In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

In yesterday's post, and in this one last month , I demonstrated how easy it is to get an AI bot to generate prose that would otherwise be written by a human writing to formula like Victor Davis Hanson or Robert Reich. In my thinking, I've routinely taken this farther: there should be no reason for any paper to pay a weather reporter to write chirpy, cliche-ridden predictions of the day's weather. Just set up a bot to print that out (blue skies this morning, but take an umbrella!) at the time of day needed, and you've saved a high five-figure salary right there. But this brings me to Salem Media, until recently characterized as a "conservative media powerhouse", except that its financial performance has been poor, it's been unloading important properties like Regnery Publishing, and last April, Donald Trump Jr and Lara made a big investment with the idea of bringing them back: Today, Salem announces a historic, multi-dimensional de...

Over the weekend, a word popped into my head that I hadn't heard since graduate school: bovarysme . Bovarysme is a term derived from Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857), coined by Jules de Gaultier in his 1892 essay on Flaubert's novel, " Le Bovarysme, la psychologie dans l’œuvre de Flaubert ". It denotes a tendency towards escapist daydreaming in which the dreamer imagines themself to be a hero or heroine in a romance, whilst ignoring the everyday realities of the situation. The eponymous Madame Bovary is an example of this. I asked Chrome AI mode, "Are anti-ICE demonstrations an example of bovarysme?" The reply says to me that AI is not stupid -- I doubt if more than a tiny percentage of four-year degree holders could give this answer: Bovarysme is a literary term derived from Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. It refers to a tendency toward escapist daydreaming where an individual imagines themselves as a heroic or ro...

On Patrol: Live with its earlier incarnation, Live PD , has been a major indicator of which way the political winds are blowing for law enforcement, especially since the show was off the air for more than two years following the George Floyd riots, despite the fact that it's reliably been a top show in its time slot. Its host, Dan Abrams, is a solid legacy media figure who was able to engineer the show's return, but it should never be forgotten he's legacy media through and through. It's genesrally recognized, though seldom explicitly stated, that as the show switches among ride-along vignettes from nine or ten departments each week, the producers generally do not feature scenes involving dead bodies, excesssive blood, nudity, or other situations that could be particularly disturbing. I've also noticed, though Abrams has never said explicitly, that the producers have seemed to avoid scenes involving illegal migrants identified as such, or inded any mention of t...

Wow. In the Epstein emails DOJ dropped, Jeffrey sent himself emails memorializing a fight he had with Bill Gates. In it he says that Bill Gates got STD’s from Russian hookers, and then asked Jeffrey for antibiotics that Bill could secretly give to Melinda without her noticing. 😳 pic.twitter.com/XNA0vNWTcI — Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 30, 2026 As far as I can see, the takeaway frpom the latest tranche of Epstein files is that Trump and Epstein were part of the social scene in both New York and Palm Beach, and as a result, their paths sometimes crossed, especially because Epstein was always a wannabe, while Trump was much more authentic. Epstein made occasional half-hearted efforts to ingratiate himself with Trump, but he always pretty much knew they wouldn't get anywhere. CNN has a detailed summary , from which we can garner typical examples: One of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims told the FBI that his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell once “presented her” ...

From Tom Homan's presss conference this morning at 12:00 in the video embedded above: One thing we all agreed on was that US Customs and Border Protrection is a legitimate law enforcement agency and has a duty to support the laws enactged by Congress and keep this community safe. Like I've said many times for the last several years, even before this administration, jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities are sanctuaries for criminals. Sanctury cities are sanctuaries for criminals. . . . To be clear, we did not agree with Minnmesota state and local officials that they would be involved in federal immigration enforcement. I didn't ask them to be immigration officers. I'm asking them to be cops working with cops to take criminal sliens off the street. What we did agree upon was not to release public safety risks back into the cummunity when they could be lawfully transferred to ICE. . . . I'm also pleased to announce ...

🚨 BBC obtains footage from January 13 of a man they say is Alex Pretti Videos appears to show him spitting at federal law enforcement and attacking their vehicle pic.twitter.com/cuXYO6PLIx — Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) January 28, 2026 The X post embedded above shows video footage of the altercation Alex Pretti had with CBP officers the week before he was shot, which reportedly resulted in him breaking a rib. It shows him kicking out the tail light of the CBP van and struggling with the officers. Several scenes in the video appear to show him carrying a firearm in the small of his back, as he did a week later when he was shot. Additional context has emerged this week that suggests he wasn't just a random bystander; he was deliberately dispatched to both scenes by an organized network purposely to disrupt CBP activities. In yesterday's post, I also speculated that Pretti must have been part of an organized network of agitators with specific job descriptions and respons...

First Question: Renee Good, the lady who was shot by a federal officer while trying to run him over with her $50,000 Honda SUV, has been characterized in the media as a stay-at-home mom from Kansas City who nevertheless dropped her child off at day care so she could demonstrate against ICE in Minneapolis. Just how did she afford her lifestyle? If she didn't draw an income, what about her partner, Becca? I asked Chrome AI mode, "What did Renée Good's partner do for a living?" It replied, Becca Good, Renee Good's partner, was a handywoman. Following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the couple moved to Canada for several months before relocating to Minneapolis. During their time in Minneapolis, they were reportedly involved in a local business together, with both listed as company managers for an entity incorporated in 2024. So I asked, "What was the local business in which Renee and Becca Good were both listed as company managers for an e...