

WTOP also reported that despite the vote being unanimous, the people of Falls Church actually wanted the names to remain the same:

“The survey revealed that 56% of the community overall asked that the names stay on the schools, including 61% of the parents of Thomas Jefferson Elementary students and 57% of George Mason High parents.

Although the vote stands in contrast to the survey, the school board chairman said the school board listened to the community.”

But hey, this is the new consensus.