Educating for Freedom
Posted By: Moritz55, 2/16/2023 5:45:19 PM
How do we educate our students for freedom? After all, many of them arrive in college today believing that the United States is systematically oppressive, hopelessly unjust, and that there is not much worth celebrating or defending about our country (or so they have been taught). So I often start my class by asking them a simple question: “Out of the world’s twenty largest countries, in which country would you rather live?” I pick the world’s twenty largest countries because size matters. The larger a society’s size, the more complex will be its social, economic, and political problems. There is also the difficulty of maintaining freedom and representative government in the midst
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Moritz55"
Now that everyone acknowledges that Hunter Biden’s laptop is authentic, just as it was when first reported by the New York Post in October 2020, some pretty aggressive rewriting of history is going on.
Republicans now control the House of Representatives and have made it plain that they’ll examine the saga of the laptop, the contents of which connect Hunter’s father, now-President Biden, to his family’s lucrative business of selling access to him. Because of this new congressional scrutiny, some who conspired to falsely cast the laptop story as “Russian disinformation” are scrambling to alter the record.
Educating for Freedom
2 replies
How do we educate our students for freedom?
After all, many of them arrive in college today believing that the United States is systematically oppressive, hopelessly unjust, and that there is not much worth celebrating or defending about our country (or so they have been taught).
So I often start my class by asking them a simple question: “Out of the world’s twenty largest countries, in which country would you rather live?”
I pick the world’s twenty largest countries because size matters. The larger a society’s size, the more complex will be its social, economic, and political problems. There is also the difficulty of maintaining freedom and representative government in the midst
Destroying Meritocracy Is Deadly
8 replies
A recent epidemic of airline near misses deserves both attention and reflection.
In mid-December, a San Francisco-bound United Airlines Boeing 777-200 airliner, just a little over a minute after taking off from Maui, Hawaii, suddenly dived. It lost more than half its altitude and came within 800 feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean before pulling up.
About a month later, an American Airlines jet crossed the runway at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport just as a Delta Air Lines plane was accelerating for takeoff. The two aircraft nearly collided.
Racism in the Name of “Anti-Racism”
12 replies
The University of Central Florida has adopted radical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming that segregates students by race, condemns the United States as “white-supremacist culture,” and encourages active discrimination against the “oppressor” class, characterized as “male, White, heterosexual, able-bodied, and Christian.”
Officially, UCF reports that it has 14 separate DEI programs, costing in the aggregate more than $4 million per year. But this dramatically understates the reality, which is that the ideology of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has been entrenched everywhere.
It looks as though Prince Harry and Meghan are in the crosshairs of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone judging by a teaser clip for this week's episode of the long-running Comedy Central show.
According to the description for episode two of season 26, titled The Worldwide Privacy Tour, 'The prince of Canada and his wife try to find privacy and seclusion in a small mountain town.' In the teaser clip, Kyle can be seen telling his friends: 'It seriously is driving me crazy. I'm sick of hearing about them but I can't get away from them! They're everywhere. In my
Forget “America First” for a moment. Put MAGA aside. Any effort to restore American greatness without putting the children first will fail.
If there was any doubt that kids suffer when their own needs are subjugated to the fears and desires of adults, the Covid experience should have cast it out. For years, children en masse were put on the bottom of the priority list. Children are falling behind in education and key developmental milestones, mood disorders and loneliness are up, and suicide ideation has risen dramatically (including during the Covid era). Families are more broken and dysfunctional than in previous decades, and nearly 400,000 children are in foster care.
CNN, ABC, MSNBC and more flipped out over former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley's 2024 announcement as they claimed that the former South Carolina governor was just a "token" presidential candidate who had "lost her mind." Wajahat Ali, a columnist for the Daily Beast, launched a racially-charged attack against Haley on Twitter. "In the 2023 Racial Draft, I, on behalf of all self-respecting South Asians, hereby announce we are cutting Nikki Nimrata Haley from our team. We advise you not to pick her up off waivers. Oops! Too late. GOP scoops up another token. Well, we warned you. Good luck!" he wrote.
On Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre claimed President Biden is the "the best communicator" in the White House," sparking laughter across Twitter. After being questioned by a reporter about whether Biden is viewed by his team as "equally adept in all settings in terms of communications," Jean-Pierre insisted that the president's communication skills are the best in his administration.
Many on Twitter balked at Jean-Pierre's statement. Biden has a long history of being lampooned for his word flubs and sometimes incomprehensible speech at public events.
The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling
11 replies
J.K. Rowling is arguably the most successful author in the history of publishing, with the possible exception of God. And “Harry Potter” was a kind of bible for my generation. Since its publication beginning in the late ’90s, the series has taught tens of millions of children about virtues like loyalty, courage, and love—about the inclusion of outsiders and the celebration of difference. The books illustrated the idea of moral complexity, how a person who may at first appear sinister can turn out to be a hero after all.
The author herself became part of the legend, too. A broke, abused, and depressed single mother—writing in longhand at cafes
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday she expected all NATO member-states to sign-off Finland and Sweden's joint membership bid, which has thus far been slow and complicated.
Baerbock called on NATO members Turkey and Hungary to pave the way for the Nordic countries' membership "without delay." Speaking from Helsinki on Monday during a joint press conference with her Finnish counterpart, Baerbock said the accession of Finland and Sweden would strengthen the NATO alliance as a whole. "To make it clear once more, Finland and Sweden fulfill the criteria we have agreed upon together as NATO members in Madrid," Baerbock said,
Kamala Harris is a living embodiment of the Peter Principle, where people keep getting promoted until they reach jobs for which they are clearly unqualified. More and more Americans think that describes our current vice president.
Harris is deeply unpopular with independents, who are essential for electoral success (fewer than one in three voters view her favorably), and she is losing popularity among Democratic Party leaders. They see her ineptitude, listen to her word salads, and watch the polls with dismay. The latest evidence of Harris’ fading position is a sharply critical article in the New York Times, of all places, filled with anonymous disapproval from senior Democrats
The People's Republic of China lobbied criticisms at the United States on Monday over the nation's recent actions to protect its airspace. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin spoke to reporters Monday about the multiple aircraft shot down over the U.S. since the destruction of an unmanned Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month. "We have made it clear time and again that the entry of the Chinese civilian unmanned airship into U.S. airspace was a purely unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure," said Wang. However, Wang could not provide any information on whether any of the recently downed aircraft belonged to China
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A woman accidentally ran over a man suspected of trying to steal her truck's catalytic converter in the Los Angeles suburb of Palmdale Tuesday evening, CBS Los Angeles reports. The suspect later died.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrived at a retail parking lot at 5:56 p.m. Tuesday.
A "lifted" 4x4 Ford Excursion truck was partially backed out of a parking space, deputies said. An unidentified man was underneath the vehicle.
Two years ago today, Feb. 17, Rush Limbaugh passed away. It is undeniable that he left a gaping hole that no one else can fill; he invented a new kind of conservative media, and he certainly did it best. Rush Limbaugh had a genius for talk radio, and part of that genius was that many people who never even met him felt that when he died, they lost a friend. But I think the best way to remember Limbaugh is by letting him speak for himself, so I want to share a few of the most memorable quotes from the “Mayor of Realville,”
On February 9, New Jersey Italian restaurant Nettie’s House of Spaghetti, despite having a name that makes it sound like a children’s restaurant, issued a statement across its social media accounts that beginning in early March, they would no longer allow children under 10 to dine at the restaurant.
The announcement made headlines and points to the perennial debate over whether banning kids under a certain age from eating at restaurants is reasonable. This debate is, of course, not new. There will always be a steady stream of new children coming to restaurants with their parents, and some of those children will act in accordance with their developmental tendencies.
Joe Rogan Rips Buttigieg For Fretting
Over Too Many White People Working At
Construction Sites 33 replies
Over Too Many White People Working At
Construction Sites 33 replies
Podcast host Joe Rogan blasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his remarks about the race of construction workers in lower income communities.
Buttigieg said too many construction crews have workers who “don’t look like” the communities they work in at a Monday panel at the National Association of Counties Conference. Rogan said the secretary displayed a lack of awareness on the effective work of construction workers during a discussion about the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
“Do you know that he gave a speech the other day about how there’s too many white people working in construction sites, where these construction sites are set up in these communities,
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday aimed at rooting out systemic racism from the federal government and doing more to achieve racial equity.
The order, made in the middle of Black History month, extends an order Biden made on his first day in office requiring federal agencies to investigate inequities within their departments and to proactively address shortcomings. That is now an annual requirement.
The aim is to deliver “equitable outcomes” for all Americans, including underserved communities, through government policies, programs, and services.
Rupert Murdoch and Fox News hosts expressed disbelief in former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims, according to evidence released from Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp
and its cable-TV networks.
In court papers filed Thursday, text messages and testimony from depositions show that Fox executives and TV personalities were skeptical about claims that the election between the victorious Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, was rigged. The release follows months of discovery and depositions that have remained private until Thursday, when the companies filed court papers before a Delaware judge laying out each of their cases and unveiling recently gathered evidence.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the Georgia investigation of former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will likely result in indictments.
Schiff said, “Well, I give a lot of credit to the Fulton County DA. I think she’s been really courageous and has moved with swiftness to conduct this investigation.”
He continued, “When a prosecutor talks about charging decisions, I tend to infer from that suggests someone will be charged. Often when there is a decision not to prosecute, there really isn’t a public statement.
I can’t even with this guy. (Tweet) Not that guy. Biden doesn’t even know who that is – he’s never met him except in fever dreams.
Nah, I’m talking about the one we’re actually saddled with now.
You have to hear it for yourself. (Tweet/Video) Mother. Of. God.
The president (my teeth automatically grind when I type that) Biden was hosting a screening of the movie “Till“ and stepped in it as only he can.
President Joe Biden on Thursday hosted a screening of the movie “ Till,” a wrenching, new drama about the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, who was brutally killed after a white woman
Canadian Parliamentary Committee Recommends
Euthanasia for Minors without Parental Consent 20 replies
Euthanasia for Minors without Parental Consent 20 replies
Euthanasia advocates tend to advance their cause by requesting that panels of “experts” or lawmakers conduct oh, so careful studies to recommend policies that, invariably, would legalize assisted suicide or expand it where already allowed. These are stacked decks; activities choreographed to reach a particular conclusion.
Such a bit of theater was just performed in Canada, where a report was just published by the Canadian Parliament’s Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD). Surprise! It calls for even further expansion of the already permissive law that allows terminally ill and chronically ill adults, people with disabilities, and the frail elderly to opt to be killed by doctors or
The White House heavily controlled which reporters had access to President Joe Biden’s remarks on “aerial objects” Thursday, telling the media to “comply,” and asking reporters — including the Daily Caller’s correspondent — to leave the room.
Biden’s remarks were scheduled for 2:00 p.m., and reporters were notified less than an hour before that they would need a “pre-credentialed” pass to attend the press conference. Biden’s team walked the press over to the South Court Auditorium, where the remarks were to be delivered, at approximately 1:50 p.m.
When reporters entered the auditorium, White House staff approached every correspondent and pressed each of them to show an email containing a “pre-credential,”
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley officially launched her bid for president this week, but if she really wants to resonate with conservative voters and win the Republican nomination, Haley needs to atone for her long list of foreign policy failures. Haley says she’s tired of the Washington establishment failing U.S. voters and she’s ready to “rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure the border, and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose.” Her history of pursuing an interventionist agenda, however, will not be easily forgotten. CORRECTION*
Worthless Transportation Secretary “Pothole” Pete Buttigieg is nothing if he is not the most elusive, grossly incompetent, cartoonish, inert figure in the Biden administration. WHEN and IF he moves to address an issue, he does so at the speed of tar pitch on a slight incline. He held true to form when the unfortunate residents of East Palestine, Ohio were treated to the big badda boom no one should ever have to worry about.