Matt Philbin
Latest from Matt Philbin
If The Washington Post made a New Year’s resolution to cut down on the political hackery, get back to a sensible regimen of responsible sourcing, and maybe lose a few pounds of pomposity, it’s already been broken in spectacular fashion. A January 7 piece from Sarah Pulliam Bailey involves Donald Trump Jr., social media, religion, and firearms -- what could go wrong?
The Chicago Bears beat Dallas 31-24 last week. While there are plenty of Americans who’ll swear that the Cowboys are Satan’s team, outside of the “Super Fans” (Da Berss!) few would have characterized Chicago as God’s team. And yet …
Lesson for social conservatives: put not your trust in princes, nor in rap stars turned Christian. And especially not in chicken sandwiches. Unless you’re hungry.
I recommend Washington Post articles about as often as I check my horoscope. But every once in a while the stars align … so I’ll say Maura Judkis’s Post piece on the astrology trend among young people is worth a look. Not for what it tells us about astrology, but what it says about millennials -- or a certain cohort of them.
Walt Disney must be spinning in his cryogenic tank. In life he was a smart guy who got rich making saccharine kids cartoons. In death, he’s a hated culture war criminal whose legacy is white/male/hetero/cis privilege. And, though Walt’s not to blame for Miley Cyrus, his brand will forever be tainted by the many pop tarts Disney has inflicted on an unsuspecting public.
Tuesday brought confirmation of two important truths: no good deed (or 129 years of them) goes unpunished; and the “woke” left hates people. That’s why a British singer may not be performing at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving halftime show. The show is the official kickoff of the Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle campaign, which runs through Christmas Eve -- you know, the cheerful people who stand in the cold outside supermarkets and ring bells and collect donations.
Are you comfortable with mentally disturbed men hanging around the kids section of the local library? How do you stand on dudes with 5 o’clock shadow dressed in lingerie reading to five-year-olds? If you’re a Spokane, Washington resident, you better be okay with it, or you’re a “religious extremist,” and just may find yourself sold in effigy at a slave auction to benefit America’s largest abortion mill.
We’re almost 50 years on from her very public aid and comfort to the enemy of the United States (and a horrible blow to the morale of U.S. POWs in North Vietnam) and Fonda is back doing what she can to docomfit the American people and their way of life. Admittedly, that’s not much these days — phony arrests at climate change sit-ins are no substitute for delivering commie-penned radio addresses falsely accusing America of war crimes — but it’s good enough for Cara Buckley at The Times.
A few days ago, when Lebron James whined about his team and his league’s “difficult week,” he wasn’t just flipping off Muslim Uighurs and Hong Kong freedom protesters suffering in China. He was throwing Chinese Christians under the bus too.
“Scratch a progressive, find an authoritarian.” And his name is Robert Francis O’Rourke. The feckless furry with the foundering campaign and phony hispanic nickname is making a desperate play for the illiberal left wing of the Democratic party. First it was his “mandatory buy-back” of Ar-15s. Now, he’s threatening religious institutions that still believe in traditional marriage.
Remember way back in 2018 when “Shut up and dribble” was a horrible thing to say to millionaire athletes who are paid to, er, dribble? Times sure have changed. (Or maybe the phrase sounds better said with a Chinese accent?) Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock remembers that too, which is why he said on Speak for Yourself Tuesday, “The NBA is strangling on its own hypocrisy.” He was speaking, of course, about the league’s (and numerous coaches’ and players’) craven ducking and covering.
In the Washington Post October 4, Geraldo Cadava and Stephen Pitti admonish Americans: “Don’t just say you love Latinos during Hispanic Heritage Month. Honor the complexities of our histories.” As to the first part, well, you got it. I won’t say I love Latinos -- no matter what month it is -- because I don’t. Nor do I hate them. Truth is, I’m indifferent to Latinos, as I am to Africans, Koreans, Slavs and Skandinavians. Anglo-Saxons?
Leave it to the Washington Post to pioneer coverage of what may be the next great civil rights struggle. Food reporter Tim Carman has uncovered the white supremacy inherent in supermarket organization. According to food influencer David Chang (yeah, that’s a thing, I guess) “the ethnic food aisle, that is sort of the last bastion of racism that you can see in full daylight in retail America.”
Remember the first outbreak of PC years ago? Back then it was a distant, isolated phenomenon -- an exotic STD localized to college campuses. Reality, like a dose of penicillin, would take care of things. Normal people had fun changing “bald” to “follically challenged,” and “hookers” to “horizontal laborers.” Good times.
Occasional dispatches from Downunder in the last few years have shown Australians doing their bit to facilitate the Western Civilization’s cultural suicide. From lionizing naked gay goat farmers to seeking the infant care advice of “sexuality experts,” Aussies have been watching their society go down the drain just like the rest of us. (Of course, in their case, it goes counterclockwise).
The Washington Post wants you to feel bad about your pumpkin spice latte. And not because of the calories, or because it’s a swishy, effeminate beverage (that would never do for Posties). The drink just isn’t woke enough.
Eve Fairbanks says that as a college senior, she “studied almost nothing but Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.” Doubtful. The Gettysburg Address needed just 271 words to restate and rededicate the purpose of America’s founding; Fairbanks requires more than 3,000 words to argue that conservatives -- even the “reasonable” ones -- are evil.
Variety really, really wants Taylor Swift to be an anti-Trump troubadour. The chorus of Cracker’s raucous “Teens Angst” might not be the greatest line in rock n’ roll history, but it’s up there. And it has the advantage of being timeless. As in 1992, the world needs a lot of things, but the political musings of musicians and poptarts aren’t among them.
Miley Cyrus is “at the vanguard of feminist thought.” Pity feminism. Cyrus is, of course, a pop tart who was once Disney’s Hannah Montana, after which she became one of the more crass libertines in an entertainment culture overpopulated with them. She recently split from her husband of three weeks (or whatever). It was surely a blow to romantics everywhere, but not Marcie Bianco, lesbian feminist who writes for NBC’s distinctly unthoughtful Think site.
Trouble in paradise? We all know lefty Hollywood types hate Trump, and Trump’s supporters. And conservatives. And religious people. And rural America -- okay, so they hate a lot of folks. But one group could always count on Tinsel Town’s love and money: Democrats. Bill, Hillary, Barack -- even Al Gore -- were rock stars among the power-worshipping lefties.