But
there was something quite inhuman in what the left-wing activist did.
She treated human beings as if they were mere means to her end. She
acted out admiration to perform reputational harm. She presented herself
falsely to inflict damage. That the content she produced was
disseminated by honest grown-up journalists is to their discredit.
She
claims to oppose polarization but fans it, further alienating those who
already lack trust in institutions like the court and professionals
like journalists. She presents another warning to those who hold or are
adjacent to high office: You can’t assume good faith on the part of
fellow citizens who seek you out.
More
than that, it is deeply Stalinist. In Stalin’s time private life was
dead, and private comments too. Neighbor spied on neighbor and reported
back subversive comments to the Central Committee. People became spies,
rooting out ideological error.
The weaker sex recommends you give in. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
That right there is the whole history of conservatism, from the advent of the Progressive Era 130 years ago until now.
Currently, Democrats are miles ahead of Republicans at targeting
specific races and voters. Through mail balloting, they put those voters
in the bank early. ... Republicans can complain about the current rules all they want, but
what they need to do is wake up and start competing with the Democrats
where they are. Otherwise, they're just leaving winnable races on the
table.
Florida Republicans certainly have figured it out. In 2018
and 2020, the Democrats went into Election Day with more ballots cast
than Republicans in early voting. This year, Florida Republicans flipped
that on its head. Republicans in other states should take note.
It is
rude of Arizona and Nevada to keep the country waiting to know the
composition of its Senate. Why, days after the election, don’t we know
which party controls the House? Why can’t the late-reporting states get
their act together on vote counting? It’s the increase in mail-in
ballots? So what? You roll with life and adapt. Florida, which spans two
time zones, reports its tallies with professionalism and dispatch.
Mr. Putin talks about nuclear weapons a lot. He did it again Wednesday: In a meeting with politicians in St. Petersburg, he said if anyone intervenes in Ukraine and “creates unacceptable threats for us that are strategic in nature,” the Russian response will be “lightning fast.” He said: “We have all the tools for this that no one else can boast of having. We won’t boast about it, we’ll use them, if needed.”
He’s talked like this since the invasion. It’s a tactic: He’s trying to scare everybody. That doesn’t mean the threat is empty.
There are signs the Russians are deliberately creating a historical paper trail, as if to say they warned us. On Monday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the risk of nuclear conflict is “serious” and “should not be underestimated.”
No he doesn't. No he hasn't. And neither has Lavrov. Listen for yourself. It's Peggy who is supplying "the risk of nuclear conflict", not Lavrov. Lavrov is clearly referring to the dangerous increased rhetoric about the possibility of nuclear conflict, which is precisely the hysteria Peggy Noonan is engaging in. The Russians have been very circumspect. They don't actually use the terminology. They're not bluffing. They're beating around the bush to create uncertainty, to keep their enemies off balance.
Putin has never used the phrase "nuclear weapon" in any of these examples which have been reported in the press since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Putin's hypersonic capability is clearly in focus in his statements. He has them and the West does not. He's threatening to use them with conventional warheads against Western targets, which is bad enough. But nuclear warheads? That's what he wants us to think, to create fear. But he's never actually said it.
The nuclear talk is all Western hype, exaggeration, and lying. And Drudge is a major aggregator of such headlines. It's irresponsible and it must stop, because to continue it is to make the unthinkable, thinkable, and then actual.
Try exercising your free speech absolutism then, as your tongue vaporizes inside your mouth.
Meanwhile Peggy Noonan appears not to have considered that Putin has daughters, to whom he might really want to leave something other than smoking embers.
Hysteria has a way of blinding one to important facts.
