The Way of the Democrat

For John, BLUF:  We are used to a fair amount of pussy-footing around with our politicians, except for Mr Donald Trump, and those responding to him.  It would be entertaihing if it wasn't so irritating.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Democrats Are Playing GOP's 'Enemy Identification Problem' in Ukraine to the Hilt

From PJ Media, by Mr Rick Moran, 26 February 2022, 9:34 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Vladimir Putin is a vicious, unprincipled thug whose goal is nothing less than the humbling of the United States by any means necessary.

He is not only the enemy of western civilization; he’s the enemy of human civilization. So why is Donald Trump cheering this gangster on?

He is “pretty smart,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday at a Florida fund-raiser, assessing the impending invasion like a real estate deal.  “He’s taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions,” he said, “taking over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people — and just walking right in.”

No doubt Trump has his own reasons to say nice things about Putin, and one of them is certainly that it’s causing the heads of his political enemies to explode. For his own amusement and that of his supporters, Trump frequently acts the contrarian — and the media and left fall right into his trap every time.

But most Republicans — including Trump supporters — have condemned the invasion and Vladimir Putin.

The words of Mr Trump are all true, plus there are a lot of tone-deaf people out there along the two coasts.

Mr Trump was just saying it the way it is.  President Putin is smart and cunning.  And Mr Putin is ruthless.  Those are just the facts.  On the other hand, if Mr Trump hopes to be President again there is no point in deeply offending those he may have to negotiate with at some future date.

But, he is Mr Donald J Trump, and he offended a lot of people by defeating Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton.  They seem unwilling to forget, and any handy slander will be employed.  It is childish, but it is the way of the Democrat.

Regards  —  Cliff

Root of the War in Ukraine

For John, BLUF:  For President Putin the War in Ukraine is about religion.  [The theory discussed may be total rubbish, or even Russian disinformation, but it is a theory and something to examine.  The obvious answer is not always the correct answer.]  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Putin’s Attack on Ukraine Is a Religious War

Here is the sub-headline:

Russia’s aggression against its neighbor isn’t just power politics and geostrategy, it’s about core issues of faith and identity

From Top Secret Umbra, by Mr John Schindler♠, 24 February 2022.

Counterintelligencer, cat herder, KuKservative, mystery-hunter, author about town. No Such Agency and all that. Feb 24. Here is the lede plus four:

It’s finally happened. Early today, after weeks of will-he-or-won’t-he speculation, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on his neighbor and launched a major, multi-pronged invasion into Southern, Eastern, and Northern Ukraine. This is just the first military phase of many to come, only a small amount of the vast forces that Moscow has marshalled on Ukraine’s frontiers have entered action yet. Any judgements about the progress of the war would be premature (though this newsletter will be providing regular assessments on this conflict, Europe’s most important war since 1945).

What needs to be established is why Putin has done this. Unleashing full-scale war here represents an enormous political gamble – failure in Ukraine could unravel his two-decade rule over Russia – from a leader who’s generally been tactically adventurous yet strategically cautious. Most Western “experts” got this wrong and many seem stunned that the Kremlin has really started a major war. As Top Secret Umbra previously noted, this represents a collective failure of the Western elite, which so misread Putin, despite his being plain about his contempt for the United States and NATO for 15 years, as well as his dismissive attitude towards Ukraine as more a “region” than a bona fide country:

Putin waged a hot war of aggression against Ukraine in 2014-15, starting with Russia’s theft of Crimea by GRU’s Little Green Men, followed by the seizure of a good-sized chunk of Ukraine’s southeast by the Russian military. That conflict has ever entirely faded out, and Moscow’s de facto holding on to pieces of Ukraine means that country will never be allowed to enter NATO. Given the recent past, and the not-entirely-frozen conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk, how on earth can anybody be surprised that Putin might attack Ukraine again?

Moscow told us, most of us just didn’t bother to listen. If Western elites listened at all, they dismissed Putin’s strange analysis as the ravings of a madman, or at least someone not operating in our Western unipolar reality. As this newsletter explained further:

To such elites, all of whom fall on the spectrum of Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic, WEIRD for short, Putin represents an atavism whose motivations they cannot understand. The Kremlin strongman adheres to a distinctly throwback view of international relations where the use of force is normal, and countries protect their national interests unapologetically, with all the instruments of national power. Putin’s wholehearted embrace of religiously-infused nationalism, which boasts a venerable history in Russia, leaves WEIRDs befuddled yet has real resonance among average Russians. Western doubts that the former KGB man has “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” miss the point, but then the West has never understood Russian Orthodoxy very well. No matter what Putin really believes, his public embrace of religiously-grounded national conservatism provides his regime with an ideological anchor, one which happens to view Ukraine’s subservience to Russia as a spiritual as well as geostrategic necessity.

I actually am attracted to the idea.  Not everyone in the world is a well educated agnostic progressive.  Some actually have strong religious views.  Further, a smaller faction actually believe that God has predicted an "End Times", which includes a global war, with Christians debating about what happens after and when Jesus will return for the faithful.♥

What are the implicatiohs of concluding that this is about religion?  One is that, for President Putin, the solution is Ukraine Orthodox followers acknowledging that they should not have a separate autocephalous church.  Ukraine rejecting membdership in NATO may be important, but would not be sufficient to molify President Putin.

The advantage of this view is that it is somewhaat selflimiting.  However, it isn't justification for President Putin's actions.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The author was in the US Intelligence Community (IC), doing counter-intelligence.  He had time with the National Security Agency (aja Bi Such Agency).
♥  It was just over 50 years ago that the End Times book, The Late Great Planet Earth was a best seller in the United States.

It Is War

For John, BLUF:  I was wrong.  President Putin has stumbled into war.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Russia's Putin announces military operation in Ukraine

From The Associated Press, 23 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus six:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine, claiming it's intended to protect civilians.

In a televised address, Putin said the action comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine.  He added that Russia doesn't have a goal to occupy Ukraine. Putin said the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian "regime."

Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences they have never seen."

He accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia's demand to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and offer Moscow security guarantees.

He said the Russian military operation aims to ensure a "demilitarization" of Ukraine.  Putin said that all Ukrainian servicemen who lay down arms will be able to safely leave the zone of combat.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Putin's remarks, but U.S. officials have repeatedly pledged to place overwhelming sanctions on the Russian economy and Putin allies in retaliation for a further invasion of Ukraine.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

This is looking, so far, like the Coalition air attack on Baghdad as a prelude to the ground attack into Iraq in 1991.

I believe President Putin has stumbled here, but suffering will be widespread.

No, I do not believe this is the fullfilment of the promises in the Book of Revelation.  But, I have been wrong before, but not on tht scale.

Regards  —  Cliff

A View of Canada

For John, BLUF:  Not all Canadians are happy with the performance of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Reason for the Police Violence in Ottawa is Not What You Think

Here is the sub-headline:

It’s way way worse

From the Blog Welcome to Absurdistan, by Blogger Elizabeth Nickson, 10 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

“So we’re dealing with cornered feral humans who are terrified. Arguably the entire thing from the lockdowns till now is their knowing what’s coming (They see polls you don’t see. 39% approval my sore ass. More likely 9%) And they know how much they cheated, and it wasn’t enough so they had to cheat at the last minute. Oh, and all of them are criminals, steeped deep in horrible crap. And they can’t afford for it to come out. In their little pin heads, they have to keep control.” -Sarah A Hoyt

The black clad army of mercenaries and police brutalizing a peaceful protest in Ottawa this weekend has been planned for years. It is overkill for a reason. It is theatre. It is an othering, a willful flagrant statement on the future of the working class everywhere. It instructs them: you will die. If not now, then sometime in the next ten years. Your towns will be gutted, your jobs will evaporate, you will scramble for pennies until you fall over dead and your children will have nothing to look forward to. You are Tutsi, you are Jew, you are Kulak, you are compromador, you are Othered. You are headed for the slagheap of history. Fight back and you will be deemed domestic terrorists and encamped indefinitely.

This week, Canada’s intelligentsia unmasked themselves as fully on side of this demonic enterprise, competing to hate on the truckers. I watch or read very little of it because 95% of newsrooms vote either Liberal or Socialist and I spent two years in my early 20’s dating and arguing with a black Marxist professor, so I know exactly what they think.

And what they “think” is hate:

“So why was I, at the trucker convoy in Toronto, gripped by a deep physical loathing, true abjection?”

She has a reasonable position.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Eye for the Long Term

For John, BLUF:  A lot of us go for the quip that captures the moment, but ignores the long run.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

It’s time to admit it:  Mitt Romney was right about Russia

From CNN, by Editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, 22 February 2022, 3:42 PM EST.

Here is the lede plus three:

A decade ago, Mitt Romney went on CNN and made a statement that was widely perceived as a major mistake.

“Russia, this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe,” Romney, who would be the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 race against President Barack Obama, told Wolf Blitzer in March of that year.  “They — they fight every cause for the world’s worst actors.”

Obama and his team pounced on the comment, insisting that it showed Romney was hopelessly out of touch when it came to the threats facing the US.

In the third presidential debate between the two candidates in October 2012, Obama went directly after Romney for that remark.  “When you were asked, ‘What’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America,’ you said ‘Russia.’  Not al Qaeda; you said Russia,” Obama said.  “And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

That is the way it is with National Security, with Foreign Affairs.  There are the immediate threats and there are the long term threats, the threats that existed decades ago and will still exist decades from now.  We should remember that 400 years ago China was the world's largest economy and 500 and some years ago China had the biggist "Truasure Fleet", in numbers and in size of ships.  China dismantled that fleet and it is taking a long time to recover.

It is nice to see CNN admit this error of the moment, back a decade ago.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Critique of American Media

For John, BLUF:  The same basic sitution and two very different takes by the same news outfit.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

BLM-Loving NYTimes: Canadian Trucker Vax Protest ‘Scene of Disruption and Desecration’

From News Busters, by Reporter Clay Waters, 10 February 2022, 10:06 AM.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Canadian trucker protest in Ottawa against vaccine mandates and overzealous Covid restrictions is certainly not getting the fawning Black Lives Matter treatment from The New York Times.  Tuesday’s front-page story was crammed with contempt for the protesters, smeared for allegedly committing the same sort of acts that BLM protesters did during the often violent nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020:  Theft, disruption, and “desecration” of statues.

The headline under a story by Catherine Porter, Ian Austen and Sheera Frenkel upped the sense of danger, throwing in a “far-right” in the front-page headline “Ottawa Protests Become Rallying Cry for Far-Right and Anti-Vaccine Groups.”  The “far-left” is barely if ever noticed by The Times

it speaks for itself.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

About Truckistan

For John, BLUF:  It is only getting worse under Pime Miniister Justin Trudeau.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Meanwhile in Truckistan

Here is the sub-headline:

From The Instapundit, by the Instapudit, Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, 12 Febrary 2022.

Here is the line:

If you can’t understand the difference between trucks peacefully blocking a road and a rioting mob surrounding drivers, you might be a Progressive.”

On the other hand, it might be because you have a short term memory problem.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Slow Break

For John, BLUF:  I do not do Twitter, and quote it sparingly, but I was interested in Former President Trumps new Social Media Application.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

President Trumps New Social Media Site is Up.

Truth Social

The problem is, this APP requires iPhone IOS 13.  My iPhone IOS is 12.5.5, and will never be upgrading to 13.  Unless the APP developers go back and provide a modified version, I will not be there.

Mr Devin Nunes, please take note.

Regards  —  Cliff

The President and the People

For John, BLUF:  The President, as the leader of the Nation, is someone worthy of special deference, and Sunday's Mass Readings tell us that.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

"I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed."

The Mass Readings for 20 February 2022:
   1 Samuel 26:2,7-9,11-13,22-23
   1 Corinthians 15:45-49
   Luke 6:27-38

Here is the First Reading:

Saul set off and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand men chosen from Israel to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.

In the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, with Abner and the troops lying round him.

Then Abishai said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I will not need to strike him twice.’ David answered Abishai, ‘Do not kill him, for who can lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt? The Lord forbid that I should raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed! But now take the spear beside his head and the pitcher of water and let us go away.’ David took the spear and the pitcher of water from beside Saul’s head, and they made off. No one saw, no one knew, no one woke up; they were all asleep, for a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

David crossed to the other side and halted on the top of the mountain a long way off; there was a wide space between them. He called out, ‘Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the soldiers come across and take it. The Lord repays everyone for his uprightness and loyalty. Today the Lord put you in my power, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.’

I take this to say, to me, that we need to be careful about going after the head of the nation.  .

And here is what Saint Paul says in his Letter to the Romans (13:1-6):

1 LET every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God.
2 Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.  And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation.
3 For princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  Do that which is good:  and thou shalt have praise from the same.
4 For he is God's minister to thee, for good.  But if thou do that which is evil, fear:  for he beareth not the sword in vain.  For he is God's minister:  an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.
5 Wherefore be subject of necessity, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
6 For therefore also you pay tribute. For they are the ministers of God, serving unto this purpose.

Saint Peter says much the same thing in 1 Peter (2:13-17):

13 Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake:  whether it be to the king as excelling;
14 Or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of the good:
15 For so is the will of God, that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not as making liberty a cloak for malice, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king.

Yes, there are times to stand up and say "No More".  We did that in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence, against King George III, of Englnd.  And God seems to have blessed that undertaking.

However, to rise up against the King (or other leader of the nation), one needs to be very sure.  Otherwise it is fine to campaign against a national leader at election time, but to otherwise disparage such a leader, or to be disrespectful, seems wrong.  Yes, President Biden exhibits characteristics that bother me, and has policies i don't favor.  As a Blogger I feel free to critique the President's performance, but not in a disrespectful way.  However, I think it is my duty, as an American and as a Christian, to pray for him and to show respect for him and his office.

For me, a corellary is that Presidential Candidates should not be prosecuted for crimes connected to campaigning.  My carving out does not apply to members of the Candidate's teams.  However, we should not wish to settle into some sort of Banana Republc, where losing leaves the candidate vulnerable to actions by the winners.  Just as Impeachment should not be spent on frivilious matters, so should Presidential Candidates not be legally harrassed during and after a campaign.  Which is not to say a candidate "could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody," and not be prosecuted.

Regards  —  Cliff

Support Your Local Sheriff

For John, BLUF:  Envision a world wheree there were no police.  Would order come automatically, or by the rule of the strong?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Seattle bartender was slashed in the face, judge released the suspect without bail

From Hot Air, by Reporter John Sexton, 18 February 2022, 3:20 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus five:

The incident happened back at the end of December at Joe’s Bar and Grill in Seattle.  Bartender Felicite Ogilvy was given the job of checking people’s vaccination cards which was mandated at the time:

“I asked him, ‘do you have your vaccination card?’ and he said ‘I’ve had the vaccine but I don’t have the card’ and I was like OK but you need to have proof of it,” Ogilvy said…

“He ended up basically saying ‘You’re picking on me,'” Ogilvy said.  “I’m not going to deal with it.’  That’s when he started getting hostile.”

A coworker came over to help defuse the escalating situation – and even a few customers – but the man wouldn’t go and fought back with a long stick.  Witnesses said a sharp piece of metal was attached to the bottom end.

“He swung the stick as hard as he could at my face, so not only did it puncture me, he also slit me,” Ogilvy said.

The wound was so deep Ogilvy needed 31 stitches to close it up.

The InstaPundit comments:

KEEP THIS UP AND YOU’LL GET VIGILANTES AND DEATH SQUADS EVENTUALLY:

I don't think he is wrong about how this might evolve.  I have heard people say that the purpose of the police is to protect the perps from the victims.

The Defund the Police crowd appears not to have thought this out.  At least not long term.  If neighborhoods feel they are being abused by criminals and the criminals have not banded together in some sort of Mafia manner, then the victimes themselves may band together.  A Mafia organization is a solutiion to conflict and banditry, as long as it does not arouse the anger of the normal citizenry.  That anger can be controlled by the Mafia, as long as the Mafia doesn't go too far.  When it goes too far, then Citizens seek alternative solutions.

Succeess in obtaining a steady flow of justice requires courage.  Otherwise the cartels win.  Because a mafia or cartels is not real capitalism, but rather closer to socialism or communism, the average person does not prosper, nor does the area as a whole.

Economic growth, and increasing human prosperity requires freedom and justice.  Perhaps the failure to maintain justice and order is another version of the flawed Piven and Cloward Strategy for ending poverty.

My recommendation is support your local sherrif.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Freedom to Protest (What We Think is Wrong)

For John, BLUF:  One would think that an organization as large as Amazon would have someone on the payroll to advise when public announcements might be misread by the public or by the press.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Amazon suspends Black Lives Matter from its charity platform

From The New York Post, by Reporter Isabel Vincent, 17 February 2022, 5:49 pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

The beleaguered Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has been kicked off Amazon’s charity platform for its failure to disclose where tens of millions of dollars in donations it received nearly two years ago have ended up.

AmazonSmile, which gives a portion of eligible purchases on the online shopping site to charities, said it “had to temporarily suspend” the group today, an Amazon spokesperson told The Post.

“States have rules for nonprofits, and organizations participating in AmazonSmile need to meet those rules,” the spokesperson said.  “Unfortunately this organization fell out of compliance with the rules in several states, so we’ve had to temporarily suspend them from the program until they come into compliance.”

Amazon plans to hold any funds that have accumulated for BLMGNF “until they’re back in compliance,” the spokesperson said.  AmazonSmile has raised more than $300 million for charities, according to its website.

The reasoning put forward is plausable, but with it being right after Black Lives Matter Louisville bailed out Mr Quintez Brown, arrested for attempted murder, is suspicious.

Freelance Reporter Andy Ngo Tweeted:

@BLMLouisville has paid the $100,000 to bail out Quintez Brown, the @courierjournal writer & leftist radical who is accused of trying to assassinate a mayoral candidate in a shooting.  Brown wrote columns about white supremacy & is a black nationalist.

What Mr Brown is accused of doing was wrong.  That he was arreated seems fair.  That bail was set in an attempted murder case is questionable.  But, if Amazon is cutting off Black Lives Matter so it can look good now that "wokeness" has gone out of fashion, that is a blot on Amazon.  The Blaack Lives Matter crew may all be Communists, but they have the same Bill of Rights I do providing them Free Speech protection.

The actions of the Canadian Government, and Go Fund Me, and TD Bank, in cutting off contributions to the Truckers Freedom Convoy demonstrating across Canada and especially in Ottowaa, is dispicable.  That folks in the United States would follow suit is embarrassing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Russia Has Options

For John, BLUF:  There aare a lot of different opinions out there about Russia and Ukraine, but Ukraine may not be the issue.  It may be NATO or it may be the US presence in Europe.  And President Putin has a number of different option, depending on what his deep itch is.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Outlier: What if Putin’s Real Target isn’t Ukraine?

From The Cipher Brief, by Mr Tim Willasey-Wilsey,♠ 4 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

We have a long history of misreading Russian intentions.  The classic example was the judgement by the British Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) that Russia would not invade Czechoslovakia in 1968; based on a westernised view that it would not be in Moscow’s interests.  Similar misjudgements were made in the prelude to Putin’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

Vladimir Putin calculated this winter as the ideal time to confront the West over those parts of the former Soviet Union which he believes should still be in Moscow’s sphere of influence.  Winter inevitably puts Europe’s energy market under stress.  Meanwhile NATO has just made a humiliating and chaotic exit from Afghanistan led by a United States president who is struggling in the polls.

Having identified the best moment Putin followed up by mobilising an army of some 130,000 troops in midwinter, distributed in pockets along Ukraine’s borders with Russia and Belarus.  Putin never places great belief in diplomacy but he is willing to go through the motions because he does set store by assembling retrospective justification for any future action.  In the unlikely event of a major Western concession, he would be willing to stand down the army but the strong probability is that he will use it to facilitate a tangible political and military result.

The assumption of everyone in the West is that Ukraine is the target for either an invasion or an incursion. However, none of the options looks particularly good.  Yes, Russian troops could probably dash the 240 miles from Belarus to Kiev and seize the capital.  But they would be unable to subjugate the whole of Ukraine, especially west of Kiev, and the invasion could lead to a long and costly insurgency.  Alternatively, Putin could try and capture Ukraine’s coast and the port of Odessa but it would leave a long strip of land to defend against future Ukrainian counter-attacks.

The other problem with attacking Ukraine is that it lets NATO and the West off too lightly.  President Biden made it very clear at an early stage of this crisis that NATO would not fight to defend Ukraine. Instead, all the talk has been of economic and financial sanctions.  This approach has made it easier for Western countries to show a reasonably united front against Putin, although differences exist over supplying weapons to Ukraine and the exact nature of the sanctions. So, the focus on Ukraine has not worked for Putin.  Although some of the responses have been divisive the overall tendency has been to unite Western leaders.  It has also enabled them to undertake some showboating with Macron engaging directly with Putin in diplomatic talks and others making high-profile trips to Kiev. But Ukraine may not be Putin’s main target. Putin’s beef is with NATO which, he believes, has made more inroads into central and eastern Europe than was ever agreed following the collapse of the Soviet Union.  In fact the two draft treaties which Russia published on 17th December last year demanded that NATO withdraw its forces and weapons from any country which joined NATO since 1997.  That would include Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.  It also embraces the three Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) whose secession from the old Soviet Union particularly rankles with Putin.

To see what alternatives President Putin might pick, read the rest of the short article.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Author Tim Willasey-Wilsey served for over 27 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is now Visiting Professor of War Studies at King's College, London.

Mitch McConnell and the RNC

For John, BLUF:  What prompted this?  I think the Senate Minority Leader wants to show he is an independent person.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

McConnell blasts RNC resolution, calling Jan. 6 ‘violent insurrection’

From The Old Gray Lady, by Reporter Jonathan Weisman, 8 February 2022, 5:54 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, pushed back hard Tuesday on the Republican Party’s censure of Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and its characterization of Jan. 6 as “legitimate political discourse,” saying the riot was a “violent insurrection.”

The remarks from McConnell, the normally taciturn Kentucky Republican, added to a small but forceful chorus of GOP lawmakers who have decried the action that the Republican National Committee took Friday, when it officially rebuked Cheney and Kinzinger for participating in the House investigation of the Jan. 6 attack, accusing them of “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

McConnell repudiated that description, saying, “We saw it happen. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”

In the days since the RNC passed the resolution at its winter meeting, a handful of Republicans have criticized the move as everything from a political distraction to a shame on the party. McConnell was among the most blunt.

I think "violent insurrection" is applying a broad brush to a lot of different actions and motivations.  For example, at least one person has said that Ashley Babbitt was trying to calm things down when she was shot and killed by a Capitol Police Officer.

Then there is the recent question of the woman who died, who was seen on the ground being struck by a police officer several times.  It is a good thing for Speker Pelosi that the crowd wssn't from AntiFa or Black Lives Matter.  That would present her with a dilemma..

Senate Minority Leder McConnell was correct in saying the Republicn National Committee should not have condemned Representtives Cheney and Kinzinger for participating in the House Committee investigating the 6 January 2021 imbroglio.  He went too far in saying it was an insurrection. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Changing of the Guard

For John, BLUF:  Our City Manager, Ms Eileen Donoghue, Esq, is looking to leave her office on 11 April, or the City Council has picked a replacement, whichever is later.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Council, City Manager Eileen Donoghue fail to reach agreement

from The [Lowell] Sun, by Reporter Jacob Vitali, 9 February 2022, 7:43 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

City Manager Eileen Donoghue’s time as the city’s chief executive is coming to an end.

When the City Council met Tuesday, Donoghue initially said she was not seeking to negotiate a new contract. Instead, she was seeking to continue in her role for one year, as provided by the current agreement.

However, after Donoghue and councilors emerged from an executive session in the Mayor’s Reception Room almost an hour and a half later, her message was different.

“After much discussion, with the council and with me, it’s clear that the council would like a longer-term commitment and contract of three years or maybe even more,” Donoghue said.  “I said previously that is not something I wanted to do, other than one year.  So we don’t have an agreement between myself and the council.”

First, thank you to Eileen Donoghue, Esq, for her work as City Manager.  This is on top of her time as Mayor and State Senator.  During this period of danger and confusion she has managed to keep our City on a good course.

With her contract up on 11 April, Ms Donoghue seems to be looking forward to retirement, and well deserved.  Her agreement with the City Council is that she will leave on her contract termintion date, or, if no replacement is in hand, when one is on contract.

Would she be available to head up UMass Lowell?

Regards  —  Cliff

Iran's Nuclear Plans

For John, BLUF:  I a not convinced that the US rejoining the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is the solution to the Iran Nuclear problem.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Team Biden blames Iran’s bad behavior on Trump

From The Washington Times, by Lawyers David S. Jonas and Erielle Davidson, 25 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The White House’s latest plan to improve its messaging on the Iran Nuclear Deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) is to heap the blame for the untenable situation on President Biden’s predecessor.

As the eighth round of indirect negotiations in Vienna nears conclusion, the Biden administration has begun emotionally preparing fellow Democrats for the possibility of either a less-than-stellar arrangement with the regime or the prospect of a renewed pressure campaign against Tehran.  Neither is a desirable outcome — the former ensures dangerous concessions to the mullahs while the latter admits political defeat after months of showboating regarding the diplomatic capabilities of Team Biden.

The good news? There is someone else to blame.

Who would that be?  The same "go to" person the Biden Administration has used for the last twelve and a half months.

According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, if former President Donald Trump hadn’t “recklessly pulled out of the nuclear deal,” none of the behaviors we’re witnessing from the Iranian regime, including “aggressive actions that they’ve taken through proxy wars around the world,” would be occurring.  This statement is patently false and evinces the depth to which the Biden administration fundamentally either does not understand the threat posed by Iran or, for political reasons, cannot concede that any acts taken by Mr. Biden’s predecessor were prudent or appropriate.

I think the Biden Administration has not properly assessed the situation.  Iran is not a Western European nation.  It has a long, long history, including a hitory of being the big dog in the neighborhood.  This combines with its fierce attachment to its Shia version of Islam.  And the belief in the return of the Twelth Imam.  Add to that the paranoia from the 1953 Anglo-American deposing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.  They are not trusting.

Iran wants nuclear weapons, so they can again feel safe and again be the big person on the block.  They know what happened to Libya, and to its leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, after that nation gave up its nuclear weapons.♠  And, they are contemplating that, not withstanding the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, which "incuded security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan," Russia has taken some territory from Ukraine and is currently threatening to take more.

Why would Iran not pursue a nuclear weapons program? : Instead of blaming President Trump for figuring out that Iran intended to press on, Ms Psaki and the rest of the White House Crew need to figure out how to (1) slow the Iranian Nuclear Progrm and (2) how to encourage the democratic forces in Iran.  Then we might be able to put this to bed and turn to North Korea and General Secretary Kim Jung-un.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Thanks SecState Hillary Clinton.

A Man For All Seasons

For John, BLUF:  Human problems are as old as the human race.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Sir Thomas More

Happy Birthday

Here is a quote that is as timely todzy as it was back in the time of Henry VIII:

For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.

Here is an indication of the impact of education on incarceration, from The san Jose Mercury News, from 15 May 2014:

The link between a poor education and incarcaration is borne out in data. Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Nationally, 68 percent of all males in prison do not have a high school diploma. Only 20 percent of California inmates demonstrate a basic level of literacy, and the average offender reads at an eighth grade level.

These numbers vary by source.  From the US Census Bureau, back in 2011, 58 percent of young black men in prison did not complete high school while 41 percent of young white men in prison did not.  From the 19 March 2018 issue of the SL Spotlight (Southern Lehigh School District, Pennszylvania), we have this:

Of all of the males in federal and state prisons, 80 percent do not have a high school diploma. There is a direct correlation with a lack of high school education and incarceration.  One in ten male dropouts between the ages of 16 to 24 are either in prison or in juvenile detention.

There are more studies, but I will save that research for the read.

The point for all of us to ponder, and to act on, is that we have to work on helping our young citizens complete high school and move on to productive jobs and lives.

One could rgue that this is not corrolation, but only coincidence.  We can take time to study this, but I would suggest that there are steps we could take now.

We can ask what is it we might be doing wrong?  I would suggest that part of it is not meeting the educational needs of the students.  One of the things might be the lack of technical high school slots.  Given that we can't expand Greater Lowell Technical High School it may mean that the Great and General Court may need to do something truly radical and adjust the Vocational School bountries to allow new schools to be built, with the hope of providing courses of study that attract their interest and lead to productive work lives.

Happy Birthday, Saint Thomas More.

Regards  —  Cliff

Those Traffic Cameras

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes we think some actions are strictly mechanical and therefore are neutral.  Sometime human factors remove that neutrality.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Chicago’s “Race-Neutral” Traffic Cameras Ticket Black and Latino Drivers the Most

Here is the sub-headline:

A ProPublica analysis found that traffic cameras in Chicago disproportionately ticket Black and Latino motorists. But city officials plan to stick with them — and other cities may adopt them too.

by Emily Hopkins and Melissa Sanchez Jan. 11, 5 a.m. EST.

Here is the lede plus three:

When then-Mayor Richard M. Daley ushered in Chicago’s red-light cameras nearly two decades ago, he said they would help the city curb dangerous driving. “This is all about safety, safety of pedestrians, safety of other drivers, passengers, everyone,” he said.

His successors echoed those sentiments as they expanded camera enforcement. “My goal is only one thing, the safety of our kids,” Rahm Emanuel said in 2011, as he lobbied for the introduction of speed cameras. And in 2020, Lori Lightfoot assured residents her expansion of the program was “about making sure that we keep communities safe.”

But for all of their safety benefits, the hundreds of cameras that dot the city — and generate tens of millions of dollars a year for City Hall — have come at a steep cost for motorists from the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods. A ProPublica analysis of millions of citations found that households in majority Black and Hispanic ZIP codes received tickets at around twice the rate of those in white areas between 2015 and 2019.

The consequences have been especially punishing in Black neighborhoods, which have been hit with more than half a billion dollars in penalties over the last 15 years, contributing to thousands of vehicle impoundments, driver’s license suspensions and bankruptcies, according to ProPublica’s analysis.

like with most things involving The People, some thought is needed to understand what is going on.  For one, we should ask what external factors are causing tese ZIP Code disparities.  Is transportation Infrastructure equitably distributed?  Is there a difference in pulic transportation?  Are commuting obligations different?  Is there some set of legal restrictions on some ZIP Codes that are unequitable and unreasonable?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Give The Canadian Truckers Their Donations

For John, BLUF:  I hope this all works out well in the end, and the Truckers get their donations, but this has soured me on Go Fund Me.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

GoFundMe Shuts Down Canadian Freedom Convoy Account and Sends the Money Where It Decides

From The Red State Blog, by "streiff"♠, 4 February 2022, 7:57 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

Over the past weeks, the GoFundMe account supporting the Canadian Freedom Convoy has raised over $9 million from small donors.  Today, at the request of the Trudeau dictatorship, that account was shut down.  To add injury to insult, GoFundMe has decided to repurpose the donations, sending them to a charity that has the approval of that corporation rather than returning them to the donors.  You have to submit an “application” to get your money back. Here is GoFundMe’s statement:

To ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, we work with local authorities to ensure we have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground.  Following a review of relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Term 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been removed from the platform.

The statement is utter bullsh** down to its core. GoFundMe is doing this because all of the big tech companies are acting as arms of progressive administrations to enforce their whims.  We see it on YouTube, Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, everywhere.  The Freedom Convoy is embarrassing Trudeau and shaking things up in Canadian politics.  That makes them a threat.  There is neither violence nor credible threats of violence associated with the Freedom Convoy, but we can’t have mere proles standing up to a fascist darling, can we?

So Go Fund Me is taking the contributions of many small contributors and redirecting those funds, without donor permission to where Go Fund Me wishes?

I find this contemtable.

i wonder if it is legal?

I do hope that word gets out and breaks their business model.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "Former infantry officer, CGSC grad and Army Operations Center alumnus.  RedState member since 2004."

President Putin's Options

For John, BLUF:  Some political leaders achieve success by not doing what is expected, rather by doing what is not expected.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Outlier: What if Putin’s Real Target isn’t Ukraine?

From The Cipher Briefby Mr Tim Willsey-Wiley,♠ 4 Febrruary 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

We have a long history of misreading Russian intentions.  The classic example was the judgement by the British Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) that Russia would not invade Czechoslovakia in 1968; based on a westernised view that it would not be in Moscow’s interests.  Similar misjudgements were made in the prelude to Putin’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

Vladimir Putin calculated this winter as the ideal time to confront the West over those parts of the former Soviet Union which he believes should still be in Moscow’s sphere of influence.  Winter inevitably puts Europe’s energy market under stress.  Meanwhile NATO has just made a humiliating and chaotic exit from Afghanistan led by a United States president who is struggling in the polls.

Having identified the best moment Putin followed up by mobilising an army of some 130,000 troops in midwinter, distributed in pockets along Ukraine’s borders with Russia and Belarus.  Putin never places great belief in diplomacy but he is willing to go through the motions because he does set store by assembling retrospective justification for any future action.  In the unlikely event of a major Western concession, he would be willing to stand down the army but the strong probability is that he will use it to facilitate a tangible political and military result.

The assumption of everyone in the West is that Ukraine is the target for either an invasion or an incursion. However, none of the options looks particularly good.  Yes, Russian troops could probably dash the 240 miles from Belarus to Kiev and seize the capital.x  But they would be unable to subjugate the whole of Ukraine, especially west of Kiev, and the invasion could lead to a long and costly insurgency.  Alternatively, Putin could try and capture Ukraine’s coast and the port of Odessa but it would leave a long strip of land to defend against future Ukrainian counter-attacks.

It is a short article and I save the two options the author suggests for your reading.

They are a couple of interesting options.

One wonders if he attended some course somewhere that taught about Australian Author Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Tim Willasey-Wilsey served for over 27 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is now Visiting Professor of War Studies at King's College, London.

Confusion on the Left

For John, BLUF:  Not all demonstrations or protests are judged equal by the Progressives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

“Mostly peaceful” versus “non-violent dangers.”

From The New Neo, by the Blogger Herself, 1 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus five:

Orwell would take note of the Canadian left’s reaction to the trucker convoy:

You’ve heard of mostly peaceful violence and fiery but mostly peaceful protests. Well, that’s how the leftwing propaganda fiction corporations describe violent thuggish gang-warfare assemblages they approve of.

But how do they describe completely, 100% orderly, violence-free protests they disapprove of?

They accuse those of creating “non-violent dangers.”

In other words, some people have been stirred to fearfulness by left-wing propaganda about the trucker convoy, even though that demonstration hasn’t just been mostly peaceful – it’s been totally peaceful so far.

The COVID--19 Pandemic is creating strange bedfellows.  For example, Nation of Change, which I think of as reliably Progressive, today came out against the working class Canadian Truckers, accusing them of being "The ‘Freedom’ convoy:  Canada’s far right revolt".  So much for solidarity.

Have you seen the pictures of Canadian Truckers picking up trash?  Reminds me of the Tea Party.  It only brings to mind the AntiFa and Black Lives Matter demonstrations [riots] of 2020 by way of contrast.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

UPDATE:  Typos corrected.

Regards  —  Cliff

AOC on the Hunt

For John, BLUF:  I believe we should be respectful of our elected leaders.  After all, we voted them in to office.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Morning Briefing: AOC Stomps Her Foot and Reminds Everyone That She's Still America's Dumbest Bartender

From PJ Media, by Columnist Stephen Kruiser, 4 February 2022, 8:15 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus five:

Happy Friday, Dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Best of health wishes to everyone who is old enough to remember when the History Channel aired programs about history.

Thus far, February hasn’t given us much indication that 2022 might not be an idiot.

While we’re on the subject of idiots, we should note that America’s Dumbest Bartender is competing for gold in the “Biggest Mouth That Never Shuts” in this year’s ChiCom Olympics.

Robert has the story:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Lubyanka) is furious with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) for daring to stand against the far-Left’s plans for socialism and election-rigging, and she is demanding that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Sinister) take action, and take action now. She wants him to “make their lives as difficult as possible.” This is the kind of rhetoric that destroys free republics, and AOC should be remembered for it.

I have no problem referring to Little Miss in terms that some might feel are patriarchal and sexist.  She’s a commie, so I can be as awful as I want.

I don't really think she is a Commie.  I might agree that she has trouble completing jigsaw puzzles.  Incidentally, "Lubyanka" appears to reference the tallest building in Moscow, the Luzbyanka Prison.  From there you can see all the way to Siberia.

As for AOC trash talking Senator Chuck Schumer (D NY), there is word on the street that she intends to challenge him for his Senate Seat.  He is a Class 3 Senator and thus up for reelection in 2022.

The US Senate is where a lot of talented people go to while away their time and never be heard from again.  Maybe it will happen to AOC.  A win-win for New York and the Nation,

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Schooling Going Forward

For John, BLUF:  I think the election for Governor of Virginia, and the ongoing contretemps in Loudoun County, Virginia, suggest the Education Establishment may be facing some rough waters ahead.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Biggest Education Innovation Is Growing Use of School Choice

Here is the sub-headline:

Homeschooling, charter schools, and other “alternative” learning approaches are now mainstream.

From Reason Magazine, by Contributing Editor J.D. Tuccille, 1.24.2022, 8:30 AM.

Here is the lede plus four:

It wasn't long ago that "normal" schooling meant public school, understood as some variation on the theme of classes punctuated by the sound of a bell, lunch in a cafeteria, and detours to run around with beat-up gym equipment. Catholic kids had similar experiences at parochial schools and some mostly rich kids went to private academies. Anything else was a little weird and required explanation. But, accelerated by pandemic-era stresses, innovations in recent years brought big changes to education. The biggest change of all is probably the growing acceptance won by charters, homeschooling, and a host of flexible approaches to teaching kids as the old model loses its luster.

Just how much the world has changed came home to me when the tech at my eye doctor's office asked about my son, who attended a charter school with her daughter when the kids were younger. I mentioned that he was thriving as a homeschooler and had just started a laboratory biology class at the community college. Her daughter was also homeschooled, she told me. The girl was technically enrolled in the public high school now, but that was mostly to gain access to community college courses. Her daughter already had two years of college credits put away.

"Northern Arizona University offered her a free ride for the last two years," she told me.

This conversation would have been almost unthinkable when I was in school. But the world has morphed dramatically since then, especially when it comes to our attitude towards education.

"How have your opinions on homeschooling changed as a result of the coronavirus?" EdChoice asks parents every month. In December 2021, 68 percent of respondents reported that they are more favorable to homeschooling than they were before the pandemic. Only 18 percent are less favorable.

There is growing suppport for education savings accounts and school vouchers.  While our Commonwealth Constitution here in Massachusetts would work against such programs providing money for parochial schools, if enough parents were upset it might cause a change to the Constitution.  Or the US Supreme Court might rule that clause unconstitutional.

This might be a wakeup call to public school educators.  On the other hand, it might be interpreted as just a minor hiccup.  If masks and vax mandates go away, and teachers return, this may be the case.  However, this is not something serious thinkers should lightly dismiss, even if they don't talk about it in public.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Following the Science

For John, BLUF:  The last two years appears to have seen a certain amount of fraud on the part of Federal Medical Sciencists, aided and abetted by the media, including social media.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Johns Hopkins Study:  Lockdowns Are A Failure

From Victory Girls Blog, by Ms Nina Bookout, 2 Februry 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

Lockdowns are a failure. That’s the gist of a new in-depth study from Johns Hopkins. How much of a failure? Covid mortality rates were reduced by a mere .2%

Lockdowns during the first COVID-19 wave in the spring of 2020 only reduced COVID-19 mortality by .2% in the U.S. and Europe, according to a Johns Hopkins University meta-analysis of several studies.

“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the researchers wrote.  “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

POINT TWO PERCENT! That’s it. That’s all the lockdowns did in regards to keeping us “safe” from Covid. : In other words, the draconian lockdowns have solved nothing and have, as we’ve written about multiple times, caused more problems than it solved!

There is a lot we didn't know about COVID-19 when we became awware of it.  I am sure that some in Government felt that their duty was to provide the People with a firm path forward, leaving no room for doubt for the benighted hoi polloi.

Going back to the root of the current problem, it seems that some from the Federal Health Establishment felt that it was more important to appear certain than to admit the uncertainty that existed.  The mask thing is, for me, an example.  From we don’t need them to we need two shows a self-serving set of bureaucrats, trying to downplay the importance of masks, to protect the supply, to eventually, everyone should be masked.  Self-serving medical-political leaders.  The thread through it all is don’t trust the benighted hoi palloi.  That is no way to run a democracy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Stating the Obvious

For John, BLUF:  Some of us in this Republic are sensing a rise in petty crimes, which turn out to be not only be a tax on the law abiding, but an encourgement to those living on the margin to go to the petty crime side, accellerting a bad cycle and destroying civilization, at first slowly and then more quickly.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Dunkin’ customer reveals why some stores have height charts

From The Neww York Post, by Reporter Ann W. Schmidt, 31 January 2022, 11:56am.

Here is the lede plus four:

A Dunkin’ customer has revealed the surprising reason why some stores have height charts on the door.

Earlier this month, a TikTok user named Jocelyn, who goes by the username @officialjuice93, posted a video from inside a Dunkin’ location.

In the clip, Jocelyn wrote: “Tell me your Dunkin has been robbed with out [sic] telling me they’ve been robbed… I’ll go first.”

The video then pans over to the entrance of the store, where there are lines with height markers up the side of the door.

Those height markers are intended to help employees and other witnesses gauge the height of any possible criminals, according to a 2012 report from Slate.

The fact that they exist is pretty mundane.  The fact that they are proliferating, and folkls are picking up on them is disturbing.

White House Press Secretary notwithstanding, crime is on the rise and impacking the non-criminal majority.  Given the proliforation of George Soros backed District Attornies, it turns out that the rise in criminality is now an indirect tax on the Middle Class and he poor.  For example, in Denver, Business Owner Derek Friedman is impostng a 1% Denver Crime Spike Fee on all purchases at his stores.

How can a business sustain a high pilferage rate except by boosting prices?  One might ask if this is the entrance to an ever-expanding cycle of shoplifting and price increases, as more and more people find themselves priced out of the market and resort to shoplifing for their needs.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Softening of the Economy?

For John, BLUF:  The view of one person on how the economic numbers don't aadd up to a continuing strong economy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Sketchy Economic Data About to Surface, White House Proactively Seeds MSM Narrative

From The Conservative Tree House, by Sundance, 31 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

For those who have been following closely, the economic data releases over the past several months have been almost impossible to reconcile from a Main Street perspective. Additionally, the scale of inflation is skewing everything that stems from dollar valuation.

CTH is certain the fourth quarter GDP statistic (+6.9%) is useless and was an outcome of several flawed metrics:  (1) the import data was misrepresented and not accurately deducted (supply chain issue); (2) the value of building inventories was over calculated as an outcome of inflation; and (3) the value of all economic activity was subsequently skewed because the economic outputs (goods and services) were recorded at higher prices.

It has been our estimation that Main Street economic activity was substantially less than the data discussed by financial pundits.

The article suggests thzt the White House knows that the economy is softening, and is trying to crezte an alternate story.

This is important, because a soft economy would not be helpful to Democrats going into the Fall Mid-term elections.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Academia Takes Another Hit, And Doesn't Notice

For John, BLUF:  Wokeness is destroying the institutions of higher learning.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Jordan Peterson resigns from his tenured position at University of Toronto

From The National Post by Mr John Sexton, 20 January 2022, 7:20 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Yesterday, Jordan Peterson announced he had recently become a professor emeritus a bit sooner than he’d planned.  His explanation for the decision was published by the National Post:

I had envisioned teaching and researching at the U of T, full time, until they had to haul my skeleton out of my office.  I loved my job.  And my students, undergraduates and graduates alike, were positively predisposed toward me.  But that career path was not meant to be…

First, my qualified and supremely trained heterosexual white male graduate students (and I’ve had many others, by the way) face a negligible chance of being offered university research positions, despite stellar scientific dossiers.  This is partly because of Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity mandates (my preferred acronym: DIE).  These have been imposed universally in academia, despite the fact that university hiring committees had already done everything reasonable for all the years of my career, and then some, to ensure that no qualified “minority” candidates were ever overlooked.  My students are also partly unacceptable precisely because they are my students.  I am academic persona non grata, because of my unacceptable philosophical positions.

Professor Jordan B Peterson is the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, a valuable read.  He has be cited several times in this blog.

It is embarrasing, and alarming, that China is sending its second tier students to US, and I assume Canadian, institutions of higher learning.  Why?  Because our schools are focused on woke issues, and not excellence in academic pursuits.

We need to admit the sins of the past, and that some in the present have not lived up to our national ideals, both here and in Canada, and then move on, together.  We are not doing that and it is impeding progress on all fronts, to our detriment.  If we wish our future to be dictated to by the CCP, to do it the way the CCP thinks it should be done, all we have to do is keep doing what we are doing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff