Milo Returns To Berkeley, Will Spend "Whatever It Takes" On Security

Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos says he will spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on security during an upcoming event at the University of California-Berkeley.

Yiannopoulos being led away from a 2016 event that was cancelled by violent protesters.

In an interview with Campus Reform, Yiannopoulos said that he is “prepared to spend whatever it takes” to provide security for the “Free Speech Week” that is scheduled for the end of September, underscoring his sincerity with the six-figure commitment.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the September 24 event at UC-Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza is slated to feature a lineup of popular conservative firebrands, including Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, and former White House strategist Stephen Bannon.

Despite the university’s recent pledge to hold a “free speech year” and crack down on those who use violence to shut down speakers, however, the administration has come under increasing pressure to derail the upcoming event.

Earlier this week, for instance, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin asked Chancellor Carol Christ to reevaluate her commitment to allowing the conservative speakers on campus.

“I’m very concerned about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter and some of these other right-wing speakers coming to the Berkeley campus,” Arreguin told The San Francisco Chronicle.

“It’s just a target for black bloc to come out and commit mayhem on the Berkeley campus and have it potentially spill out on the street.”

Other local lawmakers also echoed the remarks of the Berkeley mayor, citing security concerns as the primary danger of allowing Yiannopoulos and others to hold the event on a university campus.

"We don’t want the moral, psychological and fiscal expense of having these agents of hate coming to our town,” Berkeley City Councilman Ben Bartlett told The Los Angeles Times.

"We know the contest of ideas is at the very heart of freedom, but at the same time when the ideas are certain to cause bloodshed I’m inclined to err on the side of protecting the population, and I say that with a heavy heart.”

Councilwoman Cheryl Davila likewise told the publication that she does not “appreciate that there are racists coming to UC Berkeley to spew hate.”

A UC-Berkeley spokesperson told Campus Reform in an email that the speakers for the upcoming event are being hosted by independent student organizations, and that the school therefore does not have “the legal right or desire to interfere with or cancel their invitations based on the perspectives and beliefs of the speakers.”

“Where we do have discretion is around everything that has to do with the safety of our communities,” the spokesperson said.

“That priority, along with our commitment to Free Speech, remains at the center of our planning and preparations for future events.”

Yiannopoulos, for his part, is well aware of the severity of the threat posed by Antifa and other leftist groups, having been driven from Berkeley’s campus by violent rioters last time he was scheduled to speak at the school earlier this year.

Mike Rowe Eviscerates "Smug" Snowflake Who Calls Him A "White Nationalist"

If you ever plan to attack Mike Rowe over Facebook then you better bring more than just a few "smug and snarky" comments to the table because anything less than a well-sourced, reasoned, fact-based argument might just earn you the same public humiliation that Rowe just dropped on Chuck Atkins.  Oh, and your grammar better be spot on too.

Unfortunately, Chuck didn"t follow any of the guidelines above when he decided to write on Mike Rowe"s Facebook thread accusing him of being at "white nationalist" for having the audacity to suggest that a $200,000 college education may not be the "best" option for all American high school graduates. Apparently Chuck is convinced that helping people get high-paying, stable trade jobs is just racism at it"s worst...

In any event, here is what Chuck Atkins made the mistake of posting on Rowe"s Facebook page:

"One of the tenants of white nationalism is that college educated people are academic elitests. Comment? No? I"m not surprised. You never take a political stand because you don’t want to alienate anybody. Its bad for business. I get it. But there is a current of anti intellectualism in this country - promoted by Republicans. Those people love you, and they think your initiative is their initiative. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is kickin our ass academically."

Which prompted an epic, multi-page response from Rowe that started out as follows:

Hi Chuck

Since we’re being candid, allow me to say how much I dislike your post. Everything about it annoys me – your smug and snarky tone, your appalling grammar, your complete lack of evidence to support your claims, and of course, the overarching logical fallacy that informs your entire position. What really bugs me though, is the fact that you’re not entirely wrong. It’s true; I haven’t shared any political opinions this week, in part anyway, because doing so might very well be “bad for business.”

Rowe goes on to beautifully explain how logical fallacies, much like the one presented by Chuck Atkins, are largely to blame for the toxic political climate in the country right now. 

You say that White Nationalists believe that everyone who goes to college is an “academic elite.” You then say that Republicans promote “anti-intellectualism.” You offer no proof to support either claim, but it really doesn’t matter – your statements successfully connect two radically different organizations by alleging a shared belief. Thus, White Nationalists and The Republican Party suddenly have something in common – a contempt for higher education. Then, you make it personal. You say that Republicans “love” me because they believe that my initiative and “their” initiative are one and the same. But of course, “their” initiative is now the same initiative as White Nationalists.

Very clever. Without offering a shred of evidence, you’ve implied that Republicans who support mikeroweWORKS do so because they believe I share their disdain for all things “intellectual.” And poof - just like that, Republicans, White Nationalists, and mikeroweWORKS are suddenly conflated, and the next thing you know, I’m off on a press tour to disavow rumors of my troubling association with the Nazis!

Far-fetched? Far from it. That’s how logical fallacies work. A flaw in reasoning or a mistaken belief undermines the logic of a conclusion, often leading to real-world consequences. And right now, logical fallacies are not limited to the warped beliefs of morons with tiki torches, and other morons calling for “more dead cops.” Logical fallacies are everywhere.

As I type this, a Democrat on CNN is making an argument that says, “because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, those Republicans now opposed to tearing down his memorial are “pro-slavery,” and therefore aligned with the modern day KKK.” That’s a logical fallacy.

Over on Fox, a Republican is arguing that “any Democrat who has not yet condemned the Senator from Missouri for publicly wishing that Donald Trump be assassinated, is guilty of wishing for the exact same thing.” That’s a logical fallacy.

Meanwhile, there were many other pearls of wisdom in Rowe"s epic rant.

Here"s a great one demonstrating how pretty much everything can be misconstrued to develop whatever narrative is convenient for any given party at any given time...

Want to hear another one? Imagine something like this, unfolding over on MSNBC.

"Good Evening, America, our top story tonight… Chuck Atkins is a racist! Why? Because he can’t spell. Just look at his grammar! In a recent post on Mike Rowe’s Facebook page, Mr. Atkins, while bemoaning America’s global academic standing, not only misspelled “elitist,” he used “tenants” when he meant “tenets.” He neglected to use a hyphen in “anti-intellectual,” and he misplaced several commas and apostrophes! But why is he a racist, you ask? Simple. Because everyone knows racists are ignorant. Chuck Atkins is clearly a poor speller. Poor spelling and grammar are signs of ignorance. Ergo - Chuck Atkins is a racist! Boom! The matter is settled!"

...and another on celebrities forcing their political opinions in our face...

What can I say? I work for half-a-dozen different companies, none of whom pay me to share my political opinions. I run a non-partisan foundation, I’m about to launch a new show on Facebook, and I’m very aware that celebrities pay a price for opening their big fat gobs. Gilbert Gottfried, Kathy Griffin, Colin Kaepernick, Milo Yiannopoulos…even that guy from Google who just got himself fired for mouthing off. There’s no getting around it – the first amendment does not guarantee the freedom to speak without consequences. And really, that’s fine by me.

So no – I’m not going to share my personal feelings about Charlottesville, President Trump, or the current effort to remove thousands of statues of long dead soldiers from the public square. Not just because it’s “bad for business,” but because it’s annoying. I can’t think of a single celebrity whose political opinion I value, and I’m not going to assume the country feels any differently about mine.

Conclusion:

Below is the full rant from Mike Rowe:

* * *

Hi Chuck

Since we’re being candid, allow me to say how much I dislike your post. Everything about it annoys me – your smug and snarky tone, your appalling grammar, your complete lack of evidence to support your claims, and of course, the overarching logical fallacy that informs your entire position. What really bugs me though, is the fact that you’re not entirely wrong. It’s true; I haven’t shared any political opinions this week, in part anyway, because doing so might very well be “bad for business.”

What can I say? I work for half-a-dozen different companies, none of whom pay me to share my political opinions. I run a non-partisan foundation, I’m about to launch a new show on Facebook, and I’m very aware that celebrities pay a price for opening their big fat gobs. Gilbert Gottfried, Kathy Griffin, Colin Kaepernick, Milo Yiannopoulos…even that guy from Google who just got himself fired for mouthing off. There’s no getting around it – the first amendment does not guarantee the freedom to speak without consequences. And really, that’s fine by me.

So no – I’m not going to share my personal feelings about Charlottesville, President Trump, or the current effort to remove thousands of statues of long dead soldiers from the public square. Not just because it’s “bad for business,” but because it’s annoying. I can’t think of a single celebrity whose political opinion I value, and I’m not going to assume the country feels any differently about mine. So, rather than blow myself up, or chime in with all the obvious observations about the cowardly scum in the pointy hats, I’m going to talk instead about my belief that comments like yours pose a far greater threat to the future of our country than the existence of a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, or a monument to George Washington. Ready? Let’s start with a closer look at your claims.

You say that White Nationalists believe that everyone who goes to college is an “academic elite.” You then say that Republicans promote “anti-intellectualism.” You offer no proof to support either claim, but it really doesn’t matter – your statements successfully connect two radically different organizations by alleging a shared belief. Thus, White Nationalists and The Republican Party suddenly have something in common – a contempt for higher education. Then, you make it personal. You say that Republicans “love” me because they believe that my initiative and “their” initiative are one and the same. But of course, “their” initiative is now the same initiative as White Nationalists.

Very clever. Without offering a shred of evidence, you’ve implied that Republicans who support mikeroweWORKS do so because they believe I share their disdain for all things “intellectual.” And poof - just like that, Republicans, White Nationalists, and mikeroweWORKS are suddenly conflated, and the next thing you know, I’m off on a press tour to disavow rumors of my troubling association with the Nazis!

Far-fetched? Far from it. That’s how logical fallacies work. A flaw in reasoning or a mistaken belief undermines the logic of a conclusion, often leading to real-world consequences. And right now, logical fallacies are not limited to the warped beliefs of morons with tiki torches, and other morons calling for “more dead cops.” Logical fallacies are everywhere.

As I type this, a Democrat on CNN is making an argument that says, “because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, those Republicans now opposed to tearing down his memorial are “pro-slavery,” and therefore aligned with the modern day KKK.” That’s a logical fallacy.

Over on Fox, a Republican is arguing that “any Democrat who has not yet condemned the Senator from Missouri for publicly wishing that Donald Trump be assassinated, is guilty of wishing for the exact same thing.” That’s a logical fallacy.

Yesterday, on The Science Channel, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a noted astronomer, tweeted that the ability of scientists to accurately predict the solar eclipse, was proof that predictions of global warming were also accurate. That’s a logical fallacy.

Want to hear another one? Imagine something like this, unfolding over on MSNBC.

"Good Evening, America, our top story tonight… Chuck Atkins is a racist! Why? Because he can’t spell. Just look at his grammar! In a recent post on Mike Rowe’s Facebook page, Mr. Atkins, while bemoaning America’s global academic standing, not only misspelled “elitist,” he used “tenants” when he meant “tenets.” He neglected to use a hyphen in “anti-intellectual,” and he misplaced several commas and apostrophes! But why is he a racist, you ask? Simple. Because everyone knows racists are ignorant. Chuck Atkins is clearly a poor speller. Poor spelling and grammar are signs of ignorance. Ergo - Chuck Atkins is a racist! Boom! The matter is settled!"

There’s not much we can do about the news, but here on Facebook, I think we can do better. This isn’t Twitter. We’re not limited to a few inflammatory sentences and a flurry of emojis. Take a moment, Chuck. Think. Make a rational argument. Otherwise, just link us to a cat video. People love those, and they’re almost never “bad for business.” (Unless of course, the cat gets hurt. People hate that.) Just don’t assume that people will care about your beliefs, if you’re not willing to back them up with some relevant facts and a rational conclusion. Here, for instance, are a few facts that matter to me, with respect to my foundation and the recurring charge of “fostering anti-intellectualism.”

mikeroweWORKS is a PR campaign for the skilled trades. For the last nine years, we’ve partnered with numerous trade schools, raised millions of dollars for work-ethic scholarships, and called attention to millions of jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. But that doesn’t mean we’re “anti-intellectual.” We"re not even “anti-college.” We simply reject the popular notion that a four-year degree is the best path for the most people. And we’re hardly alone.

Millions of reasonable people – Republicans and Democrats alike – are worried that our universities are doing a poor job of preparing students for the real world. They’re worried about activist professors, safe spaces, the rising cost of tuition, a growing contempt for history, and a simmering disregard of the first amendment. These people are concerned that our universities – once beacons of free speech – now pander to a relatively small percentage of students who can’t tolerate any political opinion that challenges their own. And they’re concerned – deeply concerned - that millions of good jobs are currently vacant that don’t require a four-year degree, or any of the catastrophic debt that comes with it.

Again - these are not the concerns of “anti-intellectuals." They are the concerns of people who care about the future of the country. I don’t know how many of these people are Republicans, but I can assure you that no one who actually supports my initiative is remotely confused about my feelings on education, because I’ve been crystal clear on that topic from the very beginning. To quote Thomas Jefferson, (while I still can,) "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free and live in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." On this point, my foundation does not equivocate.

In other words, Chuck, I have no idea what The White Nationalists think about my efforts, or the Republicans, the Democrats, the elitists, the Italians, the Presbyterians, the unions, or the self-proclaimed anti-intellectuals. And really, I couldn’t care less. My question is, why do you?

Mike

PS. Ok, I’ve just re-read this, (in a desperate search for typos,) and I want to apologize for pointing out that you’re a lousy speller. This is probably not the time to trot out The Grammar Nazi, but your tenor and tone pissed me off, and I responded in my own snarky way. Sorry.

PPS Maybe this is how political correctness begins? Maybe we start by correcting each other’s grammar, and then move on to the business of correcting everything else? Today a missing hyphen, tomorrow a missing monument. Or, maybe not.

The Economics Of Warfare Have Changed

By Chris at www.CapitalistExploits.at

Economists measure economic variables. That"s a problem.

They are but one piece of an incredibly complex puzzle:

• Behavioural psychology isn"t considered. Different realm... not their business.


• Warfare and the economics of it are measured poorly, if at all.

Consider for a moment the impact of technology on every aspect of life.

Now, consider its impact on warfare. Warfare, of course, impacts economics. Something worth remembering.

In medieval times, wealth was largely acquired by conquest. You rounded up a number of your kinsmen, grabbed the clubs, swords, and spears out of the cupboard, saddled up Smokey, kissed the wife goodbye, and rode into town, killing whoever got in your way and seizing the assets.

Brute force won. In fact, Smokey provided a lot of advantage. Certainly a man on a horse was worth more than one without. Gunpowder changed this. Manpower quickly became less important. A man with a gun was worth at least 10 swordsmen on horseback.

The first World War presented yet another technology, two actually: the tank and the plane.

Trench warfare was a mess. Generals being what they are - grounded in the past and thick - took a while to figure out that when the enemy is dug in and has machine guns, sending your men over the top into a blizzard of lead would mean they"d all die. Someone must have thought to themselves: what if, instead of charging at them with nothing more than sturdy boots and a metal potty on your head, we did the same thing in an armour plated type of car with a huge gun sticking out the front?

Enter the tank.

As for the plane. Dropping bombs on cities was far more effective than a man with a gun. Probably 100 times more effective and thus quite economical.

World War 2 saw the bombs grow ever more powerful, the planes faster and more agile.

And, of course, let"s not forget battleships, which came to dominate due to the need to control supply lines. And because they"d figured out that if you build them large enough, you can take off and land fighter planes on them, which literally meant that they were moving ocean-based refuelling stations.

You"d be forgiven for thinking that everything was going to keep getting bigger, more grandiose, more centralised, and more expensive because there was a technology developed in World War II, which was the seed stock for how it is that I can write to you from the other side of the world, and you in turn can receive it in minutes and at a cost approaching zero.

The Turing machine otherwise known as the Bombe was arguably the most significant element in the eventual success of allied troops in WWII. It allowed the gents at Bletchley Park to decipher far more rapidly Nazi messages and thus react in hours rather than weeks. Cracking Enigma, the Nazi"s encoding machine, was certainly one of the keys to the Allied success.

At its peak, Alan Turing"s machine was able to help crack 3,000 Nazi messages per day and by the end of the war, this totalled 2.5 million messages, many of which provided the Allies vital information about Nazi"s positions and strategy.

This, folks, was a massive step in what we call today, "the Information age". Turing"s machine was one of the earliest computers.

But what"s this got to do with the economics of war, Chris?

Look around you and you"ll realise that everything is becoming decentralised or distributed and deflationary as a result.

This is a result of the economics of business changing as a consequence of technological changes. Micro power grids replacing nationalised power grids, 3D printing allowing localised manufacture, ride sharing decentralising taxi cartels, peer-to-peer lending decentralising traditional bank lending, file sharing disrupting the entertainment industry, the Internet itself disrupting the newspaper industry, Facebook disrupting and decentralising content - I could go on.

What we"re seeing is power shifting into the hands of individuals or at least small groups as apposed to large groups.

This same dynamic is at work with respect to war.

All wars are won or lost due to either side"s ability to secure supply lines, logistics, transportation, provisions, military hardware, and communications. And the ability to pay for all of them. Just as any business which can"t finance its plans goes belly up so, too, does any army.

Now, imagine an army with the ability to decentralise all of these elements.

This army is actually technologically and economically backward. This doesn"t sound threatening until you realise that:

• This army can and does utilise the technology and economics of its enemy. No need to develop its own.


• Transportation is not only provided to them but provided by their enemy.


• This army benefits from acquiring its transport, provisions, and even military hardware from its enemy.


• This army uses the communication tools necessary to conduct attacks at fractional cost... tools produced more often than not by its enemy... now out in the public realm

Would this not be a pretty powerful army?

Now, imagine this army is invisible. You can"t spot the soldiers because they look like so many other normal people. Furthermore, this army has no discernible head to cut off. There is no HQ to attack. The soldiers are dispersed, almost impossible to detect, and have already infiltrated the enemy"s borders. Heck, they"ve been invited in.

Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane, and Youssef Zaghba... the 3 terrorists who went on a rampage on London Bridge and Borough Market this week... were soldiers of this army.

How would you fight such an army?

Katy Perry thinks we should "hug it out". Teresa May wants to control social media. And London"s mayor Sadiq Khan thinks we need to just get used to it as it"s just "part and parcel of living in a big city".

That"s certainly true of cities such as Kandahar or Mosul, which unfortunately is increasingly what Europes cities are beginning to look like.

Clearly, none of these are solutions. An idiot can see that.

Washington just upped the US military budget so that they can buy more wiz bang jets and horrendously expensive clunky ships. Generals fighting the last war.

Pray tell, how they"re supposed to stop to some lunatic with visions of 40 virgins in his head and a bomb strapped to his guts in a crowded subway station? Europe"s leaders are even worse. Brussels is full of globalists and socialists who promote bad policies and then insist the whole continent pay for their mistakes.

The Western governments of the world are both clueless, ignorant and stupid. They"re also too afraid to call a spade a spade for fear of being demonised for being politically incorrect. But most importantly, they"re broke. This is a good thing because nation states which are a relic of the Industrial era are going to go away as well but that"s a conversation for another day.

Clearly they"re not going to solve these problems anyway, and, in fact, the economics of war have changed so radically that it ensures they"ll go away.

Remember, the most basic social contract a citizen has with his government is that of security and government cannot provide it.

The answers lie with private enterprise.

Private companies such as Stabilitas, who are using crowdsourcing, and AI are already doing more for individuals and businesses than governments are.

The truth is the economics of war have changed and that means that the technology that won the last war isn"t going to be the one that wins this one.

- Chris

"War is the ultimate realisation of modern technology." — Don Delillo

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The Revenge Of Comet Pizza

Submitted by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Remember that one? It was about as weird as it gets. A meme generated out of the voluminous hacked John Podesta emails that some conspiracy connoisseurs cooked up into a tale of satanic child abuse revolving around a certain chi-chi Washington DC pizza joint. I never signed on with the story, but it was an interesting indication of how far the boundaries of mass psychology could be pushed in the mind wars of politics.

Sex, of course, is fraught. Sex and the feelings it conjures beat a path straight to the limbic system where the most primitive thoughts become the father of the most primitive deeds. In our American world, this realm of thought and deed has turned into a political football with the Left and the Right scrimmaging ferociously for field position — while the real political agenda of everything important other than sex lies outside the stadium.

The Comet Pizza story was understandably upsetting to Democrats who didn’t like being painted as child molesters. Unfortunately for them, it coincided with the bust of one Anthony Weiner — and his infamous laptop — disgraced former “sexting” congressman, husband of Hillary’s top aide and BFF, Huma Abedin. The laptop allegedly contained a lot of child porn.

That garbage barge of sexual allegation and innuendo couldn’t have helped the Hillary campaign, along with all the Clinton Foundation stuff, in the march to electoral loserdom. I suspect the chthonic darkness of it all generated the “Russia-did-it” hysteria that cluttered up the news-cloud during the first month of Trumptopia. The collective superego of America is reeling with shame and rage.

On the Right side spectrum stood the curious figure of Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-styled “Dangerous Faggot,” who has made a sensational career lately as an ideological provocateur, especially on the campus scene were he got so into the indignant faces of the Maoist snowflakes with his special brand of boundary-pushing that they resorted to disrupting his events, dis-inviting him at the last moment, or finally rioting, as in the case at UC Berkeley a few weeks ago.

Milo’s battles on campus were particularly ripe because his opponents on the far Left were themselves so adamant about their own brand of boundary-pushing along the frontier of the LGBTQ agenda. The last couple of years, you would’ve thought that half the student population fell into one of those “non-binary” sex categories, and it became the most urgent mission of the Left to secure bathroom rights and enforce new personal pronouns of address for the sexually ambiguous.

But then Milo made a tactical error. Despite all the mutual boundary-pushing on each side, he pushed a boundary too far and entered the final dark circle of taboo: child molesting. That was the point were the closet Puritan hysterics went in for the kill. This is what he said on a Web  talk radio show:

     What normally happens in schools, very often, is you have an older woman with a younger boy, and the boy is the predator in that situation. The boy is like, let’s see if I can fuck the gym teacher, or let’s see if I can fuck the hot math teacher, and he does. The women fall in love with these nubile young boys, these athletic young boys in their prime. We get hung up on the child abuse stuff to the point where we’re heavily policing consenting adults, grad students and their professors, this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys the understanding many of us have about the complexities, subtleties, and complicated nature of many relationships. In the homosexual world particularly, some of the relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-age relationships in which these older men help those young boys discover who they are, and give them security and provide them with love…. [Milo is shouted down by his podcast hosts]

So that was the final straw. Milo got bounced by his platform, Breitbart News, and went through the now-routine, mandatory, abject ceremonial of the televised apology required by over-stepping celebrities — though he claimed, with some justification I think, that his remarks were misconstrued. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll rebound on his own signature website platform and he’ll be back in action before long.

His remarks about the “coming-of-age” phase of life prompted me to wonder about the boundary-pushers on the Left, on the college campuses in particular, who are encouraging young people to go through drastic sex-change surgeries, at an age before the development of that portion of their frontal lobes controlling judgment is complete. Who are these diversity deans and LGBTQ counselors who lead confused adolescents to self-mutilation in search of some hypothesized “identity?” Whoever they are, this dynamic seems pretty reckless and probably tragic to me. There ought to be reasonable doubt that an irreversible “sexual reassignment” surgery may not lead to personal happiness some years down the line — when, for instance, that person’s frontal lobes have developed, and they begin to experience profound and complicated emotions such as remorse.

Our sexual hysteria has many more curious angles to it. We live in a culture where pornography, up to the last limits of freakishness and depravity, are available to young unformed personalities at a click. We stopped protecting adolescents against this years ago, so why should we be surprised when they venture into ever-darker frontiers of sexuality? It was the Left that sought to abolish boundaries in sex and many other areas of American life. And yet they still affect to be shocked by someone like Milo.

I maintain that there is a dynamic relationship between our inability to act on the truly pressing issues of the day — energy, economy, and geo-politics — and our neurotic preoccupation with sexual identity.

The epic amount of collective psychic energy being diverted from what’s important into sexual fantasy, titillation, confusion, and litigation leaves us pathetically unprepared to face the much more serious crisis of civilization gathering before us.

Milo Yiannopoulos' Book Deal Canceled By Simon & Schuster

Publishing giant Simon & Schuster has canceled the publication of "Dangerous" by Milo Yiannopoulos. Publishers Weekly tweeted Monday that the company was canceling the book"s publication "after careful consideration."

Simon & Schuster is canceling the publication of "Dangerous" by Milo Yiannopoulos "After careful consideration." Full story coming soon.

— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) February 20, 2017

Shortly after the tweet, Yiannopoulos confirmed in a Facebook post that "They canceled my book." Simon & Schuster inked the book deal with Yiannopoulos - which spurred controversy as writers threatened to boycott the company - at the end of December.

The decision to cancel the book came amid controversy over a video in which Yiannopoulos was said to defend pedophilia, although the outspoken commentator has denied that to be case. The video clip gained traction on social media after a conservative blog shared it Sunday. In the video, Yiannopoulos said relationships between older men and young boys can be beneficial.

In a Facebook post Monday, Yiannopoulos denounced the claims that he was advocating for pedophilia. "I am a gay man, and a child abuse victim,” Yiannopoulos wrote. 

"I would like to restate my utter disgust at adults who sexually abuse minors. I am horrified by pedophilia and I have devoted large portions of my career as a journalist to exposing child abusers. I"ve outed three of them, in fact -- three more than most of my critics. And I"ve repeatedly expressed disgust at pedophilia in my feature and opinion writing. My professional record is very clear.”

"But I do understand that these videos, even though some of them are edited deceptively, paint a different picture.”

It was the second Facebook post from Yiannopoulos after the tapes resurfaced.

"I"m partly to blame. My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous,” he continued in the Monday post. "But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, "advocacy." I deeply regret that."

The excuse however failed to stem public blowback: earlier in the day, the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded its invitation Monday for Yiannopoulos to speak at its event.  ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said Yiannopoulos" attempts to address the tapes have fallen short, calling the remarks "disturbing." "We realize that Mr. Yiannopoulos has responded on Facebook, but it is insufficient," Schlapp said in a statement. "It is up to him to answer the tough questions and we urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments."

Meanwhile, according The Hill, the blowback against Milo"s statements has even threatened his job at Breibart where employees are reportedly prepared to leave the company if controversial senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos is not fired.

Another senior editor at the publication told Washingtonian Monday that "at least a half dozen" employees are prepared to leave to organization because of remarks  Yiannopoulos made about pedophilia that gained attention this weekend.

“The fact of the matter is that there’s been so many things that have been objectionable about Milo over the last couple of years, quite frankly. This is something far more sinister,” the senior editor said. “If the company isn’t willing to act, there are at least half a dozen people who are willing to walk out over it.”

Apple's Tim Cook Urges "Massive" Government Crackdown On 'Fake News': "It's Killing People's Minds"

Just days after Trump-immigration-order-blocking Judge Robart was exposed for his "fake facts" about terrorist convictions, Apple CEO Tim Cook has dragged up another narrative calling for a "massive campaign" against fake online news stories. "It"s killing people"s minds," exclaims Cook who calls for governments to fund a Ministry of Truth-sounding "modern version of a public service announcement" in order to fight the epidemic (and education campaigns in schools).

Trust in the mainstream media is at a record low...

But Apple CEO Tim Cook knows who is to blame for "the epidemic of false reports that is a big problem in a lot of the world."

And in a frighteningly Orwellian interview with The Telegraph, Cook explains calmly how to fix "fake news"...

“It has to be ingrained in the schools, it has to be ingrained in the public,” said Mr Cook. “There has to be a massive campaign. We have to think through every demographic.

"We need the modern version of a public-service announcement campaign. It can be done quickly if there is a will.”

"We are going through this period of time right here where unfortunately some of the people that are winning are the people that spend their time trying to get the most clicks, not tell the most truth,” he said. “It’s killing people’s minds in a way.”

“All of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.

"We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, but we must also help the reader. Too many of us are just in the complain category right now and haven’t figured out what to do.”

So - exactly who will choose what is "stepping on freedom of speech"? Leave it to the liberal billionaires to decide, throttle, and choke off differences of opinion. Well Cook has another solution... start "em young...

“It’s almost as if a new course is required for the modern kid, for the digital kid.”

But he is optimistic. “In some ways kids will be the easiest to educate. At least before a certain age, they are very much in listen and understand [mode], and they then push their parents to act. We saw this with environmental issues: kids learning at school and coming home and saying why do you have this plastic bottle? Why are you throwing it away?”

Cook concludes naively that this crackdown would help providers of quality journalism (like CNN?) drive out clickbait...

"The outcome of that is that truthful, reliable, non-sensational, deep news outlets will win."

So to clarify Cook"s thoughts - tech firms should throttle newspeak from sources they deem "fake", so-called "high quality journalism" should be promoted, and kids should be indoctrinated from an early age to read what the government (or liberal billionaire tech CEOs) deems "proper"...

When will President Trump be shadow-banned from Twitter?

Berkeley Blowback: Milo Book Sales Soar 12,740% Overnight

Following the violent anti-free-speech protests in Berkeley, California last night - sparked by cal"s special snowflakes hurt feelings at the potential words that would come out of Milo Yiannopoulos" mouth during a sold-out event - it appears America"s curiousity has been piqued.

Sales of Milo"s book have increased 12,740% overnight sending it rocketing from 642nd to 5th ranked best-seller on Amazon. Pretty impressive considering the book is not even released until March 14th 2017.

Source: Amazon.com

When the book was first announced last year, a twitter storm also sparked panic-buying of the book.

* * *

So despite all the best efforts of the liberal intelligentsia to shut down his "free-speech" last night - hurting the feelings of 600 conservatives who were looking forward to the event - we suspect a lot more than 600 Americans are now about to get a crash course in how Milo thinks.

h/t @Vexmark

Man Shot Outside University of Washington MILO Event, Gunman Spoke On Camera Minutes Before Incident (VIDEO)

A day of protests across the University of Washington campus turned violent Friday evening after a 32 year old man was shot in the abdomen outside of a Milo Yiannopoulos event. The victim, currently in surgery, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and the suspect turned himself in, telling police he fired in self-defense. This comes on the heels of a progressively violent day on campus as Anti-Trump Protesters clashed with police and Trump supporters; throwing rocks, bricks, firecrackers, and paint. Police helicopters and the FBI bomb squad had been deployed earlier in the evening, and pepper spray was used to control the crowd.

In a Periscope stream recorded minutes before the incident, the shooter can be heard saying:

"I don"t give a fuck man, I"m just here by myself. I"m not with anybody. I am speaking my mind, alright?"

 

 

Minutes later, a single shot rings out, which the shooter claims was in self-defense:

 

Earlier in the evening, a high school student on the UW campus was beaten up and had paint thrown on him:

Student assaulted but not filing charges. #KomoNews pic.twitter.com/A3PuztAkfc

— Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) January 21, 2017

And a protester became aggressive with a man filming their group:

Milo"s cameraman was assaulted:

 

 Weapons have been confiscated:

According to reports from Seattle PD, anarchist protesters outside MILO’s event at Washington University tonight had baseball bats and sharpened signposts confiscated by law enforcement. Police in riot gear have formed a human wall between event attendees and protesters. -Breitbart

Seattle Protesters Armed with Wooden Poles, Heavy Pipes, Shields https://t.co/nPKvj7Mm0f pic.twitter.com/A3LkxNg6j6

— Abby Martin? (@AbbyMartinM) January 21, 2017

The Seattle cell of the "Anti Fascist" group showed up in full force waving the same flag that can be seen in Thursday night"s beating outside of the "Deploraball in Washington, DC." This has moved beyond protesting, evolving into riots and domestic terrorism.

"The Tolerant Left" throwing shit and piss mix at us :)#Milo #Inauguration #UW #DaddyTrump pic.twitter.com/aYyrIiXKZo

— Scott Sterling ???? (@l_Renegade_I) January 21, 2017

Here is a video recap of the incident from Seattle"s KIRO 7:

 

 

The shooting comes a week after threatening flyers appeared across campus in advance of the MILO event, which listed the a photo and contact info of College Republican group president Jessica Gamble, encouraging people to harass Gamble and her father.

This is some serious shit...

.@Lauren_Southern shoved. @Cernovich pepper sprayed.@Gavin_McInnes fist-fight.
Gunshot wound outside Milo event.

Stay safe everybody.

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) January 21, 2017

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