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June 2020

Thank goodness for Hillsdale College At least one institution is standing firm against the mob of kneelers and capitulators and sentimentalizers Roger Kimball *****

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Did you go to college? If so, then it is overwhelmingly likely that you have been the recipient of a nauseating communication like this one from ‘Maud’ (that would be Maud S. Mandel, President of Williams College) explaining how Williams will ‘confront and fight racial and social injustice.’

I hope that you are impressed by both Maud’s bravery and her virtue. In an earlier communication, just as the wave of violent hooliganism began rolling over the country at the end of May, she let us know that she is ‘disgusted, saddened and angered by ongoing racism in all forms and places’ (every last one!). What a paragon she is! Maud then went on to ‘state unequivocally’ (unequivocally!) ‘that Williams condemns racism, violence, and injustice and will continue using its resources’ (almost $3 billion) ‘to help students — and society writ large — better understand these forces so we can continue to fight them.’

There are a few things to note about all such communications. One is how similar they are to one another. It’s as if all those college presidents and CEOs of woke companies are working from the same list of bullet points distributed some semi-literate affiliate of antifa or Black Lives Matter. You’ll see the same clichéd phrases dusted off and crammed together in drearily conformist globules of thought-free emotive sentimentality. Claudius disingenuously said that Denmark was contracted in ‘one brow of woe’ because of the elder Hamlet’s death. Something similar can be said about the incontinent displays of pseudo-anguish by our elites.

A second, and related, thing to notice about such communications is how inexpensively purchased is their distress. ‘Disgusted, saddened, and angered,’ indeed. Do you believe it? Or do you think the outrage is 99 percent manufactured, off-the-rack posturing?

OXFORD – THE FIGHTBACK HAS BEGUN (NO ONE WILL CLAIM AUTHORSHIP-PROBABLY A HOAX)

I cannot vouch for authenticity but it is a good scolding….rsk

This letter is a response from Oxford to Black Students attending as Rhodes Scholars to remove the statue of Oxford Benefactor, Cecil Rhodes.

“Dear Scrotty Students,

Cecil Rhodes’s generous bequest has contributed greatly to the comfort and well being of many generations of Oxford students – a good many of them, dare we say it, better, brighter and more deserving than you.

This does not necessarily mean we approve of everything Rhodes did in his lifetime – but then we don’t have to. Cecil Rhodes died over a century ago. Autres temps, autres moeurs. If you don’t understand what this means – and it would not remotely surprise us if that were the
case – then we really think you should ask yourself the question: “Why am I at Oxford?”

Oxford, let us remind you, is the world’s second oldest extant university. Scholars have been studying here since at least the 11th century. We’ve played a major part in the invention of Western civilisation, from the 12th century intellectual renaissance through the Enlightenment  and beyond. Our alumni include William of Ockham, Roger Bacon, William Tyndale, John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, Erasmus, Sir Christopher Wren, William Penn, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Samuel Johnson, Robert Hooke, William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Emily Davison,
Cardinal Newman, Julie Cocks. We’re a big deal. And most of the people privileged to come and study here are conscious of what a big deal we are. Oxford is their alma mater – their dear mother – and they respect and revere her accordingly.

And what were your ancestors doing in that period? Living in mud huts, mainly. Sure we’ll concede you the short lived Southern African civilisation of Great Zimbabwe. But let’s be brutally honest here. The contribution of the Bantu tribes to modern civilisation has been as
near as damn it to zilch.

The Silent Majority Can Be Silent No More By David Limbaugh *****

https://pjmedia.com/columns/david-limbaugh/2020/06/19/the-silent-majority-can-be-silent-no-more-n551984

Lately, it seems that we conservatives can’t win even when we’re winning. But the country is under siege, so we cannot indulge in the luxury of being discouraged.

This year has been one body blow after another to the nation we love. First, there was the coronavirus, and we thought, “How can this get any worse?” Then came the economic shutdown and the incalculable pain and suffering it brought. Next were the riots, the radicals’ unopposed seizure of a section of Seattle, and the maniacal efforts throughout the country to defund the police. Now a series of rulings from the “conservative” Supreme Court is wreaking untold havoc on the Constitution and the rule of law.

It wouldn’t take a Christian fanatic or an excitable conspiracist to conclude that America is now the target of an intense spiritual onslaught — brought on by its own rampant descent into decadence.

The left has been at war with America as founded for decades, and it has made great progress in transforming our culture and institutions. Leftists are activism-oriented and relentless. They pursue their goals 24/7, exhausting their less activist and less calculating opponents, and advance their agenda by sheer attrition.

But a more important factor in the left’s success is the depressing naivete of too many conservatives about its ultimate aims. If you underestimate the extremism and determination of your opponents, how can you counter them?

Perhaps one silver lining emerging from the Democrats’ enabling of the proliferating lawlessness in America is that unsuspecting patriots are finally awakening to the horrors facing us and the left’s cynical exploitation of them.

Teen Vogue Faces Widespread Condemnation for Article Praising Karl Marx By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2020/06/18/teen-vogue-faces-widespread-condemnation-for-article-praising-karl-marx/

Teen Vogue, a magazine primarily aimed at American teenagers, faced backlash after sharing a glowing article about the founder of Communism, Karl Marx, according to Fox News.

Although the article was written in May 2018, Teen Vogue’s official Twitter account linked to it again on Wednesday, with the caption “Welcome to Marx!” The article is titled “Everything You Should Know About Karl Marx,” and describes Marx as an “anti-capitalist scholar” with ideas that are “probably more prevalent than you think.”

Written by far-left activist Adryan Corcione, the article claims that Marx’s ideas “inspired social movements in Soviet Russia, China, Cuba, Argentina, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and more,” and that Marx also influenced such public figures as Malcolm X and Helen Keller. Corcione then asks, “How can teens learn the legacy of Marx’s ideas and how they’re relevant to the current political climate?”

The magazine was slammed on social media, with many pointing out that Communism was responsible for over 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century, particularly during the nearly 50-year period known as the “Cold War.”

Marx’s influence on politics is still felt to this day on the American Left, as represented by outright socialists such as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

Turkey: Erdoğan Wishes “Many More Happy Conquests” by Burak Bekdil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16092/turkey-erdogan-conquests

In Turkish jargon, the difference is simple: It is “conquest” when we do it and “invasion” when others do it.

In this year’s celebrations, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the stakes when he spoke of the conquest prospectively not just retrospectively. “I am wishing that God grant this nation many more happy conquests,” he said….

A serious question remains to be asked: When Erdoğan wished God to grant Turks “many more happy conquests” which non-Turkish lands is he hoping to “conquer”?

In Turkey, every May 29 brings up the country’s “conquest fetish.” Turks are proud that their Ottoman ancestors, in 1453, “conquered” (not “invaded”) then-Constantinople, today’s Istanbul. It is bizarre enough that a proud nation is commemorating, every year, the capture from another nation of its biggest city by the “force of sword.” This year’s 567th anniversary was no exception: The celebrations euphemistically referred to the fall of Constantinople as “conquest” — not “invasion.”

In Turkish jargon the difference is simple: it is “conquest” when we do it and “invasion” when others do it. In this year’s celebrations, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the stakes when he spoke of the conquest prospectively not just retrospectively. “I am wishing that God grant this nation many more happy conquests,” he said at a celebration where he recited from the Quran.

Political Violence Then and Now By Abraham H. Miller

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/06/political_violence_then_and_now.html

“His Majesty King Mob might not yet control the streets, but he certainly controls the thinking of Americans who are mired as much in their guilt as in their stupidity.”

The men who pulled Reginald Denny from his truck during the Rodney King riots and beat him to a pulp had no idea who Rodney King was. They just wanted the truck.

Many of the men who stormed the Winter Palace with firearms had not a scintilla of an idea what communism was.

His Majesty King Mob had a variety of motivations for being in the streets, both in 1780 and in the 1960s, few of them good. Many of the marauders were politically no more sophisticated than a British soccer fan seeking his “agro” by breaking heads.

Venerating the mob or yielding to their occupation — as in Seattle — only gives them legitimacy, as does the pandering of Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats, draped in culturally appropriated kente cloth.

The one aspect of riots that few want to talk about is how the proper application of force will extinguish the mob in short order.

As the military historian D. J. Goodspeed has observed, no mob, no revolt, no group of conspirators ever succeeded in overthrowing the social-political order if even a single military company was willing to judiciously use force against it.

It Doesn’t Matter Whether DACA Is Popular By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/it-doesnt-matter-whether-daca-is-popular/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first

I understand that procedural arguments are boring, ineffective, and passe, and that fewer and fewer American are moved by them. But we might want pollsters and media outlets to understand the difference between policy outcomes and constitutional process.

Take a look at this non sequitur:

Neil G. Ruiz @neil_ruiz The Supreme Court’s rejection of Trump’s attempt to end the #DACA program aligns with findings from @Pewresearch survey showing that Americans broadly support legal status for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children https://pewrsr.ch/3dhAzUs

As with the Supreme Court’s recent re-imagining of Title VII protections, the media are acting as if the recent decision preventing Trump from immediately ending DACA was a referendum on values, empathy, and the intrinsic value of “Dreamers,” rather than on the ability of the president to simply fabricate laws by fiat.

There are a number of persuasive economic and moral arguments for legalizing the children of illegal immigrants. Indeed, as it happens, I support the goals of DACA. But, if they are to become law, they need to . . . well, become law. I also support dropping the corporate income tax to zero. That doesn’t mean I would approve of Donald Trump asking the IRS to stop collecting certain revenue streams by decree.

Iran Once Again Is Denying UN Inspectors Access to Suspected Nuke Sites By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/06/19/iran-once-again-is-denying-un-inspectors-access-to-suspected-nuke-sites-n555063

The International Atomic Energy Agency has passed a resolution that demands Iran open two sites suspected of harboring nuclear material or trace elements of uranium. Iran, which is still party to the 2015 nuclear deal with the West, has refused access to the sites, saying it was based on intelligence gathered by Israel.

Reuters:

A resolution, adopted in a vote called after China expressed opposition to it, raised pressure on Iran to let inspectors into the sites mentioned in two International Atomic Energy Agency reports because they could still host undeclared nuclear material or traces of it.

The text of the resolution submitted by France, Britain and Germany and obtained by Reuters said the board “calls on Iran to fully cooperate with the Agency and satisfy the Agency’s requests without any further delay, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified by the Agency.”

The IAEA has tried for several months to get Iran to comply, to no avail.

The IAEA suspects activities possibly related to developing nuclear weapons were carried out in the early 2000s at these sites. Iran has suggested the IAEA is seeking access based on the Israeli information, which it argues is inadmissible. It also says the IAEA file on its old activities has been closed.

The resolution, the first by the board since 2015 and the implementation of the nuclear deal, was passed by a 25-2 margin with seven abstentions, diplomats said.

The Climate Campaign Is Less And Less About  Francis Menton

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-6-18-biyb4kqu2wfj71beidexgg8exb

Here in the United States, the environmental movement has been completely taken over by the campaign to ban use of fossil fuels, with the stated goal of slowing or preventing “climate change.” But at this point, is the “climate” campaign really about the climate in any meaningful way? The alternative hypothesis is that the principal goal of the anti-fossil-fuel movement in the United States is destruction of the American freedom-based economic system, commonly going by the name of “capitalism.”

So let’s consider whether the anti-fossil-fuel campaign in the U.S. could really be about its avowed goal of saving the planet from climate change caused by greenhouse gases. If that were the case, then the campaigners would be principally focused on the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, mostly CO2, not only in the U.S. but in the world.

The campaigners are definitely focused on blocking any and all fossil fuel development in the United States. Environmental groups with what seem like infinite funding sources bring litigations on any and every possible theory to seek to block absolutely every proposed fossil fuel development in this country.

To illustrate the relentlessness of the litigation war, consider something called the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a multi-billion dollar project intended to deliver natural gas from sources in West Virginia over to the Atlantic coast of Virginia. An environmental group called the Cowpasture River Preservation Association, represented by environmental lawyers from the Southern Environmental Law Center, brought a suit to stop the pipeline on the ground that its permit to cross the Appalachian Trail, which had been granted by the Forest Service, was not properly authorized. As you are likely aware, earlier this week the Supreme Court ruled in that case that the Forest Service had the power to issue the permit.

Dept. of Coronavirus Good News More than 1,500 treatment studies are underway world-wide.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dept-of-coronavirus-good-news-11592606957?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

Alarming headlines about surging Covid-19 cases in some states dominated the news this week, but there was some good news: A University of Oxford drug trial found that a low-cost steroid can substantially reduce deaths in severely ill patients. As results from more studies roll in this summer, improved treatments could blunt the impact of any second wave.

The randomized trial compared 2,100 hospitalized patients who received the steroid dexamethasone at low-to-moderate doses for 10 days with 4,300 controls receiving standard hospital care. Dexamethasone reduced fatalities among patients receiving supplemental oxygen by 20% and by a third among those on mechanical ventilators. The drug had no impact on less sick patients.

Oxford researchers estimated that the drug could have prevented 5,000 deaths in the United Kingdom had doctors used it to treat the sickest patients at the outset of the pandemic. “For less than £50 (US$63), you can treat eight patients and save one life,” said Oxford epidemiologist Martin Landray. Dexamethasone is the first drug shown in a large clinical trial to significantly reduce Covid deaths among the severely ill. Another trial last month found that Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir reduced the duration of hospitalization on average to 11 days from 15 but did not reduce deaths.

Remdesivir could help make more hospital beds available in hot spots, but antivirals probably won’t be able to save severely ill patients experiencing a hyperactive immune response known as “cytokine storms.” Dexamethasone and other anti-inflammatory drugs that are being studied in Covid patients can help tamp down the immune system.