Displaying the most recent of 90914 posts written by

Ruth King

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Hitting Woke Herd Immunity?  We have become an absurd society obsessed with race but without any mechanism to develop a logical category of victimization and reparation.  By Victor Davis Hanson

By on March 8th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/07/hitting-woke-herd-immunity/

Two recent polls suggest wokism is beginning to recede on a variety of fronts, from less trust in Black Lives Matter and more confidence in the police, to suspicion that the Capitol “insurrection” account is being used to unfairly suppress political expression while Antifa, increasingly, is seen as a terrorist organization whose violence has been ignored improperly by authorities.

There are tens of millions of Americans who either have been stung, or turned off, by McCarthyite wokeness (and thus have anti-wokeness antibodies). More have been vaccinated from its latest virulent strains by their own values of judging people as individuals, not as racial or gender collectives. So lots of Americans have developed peremptory defenses against it. The result is that daily there are ever-fewer who are susceptible to the woke pandemic. And it will thus begin to fade out—even as the virus desperately seeks to mutate and go after more institutions.

Peak wokeness is nearing also because if it continued in its present incarnation, then the United States as we know would cease to exist—in the sense that 1692-93 Salem or 1793-94 Paris could not have continued apace without destroying society. Woke leftism exists to destroy and tear down, not to unite and build. It is not designed to play down and heal racial differences, but to accentuate and capitalize on them.

Scattershot Immunity

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

AOC’s Coven of Spitting, #MeFirst Cobras  What makes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s beguiling, baby-like behavior dangerous is that she uses the idiom of emotional anguish to derive legislative leverage.  By Ilana Mercer

By on March 8th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/07/aocs-coven-of-spitting-mefirst-cobras/

The media scrum framed the Trump impeachment circus, round two, as an “emotional” affair.

Headlines homed in on the “emotion” surrounding the trial. “It Tears at Your Heart. Democrats Make an Emotional Case to Senators—and America—Against Trump,” blared one of many hackneyed screamers, this one from Time.

The case made by the managers “was both meticulous and emotional,” came the repetitive refrain.

Democrat Jamie Raskin, a representative from Maryland and a lead impeachment manager, sniffed “emotionally” as he related what to him was a heartbreaking tidbit: His (privileged) daughter expressed fear of visiting the Capitol again, presumably because of the January 6 fracas. That made Jamie cry. 

And when Jamie Raskin cries, normies outside Rome-on-the-Potomac laugh. Uproariously. 

Impeachment managers had warned all present in the Senate chamber that evidentiary footage would be upsetting. Their presentations were “intentionally emotional,” intoned CNN’s Dana Bash, who had paired up with one Abby Phillips for the “solemn” affair. Phillips’ “coverage” of all things Trump, in scratchy vocal fry, was a reminder that the Left’s “empaneled witches and their housebroken boys are guided more by the spirit of Madame Defarge than by lady justice.”

A lady in an armadillo outfit emoted a lot. She was impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.). Although not particularly fashionable or feminine, there was a ton of “emotional” praise on the internet for Plaskett’s attire. Armani’s armadillo apparel was certainly a preferred distraction to the decibels of weepy rage emitted over the Trump protest. 

Continue reading →
P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

We didn’t start this culture war The woke left rages against increasingly bizarre things, and then calls everyone else crazy. Tom Slater

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/05/we-didnt-start-this-culture-war/

Kermit the Frog. Mr Potato Head. Dr Seuss. The culture war becomes more infantile by the day. Quite literally. The big talking points of the past few weeks have focused almost exclusively on children’s TV shows, toys and authors.

First Disney Plus slapped a warning label on The Muppets Show, due to the ‘negative depictions and / or mistreatment of people or cultures’ it apparently features, acknowledging the ‘harmful impacts’ these puppets have inflicted on generations of youngsters.

Then there was the de-gendering of Mr Potato Head. Hasbro announced that the beloved toy brand would drop the honorific, so as to make it more gender inclusive (while still keeping the Mr and Mrs Potato Head characters).

Then they came for Dr Seuss, as it were. Joe Biden conspicuously removed any mention of the beloved author from his proclamation on Read Across America Day this week, which was up until now also known as Dr Seuss Day. A Virginia school district also instructed its teachers to ‘not connect Read Across America Day with Dr Seuss’. Most strikingly, the Seuss estate said it would cease publishing six of the more ‘problematic’ titles.

This followed a years-long campaign on the part of some academics to repose Seuss as a racist, due to the old stereotypical depictions in some of his books (ignoring the fact that while his work reflects some of the prejudices of his time, he also satirised racism, fascism and nationalism).

Continue reading →
EDUCATION Comments turned off

Jonathan Turley: Scandalous failure of big city public schools has created a lost generation of kids Many school officials seem intent on replicating past failures

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/failure-city-public-schools-lost-generation-jonathan-turley

Tiffany France is understandably upset. She is a mother of three who works three jobs to support her family.

Her 17-year-old son failed 22 classes in Baltimore and was late or absent 272 days over his first three years of high school. 

As recently reported, France’s son almost graduated near the top half of his class at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts after failing every class but three in four years. He has a 0.13 GPA. She thought her son would be graduating from the school in June.

According to Fox45 News “only one teacher requested a parent conference, which France says never happened.”

France ultimately had to pull her 17-year-old son out of the school and enroll him in an accelerated program to allow him to graduate from high school in 2023.

Her story is tragically all-too-familiar. The coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of an already failing public school system, as evident with France’s children.

We have a lost generation of kids who have neither the education nor the trained skills to succeed in society.

As teachers’ unions fight to keep schools closed, the true cost is being felt by students who are racking up failing grades, dropping out of virtual classes, increasing drug use, and, in rising numbers, committing suicide. 

Watching this happen to the public schools has been particularly hard for some of us who are ardent supporters of public education.

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Despite $460 Mil Budget for Capitol Cops, Pelosi Wants More Money Daniel Greenfield

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2021/03/despite-460-mil-budget-capitol-cops-pelosi-wants-daniel-greenfield/

This is a joke. Right?

The Capitol Police have over 2,000 sworn officers and they’re the 19th largest police force in America. If that’s not enough to protect a few buildings, then maybe it’s time to ask some serious questions about the competence and corruption of the key players in this mess.

The Capitol Police have over 2,000 sworn officers. A police force dedicated to protecting Capitol Hill has more personnel in its service than the police forces of most of the country.

Congress’ private cops are the 19th largest police force in the country. It’s a larger force than the police forces of Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, or Milwaukee with a massive $460 million budget.

While Democrats advocated defunding the police, their private police force budget shot up from $375 million in 2016 to $460 million in 2020. After the Capitol Hill riot, expect it to go higher.

Much higher.

How much higher? Pelosi is clamoring for more cash.

Speaker Pelosi said they have “drafts” of security proposals, but protecting the Capitol properly will require more funding.

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

France: Yes, He Murdered a Jewish Woman While Screaming ‘Allahu Akbar,’ But You See, He Was Stoned French authorities offer the most imaginative excuse for jihad violence yet. Robert Spencer

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/france-yes-he-murdered-jewish-woman-while-robert-spencer/

Here’s a new one: the marijuana excuse. For years authorities all over Europe have dismissed clear cases of jihad violence as “mental illness,” but that one is so overused now, it’s understandable that officials would be casting about for new and imaginative ways to hoodwink their people into think that there really isn’t any jihad in the West at all, just a few unfortunate incidents and misunderstood adherents of the world’s most peaceful and tolerant religion. But sometimes even willfully ignorant dhimmi authorities can go too far with this wishful thinking.

So it is that in France, according to the Jerusalem Post Thursday, the appellate Court of Cassation has begun deliberations on whether to overturn the ruling that a Muslim named Kabili Traoré, who murdered an elderly Jewish woman while screaming “Allahu akbar,” will not be tried because he was high on marijuana at the time of the killing. That’s right: French authorities are on record now that if you get high, killing Jews is A-OK.

The cannabis, you see, allegedly compromised Traoré’s “discernment.” The lower court judge “cited psychiatric evaluations saying Traoré’s consumption of marijuana before the incident led to a ‘delirious episode’ that made him not legally responsible for his actions.” The millions of Americans who have smoked marijuana might wonder how it is that they never got so stoned as to think that throwing a 65-year-old woman out of the window of her third-floor apartment was just the thing to do, but that is now a matter for the Court of Cassation to decide. Muriel Ouaknine Melki, who is a lawyer for the family of Traoré’s victim, Sarah Halimi, observed that the appeal will establish whether or not “the consumption of narcotics can be a cause for exonerating from penal responsibility in criminal matters.”

Continue reading →
ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Dems’ ‘Election Reforms’ Would End American Democracy As We Know It

By on March 8th, 2021

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/03/08/dems-election-reforms-would-end-american-democracy-as-we-know-it/

HR. 1, the Democrats’ just-passed “election reform” bill, laughably dubbed by supporters the “For The People Act,” is so bad you might be tempted to ignore it. After all, legislation this awful can’t get passed by both chambers of Congress and signed into law, right? But all Americans should take it seriously. It’s an attempt to take away your right to vote and create permanent Democratic control of the federal government.

Yes, elections have consequences, and terrible bills like this certainly prove that. Anyone who voted for the Democrats in 2020 hoping for a “turn to the center” should by now be feeling mighty foolish. H.R. 1 is but one example.

So far, Democrats have passed a near $2 trillion spending splurge that has next to nothing to do with COVID-19, created a new crisis on our border, alienated our strongest ally in the Mideast, convinced a bullying China that we’re weak and vulnerable, and, instead of doing the people’s business as they’re supposed to, are now “investigating” the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C.

Some 5,000 National Guard troops, totally unnecessary right now, remain camped in the nation’s barbed-wire encased capital, despite the fact that the FBI testified last week that no arms were seized by them nor were any shots fired by demonstrators during the supposed “insurrection.”

Democrats hope to use the distraction of troops in D.C. and a probe of the events of Jan. 6 to pursue the most radical congressional agenda in history. The showpiece of this effort is H.R. 1, which passed the House by a sliver and now goes to the Senate. If they fail in the Senate, don’t worry: They’ll try again soon.

Continue reading →
EDUCATION Comments turned off

Dividing by Race Comes to Grade School Students, ages 5 through 11, are urged to ‘check each other’s words and actions’ and become committed activists. By Bion Bartning

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dividing-by-race-comes-to-grade-school-11615144898?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

My awakening to the new orthodoxy began during this past summer of discontent. In mid-June, a few weeks after the George Floyd protests began, the head of Riverdale Country School, the New York City private school my wife and I entrusted with the education of our two young children, sent a memo apologizing for unspecified past wrongs. “We have the responsibility to use our privilege to fight for change,” he explained. “We are also free to shift some aspects of our culture more quickly than other institutions and organizations.”

In September, at the first assembly of the year, instead of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing “America the Beautiful”—longstanding school traditions—the head of the lower school announced that the “theme” for the year would be “allyship.” He then played a video in which the school mascot told students, ages 5 through 11, to “check each other’s words and actions.” The lower-school head had earlier written that “it is essential that parents/caregivers and educators acknowledge racial differences (as opposed to a ‘colorblind’ stance)” and offered reading recommendations such as Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility.” Families at Riverdale are encouraged to join school-sponsored “affinity” groups to bond with people from their ethnicity or skin color. One is called simply “the POC,” short for “parents of color.”

At this point in the story, perhaps “lived experiences” become relevant. I am half Mexican and Yaqui, an indigenous tribe native to the U.S.-Mexico border region, and half Jewish. I spent the first year of my life on a commune in Berkeley, Calif. Growing up, I was aware that I had darker skin than my mother and my classmates, but I was never taught to define my identity by the color of my skin. My mixed background and ancestry made me feel like nothing more than a typical American.

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Woke Chinese Communist Party Beijing uses progressive rhetoric to attack Western interests.

By on March 8th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-woke-chinese-communist-party-11615153949?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Chinese state media rarely deserves attention but lately it’s taken a notable and instructive turn. It is invoking the woke themes of American progressives as a propaganda weapon against the U.S.

“Canada, the UK and Australia, three members of the Five Eyes alliance, have recently taken action to put pressure on China. They have formed a US-centered, racist, and mafia-styled community,” said a Feb. 23 editorial in Global Times. “They are becoming a racist axis aimed at stifling the development rights of 1.4 billion Chinese.”

The Communist Party-run paper notes that the members of Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing network, “have a strong sense of civilization superiority.” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton is a “neo-Nazi and extreme racist” and “the Trump administration is an extremely typical white supremacy government.” By resisting this bloc of English-speaking countries, the editorial concludes, “China is not only defending its own interests, we are also defending the diversity of the modern world.”

Note the use of “white supremacy” and “diversity” and “civilization superiority,” which come straight from the progressive critique of America as a country that is “systemically” racist and oppressive. The Global Times editors may be crude but they’ve obviously been reading the New York Times. Their dismissal of Mr. Cotton as racist is what you see on progressive Twitter.

Continue reading →
MEDIA Comments turned off

The power to change what we are: Social media as the new ‘Fifth Estate’ By Tim Blake Nelson,

By on March 8th, 2021

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/541990-the-power-to-change-what-we-are-social-media-as-the-new-fifth-estate

Could Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey ever have imagined that his social media platform would become a U.S. president’s preferred manner of communicating with the American electorate and beyond? It did, and the pattern became a familiar one: President Trump tweeted out to his Twitter “followers” — mostly his political base — but also, compulsorily, to those in the news media. Journalists then projected his 148-character statements to the country and the world. Trump ended his single presidential term banned from the platform, severely hobbled politically in part because of that.

By now, articles on every topic, from politics to sports to culture, embed tweets and links to actual pages. Since to view these one must possess an account, the ubiquity of the Twitter platform — and others like it — only increases. Putatively, at least, one must be on them to be informed. Whether Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or another site, social media now wield power beyond what possibly could have been imagined at their inception.

Some legislators and editorialists wonder whether this makes us vulnerable to the whims of unelected individuals, in the form of the owners of social media companies. If an American president can be muzzled, can’t anyone?

Continue reading →