In Spain, the socialists who rule in coalition with the far left are waging a war on. . . wine. One idea is to discourage the serving of wine in restaurants. Another is to put cancer warnings on wine bottles like they do on tobacco products. The reason is, of course, that wine is bad for you.

This campaign isn’t driven by the socialists as much as by the far left. The same far left that is passionately advocating for the legalization of cannabis. Which, apparently, doesn’t cause any health issues.

These are very, very weird people. I have zero interest in either wine or cannabis but I can’t fail to notice how bizarre all these ideas are.

Masculinity is dead:

https://twitter.com/TheGeekDiplomat/status/1520406765157842945?t=meT8urH98lH0mJOCXRKmvA&s=19

It’s particularly delightful that the fellow has a Ukrainian flag in the avatar. He really hasn’t figured out what’s happening.

As Douglas Murray correctly says in his new book, once a national identity is weakened, all sorts of other identifications come to take its place. Smaller and smaller groups and groupsicles are formed. People are pitted against each other over trivial, manufactured differences, making it impossible for them to see that they can unite to stand up for their rights.

Everybody who isn’t rich is struggling because of the inflation. Everybody is being punished because our national government decided to steal from us and give to Pfizer, Walmart, and Netflix. But we are distracted from our shared dispossession by the narrative that pits the virtuous against the improvident student loan holders. As we bite each other’s heads off, those who rob us are laughing at our simplicity.

I’ve never held a dime of student loan debt and neither has my husband. But I know that if I indulge in the convenient pleasure of despising those who do, I’d be the stooge. The simpleton who stands there gaping while her pockets are being picked.

Cheap, smug self-righteousness – be it of the anti-racist or the anti-loan-forgiveness flavor – is the consolation prize we get for losing our economic and political status.

The November midterms are the Republicans’ to lose. You really have got to try your darnedest to lose to an administration that has achieved record inflation, sky-high crime rates, a string of international humiliations, and nothing positive at all.

But never fear. Republicans will do all they can to screw up this golden opportunity to sail to a win. They have now decided to antagonize a large part of the electorate by opposing Biden’s fictitious student loan forgiveness. Nothing has been done. No loans have been forgiven but yes, absolutely, let’s help Biden create an impression that he’s doing something for the people by taking a symbolic stand against his symbolic action. We could instead concentrate on his cozy relationship with corporate oligarchy and on how much that oligarchy prefers the Democrats. But forget it. It’s so much more fun to tear into some poor schmuck with a bunch of college loans. He’s the real enemy!

Closer to the election, it’s crucial to start another useless abortion kerfuffle. Who needs to win elections when you can declare your righteousness instead?

Once again, feel-good wins and effectiveness loses. A momentary jolt of pleasure is preferred to actual results. Happy pill defeats a cure.