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July 2020

‘Hamilton’ and Cancellation Was the Broadway show’s 2015 debut really so long ago? James Freeman

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamilton-and-cancellation-11594243514?mod=opinion_lead_pos11

The video debut of a Broadway hit is finding commercial success but also a social-media backlash for its positive portrayal of men who helped found the greatest nation on earth.

Todd Spangler reports this week in Variety:

“Hamilton” delivered for Disney Plus — with the musical movie of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s reimagining of the founding father’s life spurring a spike in app downloads over its July 4th weekend debut.
The movie premiered on the Disney Plus streaming service on Friday, July 3. From Friday through Sunday, the Disney Plus app was downloaded 752,451 times globally…

Samantha Vincenty writes in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine:

But reaching a wider audience also brought a deluge of criticism amid the praise—including concerns about how the work lionized the United States’ slave-owning founding fathers and didn’t accurately portray history.

Hamilton supported the manumission of slaves but did not press for abolition. Ed Morales, a lecturer at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, argues in an op-ed for CNN that times have changed since the play’s 2015 debut:

“Hamilton” is a minefield of mixed messages: Is our takeaway about its main character that he is a revolutionary hero or flawed philanderer? Is its strategy of non-traditional casting a triumph that allows people of color to “rise up” or are they undermined by the irony of how their embodiment as founding fathers ignores the fact that most of the characters they play were slave owners?
“Hamilton” was the perfect play for the Obama era because it fed into Democratic liberalism’s shift away from heroes like Thomas Jefferson — who represented a figure of rugged pastoral individualism — to Hamilton, the master banker/whiz kid financial planner. Miranda crafts “Hamilton” as an immigrant “who gets the job done,” an outsider. But Hamilton in reality faced none of the discrimination wielded against immigrants that he is drawn as a model for…

I Cited Their Study, So They Disavowed It If scientists retract research that challenges reigning orthodoxies, politics will drive scholarship. By Heather Mac Donald

https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-cited-their-study-so-they-disavowed-it-11594250254?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is a peer-reviewed journal that claims to publish “only the highest quality scientific research.” Now, the authors of a 2019 PNAS article are disowning their research simply because I cited it.

Psychologists Joseph Cesario of Michigan State and David Johnson of the University of Maryland analyzed 917 fatal police shootings of civilians from 2015 to test whether the race of the officer or the civilian predicted fatal police shootings. Neither did. Once “race specific rates of violent crime” are taken into account, the authors found, there are no disparities among those fatally shot by the police. These findings accord with decades of research showing that civilian behavior is the greatest influence on police behavior.

In September 2019, I cited the article’s finding in congressional testimony. I also referred to it in a City Journal article, in which I noted that two Princeton political scientists, Dean Knox and Jonathan Mummolo, had challenged the study design. Messrs. Cesario and Johnson stood by their findings. Even under the study design proposed by Messrs. Knox and Mummolo, they wrote, there is again “no significant evidence of anti-black disparity in the likelihood of being fatally shot by the police.”

My June 3 Journal op-ed quoted the PNAS article’s conclusion verbatim. It set off a firestorm at Michigan State. The university’s Graduate Employees Union pressured the MSU press office to apologize for the “harm it caused” by mentioning my article in a newsletter. The union targeted physicist Steve Hsu, who had approved funding for Mr. Cesario’s research. MSU sacked Mr. Hsu from his administrative position. PNAS editorialized that Messrs. Cesario and Johnson had “poorly framed” their article—the one that got through the journal’s three levels of editorial and peer review.

China Advances Heading for direct conflict with the USA? Michael Ledeen

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/07/china-advances-michael-ledeen/

China and Iran have unleashed a harsh domestic repression against protesters, as natural disasters sweep across the two countries. China took an early lead:

Waters in 116 local rivers rose one to ten meters (3.3 feet to 32.8 feet). State news agency Xinhua quoted Chongqing city officials on July 2 saying that water levels of 12 rivers are higher than the upper limits, meaning the banks may burst at any time.

At least one person has died, and one is missing, the report said, adding that almost 60,000 have been affected by the floods in the city.

Local authorities in one area in Chongqing have warned those who live on the fourth story or below in buildings close to rivers to be prepared to evacuate.

Authorities are warning civilians to pay close attention to local rivers and streams. As of the beginning of the month, some 304 rivers had reached perilous levels.

And in Iran, official death totals due to coronavirus have reached a new high. Given that ALL Iranian data are probably falsified, the new death totals are especially dubious. They are both big countries, and do not dread a sudden or dramatic drop in population. Au contraire, the new data suggest that the threat to stability in Iran is diminishing, and therefore that internal stability is increasing.

WHERE ARE THE LIBERALS ON MODERN DAY BLACK SLAVERY IN AFRICA?

https://mailchi.mp/peaceandtolerance/when-did-the-left-first-go-woke-when-they-betrayed-black-slaves?e=c4e6370125

On this very day in 1997, Dr. Charles Jacobs, then the president of the American Anti-Slavery Group, an organization at the forefront of the war against modern-day black slavery in Africa, published a biting op-ed in The Boston Globe: “Where are the liberals?”

Back then, the world was slowly coming to grips with a stinging fact: that Arabs and Muslims own black men, women, and children as chattel property in Mauritania and Sudan — today.

The problem, however, was that all of the activist and media elements which one would think would jump to free modern-day black slaves — including the anti-apartheid coalition of the 1980s — simply weren’t there. Even worse, organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — the people who had produced the original reports of slavery which alerted Dr. Jacobs and others to its horrors — simply refused to help.

Furthermore, so-called black “leaders” like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, world-famous figures with massive community and media clout, either directly rebuffed efforts to help tell the world, or backed off at the behest of actively hostile parties such as Louis Farrakhan (who preferred to blame the Jews).

Though a few brave and decent people in the mainstream media, such as at Dateline NBC and even The New York Times, did do their part in broadcasting the images and accounts of slavery, such instances of righteousness were few and far between — and today, are just about extinct.

What, then, astounded Dr. Jacobs and his allies was that it was conservatives and evangelical Christians who actually took up the fight. While liberals waffled and worried about offending Arabs or “dividing” the black community (against Farrakhan), conservatives stood up. Pat Robertson’s 700 Club became a forceful mouthpiece for the abolitionist movement. They were likely the first national television show to broadcast footage of heroes like John Eibner and Baroness Caroline Cox buying back the freedom of black Sudanese slaves — they even trashed Farrakhan as “an absolute charlatan”!

Liberals, however, save for a precious few decent Democrats like Barney Frank and the late Donald Payne, were silent.

That is what led Dr. Jacobs to ask, “Where are the liberals?”

When Did the Left First Go Woke? When They Betrayed Black Slaves Leftists: still cheating on black slaves with their masters. Ben Poser

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/07/liberals-betrayal-black-slaves-africa-frontpagemagcom/

Twenty-three years ago yesterday, in 1997, Dr. Charles Jacobs, a frequent FrontPageMag contributor and president of the pro-Israel educational non-profit Americans for Peace and Tolerance, published a biting op-ed in The Boston Globe: “Where are the liberals?”

At the time, Dr. Jacobs, a human rights campaigner and Jewish activist, was the president and research director of the American Anti-Slavery Group, an organization at the forefront of the war against modern-day black slavery in Africa.

By 1997, thanks to his relentless activism and that of the heroic black journalist Sam Cotton (may his memory be a blessing), the world was slowly coming to grips with a vile fact: that Arabs and Muslims own black men, women, and children as chattel property in Mauritania and Sudan — today. Dr. Jacobs himself had come to this news inadvertently. One day in 1990 he picked up a copy of The Economist on a flight home, and flipped to page 42 where he found a one-page editorial entitled “Slavery: By any other name.” What he read shook him to his core: “In Sudan chattel slavery is spreading fast, as a consequence of the civil war between the black Christian and pagan southerners and the Arab, Muslim north.… In February 1988 a [black] child could be bought for $90; so many slaves are available [two years later] that the price has now fallen to $15.” A child cheaper than a pizza; Jacobs took the magazine home with him and was never the same.

The problem, however, was that all of the activist and media elements which one would think would jump to free modern-day black slaves, including the formidable anti-apartheid coalition of the 1980s, simply weren’t there. Even worse, organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — the people who had produced the reports of slavery which originally alerted Dr. Jacobs and others to its horrors — simply refused to be of much help.

The Beginning of the End of Whites in South Africa “White South Africans will be resilient to the end. Their only regret is the speed with which it now comes.” Katie Hopkins

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/07/beginning-end-whites-south-africa-katie-hopkins/

“It’s been a rough month,” says Jess.

Coming from a one-man mountain with more shrapnel scars than most, things must be looking bleak in South Africa.

And it’s worse than any of us can imagine. Eighty-four farm attacks since lockdown began, twelve white farmers slaughtered from their land. The footage of the aftermath of one of the attacks circulating on Telegram and sent to me — too brutal to share. Only monsters could do such things to the elderly in their own homes.

As many of us celebrated the 4th of July this weekend, there were three murders in two days, one of them so unspeakably cruel that even those hardened to the news of torture of farmers by black gangs have found themselves white-knuckled at the speed of the horror.

When these massive men like Jess feel it, we need to stop and listen. They are the first people I would run to if I needed protecting: strong, sturdy, unflinching. These strong South Africans are part of the land, they have it coursing throughout their blood just as the sunshine and water spills through the crops and trees on their soil.

Hearing the horrible news I want to grab my little daysack — sitting ready with my passport and power plugs — pull on my boots and go. I am desperate to head back to their country, somehow leap into the struggle and to help the murdered be heard. For now I share their pictures with you, hopelessly trying to reanimate them as individuals, instead of more bodies on a pile.

Liberals reserve tickets to Trump’s New Hampshire rally to try making venue look empty The group Blue Revolution is sharing an RSVP link to Trump’s rally in Portsmouth, N.H. Saturday on social media telling followers to reserve spots and not show up.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/liberals-reserve-tickets-trumps-nh-rally-try-making-venue-look-empty

A liberal-leaning group and individuals are using social media to encourage Trump opponents to reserve tickets for the president’s upcoming reelection rally in Portsmouth, N.H., in an attempt to make the venue appear empty.

“Get your tickets and don’t go,” one Twitter user wrote Monday.

The “Make America Great Again! Rally” is scheduled for Saturday and follows one in late June in Tulsa, Okla. In advance of the rally, TikTok users reserved tickets and didn’t show up to reduce crowd size.

“If you have two minutes of your day to troll the president….Reserve two tickets and laugh knowing that’s two seats not filled,” another person tweeted about the New Hampshire rally.

“Just booked 2 tickets to Trump’s rally in NH that I won’t be going to,” a different user posted on Twitter.

Another user told his followers to put “incorrect information” in for the RSVP but use a real phone number.

A liberal Facebook group called Blue Revolution, which has more than 60,000 members, posted the RSVP link for Trump’s rally scheduled for Saturday and encouraged its members to reserve spots.

A turning tide? Public is not opening its pocketbooks to Democrats in the statehouse races By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/public_is_not_opening_its_pocketbooks_to_democrats_in_the_statehouse_races.html

Has the failure of the blue states finally bit the Democrats on the butt?

We all know that President Trump is struggling in the polls.  But campaign finance figures for statehouse races like these suggest plenty of trouble for Democrats. 

According to Breitbart’s Matt Boyle:

Americans significantly decreased contributions to Democrats running for state legislature seats in the second quarter as the Democrat Party has turned hard left, fundraising information announced this week shows.

The lackluster performance by Democrats at the state level could have broader national implications. First off, state-level political trends sometimes forecast later looming national trends — “from the State House to the White House,” the saying goes.

Mollie Hemingway:America Needs To Stop Reacting To Coronavirus Like A Bunch Of Hysterics

https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/08/america-needs-to-stop-reacting-to-coronavirus-like-a-bunch-of-hysterics/

Americans are learning how to cope with the virus in a common-sense way. That doesn’t mean being reckless, but neither does it mean cowering inside every day of every week and every month unless a vaccine shows up.

Harvard University recently announced that it will ban students from in-person classes for the entirety of the next academic year. The decision, not based on science, is typical of the decisions made by many elites in response to the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe.

Global pandemics aren’t new, but the way many Americans are responding to this one is. Americans have been blessed to experience few pandemics in recent decades. The swine flu of 2009 was no fun, as my husband can attest, but it resulted in only 273,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths in the United States. The Wuhan virus hospitalizations and deaths have eclipsed those numbers many times over.

But from 1918 to 1968, pandemics, deadly flus, and horrific childhood diseases were much more common. When the Asian flu hit the United States in 1957, during the Eisenhower administration, it was just the latest contagion college students had faced in a lifetime of contagious diseases. The 1957 Asian flu killed 116,000 Americans at a time the U.S. population was 172 million, just more than half the current population. That would be the equivalent of 222,000 Americans today. By comparison, the coronavirus has killed 133,000 Americans thus far.

By the time the Asian flu came along in 1957, many college students had already battled measles, mumps, chicken pox, German measles, and polio. For many years, there were no vaccines for these things. The parents of these college students had battled diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and the Spanish flu that killed 675,000 Americans and more than 50 million across the world. In today’s terms, that would be the equivalent of more than 1.6 million Americans dying from coronavirus.

There were brief, localized school closures in 1957 but the epidemic barely formed a blip in the American consciousness. It didn’t even elicit much of a mention in major Eisenhower biographies. Even the horrific Spanish flu was not a major media event. There is no historic record of President Woodrow Wilson even publicly mentioning the flu, which killed more than 0.5 percent of the U.S. population.

The 1968 Hong Kong flu was also bad, killing about 100,000 Americans when the population was just 60 percent of what it is now.

Nihilism and National Security Mervyn Bendle

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2020/07/nihilism-and-national-security/

“The aim is to trap our society in a pincer movement, assailed by external and internal forces, in which we will be rendered impotent by self-doubt and self-hatred. As our sovereignty is stripped away, we are to be reduced to a cowed and subordinate status, much as the CCP is seeking to do in Hong Kong.”

A spectre is haunting Western societies, and it’s not just Chinese imperialism. It’s the spectre of Nihilism, permeating every corner of our intellectual and moral culture, and critically weakening our capacity to defend ourselves. At a time when sharply increasing international tensions are prompting an unprecedented increase in defence spending to counter external threats, it’s essential that the corresponding internal threats be addressed as well.

The ultimate destination of Nihilism is civilisational collapse, a cultural and political abyss into which America is now gazing, and we may follow. As Gerard Baker laments in the Wall Street Journal:

Much of the country’s political leadership, almost its entire academic establishment, most of the people who control its news and cultural output, and a good deal of its corporate elite view the US as an irredeemably malignant force for enslavement and oppression, a uniquely evil power founded on an ideology of racial supremacy. These Jacobins demand that Americans repudiate most of the nation’s history, tear down the icons of its creation and engage in a collective cultural expurgation of its sins.

Nihilism can be defined as the ideological position that all prevailing values, beliefs, systems of knowledge, conventions, and institutions are without rational, ethical, or philosophical foundation, lack any legitimacy and are systematically oppressive. For nearly two centuries, Nihilism has been associated with the radical intelligentsia and masses of alienated and under-occupied university students, other young people, and the disaffected masses generally.