RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://townhall.com/columnists/betsymccaughey/2023/08/30/blue-city-blues-n2627715

Eric Adams is trying to con us into believing New York City is “thriving.” Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but we’re not wearing rose-colored glasses.

On Sunday, Adams spoke at a brunch for New York Sun supporters at The American Hotel in tony Sag Harbor, New York. He said, “The city is not coming back. We’re back back.” Apparently, he thinks his job is public relations, not actually solving the city’s problems.

A Siena College poll shows more New York state voters disapprove than approve of Adams’ response to the migrant crisis. So, what does the mayor do?

Last week, he launched a highly coordinated social media campaign, requiring more than 20 city agencies to tweet out a message applauding New York City’s welcoming of migrants. “New York remains a beacon for all who come to our shores,” one of the posts read.

The propaganda blitz, paid for by tax dollars, praises the “brave New Yorkers ready to help,” including the mayor, of course. It’s a slap in the face to New Yorkers already footing most of the bill for the crisis

Adams dished more P.R. spin at Sunday’s breakfast. Here’s a taste:

Adams: “There’s only two types of Americans — either you live in New York, or you wish you could.”

Reality check: The city is going from Big Apple to shrunken apple, losing population massively. Some 400,000 people fled during 2020 and 2021, and in 2022, Manhattan was the only borough that did not lose population.

Worse, 158 financial firms have moved their headquarters out of New York City since 2019, taking nearly $1 trillion in managed assets with them.

https://americanmind.org/salvo/racism-in-america-today/

The woke lie that racism has gotten worse needs to be called out.

For many years, racism in America has been, to a very significant degree, a manufactured problem. When we speak about race, whether we admit it or not—and we usually don’t—we mean blacks. Black grievance, largely ginned up, provides the fuel for the woke regime.

The woke Leftists, who lead the Democrats around by a nose ring, want to destroy America. We love America; the woke hate America.

The woke accusation that “America is systemically racist” is manifest nonsense. Wokeism is anti-white.

We owe individual black citizens—as we owe all citizens—fellowship and help when deserving. But to blacks as a group we owe nothing, just as no group is owed anything, nor is any individual owed anything simply by being part of a group.   

The woke Left only incidentally wants to give blacks a hand up; their main goal is power. Outcome differences between blacks and others are not due to racism, but to bad decisions on the part of black individuals.

As I just said, racism in America today is, to a very significant degree, a manufactured problem, crafted by woke leftists in order to overthrow the American way of life. They claim there exists an intolerable, all-pervasive system of white oppression. They call this “systemic racism,” by which they mean that racism is embedded into every nook and cranny of America life: its institutions, values, customs, and language. If you disagree, they cancel you. They may even inflict violence.

The woke tell us that racism has gotten worse, but this is drivel. As everyone can plainly see, the less actual racism there is in America, the more of it the woke Left insists it sees.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/are-these-our-locust-years/

The “locust years” was how Winston Churchill described the Thirties, the decade that started with the Great Depression and ended with Germany’s invasion of Poland that sparked the most destructive war in history.

Could we be reprising the follies, delusions, and hubris of those years?

Between the two world wars, the allies who had won the first sank into civilizational exhaustion and moral ennui. The horrors of the Great War turned “never again”––the pledge to never, ever repeat such carnage––into pacifism, socialism, naïve internationalism, communist terror, reckless disarmament, totalitarian police states, and finally appeasement of a feral aggressor. All these ills guaranteed that the slaughter would indeed return––worsened by the holocaust, gulags, millions of refugees and displaced persons, atomic bombs, and the massive destruction of cities in Japan and Germany, an apocalypse wrought by the most civilized and advanced countries in the world.

The West today may seem to be light-years from the Thirties and its lethal dysfunctions, and the monstrous violence that decade bred. Even so, in many respects, our cultural decay, political corruption, and zany stupidities are willfully undermining not just our foundational political institutions, but science itself, not to mention common sense and traditional wisdom. These unprecedented, suicidal attacks on our civilization are breeding the swarms of locusts that may devour us.

First, the threat of large-scale wars is growing, ignored or dismissed by too many of those responsible for defending our lives and interests. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a case study in how to make sure such aggression will happen and perhaps succeed. Like Hitler, Putin had signaled for years his intentions and motives––to rebuild the Russian Empire lost in 1991, along with half the Soviet-era population. Nor was his ruthless willingness to use devastating force against civilians unknown, not after his brutal pacification of Chechnya in 1999-2009. Yet each move in his aggression was met with diplomatic braggadocio, school-marmish scolding, and useless sanctions.

And just as Hitler’s serial aggression and violations of the Versailles Treaty in the Thirties were met with bluster by the Allies and the League of Nations, so too Putin’s territorial grabs in South Ossetia and eastern Ukraine, culminating in the 2014 seizure of Crimea, were met with empty rhetoric and Swiss-cheese sanctions. And once Biden skedaddled from Afghanistan, leaving behind hundreds of our citizens, thousands of our Afghan allies, and billions in weapons–– at the cost of 13 murdered American soldiers––why wouldn’t Putin try conclusions and restart his ambition to swallow Ukraine whole?

Now we are entangled in an expensive war––at least $115 billion and counting––that currently is stalemated, with no feasible way out through negotiation or even withdrawal, considering the enormous moral hazard that a Russian victory would confront us and our Nato allies. And given Russia’s overwhelming advantage in population, and Putin’s traditional Russian penchant for sacrificing wholesale his own citizens, time is on his side.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/08/30/google-tries-to-silence-a-castro-refugee-as-it-ramps-up-censorship-campaign/

Shortly after we ran a review of the first Republican primary debate, Google’s ad network, called AdSense, blocked its ads from appearing on that page. It said the piece, written by veteran communications specialist Bob Maistros, violated two of Google’s content rules because it contained “dangerous or derogatory content” and “unreliable and harmful claims.”

These are impossibly vague standards, and while Google tells us we must “fix” the article in order for its ads to appear on that page, it provided no indication of what exactly violated either of these rules or what would constitute a fix. You be the judge: “Guv Ron’s Great Republican Comeback.”

It’s as though Google’s thought police read Kafka and concluded that he was writing instruction manuals instead of warnings about mindless bureaucratic authoritarianism.

For the record, here’s how Google defines these two offenses.

Dangerous or derogatory content

We do not allow content that:

incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.
harasses, intimidates, or bullies an individual or group of individuals.
threatens or advocates for harm to oneself or others.
relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.
exploits others through extortion.

Unreliable and harmful claims

We do not allow content that:

makes claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.
promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus.
contradicts authoritative scientific consensus on climate change.

https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=111545&c=JErnst

Thousands of calls to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from veterans seeking mental health services are going unanswered.

Desperate travelers are waiting hours on the phone or in line hoping to speak with someone at the State Department about passport delays that are causing vacation cancelations.

Seniors calling the Social Security Administration are increasingly being greeted with busy messages, waiting longer to speak to a representative, or having their calls go unanswered altogether as the agency shifts towards remote work.

Frustrated Americans are being put on hold while too many federal employees are phoning it in.

A manager of a VA medical center responsible for overseeing the scheduling of veterans’ care appointments actually called into a meeting from a bubble bath—and even posted a selfie on social media with the caption, “my office for the next hour.” Another VA staffer lamented, “It’s almost as if this employee is making a mockery of all the veterans. I can sit here in my tub and relax, and you just have to wait.”

And that is exactly what is happening.

The VA is still providing misleading wait times to hide the problem, but the heartbreaking stories of veterans continuing to go without urgent, medically necessary care—sometimes for months—tell the real story.

Taxpayers are also picking up the cost of maintaining mostly empty buildings in Washington. Seventy-five percent or more of the office space at the headquarters of most federal agencies is not being used, according to a review conducted by the Government Accountability Office.

The vacant offices beg the question: Where are all the federal employees?