Anti-Semitism on Campus?

For John, BLUF:  This situation is unaccpetable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Majority of Jewish college students feel unsafe on campus, poll finds

Here is the sub-headline:

Also, 50 percent feel the need to hide their Jewish identity, survey finds

From The College Fix, by Mr Charles Hilu, 27 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

A majority of American Jewish college students feel unsafe on campus, and another 50 percent feel the need to hide their Jewish identity, according to the results of a newly released poll.

Specifically, 65 percent of students who openly identify as Jewish reported feeling unsafe due to anti-Semitism on campus, according to the poll, released Sept. 20 by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

“The first poll to specifically examine rates of anti-Semitism among college students who claim a strong sense of Jewish identity and connection to Israel finds that, among this group, students are feeling unsafe and, as a result, are learning that to avoid anti-Semitism they must view their religion as something to hide, not celebrate,” the center said in a news release.

Is this a case of authentic anti-Semitism or is this a case of all, or most, college students being hyper alert to possible slights?  Neither is a good thing, but the idea of anti-Semitism running rampent across our campuses, across our Country, is the more disturbing.  I thought that by 1945 we had figured out the ugly outcomes of anti-Semitism.  People used to say "Never Again".

Assuming that we are not dealing with the outcome of the Corbynization of the Democratic Party, with it attendent anti-Semitism, then it falls to College Officials, and Professors, and parents to fix this problem.  By the time our youth make it to college they should be able to interact with different groups, treating all with respect and accepting that many may have different views, but those views are their right under our First Amendment.  Our college bound students should understand that give and take and openness to other ideas, if just for the purposes of understanding, is fundamental to going to college.  That seems to be missing.

UPDATE:  I just came across tthis in The Washington Free Beacon:  "Anti-Semitic Attacks in 2020 Outnumbered Attacks Against Muslims, Asians, Transgender People Combined".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

An Economics Question

For John, BLUF:  We have Fiat money since 1971.  That is, our money is a medium of exchange because we agree to give it a value.  Without that, it is useless paper.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

What Happened in 1971? Edward Snowden and Jack Dorsey Want to Know

Here is the sub-headline:

Something huge happened in 1971.  And both Edward Snowden and Jack Dorsey are asking the same question.

From Foundation for Economic Education, by Mr Jon Miltimore, 27 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

In mid August, Twitter Founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a strange hashtag: #WTFHappenedin1971.

A few weeks later, Edward Snowden, the CIA subcontractor turned whistleblower who revealed the NSA’s unlawful mass surveillance program, shared a similar post.

It’s unclear if Dorsey and Snowden have similar ideological views, but it’s clear both men are seeking answers to the same question (or prompting others to look themselves): what in the world happened in 1971?

For those who aren’t aware, there is an entire website dedicated to that question: wtfhappenedin1971.com/.

The first thing that becomes apparent is that something happened in 1971. This fact is made clear by a series of charts, all based on government data, that show various odd economic trends began in that year.

Income inequality, for example, began to get much worse.

The linked article has a number of graphs. & This is one of them, texted out by Mr Edward Snowden:

Yes, economic productivity continued to climb, but real compensation for workers not so much.  And, while we sense it, mostly we don't understand it.  I expect we will talk about it this Friday on The Early Show (Facebook, John L McDonough).

in the mean time you can read up on it.  And, to liven up your economic concerns, Congress has until Thursday End of the Day to pass the Federal Budget or some sort of Continuing Resolution (CR).  But, that doesn't end the heavy lifting, because then they have to raise the Debt Ceiling or Debt Limit), to avoid some kind of Federal Government default.

Both of the above will be a test of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's legerdemain.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Was Here Before?

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes it seems the more we learn the less we know.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Fossil footprints show humans in North America more than 21,000 years ago

Here is the sub-headline:

The footprints, the earliest firm evidence for humans in the Americas, show that people must have arrived here before the last Ice Age.

From NBC News, by Reporter Tom Metcalfe, 23 September 2021, 2:00 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

David Bustos heard about the “ghost tracks” when he first went to White Sands National Park in New Mexico to work as a wildlife scientist in 2005.  When the ground was wet enough at certain times of the year, the ghostly footprints would appear on the otherwise blank earth, only to disappear again when it dried out.

It wasn’t until over 10 years later, in 2016, that scientists confirmed that the ghost tracks had been made by real people — and it’s only now that some of the ancient footprints at White Sands have been dated as the earliest in North America.

“We’d been suspicious of the age for a while, and so now we finally have that it’s really exciting,” Bustos said.  “One of the neat things is that you can see mammoth prints in the layers a meter or so above the human footprints, so that just helps to confirm the whole story.”

The footprints at White Sands were dated by examining the seeds of an aquatic plant that once thrived along the shores of the dried-up lake, Ruppia cirrhosa, commonly known as ditchgrass.  According to research published Thursday in the journal Science and co-authored by Bustos, the ancient ditchgrass seeds were found in layers of hard earth both above and below the many human footprints at the site, and they were radiocarbon-dated to determine their age.

Trails of footprints called "ghost tracks" have been seen in the White Sands area for years, but usually only when the ground was wet.

Trails of footprints called "ghost tracks" have been seen in the White Sands area for years, but usually only when the ground was wet.  The tracks at one location have been revealed as both the earliest known footprints and the oldest firm evidence of humans anywhere in the Americas, showing that people lived there 21,000 to 23,000 years ago — several thousand years earlier than scientists once believed.

Here is the Wikipedia article on Native Americans.  The question is, were these the people who were here before the last ice age?  If not, what happened to those people?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Disaster Recycled

For John, BLUF:  Remember Chernobyl, back in 1986?  It seems it is back.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Chernobyl’s Blown Up Reactor 4 Just Woke Up

Here is the sub-headline:

Scientists don’t understand why

From History of Yesterday, by Historian Andrei Tapalaga, 17 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

The nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 will forever be remembered, but the world will soon have a reminder of the event as the zone for some reason (yet unexplained by scientists)is becoming more radioactive.  For those who may not be aware of the incident here is an article to get you up to speed.

“Chernobyl will never be a problem”

Underneath reactor 4 there is still nuclear fuel that is active and which will take around 20,000 years for it to deplete.  The uranium is too radioactive for anyone to live in the city and since the incident, the European Union had created a shield around the reactor which should not allow for the radioactive rays to come out.

Yes, Chernobyl is a long ways away, in Ukraine, but with the jet stream it's potential radiation may be only hours away for the rest of the world.  The interest thing is, with all the monitoring, the experts, the scientists, don't know what is causing this issue of increased radiation.

For a second source, we have "Nuclear reactions are increasing in an inaccessible chamber at Chernobyl", from CNET, by Mr Steph Panecasio, 11 May 2021, 6:07 p.m. PT.

Radioactive emissions in an inaccessible chamber within the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have spiked in the last four years, leading scientists to question how serious the threat of a runaway nuclear fission reaction really is.

The 1986 Chernobyl explosion -- which resulted in catastrophic destruction and significant loss of life -- sealed off a number of areas and chambers in the Ukrainian power plant, including subreactor room 305/2, which is now the site of the surge. The room is thought to contain a large amount of highly radioactive material.

Good luck to us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Be Normal

For John, BLUF:  Black lives do matter, but we are creating a society where we are allowing rampant violence devalue all lives, and to create islands of people while allowing many to get away with murder, and other crimes.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Making the abnormal normal destroys society

From The Don Surber Blogspot>, by Retired Reporter Don Surber, 25 September 2021.

The point of the article is that, over the last 70 years, society has become more tolerant of diverse mores, which I see as a good thing, but at the same time we have created a society where large numbers of groups feel no compunction about breaking the local and federal laws and the stndards that a majority of the Citizenry think are the proper standards.

Los Angeles County Distrit Attorney George Gascón and the San Francisco City and County District Attorney Chesa Boudin seem to think that by not locking people up they will naturally improve their performance as Citizens.  Not all of us are as optomistic.&nsp; Some of us believe that people will begin to flee those two wonderful cities for places with more law and order.

I talked wwith a physician last week, who grew up in New York City.  It was his take that New York City fluctuates between a law and order mayor and a progressive mayor.  Is the Big Apple due for another change of direction, toward an emphasis on law and order?

I want a nation where your private conduct is your private conduct and should not be policed by the Government.  If you wish to live outside of propriety, then good luck to you, but don't expect everyone to celebrate it.  Tolerate it, yes.  On the other hand, when your actions impact directly my wealth or well being, such as robbing me on a city street, then you should be subject to the punishment the law allows.  That is the dividing line.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Two Different Parties

For John, BLUF:  The linked article suggests that the Democratic Party is aggressive and pushing its agenda, while the Republicans on Capitol Hill are timid and seem interested in slowing down, rather than reversing the Democratic passed legislation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

There’s A Reason DC Democrats Are Always Winning, Even When They Lose

Here is the sub-headline:

When it matters, Republicans look around and say, 'Oh no we can't do that, we’d lose a man.  The Democrats would take seats.'  They are virtually a majority for the sake of being a majority.

From The Federalist, by Mr Christopher Bedford, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

Washington Republicans are excited for the 2022 elections, and they have reason to be — they’re going to do well.  They’re heavy favorites to take back the House of Representatives; and despite a very bad Senate map, it’s a coin flip they’ll retake that too.

None of this is too shocking: First-term presidents usually face a backlash, and often it’s a bloodbath.

President Barack Obama crushed Sen. John McCain, then lost 63 House seats two years later; President Donald Trump lost 42 seats in 2018; President Bill Clinton lost 54.  In fact, the only first-term president to not lose House seats in the midterms in the past 55 years was President George W. Bush, in the post-9/11 2002 midterms.

This is the nature of politics:  A new man is swept in and carries fellow party members with him, then two years later enthusiasm has waned, the president’s promises have turned into a more frustrating reality, and opposition voters are angry and fired up.  So what happens?  They punish the party in power.

All of that figures to be even worse for President Joe Biden.  Nobody is passionate about Biden himself, and in 2022 Democrats won’t be turning out to vote against Trump, so even if Biden were doing a bang-up job he’d still be in for what his old boss called “a shellacking.”

But Biden is not doing a great job — he’s doing terribly.

But, then, when in power, the Republicans will do nothing to stop the Progressive drifft of the nation.  Read the article to see the reasoning.

The Republicsn are too polite.  They need their own Saul Alinski to guide them.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Canceling Israeli Defense

For John, BLUF:  It is shocking to me to see the anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic, flow in the Democratic Party.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Democrats Pull Funding For Israel’s Iron Dome Defensive System

Here is the sub-headline:

Republicans Blast The Move

From The Lid Blog, by Mr Jeff Dunetz, 21 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Until today, Sept. 21, the Democrats’ stopgap spending bill that the House plans to vote on this week included $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive anti-rocket system. A group of progressive Democrats threatened to block the legislation unless the defensive aid was withdrawn, continuing the anti-Israel policies which have dominated the Democratic Party since Barack Obama became POTUS.

To put that $1 billion in context, President Biden left over $80 billion worth of military equipment behind for the terrorist Taliban during the Afghan pull-out.

According to Politico, the group that threatened to block the continuing resolution unless the defensive funding for Israel was removed. included Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis), the Squad, and other members who signed onto unsuccessful legislation to block arms sales to Israel in May and have made both Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic statements in the past.

To be clear, the Iron Dome is a defensive system, which protects all residents of Israel, regardless of faith, from missile attacks.

The Spectator talks to this kind of thing,"The New York Times tips its anti-Semitic hand".  It wasn't that long ago that we all pledged, never again.  Have we forgotten so quickly?  Or was that just a Caucasian, European, thing?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Final Frontier, Deferred

For John, BLUF:  William Schatner is going into space, the final frontier, but democrats wish to ground his space force.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Dems Plan To Scuttle Space Force

Here is the sub-headline:

Jared Huffman, Rashida Tlaib aim to 'abolish' military branch

From The Washington Free Beacon, Mr Jack Beyrer, 23 September 2021, 4:30 pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a measure in the 2022 defense budget to eliminate the Space Force.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D., Calif.) led a resolution, cosigned by fellow Democratic representatives Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), and Jésus García (Calif.), to "abolish" America's newest military branch.  The measure received support from the Koch-funded National Taxpayers Union and radical anti-war groups such as Peace Action and Demand Progress.

"Since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars," said Huffman.  "It's time we turn our attention back to where it belongs:  addressing urgent domestic and international priorities like battling COVID-19, climate change, and growing economic inequality.  Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space."

Oh great, just when everybody gets the new uniforms, we force them back into their previous uniforms.

I wonder to what degree this was thought out.  I fear it is like much of the Democratic Party plan for 2021—not thought out beyond the first step.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fixing Discrimination

For John, BLUF:  How do we rebalance long term discrimination, and do it without creating reverse discrimination.  This Summer the English Touring Opera demonstrated that it didn't have the solution to hand.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Ripping Off the Veil

Here is the sub-headline:

A British classical music organization exposes the sordid business behind all racial-preference regimes.

From City Journal,by Journalist Heather MacDonald, 19 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Racial preferences have been almost impossible to dislodge because their human costs are usually hidden.  College admissions officers don’t inform rejected student applicants that they were turned down to make room for diversity admits.  An HR office does not tell job seekers or the company’s own employees that they were not hired or promoted because they would add nothing to the company’s diversity metrics.  The rejected applicants may suspect that they didn’t get a desired position because of a racial preference, but they can rarely be 100 percent sure.

The offstage nature of these tradeoffs allows preference proponents to deny that diversity decisions entail a zero-sum calculus.  In 2019, a U.S. district court judge upheld Harvard’s racial-admissions preferences after a lengthy trial.  In her opinion, Judge Allison Burroughs insisted that race is only a positive factor, and never a negative factor, in Harvard’s admissions process. Such a claim is specious.  The only reason that institutions implement racial preferences in the first place is that there are not enough qualified applicants among non-Asian minorities to achieve a racially proportionate student body or workforce under a meritocratic selection system.  Hiring a diversity candidate under a preference regime almost always means not hiring a more qualified non-diverse candidate.  The former’s gain is inevitably the latter’s loss.

Now a British classical music organization has inadvertently ripped the veil off the diversity arithmetic, and the consequences may be far-reaching.  Earlier this month, the English Touring Opera told nearly half its orchestral musicians that it would not be renewing their contracts for the 2022 season because it has “prioritised increased diversity in the orchestra.”  In other words, as a bunch of white guys you must be cleared out so that we can boost the collective melanin levels among our musicians.   Your talent does not matter; your skin color does.

Here, at last, were concrete, publicly identified victims of a preference regime.  The reaction was swift.  Since the Sunday Times broke the story, the English Touring Opera has been thrown on the defensive.  Arts Council England, a government arts funder and the opera company’s main patron, is backpedaling on its aggressive promotion of diversity after the company claimed that it was only following the Council’s mandates in terminating the white musicians.  It turns out that the public has little stomach for watching the diversity sausage be made.

This is relevant to Lowell in that our School System needs to have a more racially and ethnically diverse student facing organization.  However, firing Caucasians to make room for others just creates a new problem.  One solution would be to hire more teachers and para-professionals, which would allow for smaller classs sizes and perhaps a better learning environment.  It would seem the money is not there.  Thus, we need to ponder and be creative.

Send your suggestions to me.

In the mean time, perhaps this current economic upheavel will provide an opportunity for organizations big and small, private and public, to hire various people to fill their employee shortages and the more obvious examples of long term hiring practices will be wiped away.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Stop Criticizing Democrats

For John, BLUF:  Show some sypathy for the poor Democrafts.  They are a poor, overly sensitive, oppressed group, trying to impose socialism on our nation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Democrats Agree:  Criticizing Our Behavior Is Racist, Sexist, Homophobic

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Reporter Andrew Stiles, 21 September 2021, 2:40 pm.

Here is the lede plus five:

Democratic politicians have repeatedly argued that criticizing a Democrat's behavior just isn't something a normal, kindhearted person would ever do.  Their critics, by definition, are exclusively composed of racists, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes, white supremacists, and other bigots.  The journalists who report on these criticisms are just as evil, Democrats agree.

When several media outlets reported that Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a "toxic" work environment where "people feel treated like s—t," the VP's allies lashed out at the "gendered" criticism voiced by former Harris staffers and current Biden administration officials.  Senior Democrats even suggested sexist media coverage was to blame for Harris's low approval rating.

BuzzFeed reported similar allegations from former staffers against Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), who reportedly "berated staff in front of others, demanded grueling hours, and maintained an office culture marked by constantly changing expectations and little tolerance for error."  The Democratic congresswoman insisted she was the real victim.

"Women of color are often unjustly targeted, regularly held to higher standards than their male colleagues, and always put under a sexist microscope," said Jayapal's chief of staff, Lilah Pomerance, who dismissed the comments from former staffers as "cherry picked" and riddled with "ugly stereotypes."

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D., N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, responded in similar fashion after the Washington Free Beacon reported that he violated State Department guidance by vacationing in Italy and France, where he attended a maskless wedding at a billionaire's estate.  The DCCC paid for an Air France ticket just weeks before Maloney jetted off to Europe, claiming it was purchased "to conduct DCCC business with Americans living overseas."

In response to questions about Maloney's travel, DCCC communications director Chris Hayden suggested the Free Beacon‘s coverage was homophobic because it included a picture of Maloney posing for a photo with his shirtless husband on a beach in France.  "A lot of homophobia veiled as subtext re:  his husband swimming with his shirt off," Hayden wrote on Twitter.  "Disappointing."

It looks like Democrats wish for Republicans, and the free press, to just shut up.

The First Amendment has been suspended.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Homeless Problem

For John, BLUF:  We know there is a homeless issue, but many don't understand it, and the different factors that have gone into creating it, from mental health to drug addiction to domestic violence to lack of affordable housing.  We need a broader look and ore comprehensive solution.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

It’s mental health, stupid:  How Team Biden misunderstands homeless crisis

Here is the sub-headline:

From The New York Post, by Howard Husock September 20, 2021, 6:48pm.

Here is the lede plus four:

Team Biden is asking mayors, governors and tribal leaders to pledge to reduce homelessness in exchange for new federal rental assistance and support for new housing construction.  The initiative is called House America, but it should be dubbed Misunderstand America.

Yes, housing prices are up post-pandemic: Demand is growing, supply stalled.  But that isn’t why there are massive homeless encampments plaguing cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle — and even New York, where the de Blasio administration is forced to play whack-a-mole with tent encampments.

Some rough-sleepers would relish permanent housing, yes.  But many would also choose to stay on the streets.  That’s because untreated mental illness, not a housing shortage, is the real source of the problem for a significant share of the homeless.

In 2015 (the most recent such survey), the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that at least 25 percent of the US homeless, or 140,000 people, were seriously mentally ill; 45 percent suffered from mental illness of some kind.  Serious mental illness isn’t garden-variety anxiety or melancholy.  It’s the sort of paranoid schizophrenia that can involve voices instructing the patient to push a young woman toward an oncoming subway train.

Others are haunted by the demon of addiction.  As the Substance Abuse and Treatment Center has reported, “tragically, homelessness and substance abuse go hand-in-hand.  The end result of homelessness is often substance abuse, and substance abuse often contributes to homelessness.”  The National Coalition for the Homeless has found that 38 percent of homeless people are alcohol-dependent, while 26 percent are dependent on other harmful chemicals.

Across the nation our homeless programs are, by and large, a mess.  Yes, San Francisco is much worse than Lowell, but we all have problems, both in understand the breadth and depth of the proble and in executing solutions.

And here is a key point:

What links all these troubled populations is a desperate need for treatment.  There was a time not long ago when we understood this — and every state maintained an extensive network of residential psychiatric hospitals to provide care, or at least try to do so.

So, going for the dollar quote:

Now tent encampments (and jails and prisons) have replaced those inpatient facilities.

We need to bring back mental hospitals.  We need to train more mental health workers.  We can't build our way out of the homeless crisis.

That said, some current COVID-19 fighting economic policies will make affordable shelter less available and action will be neeeded in that direction as well.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fix The Border Now

For John, BLUF:  In our name the Federal Government is allowing conditions to exist which result in immorality being inflicted on those trying to reach the United States outside the legal immigration process.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Seeking refugee status should not be lifethreatening

From The [Lowell] Sun, Letters to the Editor, by Citizen C R Krieger, 22 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Last month some 200,000 human beings came across our southern border, helping to perpetuate two separate, but related, evils.

The first evil is that people we are willing to accept as refugees are forced to endure a gauntlet of hardship, theft and sexual abuse for the privilege of crossing our southern border.  Amongst those 200,000 last month, we have seen seemingly abandoned children.  We hear reports of rape and extorted sex.  If we pay attention, we hear of child abuse.  Then there are the fees applied by the human traffickers for their “services.”

The second evil is the fostering of cartels in Mexico, which are smuggling drugs into our nation.

These are drugs which harm our population, and in particular our youth and our less fortunate.

The letter goes on to suggest that we help these people by allowing them to self identify in their nation of origin and provide them transportation to the United States, rather than requiring them to run a violent and expensive gauntlet to prove their worthiness to come to the United States.

Space being what it is, the letter does not go on to suggest that an equally effective alternative would be to finish rebuilding the border wall and turning people back, which would have a ripple effect, discouraging others from trying the trek.

The point is that what we are doing now is morally wrong.  Further, it is probably not sustainable.  We, as Citizens, need to reach out to our US Representative and two Senators and say that the present process is not only not working, but is a moral embarrasment.

Regards  —  Cliff

https://enewspaper.lowellsun.com?selDate=20210922&goTo=A07&artid=3

Klacik Critique of President Biden

For John, BLUF:  Ms Klacik ran for US Rep in Charm City, but she hasn't given up.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Kimberly Klacik Nails It

In a Klaccic Way

Here is the tweet:

Kimberly Klacik
@kimKBaltimore

In the past 30 days…

The Biden Admin mistakenly handed over Kabul, armed the Taliban, lost 13 US soldiers, accidentally killed kids in an airstrike, wasted millions on a pretend rally in DC & didn’t notice 10k people trekking to the southern border together in broad daylight.

10:56 PM · Sep 20, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

We have a new Sage in Baltimore.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Wider Corruption

For John, BLUF:  Reporter Glenn Greenwald widens the view of the indictment of Lawyer Sussmann to expose the role of the Media in trying to overturn the 2016 Election.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Indictment of Hillary Clinton's Lawyer is an Indictment of the Russiagate Wing of U.S. Media

Here is the sub-headline:

The DOJ's new charging document, approved by Biden's Attorney General, sheds bright light onto the Russiagate fraud and how journalistic corruption was key.

From the Greenwald Substack, by Reporter Glenn Greenwald, 19 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

A lawyer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign was indicted on Wednesday with one felony count of lying to the FBI about a fraudulent Russiagate story he helped propagate.  Michael Sussman was charged with the crime by Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by Trump Attorney General William Barr to investigate possible crimes committed as part of the Russiagate investigation and whose work is now overseen and approved by Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Sussman's indictment, approved by Garland, is the second allegation of criminal impropriety regarding Russiagate's origins.   In January, Durham secured a guilty plea from an FBI agent, Kevin Clinesmith, for lying to the FISA court and submitting an altered email in order to spy on former Trump campaign official Carter Page.

The law firm where Sussman is a partner, Perkins Coie, is a major player in Democratic Party politics.  One of its partners at the time of the alleged crime, Marc Elias, has become a liberal social media star after having served as General Counsel to the Clinton 2016 campaign.  Elias abruptly announced that he was leaving the firm three weeks ago, and thus far no charges have been filed against him.

The lie that Sussman allegedly told the FBI occurred in the context of his mid-2016 attempt to spread a completely fictitious story:  that there was a "secret server” discovered by unnamed internet experts that allowed the Trump organization to communicate with Russia-based Alfa Bank.  In the context of the 2016 election, in which the Clinton campaign had elevated Trump's alleged ties to the Kremlin to center stage, this secret communication channel was peddled by Sussman — both to the FBI and to Clinton-friendly journalists — as smoking-gun proof of nefarious activities between Trump and the Russians.  Less than two months prior to the 2016 election, Sussman secured a meeting at the FBI's headquarters with the Bureau's top lawyer, James Baker, and provided him data which he claimed proved this communication channel.

Reporter Glenn Greenwald says what needs to be said.

It seems that when I begin to soften on Donald J Trump, more news comes out, showing that a) there is a swamp and b) the Democrats are into the swamp up above theiir Wellies and c) there is a need to drain the swamp.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Sussmann Indictment Could Go Either Way

For John, BLUF:  Blogger Ed Morrissey is no stranger to government scandle.  In the early days of blogging his blog, Captain's Cabin, helped bring down a Canadian government.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Sussmann indictment:  "Bizarre coda," or harbinger of deep-state exposure?  Update:  Watch Sullivan?

From Hot Air, by Blogger Ed Morrissey, 20 September 2021, 2:41 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

Just what does the indictment of Michael Sussmann portend? MSNBC’s Barbara McQuade called it a “bizarre coda” to John Durham’s investigation, which seems to be the most unlikely bet on this last-minute action by the special counsel.  To get there, McQuade tries to shift focus to an early-on debunked part of the overall-debunked Russia-collusion theory, and overlooks Sussmann’s links at the same time:

It is hard to see how the case Durham filed on Thursday against Washington lawyer Michael Sussmann meets Justice Department standards.  The indictment alleges that Sussmann met with FBI General Counsel Jim Baker in September 2016 to provide information about connections between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization.  The FBI was unable to substantiate any links between Alfa Bank and former President Donald Trump’s businesses, but the charge against Sussman — making false statements to the FBI — doesn’t allege that the substance of the information was false.  Instead, Sussman is accused of having misrepresented on whose behalf he was providing it.

Well, yes, and that misrepresentation turned out to be highly material.  Sussmann at the time represented the DNC and had been providing assistance to the Hillary Clinton campaign, a connection that Sussmnan kept hidden from the FBI.  Sussmann passed along the rumor that Vladimir Putin-connected Alfa Bank had a server dedicated to Donald Trump’s finances to Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, which had the effect of laundering that claim right back into the Steele dossier.  He also passed that information to the FBI, without informing agents that he was working for Trump’s opponent at the time, as the indictment alleges:

At the end Mr Morrissey rings in President Biden's National current Security Advisor, Mr Jacob "Jake" Sullivan.

This looks ugly.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Preliminary Election

For John, BLUF:  As Pericles once said, "You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

PLEASE VOTE

If you live in Lowell, Massachusetts
Districts 2, 3, 4 or 7

It is time for a preliminary election, to get us ready for the big City Wide election in November.

The Voting locations are listed here.

Regards  —  Cliff

Another Whiff

For John, BLUF:  Waving the Bloody Shirt, the author demands that the rich pay their "fair share" of taxes.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

How (Not) to Tax Billionaires

Here is the sub-headline:

A plan from House Democrats targets the merely rich rather than the plutocrats, insuring that our new Gilded Age will continue.

From The New Yorker, by Colunist John Cassidy, 20 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Ten years after the Occupy Wall Street movement focussed attention on some of the inequities and scams of twenty-first-century capitalism, Democrats on Capitol Hill are in a position to raise taxes on the members of the 0.01 per cent, who have benefitted enormously, not just from rising inequality and the financialization of the economy but also from the covid-19 pandemic.  Will the Democrats seize this opportunity? Will they force the very richest Americans—the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Carl Icahn—to pay their fair share, or will they confirm the suspicion of many Occupy supporters that the Party, despite talking a good game, is ultimately in hock to the plutocracy?

The political context for a potential tax hike is that the Democrats need to raise a lot of money to help pay for a big spending package aimed at strengthening the social safety net and boosting green energy—which they intend to pass using the budget-reconciliation process.  Last week, Democrats on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee released a proposal that, according to an analysis by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, would raise $2.1 trillion over ten years, while largely honoring President Joe Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on middle-class Americans who earn less than four hundred thousand dollars a year.  (Biden’s definition of “middle class” is an elastic one.) The House proposal is a mixture of the good, the dubious, and the indefensible.
[Highlighting is Mine]

I read the whole article.  Nowhere did I find a definition of "pay their fair share".  What is someone's fair share?  Does it mean tax the better off until their take home pay is the same as a typical employee in their corporation or organization?  Is there some multiple of the minimum wage?♠

Then there is this assertion by the author:

For example, the Biden Administration proposed raising the corporate income tax from twenty-one per cent to twenty-eight per cent—still well below the thirty-five-per-cent rate that applied before 2017.  The House plan would set the top corporate rate at 26.5 per cent.

I could br wrong, but isn't this a tax on consumers?  Don't corporations pass this tax on to those who consume goods or services?  Are there CongressCritters who actually believe this is not a tax on the consumers?  A strange way of not taxing those earning below $400,000 per annum.♥  I believe this kind of proposal needs more explanation.

Mr John Cassidy talks to plutocrats, deploring the fact that they are deferring consumption, and thus avoiding taxes.  That actually seems odd.  Are the tax laws no sufficient to tax perquisites (perks)?.  Maybe that is how this should be framed.

In the mean time, I still wish to know what is a fair share.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My own proposal is that there should be a special tax on corporations for that executive pay which is 1,000% higher than the lowest pay for the lowest paid individual, normalized to a full year's pay.  That would be $40,000 vs $40,000,000.  More of a difference would be taxed.
♥  President Biden's marker for those who should not be taxed.

New COVID Variants

For John, BLUF:  The current Administration seems to be generating distractions from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

CDC Says A New COVID Variant May Be Needed To Effectively Bury Afghanistan News

Here is the sub-headline:

September 8th, 2021 - BabylonBee.com.

Here is the lede plus one:

Officials at the CDC said today that the surprising virulence and persistence of Afghanistan news may require a whole new COVID variant to distract the country from it.

“We’re concerned that the only way to cure the administration of all this bad publicity may be a prolonged, shrieking freak-out over a new COVID variant,” said Dr. Ed Whittle,  Director of the CDC’s Department for the Cultivation of Existential Dread.  “So, we’re working night and day to come up with something really scary that would make the collapse of Afghanistan seem like a Martha’s Vineyard birthday party.”

It is the Babylon Bee, but that doesn't mean it is that far off.  The great Malcom Muggeridge once noted it is hard for sarcasm to stay ahead of reality.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Reforming High Tech

For John, BLUF:  This is a longish read about how the Federal Government got it right about auto safety (GSA) and got it wrong (Congress)  The question is, will they do for high tech what they did for Detroit?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Lessons for Big Tech from Ralph Nader’s ‘Sack of Detroit’

From Quillette, by Writer Kenneth Whyte, 16 Sep 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Until recently, Silicon Valley enjoyed a relatively high degree of freedom from US government regulation.  That was a deliberate policy choice.  Responding to public enthusiasm for the possibilities of global interconnectedness and an endless stream of easily accessible information, Congress decreed early that online platforms would have no liability for third-party content flowing through their pipes.  As a tool of progress, the Internet would be free.

Tech companies harnessed the massive energy exerted by billions of people eager to gain a presence online, to share, to learn, to be entertained, to work, to shop.  The web remade the United States physically, economically, and socially. Web culture became American culture and, increasingly, global culture.

It was only when the wonders of the Internet grew familiar, and tech companies became huge and powerful, that the adverse consequences of connecting everyone without appropriate oversight became glaringly apparent.  The Internet was used for pornography, sex trafficking, terrorist recruiting, an infinite variety of scams, the evasion of laws and regulations, the invasion of privacy, harassment and defamation, foreign propaganda, and fake news.

Tech giants were slow to confront the regrettable purposes to which their platforms and systems were being put, preferring to single-mindedly pursue growth and profits.  This was predictable.  That capitalists will “esteem [their] immediate interests … to be the common Measure of Good and Evil” was a truism remarked by Restoration-era English economist Dudley North a century before the American Revolution.

The government response, too, has been predictable.  Never mind that massive subsidies from the defense establishment have been critical to tech’s progress.  Never mind that Congress’s hands-off policy was instrumental in helping Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and other online giants scale up massively. Politicians are now tripping over one another in a race to investigate, indict, regulate, and dismember tech companies, as if they were solely responsible for the Internet’s ills.

I worry that the Congress will be barking up the wrong tree in going after high tech.  Yes, I worry about a sort of Silicon Valley "Social Credit" tyranny creaping in.  My concern is that the solutions to the perceived problems will just lock in the real problems.  What we need is more like an AT&T breakup, where more voices will flourish.

Frankly, I don't think Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer, is capable of not messing this up.  And Presidents who think of themselves as being along the lines of FDR or LBJ are not helpful to this kind of correction.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The General Milley imbroglio

For John, BLUF:  Here is a view of the imbroglio swirling around Joint Chiefs Chairman, GEN Mak Milley.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Deep State, Deep Trouble

Here is the sub-headline:

America’s woke generals and the Military-Industrial Complex must be purged to save the nation.

From The Ame3rican Mind, by Mr Josiah Lippincott, 15 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Revelations from a new book, Peril, by Bob Woodward and Rob Costa, reveal just how deep the spiritual rot in the military goes.  In the days after the January 6 protest, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, promised, in the event of a war, to give aid and comfort to China.  According to the Washington Post, after the Capitol protest, Milley sent secret communiques to the head of the People’s Liberation Army, promising that “If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time.  It’s not going to be a surprise.”

In a decent country such a brazen act of collusion with a foreign power by one of the most prominent leaders of the armed forces would be met with immediate and unrelenting backlash.  Instead, this betrayer of the Constitution and the principle of civilian leadership of the military is a liberal darling.  At the inauguration, Joe Biden thanked Milley for undermining President Trump in the final weeks of his presidency.

Milley, before reaching out to China, sat down with the service’s top officers and demanded from them what amounted to an oath—none of them would launch a nuclear weapon without his approval.  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went behind the President’s back to secure control over the nation’s most important weapons.

Our generals are losers abroad, and grifters at home.  They parrot MSNBC talking points on Twitter and grovel before Fauci. This is bad enough.  But Milley’s actions show that America’s top military officers have reached another level of delusion.  They fancy themselves a new praetorian guard to protect the nation—as construed by elite editorial boards—from the people’s elected representatives.

A new Praetorian Guard?  The idea of a Praetorian Guard is anamthma to the the traditions of our Republic.  We should not encourage this kind of bureaucratic approach in our Nation's Capitol.  We should not even encourage talk about it.  Even applause for GEN Milley and his actions during the twilight days of the Trump Administration is encouraging the wrong way to go, for the implications for the future.  No matter how much you may have disliked President Trump, the idea of the military "keeping an eye on him" should be anathma to you.

Another view on this issue can be found at the Lawfire Blog, by retired Air Force Major General Charlie Dunlap, "America needs to know exactly what General Milley said to his 'Chinese counterpart'”.  When he was a student at National War College then Colonel Dunlap won the Chairman's Essay Competition (co-won), with "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012".♠  Professor Dunlap has studied this issue for some time and is an expert in the field.

My guess is that this will quietly slip away, with no adverse action against anyone.  That is fine, as long as we don't have repeats.  None.♥

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Interestingly enough, this paper was the co-winner of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1991-92 Strategy Essay Competition.  I was lucky enough to be the "thesis" advisor, which involved no work on my part.
♥  For sure, if President Trump comes back in 2024, he will have this in the back of his mind and make appointments accordingly.  Promising careers may be crushed, but then that happens every four years anyway.

Finally, an Indictment

For John, BLUF:  I give Federal Attornet John Durham kudos for his persistence in tracking down the participants in the efforts to smear a Repoblican Candidate for President in 2016.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Media, the unindicted co-conspirators

From The Don Surber Blog, by Reporter Don Surber, 16 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus four:

Today, after 2 federal investigations covering 4 years, we finally have someone indicted for something related to Russiagate.

And it turns out to be the fellow who peddled the Russiagate Hoax.

The unindicted co-conspirators are CNN, Jake Tapper, Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Pulitzer Committee which honored and vouched for the Post and the Times, and just about every political reporter and columnist in America.

So is anyone in the media going to apologize for lying for more than 4 years about Putin somehow fixing the 2016 election for Donald Trump?

Of course not.  I should save my breath.  But I breathe for the truth and have known from the get-go that Russiagate was BS.

Read the whole thing.  Not much to add.  Yes, it would be nice to hear some apologies.  I too am doubtful.

In the mean time, the statute of limitations expires this weekend, at least for the indicted Mr Michael Sussmann, from the Perkins Coie law firm, which previously represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  Indicted in the nick of time.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Health of the Nation

For John, BLUF:  For decades we screened immigrants for poor health, and excluded individuals  Now we are told COVID-19 is very dangereous, except for those coming across our Southern Border.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Federal Court Ruling Just Made the Border Crisis Infinitely Worse

From PJ Media, by Reporter Rick Moran, 17 September 2021, 9:34 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

A federal judge in Washington has ordered the government to stop using a public health law to deny families entry into the United States illegally.  U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the government 14 days to appeal before the order is implemented.

Title 42 was instituted in March of 2020 in response to the pandemic.  The law allows for expedited removal of most illegal aliens, including families.

The immediate effect of Sullivan’s ruling will be dire. Families that show up at the border will not be turned away.  Instead, they will be processed and released as they await their court hearing — possibly as long as five years away.

This strikes me as revolutionary.  I remember going to the US Embassy in Manila, The Philippines, and seeing long lines of emigrants outside, holding what appeared to be x-rays.  Why?  Because of tuberculosis.  We were screening folks for infectious diseases.

The article quotes The Wall Street Journal:

In a statement, the ACLU said the policy was unnecessary to control Covid-19 in the U.S. and that the U.S. can safely allow migrants to seek protection.

“President Biden should have ended this cruel and lawless policy long ago, and the court was correct to reject it today,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Does this mean that both the ACLU and Judge Sullivan believe that Vaccination mandates are wrong?

Equally interesting is if the Executive Branch let this one go, without worrying about the consequences, because it aligned with the Administration's immigration policy.

This being Constitution Day, we should ponder, Article 2, Section 3, Clause 6, wherein the president must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."  Do you think President Biden has ducked his responsibilty by soft peddling the value of this law, passed by Congress?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Today's Holiday

For John, BLUF:  We would be a lot worse off if we were still under the Articles of Confederation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Constitution Day

Here is the basics, from Wikipedia:

The law establishing the present holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004.  Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day" and celebrated on the third Sunday in May.  In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions, and all federal agencies, provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.  In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind.

Learning about and appreciating our US Constitution is important for the exercise of Citizenshiop.

I wonder what local public schools did today to teach about our US Constitution.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Irresponsible

For John, BLUF:  While I would like to believe that FBI Director Christopher Wray has cleaned up the FBI, I have my doubts.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Olympic Gymnasts Reveal That Comey's Trump-Hating FBI Was OK With Child Rape

Top O’ the Briefing

From The Morning Briefing, by Writer Stephen Kruiser, 16 September 2021, 8:23 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends.  You will always look ridiculous in a hoop skirt.

This is one of the rare times that I am leading off with something I wrote.  It’s necessary though, and I’m sure you will all agree with me.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has become an unhinged, unchecked state police service that needs to be reined in and overhauled.  In recent times, this was an opinion one found only on the right.

It should be a bipartisan issue now.

All the while it was crafting a hoax about Russian collusion that was designed to destroy the president of the United States, the FBI was deliberately covering for a serial rapist of little girls.

From CNN we have this story lede:

Olympic gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Simone Biles ripped the FBI and the Justice Department in Senate testimony Wednesday for how FBI agents mishandled abuse allegations brought against Larry Nassar and then made false statements in the fallout from the botched investigation.

Here is another extract from the CNN report:

The senators on Wednesday joined the gymnasts in questioning why the Justice Department chose not to prosecute the FBI officials in question.  "It's not only that the FBI failed to do its job, systematically, and repeatedly.  It is also the cover up, the cover up that occurred afterwards," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said.  "When FBI agents made material, false statements and deceptive omission referred by the Inspector General for criminal prosecution those referrals were declined, without explanation. without any public explanation at all."

Strangely, CNN does not name the lying FBI Agent, Mr Jay Abbott, although a subsequent CNN story does.

It is flat out corruption when the FBI goes after Retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn on a technicality for "lying to the FBI" but yet allows a lying FBI Agent to retire with no repercussions.♠  The fact that there were patterns of corruption at this time, not just the problem with the Dr Larry Nassar sexual abuse issues, is a blot on the Directorship of Mr James Comey.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Yes, the FBI did fire a lower level agent, Mr Michael Langeman, but the corruption went higher, as the Senate testimony yesterday, and the DOJ IG Report, demonstrated.

Welcome All

For John, BLUF:  As Americans we should be welcoming to all and supportive of all, helping them succeed, because their success helps the rest of us to succeed.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Should’ve Kept Those Jews

Here is the sub-headline:

Troubling FBI statistics and recent anti-Semitic incidents should remind the U.S. that other countries have lost their Jewish populations—to their own detriment.

From City Jouornal, by Historian Tevi Troy, Summer 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

According to just-released FBI statistics, hate crimes in 2020 reached their highest level in 12 years.  Of religion-based hate crimes, 57.5 percent of them were targeted at Jews, who only make up 2 percent of the U.S. population.  These figures, along with disturbing attacks this summer on Jews by anti-Semitic thugs in New York, Florida, California, and other places, have rattled many American Jews.  Though American Jews have long been comfortable in America, the sad history of world Jewry suggests that no home for the Jews can be considered permanent.  Yet, as the countries that have expelled Jews or encouraged them to leave have learned, things usually got worse, not better, after Jewish populations departed.

Anti-Semitism has a long, ugly history, going back thousands of years. In the fifth through seventh centuries, for example, the Visigoths in Iberia mistreated Jews in various ways, including enslavement and restrictions against intermarriage.  These restrictions redounded negatively upon the restrictionists.  As Violet Moller writes in The Map of Knowledge, “an increasingly oppressive attitude to their subjects (especially Iberia’s large Jewish community) resulted in stagnation in almost all areas of life.  Trade reduced dramatically, there was widespread urban depopulation, and culture shrank to such an extent that some historians have nicknamed them the Invisigoths.”

As Jews moved across Europe in the Middle Ages, expulsion became a repeated occurrence, with a multi-century discharge of Jews from England starting in 1290 and France driving out Jews in several waves in the 1300s.  The most famous exodus in Christian Europe happened in Spain in 1492, under the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella.  Spanish Jews until then had been a flourishing community, producing poets, philosophers, and physicians.  All that ended, to the eventual regret of both Christian Europe and Spain.  Many of the expelled Jews moved to the Ottoman Empire, which, at the time, took a more welcoming attitude toward Jews.

And the article goes on, worth the reading.

We, as Americans, need to show care for all of our minorities.  It would appear all of us are immigrants, be it yesterday, a hundred years ago or several thousand years ago.  No one should be excluded from the community because of religion or nation or origin or race.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Portland State University Earns an F

For John, BLUF:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

My University Sacrificed Ideas for Ideology.  So Today I Quit.

Here is the sub-headline:

The more I spoke out against the illiberalism that has swallowed Portland State University, the more retaliation I faced.

From Bari Weiss Substack, by Professor Peter Boghossian, 8 September 2021.

Here is the lede:

Peter Boghossian has taught philosophy at Portland State University for the past decade.  In the letter below, sent this morning to the university’s provost, he explains why he is resigning.

Back when I was young and in Elementary School, one of my teachers told my Mother I was "a critical thinker".  Within our family that was translated into "critical stinker", but that is a different story.

It appearas "critical thinking" has now become aligned with being a conformist.  This is a major change.  Further, Portland State University has forfeited its connection to great Universities of the past.  It has become a fascist institution.  Fascist.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Diminishing Forests

For John, BLUF:  It appears the forests are not dimishing.  Thanks to technology, the global forest coverage is increasing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Samizdata quote of the day

From Samizdata, by Mr Perry de Havilland (London), 27 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

The deforestation statistics are startling to anybody who listens only to green activists.  In 2018 a team from the University of Maryland concluded:  ‘We show that – contrary to the prevailing view that forest area has declined globally – tree cover has increased by 2.24 million km².  That’s 7 percent more forest globally than in 1982.  New forests have been planted and old ones have regenerated naturally, as the footprint of farming shrinks, thanks to better yields.

– Matt Ridley in the print version of The Spectator, article titled Viral misinformation.

This sounds like good news.  Why isn't it working?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free to Express Your View

For John, BLUF:  Different people see 9/11 through different lenses.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Student government official caught red-handed yanking flags from 9/11 memorial

From The College Fix, by the Staff, 11 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus four:

A student senator at Washington University in St. Louis was nabbed red-handed removing American flags from a 9/11 memorial on this day of tribute.

According to The New Guard, a member of the WashU College Republicans recorded Fadel Alkilani carrying trash bags full of the flags he had just yanked.

Alkilani told the person filming that the memorial was “in violation of school rules” and he “expressed no remorse” for his actions.

When the Young America’s Foundation contacted Alkilani about the incident, he told the group “I did not violate any university or legal policy.  Now go away.”

The senator said in a now-protected tweet that he plucked the flags as a “protest against American imperialism and the 900,000 lives lost as a result of post 9/11 war.”

I am sure that Washington University Student Senator Fadel Alkilani is one American who is a celebrant of the First Amendment.  And he is right to be so.  On the other hand, pulling up someone else's tribute to the dead on 9/11 seems a little narrow.

All that said, I wonder from where he gets the "900,000 lives lost".  Yes, lives lost, but that seems like a miscount.  And I wonder where on the ledger he puts the Yazidis.  And other minority groups?  And what he thinks of the ravanchism within Islam, and how much space should be allow for it?  And what he thinks of Charlie Hebdo?

I do think yanking up US Flags at a memorial for 9/11 victims does seem tacky.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Schools Are Watching

For John, BLUF:  Schools can be abusive of their students and the parents.  This is why a School Committee, elected by the People, is so important.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

A Year After Sending Cops To A Kid’s Home, A Colorado Springs School District Apologizes

From Colorado Public Radio, by Reporter Ryan Warner, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

A year after two officers went to a Black seventh-grader’s home in Colorado Springs over a toy gun, the school district apologized to the family.

Widefield School District 3 handed the apology letter last month to the parents of 13-year-old Isaiah Elliott.  CPR News obtained a copy.

It says, in part, “The District deeply regrets the impact this incident had on the Elliotts, and apologizes to Isaiah for any embarrassment or discomfort he may have experienced.”

On Aug. 27, 2020, as students, educators and parents across the state adjusted to pandemic remote learning, an art teacher spotted what she believed to be a toy gun on Isaiah Elliott’s screen.

The incident led to his suspension — which has since been reversed — and to school leaders sending two school resource officers to the boy’s home.  Fearing for his son’s safety, Isaiah’s father Curtis Elliott rushed home and called his wife Danielle Elliott, who was at work.

“Our number one concern is Isaiah could have been the next Tamir Rice,” Danielle Elliott said.  “Being shot over having a toy in the privacy of his own home.  Being 12 years old, but being perceived as a threat.”

This calls to mind the question, "What were they thinking?"

Apparently, the teacher and the teacher's supervisors are easily trigged by toy guns.

Shouldn't the School District organize some training with regard to the limits of teacher prying into the life of their students?  Should there be training with regard to the limits of authority of School Resource Officers?

On the other hand, I have read about schools objecting to Parents watch their children as they were learning.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Unsettling the Middle East

For John, BLUF:  I expect this is the Biden Administration nodding to its anti-Israeli Progressive Wing.    The further Corbynization of the Democratic Party.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Biden reiterates plan to reopen Jerusalem consulate despite Israeli objections

Barak Ravid, author of from Tel Aviv, 8 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during their White House meeting that he will not abandon his plan to reopen the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, setting up a major point of contention between the administrations.

Why it matters: The consulate handled relations with the Palestinians for 25 years before being shut down by Donald Trump. Senior officials in Bennett's government see the consulate issue as a political hot potato that could destabilize their unwieldy coalition.

Behind the scenes: Biden raised the consulate issue several times in his bilateral meeting with Bennett and in the expanded meeting with their aides, Israeli and U.S. officials briefed on the meetings tell me.

No, this is not the US moving its Embassy back to Tel Aviv.  This is about placing the US Consulate for Palistine in the Capitol City of Israel, subtly implying that it might also be the Capitol of the State of Palistine.

This is a subtle payoff to the Progressive side of President Biden's support, the side that sees the State of Israel as an occupier of Palistinian territory.  What is missing in this is any suggestion of where the People of Israel should be.♠

Frankly, I think the Israelis are exactly where they should be and Jerusalem is their rightful capitol.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Frankly, if the People of Israel are not to live in their historic homeland, then they should all be brought to the United States, lock, stock and barrel.  Something like as described in this novel, but with a permanent homeland.

The Exemptions

For John, BLUF:  After promising no Vaccination mandates, a few months back, President Biden has now come out with them.  He hasn't reached everyone, but even so, he has exceeded his Constitutional limits  I hope the US Supreme Court does its job.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Vax Mandate Exceptions

All Governent Employees must get the COVID-19 Vaccindation, as well as workers in businesses with 100 or more employees. For some reason, those in private enterprise may skip the Vaccintion if they submit to a weekly test.♠ 

Now, for the exemptions:

• The humdreds of thousands of illegal immigrants coming across our Southern Border.  They are not being vaccinated.  An exemption, for some reason.
• Postal Workers.  There are some 640,000 Postal Employees.
• Members of Congress, and †heir staffs, are not covered by President Biden's Vaccine Mandate.  They are in a separate branch of Government, as is the Judiciary.
• Then there are businesses, where firms with fewer than 100 employees (thus not part of the President's Mandate) accounted for 98.1% of the some 6 million employer firms in the US.

The President is getting help in his obsession with Vaccinations from Colleges and Universities.  Those institutions, which used to be hotbeds of independent thinking and freedom, have now moved into the area of fascism.  For example, at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, a student taking virtual classes was required to have a COVID-19 Vaccindation.  It appears Zoom has become so good it can transmit diseases,

On the other hand, there are all the unemployed and those not seeking work, which runs to millions of people.  The President's power over them is as yet limited.

I hope the reader is not confused.  I have had my two shots, as has my wife.  We plan on booster shots when are Primary Care Physician says so and they are available.  But, we are in the over 65 category and have some comorbidities.  I understand why some are reluctant to get the Vaccination.  And I respect their right to make their own choices.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Is the Weekly test painful enough that the CDC thinks it will drive people to get the Vaccination?

Vaccine Mandates

For John, BLUF:  The President, apparently without consulting with Congress, has assumed dictatorial powers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Larry Kudlow calls out 'anti-freedom part' of Biden's vaccine mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

'President Biden caused a firestorm yesterday by announcing his mandate'

From Fox Business News, by Anchor Larry Kudlow, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

"If they'll not help... if these governors won't help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way."

Don't take it from me. Take a listen to the president himself who is thumbing his nose at our nation's governors and after he thumbs his nose at them, he's putting his finger in their eye.

Federalism is dead. Don't take it from me, take it from President Biden.

The Constitution?  The Bill of Rights?  Roe v Wade?.  The role of the US Congress?

All gone in a flash because not everyone will do as President Joseph Biden says.

It is almost like Donald Trump won in 2020.  Not the real Donald J Trump, but the one pictured in the minds of Progressives and many Democrats.

But, it wasn't just a Bidenism.  His staff was out backing up his move.  For example, on the CNN Don Lemon Tonight Show we have the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, former Congressman Cedric Richmond.

Senior White House adviser:  Biden will 'run over' governors standing in way of vaccine mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

'We won’t let one or two individuals stand in the way,' adviser Cedric Richmond declared

And this article's lede:

Senior White House adviser Cedric Richmond declared Thursday that President Joe Biden would "run over" governors that stood in the way of his efforts to mandate vaccinations against the coronavirus in companies with more than 100 employees.

We are going to run over the Governors?

If I thought the agencies of the Federal Government followed the science, let along understood it, I might have some willingness to concede the President was trying to help us.  As it is, I think he is just swatting wildly at the problem, and breaking things in the process.

Regards  —  Cliff

Does Society Help Shape IQ?

For John, BLUF:  Is the Author correct?  I don't know, but it is worth considering.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Connecting the dots the experts won’t

From The American Mind, by Ms Helen Roy, 31 Agust 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Flynn effect and its reversal are topics of scientific inquiry by which, should you find yourself inching toward politically incorrect conclusions, cancellation looms ominously.

In 2016, in a systematic literature review of all major accounts of the post-seventies IQ plummet across Western countries, Edward Dutton of the Ulster Institute for Social Research concluded that the best explanation for the dawdling of the Western mind had both environmental and genetic components.  The industrial revolution’s technological advances, he argued, precipitated massive gains on IQ scores “by establishing an environment which compelled us to think in a more scientific way, compelled us to become more educated, and saturated us with knowledge, information, and novel problems.”

But industry simultaneously brought “dysgenic fertility” practices.  It precipitated a decline in fertility, especially for wealthy people, and those with weaker genetic material were able to survive and themselves procreate whereas they would have died in previous centuries.  Dutton determined that the Flynn Effect is best explained as temporary superficial adaptation to new forms of education which disguised postindustrial genetic degradation for a period of time—until the truth of dysgenic fertility could overcome the effects of the new educational environment, a reversal which he identified as the negative Flynn effect.  These conclusions, as well as his other forays into forbidden areas of scientific knowledge caused several problems for Dutton, namely his disaffiliation from the Ulster Institute.

This article asks if sociatal changes post 1970s might have impacted IQ.  The author suggest no-fault divorce, more women in the workforce and day-care for pre-school children.  These are issues worth exploring.  The tradeoffs may well be worthwhile.  However, acceptance of the change in IQ should be with full knowledge of the pluses and minuses.

Who are the people in Lowell who might best kick off an exploration of this issue?  Are there political constraints on people getting off the approved path to look into these kinds of issues?

One quibble.  The writer tags then Governor Ronald Reagan with no-fault divorce.  The legislation came from State Assemblyman Jim Hayes, of Long Beach, a devoted Father.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

9/11 Remembered, Again

For John, BLUF:  A sad memory, not made better by our withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

9/11 Anniversary

A friend of mine has his Birthday on 11 September.  On that day, 20 years ago, he was heading North on Interstate 395 (Shirley Highway), up where it does an almost 90° turn to the East, near the Air Force Memorial, when he saw American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon.  He said it looked like a thousand pound bomb going off.  Having been a Navy Attack Pilot during the Viet-nam War, he knew whereof he spoke.

Of course, traffic came to a halt and continuing into DC made no sense.  My friend took things into his own hands, like a good American and a good fighter pilot.  He maneuvered his car to head South in the Northbound HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lane and led a string of vehicles back South and away from the disaster area.

That initiative on the part of Americans on the Shirley Highway, at the Pentagon, in New York City and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, over Southwest Pennsylvania, prevented things from being even worse.  We should be thankful for that and take a moment to appreciate that individual initiative.

Regards  —  Cliff

Vaccine Mandates

For John, BLUF:  President Biden seems to have little tolerence for pushback  If people won't do it his way, he doubles down, the Constitution be damned.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Horrific Outcomes of the Jacobson Case You’re Using to Justify Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

Here is the sub-headline:

Biden is about to find out that he’ll have as hard of a time eradicating freedom and personal choice in this country as trying to eradicate the coronavirus.

From The Hannah H Cox Blog, by Ms Hanna Cox, 10 September 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

It’s been a hell of a news cycle for bodily autonomy.

The left is in histrionics over the new Texas abortion law that bans the procedure after six weeks, and the rest of us are aghast at Biden’s new executive order forcing private companies to mandate COVID vaccines for their employees.

You’ll find few people in both camps, however, a testament to just how partisan and unprincipled our country has truly become.  That’s a tangent for another time, though.  Right now, I want to talk about the legality of Biden’s mandate.

Even before the ink dried one could hear the lawsuits being filed.

The legality of mandating vaccines is based on the 1905 case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts.  This originated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and made its way to the US Supreme Court.

Then there is the 1927 case, Buck v. Bell.  At the height of the Eugenics movement.  This ruling, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., of Massachusetts, said it was legal to sterilize those who were "feebleminded."

On the other hand, we have Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion.♠  How does "Our Bodies! Our Choice!" fit into this?

If the Courts empower and encourage President Biden in this area we will see a further erosion of our civil rights in the United States and we will become a little more like the People's Republic of China.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  There was no abortion and the name of the child, a daughter was recently revealed.

Unequal Responses to Demonstrations

For John, BLUF:  I believe some Americans are careless with their use of the term domestic terrorism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Jan. 6-BLM Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is the sub-headline:

A Resource on Violent Political Unrest, Continually Updated

From RealClearInvestigation, by The Editors, 9 September 2021.

Here is the lede:

Many in the political and media establishment consider the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot to be one of America’s darkest episodes.  Others say the nationwide protests last summer over George Floyd’s murder were worse.  With polling indicating Americans see two sides to the story – and major media dwelling on only one – RealClearInvestigations has developed the database below allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.  Further context can be found here.

Note that the original article, created by RealClearInvestigations, may be republished for free, with attribution.

I am hoping that we, as a nation, will have a period of peace, in which we can pull back from positions that see evil on the part of others.  A period of peace would be good for all of us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Look For the Briefcase

For John, BLUF:  I think there is an assumption out there that all European descendents are racist, an assumption that ignores history and the prejudice against immigrants from Ireland, or France, or Poland, or Italy or ....  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

White People on a Plane

Here is the sub-headline:

Bigotry in the Sky

From An Injustice!, by Ms Roz Warren, 26 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

I’d just boarded my plane from Philadelphia to California. When you travel alone, sitting on a plane always is a lottery. Would the person sitting next to me be pleasant and friendly? An obnoxious drunk? A motormouth? A jerk who’d assault the first flight attendant who insisted they wear a mask?

This was going to be a six-hour flight and I was hoping for somebody pleasant and low-key. No demands and no drama.

I was in luck. When I got to row 20, I saw that the fellow in the middle seat was a friendly smiling man in his fifties. A woman who I assumed was his wife — they’d lowered the armrest between them — sat beside him in the window seat.

As I sat down and settled into my aisle seat, the man gave me a welcoming smile. “I’m so glad you’re sitting here,” he told me.

That seemed a little much. Was he being flirty? No, I decided. Not only was he at least a decade younger than me, but his wife was sitting right there. Maybe he was just a really friendly guy?

“Thank you,” I replied.

“I was scared it would be the guy with the turban,” he explained. “When I saw him in the boarding lounge, I was really hoping he wouldn’t sit near us.”

She nailed him.  A White racist.  There is not a shred of doubt in her mind.  There is no exploration of her interloctor's personal trauma.  No specuation that he might have lost an older Brother or Father on 9/11.

My first complaint is that the guy in the next seat isn't "White".  He is a Caucasian.

My second point is that as we approach the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States some are alert to the possibility of a repeat of that terrorist event.  Frankly, the vast majority of Muslims walking around in your City, and mine, are just like the rest of us.  They are just more Caucasians, or Blacks, or Asians, trying to have a good day, a good week, a good year.  There is a fringe in their Community who wish to change the world, by violence if needs be.  Is this not true?  And, there are fringes in other communities, but they tend to blend in and not be noticed, like real "White Suppressicists".♠ 

If one is not looking around and paying attention one is living in a fog.  One needs to know where the exits are, not just on the airliner.  One needs to note anyone who looks like they don't belong.  One should be suspicious of packages or briefcases that seem to be abandoned.♥  When I was at Staff College, in the United Kingdom, one of our sister Colleges had a bombing that killed one person.

We shouldn't be paranoid, which would ruin the beauty of life, but we need to be aware.  One the other hand, we shouldn't have our head in the sand, as does, it appears, our Author.  She apparently has not read many history books, or perhaps only those by Mr Zinn.  Lost in school is that an expansive Islam made it to tours in France and the Gates of Vienna, in Austria.

And, we shouldn't assume everyone with a slightly different view is a racist.  We are in this with them.  We should be willing to exchange views.  Perhaps everyone will learn something.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  See Professor Arie Perliger's American Zealots:  Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism
♥  Remember, it was a briefcase that Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg left in the briefing room of the Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944, in an attempt to kill Chancellor Adolph Hitler.