BLACK REPUBLICAN BLOG - The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and the four F’s: faith, family, freedom and fairness. The Democratic Party is the party of the four S’s: slavery, secession, segregation and socialism (Quote By Author Michael Scheuer).
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Biden's Build Back Better plan builds back bureaucracy
By William Haupt III | The Center Square contributor
President Joe Biden - AP Photo/Matt Slocum
"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary
is legalized robbery." – Calvin Coolidge, 1925
Political historians agree, the Republican Convention of
1924 in Cleveland is considered the most dull and uninteresting presidential
convention in history. Delegates didn't even attend many of the sessions. The
most popular drink was a "keep-cool-Coolidge" fruit juice highball.
Will Rogers said, "There was more entertainment at local church bingo
games than there was at this convention."
This is a reminder that politics is not about drama but
principle. It is not about charisma, it's all about character. No presidential
convention since 1924 has yielded such a principled candidate as Calvin
Coolidge. He promised to cut the deficit, taxes and welfare dependence. Calvin
Coolidge's pledge resonated with concerned voters and he defeated southern
Democrat John Davis by a landslide.
Nicknamed “Silent Cal” for his quiet and steadfast
nature, he succeeded Warren Harding, who died in office. He cleaned up the
rampant corruption in Washington and was a model of stability, respect and
cohesion for the American people. He was pro-business, against big government
and abusive taxes. Coolidge’s honesty and integrity helped restore American
confidence in central government.
Coolidge's strong belief in capitalism and small
government brought America its strongest growth in decades. He avoided foreign
conflicts, slashed taxes, federal spending and increased import tariffs. Americans
enjoyed their highest standard of living in history. Coolidge was one of the
most popular presidents ever elected. Coolidge told us, “The chief business of
the American people is business.”
The quiet, respectable Coolidge was a comforting symbol of
virtue and honesty for America. At the end of his term, Coolidge chose not to
run again, claiming he had done his duty for America. He was responsible for
the prosperity of the roaring 20s and America's unique cultural and social
evolution.
When Democrats recently proposed the largest tax increase
in almost a century, members of the GOP hastily began seeking a wizard who
could resurrect the spirit of Calvin Coolidge for advice!
The goal of the progressive's tax proposal is to put more
economic resources under the control of progressive bureaucrats, and limit
private sector economic independence. It weighs in at over 880 pages! It is
obvious why the left keeps the details of Biden's ambiguous “Build Back Better
Act” hidden from U.S. taxpayers.
"Once we pass the bill and you read it you will like
it." – Nancy Pelosi
When government spends money, it spends the taxpayer's
money. They actually believe that they have an endless reserve of capital to
spend. With more than $2 trillion in tax increases, Biden's tax-and-spend
misadventure will eclipse Obamacare’s $500 billion in tax hikes that punished
America.
Biden's tax increases will fund costly, controversial
liberal programs targeting identity and special interests that take over huge
segments of the economy. It expands dependence on government and control over
Americans and it reduces the socioeconomic benefits of free market capitalism.
Although Biden continues to claim his tax package will
not increase taxes on people earning less than $400,000 per year, official
scorekeepers at the Joint Committee on Taxation detailed that the "Build
Back Better Act" will inherently raise taxes on middle income Americans.
Under Biden's tax plan, taxes will go up for families making $50,000 or more
per year, contrary to what Biden claimed in the past.
"My tax increases will not affect anyone making
under $400,000 a year." – Joe Biden
Biden's tax hike will increase the individual top tax
rate to 46.4%. It will add a substantial marriage penalty. These higher taxes
that apply to individuals earning $400,000 will hit married couples at
$450,000. The bill will add a new 3% surtax for all taxpayers earning more than
$5 million a year.
Currently, most small businesses are not subject to the
corporate income tax. They are taxed under the individual income tax. These are
referred to as "pass-through businesses." These include sole
proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies and S-corporations.
Biden will end that.
By increasing the top marginal income-tax rates, Biden's
tax bill will substantially increase taxes on small businesses that file as
"pass-throughs." They currently pay their taxes through the
individual income-tax system. This will also limit the Section 199A deduction
for small business pass-through prototypes and impose the "Obamacare Net
Investment Income Tax penalty" on them as well.
Biden's bill will increase the top capital gains tax from
20% to 25%. This is another layer of taxation on business. This higher capital
gains tax and other tax increases will expand the tax code’s unfair double
taxation on investments and savings. This will diminish business output and cut
production.
The U.S. tax rate will be higher than communist China's
25%. These taxes will be paid by every American. Industry covers tax increases
with reduced wages, increased prices and diminished investment in expanding
operations and employment. Businesses don't pay taxes, consumers do.
"Those that depend on government for support forget
they are the government." – Calvin Coolidge
This bill was designed by progressives to double tax the
cost of doing business in America. It isn’t just a liberal tax-and-spend bill.
By increasing the cost of doing business and building the economy though the
private sector, this empowers progressive central planners to run the economy
for us.
Calvin Coolidge told us, "Civilization and profit go
hand in hand." Calvin Coolidge ran America like it was a business. He cut
the size of government, lowered taxes and reduced business regulations. His
modest, hands off approach to governing grew the economy 8% from 1924 to 1929.
The Dow averaged 26% growth in five years. All Americans benefited from
Coolidge's limited government.
Biden's "Build Back Better Act" creates $2.1
trillion in new taxes for every American and business. The Tax Foundation
determined it would reduce U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 1% and result
in 165,000 fewer jobs within 18 months. It will reduce America's standard of
living. The left's all inclusive tax penalties will give progressives more
money to spend than the total wages earned by every U.S. worker.
"Politicians think that all public money is theirs
to spend." – Calvin Coolidge
Any tax system that penalizes production and investment
in our nation's future is un-American and anti-republican. Biden's tax hikes
have nothing to do with people paying their fair share. This slaps American
enterprise in the face. It destroys the ability of market capitalism to manage
the economy through the private sector. This bill confiscates capital so
government can "redistribute wealth and misery." Biden's "Build
Back Better Act" is bad for America.
"The chief meaning of freedom is when the American
people work less for the government and more for themselves." – Calvin
Coolidge
Friday, October 29, 2021
Condoleezza Rice Speaks Her Mind About Critical Race Theory on ‘The View’ — And the Audience is on Her Side
By BCN Senior Editor | The Black Community News
Rice grew up under Jim Crow, but her parents taught her
that despite growing up in a world of prejudice, she could still succeed.
That’s what we should be teaching our kids. Rice said one of the worries she
has when talking about race is that white people have to feel guilty for the
past, or that black people have to feel disempowered. She doesn’t agree with
this.
Listen to what Rice says about what she wants for black
children. It’s inspiring, and it’s clear the audience was on her side.
https://blackcommunitynews.com/condoleezza-rice-the-view-crt/
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Watch: Thousands of Anti-Biden NYC Employees Shut Down Brooklyn Bridge with Protest
By Grant Atkinson | The Western Journal
Thousands
of New York City municipal workers marched across Brooklyn Bridge during a
Monday protest against the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. (Ed Jones - AFP /
Getty Images)
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced all
city employees who want to keep their jobs must get their first COVID-19
vaccine dose by the end of the week. Thousands of the city’s employees did not
take too kindly to that news, and they made their displeasure known Monday.
Approximately 5,000 protesters marched across the
historic Brooklyn Bridge to protest the vaccine mandate, the New York Post reported. Many of them were unvaccinated NYC employees, including police officers
and firefighters.
“Now, [after] working after countless of emergencies —
Hurricane Sandy, the snowstorms … I am under threat,” FDNY firefighter Sofia
Medina said. “We are under threat of losing our livelihood for simply retaining
the choice of protecting our bodies.”
“Why now are we being bribed and coerced to take a medication.
… We are not now nor have ever been a public health threat.”
Protesters carried signs that read, “Recognize Natural
Immunity,” “Do Not Comply” and countless other sayings. Many of the protesters
chanted, “Hold the Line!” as they marched.
In a tweet at 11:49 a.m. eastern, the NYPD 84th Precinct said they had shut down vehicle
traffic into Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge because of the protest.
Nearly 3 hours later, they announced via tweet that all
lanes had been re-opened.
While shutting down traffic may or may not be the best
way to make your voice heard, these employees certainly had a valid point.
Governments at the city, state and federal levels have no right to mandate
vaccines for their constituents.
Vaccines should be a personal choice, not one that is
forced. To make matters worse, many of the people losing their jobs over this
mandate are public servants who put their lives on the line to protect others.
One protester named Paul Schweit, who was proudly wearing
a FDNY shirt, pointed out the hypocrisy of de Blasio’s rhetoric, the Post
reported.
“Mayor de Blasio wants to paint us as immoral, unsafe,
and a danger to the public,” Schweit said. “To the citizens of the city, we
want to continue protecting you.”
Monday’s protest follows a smaller one on Sunday, when protesters made their way to
the Barclays Center. They were speaking out against the vaccine mandate barring
star Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving from playing because of his
vaccination status.
The Post said any municipal employee who does not get
their first dose by 5 p.m. this Friday will be put on unpaid leave. If the
number of protesters is any indication, New York City could lose a large chunk
of employees under that plan.
In a city where crime is already rampant, the last thing
citizens need is for the mayor to reduce the presence of first responders. If
de Blasio really wanted to protect his citizens, he would realize that simple
fact.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Lawmakers demand answers from Fauci on allegedly experimenting on puppies
By Elizabeth Faddis| The Washington Examiner
Dr. Anthony Fauci is facing a
demand from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to divulge information
regarding the alleged use of an experimental drug on puppies.
Democratic and Republican
lawmakers sent a letter Friday to President Joe
Biden and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
requesting that they share information regarding the alleged infection of 44
beagle puppies with parasites in order to test an experimental drug on them,
the Hill reported.
"We write with grave concerns
about reports of costly, cruel, and unnecessary tax-payer funded experiments on
dogs commissioned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases," said the letter, signed by Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace
and 23 other lawmakers.
The letter continues on to
state that according to invoices obtained through a Freedom of Information Act filing,
cordectomies were performed on six- to eight-month-old dogs.
"As you are likely aware,
a cordectomy, also known as 'devocalization,' involves splitting a dog's vocal
cords in order to prevent them from barking, howling, or crying," the
letter points out, explaining that this type of procedure is opposed by
organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the
American Animal Hospital Association.
The letter comes following
several accusations from the White Coat Waste Project that
Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases allegedly
used taxpayer money to fund a "wasteful and brutal" experiment on the
beagles via laboratories in Africa, California, Georgia, and Maryland.
Mace and Democratic
Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle introduced the Animal Freedom from Testing,
Experiments and Research (AFTER) Act on Sept. 14, which directs federal
agencies "to develop and maintain" policies geared toward allowing
animals no longer needed for research to be adopted or retired, according to
a press release from Boyle's office.
The letter continues on to
request answers on how many drug tests have been performed on dogs since the
beginning of 2018, the exact amount of taxpayer money being spent on these
experiments, and the reasoning behind using procedures such as cordectomies,
especially given that they are "medically unnecessary," among other
questions.
The Washington Examiner
reached out to Rep. Nancy Mace's office and the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
https://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-demand-answers-fauci-allegedly-161600239.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
National School Boards Association Apologizes to Members for Letter Asking Feds to Investigate Angry Parents at Local School Board Meetings
By BCN Senior Editor | The Black Community News
The National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) letter to
President Joe Biden requesting that the federal government investigate parents
has caused enough backlash to prompt the organization’s board of directors to
issue an apology to members.
NSBA president Viola M. Garcia and Interim Executive
Director and CEO Chip Slaven asked President Biden in September to bring the
power of the federal government down on irate parents who speak and protest at
school board meetings about “transgender” policies and exposing their children
to “critical race theory” indoctrination. Parents are also concerned about
whether it’s necessary for their children to wear masks all day.
The letter was criticized far and wide for suggesting that the federal government cite the Patriot Act to investigate parents for “domestic terrorism.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in response (PDF)
that he would direct federal law enforcement officials to discuss strategies
for dealing with a “disturbing spike” in “threats of violence.”
The Free Beacon reported that
the White House knew about the letter before Garcia and Slaven sent it and
suggested that the White House might have collaborated with them.
The board wrote in its letter of
apology to members that while safety for all concerned is a priority, “there
was no justification for some of the language included in the letter,” and
apologized for the “strain and stress.”
The letter mentions parents in the third paragraph.
“As we’ve reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply
value not only the work of local school boards that make important
contributions within our communities, but also parents, who should and must
continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s health,
education, and safety.”
The board said it would conduct a “formal review” of its
processes and procedures and announce “specific improvements” to ensure that
staff, the board, and members would be consulted.
The NSBA did not apologize to parents.
Parents Defending Education asked 47
state school board associations to comment on the NSBA’s letter. Questions
include whether they agree with the assertions, how they define “intimidation,”
harassment,” and “threat,” and whether they plan to report parents to the U.S.
Department of Justice. So far, 21 states distanced themselves from the NSBA’s
letter.
Some states said they were are not consulted about it.
Indiana said the federal response was overreach. Idaho wrote that had the NSBA
asked its opinion before sending the letter, “we would have readily pointed out
the mischaracterization of parents and patrons in our communities as domestic
terrorists who merited federal investigation. We want parents and patrons
engaged in our public schools – we have sought that for years.”
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week,
lawmakers asked Attorney General Garland about the memo. He said the memo
didn’t mention domestic terrorism or the Patriot Act — although the NBSA’s
letter did.
“Like you, I can’t imagine any circumstance in which the
Patriot Act would be used in the circumstances of parents complaining about
their children nor can I imagine a circumstance where they would be labeled as
domestic terrorists,” he told the
committee.
Monday, October 25, 2021
Twitter Suspends GOP Congressman for Saying Rachel Levine Is a Man
BY MATT MARGOLIS | PJ MEDIA
Photo by: Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP
The official Twitter account of Congressman Jim Banks
(R-Ind.) was suspended for tweeting, “The title of first female four-star
officer gets taken by a man” in reference to Rachel Levine, Biden’s assistant
secretary for Health & Human Services (HHS), being sworn in as a four-star
admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps earlier this week.
When Biden promoted Levine, the administration called him the “first-ever female four-star
admiral,” effectively robbing a real woman from ever holding that title.
“My tweet was a statement of fact. Big Tech doesn’t have
to agree with me, but they shouldn’t cancel me,” Banks said in a
statement posted
to Instagram. “If they silence me, they will silence you. We can’t
allow Big Tech to prevent us from telling the truth.”
Twitter similarly suspended me earlier this week for pointing out the same
biological fact as Congressman Banks.
Banks, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee
(RSC), also called on Republicans to “restore honesty to our public forums and
hold Big Tech accountable” if they win back control of Congress next year.
For the time being, Banks is posting to his personal
Twitter account.
“Twitter has suspended my official account for posting a
statement of FACT. I won’t back down.”
Twitter similarly flagged a tweet by Rep. Marjorie Taylor
Greene for violating their hateful conduct policy, which “determined that it may
be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
“A dude who lived the first 50 years of his life as a man
isn’t the first female anything. China is laughing at us,” Greene tweeted.
Indeed they are.
Sunday, October 24, 2021
The Farce of American Despotism
By Roger Kimball |
American Greatness
The
Soviets had the gulag, we have “cancel culture” in our universities and a brittle
obsession with race and weirdo sexuality everywhere.
Reflecting on Joe Biden’s disastrous “town
hall” with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, The Spectator’s Dominic
Green asks a question that has to weigh heavily on the mind of every
American adult: “Is it more worrisome that Joe Biden might not be in charge,
or that he actually is in charge?” I have long argued that allowing Biden to
appear in public is a form of elder abuse, and I have speculated that he
really is not in control of his actions but is manipulated, puppet-like, by
a shadowy cadre of unnamed string-pullers I have called “The Committee.”
I do not have any proof that such is the case. I infer
the existence and machinations of The Committee from Biden’s ostentatious
incompetence and apparent senility. Has any president in the history of the
Republic overseen such a destructive litany of failures so early in his
tenure? Observers around the world caught their breath in August as our
botched exit from Afghanistan went from appalling to something much worse and
more deadly. What will be its defining image? The desperate Afghans clinging to
and then falling from the landing gear of a transport plane as it took off from
the Kabul airport? Or will it be the images of the slaughter perpetrated by a
suicide (that is, a homicide) bomber outside the airport, an incident that
killed some 170 people include more than a dozen U.S. military personnel?
Or maybe it will be the image of the drone strike
launched in retaliation for that slaughter, a strike that was supposed to have
targeted an ISIS-K operative but in fact killed zero terrorists and instead
blew to bits 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children. The United
States initially said they had obliterated an ISIS-K operative along with the
collateral damage, but eventually they had to admit that, nope, they got no bad
guys, just 10 innocent Afghans.
General Mark “White Rage” Milley, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, initially called the attack a “righteous
strike,” but then walked that back to describe it as a “heart-wrenching”
“horrible tragedy of war.” Meanwhile, Joe Biden himself called the
evacuation from Afghanistan an “extraordinary
success.”
I wonder what the hundreds of Americans
stranded in Afghanistan think about that? The administration
initially said that everyone who wanted to get out could get out, then it
acknowledged that a handful of Americans were left behind, then “about a
hundred.” That number has just been adjusted up to more than 400. I
wonder, too, what the families of those murdered by the Taliban, and then
hanged from construction cranes as “examples” to the populace, think of that
judgment? Something similar, I suspect, to what the husband and children of
Negar Masoomi, the pregnant policewoman who allegedly was murdered
in front of them by Taliban agents in September, think.
But whether Joe is calling the shots or is merely the
Howdy Doody mannequin manipulated by others, it is clear for all to see that
the United States, as Green puts it, is “heading nowhere good.” And the volume
keeps getting turned up on the awfulness.
Everyone has minuted the disaster at our southern border,
where thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens are pouring into the country,
only to be packed off and resettled in a town near you. It was horrible a
couple of months ago. Now it is a screaming catastrophe, as another
huge caravan of migrants is wending its way through Mexico towards
America. Just so, inflation had spiked over the summer, but now it is out
of control, the worst in decades, a situation compounded by a crippled supply
chain as hundreds of cargo ships loiter off the coasts of California and New
York, unable to make port or be unloaded.
Meanwhile Pete Buttigieg,
Biden’s transportation secretary is off on paternity leave with his hubby
and their adopted child. Santa is predicted to be leaving the North Pole a
little light this holiday season, since many of the gifts people ordered will
be delayed. And it’s a good thing his sleigh is powered by reindeer, since gas
is going to be awfully dear by Christmas. At some spots in California, it is
already north of $8 a gallon.
Last week, the world, including our so-called
“intelligence” services was surprised the the news that the Chinese had
recently tested
a nuclear capable hypersonic rocket. The news of that broke right around
the time that the State Department issued a tweet proudly
announcing “International Pronouns Day.” “Today on
International Pronouns Day,” it
read, “we share why many people list pronouns on their email and social
media profiles.”
Noting that until recently, the United States set “the
global standard in political imagery,” Green argues that that day has passed.
“The US no longer defines that global standard,” he writes.
The Chinese are the masters of political
performance these days, whether it’s allegorical nationalist ballets at
sporting events or the other nationalist ballet, the synchronized ovation in
the Great Hall of the People. Yet our politicians feel they have to keep up
with the old American standard. The result, as it was for the Soviets, is
farce. We are now beating ourselves at our own game.
Indeed. And one result of that farce is that the mummers’
play of political correctness increasingly substitutes for serious politics,
even as the ideology of wokeness replaces genuine enlightenment. “Twenty-first
century America,” Green rightly comments, “is a shadow of its former self, so
its politics have become a shadow play of propaganda.”
Marx famously adapted Hegel’s observations about history
repeating itself, noting Hegel forgot to add that it does so first as tragedy,
then as farce. That is the mode of American despotism at the moment. The
Soviets had the gulag, we have “cancel culture” in our universities and a
brittle obsession with race and weirdo sexuality everywhere. Are we
supposed to be proud or alarmed that Rachel Levine, (né Richard) is
the first “transgender” Assistant Secretary of Health and four-star admiral?
Tocqueville saw the essentials of our peculiar servitude in his brilliant
analysis of “democratic despotism.” Naturally, though, he missed some of the more
farcical aspects for who, in 1830, could have predicted “International Pronouns
Day” or phenomena like Rachel Levine?
Montesquieu put his finger on our situation when,
in Considerations of the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and
Their Decline, he noted that “in a free state in which sovereignty has just
been usurped, whatever can establish the unlimited authority of one man is
called good order, and whatever can maintain the honest liberty of the subjects
is called commotion, dissension, or bad government.” Montesquieu was talking
about the moment when the Roman republic gave way to the autocracy of
Augustus. Mutatis mutandis, what he says applies equally to our
situation in which sovereignty has been usurped and concentrated in the hand of
a tiny oligarchy that mouths clichés about “our democracy” the better to
subvert it.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/10/23/the-farce-of-american-despotism/
Saturday, October 23, 2021
High Stakes in Virginia
By Thomas Sowell | Townhall.com
One of the reasons is that many Virginia
parents are outraged by the "woke" propaganda their children are
being subjected to in the public schools -- and the governor has sided with the
education bureaucrats and the teachers union.
This is one battle in a much bigger war, and the stakes
are far higher than the governorship of Virginia or the Democrats and
Republicans. The stakes are the future of this nation.
When school propaganda teaches black kids to
hate white people, that is a danger to all Americans of every race.
Anyone at all familiar with the history of group-identity politics in other
countries knows that it has often ended up producing sickening atrocities
that have torn whole societies apart.
If you have a strong stomach, read about the 1915
atrocities against the Armenians in Turkey, "ethnic cleansing" in the
Balkans, or the reciprocal atrocities between the Sinhalese and Tamils during
their civil war in Sri Lanka.
Do not kid yourself that this cannot happen in America. The
relations between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka were once held up to
the world as a model of intergroup harmony.
They got along better than blacks and whites have ever
gotten along in the U.S. But then a talented demagogue polarized the country
with group-identity politics, to get himself elected prime minister.
Once he was elected, he was ready to moderate his
position. But you cannot just turn group hatred on and off, like a light
bulb. He was assassinated and the hatred continued on.
There is a point of no return in America as well. And
we may be nearing it, or perhaps past it.
Low-income minority students, especially, cannot afford
the luxury of having their time wasted on ideological propaganda in the
schools, when they are not getting a decent education in mathematics or the
English language.
When they graduate, and go on to higher education that
could prepare them for professional careers, hating white people is not
likely to do them nearly as much good as knowing math and English.
This may be a new issue to some people, but such
irresponsible indoctrination has been going on for decades. Back in 1993, my
book "Inside American Education" had a long chapter titled
"Classroom Brainwashing."
Anyone who reads the school propagandists' own words
quoted there can find that a sickening experience as well.
Parents who protest the arrogant abuse of a captive
audience of children are performing an important public service. They deserve
something better than having the Biden administration's Attorney General
threatening them.
But this whole issue is far older and far
bigger than the Biden administration. It will be a cancerous
threat to this country, long after the current administration is over.
Poisonous indoctrination will not stop unless
it gets stopped. But most parents and voters have lives to
lead, and cannot keep monitoring everything the schools do.
Most low-income parents lack the one thing that would get
them taken seriously by the education establishment -- an ability to take
their children to other schools.
Parents and voters in New York state can go on the
Internet and see the State Education Department's data on how many students in
traditional public schools and in charter schools pass the math and English
tests. People in other states may have something similar.
In low-income minority neighborhoods, most of the
students in unionized public schools fail both these statewide tests. But
most students in charter schools in the same neighborhoods pass those same
tests -- several times more often.
In 2013, a 5th-grade class in a Harlem charter school
scored higher in math than any other 5th-grade class in the state.
Neither the educational problems nor the propaganda
problems can be solved without allowing parents the option to take their
children out of the failing schools they are forced to attend.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the
Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com.
Friday, October 22, 2021
The Confusing Mr. Biden
By The Editorial Board | The Wall Street
Journal
President
Joe Biden participates in a CNN town hall at Baltimore Center Stage in
Baltimore, Oct. 21. - PHOTO: NICHOLAS KAMM/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The President’s town hall performance is cause for concern.
White House handlers shield President Biden
from the press as much as possible, and Thursday’s town hall on CNN shows why.
Even with a friendly audience and softball questions, Mr. Biden’s performance
revealed why so many Americans are losing confidence in his Presidency.
One big problem is that Mr. Biden often
doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about. Take rising gas prices that are a
growing public concern. Mr. Biden blamed the OPEC cartel for not producing more
oil, but then he said the answer is “ultimately . . . investing in renewable
energy.”
Most cars still run on gasoline, not solar or
wind power. Electric cars remain impractical for most Americans. The way to
reduce gas prices is to produce more oil to increase the supply. Mr. Biden
wouldn’t have to plead with OPEC to produce more if he weren’t working so hard
to limit U.S. oil production.
How about the supply-chain bottlenecks
contributing to shortages and inflation? Mr. Biden blamed Covid and employers
who won’t pay enough to attract workers. But employers are bidding up wages
nearly across the economy and they still can’t fill the more than 10 million
job openings nationwide.
Asked if he’d call in the National Guard to
address the shortage of truckers, Mr. Biden said he would. But the deployment
of the Guard is actually controlled by Governors, as the White House later
clarified.
Mr. Biden’s confusion extended to foreign
policy, which is supposed to be his strength. Regarding Taiwan—a crucial issue
with China—Mr. Biden misstated U.S. policy. Asked “can you vow to protect
Taiwan,” Mr. Biden said “yes.”
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper must have figured
this was news, because he gave Mr. Biden another chance: “So are you saying
that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense if—”
Mr. Biden: “Yes.”
Mr. Cooper: —“China attacked?”
Mr. Biden: “Yes, we have a commitment to do
that.”
The actual U.S. policy toward Taiwan is
“strategic ambiguity” about U.S. intentions. The Taiwan Relations Act commits
the U.S. to help Taiwan defend itself but does not include a NATO-like
commitment to go to war to defend the island democracy. Many people think the
U.S. should make such a commitment explicit so Beijing doesn’t miscalculate and
invade the island. Was Mr. Biden announcing a change in U.S. policy?
Apparently not, because the White House soon
walked back Mr. Biden’s words. Strategic ambiguity lives, or perhaps we should
say strategic confusion in the case of Mr. Biden. You have to wonder what the
hard men in Beijing think of this performance. Does the fast White House
retreat from Mr. Biden’s words mean the U.S. doesn’t intend to defend Taiwan?
What is U.S. policy? Wars have started amid such mixed signals to adversaries.
We take no pleasure in pointing
this out, since the U.S. needs a President who can handle the strains of the
job. Mr. Biden was never Demosthenes, and all Presidents stumble in speech. But
Mr. Biden’s frequent public confusion about the major issues of the day is a
reason for the growing public concern.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
‘Woke Racism’ by John McWhorter
By Tunku Varadarajan
Illustration
of John McWhorter by BARBARA KELLEY
For the left, antiracism is the new religion, and ‘pious, unempirical virtue signaling’ is a form of political activism.
‘This book frankly leapt out of me,” writes John McWhorter, “during the summer of 2020.” The country was convulsed not just with Covid-19, but with protests in response to the killing of an unarmed black man by a white policeman whose actions were caught on camera. Mr. McWhorter began to write in the first week of August. Eight weeks later, he’d finished “Woke Racism,” a book that hits back at the “antiracists” who prowl public life in search of transgression, and whose mission to rid America of “racist” thought he likens to that of a religious cult. His book is a cry from the heart, and readers should gauge the depth of his indignation from the fact that its working title was “F*** ’Em.”
This eloquent manifesto is Mr. McWhorter’s
22nd book, a majority of those on the subject of linguistics. His is a split
personality: A linguist in his day job as a professor at Columbia University
(specializing in creoles, particularly the Saramaccan language in Suriname),
he’s also an outspoken commentator on race whenever the national mood requires
it. As Mr. McWhorter’s thinking on race is in conflict with that of the black
American political mainstream, he’s often miscast as a black conservative by
glib taxonomists. But he’s careful to point out that he wasn’t “thinking of
right-wing America as my audience,” even as he acknowledges that many liberal
readers will think him “traitorous” for writing this book.
Mr. McWhorter’s target audience is,
precisely, the one that would regard him as racially incendiary. It includes
white progressives who have “fallen under the impression that pious,
unempirical virtue signaling about race is a form of moral enlightenment and
political activism.” Equally, it comprises black people who have succumbed to
the “misimpression” that the way to their own salvation lies in “a curated
persona as eternally victimized souls.”
Mr. McWhorter’s targets in “Woke
Racism” are antiracist crusaders whom he calls the Elect—borrowing a term used
by the essayist Joseph Bottum in his book “An Anxious Age” (2014). Mr.
McWhorter chooses not to call these people Social Justice Warriors or
Inquisitors, deeming those labels “unsuitably dismissive” and “mean,”
respectively. He’s not the first to trace the “rootstock” of their ideology to
critical race theory. This is a once-fringe belief, now muscling its way into
mainstream thought, that every individual’s fate is determined by racial
“hierarchy” and power. The theory contends, writes Mr. McWhorter, that a
nonwhite in America is “akin to the captive oarsman slave straining belowdecks
in chains.”
The Elect, Mr. McWhorter notes,
pursue a proselytizing brand of antiracism that has had a particularly harmful
effect on academic inquiry, “sometimes strangling it like kudzu.” Bestselling
books like Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility”—which flagellates white people
for their incurable racism—and Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” are
the gospels of the antiracist left.
The Elect have a weapon in their
arsenal that lends them outsize power. As a result of the “genuine and
invaluable change” that has occurred in the modern white American since the
Civil Rights movement, “being called a racist is all but equivalent to being
called a pedophile.” Those who police our minds for racism believe that
Americans who don’t fight to overturn “the systemic pervasiveness of white
supremacy” must be regarded as racist themselves. The world of the Elect is
“Manichaean,” its fervor “absolutist.”
How can academics, journalists, CEOs
and others combat this new culture of race-based anathema? Mr. McWhorter’s
answer is refreshingly non-theoretical. Do not debate the Elect, he counsels,
for “they seek not conversation but conversion.” Asking them to heed the
post-Enlightenment commitment to free speech is a waste of time. We must “work
around” them.
Invoking Alexander Solzhenitsyn—who
wrote of the everyday courage needed to resist Soviet oppression—Mr. McWhorter
says that America needs “civil valor” to combat the Elect. A critical mass of
people must steel itself and start confronting the tormentors. He points to
examples where people or corporations have pushed back against woke pressure:
Trader Joe’s, the supermarket chain, declined to change its ethnic-oriented
branding of certain products after facing accusations of racism (and offering,
at first, an apology); hundreds of professors gave their support to Abigail
Thompson, a math professor at the University of California, Davis, who refused
to comply with “diversity” requirements imposed on her by administrators.
These examples—and others he’s
compiled in his book—show us, says Mr. McWhorter, that the Elect can be put in
their place if Americans behave like Galileo did before the Inquisition.
Antiracist activists have learned,
he says, that they can get what they wish for if they use loudly condemnatory
language. After all, no one wants to be shamed as racist on social media—the
21st-century equivalent of being burned at the stake. Mr. McWhorter equips us
with some “sample scripts” that might be used in response to antiracist bullies
by their beleaguered quarry. An example: “I will not sign this petition, and I
don’t care what you call me when I don’t.” Another: “No, we will not refocus
our entire curriculum around antiracism. We do not think of battling racism as
the most important goal of our program.” Having risen in rebellion, the brave
must stand their ground. “Be Spartacus,” Mr. McWhorter says.
This is a tonic to hear, of course.
Yet to some weary Americans, resigned to seeing wokeness end jobs and wreck
reputations, Mr. McWhorter may sound naive or overoptimistic. (Didn’t Spartacus
die in battle?) At present, people at the commanding heights of our culture are
all too eager to cave, no matter how loudly an individual accused of racism asserts
his innocence. That said, it would be bracing if—as a start—people stopped
apologizing when hounded by the Elect.
The book finishes with a robust
marine metaphor. Mr. McWhorter suggests that the woke be dealt with the way
some swimmers deal with sharks. “You can make a shark approaching you go away
by bopping it on the nose,” he writes. The Elect are like sharks. They need to
be bopped on the nose.
A faultlessly polite man, he
stresses that he doesn’t mean anything physical.
_________________
Mr. Varadarajan, a Journal
contributor, is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at New York
University Law School’s Classical Liberal Institute.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Democrat Strategist Has an Ominous Warning for His Party in 2022
BY MATT MARGOLIS | P J MEDIA
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Biden’s tanking poll numbers nationally and in key swing
states spell big trouble for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, says
Democrat strategist Douglas Schoen. He says they could endure a “blowout
defeat.”
“President Biden is in a significantly weaker position
now than both of his most recent Democratic predecessors — Bill Clinton and
Barack Obama — at this point in their presidencies,” Schoen notes in an op-ed in The Hill. “Which
suggests that Democrats could suffer even more substantial losses in 2022 than
the party did in 1994 and 2010.”
Schoen served as an adviser to President Clinton and
advised Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign.
“Indeed, voters nationally and in seven key swing-states
disapprove, rather than approve, of the job President Biden is doing by a
margin of 7-points or greater, according to a Civiqs survey released last
week,” he continued. “Nationally, one-half [50 percent of voters disapprove of
the job Joe Biden is doing as president, while just 42 percent approve.”
Schoen noted that Obama’s net approval rating was 19
points higher than Biden’s right now, and yet in the 2010 midterms, Democrats
lost a net of 64 seats in the House, and Republicans gained six seats in the
Senate. In 1994, Democrats lost a net of 52 seats in the House, and Republicans
gained eight seats in the Senate.
While there’s still more than a year before the midterms,
Schoen acknowledged that “Democrats’ blowout midterm defeats in both 1994 and
2010 can be attributed in large part to their passage of massive spending and
tax bills in the years prior.”
“The Democrats’ 1994 defeat came after they pushed
through Congress the then-largest tax increase in history without any
Republican support,” Schoen points out. “And in 2010, Democrats lost due in
large part to voters’ perception of an ineffective economic stimulus, as well
as governmental overreach on healthcare and the economy by the administration
and congressional Democrats.”
History seems to be repeating itself as Democrats are
pushing a $3.5 trillion spending bill, which even Schoen admits will not only
bring massive tax increases, but also increase annual deficits, the national
debt, and inflation. This, he believes, will likely spark an “electoral
backlash” bigger than both 1994 and 2010.
Historically speaking, the party in power loses seats in
midterm elections. Between Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal and other bad
policies, things aren’t looking good for him. While some in the party think
there’s time to recover, Schoen suggests that things could actually get worse
for the Democrats. He’s likely right. Last month, another Democrat strategist
saw the writing on the wall and advised Democrats to steamroll their agenda while they still
can. That seems to be the approach they’re attempting to take, apparently
unwilling to realize that their radical agenda is what is causing the shift
against them in the first place.
_______________
RELATED
ARTICLE
Democrats Are Increasingly Freaking Out About
2022
BY CHRIS QUEEN | P J MEDIA
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The 2020 election was a tough one for Democrats. Other
than the presidency and the Senate, Democrats suffered at the ballot box. The party lost 11 House seats
and face the narrowest House majority in two decades. Add to the damage the
beating Democrats took in state races, and 2020 looked like a pummeling indeed.
The Biden presidency hasn’t made things any better. The
party is dealing with infighting between moderates and far-left members, and
the president’s approval ratings are abysmal. On top of these factors, Rep.
John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) became the latest among 10 key Democrats to announce their retirement ahead of the 2022 election
cycle last week.
As a result, the 2022 midterm elections are looking more
like an uphill battle for Democrats, and they’re freaking out about it. Back in September, Democrats were
already talking about a “bloodbath” and “going for broke” on progressive agenda
items, but their mood is growing increasingly fearful.
According to The Hill:
“To
be blunt, I’m not feeling good about where we are,” one senior Democratic
congressional aide said. “Look, it was never going to be easy or anything. It
was always kind of contingent on what got done. I just think we’re starting to
see how fragile this is.”
The numbers already favor the GOP. The Republicans only
need to turn five seats red to gain a majority in the House, and that’s even
without redistricting, which will also work to the GOP’s advantage next year.
The Senate currently sits at 50-50, with Vice President
Kamala Harris as a tying vote, and several Democrats are vulnerable, including
Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who won a special election to fill a seat that is up
for reelection this cycle.
The 2022 election is also a clear referendum on President
Biden and his agenda, which have given Republicans plenty of ammunition to use
throughout the campaign season. Approval numbers and recent issue polls don’t
bode well for Biden and his party.
On top of all these genuine concerns for the Democrats, a
slew of “longshot” candidates have entered key races, drawing attention and
donations away from Democrats who stand a better chance of winning their
elections. Democrat strategists have their hands full with some unviable
candidates.
Up
and down the ballot, Democrats have long grumbled about candidates they deem to
be inconsequential attention suckers. They argue there’s limited value to
contenders who launch far-fetched bids that take away time, media focus and
money from other choices.
Democratic candidates are still raking in boatloads of
cash, and some seats are a shoo-in for the party no matter how much Biden drags
them down. Democrats also still hold a slim lead in the generic ballot. Still,
the Democrats are definitely aware of the steeper and steeper uphill climb they
face in the upcoming midterms.
Pollsters are also seeing how events and trends are
shaping the 2022 election season:
“President
Biden’s backslide on leadership, honesty and competence and the fact that he
has lost some ground on handling of the COVID pandemic has to be concerning to
Democrats,” Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, told The
Hill.
Malloy
said that the Biden administration “has had a grueling few months” and that
things like surging gas prices and rising costs due to ongoing global supply
chain issues won’t help alleviate Democrats’ troubles, especially with the
holiday season drawing closer.
Inflation, the pandemic, the border chaos and Afghanistan
are helping the GOP to hop on the offensive, hitting Biden and both House and
Senate Democrats on their handling of recent crises. It’s not a shoo-in for the
Republicans, but it’s looking better as time goes on. And that’s causing the
Democrats to get worried.
__________________
RELATED VIDEO
'Let's Go Brandon' Is the #1 Hip Hop Song in
the U.S.
BY ATHENA THORNE | P J MEDIA
Loza
Alexander official music video for "Let's Go Brandon" [YouTube
screenshot]
Alternative rapper Loza Alexander’s surprise hit “Let’s
Go Brandon” has topped the iTunes hip hop chart at #1. The anti-establishment
banger currently sits at #2 overall, just behind power-ballad star Adele and
ahead of industry heavy-hitters Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Elton John, and Justin
Bieber. When you add up the mind-boggling amount of legacy media promotion
these stars are granted as a matter of course, Alexander’s achievement is all
the more impressive.
The expression “Let’s Go Brandon” was inadvertently created by NBC reporter Kelli Stavast as she was trying to interview NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. Brown had just won his race at the Talladega Superspeedway, and the crowd behind him was raucously performing the popular “F**k Joe Biden” chant. “You can hear the chants from the crowd,” said Stavast in an awkward attempt to wave away the elephant in the room, “Let’s Go Brandon!” The moment went viral, and “Let’s Go Brandon” is now the SFW version of the original chant.
The song has been boosted by some pretty high-profile
fans; Fox News wrote about it two days ago, and Donald J. Trump,
Jr. gave it a social media boost. The song sports the
prestigious yellow “Best Seller” flag on Amazon after hitting #1 in their Rap
& Hip Hop category, as well.
Alexander says he’s ready to release an extended
version of the song as soon as his fans push sales to #1 in all categories. And
who knows? It could happen!
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