Roundup
(1) We already knew this, but there is more evidence coming out about the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and other Gazans on October 7, and later on directed at the hostages during their captivity. Many groups on the left seem not to care:
The research addresses criticism of inadequate responses from international organizations such as UN Women (full name the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) following reports of sexual violence by the Sunday Times and other outlets.
The project also deals with questions raised by false claims from first responders and arguments that Hamas, as an Islamic organization, would not commit rape—despite examples from Islamic State (ISIS) in the Middle East and Boko Haram in West Africa.
Some critics argued that the sexual violence issue had been “weaponized” by the Israeli government to justify its actions in Gaza.
(2) Good news from Wisconsin:
On June 25, the left-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to hear two lawsuits brought by Democrats that challenged the state’s congressional district boundaries.
Wisconsin has eight Congressional districts. Republicans represent six of them.
The Democrats are desperate to flip the seats in 2026.
We are so used to judges on the left deciding cases based on politics that this decision is surprising.
(3) Roger L. Simon and Trump on Musk:
Elon Musk is an extraordinary entrepreneur having pioneered several companies of great originality with considerable influence on the future. Unfortunately, the obvious skills he had honed or was born with to do these things do not translate to politics where some degree of compromise comes with the territory. That he has made an ass of himself with his bravado is the least of it. It’s hard to see what he contributes to national discussion at this point. X, that he once laudably opened to free speech, has morphed into a home for the marshmallow-brained.
Did Donald Trump encourage this? A little. But Elon now behaves like the most pathetic of rejected sons. The America Party is an example of his flailing. I don’t know if it’s in the betting market yet but I would guess this party has somewhere around three weeks before its founder moves on to better things—like next year’s Tesla. He could be, already almost is, our Edison. Why is he wasting time on politics?
President Trump, who has a way of getting to the essence of a problem, responded this way when asked about Musk’s new political party: “It’s ridiculous.”
I hope that’s true, because Musk’s third party has at least the potential of helping Democrats take control of the House.
(4) Actions have consequences:
[Dr. Christina] Propst is a pediatrician responsible for the health of our smallest and some of our most vulnerable citizens. Presumably, she pledged an oath to do no harm at some point before her 25-year career began, but deep down, she feels that politics trump that (pun not intended). Over the weekend, she proved that she’s nothing more than a vile, disgusting excuse for a human being.
In a social media post that has since been deleted, Propst wrote (along with a prayer emoji):
May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry.
Kerr County MAGA voted to gut FEMA.
They deny climate change.
May they get what they voted for.
Bless their hearts.
While she may have deleted the post, screenshots last forever, and her statements went viral over the last 24 hours or so.
Initially, her employer, Blue Fish Pediatrics, said she’d been placed on administrative leave, but a new announcement on its website says she has now been fired …
In addition to the bile expressed in her tweet, did she not realize there might be blowback?
(5) Apparently the reason the NY Times published a report about Mamdani’s lying about his race on his Columbia application was that Christopher Rufo was going to scoop them. That makes more sense than any other explanation I was able to come up with. The Times is not in the habit of reporting on things that can hurt the left.
“In addition to the bile expressed in her tweet, did she not realize there might be blowback?”
Of course not. Leftists never expect to have to live with the consequences of their choices.
I’m sympathetic with Musk
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As for Dr. Propst, they don’t call ’em AWFLs for nothing.
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Remember this dame? Also a physician (IIRC, pediatrics).
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v83OyjHnqUw&t=2s
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BTW, Dr. Propst works in Houston. She grew up in metro New York, graduated from Princeton, and is 56 bloody years old.
Musk says the FEC filing is “fake news.” Report at Zero Hedge.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wall-street-responds-america-party-musk-denies-calls-party-filing-fake-news
“X, that he once laudably opened to free speech, has morphed into a home for the marshmallow-brained” I’m pretty active on X and I haven’t found this to be the case. Sure, there is a lot of trash, but also a lot of very intelligent & thoughful people, sometimes with links to long-form essays on substack or blogs.
On X: There are reports, with screenshots, indicating that X’s AI function, Grok, has been using leftist media as a source, saying that it was “fact” that Trump tax cuts helped cause the Texas disaster. When corrected, it said it would use better sources.
I am not in general in favor of firing people who make posts to private media not connected to their jobs. But if this pediatrician identified herself as working with the employers in question, they were right to fire her. No physician should discriminate against patients based on their political leanings, or those of their parents. Plus, she’s an idiot to assume that all the children at that camp had MAGA parents.
#4
This links directly to the Fox News piece I listed on the Open Thread. Did she consider blowback? Obviously not. These people are so consumed with Trump (and now also anyone who supports him) hatred it overwhelms their rational thought processes.
Neo
In addition to the bile expressed in her tweet, did she not realize there might be blowback?
I get the impression from my NYC yellow-dog Democrat relatives that when they express a political opinion, they often cannot imagine that any rational, informed person would disagree with them. They are the good people; those who disagree with them are the bad people, whose bigoted, ignorant opinions can be dismissed.(One relative claims that violence is overwhelmingly coming from Republicans. She supports Israel, and told me that support for Israel was about the same for Democrats and Republicans. Actually 80-29 Repub vs. Demo.)
I once challenged an extended family AWFL to read one article a day (of her choosing) from a certain well known conservative news aggregator.
She refused, saying she didn’t want to expose herself to “that filth”. When I asked her for an example of the objectionable content, she said she couldn’t remember.
Of course at this point I realized that for her, the definition of “filth” was anything she strongly disagreed with! She once told me that freedom of speech should not include the freedom to publish lies… that should be illegal!
This woman is blessedly showing no signs of ever having children.
Instapundit on Musk, in the NYPost: https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/opinion/america-party-proves-elon-musk-needs-a-political-time-out/
If Musks’ main complaint is excess spending by Republicans, it’s rather dubious that a 3rd party will fix that in the near term.
His money would be better spent helping Republicans elect a wider majority.
However, I think this is more of a way for him to create some distance from the fact he supported Trump.
There are two major events of the last two years which stood out as exemplars of just how solipsistic many liberals are and how tightly constructed some of their echo chambers truly are:
1. The Hamas Massacre on October 7, 2023
2. The Biden/Trump debate on June 27, 2024
Regarding both events, I was, and remain, genuinely stunned (and depressed) by the complete and willful ignorance of some of my friends/acquaintances. These are well educated, intelligent professionals who are firmly left of center, but not firebrands.
Regarding Biden, they were sincerely shocked at has cognitive decline at that debate. But how? How? They had truly convinced themselves of the Democrat/MSM spin, no matter how preposterous.
Far more disturbing is the Gaza War. Not surprisingly, virtually all of these folks are hostile to Isreal, to varying degrees. They’ll regurgitate standard pro-Palestinian talking points repeatedly. Fine. But there’s a much more disturbing element: they truly do not remember the mass murder and hostage taking of Israeli civilians. It’s not simply minimizing or rationalizing what happened (that’s very common). They state they have no memory of it (and I believe them). I have been left speechless a couple times now, when I’ve brought up the massacre to a blank stare in response.
This is what we are up against. A growing number of people, entirely mainstream intelligent people, who can (and have) created an echo chamber were major news events can be entirely forgotten if they contradict the approved narrative.
They are their own ‘Big Brother’
There’s a phrase Victor Davis Hanson uses very often, referring to the boutique political beliefs held by today’s “elites:” they are immune to the consequences of their ideology.
I saw it this weekend in an X exchange between Aaron Renn and Inez Stepman. Aaron Renn was saying that many of the beautiful small towns in New England lean far left. Of course. They’re filled with Democrat voters who prefer to be immune to the consequences of their ideology. Let the poor brown people in the cities contend with that.
I imagine that Christina Propst is dumbfounded that there are consequences to her vile tweets. Many women (especially in her cohort) consider accountability to be anathema, so she could never have the self-awareness to understand that while she has free speech, she should have kept her mouth shut. But consequences are not the same as accountability. They come from without. I’m sure Propst is mystified not only that people DO disagree vehemently with her, but that people COULD disagree with her, and then actually do something to hurt her back.
Her obliviousness is what makes the schadenfreude that much sweeter. In that way, she’s an avatar for the left as a whole. They refuse to learn why they lost and keep doubling down. The books that will be written will be fascinating.
Probst was part of the masking vax and proscription brigade, that settled over Houston, in the last few years, they took their marching orders from that evil dwarf, Hotez and Fauci pick one,
so october 7th has been minimized or projection, it’s netanyahu’s fault,, and the ‘genocide’ claims have been amplified everywhere, if the ICC said it must be true, if the UN said, if the worthies of whatever you call British artesan,
same for their favored corporate media ‘blank pages’ as it where, if the Gazan healthministry were utterly destroyed,well they would find other excuses,
@Ackler: They are their own ‘Big Brother’
He ain’t heavy, he’s my Big Brother!
Or maybe, You gotta be your own Big Brother.
Kinda gets you misty….
#4.
The good doctor could have been Joe Blow—or even Jaw Reid—and not too many would have registered a whole lot more than the necessary disgust regarding her absolute inhuman response…
…since people like her are, most unfortunately, a dime a dozen.
What amplifies the issue—what raises the stakes, as it were—is that she’s a DOCTOR, for heaven’s sake.
(And NOT ONLY a doctor but a pediatrician….)
Not altogether a surprise…but…sigh…
Mitchell Strand:
The rural New England towns that lean left are generally either college towns or filled with people who came there from “away” and brought their politics with them. The rest of rural New England tends to lean right (especially northern New England, that is).