Friday's Final Word

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Two tabs down, they're laughing and drinking and having a party ...

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Ed: Rally ... for what, exactly? Their company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the last few years as their customers abandoned their product. This isn't a labor dispute over a contract renewal. It's a revenue-driven downsizing after a massive loss of confidence by their readers. Maybe instead of extending their activism, they should reflect on how that activism led to that loss of confidence. 

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Emily Yoffe at The Free Press: These incidents, and many more, were reported in a pathbreaking story, “Med Schools Are Now Denying Biological Sex,” by Katie Herzog, published in July 2021 in The Free Press, or Common Sense as it was then named. It was our first story about a gender mania that was sweeping the country and undermining institutions, from education, to government, to the media, to—most shockingly—medicine itself.

This ideology had come on so quickly, and was enforced by activists so fiercely, that using the wrong pronoun could and did put one’s job in jeopardy. People were told that biological sex was a fiction. Many, depending on their profession, were forced to say they believed this. Remember the attestation that “trans women are women”?

The ideology held that people who were distressed about their biological sex could find an answer by declaring they were “in the wrong body.” Then, all over the Western world, teenage girls with no history of such distress began declaring they no longer wished to be female. Young people were told that the burgeoning field of gender medicine could solve their troubles through hormones and surgery. Small children received instruction in their schoolrooms in this new way of thinking, and were indoctrinated into the idea they didn’t have to be a boy or a girl.

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In an introduction to Herzog’s story—because five years ago publishing such a third-rail story needed a justification—Free Press founder Bari Weiss wrote: “We feel obligated to chronicle in detail and in primary accounts the takeover of our institutions by this ideology—and the consequences of it.”

Ed: You know who didn't do this kind of reporting? The Washington Post. Instead, the Post tried to enforce the trans narrative and trans agenda, rather than question the basis for it with facts, science, and data. Yoffe's essay should be required reading for mainstream media figures who are bemoaning the downsizing at the Post, especially her pointed observations about the activism of "news" orgs. 

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"The Tennessee Highway Patrol is releasing dashcam video from the incident in question in the interest of transparency and to allow the public to assess the facts for themselves."

"The video shows two men, including presumably the person the legislator identified, running into the cruiser on their own accord."

"This video is being made available so citizens can view the actual events and draw their own conclusions."

Ed: It's not quite to the level of dishonest flops in the NBA and Major League Soccer, but it's close. This is all performative, but the police need to show up in force at these roadblocks and arrest everyone standing in the street – and keep them behind bars long enough to provide the necessary disincentives. 

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David Harsanyi at WashEx: The public now has access to another 3.5 million pages of documents related to the dead financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Thus far:

We still have no evidence of the existence of the infamous “client list,” or a single Epstein “client,” for that matter. Then again, there’s never been any proof Epstein trafficked in underage women for anyone other than himself.

We still have no evidence that Epstein was the head of a worldwide blackmail ring. The notion that dozens of world leaders, CEOs, and actors are all hanging out procuring young girls is a brainworm of the modern conspiracist.

There’s no evidence, either, that Epstein worked as an asset for Israel, or Russia, or Arab sheiks, or the CIA. It’s a good bet none of those entities would have tapped one of the most conspicuously unscrupulous people in the world to spy for them.

Ed: About the only "conspiracy theory" still sustaining via these files is the question about the nature of Epstein's death ... and even that is explicable. There may still be some surprises left, but basically, this has turned into an Al Capone's Vault all over again, and lots of Democrats and Republicans turned out to be Geraldo Rivera. 

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Around the same time, Hoffman — a major Democratic donor who later funded E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against President Trump — purchased a sculpture as a gift for Epstein’s island and offered assistance as Epstein faced intensifying scrutiny over allegations that he operated an elite child sex-trafficking ring.

In one message, Hoffman wrote to Epstein: "been giving a bit of thought to how I can help with recent press..."

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Ed: I'm not sad to see this scumbag get exposed for his grotesque hypocrisy. Don't expect to see this story covered in the Washington Post, though, or in other Protection Racket Media outlets. 

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NBC NewsJeffrey Epstein sought a pardon in 2010 from Charlie Crist, who was then finishing out his time as governor of Florida, according to Justice Department documents. The new files threaten to complicate things for Crist, who is considering a return to public office with a campaign for mayor of St. Petersburg.

Epstein had just completed a 13-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to a state charge in connection with sexual misconduct toward a minor. ...

Epstein said Crist relayed to him that he believed at the time of the late 2010 conversation that Krischer believed Epstein had still gotten a bad deal from the court. The Florida investigation into Epstein began in 2006, and he pleaded guilty to one count of felony solicitation of prostitution and one count of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution in June 2008.

“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, I was a state prosecuting attorney,” Epstein said, recounting what Crist told him Krischer said. “Epstein’s behavior was inappropriate but not criminal.”

Crist, according to the transcript, said Krischer told him that Epstein got “f-----.”

Ed: Crist denies ever speaking to Epstein. Everyone else involved in this is dead, so it's going to be tough for Crist to overcome the transcript in the Epstein files. However, it's worth pointing out that (a) creeps get to apply for pardons, (b) Crist never did pardon Epstein, and (c) couldn't happen to a sleazier pol. 

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WSJ: A Russian general with a crucial role in the country’s intelligence services is in a hospital after being shot by an unknown assailant at an apartment block in Moscow, the country’s investigative committee said, in the latest example of a targeted attack against a top-ranking military official inside Russia.

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was shot several times early on Friday, authorities said, adding that his attacker fled the scene. Telegram channels close to Russia’s security services said Alekseyev was shot in the back. State-run television channel RT said he was in critical condition. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin is being kept informed of the investigation. ...

When rogue paramilitary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a march on the Kremlin with thousands of armed fighters from his Wagner Group in June 2023, Alekseyev made an appeal for Wagner to stop so that Russia would avoid civil war.

He was later sent to the southern city of Rostov to negotiate with Prigozhin inside the city’s military headquarters, which Prigozhin had taken over. But in a moment captured on video, Alekseyev quipped that Prigozhin was welcome to take Russia’s then-minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of its general staff, Valery Gerasimov, whom Prigozhin held responsible for military failures.

Ed: Interesting development. Alekseyev has been on the outs ever since, which would make him an odd target for a Ukrainian assassin operation. One has to wonder whether Putin's starting to worry about internal security. 

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Raskin is creating a smokescreen to obscure common sense.

Ed: Democrats have to create these smokescreens, because voter-ID requirements are so broadly popular across all demographics. All Dems have to sell on this point is fear itself, to paraphrase a famous Democrat. 

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Power Line: I think Munro is on to a root cause of the anti-ICE phenomenon: Minneapolis (and to a lesser extent Minnesota) is uniquely dependent, economically, on the illegal immigration business model.

Local schools depend on immigrant children to fill the classrooms. Restaurants are dependent on low-cost immigrant labor. Businesses are dependent on spending by new arrivals.

And that spending is largely fueled by federal tax dollars brought in by (or on behalf of) new arrivals. Post-George-Floyd-riots, if you take away the new arrivals (as ICE is doing, every day), Minneapolis has nothing else going for it, economically.

Ed: That wasn't true when I lived in Minnesota, but I'd bet that the 2020 riots made Minneapolis a lot more reliant on its "sanctuary" status. The Strib reports that businesses in the city are losing millions a week during Operation Metro Surge, but the downtown area and Lake Street districts have never bounced back since those George Floyd riots. A video of the pre-Christmas downtown area went viral for its lack of pedestrians and shoppers, and that was before ICE's recent enforcement crackdown. 

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I'm sad we don't have local Metro dailies now instead of the Columbia Journalism School-to-NYT pipeline, which gives almost no journo any exposure to normal people. But acting like these institutions haven't EARNED distrust is just missing the story.

Ed: And thus, lessons will not be learned. 

Editor's note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you're digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments -- and support independent platforms -- why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!

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