33 Comments
Sep 3, 2022Liked by Matt Welch

Sorry to be a stickler (not! I love it.) but Joe Biden's an anti-semi-fascist. It's those goddamn semi-fascists that we gotta bend the rules to fight against. Personally, I use the phrase "Mack truck supremacist" but I think we can all agree these truck-driving, freedom-hating motherfuckers can all go straight to hell, can I get a 10-4?

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Sep 3, 2022Liked by Matt Welch

Shit and I read on and see a shout out to Foster Brooks, my great-grandfather! My TFC membership = purchase of the year.

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Sep 4, 2022Liked by Matt Welch

Okay, Matt, you and Sarah Hepola have a great topic to kick off your visit to Smoke Em: meeting Gorbachev!

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Sep 6, 2022·edited Sep 6, 2022

So much Fifth adjacency today! Guys on Megyn Kelly and Kmele on A Special Place in Hell https://aspecialplace.substack.com/p/kmele-foster-visits-a-special-place-4bb

🤘🏼 Update: Pretty sure I heard megyn get nervous when Moynihan started in with his Holocaust denial. That was some members-only level type stuff.

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I’m about an hour in & popped over to give a heads-up about this, but not only did you beat me to it, I guess you spoiled a surprise Moynihan cameo?

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Oh! He was in the latest Megyn Kelly https://open.spotify.com/show/0awxEJH88Xur0GHXuteBLw

I’m getting to A Special Place now. Just finishing the Reason Roundtable 🙈🙈🙈

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One could say this is a reading-comprehension failure on my part, but have we considered that this is a “too-many-Meghans” systemic crisis.

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If it makes you feel better I just assume everyone in the Fifthdom is drunk or high. Tbh, took me a minute to figure out what happened 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

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Sep 7, 2022·edited Sep 7, 2022

Tragically, no, the only local product I was on at the time of reply was lemon seltzer. Then Substack had **technical issues** for several hours after I realized my mistake. But in the meantime I did consume more exciting local product (Riesling & Cab Franc, plus a wee bit of leftover Pinot Gris).

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The guys are with Megyn? Shit, now I have to go for a walk!

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So good. Love when she gives them the full show

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Sep 3, 2022·edited Sep 3, 2022

Megyn Kelly appearance! Love those!

And, any of my fellow Jews (and allies — we see you 👀) following this Yeshiva LGBTQ club brouhaha? Fascinating https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/9/2/23333436/yeshiva-university-sued-over-gay-rights

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I'm curious as to what comes with being an officially recognized group versus an unofficial one. Also, independent of the question as to whether the university has the right to discriminate, I'm curious how someone personally reconciles being unashamedly LGBTQ and the follower of a religion that demands its members shame such people.

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Sep 4, 2022·edited Sep 4, 2022

I’m curious about the difference, too. It sounds like they’ve been operating on campus but aren’t officially recognized.

For background, I’m a liberal, secular Jew with a strong appreciation for my religious counterparts. I don’t see this as discrimination based on sexual orientation. In the article, they say the school didn’t recognize a fraternity because they found it didn’t align with the Torah’s teachings. Yeshiva follows the orthodox tradition. Allowing an LGTBQ group (or a fraternity) would change that.

Judaism has reformed over the years (peacefully) so there are women rabbis, there are gay rabbis, I’m sure there are trans rabbis but not in the orthodox tradition. (Disclaimer: someone should fact-check gay orthodox rabbis, I’m not solid on that). Gay people should of course be welcome to attend yeshiva but an officially recognized club is not a human right and the orthodox tradition should be respected -- especially since Jews have other options.

That’s where I am on this at the moment having not heard anyone else’s opinion outside of a few articles.

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They’ll wind up with a Jews for Jesus takeover if they’re not careful 😏 curious to see if this gets to the Supreme Court.

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Yeah, I think I'm with you on this one. I'm an atheist and secularist and perhaps unsurprisingly, don't feel terribly inclined to be charitable to religion but if what I read of the particulars in the article you shared more or less covers the dispute, I don't think the lack of official recognition from the university denies the LGBTQ students' humanity, nor does it seem like probably their only opportunity to attend school. If someone starts a Friday Fish Fry or Intact-Foreskin Fraternity and the school endorses them, then I might reconsider my opinion or if official recognition turned out to be more than the school mentioning the group in the boring mass emails it sends out that get forwarded to the junk inbox anyway, but I think you're right in asserting that clubs, officially recognized or not, are not the same as individual students and (to the best of my knowledge), aren't entitled the same protections. It's an interesting topic to discuss.

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Forgive me, I'm busy catching up on the back catalogue. So apropos of nothing, Moynihan's Melania impression is Perry the Platypus in falsetto, and his generic Eastern European voice is Hank from Barry on HBO. Good Shabbos!

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Heeeeee heee! Owwww! Chimoan!

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Fantastic interview with FIRE, Michael. I also think the press on Rushdie has been too thin. It's Nobel time, though I doubt the fucking Swedes will get their heads out of their asses in time.

Speaking of Scandi, nice maple floors! I'm currently living in the basement as a crew from Ecuador installs something similar for a third of the price if their Minnesota born counterparts.

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Look, you can't have have an album called "Number 1's" and NOT defeat Stalinism

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No talk about Members Only: Moynihan Motors?!

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Erection of himself following a statement about a codpiece. Well done, sir. Well done.

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Sep 7, 2022·edited Sep 7, 2022

Sarah Haider is younger than me & a lot braver, and somewhat relevantly, has borne children (we all have our reasons) & good for her for not shutting up about the irrationality that racial identity is rigid & fixed but biological sex is a hazy kaleidoscope & perhaps one will discover one’s place on the “spectrum”. Humans can increasingly blur the lines of race via interracial childbearing relationships (and eventually we can all chill out & be normal, hopefully). There is no evolutionary path to a squishy “gender”. There just isn’t. Even in exceptionally rare cases of DSD, one is one thing, or the other. End of.

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That was a low point in MJ's iconography

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Any idea what's actually happening over at kiwifarms?

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Ambitious Crossover had a pretty good recap today. I’m sure BARPod will get to it this week https://open.spotify.com/show/3EpvoOGi1pfq3bMRijplDY

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Matt... in a shirt and tie!

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author

Used to be regular!

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Got to take that Metamucil!

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I just got an image of TFC in black suits and white shirts, Il Divo-style.

For men: Reservoir Dogs style.

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I will never listen to Thriller the same now, Kmele!

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Kmele the Thriller Killer

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