Happy New Year, everyone! The Biden Recession bites deeper, Israel dirtnaps a top terrorist, Harvard’s chief plagiarist finally steps down, and the crypto CEO who wasn’t there. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
The monthly nonfarm payrolls (from the Establishment Survey) may have been weak at 216K but the far more accurate Household Survey showed that the number of Employed workers actually collapsed by an unprecedented 683K, the biggest drop since the US economy was shutdown by covid!
Even scarier, while the monthly grind higher in the payrolls number (pulled from the far less accurate Establishment Survey) means that US jobs hit a record high every month with bizarre consistency and in December this was certainly the case, the total nonfarm employment number rose to an all time high 157.232 million, the abovementioned collapse in US Employment (per Household survey) meant that there were only 161.183 million employed people in the US, the lowest since June, with the now traditional divergence between these two surveys glaringly obvious.
A senior Hamas leader was killed Tuesday in a drone strike in Beirut, Lebanon, during a meeting between Palestinian factions at a Hamas office.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of Hamas’s political bureau and commander of the terror group’s military wing in the West Bank, and at least five others died from the explosion, which occurred near Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported. Several more were injured. Following the blast, Hamas blamed Israel for the “Zionist raid” amid its ongoing war with the Jewish state. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
Many Israeli officials declined to comment. However, Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a statement on X shortly after the attack: “Surely your enemies will perish, O Israel.”
In November, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated he ordered the nation’s Mossad spy agency to eliminate Hamas leaders around the world after the militant group’s coordinated October 7 attack. Netanyahu’s office also declined to comment about the explosion.
Al-Arouri, whom Hamas described as “one of the architects” of the terror attack on Israel, had close ties with Yahwa Sinwar, the group’s leader in Gaza. Al-Arouri is the most senior Hamas leader to have been killed since the war began in early October.
A good chunk of the Epstein files have finally been released. Some revelations: Bill Clinton “likes them young” and Donald Trump didn’t have sex with at least one girl who was asked under oath about it.
Harvard President Claudine Gay finally does the right thing and resigns in wake of burgeoning plagiarism scandal.
A three act farce: Act 1: “Ohio governor Mike DeWine (R.) on Friday vetoed a bill that would have banned both transgender procedures for minors and trans student-athlete participation in school sports in the state.” Act 2: Turns out DeWine has taken taken over $40,000 in donations from pro-child-genital-mutilation hospitals. Act 3: “Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine issued an “emergency” executive order Friday banning child gender-transition surgeries after receiving intense backlash last week for vetoing a bill with a broader but similar mandate.” Ohio’s Republican legislature can and should override DeWine’s foolish veto.
Robert F. Kennedy, jr. qualifies for the presidential ballot in Utah.
Last month, American Values 2024, a super PAC supporting the third-party candidate, announced a plan to spend nearly $15 million to get Kennedy on the ballot in ten states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Texas. All are important to winning the 2024 race.
I don’t see RFK Jr. doing even as well in Utah as Egg McMuffin did in 2016, and of the other states, only Arizona, Colorado, Michigan and Nevada might have any effect on the election, all four of which went (however fraudulently) for Biden in 2020.
Ricky Gervais has a great idea: He and Dave Chappelle should co-host the Oscars. That would indeed be a smash ratings success, and I would watch the Oscars for the first time this century.
This is the only way for us to live in peace,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbot. “The citizens of Austin have been at war with the people of Texas for many years now, and to end the bloodshed for future generations, we are willing to recognize Austin as its own separate and sovereign land.”
The resolution brought much-needed relief to the war-torn area, where battle lines had been drawn along the border of Austin. “The weirdo hipsters of Austin can stand down now,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz in a statement acknowledging the resolution. “The people of Austin can now stop patrolling the perimeter of the city in armored tanks and go back to driving electric vehicles, painting strange murals nobody understands, and hating everything the United States stands for.”
Longtime National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre announced his resignation Friday, Fox News Digital has learned.
Better late then never, but this is still several years too late.
“With pride in all that we have accomplished, I am announcing my resignation from the NRA,” LaPierre said in the NRA’s press release, which was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. “I’ve been a card-carrying member of this organization for most of my adult life, and I will never stop supporting the NRA and its fight to defend Second Amendment freedom. My passion for our cause burns as deeply as ever.”
In recent years, LaPierre’s passion seemed to be for lining his pockets, building a wall of cronies between him and accountability, and dragging the organization down with him rather than stepping aside.
NRA President Charles Cotton said during the board meeting Friday in Irving, Texas, that he accepted LaPierre’s resignation. LaPierre, 74, cited health reasons as motivation behind the departure.
The resignation will take effect Jan. 31. Andrew Arulanandam, the NRA’s executive and head of general operations, will serve as interim CEO and executive vice president of the NRA.
Arulanandam is one of Wayne’s toadies, and the organization won’t be free of LaPierre’s taint until all his cronies are swept from the board and positions of power.
The announcement comes as LaPierre is set to face trial in the corruption case brought by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James. James – who before being elected the state’s AG, vowed to take on the NRA and slammed the group as a “terrorist organization” – brought forth a lawsuit in 2020 accusing NRA leadership of violating state and federal laws to divert millions of dollars to their own pockets.
The James lawsuit is indeed a political witchhunt, but it was LaPierre’s self-dealing that gave James the opening she needed to go after him.
Someone free of LaPierre’s taint, like former, well-respected NRA-ILA head Chris Cox, should be brought in to clean out Wayne’s Augean stables. Until those urgent reforms are carried out, NRA still won’t get any of my money.
Despite the best efforts of various Soros-backed tools, the right to self defense is still alive and well in Texas.
A Harris County grand jury has declined to charge a man who shot and killed a robber at a Houston-area taqueria one year ago in an incident that has drawn attention to bail bond policies in the state’s most populous county.
On January 5, 2023, 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington entered the El Ranchito restaurant in southwest Houston and robbed several customers wielding what appeared to be a gun. Security video from the location shows one customer using his own gun to shoot Washington nine times. The unidentified man then took the money Washington had stolen, returned it to customers, finished his coffee, and after throwing a cup down near Washington’s body, left the establishment.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Police investigators determined that Washington had been wielding a fake plastic gun at the time of the robbery.
The name of the man who shot Washington was not released to the public, but his attorney Juan L. Guerra released a statement last year noting that the shooter feared for his life and “acted to protect everyone in the restaurant.”
“This event has been very traumatic, taking a human life is something he does not take lightly and will burden him for the rest of his life,” said Guerra.
Texas law allows residents to use deadly force to protect themselves or others in the face of threats, even in public places.
According to a statement from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, all homicides must be reviewed by a grand jury of 12 randomly selected residents who meet for three months to review evidence and criminal charges. If nine or more determine that probable cause does not exist, they issue a “no bill,” clearing the individual of criminal wrongdoing.
Washington had been convicted of Aggravated Robbery with a Deadly Weapon in 2015 and served 7 years before being released on parole. In December 2022, he was arrested on charges of Assault of a Family Member but was released on a $500 bond by Harris County Criminal Court at Law 10.
A bonded out felon in Harris County committ8ing more crimes? I’ll try to contain my shock.
Andy Kahan, victims advocate for Crime Stoppers of Houston, told The Texan he is advocating for new legislation that would prohibit personal recognizance bonds for offenders on parole for violent crimes when charged with a new offense.
“You didn’t help Eric Washington by giving him a bond,” said Kahan.
Indeed.
There was a lot of debate at the time over whether the self-defense shooter firing nine shots was excessive or not, and of course various leftwing “activists” wanted him charged. But despite their best efforts, self-defense still remains legal in Texas, and a jury agreed the shooter was justified.
Thugs should realize that if they pull a gun (real or otherwise) in a restaurant in Texas, there’s a good chance some of the patrons are packing.
Those scumbags who file false reports in order to elicit a (possible fatal) police response to their intended target are at it again, and this time their target was none other that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Wednesday morning that his home in McKinney was victim to a “swatting” incident.
Paxton took to social media to alert the public that he and his family “were not home at the time and were made aware of the false report when a state trooper, who was contacted by McKinney police, informed [them] of the incident.”
“On New Year’s Day, a currently unidentified caller made a false report to 911 describing a life-threatening situation at our home in McKinney. As a result, the City of McKinney Police and Fire Departments quickly and bravely responded to what they believed could be a dangerous environment,” he explained.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation “swatting” is “making a hoax call to 9-1-1 to draw a response from law enforcement, usually a [special weapons and tactics or] SWAT Team … it is a serious crime, and one that has potentially dangerous consequences.”
“It is also important to acknowledge that this ‘swatting’ incident happened weeks after the disgraced Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, his lieutenants, and the Dallas Morning News doxed our family by publicly posting our address,” Paxton continued on social media.
“We understand some people may not agree with our strong conservative efforts to secure the border, prevent election fraud, and protect our constitutional liberties, but compromising the effectiveness and safety of law enforcement is completely unacceptable.”
Interesting that Paxton fingered Phelan’s crew as the possible perpetrators rather than the usual leftwing loons who employee the tactic.
In any case, I’ve got to believe that SWATing the Attorney General is a pretty risky gambit. I mean, I’m pretty sure any AG is going to have the resources to pursue the perps. Likewise, I’m pretty sure he can get a warrant for the device data, and even an unregistered burner phone can be tracked.
Here’s hoping the perp who swatted Paxton ends up earning himself a nice, long stint behind bars.
Some public figures are cowed by social justice warriors attacking them for transgressions against The Holy Narrative. Comedian Dave Chappelle is not among them, as his newly dropped special proves.
The segment they excerpt is a funny (and true) bit.
I don’t have Netflix (I’m one of those codgers that watches things off the arcane format known as “DVDs”), so it will be a while until I track the latest special down. But it’s good to see Chappelle standing tall against the woke mob.
It looks like there was a running gunbattle between the Mexican National Guard and the Sinaloa drug cartel in Sonoyta, Sonora, just south of Lukeville, Arizona on the U.S. border, on December 29. There’s a dearth of news stories on the event, so here are two video compilations (with a little overlap) of the fighting.
This was likely the battle that occurred in Sonoyta, Sonora between the Mexican Army/National Guard against gunmen (unknown exactly what group) as was reported yesterday. https://t.co/hAd0XQnhWgpic.twitter.com/zOwwUMUfws
I haven’t seen any news reports of this in American media, possibly because they think their primary goal is to avoid reporting anything on the border that the Biden Administration’s “pro illegal alien invasion” policies make them look bad with voters.
Indeed, there was a gun battle at a different crossing point earlier this month.
A federal law-enforcement source shared with FOX Business Network an internal officer safety alert dated December 13th that warns CBP agents to be vigilant after the Mexican military seized 10 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the border.
The IEDs were found by Mexican authorities after Tucson border patrol observed gunshots at the U.S.-Mexico border and a Tucson supervisory border patrol agent arrested an armed person on the U.S. side who had a loaded AK-47 rifle, two loaded AK magazines, loose rounds and a handgun.
Add “border danger” to “budget deficits” in the category of Things That Could Blow Up At Any Moment Our Chattering Classes Refuse To Talk About.
Gay lefty atheist British comedian and actor Stephen Fry gave the “alternate” Christmas message on UK’s Channel 4, the one created because mundane displays of religion give urban lefty types the heebie-jeebies. Of Jewish heritage, Fry decried the recent rise in antisemitism in the UK (with over 50 antisemitic acts a day in London alone) and called for peace and brotherhood among all the peoples of the earth.
Naturally the woke social justice mobs went apeshit.
Yet Stephen Fry and other well known Jews would tell you is is them and only them who don’t feel safe. What utter bollox these Zionist scum bags spout.
What is Stephen Fry doing? He’s confessed to us all that he’s not that nice fellow we always thought him to be. He’s a raging, bloodthirsty, hate-mongering, Zionist cnt. https://t.co/4K4sryvJ4x
“The kind of people who’ve posed as our moral superiors for the past few decades have been exposed as real low-lives, I think, who don’t actually care about racism, don’t care about equality, certainly don’t care about Jewish people, and are only interested in using so-called anti-racism as a way of fortifying their own cultural power over society.”
Never mind that Fry used to support Palestinian causes. “On 30 April 2008, Fry signed an open letter, published in The Guardian newspaper by a number of Jewish personalities, stating their opposition to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. Furthermore, he is a signatory member of the British Jews for Justice for Palestinians organisation, which campaigns for Palestinian rights.”
Despite being a lefty, Fry has occasionally has shown he’s willing to follow the logical of his declarations where the woke mob never seems to go, such as condemning Chinese genocide against the Uyghurs.
It doesn’t matter how closely you followed the social justice line in the past if you dare to say “Now, wait a minute” to the latest victimhood identity politics shibboleth, be it mutilating children in the name of trans ideology or supporting the child-raping murderers of Hamas.
You must support The Latest Things, or you’re the Other, and must be cast into the outer darkness.
Louis Rossmann has ample reason rant today, namely news of a failed software update that bricks your car.
Note: This happened on the Ford Mach-E Mustang, the ugly crossover SUV that shouldn’t be called a Mustang.
“Unfortunately a recent software update was not successful your vehicle cannot be driven. Please call customer support.”
“I’m confident that when you call that number, you’re going to be dealing with is somebody who helps talk you through how to restore your car’s operating system from backup memory. Because of course, if you’re dealing with mission critical firmware or something, surely you would have a copy of the original that came with it?”
“Or perhaps a copy of the last known good update that was actually working over there that you could go back to if the update was not successful?”
“Of course not! You paid $63,000 for a device that is literally more buggy than Windows 10.”
“This car is over $60,000 and they don’t have even the most basic, fundamental redundancy built in, so that if your update fails it will flash back to a known good [version] on the backup memory. Apparently that’s not a thing.”
Says that this problem isn’t because the Mach E is an EV vehicle.
“I do not believe there is a circumstance where the vehicle is so screwed up because the version of software that it had from February of 2023 was so behind that that vehicle is now fundamentally unfit to be on a road, even in limp mode. That’s ridiculous.”
“The ability to roll back a version of software to an older version if the update that you put on is an update that screwed it up this is something that has been more than perfected in the modern day.”
“To not implement it into a vehicle that costs over $60,000 to the point where the entire 4,000 lb hunk of metal needs to be towed, and you no longer have a method of transportation because of that? There’s no excuse for it.”
“One of the things that bothers me a lot is that every time you move to a new technology paradigm, we accept less freedom. We accept that things are going to suck more in ways that they don’t have to suck.”
“You see this subscription bullshit, this less reliability bullshit, this everything made to break bullshit, this everything made to be replaced in a year or two, this every…this is not something that is simply inherent to electric vehicles this is something that is pervasive. This is something that is happening everywhere.”
“This is something that we need to push back against every single time we see this happen.”
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of 2023! Iranian proxies get pounded, NGO’s help destroy the border, Democrats keep trying to remove Trump from the ballot, and thieves get a taste of their own medicine. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
Not only is the Obama/Biden administration undermining American sovereignty and the rule of law by allowing a massive influx of illegal aliens, but a wide variety of NGOs, some “none political,” are also involved.
A network of NGOs, or non-governmental organizations, seems to be playing a powerful role in coordinating the large-scale invasion of illegals at the US southern border.
The new website Muckraker revealed a treasure trove of “mass migration blueprints,” handed out by NGOs across South and Central America to illegals with details about their route to the US.
“The collapse of the US southern border is the result of a carefully planned and deliberately executed industrial mass migration program,” Muckraker said.
MAP #1 – Distributed by Doctors Without Borders (Médicos Sin Fronteras in Spanish).
They seem to be taking that “Without Borders” part way too literally.
What’s becoming increasingly evident is that a network of NGOs funded partly by the US taxpayer but by other countries and corporations are covertly facilitating the invasion of illegals at the US southern border, as well as distributing them across the US into progressive metro areas.
According to an August report by progressive left-leaning media watchdog organization Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security allocated $363 million to NGOs to assist illegal aliens once in the US.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a press release one year ago detailing how “NGOs may be engaged in unlawfully orchestrating other border crossings through activities on both sides of the border, including in sectors other than El Paso.”
Once across the border, NGOs are also helping migrants with transportation across the US, such as providing seats on commercial airlines.
Also “Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona Inc.”
And speaking of Flu Manchu, here’s another fraud case. “A Georgia attorney and former City of Atlanta police officer has been convicted of fraudulently obtaining over $7 million in loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, 62-year-old Shelitha Robertson from Atlanta conspired to submit PPP loan applications on behalf of four businesses she owned.”
The Real Story: “Philadelphia trans activist charged with rape of not one, but two minors.” The Newsweek Story: “Trans Activist Kendall Stephens’ Arrest Sparks MAGA Uproar.” Evidently the left feels that only MAGA Republicans should be upset at the rape of minors…
According to the Department of Emergency Management, San Francisco’s 911 call dispatchers answered just 72 percent of calls within 15 seconds in October, the latest month available. That’s the lowest share of any month in the last six years, and well short of the department’s goal to answer 95 percent of calls in 15 seconds or fewer.
Staffing is not up to the levels required, which is causing people to burn out, due to mandatory overtime. The bureaucratic hiring practice moves at a glacial pace, and so they can’t hire people to cover retirement and people just quitting due to burn out. They did raise pay some, but there is no indication if that is enough. I guess only time will tell.
The second problem that San Francisco has, in relation to 911 calls, is getting officers to the scene of a “Priority A” incident.
The slowdown in responses has contributed to broader delays San Franciscans face when trying to get help during emergency situations. The city’s typical response time to “Priority A” incidents — defined as the most urgent and serious events, like assaults-in-progress — is slower than it’s been at any point in the last eight years, increasing from about 6.5 minutes in January 2016 to nearly nine minutes this November.
Now this is the media, so there is no mention of any “defund the police” initiatives in San Francisco over the past few years.
“Since President Trump’s win in 2016, black support for him has more than tripled, now exceeding 20 percent in some surveys.” Including Mark Fisher, co-founder of a Black Lives Matter group in Rhode Island
“Two large Pizza Hut operators in California are laying off all their delivery drivers ahead of a new state law that raises the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour, Business Insider reports.” Good work, Democrats!
Grocery store manager Gatzke told Bild that the thieves who steal huge bags full of items are usually migrants, with around a third of them being Tunisian.
During one incident at the Edeka supermarket in Regensburg, a man stole €140 euros worth of goods, while the manager has also tried to stop thieves stealing groceries worth €300 euros.
“In the bag were spirits: vodka and liqueurs again. They are Muslims — did they want to resell the alcohol?” asked Gatzke.
“What do you need 10 sea bream and so many shrimp for? Nobody steals that because they’re hungry,” he added.
Gatzke noted that the culprits even steal shopping bags worth up to €2.50 euros.
However, he was denounced as a “racist” for complaining about the mass looting and subsequently criticized by Ferat Koçak, a member of the Berlin House of Representatives for The Left party.
Siding with the criminals, Koçak suggested that the migrants were “entitled” to steal because the government wasn’t giving them enough free money in welfare payments.
Some interesting artillery usage data, via reader Kirk”
Russian tremendous artillery advantage at beginning of war (65k shells/day) down to about 1/10 of that, while Ukraine advantage in platforms & counter battery has grown significantly. Then,… pic.twitter.com/Ak6o0hJmpv
Nothing says “Republican” quite like having Democrats do fundraising for you. “Dade Phelan Fundraiser Hosted by Liberals. Former House Speaker Joe Straus and former Democrat nominee for lieutenant governor Leticia Van de Putte are among those raising cash for Phelan.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a $700 million settlement with Google over anticompetitive practices.
According to the settlement, Google must pay $630 million in restitution—minus costs and fees—to consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023 and were harmed by Google’s anticompetitive practices.
Paxton secured the settlement alongside attorneys general from all 49 other states as well as the District of Columbia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
would like to share the happiest Christmas memory of my childhood with you, an experience that shaped the young adult and the man I would become as much as any book or teacher ever would. I was accidentally given an inestimable gift – one which unwittingly dared me to grow intellectually and culturally so that I could be properly worthy of it, and which has since comforted me through endless long subsequent years of disappointment, heartache, personal growth, and triumph. And there’s no better time to write about it than during a season of joy. So if you will graciously permit me, on this Christmas Eve 2023 I’d like to take you back to the “not-too-distant future.”
On Christmas Eve 1991, my father suggested we should watch a cassette of an obscure TV show his friend at work had taped off a then-obscure cable channel called Comedy Central a few days before. “A guy and some robots make fun of bad movies” was how he described the premise. Since my dad and I had been talking back to films from the safety of our family-room couch for years already while watching B-movie schlock like USA Up All Night, it was at least something to do. (11-year-olds do not otherwise have a long list of entertainment options.)
Although my dad couldn’t possibly have intended it, what happened next altered the course of my life, and profoundly for the better: I was exposed to Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K for short) for the first time. And “exposed” is the right word; the experience was as instantly catalyzing a moment for me as a rapid chemical reaction. It was the Christmas episode from a few days earlier, and the show was mocking something called Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
“I’ll never forget how comforted MST3K made me feel from that exact moment onward, comforted that there were people out there who had my sense of humor – only they were vastly more funny than me.”
God bless us, each and every one…
“North Carolina has a law that allows people to do practically whatever they want to the official state marsupial.” Which would be the possum. And it only applies five days a year. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has claimed “an ideological victory” as Emmanuel Macron’s government reached a compromise with hardline conservatives on a beleaguered immigration bill.
The French president’s centrist coalition moved towards introducing a much tougher immigration bill than initially planned on Tuesday, with the government agreeing to harden the access to state benefits for recently-arrived immigrants. The proposals echo some of the far right’s long-time obsessions, including the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Rally party, who campaigned in favor of a “national preference,” which meant excluding foreigners from state benefits and council housing.
Funny how “France for the French” is a “far right obsession.”
What welfare state benefits should illegal aliens receive upon moving to a country? How about nothing? Does nothing work for you? They should receive food and water only for the short period of time it takes to deport them back to their country of origin.
Even legal immigrants should be ineligible for welfare benefits upon first arriving. Let them work a specified number of years before providing access to the welfare state.
While the proposals put forward by Macron’s Renaissance party do not go that far, the National Rally has been jubilant over the government’s decision to take what they claim is a step in their direction.
“Under pressure from National Rally voters, this bill will harden the conditions surrounding immigration,” Le Pen told reporters at the National Assembly. “We can salute ideological progress, an ideological victory of the National Rally, because it will now be etched in legislation that there is a national priority,” she said, adding that her MPs would vote for the compromise legislation.
After a shock defeat of Macron’s flagship immigration bill last week, when it was dismissed by the National Assembly without a debate, the government has tasked a joint committee of senators and MPs with finding a compromise. But the government needs the support of the conservative Les Républicains party, which has become very hardline on immigration, to get their draft legislation through parliament.
“Very hardline” is a codeword for “actually agrees with French voters.”
On Tuesday, the joint committee reached a compromise on a draft that is much more hardline than the one initially tabled by the government. It includes a compulsory five year wait for non-European immigrants who don’t have a job before claiming housing and child benefits.
Good.
All across Europe, Euroskeptic parties fighting against allowing illegal unassimilated Muslim immigration are ascendant over traditional leftwing Euroestablishment parties. The EU elites insistence on pushing Muslim immigration on resisting populations have pushed Le Pen, long regarded as “unacceptable,” to the center of political consensus in France, at least on this issue, which is increasingly one of utmost importance to voters.
It elite decree that valid issues are off the table for reputable politicians to discuss, then voters will turn to “disreputable” politicians to make their voices heard.