EDUCATION Comments turned off

Harvard—Out the Frying Pan Into the Fire-Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://victorhanson.com/harvard-out-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire/

Harvard may assume the forced resignation of its president, Claudine Gay, has finally ended its month-long scandal over her tenure.

Gay stepped down, remember, amid serious allegations of serial plagiarism—without refuting the charges. She proved either unable or unwilling to discipline those on her campus who were defiantly anti-Semitic in speech and action.

But Gay’s removal is not the end of Harvard’s dilemma. Rather, it is the beginning.

In the respective press releases from both Gay and the Harvard Corporation, racial animus was cited as a reason for her removal.

Gay did not even refer to her failure to stop anti-Semitism on her campus or her own record of blatant plagiarism.

Yet playing the race card reflects poorly on both and for a variety of reasons.

One, Gay’s meager publication record—a mere eleven articles without a single published book of her own—had somehow earned her a prior Harvard full professorship and presidency. Such a thin resume leading to academic stardom is unprecedented.

Two, the University of Pennsylvania forced the resignation of its president, Liz Magill. She sat next to Gay during that now-infamous congressional hearing in which they both claimed they were unable to discipline blatant anti-Semitism on their campuses.

Instead, both plead “free speech” and “context” considerations.

Such excuses were blatantly amoral and untrue. In truth, ivy-league campuses routinely sanction, punish, or remove staff, faculty, or students deemed culpable for speech or behavior deemed hurtful to protected minorities—except apparently white males and Jews.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Heather Mac Donald Unrepentant DEI at MIT The diversity ideology marches on at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://www.city-journal.org/article/unrepentant-dei-at-mit

MIT president Sally Kornbluth announced on Wednesday that the university would soon reveal its inaugural Vice President for Equity and Inclusion (VPEI). If one wanted evidence of the disconnect between university culture and the outside world, Kornbluth’s announcement provides it.

Since October 7, universities have been the focus of nearly unprecedented public attention, triggered by student and faculty support for the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. Alumni from schools like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania charged their universities with complicity in anti-Semitism and demanded that Jews be included in the roster of “marginalized” groups protected by the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy.

Eventually, however, it dawned on the rebellious donors that the DEI complex was not the solution to perceived anti-Semitism but part of the problem, since the DEI apparatus enforces the progressive world view that the West (now embodied by Israel) is unremittingly racist, colonialist, and oppressive.  The alumni demand for adding “anti-Semitism training” to the DEI portfolio of “anti-hate trainings” turned into its opposite: a demand that the DEI apparatus be shut down entirely. (Harvard donor Bill Ackman’s conversion in this regard has been unusually public.)

It’s been hard to miss this new consensus among university critics. National and state legislators, governors, and other public figures have called for the elimination of DEI administrations. Denunciation of the equity and inclusion bureaucracy is now part of every call to reform of the post–October 7 university—to the point that left-wing defenders of the university are railing against what they view as conservatives’ exploitation of the Hamas campus crisis to defund essential diversity initiatives.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Liz Peek: Joe Biden’s extremist spending is a danger to the US

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4389558-joe-bidens-extremist-spending-is-a-danger-to-the-us/

Joe Biden says “Extreme Maga Republicans” want to wreck the economy by cutting federal spending. And yet, it is his administration’s blowout budgets that are extreme. Never in this country’s history, with the exception of two emergencies — World War II and COVID — have we spent taxpayer money so recklessly. 

Consider: in just the past three months, the federal debt of the United States jumped by $1 trillion. The U.S. now owes $34 trillion, up from $33 trillion at the end of September. For reference, it took 198 years of borrowing for the government to rack up its first trillion dollars of debt; that milestone was first reached in 1981.   

Putting that gargantuan figure in context, debt held by the public in 1981 amounted to about 25 percent of GDP; today’s debt amounts to more than 100 percent of GDP. Our debt is bigger than the entire economy of every single country in the world but the U.S. and China. 

The Peterson Foundation further puts our debt in perspective, noting that “$34 trillion is enough to cover a public four-year degree for every graduating high-school student for 106 years.”  

This should worry everyone. There’s a reason that Fitch Ratings downgraded United States’ credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+” last year, several years after S&P made the same decision. The last ratings agency still awarding U.S. debt its platinum rating is Moody’s; last year they lowered the outlook to “negative” from “stable,” citing a drop in “debt affordability.”    

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Note From the Campaign Trail First stop: Iowa Matt Taibbi

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://www.racket.news/p/note-from-the-campaign-trail

SIOUX CITY, IA — I’ve done this gig so many times I have Pavlovian reactions to certain airports, but having never flown here, I didn’t know Sioux City’s three-letter code is SUX. That’s the name of the car that raged-out ex-councilman Ron Miller demands when he takes the Detroit mayor hostage in Robocop. “I want something with reclining leather seats that goes really fast and gets really shitty gas mileage,” he shouts, Uzi in hand.

“How about a 6000 SUX?” a police captain bullhorns back. Miller likes it, but wants cruise control. “I want a recount!” he yells, stepping over bodies. “And no matter how it turns out, I want my old job back!” So the story connects. Who’d have thought?

Anyway, Sioux City’s cool, just never came this way.

I started covering presidential campaigns in 2004. The problem then was the events were fake. Candidate speeches were market-tested piles of words designed to attract the statistical middle of the middle. In post-event asides, aides pretended to socialize and fed you rehearsed spiels over beers about their candidate’s path to victory. Everything was canned. A memory that stands out is plastic clumps of grass scotch-taped to reporters’ seats on Howard Dean’s “grassroots express” charter. It was hard to divine much, traveling in that mechanized sales hell.

Now things are reversed. Reality is altered before you leave the house. Challengers are censored or deamplified, the incumbent “brushes off” debates, vote counts are shady (what’s with Iowa Democrats waiting until Super Tuesday to announce caucus results?), and even ballots are curated. Coverage of everyone but the President and whoever’s currently pushed as the “viable” Republican alternative to you-know-who (“Could Haley Beat Trump? Big Donors are Daring to Dream,” writes the New York Times) is a desert of lies and hit jobs. Even public reaction is edited. A controversial guest essay by lefty legal scholar Samuel Moyn in the Times arguing the Supreme Court should vote 9-0 to return Trump to the Colorado ballot appears devoid of approving comments. I could buy most disapproving, but it looks more like all. Who can tell, without checking for yourself, where public sentiment is now?

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Climate Crimes And Misdemeanors

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/01/05/climate-crimes-and-misdemeanors/

There is no evidence, only speculation, that human emissions of greenhouse gases are overheating Earth. Despite this, there’s a growing movement to prosecute and incarcerate those who violate the rules set down by the climate zealots. It’s as if the Spanish Inquisition has changed the definition of heresy so that those who have a healthy skepticism of the global warming claims are now the targets of the office of the tribunal.

In jolly old England, “​​property owners who don’t comply with new energy rules may face prison,” says the London Telegraph. “Ministers want to grant powers to create new criminal offenses and increase penalties as part of efforts to hit net zero targets,” the Telegraph continues. “​​Under the proposals, people who fall foul of regulations to reduce their energy consumption could face up to a year in prison and fines of up to” nearly $19,000 in U.S. dollars.
Three guest authors writing in CarbonBrief about “climate misinformation” said that justice for those who dare challenge the global warming narrative includes “bringing in a correction or a collaborative approach after the misinformation has been received, or even putting in place punishments, such as fines or imprisonment.”
Then there’s England’s lunatic Guardian newspaper. One of its climate correspondents has suggested “financial penalties or prison time” for oil company executives for their “40 years of lying about climate change,” as well as “the propagandists they’ve employed and the politicians they’ve funded” who so far “have largely escaped blame.”
The United Nations has wondered if “international criminal law” should “be used against those who promote this dangerous trend” of spreading “climate denial.”

Of course this nonsense isn’t new.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

2024: The Year Iran Will Go Nuclear If Western Powers Do Not Act by Majid Rafizadeh

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20276/iran-will-go-nuclear

If the US fails to remove Iran’s nuclear capability — and not just (literally) buy time to enable it — the catastrophes that follow will surely go down as US President Joe Biden’s legacy, as well as the legacy of those around him.

From the Iranian regime’s perspective, the failure of the Western powers to counter its nuclear program serves as the most explicit endorsement one can provide that it should continue developing its nuclear-weapons without any fear of negative consequences.

Tehran evidently just uses these funds to expand its influence in various regions, including Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and South America.

Should the Biden administration persist in pursuing a leadership approach perceived as lacking in strength, and should the Biden administration continue to pursue a strategy characterized by conciliation and concession towards the Iranian regime, 2024 will mark the year that the Islamic Republic of Iran acquires nuclear weapons, heralding a pivotal development in their military capabilities and devastating, far-reaching repercussions for regional and international security. If the US fails to remove Iran’s nuclear capability — and not just (literally) buy time to enable it — the catastrophes that follow will surely go down as US President Joe Biden’s legacy, as well as the legacy of those around him.

Iran has substantially increased its production rate of uranium, which, after tripling its output in the past few weeks, is now nearing weapons-grade levels, according to a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Groups That Support Hamas by John Wilson

Posted By on January 6th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20275/groups-that-support-hamas

Surprisingly, by far the largest group supporting Hamas appears to be TikTok.

“Some have argued that there is a constitutional right to TikTok, that banning it would violate Americans’ rights under the First Amendment. But the First Amendment surely does not require us to allow social media apps controlled by foreign adversaries to dominate the U.S. market.” — US Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, The Free Press, November 2, 2023.

Other groups leading anti-Israel protests reportedly include….

There appears to be more moral rot around than is good for any nation. The US, the UK and countries in Europe that encourage racism and other ways of pitting groups against one another — which for many now is “Big Business” — would do well to get rid of all of it, the sooner the better.

Even before the bodies of roughly 1,200 people in Israel , including dozens of children, were cold after being tortured, raped and massacred on October 7 by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas, not just Palestinians and Arabs, but people in the West could be seen demonstrating in support of the torturers, murderers and rapists. Even the otherwise outraged hashtag women’s groups have yet to be heard from, with at least one politician in the US, a woman, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), actually “downplaying” the atrocities and other members of the public denying that they had even happened.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Why The Palestinian Authority Is No Better than Hamas by Bassam Tawil

Posted By on January 4th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20274/palestinian-authority-hamas

The Biden administration has yet to spell out what it means when it talks about a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority.

If the Biden administration is hoping that the PA leadership will halt its ongoing campaign of incitement against Israel in the mosques, media and the rhetoric of Palestinian officials, it is living in a dream world. If the Biden administration believes that the PA, as part of a “revitalization” process, will cease its endless glorification of terrorists and systematically rewarding them with monthly stipends for murdering Israelis, it is also in for a rude awakening.

The Biden administration… can continue to dream about “revamping” the PA, but… every Palestinian child knows that this will never happen as long as Palestinian leaders continue to pay handsomely for the murder of Jews and call for the elimination of Israel.

As the Biden administration doubtless knows, replacing Hamas with the PA will change nothing in the Gaza Strip.

As the Biden administration continues to promote the idea of having a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority (PA) govern the Gaza Strip the day after the current Israel-Hamas war, PA leaders are again proving why they are not much different from the Iran-backed Islamist terrorists who want to destroy Israel and murder Jews.

After the January 2 assassination in Beirut, Lebanon, of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas “political bureau,” who was behind countless terroir attacks against Israelis over the past decade, PA leaders were quick to praise him as a “martyr” and a “hero” and condemn Israel for allegedly killing the top Hamas terrorist. This glorification of an arch-terrorist is nothing less than a full endorsement of Hamas’s Jihad (holy war) on Israel, as outlined in its 1988 charter, which states that “Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.” (Article 8)

BOOKS Comments turned off

THE GENIUS OF ISRAEL BY DAN SENOR AND SAUL SINGER

Posted By on January 4th, 2024

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * How has a small nation of 9 million people, forced to fight for its existence and security since its founding and riven by ethnic, religious, and economic divides, proven resistant to so many of the societal ills plaguing other wealthy democracies?

Why do Israelis have among the world’s highest life expectancies and lowest rates of “deaths of despair” from suicide and substance abuse? Why is Israel’s population young and growing while all other wealthy democracies are aging and shrinking? How can it be that Israel, according to a United Nations ranking, is the fourth happiest nation in the world? Why do Israelis tend to look to the future with hope, optimism, and purpose while the rest of the West struggles with an epidemic of loneliness, teen depression, and social decline?

Dan Senor and Saul Singer, the writers behind the international bestseller Start-Up Nation, have long been students of the global innovation race. But as they spent time with Israel’s entrepreneurs and political leaders, soldiers and students, scientists and activists, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Tel Aviv techies, and Israeli Arabs, they realized that they had missed what really sets Israel apart.

Moving from military commanders integrating at-risk youth and people who are neurodiverse into national service, to high performing companies making space for working parents, from dreamers and innovators launching a duct-taped spacecraft to the moon, to bringing better health solutions to people around the world, The Genius of Israel tells the story of a diverse people and society built around the values of service, solidarity, and belonging.

Widely admired for having the world’s highest density of high-tech start-ups, Israel’s greatest innovation may not be a technology at all, but Israeli society itself. Understanding how a country facing so many challenges can be among the happiest provides surprising insights into how we can confront the crisis of community, human connectedness, and purpose in modern life.

Bold, timely, and insightful, Senor and Singer’s latest work shines an important light on the impressive innovative distinctions of Israeli society—and what other communities and countries can learn.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Why Iran is the Key to Peace in the Middle East Many Iranians perceive Israel as a potential ally in their struggle against Islamic oppression. Armin Navabi

Posted By on January 4th, 2024

https://quillette.com/2024/01/04/why-iran-is-the-key-to-peace-in-the-middle-east/

Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran and Israel had developed strategic and economic ties, driven in part by Israel’s “periphery doctrine”—a policy of seeking alliances with non-Arab states. The relationship between the two countries was mutually beneficial; Iran was a major importer of Israeli arms, and, in return, provided Israel with oil. For the three decades preceding the revolution, these amicable relations persisted. Israel even had a diplomatic mission in Tehran. 

The Iranian Revolution changed all that. Under the new theocratic regime, Iran labeled the United States the “Great Satan” and saw Israel as the “Little Satan.” The mullahs aligned themselves firmly with the Palestinian cause and against Israel. This shift was marked by calls for solidarity with the Palestinian people, the establishment of Quds (Jerusalem) Day, and the creation of the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose ultimate goal is one day to capture Jerusalem. 

The Islamic Republic’s apparent commitment to the Palestinian cause was, in reality, a strategic move designed to bolster its revolutionary credentials among Arabs and across the Sunni world and further its efforts to its Islamic Revolution beyond Iran’s borders—a task rendered more difficult by the fact that Iranians are non-Arab and are Shia, rather than Sunni, Muslims.

Iran’s ambitions in this regard were hampered by Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel in 1979 (and later by Jordan’s in 1994.) Tensions between Iran and Israel increased after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, with the aim of attacking Palestinian Liberation Organization targets, following the PLO’s attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London.