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February 2022

Defunding the Ivy League in the Name of Freedom of Speech? A UPenn Professor says that’s the way to go. Thom Nickels

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/02/defunding-ivy-league-name-freedom-speech-thom-nickels/

A friend who works at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts told me that the atmosphere there regarding freedom of speech is so repressive that expressing her political opinions at work would be asking to be fired. The grip of Progressive Leftism at UArts is so strong she made me promise not to write anything about our conversations concerning the school.

For several years now students at UArts have been trying to remove tenured professor and renowned critic Camille Paglia from the University. Paglia, who has been teaching at UArts since 1989, came under fire in May 2019 when she delivered a lecture on sexual issues and western art despite threats and a petition from Leftist students not to do so. When Paglia refused to cancel the lecture, the leftist students demanded a post-lecture talk-back with themselves acting as Grand Inquistors.

Paglia’s refusal to agree to a talk-back caused the students to demand that UArts fire her and find “a queer person of color” as a replacement. The militant lefties also had another surprise. Forty minutes into Paglia’s lecture, they set off a fire alarm, in effect killing the remainder of the program and forcing the evacuation of the building. While UArts administrators refused student demands that Paglia be fired, since that incident Paglia has kept a low profile and has refrained from any further public talks on school property. 

By now their names are legion: Candace Owens, Patrick Buchanan, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, David Horowitz, Anne Coulter, and a host of other conservative speakers have all been targets of leftist students whose only wish is to silence divergent voices. The worst part of this phenomenon, besides the obvious free speech violations, is the intimidation factor that may cause intellectually curious students to opt out of attending a talk by a conservative because of the ugly atmosphere generated by the progressive brown shirts.

David Bernstein in his 2004 book, You Can’t Say That, describes how leftist activists begin the vivisection of their victim: first come the social-media call-outs, after which they strong arm authority figures [university administrators] to impose an outcome—censorship—in their favor.

Child Custody’s Gender Gauntlet Transgender ideology has already achieved a powerful hold on our court system—and parents and children are paying the price. Abigail Shrier

https://www.city-journal.org/child-custody-gender-gauntlet

Before she decided to strip him of all custody over his son, Drew*—before determining that he would have no say in whether Drew began medical gender transition—California Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto asked Ted Hudacko this: “If your son [Drew] were medically psychotic and believed himself to be the Queen of England, would you love him?”

“Of course I would,” the senior software engineer at Apple replied, according to the court transcript. “I’d also try to get him help.”

“I understand that qualifier,” Judge Hiramoto replied. “But if it were—if you were told by [Drew’s] psychiatrist, psychologist that [Drew] was very fragile and that confronting him—or, I’m sorry, confronting them with the idea that they are not the Queen of England is very harmful to their mental health, could you go along and say, ‘OK, [Drew], you are the Queen of England and I love you; you are my child and I want you to do great and please continue to see your psychologist.’ Could you do that?”

“Yes,” Hudacko said. “That sounds like part of a process that might take some time, sure.”

“What process?” Judge Hiramoto said. “What is the thing that might take some time? Accepting the idea that [Drew] occupies an identity that you believe is not true?”

“The identity you just mentioned to me was the Queen of England,” Ted began. “I can tell him and I can affirm that to him, to reassuring him situationally; but objectively, he is not the Queen of England and that won’t change, and even the therapist in that case would know that.”

Prison-Gang Politics The Left’s racialist ideologies threaten to transform America into a prison yard. Christopher F. Rufo

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/02/prison-gang-politics-frontpagemagcom/

When new inmates arrive in California state prisons, they pass through the gauntlet of other men and must make a quick decision: With whom do they stand? They have four options: the whites, the blacks, the Latinos, and the others. For most of the “fish,” or fresh convicts, it’s not much of a choice—they are chosen. The prisons are divided into strictly separated racial gangs, which have their own leadership structure, lunch tables, yard space, and black markets. The new inmates typically fall in with their racial brothers: whites with whites, blacks with blacks, Latinos with Latinos. The only exceptions are those who join the others: a collection of smaller ethnic groups, sexual minorities, and whites who refuse to join with the Aryan Brotherhood.

California prison gangs operate on a model of collective, identity-based security. If a white inmate attacks a black inmate, or vice versa, their racial compatriots must fight to protect the group’s interests. The threat of race war, they believe, is the only way to secure peace. The prisoners maintain separate facilities, separate sleeping quarters, and separate trade networks. They communicate with the other races through “reps,” or emissaries, who deliver messages on behalf of gang leaders. An individual might not want to join the white supremacists or the Norteño drug-runners, but his survival depends on doing so. Courts have occasionally attempted to integrate prison facilities but have never succeeded. Prison wardens have accepted the racial reality and work in tacit cooperation with the gangs to maintain segregated intake, cell assignment, and amenities.

I spent three years directing a documentary about life in America’s three poorest cities, including Stockton, California, which has some of the highest crime and incarceration rates in the country. Stockton is a case study in America’s diverse racial future: it is approximately one-quarter white, one-quarter black, one-quarter Latino, and one-quarter Asian. In the city’s daily activities, the racial groups generally cooperate and go about their business together. There are widespread interracial friendships, marriages, and families. Even some of the city’s street gangs are multiracial. But in the jails and prisons that surround the city, the cultural divide is stark: inmates are subsumed into their racial group; enmity between the races is the assumed condition; racial violence, retaliation, and revenge always loom. There are no individuals, only identity-based expressions of power. This “prison politics” has been cemented into the system.

George Washington University Pres Vows to Go After Anti-China Posters Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2022/02/george-washington-university-pres-vows-go-after-daniel-greenfield/

Criticism of China isn’t just verbotten in Hollywood or the NBA, but universities, which serve as a Chinese Communist espionage tool, are increasingly banning criticism of the Communist dictatorship even as they celebrate the most extreme hatred of America and Israel.

The latest case comes from George Washington University where President Mark Wrighton responded to posters criticizing China’s human rights abuses in the context of the Olympics by apologizing and threatening those who had put them up.

“Please know that I am personally offended by the posters. I treasure the opportunity to work with talented people from all over the world, including China…. we are working to have all of these offensive posters removed as soon as possible. I, too, am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an effort to determine who is responsible.” he reportedly wrote.

The terrible event in question not being China’s human rights abuses, but the posters.

Palestinians: The Human Rights Violations No One Talks About by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18200/palestinians-human-rights-violations

In August alone, the PA security forces committed 287 violations against Palestinians, including arbitrary arrests of a physicist, activists, lawyers and others. Ten detainees went on hunger strike in PA prison and the health condition of two others deteriorated as a result of torture.

The report analyzed 250 arrest cases between January 2018 and June 2021, and noted: “Not a single case went without one or more instances of violation of procedures related to arrest, detention and fair trial guaranteed by the Palestinian Criminal Procedures Law and the Palestinian Basic Law of 2003.” — Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, 2021.

Under the current circumstances, the Biden administration is stating that it wants to facilitate Abbas’ creation of another Arab dictatorship that suppresses public freedoms and sanctions torture and intimidation.

The ICSPR and ARIJ reports show that the Palestinian dictatorship entity already exists and is actively arresting, torturing, and killing its critics. What else do Blinken and the rest of the international community need to hear before they stop trying to empower such abusive governance and instead heed the voices of these Palestinians?

While international “human rights” organizations such as Amnesty International make false and baseless claims against Israel, most continue intentionally and systematically to ignore the human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

A report published on January 29 by the Palestinian NGO International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR), which seeks to raise awareness of human rights among Palestinians, revealed that the year 2021 witnessed severe setbacks in the exercise of public rights and freedoms under the PA in the West Bank.

Biden betraying the nation he ‘leads’ By Eric Utter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/02/biden_betraying_the_nation_he_leads.html

It would be far better for the nation if the military didn’t discharge the unvaccinated…and the people did discharge the Biden administration.

The U.S. Army is going to immediately start discharging the unvaccinated. And this after attempting to purge itself of patriots, devout Christians, and Trump supporters. At this rate, the “force” may literally soon mirror its recruiting slogan of 2001-2006, which touted an “Army Of One.” This seems particularly bizarre timing, given the fact that Uncle Sam believes Russia is going to invade Ukraine soon, and China is now openly threatening Taiwan.

The Biden administration has also pressured hospitals and businesses to get rid of their unvaccinated employees, putting more burden on already over-stressed doctors and nurses and worsening the ubiquitous labor shortages and supply chain disruptions.

The Man Who Replaced Bakke By Abraham H. Miller

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/02/the_man_who_replaced_bakke_.html

Allan Bakke was U.S. Marine Corps officer and a NASA engineer. At age 35, he decided to go to medical school and applied to the University of California, Davis. He was rejected.

Bakke had a GPA of 3.51 and a 3.45 in the sciences. On the quantitative part of the MCAT, he scored 94 and exceeded that score with a 97 in the sciences.

Despite these outstanding qualifications and consideration that should have been given to him as a veteran, Bakke was rejected not once but twice.

The medical school accepted 100 students each year and set aside 16 slots for minorities. Bakke learned that lesser qualified minorities had been admitted in preference to him and sued the Regents of the University of California.

The court ordered Bakke admitted and said that the university had erred in creating an impermissible quota. But the court then, in a convoluted statement, said that while quotas were impermissible, race could be one of many factors that could be considered in admissions.

When Will Covid 19 Become Endemic? By Henry L. Miller

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/02/07/when-will-covid-19-become-endemic/

With pandemic fatigue becoming ever more intense, there is increasing speculation about when the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, might become “endemic” – a time when outbreaks will be more modest and manageable and we can “coexist” with the virus. That juncture has been described as when the virus has become “annoying but rarely deadly or disruptive.” Unfortunately, there are no quantitative milestones that tell us when we’ve arrived. It’s really a judgment by individuals and society, and prematurely concluding that we’ve reached endemicity and abandoning precautions can have perilous consequences.

Many observers cite influenza – the “flu” – as an example of an endemic infectious disease, so it’s useful to review its impacts. According to the Centers for Disease Control’s statistics, from 2012-2019 the flu virus annually caused about 31 million symptomatic illnesses, 400,000 hospitalizations, and 39,000 deaths in the U.S. Those high numbers are in spite of moderately good vaccines, with efficacy in the range of 40%-60%, and which need to be administered each year.

Apparently, that’s what we, as a society, consider manageable and acceptable; after all, we don’t impose lockdowns, mask requirements, or widespread vaccine mandates during the annual flu outbreaks.

The GOP is gaining among Texas Hispanics. Women are leading the charge. In places where Donald Trump made some of his biggest inroads with Hispanic voters, women are playing a key role in the Republican Party’s growth.By Sabrina Rodriguez

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/07/texas-hispanic-women-leaders-00006072

Democrats were caught off guard by Donald Trump’s numbers in South Texas in 2020. The Hispanic Republican women who live there were not.

Many of them have played a leading role in urging their neighbors in majority-Hispanic South Texas to question their traditional loyalty to the Democratic Party.

Hispanic women now serve as party chairs in the state’s four southernmost border counties, spanning a distance from Brownsville almost to Laredo — places where Trump made some of his biggest inroads with Latino voters.

A half-dozen of them are running for Congress across the state’s four House districts that border Mexico, including Monica De La Cruz, the GOP front-runner in one of Texas’ most competitive seats in the Rio Grande Valley.

It’s some of the clearest evidence that Trump’s 2020 performance there may not have been an anomaly, but rather a sign of significant Republican inroads among Texas Hispanics — perhaps not enough to threaten the Democratic advantage among those voters, but enough to send ripples of fear through a party that is experiencing erosion among Hispanics across the country.

“For so long, people here just never had Republicans knocking on their doors and calling them the way we did in 2020. The majority of us are women that did it then and are doing it now because we feel it’s our responsibility to keep the American Dream alive,” said Mayra Flores, a leading candidate for the GOP nomination in a South Texas-

Exclusive: Whistleblower Videos Show Systemic Issues With Pennsylvania Elections By: Margot Cleveland

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/02/biden_betraying_the_nation_he_leads.html

It would be far better for the nation if the military didn’t discharge the unvaccinated…and the people did discharge the Biden administration.

The U.S. Army is going to immediately start discharging the unvaccinated. And this after attempting to purge itself of patriots, devout Christians, and Trump supporters. At this rate, the “force” may literally soon mirror its recruiting slogan of 2001-2006, which touted an “Army Of One.” This seems particularly bizarre timing, given the fact that Uncle Sam believes Russia is going to invade Ukraine soon, and China is now openly threatening Taiwan.

The Biden administration has also pressured hospitals and businesses to get rid of their unvaccinated employees, putting more burden on already over-stressed doctors and nurses and worsening the ubiquitous labor shortages and supply chain disruptions.