RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Enlightenment
The development of modern science in the late 18th century went hand in hand with the rise of modern industrial capitalism. Its potteries, mines, steam engines, mechanization, and science itself, were all done by private enterprise. The role of government was to enforce patents and maintain a healthy legal and commercial environment.

Nowadays most scientists are paid by the government. What passes for science has largely become taxpayer-funded Environmentalism. Environmentalism has taken over much of science.

Scientists discover, understand and inform.

Environmentalists preach.

Economically, Pope Francis’ encyclical is an uninspired re-hash of the Marxist-Leninist diatribes against Western imperialism that have been the lingua franca of the international Left for 150 years. Worse than that, this shallow, cliche-ridden document is a betrayal of the Christian faith
Pope Francis is playing with fire. It seems that the converging crises engulfing the Catholic Church and the need to cultivate a supportive global constituency based on the Third World may have pushed the Pope to both ignore the free-market basis of functioning economic systems and desert the fundamental principles of Christianity.

Caught in a perfect storm of scandal and relevance, Francis appears prepared to capitulate to the neo-Marxist paganism that underlies the Deep Green ideology of the global environmental movement and assume a vanguard role in constructing a global welfare state, established to mitigate the alleged effects of climate change. This capitulation has two dimensions: economic and theological, as will be discussed below.

Hillary Clinton issued a lengthy statement tonight not only giving props to the Iran nuclear deal but also basically taking credit for it.

“I am still studying the details, but based on the briefings I received and a review of the documents, I support the agreement because it can help us prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. With vigorous enforcement, unyielding verification, and swift consequences for any violations, this agreement can make the United States, Israel, and our Arab partners safer,” Clinton said.

“…Today’s agreement is the culmination of a sustained strategy of pressure and engagement executed over many years. As secretary of State, I logged tens of thousands of miles and twisted a lot of arms to build a global coalition to impose the most crippling sanctions in history. That unprecedented pressure delivered a blow to Iran’s economy and gave us leverage at the negotiating table, starting in Oman in 2012. I know from experience what it took to build a global effort to get this done; I know what it will take to rally our partners to enforce it.”

“Hillary’s a great friend of mine. Her husband is a great friend of mine. They’re fantastic people. I mean, they’re — you know, the thing, they get a bad knock. She’s a very nice woman. People think, tough, tough. And I guess she’s tough, but she’s a very nice woman. And he’s a very nice guy. We know all about the smarts and how smart they are, and all, but they are good people.” Donald Trump

“Fear is the path to the dark side,” said Yoda. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

The glorified muppet had a point. I’ve been watching Republicans cheer for Donald Trump, the pro-amnesty [1], pro-government healthcare [2], friend of Hillary Clinton [3], and all-around Democrat backer [4], who, it seems pretty likely, is running for president to bleed off enough Republican support to ensure the Democrat candidate’s election.

Educators making kids into white-guilt drones…possibly in a public school near you.
Recently, ION Television cited Oman Frame in their “Everyday Heroes” segment for his work on race, gender, and class. Those last three words caught my attention, since white privilege is a constant meme in the academic world.

Frame teaches 7th and 8th grade in southwest Atlanta. He is a charismatic man who bonds easily with students of either race. Martha Caldwell also works with Oman Frame. She wrote “Inquiry into identity: Teaching critical thinking through a study of race, class, and gender.” Comments about their workshops for middle school students include this from a parent:

To say that these two dynamic teachers caused the scales to fall from the eyes of our white children of privilege would be an understatement. Both our children became increasingly aware of the vastly different lives others live, and the hugely uneven playing field that results when society bases its treatment of people on distinctions like household income, skin color, gender, or sexual orientation. Their concern continues to propel them to act in ways that reject the dehumanizing biases of the status quo. I fully expect this to continue for the rest of their lives.

One of the most alarming and catastrophic elements being overlooked in yesterday’s give-away deal to the mullahs is that Iran will soon receive $150 billion dollars. With that money they can immediately go after Israel with tens of billions in horrific conventional weapons, missiles, bombers… way before any nuclear bomb is fully functional. Israel will be overwhelmed as never before, and America will be more vulnerable to Iranian plots financed, bizarrely, by Mr. Obama’s giveaways. The mullahs can now echo Lenin: “The West will supply us the rope to hang them.

There is no reason for President Obama to give Iran that amount of money, which will be used tomorrow to try to destroy Israel, hire tens of thousands of ISIS, Hamas, and Hezb’allah terrorists, and finance terrorism against America and other countries. It will put at risk our Navy in the Persian Gulf, with Obama probably ordering some type of American retreat when challenged by the Iranians so as not to jeopardize our “partnership” with them as well as the hopes he has placed in the mullahs and his sympathy for other Iranian goals. This so-called treaty has been a hoax from the beginning, a ruse and cover-up for Mr. Obama’s plan to resurrect Iran and financially fortify the mullahs and Iran.

Using presidential clemency to override existing policy on criminal sentences sets a dangerous precedent.

On Monday President Obama commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders, bringing his commutation count to 89, more than the past four presidents combined. Meanwhile, the White House and Justice Department have signaled that this is only the beginning of an enormous clemency initiative by the administration.

Federal sentencing policy for nonviolent drug offenders is seriously misguided, leaving too many behind bars for far too long. But Mr. Obama’s apparent decision to use his clemency power to override existing sentencing policy is also misguided.

The Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate Wilayat al-Sina (Sinai Province) claimed responsibility for the firing of three Grad rockets at Israel on July 3. This attack, which caused no casualties, came closely after a large-scale assault by the group against Egyptian security installations in the Sheikh Zuweid area of northern Sinai.

Both events served notice regarding the growing seriousness of the threat represented by the jihadists in northern Sinai.

The Sheikh Zuweid attacks demonstrated a level of tactical proficiency and sophistication hitherto not seen in Sinai’s Islamic State affiliate. The jihadists used sophisticated weapons systems, reportedly including Russian-made Kornet antitank missiles, and antiaircraft missiles. They also deployed suicide bombers as a weapon of war, rather than as terrorism, to telling effect against Egyptian Army positions.

Jason Riley is absolutely right here. The dangerous immigrants are radical Moslems who encourage jihad and hatred of America and push back on assimilation…..rsk
Newcomers to the U.S. are less likely than the native population to commit violent crimes or be incarcerated.

Is the conversation that Republicans want to have about immigration any more serious than the one Democrats want to have about race?

The Republican presidential field sports no shortage of individuals capable of speaking intelligently about America’s broken immigration system. Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham have drafted legislation on the issue. Jeb Bush co-wrote an entire book on the subject. And Rick Perry ran a border state with the nation’s second-largest immigrant population for 14 years. So why is Donald Trump, whose comments about immigrants and crime are as ugly as they are uninformed, doing all the talking?

President Obama was right on Tuesday to hail his nuclear agreement with Iran as historic, though not because of his claim that it will “prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” The agreement all but guarantees that Tehran will eventually become a nuclear power, while limiting the ability of a future President to prevent it.

We say this after reading the 159-page text, complete with five annexes, which offers a clearer view than the President’s broad and happy description. “We give up nothing by testing whether or not this problem can be solved peacefully,” Mr. Obama said. “If, in a worst-case scenario, Iran violates the deal, the same options will be available to me today will be available to any U.S. President in the future.”