In my case,I do whatever is in Lynn's head
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Apparently the U.S clandestinely retaliated against Iran for its raid on Saudi fields. (See 1 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cliff May on how "not" to end endless wars. (See 2 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Avoiding a third election in Israel. (See 3 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Last night I turned on the television to watch the Democrat's debate. After a few dull minutes, I decided I was more interested in continuing to read about America's Demon. This morning I read some reviews of the debate and came upon an article about Harris' scathing attack on Trump.
She needs to read O'Reilly's book. First, if she wants to crucify Trump, so he will go down in flames, she is actually increasing his votes among the "deplorables" who are tired of watching him scalded because of the boiling water of hate.
Second, she should inform Schiff head to cease presiding over a Gulag investigation (read kangaroo trial) which is being conducted in secret and then selectively leaking negative information and preventing rebuttals etc. He too is helping elect the man they all hate and from day one began the process of impeaching.
Americans are basically fair minded and can see through this charade because Pelosi lost control of her Party, which has decided to commit political suicide.
If radicals and haters believe Trump is the demon they say he is, why are they not willing to slay this blond haired dragon in the traditional manner - at the ballot box? Are they frightened by ole dragon breath?
I daresay if the mass media were capable of objectively searching for truth and focused their withering efforts on all candidates for president as an honest ombudsman/broker would be doing, and revealed the warts of all such candidates, America would be more unified and better off. Trump has personality issues but, for God's sake,you cannot tell me all those on the Democrats's side are angelic
However, what we are witnessing is what Trump has correctly described as a selective witch hunt In search of victim-hood. (See 4 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Walter Williams and higher education. intolerance. (See 5below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dick
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)
U.S. carried out secret cyber strike on Iran in wake of Saudi oil attack - report
By REUTERS
WASHINGTON - The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two U.S. officials have told Reuters.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread "propaganda."
One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details.
It highlights how President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression without spiraling into a broader conflict.
The strike appears more limited than other such operations against Iran this year after the downing of an American drone in June and an alleged attack by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on oil tankers in the Gulf in May.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany have publicly blamed the Sept. 14 attack on Iran, which denied involvement in the strike. The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen claimed responsibility.
Publicly, the Pentagon has responded by sending thousands of additional troops and equipment to bolster Saudi defenses - the latest U.S. deployment to the region this year.
The Pentagon declined to comment about the cyber strike.
"As a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence, or planning," said Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith.
The impact of the attack, if any, could take months to determine, but cyber strikes are seen as a less-provocative option below the threshold of war.
"You can do damage without killing people or blowing things up; it adds an option to the toolkit that we didn't have before and our willingness to use it is important," said James Lewis, a cyber expert with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Lewis added that it may not be possible to deter Iranian behavior with even conventional military strikes.
Tensions in the Gulf have escalated sharply since May 2018, when Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of sanctions.
It was unclear whether there have been other U.S. cyber attacks since the one in late September.
Iran has used such tactics against the United States. This month, a hacking group that appears linked to the Iranian government tried to infiltrate email accounts related Trump's re-election campaign.
Over 30 days in August and September, the group, which Microsoft dubbed "Phosphorous," made more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer accounts, then attacked 241 of them.
Tehran is also thought to be a major player in spreading disinformation.
Last year a Reuters investigation found more than 70 websites that push Iranian propaganda to 15 countries, in an operation that cyber security experts, social media firms and journalists are only starting to uncover.
Tensions with Iran have been high since the Sept. 14 attack. Tehran has claimed that an Iranian tanker was hit by rockets in the Red Sea last week and warned on Monday that there would be consequences.
At a news conference on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani reiterated his country's policy toward the Trump administration, ruling out bilateral talks unless Washington returns to the landmark nuclear deal and lifts crippling U.S. economic sanctions
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread "propaganda."
One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details.
It highlights how President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression without spiraling into a broader conflict.
The strike appears more limited than other such operations against Iran this year after the downing of an American drone in June and an alleged attack by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on oil tankers in the Gulf in May.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany have publicly blamed the Sept. 14 attack on Iran, which denied involvement in the strike. The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen claimed responsibility.
Publicly, the Pentagon has responded by sending thousands of additional troops and equipment to bolster Saudi defenses - the latest U.S. deployment to the region this year.
The Pentagon declined to comment about the cyber strike.
"As a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence, or planning," said Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith.
The impact of the attack, if any, could take months to determine, but cyber strikes are seen as a less-provocative option below the threshold of war.
"You can do damage without killing people or blowing things up; it adds an option to the toolkit that we didn't have before and our willingness to use it is important," said James Lewis, a cyber expert with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Lewis added that it may not be possible to deter Iranian behavior with even conventional military strikes.
Tensions in the Gulf have escalated sharply since May 2018, when Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of sanctions.
It was unclear whether there have been other U.S. cyber attacks since the one in late September.
Iran has used such tactics against the United States. This month, a hacking group that appears linked to the Iranian government tried to infiltrate email accounts related Trump's re-election campaign.
Over 30 days in August and September, the group, which Microsoft dubbed "Phosphorous," made more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer accounts, then attacked 241 of them.
Tehran is also thought to be a major player in spreading disinformation.
Last year a Reuters investigation found more than 70 websites that push Iranian propaganda to 15 countries, in an operation that cyber security experts, social media firms and journalists are only starting to uncover.
Tensions with Iran have been high since the Sept. 14 attack. Tehran has claimed that an Iranian tanker was hit by rockets in the Red Sea last week and warned on Monday that there would be consequences.
At a news conference on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani reiterated his country's policy toward the Trump administration, ruling out bilateral talks unless Washington returns to the landmark nuclear deal and lifts crippling U.S. economic sanctions
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)How not to end endless wars
Retreating and abandoning allies may not be the optimum strategy
Whatever might be said about Donald Trump, I always figured him for a savvy New Yorker who knew a good deal when he saw one.
A prime example was in Syria where the commander in chief, despite understandable misgivings about foreign entanglements, had deployed a small contingent of highly skilled troops to accomplish a mission vital to America’s national security.
In military jargon, President Trump was employing “economy of force.” In the context of recent history, he had adopted what might be called a Goldilocks Doctrine.
In 2003, President Bush sent 177,000 troops to Iraq to overthrow a mass-murdering, anti-American dictator. That was too much!
In 2011, President Obama withdrew all troops which Vice President Biden claimed was “one of the great achievements of this administration.” That was too little!
But President Trump got it just right: fewer than 1,000 special operators training, equipping, advising and providing air support to the Syrian Defense Forces, 60,000 tough fighters, mostly Kurdish but also including Christian Syriacs, Arabs, and others who, like us, oppose jihadism.
Thanks to this sustainable investment, the SDF had been degrading the Islamic State, preventing the Islamic Republic of Iran from running roughshod across the region, holding Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in check, and making Russian President Vladimir Putin understand he could go only so far.
President Trump’s decision to retreat from Syria has thrown all that away. His defenders say he is doing it for the troops, bringing them home where they’ll be safe. But America’s warriors volunteer not to be safe at home but to keep their fellow Americans safe at home by targeting our enemies wherever they live and plot.
Our troops forged bonds with their allies in Syria. The last thing they wanted was to leave those allies and their families defenseless. Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin spoke to one such warrior soon after he was ordered to abandon his comrades-in-arms. “I am ashamed for the first time in my career,” he told her. She added: “This US Special Forces soldier wanted me to know: ‘The Kurds are sticking by us. No other partner I have ever dealt with would stand by us.’”
The Kurds have long been America’s best friends within what is now called the Muslim World. A proud and ancient nation with no state of their own, they have nevertheless managed to survive, and they have no wish to be gobbled up by a new anti-Western, Islamic empire -- the goal of both Sunni salafi/jihadis and Iran’s Khomeinist/Shia rulers.
Apparently Mr. Trump doesn’t get this. Neither does Sen. Rand Paul who seems to have Mr. Trump’s ear. The only reason Americans are in Syria, Mr. Paul asserted last week, is because of “the bloodlust of the neocons” which, he added for good measure, “knows no bounds.”
“We need an end to endless war,” Mr. Paul has said repeatedly. Senator, I feel your pain, but the reason we have an “endless war” is because we have enemies who are patient and determined, and encouraged by the knowledge that Americans like you are neither.
These enemies regard themselves as men of faith, divinely ordained to defeat all infidels everywhere, heirs to Caliph Umar who conquered Jerusalem in 637, to Saladin who defeated the Crusaders in 1187, to Sultan Mehmed who occupied the Christian capital of Constantinople in 1453.
That the “endless war” we’re fighting is already more than a thousand years old is not an opinion. It’s the conviction of our enemies. Refuse to process that reality and progress is unlikely.
Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL officer now serving in Congress, noted that the “great irony” of the “endless wars” argument “is that removing our small and cost-effective force from Northern Syria is causing more war, not less.”
Whatever might be said about Donald Trump, I figured him for a guy who could smell a con a mile away. But he seems to have succumbed to the charms of Recep Tayip Erdogan. The Turkish president is an Islamist, Muslim Brotherhood supporter and neo-Ottoman posing as an ally. He has shown little interest in suppressing the Islamic State (indeed, IS terrorists were operating from Turkish territory as recently as last year) and he has conspired with Iran’s rulers against America on multiple occasions.
He also has brutally repressed the large Kurdish minority in Turkey. Yes, some Kurds have responded with terrorism. But the Kurds in Syria posed no threat to Turkey as long as they were under America’s wing. Indeed, America’s influence, sustained over the long term, can be transformational. Japan, Germany and South Korea are examples.
One more thing: If President Trump considered it essential to withdraw from Syria, he could have instructed his new National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, his new Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, and his even-keeled Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to hammer out a plan to leverage America’s military power to protect American interests; accommodate legitimate Turkish security concerns (negotiations were well underway to create a “safe zone” along the Syrian border); prevent the escape of thousands of Islamic State prisoners from Kurdish-guarded camps; and not betray America’s friends, leaving them to Mr. Erdogan’s tender mercies.
In other words, he could have cut a good deal -- for America, his re-election campaign, and those who have trusted us. If America is to be great again, America will need trusting partners to help fight a war that can end one of two ways: with us giving up, or with us making clear that defeating America is neither realistic nor divinely ordained.
Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3) Rivlin must cook up a US$220 million Netanyahu-Liberman omelette
Israeli voters have clearly expressed their preference for a right wing coalition Government led by Netanyahu – 1,973,246 votes - over a left wing coalition Government led by Gantz – 1,556,491 votes.
An opening to ending Israel’s election deadlock has come after Yisrael Beyteinu faction chairman Oded Forer sent a formal letter to the head of the Likud’s coalition negotiating team, Yariv Levin, on 11 October, asking for negotiations on the policy guidelines for the next government.
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin should exploit this opening to try and save Israel going to a third election in twelve months - by summoning Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitienu head Avigdor Liberman to the President’s residence for negotiations on forming a Netanyahu-Liberman coalition Government.
Rivlin’s attempt to get Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a Government of National Unity failed quite spectacularly and in a very short time.
Rivlin’s failure was quickly followed by:
- Netanyahu and Gantz failing to reach any agreement in further negotiations
- Netanyahu and Liberman holding a meeting for only one hour that reportedly went nowhere
- Netanyahu and Gantz both rejecting a proposal by Liberman very shortly after he proposed it.
A third election at an estimated cost of US$220 million – and the possibility it could also end in deadlock – constitutes political suicide.
President Rivlin would be shirking his responsibility as President if he allowed a third election to take place without having made this last ditch attempt to stop Israel’s descent into another bout of electoral madness.
The best prospects of forming a new Government involve a coalition between the Right Wing parties holding 55 votes and Yisrael Beyteinu holding 8 votes – enough to create the 61 votes needed to form Government for the next four years.
Avoiding a third election has increased exponentially following these recent international developments that have occurred since Israel’s second indecisive election on 17 September:
- Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria
- The Kurds in Syria becoming exposed to being massacred by the invading Turkish forces
- The Kurds in Turkey being caught up in any ensuing conflict
- President Trump showing no inclination to intervene to prevent the Turkish invasion of northern Syria
- The explosion of an Iranian state oil company tanker near the Saudi port city of Jeddah,
- President Trump ordering 3000 troops and weapons to Saudi Arabia in a message of deterrence to Iran
- The further postponement of the release of President Trump’s deal of the century
- The Democrats headlong rush to impeach President Trump
Any deterioration in these potentially disastrous situations could have serious implications for Israel’s safety and security. Israel must have a government in place ready to deal with their consequences.
Liberman's conditions for joining a Netanyahu-led government containing religious parties have been publicly announced by Liberman.
Israeli voters have clearly expressed their preference for a right wing coalition Government led by Netanyahu – 1,973,246 votes - over a left wing coalition Government led by Gantz – 1,556,491 votes.
Rivlin – armed with Forer’s letter to Levin and Israeli voters clearly-expressed wishes - has been given sufficient justification to get Netanyahu and Liberman – for whom 310154 Israelis voted – to sit down and negotiate Liberman’s list of demands for forming a new Netanyahu-Liberman Government before Netanyahu’s mandate to do so expires on 24 October.
Neither Netanyahu nor Liberman should have any expectation that they are going to emerge from the President’s residence with a complete victory for the positions they might initially take when they first sit down with the President.
Rivlin’s political skills could just get them to an agreed compromise.
Rivlin will have earned three stars from the Michelin Guide – and the gratitude of Israeli voters - if he succeeds in cooking-up a Netanyahu-Liberman omelette using a recipe whose ingredients are accepted by both of them.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4) Elizabeth Warren’s
Search for Victimhood
Paul Curry
Nobody celebrates victimhood like the modern Democratic Party. As of last week, Hillary Clinton still thinks she won the 2016 election. She and her supporters believe the presidency was stolen from her by a corrupted electoral college which was manipulated by phantom Russian agents. That and sexism. Nary a mention of her conspicuous absence from the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Stacey Abrams cannot concede last year’s Georgia gubernatorial race because she cannot accept that she lost. She can’t accept that a dysfunctional campaign headed by an unqualified candidate was to blame. It was voter purges and a corrupt system. That and sexism plus racism. Victimhood is the religion of the left, which is why Elizabeth Warren is trying so very hard to be the eternal victim.
Since at least the mid-1980s Warren has been desperately trying to anoint herself a member of the Cherokee Nation. And it has certainly paid off for her. From 1986 until her fraud was discovered in 2012, she steadily rose through the ranks as the first Native American woman at multiple law schools. Of course, the schools in question deny that her race, misrepresented as it may be, had anything at all to do with her hiring, even though she was constantly touted as the first Native American woman. Her “minority status” paid off. She exploited systems designed to help victims of past discriminations, and she liked it. Until of course she felt so empowered by the media’s undying defense of her distortion that she took her now famous, or infamous, DNA test.
Given her history of blatant misrepresentation, it comes as no special surprise that Senator Warren has found herself embroiled in yet another case of falsely claiming to be the victim of discrimination. For nearly a year now, at every campaign stop, she has loudly, yet erroneously, recalled the tale of her being fired from a Riverdale, NJ teaching position for being “visibly pregnant” in 1971. It is true that these things did happen to women in 1971. It is simply not true that it happened to Warren.
Unfortunately for Warren’s fantasy, the Washington Free Beacon was able to locate the actual minutes of the school board meeting where she was in fact given her job. Further frustrating her efforts for Victim of the Year, Warren sat down for an interview with UC Berkeley in 2007, stating of her past “My first-year post-graduation I worked in a public-school system with the children with disabilities. I did that for a year, and then that summer I didn’t have the education courses, so I was on an “emergency certificate,” it was called. I went back to graduate school and took a couple of courses in education and said, “I don’t think this is going to work out for me.” I was pregnant with my first baby, so I had a baby and stayed home for a couple of years.” Was she lying in 2007 to the liberal friendly Berkeley crowd, or has she been lying in 2019 to recoup some lost victim status from her DNA test?
Warren is stuck in a seemingly never-ending cycle of victimhood. Every single action, every perceived slight is some sort of microaggression in her mind and the minds of her supporters. In February 2017, when she was on the Senate floor denouncing then Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, she chose, repeatedly, to violate Senate rules. When admonished for her overt wrongs, “she persisted” became a rallying cry of the hypersensitive. The explicit implication being that Warren was only called out due to her gender, not for repeatedly and deliberately violating two-hundred years of Senate procedure. Whether it is right or wrong to chastise a Senator for misconduct is immaterial. The fact that she immediately hopped on her victimhood train is not. Warren needs to play the victim; she needs the currency within a party that values victimhood over substance.
Elizabeth Warren can very easily recount the past discriminations others have faced without falsely placing herself into the same category. Yet this would deprive her of that most cherished commodity, victimhood. Sure, the media will continue to carry her water and jump to her defense faster than Hillary Clinton can scream something about Russia, but that will be of little help to her come the general election. The left is quick to champion anybody who claims to be a victim, yet the public in general is not so forgiving when they find out they’ve been lied to. Remember Jussie Smollett? Elizabeth Warren, 1/1024th Native American, 0% victim.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++5) Intolerance in Academia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4) Elizabeth Warren’s
Search for Victimhood
Nobody celebrates victimhood like the modern Democratic Party. As of last week, Hillary Clinton still thinks she won the 2016 election. She and her supporters believe the presidency was stolen from her by a corrupted electoral college which was manipulated by phantom Russian agents. That and sexism. Nary a mention of her conspicuous absence from the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Stacey Abrams cannot concede last year’s Georgia gubernatorial race because she cannot accept that she lost. She can’t accept that a dysfunctional campaign headed by an unqualified candidate was to blame. It was voter purges and a corrupt system. That and sexism plus racism. Victimhood is the religion of the left, which is why Elizabeth Warren is trying so very hard to be the eternal victim.
Since at least the mid-1980s Warren has been desperately trying to anoint herself a member of the Cherokee Nation. And it has certainly paid off for her. From 1986 until her fraud was discovered in 2012, she steadily rose through the ranks as the first Native American woman at multiple law schools. Of course, the schools in question deny that her race, misrepresented as it may be, had anything at all to do with her hiring, even though she was constantly touted as the first Native American woman. Her “minority status” paid off. She exploited systems designed to help victims of past discriminations, and she liked it. Until of course she felt so empowered by the media’s undying defense of her distortion that she took her now famous, or infamous, DNA test.
Given her history of blatant misrepresentation, it comes as no special surprise that Senator Warren has found herself embroiled in yet another case of falsely claiming to be the victim of discrimination. For nearly a year now, at every campaign stop, she has loudly, yet erroneously, recalled the tale of her being fired from a Riverdale, NJ teaching position for being “visibly pregnant” in 1971. It is true that these things did happen to women in 1971. It is simply not true that it happened to Warren.
Unfortunately for Warren’s fantasy, the Washington Free Beacon was able to locate the actual minutes of the school board meeting where she was in fact given her job. Further frustrating her efforts for Victim of the Year, Warren sat down for an interview with UC Berkeley in 2007, stating of her past “My first-year post-graduation I worked in a public-school system with the children with disabilities. I did that for a year, and then that summer I didn’t have the education courses, so I was on an “emergency certificate,” it was called. I went back to graduate school and took a couple of courses in education and said, “I don’t think this is going to work out for me.” I was pregnant with my first baby, so I had a baby and stayed home for a couple of years.” Was she lying in 2007 to the liberal friendly Berkeley crowd, or has she been lying in 2019 to recoup some lost victim status from her DNA test?
Warren is stuck in a seemingly never-ending cycle of victimhood. Every single action, every perceived slight is some sort of microaggression in her mind and the minds of her supporters. In February 2017, when she was on the Senate floor denouncing then Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, she chose, repeatedly, to violate Senate rules. When admonished for her overt wrongs, “she persisted” became a rallying cry of the hypersensitive. The explicit implication being that Warren was only called out due to her gender, not for repeatedly and deliberately violating two-hundred years of Senate procedure. Whether it is right or wrong to chastise a Senator for misconduct is immaterial. The fact that she immediately hopped on her victimhood train is not. Warren needs to play the victim; she needs the currency within a party that values victimhood over substance.
Elizabeth Warren can very easily recount the past discriminations others have faced without falsely placing herself into the same category. Yet this would deprive her of that most cherished commodity, victimhood. Sure, the media will continue to carry her water and jump to her defense faster than Hillary Clinton can scream something about Russia, but that will be of little help to her come the general election. The left is quick to champion anybody who claims to be a victim, yet the public in general is not so forgiving when they find out they’ve been lied to. Remember Jussie Smollett? Elizabeth Warren, 1/1024th Native American, 0% victim.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++5) Intolerance in Academia
By Walter E Williams
If you need an accurate update on some of the madness at the nation's institutions of higher learning, check out Minding the Campus, a nonprofit independent organization. John Leo, its editor in chief, says that the organization's prime mission is dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America's colleges and universities. Leo's most recent compilation of campus madness leaves one nearly breathless.
In a USA Today op-ed, Emily Walton, a sociology professor at Dartmouth University, said that all college students should take a mandatory course on black history and white privilege. She says that by taking her class, white students "come to understand that being a good person does not make them innocent but rather they, too, are implicated in a system of racial dominance." Walton adds, "After spending their young lives in a condition of 'white blindness,' that is, the inability to see their own racial privilege, they begin to awaken to the notion that racism has systematically kept others down while benefiting them and other white people." This is inculcating guilt based on skin color. These young white kids had nothing to do with slavery, Jim Crow or other horrible racial discriminatory acts. If one believes in individual responsibility, he should find the indoctrination by Walton offensive. To top it off, she equates the meritocratic system of hard work with white discrimination against minorities.
If you thought integration was in, check out the University of Nevada. Based on a report in the College Fix, John Leo describes how integration on that campus is actively discouraged -- and at taxpayer expense. The university provides separate dorms for different identities including Howell Town for black students, Stonewall Suites for LGBTQ students, the women-only housing of Tonopah community, the Healthy Living Floor for tofu and kale lovers and study-intensive floors for those who want to graduate.
According to a New York Post report, New York City school administrators have been taught that pillars of Western Civilization such as objectivity, individualism and belief in the written word all are examples of white supremacy. All school principals, district office administrators and superintendent teams were required to attend the anti-white supremacy training put on by the city Department of Education's Office of Equity and Access. They learn that a belief in an "ultimate truth" (objectivity) leads to a dismissal of "alternate viewpoints or emotions" as "bad" and that an emphasis on the written word overlooks the "ability to relate to others" and leads to "teaching that there is only 'one right way' to do something." Administrators learn that other "hallmarks" of white supremacy include a "sense of urgency," "quantity over quality" and "perfectionism." Richard Carranza, New York City school superintendent, says the workshops are just about "what are our biases and how we work with them."
Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor, says that political rage and increasingly polarized discourse are endangering our nation. Americans used to move forward productively after elections regardless of which side won. Now, we seem paralyzed by absolute schism and intolerance.
Bloomberg pointed to colleges as a prime example of a rising level of intolerance for different ideas and free speech. Steven Gerrard, a professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, serves as an example of campus intolerance. Students declared Gerrard "an enemy of the people" after he suggested that Williams College join other schools in signing onto what's called the Chicago Principles. The statement, published by the Committee of Freedom of Expression at the University of Chicago, calls for free speech to be central to college and university culture. Williams college students said free speech is a part of a right-wing agenda as a "cover for racism, xenophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and classism." Bloomberg pointed out that fewer than 70 of America's 4,000 colleges and universities have endorsed or adopted the Chicago statement.
State governors and legislators can learn something from their Alaskan counterparts, who slashed public spending on the University of Alaska by 41%. There's nothing better than the sounds of pocketbooks snapping shut to bring a bit of sanity to college administrators.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you need an accurate update on some of the madness at the nation's institutions of higher learning, check out Minding the Campus, a nonprofit independent organization. John Leo, its editor in chief, says that the organization's prime mission is dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America's colleges and universities. Leo's most recent compilation of campus madness leaves one nearly breathless.
In a USA Today op-ed, Emily Walton, a sociology professor at Dartmouth University, said that all college students should take a mandatory course on black history and white privilege. She says that by taking her class, white students "come to understand that being a good person does not make them innocent but rather they, too, are implicated in a system of racial dominance." Walton adds, "After spending their young lives in a condition of 'white blindness,' that is, the inability to see their own racial privilege, they begin to awaken to the notion that racism has systematically kept others down while benefiting them and other white people." This is inculcating guilt based on skin color. These young white kids had nothing to do with slavery, Jim Crow or other horrible racial discriminatory acts. If one believes in individual responsibility, he should find the indoctrination by Walton offensive. To top it off, she equates the meritocratic system of hard work with white discrimination against minorities.
If you thought integration was in, check out the University of Nevada. Based on a report in the College Fix, John Leo describes how integration on that campus is actively discouraged -- and at taxpayer expense. The university provides separate dorms for different identities including Howell Town for black students, Stonewall Suites for LGBTQ students, the women-only housing of Tonopah community, the Healthy Living Floor for tofu and kale lovers and study-intensive floors for those who want to graduate.
According to a New York Post report, New York City school administrators have been taught that pillars of Western Civilization such as objectivity, individualism and belief in the written word all are examples of white supremacy. All school principals, district office administrators and superintendent teams were required to attend the anti-white supremacy training put on by the city Department of Education's Office of Equity and Access. They learn that a belief in an "ultimate truth" (objectivity) leads to a dismissal of "alternate viewpoints or emotions" as "bad" and that an emphasis on the written word overlooks the "ability to relate to others" and leads to "teaching that there is only 'one right way' to do something." Administrators learn that other "hallmarks" of white supremacy include a "sense of urgency," "quantity over quality" and "perfectionism." Richard Carranza, New York City school superintendent, says the workshops are just about "what are our biases and how we work with them."
Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor, says that political rage and increasingly polarized discourse are endangering our nation. Americans used to move forward productively after elections regardless of which side won. Now, we seem paralyzed by absolute schism and intolerance.
Bloomberg pointed to colleges as a prime example of a rising level of intolerance for different ideas and free speech. Steven Gerrard, a professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, serves as an example of campus intolerance. Students declared Gerrard "an enemy of the people" after he suggested that Williams College join other schools in signing onto what's called the Chicago Principles. The statement, published by the Committee of Freedom of Expression at the University of Chicago, calls for free speech to be central to college and university culture. Williams college students said free speech is a part of a right-wing agenda as a "cover for racism, xenophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and classism." Bloomberg pointed out that fewer than 70 of America's 4,000 colleges and universities have endorsed or adopted the Chicago statement.
State governors and legislators can learn something from their Alaskan counterparts, who slashed public spending on the University of Alaska by 41%. There's nothing better than the sounds of pocketbooks snapping shut to bring a bit of sanity to college administrators.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No comments:
Post a Comment