EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear Reader (Unless you’re in trigonometry class, in which case I don’t want to bother you),
What a marvelously stupid time to be alive.
My scorecard is now completely illegible. Right-wingers tell me that Al Franken must resign for behavior far less offensive than what Roy Moore has been accused of, but also that, even if the allegations against Moore are true, he shouldn’t drop out of his Senate race because it was 40 years ago. Even the governor of Alabama says she believes Moore’s accusers but will vote for him.
Meanwhile, left-wingers are saying . . . well, they’re saying a lot of things, which I’ll get to in a second.
But first, there’s this:
Now everyone is talking about a man from Alabama named Roy Moore.. do you see what they did??? No more Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Sheen, George Takei, etc. Mission Accomplished and half the Conservatives fell for it. The Elites duped you all yet again!
— Matt Couch (@RealMattCouch) November 15, 2017
So, now we’re in this very weird place. Liberals are rediscovering an old position and claiming either through denial or ignorance that it is a new one. Meanwhile, many conservatives are responding to the left-wing flip with a right-wing flop. In 2011, only 30 percent of white Evangelicals said that “an elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life.” In 2016, that number more than doubled to 72 percent. White Evangelicals used to be the religious group that was least tolerant of immoral acts by public officials. In the wake of Trump, they are now the demographic most tolerant of immoral acts in politicians. I’ve spent the last week arguing with people on Twitter who claim I’m naïve, puritanical, weak, liberal, or dumb for arguing that, if true, Roy Moore’s behavior is disqualifying.
We are in big trouble when the tribal response of our enemies picking up our positions causes us to take up theirs.
Various & Sundry
As I mentioned, the latest Remnant podcast is up. I covered some of the same material above in a bit of a rantier-than-usual stream of consciousness. But I also made room for calling out John Podhoretz, Sonny Bunch, Rich Lowry, and all of these people determined to take me down a notch. Also, as promised, we finally got around to a reading of some (PG-rated) Bigfoot Erotica. The podcast is doing well, and I’m grateful to everyone who’s given it a shot. I do have one request: We’re doing great in terms of downloads. But it seems like a disproportionate share of people are listening through the podcast’s NRO page. It would be great for me in all sorts of ways if you could actually subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or the like so that a) you never miss an episode and b) we get our subscription numbers more in line with downloads.
Canine Update: The beasts are still loving fall. The only problem is that our SUV, a.k.a. “the dog car,” has been out getting detailed (we’re thinking of selling it to get a more practical canine conveyance). This means poor Zoë has to do a leash walk every morning, while Pippa still gets to chase tennis balls as we walk around my neighborhood. I can’t let Zoë run around the neighborhood off-leash because she might chase something into traffic, disappear in someone’s backyard, or get into a squabble with someone else’s dog. She clearly resents the double standard. So, every now and then, she just tackles Pippa and demands that she wrestle instead. But the thing is that once Tennis Ball Protocol Alpha Omega 1 has been triggered, Pippa has no desire to play any other games. Meanwhile, I discovered last night that Zoë doesn’t want any further part of my vendetta against John Podhoretz, even though he has cast so many aspersions on my dogs. He’s just bitter that they helped me crush him in his poll about who has the better Twitter feed.
Roy Moore and sexual conspiracies
The latest Ricochet GLoP Culture podcast
Hillary and Uranium One, continued
My latest appearance on Special Report
The latest Remnant podcast, with bonus Bigfoot erotica
Russia’s national interest is not our national interest.
And now, the weird stuff.
Remorseful thieves return stolen puppy to little girl
The U.S. government’s zombie apocalypse plan
Why doesn’t the U.S. have to worry about coups?
The chicken that lived headless for two years
Why fish don’t swim upside-down
Surfer escapes shark encounter by punching it in the nose
A lakebed containing half the elements known to mankind
Is 63 the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
The man with auto-brewery syndrome
Detroit police officers fight each other in undercover operation gone wrong
How dogs teach us to stop worrying and be happy
Christian Bale’s weight transformations over the years
Weird things picked up on weather radar
You’ve heard of pizza rat. Now get ready for . . .
American Heart Association president has heart attack at AHA’s annual conference
Navy admits to drawing phallic graffiti in the sky