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May 2019

P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

Restoring the Lost Consensus By Roger Kimball

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2019/6/restoring-the-lost-consensus

Editors’ note: The following is adapted from Roger Kimball’s acceptance remarks at the Bradley Prize ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 7, 2019.

Looking around the cultural landscape today, I conclude that we are in the midst of a sort of negative religious revival: let’s call it America’s First Great Awokening.

Evidence of our society’s wokeness—a false awakening sparked by political grievance—is all around. I’d like to begin with what the philosopher Nicholas of Cusa called the “coincidence of opposites.” Unpacking exactly what Cusa meant by that arresting phrase would take us into the thickets of metaphysical speculation. But we see pedestrian examples of that strange coincidence everywhere. Indeed, one of the great tests of our wokeness is the extent to which many things have mutated into their opposites—not awake but awoke. Inversion is a dominant principle of our social life.

Consider, to take just one example, the fate of our colleges and universities. Once upon a time, and it was not so long ago, they were institutions dedicated to the pursuit of truth and the transmission of the highest values of our civilization. Today, most are dedicated to the repudiation of truth and the subversion of those values. In short, they are laboratories for the cultivation of wokeness. This is especially true, with only a handful of exceptions, of the most prestigious institutions. The tonier and more expensive the college, the more woke it is likely to be.

There are two central tenets of the woke philosophy. The first is feigned fragility. The second is angry intolerance. The union of fragility and intolerance has given us that curious and malevolent hybrid, the crybully, a delicate yet venomous species that thrives chiefly in lush, pampered environments.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Pelosi’s Impeachment Dilemma Will she follow her Trump-loathing base or the centrists who won her the gavel? By Kimberley A. Strassel

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosis-impeachment-dilemma-11558651938

It wasn’t with a heavy heart that Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer on Tuesday endorsed initiating formal impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. And it was with unvoiced alarm that his fellow Virginia Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger ran from the impeachment question the same day.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a wicked impeachment dilemma, and Virginia captures it perfectly. It’s been one month since Congress got its hands on the Mueller report, and Mrs. Pelosi has spent that time scrambling to balance competing demands in her caucus. Her approach—call it pseudo-impeachment—has involved accusing the president of all things impeachable (to appease the left) while not engaging in a real impeachment process (to appease moderates). That strategy is now hitting a wall.

The progressives in her party are lining up to demand an impeachment spectacle. They hail from uber-liberal districts, their constituents want Trump’s scalp, and they fear inaction will earn them a primary challenge. Even Mrs. Pelosi’s wingmen—those who’ve had her fake-impeachment back—are starting to break. The Washington Post reports that Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is arguing for a formal impeachment inquiry, as are “five members of Pelosi’s leadership team.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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MEDIA Comments turned off

Continuing plunge of CNN, MSNBC ratings reveals that fake news is a bad business strategy By Thomas Lifson

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/05/continuing_plunge_of_cnn_msnbc_ratings_reveals_that_fake_news_is_a_bad_business_strategy_.html

The catastrophic ratings decline for both CNN and MSNBC was no temporary blip following publication of the Mueller report. Both cable news outlets had heavily promoted the hoax of Russian collusion with the Trump administration, teasing the hopes of Trump-haters for impeachment and prosecution for treason. Now, those disappointed viewers have gone away, and continue to stay away.

TV Newser (free registration required) reveals the continuing loss of a substantial portion of the viewership for both cable news networks in the third week of May:

CNN experienced its lowest-rated week since November 2015 in the 25-54 demo. Additionally, MSNBC marked its lowest-rated prime time week of the year in the demo. Rachel Maddow delivered her lowest-rated week of the year in both total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

The most dramatic decline was in the prized demo, age 25 – 54, with MSNBC down 42% and CNN down 43%. Advertisers are getting barely more than half as many potential consumers watching their ads in both cable news outlets.

To be fair, last year was an election year, and Fox News also experienced a decline of 22%, but that is roughly half the decline of the two progressive outlets.

Fox News lost the crown of the most-viewed cable channel to ESPN, which benefitted from the NBA playoffs.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

KRD- DAILY- NEWS AND VIEWS

By on May 23rd, 2019

IS IT ILHAN OMAR’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOW?

The battle to isolate the unapologetic pro-BDS user of anti-Semitic tropes has been lost. That leaves pro-Israel Democrats with some uncomfortable questions By Jonathan Tobin

https://www.jns.org/opinion/is-it-ilhan-omars-democratic-party-now/?fbclid=IwAR3bAVCvBT5jgWkGxRsktjHEZT03ECKLYIHI2ZHbOHUBDf7cTPawxzUuei4

Austin is a Texas college town better known these days for its trend-setting music scene than for being the capital of the Lone Star State. But last week, it also provided a test case that may say a great deal about the direction of the Democratic Party and the very uncomfortable dilemma facing pro-Israel Jewish Democrats.

What happened was that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was invited to be the keynote speaker at a citywide Iftar dinner there. That a local Muslim community would want to host her is hardly surprising. Omar is seen as a role model in the sense that she is, along with her friend Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), both elected last November, one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress. As someone who wears a hijab even on the floor of the House of Representatives, her career is especially inspiring to Muslim Americans.

But unfortunately, Omar is more than just an illustration of how the American dream still works to provide immigrants and minorities with unlimited opportunities to succeed.

KRD Daily
May 23, 2019

The Rabbi was returning from Saturday evening services when he was attacked in the street. Those who witnessed the assault reportedly laughed…

RABBI BRUTALLY ASSAULTED IN BUENOS AIRES (Jerusalem Post, May 23)
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Rabbi-brutally-assaulted-in-Buenos-Aires-590445?f

Rabbi Elyahu Shaman, who is also a cantor at a synagogue in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, was assaulted when he returned from prayer services on Saturday evening. According to a release sent to The Jerusalem Post from Argentina, he was attacked by a street gang.Shaman was injured on his face and hand during the attack, while the culprits called out racial slurs against Jews. Those who witnessed the violence laughed, according to the release.

It’s shocking how these students are being brainwashed. The excerpt below is just one of the examples given (and we know it is not just happening at universities in Australia). Click on the link for the full picture…KRD

WHEN AUTHORITIES TELL YOU TO DISSENT (By Zachary Snowdon Smith, Quillette, May 22)
 
https://quillette.com/2019/05/22/when-the-authorities-tell-you-to-dissent/?fbclid=Iw

The first indication I received that something had gone awry at Australia’s best university was in a criminology class titled ‘Violence, Trauma, and Reconciliation.’ According to the University of Melbourne handbook, this class ‘considers the forms of trauma people experience as a response to… forms of violence and explores how this trauma propels calls for apologies, truth commissions, retribution, and torture.’ The instructor, Dr. Juliet Rogers, devoted a lecture to female genital mutilation—a natural enough topic for a class on trauma. In Rogers’s view, however, the true source of trauma was not the practice of FGM itself, but the ‘violence’ of anti-FGM laws. After all, Western societies pressure women into body modification in the form of ear piercings—so who are we to pass judgment on those who practice clitorectomies and infibulations on children? And isn’t it true that legislators’ supposed concern with FGM is actually motivated by ‘Islamophobia’?

To quote the author, “The latest in the bizarro world of the US discussion about Israel. Misrahi Jews from all over the Middle East are now being told they are an ‘invented category’…”

MARC LAMONT HILL SLAMS MIZRAHI JEWS AS ‘IDENTITY CATEGORY’ OF PALESTINIANS (Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, May 22)

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Marc-Lamont-Hill-slams-Mizrahi-Jews-as

In a Facebook post on May 20 slamming Hen Mazzig’s article in The LA Times, American academic and activist Marc Lamont Hill described Mizrahi Jews as an “identity category” that had been detached “from Palestinian identity.”…Hill’s latest excoriation of Israel, posted to his 90,000 followers, followed Mazzig’s argument that Israel is not a country of “privileged and powerful white Europeans.” Mazzig sought to emphasize the role of Mizrahi Jews in Israeli history and condemned the tendency of critics to define Israelis as Ashkenazi Jews alone…

In a Facebook post on May 20 slamming Hen Mazzig’s article in The LA Times, American academic and activist Marc Lamont Hill described Mizrahi Jews as an “identity category” that had been detached “from Palestinian identity.”…Hill’s latest excoriation of Israel, posted to his 90,000 followers, followed Mazzig’s argument that Israel is not a country of “privileged and powerful white Europeans.” Mazzig sought to emphasize the role of Mizrahi Jews in Israeli history and condemned the tendency of critics to define Israelis as Ashkenazi Jews alone…

I think I am in shock…

HAMAS LEADER ISMAIL HANIYEH MAY BE CHARGED AS WAR CRIMINAL (Batya Jerenberg, Times of Israel, May 22)

https://worldisraelnews.com/hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-may-be-charged-as-war-c

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is considering opening a war crimes probe against Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to a letter sent Tuesday to Knesset members by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), which petitioned the court. “For the first time ever, the International Criminal Court in the Hague sent us an official response regarding our first request, sent in 2017… against Ismail Haniyeh,” JIJ CEO Flavia Sevald wrote the MKs… The human rights organization charged Hamas with committing a number of war crimes, not only by launching indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. JIJ’s exhaustive report also raised Hamas’s abuses of its own population.

Hah! This is what a real “peaceful protest” looks like…

ICELAND PRO-PALESTINIAN BAND MAY SUE EL AL FOR BAD PLANE SEATS (Times of Israel, May 22)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iceland-pro-palestinian-band-may-sue-el-al-over-bad

Iceland’s entry in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Hatari, is considering filing a formal complaint with Israel’s El Al airline over claims ground crews intentionally seated the band’s members in undesirable seats on their Monday flight from Tel Aviv to London. The techno-metal steampunk act won effusive jeers during the song contest in Israel for displaying Palestinian flags when it was shown on TV briefly during the vote-tally stage of the show.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon says a top Hezbollah leader’s book is “required reading”. The course is coming to a university near you…

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tackles Cauliflower in Green New Deal By Richard Szabo

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.theepochtimes.com/democratic-rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tackles-cauliflower-in-green-new-deal_2932099.html

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has accused the humble cauliflower of representing “colonial” views and said she believes it should stop being planted in community gardens as part of her Green New Deal proposal to prevent what she calls “environmental catastrophe and [to] heal systemic inequality.”

“When someone says it is ‘too hard’ to do a green space that grows yucca instead of, I don’t know, maybe cauliflower or something, what you are doing is taking a colonial approach to environmentalism,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram video that has since been removed.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Joins the War on Cauliflower By Jim Geraghty

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joins-the-war-on-cauliflower/

A few weeks ago, I noted that Louisiana’s state legislature is contemplating legislation that would bar makers of cauliflower rice from labeling their product “rice,” contending that consumers will get confused. Instead, the rice growers want the product to be labeled . . . “riced cauliflower.”

But Louisiana isn’t the only spot where cauliflower is under fire. In a stream-of-consciousness discussion of composting, the Green New Deal, and community gardens, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lamented cauliflower as symbol of colonialism.

“Looks like they’ve got composting going on, which is so awesome, too, because composting is really hard to do in a neighborhood like this. We just don’t have the pick ups and the ease of it that a lot of other communities have. So that’s really how you do it, right, that is such a core component of the Green New Deal, is having all of these projects make sense in a cultural context. And it’s an area that I — we get the most pushback on, because people say, like, why do you need to do that? That’s too hard. But when you really think about it, when someone says that it’s too hard to do a green space that grows yucca instead of, I don’t know, cauliflower or something, what you’re doing is that you’re taking a colonial approach to environmentalism, and that is why a lot of communities of color get resistant to certain environmentalist movements, because they come with the colonial lens on them. And it should be no surprise that sometimes a lot of these projects don’t work out occasionally because our communities are naturally attuned to live in an environmentally conscious way.”

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Stacey Abrams: ‘Identity Politics Is Exactly Who We Are and Exactly How We Won’ By Jim Treacher (???)

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/stacey-abrams-identity-politics-is-exactly-who-we-are-and-exactly-how-we-won/

“For those of us who still reside on planet Earth, this sort of delusional nonsense is bewildering. We can’t figure out what this loon is babbling about. She insists she won an election, despite all evidence to the contrary. ”

Here’s a rule of thumb I stumbled upon years ago, and it remains true more often than not: Liberals want conservatives to shut up, and conservatives want liberals to keep talking. There are exceptions, of course — the Trumpkin wing of the GOP would like nothing more than to silence anyone, liberal or not, who criticizes their liege — but it tends to be the case. The more libs talk, the better it is for the rest of us. And if you want to know why, just listen to the Democratic Party’s latest superheroine, Stacey Abrams.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Wednesday urged Democrats to embrace identity politics, at a time when the issue has become a source of debate within the party…
“The notion of identity politics has been peddled for the past 10 years and it’s been used as a dog whistle to say we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the voices coming into progress,” Abrams said. “I would argue that identity politics is exactly who we are and exactly how we won.”

If you don’t believe her, just look at the results. She’s the rightful governor of Georgia, there’s a unicorn in every garage and free candy in every tummy, and the Democrats are doing just great.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

‘India Wins,’ Modi Says as He Surges to Decisive Victory By Iain Marlow

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/modi-the-favorite-as-vote-counting-begins-in-india-s-election?srnd=premium

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has surged to a majority on his own in India’s general election, with his Bharatiya Janata Party establishing a commanding lead in vote counting.

“India wins yet again,” Modi said in a tweet. “Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we will build a strong and inclusive India.”

BJP supporters have begun celebrating in the streets as the party extended its lead in more than 299 seats — easily ahead of the 272 seats needed to form government and more than the 282 the party won in 2014. The opposition Congress party is ahead in 51 seats, official election commission results show as of 2:46 pm local time.

After the initial euphoria over the prospects of a landslide victory, gains in Indian assets are evaporating fast. The Sensex, the benchmark equity index, is close to erasing its climb to a record.

The outcome is a validation of Modi’s hardline Hindu nationalism and populist economic policies, and a major setback for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whose party has failed to make significant inroads following its trouncing in the polls in 2014, when it won just 44 seats.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Attorney General Barr puts former Intel bosses on notice By Kevin R. Brock

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/444802-ag-barr-puts-former-intel-bosses-on-notice

Things seem to be moving quickly now. It has been a remarkable few weeks in American history. Momentum is building toward uncovering the distasteful possibility that the targeting of a U.S. presidential campaign was actually a political operation, fostered at the highest levels of government, masquerading as an FBI counterintelligence investigation.

Attorney General William Barr has signaled that his interest in examining the origins of the investigation into the Trump campaign extends beyond whether the FBI operated “by the book,” as former FBI Director James Comey asserts. Barr also wants to understand the role that the larger intelligence community, or IC, may have played in all of this.

Barr has thrown punches that have left an interesting mix of characters with a standing eight count. Certain eyes around D.C. are a little glassy right now.

Barr’s words and actions are telling. First, he raised the concern that the Trump campaign was “spied” upon. His use of the word “spying” appears more calculated than casual. The wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed is also telling. “The FBI doesn’t spy” became the sputtering counter-refrain of those trying to mask their nervousness.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Talk with Iran’s Ayatollahs? Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

By on May 23rd, 2019

https://bit.ly/2M5Wci1

“Talk-with-Iran was tried by successive US presidents, starting with Jimmy Carter. In 1980, [Iran’s] Mullahs signed an accord with Carter not to seize anymore American hostages in exchange for de-freezing Iranian assets…. Yet, to this day, Iran has always held American hostages – 14 today…. The Saudis tried to improve ties with the Khomeini regime. They helped organize the Islamic Summit in Teheran…, coordinated oil policies and granted Iran an unprecedented Haj [pilgrimage] quota. The reward was the [Ayatollahs/Hezbollah] June 1996 truck-bomb attack on the Dhahran Khobar Towers [19 US air force men and one Saudi murdered and 490 multi-nationals injured] and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy and Consulates in Iran…. Turkey had a similar experience.  It created a security commission with Iran and closed its borders to Iranians fleeing to exile… Iranian opposition figures were expelled…. The Mullahs repaid Turkey by granting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK terrorists) bases in the Qandyl Mountain region just inside Iran.  They also created a Turkish branch of Hezbollah…. (Amir Taheri, a leading expert on Iran and the Middle East, A Sharq al Awsat Saudi daily, February 22, 2019). 

Since the 1978-1979 Iranian “Islamic Revolution,” most of European and USA foreign policy, media and academic establishments, and especially the architects of the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA), have promoted accommodation with – not sanctions against – Iran’s Ayatollahs, irrespective of the Ayatollahs’ well-documented systematic track record:

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