Programming note: Tonight, Monday, I'll be live with Tucker Carlson, coast to coast across America at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific, with a rerun at midnight Eastern. Hope you'll tune in. Don't know what's on the agenda, but herewith a potpourri of Monday headlines:
I've been boycotting the Grammys since "Feline Groovy" inexplicably failed to garner, as the rock journalists say, a half-dozen awards. So I didn't discover until this morning that the Grammy producers had booked an actual grammy, Hillary Clinton, to appear in a sketch about the Fire and Fury audio book. I know there are those who think pop culture's completely lost its sense of danger and rebelliousness, but c'mon, in an age whose very slogan is one of groupthink coercion (#MeToo) what could be edgier, as they say, than to book a serial enabler of serial predators? Cool! #Time'sUp - but, oddly, never for Hillary. Next year maybe Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose can appear in bathrobes and play a few cords.
~Meanwhile, in further news of female empowerment, Australia is promoting itself as a hub of the booming "modest fashion" market:
Modest fashion is clothing that conceals rather than accentuating the body – and it is quickly increasing in popularity.
Hmm. Interesting. Why would "modest fashion" be "quickly increasing in popularity"? Particularly for, say, unaccompanied women walking at night in certain neighborhoods of western cities?
Once upon a time Australian fashion was associated with women like Elle Macpherson, who was known as "The Body" because it was very evident that she had one. But from The Body to the body bag is a mere blink of an eye. This new exhibition, funded by Australian taxpayers and promoted by my old friend Julie Bishop's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, celebrates the Australian inventor of the burqini and "the rise of the hijabistas".
That's great news! Tie me burqa hood down, sport! Who'll come a-shroudin' Matilda with me? Sorry, I'm just working on my Grammy nomination for Best Covered Versions.
Unfortunately, The Australian's Caroline Overington is none too happy at being fitted for her burqini:
'Modest Australian fashion.'
In case you don't know what that is, it's skirts to the floor, ladies.
It is full body suits at the beach. It's covering up your hair, and draping yourself in heavy fabric as you go about your day.
When did this become something the Australian government wanted to promote, and celebrate?
Tim Blair adds:
Anyone heard from the feminists on this?
No - because what could be more empowering than volunteering for prison garb?
~Meanwhile, back in the real world, an Italiian "migrant rights" group, Rosso Leone, is offering free courtship lessons to the more excitable young Mohammedans about how to behave if the local womenfolk are unaccountably resistant to your charms:
Marco Gheller responsabile di Leone Rosso ha spiegato come funziona il progetto della cooperativa per trasmettere la cultura italiana ai profughi. "Le insegnanti - spiega Gheller al Carlino - due donne italiane ma di origine africana, spiegano ai ragazzi che nella cultura occidentale la donna ha gli stessi diritti e doveri dell'uomo, che quando dice 'no' va rispettata, che non va picchiata".
Which means, with allowances for my rusty Italian:
Marco Gheller, spokesman for Leone Rosso, explained how the cooperative project works to convey Italian culture to refugees. 'The teachers, two Italian women but of African origin,' Gheller told the Carlino, 'explain to the boys that in western culture a woman has the same rights and duties as a man, that when she says no she must be respected, that she should not be beaten.'
Beaten - picchiata. That's another advantage of all this "modest fashion": You can't see the bruises.
~I've been saying for months that Christopher Steele's "dossier", cooked up by Democrats colluding with Russians, was an obvious Hitchcockian MacGuffin, the thinnest veneer of a pretext to set the caper in motion:
It seems a reasonable inference, to put it as blandly as possible, that the dossier was used to justify the opening of what the Feds call an "FI" (Full Investigation), which in turn was used to justify a FISA order permitting the FBI to put Trump's associates under surveillance. Indeed, it seems a reasonable inference that the dossier was created and supplied to friendly forces within the bureau in order to provide a pretext for an FI, without which surveillance of the Trump campaign would not be possible.
Congressman Trey Gowdy now says apropos any release of the "FISA memo":
"If you think your viewers want to know whether or not the dossier was used in court proceedings, whether or not it was vetted before it was used, whether or not it's ever been vetted — if you are interested in who paid for the dossier, if you are interested in Christopher Steele's relationship with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, then, yes, you will want the memo to come out," Gowdy told Wallace.
"Do you want to know that the Democratic National Committee paid for material that was never vetted, that was included in a court proceeding?" he asked rhetorically.
"Do you want to know whether or not the primary source in these court proceedings had a bias against one candidate? Do you want to know whether or not he said he'd do anything to keep that candidate from becoming president?"
No good can come from Mueller's "investigation", because you can't draw sweet water from a foul well. And this well was dug in a sewer - as an attempted coup against an election result they could not accept.
~Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, has died at the age of 91. I assume James Corden's team of writers are working on jokes about flat-pack self-assembly coffins, so I won't bother...
~We had a busy weekend at SteynOnline, starting with our Australia Day music special featuring my interviews with Men At Work's Greg Ham and the great classical guitarist John Williams. No covered women, sadly. In a different musical vein I celebrated one of the biggest-selling records of all time - from 1927. And we way overdid it on hirsute grooviness with a tribute to Peter Wyngarde, the original Austin Powers. If you were busy over the weekend, we hope you'll start your week by checking out one or more of the above.
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What difference does it make if the mad Queen is reading Fire and Fury and Elon Musk suddenly for no apparent rational reason (completely negative in triple digits cost-benefit ratio of damage vs lawsuits) is selling personal flame throwers, more than the usual irresponsible hazardous plaything? Too early for April Fools, but then again they haven't been delivered yet, so the story goes.
Well Mark, your old friend Julie (aka Turnbull-in-a-skirt) is considered a firm favourite for the top job, should it become available soon, which is entirely possible as the PM's own consecutive-negative-poll benchmark for usurpation draws near. And JB seems just as keen to lock in that particular "faith-based" constituency.
In Turnbull's case, he hosted a lavish, $35,000 tax-payer funded Ramadan dinner in 2016, but accidentally invited a high-profile homophobe (of the "death-to-gays" variety), who also just happened to be the national president of the Australian National Imams Council. So somewhat awkward. In addition, taxpayers had to literally fork-out additional dollars to cover the cost of hiring cutlery and dinnerware for guests attending the event, as they declined to use the "unclean" infidel catering supplies of the official prime ministerial residence.
So, public funding for burkinis by "conservatives" at this level is not such a big deal! As for early adopters of hijabistas in the West? It's guaranteed to be the same #MeToo feminist crowd who see misogyny everywhere, except for Islam.
So by extension, does this mean that if Harvey Weinstein and the gang were to convert to Islam then all would be forgiven and the casting couch would be back in business? Interesting thought.
I think so: if liberalism no longer provides open access to women, then try religion! If you look at how ISIS recruited during its prime, the caliphate casting couch was a big draw card.... for women too. It's interesting that Islam is attractive not only to a certain brand of male ("But it's okay, because he was nailing chicks for Allah", as Mark eloquently observed), but also as a sort of protection racket on the gender flip side; a particular form of mistreatment that appeals to some women, including those who "hate men".
Dear Mark Steyn: One correction- Harvey and Charlie are cordless. On the "never for Hillary" point, yes but... this day h/t to fox news, CNN & NYT are reporting Hill's campaign chief from '08 coming forward! To say Hill blew the call! Have we ever seen a Clinton insider turn on Hill? Bill maybe, but Hill? AND it gets coverage!! AND some of the chattering class pile on!!! At the risk of getting too exited, I'm imagining Hillary deciding to run in '20 ("everyone she knows thinks it's a great idea"), and acting like Norma Desmond when she realizes no one is returning her calls! All those letters begging her to run? Written by... her first husband!
And here I thought maybe I'd be the only one to get that cord/chord thing Mark did. Durn, one of these days I'll find a room I can be the smartest one in.
Maybe by the time the next Political Oscar Awards are telecast, the MeToo# movement will have further advanced their progressive agenda and all the women will discard their black attire for hijabistas or burkistas or whatever other istas will be fashionable to the ostentatious left at the time.
If the cultural appropriation censors bestow their seal of approval on the outfits of course.
Dear me. What a boring red carpet that would be:
"Who exactly are you, and who are you wearing?" "It's me, Meryl, in a stunning black one-piece ensemble by Burqsace." "Well, lovely to see you again, Meryl. Michael, she hasn't been nominated, for best actress since 'The Infidel Wears Prada', although in fairness it's tough to project throughout an entire movie with just your eyes, even for Meryl."
"Oh Robin, look who is stepping out of the limo now. Judging by that size zero Burka, it must be Celine who will be singing 'My Career Will Go On" in support of #LOOKATMETOO women especially for those 12-year-old girls who have been ah, mentored, er,, by, um,... well, never mind, back to you Robin."
Yah. It's not gonna happen Neil. Those Hollywood types have a pathological need to be seen and adored.
When I saw the silly clip of Hillary reciting a passage from the Democrat's latest sacred text, "Fire and Fury," I couldn't decide if Hillary's calm recitation and her cheerful exchange with her dopey sycophant James Corden was a great acting performance or just a sign of remarkable hubris.
Given all that is slowly being revealed, any rational person would be getting edgy or concerned at least or be in hiding, unless they knew they still had insiders protecting their interests and covering their tracks like they did during the e-mail fiasco. Clinton is maintaining the same hyper confident demeanor that she has always displayed and maybe she already knows some lower echelon dupes will take the fall for the bigger players.
Getting odder as it sits around aging in the brain, isn't it? As in, what is the point of this utter nonsense? Trolling? This author guy who practically published nothing ever and got slammed with plagiarizing complaints when he did, years ago, suddenly got a book fast-tracked out of a yuge publishing house in-accessible to rubes, and was slammed even in the pre-release for wrongly labeling it non-fiction when it's fiction, and he admitted he was, as uber word-craftsman Jordan Peterson would succinctly say, a reporter of "dubious scrupulousity."
Then, weeks and weeks later which is like the faded to forgetfulness pre-history time in media, suddenly it's the centerpiece of perhaps the most contrived video mean 'joke' in history, waved about by a meticulously selected line up of ... well... has-beens? And they only read the lines that the world picked apart before anyway? The Red Queen's eyes light up with 'poison' and she's smiling about getting the award. Why go through all that weird, weird trouble?
Dang! Maybe we all should be reading that ostensibly ridiculous book after all - intently, like Sherlock Holmes! If one can't send messages through cyberspace anymore without them getting collected, how about sending them printed low-tech style under the radar through a mass-market book that only one's most rabid followers will buy, to distribute to them all the Inner Circle's next instructions?
So, shall we play signaling guesses? Each acting out a specific role and lines: shirt on the floor (code?) an ostensibly demure woman in a suit who suddenly drops the book to reveal yikes! NO shirt! (Code??) Then they all fade aside in subservience to the mysterious one greater than they. Hiding the face, then lowering the book to reveal: the Red Queen, who is expecting an award, poison, cackle cackle, one representative from each of the emperor's elite shock troops, all apparently independent, but under the Queen, but who is actually directed by a white male Brit - a European elite, who also pretends to be in charge, but is in turn filmed and directed by the unseen cameraperson and producer... any one eyes? triangles? No barking dogs?
These people actually live and die by secret signaling, so maybe all reasonable and rational people should run everything they did through the suspicious translator and see if there are any hits.
Ugh. Didn't want to do it, but checked out the Grammy show 'highlights' which included a calculated snark from, what a waste of real talent, Trevor Noah about remembering a (nostalgic) time 'before Trump was president.' and Bruno Somebody's aggressive rap and march act of militaristic troops starting a what looked like a flaming war. Plus of course the name of the book 'Fire and Fury' which never made sense as alluding to Trump's campaign, but absolutely fits in with the message the entire staged Grammy show was projecting. So, what is the message? Granny has ordered the minions to start rioting and attacking? All right, they've obviously acted it all out in stage, so will they be able to put it on the real streets? Guess we'll find out.
HRC to the world, "At this point what difference does it make", about deleting e-mails after receiving a subpoena, "you mean like with a rag". The Palace Guards have been left behind and they will "fall on their swords" for their forever leaders. Let's hope the Palace floor is awash in blood at the end of this memo release.
Thank you, Mark, for the clear, concise and accurate characterization of the Mueller soi-disant investigation as "an attempted coup against an election result they could not accept." It can't be repeated too often.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, an Italian "migrant rights" group, Rosso Leone, is offering free courtship lessons to the more excitable young Mohammedans...
——
"Welcome to this class on 'How to Treat Western Women.' We're your instructors Mr Clinton, Mr Cosby, and Mr Weinstein. Dr Nassar was supposed to be here but he seems to have been unavoidably delayed."
I am old enough to recall when the West openly mocked the Soviets for their repressive "fashion".
Such as this classic 80s Wendy's commercial about a Soviet fashion show. Day vear...Evening vear... Swim vear... Cultural confidence, I miss ya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CaMUfxVJVQ
This "FISA memo" is just another in a long line of teases meant to keep the masses occupied while the Washington elite conduct business as usual. Time and again we hear about clear cut evidence of Democratic corruption and time and again it never goes anywhere. Evidence means nothing when the Republicans in Congress (supposedly the party of the president) have zero desire to upset the status quo.
Reps Gowdy, DeSantis, and Nunes are three congressmen who are upsetting the status quo. Gowdy's conditional statement above unveils what is in the memo, and Andrew McCabe, the acting director of the FBI after Comey was fired, is now gone. That's two corrupt FBI directors gone in less than a year. That is swamp drainage. It's just two people, but it's two important people. That Hillary isn't president is reason enough to do cartwheels every day. With McCabe as a casualty, the public knows, undeniably, that a dirty bureau plotted against a president. Add to that the many other pieces of evidence members of Congress are diligently putting together, and we have Congress actually holding rogue agents accountable.
Yes, I'm very concerned about that memo. I'm afraid they've way over hyped what will turn out to be little more than Republican allegations with anything actually proving anything redacted.
Never start your end zone dance on the 10 yard line. (That's football talk, Mark.)
The public has know for 30 years that the Democratic party is a cesspool of corruption...what's been done about it? Sorry I understand your desire for justice, I used to feel the same way. Unfortunately after Reagan the Republican party joined with the Democrats to become the elite Washington ruling class.
Hillary losing the election is no tribute to the Republicans, Trump one in spite of their efforts to defeat him.
One more dog & pony show that disappears after a few weeks.
When I heard HRC was highlighted at the #MeToo Grammies, I guffawed out loud. Don't those people have any introspective neurons?
The real question, I guess, is about the reaction of the voting populace as a whole. Can America connect the (big, obvious, small number of) dots? On that hangs the future of the Republic.
No, and no. They have mirror neurons, and retreat to coloring books for adults (really). It is high time for connect-the-dots books, and someone else needs to hold the crayon and connect the dots for the left's victims.
Meanwhile, in further news of female empowerment...
It's the end of the World as we know it
And I feel fine.
Just for the halibut, I googled where to buy burqas. Didn't have to look far! Mixing colorful patterns and premium lawn cotton fabric the models showed off a dazzling array of eye fetching designs. I'm sure in no time there will be Burqini Beach Huts popping up all along most sandy shores. Modest beach garb for modest prices. (One could cut down one burqa to make at least ten burkinis, no doubt).
A Kinky Boots Beach Hut franchise next door would make the burqini fashion statement complete. It's not what you wear, it's more about the accessories! Aloha Sandbar!
I have been busy fixing up my basement and listened to last weeks Q and A. It was another great club event, but it slowed me down a bit. I found myself just sitting and listening to Mark's answers.
I was thinking that Mark Steyn, Jordan Peterson, and Victor Davis Hanson should do a speaking tour together. That would be the must see event of the year and just to throw in a little cultural appropriation the tour could be called "The Three Amigos." You could even get a spoken word Grammy when you release the audio from this tour.
I had been thinking the same thing, except Steyn-Peterson-Murray. A formidable free speech trio!
I think you are on to something. I haven't paid much attention to the Jordan Peterson thing, but recently watched an interview on him on BBC by some Channel 4 person on the subject of gender pay gap. I was impressed, gob-smacked actually, at how intelligent, and well spoken, and well informed, this man is. The gut reaction was, where has this guy been hiding? On the other side of the interview was a rather sad woman who simply not understand or comprehend what he was saying, even when provided simple examples in support of his statements. It was pitiful. It was painful to watch.
And it occurred to me, why is this man not speaking to children in schools, and to leaders in government, and in the media? Ah yes, the radical left are running those things. Almost forgot.
So yes, a fifth column if you will of Steyn, Peterson, Hanson, loyal to the old culture/country, on tour, or fixed in hyperspace would be most welcome. Like Kate, if it's an open nomination process, I would suggest Conrad Black, if for nothing else but the pleasure of reading the English language.
Who needs Grammys? Mark can lead a New Renaissance away from this leftist death march to the New Dark Ages. If things get too difficult on internet media, I know of some old catacombs where meetings can take place. Sam
I wonder if the exhibitionism of Weinstein, Rose, Steve Wynn and the others has anything to do with the drumbeat of men and women being equals, along with acceptance of what amounts to exhibitionism by celebrity women. On the other hand, the cardiac-surgery-ready tops some celebrity women wear to awards shows resemble Peter Wyngarde's look.
These shows, and the inevitable instance when the has-been rock group tells the Republican candidate not to use their song at a campaign rally, are just too common and predictable to get upset about anymore. I have even stopped blaming them for their own stupidity. I am convinced that humans can seldom be rationale and extremely creative, at least at that level, at the same time. Look at the Beatles, arguably the most creative music group ever to exist. Lennon split the group up over... Yoko. Harrison dashed off to India sure that Clapton would watch out for his girl while he was gone. Sir Paul, being worth over $1B, gets remarried to a B-list model he just met with no pre-nup (and paid for it). Would a sane person whom you wanted running any business or country of yours do these things? No.
"the rise of the hijabistas". They should have called them hijabustis.
What did you expect her to read, "What Happened"? The audience would have switched to figure skating compulsories or "CSI: Vermont" (still a t-shirt I want). Actually, I wish she had read from the Rose Law Firm billing records. That would have been fascinating.
Meanwhile, I await the publication of the book "What Really Happened", by Howie Carr ("radio colossus" I believe you describe him). He had a good deal of private time with Trump during the campaign, and if those tales are half as entertaining as his Kennedy clan chronicles, "Fire and Fury"'s time atop the bestseller list will be brief.
There's a new Birkin bag for the Oz fashionistas.
Pre-show prediction: Your take will be award material. :)
Meanwhile, everyone has noticed the creepy and thuggy evilness of group-think 'grammy's' reading choice of 'poisoned.' At least no one has to worry about her sending over a plate of cookies with "sprinkles on top"... cooking is beneath her. That's for servants.
Very funny "grammy" pun...but you didn't mention she was reading about POISONING President Trump...Grandma Borgia, it seems, making a threat on national television. If she weren't completely untouchable, she could be arrested for that, according to her own Nakoula Nakoula precedent...
That is the person who was conducting U.S. diplomacy to the world for 8 years. Hung between horror and sick nausea thinking about it.