EDUCATION Comments turned off

We’re Failing Our Students, and It Hurts Us All By Ilana Redstone Akresh

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/colleges-universities-left-wing-bubbles-failing-students/

They can go through their entire education without coming across a principled, non-left viewpoint.

In late January 2019, Kenneth Mayer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin, drew the attention of a Republican state legislator for language in his syllabus that described Trump as “a president who gleefully flouts the norms of governing and presidential behavior.” His supporters see this as “not a bug, but a feature,” the professor wrote in his syllabus, adding, “To others, he is a spectacularly unqualified and catastrophically unfit egomaniac.” In response, the campus issued a statement supporting Mayer, stating that he “leaves his political opinions at the classroom door and asks his students to do the same.” Regardless of one’s views of the current administration, it is difficult to support the claim that Mayer’s opinions stayed at the door, given that they’re embedded in the course syllabus. Professor Mayer’s endorsement of a singular political perspective in the classroom points to a larger problem that plays out more broadly and has serious implications.

We can trace the current level of political polarization to multiple sources, but, whatever the causes, we could arguably reduce polarization by increasing our ability to see issues from perspectives other than our own. Given its potential to bridge divides, nurturing this ability should be a high priority. And yet, this is neglected in one of the places where it could do the most good: the college classroom.

P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

The Intersectional Road to Perdition By Victor Davis Hanson *****

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/virginia-democrats-controversy-intersectional-politics/

Who is the greatest victim of them all? Leave it to the mob to pick the ‘winner.’

From The Ox-Bow Incident to To Kill a Mockingbird, novelists warned of the American propensity to become mob-like and often lethally so. Our Puritan roots, when coupled to elements of Athenian-style democracy, can on occasion vary wildly between dangerous bias and equally mindless self-righteousness.

Update those traditions within the modern bane of electronically charged instantaneous social media, identity politics, the decline of journalism, and vicarious virtue-signaling, and we increasingly suffer psychodramas like the Virginia fraternity mess, the Duke Lacrosse fiasco, the Kavanaugh hearings, and the Covington nightmare.

In such cases, predictable constructs often set afire the new mob. “Vulnerable” women or minorities or both are juxtaposed against young white males who have the scent of traditionalism, conservatism, or “privilege.” I say “psychodramas,” because the point is never to assess guilt or innocence or to establish some set of objective standards by which to condemn or exempt the accused. No, the aim is to vent outrage — the quicker, the more venomous, and the more public, the more advantageous either in a careerist or psychological sense.

The result is that there are now no rules in the Roman arena of feeding the accused to the carnivores — except two. If the progressive cause can be advanced, then necessary, one-time adjustments can call off the mob. And, two, given the complex hierarchy of victimhood and the relative degrees of perceived progressive correctness, it is sometimes difficult to sort out who should be rescued from, and who served up to, the famished lions.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Vote on the Green New Deal Every Member of Congress should step up and be counted.

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/vote-on-the-green-new-deal-11549931107?cx_testId=0&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

Democrats rolled out their Green New Deal last week, and by all means let’s have a national debate and then a vote in Congress—as soon as possible. Here in one package is what the political left really means when it says Americans need to do something urgently about climate change, so let’s see who has the courage of those convictions.

Thanks to the resolution introduced last week by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, there’s already official language. While it’s nonbinding, the 14 pages give a clear sense of direction and magnitude in calling for a “10-year national mobilization” to exorcise carbon from the U.S. economy.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Green New Deal: A Cautionary Tale Australia’s costly and fatal 2009 effort to upgrade houses for energy efficiency. By Tim Blair

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/green-new-deal-a-cautionary-tale-11549928511

The Green New Deal—introduced in Congress last week and immediately endorsed by several Democratic presidential candidates—calls among other things for “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States . . . to achieve maximal energy efficiency.” We’ve tried it in Australia—on a much smaller scale—and it didn’t go well.

On Feb. 3, 2009, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his treasurer, Wayne Swan, announced the Energy Efficient Homes Package. “To support jobs and set Australia up for a low carbon future the Rudd Government will install free ceiling insulation in around 2.7 million Australian homes,” declared a press release from Mr. Swan’s office.

“For a time-limited period of two and a half years, from 1 July 2009, owner-occupiers without ceiling insulation will be eligible for free product and installation (capped at $1,600) simply by making a phone call.” At the time, A$1,600 was worth about US$1,280.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The New Germany Energy Program – and Its Deep Historical Roots A disturbing glance at Germans’ close identification with “nature.” Michael Ledeen

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272823/new-germany-energy-program-and-its-deep-historical-michael-ledeen

When I was in Europe in the 1980s, starting my research on fascism, I had a German friend, an historian my age who subsequently wrote some excellent books on Italian fascism. At seminars and conferences, he invariably apologized for being German, which annoyed me to no end. After all, he was a post-Hitler German who had no responsibility for the Third Reich. I wanted him to just get on with his work and stop acting guilty for things he had not done. Nowadays, I wish we paid more attention to the country’s cultural history, which has an uncanny resemblance to its present in unnoticed ways.

I see that the Germans are going to do away with coal – and nuclear-generated electrical power. The abolition of nuclear power plants is old news, but the shutdown of the coal generators is new, and has been hailed by the Green Party and other environmentalists.

Those (few) of us who spent time studying German cultural history in the run-up to the Third Reich will have a frisson of deja vu at this announcement, for the Germans have long had a unique, weird, and durable relationship to “nature,” which is still with them. They have embraced the notion that modern civilization, with its scientific base, is dangerous to the human soul. This was the basis for an important mass movement that urged young Germans to get out of the cities and into the forests and mountains that constituted the “natural” setting for German life. This youth movement was called the Wandervogel, and shaped the thoughts and passions of a generation or two of young Germans.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Phony ‘Justice’ through Phony Climate Policy By Marc Sheppard

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/phony_justice_through_phony_climate_policy.html

Would you be surprised to learn that of the five goals pronounced in the so-called “Green New Deal,” three of them focus on some form of social or economic “justice?” Or that the two that don’t instead use language right out of the UN’s globalist playbook? Well, they do, and, if you’ve been paying attention, you shouldn’t be all that surprised.

Indeed, the convergence of climate “science” and social “justice” is nothing new. Some argue that it dates back to 1972, when an unlikely blend of legitimate environmental activists, dyed-in-the-wool Marxists, and assorted anti-establishment 60’s leftovers met in Stockholm, Sweden to discuss the planet’s ills. And from that marriage of global environmental and social-justice concerns was born the IPCC’s parent organization – the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its socialist-environmentalist manifesto – the Stockholm Declaration.

Others point to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (a.k.a. the Earth Summit). There, the event’s Secretary-general, Maurice Strong, told the opening session that industrialized countries had “developed and benefited from the unsustainable patterns of production and consumption which have produced our present dilemma.” Yes, this was the gathering which spawned the infamous Agenda 21 [PDF], a global contract that pledged governments around the world to a UN plan to change the way people “live, eat, learn and communicate” all in the name of “saving the earth” from mankind’s mistakes, particularly global warming. (See IPCC: International Pack of Climate Crooks for details).

But these were non-binding international agreements typically not worth the paper they were then written on, not proposed legislation for a sovereign nation which would immediately impact the lives and wellbeing of hundreds of millions of citizens.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

From Paris to Riga to where else? By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/from_paris_to_riga_to_where_else.html

Over the last two months, we’ve seen the so called “yellow vest” riots underway in France. It’s become so routine that the media is grown tired of reporting it, or maybe they don’t like to tell us how citizens are reaction to tax increases over climate change.

Over the weekend, I saw this. It looks like the vests have some imitators in Riga, Latvia, according to this AP report:

Earlier Saturday, activists in Latvia staged a picket in front of the French embassy in Riga, the capital of the small Baltic EU country, to support the yellow vest movement and urge Latvians to demand higher living standards.

The activists waved Latvia’s red-and-white flag, shouting slogans like “the French have woken up, while Latvians remain asleep.”

Very interesting. This story also reminds me of a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with a new student from Latvia attending a local community college.

POLITICS Comments turned off

The Education of Ilhan Omar Democratic leaders rebuke their anti-Israel freshman colleague.

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-education-of-ilhan-omar-11549930665?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=2&cx_tag=contextual&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

The Democratic Party’s support for Israel has been fraying for years, and some new Members of Congress seem willing to indulge in arguments that border on the anti-Semitic. So kudos to House Democratic leaders who slapped down one of their own, freshman Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, for her ugly comments.

“Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders in a joint statement on Monday. “But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.”

The leaders are trying to put out a firestorm that erupted after Ms. Omar claimed on Twitter that her colleagues defend Israel for the money, writing, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” When asked who she thinks is “paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” Ms. Omar named the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, which doesn’t donate to political candidates, though it does urge U.S. support for Israel.

ISRAEL, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Eugene Kontorovich:For the ACLU, Antipathy to Israel Trumps Antidiscrimination Laws against boycotting the Jewish state are patterned after those that protect gays and lesbians.

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-the-aclu-antipathy-to-israel-trumps-antidiscrimination-11549928620

Identity politics guides its adherents in strange directions. The American Civil Liberties Union, which for decades defended the vulnerable against public discrimination, has begun an assault on several antidiscrimination laws. Its goal is to bring boycotts of Israel into the political mainstream.

The ACLU’s latest target is the Combatting BDS Act, which passed the Senate last week 77-23. The bill is quite modest compared with the anti-BDS measures enacted in 26 states in recent years, which the ACLU is also challenging. Those laws prohibit state contracts with, and investment in, companies that boycott Israel-connected firms. The federal Combating BDS Act would simply declare that the state laws don’t violate U.S. foreign policy.

Despite the bipartisan support the bill enjoyed in the Senate and overwhelming approval of the underlying state legislation, it faces a difficult road in the House, where radical Democrats are united against it.

The ACLU is providing political cover to Democrats who oppose the laws by claiming they raise constitutional problems. It has brought lawsuits in three states, arguing that the First Amendment protects firms’ right to boycott certain clients. In the litigation, the ACLU claims that “the state cannot condition government contracts” on a company’s refusals to do business with private parties for “political” motives. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has also brought two such lawsuits.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Incredible Shrinking Europe The Continent’s grand unity project is failing, and its global influence is fading. By Walter Russell Mead

Posted By on February 12th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/incredible-shrinking-europe-11549928481

Last week offered fresh evidence that the most consequential historical shift of the last 100 years continues: the decline of Europe as a force in world affairs. As Deutsche Bank warned of a German recession, the European Commission cut the 2019 eurozone growth forecast from an already anemic 1.9% to 1.3%. Economic output in the eurozone was lower in 2017 than it was in 2009; over that same period, gross domestic product grew 139% in China, 96% in India, and 34% in the U.S., according to the World Bank.

As its economy lags behind, Europe is becoming more divided politically. Brexit negotiations have inflamed tempers on both sides of the English Channel; Central European countries like Hungary and Poland are alienated from the West; much of Southern Europe remains bitter about the aftermath of the euro crisis; and anti-EU political parties continue to gain support across the bloc. A recent report from the European Council on Foreign Relations projects that anti-EU parties from the right and left are on course to control enough seats in the next European Parliament that they will be able to disrupt the EU and weaken it further. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The EU was founded to stop Europe’s decline, not reflect it.