"Very conservative messaging... once you violate the natural law, that has infectious effects. The idea that human beings are greedy and venal."

"You see that in the scene with Circe where the men are turned into pigs.... These men get addicted to eating and then she physically manipulates their bodies into the bodies of pigs.... thematically pretty interesting. And the idea is that he has to violate Zeus's law essentially one last time....  The thematic, I think, is kind of great...."

Says Ben Shapiro, strongly praising "The Odyssey," and not just because it has "very conservative messaging."

Midway through the long review, Ben turns to the supposed flaws conservatives have been talking about.

"Whenever celebrities say that they're just getting nude as a form of self-expression... I have a question."

"How often are they just walking around their house nude, like by themselves, or are they just wearing PJs like a normal person? Like, as as a normal part of self-expression, do you just like walk around nude... do you walk nude to the grocery store as a form of self-expression? You know, just walking around in public nude... Would you be walking around as a form of, you know, just knowing yourself? Would you be walking around naked?"

Ben Shapiro — listening to Miley Cyrus talk to Monica Lewinsky — asks, rhetorically, because he's very sure the answer is no.

 

But maybe you yourself or somebody you've known does walk the face of the earth nude because that's who they really are.

I know I've said this before and maybe I was quoting someone else, but I just spent an absurd amount of time searching for that, unsuccessfully, so I'm just going to try to say it again, though I'm quite convinced I said it better that other time: Nudes have virtually no role in human history.

"This is the permission structure for violence right there: We know they lie to cover up the crimes. We don't trust anything they say...."

"We're right when we promote conspiracy theories about the people we hate. We're right to do it because it's not our obligation to speak on behalf of truth. It's our obligation to speak on behalf of the way people feel.... People feel that there's something bad going on. Therefore, it's not our obligation to tell the truth about what's actually happening.... "

Are you watching the Oscars?

I'm not. I really couldn't care less. I haven't gone out to see a movie once this past year, and I don't think I've watched a single new movie on TV, even though we pay for multiple streaming services. What's the Best Picture nominee with Leonardo DiCaprio — something like "One Battle After Another" — that's been on Netflix — or is it HBO — for months, and I've never even clicked the button to start it?

I did watch Ben Shapiro run through all the Best Picture nominees, and he didn't like any of them and made me feel that I'd like them even less than he did:

I watched a movie from 1928 the other day — "The Circus." And I've been watching the 2006 movie "Marie Antoinette":

"We need policies in place that make it possible for people to live with their family and then move next door and stay with generations of families their entire life. You should be able to do that in a functioning and thriving society."

Said Matt Walsh, on this new Daily Wire podcast, which is good from the beginning but I'm going to jump you ahead to something that sheds light on the subject of families and geography.

Walsh was responding to Ben Shapiro's idea that young men should move away from their home town if that's what it takes to succeed economically:

I'm giving you written transcript even though Walsh's manner of speaking does not transcribe well:

"I've got people in my family that are to the right of Attila the Hun. And when people tell me, like, 'How can you platform that person on your show?'..."

"I go, I platform my uncle every Thanksgiving. And by the way, I love him. He's a three-dimensional human being who has qualities that I really admire, things about him. And we've lost that. We've lost the ability to love people, because we litmus test at every point."

Said John Stewart.

For a contrasting opinion, here's Ben Shapiro savaging Tucker Carlson for platforming Nick Fuentes:

"Donald Trump was maliciously prosecuted repeatedly—from the New York state level by Letitia James to the federal level by Jack Smith—over and over, on the basis of manipulated charges."

"These were stretched charges, charges that were literally read in unique ways for the first time in order to go after him. So should you be surprised that Donald Trump is now doing this to the people he believes targeted him in the first place? He promised this was going to happen. It’s not exactly a shock. It is the reality that these methods were used against him. Now, the thing about Trump that frustrates so many people on the left is that he’s not genteel about doing this sort of stuff. Joe Biden would lie."

Said Ben Shapiro on his podcast yesterday.

"I saw a lot of rumors online today... that I canceled some sort of college tour. That's bullshit. I saw those rumors. They're false."

"I will be coming to college campuses, many of them this year. So will we all. I am sure, because we're Americans, and we're not going to be deterred. Charlie's voice is not silent. We're going to pick up that bloodstained microphone where Charlie left it. And to those who would intimidate, who would seek to stop us, who would seek to end free discussion, who believe that they have ownership over public spaces and can violently threaten and kill people who speak freely: We are not going to stop. And I have two words: Fuck you. We will not stop telling the truth. We will never stop telling the truth. We will never stop debating and discussing. We'll never stop standing up for what America is and for what she should be. And we will never let Charlie Kirk's voice die."

Said Ben Shapiro on today's episode of his podcast, "Unthinkable, Charlie Kirk, 31, Assassinated."

Today is 9/11, and Ben's statement makes me think of the idea that if we don't continue to live as freely and fully as we had before then we will be letting the terrorists win. 

"Success will bring the country together."

Said President Trump in his Super Bowl interview.

ADDED: Comment on all things Super Bowl. 

VIDEO:

pic.twitter.com/esjBwCjKOU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2025

AND: About that half-time show:

"If what you're selling is let's get back to normal, be normal. We know Trump isn't normal, but if you lose this election..."

"... it's because a sizable number perhaps a majority think you're not normal in fundamental ways either, and, you know, I know the left — the far left — hates me for always noticing this, but I'm going to continue to notice it because it's true: It's not traditional old school liberalism. It's something very different, and you can't have that word. You are woke — or whatever the word is—  but it's different and you can't, like, merge them when they're very often opposite." 

Said Bill Maher, on his podcast.

The guest, Ben Shapiro, takes over from there: "I think the Democratic party has also done something where they they've been intoxicated by the, you know, wonderful high of being able to just say Trump over and over and over — and Trump is Hitler over and over — and that's excused them to basically believe they can do whatever it is that they want, say what it is they want. The weird thing about this election cycle is that positionally Trump is the most moderate candidate in Republican history...."

"The core assumption of the ad is men hate her... it's like... if we can't vote for that douchebag Trump... before you sock me directly in the nuts let me tell you..."

Says Ben Shapiro, watching what he assures us is the worst ad he's ever seen in his life:

ADDED: Ben says the ad is paid for by the "Beige Rainbow PAC," and I was a little skeptical and looked it up. I found this in The Daily Beast: "Kamala’s Splashy Play for Trump Toadies/Vice President Kamala Harris is seeking an elusive Trump-loving demographic." This piece is written by Mini Racker, who seems to be a young woman, that is, a member of the same demographic group as, Shapiro believes, the writers of the ad). Racker says:

"He announced it via Twitter... I thought that if Joe Biden was going to do this, he would've announced that he had a presser or..."

"... some sort of big statement that he was going to give from the Oval Office or from the White House somewhere, and that he was going to do that at a preset time later in the evening.... The rest of the world knows that Joe Biden is... totally senile and not in control of his faculties at this point. I mean, when Joe Biden wakes up and someone tells him he's no longer running for president, he's gonna be quite shocked about that. I would assume. I mean, by the way, he could wake up tomorrow and undo this...."

Said Ben Shapiro, in the new episode of his podcast.

So, yeah, what evidence do we have that Joe Biden knows he has given up his candidacy and released the delegates pledged to him? We haven't seen him. He's been sick with Covid. When last we heard from him in person he was defiantly clinging to the candidacy, apparently still believing that he is the one person who can save the world from Donald Trump. We were simply handed written statements.

Shapiro imagines Joe Biden shocked to hear that he's dropped out. He could be shocked because he didn't actually agree to drop out, but he could be shocked because he actually is something like what Ben Shapiro calls "totally senile" and he doesn't remember or understand what he did or supposedly did yesterday. Is his written statement binding? 

Perhaps his people won't tell him he has withdrawn. How would we know? I've read articles about caregivers for persons with dementia that advise us to go along with the errors and not correct all the mistaken beliefs.

He shouldn't be President though, of course, if things are this bad. Couldn't they keep him in Rehoboth and call him Mr. President?

ADDED: I see Trump himself wafted this theory on Truth Social last night:

It’s not over! Tomorrow Crooked Joe Biden’s going to wake up and forget that he dropped out of the race today!

And he repeated the idea this morning:

It’s a new day and Joe Biden doesn’t remember quitting the race yesterday! He is demanding his campaign schedule and arranging talks with Presidents Xi of China, and Putin of Russia, concerning the possible start of World War 3. Biden is “sharp, decisive, energetic, angry, and ready to go!”

Ben Shapiro is disgusted by what may or may not be humor.

 "I don't know whether that's parody or whether that's real," says Ben after watching a TikTok. "Either way, it's the end of our civilization, because some of what this person is saying is absolutely true. Do you think that Gen Z is qualified to defend the country in any serious way — mentally, physically, emotionally? I don't either."

Here's Ben, watching the TikTok:

"President Trump and President Biden are very different in their temperaments... extremely different... but the issues that they differ on are in a very very narrow band."

"They're mainly culture war issues —  abortion... guns, the border... woke ideology... transgenders... The border is the only one that I would say is even vaguely existential. But the big issues... that are exis.tential to our country, that really threaten all of us... neither of them has even taken positions on. The debt, for example. They're both equally bad on the debt. The debt is the the most important issue. $34 trillion. The service on that debt is now larger than our defense budget.... President Trump and President Biden are largely responsible individually for the that debt.... Within 10 years 100% of every dollar collected in taxes will go to servicing the debt. This is really an existential crisis for our country and you don't hear President Biden or President Trump ever talk about it and they have no solutions.... You can vote for Trump and Biden but you're going to get more of this same... They... both had four years in there and... they're not able to avert these this train that's coming at us.... They won't even talk about it because those policies are the products of a corrupt system, and I have the capacity to fix that system...."

Said RFK Jr., in this excellent interview with Ben Shapiro:

Watch the whole interview, and you may decide to presume you will vote for RFK. Trump/Biden can rebut the presumption by sitting down like this for an hour and a half with Ben Shapiro. Biden did an interview with Howard Stern. Do a real interview, Joe. 

"In theory, the recent push for racial representation in elite America should have made the establishment more attuned to the concerns of nonwhite voters."

"But in practice, this push tended to treat representation and progressive politics as a package deal, making nonwhites with moderate-to-conservative views more exotic, not less — as mystifying, in a way, as any MAGA-hat-wearing white guy in a rural diner. Again, I’m part of that establishment, and I don’t want to pretend that I have my finger fully on the pulse of, say, blue-collar Hispanics who went for Biden in 2020 but now lean toward Trump.... But the first step to saving Biden’s re-election effort is to acknowledge the need for such an explanation — because unpopularity that you can’t fathom can still throw you out of office."

Ross Douthat is having a hard time explaining "Why It’s Hard to Explain Joe Biden’s Unpopularity" (NYT).

Here's one possible answer, from Ben Shapiro a few days ago: "Joe Biden is losing to Donald Trump because of a dirty little secret: Donald Trump is actually the moderate in this race." 

These kids today take communism seriously....

I had the honor of sitting down with @elonmusk for an additional hour while we were in Kraków this week. We hit it all: DEI, @SpaceX, aliens, the meaning of life, and how to hold on to the American dream. Watch our full conversation, right here on X: pic.twitter.com/Wh5EC64zde

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 25, 2024

"What utter nonsense. If this many men were thinking about the Roman Empire every day, they would not be voting for Republicans..."

"... who are working hard to cause the collapse of the American Empire. They're thinking about Rome as depicted in Marvel movies and other pop culture fluff. They think the NLF [sic] are gladiators and so are they as they watch from their couches or tailgates. They don't know beans about the Roman Empire because that would require reading and studying and learning to look at the world with a contextual perspective. The internet makes smart people smarter and dumb people dumber. And dumber. And dumber."

That's the top-rated comment — from someone named Paula — on the NYT article, "Are Men Obsessed With the Roman Empire? Yes, Say Men. Women are asking the men in their lives how often they think about ancient Rome. Their responses, posted online, can be startling in their frequency."

This post continues a discussion begun yesterday, about a trend on TikTok of women asking men how often they think about the Roman Empire and expressing amazement at the answer.

"The mugshot was completely unnecessary and vindictive, of course."

He's the most photographed person on Earth. The mugshot was completely unnecessary and vindictive, of course. But it's going to backfire dramatically, since this image is instantly iconic. pic.twitter.com/msgEktyVYd

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 25, 2023

ADDED: Here's how The New York Times addresses the mugshot: "Trump’s mug shot is released, a first in his four criminal cases this year":

Ben Shapiro weighs in on today's "National Day of Hate."

In honor of tomorrow's white supremacist, anti-Semitic National Day of Hate, I welcome all of you to join me in a National Day of Kiss My Ass, You Pathetic Losers.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 24, 2023

"A new sculpture has become the first female figure to adorn one of the 10 plinths atop a powerful New York appellate courthouse in Manhattan."

"The plinths have been dominated for more than a century by now weathered statues representing great lawgivers throughout the ages — all of them men. Standing among Moses, Confucius and Zoroaster is the shimmering, golden eight-foot female sculpture, emerging from a pink lotus flower and wearing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s signature lace collar. Shahzia Sikander... 53, the paradigm-busting Pakistani American artist behind the work... 'She is a fierce woman and a form of resistance in a space that has historically been dominated by patriarchal representation... The sculpture is located at the courthouse of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court at 27 Madison Avenue."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by New York Times - Gender (@nytgender)

Here's the NYT article about the sculpture: "Move Over Moses and Zoroaster: Manhattan Has a New Female Lawgiver/The artist Shahzia Sikander calls the eight-foot sculpture she has placed atop a New York courthouse an urgent form of 'resistance,'" which explains why there is an empty plinth: