Critical thinking not included; "We’re losing our capacity to think, and not just on the left."

 John Long - American Thinker 

"Now that public education has been infused with cultural Marxism, students are imbibing it all without wondering whether it is true."

Richard Terrell at AfterMath.

"Decades ago, when buying a Christmas toy, I needed to look at the box carefully.  If the box said “batteries not included,” I knew I would need to pick up some batteries so there would not be any tears on Christmas Day.

"These days, I often see new social media entries or opinion pieces that (should) contain labels saying, “Critical thinking not included.”  Many of us spout off the most outrageous things without examining whether those thoughts are based in truth.

"Critical thinking is absent everywhere.  We hear many unsubstantiated sayings:  

• “Men can get pregnant.”  
• “The world will end in ten years.”  
• “All whites are racist.”

"Many people accept them outright, simply because they are uttered by the “right people” (our friends, celebrities we admire, teachers).  They never wonder whether they are true.  

"In a recent podcast on Triggernometry, a young woman described how immersed she was in climate alarmism for several years without questioning any of its claims.  Once she began her own investigation, she changed her mind, but it still took years to go public because she knew that her friends and coworkers would cancel her.  

"The left does this whenever one of its members begins to question any woke concept.  It has been reported that questioning any leftist heterodoxy on BlueSky or Slack will get you shut down almost immediately.  Or you could get in trouble at work or school.  Cancel culture has been felt by many who publicly air their disagreements, however minor.  “The science is settled,” don’t you know?  

"But it is also present on the right.  Instead of referring to “the science,” many on the right depend on whatever Donald Trump says.  Disagree with Trump in any way on conservative platforms, and some will call you “an infiltrator,” a “NeverTrump,” or a “traitor.”  Trump himself does not easily tolerate dissension within his administration.  (And for those who want to know, I really like Trump.  I voted for him three times.)" . . .  More...

John Long retired from a 33-year career in I.T. and now spends his time as a Christian activist.  He occasionally writes satire at his blog Chicken Dentist. 

Mamdani LOSES IT After Ken Griffin CANCELS Massive NYC Midtown Project

Do not fear only Mamdani; fear those who put him into office.TD

Mayor Mamdani ERUPTS After Blackstone DUMPS 1,000 NYC Apartments For Texas And Florida!

"Winston Churchill is quoted, 'For a nation to try and tax itself into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself by the handles". The same can be said for a city such as NYC."

New York Brief   ..."and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's response is sending shockwaves through every boardroom in America.

In this video, we break down exactly what happened, why Griffin walked away, what Mamdani said that should alarm every NYC taxpayer and business owner — and why this pattern has already destroyed Chicago and San Francisco. What we cover:

• Why Ken Griffin pulled Citadel's $9B NYC development project
• Mamdani's shocking response — and what it signals for NYC's economic future
• NYC's $7.3 billion budget gap and what this cancellation means for it
• The Chicago & San Francisco comparison — and why NYC may be next
• What this means for small business owners, renters, and construction workers
• The real cost of anti-investment governance on working-class New Yorkers

Ron Hart: Colbert and Kimmel killed late night comedy

 Ron Hart:

"The great comedy tradition of Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and even David Letterman was ruined by a few arrogant heirs and woke CBS and ABC/Disney executives. They slowly and “woke-ly” suffocated late-night comedy.

Late-night hosts became angry Progressives. Like the legacy media, which had become just a propaganda wing of the Democrat Party, they lost their way. We need an honest, fourth estate (media). I would argue that political satire is the fifth estate. Giving one party a monopoly on either is bad.

The difference in what I do, (in which I state up front that I am a libertarian op-ed humorist) and what Kimmell and Colbert did is that they pretend to be independent arbiters of truth. Their networks are given free airways via the FCC (essentially, a monopoly for 3 channels) to go into almost every household in America.

Political satire, done well, can make people think and speak truth to power. When the Taliban took back Afghanistan when our ill-planned debacle there ended, the first person they killed was a comedian known for making fun of them. It is why I have a pistol by my bed.

Elon Musk opened up social media to a broad range of uncensored views when he bought Twitter, and the stranglehold died. Back then, if you questioned the Russia Hoax, election integrity and forced Covid vaccines you were deplatformed. Thank you Elon; you are a great African-American." . . .

The Satisfying Downfall of Stephen Colbert

"Then Donald Trump came along, and The Late Show became something very different.

"From his early days on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, to the anti-Trump monologues, the election night meltdowns, the “fascist” rants, the voter insults, the CBS cancellation, and the final episode of The Late Show — this is the story of how Stephen Colbert’s comedy career turned into a decade-long obsession with Donald Trump. "CBS said the show ended for financial reasons. But for a host who built his entire late-night identity around attacking Trump, the timing made the ending impossible to ignore.