Woke culture comes for Shakespeare By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/05/woke_culture_comes_for_shakespeare.html

William Shakespeare wrote his plays at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. Over the years, people have tried to make Shakespeare more palatable for then-current audiences, either by putting the plays in new settings or getting rid of “objectionable” issues. Nothing, though, has ever equaled what Britain’s modern Globe Theater plans to do: It’s going to “decolonise” Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s plays have lasted 500 years. Even in 21st century America, we still routinely used words and phrases that Shakespeare first wrote: “admirable,” “barefaced,” “hostile,” “sanctimonious,” “all that glitters isn’t gold,” “break the ice,” “clothes make the man,” “a laughing stock,” “It’s Greek to me,” “too much of a good thing,” and many more.

It’s true that much of Shakespeare’s language is hard to understand for modern people — although, oddly, Americans may find Shakespeare’s English easier to understand when spoken as he would have spoken it, rather than as actors speak it today – but it’s still exquisitely beautiful. And while his plays’ values can be strange or even offensive, Shakespeare nevertheless had such a deep understanding of unchanging human nature that he always has currency. Whether it’s those stupid teenagers in Romeo and Juliet, the witty Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing, or even Shylock’s ageless plea that others recognize his common humanity, he still can resonate with modern audiences.

At various times, people have tried to bring Shakespeare in line with their times.  In 1807, Thomas Bowdler created a cleaned-up Shakespeare, shorn of suicides, blasphemy, prostitution, etc., so that families could read it together without shame. His effort became so famous we still use his name as a verb for someone creating a mangled abridged version of an original work of written art. At around the same time, siblings Charles and Mary Lamb prepared a clean and simple version for children.

In our modern era, we’ve seen The Taming of the Shrew reworked as Kiss Me Kate, a brilliant Cole Porter musical; Richard III reimagined in a fictional 1930s fascist England; Much Ado About Nothing moved to small-town America at the end of the Spanish American war; and Macbeth transformed into a feudal Japanese tale in Throne of Blood. Shakespeare is almost infinitely malleable because, under the British renaissance trappings lies someone who understands people – how they behave in different circumstances and what motivates them, whether we look at people’s best or worst instincts.

Social Justice’ Rabbinic Students Betray The Jewish People In Time Of War By Rabbi Aryeh Spero

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/05/social_justice_rabbinic_students_betray_the_jewish_people_in_time_of_war.html

While the young men and women of Israel are putting their lives on the line defending their homes and family, here in America we have a comfortable and self-indulgent group of rabbinical students verbally attacking Israel and giving moral support to the Hamas and Palestinian Arabs trying to destroy Israeli families. Most are from the Boston Hebrew College, the Reconstructionist Jewish Seminary, and Hebrew Union College, and they are trying to influence world opinion against Israel, which enhances the ability of the terrorists to murder more Jews.

It is a despicable act of betrayal and cowardice and should not be construed as coming from people with a higher moral standard. Sitting in their protected ivory towers – never being forced into a draft for either the American or Israeli army – they announce with detached pontification how much better they are than those “warmongering” Israelis who man their tanks, pilot fighter bombers, and raise their rifles while soldiering forward into danger.

By now, it is obvious that Hamas and other jihadists, unlike Israel, are not interested in peace and, instead, represent the most barbaric actions and attitudes, even to their own people – in contrast to Israel which tries exceedingly hard to defend itself in the least harmful and most humane way possible. Whereas, for example, Israel protects its civilians by placing women and children behind soldiers, the jihadists put their women and children in front of their men to protect the men and disarm their opponents. Whereas Israel has forfeited vast segments of its land and made other sacrificial peace offers, no P.L.O or Hamas leader has ever agreed to any formula for peace except to brazenly announce his intention that a Muslim Palestine will replace all of Israel.

But these rabbinical students seem so immersed in self-righteousness and virtue signaling, so intoxicated by a feeling that they know better than those “morally inferior” to them, they do not seem able to see the obvious Jewish side of the conflict. Rather, they identify totally with those who would gleefully murder their brothers and sisters, not because they are Israelis but precisely because they are Jews.

What they think is social justice is actually injustice and ignorance. Worse, it is an indifference to the plight of the Jewish people they hope one day to lead. They are not to be admired for “idealism;” instead, they should be scorned for taking the easy way out and masking their cowardice in lofty sounding principles of “social justice.”

Iran: 10 Characters in Search of a Protector by Amir Taheri

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17396/iran-election-candidates

With Iran arguably stuck in its deepest crisis in decades while economic meltdown, rampant corruption and Covid-19 chaos wreak havoc on an unprecedented scale, the Khomeinist regime is in dire need of reasserting its legitimacy.

The terms “Russophile” and “Americanophile” may need to be explained. Neither means any actual sympathy for either Russian or American ways of life and political systems…. Both want to “export” revolution, destroy Israel, if possible, and impose hegemony on the Middle East. In short, both wear beards, though of different styles.

Russia isn’t a potential ideological rival because the “Russian way of life”, unknown to most Iranians, lacks any seductive power capable of challenging Khomeinism. In other words, the Khomeinist regime has a better chance of survival under Russian protection than it could have under American tutelage.

Within days the all-powerful Council of the Guardians of the Constitution is expected to publish the list of “approved candidates” for next month’s presidential election in the Islamic Republic in Iran.

According to official reports, a total of 592 men and one woman have filled in the forms for consideration as a candidate. The council, however, is expected to approve no more than seven to 10 applicants.

What is not clear is whether the council will assess the applicants on the basis of existing regulations or in accordance with new rules it published last month. The Interior Ministry, which has the charge of organizing the elections, says nothing outside the existing regulations should be at play. The council, however, says the ministry’s role does not include an assessment of applications.

The dispute may furnish some fuel to feed the low-burning fire of this bizarre election. Everyone knows that the final list will be established by the “Supreme Guide” who has the final word in the Khomeinist regime.

If previous elections are to be taken as a guide, this time, too, the “Supreme Guide”, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is likely to use the election as a multipurpose exercise.

The first objective is to ensure as large a turnout as possible.

Khamenei has described elections in the Islamic Republic as referenda on the regime itself. With Iran arguably stuck in its deepest crisis in decades while economic meltdown, rampant corruption and Covid-19 chaos wreak havoc on an unprecedented scale, the Khomeinist regime is in dire need of reasserting its legitimacy.

Violent Attacks on American Jews Prove ‘Anti-Zionism’ Is Anti-Semitism By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/violent-attacks-on-american-jews-prove-anti-zionism-is-anti-semitism/?utm_source

Tell me it’s not about Jews.

T his week, a wave of Jew-hatred broke out across the United States. You may not have heard much about it, since the media — so skilled at detecting every racist dog whistle and secret Nazi handshake — have been largely AWOL on the issue.

In West Los Angeles, men waving Palestinian flags drove in a caravan through a Jewish neighborhood, shouting slogans like “Israel kills children” through a megaphone and getting out of their cars to attack Jewish diners at tables on the sidewalk. In Manhattan, another caravan of men with Palestinian flags drove to the Diamond District, burning one person and attacking others whom they believed to be Jewish. Also in New York City, a gang of men chanting anti-Israel slogans harassed and spat at people eating outside. If there were such attacks against Muslims, the media would rightly speak of nothing else right now.

Note, these weren’t clashes between pro-Israel demonstrators and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. These were attacks by the latter on whatever Jews they could find. And they should prove the falsehood of the narrative that “anti-Zionism” is distinct from anti-Semitism.

What is consequential in the long term is the normalization of the sentiments that drive this hatred. If it’s not the Washington Post running op-eds arguing that “justice” and a Jewish homeland can’t co-exist, it’s the Obama Bros, who helped to transform the Democratic Party on the Israel issue, asking their millions of followers to donate to the Islamic Relief charity even after the Biden State Department cut ties to that organization for promoting anti-Semitism (the tweet making this appeal has since been deleted). The union at The New Yorker — once the most prestigious magazine of culture in America, with central importance to many American Jews — tweeted out “solidarity with Palestinians from the river to the sea,” the latter phrase a Hamas-inspired genocidal slogan the plain meaning of which is the elimination of Israel. (That tweet, too, was deleted and replaced with a revised one still expressing “solidarity” but, you know, sorry about that Hamas language.)

Perhaps The New Yorker union was inspired by Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), a member of the “Squad” and one of a contingent of Hamas supporters now vocally present in one of the major American political parties. One wishes the media gave the Squad’s recent House floor statements slandering the Jewish State a fraction of the attention they give the rantings of largely powerless white supremacists. The Squad gins up anti-Jewish anger by lying about U.S. aid to Israel, falsely (and ludicrously) alleging that Israel practices apartheid, lying about Israel’s counterterrorism efforts and the causes of the present conflict, and comparing Hamas’s openly anti-Semitic mission to the struggle of black Americans against police brutality. All this is going on as craven Democrats cower.

New York Man Arrested for Setting Fire to Jewish School, Synagogue: DOJ By Janita Kan

https://www.theepochtimes.com/new-york-man-arrested-for-setting-fire-to-jewish-school-synagogue-doj_3824932.html

A New York man was been arrested and charged for setting fire to a Jewish school and synagogue in Brooklyn, the Justice Department said.

The man, Ali Alaheri, 29, from Brooklyn is accused of piling garbage bags against the side of a yeshiva, or a Jewish school, and synagogue on 36th Street in Brooklyn, and setting the bags on fire in the early hours of May 19, according to a criminal complaint (pdf).

Alaheri was captured on surveillance footage allegedly committing the act as well as punching a man wearing traditional Hasidic garb several hours later without provocation. Federal prosecutors said Alaheri and the victim had no prior interactions before the alleged assault.

The task force officer responsible for Alaheri’s investigation said he identified the 29-year-old from photographs available in the New York Police Department database. Alaheri was arrested allegedly wearing the same clothing as was seen on the suspect in the video footage of the assault.

The criminal complaint also alleges that Alaheri was in possession of a stolen bicycle during the course of the incident.

“As alleged in the complaint and detention letter, Alaheri deliberately set fire to the sacred home of a yeshiva and synagogue, and viciously attacked a man wearing traditional Hasidic garb, demonstrating a violent hatred that cannot be tolerated,” Acting U.S. Attorney Mark J. Lesko said in a statement. “This Office strongly condemns these sorts of intentional acts of violence and we will go to every length possible to prosecute this type of conduct to the fullest extent possible.”

Texas Senate Passes Bill That Bans Critical Race Theory From Classrooms BY ALLEN ZHONG

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/texas-senate-passes-bill-that-ban

The Texas state Senate passed a bill Saturday that prohibits schools from mandating the teaching of critical race theory (CRT).

House Bill 3979 doesn’t mention CRT by name, but apparently aims to ban the controversial quasi-Marxist ideology in public and open-enrollment charter schools.

According to the bill text, teachers, administrators, or employees from state agencies, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools are prohibited from teaching students that one race is inherently superior to another race or sex or that an individual is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, by virtue of his or her race or sex.

A teacher “may not [be] compelled to discuss current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs” in social studies curriculum in Texas history, U.S. history, world history, government, civics, social studies, or similar subjects, according to the bill.

If teachers choose to discuss the above topics, they must explore those topics from diverse and contending perspectives and can’t give deference to any one perspective.

The bill also requires the State Board of Education to adopt civic education to help students’ understanding of the moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American, U.S. history and tradition, and the founding documents of the United States.

The Lone Star State’s lower chamber passed the bill on May 11 but will have to approve it again in alignment with revisions made by the state Senate.

CRT—which espouses the idea that race is not natural, but socially constructed to oppress and exploit minorities—is an offshoot of the quasi-Marxist critical theory social philosophy that was promoted by the Frankfurt school of thought.

Then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning CRT training in federal agencies in September 2020, with the White House describing it as “anti-American propaganda.”

However, the socialist ideology has been embraced by President Joe Biden and his administration. Biden reversed Trump’s September 2020 executive order after entering the White House and pushed CRT training on all fronts.

The Biden administration’s efforts triggered widespread pushback from federal and state Republican lawmakers, conservatives and related organizations, and parents.

Maricopa County’s Attorney Office Writes Senate Leader Karen Fann – Requests ALL DOCUMENTS Regarding Deleted Election Database Directory By Jim Hoft

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/breaking-maricopa-countys-attorney-office-writes-senate-leader-karen-fann-requests-documents-regarding

It appears the Maricopa County Attorney will weaponize her office and use it for a possible investigation of cyber forensics of America’s Audit cyber team.

Maricopa County officials have fought tooth-and-nail to prevent the Arizona Senate Audit from taking place.  They have stalled the process at every turn.

On Friday they threatened the audit team with legal action.
What are they so scared of?

We Don’t Need a Commission to Investigate the Capitol Riot By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/we-dont-need-a-commission-to-investigate-the-capitol-riot/

This Democrat-driven project would be hopelessly politicized.

W hy do we need a commission for this?

That’s one of the questions Rich Lowry and I batted around on The McCarthy Report podcast a couple of Fridays ago. We happened to be recording just as news broke that House Homeland Security Committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) and ranking member John Katko (R., N.Y.), had reached an agreement to create a special bipartisan commission to examine the Capitol riot.

We should not be astonished that this agreement proved fleeting. Congressman Katko is a moderate who voted to impeach President Trump after the latter’s instigation of the rally that devolved into an uprising, which the media-Democrat complex monotonously brands as an “insurrection” (though when even worse mayhem is perpetrated by leftists, it is branded “mostly peaceful protest” by the same partisans). Recall that House Republicans voted overwhelmingly against impeachment, and Senate Republicans lopsidedly opposed conviction. Although he is hardly alone in his views, Katko is out of step with most of his party on what we should make of January 6.

The commission concept, at least as he negotiated it with Thompson, was quickly panned in pro-Trump circles. That prompted the usual hand-wringing in the GOP mainstream, which is on fret-alert about offending the former president and his supporters. Within days, the Republican minority leaders of the House and Senate, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, respectively, announced their opposition. On Thursday, as NR’s Caroline Downey reports, the Democrat-controlled House comfortably approved the commission proposal, 252–175, with 36 Republicans on board — considerably more than the ten who voted with House Democrats to impeach Trump in January over the Capitol riot. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain as this is written.

I oppose the commission. It’s not that I don’t think the events of January 6 are important. I do, and if there is going to be a commission, I’d want it to do a good job, which would require a strong set of Republican commissioners, determined both to get to the bottom of what happened and to thwart the Democrats’ ceaseless politicization of it. Still, I oppose commissions of this kind for the same reason that we should be outraged by the events of January 6: They undermine our constitutional system.

America Is Flunking Math We need to get racial politics out of the equation before it’s too late.By Percy Deift, Svetlana Jitomirskaya and Sergiu Klainerman

https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-america-is-flunking-math-education

Among all human endeavors, mathematics stands alone in terms of its beauty, universality, and innumerable applications. Though its role is often obscured by esoteric language, mathematics is behind almost all of humanity’s major advances in science and engineering.

Bridges stand, planes fly, rockets carry us into space, and MRIs can see into our brains thanks to precise mathematical calculations performed by powerful computers, invented by mathematicians such as Alan Turing and John von Neumann. Behind tasks performed by computers—predicting the weather, performing complex financial transactions, or encrypting billions of messages each day—lie sophisticated mathematical algorithms. Artificial intelligence, for example, is but a happy marriage between powerful computers and abstract mathematical models that sort and analyze massive amounts of data.

Before our discipline became the universal global enterprise it is today, great mathematical discoveries passed from ancient civilizations to medieval ones and then to modern ones. One can argue that the preeminence of each civilization was, in part, due to their sophisticated understanding and use of mathematics. This is particularly clear in the case of the West, which forged ahead in the 17th century with the discovery of calculus, one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of all time.

The United States became the dominant force in the mathematical sciences in the wake of World War II, largely due to the disastrous racist policies of the Third Reich. The Nazis’ obsession with purging German science of what it viewed as nefarious Jewish influence led to a massive exodus of Jewish mathematicians and scientists to America. One of them was Albert Einstein, whom Time magazine would declare Person of the Century in 1999. Science in Germany hasn’t returned to its former glory to this day.

The quality of mathematics research in the United States today is the envy of the scientific world. This is a direct result of the openness and inclusivity of the profession. David Hilbert’s ‘‘mathematics knows no races’’ is the living motto of the community of American mathematicians. Indeed, academic institutions in the United States have thrived largely because of their ability to attract talented individuals from around the world. The availability of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals, highly trained in mathematics, has been crucial to our success as a nation. 

Skewed History: Textbook Coverage of Early America and the New Deal By David Randall

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/public_affairs/2021/05/06/skewed_history_textbook_coverage_of_early_america_and_the_new_deal_775956.html

Bottom Line: Six reviewers critique portions of five popular history and civic textbooks, finding that, despite some good qualities, they contain serious flaws. Overall, these textbooks fail to lay out a coherent historical framework, offer a truncated understanding of political theory, exhibit a bias in favor of a progressive interpretation of history, minimize the importance of religion (especially Protestantism), favor New Deal economics, and devote insufficient attention to the formation of republican virtue among students.

National Association of Scholars director of research David Randall, along with professors and scholars Bruce Frohnen, Kevin Gutzman, Jason Ross, Amity Shlaes, and William Pettinger, review portions of five popular textbooks used in history and civic education.

The textbooks under discussion are:

“American History,” 2018 edition, HMH Social Studies
“United States History,” 2016 edition, Pearson
“United States History and Geography,” 2018 edition, McGraw Hill
“The Unfinished Nation,” Ninth Edition, McGraw Hill
“America’s History,” Ninth Edition, Bedford St. Martin’s

Though the scholars worked independently, they found that the same general problems permeated each textbook. In straightforward and even-keeled prose, they catalogue problems such as too much graphics impeding student learning. They also found that the textbooks favor a progressive version of U.S. history, minimize the influence of religion – and Protestantism in particular – and feature a reductive understanding of political theory (for example, offering two-dimensional, flat sketches of Enlightenment thought and the tenets of New Deal-era liberalism). The textbooks also seem to agree with the presuppositions underlying New Deal economics. Finally, they neglect the importance of character formation, an especially glaring problem because students need to be taught the virtues of republican self-government.

In order to improve history and civic education in the United States, the reviewers argue that students need better textbooks that, in David Randall’s estimation, are “fair-minded, fact-based, and not subject to ideological bias.” Through the publication of this report, NAS aims to provide guidance to school boards and significantly improve the College Board’s standards.