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FEBRUARY 18,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

REAL CLASS – FROM BREITBART:   Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would prevent former President Donald Trump from having his name displayed on federal projects, buildings, statues, lands, or other type of commemoration.  According to the bill’s text, which was provided late last month, the legislation would “prohibit the use of Federal funds for the commemoration of certain former Presidents.” While Trump is not mentioned by name in the proposed legislation, he is the only president to have been impeached twice by the House.  The bill, dubbed the “No Glory for Hate Act,” was introduced by California Democrat Rep. Linda Sanchez and has 13 co-sponsors, all of whom are Democrats.
“For years, Donald Trump poured gasoline on lies, encouraging racism and hatred, then lit the match on January 6th,” Sanchez said in a statement last month.  “A president who has been impeached twice does not deserve the honours bestowed on a former president,” Sanchez added. “We should never glorify the hatred Donald Trump personified as President. This bill ensures that there is no glory for hate, not a building, statue, or even a park bench.”  Is it never enough for these immature fools?  They speak of hatred, but they are the worst haters of all.  They are the legislative equivalent of those who tore down statues over the summer.  But let's see how much opposition they get from our pathetic media.

IN OTHER WORDS, DUMB IT DOWN – FROM CAPITOLNEWSILLINOIS.COM:   SPRINGFIELD – A legislative panel on Wednesday allowed the Illinois State Board of Education to move forward with new rules that call on colleges and universities in the state to change the way prospective teachers and administrators are trained in order to make them more accommodating to diverse students.  On a party-line vote, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR, declined to block the new “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” from going into effect, despite objections by Republicans who argued the rules would ultimately require licensed teachers and administrators to adhere to a particular political ideology.  Specifically, the new standards, which will take effect in 2025, define a culturally responsive educator as, among other things, one who will “critically think about the institutions in which they find themselves, working to reform these institutions whenever and wherever necessary,” as well as one who will “assess how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.).”  “Culturally responsive teachers and leaders understand that there are systems in our society that create and reinforce inequities, thereby creating oppressive conditions,” the standards state. “Educators work actively against these systems in their everyday roles in educational institutions.”   These racketeers do more harm to black children than the Klan could ever do.  Imagine what 20 years of this kind of education will do to black kids.  It will turn them into lifelong supplicants and victims – exactly what the socialist left wants. 

February 18, 2021       Permalink 

BIDEN'S BLUNDER – BUT IS ANYONE WATCHING? – OVERNIGHT:  The Biden administration is moving quickly to return the United States to the failed foreign policy of Saint Barack the First, who seems to be the guiding light behind the Biden presidency.  From Dailywire: 

Top former U.S. officials and national security experts slammed Democrat President Joe Biden late on Thursday following his administration signaling that it was willing to re-enter talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, to pursue a nuclear deal.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Biden administration would “accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Iran has increasingly acted aggressively with its nuclear program, stockpiling large quantities of enriched uranium, installing advanced nuclear centrifuges, and blocking international investigators from monitoring its actions.

Left-leaning Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin wrote that the move from Biden comes after alleged Iranian backed terrorists attacked U.S. forces in Iraq earlier this week — to which Biden still does not appear to have responded.

“Other Iranian proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen, are not rewarding Biden’s more diplomatic approach with restraint — responding to outreach with new attacks on civilians,” Rogin wrote. “Meanwhile, the leaders in Tehran are acting as if they have all the leverage, making demands and escalating their nuclear brinkmanship.”

Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who also served as Trump’s secretary of state, told the Free Beacon that the Trump administration “refused” to “appease the Iranian theocracy.”

“The Ayatollah understands only strength,” Pompeo said. “I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from its terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel. Adopting the European Union model of accommodation will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.”

Nationally security expert Tim Morrison, who was on Trump’s National Security Council and is currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told The Daily Wire in a statement that the Biden administration was giving up all leverage as it tried to restart the “dangerously flawed” deal.

COMMENT:  A bad move, but expected.  Appeasing Iran is just what the Obama crowd ordered, and is popular with the militant, anti-Israel left of the Democratic Party.  It is not popular with America's friends in the Mideast, Arab and Israeli alike, who regard Iran as an existential threat. 

In a way, it's crazy, rewarding Iran for cheating on the nuclear agreement and wreaking havoc throughout the region.  American allies around the world are watching this absurd maneuver, and undoubtedly asking what kind of a friend America would really be in a crisis. 

The European Union is pleased.  That should scare the hell out of any sane American.

February 18, 2021       Permalink

WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL! – AT 8:46 P.M. ET:  Enough with the miserable political news of the day.  Enough with the scheming Dems and their prayers to Lenin.  Enough with the RINO Republicans.  It's time for some good news, filled with American accomplishment.  From Fox: 

NASA has unveiled the first pictures from its fifth Mars rover, Perseverance, after a successful landing on the red planet's Jezero crater on Thursday.

Perseverance, the most technologically advanced robot NASA has sent to date, will remain on Mars for nearly two years, searching for signs of ancient life and exploring the planet's surface.

The rover, built in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide, seven feet tall and about 2,260 pounds, about 278 pounds heavier than its predecessor, Curiosity.

Perseverance also has a robotic arm that reaches about seven feet long, containing cameras, a chemical analyzer, and a rock drill, and is nuclear powered using a plutonium generator provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Perseverance traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on July 30.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

COMMENT:  Not to be political, but I hope someone gives former President Trump a hat tip for the encouragement he gave the American space program.

February 18, 2021       Permalink

FEBRUARY 17,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

UNDOUBTEDLY A RESULT OF OPPRESSION – FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE:    San Francisco police define burglaries as an unlawful entry into a home or business to commit a felony or a theft. The department defines “attempted forcible entry,” “forcible entry” and “unlawful entry,” where no force is used, as different types of crimes.  As of Feb. 7, there were 56 forcible entries reported in the Richmond. Last year that number was at 12, according to San Francisco Police Department data. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding burglary data in other neighborhoods.  The number of attempted forcible entries reported as of Feb. 7 was 26. Compared to last year’s single reported attempted forcible entry — a 250% jump.  In all of San Francisco, burglaries have increased by 57% from 2020, according to the Police Department’s crime statistics dashboard.  San Francisco police and residents have seen an uptick in home burglaries since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The Richmond District and the Marina have been among the hardest hit by reported burglaries since late 2020. Police have acknowledged the difficulties in arresting burglary suspects, given that, without physical evidence or eyewitnesses, such cases can be particularly difficult to solve.  The real problem is that the militant leftists who run that once-beautiful city have no interest in cracking down on property crimes.  As socialists, they think any property owner is an oppressor.  The result of their thinking is obvious.

PARLER IS BACK – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Parler came back online Monday, more than a month after Amazon forced the controversial social network into a lengthy hiatus.  The Twitter-like platform also named conservative activist Mark Meckler as its interim CEO after its board of directors fired co-founder John Matze, who led the company through most of its unplanned pause.  Parler went dark in early January after Amazon Web Services booted the site from its servers over its failure to police its users’ violent posts in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.  The Nevada-based startup said in a press release that it is running on “sustainable, independent technology and not reliant on so-called ‘Big Tech’ for its operations.”  The company did not say who replaced Amazon as its web host.  “Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay,” Meckler said in a statement. “We will thrive as the premier social media platform dedicated to free speech, privacy and civil dialogue.”  Good.  Now we need more conservative platforms operating independently of high tech.  No censorship.

February 17, 2021       Permalink

SUPERBLY SAID – AT 10:15 P.M.  ET:   Do you know Carol Swain?  She's a brave, African-American, former professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt Universities, and a conservative.  I was struck by her statement on the American condition, which sums up so much of what we see, and so much of what is reducing us as a nation.  Please note this, from bizpacreview:   

“The greatest threat to American society today… is coming from the diversity, equity, inclusion industry,” warns retired Princeton University and Vanderbilt University Professor and author Carol Swain. “It is steeped in critical race theory which is Marxist. It divides people,” the professor added in an appearance on The Ingraham Angle.

“When you think about what is taking place on college campuses and also now in K-12, children are being bullied, they’re being shamed. Teachers are being encouraged to teach nonsense, and they may justify it by saying it is fighting racism, it’s helping racial and ethnic minorities; it’s really harming everyone’s child,” she insisted about the radical agenda that has rapidly gained currency across the country in schools, government, and in corporate America.

Prof. Swain was on the Fox News Channel show as a follow-up to Ingraham’s opening monologue in which the host, among other things, lamented that Joe Biden said that he plans to root out systemic or institutional racism. Ingraham opined that this is a mere ploy by cynical liberals apparently like Biden, who know better, but are nonetheless seizing upon that mantra to help them stay in political power.

According to Swain, white liberal academics are using their platform to indoctrinate students into becoming advocates for critical race theory and similar initiatives. “So systemic racism is not the problem in America. Racism is a problem, but it’s coming from the political left, and it’s been turned upside down,” she declared.

COMMENT:  Such a crystal-clear description of where we are.  We must ask ourselves where our children, especially minority children, will be in 20 years if the current educational craze continues.  They will be nowhere.  They are being taught to hate, to divide, and to disparage the very society that gives them their rights and their freedom.  They are not being taught how to participate usefully in that society.  And the minority child is surely not being taught how to survive and prosper.

Read Carol Swain.  She has her finger on the pulse.

February 17, 2021       Permalink