Three Blind Mice: Victor Davis Hanson Scorches Disgraced University Presidents

  RedState

"We’ve seen it before: you can be fired as a professor or have your admission revoked as a student if you misgender a transgender person or question DEI philosophy. But seeing crowds of their own students and faculty calling for the genocide of the Jewish people, the presidents of several major universities reacted with a… meh.

"Harvard University President Claudine Gay, former University of Pennsylvania head Liz Magill (she resigned under heavy pressure Saturday), and MIT chief Sally Kornbluth all thoroughly embarrassed themselves and our country this week during hearings by the House Committee on Education and Workforce when they failed to condemn the virulent antisemitism on their campuses and the chants for “Intifada Revolution” and Jewish genocide by their students and faculty.

. . ."Senior Hoover Institution Fellow Victor Davis Hanson eviscerated the decline of our once legendary educational institutions in a blistering X thread Saturday, labeling the three school presidents “our three blind mice.”

. . ."The professor, farmer, and prolific author went on to point out that the three are supposed to be the smartest people out there, yet they were “utterly eviscerated by Republican congressional representatives with no such academic credentials.”

When the president of Harvard or MIT is rendered a moral pygmy and intellectual lightweight by our local congressional representatives, it warns us of what higher education has become and perhaps reminds why academics should be kept as far away from governance as possible.

"His final point was that they only issued groveling apologies in the wake of their disastrous congressional testimonies because they saw a threat to their universities' pocketbooks—in the form of withdrawn donations, of which there have been many. 

"But Hanson has a plan:"  But what are its chances?

Hamas kills all creatures, great and small

 Add animal abuse to the long list of crimes by the terrorist group that the left is happy to overlook.

Conservative Review   "When it comes to leftist hypocrisy, we’ll never lack examples. The horror of the October 7 attacks in Israel and the response offer some of the most glaring ones.

"Let’s put aside the brutal torture, dismemberment, and slaughter of innocent civilians. In the erroneous, evil eyes of Hamas sympathizers, those were actions the occupiers brought on themselves. We also shouldn’t be too surprised when murdered babies and kidnapped children are not enough of a reason to be upset. After all, we’re talking about the moral compass of the same people who think children should be removed from their parents if they don’t affirm a new gender identity or support chemical castration.

"Yet one would think the mass rape of women and young girls would generate some sympathy and outrage from the same people who brought us the #MeToo movement and #BringBackOurGirls. Major celebrities like Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie took to social media to draw attention to those trendy causes. Don’t hold your breath waiting for any recognition, let alone action, for the Jewish women of Israel.

"The silence extends to the institutions. The U.N. Women’s Council issued reports and public declarations for the women in Gaza but, of course, left out the women of Israel. Then, 50 days after the attacks, the group posted a condemnation of Hamas and called for the release of hostages — only to delete it. The council finally issued a statement of condemnation a full week later.

"In a modern-day Holocaust denial, the same class of “Believe All Women” champions flatly reject evidence of the extent of depravity and barbarity. The deniers don’t have to claim that the event never happened. They only have to subtly diminish the event with allegations that the details are exaggerated. And somehow, when it comes to Israel, no amount of evidence or accounts from survivors or first responders seems to suffice.

"Hamas’ depravity didn’t end with people, and neither did the intentional ignorance of the social justice warriors. This comes as no surprise. Around this time last year, the Palestinian mayor of Hebron offered a cash reward (roughly $5) for anyone who shot and killed a stray dog.

"Following the radio announcement, footage flooded social media of people torturing and killing dogs. The same mayor was one of four Palestinians responsible for the murder of six Israeli students and the injuring of 16 others in the 1980 Hebron attack. Among the dead were two U.S. citizens and one Canadian national. He was released in a 1983 prisoner exchange. History might not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes." . . .Full Article here

Democratic strategist says 'Christian nationalists' are a bigger threat to US than al-Qaeda. Democrats

  Just The News

Carville said that Johnson's Christian beliefs are a "fundamental threat to the United States."

"Democratic strategist James Carville said that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other "Christian nationalists" are a greater threat to the U.S. than al-Qaeda.

Carville made these remarks during a panel on Bill Maher's "Overtime" segment.

"Mike Johnson and what he believes is one of the greatest threats we have today to the United States," Carville said on Friday, according to Fox News. 

"You're talking about Christian nationalists?" Maher asked in response. 

"Absolutely," Carville answered. "This is a bigger threat than al-Qaeda to this country." 

Carville went on to say that Johnson's Christian beliefs are a "fundamental threat to the United States."

Johnson was elected House speaker earlier this year after the House voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker. 

"And let me tell you something: The speaker of the House, they got probably at least two Supreme Court justices, maybe more, don't kid yourself," Carville added. "People in the press have no idea who this guy is… This is a fundamental threat to the United States. It is a fundamental thing. [They] don't believe in the Constitution."

Maher expressed a similar sentiment during his closing monologue on "Real Time," his Friday night HBO show that precedes "Overtime." He accused Johnson of "religious fanaticism" and of "rooting for the end of the world so we can get on with the Rapture." 

WATCH: Legal Expert Says Hunter’s Latest Indictment Could Crush Joe: ‘Shatters Years Of Denials’

  Trending Politics  "The sudden new indictment of Hunter Biden could spell trouble for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, with at least one legal analyst predicting the president is going to have a difficult time squaring the alleged crimes with his years of denials that his son committed any crime.

"Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, told Sean Hannity on Fox News late Thursday that special counsel David Weiss’s latest charges “shatter years of denials” by President Biden related to his son’s drug addictions and business activities.

Noreika noticed that the deal seemed to give Hunter immunity for any crime going forward and asked the prosecutor if he had ever seen any agreement like this one. He honestly answered “no.”

“Just Rip it Up”: Hunter Biden is a Case Study of the Perils of Legal Gluttony – JONATHAN TURLEY

It was later learned that there was a push within the Justice Department to have no charges at all brought against Hunter in an investigation that was heavily laden with special treatment, according to IRS whistleblowers.

 The second indictment of Hunter Biden brought nine new criminal charges and a host of problems for both him and his father. The indictment shatters past claims and denials related to the massive influence peddling operation by the Bidens. However, it is also a case study of the perils of legal gluttony.

"Five months ago, exasperated Biden defense counsel Chris Clark snapped at federal prosecutors to “just rip it up” after a plea bargain hit a snag in a hearing before Judge Maryellen Noreika. They did and, for the first time, Hunter could be facing a real chance for jail time.

"The six misdemeanor charges and three felonies carry a potential sentence of 17 years for alleged tax evasion and filing a false return. It could have been worse. The Justice Department inexplicably allowed the statute of limitations to run on the most serious allegations involving payments from years going back to 2013. Those are mentioned in the narrative of the indictment but not charged as separate offenses.

"None of this would have happened if Judge Noreika did not ask a very simple question about the plea agreement and a sweeping immunity provision buried in its language. Many judges would have likely flagged through the agreement and given Hunter the sweetest of sweetheart deals." . . .

Hunter Biden Hit With Nine Federal Charges Related to Four-Year Tax Evasion Scheme › American Greatness (amgreatness.com)  "The charges, which include evasion of taxes, failure to file/pay taxes, and false/fraudulent tax return, were brought by Special Counsel David Weiss in the Central District of California. The case was assigned to Judge Mark Scarsi, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison, according to Weiss’ office. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

"The 56-page court filing details Hunter’s “four-year scheme” to avoid paying over $1 million in tax obligations and to file false returns.

"The indictment says that Hunter Biden “individually received more than $7 million in total gross income” between 2016 and mid-October 2020, but “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes”

“The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019,” Weiss said in the  indictment.

" 'In furtherance of that scheme,” according to Weiss,  Hunter “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions from Owasco PC” and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.”

“Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” Weiss said.

"The indictment includes a summary of expenditures Hunter made instead of paying his taxes." . . .

The Doomsday Cult Needs To Recalculate Its Many Failed Predictions

  Issues & Insights

"Five years ago, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown said, with great certainty, that “in less than five years, even the worst skeptics will be believers.” While we’re not sure why some skeptics are in his mind worse than others, it’s clear that he was wrong.

"Wrong as the prediction of the end of snow was wrong. Just as wrong as Prince Charles, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Al Gore, celebrated activist James Hansen and the tiresome, we’ll-have-no-coal John Kerry declaring we have fewer than 100 months or 12 years or 10 years or four years or 500 days to save Earth from the menace of man-made global warming.

"We’ve had a half-century of various failed climate and ecological predictions, 18 of them “spectacularly wrong,” yet the carbon-obsessed doomsayers continue to insist that a planetary tragedy is imminent. The difference between them and the end-of-the-world cults that have to recalculate the day of the apocalypse when their prophecies come and go without incident is that much of the Western world has bought into the climate zealots’ hysteria.

"In addition to the many botched timeline predictions, there is also the temperature dashboard warning light message. Once we reach a global temperature that is 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than that of the preindustrial era (whatever that was), we will have arrived at a disastrous threshold. Never mind that there is no such thing as a measurable global temperature, or that the temperature record is unreliable, or that the 1.5 degrees was not established by science but a number agreed upon in order to forge a climate agreement.

"And never mind that somehow we have essentially hit that 1.5 degrees Celsius tipping point (the climate holocaust should materialize any day now, right? – the lunatics at the Guardian of course say we’re on the verge of catastrophe) and at the same time, the Associated Press reports “the world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago.” 

"Regarding the latter, for any rational group of people, that would be cause for a thorough reevaluation." . . .

Harvard president criticized after testimony on campus anti-Semitism

 MagnifyPost.com

"The president of Harvard University on Wednesday faced criticism and calls for her resignation over her comments at a Capitol Hill hearing on campus anti-Semitism.

"The deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas militants has ignited tensions on many American college campuses, with protests flaring.

"At Harvard, donors have specifically called for President Claudine Gay to offer more explicit support for Israel, and condemnation of student groups who have voiced support for the Palestinian people.

"On Tuesday, Gay testified before the House Education Committee at a hearing dedicated to holding campus leaders accountable for anti-Semitic incidents.

"Republican lawmaker Elise Stefanik likened student calls for a new intifada — an Arabic word for uprising that harks back to the first Palestinian revolt against Israel in 1987 — to inciting “genocide against the Jewish people in Israel and globally.”

"When Stefanik asked Gay if such calls would violate Harvard’s code of conduct, the Harvard president said: “We embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.”

"When speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment or intimidation, we take action.”

"Stefanik called on Gay to immediately resign, while Republican Senator Ted Cruz called the comment “disgraceful.” . . .

Harvard President Faces Uproar Over Refusal to Punish Students for ‘Intifada’ Chants - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics "Harvard University President Claudine Gay has faced fierce criticism in recent days for not pursuing public disciplinary action against students who last week engaged in “intifada” chants, which call for violence against Jews and Israel. On Nov. 27, for instance, Harvard sophomore Kojo Acheampong led students in chanting, “Long live Palestine; long live the intifada; intifada, intifada; globalize the intifada.” And on Nov. 29, students disrupted classes with bullhorns to levy their anti-Semitic chants, including “globalize the intifada,” as part of their “week of action.”

"In a congressional hearing Tuesday on how colleges have handled the rush of anti-Semitism on their campuses, GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik pressed Gay on whether Harvard has a policy of permitting students to participate in “intifada” chants. Gay refused to answer but suggested that such chants are permitted speech at Harvard. (READ MORE: Billionaire Donors Revolt Against Harvard)

"Gay said, “We embrace a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful. It’s when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying.” Stefanik answered, “Does that speech not cross that barrier? Does that speech not call for the genocide of Jews and the elimination of Israel?” When Stefanik continued to ask Gay whether “intifada” chants violate Harvard’s code of conduct, Gay responded, “We embrace a commitment to free expression.”

"Harvard Hillel, a Jewish organization at Harvard, last week described the “intifada” chants as “abhorrent antisemetic [sic] calls” and asserted that they call “for genocide and anti-Jewish violence throughout the world.” Such chants, it claims, “are not protected by the University’s free speech guidelines” — and neither are “interruptions of classes.' ” . . .

The Doomsday Cult Needs To Recalculate Its Many Failed Predictions –

 If not for the “worst” and best among the skeptics, the climate faithful would have free rein to make our lives worse with insect diets, carbon passports, EV mandates, energy shortages and exorbitant prices that cause death, primitive heating methods and a number of other prohibitions and requirements – and have nothing to show for it. 

 Issues & Insights   "Five years ago, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown said, with great certainty, that “in less than five years, even the worst skeptics will be believers.” While we’re not sure why some skeptics are in his mind worse than others, it’s clear that he was wrong.

"Wrong as the prediction of the end of snow was wrong. Just as wrong as Prince Charles, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Al Gore, celebrated activist James Hansen and the tiresome, we’ll-have-no-coal John Kerry declaring we have fewer than 100 months or 12 years or 10 years or four years or 500 days to save Earth from the menace of man-made global warming.

"We’ve had a half-century of various failed climate and ecological predictions, 18 of them “spectacularly wrong,” yet the carbon-obsessed doomsayers continue to insist that a planetary tragedy is imminent. The difference between them and the end-of-the-world cults that have to recalculate the day of the apocalypse when their prophecies come and go without incident is that much of the Western world has bought into the climate zealots’ hysteria.

"In addition to the many botched timeline predictions, there is also the temperature dashboard warning light message. Once we reach a global temperature that is 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than that of the preindustrial era (whatever that was), we will have arrived at a disastrous threshold. Never mind that there is no such thing as a measurable global temperature, or that the temperature record is unreliable, or that the 1.5 degrees was not established by science but a number agreed upon in order to forge a climate agreement.

"And never mind that somehow we have essentially hit that 1.5 degrees Celsius tipping point (the climate holocaust should materialize any day now, right? – the lunatics at the Guardian of course say we’re on the verge of catastrophe) and at the same time, the Associated Press reports “the world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago.” 

"Regarding the latter, for any rational group of people, that would be cause for a thorough reevaluation." . . .

Hamas fighters surrender in droves, and their photos tell an interesting story -

 Andrea Widburg  "Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended, Israel has been pushing forward relentlessly to destroy every Hamas stronghold, whether above or below ground. In Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s last redoubts, the Hamas fighters finally decided against martyrdom and surrendered en masse. There are a few notable things about the surrendering of Hamas troops, and they destroy some of the propaganda we’ve heard so much about.

"First, here are the stills and video of the surrendered Hamas men:" . . .

"What you should immediately notice is that they’re not being slaughtered or tortured. In this regard, the Israeli approach is very different from what happens when Arabs get their hands on enemy soldiers that they don’t intend to keep alive as hostages for bartering. In 2000, when West Bankians got hold of two Israeli soldiers, they ripped them apart and showed their blood-stained hands to the cheering crowd. In warfare, the Arabs are indistinguishable from stone-aged tribes.

"The Hamas prisoners have been stripped down to their undies, which is the most obvious way to protect against any of them having concealed weapons or explosives. Their semi-nudity allows one to see the other notable thing, which Bonchie pointed out at Red State:

The war against Hamas is now two months old, with the initial attack from the terrorists coming on October 7th. During that time, we've been assured that everyone is starving in Gaza due to the evil siege being carried out by Israel. In that picture, though, I see a whole lot of man boobs and beer guts. What does that tell you? It tells you that Hamas has been stealing aid and keeping its fighters well-fed as they cower underground.

"Yes, they’re fat. That being the case, you can recognize the lie behind the claim coming from Hamas and its fellow travelers that the men detained are civilians:. . .

Since a friend who has nothing to do with Hamas has reported that his 13 year old nephew, brother & father have all been kidnapped by the Israeli military in Gaza, this is likely the mass arrest of random Palestinian civilian men and boys under the guise of a "surrender." https://t.co/vAHQBe6Wyz

— Omar Baddar عمر بدّار (@OmarBaddar) December 7, 2023

. . ."If these fat men are civilians, the claimed food shortages have been greatly exaggerated. Alternatively, if they are, indeed, Hamas fighters, then Gaza operates on the North Korean principle, which is that you feed the soldiers and starve the citizens. Either way, it’s not a good look for Hamas.

"There’s one more thing to keep in mind, which gives me the opportunity to show you a Twitter thread I’ve been hanging onto about the claimed casualties in Gaza, which ascend daily in ways that only credulous supporters (including the world’s media) could accept. As Aizenberg points out, it’s not just that the numbers are crazy. It’s also that the women and children are doing all the dying. If these people are, in fact, civilians, while the women and children are starving and dying, their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons have been living high on the hog. (And yes, I used the “hog” expression on purpose.)"

The author gives us both sides of the argument as to whether these men are fighters or shopkeepers.

World, National...State: the growth of Islamism

 

‘They Forgot to Be Afraid’   . . ."The cacophony overhead masked the sound of gunfire and bulldozers breaking down fences. Snipers took aim at the cameras overlooking the border, while remotely operated drones dropped small bombs on automated watchtowers and cellular transponders. The timing was so precise that “all our screens turned off in almost the exact same second,” one soldier in a command center told investigators. Within minutes, the most powerful military in the Middle East was blind." . . .

Harvard's President Erases Jews

. . ."Why would Gay struggle with such a question? The answer was revealed late in the hearing. Rep. Kathy Manning, Democrat of North Carolina and the former chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, said the following to Gay: “I understand that you have condemned the phrase ‘from the river to the sea.’ But I also know that the Harvard School of Public Health has a course called The Settler Colonial Determinants of Health that introduces students to the concept of settler-colonialism and its health-equity implication. It uses case studies in the United States and Palestine and talks about poorer health outcomes for indigenous and other non-settler communities. President Gay, are you aware that Jews are indeed indigenous to the land of Israel and have lived there for 2,000 years?”

"Gay: “I do know about the long history.”

"Manning: “So what is Harvard doing to educate members of the community about these phrases and other false accusations that Israel is a racist, settler-colonialist, apartheid state even as Harvard is actually teaching courses with the underlying premise that Israel is a settler-colonialist state?”. . .

Newsom Cancels Public Christmas Tree–Lighting amid Planned Pro-Palestinian Protests (capoliticalreview.com)    "California governor Gavin Newsom will conduct tonight’s Christmas tree–lighting at California’s state capitol virtually, amid threats from pro-Palestinian protesters.

"The Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights announced that it would protest at the state capitol on Tuesday night — the same night Newsom was set to direct the annual Christmas tree–lighting ceremony. The group told KCRA Channel 3 that it wants to “out governor Gavin Newsom for hiding from the public because he doesn’t want to face their anger at his shameful stance in regard to the genocide in Gaza.”  Genocide? That was Hamas goal with their attack!

“Governor Newsom decided to cancel the tree-lighting ceremony rather than face the public that is enraged by his shameful silence on the genocide in Gaza. This certainly doesn’t add up with his past stance with Native Americans,” Yassar Dahbour of the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights said.

"According to the local outlet, California Highway Patrol’s permit calendar originally slated a tree-lighting ceremony for Tuesday evening but had removed the event from the calendar as of Tuesday morning. The ceremony will now be held remotely, and California Highway Patrol has barricaded the area where the tree is located. Signage around the capitol building warns that trespassers will be arrested and prosecuted.". . .Click here to read the full article on National Review

How to impress your Jewish friends on Hanukkah (or is it Chanukah?) |

 Adam Sandler shows the hows and whos of Hanukkah

. . ." Say it, don't spell it

"Guess what — Jews don't actually care how you spell Hanukkah. Most days I can't even spell it without the help of Google. Ya know, get it wrong by missing an "n" or adding a "k." The Hebrew? ( חֲנֻכָּה,) Forget about it.

"But please, if you do wanna wish me a happy one, try to avoid using the "ch" sound, like cheese. Cha-NOO-Ka. Wrong. Just wrong. Adam Sandler was just joking, OK?"  

13 Hanukkah Facts Every Jew Should Know - Chabad.org

Private Jets Headed To Global Warming Conference Literally Frozen On Runway

 Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: Private Jets Headed To Global Warming Conference Literally Frozen On Runway (ibloga.blogspot.com)

Private jets in Munich on the way to Dubai global warming conference are literally frozen on the runway, which has turned into a glacier. https://t.co/Q2s9J5cLkE

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) December 2, 2023

 

Hamas Terrorists Surrender en Masse, and the Photos and Videos Are Telling

 WATCH: Hamas Terrorists Surrender en Masse, and the Photos and Videos Are Telling – RedState

The war against Hamas is now two months old, with the initial attack from the terrorists coming on October 7th. During that time, we've been assured that everyone is starving in Gaza due to the evil siege being carried out by Israel. In that picture, though, I see a whole lot of man boobs and beer guts. What does that tell you? It tells you that Hamas has been stealing aid and keeping its fighters well-fed as they cower underground. 

"Photos and videos of Hamas fighters stripped to their underwear have begun to circulate showing the sheer numbers of prisoners being taken.  

Every single member and supporter of Hamas needs to see this picture.
Let their spirit be utterly broken.
Let them surrender in their droves.
And let this war end so that peaceful people in Israel and Gaza can simply live their lives. pic.twitter.com/Y1Sivm4MSK

— (((Emanuel Miller))) 🇮🇱 (@emanumiller) December 7, 2023

"I look forward to the United Nations and the rest of the "international community" claiming that strip-searching terrorists before detaining them is somehow a violation of the laws of war. We all know that's coming, and there have already been a myriad of articles (such as this one from Reuters) quoting "Gaza health officials" claiming humanitarian abuses." . . . 

"To its credit, Israel is ignoring all the noise, including coming from the Biden administration, and is focusing on its ultimate goal. PM Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking for the current unity government, has said that destroying Hamas is how this ends, and the IDF is continuing that pursuit. Some reports have even put Yahya Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas, in tunnels underneath Khan Younis. If that turns out to be true, Israel could be closing in on delivering its biggest blow yet. 

"Returning to the pictures of Hamas terrorists being taken prisoner, there are some things to note. Take this one on the beach as an example. 

Thank you Hashem for letting the Jewish people start Hanukah with a smile thanks to this mass surrender of Hamas terrorists in Gaza. This should be the first of many! Thank you, IDF! 🙏🇮🇱💪❤️ pic.twitter.com/ECEu4j7dUu

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) December 7, 2023