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July 2020

I Survived Cancellation at Princeton It was a close call, but I won’t be investigated for criticizing a faculty ‘open letter’ signed by hundreds. By Joshua T. Katz

https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-survived-cancellation-at-princeton-11595787211?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Now is the time to debate with renewed vigor existential questions of what counts as justice and how to fashion an equitable society. But the stifling of dissent is impeding the search for answers and driving people who disagree still further apart. Because students like to push boundaries and professors like to argue, colleges and universities are a crucible.

Take the university where I teach, Princeton. The campus—or at least the online campus, in the age of the coronavirus—has been in uproar since early July over a letter of demands to the administration signed by hundreds of my faculty colleagues, and especially over my response to that letter. I was immediately denounced on social media and condemned publicly by my department and the university president. At the same time, the university spokesman announced ominously that the administration would be “looking into the matter further.” On July 14, the Journal’s editorial board commented: “Princeton is demonstrating how a lack of leadership enables the cancel culture.”

It is therefore gratifying to report that Princeton’s leadership has done the right thing. I learned recently that I am not under investigation. The story of how I survived cancellation should be of interest to others, since I have no doubt that many more people, from once-obscure professors to public figures, will be vilified and in some cases materially punished for thought crimes.

Will Scandal Finally Sink Trudeau? The latest revelations involve a charity that paid big speaking fees to the prime minister’s relatives.By Michael Taube

https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-scandal-finally-sink-trudeau-11595795221?mod=opinion_lead_pos10

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has miraculously survived scandals that would have destroyed many political careers. These include three instances of wearing blackface, a decades-old allegation of groping a woman, and two ethics violations.

Now Mr. Trudeau is about to make his third trip to Canada’s ethics commissioner in five years—and it’s a controversy that could lead to his political demise.

The latest scandal involves WE Charity. Originally known as Free the Children, it was founded in 1995 by two well-known Canadian human-rights activists, brothers Marc and Craig Kielburger. WE has raised awareness of the plight of children in underdeveloped nations. It has fought to strike down abusive child-labor laws, improve education and promote healthy nutrition and access to clean drinking water.

Ottawa recently awarded the charity a contract worth 19.5 million Canadian dollars (around US$14.5 million) to administer the C$912 million Canada Student Service Grant program. WE had earlier received C$120,000 from several government contracts and C$5.2 million in government grants during Mr. Trudeau’s tenure. Mr. Trudeau asserted WE’s “extensive practice” with third parties and other charities made it “the best and only organization able to deliver on the scale.”

While few challenged the prime minister’s or WE’s motives, this changed when the charity’s ties to the federal Liberals—and Mr. Trudeau’s family—were revealed.

Violence Erupts Around Protests Across U.S. Weekend clashes occur as demonstrators press further against racism and police tactics by Douglas Belkin

https://www.wsj.com/articles/violence-erupts-around-protests-across-u-s-11595784837?mod=hp_lead_pos6

Large demonstrations turned violent around the country over the weekend as tens of thousands of Americans continued a monthslong wave of civil unrest protesting racism and police tactics.

Seattle protesters hurled rocks and explosives at police officers during violent confrontations near the police department’s East Precinct station on Saturday. Dozens of people were arrested and 59 officers were injured, including many with burns and abrasions, according to police. The explosives also caused structural damage to the station, the officials said.

In Portland, Ore., where protesters have been marching for more than 50 days, thousands of demonstrators—some wearing gas masks and carrying shields, leaf blowers and hockey sticks—gathered outside the U.S. Courthouse, police officials said. Some in the crowd threw rocks and fireworks before breaking through a section of reinforced fence surrounding the building.

In Austin, Texas, a protester was fatally shot during a Black Lives Matter gathering near the state capitol.

Protests have taken place across the U.S. after the May 25 death of George Floyd, who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis. But many marches grew in size and intensity over the weekend, and focused on what demonstrators say is overreach by local and federal officers in Portland and other cities. At some events, protesters carried guns.

Police officials in Portland and Seattle declared some demonstrations in their cities “riots” and used pepper spray and other crowd-control tools to disperse gatherings. Both police departments were bracing for more confrontations with protesters on Sunday.

The Shame of Shamima By Madeleine Kearns

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-shame-of-shamima/

She should live out the rest of her adulthood in jail — ideally a British one.

 L ast week, the British Court of Appeals ruled that Shamima Begum — one of three schoolgirls from east London who flew to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS — has the right to return to the United Kingdom, in order to appeal the government’s decision to revoke her citizenship.

The 20-year-old ISIS bride was discovered last year by Anthony Lloyd, the Times of London correspondent, who managed track her down to the Kurdish-run refugee camp in northeast Syria. Begum had left ISIS, was nine months pregnant (with a baby who would shortly die), and had lost two other children to malnutrition. She was informed by another journalist that the Home Office had revoked her citizenship.

The picture of Begum — young, mourning, exhausted, and far from home — would ordinarily have evoked pity. But she made the fatal mistake of opening her mouth.

In the course of the interview, Begum casually told Lloyd how “unfazed” she was upon finding the heads of captives in the bins. Sky News’s John Sparks asked what it was like to live with and under the Islamic State, to which she replied, “at first it was nice” and that things only “got harder” when “we lost Raqqa” to U.S.-backed troops (we being ISIS). As for second thoughts, she only had those towards “the end.”

Meet Navy Veteran Joe Collins-(R)-Running against Maxine Waters-California District 43

https://joecollinsforcongress.com/

https://joecollinsforcongress.com/issues/

Republican Joe Collins is a Navy veteran running to unseat Maxine Waters for Congress in California’s 43rd district.

No candidate, not even the greatest Republican candidate in the world, could take on Maxine and the entire Democrat establishment alone. That is why Joe is counting on your help. Together, we will hold the Democrats accountable and restore a voice to the people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICeDQk-8hrc&feature=emb_logo