SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

END OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER – FROM FOX:  The Dallas Mavericks have taken a stance against the playing of the national anthem.  Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed to The Athletic that it was his decision to no longer play the national anthem prior to home games at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks haven’t played the national anthem prior to home games this season, and the team doesn’t plan on playing it for the foreseeable future.  The Mavericks, who have an 11-14 record, have played 12 games at their home arena this season. They haven’t played the national anthem in any of their 13 preseason games, as well as those 12 regular-season matchups, including Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was the first game with a small number of fans in the stands.  What an absurd thing to do. He needs to drop his presidential ambitions.

THE MARCH OF HIGHER EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   The University of Leicester recently dumped English literature foundational to the English language because it got woke.  Not to be outdone, the University of Oxford renamed a physics chair founded in 1900 after a company tied to Chinese spying, because it donated nearly $1 million to the U.K. university, The Daily Mail reports, citing “Oxford sources.”  The U.S. government claims that Tencent, the owner of popular messaging app WeChat, was founded with seed money and support from China’s Ministry of State Security, its version of the CIA. It’s also closely working with Chinese security companies on artificial intelligence, according to the Pentagon.  The company was also accused of spying on Chinese citizens and censoring discussions under the direction of Chinese Communist Party, in President Trump’s executive order last year.  Oxford’s longtime chancellor Chris Patten, the U.K.’s last governor of Hong Kong, was unaware of the donation and renamed chair until the Daily Mail told him, and he wasn’t happy:  "Given that China has become a surveillance state, is probably guilty of genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and is snuffing out freedom in Hong Kong, we should be looking at these relationships..."  The suicide of the West continues, but I doubt if the Oxford faculty will mind. 

February 9, 2021