Links - 2nd March 2025 (2 - Hating Elon Musk [including "Nazi Salute"])

Cedric Hohnstadt on X - "Reddit continues to be anti-free speech.   I just got a lifetime ban from the "comics" subreddit. Yesterday I posted a humor comic that got over 5,400 upvotes. Then I noticed that there was a pinned post from the moderators saying that comics linked from X could no longer be shared because Musk gave a Nazi salute. I commented saying no he didn't. The moderator accused me of being pro-Nazi, banned me permanently for life, and deleted all my past posts from the "comics" subreddit.  But somehow Elon Musk is the totalitarian?"

Superman Under Fire After Hundreds Of Images Surface Of Him Giving Nazi Salute | Babylon Bee

ADL says Elon Musk’s ‘awkward gesture’ at Trump inauguration was ‘not a Nazi salute’

AOC slams ADL for excusing Elon Musk's 'awkward gesture:' 'You're defending a Heil Hitler salute'
Listen to minorities - unless that threatens the left wing agenda

Meme - Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok: "Performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity.  Any comment @AOC ?"
*AOC performing 'Nazi Salute' twice*
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC: "Just to be clear, you are defending a Hell Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity. People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear t..."
On AOC slamming the ADL for not jumping on the bandwagon

End Wokeness on X - "AOC is now accusing the ADL of working for HitIer because they defended Elon. What a time to be alive."

Elon Musk makes private visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau - "Elon Musk privately visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau site of a former Nazi German concentration camp on Monday before speaking later at a conference on rising antisemitism... The European Jewish Association (EJA) said Musk made the visit with EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, conservative U.S. journalist Ben Shapiro and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev."
He's terrible at being a Nazi. Then again, nowadays the left claims Jews are Nazis, so

Liberals Briefly Pause Chanting ‘Death To Israel’ To Call Elon Musk A Nazi | Babylon Bee

Meme - vittorio @IterIntellectus: "incredible things are happening on Italian's state owned news channels"
"CHIAMA IL CAMERIERI
SALUTO ROMANO
TAXI!
ACCAREZZA UN BAMBINO
ACCAREZZA UN CANE
SCARAMANZIA"

I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 on X - "Where was the media and the Democrats' outrage when Tim Walz performed a "Nazi salute"?"
Left wingers claim that if you look at the videos of left wingers like AOC etc performing their Nazi Salutes, they are totally different from Elon Musk's. Of course someone tried to claim the same here. Some things have to be believed to be seen

Hitler, Musk, and the Art of the Smear - "Almost 40% of young people get their news from TikTok. They may not know much about history but they know that Hitler and Nazis are bad. It is why the far left takes every opportunity to paint the Trump administration and its top supporters as Nazis.  As nonfiction authors of books about the Third Reich, and as cofounders of Antisemitism Watch, a nonprofit that monitors anti-Jewish hate worldwide, we know real Nazi and fascist rhetoric and actions. There are plenty of fanatics who are nostalgic about Hitler. But in the far left arsenal of tools to resist Trump, claims about some Nazi-association are a preferred way of going on the offensive. Gerald wrote last July in the Wall Street Journal that “relentless attacks from left-wing media and many in the Democratic Party, who likened the former president to Hitler and claimed his re-election would end democracy” was language that “can be the spark that helps push an assassin to act.”  It was not long after Donald Trump was sworn in yesterday that the latest Nazi broadsides began. “Trump’s Rhetoric Echoes Hitler” was the afternoon headline in the Harvard Political Review... Those who disagree with Trump’s policies have every right to take him and his administration to task. However, the Nazi analogies feed a dangerous and false narrative. Moreover, their cavalier and inauthentic use denigrates the memory of those who died in the Holocaust from history’s real Nazis.  Stop it already. If not, the Democratic party might find itself alienating more voters who are looking for substantive policy differences and not the basest types of ad hominem attacks."

Meme - "the context of it is that he was "throwing his heart out to the people" because he ..."
"Uh-huh yeah sure. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a god damn duck."
*Kamala Harris Nazi Salute*
"quack quack"
"Don't just post some random image out of context. That's hideously disingenuous."

Internet Digs Out French President Macron's Video Amid Elon Musk's 'Nazi Salute' Controversy, Tesla CEO Reacts - "Elon Musk recently reacted to a viral post featuring French President Emmanuel Macron, where Macron was seen tapping his chest with his hands before extending one arm straight up to wave to the crowd, similar like what Musk did at Trump's inauguration rally speech.   The tweet said, “Did anyone accuse President Macron of being a Nazi?”"

Mario Nawfal on X - "🇺🇸U.S GOV FORCED SPACEX TO KIDNAP BABY SEALS FOR A COMPLIANCE EXPERIMENT
In the ongoing saga of stupid government regulations...  SpaceX was once forced to “kidnap” a seal and subject it to a strange experiment as part of regulatory compliance.   Concerns over how the sonic booms from Starship launches might affect seals near the Vandenberg site led SpaceX to strap a seal to a board, put headphones on it, and play sonic boom sounds to monitor its distress levels.  The experiment was conducted twice, and the seal reportedly stayed calm during both tests."
Elon Musk on X - "The regulators made us kidnap seals TWICE! So crazy ..."
More fuel for the haters to bash him for

Naomi Seibt on X - "🚨INSANE: SPIEGEL DOUBLES DOWN ON COMPARING MUSK TO HITLER❗️ German SPIEGEL magazine released a huge hitpiece against Elon Musk, calling him the ENEMY #2. Watch the whole video because it’s WORSE than you think. Now they insist that they STAND BY THEIR REPORTING."

Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "Some academics left because, encountering a true diversity of opinion for the first time in their professional lives, they became confused, frightened and angry.  One female academic/journalist called Musk's new Twitter a "lynch mob.""
"Elon Musk's Twitter takeover triggered academic exodus, study suggests"
Left wingers are so threatened by free speech and disagreement

Police force quits Elon Musk’s X over clash in ‘values’ - "A police force in Wales has quit Elon Musk’s social media network X, claiming the site is “no longer consistent” with its values... One force, North Wales Police, said it had stopped using X entirely in August, Reuters reported.  Amanda Blakeman, the chief constable of North Wales Police, said: “It is important to us that we are able to communicate timely, factual and relevant information out to our communities in both Cymraeg and English.  “This was becoming increasingly difficult to achieve on X as a platform. Alongside this, we also felt that the platform was no longer consistent with our values, and therefore we have withdrawn our use of it."
As if we needed more reminders that they don't believe in free speech

Dems Explain They Don't Want Billionaires Controlling Our Media Unless They're Bezos, Zuckerberg, Gates, Bloomberg, Buffett, Or Soros | Babylon Bee - ""Elon Musk buying Twitter would represent a dangerous new world where billionaires who disagree with me own massive Big Tech companies," said local Democrat activist and vegan smoothie cart owner Polly X. Walden. "Imagine a world in which social media sites can just ban you for your opinion if it's unpopular. That's the world we would be creating if we were to allow Musk to buy Twitter." Walden went on to point out that Musk would have a huge amount of power if he owned Twitter, enough to "even ban the President of the United States" or "suppress stories that could change the outcome of a presidential election." "We can't allow that kind of power to fall into the wrong hands - hands that disagree with me, I mean. We must entrust absolute power to billionaires on my side of the political spectrum, trustworthy men like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg.""

Mario Nawfal on X - [On Alex Soros] "Talk about reaching across the aisle… Elon is now following the guy who funds organizations with the explicit agenda to “Kill Twitter.”"
Elon Musk on X - "Open dialogue between opposing viewpoints is vital to a healthy democracy"

'Terror and fear': Elon Musk opens government workers to harassment after id'ing them on X
Transparency and accountability are "hate" and "harassment"

Meme - Dave Troy @davetroy: "If you want to fight Trump, the most effective thing to do is fuck up Musk as hard and as soon as possible, within all legal limits of the law, the Constitution, and the rules of war.
Revoke his citizenship, declare him an enemy combatant, indict him, seize his companies, nationalize Starlink. Whatever can be done, do it. Now."
Unrelenting persecution for anyone who threatens the left wing agenda! Because we know if Trump gets into office he will use the law to attack his political enemies and corrupt the law for that

Meme - Alyssa Milano @Alyssa_MIlano: "I gave back my Tesla. I bought the VW ev. I love it. I'm not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company's products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn't seem to be a winning business model."
Dispropaganda: "If you think the founder of Tesla is bad, wait till you find out who founded Volkswagen."

Meme - Sam D'Amico @sdamico: "Fun fact: “la sombrita” and starship took about the same amount of time."
Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma: "democrats put enormous amounts of money into infrastructure investments like CHIPS and IRA but voters didn’t see any of it because Democrats are just totally unwilling to confront, or even mention, the process ghouls that strangle everything in red tape"
Left wingers hate Elon Musk so much because he reveals that another way is not just possible but preferable

Meme - Tiberius @ecomarxi: "It cannot be understated how desperately evil Elon Musk is. As one of the world’s most powerful men, he is working tirelessly to advance Western propaganda to serve imperialism and colonialism. He is emerging as a comic-book villain of our age and every word he speaks is tainted."
"Nothing a well-placed bullet cannot end."
"The guy mourning Hassan Nasrallah calls someone a villain. Just when you thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous..."
"I will translate this for the rest of the world: I don't like him. I don't share his ideologies or goals. Something of the things he says makes me think about my own beliefs and I don't like that. He is obviously very successful and I am jealous of that."
The left hates Elon Musk because not just is he white and rich, he also is one of the most prominent people opposing the left wing agenda

Meme - I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 @ImMeme0: "Let me get this straight: when Elon Musk highlights issues and shares opinions on British policies, it’s called “meddling and interference” in UK politics. But when George Soros funds UK political organizations, it’s called “saving the UK and educating the British public.”  I got it."
"George Soros: 'Brexit hurts both sides - my money was used to educate the British public'
Globalist George Soros Is Trying to Save the UK from Itself"
"The Guardian view on Elon Musk and UK politics: interference in plain sight
Elon Musk Wont Stop Is Meddling in European Elections, and World Leaders Aren't Having It"

DogeDesigner on X - "BREAKING: Macron accuses Elon Musk of election interference. "Who would have thought, if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support the new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections.""
Elon Musk on X - "Oh like that time Starmer called @realDonaldTrump a racist and said the British government should do everything to stop him? Or when Starmer sent British Labour Party members to campaign in the US against President Trump this year?"
Far Right Paul 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 on X - "Here’s that twat @Keir_Starmer calling President Trump a “racist” and “an affront to humanity” because George Floyd died of a drug overdose. When Jane Senior requested a meeting with Starmer over the Muslim rape gangs in 2021 he IGNORED her. He’s Britain hating BLM scum."
Foreign interference is only bad if it hurts the left wing agenda
I like how not censoring is intervening in elections. The left see it as their right to control elections and those who interfere are "threats to democracy"

Jim Ferguson on X - "Breaking: 🚨 Labour Staffers Could Face U.S. Charges for Election Meddling! 🚨  The 100 Labour Party staffers who traveled to the U.S. to campaign against Donald Trump and in support of Kamala Harris may face serious legal consequences under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).  💥 Acting as unregistered foreign agents is a federal offense. By interfering in America’s election, these Labour operatives crossed a dangerous line.  With Trump set to take office on January 20th, his administration could pursue charges that lead to fines, imprisonment, and lasting damage to Labour’s reputation.  Did Keir Starmer authorize this? Was Labour acting as undeclared foreign agents? The U.S. doesn’t take lightly to foreign meddling—and the fallout for Labour could be catastrophic. @FBI"

Meme - Erik Dale ⚡ @EuroDale: "Norwegian PM sits down with Bill Gates to warn against Elon Musk interfering in other countries.  You can't make this shit up."
"It is worrying that Elon Musk interferes in internal affairs in other countries, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store (Ap). - I think it is worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and large financial resources goes so directly into internal affairs in other countries. This is not how it should be between democracies and allies, says Store to NRK."

More Perfect Union on X - "Elon Musk is almost done building a lithium refinery that will need up to 8 million gallons of water per day. And it's twenty miles outside Corpus Christi, which is so dry the local water company distributes shower timers at high school football games."
Apparently the people who want to ban ICE cars and force people onto electric vehicles only love electric cars when Elon Musk isn't building them

Meme - Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10: "This is the poison that is being pumped into the nation's children. Sent in by a parent from a school close to my constituency - shown as part of an assembly, for 11 to 16 year olds. I will be following this up.  Keep this woke DEI venom away from kids.  It's disgusting."
What we are Facing. Unfortunately, in the world today, there are individuals who choose not to accept others because of their differences. Here are some of the comments made below by significant figures:
"Elon Musk: "They prioritized DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) over saving lives and homes" - Tweet about the LA Fire Dept. over the LA Fires (January)"
It's telling that wanting competent firefighters means you are not accepting others because of their differences. All "minorities" have a right to any job (at least up until their percentage share of the population - if they exceed it there's no problem of course), no matter how incompetent and no matter how much people suffer due to their incompetence
Only far right conspiracy theorists spreading misinformation say schools are brainwashing children

Marcos Besteiro 👧🏻👶🏻 on X - "Congratulations to Elon Musk for making cars so bad that no-one can tell if a carbomb has just happened or if the car just did that"
I saw left wingers claiming Teslas were lousy because the vehicle didn't explode properly. You can never win with haters

Meme - DogeDesigner @cb_doge: "BREAKING: Media headlines are misleading audiences, suggesting the Cybertruck caught fire or exploded due to a malfunction.  The truth is that explosives were placed in the back and intentionally detonated, likely as part of a terrorist act. Don’t fall for the misinformation."
Tesla Cybertruck catches fire outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
Tesla Cybertruck Reportedly Catches Fire Outside Trump Hotel In Las Vegas
1 Dead After a Cybertruck Explodes Outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
One dead after Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas"
Jeff Carlton @JeffWCarlton: "Notice the headlines about New Orleans didn't specify "Ford pickup". Obvious attempt to cast Tesla in a negative light."

Mike Solana on X - "oligarchy is not when the same four or five families control US politics for several decades. oligarchy is when a very successful entrepreneur is tapped to advise a populist president these four or five families hate. fyi"
Pepe Fawkes on X - "2024 will be the first election since 1976 without a Bush, Clinton, or Biden on the ticket HW Bush 80, 84, 88   B. Clinton 92, 96    W Bush 00, 04   Biden 08, 12    H. Clinton 16    Biden 20 H/T @edokeefe"

Meme - Elon Musk @elonmusk: "Don't be a retard who believes bogus polls"
Paul Graham @paulg: "I was thinking mainly of conversations I've had with ordinary people. I don't think you realize the size of the gap between how your tweets about the UK seem to people in Texas and how they seem to people in the UK."
Elon Musk @elonmusk: "Oh please. You live in an aristocratic country house in the English countryside. Your kids go to an elite private day school and you sit at home all day on the Internet. Mr. Paul Graham hasn't run into an ordinary person in years."

Shibetoshi Nakamoto on X - "the sec is suing elon musk for buying twitter at “artificially low prices” even though he bought it for $44 billion and industry analysts said it was worth more like $30 billion? nothing makes sense man"

Kane 謝凱堯 on X - "It’s crazy that the Biden administration allocated $42B for rural broadband expansion, connected exactly 0 rural homes to broadband, and now you can buy Starlinks at Target next to the discount jeans."
This is one reason left wingers hate him so much - for demonstrating government incompetence

Disclose.tv on X - "NOW - Germany's left-wing Scholz says to Elon Musk that Germany's and Europe's "freedom of speech" is not for "extreme right positions.""
i/o on X - "Scholz went on to say, "In Germany we recognize physics but not gravity.""
Looks like they're going to ban the AfD soon, and continue to blame the people for not accepting the globalist agenda

Robby Starbuck on X - "At the World Economic Forum, Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, just said that @elonmusk should know Germany/Europe's "freedom of speech" doesn’t accept "extreme right positions." This lunatic thinks not wanting migrants to rape little girls = far right"

Barak Ravid on X - "Elon Musk tells an AfD rally in Germany: "I think there is too much focus on past guilt (in Germany), and we need to move beyond that. Children should not feel guilty for the sins of their parents - their great grandparents even"
Martyr Made on X - "They’re freaking out because if it’s OK to be proud of being German, then it’s OK for everybody to be proud of who they are. It subverts the entire postwar culture of demoralization meant to introduce moral doubt in European peoples about resisting their dispossession."
White people are always guilty and if you disagree, you are "far right"

Brittany Sellner on X - "Elon Musk’s statement “It’s okay to be proud to be German” is creating a storm in Germany for a very simple reason.  Unless you’ve been to Germany, it’s impossible to comprehend just how deeply the German people in particular have been conditioned to hate themselves, to be ashamed of their country, to sever any connection with their own identity.  I first noticed it as a teenager, when talking to a German exchange student called Lukas. Somebody teased him jokingly about World War II, and he immediately turned bright red and looked on the verge of tears. His reaction seemed totally over the top, and I didn’t understand it until I eventually visited Germany myself, and saw how deep the conditioning was.   What’s being done to the German people is evil. I hope the AfD succeed in turning the tide."

Martyr Made on X - "They’re freaking out because if it’s OK to be proud of being German, then it’s OK for everybody to be proud of who they are. It subverts the entire postwar culture of demoralization meant to introduce moral doubt in European peoples about resisting their dispossession."

Policing in the UK

Clearly, two-tier policing is inconceivable, even though there's literal evidence of it (where the police ignore the exact same crime when it's about anti-white hate speech).

The Stark Naked Brief. on X
[Ed: I've bolded section headings]

There's been a lot of talk about British policing of late...

Some say they're politically captured, but opinions are divided.

So here's a comprehensive summary of past incidences of bias (speaking to policy) so you can judge for yourself...

Thread 🧵 

Misconduct Probe for Saying “Whiter Than White”

In Sept 2018, a senior Metropolitan Police officer faced possible dismissal after using the phrase "whiter than white" when addressing colleagues.

The detective, who worked in anti-corruption, was suspended from duties and investigated for gross misconduct.

Discrimination Against Straight White Recruits

In Feb 2019, an employment tribunal ruled that Cheshire Police unlawfully discriminated against an "exceptional" candidate under so-called "positive action" policies.

Matthew Furlong, 25, applied to join the force, following in the footsteps of his father, a serving detective inspector. But despite passing the interview process, he was ultimately denied the role.

He was told “it was refreshing to meet someone as well-prepared as yourself” and that he “could not have done any more.”

Yet, his application was rejected—not due to merit, due to being a straight white male. 

“Report Hate—Even Without Evidence”

In Oct 2019, Devon and Cornwall Police marked Hate Crime Awareness Week by releasing a series of online cartoons encouraging the public to report “hateful” behaviour—even if it isn’t a crime. The campaign assured people that they “don’t even need evidence” to file a report.

The cartoons depicted exclusively white perpetrators targeting non-white victims.

One image showed a white man ripping off a Muslim woman’s hijab and punching her to the ground.

Dropping “Islamist Terrorism” Over Fears of Islamophobia

In July 2020, senior police officials considered removing terms like "Islamist terrorism" and "jihadis" to avoid appearing Islamophobic.

The proposal was presented at an online event attended by Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the national head of counterterrorism policing, alongside a representative from the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP). 

All-White Leadership Team Is “Not OK”

In Jan 2021, Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary Olivia Pinkney expressed concern over the lack of racial diversity in her leadership team.

Speaking about her Chief Officer group, she acknowledged that while it was half female and diverse in other ways, it still remained entirely white.

"It’s not OK that we look like we do across UK policing,” she said. “My colleagues and I are determined to change that.”

"Being Offensive is an Offence”

In Feb 2021, Merseyside Police faced backlash after officers displayed a “Being Offensive is an Offence” message on a van during a hate crime awareness event.

After widespread ridicule, police deleted the tweet and admitted their mistake. 

Promoting Pronoun Awareness

In July 2021, Merseyside Police released a video promising to “promote pronoun awareness” during the city’s LGBTQ+ Pride weekend.

The video, titled “What Makes Merseyside Police Unique and United,” featured officers waving rainbow flags and pledging their support for the movement.

Constable Emma Burns-Jones said: “I pledge to encourage colleagues to use gender-neutral terms.”

Allowing Criminals to Self-Identify 

In May 2022, reports revealed that multiple British police forces were allowing criminals to self-identify their gender on official records.

At least nine police forces across England and Wales permitted suspects to be recorded as “non-binary” or “unknown and unspecified.” Some forces even claimed to recognise up to 67 different genders.

Mandatory Black History Training

Later that month, police officers were told they must undergo mandatory black history lessons as part of a nationwide effort to tackle racism in policing.

The Police Race Action Plan, launched by chief constables, aimed to create a police service that is “anti-racist” and better serves black communities.

Part of their plan involved positive discrimination practices to increase the number of black officers.

Being “Untoward” to Paedophiles

In July 2022, Wiltshire Police admitted they had not acted in a “wholly proportionate” manner after officers visited the home of feminist campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen, also known as Posie Parker, over comments she made about paedophiles in a video.

Two officers arrived at her home to inform her that a complaint had been made against her for being “untoward about paedophiles.”

According to Keen, the officer admitted he had not even watched the video but stated that because someone had been offended, it had been recorded as a “hate crime.” 

"All Female Officers Experience Sexual Harassment"

In Sept 2022, Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth claimed that every female police officer has faced some form of sexual harassment during their career.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said: “This is not about me, but I think sexual harassment is about sitting in rooms where you have more male officers than women. Where you’re in a male-dominated environment—for any woman, that’s always challenging.”

Trans Paedophile's Feelings Over Victims'

Also in Sept 2022, Sussex Police experienced backlash after warning social media users against making “hateful” comments about a convicted transgender paedophile.

The controversy highlighted the force’s broader “woke” policies, including the introduction of gender-neutral warrant cards.

In Nov 2021, the force scrapped traditional warrant identifiers, which previously marked male officers with A or C and female officers with B or D. 

Referring to Paedophiles as “Minor-Attracted People”

In Dec 2022, Chief Constable Iain Livingstone of Police Scotland drew heavy criticism after referring to paedophiles as "Minor-Attracted People" ("MAPs").

In his 2021/22 Year-End Report, Livingstone stated that Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division for Public Protection had been involved in the Horizon Europe Project, which aims to prevent child victimisation by engaging with “MAPs” (paedophiles) and offering them support, treatment, and guidance.

Millions Spent on Diversity and Inclusion Staff

In Dec 2022, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that British police forces spent over £10 million annually on diversity, inclusion, and equality roles.

The request, submitted by Conservative Way Forward, found that the average force employs five full-time diversity workers, with a combined salary of £210,000 per force per year.

The roles were dedicated to promoting issues related to sexual, racial, and religious minorities. 

Blocking Critics on Social Media

That same month, the National Police LGBT+ Network came under investigation for blocking critics on social media.

The organisation, which claims to help Britain’s 43 police forces develop “operational policing knowledge” on gay rights and inclusion, was accused of political activism after its official Twitter account (@LGBTPoliceUK) was found to be blocking individuals and groups critical of trans ideology and police involvement in activism.

The network was also accused of “threatening” opponents of transgender policies and openly backing Stonewall, a controversial charity, some of whose members have supported underage "gender-affirming" surgery.

Selectively Investigating “Hate Speech”

In Oct 2023, a report by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) found that police were failing to investigate cases of hate speech against white people, while aggressively pursuing other forms of hate crime.

The study, authored by Marc Glendening, identified a surge in hate crime investigations, particularly targeting those who criticise transgender ideology, homosexuality, or Islam.

In contrast, Glendening highlighted examples where police refused to act, including a London university welfare officer who posted the phrase “Kill All White Men.”

In another case, a model publicly claimed that “white people were brought up racist,”—no action was taken.

A Cambridge academic also called for an “offensive” to “eliminate white people” as a class, but again, police did not follow up. 

Avoid Saying “Man Up” and “Policeman”

In Nov 2023, officers were instructed to avoid using certain words, including “man up,” “OAP,” and “policeman,” over concerns they could cause offence.

A 12-page guidance document, published by Staffordshire Police, warned that “discrimination through language causes offence, patronises, and may be unlawful.”

Funding Bursaries for British African Students

In Jan 2024, British Transport Police (BTP) announced plans to launch a bursary exclusively for British African students as part of an effort to tackle “systemic racism” and “Afriphobia” within the force.

The scheme used funds from the Proceeds of Crime Act to finance a law course for a British African student, with the stated aim of improving representation of British African communities within the UK judicial system. 

“Covering Up” Data to Criminals’ Ethnicity

In Jan 2025, it was revealed that police forces collected less data on the ethnicity of criminals than at any time in the past 15 years.

Government figures, released under Freedom of Information laws, revealed a sharp rise in the number of offences where no ethnicity is recorded.

The Ministry of Justice data showed that the proportion of convicted child sex offenders with no ethnicity recorded jumped from 11.6% in 2010 to 28.7% in 2024.

For all sexual offences, the figure rose from 15% to 29% over the same period.

The data showed that ethnicity was not just omitted for sexual crimes but across all offence types.

This followed several scandals where council-led inquiries found that police had ignored crimes committed by minority ethnics due to fears of being labelled racist and/or stoking race wars.

Avoid Saying “Black Sheep” and “Blacklisted”

Later last month, officers were instructed to stop using terms like “black sheep” and “blacklisted” over concerns they could be offensive, according to a 2023 diversity guide issued to staff at Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Cambridgeshire Police.

The nine-page document claims such terms risk “portraying certain groups as inferior or superior to others” and should be avoided in police communications.

The guidance also instructs officers to use “pregnant person” instead of “pregnant woman” and warns against using “Christian-centric” language, including the word “faith”.

Links - 2nd March 2025 (1 - Diversity [including New Zealand and Norway Navy Ship Sinkings])

AF Post on X - "New Zealand’s first lesbian ship captain sees first warship sink since WWII. The vessel was worth $61 million. Follow: @AFpost"

$100 Million Naval Ship Under Command Of Lesbian Captain Runs Aground, Catches Fire, And Sinks - "Critics on social media immediately noted that Captain Gray had no ship command experience on her resume...   Some speculated that the commander had been hired to satisfy diversity concerns despite her lack of experience."

Meme - *Yvonne Gray*
"Barbie, is this Captain qualified?"
"She's better than qualified, she's diverse"
"New Zealand navy ship with Lesbian Captain runs aground, catches fire, and sinks."

Women leaders in Royal New Zealand Navy | The Australian Naval Institute - "For the Royal New Zealand Navy, the 2023 International Women’s Day offers more reasons to celebrate than most. It coincides not only with the highest percentage ever of women in the RNZN (27.4%) but the largest number of women taking command of RNZN ships and shore units, with four in command of ships and three in command of shore units.  For the Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor, all of these numbers are significant milestones. “International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate the diversity of our personnel and recognise the value women bring to our organisation,” he said. “But we also need to walk the walk and demonstrate that women have just as much opportunity to succeed as men. Having wāhine (women) as commanding officers on more than 60% of our ships, as well as heading up shore units and other important portfolios, is a realisation of that goal.”...   Captain Maxine Lawes, who joined the RNZN in 1985, notes the change that has occurred in Navy culture over the years – particularly with the focus on diversity, equity and respect for personnel. “Our Navy had to adapt to a changing world,” she said. “It wasn’t easy initially but nothing worth doing is. I now look at the confident, well-supported, motivated and highly trained women in our Navy and feel enormously proud that they don’t just serve in the Navy, but they thrive in it and are in command of it.”"
Oops

Enhancing the participation of women - New Zealand Defence Force - "Accompanying the support of our NZDF senior leadership, the Wāhine Toa Programme of work has a number of overarching strategic commitments that shape and influence its focus, such as the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (UN WEPs), which NZDF formally adopted and signed up to in 2020 – becoming the first military in the world to adopt the UN WEPs."

John Ʌ Konrad V on X - "I interviewed a female veteran who served as an officer on 🇺🇸 ships about this incident, and she shared an intriguing perspective I’ve never heard before.  She said that it took men centuries and thousands of shipwrecks to master commanding ships without major incidents, and we should expect some losses as women, who think differently, learn the ropes and gain that experience too doing it their way.  She said losses are to be expected and they are ok especially if there’s no loss of life.   She said we shouldn’t try to investigate this from a male perspective but learn lessons from a female perspective.  I didn’t include this in the article because I couldn’t figure out how to present it without sparking a DEI firestorm, but it’s a thought-provoking take nonetheless.  I kinda agree. Women do think different and this could become be a major tactical advantage for us but testing new methods and systems of thought comes with risks, especially at sea.  The question is, with our @USNavyCNO  saying to be prepared for war in 2027… can we afford to test new methods and lose ships while mistakes are inevitably made in the learning process?  Or maybe with possible war looming on the horizon and so many great women already in command across our fleet… can we afford not to let them do things different and make mistakes?"
Weird how women cannot learn from men's mistakes
The costs of diversity get ever higher, but of course it makes us stronger

HMNZS Manawanui Sinking: Hard Grounding, Fire, and a Broken Royal New Zealand Navy - "the loss of this ship represents a significant blow, constituting at least 11% of New Zealand’s tiny naval fleet. This comes at a time when regional tensions and geopolitical instability are at their highest levels this century. A captain’s duty is to protect as many lives as possible, and Commander Gray clearly took decisive and effective action to save her crew. However, unlike merchant ship captains, naval commanders bear additional responsibilities. They must also safeguard the lives of convoys, carrier groups, and citizens they’ve sworn to protect.  “What if an island faces a major catastrophe and the New Zealand Navy doesn’t have enough ships to respond?” asked a former senior US Navy officer, speaking anonymously. “Sure, she saved her crew, but how many lives might be lost in the future because damage control teams stay aboard and try to save this ship?”  According to this source, praising commanding officers for saving a small number of lives at the expense of broader strategic goals is a problem common in navies today. He cited the USS Bonhomme Richard incident, where the captain was allowed to celebrate the ship’s decommissioning ceremony after watching it burn. Meanwhile, the admiral who rushed to the docks and organized fire parties to fight for its survival has faced numerous inquiries and a delayed promotion.  “James Lawrence’s dying command in 1813 aboard USS Chesapeake—’Don’t Give Up The Ship‘—remains a bestseller at the Naval Academy gift shop, but I’m not sure midshipmen truly grasp the weight of his iconic words,” said our source."

Is a Diversity Hire to Blame for the Sinking of a $100 Million New Zealand Navy Ship? - "The New Zealand incident brings to mind the USS Fitzgerald crashing into a container ship off the coast of Japan in 2017 under the leadership of a young female officer. It was later determined that Sarah Coppock, the 26-year-old officer of the deck, who was in charge of the destroyer at the time of the crash, "In a panic... ordered the Fitzgerald to turn directly into the path of the Crystal." According to shipmates, Coppock was standoffish and refused to dine with her fellow sailors.   "Sixteen minutes after the collision, at 1:46 a.m., [Navy Cmdr. Bryce] Benson [who was asleep at the time of the crash] staggered onto the bridge," the report continued. "Adrenaline, fear and anger shot through him. The ship was listing, wheeling in the dark uncontrolled. The electricity was out. The screens were off. Only emergency lanterns and moonlight illuminated the bridge."  Benson found Coppock "sobbing."  “Captain, I f**ked up,” she told him.  "The Navy’s investigators concluded that sailors bore the primary blame for the collision," ProPublica reported. "Benson, Coppock and the bridge and combat information center watch teams had failed to use basic seamanship skills to escape an “avoidable” accident. They had been “excessively fatigued” and had not taken steps to rest. Coppock had ignored basic rules of the road and the captain’s orders. Coppock ultimately pled guilty to one count of negligence in a 2018 court-martial proceeding and was reprimanded and sentenced to three months reduced pay."

USS FITZGERALD Collision Cause Revealed—Woman Driver (Who Cried During Court Martial That Gave Her A Slap On The Wrist) - "Coppock's lawyer, it says in Stars And Stripes      described a tattoo Coppock got on her wrist after the collision. It contained the coordinates of the ship at that moment, framed by the phrase “Protect Your People” above it and seven clovers beneath it.  (You can kind of see this in the picture above.) One man said "But she got a commemorative tattoo, so all is forgiven", and when another man pointed out that tattoos in that style are against Navy regulations, a third said      Not joking, my command would have punished me more harshly for that tattoo than she got for wrecking the ship.  causing someone else to say      Did she just give herself kill mark decals like an ace pilot in WW2?"

Frigate sank after rules were broken - "Fully 53 of 88 applicable safety rules and “barriers” were broken before one of Norway’s five frigates collided with an oil tanker near its home port nearly two years ago. The Norwegian defense department’s own report also noted that the crew on the bridge of the KNM Helge Ingstad had little experience...   There was also “too little experience and competence among the crew and weak coordination among them.” Even though the crew on the tanker sent out repeated warnings and frantically asked the frigate to turn, communication between the two vessels was described as “imprecise” and the frigate’s crew simply didn’t grasp the looming danger. The captain of the frigate was not on the bridge in the early morning hours when the collision occurred on November 8, 2018. The frigate later sank slowly after all crew and officers on board had to abandon ship.  Naval officials vowed to learn from their mistakes, which have proven very costly for Norwegian taxpayers. The vessel was valued at around NOK 5 billion, would cost much more than that to replace, and is now being scrapped."
Another item in the diversity tax ledger

A warship doomed by ‘confusion, indecision, and ultimately panic’ on the bridge - "She didn’t know the name of the hulking merchant vessel looming out of the night off the coast of Japan, but it was the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal, and it was going to spear into the smaller guided-missile destroyer, tearing a gash in the hull before continuing into the darkness at 18 knots.  Coppock’s fellow watchstanders on the bridge also had succumbed to “confusion, indecision, and ultimately panic,” according to an internal Navy investigation into the Fitzgerald disaster obtained by Navy Times.  Helmed by Rear Adm. Brian Fort, a surface warfare officer with more than a quarter-century of service to the Navy, the secret probe was sent up the chain of command 41 days after the collision.  It was designed to both candidly describe to senior commanders what went wrong while helping federal attorneys defend against lawsuits from the ACX Crystal’s owners and operators and, indirectly, the families of the seven sailors drowned in the berthing spaces below the bridge.  The Navy has paraded out a series of public reports addressing both the Fitzgerald tragedy and the Aug. 21, 2017, collision involving the John S. McCain and the Liberian-flagged tanker Alnic MC that killed 10 more American sailors.  But none of those investigations so starkly blueprinted the cascade of failures at all levels of the Navy that combined to cause the Fitzgerald disaster, especially the way the doomed crew of the destroyer was staffed, trained and led in the months before it the collision.  Fort’s team of investigators described a bridge team that was overworked and exhausted, plagued by low morale, facing a relentless tempo of operations decreed by admirals far above them, distrustful of their superiors and, fatally, each other. And Navy officials knew all of that at least a year before the tragedy.

Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, rolls back DEI under pressure : r/business - "As someone who does regional hiring for a major international mega corp, the number of times we've literally removed top-qualified white guys from our hiring consideration Excel trackers because we had "enough white people" is very high.  Literally every single hiring cycle we cut half of our top candidate list or more because they are white. And under economic pressure, we have for two years in a row now told people publicly that we were not hiring any roles, only to quietly offer back channel, zero-resume/zero questions asked interviews for black and hispanic women specifically. Zero interest in their qualifications. Just literally "Get one or two black/hispanic women and tell them they have offers pending a brief character interview". That shit wasn't for an administrative assistant position. That was for a $200k role that we only hire Ivy League for.  Again I work at an F100 company that I won't disclose and I'm covering hiring for one of our busiest global regions. I am entirely certain that if it's this egregious here with us, that is this way at most large companies."
"Imagine not being able to find or recruit a qualified black or Hispanic woman in all the United States. It’s oh so “hard.”"
"Not sure what to tell you. I'm entirely supportive of equal opportunity and hiring based on that. I'm just personally not a fan of the "equitable" hiring we do.  Some of our absolute best and brightest hires are black and hispanic women and race shouldn't matter at all--they are incredible people and if we want to talk race, some of my favorite black/hispanic hires are way more mature and intelligent than some of our recent white hires.  The issue arises when we are given quotas and when we structurally contrive something. When we say "We have 10 slots, 5 of which must be diverse", it feels arbitrary to me. Even worse? We have a list of what even counts as "diverse". If you are white you get a 0 in that column. If you are Asian (of any kind) you get a 1 in that column. If you are Native American or Pacific Islander you get a 2. If you are black or hispanic you get a 5. Then if you're male you get a 0 added, and female you get +3 added.  This leaves us in scenarios like the following:  We approach an Ivy or near-Ivy school. We look at the top 1% of their class. Some years it's very mixed, ethnically. Other years, often it's dominant white + Asian. In those years instead of continuing to take the top 1%, we skip the top 1%, 2%, often even the top 5% to scrounge deeper into the student population simply to find the right number of people of a desired ethnic mix, regardless of quality. This has led us to hire some very mediocre folks who go on to either leave the company due to work pressure, or who don't get promoted/don't last and end up frustrating our ethnic balance metrics anyway.  Equal opportunity hiring is vital. I love things like blotting out applicant names to avoid racist hiring practices. What I don't like is when I'm forced to skip people who are the wrong race, or to offer free entry tickets to someone based on race alone.  When I was volunteering to help admissions back at my master's, we literally waived GRE scores for women and people of color. It was appalling. White? Male? You fight tooth and nail based on GRE score to get in. Female? Black or hispanic? Just make a 3 minute video application stating your excitement to attend the school and you're in. And that's on top of already having entire scholarship programs for you just because of your sex/race (which isn't bad--I support scholarships for systemically disadvantaged peoples). There is such a thing as taking things too far..."
Left wingers will just continue to lie that DEI is just about having a level playing field

Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, rolls back DEI under pressure : r/business - "Real world example:  Non-minority executive gets fired specifically so they can be replaced by a minority person. Fired employee sues, company is found liable for employment discrimination"
"That’s an example of illegal employment practices, which were already illegal. Novant was dumb to break the law. That’s also not really a definition of DEI."
"You asked for real world examples and he provided one. You didn't ask for the ideal and conceptual example of what it's supposed to mean. You asked how it was manifesting in the real world and he provided one example exactly as you asked."

NASA Baffled At How Elon Managed To Succeed Without As Many Gay Non-Binary Muslim Dwarfs Of Color As They Have | Babylon Bee - "SpaceX's historic achievement occurred despite not making diversity and inclusion its top priority, leaving NASA in awe that such a feat could be pulled off without the mandated involvement of underrepresented people groups... Decision-makers at NASA reportedly held emergency closed-door meetings this week to discuss the widening gap between their work and the things being done at SpaceX. "It doesn't matter what we do, he just keeps pulling further ahead," a NASA insider said. "We're going to keep trying to incorporate more diversity, equity, and inclusion to everything we do, but it's like this guy has cracked some code where he just puts the most brilliant and qualified minds to work on his projects. That sounds crazy, but I guess it's working out for them."  At publishing time, NASA sources still expressed skepticism that Musk would be able to successfully land a human being on Mars without the help of any gender-fluid atheist amputees of mixed racial descent."

Meme - i/o @eyeslasho: "This person owns a company that contracts with businesses and organizations to "remove white dominance and supremacy" from their operations via diversity training and other "antiracist" services. Fittingly, she has one of the ugliest and most disorganized websites I've seen recently."
365 Diversity @365Diversity: "I block white people. There is nothing white people can say and do that is creative, profound, and intimidating."
Diversity is about hating white people

Jonatan Pallesen on X - "Meta-analysis of 87 studies finds that ethnic diversity decreases social trust. [Dinesen et al, 2019]  This finding is robust to a variety of covariates. Social trust is highly correlated with wealth and well-functioning societies."

Meme - Élie Cantin-Nantel @elie_mcn: "Like "LGBT," the DEI acronym is now also growing..."
Jonathan Kay @jonkay: "they keep adding letters  It’s no longer EDI  @WesternU  now calls it EDIDA"

Thread by @wokal_distance on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Congress gave The National Endowment for the Arts *207,000,000*, and then told the NEA to fund projects focused on "the history of Systemic Racism"  Let's look at what the NEA did with your money.  A thread🧵
Congress has the power to fund agencies and tell them how to spend their funding, and Congress told the NEA to "Continue prioritizing diversity" and to prioritize increasing diversity among "NEA staff, the National Council of the Arts, Discipline Directors, and Peer Panelists" In 2021 the NEA said they were "centering equity and justice along the lines of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, gender identity and sexual orientation, geography, poverty, and the infinite ways these intersect in everything we do"  So this isn't something new.
The NEA funds wokeness several ways, one of which is the artsHERE program.  artsHERE provides support and grants to "organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to equity within their practices and programming."  So this is funding for explicitly woke organizations. artsHERE handed out 112 grant totaling*12.3 Million Dollars* to organizations who "demonstrated commitment to equity within their practices and programming."  This means the NEA handed out grants to organizations that adhered to the Social Justice politics of the left.
So, why is this happening?  In 2021 the NEA created a new strategic plan which stated that the NEA was going to "model diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the arts through all its activities and operations."  So DEI is quite literally part of the plan. According to this plan, one of the goals is to "Invest in the Capacity of Arts Organizations and Artists to Serve a Broader Public through Digital or Emergent Technology."  The reason for this is because tech artists engage with "climate change and racial justice."
To be clear, I don't oppose artists who make political art, I'm in favor of free speech. But this is different. The NEA is only funding art that agrees with leftist Social Justice politics. So in effect they are advancing their politics using taxpayer money.
The NEA also says that it is going to implement racial quotas in selecting panelists.  This is basically intersectional bean counting. IT is to hire people are select them for roles because of their race or ethnicity, rather then their qualifications.  This is tokenism."

Thread by @JohnDSailer on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "At the NIH, the Distinguished Scholars Program hires scientists who show a “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”  Through a public records request, I’ve acquired redacted NIH hiring documents that show what this criterion looks like in practice. 🧵
Note, the NIH's former chief DEI officer emphasized that this program does not limit hiring based on race or sex—because, as she puts it below, “legally we cannot.”  Instead, it purports to boost diversity by proxy, hiring scientists who value DEI.  But... ...the records I acquired show—first of all—that NIH applicant reviewers repeatedly highlight gender and minority status.  Here's an example, in the section soliciting positive and negative comments on the potential NIH scientists.
“Female [redacted] physician scientist,” “URM scientist,” “URM female scientist.”  These references appear consistently throughout the records, raising obvious legal questions. Again, the NIH's chief DEI officer said the program cannot legally limit hiring based on race/sex.
Scientific excellence, moreover, clearly takes a backseat in the program.  A reviewer says of one candidate: “Excellent scientist but not particularly distinguished in the area of diversity in science.”  Another: “Unimpressive diversity statement, good scientist…” Another candidate mentored several minorities, but in their application, their “details on mentoring focused mostly on scientific accomplishments rather than diversity commitment.”  They were deemed a "mediocre" candidate.
Downplaying scientific excellence is bad enough. But here’s the bigger program: the records reveal an ideological bias.  Throughout, scientists are lauded for using the language of identity politics, and punished for not espousing the right understanding of diversity. “The fact that she has [redacted] shows a lack of sensitivity to issues central to diversity,” one comment notes.  The program is “not solely focused on women,” another notes cryptically.
At times, the ideological orientation of these NIH assessments becomes explicit.  Here, a candidate is praised for understanding “structural racism" and "intersectionality."  (Well, specifically, the "impace" of intersectionality). Reviewers praise another scientist for engaging in diversity and inclusion “activism,” and another for espousing the right understanding of “structural inequities.”
“Passionate re intersectionality of minority statuses.”
The NIH deemed this program such a smashing success that it created a grant program to spread these practices around the country.  NIH FIRST has dolled out a quarter-billion-dollars in grants for universities to hire scientists who show a “commitment to DEI.” I've reported extensively on the NIH FIRST program. As it turns out, it emulates the Distinguished Scholars Program pretty closely.  A few examples.
First, here's the DEI assessment rubric several NIH FIRST recipients have used. Clear ideological undertones. Second, the NIH FIRST heavily emphasizes a commitment to DEI. Universities and med schools hiring faculty through the program must require and heavily weigh DEI statements.  It also explicitly prohibits using racial preferences. Third, documents acquired through public records requests show, universities ignore the on-paper rules against discrimination and blatantly hired based on race.  One grant recipient said in an email, "I don't want to hire white men for sure."
The NIH intended to create a career pipeline for underrepresented minorities by screening scientists for their commitment to DEI.  In practice, its programs used racial preferences while also screening out scientists based on their commitment to a social cause. As I wrote in WSJ, the distorted priorities of American academia often have roots in the federal government.  In the end, the NIH has helped fund the thriving scholar-activist career pipeline... Some of the remaining redactions raise yet more questions. With the NIH, you often have to go the legal route, and Russ is pushing for more."
Clearly, if you oppose DEI, you just want to say the n word, and DEI is just about ensuring a level playing field

Thread by @JohnDSailer on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "At the University of Michigan, a large-scale hiring program only recruits scholars who show a “commitment to DEI.”  In practice, its a career pipeline program for scholars in activist disciplines—like “trans of color epistemologies” and “queer of color critique."  🧵🧵🧵
After the New York Times published on Michigan’s DEI bureaucracy, the university scrubbed (❗️❗️) the Collegiate Fellows Program directory from its webpage.  But I saved archived links.  Here’s what the much-celebrated initiative looks like in practice. 1⃣ A gender studies professor hired through the program studies how “transgender Latinas are racialized and sexualized in sexual economies of labor and the US nation more broadly.” Her book project shows “how sex working trans Latina ways of being and knowing not only defy racist-cisgenderism more broadly, but also offer potentialities beyond transnormativity and normative Latinidad.”  Now a tenure-track professor via administratrive side-door loophole.
2⃣ Another fellow studies "interracial solidarities, policing, and American global power, with special attention to Latinx and Arab American radicalisms."  UM courses she's taught include "Race, Solidarity, and the Carceral State" and "Latinx Freedom Dreams."
3⃣Another, now in the philosophy department, studies the “the epistemic exclusion of diverse practitioners within the academy.”  Her most recent article “conceptualiz[es] the genealogy of structural anti-Blackness.”
4⃣Another former-fellow-now-tenure-track-professor studies film as a “medium for racial formation” informed by “women, queer, and trans of color epistemologies” as well as “decolonial thought.”
5⃣was "trained in literary and critical theory”
6⃣examines the "white supremacist" roots of Southern wife beating laws
7⃣offers “antiracist and queer revisions" to "Aristotle's ancient theory of rhetorical ethos”
8⃣specializes in “critical translation theory"
9⃣Another, a scholar of modern France, “broadly focus on the intersection of race and religion (or religion as race).” That’s a bit vague. In practice, he too is laser-focused on intersectional analysis.  His edited collection, Queer Jews, Queer Muslims, aims at “triangulating the Jewish-Muslim dad with a third variable: queerness.”
🔟 Another, in her course on “Black Feminism(s),” prompts students to ask “How have Black women pushed back against and attempted to reshape traditional, Eurocentric, ‘white feminist’ politics?”
1⃣1⃣An anthropologist recruit is currently exploring how debates over vaccines “are intimately tied to broader questions about gender, race, and nation.”  Drawing from “critical refugee studies.”
1⃣3⃣Jessica Kenyatta Walker, meanwhile, is a practitioner of critical food studies. Walker illustrates how these faculty recruitment have a downstream effect on culture.  When Quaker Oats scrapped “Aunt Jemima,” Walker was interviewed by NPR as an expert, pushing the company to bring about “structural change.”
These are just a few examples. The list goes on. A few takeaways are in order.
1) This program give the chosen few a side-door onto the faculty. It works like this:
➡️Fellowship applicants are screened by the DEI office and hired as postdocs.
➡️They are then guaranteed tenure-track positions, bypassing the normal rigors of a competitive faculty search.
2) As a whole, the program has a massive—and distorting—effect on the university’s research agenda.
Of the 31 former fellow now teaching in non-STEM disciplines, all but one specialize in issues of identity—race, gender, sexuality, and so on. Fourteen of them employ what can be described as critical theory, including:
➡️“critical race theory"
➡️“critical translation studies"
➡️“critical food studies"
➡️“queer of color critique"
➡️“trans of color epistemologies,"
and various forms of systemic oppression.
3/ Amazingly, according to DEI proponents, the Collegiate Fellows Program stands out as an exemplar.  A faculty petition circulated last week, which opposes any attempt to reform DEI by the Board of Regents, cites it as an example of DEI done right.
4/ For years, critics have argued that DEI evaluations—through diversity statements, or any other tool used to assess a scholars’ “commitment to DEI”—serve as an ideological litmus test, raising serious constitutional issues at a state university.  The Collegiate Fellows Program lends credence to this argument.
6/ But the ideological gloss might well just be a side-product. In records I acquired, UM’s chief diversity officer boasted that screening faculty for their “commitment to DEI” serves as a near perfect proxy for racial preferences.
In other words, UM sought to create a career pipeline for underrepresented minority scholars — and it ended up creating a scholar-activist pipeline.  Demographic diversity via viewpoint conformity.  I suspect I’ll get comments that raise the question so I’ll go ahead and say: Faculty should be allowed to espouse controversial views. They should be allowed to teach controversial classes. These faculty should not be fired. But that’s not the real issue. This is the issue: Universities, foundations, and federal agencies have funded a career path for those who hold an activist vision for higher education. This is a bad thing, and there’s no reason to continue funding the scholar-activist pipeline."

Links - 24th February 2025 (2)

Meme - "Ancient Egyptians placing health packs, weapons and ammo around their tombs so Lara Croft can use them one day"

Meme - "TIL plants make caffeine to defend themselves against pests. Caffeine is toxic to birds, dogs, cats, and it has a pronounced adverse effect on mollusks, various insects, and spiders."
"Coffee plant: "evolves caffeine* Safe at last
Humans:"
"Why are we like this..."
"the fact that we can't drink sea water even tho its the most common type of water just be its 3% salt yet we can safely consume multiple forms of literal poison and even benefit from doing so just blows my fucking mind"
"Peppers: Now that I have capsaicin, no mammal will eat me! ONLY BIRDS, THE BIRDS WILL SPREAD MY SEEDS.
Humans: oh my god this burns so good
Peppers: wut"
"poppies: at last, i have evolved my sap to the point where anything that eats me will sleep... FOREVER
humans who are about to invent painkillers: hey guess what"
"tobacco: finally i can grow in peace, no more insects munching on my leaves."
humans holding matches: my, my, what do we have here?"
"Mint: Stay off me bugs or I'l poison you!
Humans: Yeah I'm gonna need to put this poison in my dessert and mix it with chocolate."

Meme - "Queen Size Bedroom set"
"Is this still available? Can you deliver to ***"
"Yes, are you still interested?"
"Yes I am. Can you deliver on the weekend?"
"Sorry no"
"Can u deliver at all? Only interested if it can be delivered"
"I said NO. Go to hell"
"U said yes to my first question. See you in hell"
*Couldn't send.*

Meme - "STAGES OF LIFE: TEXTS THAT EXCITE YOU
HIGH SCHOOL: "Crush. Hey, you free to talk?"
COLLEGE: "Friend. Hey, wanna go clubbing tonight?"
ADULT: "Delivery. Your parcel has been delivered."

Meme - Wolverine: "Beast, where were you guys? The mansion was under attack! Dont worry, i killed all the vampires, zombies, werewolves and other creatures myself"
Crying Beast: "Oh Logan my dear boy, there werent any monsters. They were trick or treaters"
*Shocked Logan*

Meme - *Naked muscular man balanced on one arm on bathroom counter with anchor on bathroom wall*
"Consider this a fucking warning. Sorry wrong person"
"...
Who's the right person?! Who the hell is the right person?!"

Meme - Historical Centrist @StevePender: "For those who didn't know that Ghislaine Maxwell ran one of the biggest reddit accounts. Controlling/guiding information flow, blackmail of powerful people, like a powerhouse of subversion."
Air Katakana @airkatakana: "u/maxwellhill was one of the most prolific reddit power users, occupying a top spot on the r/worldnews moderator list, and accumulating 14m+ post karma   until they suddenly stopped their 18 year track record of posting on the same day ghislane maxwell was arrested"

Meme - "Best Job in The World. APPLYING MAKEUP ON REBECCA ROMIJN ON THE SET OF X-MEN, 2000"

Meme - Muslims: "Celebrates 9/11 as Islamic victory!! While simultaneously saying it is an inside job by Jews?"

Is 11-Year-Old a Genius, or Just Bright? Either Way, He's a Troubled Child - The New York Times - "Agustin Eastwood De Mello likes to tell the story of how his son, Adragon, at 7 weeks of age, looked up at him and said hello. Other signs of Adragon's precocity followed, the father says. He could read and write at the age of 2. At 5 he joined Mensa and at 8 he enrolled in a community college near this seaside town, about 80 miles south of San Francisco.  Last June Adragon attracted national attention when, at the age of 11, he graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, becoming the youngest college graduate, according to the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records.  But now concern by the authorites over Adragon's safety has left the boy's future uncertain. It is shrouded in a bitter custody dispute begun by the boy's mother, and possible criminal proceedings against the boy's unemployed father on charges of felony child endangerment... Questions have also been raised about Adragon's academic record. The boy's mother told the police that she and his father did much of his community college homework. And several teachers at Santa Cruz said Adragon performed poorly in class and suggested that Mr. De Mello harassed teachers who balked at giving the boy passing grades"
From 1988

Meme - Shayne Smith: "Gonna ask 4 separate girls on dates to the same place at the same time and then when they arrive and realize what has happened I'm gonna come out and try to talk them into playing Dungeons & Dragons."

Meme - "This is what is now lol? Gatekeep your hobbies, boys."
"Dungeons & Dragons Announces Mythical Meats, a Whimsical Food-Themed Quest"

Meme - "Dungeons & Dragons.
2nd ED *Sean Connery as James Bond*
3rd ED *Pierce Brosnan as James Bond*
3.5 ED *Daniel Craig as James Bond*
4th ED *Austin Powers*
5th ED *Goofy Henchman with rifle*"

Dying Breed Tabletop on X - "The simple fact is that this hobby is open to everyone, but NOT everyone gets it.  THAC0 and High Gygaxian might be too difficult for some. But when we dumb it down, we get Tiefling proms and role-playing shifts at a fantasy Starbucks.  When you cater to the lowest common denominator and largest market share, you get less than average.  While I don't think it was intentional that math, vocabulary, and abstract thought were ever designed as barriers to entry, I don't think that using those standards harmed the hobby. Unlike the removal of those things.  When you remove all barriers to entry, then you should never be surprised when the foundation crumbles.  #GatekeepingIsGood"

LILLEY: City's $48M estimate to remove bike lanes 'inflated' - "Are you buying the city’s claim that removing the bike lanes ordered taken out by the province will cost $48 million? If the amount seems outrageous, that’s because it is nothing but a scare tactic by city staff who are as wedded to the idea of a bike lane on every street as Mayor Olivia Chow herself. Oh, and the staff report includes this claim, that there will be “minimal improvements in travel time once lanes are removed.” Premier Doug Ford has heard enough about bike lanes from residents of this city and others and has had enough. His legislation stops cities from installing bike lanes on major roads if the bike lanes remove any traffic lanes for cars. He’s also promised to remove “sections of the Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue bike lanes,” according to a consultation proposal that started last month and concludes next week. It’s time for these lanes to go and for the city to go back to the policy of bike lanes on secondary roads, not major arterial ones. This report with the flashy price tag is meant to scare residents into agreeing to leave the lanes in rather than spend so much money. Councillor Brad Bradford, an avid cyclist but one who opposes the city’s overly zealous bike lane approach, has serious doubts about the cost. “The city’s $48-million cost estimate for removing the bike lanes raises a lot of questions given that it’s nearly double the cost of installation. That must have generously include every paperclip and shovel they could possibly account for,” Bradford said. He’s also doubting the idea of major construction delays by taking the bike lanes out. “The Bloor West lanes in Etobicoke are just paint and flexi-posts, and those could be removed a lot faster and for a lot less cost than staff are claiming. Probably could done overnight, over the course of a weekend,” he said. Former councillor and Deputy Mayor Denzil Minan-Wong also has real doubts about the costs and exaggerated nuisance of removing the nuisance bike lanes. “I think the number is inflated. If it’s going to cost that much money, maybe the province can come in and do it for it,” he said. Minan-Wong pointed to the roughly $270,000 cost of removing the Jarvis bike lane, a project he initiated in 2011. Sure, costs have risen since then but not by that much. City staff is having us on with this sky-is-falling projection. To be blunt, city staff can’t be trusted on this issue. The shoddy report in 2023 on the “pilot project” for the bike lanes on Yonge St. north of Bloor is proof of that. Faced with complaints from local residents about reduced wait times of emergency vehicles, the city’s staff report claimed this was false, just a delay of a few seconds. To arrive at that conclusion, they didn’t look at the landlocked streets between Price and Jackes. They included a wide area from Avenue Rd. in the west to Mount Pleasant in the east. “We feel trapped — and have very legitimate, very grave concerns regarding how dramatically EMS response times have been impacted. Basically this is a tragedy waiting to happen,” local resident James in an email to me this week on the subject. He and his neighbours are worried that another shoddy report from city staff will keep these bike lanes in place. Thankfully, the province isn’t buying it. “As we’ve said many times,1% of people shouldn’t be making decisions for the majority of people who travel on our busiest roads and sit in gridlock every day,” said Dakota Brasier, director of media relations for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria."
Left wingers hate cars and drivers, so making congestion worse is a feature, not a bug
Given the voodoo numbers, the Toronto city study claiming that bike lanes didn't worsen congestion that the cycling lobby loves to cite seems even more dodgy

Furious locals blast plans by charity to build Islamic burial site - "'Only 0.2% of the local population identifies as Muslim, indicating minimal local demand for such a facility. 'With nearly 9,000 plots proposed, this project aims to serve communities as far away as Plymouth and beyond, offering no direct benefit to residents.' Several letters of support have also been received in favour of the Islamic burial site, with Gardens of Mercy's chairperson Dr Salim Mahadik, explaining there were no burial sites for Muslims in the region of Cornwall and Devon. He said: 'The charity's main objective is to provide a separate burial space for the Muslim community of Devon and Cornwall, which is also the vision of the planning proposal. 'At present, the Muslim community in our region is unable to bury the deceased according to proper religious traditions as there is no Muslim burial ground in Devon and Cornwall.' Among those backing the plans is Dr Muhammad Ismal, whose family had been living in the area for over two decades. He said: 'We need a burial ground in Devon and Cornwall that allows Muslims to be buried according to their religious traditions instead of compelling us to arrange burials for our loved ones in distant UK cities to fulfil their religious needs. 'This is basic human right of a person or group of individuals to have a burial place above and beyond any advantages and disadvantages including logistical and cultural challenges.' Dr M Zeb Khan also contended that the number of Muslims in the UK, who contribute to the country's economy and society 'immensely', continues to grow. 'Making them feel at home will require accommodating their religious rituals including burial,' the doctor added. 'Granting Muslims a space for burial will be a step forward in creating positive feelings in Muslims of being "respected".'... 'Many Muslims struggle to secure burial plots due to the high costs and shortage of land in densely populated regions. 'Burial is a core religious requirement in Islam, and because cremation is not permitted, the need for adequate burial space is especially pressing. 'Additionally, Islamic traditions call for single graves rather than stacking, which further adds to the demand for space. 'Having access to designated land without financial burden allows families to observe their faith's burial practices while easing the economic and logistical challenges of laying loved ones to rest.'"
Apparently it is a human right for the community to support your religion, including an implicit financial subsidy.

Charter-school competition improves public schools, too - "The dismal academic standards of Ontario’s public education system are well documented by standardized test scores, while the pervasiveness of radical politics continues to be demonstrated by events such as a “field trip” by several Toronto schools to an anti-Israel protest in September. At the same time, evidence of the benefits of increasing families’ access to alternatives to the government-run schools continues to mount, with recent studies finding that policies supporting school choice deliver both educational and fiscal benefits. According to a new study from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), a centre-left think-tank in Washington, in cities with high enrolment in charter and charter-like schools (which are publicly funded but operate with more autonomy than traditional government-run schools) there has been a “true rising tide” of academic achievement, with low-income students beginning to catch up to statewide averages. Equally importantly, widespread availability of alternatives to traditional government-run schools didn’t just help the families accessing those alternatives. More competition in the education sector also forced traditional public schools to improve, so increased school choice benefited children who stayed in those schools, too. This latest study adds to other evidence on the academic benefits of charter schools, including a major national study in 2023 from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes that concluded “the typical charter school student had reading and math gains that outpaced those of their peers in traditional public schools,” with the learning gains “particularly strong among Blacks and Hispanics and those living in poverty.” Alberta is the only province with charter schools and even there, charter school students account for less than two per cent of the population. But charter schools have seen 29 per cent enrollment growth in the past four years versus just six per cent growth for traditional public schools. There is massive parental demand for charter schools, whose students have a record of outperforming traditional public school students academically. In addition to all this, a study just published by Indiana-based EdChoice found government policies expanding school choice can also deliver fiscal benefits to taxpayers. It examined 48 private educational choice programs (education savings accounts, school vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships) across 25 states plus D.C. In 2022, average public funding per student in these 48 programs was US$6,000, barely one-third of the US$17,000 spent per student in public schools. The gap between the two is not a pure saving to taxpayers: some families would send their children to schools not run by government even in absence of these programs. But EdChoice estimated total cumulative savings to taxpayers of up to $45.6 billion from these programs since their inception... In Alberta, independent private schools receive no more than 70 per cent of the per student funding allocated to public school students to cover operational costs, and receive no public funding at all for building and capital costs. In British Columbia, the average taxpayer cost for an independent private school student is 40 per cent lower than for a public school student. The recent PPI and EdChoice studies confirm earlier research showing both academic and fiscal benefits from school choice. They also reinforce two points often made by economists. The first is that competition is better than monopoly. The government-run system will not serve families well if families do not have the ability to choose something else. The second is that the private sector is far more efficient than the government sector."

'She was the victim, not the criminal': Federal officials blocked North Korea defector from entering Canada - "The defector was effectively prevented from entering this country Friday for a visit to raise awareness about North Korean human-rights abuses, after attending a United Nations forum in Geneva. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had failed to grant her the required electronic travel authorization (eTA) she had applied for on Nov. 4, saying she first had to provide police records surrounding her forced repatriation from China to North Korea. Choi, who runs a human-rights organization in the south, explained in a letter that obtaining such records would be impossible given North Korea’s totalitarian system and her “unique circumstances.”"

Jesse Kline: In Afghanistan we won the war, but lost the battle for human rights - "It was never about saving women and girls; it was about rooting out al-Qaida. And in that regard, it was largely successful... The West seems to be quietly resigned to the futility of the whole endeavour. After all, if we couldn’t eliminate the Taliban, install a stable democratic government and train security forces that wouldn’t crumble at the first sign of trouble in 20 years, it was probably never going to happen. Better to leave now than to waste another two decades spilling blood and untold treasure in the graveyard of empires... The war was never really about pulling the country out of the Dark Ages, or ensuring that female Afghans are treated like actual human beings. Those were always side benefits. It would have been wonderful if they worked out — and it’s utterly heartbreaking that all the gains that have been made in terms of women’s rights and all the young girls who now know how empowering and enlightening an education can be were crushed by a gang of medieval psychopaths. Yet when President George W. Bush announced that the U.S. military had begun striking targets in Afghanistan, he made no mention of women’s rights, or of democracy... Nation-building and preserving human rights were used as excuses for America’s continued presence in the country, but they were always just that — excuses. If the world should have learned anything from the experience of the British and the Soviets, it’s that you can’t hold Afghanistan indefinitely. But that doesn’t mean the war wasn’t a success. It’s hard to get a sense of how large and powerful terrorist organizations like al-Qaida truly are, but one thing is certain: the world has not experienced another terror attack even close to the scale of 9/11. Nor is the terrorist threat anywhere near what it once was: deaths caused by global terrorism peaked in 2014 but have dropped 59 per cent since then, according to a 2020 report from the Institute for Economics & Peace. Although al-Qaida still has a small presence in Afghanistan, it no longer poses the threat it once did. Bin Laden is dead and its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has disavowed his predecessor’s insistence that a jihad be waged on the “far enemy” (i.e., the West), instead choosing to focus on the “near enemy” (unfriendly Middle Eastern dictatorships). Moreover, support for Islamism has waned, as the Muslim world has witnessed the brutality of organizations like ISIL and the Muslim Brotherhood when they come to power. “Millions of Muslims have now seen political Islam in action — and they don’t like it,” wrote Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post in April. “The oxygen that fed political Islam — disgust with the current regimes and blind faith in the promise of religious leaders — has been severely depleted.” This, however, is hard to quantify, because there have been a lack of polls on support for Islamist organizations in the Muslim world in recent years — which shows how successful we have been at making terrorism a non-issue. The lesson is not that we shouldn’t have gone into Afghanistan, but that the objective should have been kept narrowly focused on destroying the terrorists who posed a direct threat to western interests"

David Atherton on X - "In Afghanistan young boys are sold by their families to more affluent men. In a practice called "bacha bazi" meaning "boy play", they dance for the men & afterwards they are raped."
BowTiedRanger on X - "I know Rangers who were totally unbothered by combat, but have PTSD from accidentally walking into rooms where Afghan men were raping young boys."

Under 16s will be banned from using social media, Australia announces - "More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Mr Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.” Jackie Hallan, a director at the youth mental health service ReachOut, opposed the ban. She said 73% of young people across Australiaaccessing mental health support did so through social media. “We’re uncomfortable with the ban. We think young people are likely to circumvent a ban and our concern is that it really drives the behaviour underground and then if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they’re worried about getting in trouble,” Ms Hallan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Child psychologist Philip Tam said a minimum age of 12 or 13 would have been more enforceable."

Meme - Arin Yuni @Arin_Yumi: "A sign outside a restaurant in Kyoto. The English and Chinese text says the restaurant is full The small red text on Japanese at the bottom says "If you can read this, you may come in""
"no vacancy"

Meme - Zoom Afrika @zoomafrika1: "But How did they manage to colonize us?" *Black athletes standing around while white athletes are exhausted on the floor*
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "Missing context:
The top photo is from the first round of the London Olympic 1500M, the Kenyan athlete - Nixon Chepseba - finished 11th in this race. The girls hugging also won the race."

Meme - "Excerpt from GRRM new blog post"
"It was a splendid trip, and one that did wonders to restore my bruised and battered spirits and relieve some of the stress that I had been under before we left. The first few months of 2024 had been... well, no fun, let us say. January, February, March... things just kept getting worse until we came to April Fool's Day, when it finally dawned on me that I was the fool, and had been for years. But I do not want to talk about that now. (Or maybe ever. We shall see)."
"That is why I have great respect for Jk Rowling (as an Author). She absolutely worked hard on the Harry Potter series and did not allow her newfound fame and money to derail her books. She also always stayed ahead of Movies. imagine if we got Deathly Hollows movies before the book. She focused on the books and her legacy will be far more enduring than Martin."

Why George R. R. Martin Broke the Cardinal Rule of Hollywood - "You might know George R.R. Martin as the mind behind the biggest book and television show in history: Game of Thrones. But what you probably aren’t aware of is that he’s also self-financed four short films based on the tales of a dear friend... [Howard] Waldrop was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction... Of course, it wouldn’t be a conversation with George R. R. Martin without asking how he’s balancing these projects with the long-awaited sixth and final book, The Winds of Winter, in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. “Unfortunately, I am 13 years late,” he says. “Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ I don’t know, it happens a day at a time.”  He continues: “But that’s still a priority. A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!” He adds that he could never retire — he’s “not a golfer.”"

George R. R. Martin tells THR that he doesn't know if he'll ever finish 'The Winds of Winter'. "Unfortunately, I am 13 years late. Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ : r/HouseOfTheDragon - "His legacy is already tarnished (not saying fairly or unfairly) because of the show. He would have to re-conceptualize the plot points to do differently. He gave HBO the ideas that they put on screen, poorly. The ending of his books series is already known to his entire fanbase and he has 0 motivation to write because they all A. know what is coming and B. hated it."
George R. R. Martin tells THR that he doesn't know if he'll ever finish 'The Winds of Winter'. "Unfortunately, I am 13 years late. Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ : r/HouseOfTheDragon - "That’s where the irony comes in.  If he just phoned it in and forced a badly written ending though, it would retroactively ruin the rest of the books. Look at Game Of Thrones, the biggest tv show ever, but no one talks about it anymore, and if they do it’s always with a disclaimer “shame it ended so poorly”.  If he never finishes the books, instead the narrative will be about the big “what if”, instead of how he couldn’t stick the landing."

Meme - "imagine having a panic attack hyperventilating and crying and your dad tells you that it "won't effect anything" and that you need to go to class and "act like an adult""
"This is invalidation , which is emotional abuse. Time to go no contact, babe."
"Your feelings are valid. It's as bad as you feel it is. I'm fucking adult and I'm crying."
"props to you for not physically attacking him after that"
To left wingers, everything is "abuse" and "trauma", which is why you need to take their tales about their family with a bucket of salt
Comments (elsewhere): "The thing I noticed with lefties is that any minor disagreement with your family is a reason to immediately sever any contact you have with them. They will do anything to avoid facing their problems."
"We aren't a cult! Also the left, *Cut ties with family immediately, we will validate your issues, one of us! One of us!*"
"Noooo haha you have to reject your family and accept depression look how valid your feelings are"
"These people think they're a threat...."
"The everyone gets a trophy generation, taught by communists activists from prek through college while majoring in underwater basket weaving $400k in debt with blue hair. Oh well, suck it up buttercup."
"These are the shits that want to run things, they had their 4 yrs, and they brought this country to it's knees... It's about time they get their victimhood taken from them, and forced to face reality"

Why Germany is ripe for revolt

How left wing ideology can ruin a country.

Addendum: The cope from greens is that "corporate greed" is the reason why more "green" energy leads to more expensive power, since everyone "knows" that "green" energy is the cheapest

Time for more regulation!

Why Germany is ripe for revolt

As Germany’s federal elections approach this weekend, chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats (SPD) are bracing for their worst results since 1887. The SPD is battling with its equally unpopular coalition partner, the Green Party, for a humiliating third place, behind the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The coming bloodbath for Scholz’s government speaks to far more than the haplessness of his leadership or the unpopularity of his party. Germany has just endured two years of recession – the longest economic slump in its postwar history. Industry is in freefall, shedding almost a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs since the start of the pandemic. A series of terror attacks by Islamists and asylum seekers has made many Germans wonder if the state can do its basic duty to keep them safe. Talk of German efficiency and punctuality now sounds like a sarcastic joke, as roads and bridges fall into disrepair, trains are routinely late and infrastructure projects are plagued by delays and cost overruns. One in five German children lives in poverty. Germany is not merely in an economic downturn – it faces a profound structural crisis, largely of its elites’ own making.

None of these problems began in earnest in the Scholz era. The chancellor is merely the current frontman for a long-running ‘consensus’ that has now become unsustainable and unsupportable. Tellingly, at the last federal elections in 2021, Scholz campaigned as the continuity candidate following the long reign of CDU chancellor Angela Merkel, under whom he served as vice-president and finance minister in a ‘grand coalition’. He even aped her signature ‘Merkel rhombus’ hand gesture to ram this point home. The accusation that ‘politicians are all the same’ rings far truer in Germany than elsewhere. Every mainstream party is implicated in this crisis.

Foreign admirers of Germany praise the ability of its politicians to form a consensus, rather than squabble or try to score partisan points. This is what makes Germany a ‘grown-up country’, as John Kampfner puts it in his staggeringly poorly aged 2021 book, Why the Germans Do it Better.

A less charitable interpretation of contemporary German politics would be that its leaders are gripped by groupthink. Policies, ideologies, ways of doing things become easily entrenched. The result is that when the ideas of the day are bad, they are shared not only across parties, but also by the broader elites, in business, media and culture. The main challenge to this received wisdom comes from the fringes, and so it can comfortably be ignored. Not even a change of governing party will necessarily lead to a change of course.

Of all of Germany’s bad bets of the past 20 years, the Energiewende (energy transition) stands out for its sheer irrationality. For a heavily industrialised economy like Germany’s, cheap and plentiful energy is a non-negotiable commodity. And yet, this core purpose of energy policy seems to have been forgotten by a political class that has long been in thrall to green ideology and climate alarmism.

It has taken the global energy crisis, prompted by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, to truly kill off Germany’s industrial strength. But the death writ was surely handed down in 2010, when Merkel’s government announced its plan to make the world’s largest investment in wind and solar power, and to speed up the planned closure of Germany’s nuclear plants.

The easily foreseeable snag was that, unlike fossil fuels, which can be tapped on demand, renewable-energy sources are ‘intermittent’ – they cannot produce electricity when the wind doesn’t blow and the Sun doesn’t shine. And so they need a constant supply of back-up sources, usually fossil fuels like coal or gas, or indeed nuclear, to keep the grid running.

Even more baffling was the Atomausstieg, the nuclear phaseout. Despite nuclear power providing plentiful, reliable, cheap and even carbon-neutral electricity, every major political party in Germany is opposed to it, following decades of hysterical disinformation by environmentalists. In 2000, the SDP-Green government announced the nuclear phaseout, with the first plants due to be dismantled in 2007. Then, in 2011, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, then chancellor Merkel picked up the pace. (It did not seem to matter that the Fukushima meltdown was caused by a tsunami, and that the risk of such a tsunami battering Germany was nil.)

Not even the global energy crisis was enough to spark a rethink. In April 2023, vice-chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party forced the shutdown of Germany’s last three nuclear plants. He did so even as energy prices were soaring to crippling heights as the government struggled to source alternative energy supplies to Russian gas. Before the Greens came into government in 2021, nuclear still supplied 14 per cent of German power.

The energy-price crisis has taken a wrecking ball to Germany’s once thriving industrial base. VW, the crown jewel of the German car industry, is cutting jobs and shutting factories for the first time in its 87-year history. Chemical giant BASF, which is older than Germany itself, is radically downsizing. The most energy-intensive companies are producing 20 per cent less than they were before the pandemic.

The Energiewende is not the only factor here, of course. But even before the war in Ukraine had sent energy prices into the stratosphere, between 2006 and 2017, German electricity prices rose by 50 per cent, making them the most expensive in Europe at the time.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, German heavy industry relied on cheap Russian gas to remain globally competitive. Deals cut with the Putin regime ensured a plentiful supply at a cost well below the global market price. The flow only stopped in September 2022, following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. The loss of these supplies was devastating to German industry. Having to buy gas on global markets made it uncompetitive effectively overnight.

Germany’s fatal entanglement with Russia was enabled not just by raw commercial interests. The political class and capitalist elites alike were also gripped by an End of History stupor. They were convinced that major wars were a thing of the past, and that geopolitics need not have any bearing on the economy or business. Trade alone, it was presumed, would guarantee peace and stability.

Germany has also been blindsided by China’s ambitions. It was expected that China would always be keen to produce cheap low-end goods for German consumption, while buying higher-end, value-added products from German factories. But today, China is rivalling Germany’s manufacturing capabilities in what were once its leading specialities – particularly car-making. In the space of just two years, Germany’s trade deficit with China has grown five-fold.

In his new book, Kaput: The End of the German Miracle, Wolfgang Münchau likens Germany’s trade strategy, of tying its fate so tightly to cheap imports from Russia and value-added exports to China, to a kind of economic ‘Russian roulette’.

Münchau identifies several other orthodoxies that are slowly strangling Germany’s potential. One is Germany’s addiction to protectionism. He describes how a system of ‘neo-mercantilism’, in which the state (often indirectly) props up and shields legacy industries from competition, ends up stifling innovation and dynamism in the long-run.

Equally damaging is Germany’s ostentatiously strict commitment to fiscal discipline. The so-called debt brake, introduced in 2009 during the global financial crisis, prevents the federal government from running budget deficits of any more than just 0.35 per cent of GDP. This arbitrary and needlessly tight fiscal rule not only led directly to the collapse of the current government (when a judge ruled that its green spending plans breached the debt rules), it has also hampered public investment, leading to a noticeable degradation of the public realm.

Around 4,000 road bridges are now in ‘urgent’ need of repair. Germany’s trains are more regularly delayed than Britain’s. Plans for nationwide rail upgrades that could reduce delays have themselves been delayed, with the expected completion date pushed back from 2030… to 2070. Time and again, the self-imposed fiscal rules, introduced by the SPD but broadly accepted by all parties, stand in the way of fixing things. Outside of crises like the Covid pandemic, austerity is a near permanent feature of German economic policy.

Both the slowing of innovation in the private sector and lack of public investment in infrastructure have combined to make Germany a technological backwater – especially when it comes to all things digital. Germany has some of the slowest internet speeds in the developed world, and some of the worst mobile-data coverage in Europe. As recently as 2023, a third of businesses were still using fax machines ‘frequently’ or ‘very frequently’. Tellingly, Angela Merkel once fizzed with excitement when talking about the opportunities the internet might one day bring, describing it as Neuland or uncharted territory. She said this in 2013, six years after Apple had released the first iPhone.

Germany’s digital laggardness presents two critical dangers. First, legacy firms are missing out on the efficiency and productivity gains of digitisation. Second, the tech products and start-ups of the future are being made and founded anywhere but Germany. The 21st century is fast leaving Germany behind.

The withering of the German state, and the elites’ reluctance to confront difficult realities, is felt most acutely when it comes to questions of crime, safety and borders. A terror attack in Munich earlier this month, in which a two-year-old girl and her mother were killed, was merely the most recent in a spate of mass-casualty events linked to Islamism and asylum seekers. Before Munich, there were deadly knife attacks in Aschaffenburg, Solingen and Mannheim – all in the past nine months. In Magdeburg in December, a Saudi-born ex-Muslim allegedly ploughed his car into a Christmas market, apparently in protest against Germany’s ‘Islamisation’. A terrifying list of plots linked to Hamas, ISIS or with other Islamist motivations have mercifully been foiled in recent years. At the end of last year, Berlin’s police chief warned gay and Jewish people to hide their identities, as their safety could no longer be guaranteed in migrant-heavy neighbourhoods.

The overwhelming majority of migrants to Germany are not a threat, of course. But the decision by Angela Merkel to open the borders to all comers during the 2015 refugee crisis was thoughtless, and dangerously so. Never mind the difficulty of properly vetting the more than a million arrivals in that year alone. Each year since the Covid pandemic has brought an additional 240,000 to 350,000 new asylum seekers. Besides, those whose claims fail, and even those who commit crimes, are rarely deported. Beyond a slight toughening of rhetoric, particularly from CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, the German mainstream seems paralysed to take any meaningful action. A charter flight carrying just seven Afghan and Syrian deportees to Bulgaria earlier this month was presented by the authorities as a great triumph for border security. It’s as if the establishment fears that any attempt to get a grip on migration or the border would give an unwitting boost to the talking points of the hated AfD.

Indeed, the spectre of the ‘far right’ or ‘extreme right’ is routinely invoked by the mainstream, often with the aim of limiting dissent and silencing critical voices. The AfD certainly contains many deeply obnoxious figures, from its leader in Thuringia, who knowingly repeats Nazi-era slogans, to the lead MEP candidate in last year’s EU elections, who claimed that not everyone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal, to the former party chair, who called the Third Reich a mere ‘speck of bird shit in more than 1,000 years of successful German history’. Yet the reason such scandals don’t dent the AfD’s polling is not that Germans have a renewed sympathy for fascism or hard-right nationalism, but because the AfD often stands alone against an iron-clad mainstream consensus. Often the AfD is the only voice questioning establishment shibboleths, from migration to greenism to gender ideology.

Yet rather than listen to voters’ concerns and anxieties, rather than face up to Germany’s decline, the establishment parties have instead tried to eradicate the symptom. Senior SPD figures, including interior minister Nancy Faeser and party co-chair Saskia Esken, have suggested banning the AfD outright. The AfD is also under surveillance by the German secret service, on the grounds that it is a suspected threat to democracy. And no matter how well the AfD does in this weekend’s elections, the other main parties maintain a ‘firewall’ against it, meaning they will not work with it under any circumstances, even to pass votes in parliament. Around a fifth of voters, in other words, know in advance their voices will be ignored.

Until recently, Germany would be hailed as a model of economic dynamism and political stability. Today, it offers a cautionary tale of how a complacent establishment, impervious to public criticism, drunk on fashionable ideology, incapable of adapting to new challenges, can do catastrophic damage to a once successful country. This weekend’s elections will undoubtedly send a clear message: that the German elites’ consensus is no longer fit for purpose. Just don’t be surprised if that message isn’t heeded.