The woman is believable as absolutely anyone—anyone, that is, except Lucille Ball.

Sure, she’s got the red hair, but her restrained, vulpine face, and always-kinda-there Australian accent make her a poor choice for the boisterous and expressive American comedienne. Of course, that didn’t stop Aaron Sorkin from casting Kidman as the distaff half of Desilu in Being the Ricardos, alongside—verisimilitude be damned—Javier Bardem.

Sorkin brushed off the ample casting critiques, insisting that Kidman and Bardem’s looks mattered less than how they read the scripts. This is consistent with Sorkin’s approach to historical events, where accuracy is subordinated to impression. Lucy and Desi, Mark Zuckerberg, the Chicago 7—they’re all just set pieces in a tableau, moved hither and thither by the maestro to spin tales of class, justice, and honor.

In Up With The Sun, Thomas Mallon takes a similar approach to the story of Dick Kallman, a B-list actor who struggled for fame on Broadway and in Hollywood and was murdered in his Manhattan apartment in 1980. Like Kallman, most of the historical figures Mallon employs were largely overlooked in their time and have been all but forgotten in ours. But if the collective anonymity of Mallon’s dramatis personae makes Up With The Sun a bad historical novel, it does so in the service of making it a good novel, period.

Up With The Sun is primarily narrated by Matt Liannetto, a fictional theater pianist who dines with Kallman on the night of his murder and is driven to investigate the circumstances of the actor’s untimely demise. Liannetto is unassuming, a middle-aged gay man attempting to navigate the highs and lows of pre-Giuliani New York with the help of his flashy, younger love interest and his daughter, "the smash-hit feature of an otherwise inadvisable marriage."

Liannetto thrives in anonymity, preferring the obscurity of the orchestra pit to the spotlight (and, at least at first, the confines of the closet to life as a gay man). He offers a useful contrast to Kallman, whose life was driven by a desperate quest for fame and affirmation. Kallman was a terrible person by all accounts, which explains why he never really made any meaningful connections with friends, relatives, or costars.

But Kallman’s villainy also means that the chapters told from his perspective are consistently the book’s best. These deliciously evil episodes show our anti-hero slamming starlets' hands in doors, plotting revenge on fellow ensemble members, and trying to weasel his way into Lucille Ball’s inner circle. (And yes, that last one actually happened).

This is hardly the first foray into historical fiction for Mallon, an accomplished writer whose past novels cover everything from the Lincoln assassination to the Watergate break-in. But this novel seems very of the moment, as denizens of literary TikTok—"BookTok," as it’s known—flock to the novels of Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Up With The Sun shares both structure and setting with some of Reid’s most successful books. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which has sold over a million copies and spent 37 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, largely takes place in Dick Kallman’s Hollywood. Like Up With The Sun, Reid’s Malibu Rising alternates between mid-century Hollywood and the early 1980s.

But while Reid uses history to dress up well-trod, book club plotlines, Mallon uses the past as a case study of the ideas he’s interested in exploring. The book so frequently shifts time, place, and perspective that the distinction between fact and fiction hardly matters, and indeed begins to blur. There is only one person alive who could confidently identify which characters are historical and which are fabrications, but he's busy recording the Commentary podcast.

This may be a problem for a different book, but it is Up With The Sun’s biggest strength. Ultimately, the book isn’t a love story or a whodunit. It’s not about Hollywood and Broadway, or fatherhood and sexuality, or who killed Dick Kallman—though, of course, it’s a bit about all of those things. Up With The Sun is really a story about people out of place and their struggles to stay afloat.

Kallman was a "throwback" who labored under "the illusion that show-business past was still show-business present." Always a few steps out of vogue, he warbled his way through World War I-era ballads in the Rat Pack era and acted like it was still the swinging ’60s as crime, disease, and Sweeney Todd kept Manhattan under a perpetual pall.

The city is also a liminal space for Liannetto, who at first seems as adrift as Kallman. He’s a political outsider who says he misses Jimmy Carter but appears hopeful that Ronald Reagan will bring America out of a recession, a theater guy who loves living in an apartment building full of bohemians but yearns for someone to save New York from disorder. He’s also adrift romantically, finally overcoming "perpetual" guilt over his sexuality and entering the dating pool at the exact moment the AIDS crisis upends gay life in New York and across the country.

In spite of all that, Liannetto manages to ground himself by seeking out others and cultivating the relationships that constitute a life. This is not a groundbreaking point, but this is what makes Up With The Sun such an enjoyable read. It’s not pretentious or preachy, and it doesn’t have a wizard or a strong female protagonist written for Nicole Kidman to play badly on Amazon Prime. It’s a solid, enjoyable novel. And that is an accomplishment in itself.

Up With the Sun: A Novel
by Thomas Mallon
Knopf, 352 pp., $28

The post Offstage Drama appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Sanders's latest book, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, is being published by Crown Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The publishing giant came under fire last year for its proposed $2.2 billion merger with Simon & Schuster, which the Biden Justice Department blocked in October. But a Washington Free Beacon review found that Sanders, who typically issues statements on such mergers, did not comment on the proposal or the Justice Department's injunction.

The Vermont socialist's silence could open him up to further charges of hypocrisy on his already fraught book tour. Sanders was roundly mocked earlier this month for charging $28 for a book-length critique of capitalism and promoting it at an event for which tickets cost as much as $95 on Ticketmaster. When pressed on the high prices and Ticketmaster's alleged monopolistic practices by Face the Nation's Margaret Brennan, Sanders responded by blaming his publisher and implying that he was forced to operate within the capitalist system.

Penguin Random House is one of the "Big Five" publishing companies, which together control 80 percent of the market. Penguin Random House has a 25 percent market share, the largest in the Big Five. The publishing giant was itself the result of a 2013 merger between Penguin and Random House. A group of booksellers in a 2021 lawsuit accused the Big Five of price-fixing.

Few other conglomerates have benefited from Sanders's silence. On Oct. 13, 2022, the senator said "the Biden administration must reject" a proposed merger of the grocery chains Kroeger and Albertsons, claiming it was an example of "corporate greed"  that would be "an absolute disaster" for American families. Two months later, he praised the Federal Trade Commission for blocking Microsoft's proposed acquisition of the video-game company Activision Blizzard, saying "in sector after sector, a handful of giant corporations control what is produced and how much Americans pay for their products. We must stop this dangerous concentration of ownership."

Sanders has often been accused of not living up to his socialist ideals. During his 2016 presidential run, he came under fire for purchasing his third home, a beachfront vacation property, for $600,000. The senator, who is known for railing against "millionaires and billionaires," is himself a millionaire.

His office did not comment on what Sanders plans to do with the profits from the book.

It is unclear why Sanders did not contract with a publishing house that shares his socialist views. His 1998 memoir Outsider in the House was published by Verso Books, a left-wing publishing house that  has been called the "preeminent radical press" and is known for publishing Marxist and socialist authors.

Since then, Sanders has exclusively relied on the Big Five corporate publishers to disseminate his radical tracts. His 2016 book Our Revolution and 2018 volume Where We Go from Here were both published by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. His 2015 book The Speech: On Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class was published by Bold Type Books. Bold Type, which boasts that it aims "to challenge power through narrative," is a division of the Hachette Book Group.

As of this writing, a hardcover edition of It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism sells for $20.36 on Amazon—$9.64 cheaper than paperback. Sanders's office did not comment on whether this disparate pricing was the result of market forces like supply and demand, or whether it's OK to be angry about that.

The post Bernie Sanders Finally Found a Corporate Conglomerate He Likes. It Happens To Be His Publisher. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

These rules may be helpful for the head-cases who take life advice from Virginia-based political gossip blogs. But we know our readers aren't content just to "survive" in D.C.—they want to thrive. Plus, we can’t let our downstairs neighbors print the definitive D.C. lifestyle guide. After all, they’re based in Virginia, and we have "Washington" in our name.

Here are the Washington Free Beacon’s dirty dozen tips on how to thrive in Washington, D.C.

If you need to get into an exclusive event, tell people you have a daytime show on MSNBC

No one actually watches the network, so as long as you have hipster glasses and appear sufficiently condescending, there’s a chance you’ll be let in. This tactic also works with important-sounding titles that don’t actually exist, like "Director of Strategic Competition Leveraging at SKDK" or "Secretary of Transportation."

Instead of ‘Nice to meet you,’ greet people with 'Have we slept together?'

Nothing screams "Washington rookie" like introducing yourself to someone you’ve already met. To avoid this potentially career-ending faux pas, opt for the more intimate, "Have we slept together?" If you haven’t, pull up directions to the nearest Red Roof Inn and offer to pay for the Lyft.

If you encounter a female lawmaker, ask what her husband does to fund their lifestyle

It’s an old cliche that the most-asked question in Washington is "so, what do you do?" Women in particular are tired of hearing this query, particularly because whatever they do, they do it for on average 18 percent less than men.

Shake things up at your next cocktail party by asking female lawmakers, lobbyists—or, more likely, PR flaks—to tell you what their spouse does to support their attacks on the glass ceiling. This will show you care about more than work.

No matter where you live, tell people you live in Washington

There’s a reason the White House is smack in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue and not nestled off the side of Lee Highway. No one wants to invite commuters to smoke-filled back rooms, so if you find yourself living outside the corridors of power, just lie. This will make you seem important and rich and not at all like a loser.

The further away from D.C. you live, the bigger your lie should be. So, people who live in Rosslyn should say they live over the bridge in Georgetown, and people who live in Maryland should say they share a secret Dupont Circle apartment with Doug Emhoff.

If you have a security clearance, stow away as many top secret files as you can.

Come on, everyone’s doing it! Classified documents are great, and have so many purposes. You can stack them on your desk to make yourself look important or use them as a makeshift lampshade. Worst case scenario, your kids can trade them with their Nigerian friends for meth money. Plus, there’s no chance you’ll go to jail, so what’s the risk?

Assume all journalists are opportunistic shills who want to exploit you for personal gain and never divulge personal information to them.

Unless you’re talking to a Washington Free Beacon journalist, in which case, please send trade secrets, stock tips, and videos of your illicit affairs to press@freebeacon.com.

Find yourself a woman in her prime

Contrary to what disgraced, middle-aged "news" anchor Don Lemon claimed, women over 50 are not past their prime. Older women are just as intelligent, lively, and sexy as their younger counterparts—and much more willing to pick up the tab at dinner. Bonus points if you nab an octogenarian hottie who goes to bed by 7:30 p.m., giving you plenty of time to play video games.

Never ask Brian Stelter about Tucson, Arizona.

Just trust us.

Become a Democrat.

Once you go blue, they’ll never get you! If you’re a Democrat, you can get away with killing interns, harassing women, wearing black face, insider trading, and more. Weather scandal after scandal while partying with celebrities, and serve at the highest reaches of government until dementia takes over. Just make sure you never ask about Hillary’s emails.

Stop trying to date AOC.

She’s just not that into you, and she’s technically taken by a schlubby ginger bro—albeit one who the congresswoman wouldn’t let propose until he could "convince [her], after all this time, why [she] should" marry him. Landing AOC would mean dealing with that kind of drama, and paying off tons of parking tickets. Instead, try dating Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I., Ariz.). She is single, as far as we know—and her sexuality, like her politics, is flexible.

Don’t overdo it on sympathy if you run into someone who’s just lost an election.

Well, this one is on POLITICO's list too, and they hit the nail on the head. Losers don't want your sympathy, because sympathy only makes them feel more like losers. So, if you run into someone who recently lost a high-profile election—say, for governor—treat them with respect and send their table a bottle of something fancy. It doesn't matter how many stories you ran about them being a corrupt, depraved, everything-that's-wrong-with-politics criminal. They will respect you for it.

Be Mindful When Encountering Vagrants.

Crime and homelessness are on the rise in our nation’s capital, so be on your guard as you walk down the streets. But, if you come across a doddering lunatic speaking gibberish, don’t make any assumptions. They might be the president of the United States, or his crackhead son.

The post The Washington Free Beacon’s Dirty Dozen Rules For Thriving In D.C. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

"President Biden ran for office for three main reasons: to rebuild the backbone of the country, to unite the country and to restore the soul of the nation. In the State of the Union, he’ll say that we need to finish the job," the document reads.

The eight talking points focus on a variety of areas where Biden is pledging to "finish the job," including rebuilding the economy, building clean energy, and combating gun violence. The outline notes that the step mother of Tyre Nicholas, whose recent death caused a wave of anti-police protests, will join First Lady Jill Biden as a guest at tonight’s speech.

The president will also discuss how his administration can "invest in America" without cutting runaway entitlement spending "by finally making the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans begin [to] pay their fair share."

The outline suggests that Biden’s third State of the Union will focus less on partisan differences than some of his previous addresses. The president is widely expected to announce that he will seek reelection in the coming weeks, and many are viewing this speech as an unofficial kickoff of his 2024 campaign.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The talking points can be read below:

The post Read The White House Talking Points for Biden’s Big Speech appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The documents were discovered in the storage area adjacent to the garage where Biden stores his Corvette Stingray, the New York Times reported. The White House announced the discovery of the first tranche of documents in the Wilmington home, which date from Biden’s time as vice president, on Thursday. The president’s scandal-plagued son, Hunter Biden, lived at the house in 2018 and 2019, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The revelation comes after a tumultuous week for the president, which began with the revelation Tuesday that Biden attorneys discovered classified documents on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center, Biden’s think tank in Washington, D.C. According to reports, the documents found in the Penn Biden Center contained Top Secret information about Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed former Justice Department attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents. While Garland has praised Hur as 'even-handed," former House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes told the Free Beacon that the special counsel "looks like a fixer for the Democrats and the Deep State."

The post Drip, Drip, Drip: White House Says More Classified Docs At Biden Home appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Who said it:

Curious Twitter users, lovelorn Patriots fans, the Free Beacon interns. The rumor mill started turning in December, when Newsweek reported the newly divorced Bucs quarterback was dating Rajek, a Miss Slovakia finalist who claims Instagram once deleted her account because she was too hot to be real.

Why it matters:

Brady recently un-retired from football and then un-married supermodel Gisele Bündchen, whose Germanic name and Brazilian heritage have us wondering what her grandfather was doing during the Battle of the Bulge. Other than winning his eighth Super Bowl, dating a Zionist smokeshow would be the ultimate rebuke to the vegan shiksa who tried to ruin his life. Maybe Veronika will even let him eat a cheeseburger.

Context:

Analysis:

Yup, that’s a Star of David resting on Rajek's chest, the growth of which she credits to a summer spent drinking beer and sunbathing naked. A Washington Free Beacon analysis found that Rajek has at least two different Star of David necklaces, each bigger and more dazzling than the last. Rajek also has a Star of David emoji in her bio and posted a Hanukkah greeting in Hebrew.

The post FACT CHECK: Is Tom Brady's New Girlfriend Jewish? appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

RT editor in chief Margarita Simonyan in a television appearance Thursday said she was "very amused but not surprised" that the Biden administration swapped Griner, rather than Whelan, for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, as Whelan has "three problems."

"His first problem is that he is white. His second problem is he is a man. His third problem: He is a heterosexual. This is not something that can be forgiven today," Simonyan said.

Whelan, a former Marine convicted in 2020 on manufactured espionage charges, has spent two years in a Russian penal colony. "I was arrested for a crime that never occurred," he told CNN Thursday. "I don't understand why I'm still sitting here." During the television segment, Simonyan and the other panelists repeatedly refer to Whelan as a spy and repeat the trumped-up charges against him.

The segment suggests that Russia's propaganda machine plans to weaponize the Biden administration's controversial decision to swap Bout for Griner, who was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing less than a gram of marijuana.

"American voters were given a choice: a hero who suffered while serving his fatherland … or a black lesbian, hooked on drugs, who suffered for a vape with hashish," Simonyan said.

"And well-known, for the sake of PR!" adds another unidentified panelist.

Bout, a former Soviet military translator known as the "Merchant of Death," was convicted in 2011 of selling weapons to a Colombian terrorist cell that planned to kill American soldiers. Simonyan, whom the State Department calls "Vladimir Putin's loyal propagandist," said Bout's release is "the first good news" for Russia.

"The second good news is that [the United States] spits on its heroes to the extent that it considers it significantly more important to free a rightfully charged, well-known athlete," the Russian propaganda chief said, adding that "this says a lot about the state of this society, of these intelligence agencies, and everything related to geopolitical confrontation."

Griner since her arrest has become a cause célèbre, which likely informed the Biden administration's decision to prioritize her release over other Americans imprisoned abroad. President Joe Biden has met with Griner's wife Cherelle several times, inviting her to the Oval Office on Thursday to personally share the news of Griner's release.

According to CNN, "senior U.S. government officials" visited Whelan's sister to "share and talk through the news" that her brother was not being released.

The post 'Very Amused': Russian State Media Mock Biden's Woke Diplomacy appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The Twitter CEO on Monday shared a photo of his "bedside table," which included among other items three cans of Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Journalists stopped whining about Musk ruining Twitter long enough to cover the revelation that the SpaceX founder drinks diet cola. Gawker declared "Caffeine-free Diet Coke is for psychos" and "freaks and losers." Salon mocked Musk as a "soft baby who can’t handle the real stuff," aka Coke Heavy.

But it was the very serious journalists at the Bezos Post who delivered the death blow, gravely noting that Musk’s affinity for Diet Coke puts him in league with the beverage’s other "unsavory acolytes, including former president Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein."

Chilling stuff. But Musk and Trump aren’t the only scoundrels known to sip this low-cal liquid evil. Here are five other degenerates known for their love of Diet Coke.

Bill Gates

When not drinking water made from human feces, Musk’s fellow tech billionaire drinks "three or four" Diet Cokes a day and reportedly demands "hotel rooms full of Diet Coke" when he travels. The Microsoft cofounder has been known to sip his favorite fizzy beverage while eating McDonald’s cheeseburgers, which he surreptitiously delivered to business meetings to avoid being scolded by his then-wife, Melinda. When he wasn't deceiving his wife about his fast food consumption, the pair worked together to promote the notion that asking students to show their work in math class is racist.

Taylor Swift

America’s heartbreak heroine caused a scandal this month after Ticketmaster’s promotion of her forthcoming tour left her legions of "Swifties" on the hook for $22,000 tickets. But prior to profiting from a company that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) has called "a monopoly," Swift reportedly earned a cool $26 million endorsing Diet Coke. The Valentine’s Day star also has a history of criticizing the liberal megadonor George Soros, which the media assure us is anti-Semitic. Obscenely wealthy and full of hate, it’s no surprise Taylor loves Diet Coke.

Bill Clinton

President Trump wasn’t the first commander in chief to imbibe aspartame in the Oval Office. Slick Willy was often seen guzzling from the iconic silver can, and even included one in the time capsule buried at his presidential library.

But Clinton’s love of Diet Coke had a sinister side. The known sex pest used the soda to cover up his dubiously consensual affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, who reported she would "always leave with a Diet Coke" after meeting Clinton to, ahem, take dictation, because "it looked a little more friendly and less sexual."

Clinton is not the only Democratic philanderer who enjoyed a DC in D.C. Former senator John Edwards (D., N.C.), who fathered a child with a campaign aide while his wife was dying of cancer, was known to "chain-drink Diet Cokes," which he would demand from aides by "silently raising his left hand."

Benito Mussolini

Whether inventing fascism, invading Ethiopia, or jostling to replace Hideki Tojo as second banana in the Axis powers, the Italian strongman was rarely seen without a can of Diet Coke by his side. Mussolini even sang the praises of his favorite beverage in his 1932 book, The Doctrine of Fascism:

"Let us have a dagger between our teeth, an ice cold Diet Coke in our hand, and an infinite scorn in our hearts."

Eliana Johnson

Warmonger. Politico alum. Diet Coke fanatic. Enough said.

The post FACT CHECK: Do History's Greatest Monsters All Drink Diet Coke? appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Baristas at the Starbucks in Arlington's Courthouse Plaza timed their Thursday strike to coincide with "Red Cup Day," where each customer gets a free, reusable red cup with the purchase of any holiday beverage, according to ARLnow. The baristas, who only voted to unionize on Nov. 8, are unhappy at the speed with which the company is responding to their demands.

Union member Samuel Dukore told ARLnow that "Starbucks has been dragging its feet coming to the negotiation table." But Dukore, who has been a union member for about 2 percent of the year, also claims the company "is not negotiating in good faith," a seeming contradiction with his initial complaint.

Over 100 Starbucks branches nationwide are participating in the "Red Cup Rebellion," an effort by Starbucks Workers United to exact concessions from the corporation on one of its busiest days. Striking members are carrying signs with a modified Starbucks logo showing the Grinch's hand holding a Christmas ornament and the phrase "NO CONTRACT, NO COFFEE." The striking baristas are proudly embracing the Grinch label as they attempt to rob festive Americans of caffeinated delights and Christmas cheer.

That's not all the strikers seem to have stolen. A Washington Free Beacon textual analysis confirmed that the protesters' signs use the same typeface as Starbucks competitor Dunkin' Donuts, where employees are not attempting to steal Christmas.

Predictably, the chai-latte-sipping Scrooges have found support among progressive lawmakers. Senator-elect John Fetterman (D., Pa.) voiced his support for the #RedCupRebellion on Twitter, as did avowed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).

Sanders isn't the only socialist boosting the protests. The protesters in Arlington were joined by members of the Northern Virginia branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, but even with assistance from the Internationale, the striking baristas' effort to block customers from obtaining coffee and commemorative red cups was a bust. According to ARLnow, the Courthouse Starbucks is "well-staffed with un-unionized employees and managers, and a greeter at the door welcoming customers."

One employee of the Free Beacon, which is located just blocks from the protest, was able to obtain a Chestnut Praline Latte, one of the chain's signature holiday beverages. The employee, who requested anonymity due to the stigma that comes along with enjoying certain caffeinated creations, said the experience was "delightful."

The post Bah, Humbug! Newly Unionized Starbucks Employees Declare War on Christmas appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

"If I'd been only bad, I'd have been a monster … if I'd been only shy, I'd have been no one."

Rodgers, who died in 2014, sprinkles a healthy dose of such quips in between the funny, outrageous, and heartbreaking stories that comprise Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers.

The eldest daughter of one half of the famed theatrical duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers is the kind of person who was born to write a memoir. Descended from Broadway royalty, she grew up determined to emerge from her father's creative shadow and her mother's judgmental glare. Shy takes the reader along for the journey, through various careers, numerous affairs, and revealing encounters with well-known figures.

Written "with copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions" from New York Times theater critic Jesse Green, Shy is bound to take its place among the great memoirs. Theater fans will delight in gossipy digressions, but one need not be a musical fanatic to appreciate Rodgers's revealing and captivating tale of art, parenthood, and life in mid-century America. Honest and breezy, Shy has something for everyone.

Rodgers's memoir has a leg up on the competition from the beginning—literally. The early chapters of a memoir are usually bogged down with childhood laments and digressions on irrelevant people and places. Rodgers does engage in a bit of reminiscence and amateur Freudianism, but is saved by the fact that she had famous—and terrible—parents.

It has already been reported, in Todd S. Purdum's 2018 biography Something Wonderful and elsewhere, that Richard Rodgers was a Grade A bastard. Still, Mary Rodgers manages to shed new light on the Sound of Music composer's personal darkness, detailing his alcoholism ("a bottle of vodka a day. Sixteen Scotch-and-sodas after dinner"), his philandering, and his prejudice, sometimes at the same time: "During the entire civil rights movement, I don't remember him speaking up for Black people, though he loved sleeping with them."

Rodgers is similarly, if not more, brutal with her mother, Dorothy, an ice queen who frequently told a young Mary, "We love you, but we don't like you." But the book is largely focused on Rodgers's relationship with her father: her attempts to make it as a composer without trading on the family name; her acknowledgment that most of her career would not be possible without said family name; her constant yearning for his praise, and constant certitude she would never get it.

"Daddy," as Rodgers unfortunately refers to her father throughout, is one of two men who shaped her life and who fill the pages of Shy. The other is Stephen Sondheim, the late Broadway icon whom Rodgers first met when he was a protégé of her father's writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein II. The pair met as children, and Rodgers realized immediately that she "would never be as infatuated with anyone again."

In what's bound to be the book's most talked-about section, Rodgers details the pair's attempt at a "trial marriage" in 1960. She grasping for domestic normalcy after three eventful years as a divorcée; he, on the advice of his therapist, trying to see if he could make a "normal" (read: heterosexual) relationship work. The arrangement obviously failed, though the tale reveals the all-too-human side of the oft-venerated Sondheim, whose misanthropy seemed to doom his affair with Rodgers as much as his sexuality.

Still, the pair remained good friends, and "Steve" can be found at the center of Rodgers's best stories. Like the time he gave her a Victorian pocket watch as a birthday gift, which seemed to be jammed shut for years until Rodgers's son pried it open, revealing a baggie of cocaine. Or when Sondheim suggested a publisher ask Rodgers to write a children's book as a joke, kicking off a chain of events that would lead her to write Freaky Friday.

But even with half a century, a happy second marriage, and six children behind her, Rodgers's love for Sondheim is palpable and seems a bit unrequited. It's one of the many serious subjects in Shy that Rodgers brushes past, like Sondheim's "Ladies Who Lunch," with so many brilliant zingers. Pill problems, adultery, and domestic violence are all described nonchalantly as a failed musical revue. Rodgers so swiftly and matter-of-factly recounts her three-year-old son, Matthew, dying in front of her from an asthma attack, it took several rereads before I realized what she was describing.

Rodgers neither harangues nor forgives herself for her contradictions, missteps, and other shortcomings. She simply recounts them, laughs at them, and moves on to the next thing. Combined with Green's annotations—funny enough to catch your attention, informative enough not to be cloying—reading Shy feels like listening to the world's most wide-ranging, fascinating conversation.

This, as Green reveals in the book's afterword, was intentional. Rodgers apparently "did not think she 'deserved' a memoir," because she didn't see why people would "want to hear about the daddy (and mummy) issues of a second-drawer composer and children's author." Rodgers only agreed to the project on the condition that it would read like a dialogue, and continually pestered Green to "make it funnier" and "make it meaner."

Her instincts were spot-on, and the result is a delightful compendium of wisdom, history, and Leonard Bernstein's bitchiness. Whether Rodgers deserved it or not, Shy is a fine memoir, and the perfect last word on wild life.

Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 480 pp., $35

The post There's Something About Mary appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

As calls to topple statues of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington swelled in the Trump years, theatergoers flocked to Hamilton, a contemporary reimagining of the arch-Federalist and his ilk. And now, as a growing number of academics locate America’s founding in 1619, we get a revival of 1776.

Of course, this isn’t your father’s 1776. The Roundabout Theater Company’s cast consists entirely of women, nonbinary, and trans actors, most of them black, Hispanic, or Asian. This casting is clearly an attempt to ape Hamilton’s success in a more critical way. While Hamilton used race-blind casting to make the Founders appealing to a contemporary audience, 1776 does so in an attempt to highlight the alleged privilege and hypocrisy of America’s founding.

By that standard, the show is a failure. Rather than lampoon the show’s bicentennial pride, the remarkably talented cast reinvigorates the classic score and unleashes the humor at the heart of Peter Stone’s book. And far from exposing some kind of nefarious hypocrisy, the race- and gender-blind casting only serves to emphasize the enduring relevance—and universal importance—of the American Founding and the freedoms it secured.

1776 follows John Adams (Crystal Lucas-Perry) as he lobbies his colleagues in the Second Continental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain. Personal foibles and political squabbles emerge as Adams clashes with Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson (three-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello) alongside Benjamin Franklin (Patrena Murray) and Thomas Jefferson, played in this production by a very pregnant Elizabeth A. Davis.

Davis’s pregnancy, like the rest of the cast’s gender, doesn’t really matter to the show. Because musicals always require a suspension of disbelief, the unorthodox casting is far less shocking than it would be in a film. Adams may not have been a black woman, but he also didn’t tap dance at Independence Hall. Obvious political posturing aside, the all-female cast really only matters because the show was written for male voices.

Some of the show’s strongest songs, like "Sit Down, John" and "But Mr. Adams," fall flat without crotchety, baritone harmonies. Conversely, many weaker numbers are improved by the chorus of female voices.

Carmello breathes life into "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men," the song of the congress’s stodgy conservatives. The counterpoint of belting and falsetto make a dying soldier’s last words especially poignant in "Momma Look Sharp." And Sara Porkalob brings down the house as the devilish Edward Rutledge with "Molasses to Rum," the southerner’s indictment of northern delegates’ involvement in the Triangle Trade.

Lucas-Perry is far and away the show’s weak point. She manages to capture Adams’s irascibility in her dialogue but not her vocals, which wither alongside those of her more entertaining and talented costars. Worse still, Lucas-Perry is the one cast-member who seems to hate what she’s doing. Whenever racism or prejudice comes up in any way, she glares at the audience as if to say, "See? These were bad people." Her performance is one of several unnecessarily political statements clumsily jammed into a show that was hardly uncritical of its subjects.

The show began with a Native American cast member (The Voice finalist Brooke Simpson) acknowledging the Native American people who used to inhabit Manhattan. When the cast comes on stage, Lucas-Perry puts a beaded necklace around Simpson’s neck and bows—an utterly irrelevant piece of symbolism, considering the fact that Simpson plays not a Native chief but Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman.

Like the necklace and the land acknowledgment, most of the show’s obtuse political stunts either fall flat or undercut themselves. In "The Egg," a video montage of historically marginalized groups plays behind Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson as the trio triumphantly proclaims America "belongs to us." The point is clear: The "us" to whom America belongs includes not just "old white men," but also women, African Americans, and Jews.

Which is, of course, correct. Only America’s harshest critics believe our political heritage excludes those who look or worship differently than the Declaration’s signers. The show may present this as a subversive point, but most of the country accepts it as self-evidently true. And despite their posturing, the cast and crew of 1776 seem like they want to accept it, too.

Toward the end of the show, after the southern states have successfully stricken all mention of slavery from the Declaration, Adams worries how posterity will view what happened in Philadelphia. Franklin assuages his worries, noting that future generations will hardly venerate the delegates: "We're men, no more, no less." It’s not a line that needs its ironic content hammered home. But Franklin delivers it in a furiously serious voice, with the full cast glaring at the audience. It’s the only misstep in Murray’s otherwise hilarious performance, and the point of the delivery is clear: The Founders are not worth venerating.

This is hardly a new argument, and it wouldn’t be the slightest bit interesting were it not for the context. Why revive a 53-year-old musical celebrating the Founding Fathers if your goal is for people to forget the Founding Fathers? Why put on a show about the American Revolution while Hamilton is still playing just around the corner? Even in the 1950s, there weren’t this many Broadway musicals about the American Revolution on Broadway.

People might say the Founding Fathers were bad, but they’ve spent over a billion dollars going to see a show about Alexander Hamilton. They claim the mantle of 1619 but applaud 1776. Yes, both shows view the Founding through a critical, contemporary lens. But ultimately, both shows have the same message: America is good, freedom is worth fighting for, and our history is something to celebrate.

1776 understands this, even if it attempts to distance itself from patriotism with self-flagellation and progressive window dressing. Fortunately for audiences, not even performative activism can ruin a mostly great show. With a talented cast and a catchy score, 1776 is worth the handful of eyerolls you may have to endure.

1776 is playing at the American Airlines Theater through January 8, 2023.

The post On Broadway, 1776 Still Beats 1619 appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Beyond Meat COO Doug Ramsey was charged on Saturday with terroristic threatening and third-degree battery following a road rage incident at the University of Arkansas football stadium. Ramsey attacked a Subaru driver whose vehicle brushed Ramsey’s Ford Bronco in a parking garage after the Arkansas Razorbacks game. Local news outlets report Ramsey punched through the Subaru’s rear window and repeatedly hit the Subaru driver before "ripping the flesh on the tip of the nose" with his own teeth.

The Subaru driver claimed Ramsey threatened to kill him after noshing on his schnoz. Police arrested Ramsey a little before 10:30 p.m., and he was held in Washington County jail on a $10,000 bond. It is unclear whether the driver of the Subaru, owned in the United States predominantly by hippies, was a grass-fed vegetarian.

Ramsey joined Beyond Meat in December after a three-decade stint at Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, where he oversaw the poultry giant’s partnership with McDonald’s. Beyond Meat's stock has plunged nearly 80 percent since Ramsey was hired, a sign that normal Americans are rightfully terrified of the meatless future liberals want.

The "Beyond Burger" manufacturer was an odd landing place for the nugget-slinging, Bronco-owning Ramsey, who fits the profile of a typical meat-eater. A Free Beacon analysis was unable to determine whether Ramsey’s attack was the result of a psychotic break brought on by protein deprivation, the chemicals in vegan meat, or prolonged exposure to progressives.

Plant-based products have grown popular among liberals who believe meat is bad for the environment. But the lackluster taste of the wares—including chicken strips the New York Times described as "bland, unexciting and not very chicken-like"—have led some of these militant herbivores to suggest we eat bugs.

Beyond Meat announced Tuesday afternoon it had suspended Ramsey, who is scheduled to appear in Fayetteville District Court on October 19. Ramsey is expected to dodge charges of cannibalism for his sampling of the other white meat, since it was just the tip.

The incident took place near the University of Arkansas’s library, from which the Washington Free Beacon was banned after accessing its archives to publish explosive stories about Hillary Clinton.

The post Tastes Like Chicken? Fake Meat Exec Bites Man’s Nose appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

In a Sept. 6 Instagram video, Momoa noted he was shaving his head because "plastic bottles, plastic forks, all that shit, goes into our land, goes into our ocean," adding "plastic bottles are ridiculous."

But a Washington Free Beacon review found that Momoa has a history of using the bottles he now despises. Momoa took a slug from a plastic water bottle at Oz Comic-Con 2013 in Perth, Australia, and again at Puerto Rico Comic-Con 2015:

One undated image shared on Twitter shows Momoa greedily guzzling from a plastic water bottle, with three other bottles lined up in front of him:

https://twitter.com/Landon_Wilson_/status/1202310932598263811?s=20&t=AZjGCwtoV5b08gM9ULL2Ug

In another, a smiling Momoa clutches a large water bottle as if each sip wasn’t killing a sea turtle.

Both James Wan and Jason Momoa will host the #Aquaman panel at #DCFanDome this August (@instagram) pic.twitter.com/6WPV7yLsEu

— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) June 16, 2020

Momoa first came out against plastic water bottles in April 2019 with another hair-related stunt. The Game of Thrones star then shaved his beard for the first time in seven years, in a video encouraging people to "switch to INFINITELY RECYCLABLE aluminum. Water in cans, not plastic." That same month, Momoa launched Mananalu, a company that sells water in aluminum cans. As of this writing, a 12-pack of Mananalu goes for $27.99 on Amazon Prime.

"Now that I’ve become Aquaman," Momoa said when Mananalu launched, "there are a lot of things I want to do to try to save the Earth."

But canning water may not do much to help the environment. A July 2022 McKinsey study found that aluminum cans produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as plastic water bottles.

Momoa is hardly the only celebrity with weirdly strong thoughts about water. Disney Channel star and Biden supporter Vanessa Hudgens came out against drinking water in October 2021, the Free Beacon reported. Zendaya, who stars in Euphoria alongside the much-cooler Sydney Sweeney, told Harper’s Bazaar that she "hate[s] water."

The post GULP: Anti-Plastic Actor Loves Plastic Water Bottles, Analysis Finds appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The outrage came after Sweeney and her brother Trent shared pictures of their mother’s hoedown-themed surprise 60th birthday party. Real Americans didn’t find anything objectionable in the photos, which show the buxom Euphoria star line-dancing, riding a mechanical bull, and bouncing around in the world’s sexiest cowboy outfit.

But the dorks and degenerates who spend their time on Twitter ignored all of that, choosing to focus on Sweeney’s fellow partygoers and their "hateful" attire. One photo shows a group of revelers wearing "Make Sixty Great Again" hats. Another features a man in what seems to be a a "Blue Lives Matter" T-shirt posing with Sweeney and her mother.

Sweeney herself was not photographed wearing any of the triggering garb. But that didn’t matter to the libs, who quickly set about condemning the 24-year-old actress for not hating her friends and family.

"this sydney sweeney business literally shows that white people are not holding their family members accountable at home," wrote one Twitter user. "your activism is performative. because if not at home then where else? if not the white people in your lives closest to you then who else?"

"WHERE WAS SYDNEY SWEENEY’S FAMILY MEMBERS ON THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 6TH 2021," read one of many tweets insinuating Sweeney’s relatives were present during the Capitol riot.

Sweeney, best known for playing a teenager on HBO Max and getting naked on Amazon Prime, recently made headlines for speaking out against Hollywood elitism.

"If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that," Sweeney told the Hollywood Reporter in July. "I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help." Some took those comments to be a subtle dig at Sweeney’s Euphoria costar Maude Apatow. Apatow’s father, Judd, is a prominent director who took his wife’s last name and in 2017 said he doesn’t think Republicans can be funny.

To her credit, Sweeney did not cower in the face of the woke mob.

"You guys this is wild," she tweeted on Saturday. "An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Much love to everyone and Happy Birthday Mom!"

That’s courage. It’s the same courage that inspired Sweeney to proudly state that she "won’t stop doing" nude scenes, no matter how many buzzkill losers claim it’s "problematic" to be hot and take your clothes off on screen.

We here at the Washington Free Beacon salute Sweeney for her standing by her family, her values, and her mounds of talent. We’ve never apologized for loving freedom-loving blondes, and will always defend her right to party with her Republican relatives—and look great doing it.

The post Libs Are Furious Hot Girl Likes Republicans appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Rushdie was apparently stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage as the author took the podium at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York, the Associated Press reports. The man stabbed Rushdie 10 to 15 times before he was detained. Rushdie fell to the ground and was airlifted to a hospital, where his condition is unknown.

The attack comes more than 30 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling on "all brave Muslims of the world" to kill Rushdie, as well as his authors and publishers, "without delay." Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, slammed The Satanic Verses as "against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qu’ran," and noted that Rushdie’s assassination was necessary to ensure "no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth."

Khomeini’s fatwa claims "whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr." Rushdie’s head also carries a $3 million bounty in Iran.

The Satanic Verses is a sprawling work that consists in part of a fictionalized narrative of the founding of Islam by the Prophet Mohammad. In the book, Rushdie refers to Mohammad as "Mahound," reportedly a derogatory term for the prophet used by Medieval Christians. The book’s title comes from a scene in which Mahound rejects his earlier revelation permitting polytheistic worship as the work of the Devil.

Some Muslims objected to The Satanic Verses before Khomeini’s fatwa. Several countries banned the book, and critics held book burnings around the world.

Rushdie was defiant when asked about the backlash to The Satanic Verses in a 1989 television interview.

"Frankly I wish I had written a more critical book," the author said, adding that "religious leaders who are able to behave like this, and then say this is a religion which must be above any kind of whisper of criticism, that doesn't add up."

Khomeini’s February 1989 fatwa led to a barrage of death threats and drove Rushdie into hiding under British government protection. The author reentered public life nine years later, and went on to marry model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi.

The post Why the Iranians Want Salman Rushdie Dead appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Jason Church, a retired U.S. Army captain, joined with other veterans of the war on terror to ensure the United States retains military supremacy. Their group, Veterans on Duty, is warning that progressive bureaucrats have taken control of the armed forces and are forcing troops to sit through diversity, equity, and inclusion seminars when they should be training for battle. The newly formed nonprofit aims to reverse this trend by recruiting veterans to leadership roles and supporting lawmakers and policies that will help keep the U.S. military battle-ready.

To mark the group’s launch, Church penned a New York Post op-ed laying out these problems and enumerating Veterans on Duty’s proposed solutions. Critics immediately accused him of racism.

The progressive group VoteVets tweeted that Church "makes the same arguments that were made against integration over 70 years ago." VoteVets, which is  chaired by Jon Soltz, who still has both of his legs, has spent tens of millions of dollars backing Democratic candidates, also slammed Church as a "loser congressional candidate." Church entered a 2020 special congressional election in Wisconsin in an effort to continue serving his country "even though the Taliban took my legs."

VoteVets CEO Janessa Goldbeck, who also has both of her legs, struck a similarly harsh note, calling Vets on Duty members "assholes" after saying, "50 years ago these people would have been mad about racial integration. Today they are mad about women and LGBT people in the military."

At no point in Church’s Post piece does he call for the military to exclude soldiers based on race or sexual orientation. But he isn’t surprised by the reaction to Veterans on Duty’s launch.

"The radical left has long used baseless accusations of bigotry to browbeat dissenters as it bends American institutions to its will," Church told the Washington Free Beacon. "This tired tactic should be ignored. We are laser-focused on our mission of advocating for a strong national defense and combating progressives’ efforts to corrode the military from within."

As Church points out, that corrosion couldn’t come at a worse time. In his Post piece, he notes that Iran is close to obtaining nuclear weapons, and the Chinese Navy last year "surpassed our own as the world’s largest," all while Russia is marching its armies through Ukraine.

Members of the media were also quick to criticize Church’s piece.

"I’m just woke enough to say you … are a fucking idiot," MSNBC pundit Malcom Nance tweeted at Church. Nance, who tweeted "#DealWithIt" after terrorists killed 13 U.S. soldiers outside Kabul Airport in Afghanistan last summer, called Church "another pro-Trump Summer Soldier begging to be given a public paycheck for exhibiting asshattery & beclownment  above and beyond the Call of Duty."

"Just imagine how all these right-wingers would have reacted with horror if they had been around when Harry Truman desegregated the military," tweeted Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist who has not served in the military. "Now that was woke!"

Jeremy C. Hunt, a black military veteran who serves on Veterans on Duty’s board, quickly rebuffed Boot’s accusation. "We care about a military that wins," Hunt wrote. "If you want an example of modern segregation in the military, look no further than the Biden administration’s racist DEI protocols that you defend."

Those protocols include instructional videos that teach Navy cadets how to use gender pronouns, and "gender identity" training for Green Berets, the Free Beacon originally reported.

Still, Boot tells the Free Beacon that he stands by his claim "that the right-wingers who today decry the supposedly 'woke' military would have opposed the integration of the military in 1948."

"How do I know? Because that was the conservative position back then," said Boot, adding that "this whole 'Vets on Duty' exercise looks to be mere partisan politics designed to bash Democrats—not a serious attempt to protect the military."

Jay Kramer, executive director of Veterans on Duty, says that politics is precisely what puts the military at risk.

"At a time of growing threats to the United States, progressive ideologues are pushing radical policies that undermine the men and women of our military," Kramer told the Free Beacon. "While out-of-touch commentators focus more on messaging than substance, we are joining with like-minded veterans nationwide to do the hard work to ensure our military remains lethal and effective."

VoteVets and Goldbeck did not return Free Beacon requests for comment. Nance could not be reached for comment.

The post This Wounded Veteran Wants To Strengthen the US Military. Critics Say He’s a Racist 'Loser.' appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The 27-year-old amateur skateboarder made waves earlier this year when she spoke out against biological men participating in women’s sports. A self-described Zionist who is rarely photographed without a Star of David necklace, Silverman wasn’t surprised that online backlash quickly turned anti-Semitic. But she’s a little surprised by how much of it came from her friends.

"If I hadn’t spoken up, I would still be friends with people who are blatantly, and proudly, anti-Semitic," Silverman tells the Washington Free Beacon. "I’m grateful I did, because it showed which of my old friends are anti-Semitic pieces of trash."

The friendly fire was only part of the backlash Silverman faced for speaking publicly about her experience competing against transgender athletes. It wasn't a political protest. Silverman had been skating for a decade, and only just began to feel that the skateboarding community was making space for women. But as soon as the community began to take shape, she felt it come under attack.

"The first time I lost to a trans man, I thought people would recognize it was unfair and speak out. The second time, I thought, ‘Someone has got to do something about this!’ The third time, I realized: I am somebody. And so, I spoke up."

In a May 11 Instagram post, Silverman recounted losing first place in the 2021 Red Bull Cornerstone Contest to Lillian Gallagher, only the latest instance where she had gone up against transgender competitors.

"I am sick of being bullied into silence," Silverman wrote in the post, which also included a screenshot of a concerned email she sent to Red Bull. "A biological man with a clear advantage won the women’s division," Silverman wrote to Red Bull sports marketing manager Erich Drummer. "This took away the opportunity that was meant for women to place and earn money."

Red Bull never responded to her email. But the trolls did.

"This argument is transphobic as fuck and shows what type of person you are," one commenter wrote. "Hopefully you give up on life soon since you’re bad at everything,'' added another.

Soon, the hateful comments began popping up on Silverman’s other posts.

"Taylor the type of girl to rat someone out at the camps just to get some extra bread," reads one comment on a photo of Silverman at the Dead Sea, an apparent reference to the Holocaust. "It’s chill I can say this too I’m an actual Jew not some token ass white girl," the commenter added.

Silverman’s Instagram feed is an object lesson in what happens to those who take the unpopular position on hot-button issues. The comments beneath her photos are a minefield of the left’s choice insults: "transphobe" and "TERF," "colonist" and "Free Palestine!" As Silverman sees it, most of the vitriol comes from the same place.

"It’s anti-Semitism and misogyny disguised as some kind of social justice," she says. "They’re just going with the latest trendy word to get away with hateful shit."

Silverman is no stranger to being attacked for her faith. The anti-Semitism she faced in the classroom was one of the things that motivated her to complete high school at home. During the pandemic, she left her skating team after teammates sent her videos of Hitler and told her Jews "deserved" anti-Semitism. Going solo meant losing out on free gear and help with travel and competition expenses. But that hasn't slowed her down one bit.

In fact, Silverman travels so much these days that she never knows what to say when people ask her where she lives. But whenever she can, she gets back to her hometown of Kalamazoo, Mich. It was there, as a newly minted, 16-year-old homeschool kid who missed playing sports, that Silverman first picked up a skateboard. It’s where she learned to ollie, and where she entered her first skating competition.

It’s also where she learned firsthand that the skating community isn’t always the safest place for young women. As a novice, Silverman says she "was treated horrifically" by male skaters and "faced everything from bullying to sexual assault at the skatepark." When she first started entering local competitions, they often didn’t have separate contests for women. It was only after she started winning, and traveling to bigger events around the country, that she began to meet and befriend other female skaters.

"It was exciting to me when there were women’s divisions, and girls were showing up," Silverman says, recalling the excitement she felt at the chance to "meet and hang out with women who were passionate about the same things as me."

It was a desire to protect this community that led Silverman to speak out—and landed her in the middle of one the most controversial issues of the day. The NCAA came under fire for its decision to let male-to-female transgender athletes participate in women’s sports after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas—who swam in the men’s division until 2019—began competing as a woman. In recent months, the International Rugby League and the International Swimming Federation have barred transgender athletes from participating in women’s events.

In many ways, skateboarding is more gender-blind than other sports where transgender athletes have become a flashpoint. It’s one of Silverman’s favorite things about the sport. Anyone from anywhere can pick up a board and go, no matter their race, age, or gender. But, as Silverman is quick to point out, that doesn’t change the fact that transgender athletes have a competitive advantage.

She points to studies that show male-to-female transgender athletes remain faster and stronger than their peers even after undergoing hormone therapy. And she can rattle off the physical differences that give male skaters a competitive advantage: They have higher centers of gravity, denser bones, and carry less body fat than women.

But while Silverman is certainly concerned with how gender affects competitive fairness, her fight isn’t about titles or prize money. It’s about empowering young girls.

"Skateboarding has been male dominated for so long, it’s intimidating for girls," Silverman says. Women’s divisions offer aspiring female skaters a chance to practice their skills away from the "pretty misogynistic" skateboarding culture. If girls feel like there’s no place for them in the skating community, Silverman says, they simply won’t show up.

Her fight could soon take on greater urgency. In June, the Biden administration proposed changes to Title IX that would allow students to participate in school events based on their assumed gender identity, rather than biological sex. Critics of the proposal say that the changes cut against the core of Title IX, which was meant to boost women’s equality.

Like many critics of these rule changes, Silverman is particularly frustrated with female athletes who are pushing to upend women’s sports in the name of progress.

"The people who are advocating for this, I don't think women’s feelings or safety is on their radar at all. I don't think they care about us at all," she told the Free Beacon. "The women who advocate for this, I think they’ve lost touch with any kind of feminism, and it’ll come back to bite them in the ass one day. Hopefully they realize they're giving up their own rights, and their daughters’ rights."

Even though this issue is making waves in Washington, Silverman doesn’t see herself as a partisan warrior. "This isn’t a political issue," she says. "It’s a commonsense issue."

Silverman makes it abundantly clear that she doesn’t see her position as "anti-trans" but as "pro-woman." She doesn’t care if skate competitions have open divisions where people of all genders can compete against each other, nor would she mind if there were dedicated divisions for transgender skaters. She doesn’t relish the fight—she just wants a solution.

Though she admits it’s been an "overwhelming" month of media exposure and online harassment, Silverman has no trouble seeing the good in her experience. Marveling that she’s spent the past month "touring around the country fighting for women," she sounds like she just won the lottery. Whether she’s talking about the inspiring people she’s met or recounting tales of online harassment, her optimism never seems to waver.

It’s not the demeanor you’d expect from someone who’s been tossed into the fray. But to Silverman, it’s the only way to stay sane.

"A really good way to cope with the craziness we’re going through," she says, reflecting on our present moment, "is to laugh."

The post This Jewish Skateboarder Spoke Out About Women’s Rights. Social Justice Warriors Responded With Anti-Semitic Hate. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

On the one hand, our tendency to remember only great leaders can make such comparisons useless. After all, everyone looks underwhelming next to Abraham Lincoln—just ask Stephen A. Douglas.

On the other hand, there's something illustrative about these comparisons. Because even controlling for Lincoln-level leaders, looking back reminds us that contemporary denizens of Washington, D.C., lack both the intellectual heft and practical wisdom of their predecessors.

In The Statesman as Thinker: Portraits of Greatness, Courage, and Moderation, Daniel J. Mahoney shows us what we're missing. Mahoney, professor emeritus of political science at Assumption University and a senior fellow at the RealClear Foundation, blends biography and political philosophy to explain precisely what makes great leaders great.

Fortunately, Mahoney does not use his subjects to create an unattainable standard for today's leaders—far from it. By tracing the practical mix of classical and Christian virtues that made history's greatest men, Mahoney shows how statesmanlike greatness is still attainable today. Hardly a narrative of decline, The Statesman as Thinker is a reminder of what men can achieve.

The book begins with an introductory essay on "Statesmanship as Human Excellence." In it, Mahoney argues that the true statesman is committed to political liberty and sees himself as the guardian of a political community. Statesmanship requires not just greatness, which can lead to tyranny, but "the full range of intellectual and moral virtues" found in Christianity and classical philosophy.

Mahoney develops his argument through sketches of seven "magnanimous statesmen." It will come as no surprise that George Washington, Lincoln, and Winston Churchill all feature in this pantheon. But he also includes Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville, two figures remembered more for their political philosophy than leadership.

The book's strongest chapters focus on French president Charles de Gaulle and Czech dissident Václav Havel, two individuals who are equal parts statesman and thinker. Mahoney has written extensively about de Gaulle throughout his career, and he clearly sees the général as the ideal statesman. Readers will delight in reading about the larger-than-life Havel's revolutionary career and philosophical writings, which deserve more recognition than they get.

Mahoney falters when writing about American presidents. His discussion of Washington veers too much into the abstract and is largely a recapitulation of secondary literature. The book's Lincoln chapter has some fine moments, but is marred by digressions on contemporary "cancel culture," which seem like they belong in a different book.

At first, these sketches seem to comprise the standard account of modernity's pitfalls. Things started going downhill with Machiavelli and worsened as modern social science replaced classical virtue and Christian piety with moral relativism and nihilistic power politics. Mahoney appears to engage in this kind of critique, blaming "mediocre historians and critics" and other "professional enemies of the very idea of human greatness" for promulgating a culture that can't envision a life beyond mediocrity.

But Mahoney is careful to speak in terms of modern aims, not modern possibilities. He understands that human greatness is an immutable part of human nature—something that, to paraphrase the Roman poet Horace, will keep coming back no matter how much you drive it out with a pitchfork. In other words, we are just as capable of achieving greatness as Roman senators or the Founding Fathers. We simply don't imagine greatness as a possibility, and certainly don't see politics as conducive to greatness.

Even the book's structure speaks to the enduring possibility of virtuousness. Consider how Mahoney subtly alters the history of political philosophy as traditionally given by conservative political scientists. Rather than beginning with Plato and the Greek exhortation of contemplative life, he begins with Cicero and the life of the philosopher-statesman.

After Cicero, Mahoney speaks exclusively of statesmen readers will likely recognize and certainly find accessible. Three are from the English-speaking world; three are from the 20th century. And all of them are modern.

Crucially, Mahoney extols these modern statesmen as modern statesmen. Too often, conservative scholars attempt to redeem modern figures by claiming them as secret practitioners of ancient virtue. Not so Mahoney. He shows how Burke attained statesmanlike virtue while extolling the bourgeois virtues of commercial liberal democracy. He acknowledges that the neopagan Churchill got Europe through its darkest hour by invoking the greatness of "Christian civilization."

Nor does Mahoney fault these men for their personal vices. His admiration of Havel's wisdom and leadership is not marred by the Czech president's libertine sexual behavior. Indeed, Mahoney notes that "political greatness is not coextensive with infallibility or perfect judgment." Just as classical virtue can exist in modernity, so can political greatness be found in imperfect men.

This argument is practical as well as philosophical. If we lack great leaders because we have forgotten about greatness, then studying the deeds of statesmen will help "open ourselves to human excellence" in defiance of our modern impulses. But we will be more likely to contemplate greatness in figures who seem accessible to us—whether because of their personal flaws or distinctly modern virtues.

Even though Mahoney shows the possibility of virtuous leadership, a revival of statesmanship may still seem unlikely. But it's hardly far-fetched. After all, Americans love to argue about whether or not a given politician is suited for office. We're already comfortable claiming only certain people are fit for leadership—we just have more anemic criteria. Books like The Statesman as Thinker can inspire us to seek out leaders who are truly great, not just "presidential."

The Statesman as Thinker: Portraits of Greatness, Courage, and Moderation
by Daniel J. Mahoney
Encounter Books, 232 pp., $30.99

The post Profiles in Virtue appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Known widely as the Capitol Fox, the vixen was spotted on Capitol Hill Tuesday and made headlines after biting Rep. Ami Bera (D., Calif.) and Ximena Bustillo, a reporter at THE POLITICO. D.C. Health officials also captured the Capitol Fox’s children, and are "still looking into what to do with them," Fox News reports.

A D.C. Health Department spokesman claimed the Capitol Fox was "responsible for nine confirmed bites," though only Bera and Bustillo have come forward. Both Bera and Bustillo seemed to remain in good spirits following the incidents, sharing photos and fox emojis.

Just hours before the vulpine killing, Bera took to Twitter to ominously convey his hopes that "the [fox] and its family are safely relocated." As of press time, the Sacramento lawmaker had not commented on the Capitol Fox’s death.

Bustillo, who covers agriculture for THE POLITICO, used the incident to fawn over local journalists and plug her own reporting. Unlike Bustillo, the reporter did manage to comment on the Capitol Fox’s death, tweeting "Fox update :(."

Update Thursday 1:12 p.m. — A DC Health spokesman tells the Washington Free Beacon that "three fox kits were recovered from the den site" and "could have been exposed" to rabies. "They were no longer able to be safely rehabilitated and were humanely euthanized," the spokesman said.

The post Health Officials Murder Fox Who Allegedly Bit Democrat, Journalist appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The brewery this month released Bud Light NEXT, the first ever zero-carb beer. It's an effort to combat the spike of the hard seltzers and ciders that have lured calorie-conscious drinkers in recent years, by offering them a "beer" with similar characteristics.

I think I speak for everyone at the Washington Free Beacon when I say the rapid transformation of beer into water is an affront to God and man alike. But there are plenty of situations where it makes sense to pass up the King of Beers for something a bit more princely.

Maybe you're an aging frat boy trying to lose weight so your wife will spend less time with her tennis instructor. Maybe you're just an ordinary dude about to embark on a several-hour marathon of throwing back beers and need something to wet your palate before you get into the good stuff. Or maybe you're just a sissy.

Either way, with all these trendy light beers hitting shelves, people are bound to have questions. Like, "Would I be better off going with Diet 7 Up?" or "If my grandpa knew I was drinking this, would he be ashamed of me?"

I can't answer those. But I can hopefully give you some insight before your next trip into the supermarket's beer cave. Like our nation's greatest living Supreme Court justice, there are two things I like: beer and having opinions.

So, behold: the definitive ranking of the lightest light beers.

6. Yuengling Flight

A shameful offering from America's oldest brewery. Thanks to Flight's clear bottle, your first impression is that it's warm, flat keg beer sloshed from a pitcher into a Solo cup. Unfortunately, it tastes like it too. Stale and weak, Flight is a far cry from Yuengling's flagship lager, which fights back when you drink it.

5. Coors Pure

Most of the beers on this list clock in at around 4.1 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), which is just a hair lower than Bud Light. Not so Coors Pure, the otherwise refreshing taste of which is not enough to make up for its measly 3.8 percent ABV. The upside: Between the can design and the low ABV, you can bring one to the gym and pass it off as a trendy water bottle.

4. Bud Light NEXT

I cracked my first Bud Light NEXT fully expecting to hate it. As we learned from New Coke and Lady Ghostbusters, messing with the standards never works—and as far as light beer goes, Bud Light is the standard. Sure enough, the first sip was vile. But in the interest of science, I cracked another one—and then another one, and another one. Before I knew it, it was 3:17 a.m. and the floor in front of me was a NEXT graveyard. Points for drinkability. Go figure.

3. Blue Moon Light Sky

Like Yuengling, Blue Moon's light beer tastes nothing like its tentpole brew. But in this case, that's a good thing. Because Blue Moon is terrible. Crisp and refreshing enough to be enjoyed without juicing an orange into your glass, Light Sky is a far cry from that weird, wheaty monstrosity that numbers high among Belgian war crimes.

2. Corona Premier

Corona has been cranking out refreshing beer for decades, so it would have been embarrassing if their lightest beer didn't make the top three. I can't tell you exactly what makes Corona Premiers different from Corona Lights, but I'll be damned if they're not just a little more delicious. Unfortunately, like all Coronas, Premiers are only good in bottles. Consider yourself warned.

1. Michelob Ultra Pure Gold

Far and away the best beer in its class. It's right there in the name. Drinking a Gold is like drinking sunshine, or a long weekend. In fact, Golds are so good, Michelob should seriously consider discontinuing regular Ultras, which serve mostly as an over-carbonated reminder that American males between the ages of 17 and 25 will drink anything you hand them.

Editor's Note: This list does not include the lightest of the light beers, Heineken Light. Heineken is gross in any form, so we can only assume the Light is pretty terrible. Plus, with a 3.2 percent ABV, you can get a better buzz drinking expired apple juice.

And all the above beers should be followed immediately by a stiff glass of whiskey, so you can finally get a real buzz.

The post We Drank All The Trendy Light Beers So You Don't Have To appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.