The Lifestyle

Chuck Johnson wrote April 5 about Bob Lee’s murder: “Lee liked drugs. Lee bought drugs. Lee also liked orgies.”

Johnson was way ahead of the curve on this story.

May 14, 2023, the Wall Street Journal catches up:

Before His Killing, Tech Executive Bob Lee Led an Underground Life of Sex and Drugs

After the Cash App founder died in a stabbing, some were quick to blame San Francisco’s street violence. The truth was more shocking.

SAN FRANCISCO—In certain wealthy tech circles it is known as “The Lifestyle,” an underground party scene featuring recreational drug use and casual sex…

On the afternoon of April 3, a Monday, the partying took a dark turn. According to San Francisco prosecutors, Ms. Momeni’s older brother confronted Mr. Lee about her. Was she taking drugs or doing anything inappropriate, he wanted to know. Hours later the brother, Nima Momeni, stabbed Mr. Lee with a kitchen knife and left him to bleed out in the street, prosecutors alleged. Mr. Momeni, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, is being held without bail…

Libertine though it might seem, the party scene is governed by an unwritten code of conduct, said Devon Meyers, a friend of Mr. Lee who saw him a few days before he died. “There is still an understanding of consent and boundaries,” he said, adding that, if someone gets drunk and handsy, “they get excommunicated very quickly.”

…Mr. Momeni, the accused killer, was known to use drugs himself but wasn’t seen as part of the elite crowd… Acquaintances describe him as aloof and introverted, unlike his wealthy and glamorous sister, and prone to brood on the sidelines at parties….

Friends of Mr. Lee said he told them that he was casually sleeping with Ms. Momeni, 37. Before that, about three years ago, Mr. Lee, 43, was together with a woman that Mr. Momeni, 38, also had dated…

Mr. Lee… took ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine and attended all-night raves all around the world…

Once, a club offered to admit people for only $5 instead of $20 if they went in with no pants. Mr. Lee obliged…

Ms. Kerati, who met Mr. Lee at a private party in Acapulco, said that Mr. Lee had several girlfriends during that time and other women he was sleeping with, but that he was always respectful toward them….

Posted in San Francisco | Comments Off on The Lifestyle

Conservatism: A Rediscovery

Samuel Goldman writes:

* Yoram Hazony’s Conservatism: A Rediscovery is a more personal book than its title suggests. As recounted in the fourth section, it tells the story of a sensitive young man who found in traditional religion, scholarly work, and nationalist politics a purpose for his life. Along the way, he married a loving wife, moved to a different land, and sired a goodly brood of children and grandchildren who bring him the comfort of a life well-lived already in middle-age. It is a beautiful story and a worthy example for the younger audience Hazony hopes to reach.

These circumstances are by no means discrediting. Every book is, to some extent, an autobiography of its writer, and Hazony deserves credit for telling his readers explicitly who he is and where he comes from. In addition to their honesty, these statements are consistent with Hazony’s epistemology, which emphasizes the limitation of any human perspective.

* Despite his admiration for the Anglo-American past, the core of Hazony’s conservatism is a form of Zionism built around an interpretation of the Hebrew Bible as the primary guide to modern politics. He even quotes with apparent approval a private remark by Irving Kristol that only Christians should be able to vote in a Christian nation on the same principle that only Jews should be allowed to vote in Israel.

* I would not mention the personal circumstances that produced this book if Hazony did not introduce them himself. But it is hard to resist the feeling that there is something odd about Americans, whether Christians or Jews, taking lessons from a writer who decided that America is not only the wrong place for him and his posterity but has also been on the wrong track for the majority of its past. The result here is difficult to reconcile with Hazony’s own defense of nationalism, which insists that different countries have different histories, resources, and needs, which cannot be reduced to broad ideological categories. Conservatism: A Rediscovery is a contribution to the rediscovery of certain forgotten American resources and prospects, but the search cannot stop there.

Posted in Conservatives, Yoram Hazony | Comments Off on Conservatism: A Rediscovery

Clap For Myself

From the 2012 book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk:

Five minutes after the mother left, it became obvious that little Jonathan needed to head for the bathroom. When the teacher urged him to go, he mumbled unhappily, “Can’t.”
She asked, “Why not?”
“’Cause my Mommy isn’t here,” Jonathan explained. “She claps for me when I finish.”
The teacher thought for a moment. “Jonathan, you can go to the bathroom and then clap for yourself.”
Jonathan looked wide-eyed.
The teacher led him to the bathroom and waited. After a few minutes, from behind the closed door she heard the sound of applause.
Later that day the mother called her to say that the first words out of Jonathan’s mouth when he came home were “Mommy, I can clap for myself. I don’t need you anymore!”
“Would you believe it,” the teacher exclaimed to me, “The mother said she was actually depressed about this.”

Posted in Children | Comments Off on Clap For Myself

What A Time For A Town Hall! Trump Goes On CNN! (5-10-23)

02:00 Rich Lowry: Trump can’t lose, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/10/trump-legal-scandals-2024-00096198?cid=apn
04:45 Tucker’s back, https://radixjournal.substack.com/p/hes-back-but-not-for-long
17:00 The online world can supplement or substitute for real life
18:30 Step 3, Part 2, with Allen Berger and Mary Gordon, https://youtu.be/ROGX_Jhv_FU?t=311
24:30 Step 4, Part 1, with Allen Berger, Thom Rutledge, and Mary Gordon, https://youtu.be/nGLNw1GmAGY?t=189
33:20 Step 4, Part 4, with Allen Berger and Thom Rutledge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbM3jtA1ceM
34:30 Elliott Blatt joins
35:00 A course in miracles, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Course_in_Miracles
36:50 Ethan Ralph gets clean
42:00 Elliott’s rules for life
49:00 Dooovid joins

Posted in America | Comments Off on What A Time For A Town Hall! Trump Goes On CNN! (5-10-23)

Tucker Teams Up With Elon (5-9-23)

01:00 Axios: Tucker Carlson accuses Fox of fraud, contract breach, https://www.axios.com/2023/05/09/tucker-carlson-fox-news-letter-fraud
04:00 BP: TUCKER RETURNS: New Show On TWITTER As He SUES Fox News
09:00 Megyn Kelly: Leaked Tucker and DeSantis Videos
16:50 Dooovid joins
34:00 My Rules For Life, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=147702
1:13:30 The Making of a Murderer: Thoughts on the Hispanic Nazis, https://radixjournal.substack.com/p/the-making-of-a-murderer
1:45:00 What is mentally disturbed?

Posted in America | Comments Off on Tucker Teams Up With Elon (5-9-23)