Bari Weiss promotes white supremacy at The Free Press

I have already noted that the garbage rag led by Bari Weiss, the Free Press, employs white supremacists like Douglas Murray - who is one of those named, by Weiss herself as a member of the Intellectual Dark Web.

And the racist right - very much including Bari Weiss and Steven Pinker - has been attempting to rehabilitate Richard Hanania's reputation since it came out he had spent years spewing incredibly racist garbage under the name "Richard Hoste."

No doubt because Hanania has access to so much fascist plutocrat money.

So I was not surprised to see Weiss publish an article in the Free Press by Richard Hanania.

You'll never guess Hanania's explanation for the obvious fascism of Steve Bannon and Elon Musk - they aren't REALLY fascists, they are just "trolling."

Say what you will about these men: None of them proclaims a Hitlerian worldview. Not too long ago, Steve Bannon was taking a page out of Al Sharpton’s book and denouncing Silicon Valley bosses for not hiring enough blacks and Hispanics, which would make his brand of Nazism quite peculiar. Elon Musk has time and again pledged support for the Jewish people. He visited Israel in late 2023 and wore dog tags given to him by the father of an Israeli hostage in Gaza. Later, he went to Auschwitz with Ben Shapiro.

Except Elon Musk supports the German Neo-Nazi party AfD.

And Bannon has long been comfortable with Neo-Nazis - per the Guardian:

As the presidential election approaches, a recently designated neo-Nazi terrorist group is covertly seeding violent propaganda on to mainstream social media channels – exposing tens of thousands of unknowing followers to radicalizing messages – according to background research and a report provided to the Guardian by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

One of those channels on Telegram purports to be associated with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, with an administrator claiming in group chats discovered by ISD to have had direct contact with the longtime Trump ally who is well-known for playing footsie with extremists and admitting to fomenting revolution.

But then this is Richard Hanania talking - not only did he have a long career as Hoste, promoting insane evil, these days he likes to hang out with his buddies, racists Razib Khan and Rob Henderson - here they are at a Free Press event. 

Both Henderson and Hanania have now written for The Free Press - I cannot believe Khan has not yet been employed there. 

Especially since Nellie Bowles, wife of Bari Weiss, loves loves Razib Khan. I assume exactly because of the race pseudoscience he loves to swill - especially when he can get it piping hot from non-scientist (well "political scientist") and career-long recipient of wingnut welfare Charles Murray, whom Khan recently had on his podcast. They...

...discuss how taboo it still is to talk about group differences in cognitive performance, and whether America will be able to face the reality of demographics and the social consequences thereof in the 21st century.

The link goes to one of Murray's more recent racist tracts.

But I do have to defend Bari Weiss a little - Jamelle Bouie can be seen on a Bluesky skeet above saying that Weiss believes in absolutely nothing - but to be fair, she does believe in something - she believes in GRIFTING.

Dear Donald Trump Voters: His Actions Are Going To Hurt You Too - SOME MORE NEWS

 Another great one from SOME MORE NEWS

Rapist helping rapist - Accused Sex Trafficker and Rapist Andrew Tate Finds Ally in Trump

From the Financial Times:

The Trump administration has pressured Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions on the self-described misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, a champion of the US president who is facing criminal charges in Bucharest.

Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate, who are dual US and UK nationals, have become a cause célèbre in rightwing social media after having been arrested in Romania in 2022 and charged with human trafficking, sexual misconduct and money laundering, as well as starting an organised crime group. They have denied wrongdoing.

The Tates’ case was first brought up by US officials in a phone call with the Romanian government last week and then followed up by Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell when he met the Romanian foreign minister at the Munich Security Conference, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Trump 2.0: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

 

Welcome to Black History Month - before the Musk/Trump presidency ends it

I happened on this excellent video by Forbes Magazine, of all places, from 2022 about the history of the systemic theft of Black wealth, one of those essential pieces of historical knowledge that hereditarians like Razib Khan wish to erase.

This attempted fascist takeover must end with Elon Musk going to jail

 The fascist take-over is blatant and in the United States, unprecedented. Elon Musk is breaking the law and must go to jail for it along with his barely-legal helpers.

• Elon Musk has your Social Security number. It’s as scary as it sounds. 

• Elon Musk will decide the fate of Social Security and Medicare. Time to panic 

• Retirees sue to block Musk, DOGE access to personal information of millions of Americans 

• The Treasury's payment system is one of Elon Musk's targets. Here's what it does, from Social Security to tax refunds 

• The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did

 

Krugman:

Imagine that you’re a federal contractor who has made campaign donations to Democrats; suddenly the government stops paying what it owes you and brushes off inquiries by saying that they’re working on the problem. Or you’re a federal employee who, according to somebody in your office who has a personal grievance, has expressed sympathy for DEI; somehow your regularly scheduled salary payments stop being deposited into your bank account. Or even imagine that you’re a retiree who canvassed for Kamala Harris, and for some reason your checks from Social Security stop coming. 

 

Don’t say they wouldn’t do such things. We’ve seen these people in action, and of course they would if they could. 

 

For the moment they probably can’t. The federal payments system is immensely complex, and like most government infrastructure has been financially squeezed for decades. So it’s cobbled together, much of it running on old hardware and even older software, kept functioning thanks to old hands and institutional memory. The 20-somethings Musk is deploying to take over, locking out those old hands and pushing aside the people who know how the system works, almost surely don’t understand enough to politicize payments right away. 

 

As Nathan Tankus, the go-to expert on these matters, says,

I 100% believe that the primary barrier to Elon Musk gaining control of the Treasury payments system is COBOL. 

 

For readers mystified by the reference, COBOL is a very old programming language that was once pervasive in the business world but in which hardly anyone under 60 knows how to program — yet is still widely used in government. (During Covid, the state of New Jersey put out a frantic call for people who knew COBOL to implement expanded unemployment benefits.)
But this observation raises another concern. What if the Musk people — Muskovites? — try to muck with systems they don’t understand, believing that they’re super smart and can master everything with the help of a little AI? It’s not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system — including, by the way, servicing of federal debt — crashing.
So much damage — to U.S. credibility, to the Constitution and the rule of law, and possibly even to the very functioning of the government. And Trump only took power 2 weeks ago.

This is what happens when you allow a stochastic terrorist to run your government.