RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/black-lives-matters-a-thing-of-the-left-anchored-on-a-cop-hate-strategy/

Back in 2016 my pal Anne Sorock of Frontier Lab (now the Frontier Center, on whose board I sit) conducted a study of Black Lives Matter activists titled “The Privileged and the Oppressed,” a deep-dive market-research investigation into how BLM was (is) at its essence conduit for what she called “Progressives’ latest narrative.” At the time of its release I wrote about the report in the hopes of alerting conservatives as to what was at stake with this organization, as to its tactics and goals, as to how it was to be a tool for the broader Left, as to what it would vilify as it sought its objective. It all bears repeating.

As to it being the edge of the Left’s wedge: Anne’s research concluded that BLM was a unique and powerful means — and most definitely not a fleeting opportunity — for a phalanx of causes to achieve political and cultural success. From the report’s introduction:

Black Lives Matter as a movement represents the hopes and dreams of leftist organizers who shared with us that, until now, they had never felt such a sense of hope and excitement that their goal – as one operative put it, “total social upheaval,” and “systemic change” – could be realized in their lifetime. From veteran agitators like the Weather Underground’s Bill Ayers to a new crop of social-media-wielding female and LGBTQ leaders, Black Lives Matter is encapsulating the hopes and dreams of multiple generations of progressives in a way, they say, no movement has before.

The three female founders of the movement have made it clear, and the message has seeded itself as far down the chain as the operatives we spoke with, that Black Lives Matter is the vessel through which all progressive causes can flow. LGBTQ, illegal immigration, abortion, and countless other causes are simmering just beneath the public face of the focus on police violence. Even police violence flows neatly, according to Black Lives Matter, into economic violence – wage issues, workers rights . . . The panoply of leftist groups come together under this banner.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/anti-semitism-and-the-intellectuals-11592171963?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

George Eliot was at the peak of her renown in 1874 when John Blackwood, her publisher, learned that she was at work on “Daniel Deronda, ” a new novel. As a literary man, he was in thrall to her genius. As a businessman with an instinct for the market, he valued her passionately dedicated readership. But an early look at portions of her manuscript astonished and appalled him: Too much of it was steeped in sympathetic evocations of Jews, Judaism and what was beginning to be known as Zionism.

All this off-putting alien erudition struck him as certain to be more than merely unpopular. It was personally tasteless, it went against the grain of English sensibility, it was an offense to the reigning political temperament. It was, in our notorious idiom, politically incorrect. Blackwood was unquestionably a member of England’s gentlemanly intellectual elite. In recoiling from Eliot’s theme, he showed himself to be that historically commonplace figure: an intellectual anti-Semite.

Anti-Semitism is generally thought of as brutish, the mentality of mobs, the work of the ignorant, the poorly schooled, the gutter roughnecks, the torch carriers. But these are only the servants, not the savants, of anti-Semitism. Mobs execute, intellectuals promulgate. Thugs have furies, intellectuals have causes.

The Inquisition was the brainchild not of illiterates, but of the most lettered and lofty prelates. Goebbels had a degree in philology. Hitler fancied himself a painter and doubtless knew something of Dürer and da Vinci. Pogroms aroused the murderous rampage of peasants, but they were instigated by the cream of Russian officialdom. The hounding and ultimate expulsion of Jewish students from German universities was abetted by the violence of their Aryan classmates, but it was the rectors who decreed that only full-blooded Germans could occupy the front seats. Martin Heidegger, the celebrated philosopher of being and non-being, was quick to join the Nazi Party, and as himself a rector promptly oversaw the summary ejection of Jewish colleagues.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/06/13/scenes-from-the-sacking-of-america/

On June 9, I tweeted out the following:

Seattle’s East Precinct has fallen, as Chief #CarmenBest orders #SeattlePolice to evacuate. The occupiers, aka #PeacefulProtesters,” declare victory. “They’ve given us the precinct,” they boast. NOT EVEN IN #SouthAfrica:https://t.co/cdbI8UF7eQ

— ILANA Mercer (@IlanaMercer) June 9, 2020

A mere day on, and the City of Seattle was de facto occupied territory, fallen to the “peaceful protesters”—the same counterculture media darlings who’ve been sacking cities across America.

The rabble—Black Lives Matter sympathizers, which, as police arrest records show are almost entirely locals—were further roused by Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, formerly of Mumbai.

The pied piper Sawant led the “peace makers” to occupy City Hall in downtown Seattle, on Tuesday, June 10.

The altercation between Council Member Sawant and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan gives new meaning to the “broad” sweep of ideas in this dysfunctional city. Sawant, a socialist, called on Mayor Durkan, a progressive, to resign over abuse of power (what power?) and systemic racism (a meaningless abstraction). This, as the city was being sacked.

Surrender Monkeys

As of this writing, the Seattle Police have surrendered without defeat.

Seven blocks of downtown Seattle, renamed the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ), have been appropriated by the “Peaceful Ones,” with the imprimatur of the mayor and her police chief. Now loosed on the public, these buccaneering entrepreneurs are reported to have set up checkpoints to shake down residents who imagine they may come and go. Not in this satrapy!

On the positive side, Seattle now has that shithole-country vibrancy.   

President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, SPOG, penned an open letter to lunatic Mayor Durkan, pondering how he would fulfill his sworn oath of office to protect lives and property without so much as tear gas.

He got his answer. America got it, too. Across the United States, the message to law-abiding Americans from city, town, and county council members as well as other legislators came loud and clear: You’re on your own. Neither police nor politicians are coming to protect what’s left of your businesses or your banal, bourgeoisie little life.

Last I looked, there were 400,000 “guardian angels” in private security toiling to make up for the South African state’s failure to protect its people. Every year, millions in taxpayers’ money are forked out to private security firms in order to protect the new South Africa’s police stations. South Africa’s protectors, in other words, can’t protect themselves. Will Seattle’s neutered policemen be investigating this option? Is it time for them to cut the shafted taxpayers loose? Let us go private?

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, General, and hello cadets. On behalf of our entire nation, let me say congratulations to the incredible West Point Class of 2020. Congratulations. Everyone have a good time, enjoy yourselves, because we are here to celebrate your achievements, and great achievements they are. Let us also recognize your remarkable Superintendent, General Darryl Williams, for his outstanding stewardship. General, thank you very much. Great job. Thank you. (Applause.)

Few words in the English language and few places in history have commanded as much awe and admiration as West Point. This premier military academy produces only the best of the best, the strongest of the strong, and the bravest of the brave. West Point is a universal symbol of American gallantry, loyalty, devotion, discipline, and great skill. There is no place on Earth I would rather be than right here with all of you. It’s a great honor.

Across this hallowed plain have passed many of the greatest and most fearsome soldiers that ever lived. They were heroes who drove thundering columns of Sherman tanks into the heart of a wicked empire. They were legends who unleashed the fury of American artillery upon our enemies on remote islands and distant shores. They were titans who strode through cannon blast and cavalry charge, and stared down our foes through gray clouds of smoke and shrapnel. They were the Army Rangers who led the way up jagged cliffs, the Airborne soldiers who rained down justice in the dark of night, the infantry whose very sight meant liberation was near, and the mighty forces who sent tyrants, terrorists, and sadistic monsters running scared through the gates of hell. No evil force on Earth can match the noble power and righteous glory of the American warrior.

I have no doubt that the young men and women before me today will add your names to this eternal chronicle of American heroes. You will go forth from this place adored by your countrymen, dreaded by your enemies, and respected by all throughout the world. Someday, generations of future West Point cadets will study your legacy. They will know your deeds, they will celebrate your triumphs, and they will proudly follow your example.

To the 1,107 who today become the newest officers in the most exceptional Army ever to take the field of battle, I am here to offer America’s salute. Thank you for answering your nation’s call.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/the_coronavirus_mask_charade_continues.html

When he announced on May 1 that masks would be  worn in public places, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker was emphatic.

“We view this as common sense.  This is going to be basically a way of life.  No ifs, no ands, no buts, no doubts.”

However,  doubts are showing up.

First, Baker’s order said to wear face coverings when in public places and unable to keep a social distance of six feet.  Why’d he pick six feet?  There is no research showing that six feet means anything in a public space.

That six-foot idea is an arbitrary guess that was “conjured up out of nowhere,” according to Professor Robert Dingwall, a top scientific adviser to the British government, which like the U.S. has adopted six feet as a safe social distance.  The authorities guessed that it might be a good distance because some study had shown that a cough could travel six feet in a tightly closed dead-air space.  The relevance of that to everyday life — who knows?

Anyone claiming the six-foot rule is not arbitrary should explain why the World Health Organization suggests a three-foot distance and why Austria, Norway, Sweden, and Finland have adopted that rule, and why Germany and other countries use a 4.5-foot rule.  Does the coronavirus behave differently in Europe?

Dan Crenshaw
@DanCrenshawTX

US House candidate, TX-2
I just want to remind all that when you create an “autonomous zone,” you don’t get to demand a long list of supplies from the orderly capitalist society that you are rebelling against.Kind of defeats the meaning of “autonomous.”

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And that club certainly has its benefits. 

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https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/06/12/tom-cotton-eviscerates-cancel-culture-in-obelisk-of-wokeness-speech-n518979

On Thursday night, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) eviscerated the terrifying “cancel culture” that seeks to silence anyone who dares disagree with leftist dogma. Cancel culture animates the vandalism against statues — including those of black volunteer troops for the Union fighting against slavery — along with the abortion of television shows and the firing of people.

Cotton briefly listed many of the recent victims of cancel culture in the wake of the George Floyd riots: a UCLA professor facing police investigation because he declined to postpone final exams to let students protest, a professor under investigation for reading from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, a professional soccer player who was fired for his wife’s tweet, and “business executives and editors at newspapers and magazines.”

Tom Cotton did not need to mention former New York Times op-ed editor James Bennet, who resigned amid backlash for publishing Cotton’s op-ed.

Lastly, the senator mentioned Ivanka Trump, whose commencement speech at Wichita State University got canceled.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/lindsey-graham-investigation-objectives-unclear/

Someone wake me up when we hear something from John Durham.

‘Anybody who knew about the problems with the dossier and continued to use it are good candidates to go to jail.”

So said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R., N.C.) earlier this week, referring to the infamous “dossier” of faux intelligence reporting generated by former British spy Christopher Steele on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Senator Graham was laying the groundwork for a push he has recently invigorated — to say “reinvigorated” would be misleading — to examine . . . well . . . it’s not exactly clear what he’s planning to examine.

Sometimes, it seems Graham is after FISA abuse by the FBI in the Trump–Russia investigation. Sometimes, it’s the decision by then-deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the sitting president under circumstances where there was no basis for such an investigation. Sometimes, the focus is described as the Mueller investigation itself: why it went on so long despite the lack of a solid evidentiary predicate, why Rosenstein, in August 2017, defined its scope based on allegations long known to be either groundless or far afield from purportedly suspected Trump–Russia collusion.

Given that Graham has no power to send any good candidates to jail, and the real investigative work either has already been done by the Justice Department’s inspector general, or is in the process of being done by prosecutor John Durham, one can’t help but ask: What is the objective of this scattershot production?

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-news-media-is-destroying-itself

Sometimes it seems life can’t get any worse in this country. Already in terror of a pandemic, Americans have lately been bombarded with images of grotesque state-sponsored violence, from the murder of George Floyd to countless scenes of police clubbing and brutalizing protesters.

Our president, Donald Trump, is a clown who makes a great reality-show villain but is uniquely toolless as the leader of a superpower nation. Watching him try to think through two society-imperiling crises is like waiting for a gerbil to solve Fermat’s theorem. Calls to “dominate” marchers and ad-libbed speculations about Floyd’s “great day” looking down from heaven at Trump’s crisis management and new unemployment numbers (“only” 21 million out of work!) were pure gasoline at a tinderbox moment. The man seems determined to talk us into civil war.

But police violence, and Trump’s daily assaults on the presidential competence standard, are only part of the disaster. On the other side of the political aisle, among self-described liberals, we’re watching an intellectual revolution. It feels liberating to say after years of tiptoeing around the fact, but the American left has lost its mind. It’s become a cowardly mob of upper-class social media addicts, Twitter Robespierres who move from discipline to discipline torching reputations and jobs with breathtaking casualness.

The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation. They are counting on the guilt-ridden, self-flagellating nature of traditional American progressives, who will not stand up for themselves, and will walk to the Razor voluntarily.