Political Activism, Institutional Failure, and Anti-Intellectualism in America

Free thought is a thing of the past now. TD

 Lars Møller - American Thinker  "The West shares an old problem with the rest of the world: the constant menace of totalitarian zealots determined to interfere in the lives of others, however they brand themselves ideologically, citing religious or political dogma.

"What sets the West apart is that it has actually been the home of free thought since the Enlightenment. However, the pressure on freedom worldwide has been growing; there is no such thing as eternal peace. Civilization depends on solidly founded institutions for its lasting protection against barbarism—and as always, the Jews are the canary in the coalmine. Totalitarianism, whether it marches under the banners of fascism, socialism, or Islamism, has the Jews and free society as its enemies." . . .

"Held back by indecision, authorities allowed a general atmosphere of anarchy to paralyze large parts of society, notably in cities like Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle. At the time, slogans such as “defund the police” echoed in the streets. Revolution was in the air. A motley crew of self-styled “leaders,” who all had issues with the present society, mingled with the crowd and called for a fight against “capitalism,” “colonialism” (past and present), “Zionism,” and “moral traditionalism,” which included “sexual conventionalism.” The perception that the most savage attacks on social order were somehow legitimate, combined with the absence of law enforcement, emboldened every resentful maladaptee. Now was the chance to take revenge on the world.

"Like socialist agitators of the past, the leaders of Black Lives Matter (BLM) knew how to play the game—they were “trained” Marxists after all. Impatient to exploit the momentum and rally the protesters around a common cause, they leaned towards conspiratorial rhetoric. It represents a strategy well-known from the recruitment of the street mob: Blame everybody but yourself for the misfortunes of your life (e.g. “white bigots,” “capitalists,” or “Jews”—depending on the political season). Rather than having to account for anything, the terrifying brigades of covetous, envious, and maladapted souls could now, inspired by BLM, plead their victimhood." . . .Much more here.

On Claudine Gay of Harvard

 

• "Harvard President Claudine Gay prompted an uproar telling Congress that penalizing students espousing genocide depends on the context. She needs to work on her replies. Claudine Gay was informed that she's being investigated for forty cases of academic plagiarism, and she replied, copy that!" Argus Hamilton

Harvard president Claudine Gay is now accused of botching study that landed her major tenure at Stanford and refusing to share research with professors who questioned her thesis over 'logical inconsistencies' | Daily Mail Online    "Harvard's embattled president is facing yet further questions about her academic record, after a statistics expert challenged the data used in a report which helped win her tenure at Stanford.

"Claudine Gay, who took over as president in July, has been at the center of a firestorm since the October 7 Hamas attacks. She was seemingly slow to condemn students who justified the terrorist violence, and slow to speak out against antisemitism on campus.

"The harsh spotlight has spread to her academic record, with accusations of plagiarism - and on Tuesday, a data scientist challenged her analytical methods. It was then revealed that she had refused to share her data, raising eyebrows in academia." . . .

Claudine Gay Was Pretty Cagey About Her 2001 Research Paper That Got Her Tenure (townhall.com)   . . ."Yes, there’s nuance regarding free speech, and there would have been a way to thread that needle, as FIRE president Greg Lukianoff noted with Bill Maher, but the three women came off as exceedingly apathetic to the growing calls from the far left to kill all Jews. Murder isn’t an academic exercise, ladies, and neither are these situations. There was a heinous terrorist attack against Israel on October 7; people have acted on these chants. Magill lost her president’s office at UPenn over this public relations fiasco. Gay remains safely sheltered under an umbrella of Harvard’s pro-terrorist and antisemitic faculty. Yet, the plagiarism scandal that’s bubbled up from this is more damning than the antisemitism-enabling episode before lawmakers. 

"Gay has hinged her career and reputation on these words, some of which are copied word-for-word with no attribution. This unrelated incident has snowballed to the point where a new review should be initiated, not just the one previously conducted by Harvard, who admitted they found “duplicative language” in Gay’s work. Even CNN has even pointed out instances of plagiarism in her career. Now, we learn that she was cagey about sharing the data from her 2001 paper, which got her tenure tracked at Stanford (via NY Post):" . . . 

Argus Hamilton's Rogue Report -

  Argus Hamilton (jewishworldreview.com)  • King Charles delivered the Christmas Day message wishing compassion and peace to all three religious faiths descended from Abraham. I concur. It's the time of year to say Merry Christmas to Christians, Happy Hanukkah to Jews, and for the purposes of inclusion, Allah Akbar to the Terrorists.

• New York began making security preparations to host one million revelers in Times Square for the televised Ball Drop ceremony bringing in the New Year on Sunday night. I need to come up a New Year's resolution I can keep. I can't believe it's been a year since I failed to become a better person.

• A N.Y. federal judge ordered the unsealing of Jeffrey Epstein's flight lists to Pedophile Island on his airliner called the Lolita Express. It's a revelation that some Senators are trying to stifle. A lot of powerful politicians are late bloomers, and many of them didn't have a high school girlfriend until they were forty.

• Harvard President Claudine Gay prompted an uproar telling Congress that penalizing students espousing genocide depends on the context. She needs to work on her replies. Claudine Gay was informed that she's being investigated for forty cases of academic plagiarism, and she replied, copy that!

• Business Insider reported Monday that Russia and China are very close to signing a mutual defense treaty to take on the United States. The president reacted quickly to reassure Americans. President Biden stated that anybody killed during World War III will have their student loans forgiven.

• President Biden spent Christmas at Camp David last weekend but not before he scolded the press before boarding the helicopter and demanded more positive coverage about the economy. The president may not grasp what inflation is doing to shopping. It now takes two Karen's to complain to the manager.

• President Biden granted all federal employees a five percent raise Thursday even though many admit they are still working from home. I now understand why these infrastructure projects aren't getting done. Nothing slows down Build Back Better like a trip to the refrigerator every twenty minutes.

• The White House posted a video of President Biden and First Lady Jill reciting The Night before Christmas Monday. It gets even more heartwarming. You can go to the White House Gift Shop website today and order a children's book illustrated by Hunter Biden called Hookers and Blow Save Christmas.

• Iran vowed revenge against Israel Monday after an Israeli missile targeted Iran's Revolutionary Guard leader Sayyed Mousavi in Damascus while he was walking down the street. Well that's show business for you. One day you're all over the newspapers, and the next day you're all over the pavement. . . .

Top 3 craziest transgender stories of 2023

 Campus Reform  "On a phone call with an unnamed university official, a citizen journalist received clarification that transgender women could be housed with biological females anonymously."  

"Transgender ideology on college campuses has led to the teaching of new material in courses, new rules, and new ridiculous rhetoric being accepted by faculty, staff, and students nationwide.

Campus Reform has compiled a list of this year’s top 3 craziest transgender stories. 

3. THE SCROLL: male ‘sorority girl’ cries with joy that he can keep ogling female members "The male sorority member who won a lawsuit against the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Wyoming cried when he found out he was allowed to stay in the sorority.

"Journalist Oli London posted a picture on Twitter of Wyoming sorority member Artemis Langford crying after a judge dismissed the sorority’s lawsuit against him. The photo itself came from a puff piece in the Washington Post detailing the circumstances of the case. 

2. Catholic school allows trans students to live in dorms associated with their perceived gender identity   "A video released on May 10 by O’Keefe Media Group reveals that the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota allows transgender students to live in dorms associated with their perceived gender identity without the knowledge of other students.  

1. EXCLUSIVE: Flyers at Christian university compare opposing trans ideology to ‘genocide’  “How far has the anti-trans movement advanced along these stages [of genocide]?” a flyer posted to a Pepperdine University bullet board, called the “Freedom Wall,” questions. 

'Sometime between Mar. 27-28, a series of flyers addressing conservatives who object to transgender ideology were anonymously posted to a community bulletin board at the Christian university in California. The postings coincided with “Trans Week of Visibility.” 

'Every flyer featured one of the ten stages of genocide, relating each to the “anti-trans movement”; seemingly comparing the Holocaust to the conservative movement to oppose transgender ideology, irreversible surgery and hormone blockers for minors, and related ideas and practices.'

Silence In The Face Of Hamas’ Hospital Atrocities Will Ensure More Civilians Die

The Federalist

Few of the facts seem to matter as international organizations and the press ignore documented evidence of al-Shifa Hospital’s military use.

"For weeks, Hamas has denied it was using al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical complex, as a base of operations. Captured Hamas terrorists tell a different story. They admit to using hospitals for military purposes as well as hiding places for their superiors.

"Ahmed Kahlot, the arrested director of the Kamal Edwan hospital in Gaza, recently confessed to Israel’s domestic security agency, “Hamas has offices inside the hospitals. There are places for senior officials, they also brought a kidnapped soldier there. There is a designated place for investigations, internal security, and special security. They all have private phone lines inside the hospital.” Still, many in the media, and especially the United Nations and International Red Cross, supposedly designed to protect civilian lives, have yet to offer an unequivocal condemnation of the usage. When it comes to Hamas’ usage of al-Shifa and other commandeered hospitals, the international community has abdicated its responsibility. Indeed, the effective silence of the rest of the world only ensures that Hamas will continue to rely on civilian structures "Despite corporate news outlets, such as The New York Times, attempting to portray Hamas’ usage of hospitals as a contested matter, it is not. Hamas has a long and storied history of utilizing civilian facilities — such as hospitals, schools, and mosques — for its military and terrorism operations. As the military engagement continues, rife with accusatory misreporting, it is worth recalling the illustrative instance of al-Shifa Hospital in particular, a civilian medical complex that has served as the headquarters for Hamas’ operations." . . .

New! Happy Kwanzaa! The Holiday Brought to You by the FBI

Ann Coulter

"Kwanzaa emerged not from Africa, but from the FBI's COINTELPRO. It is a holiday celebrated exclusively by idiot white liberals. Black Americans celebrate Christmas."

"One of this year's major news stories is how Republicans, like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, are trying to BAN the teaching of history -- which, as everyone knows, consists exclusively of lessons about slavery; queer studies; Lewis Latimer, the black inventor of the lightbulb ("not a white guy named Edison," as President Biden said); "mass incarceration"; Jim Crow; Emmett Till; Cleopatra, who was black (according to Netflix, over the outraged objections of the Egyptians); Garrett Morgan, traffic light inventor; Rosa Parks, and so on.

"Well, today is Kwanzaa, so here's some of that history that liberals are so red-hot for.

"Celebrated exclusively by white liberals, Kwanzaa is a fake holiday invented in 1966 by black radical/FBI stooge Ron Karenga -- aka Dr. Maulana Karenga, founder of United Slaves, the violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers. Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural gibberish that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga's United Slaves.

"In what was ultimately a foolish gambit, during the madness of the '60s, the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the group, the better. (It's the same function #BlackLivesMatter serves today.)

"By that criterion, Karenga's United Slaves was perfect.

"Despite modern perceptions that blend all the black activists of the '60s, the Black Panthers did not hate whites. Although some of their most high-profile leaders were drug dealers and murderers, they did not seek armed revolution.

"Those were the precepts of Karenga's United Slaves. The United Slaves were proto-fascists, walking around in dashikis, gunning down Black Panthers and adopting invented "African" names. (I will not be shooting any Black Panthers this week because I am Kwanzaa-reform, and we are not that observant.)

"It's as if David Duke invented a holiday called "Anglika," which he based on the philosophy of "Mein Kampf" -- and clueless public schoolteachers began celebrating the made-up, racist holiday." . . .

Tom Smothers Dead: Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Co-Host Was 86

  The Hollywood Reporter   Tom Smothers, the countercultural comedy icon admired for the 1960s variety program he created and hosted with his younger brother, Dick, and for the tenacity he displayed in frequent clashes with CBS censors, has died. 

"Smothers died peacefully at his home on Tuesday with his family at his side following a recent battle with cancer, according to a statement brother and co-star Dick Smothers in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday by a spokesman for the National Comedy Center. 

“ 'Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” Dick said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday by a spokesman for the National Comedy Center. “I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage – the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.' ”

Hamas Rejects Egyptian Ceasefire Plan Requiring Relinquishing Gaza Control

 Sinwar Says “Crushed” IDF (legalinsurrection.com)   . . ."Netanyahu also told the families of remaining hostages that the military campaign would continue and intensify (emphasis added):

I want to tell you, members of Knesset and dear families, we would not have succeeded in freeing more than 100 hostages thus far without military pressure. All the pressures that we are applying, diplomatic, intelligence and others, would not succeed without military pressure. We will not be able to release all the hostages without military pressure, operational pressure, diplomatic pressure. And therefore there is one thing we will not do—we will not stop fighting.

I came here directly from Gaza. Just an hour ago, I was in the Salatin neighborhood, which abuts Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya. There, in the dust and the mud and among the ruins, I met the heroic and determined fighters of the Bahad 1 reserves brigade. You should hear them. I spoke with Brigade Commander Yehuda, who commands the reserves brigade. I asked him what they most needed. He told me that there are battles all the time and that they killed terrorists, and that unfortunately they lost several of their brothers-in-arms, but that they keep fighting. They kill terrorists all the time, day in and day out, even on an hourly basis. I asked him, ‘What do you need the most?’ And he answered, ‘Time. We need time.’

We need to keep going until the end. I spoke with Uri, a battalion commander in the reserves. He is a father of eight children. Five of his family members are fighting in Gaza. He told me, ‘We need to keep going until the end.’ He hasn’t been home in two months. He told me, ‘My wife is at home and tells me to take two more months. Take however long it takes. To the end.’

I heard similar statements from the family members of our brave fallen soldiers. You should hear them. They speak with broken hearts and with tears in their eyes, but I must tell you, with their heads held high. They weep and I embrace them, and they stand with their heads held high. From the depths of their grief, they cry out, ‘Our children did not die in vain. We cannot stop the war until we ensure total victory over those who seek to kill us.’

To you, IDF soldiers, and to you, hurting families and relatives of the hostages, and from this podium, I say: We are not stopping and we will not stop until we are victorious, because we have no country but this one, and we have no other way. Together with you, together with every home in Israel and every citizen of Israel, I pray for the well-being of our hostages, our brothers and sisters: ‘Our brothers, the entire family of Israel, who are delivered into distress and captivity, whether they are on sea or dry land – may God have mercy on them and remove them from stress to relief, from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption now, speedily and soon.’

"The reference to “I have no other country” must have been deliberate."

Half of U.S. Buick Dealers Take Buyouts Rather Than Sell EV’s

 (legalinsurrection.com)   "The market for electric vehicles isn’t as robust as climate cultists and their media minions would have Americans believe.

"A few weeks ago, I reported that car dealerships across the country were begging Biden to use his pen-and-phone to rescind the mandate to end unrealistic EV mandates that have sprung up in blue states.

"In another article, I noted Congress budgeted $7.5 billion to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country, and none had yet been built. Since then, one tax-payer funded EV charging station was built. In London, Ohio, and apparently, no one is using it.

"There are even more signs that the American public is pushing back against this net-zero nonsense.

"General Motors is relearning an important lesson in capitalism: Smart businesses don’t sell things customers aren’t buying.

"General Motors bought out roughly half of Buick dealers across the U.S. due to their reluctance to sell electric vehicles as the automaker looks to transition to EVs.

"About half of GM’s 2,000 Buick dealers accepted the voluntary buyout. The program remains open so additional dealers may opt to take the buyout instead of making the EV-related investments that GM required for them to continue selling Buicks, as GM is planning for the brand’s vehicles to be 100% electric by 2030.

WATCH: Delta Employee Schools Transgender Activist Whining About Being Misgendered

  PJ Media 

What I love about this video is that the Delta agent made it clear that he wasn't taking any of Dorfman's crap. Dorfman isn't a victim here. He's just a whining activist who expects everyone to affirm his delusion.

Watch it here.

   "Over the weekend, a man who pretends he’s a woman recorded an exchange between himself and an employee of Delta Airlines, whom he accused of “misgendering” him. The clip went viral, though most of the reaction I’ve seen has been in praise of the Delta employee, who wasn’t taking the man’s crap during the busy holiday travel season at La Guardia Airport.

"According to Newsweek, the triggered traveler is actor Tommy Dorfman, 31, who appeared on the Netflix show "13 Reasons Why," which ended in 2020. He decided to identify as a woman the following year.

"The video, which Dorfman originally posted on TikTok, starts in the middle of the exchange. 

"And what about when a Delta employee misgenders you intentionally?” he says from behind the camera.

" 'I'm so sorry,” the agent says to a woman off-camera. “While she’s — he's talking, you're talking over him."

"You just misgendered me again multiple times; both of you have,” Dorfman complained.

"It wasn't intentional, but if you want to take it personally, that's also okay,” the agent told him. 

"Well, she did do it intentionally twice,” Dorfman said.

"I did not do it intentionally,” a woman off camera, presumably another agent, insisted.

Related: Preferred Pronouns or Prison? I’ll Take Prison

"You said 'she,' and then you said 'he,'” Dorfman pointed out.

"You're being condescending. And if you want to continue, I have full authority to escort you out of the building right this moment if you want to play that game with me. ". . .

Like Bud Light, Harvard discovers backlash

 Don Surber

The damage came quicker and deeper than anyone could imagine. At least one law firm dropped recruiting Harvard grads. Kids who applied for Harvard and were accepted are rejecting Harvard!

"On October 7, the Palestinian army broke its 15th ceasefire, invaded Israel, raped and slaughtered hundreds, took hostages, and then stole back to Gaza City which is a cover for the 300 miles of tunnels and fortifications below ground which Palestinians use to launch terrorist attacks on Israel.

The UN said nothing, instead it waited until Israel’s inevitable response so it could condemn Israel because the UN has become the Nazis it was formed to fight.

The reaction in the United States was heartening but also sad. Most of the nation rallied behind Israel in a manner not seen in decades, but the young lefties aped academia and condemned Israel.

"For example, Canary Mission reported that Omer Bartov is a professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the Department of History at Brown.

He blamed Israel for Palestinians raping, torturing, murdering and mutilating Israelis on October 7.

"Bartov wrote, “On 7 October, this repressed reality literally exploded in the country’s face. This was an event waiting to happen. If you keep over 2 million people under siege for 16 years, cramped in a narrow strip of land, without enough work, proper sanitation, food, water, energy and education, with no hope or future prospects, you cannot but expect outbreaks of ever more desperate and brutal violence, inexcusable as those atrocities were.”

"Israel gave Palestinians Gaza and provided them food, fuel and water. But hating Jews helps advance one’s career in the Ivy League.

"Republicans who control the House called in the heads of MIT, Harvard and Penn to answer why it was OK for students to attack Jews.

"Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked them repeatedly whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their rules on speech. The three presidents — all women — responded with smirks. Their performance was so terrible that the New York Times headlined its report, “College Presidents Under Fire After Dodging Questions About Anti-Semitism.”

"Worse, donors very publicly withdrew. Penn’s Liz Magill was smart enough to resign and go back to her day job as a law professor at the school.

"But Harvard’s Claudine Gay is weathering the storm which is heading to hurricane level. Zero has got her back.

"The New York Post reported, “Former President Barack Obama has secretly lobbied Harvard University officials to stick by embattled President Claudine Gay as she faces pressure to resign for giving cover to anti-Semitism on campus and for committing plagiarism.”

"Obama backing her damages his brand too. Brilliant!" . . .

Hundreds of California Pizza Hut locations announce ‘no more delivery’

 Olivia Murray - American Thinker   "Imagine if you will, a world in which businesses exist to make a profit, and free people consent to labor for these businesses in exchange for pay, and then a government comes in and legislates that these businesses pay their new employees a price they cannot (or do not want to) afford, so they eliminate the positions, fire the workers, and remove a service to paying customers they once provided—and certain people (read, average Democrat voters) still can’t figure out what factor in the equation caused the whole mess.

"See a new report below, published by CBS News yesterday:

California Pizza Hut operators cutting all delivery driver jobs in 2024 due to minimum wage increase

Two Pizza Hut franchise operators with hundreds of stores across California will lay off all delivery drivers in February, according to a report by Business Insider. That's more than 1,200 jobs.
…

Business Insider says the Pizza Hut franchisees explain they are cutting all delivery driver positions as the company braces for California's minimum wage increase for fast food workers coming in 2024.

California-based fast food chains with 60 or more locations nationwide will have to begin paying employees $20 an hour in April, higher than the state minimum wage of $16 that becomes law on Jan. 1." . . .