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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr's talk show from Dallas.  It's here.

DECEMBER 7-8,  2022

CRISIS IN THE CLASSROOM:  We write regularly of the parents' revolt against our deteriorating educational system – especially the unwanted transformation of our public schools into indoctrination centers of the political left.  But, no matter how much hell we raise, the left remains relentless, undeterred, pursuing its religion, and it is especially strong in the colleges.  Students are literally living in fear.  From College Fix: 

A record number of college students reported fear of sharing an opinion in the classroom that might differ from their peers, according to the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program’s eighth annual survey.

“Of the students surveyed, 58%, a record high, reported feeling intimidated in sharing an opinion that was different than a professor’s, 8% higher than last year,” the group recently announced. “The number reporting never having had this issue fell to a record low of 38%.”
“A higher 63% reported feeling intimidated in sharing opinions different than their peers, also a record high and a jump of 13% from the 2021 survey,” according to the results of the national survey of more than 800 college students.

The Buckley Program is an intellectual diversity and free speech group based at Yale University.

College students have picked up on the effects of cancel culture and political correctness, the spokesperson for the Buckley Program told The College Fix via email.

Students “across the spectrum” now realize that “one wrong comment, one tweet supporting the wrong person, or one joke that offends someone could be the end of their college career, academically or socially,” Ari Schaffer said.

He identified preferred pronouns and diversity statements as two areas of concern. The survey found that half of students, faculty and staff introduce themselves with their preferred pronouns. 

“It may seem like a tautology, but if you aren’t free to say whatever you want, or to not say whatever you want for that matter, your speech isn’t free,” Schaffer said. “Requirements to state pronouns or subscribe to diversity statements should be of particular concern to professors or other faculty who care about academic freedom on the university campus.”

Moving forward, Schaffer expressed the necessity of Yale and other universities to show they are on the side of free speech and are not looking to suppress it.

“Professors who retaliate against students for their opinions, political or otherwise, should likewise be reprimanded,” Schaffer said.

The survey also found that “67% believe that their college or university should require all professors and administrators to make statements in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Half of students believe “America is inextricably linked to white supremacy” while 42 percent think “America is moving forward.”

And a greater percentage of students, 33 percent, would prefer to live under a socialist system than a capitalist one, 31 percent, according to the survey.

“The college student disillusionment with free speech is growing at an alarming pace,” Buckley Program founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble said in a news release.

“More students are intimidated from speaking freely and more students are willing to intimidate others from speaking freely than at any time in the history of the survey.”

“In many ways, America’s undergraduate student body seems to be abandoning the very ideas that made America the great country it is today.”

COMMENT:  We ask, at what point does the damage become permanent?  At what point have we lost America?  There are no guarantees that this country will continue, or continue as a free nation.

Some say that the average life of a democracy is about 250 years.  The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, some 246 years ago. 

Getting close.

December 8, 2022       Permalink

AND SO IT BEGINS:  It seems to be all politics, all the time, in the United States.  Even before the 2022 ballots were counted, the 2024 presidential campaign began.  We get no relief, not even the traditional two-weeks-a-year vacation.

It isn't right.  There's more to life than politics, plenty more, but we're stuck in this obsession.  Whatever happened to musical comedy?  Indeed, whatever happened to comedy?  I used to work for Johnny Carson.  He put American to bed laughing every night, and the country survived.  Those were the days. 

At any rate, the polling for 2024 has begun.  And this is what it says, from the Jerusalem Post: 

Former US President Donald Trump is 5 percentage points behind upstart Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Thursday.

DeSantis, who was re-elected as Florida governor on November 8th by the largest margin of victory since 1982, has been floated as a potential challenger to the controversial Trump as a string of indictments and investigations shrouds his post-Presidential career.

A similar poll of Iowa Republicans released in late November also showed that Republican voters preferred DeSantis over Trump as their first-choice candidate by a margin of 32% to 30%, respectively.

DeSantis also seems to have more support than Trump in a potential general election against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden – registered voters across the political spectrum who participated in the poll were split between the Florida governor and Biden at a figure of 44% each, whereas 45% of voters polled preferred Biden over Trump, who garnered 42%.

No other Republican candidate reached more than 5% support for the candidacy, indicating the Republican primary will very much be a two-man race.

The 44-year-old Florida native has become a formidable figure in American politics since his narrow 30,000-vote victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2018. DeSantis has largely staked his reputation on Florida’s pandemic response policies, which did not force businesses to close or enforce pandemic-related restrictions that became commonplace around the world, such as lockdowns and mask mandates.

“We chose facts over fear. We chose education over indoctrination. We chose law and order over rioting and disorder. Florida was a refuge of sanity when the world went mad. We stood as a citadel of freedom for people across this country and indeed across the world,” DeSantis declared in his re-election speech this November. 

DeSantis was even listed as a finalist for TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year award, as he was named alongside Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelensky – who was ultimately awarded with the honor – and other prominent names from around the globe.

COMMENT:  We shall go through the usual cautions.  It's only one poll.  It's early.  A poll is just a snapshot in time.  Polls depend on how the question is asked. 

Any other suggestions?

One thing is becoming increasingly clear – that former President Trump, recently thought to be a shoo-in for the 2024 presidential nomination, isn't a shoo-in for anything.  He has largely brought this on himself.  But, no matter what the cause, the Republican 2024 nomination is open for business.  It won't be dull.

December 8, 2022       Permalink

THIS DAY:  A couple of days ago a friend and I agreed that they don't talk much about Pearl Harbor anymore. 

It's not the way it was when we were young.  December 7, 1941, was etched in our minds, vividly, passionately.  It was the day "the war" started for the United States.  It was the day that hundreds of Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and other military and air bases on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  On the day it was attacked, millions of Americans had never heard of Pearl Harbor.  For years after the raid, the name was a central theme of their lives. 

For we who were still young in the decades following that bloody Sunday, December 7th has always been a day of reverence.  But memories fade, and disappear with the generations.  The youngest uniformed American veteran of the attack would be about 98 today.  Soon, all who were there will be gone. 

What does our young generation know of Pearl Harbor?  I haven't taken a survey, but I'll bet they know next to nothing.  It's simply not in style to teach about America being attacked, especially by those of a different race.  I suspect many young Americans believe, from their schools, that Japan had "legitimate grievances," or faced "American racism." 

But they must be taught the real history, and must learn its lessons – that we were unprepared, that we hadn't been sufficiently alarmed by Japanese actions in Asia, that America is worth fighting for.  Who will teach those things? 

There is today a parents' revolt underway throughout the United States.  It is succeeding in many areas, shining a needed spotlight on the corruption of school systems and the nearly hopeless leftism in our universities.  We must demand, as part of that revolution, that the true history of World War II be taught, that the meaning of Pearl Harbor must be understood, and restored for a new generation.  It can be done, with the right people elected to office.

Some still commemorate.  From ABC News, via AP:

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- A handful of centenarian survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor are expected to gather at the scene of the Japanese bombing on Wednesday to commemorate those who perished 81 years ago.

That's fewer than in recent years, when a dozen or more traveled to Hawaii from across the country to pay their respects at the annual remembrance ceremony.

Part of the decline reflects the dwindling number of survivors as they age. The youngest active-duty military personnel on Dec. 7, 1941, would have been about 17, making them 98 today. Many of those still alive are at least 100.

About 2,400 servicemen were killed in the bombing, which launched the U.S. into World War II. The USS Arizona alone lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, nearly half the death toll.

Robert John Lee recalls being a 20-year-old civilian living at his parents' home on the naval base where his father ran the water pumping station. The home was just about 1 mile across the harbor from where the USS Arizona was moored on battleship row.

The first explosions before 8 a.m. woke him up, making him think a door was slamming in the wind. He got up to yell for someone to shut the door only to look out the window at Japanese planes dropping torpedoes from the sky.

He saw the hull of the USS Arizona turn a deep orange-red after an aerial bomb hit it.
“Within a few seconds, that explosion then came out with huge tongues of flame right straight up over the ship itself — but hundreds of feet up,” Lee said in an interview Monday after a boat tour of the harbor.

He still remembers the hissing sound of the fire.

Sailors jumped into the water to escape their burning ships and swam to the landing near Lee's house. Many were covered in the thick, heavy oil that coated the harbor. Lee and his mother used Fels-Naptha soap to help wash them. Sailors who were able to boarded small boats that shuttled them back to their vessels.

“Very heroic, I thought," Lee said of them.

Lee joined the Hawaii Territorial Guard the next day, and later the U.S. Navy. He worked for Pan American World Airways for 30 years after the war.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have statistics for how many Pearl Harbor survivors are still living. But department data show that of the 16 million who served in World War II, only about 240,000 were alive as of August and some 230 die each day.
There were about 87,000 military personnel on Oahu at the time of the attack, according to a rough estimate compiled by military historian J. Michael Wenger.

COMMENT:  There was a World War II song, "Remember Pearl Harbor."  It's a good thought.  But remember it correctly.

December 7, 2022       Permalink

DECEMBER 5-6,  2022

GEORGIA ON OUR MINDS:  The feared disappointment has come.   Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker in a runoff election, and will remain United States Senator from Georgia.  Warnock received 51.31 percent to Walker's 48.69 percent.  So, Georgia, a conservative state, now has two liberal senators.  Republicans might contemplate what went wrong.

First,  you've got to start with a strong candidate.  Herschel Walker gave it his best, and never gave up, but he couldn't overcome the image of someone with no political experience.  Recruiting candidates for 2024 must start right now.

Second, you've got to have a positive program.  It's not enough to be against something or someone.  Republicans are often seen as lacking real, new ideas.

Third, you've got to look at the calendar.  The era of the one-day election is over, but only the Democrats have adapted to early voting, voting by mail, and other easy-voting devices.  Republicans still like to vote on election day itself.  That's like saying that the only desirable way to start a car is by cranking it. 

Fourth, The Republican Party must be more spirited.  It's not enough just to show up with a check for the campaign.  One of the best GOP candidates this year was Lee Zeldin, who ran for governor in ultra-blue New York, and almost made it.  He was alive, passionate, committed, and always there to help other Republicans.  His efforts were critical to New York Republicans taking out four Democratic members of Congress.  New York, thanks to Lee, had its own red wave.

Fifth, emphasize women.  Republican women are particularly dynamic, and a number are sitting in Congress.  The Republican Party used to be called the party of green eyeshades.  Today's party is alive with women, many young, who give the organization a sense of verve.  No old boys club anymore.

To be continued. 

WHAT'S THIS?  WHEN DID SHE BECOME A PERSON?  Hillary Clinton, not my favorite movie star, has surfaced again, and her advice to the Biden administration is strangely centrist, almost conservative.  Hmm.  Is she really going after the Obama crowd?  Is she making a 2024 move as elder stateswoman?  From CNN:

The US should not be negotiating with Iran “on anything right now,” including a nuclear agreement, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.

“I would not be negotiating with Iran on anything right now, including the nuclear agreement,” Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday, adding that the horse is “out of the barn.”

“When [former President Donald] Trump pulled us out,” she said, “we lost the eyes that we had on what they were doing inside Iran. And I believe that they started those centrifuges spinning again.”

Discussions between the US and Iran on the 2015 nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, have been pushed to the sidelines since protests erupted across Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly.

In addition to Iranian authorities’ brutal crackdown on protesters, the US has also taken issue with the country’s cooperation with Russia during the war in Ukraine...

...Clinton emphasized her support for focusing on the protestors on Thursday, saying that the United States should not “look like we are seeking an agreement [with Iran] at a time when the people of Iran are standing up to their oppressors.”

“We are giving them hope and heart. I think we’re doing something else,” Clinton said. “We’re sending a message to whoever the few possibly concerned people are about what’s happening to the tens of thousands of Iranians being imprisoned, and the many hundreds who are being killed, that maybe they are willing inside to speak out. Not just within the government, but more importantly with the clerics to say that this is not sustainable.”

“You can’t premise a theocracy on covering up women’s hair. That doesn’t mean that we are going to overthrow the regime and they are going to leave peacefully,” Clinton told CNN.

“I’m hoping that there can be some kind of internal discussion that might lead to, you know, more freedom, but also less oppression,” she said.

COMMENT:  That's definitely not a Biden or Obama position.  They are appeasers of the regime, especially Obama.

We'll watch closely to see if Hillary distances herself further from her party's policies. 

December 5, 2022       Permalink

WHY SO LITTLE COVERAGE?  This should worry the daylights out of any anti-terrorism official, but it's getting minimum coverage.  I wonder why.  From Fox: 

Over 40,000 Moore County, North Carolina residents were powerless on Sunday afternoon after two substations were taken out by gunfire on Saturday night, according to police.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said in a Facebook post on Saturday that just after 7 p.m. on that night, several communities across the county began to experience power outages.

Duke Energy, which operates the power grid in the county, responded to at least two different substations and there was evidence of intentional vandalism at both, Fields said.

"We faced something last night here in Moore County we have never faced before," Fields said during a Facebook Live press conference on Sunday afternoon.

The sheriff gave a few more details about the situation, saying there was extensive damage found at two substations caused by multiple gunshots, which caused power outages primarily in the central and northern portions of the county.

As of Sunday afternoon, PowerOutage.us said 40,679 customers were without power.

An investigation into the vandalism at the substations is underway by the FBI, State Bureau of Investigations, and local law enforcement agencies, around the clock.

Moore County Directory of Public Safety said during the press conference that the Moore County Sportsplex was being opened as a shelter at 4 p.m. on Sunday for those without power.

The facility can hold from 225-250 citizens and will remain open until the county feels it is unnecessary.

Jeff Brooks from Duke Energy said a full power restoration may not occur until Thursday.

He explained that unlike a storm where power can be rerouted, there is equipment at the substations that needs to be replaced or repaired because of the gunfire.

The power company is pursuing multiple paths of restoration, Brooks said, and its number one priority is to get the power back on for customers.

As a result of the power outage, Moore County Schools Superintendent Tim Locklair announced schools would be closed on Monday and the situation would be evaluated on a day-by-day case.

"Folks, this was a terrible act," State Senator Tom McInnis said, adding that the perpetrator who did the "terrible" act would be brought to justice.

Sheriff Fields would not go into the specifics of the investigation because he did not want to jeopardize it in any way.

But he did reaffirm the FBI and SBI were working every avenue they can to find the individual or individuals responsible.

No group has accepted responsibility for what Fields called at targeted attack – not calling it domestic terrorism.

"We have no motivation," he said. "I call them cowards."

COMMENT:  It's that easy to take out a power station?  What about the rest of the nation's power grid?  We've had warnings before that it is vulnerable.  Just how far does that vulnerability go?

I'm afraid this story will fade away, without answers.  But hostile nations are watching.

December 5, 2022     Permalink