The New WWE—Women’s Wrestling Entertainment

 Caitlin Clark made the WNBA rich, but its players seem determined to destroy the league by turning women’s basketball into a violent spectacle.

Victor Davis Hanson  

"Two ex-NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, took the WNBA at its word, nobly identifying as women and declaring themselves for the WNBA draft. Yet their declaration of their preferred gender identities—which are usually affirmed as brave and stunning by the WNBA and other forms of officialdom—only elicited furor from the league."

"The WWE is getting rich not so much by just playing basketball as by waging a veritable physical and cultural
 war on Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham."

"A better name for the current Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA) might be Women’s Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), given the growing performance-art violence that is now endemic in the league.

"Prior to the 2024 arrival of then-22-year-old Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, very few people watched the WNBA.

"Team franchises were worth less than $20 million. The league ran chronic deficits and was subsidized by the men’s professional basketball league, the National Basketball Association (NBA).

"An unspoken subtext of the WNBA was that the owners and coaches were left-wing and made little effort to hide their political biases.

"Despite talk of diversity, the league was—and remains—about 83 percent nonwhite and about 70 percent black.

"Some media outlets have suggested that about 50 percent of the players are gay.

"By Clark’s third year, her level of play had revolutionized the WNBA—or rather, saved it from financial collapse and cultural obscurity.

"Economists have concluded that she has already infused $1 billion into the league through increased attendance, new media contracts, endorsements and sponsorships, and sports tourism.

"Once-obscure players are now pampered and highly compensated.

"Team franchises are now more than 20 times as valuable. In Caitlin Clark’s mere three years, the average team market value has soared to nearly $500 million.

"Caitlin Clark did not revolutionize the WNBA by belonging to a white and heterosexual minority. Indeed, there are plenty of such players in the league.

"Rather, in less than three years, she has proven to be arguably the greatest and most exciting female basketball player in history—hence the strange envy and hatred of her competitors." . . .  More.

Liberal Women

 What Lindsey Clancy’s defenders have revealed about American women - Patricia McCarthy    

"There are thousands of depressed and maybe even psychotic people who do not murder." 

. . . "There are thousands of depressed and maybe even psychotic people who do not murder.  But for an astonishing number of women across America, the answer is a no-brainer:  Clancy is innocent because … her husband did it (no evidence whatsoever), the psychiatric drugs she had amassed from several if not numerous psychiatrists made her do it, and/or that she suffered so seriously from postpartum psychosis, a rare but extreme form of postpartum depression.

"We’ve all seen the bizarre cult of moonbats who believe Luigi Mangione should be allowed to walk free after shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back because he headed a health insurance company; Mangione hated health insurance companies.  

"Then there are the “activists” who think Karmelo Anthony is not guilty of stabbing Austin Metcalf to death when all the evidence proves that he did, without cause.  Recent evidence shows that Anthony was on the edge that day and looking to stab someone and wanted to “lick their blood off his knife.” 

"The theoretically same people believed O.J. Simpson was innocent, that George Floyd was not the drugged-up criminal with a violent past that he was.  

"These are the same people who believed Kamala Harris’ pal Jussie Smollett did not set up his absurd attack by two men wearing MAGA hats.  How many fake “racist” hoaxes are there?  Too many to count." . . .    

. . . "But with the invasion of 12 million to 20 million migrants from third world failed states our American culture has been polluted, the obvious consequence is the disruption of what was once a relatively ideologically cohesive country.  And now we have mothers defending a mother who murdered her own three babies."  

Why Are Liberal White Women So Angry? - American Thinker 

"Because the United States is living in the feminist future that these witless, self-indulgent, agnostic, supposedly well-educated, and miserable women promoted, there is an ongoing calamitous erosion of a unique American civilization."

We Happy Few, We Band Of Wokesters

Ann Coulter  

"Okay, fine. You have more beautiful buildings, accents, traditions, and castles, etc. We’re vulgar arrivistes who eat Texas chili out of a Frito bag. Then why, Britain, do you slavishly imitate the worst woke nonsense America has to offer?" 

"Assuming the ridiculous gushing over a Cambridge conman was not a national Monty Python sketch arranged for tourists, the Jason Arday affair reminded me of one of the most peculiar things about Britain: They’re more woke than the U.S. Which is weird, because the Mother Country still has a monarchy that rules over tens of millions of white subjects. The closest we have to that in America is the NAACP.

"According to the 2021 census, the U.K. is 2.5% black, but more than half of all its TV advertisements feature black people. (That’s even more lopsided than their representation in the country’s homicide statistics, where black Britons make up 24% of all convicted killers.)

"You’d never know Britain was the first nation in the world to abolish slavery, then proceeded to use the most powerful navy in the world to end the global slave trade. Black lives mattered to them way before Michael Brown got himself killed in Ferguson, Missouri.

"At a cost of thousands of sailors’ lives and billions of dollars ($170 billion relative to GDP at the time) British ships patrolled the African coast for 50 years, intercepting more than 1,000 slave ships, and freeing 150,000 humans. British taxpayers finally finished paying off that bill in 2015.

"So obviously, Britain has a lot to atone for.

"The study of TV ads, undertaken by the U.K.’s left-wing Channel 4 last year, also found that “[m]ulti-ethnic families with young multi-ethnic children continue to be the go-to for family representation,” constituting 47% of all ads with families. Interracial couples in the U.K. are like gay wedding planners in the U.S. Nobody has ever met one, but they seem to be everywhere.

"For extra “diversity,” Asians (mostly Indians and Pakistanis), who make up 9.3% of the population, are featured in 28% of ads. To be fair, Pakistanis are also wildly over-represented among leaders of white slavery rape gangs.

"The census numbers don’t quite add up, but 81.7% of Britons identified their ethnic group as “white.” At most, 12% of TV ads show white people. On the bright side, gay people in ads were 33% more likely to be white.

"London is gorgeous, has more shops than New York City, and a lot fewer muggers, homeless people and pot-smokers than in any American city." . . .More...

The Self-Cancellation of Jason Arday - by John Carter       "Jason Arday has been found dead at home, apparently by his own hand.  Arday has been written about extensively already, and I don’t want to waste time recapitulating the comical saga of his academic malfeasance here. If this is the first you’ve heard of him, you can do much worse than to start with the original piece by Nathan Cofnas exposing the Cambridge con artist’s record of plagiarism, semi-literate rambling, and outrageous tall tales:"

Hillbilly Elegance

  Don Surber; Barbara Walters did Dolly Parton a big favor that people in the 21st century just don’t understand

Greta Van Susteren was among those who denounced the questions. Why? You don’t elicit great answers by asking what’s your favorite color. Walters did Dolly a big favor by giving her a national audience to address the hillbilly stereotypes.

AfterMath - Home

"Dolly Parton’s death brought out the best in people. The Royal Family posted a video of a royal band of some sort playing 9 to 5 in tribute. The tweet said, “Remembering the late, great Dolly, who brought joy, comfort and inspiration to so many—including the millions of children given free books through her Imagination Library. We will always ❤️ you.”

""President Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff in her honor.

"'Born in a one room cabin with a half dozen siblings, they were dirt poor in money but richer than Midas in family.

"Dolly rose. Porter Wagoner gave her a big boost that was controversial as the woman she replaced on his TV show was quite popular. It was not easy, but she Breeze’d her way through the situation.

"When she went off on her own, he sued her. Instead of being bitter, she wrote I Will Always Love You in his honor. When paying back taxes bankrupted him and he had to sell his music catalog, she bought it back for him.

"In the 1970s, she decided to go mainstream. She made some movies with Best Little Whorehouse In Texas being my favorite.

"Part of her marketing was a Barbara Walters interview in 1977. It went well for both women.

"But in the 21st century, everybody is a busybody who is easily offended. Remember Bewitched? The nation is now overrun by Gladys Kravitzes.

"Objections pile up over this exchange."

Walters: “Dolly, where I come from, would I have called you a hillbilly?”

Parton: “If you had have, it would have been something very natural, but I would have probably kicked your shins or something.” . . .      More...

 Dolly Parton truly was a ‘star’ - Andrea Widburg   "In a world in which too many entertainers are narcissistic ignoramuses, Parton epitomized grace, charm, and true generosity of spirit."

. . . "Our young people, God alone knows why, look up to the stars in the entertainment world, most of whom live sordid lives and espouse stupid politics. Can you imagine how different the world would be if these stars behaved like Dolly Parton, just being...good?". . . 

Watch: Dolly Parton Recounts Pulling Gun from Purse to Stop New York City Aggressor

‘Disgusting:’ AG Blanche Blasts Philly DA Krasner After He Tells Activists “We All’ Will ‘Blow Up’ President Trump’s Ballroom

This man has no more intellect than does Eric Swalwell.

American Greatness

"The 90,000-square-foot structure is expected to cost around $400 million and will be entirely funded by private donations, according to the president."

"Attorney General Todd Blanche lashed out at Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on Wednesday, after the Soros-backed prosecutor told a crowd of about 100 black activists that “we all” will “blow up” President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom.

"“It’s disgusting that a district attorney in Philadelphia who, by the way, is a city with its own problems, is so focused on what the president is doing at the White House,” Blanche told Fox News’ Dana Perino.

"Krasner made the fiery comments while speaking at a slavery commiseration event in Philadelphia organized by the “Avenging the Ancestors Coalition” on Tuesday. He stated that the destruction of the White House ballroom would be done in an “official ceremony,” presumably after Democrats regain control of the government.  The Philly DA told  the predominately black crowd that he would keep a fragment of the destroyed structure as a paperweight and sell other pieces to “give the taxpayers their money back,” despite Trump’s assurance that the project is privately funded.

"'I’m gonna have a paperweight sitting on my desk—you know what that paperweight’s going to be?” Krasner asked. “It’s going to be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up!” he exclaimed. “In an official ceremony, just so we’re clear,” he added. “In an official ceremony, we’re going to blow it up and we’re going to give the taxpayers their money back by selling all the pieces as paperweights and I’m gonna have one on my desk.”

"The motto of ATAC, the group that organized the event is “Never forget, always avenge.”

"Trump’s ballroom is currently under construction where the White House’s East Wing used to stand,  and is already 65 percent complete, according to the administration. The 90,000-square-foot structure is expected to cost around $400 million and will be entirely funded by private donations, according to the president.

"The Democrats’ lawsuit trying to stop the ballroom’s construction has been taken up by the Supreme Court, who has allowed work to continue as they consider the case." . . .  More...

Clancy's Supporters Care More About Circumstances Than Kids

"The Clancy case raises a larger moral question: What happens when circumstances become the rationale for defending the unthinkable?"

The Federalist

"In response to the ongoing trial of Lindsay Clancy, the woman who killed her three children in 2023, it seems women across the country are trying to quiet their consciences by swapping out pink pussy hats for pink T-shirts. These sympathizers have also raised more than $1 million for Clancy’s supportive parents. That stunning sum is akin to awarding a Golden Globe to an actress who publicly credits killing her offspring with advancing her career.

"Was Clancy pro-abortion? Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. Either way, the more revealing question isn’t what Clancy believed about abortion; it’s what the women rallying around her believe about when it’s morally acceptable to take innocent life. Thus, scarier than the woman in the courtroom, sitting in a wheelchair and staring blankly into space, are the hordes of women who may be finding solace and justification for the intentional ending of innocent human life somewhere else in the life cycle.

"Is invoking Clancy’s mental illness to mitigate responsibility for her actions fundamentally different from invoking “health care” to justify abortion because a woman believes giving birth would cause her undue stress or derail her professional life? Abortion supporters can cite “reproductive freedom” all they want. That’s how it starts. The methodical murder of more than 65 million unborn human beings since Roe v. Wade is nothing more than permissible slaughter. But more important than which euphemisms we use for abortion and filicide is the message being sent to women who may come to believe that their overwhelming circumstances justify disposing of the unborn.

"Under this moral framework, the prohibition is no longer simply, “It is wrong to intentionally end an innocent human life.” It has become, “It is wrong — unless circumstances make it permissible.” Even research on homicidal violence has identified this moral threshold: Many people condemn homicidal violence in principle, while identifying circumstances where they find it permissible. This concept applies to the Clancy case, where her female supporters appear to argue that even the irreversible decision to strangle three children is defensible based on circumstances.

"For those who wonder, “How could the Nazis have killed 6 million Jews?” the answer becomes clearer when we see women rallying around a person who, one after another, wrapped colorful resistance bands around three children’s throats, applied sustained pressure, compressed the structures in their necks until they died, and then moved on to the next child."  More...

Get Ready for the Democrats’ Season of Bloodthirst

 PJ Media

  . . . "Those are the forces the Republicans are up against, and they are legion. Regardless of how you feel about the price of gas or groceries, we are in a battle between good and evil. The very least you can do is make sure these people lose on Election Day and lose big."

"In order for the Democrats to take control of the culture and ultimately the government, people have to die. It’s just a fact. As much as the left likes to blame conservatives for killing people for not wearing masks, not getting vaccinated, and for ignoring the lies of climate change and transgenderism, the movement that is fully reliant on violence and death is the left, and more specifically the 2026 version of the Democrat Party.

"In the coming weeks, you’re going to be treated to unapologetic displays from the left, celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the radical Islamic attacks on America from 25 years ago on 9/11. For every sober and respectful commemoration event, it will feel like there are two or more disgusting displays from the left that can only appeal to the savage instincts of its base.

"This has already started. My colleague David Manney wrote about a recent Hasan Piker event, where he sang a song in celebration of the murder of Kirk, sparking the leftist crowd in attendance to cheer.

“'During a live performance of his Fear& podcast, Piker led a packed theater in a mocking rendition of ‘We Are Charlie Kirk,’ a tribute song that appeared after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University last Sept. 10.

"His co-hosts laughed, the audience cheered and sang along, and Piker later posted a photo from the show with the caption, ‘Carried the flame in.’” . . .   More...

Tim O’Brien is a veteran communications and crisis management consultant. He’s the author of The Essential Crisis Communications Plan: A crisis management process that fits your culture, available on Amazon. He’s the host of the Shaping Opinion podcast on Substack and all of the major video and audio podcast platforms.  

California Creates A Black Market For Tires

Issues & Insights  

"Who knows, some might feel the rule is the straw that finally breaks their backs and sends them fleeing the state as so many others already have because policymakers continue to make living in California an intolerable burden."

"Which state has the highest retail tire prices in the country? It’s not a data point that anyone, as far as we know, compiles, but artificial intelligence suggests that it’s California. What we can be sure about, though, is that in about three years, California drivers will be paying more for tires than they are today. 

"Significantly more. 

"It won’t happen because the tire makers and retailers will suddenly raise prices. It will happen because California’s hyperactive government launched yet another new rule last week. Beginning in 2029, all new replacement tires sold in the state will have to be “at least as energy efficient, on average, as tires sold on new vehicles,” according to the California Energy Commission, which bragged that it had “approved the nation’s first replacement tire efficiency standards.”

"Supposedly the rule will help consumers pocket extra cash due to the tires’ low rolling resistance. The CEC estimates the savings will reach $1 billion a year in gasoline and electricity costs.

"Companies that actually make tires and therefore might know what they are talking about say that the savings are a third-rate tall tale. The new compliant tires will cost far more than the few extra dollars each the CEC reckons. During the rule’s comments period, Goodyear said prices could spike by hundreds of dollars per tire while the rule will eventually eliminate about 70% of current replacement tire market.

"In a much less defiant tone, Dunlop Tires North America said the state should not “unintentionally compromise the performance, choices, affordability and competition that consumers depend upon from the replacement tire market” by focusing on a single tire component.

"In doing exactly that, the Energy Commission bypassed safety concerns. Low rolling resistance tires don’t grip the road as well as conventional tires. Energy-efficient tires have a smaller contact patch, so the distance needed to stop is increased while driving on wet surfaces becomes even more treacherous." . . . More...

Why Hasan Piker Mocks a Murdered Man

The Piker audience is a Democratic audience, and the party wants his support, even if Democratic candidates don't want to take responsibility for what Piker and his followers actually believe.

HonestReporting*

"Hasan Piker is deeply envious of Charlie Kirk.

The hard-left influencer debated Kirk in 2017 and was set to do so again before Kirk was murdered last year.

Yet now Piker is going around mocking Kirk's assassination, leading a crowd last weekend, during his live podcast tour, in a sarcastic singalong of an AI-generated song called "We Are Charlie Kirk."

"We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame. We'll fight for the Gospel, we'll honor his name," Piker sang off-key, the crowd howling along, while the celebrity socialist's co-hosts guffawed and waved their arms in the air.

This wasn't satirizing a political opponent — Kirk has been dead nearly a year.

Why make him the subject of this derision?

It's because Piker knows his audience, and they're not looking for thoughtful politics. They want a hatefest.

Readers of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" might remember the totalitarian leftist party that runs the dystopian state in that novel regularly held events called a "Two Minutes Hate" to whip up hostility against the regime's enemies.

Piker has improved on that — his podcast and live events like this offer more than an hour's hate.

And nobody stirs the Piker crowd into a frenzy like Charlie Kirk.

The slain Turning Point USA founder represents everything they're against, and not just because he was a widely successful conservative organizer who won young Americans away from socialism on the unfriendly campuses where he spoke — and where he ultimately died for his beliefs.

Kirk's faith in God, his devotion to his family, his happiness all infuriated his enemies.

His self-sacrifice did, too, and more than anything else:

Kirk knew the risks he took by going where he wasn't welcome and speaking truths the left didn't want to hear — and was determined to prevent anyone else from hearing.

Yet Kirk did it anyway, fearlessly, and put his life on the line because of the strength of his convictions.

That's what Piker's mob hates most: Charlie Kirk shamed them by showing them how much better a human being could be.'" . . .More...

*Hasan Piker: When Terror Apologetics Become Mainstream Discourse | HonestReporting   

In Piker’s framing, October 7 was tragic perhaps, excessive perhaps, but fundamentally understandable. The burden of blame shifted away from those who planned and carried out the massacre and back onto Israel itself.

Hochul's ban on cops working with ICE is an attack on public safety

 NY Post 

 By contrast, the Department of Homeland Security reported in December that New York has released 7,000 illegal migrant criminals without notifying ICE since President Donald Trump took office. Feel safer yet? 

Gov. Kathy Hochul raced to gaslight New York on Tuesday by falsely claiming her new anti-ICE law will boost public safety, when it will do the reverse.

"Yes: the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act undermines public safety — and good for her GOP gubernatorial rival, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, for standing up to her on it.

"The law “ensures that law enforcement resources are directed toward local public safety priorities,” fibbed a Hochul press release, also claiming it’ll “keep New Yorkers safe from federal overreach.”

"Utter baloney. The measure bars cops from cooperating with federal agents who are working primarily to get criminals off the streets and out of the country.

"It also bans the use of local jails to temporarily hold illegal immigrants for ICE.

"'Any police department or sheriff’s office that disobeys this law,” huffed Hochul, “will face legal action.” . . . More...

Supreme Court Upholds Trump Mail-In-Vote Restrictions UPDATED

Issues & Insights

RealityBites by Broc Smith

Here’s what the Supreme Court’s order means for mail-in voting this year – Deseret News 

  "Democratic governors shared their anger online after the court’s order, with California’s Gavin Newsom vowing to sue again and keep pursuing the issue. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro posted that the decision does not deal with the substance of Trump’s order and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said despite the court’s decision, Trump doesn’t get to rewrite election law."

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with order imposing restrictions on mail-in voting | SCOTUSblog   . . . "President Donald Trump signed the executive order at the center of the dispute in March. As it came to the court in late July, the focus of the case was on three different provisions of the order. The first instructs the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of the adult U.S. citizens in each state and to send those lists to states at least 60 days before a federal election. The second provision commands the U.S. attorney general to “prioritize the investigation and, as appropriate, the prosecution of State and local officials … who issue Federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in a Federal election.” And the third provision requires states to give the U.S. Postal Service a list of voters to whom the states intend to send mail ballots, and it prohibits the USPS from mailing ballots to voters who are not on the lists of “enrolled” voters that the USPS will create.

"A group of 23 states, led by California, and the District of Columbia challenged the government’s implementation of the order in a federal court in Massachusetts. They argued that the executive order conflicts with provisions in the Constitution that give states the power to determine voter eligibility and to set the “Times, Places, and Manner” of holding congressional elections." . . .

UPDATE: Will Supreme Court Ruling Make It Harder for Noncitizens to Vote?

. . . "However, in a separate case, the same judge who previously imposed an injunction on the order in a case brought by 23 states, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts, imposed a separate injunction on the USPS rule in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other liberal organizations.

"That judgment is likely a formality, Palmer said, since the Justice Department filed a motion with Talwani to drop the injunction in light of the high court ruling, or the ruling will be appealed.

"Though it was a decision on standing rather than the merits of the executive order, that is still significant in curbing what plaintiffs can do, and what national policy district court judges can block, said election lawyer Cleta Mitchell, chairman of the Election Integrity Network at the Conservative Partnership Institute.

“'I obviously wish the Supreme Court had stepped up and stopped the challenge in its tracks,” Mitchell told the Daily Signal. “It may have been necessary to rule on standing to get the votes. At some point, the Supreme Court should step in with the tyrants in black robes and let them know they are not the president, they are not the legislature, and they are not the state election board.”

Beating the 'Stop Nick Shirley' act

"Why are they so desperate to stop Shirley, you ask? I’m sure I don’t know, but as a wild guess, I would imagine that it’s because the Dems are getting a nice cut of the proceeds" . . .  J.R. Dunn

Californians torch Gavin Newsom’s chilling ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ — teeing up huge clash with feds

“It goes against everything we have here in America, but with the vague language, it’s shutting down speech and the freedom of the press,” Strickland told The Post. “Every person and every taxpayer, every person should be able to ask questions and hold our government accountable.”

Gavin Newsom vows revenge on Supreme Court after mail-in ballot ruling

 Gavin Newsom has vowed to fight the Supreme Court after it cleared the way for President Donald Trump to continue pursuing new restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of the midterms.

"The California governor said in a statement late Monday he will launch another lawsuit against the federal government to try to block what he claimed were “Orwellian rules.” . . .

. . . "The proposed changes triggered a meltdown from California and 22 other states, which argue the federal government is attempting to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections.

"Bonta’s office claimed the Supreme Court found the states’ lawsuit was brought too early because the federal government had not yet taken all of the steps needed to implement the order. With federal agencies now moving forward, California says it plans to challenge those actions in court.

"The stakes are particularly high in California, where about 80% of voters cast their ballots by mail in 2024, compared with roughly 30% nationwide." . . .

Beating the 'Stop Nick Shirley' act   "It seems that California has commenced on yet another end run around the Constitution with AB-2624 --the “Stop Nick Shirley” act, just signed by the Werewolf of Sacramento (“his hair was perfect”).

This act is directly aimed at Shirley for his work in exposing fraud involving immigration activists, health care, and education in both Minnesota and California. Going from office to clinic to “learing center,” Shirley exposed dozens of operations that were basically fronts for funneling millions – at times tens of millions – from government programs into the pockets of various con artists, many of them illegal immigrants. The total amount uncovered thus far amounts to nearly $230 billion.

The DoJ has commenced investigations into the Minnesota allegations, largely involving Somalians (and some even associated with Ilhan Omar), with some early success. But as for California…