On September 11, 2020 at 4:01 pm, Sharon wrote:
Good afternoon, Mark. Could you elaborate more upon your conversation with Tucker Carlson about the death of art and if you think there is any chance that artists, writers and other creative persons understand the stakes and will be willing to actually put themselves on the line for the sake of art, not just their art but all art?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:02 pm, Brian M wrote:
Regarding the destruction of art, do you see any coincidence in the announcement of Academy about diversity quotients and the strangely coordinated celebration of pedophilia in the new Netflix series "Cuties" show? Is that the "new normal" of the arts? When conservatives talk about pedophilia rings we are accused of being hysterical. But the left is flaunting it right in front of our lying eyes. If left and right cannot agree that twerking 11 year old girls is bad, how can there be any agreement on anything?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:03 pm, Jeff G wrote:
A couple of weeks ago Trump brought UAE and Israel together. Today, it's Israel and Bahrain. Despite moving closer and closer to peace in the Middle East, the Left has now taken on the position that this is a bad thing. Do you think they can keep up this charade?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:03 pm, Carolinian wrote:
Is the US pinned in Afghanistan by the millions of refugees-in-waiting? Will not the you break it, you bought it principle apply to these "collaborators"?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:04 pm, Owen Morgan wrote:
To future historians, which will ultimately prove more destructive of Western societies:
the Wuhan flu, or
the ease with which governments have awarded themselves emergency powers, with the ability to bypass legislatures and invent laws on the hoof, or
the enthusiasm among police to prosecute pseudo-laws against the law-abiding, while ignoring violent breaking of long-established, properly enacted law by obviously criminal elements?
Supplementary: are all three of the above here to stay?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:05 pm, Scott Schertzer wrote:
Dear Mark,
Back in May, when the BLM/ANTIFA civil unrest began in earnest, I figured this was a case of bored young people escaping the tedium of the Coronavirus lockdown. Certainly the rioting, looting and Iconoclasm would be brought swiftly to a halt by those in power... or so I thought. I had assumed that there were still responsible adults in positions of authority that would bring order in short time. Apparently the responsible adults have long since departed.
Those now at the commanding heights of society including elected officials (and that includes the bulk of Republicans), military brass, professional athletes and corporate CEO's have taken a knee to these thoughtless hooligans. Our entire cultural and professional elite have been corrupted and actively display their hatred of America as founded.
These past several months have shown that we are farther down the path of destruction than I had thought. Am I overreacting or are we entering the final stages in the decline of Western civilization?
Sincerely,
Scott Schertzer
Miami Beach
On September 11, 2020 at 4:06 pm, Michael Seth wrote:
Mark, I think your analysis of the bifurcation of society into the law abiding and the lawless is the crucial issue. Do you believe it's a problem that Trump, assuming he is reelected and acknowledged, can effectively address? The law abiding now need protection from the mob AND the blue state politicians. What would your advice be for federal action? Is there any escape from the constant use of race as a weapon? Will anything bring objective truth back to public discourse? Or is violence, either a little or a lot, inevitable?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:07 pm, John Barrett wrote:
Hi Mark,
The conventional wisdom is that the riots and looting are helping the Democrats and that's why the Dem mayors are letting it happen. Do you really think the bedlam is helping the Dems? The average American I think is repulsed by what's going on and doesn't blame Trump. What do you think?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:08 pm, Michael Trueblood wrote:
The mob assaulting defenseless patio diners in Pittsburgh last week seemed a little "Lord of the Flies"-ish to me. The main reason we have police, I think, is so that we don't have to protect ourselves. Kind of like the reason we have a military. Not advocating violence, but it seems like that carry permit may become useful if the police are stepping down.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:09 pm, Drew Weber wrote:
Mark, Last evening, Tucker Carlson's lead story was the harassment of diners in Rochester and Pittsburgh. Simiar events were discussed earlier this week on Fox. A frustrated panelist questioned what can be done with the premise that yelling was not violence. Protests are given wide latitude under the First Amendment, much too wide. The People have a right to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. We must set clear lines on what peaceable assembly is and is not. Yes, to gather in public spaces, but no to blocking streets or trespassing on private property. Also, protests should be limited to petition the Government. Protesters do not have the right to harass others who are minding their own business. If clear lines are not drawn, the "broken windows" rule applies, and we get what we see today. Your thoughts?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:10 pm, Jill in SoCal wrote:
Appropriately for today, With some friends of mine, we used to do the thought question of what ethnicities would have been likely to do the " let's roll" thing in similar circumstances to Flight 93. It was always a very short list. Israelis, sure, maybe Aussies. Now, I guess, the Aussies have to be canceled. Do we pencil in the French?
So if we're the "lets roll" country, why are so few people fighting back against the current smothering tyranny? Here in SoCal, there are a handful of churches that have defied the total ban on religious services, but they are few enough that the state and county can persecute/prosecute them and they have. But why aren't all the churches doing it, and that would be the end of it. Why aren't all the restaurants and gyms and so on just saying no, were done with this
On September 11, 2020 at 4:12 pm, Janet Long wrote:
Well, here goes the broken record...I know that President Trump wants to focus on restoring order and the economy and hasn't touched on the southern border much, but it is, to me, still one of our biggest concerns and all the more so as the opposing party is on board for opening it up as wide as they can get it. We are focused on the detrimental effects of the Green New Deal, and taxes, etc. but not enough attention has been paid to exactly what hundreds of thousands of immigrants...a large majority of them traffickers, Cartel and gang members would mean to our country as a whole. The economic impact alone is frightening. I keep looking for someone to address this. How about you, Mark?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:13 pm, Jamie wrote:
Hi Mark! I heard you speak on Rush last week about the rise of "technosexuals" and men apparently being attracted to Siri and Alexa. It's easy to laugh at this, but do you think there's a bigger problem here if men are not interested in human relationships? It reminds me of all those stories about sex robot brothels in Japan.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:14 pm, Prince Archie\'s Binky wrote:
Hey Mark, who do you think Kamala Harris is considering for her VP selection?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:16 pm, Toby Pilling wrote:
Boris Johnson scarcely disguises the fact that he views himself as Churchillian. That being the case, is his handling of the Wuhan Flu, particularly with regard to restricting the freedom of the citizenry, his own Gallipoli disaster?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:18 pm, Kerry Kerstetter wrote:
Your Wanker Cop reports make me sick. Have there been any cases where any of those over-zealous LEOs have been punished for their abuses of excessive power? Until that happens, there is little chance of other cops acting reasonably.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:20 pm, Bob Belvedere wrote:
Colonel David Hackworth [RIP] called people like Mattis 'Perfumed Princes'...appropriate methinks.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:22 pm, Todd Williamson wrote:
Mark,
I hope you're feeling better from whatever malady was ailing you earlier in the week.
I need clarification on the definition of white privilege. If there is such a thing, there must also an entity called "non-white disadvantage". My questions are thus: are all non- whites equally disadvantaged? And in parts of the country where there are few white people, are non-whites still disadvantaged just because they are not white? If so, doesn't this imply that non-whites are in some way inferior to whites? If so, doesn't this mean that people who believe in "white privilege" must also believe that non-whites are inferior? Wouldn't this once again point out a contradiction in the philosophy of the far left?
I hope you can sort this out. It's been keeping me awake at night.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:27 pm, Mark Wallbrown wrote:
Why are American statesmen so far off the mark? In 1961 President Kennedy asked "Ask not what your country can do for you, rather ask what you can do for you country?" In less than a decade, a registered democrat from Texas named Oswald killed him and LBJ had created the largest welfare state In human history and tens of millions of Americans had there hands stuck out.
Likewise, 57 years ago Martin Luther King said judge a man by by his character not by the color of his skin. But today if I mention character
On September 11, 2020 at 4:29 pm, Gabriel Garcia Moreno wrote:
Thanks for the Q&A, the first since I've been a member.
You've covered the authoritarian overreach in Victoria, Australia well and it's so extreme as to render parody impossible, you really couldn't make it up.
Have you been monitoring the situation here in Scotland, where our dear leader Ms Sturgeon, whose nanny state appetite, previously whetted by an illegal state guardianship policy, is in overdose mode, positively revelling in wagging the maternal finger at her ungrateful subjects for technical infringements of her ridiculously prescriptive diktats.
Do you agree that the wildly disproportionate response to Coronavirus is the logical civilisational stopoff for wet liberal democracies in the west, not far from the terminus where the whole Ponzi scheme hits the buffers?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:31 pm, Douglas Neviera wrote:
Hello Mark, I am a new member and I am loving it so far, highly recommend it to anyone on the edge of joining the club. Mark, can you please comment on free speech in America, in particular on college campuses? Does this censorship of thought on college campuses came from a hatred of America and its values? If so, how could this trend be reversed? I believe the reversal of this trend is essential for the survival of the American nation. You cannot have a country if its citizenry dwells in self-hatred, hating the country and its history. Thank you and hope to hear a response.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:33 pm, Steven Payne wrote:
How much longer do you think this country can exist as "united" states? We seem to be split into two groups which don't even share the same reality. The Left has made it clear that they no longer accept any election they don't win as legitimate. How can we share an elected government under those circumstances?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:37 pm, David Coats wrote:
Just when there is some glimmer that theaters might reopen sometime in the next few months, unelected Hollywood elites have decided to put a bullet in their head for something complete unrelated to that which has currently closed their doors.
Perhaps we need to thank them for offing themselves and look at this as a positive rather than a negative. Maybe it's an opportunity to bury the Komrades in Hollywood and for storytellers and filmmakers with an appreciation for truth and liberty to thrive in the fresh air someplace far from the hellhole that is Hollywood and The Academy.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:39 pm, Todd Lewis wrote:
When the subject of art comes up my first thought is always about pictorial art. This, to me, has been in steep decline for at least 150 years. Humanity has been removed from art. Munch's "The Scream" may have been humanity's last gasp in art. Piet Mondrian only taught us how to design kitchen appliances. Jackson Pollack's "Lucifer" is sort of anti-art but it's metaphorical value is still pointed and profound. The art world did not heed this as a ghastly warning about where we were going and where we have arrived. To me, it really says it all.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:41 pm, Josh Passell wrote:
I'm not being the least bit sarcastic when I ask what does the Oscar Best Picture category have to do with art? Okay, the least bit sarcastic, but really the least little bit. The Shape of Water? It might qualify under the new rules if disadvantaged types include sea monsters, but otherwise my opinion of water mirrors that of W. C. Fields (look it up if you don't know). The last sea picture I watched had Shelley Winters in it. Hollywood has been virtue signaling since before there was such a thing, yet #OscarSoWhite was still trending on Twitter as recently as last year. At least Hollywood admitted it had a problem it was powerless to solve by itself. They say if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. If you want art in Hollywood, buy a Monet.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:44 pm, Kris Dray wrote:
Pushing into our seventh decade, naturally isolated from the Covid madness in the northern Rockies, I am increasingly struck by your comments on civil war. I can't help but wonder, however, who the protagonists will be. I find Mitch McConnell only marginally more acceptable than Nancy Pelosi, as things stand now. It seems amazing that someone like Donald Trump is the first president (maybe Ike and Reagan to a degree) in my lifetime who actually has acted like he noticed the problems with how our culture has been savaged and our miscreant government operates. Given how heavily armed we are, and how many of my neighbors are veterans, the young thugs plaguing Democrat-run cities don't seem that formidable. More and more, I fear my grandchildren will find themselves at odds with our elites if they want to hold on to their freedom, and while THAT war is being waged, among the various tyrants and maniacs ruling roughly 4 billion or so people on this world, one with some power might actually take notice of our problems as an opportunity. THAT worries me. Do you see any light at the end of the tunnel that doesn't turn out to be a massive freightliner from China or the Islamic world?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:45 pm, SabreMike Carroll wrote:
A month after 9/11 England captain David Beckham requested he be allowed to wear a stars and stripes armband to honor those murdered in the attacks. FIFA forbid him from doing so because political gestures are not allowed. Fast forward to today and before Euro League matches we get the BLM kneeling displays before matches.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:46 pm, Laura Rosen Cohen wrote:
Any thoughts on the MAGAnificent New Middle East? Or should I say the new MAGA East?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:47 pm, Laura Rosen Cohen wrote:
Hey Mark, one last question. I read a report from Reuters today that suicide rates for American children and young adults are on the rise due to the Chinese Communist Lockdown of America (duh). Isn't it fair to say then that the left, as always, as per their abortion fetish, is very interested in and committed to murdering American children? Puts them on the same page as the Chinese communists of course.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:48 pm, Nicola Timmerman wrote:
Any chance of a Steyn Christmas show in person? Of course the Canadian government still has the borders to traffic closed with some exceptions to and from the U.S. Air traffic permitted.
Any chance your interviewing Gad Saad whose book is about to come out?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:49 pm, Chris Hall wrote:
I notice that Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer are making another reality-based movie, Obamagate the Movie, with Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson reprising their roles as Peter Strzok and the Deputy Under Assistant Paramour Lisa Page. Although Kristy was very good in FBI Love Birds, I think that Michele Bachmann's interpretation was as good as the Alec Guinness version of George Smiley. I sure hope that Ann and Phelim can get this thing produced and shown before November.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:50 pm, Chris Hall wrote:
On a more serious note, I am very alarmed at the wave of intolerance that has recently washed over the culture, particularly in academia and in HR departments around the country. Groupthink is rampant and the supposedly tolerant left seem to want to crush any variation in thought. It feels like the return of the Red Guard. In my personal experience, people with a conservative or classical liberal bent are much more likely to live and let live than are progressives. I hope that the recent abolition of the preaching of critical race theory within the federal government is the beginning of a long overdue push back against prejudice and intolerance.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:51 pm, Richard Malaby wrote:
Hi Mark, thank you and your staff for all you've done throughout the summer of Covid!
I thought I was going to watch a football game last night and suddenly a Black Lives Matter rally broke out. The NBA has to go full-blown woke because of its relationship with China, but who is the NFL trying to fool? Do you think Roger Goodell and the NFL's powers-that-be don't realize all these black guys being lionized by the media have rap sheets, or do you think they just don't care and are going to stuff it down our throat anyway? What happened to #MeToo? Jacob Blake [allegedly sexually assaulted a woman] - does that make him the first person we know of who has plagiarized Joe Biden?
On September 11, 2020 at 4:52 pm, Andrew wrote:
Dear Mark, as someone who's spent considerable time immersed in the arts, what do you think of the Oscars' decision to restrict Best Picture nominees to "inclusive" films? I saw one analysis on Twitter that said Schindler's List might not even qualify under these new criteria.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:53 pm, Michelle Dulak wrote:
Hi Mark,
What do you make of the recent kerfuffle over the use of "blind auditions" in symphony orchestras, spearheaded by Anthony Tommasini in the NYT and carried on, among other places, by a writier at San Francisco Classical Voice, where I once worked? I know Tal Bachmann has held forth here, but I'm interested to hear from you. The gist, if you remember, is that blind auditions, which were designed to prevent orchestral juries from discriminating based on race or gender, actually make it impossible, well, for anyone to discriminate based on race or gender, so obviously in "today's climate" they must go.
I'm curious: (1) is the appearance of discrimination so grave a problem that allowing actual discrimination should be proposed as a serious solution; and (2) aren't there simple, race-neutral means of accomplishing this goal, like making instrumental education available to all in the early grades, or raising funds to enable indigent students to travel to auditions? My own opinion is that any kid who is well and truly bitten by the classical-music bug will keep on with it, so exposing everyone to said bug is much the best first move.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:54 pm, Allen Randall wrote:
Where were you???
On September 11, 2020 at 4:55 pm, Mark Wallbrown wrote:
I will be ridiculed. The only thing that matters today is the color of your skin.
On September 11, 2020 at 4:56 pm, Michael Sittnick wrote:
I thought it was John Kerry, not Powell with the Pottery Barn comment. He used it during the 2004 debates, if I recall.
On September 11, 2020 at 5:36 pm, Owen Morgan wrote:
Joe Biden.
On September 11, 2020 at 5:53 pm, Perry Pattetic wrote:
"so that we don't have to protect ourselves"
Hmmm. I think it is about keeping the peace and enforcing the law. If the state gets some peace and quiet by designating intimidation as "protest", then "we" will be left to protect ourselves. If enforcing the law by arresting law-abiding citizens maintains "the peace" so that protesters can intimidate at will, then ditto. The police are primarily agents of their employers, who are not "we" the subjects but "they" the bakufu.
On September 11, 2020 at 5:53 pm, Nicholas Strathy wrote:
"A fellow over at The Wrap thought Tucker and I were obviously ridiculous without feeling the need to explain why."
I think it's not a case of "feeling the need to explain why" but an incapability of explaining why. The leftist education included the check list of correct opinions and since dissent was not permitted, reason was never exercised, and therefore atrophied.
In any case, anything coming from Fox News is by definition ridiculous and does not merit a reason why.
On September 11, 2020 at 6:43 pm, Holly wrote:
President Trump has been talking about immigration, on August 18 he was in Yuma, AZ marking 300 miles of border wall built, human trafficking down 96%, 90% of illegal immigrants are being returned to their countries within 120 minutes; President Trump is making sure that illegals will no be counted in the census for purposes of apportionment. If anything, he should be pointing it out as one of his "promises made, promises kept."
