RUTHFULLY YOURS

ttps://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/10/02/one_nation_under_woke_144356.html

Through the sweeping and indiscriminate indictment of oppression that it makes against the American republic, wokeism poses the first serious challenge to our constitutional democracy since communism. Wokeism aims to remake American constitutionalism root and branch, to transform economics, politics, education, and other institutions and practices. The free and equal individual under the rule of law will be replaced with monolithic voices, united by perceived oppression, who demand a mutating law and politics that reward their grievances with punishments against alleged oppressors and redistributed resources for supposed “victims.”

The first thesis of wokeism is that persons are reducible to their affiliated identity: above all, race or gender. In this view, we understand ourselves solely through these prisms and we apply that understanding to others and to institutions. The second thesis is that no person, no idea, and no historical account can be understood by independent human reason unfiltered by race, gender, and stories of interlocking oppression, or, as the case may be, by the acts of oppression one has shared in as a member of the dominant group. Everything comes to us and is either understood or projected by us through our racial or gender identity. The third thesis is that those who have identities that can be grouped under “persons of color” or LGBTQ possess greater authority to speak — owing to the various oppressions they have experienced and the cosmic redress required for justice and liberation —  than oppressor groups in almost every sphere.

America’s national DNA, according to the New York Times’ 1619 Project — wokeism’s anti-American document par excellence — has been encoded with slavery and anti-black racism. Indeed, America left the British Empire for the purposes of retaining the slavery regime, the project’s lead author Nikole Hannah-Jones proclaims (against historical evidence). White males stand as the grand artificer of this oppression, which has been transmitted throughout American history, informing our constitutional documents, politics, and social structures.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/september-jobs-numbers-andy-puzder

“There is simply no historical parallel for the magnitude and speed of the current economic recovery.”

Following the four best months for job growth since the government began tracking the data in 1939 — 4.8 million jobs in June, 2.7 million in May, 1.7 million in July, 1.4 million in August — the economy added an additional 661,000 jobs in September.

But for the four record-setting months that preceded it, September’s jobs numbers were the best since September of 1983 during the Reagan presidency. While this was a slowdown from four record-setting highs, keep in mind that the numbers slowed to a 37-year high.

There is simply no historical parallel for the magnitude and speed of the current economic recovery.

By comparison, the monthly high mark for job growth during the Obama-Biden recovery was 540,000 jobs in May of 2010.

In total, the U.S. economy has regained 11.4 million jobs or 55 percent of the 20.8 million jobs lost in April to the coronavirus – and that’s with many major states still at least partially shut down.

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

Bigotry in any form is ugly. Certainly, racism exists in individuals, but does institutionalized racism exist in the United States? This essay owes its origin to an interview with Kay Coles James, conducted by Nicole Ault in last weekend’s edition of the Wall Street Journal. The title was “On Being Black and Conservative.” Ms. Coles was in the second class to integrate her junior high school in Richmond, Virginia in 1961. Today, she is president of the Heritage Foundation. Could that have happened in a systemically racist country?

The concept of systemic racism stems from Critical Race Theory (CRT), which states that race, “instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color.”[1]  Systemic racism is defined by Wikipedia as “the formalization of a set of institutional, historical, cultural and interpersonal practices within a society that more often than not puts one social or ethnic group in a better position to succeed, and at the same time disadvantages other groups in a consistent and constant manner, that disparities develop between the groups over a period of time.”

But does systemic racism exist in the U.S.? Certainly, there are individual racists, as well as anti-Semites, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes, anti-Catholics and those infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome. To define the United States as systemically racist, however, connotes a conspiracy that does not appear to exist. In 1948 President Tuman signed an executive order committing the government to integrate its segregated military. The term “affirmative action,” affecting the hiring practices of government contractors, was first used in Executive Order No. 10925, issued by President Kennedy on March 6, 1961. Jim Crow laws (state and local laws enacted to maintain racial segregation) were abolished with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned segregation in public places and prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory voting practices, which had been in effect in many southern states since the end of the Civil War.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-winding-constitutional-path-from-trump-to-pence-to-pompeo-11601677891?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

What if President Trump becomes seriously ill and unable to do his job? Under the 25th Amendment, the president can report to Congress that “he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Vice President Mike Pence would become acting president until Mr. Trump sends a second written declaration that he can perform his duties again.

But suppose he’s unable or unwilling to issue the declaration. The 25th Amendment provides for that too. If the vice president and a majority of “the principal officers of the executive branch”—defined by statute to include the heads of the 15 major executive departments—declare in writing that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” Mr. Pence becomes acting president “immediately.”

Mr. Trump’s opponents have often mused about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office for behavior they regard as erratic. The idea reflects a misunderstanding of how the amendment works. Even in the unlikely event that Mr. Pence and the cabinet backed such a move, the president could challenge it. The disagreement would be resolved in the president’s favor unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress overrode him—and even then, his removal would be temporary. The 25th Amendment deals with cases of genuine debility, such as might arise if the president became seriously ill.

Mr. Pence has tested negative for the coronavirus. But suppose that changes and both he and Mr. Trump are too sick to perform the presidency’s duties. Article II of the Constitution states that in “the case of removal, death, resignation or inability” of both the president and vice president, Congress has the authority to declare “what officer shall then act as president” until the disability ends or a new president is elected. The term “officer” poses a problem for the current law.

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/10/02/did-cia-fbi-and-hillary-launch-a-silent-coup-against-trump/

Former FBI Director James Comey plays dumb in testimony before Congress, while CIA Director Gina Haspel blocks further declassification of documents in the Russia scandal. That’s the obstructionist Deep State in action, hiding the truth about a major scandal from the American people.

Listening to Comey testify this week about the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into supposed collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 campaign has been revelatory.

“In the main, it (Crossfire Hurricane) was done by the book, it was appropriate, and it was essential that it be done,” Comey said. Later, under persistent questioning from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Comey maintained that “Overall, I’m proud of the work.”

When he wasn’t being proud, Comey played as if he were ignorant of the things going on around him, including the fraudulent application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to spy on the Trump campaign.

Actually, when this is all done, Comey might be lucky to avoid indictment. His stewardship of a corrupt, politically motivated investigation of a presidential candidate financed and pushed by that candidate’s opponent has all the markings of a planned crime.

They are in quarantine….May they have a speedy and uneventful recovery. rsk

https://pjmedia.com/columns/p-david-hornik/2020/10/01/aoc-nixes-ceremony-for-israeli-leader-n991877

On October 20 Americans for Peace Now, a left-wing Jewish group, will be holding a virtual commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin was an Israeli military and political leader who served two terms as prime minister. On November 4, 1995, during the second term, he was assassinated by a far-right Israeli for his role in the Oslo peace process between Israel and Yasser Arafat’s PLO.

A wave of excitement washed through Americans for Peace Now when it seemed that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had accepted their invitation to take part in the virtual ceremony.

But the congresswoman quickly changed her mind after Twitter critics slammed her decision as “disgusting” and showing “total contempt for Palestinian lives.” Left-wing journalist Alex Kane tweeted that “In the US Rabin is viewed as a liberal peacemaker but Palestinians remember him for his brutal rule suppressing Palestinian protest during the First Intifada, as someone who reportedly ordered the breaking of Palestinian bones.”

Some of the more hopeful left-wing American Jews, however, tweeted their disappointment at AOC’s retraction. In a typical case, a progressive outfit called Zioness told her it was “deeply troubled that you have decided to pull out of the event honoring the life & legacy of former Israeli PM Rabin…who paid the ultimate price for his commitment to peace and justice…. Your decision…will advance the feeling of despair held by so many progressive Jews who feel abandoned by fellow justice seekers….”

https://pjmedia.com/culture/bryan-preston/2020/10/01/former-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo-line-up-and-shoot-non-woke-business-leaders-and-hell-happily-do-the-video-n992609

Twitter has handed out lifetime bans for a lot less than this tweet, which former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo shot off Wednesday night:

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo pushes murder for non-woke business leaders.

Costolo tweeted the above during an exchange regarding how business CEOs and leaders should deal with the crises 2020 has thrown at them — the pandemic, the reactions to George Floyd’s death, politics, woke cancel culture, the election, and so forth. Coinbases’s CEO Brian Armstrong had stated he would keep his business staff focused on its business, not woke activism.

That wasn’t good enough for Costolo, who subscribes to the “silence is not an option” rhetoric pushed by the capitalist Marxists at Cook Ross, the woke critical race theory firm making millions dividing society.

Critical race theory mongering for profit may be the most cynical industry in the industrialized world. It foments racial division and offers itself as a remedy — for a very hefty price — that ends up creating even more racial division. It’s commoditizing racial division and unrest.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/scott-atlas-white-house-coronavirus-adviser-critics-ignore-science/

Critics of the distinguished White House coronavirus adviser don’t have a leg to stand on.

The news media until recently had rarely criticized the medical advice of experts — especially those who worked for federal bureaucracies, international organizations, or elite universities.

Yet the much-praised Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, has demonstrably weakened the effort to fight COVID-19.

During the critical initial weeks of the virus’s spread, Tedros parroted Chinese propaganda. He falsely assured a complacent world that the virus was probably not transmissible between humans and did not warrant travel bans. The fact that Tedros was the first WHO director not to have a medical degree was seldom cited by the media.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is known to the public for his past advocacy of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. Although he now advises 77-year-old presidential candidate Joe Biden, Emanuel once wrote an article for The Atlantic titled “Why I hope to die at 75,” contending that life after age 75 is, and should be, mostly over — now an eerie idea in a time of a pandemic that targets the elderly.Emanuel has often weighed in on the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes in overly pessimistic fashion by suggesting that some acquired collective immunity and a viable vaccine were not likely to come soon.

Yet Emanuel also has been largely exempt from media criticism. No reporters have questioned his epidemiological expertise despite his background as an oncologist specializing in breast cancer.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/09/30/mapping-los-angeles-homeless-encampment-challenge–nearly-100000-cases-reported-since-2019/#6d635e794dee

Los Angeles represents the glitz and glamour of the California lifestyle. It’s a tourist mecca that boasted 50 million visitors in 2019 – an all-time high.

The greater Los Angeles area can also claim Muscle Beach in Venice; the Hollywood movie studios; the rich and famous in Beverly Hills; and a previously booming economy that trailed only New York City and Tokyo.

But the city itself is in trouble, and tourists should be advised to avoid some neighborhoods and streets entirely.

Today, Los Angeles hosts an estimated homeless population of nearly 40,000 people (the entire states of Texas and Florida have between 25,000 and 28,000 respectively). Affluent sections of the city have become dangerous with open-air drug use, human feces, medieval diseases, and, sadly, homeless encampments.

Since 2019, there have been at least 94,430 reported complaints of homeless encampments in public spaces –an average of 4,500 per month.

First elected in 2013, Mayor Eric Garcetti promised to clean things up. However, conditions are the same or worse. Last year, the number of encampment complaints spiked to 55,569. The same pace has continued in 2020 with 35,241 instances already reported through August.