Goodbye President Gay

For John, BLUF:  What will be the long term consequence of Dr Claudine Gay stepping down from bzeing President of Harvard.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Claudine Gay Has Gone Away

Here is the sub-headline:

Is this the dawn of a new day?

From InstaPundit, by Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, 2 January 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned.  She follows Penn’s president Liz Magill, and leaves only MIT President Sally Kornbluth surviving among the three university presidents who disgraced themselves in their testimony over campus antisemitism.

So what’s next?  And what should be next?

I’ll approach those in reverse order.  Kornbluth should resign too.  Her performance was just as bad as the other two, and the plagiarism charges against Gay, while apparently well-founded, aren’t why Gay resigned.  She resigned because she sounded like a gray bureaucrat when confronted with the bloody reality of terrorism and antisemitism abroad, and shameless support for terrorism and antisemitism at home.  Kornbluth sounded no better.  University presidents are supposed to be leaders, and you don’t lead by retreating, squid-like, behind a cloud of gray technicalities and evasions.

I agree, 7 October may be the day DEI took a fatal blow.  But that does not mean the Faculty and Administrators at Harvard have seen the light.  The are probably still teaching the old lines (Prof Reynolds mentions in the article Frantz Fanon and Hebert Narcuse).

Only when our betters, such as the staff at Harvard, realize what our two and a quarter centuries have done for the world, and acknowledge its progress, will we be able to move on in the direction of progress, acknowledging our problems, but thankful for those who went before us and hopeful for the future.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

MLK and Who?

For John, BLUF:  If we are going to move on we need to find what we hold in common.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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When Black Conservatives Fight

Here is the sub-headline:

Two dudes causing all the commotion

From Juliette's Newsletter, by Ms Juliette Ochieng, 26 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Photoshop below is causing a lot of chatter in one of the conservative circles - most are black - I frequent.

Amusement. Outrage. Approval. Accusations of betrayal. The responses run the gamut.

 

That is the interesting thing about history.  It is open to all of us, for learning, illumination and minipulation.  Student beware.

I like Ms Ochieng's take on this.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tools of Knowledge

For John, BLUF:  Some would throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Scholars claim that statistics 'serve white racial interests'

From Campus Reform, by Reporter Toni Airaksinen, 11 January 2018, 5:19 am ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Three British professors recently claimed that statistical analyses have been weaponized to “serve white racial interests” within academia and beyond.

Led by David Gillborn, a professor at the University of Birmingham, the professors argue that math serves white interests because it can “frequently encode racist perspectives beneath the facade of supposed quantitative objectivity.”

“Contrary to popular belief, and the assertions of many quantitative researchers, numbers are neither objective nor color-blind,” Gillborn and his team assert in their article for the journal Race, Ethnicity, and Education.

To address the racism numbers reinforce, the professors advocate for the adoption of “QuantCrit”—a portmanteau for “quantitative analysis” and “critical race theory.” Quantcrit, they say, has five key tenets, including that “numbers are not neutral.”

As Lord Wellington said:  "Lies, damn lies and statistics."

Mark Twain:  "Figures don't lie. but liars do figure."

Statistics is a powerful tool, but when people are not hoonest in their statistical collection or analysis it becomes another tool for misleading others.  To blame statistics and to try and recreate the tool with a new name is itself dishonest.  Statistics help us understand our world.  For example, while Blacks make up and 13.5% of the American population. they are 8.5% of the residents of Lowell.  Is there something to be learned there?  during COVID, after an initial spike the Black population of Lowell had a lower infection rate.  What was to be learned from that?

Statistics should be embraced, after being checked. and used to help elevate every discourse.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Our Political Myths

For John, BLUF:  History is often written in the hedlines, with no one going back to double check the story.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The myth of a Southern Strategy

From donsurber substack, by Reporter Don Surber, 10 March 2023.

Here is the lede plus four:

Richard Nixon was the most maligned president in U.S. history until Donald Trump came along. Democrats still hate Nixon because he opposed communists in America early and often. He knew Moscow funded the American Communist Party four decades before the press admitted it — and only after the Soviet Union fell did the press report it.

Watergate was a frame up. He never knew about the plan to bug the DNC. But he had passed Mark Felt over as J. Edgar Hoover’s successor at the FBI, and so the deep state removed Nixon from office less than two years after his record landslide re-election.

The same press that created Watergate has defended Obama using the FBI to spy on President Trump. The press still insists there was a Russiagate that allowed a Democrat to use the government to spy on a Republican critic.

The biggest lie against Nixon was a Southern Strategy. I will allow the Washington Post to define it.

The Post said on July 26, 2019, “Most Americans have heard the story of the Southern strategy: The Republican Party, in the wake of the civil rights movement, decided to court Southern white voters by capitalizing on their racial fears. Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater first wielded this strategy in 1964 and Richard Nixon perfected it in 1968 and 1972, turning the solidly Democratic South into a bastion of Republicanism.”

Here are the numberss, which should tell us a story:

[Nixon] took 5 of the 6 Confederate states that LBJ took in his landslide.

And LBJ is the man who passed, with the help of the Republicans, the Civil Rights legislation.

Sure, four years later, Nixon took all 11 Confederate states. But he also took every other state in the country except Massachusetts. If you want to call that a Southern Strategy then your south extends to Alaska.

Why wass Massachusetts the odd man out?

Jimmy Carter would take 10 of those 11 states back four years later. And of course Clinton and Gore did well in the Confederate states. Were they dog whistling Dixie?

Yes, it appears that President Richard Nixon was smeaared regarding his so-called Southern Strategy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Progressive Colonists

For John, BLUF:  I am having a hard time understanding the arrogance of NPR to think that Brazil can not create a reaction to a questionable Presidential vote on their own, without US intervention.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The attack on Brazil's Congress was stoked by social media — and by Trump allies

From National Public Radio, by Reporters Bill Chappell, Shannon Bond and Sergio Olmos, 10 January 2023, 5:15 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

Long before Sunday's shocking attack on Brazil's Congress and other government buildings, warning signs on social media pointed to possible violence by backers of former President Jair Bolsonaro — one of several important parallels with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago.

The similarities run deep: In addition to the aim of subverting an election, some of the same U.S. voices that amplified then-President Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election before the Capitol assault have also sought to sow doubt over Bolsonaro's loss to Brazil's new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In the space of 24 hours over Sunday and Monday, former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon said no fewer than 10 times on the right-wing social media platform Gettr that Lula "stole the election."  When he shared images from Brasilia on Sunday showing the houses of Brazil's democracy under attack, Bannon labeled the insurrectionists "freedom fighters."

Since before the October election, Bannon has been hosting guests on his popular podcast warning about fraud in Brazil and promoting accusations that voting had been compromised.

Their main point of attack is Mr Steve Bannon, but President Trump has been pulled into this argument that the US is responsible for the riots and unrest in Brazilia, the National Capitol of Brazil, over the election of Lula da Silva over Jair Bolsonaro.

Here is a comment from the author:

“You know what’s Trump’s fault?  The violent protests in Brazil, where they do political violence with the same enthusiasm and frequency as they play soccer.”

I think that sums it up.  Brazil, with a populationo of 217 million people, seems quite capable of creating its own political theater, without help from other quarters.

What we are seeing here is NPR repoorters writing in a racist way, assuming that a nation with a majroity non-Caucasian population is not capable of conducting its own revolutions, coups and counter-coups.  That is pretty petty on their part, and racist  Or perhaps they have prejudged former President Donald Trump and want him in jail and will hang whatever they can on him to make it happen.  What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

An Ahistorical Analysis

For John, BLUF:  It seems to me that some of what we see about racism is from a narrow focus on the last four hundred years and on the area now known as the United States.  Thus we have distortions of reality, being used to bully people.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Whiteness is going to have an end date' says Rutgers professor of gender and Africana studies

Here is the sub-headline:

A 2021 video of a critical race theory scholar claiming that "white people are committed to being villains" and warning that "whiteness is going to have an end date" has resurfaced on social media sparking renewed outrage.

From The Post Millennial, by Writer Mia Ashton, 4 January 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

A 2021 video of a critical race theory scholar claiming that "white people are committed to being villains" and warning that "whiteness is going to have an end date" has recently resurfaced on social media sparking renewed outrage.

Brittney Cooper, who is Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University, made the comments during a podcast interview with The Root, during which she also said "We gotta take these muthaf*kers out."

Cooper further portrayed the world before colonialism as a utopia of peace and tranquility, with black and brown people traveling the seas and oceans spreading friendship and prosperity.

"White human beings thought there’s a world here and we own it," said the professor of gender studies. "Prior to them, black and brown people have been sailing across oceans, interacting with each other for centirues without total subjugation, domination, and colonialism."

This seems a tad ahistorical.  When Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue Spain had just emerged from a period of being colonized longer than the period from 1492 to today,  The colonial occupation was from Africa.  Granted, it was North Africa, but it was Africa.  China began buildung the Great Wall some 1800 years before Ferdinand and Isabella won the Battle of Granada.  And, there were the various empires in the Western Hemisphere, oppressing others.♠

This idea of the fall of the "White" race does strike me as racist.♥  Actually, I prefer the term Caucasian snd find the term "White" offensive.  Printer paper is white.  I am somethihg different.

I also think that some of those attributes deemed less desirable, but attributed to "White People", such as individualism; control; a sense of urgency; perfectionism; focusing on measurable goals; emphasis on the written word and strong writing skills; politeness; and belief in objectivity, are more a result of the Anglo-Dutch development of individual freedom and not something long embedded in Europe as a whole.  Blame those on the Barons at Runnymede.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  And, the oppression of the Aztec Empire provided local allies to Spanish Conquistadors.
♥  Wikipedia tells us "Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another."

The SCOTUS Decision Leaks

For John, BLUF:  The deliberate leaking of a DRAFT SCOTUS decision on an abortion issue is an ethical blot on the Staff of the Supreme Court.  It would also be a point to examine larger social issues.  Not going to happen.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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WHEN THE MOBIUS LOOP COLLAPSES:

Posted at InstaPundet, by Mr Ed Driscoll, 3 May 2022, 2:22 pm.

Here is the tweet:

Dave Smith
@ComicDaveSmith
Progressives have given away their two favorite go to responses on abortion.

“My body my choice” rings pretty hollow after Vax mandates.

“It’s a women’s issue” is tough if there’s no definition of woman.

8:46 AM · May 3, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

The mobius loop is a connected strip of paper with no inside or outside.

At the end of the day, this is scoring points, but misses the key point, as long as women get pregnant there will be abortions and as long as there are abortions there will be the taking of human life.

My own position is that abortion is wrong, but, given our pluralistic society, abortions should be legal through the first trimester, perhaps the first five months.  After that there should be no taking of life.  Those who perform partial birth or post partium abortions (infanticide) are guilty of manslaughter.  I would allow no late term abortions for rape.  There is no incest exception, as incest is rape.  The life of the Mother should always be a consideration for the mother.  Delayed decisions should not be rewarded.

Not often discussed is the sociology of this issue.  For example, there is that fact that since the time of Ms Margaret Sanger abortions have been focused on Black Women.  Does this have anything to do with the eugenics and racist views of Ms Sanger?  The next question is why abortions need to be available for the full nine months of a pregnancy?  It would seem responsible women would quickly know they are pregnant.  Some realize almost immediately.  Others take a month or so to realize.  The "I'm just getting fat" line seems pretty weak.  Further, are parents, schools and girlfriends not helping young women to form an understanding of the responsibilities involed in having sex.  Responsibilities to one's partner and in the event of conception.  While I am not advocating use of anti-pregnancy actions, they are inherently better than abortion, after life has begun. Abortion should not be the ultimate birth control method.  Planning on that is irresponsible.  Responsible adults want to have fun, but they should be prepared to be responsible for the results of their actions. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

SPLC Alleged Discrimination

For John, BLUF:  The Southern Poverty Law Center seems to be a Progressive Organization with a penchant for smearing more mainstream organizations.  It once had a mission, but has morphed into a political aggitation activity.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Southern Poverty Law Center Is Racist, Employees Say

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Reporter Patrick Hauf, 28 March 2022, 5:25 pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which is best known for its extensive list of hate groups, is racist, according to its employees.

SPLC Union members protested outside of their employer's office Monday in opposition to the legal advocacy group's plan to require certain employees to return to in-person work.  The union, in a statement, claimed the move targets black women because it primarily requires workers in low-level positions to return to the office.

"Staff in more highly regarded job classifications and who are higher-paid employees are being given the flexibility to work remotely, while women, Black, brown, and lower-paid employees are forced back into the office regardless of our work, our needs, and our advocacy for more inclusive treatment," Lisa Wright, a union bargaining committee member, said.  "Forcing employees back into the office isn't about collaboration or cooperation—this is about policing and surveillance of SPLC's lowest-paid employees."

Actually, this seems more class discrimination, which shows itself as racist because of who has which positions.

Benefit of the doubt to the SPLC, but it adds to my suspicion that the SPLC is a corrupt institution.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free and Fair Elections

For John, BLUF:  President Biden seems to think that the Republican Party, which fought for 100 years for the rights of Black People to vote, has turned into the Democratic Party of the Old South.  He is sadly, and damagingly mistaken.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Says 2022 Election “Could Easily Be Illegitimate”

Here is the sub-headline:

“Oh, yeah, I think it could easily be illegitimate … The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed.”

From Legal Insurrection, by Professor William A. Jacobson, 19 January 2022, 07:00pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

oe Biden is setting the stage for Democrats to claim 2022 wins by Republicans would be illegitimate, based on the false claims of voting suppression that even CNN said were lies, CNN Skewers Biden’s Voter Suppression Lies. Yes, CNN.

Democrats are using fearmongering about “the end of democracy” in order to try to nationalize election controls away from states and local governments to lower election integrity. Unless Democrats can bust the filibuster — and that looks like it’s not going to happen because Manchin and Sinema are holding firm — then the voting bill is dead. (That vote may happen tonight.)

Democrats are expecting to lose bigly in the 2022 elections, so of course, Biden preemptively is suggesting the 2022 elections may not be legitimate. That’s just how Biden framed it at his press conference today:

I admit I am a bit confused.  Is the Presidenet saying that the election two years ago may have been illegitimate?  I know Democrats questioned the 2016 Presidential Election.  At Least Ms Hillary Clinton stated that.

Or is it that certain states have been doing evil things, rolling back COVID Pandemic exceptions to our commonly accepted voting practices.  Since Politics is a negotiation, I would be happy to offer up some options in exchange for Voter ID and signatures on Mail-in Ballots.  Is there a deal to be had?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Today's Holiday

For John, BLUF:  Today is a Federal Holiday and a moment to ponder how we go forward with our Americsn Project.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

I think Dennis Galvin, of Westford, put well Dr King's place in our history.  On the Lowell City Life Show this Friday last he described Dr King is the missing Founding Father.  Dr King was the person who advocated for the equal rights of all people.

Here is Dr King's "I Have A Dream" speech (28 August 1963):

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

It would be nice.  And something for all of us to strive for.

Regards  —  Cliff

Solicitor General Gets An Ethics Waiver

For John, BLUF:  Ethics is a tricty area.  You might think it is unethical, but someone else might say it is necessary for a larger justice requirement.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden’s top Supreme Court lawyer granted ethics waiver to argue for race-based college admissions

From The College Fix, by Ms Margaret Peppiatt, of Franciscan University of Stuebenville, 14 JANUARY 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Department of Justice has granted U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar an ethics waiver, permitting the former Harvard professor to support race-based admissions in a Supreme Court case involving Harvard University.

Prelogar, who taught at Harvard Law School in the fall of 2020, was nominated for Solicitor General in August 2021 and confirmed by the Senate that October.  Under the Biden Ethics Pledge, Prelogar was prohibited from working on a court case relating to her former employer until two years after her appointment.

But the ethics waiver releases her to argue the case before the Supreme Court.

This is a two-for.  First is the ethics waiver.  Since the law suit is against the President and Fellows of Harvard College the waiver seems a little iffy.

Then there is the nature of the case, racial discrimination in college admissions.

In Students for Fair Admissions, Asian-American students argues Harvard discriminated against them in admissions policies based on race, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I am of the opinion that Harvard switched from discriminating against Jews to discriminating against Asians.  In my mind, tainted by my belief in meritochracy, this kind of discrimination is unfair and un-American.  A period of quotas to reverse racial discrimination seems not unreasonable, but as a long term policy it seems wrong.  And, it seems counter-productive.  We should wish our best minds trained in our best institutions.

All that said, since the Biden Administaration has decided to fight on the side of Discrimination, they need a good Lawyer.  Perhaps Ms Elizabeth Prelogar represents the best available.  After all, she did teach this sort of thing (Ms Prelogar taught the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Workshop) at Harvard Law School.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Abolishing Math

For John, BLUF:  A little perdictability in how we measure (describe) things is good.  Two plus two must always equal four or mathematics loses its ability to convey information.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Major News Outlet Asks if Math is Racist

By Alex Parker | Dec 10, 2021 12:15 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Have you ever considered a numerical concept and then suspected it was judging you by your color?

If so, USA Today has an article for you.

A piece published Tuesday asks, “Is math education racist?”

“Debate rages,” it claims, “over changes to how (the) U.S. teaches the subject.”

The current title is a tweak: As relayed by Fox News, the original headline posed more profoundly, “Is math racist?”

I blame people from the Indian subcontinent, for intorducing the concept of zero, and the Arabs, for giving us our znumber system, which replaced the klunky Roman Numeral system.

I, for one, like the predictability of the math I leared in K thruogh 12.  When I go to the store and buy buy watermellon and cottage cheese I feel I can depend on the numbers to always work out the same. The price may chnge, but the addition of the two items on the cash register will be consistent.  Without tht consistence, life woould be much more complex.

As for Math Eduction, that is on the Teachers' Unions.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Striving to Be Better

For John, BLUF:  The message from the Author, Ms Sara Hoyt, is that we need to struggle to be united, rather than separating ourselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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REGRESSING

From the Blog According to Hoyt, by Novelist Sarah Hoyt, 2 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

A Catholic priest, a rabbi and two Lutheran ministers walk into a bar…

If they’re friends, and at ease with each other, you’re almost certainly in America.  Or in a country so far gone into atheist socialism, that it doesn’t matter what religion you have, you’re an enemy of the state.

In this post Ms Hoyt introduces a name change.  She is now calling Progressives as "Regressives".  She sees the regressives as intent on destroying the progress we, as Americans, have made.  She says:

And that rows back decades of just learning to live together and ignoring what’s not relevant to building and living and having a functional society.

Ms Hoyt believes we can continue to get better as a nation, but not if we embark on a plan of separation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Anti-Semitism on Campus?

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

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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

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.

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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

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.

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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

Self-Hating West

For John, BLUF:  As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100th Anniversary, and is pushing its own form of toltalitarianism, it seems the United States no longer has an attractive model for its own citizens and for those abroad, except for illegal immigrants.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Marketing optimistic Chinese self confidence vs Western managed decline

From The Belmont Club, by Mr Richard Fernandez, 1 July 2021.

Here is the lede:

Xi Jinping has projected himself as the ‘Strong Horse’ and painted China as an attractive future in contrast to Joe Biden and the self-hating West which cannot even find something good to say about itself.

"The self-hating West.  That sums up a serious problem.

Chinese Citizens, Uyighers and Tibetins aside, have a common narrative, and rhe Chinese Communist Party pushes that narrative on those who are Chinese descendents in other nations.  What do we have to offer on the 4th of July 2021?  Apparently no longer the Magna Carta and the Rights of Englishmen.

What is it that unites us in the United Statees this 4th of July?  Is it only our belief tht Caucasians are a special form of evil, as expressed in Critical Race Theory.  I understand the desire for revenge, but when revenge becomes self-defeating it is time to move on to forgiveness and a quest for unification.  Are we there yet?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Racism in the Great Outdoors

For John, BLUF:  Our past was not perfect.  Nor is the present.  I have some hope for the future.  But we all have to work at it.  by Ann Althouse at 3:38 PM Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"The Great Outdoors Was Made for White People."

Here is the sub-headline:

A great headline at The Nation...  but is it deadly serious?  Actually, yes

Posted by Ann Althouse, 29 May 2021, 3:38 PM .

Here is the lede plus one:

Through military and legislative intervention, such as the Mariposa Battalion’s violent raid of the village of Ahwahneechee in 1851, which expelled the remaining Indigenous people from Yosemite, these places were cultivated primarily for white people.  Early conservationists like Bowles, or the venerated John Muir or Madison Grant (who wrote one of the foundational texts of the American eugenics movement, The Passing of the Great Race:  Or, The Racial Basis of European History), were not shy in advocating racial exclusivity:  When they spoke of the importance of nature for our nation, they meant the white nation....

The complicated relationships that people of color in the United States have developed with the outdoors because of white violence, coupled with the fact that many local parks—and all national parks—either did not admit people of color or, in some cases, segregated them until 1964, rendered it an effectively white domain....

This is a blot on the National Park Service, but also on the Nation as a whole.  The idea whole Parks would be closed to People of Color is an affront to all.

I assume it is better today, but as COVID-19 fades I will be looking at crowds that visit our National Park here in Lowell and pondering who is there and who isn't.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Not All Deaths Are Equal

For John, BLUF:  It is not clear to me we have developed the statistics to help us understand the consequences of the protes, which oten became riots, in 2020.  Part of that equation is the response of local goverments.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Murder rates soar dramatically in cities after BLM protests with up to 6,000 extra deaths nationwide - massively outweighing the decline in police shootings, researcher finds

Here is the sub-headline:

• UMass PhD candidate Travis Campbell published findings in a pre-print study
• Found that police shootings drop 15% to 20% in cities with large BLM protests
• That equates to about 300 fewer police shootings nationwide over five years
• But murder rates rose 10%, an increase of 1,000 to 6,000 additional homicides
• The exact reason for the increase in murders remains a subject of study
• Campbell suggests that a decrease in police enforcement could be to blame
• He stresses that comparing murders to police killings is 'apples to oranges'

From The Daily Mail, by Reporter Keith Griffith, 22 April 2021, 16:01 EDT.

Here is the lede plus three:

A researcher has found that cities that had Black Lives Matter protests saw a significant decrease in police homicides, but a huge overall increase in murders.

Travis Campbell, an economics PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, published his findings in a recent pre-print study examining the impact of BLM protests on police use-of-force incidents.

His analysis, which is still undergoing peer-review, found that cities with BLM protests had 15 to 20 percent fewer police homicides than expected if the protests had not taken place, equating to 300 fewer police killings nationwide over five years.

But, in a revised unpublished version shared with DailyMail.com, Campbell finds that cities with BLM protests also saw a 10 percent increase in murders overall, equaling 1,000 to 6,000 additional murders nationwide.

Your average voter eligible citizen should be able to do rhe math.  Perhaps we are having a monologue rather than a discussion.

My speculation is that those hardest hit my a reduction in policing will be middle aged and older Black women.  Millions of them, who have felt some sense of security with the presence of police.  It will take some time for the data to flow in, but that is how I see this evolving.

The worst case outcome would be a demographic shift, with major cities becoming depopulated.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Cast System?

For John, BLUF:  Here is a take on the topic of Critical Race Theory, which sees it as a way of binning people and creating a hierarchy, a caste system.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Do You Want a Caste System in America? Keep Pushing Critical Theories and We'll Have It in No Time.

From PJ Media, by Ms Stacey Lennox, 3 May 2021, 4:23 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

The debate about curriculum based on critical theories is getting a lot of hype for how it impacts the teaching of history and civics. Critical theories can absolutely infect those two subjects, but this ideology is far more pernicious than that. There are curricula for math, science, and English that use the underlying thesis of critical theories that are every bit as damaging as teaching a warped version of history that claims America is built on the original sin of slavery.

Critical theories divide society into groups based on their immutable characteristics. Then, it assigns personality characteristics, motives, and societal roles to children based simply on how they were born. This strategy divides children by race, sex, immigration status, disability, and other characteristics they have no control over. It then assigns roles, such as oppressed and oppressor, based on those characteristics. Marxists learned long ago that dividing people by class was challenging. A content middle class was always a barrier to their progress. Dividing people based on immutable characteristics was more straightforward, and creating a coalition of the oppressed groups became the means to gain power, beginning in earnest in the 1980s.

Critical theories are pernicious because they remove agency and free will from one segregated group and blame the other for any disparity in outcomes between groups. It encourages blame and victimhood based on how children were born. The philosophy calls for outright discrimination against groups seen to be “privileged” historically. Generally, these children are white, male, and sometimes Asian. It follows in lockstep with the philosophy articulated by one of the high priests of critical theories, Ibram X. Kendi. “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

For me the lead into the second paragraph is important to understanding the wider impact on society.  I have modified the first two sentences slightly:

Progressives divide society into groups based on their immutable characteristics.  Then, they assign personality characteristics, motives, and societal roles to voters based simply on how they were born.

We are looking at a form of a political caste system in the United States, with implications for voting, at the local, state and national levels.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff