Tuesday, 11 May 2021

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Daily Digest

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Hamas Strikes, the Usual Suspects Cheer

Posted: 11 May 2021 05:01 PM PDT

(John Hinderaker)

I don’t think we have yet written about the current conflict in Israel. In the last two days, Hamas has launched, as of the last total I have seen, more than 700 rockets into Israel. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities have come under attack. Several Israelis have been killed, despite that country’s robust civil defense system.

Israel has responded in its usual fashion, with targeted strikes against Hamas leaders and facilities. As always, the IDF’s Twitter feed is a good place to go for information. This tweet shows some of the areas that have come under attack:


One Hamas rocket struck a bus:


A number of Hamas terrorists have been killed; this video shows one such strike:


Palestinians claim that several children have been killed by Israeli air strikes. This is certainly possible, as the terrorists always use human shields and then rush to publicize their deaths to sympathetic global news organizations. It is also possible that these civilian casualties were victims of a Hamas rocket that blew up prematurely or fell short of its target. It will be some time before that becomes clear.

Here in the U.S., the usual suspects are all in for the terrorists. Their view, evidently, is that Israel should allow Hamas to bombard its population with hundreds or thousands of rockets and then stand by impotently. It is hard to imagine a position more contemptible than, say, Ilhan Omar’s:


The right to launch indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli cities, evidently.

Andrew Yang came out if favor of Israel’s right of self-defense and was torched by his fellow Democrats. This one, retweeted by Omar, is stupid on multiple levels:


I believe this is the bus ad in question. We wrote about it here.

As I said at the time:

This is one of the most perverse reversals of common sense ever. Praising the killing of Jews isn't hate speech, that is perfectly fine. But exposing the fact that Hamas advocates killing Jews–that is "hate speech," and "Islamophobic bigotry" which "good people" are obligated to condemn!

In the Democratic Party, such perversity not only lives on, but becomes increasingly dominant.

JFK on the Rocks

Posted: 11 May 2021 12:53 PM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

One trait of the progressive left is that its contempt for the past leads it sooner or later to turn on their own previous heroes. The environmental left has long detested Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal for things like the massive dams on the Columbia River and elsewhere, along with other big infrastructure projects. The so-called “anti-racist” left attacks FDR for perpetuating segregation in housing (with some justice in this case).

And so it is with relish that we note Michael Kazin, a deep-fried leftist historian, turning on John F. Kennedy in the pages of the New York Review of Books. The article is actually a long review of the first part of a new JFK biography by Fredrik Logevall that appears to offer a more objective and critical treatment of JFK than most previous biographies. (The first volume only carries the JFK story up through 1956.)

For those without NYRB access, here are a few of the best bits:

Why, nearly six decades after his murder, do Americans still care so much about and, for the most part, continue to think so highly of John Fitzgerald Kennedy? . . .

Most Americans of any age are probably unaware that Kennedy achieved little of lasting significance during his legendary thousand days in office. Aside from a big tax cut, he signed no major domestic policies into law, and his only enduring diplomatic success was a treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests, which he accurately described as merely "a single step" on "a journey of a thousand miles" toward the goal of stopping the race to Armageddon. . .

[L]ike Dad, Kennedy treated an unending series of other women as disposable receptacles for his lust—a habit that continued for the rest of his life. . .

[T]o Eleanor Roosevelt and other keepers of the New Deal flame, it was clear that this rising star would sacrifice liberal principle for the sake of victory. . .

Knowing white southerners were uneasy about a Catholic from New England, he sought to reassure them, once again, that he was no firebrand about civil rights. On national TV, he dodged a question about whether the Democratic platform should endorse the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling on school desegregation. . .

The president from Camelot may gently descend from the lofty position in popular memory he has occupied for nearly six decades. Aside from a few places like the Kennedy Space Center and that sprawling airport in New York City, his name adorns few institutions of note. He is honored by no holiday, and while admirers and family managed to install a monument to Dwight Eisenhower near the Washington Mall last year, no movement exists to do the same for his successor. During the 2020 campaign, one might have expected Joe Biden to evoke the only other Irish Catholic elected to the White House, but he ran instead as the disciple of the first African-American to get there. Given how the demographic makeup of the Democratic Party has changed over the past six decades, that was a sensible as well as inevitable decision. Perhaps the admiration of Kennedy as the last white liberal icon will give way to a sober evaluation of how the relentless pursuit of global power by politicians like him too often betrayed the promise of their altruistic oratory. "Unhappy the land that needs heroes," wrote Bertolt Brecht in 1939, a sly reference, in his play about Galileo, to the leader of his own nation and a warning to citizens of other lands too. Americans who have been divided, often quite bitterly, since Kennedy lost his life would do well to finally take that wisdom to heart.

Alas, I have run out of popcorn.

The Walt Disney Company: Dismayed by America, inspired by China

Posted: 11 May 2021 09:45 AM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)

Leaked documents show that the Walt Disney Company has asked employees to complete a “white privilege checklist” and to “pivot away from “white dominant culture.” The documents, published by Christopher Rufo, state (falsely) that the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans are “part of a long history of systemic racism and transphobia.” The documents also cover such topics as “white privilege,” “white fragility,” “white saviors,” “microaggressions” and “antiracism.”

The documents suggest that employees reflect on the diversity of their personal and professional networks. Employees should also consider how other dimensions of their identities “give (or do not give) you access and advantage.” Furthermore, workers are encouraged to “work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.”

Employees are discouraged from questioning or debating the lived experiences of their black colleagues or from asking those colleagues to educate them about racism, since such discussions can be “emotionally taxing.” As if wallowing in unwarranted feelings of guilt and shame isn’t.

Disney has passed judgment on America. America has come up short — way short. We’re chronic racists and homophobes. We need to deal with our guilt and shame. If our racism prevents us from feeling guilty and ashamed, then we need to be pressured, and probably coerced, into experiencing these sentiments.

Disney seems like a tough grader. Is there any nation that meets its exacting standards?

Why, yes. China does.

Bob Iger, Chairman and former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, has said he’s "inspired by China’s vision." In remarks at the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) gala in 2011, Iger stated:

We've also worked hard to establish a number of mutually beneficial relationships with many officials throughout China. We're inspired by their vision and we're grateful that they share many of our beliefs, including one about the importance of intellectual property protection.

I've watched China emerge into a global economic force, an inspiring source of great innovation, offering opportunities that we see as virtually unlimited, and the Walt Disney company has certainly been increasing its presence in that vast country.

China is a ruthless dictatorship. It systematically oppresses its Uighur (Muslim) population, more than one million of whom are said to be held in concentration camps.

I very much doubt that any Disney employee has oppressed a minority group member. At worst, a few might have committed a “microaggression,” whatever that means.

Yet, Disney’s chairman is inspired by China and contemptuous of America and his white employees.

Is there a disconnect here? On the surface, yes.

But at a deeper level, maybe it hangs together. For one thing, Disney’s critique of America echoes China’s, as set forth recently in its recent confrontation with our Secretary of State.

More fundamentally, the Red Chinese are masters of reeducating members of the bourgeoisie. During its cultural revolution, China perfected the art of making them feel guilty and ashamed. Now, it is reeducating its Muslims.

In its own way, the Disney Company seems to be following suit.

Loose Ends (132)

Posted: 11 May 2021 09:19 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

• I see Dr. Fauci is saying that perhaps we should make “seasonal mask wearing” a permanent thing. How about No. This idea summons an occasion for Michael Uhlmann’s suggestion that whenever someone like Fauci comes up with some kind of nifty idea to improve the world, you should repeat the idea aloud, slowly, in a German accent, and see if it still sounds as good. Move over “your vaccine papers, please”; here comes “vere is your mask?”

Bonus: there’s actually a German word for people like Fauci: “Weltverschlechterer,” which means “world-worsener.” (Come to think of it, the Biden Administration staffed full of Weltverschlechterers.)

• Anyone notice the complete silence from the Green Nude Eel types about the cyber-hack shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline? These are people who oppose all new pipelines, and would tear down existing ones if they could (take Michigan’s Governor Whitless, for example, who has ordered pipeline shutdowns in Michigan for no good reason), but with parts of the East Coast a couple days away from running out of gasoline and other petroleum products, no doubt the Greenies understand that maybe people might warm up to the idea of having more robust pipeline infrastructure. Imagine if this shutdown occurred in the depth of winter, and curtailed heating oil supplies to the frigid northeast. Gosh, pipelines are just the kind of thing that you might once have found in a Democratic “infrastructure” bill.

• Update to our story from a couple weeks back about Cypress College student Braden Ellis, who stood up to his ignorant woke professor about the police.  The initial news items about the matter omitted identifying the professor in the video. I had said that I thought I might have identified the professor from the surprisingly sparse faculty information available on the Cypress College website, but awaited some better information, which caused a couple of commenters to chide me for holding back.

It turns out that I had in fact incorrectly guessed the likely party. It has been confirmed this week that the professor in the video is Faryha Salim, who appears to be another in the large army of low-paid adjunct instructors that colleges and universities are using on a large scale these days. There is not much information available on Salim’s academic background, but she has apparently been placed “on leave” for the rest of this semester, and won’t be rehired in the fall at Cypress.

There is a larger lesson here: whenever someone of scant academic accomplishment is outed publicly for ridiculous or radical views (think Ward Churchill from more than a decade ago), colleges often cut the person loose out of a proper sense of embarrassment. But we can say with a high degree of confidence that there are a lot of Salims and Ward Churchills throughout higher education, and it tells you something that colleges never weed out such people except when there is a public embarrassment.

Gov. Noem’s pledge

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:42 AM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has signed a candidate pledge to bar "action civics" (mandatory political protests for course credit) and critical race theory (attacks on "whiteness," "Eurocentrism," etc.) from South Dakota schools. The pledge is sponsored by "1776 Action," a new group founded by Adam Waldeck, a former aide to former speaker Newt Gingrich and supported by Gingrich and Ben Carson.

Stanley Kurtz sees the pledge and Noem’s decision to sign it as positive developments in the battle to prevent America’s K-12 students from being indoctrinated in left-wing dogma. Clearly, it is.

Stanley argues, however, that Noem has her work cut out for her if she’s to make good on the pledge. “Even in a deep-dyed red state such as South Dakota, the threats that Noem has just pledged to battle have made shocking progress,” he warns.

What does Noem need to do to fulfill her pledge to block action civics and CRT in South Dakota? First, says Stanley

Noem needs to support legislation that would bar both action civics and CRT from South Dakota's public K–12 schools. The model legislation I've published with the National Association of Scholars would do that, and Texas may soon pass a bill based on that model. Although South Dakota's 2021 legislative session has ended, Governor Noem could conceivably call a special session to pass such a bill. There is a very good reason why such speedy action may be necessary.

If the disastrous Civics Secures Democracy Act should pass in Congress before South Dakota's next legislative session convenes, it may be too late to stop both CRT and action civics from taking over the state. Leftist bureaucrats in South Dakota's Department of Education will apply for the massive state grants funded by that proposed law. Once that happens, although Noem could pull the applications back, she would be under tremendous political pressure not to do so. At stake will be big federal grants for a small state with limited resources. That's why it's better to block action civics and CRT now, by state law.

Otherwise, President Biden's outrageous new rule governing priority for history and civics grants — turbo-charged by a $6 billion federal appropriation and combined with priority criteria in the law itself — will effectively force action civics, CRT, and the 1619 Project even on red states such as South Dakota.

(Emphasis added)

Accordingly:

Unless the legislature comes back for a special session this year to address the issue, Governor Noem should prevent federal interference by ordering her Department of Education now to refrain from applying for any federal grants in history or civics until after the 2022 South Dakota legislative session.

There’s more that needs to be done. Stanley points out that South Dakota is already well along the road to crafting new statewide K–12 Social Studies standards — appalling ones. “The current draft of South Dakota Social Studies standards are filled with exercises in leftist action civics, precisely what Governor Noem has pledged to block,” he says.

(Is it surprising that in a state as red as South Dakota, the education bureaucracy is filled with leftists? Only if you haven’t been paying attention.)

To make good on her pledge, therefore, Noem needs to sink the new, leftist South Dakota Social Studies draft standards, filled as they are with action civics and lessons tied to those exercises, and start over. Then, says Stanley, she “needs to turn to respected education experts outside the club of leftists who dominate South Dakota's Department of Education to craft new standards.”

It’s sobering to think about how much hard work lies ahead if Gov. Noem is to follow through on her pledge. However, the governor should be commended for taking an important first step.
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