juin 17, 2024 - 6:00pm

→ New York Times columnist turns on progressives

Progressives have destroyed America’s west coast, according to a new article by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof, who himself was a progressive until very recently.

Within a few years of moving from New York to his native Oregon, Kristof announced he was no longer a progressive. “Seeing the challenges in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, have made me more wary of progressivism,” he told Time in May. He also recently called for more restrictive immigration policies.

The crime and homelessness problems of west coast cities made him reassess his politics — and he’s far from the first. Progressive shibboleths, particularly lax drug enforcement and generous benefits for the homeless, has a way of turning even the most devout Leftists toward the political centre and Right. You can only free-ride on your region’s good weather for so long. 

 

→ Reform Zoomers pen open to letter to Farage

As Nigel Farage launched Reform UK’s “contract” — not a manifesto, he maintains — today in South Wales, the would-be Reform-voting Right-wing youth were scouring the document for policies aimed at them.

It seems they liked the gist of it, but they want more. So, what are they demanding? Beyond a “Reform Youth” wing, the Reform Zoomers have asked that the party “restore the Ukip promise to abolish tuition fees for STEM subjects, remove interest rates on tuition fees, and remove the Graduate route on student visas.”

In addition, the youth want to smoke. “Reform UK must repeal the smoking and vaping bans, and commit to no funding of any organisation which aims to curtail our speech and our ability to express our views.” Let the kids have fun again!

→ Bill Ackman and Mark Cuban spar over Biden

The billionaires are bickering on X once again, this time over the advanced age of our presidential candidates.

Not everyone ages at the same pace, according to Bill Ackman, who called Biden “an old 81 who can’t find his way off a stage or stay present and focused at a G7 conference”. Mark Cuban, who’s been in an online feud with Ackman since the latter’s shift to the Right last autumn, retorted that Trump is old too and accused Ackman of pandering to the X audience.

It’s hard to imagine why either of these men — worth a combined $14 billion — are so locked in on social media. Most of us can barely be bothered to read their article-length tweets. Maybe they’re all obsessed with pandering to their twitter followers…