thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--Questioning the Diversity Delusion on Race-Obsessed Campuses

Richard L. Cravatts , Ph.D. , a Freedom Center Journalism Fellow in Academic Free Speech and President Emeritus of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East , is the author of 'Dispatches From the Campus War Against Israel and Jews ' .
When he wryly observed that “ During times of universal deceit , telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act , ” Orwell may well have had academia in mind , where challenging prevailing ideology can have a calamitous effect on one ’ s reputation and career—something especially true of faculty .
In 1978 , the significant Regents of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought the term “ diversity ” into the lexicon of higher education Although the Court found that the medical school at the University of California at Davis had used an unconstitutional quota system in denying Alan Bakke admission , Justice Lewis Powell made his now-famous observation that , notwithstanding the inherent defect of such a quota system , universities could likely enhance the quality of their enrollments by striving to create a “ diverse student body ” engaging in “ a robust exchange of ideas , ” and that there was “ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ achieve such a goal and in promoting the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups on campus .
Rather than helping students adapt to the real diversity of society outside the campus walls , however , the campaign to increase diversity has served to create balkanized campuses where victims of the moment segregate themselves into distinct and inward-looking racial and cultural groups—exactly the opposite intention of the university diversocrats and their bloated fiefdoms with which they promote this theology of victimization , racial justice , and inclusion .
Coupled with the exclusion of all but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diversity : as victim groups become aware of their supposed classification as ‘ authentic ’ victims , they are prone to contradict the stated goal of diversity by limiting real dialogue and interchange between opposing points of view .
Thus , while diversity proponents adamantly defend free speech in order to promulgate their own world views , they frequently move to stifle the alternate opinions of those with different opinions—through calls for censorship , threats of censure , and arcane speech codes—and exempt themselves from having to live by the suppressive rules they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death of George Floyd and other highly publicized incidents involving black victims of police actions , another layer has been added to the diversity and race conversation on campus .
Not content with simply acknowledging disparities between races , the orthodoxy on campuses now forces everyone to confront racism—including their own—with talk of implicit bias , invisible racism , white privilege , and microaggressions , together with a consequential battery of programs and initiatives to face these malignancies head-on : mandatory sensitivity training for all faculty and students , publicly announced solidarity with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ initiatives to increase the recruitment of minority students and faculty , and the development of required ethnic studies and race-focused courses , among others .
While virtue-signaling university officials , and many faculty and students , too , have been quick to embrace and promote these race-based initiatives as part of the aggrievement culture currently permeating academia , some brave ( and rare ) faculty have resisted joining the race orgy that has engulfed many campuses since Floyd ’ s death ; they have even criticized the ideology and behavior of Black Lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which white police officers are condemned as being uniformly and systemically racist , and pointed to the seeming hypocrisy of universities that continually trumpet their diversity and inclusion while actually avoiding an authentic diversity of ideas .
The latest example of a professor who subjected himself to opprobrium after questioning the prevailing notions about race is to be found at the University of Chicago , where Dorian Abbot , a tenured professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences , posted a series of YouTube videos which questioned the credibility and value of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Inclusion ( DEI ) initiatives .
Noting in a memo he wrote to defend his actions that DEI efforts had been “ discussed and implemented over the past 3-4 years , especially during 2020 , ” Abbot suggested that “ many of us are concerned about the way that anyone who tries to dissent on certain issues is immediately assumed to have racist or otherwise bigoted motives , which prevents the intellectual exploration of that issue , particularly the implications and consequences of proposed policies.
” He was particularly concerned about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the rational and , one would think , obvious way of doing that would be to recruit professors of the highest merit ; but that process , Abbot believes , has been compromised by a conscious effort of his university to hire faculty based , not only on their academic excellence and potential as scholars and researchers , but— because of prevailing desire to make new hires inclusive and diverse—also dependent on what the gender or race is of the candidate .
In fact , that is the University of Chicago ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their website proclaims , is to “ Increase the diversity of our faculty , other academic appointees , postdoctoral researchers , student body , professional staff , and senior leadership.
” The result of that type of racially rigged criteria for hiring faculty , Abbot suggested , has the unintended consequence of eliminating qualified but racially inappropriate candidates .
“ We need to think through the consequences of DEI efforts to make sure they aren ’ t hurting promising scientists of all demographics , ” Abbot wrote .
He acknowledged that “ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to fix as a society as well as by giving our own time and money off campus , ” meaning that the effort to seek racial equity is a good one , “ but adjusting departmental ratios at elite universities does not really address them .
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.
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” And , as if anticipating the intense blowback that even questioning efforts to achieve diversity and inclusion in the composition of faculty or student bodies , Abbot observed , correctly , that “ the current academic climate is making it extremely difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their opinions.
” One thing that Abbot quickly discovered is that he made two grave errors in publishing his videos and accompanying memo of defense : first , it is ideologically treasonous to even question whether the goal of seeking and attaining diversity is positive , moral , legal , or even sound policy in the first place .
Second , as many people with conservative views on campus have also discovered , to give voice to these doubts , to question the orthodoxy of race-based recruitment and hiring , and to engage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charge of promulgating these policies invariably results in attempts to make the dissenter a victim in the campus cancel culture , precisely what happened with Professor Abbot .
No sooner had graduate students been made aware of his transgressive opinions , “ members of the Department of Geophysical Sciences Community at the University of Chicago ” wrote a letter to department faculty complaining that even though Abbot had taken down the offending videos , “ their impact on the Department of Geophysical Sciences community can not be ignored.
” In fact , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that speech is actually tantamount to violence , the “ videos threaten the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups within the department and serve to undermine Equity , Diversity , and Inclusion initiatives .
.
.
.
“ Further , they suggest , the videos are based only on “ anecdotal evidence and poor statistics not supported by peer-reviewed literature about diversity .
.
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and represent an aggressive act towards the research and teaching communities of which Professor Abbot is a member [ emphasis added ] .
” And how should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The letter authors thoughtfully provide eleven steps they wish to have immediately implemented , including taking “ steps to protect students and postdocs currently working with Professor Abbot.
” To do so , they called on the department to publicly condemn Abbot ’ s statements and views , strip him from teaching duties , appointments , and related departmental titles and activities , and generally shame him in the university community by “ Explicitly , whether publicly or internally , mak [ ing ] clear that the contents and implications of these videos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to department members and climate.
” And , as is common when a dissenter is attacked for having non-traditional views about race , gender , sexuality , or other sensitive topics , the letter writers want to make an example of Abbot for having the temerity to even question prevailing views about diversity .
They want him censured in a way that makes clear to any other potential dissenters that there is a high professional cost to pay for errant behavior and intolerable speech .
So , going forward , these thought police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measures to address patterns of bigoted behaviour [ sic ] in both the department ’ s hiring/promotion/tenure process and teaching opportunities .
For example , faculty who persistently engage in bigoted behaviour [ sic ] should be prevented from taking on teaching roles , new graduate students/post-docs/staff , and committee responsibilities.
” Universities have for decades now accepted as a given that diversity is a positive thing , that the pursuit of campuses that are inclusive and diverse is noble and beneficial—not only to those underrepresented individuals who benefit from affirmative action in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleged , to everyone else in the campus community .
That belief , of course , is what animates and drives the current compulsion of universities to create diverse and inclusive campuses , created by skewing admissions requirements for minority students in ways that let applicants with lower test scores and high schools be admitted at the expense of white and Asian applicants with higher grade point averages and SAT scores .
While diverse and inclusive campuses have made universities like University of Chicago feel good about themselves for having formerly marginalized individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , critics like professor Abbot have been alarmed that , in attempting to achieve diversity goals , universities have lowered the criteria for selecting faculty and students in order to insure that minority candidates can compete against their white and Asian counterparts .
Moreover , there are some unintended negative impacts on policies of diversity and inclusion on the very individuals those policies were designed to benefit .
One of the unspoken realities of race preferences as a way of increasing minority enrollment is that when a student is accepted to a university @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his white and Asian peers , he is often set up for failure .
The naïve expectation is that students who are accepted to elite institutions without the requisite academic skills of the particular university will close the achieve gap between them and their fellow students once they have matriculated , and will eventually perform like their peers .
But that expectation has frequently not been realized , so that black students who had originally decided to major in engineering or other STEM disciplines , for instance , find those areas too demanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them and end up changing majors to easier disciplines .
This means fewer black students graduate in STEM areas and fewer still complete graduate work and become professors themselves in departments like professor Abbot ’ s .
So in their zeal to find diverse candidates in a tiny pool of potential candidates , universities invariably have to choose minority candidates who , if academic merit and scholarly excellence alone were the criteria , would not have been viable choices in the first place .
What Professor Abbot was questioning is whether universities should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ society , or righting racial wrongs from within at the expense of academic excellence and to the detriment of more qualified white and Asian students and faculty .
That is something that is certainly open for discussion and should not be forbidden speech , a thought crime , or something said by tendentious graduate students to be “ threatening the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups ” just by being articulated .
“ What I am against is setting up systems , ” Abbot wrote , “ where group membership is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evaluation , ” questioning both the motives and tactics of the diversity movement .
It may be time to recognize it for the fraudulent solution it is and begin to let students and faculty be judged , to paraphrase Dr. King , by their character and intellectual makeup and not by the color of their skin .
John W. McWhorter , a black Columbia University linguist professor and author of Winning the Race : Beyond the Crisis in Black America , thinks this would be a move in the right direction , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ erasing the sins of the past would champion diversity in its true sense , infusing its discourse on race with a range of views wider than variations on victimhood .
Since 1978 , diversity has served as a flimsy and evasive perversion of justice .
It has helped no one , least of all black students .
It ’ s high time we swept it into the dustbin of history .
”

Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D., a Freedom Center Journalism Fellow in Academic Free Speech and President Emeritus of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, is the author of ‘Dispatches From the Campus War Against Israel and Jews’.
When he wryly observed that “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act,” Orwell may well have had academia in mind, where challenging prevailing ideology can have a calamitous effect on one’s reputation and career—something especially true of faculty.
In 1978, the significant Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case brought the term “diversity” into the lexicon of higher education Although the Court found that the medical school at the University of California at Davis had used an unconstitutional quota system in denying Alan Bakke admission, Justice Lewis Powell made his now-famous observation that, notwithstanding the inherent defect of such a quota system, universities could likely enhance the quality of their enrollments by striving to create a “diverse student body” engaging in “a robust exchange of ideas,” and that there was “a compelling state interest” in trying to achieve such a goal and in promoting the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups on campus.
Rather than helping students adapt to the real diversity of society outside the campus walls, however, the campaign to increase diversity has served to create balkanized campuses where victims of the moment segregate themselves into distinct and inward-looking racial and cultural groups—exactly the opposite intention of the university diversocrats and their bloated fiefdoms with which they promote this theology of victimization, racial justice, and inclusion.
Coupled with the exclusion of all but liberal thought is the darker side of diversity: as victim groups become aware of their supposed classification as ‘authentic’ victims, they are prone to contradict the stated goal of diversity by limiting real dialogue and interchange between opposing points of view. Thus, while diversity proponents adamantly defend free speech in order to promulgate their own world views, they frequently move to stifle the alternate opinions of those with different opinions—through calls for censorship, threats of censure, and arcane speech codes—and exempt themselves from having to live by the suppressive rules they create for others.
And since the death of George Floyd and other highly publicized incidents involving black victims of police actions, another layer has been added to the diversity and race conversation on campus. Not content with simply acknowledging disparities between races, the orthodoxy on campuses now forces everyone to confront racism—including their own—with talk of implicit bias, invisible racism, white privilege, and microaggressions, together with a consequential battery of programs and initiatives to face these malignancies head-on: mandatory sensitivity training for all faculty and students, publicly announced solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, campus-wide initiatives to increase the recruitment of minority students and faculty, and the development of required ethnic studies and race-focused courses, among others.
While virtue-signaling university officials, and many faculty and students, too, have been quick to embrace and promote these race-based initiatives as part of the aggrievement culture currently permeating academia, some brave (and rare) faculty have resisted joining the race orgy that has engulfed many campuses since Floyd’s death; they have even criticized the ideology and behavior of Black Lives Matter activists, questioned the current narrative in which white police officers are condemned as being uniformly and systemically racist, and pointed to the seeming hypocrisy of universities that continually trumpet their diversity and inclusion while actually avoiding an authentic diversity of ideas.
The latest example of a professor who subjected himself to opprobrium after questioning the prevailing notions about race is to be found at the University of Chicago, where Dorian Abbot, a tenured professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences, posted a series of YouTube videos which questioned the credibility and value of the University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Noting in a memo he wrote to defend his actions that DEI efforts had been “discussed and implemented over the past 3-4 years, especially during 2020,” Abbot suggested that “many of us are concerned about the way that anyone who tries to dissent on certain issues is immediately assumed to have racist or otherwise bigoted motives, which prevents the intellectual exploration of that issue, particularly the implications and consequences of proposed policies.”
He was particularly concerned about the process of hiring new faculty, where the rational and, one would think, obvious way of doing that would be to recruit professors of the highest merit; but that process, Abbot believes, has been compromised by a conscious effort of his university to hire faculty based, not only on their academic excellence and potential as scholars and researchers, but— because of prevailing desire to make new hires inclusive and diverse—also dependent on what the gender or race is of the candidate. In fact, that is the University of Chicago’s explicit intention, which, as their website proclaims, is to “Increase the diversity of our faculty, other academic appointees, postdoctoral researchers, student body, professional staff, and senior leadership.”
The result of that type of racially rigged criteria for hiring faculty, Abbot suggested, has the unintended consequence of eliminating qualified but racially inappropriate candidates. “We need to think through the consequences of DEI efforts to make sure they aren’t hurting promising scientists of all demographics,” Abbot wrote. He acknowledged that “There are major societal problems that we should try to fix as a society as well as by giving our own time and money off campus,” meaning that the effort to seek racial equity is a good one, “but adjusting departmental ratios at elite universities does not really address them . . . .” And, as if anticipating the intense blowback that even questioning efforts to achieve diversity and inclusion in the composition of faculty or student bodies, Abbot observed, correctly, that “the current academic climate is making it extremely difficult for people with dissenting viewpoints to voice their opinions.”
One thing that Abbot quickly discovered is that he made two grave errors in publishing his videos and accompanying memo of defense: first, it is ideologically treasonous to even question whether the goal of seeking and attaining diversity is positive, moral, legal, or even sound policy in the first place. Second, as many people with conservative views on campus have also discovered, to give voice to these doubts, to question the orthodoxy of race-based recruitment and hiring, and to engage in debate with those who are in charge of promulgating these policies invariably results in attempts to make the dissenter a victim in the campus cancel culture, precisely what happened with Professor Abbot.
No sooner had graduate students been made aware of his transgressive opinions, “members of the Department of Geophysical Sciences Community at the University of Chicago” wrote a letter to department faculty complaining that even though Abbot had taken down the offending videos, “their impact on the Department of Geophysical Sciences community cannot be ignored.” In fact, the signatories warned, echoing the ridiculous notion that speech is actually tantamount to violence, the “videos threaten the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups within the department and serve to undermine Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives . . . . “ Further, they suggest, the videos are based only on “anecdotal evidence and poor statistics not supported by peer-reviewed literature about diversity . . . and represent an aggressive act towards the research and teaching communities of which Professor Abbot is a member [emphasis added].”
And how should this intolerable thought crime be addressed? The letter authors thoughtfully provide eleven steps they wish to have immediately implemented, including taking “steps to protect students and postdocs currently working with Professor Abbot.” To do so, they called on the department to publicly condemn Abbot’s statements and views, strip him from teaching duties, appointments, and related departmental titles and activities, and generally shame him in the university community by “Explicitly, whether publicly or internally, mak[ing] clear that the contents and implications of these videos are unsubstantiated, inappropriate, and harmful to department members and climate.”
And, as is common when a dissenter is attacked for having non-traditional views about race, gender, sexuality, or other sensitive topics, the letter writers want to make an example of Abbot for having the temerity to even question prevailing views about diversity. They want him censured in a way that makes clear to any other potential dissenters that there is a high professional cost to pay for errant behavior and intolerable speech. So, going forward, these thought police demand that the University “Implement accountability measures to address patterns of bigoted behaviour [sic] in both the department’s hiring/promotion/tenure process and teaching opportunities. For example, faculty who persistently engage in bigoted behaviour [sic] should be prevented from taking on teaching roles, new graduate students/post-docs/staff, and committee responsibilities.”
Universities have for decades now accepted as a given that diversity is a positive thing, that the pursuit of campuses that are inclusive and diverse is noble and beneficial—not only to those underrepresented individuals who benefit from affirmative action in recruitment, but also, it is alleged, to everyone else in the campus community.
That belief, of course, is what animates and drives the current compulsion of universities to create diverse and inclusive campuses, created by skewing admissions requirements for minority students in ways that let applicants with lower test scores and high schools be admitted at the expense of white and Asian applicants with higher grade point averages and SAT scores. While diverse and inclusive campuses have made universities like University of Chicago feel good about themselves for having formerly marginalized individuals being able to matriculate on their campuses, critics like professor Abbot have been alarmed that, in attempting to achieve diversity goals, universities have lowered the criteria for selecting faculty and students in order to insure that minority candidates can compete against their white and Asian counterparts.
Moreover, there are some unintended negative impacts on policies of diversity and inclusion on the very individuals those policies were designed to benefit. One of the unspoken realities of race preferences as a way of increasing minority enrollment is that when a student is accepted to a university absent the normal academic achievement expected of his white and Asian peers, he is often set up for failure. The naïve expectation is that students who are accepted to elite institutions without the requisite academic skills of the particular university will close the achieve gap between them and their fellow students once they have matriculated, and will eventually perform like their peers. But that expectation has frequently not been realized, so that black students who had originally decided to major in engineering or other STEM disciplines, for instance, find those areas too demanding in schools that are too challenging for them and end up changing majors to easier disciplines. This means fewer black students graduate in STEM areas and fewer still complete graduate work and become professors themselves in departments like professor Abbot’s. So in their zeal to find diverse candidates in a tiny pool of potential candidates, universities invariably have to choose minority candidates who, if academic merit and scholarly excellence alone were the criteria, would not have been viable choices in the first place.
What Professor Abbot was questioning is whether universities should even be in the business of reimagining society, or righting racial wrongs from within at the expense of academic excellence and to the detriment of more qualified white and Asian students and faculty. That is something that is certainly open for discussion and should not be forbidden speech, a thought crime, or something said by tendentious graduate students to be “threatening the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups” just by being articulated.
“What I am against is setting up systems,” Abbot wrote, “where group membership is a primary aspect of a candidate’s evaluation,” questioning both the motives and tactics of the diversity movement. It may be time to recognize it for the fraudulent solution it is and begin to let students and faculty be judged, to paraphrase Dr. King, by their character and intellectual makeup and not by the color of their skin.
John W. McWhorter, a black Columbia University linguist professor and author of Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America, thinks this would be a move in the right direction, that “a university culture truly committed to erasing the sins of the past would champion diversity in its true sense, infusing its discourse on race with a range of views wider than variations on victimhood. Since 1978, diversity has served as a flimsy and evasive perversion of justice. It has helped no one, least of all black students. It’s high time we swept it into the dustbin of history.”


Thought Criminal

The Deplorable Prof ’ s new novel is an Orwellian allegory for the coronavirus era .
Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow on Popular Culture for the David Horowitz Freedom Center .
The most compelling science fiction is that in which the core of the story is not the threat of hostile aliens or Death Stars , but the dangers posed by our own humanity .
Think of the tales of Philip K. Dick , for example , or those of Theodore Sturgeon , or of course , Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell .
Such is the case with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael Rectenwald , former New York University professor-turned-champion for academic freedom , and an expert on the intellectual history of the social justice movement .
In January of 2018 I interviewed Rectenwald for FrontPage Mag here about being outed as “ the Deplorable Prof , ” the man behind an anonymous Twitter account which he used to criticize the social justice ideology of his ( at the time ) fellow leftist academics .
Rectenwald went on to publish a book about the shunning and harassment directed at him by his colleagues and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Social Justice and its Postmodern Parentage from New English Review Press , which also published his subsequent books , Google Archipelago : The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom and Beyond Woke .
All are must-reads for understanding the totalitarian ideological currents of today ’ s Cancel Culture .
Rectenwald ’ s new novel is set in a near-future dystopia where personal robots keep constant surveillance and report any conversations or actions that reflect dissident thinking ; where Smart Cities track your every move ; where a massive , centralized database @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traditional higher education and made knowledge acquisition a matter of instant package downloads.
” The Collective Mind also threatens to regulate all thinking and obliterate individual identity .
Not simply “ a system of control imposed by an independent entity , ” Collective Mind is a system that is “ only possible when a collective became complicit in its own subjection and when the subjects imposed subjugation upon each other.
” Think on this in the context of the current state of America today , in which a disturbing number of the population @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mandates , and angrily shames those who do not comply .
As Thought Criminal opens , Cayce Varin , 48 , has lost his prestigious position as professor of the Theory of Mind and AI-Neuroscience at Transhuman University in Santa Cruz , Region of California , over an affair with a graduate assistant .
This very human transgression has also earned him a registration as a Thought Deviationist and Vaccine Resistor , and thus he is hauled in by robot law enforcement agents to the Essential Data complex , which houses the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Data is the primary site for treating obstinate cases of “ the virus , ” a technology which connects the neurotransmitters of the neocortex to Collective Mind in order to facilitate information flows between the two .
Varin is told that he needs to have the virus removed so that his thoughts can be “ corrected ” permanently .
According to the media ministry , or “ Mediastry , ” the virus had escaped a lab accidentally and deterred connectivity , but Varin has developed a theory that the virus had been released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biologicals ” as possible , for the purpose of connecting brains to Collective Mind .
He believes the mandatory vaccine is not designed to cure the virus , but to propagate it .
“ The vaccine ensures that Collective Mind dominates the ‘ thinking ’ of the Human Biological , ” Varin says .
At the risk of being designated a Terrorist and Conspiracist Against Collective Mind , the fugitive Varin undertakes a mission to infiltrate Essential Data and strike a blow for the sake of his individuality , and that of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The aim is the liberation of personal autonomy , “ the latitude of thought necessary for arriving at essential truths.
” Much of the novel echoes our own surreal “ new normal , ” in which petty tyrants in political office issue draconian lockdown orders and ridiculous , arbitrary social distancing guidelines .
For example , Varin notes that “ an order from the Governor of the Region of California made sitting or standing on dry beach sand illegal .
It was still legal to sit or stand on the wet sand , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reach wet sand without first passing through dry sand , so beachgoing was effectively banned.
” The media complex , too , in the novel mirrors our own propagandistic news media : “ They always mix a little truth with lies , just enough to retain a shred of credibility… But not too much .
It ’ s necessary that HBs [ Human Biologicals ] become ardent believers in lies .
Adherence to nonsense demonstrates more loyalty than acknowledgements of the truth .
Only true believers faithfully affirm nonsense.
” Rectenwald also addresses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ deterioration of knowledge and scholarship ” we are already witnessing in our alleged institutions of higher learning : Knowledge claims became increasingly tied to splintering social identity categories .
Tribal warfare , in which sheer social and political power based on moral considerations alone , such as which group had the right to be right , determined what passed for knowledge… A growing obsession with social identity infiltrated every field .
Even in the science and technology fields , social identity became the primary criterion for validity… Eventually , the very objects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This marked the end of Human Biological knowledge and the ascendance of the Transhuman .
Investigative journalist Ken Timmerman – author of Election Heist , Dark Forces and other books , and a frequent FrontPage Mag contributor – calls Thought Criminal “ the 1984 of the COVID era , where we can step back and view today ’ s America for what it is : a society infected not by a virus but by collective hysteria.
” I won ’ t give away whether , at the novel ’ s end , Cayce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Collective Mind or , like Nineteen Eighty-Four ’ s Winston Smith , learns to love it .
Suffice it to say that Michael Rectenwald packs a raft of thought-provoking ideas into a tense , short cautionary tale ( 190 pages ) that feels at once disturbingly familiar and nightmarishly surreal .

Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow on Popular Culture for the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
The most compelling science fiction is that in which the core of the story is not the threat of hostile aliens or Death Stars, but the dangers posed by our own humanity. Think of the tales of Philip K. Dick, for example, or those of Theodore Sturgeon, or of course, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Such is the case with the just-released new novel Thought Criminal by author Michael Rectenwald, former New York University professor-turned-champion for academic freedom, and an expert on the intellectual history of the social justice movement.
In January of 2018 I interviewed Rectenwald for FrontPage Mag here about being outed as “the Deplorable Prof,” the man behind an anonymous Twitter account which he used to criticize the social justice ideology of his (at the time) fellow leftist academics. Rectenwald went on to publish a book about the shunning and harassment directed at him by his colleagues and the NYU administration, titled Springtime for Snowflakes: Social Justice and its Postmodern Parentage from New English Review Press, which also published his subsequent books, Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom and Beyond Woke. All are must-reads for understanding the totalitarian ideological currents of today’s Cancel Culture.
Rectenwald’s new novel is set in a near-future dystopia where personal robots keep constant surveillance and report any conversations or actions that reflect dissident thinking; where Smart Cities track your every move; where a massive, centralized database known as Collective Mind “has outmoded traditional higher education and made knowledge acquisition a matter of instant package downloads.” The Collective Mind also threatens to regulate all thinking and obliterate individual identity.
Not simply “a system of control imposed by an independent entity,” Collective Mind is a system that is “only possible when a collective became complicit in its own subjection and when the subjects imposed subjugation upon each other.” Think on this in the context of the current state of America today, in which a disturbing number of the population eagerly complies with useless, authoritarian mask mandates, and angrily shames those who do not comply.
As Thought Criminal opens, Cayce Varin, 48, has lost his prestigious position as professor of the Theory of Mind and AI-Neuroscience at Transhuman University in Santa Cruz, Region of California, over an affair with a graduate assistant. This very human transgression has also earned him a registration as a Thought Deviationist and Vaccine Resistor, and thus he is hauled in by robot law enforcement agents to the Essential Data complex, which houses the most important processors of Collective Mind.
Essential Data is the primary site for treating obstinate cases of “the virus,” a technology which connects the neurotransmitters of the neocortex to Collective Mind in order to facilitate information flows between the two. Varin is told that he needs to have the virus removed so that his thoughts can be “corrected” permanently.
According to the media ministry, or “Mediastry,” the virus had escaped a lab accidentally and deterred connectivity, but Varin has developed a theory that the virus had been released intentionally to infect as many “Human Biologicals” as possible, for the purpose of connecting brains to Collective Mind. He believes the mandatory vaccine is not designed to cure the virus, but to propagate it. “The vaccine ensures that Collective Mind dominates the ‘thinking’ of the Human Biological,” Varin says.
At the risk of being designated a Terrorist and Conspiracist Against Collective Mind, the fugitive Varin undertakes a mission to infiltrate Essential Data and strike a blow for the sake of his individuality, and that of his small network of fellow “deviationists.” The aim is the liberation of personal autonomy, “the latitude of thought necessary for arriving at essential truths.”
Much of the novel echoes our own surreal “new normal,” in which petty tyrants in political office issue draconian lockdown orders and ridiculous, arbitrary social distancing guidelines. For example, Varin notes that “an order from the Governor of the Region of California made sitting or standing on dry beach sand illegal. It was still legal to sit or stand on the wet sand, but of course it was impossible to reach wet sand without first passing through dry sand, so beachgoing was effectively banned.”
The media complex, too, in the novel mirrors our own propagandistic news media: “They always mix a little truth with lies, just enough to retain a shred of credibility… But not too much. It’s necessary that HBs [Human Biologicals] become ardent believers in lies. Adherence to nonsense demonstrates more loyalty than acknowledgements of the truth. Only true believers faithfully affirm nonsense.”
Rectenwald also addresses the impact of identity politics on the “deterioration of knowledge and scholarship” we are already witnessing in our alleged institutions of higher learning:
Knowledge claims became increasingly tied to splintering social identity categories. Tribal warfare, in which sheer social and political power based on moral considerations alone, such as which group had the right to be right, determined what passed for knowledge… A growing obsession with social identity infiltrated every field. Even in the science and technology fields, social identity became the primary criterion for validity… Eventually, the very objects of knowledge were called into question. This marked the end of Human Biological knowledge and the ascendance of the Transhuman.
Investigative journalist Ken Timmerman – author of Election Heist, Dark Forces and other books, and a frequent FrontPage Mag contributor – calls Thought Criminal “the 1984 of the COVID era, where we can step back and view today’s America for what it is: a society infected not by a virus but by collective hysteria.” I won’t give away whether, at the novel’s end, Cayce Varin succeeds in freeing himself from the Collective Mind or, like Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Winston Smith, learns to love it. Suffice it to say that Michael Rectenwald packs a raft of thought-provoking ideas into a tense, short cautionary tale (190 pages) that feels at once disturbingly familiar and nightmarishly surreal.


thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--Houston Mom Living in Car With 3 Kids Because of Rat Infestation at Apartment

A North Houston woman is now living out of her truck with her three children all under the age of 10 .
Pamela Hernandez tells FOX 26 , she doesn ’ t feel safe living in her apartment due to a rat infestation .
`` This was supposed to be our home , this wasn ’ t supposed to happen to my kids like this again , '' said Hernandez .
`` To live in a home that is unsafe , they ’ ve gone through so much this year so much . ''
Hernandez , who lives at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out to FOX 26 , saying her apartment is infested with big wood rats and the leasing office is doing nothing about it .
FOR THE LATEST NEWS & WEATHER UPDATES DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 APPS She says she ’ s even contacted their corporate office .
`` It ’ s a joke to them , '' said Hernandez .
FOX 26 spoke with one of the leasing managers on Tuesday .
They tell us they are aware of the issue and are currently working on it .
The manager said they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they also brought in an exterminator .
But Hernandez says no one came by .
“ It 's not like I ’ m not paying my rent for my problems not to be fixed or to be treated like I ’ m not humane or be dehumanized , ” said Hernandez .
For now , Hernandez says she is paying rent for an apartment she no longer feels that she can live out of .
She has turned to living in her car with her three young children .
She adds the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` It ’ s not fair to them , we ca n't live here .
We ca n't , '' said Hernandez .
Hernandez said she moved down from Oklahoma after escaping a violent relationship .
And then she turned her life around , she was hoping that this was going to be their fresh start .
Chris Tritico , FOX 26 ’ s senior legal analyst , said per Texas property code , this is a habitability issue and Hernandez could have a good case for breaking her lease .
FOX 26 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leasing office about this issue .
SIGN UP FOR THE FOX 26 NEWSLETTER

A North Houston woman is now living out of her truck with her three children all under the age of 10.
Pamela Hernandez tells FOX 26, she doesn’t feel safe living in her apartment due to a rat infestation.
"This was supposed to be our home, this wasn’t supposed to happen to my kids like this again," said Hernandez. "To live in a home that is unsafe, they’ve gone through so much this year so much."
Hernandez, who lives at the Bayou Oak Apartment in North Houston reached out to FOX 26, saying her apartment is infested with big wood rats and the leasing office is doing nothing about it.
FOR THE LATEST NEWS & WEATHER UPDATES DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 APPS
She says she’s even contacted their corporate office.
"It’s a joke to them," said Hernandez.
FOX 26 spoke with one of the leasing managers on Tuesday. They tell us they are aware of the issue and are currently working on it.
The manager said they have handed out mouse traps and poison and that they also brought in an exterminator.
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But Hernandez says no one came by.
“It's not like I’m not paying my rent for my problems not to be fixed or to be treated like I’m not humane or be dehumanized,” said Hernandez.
For now, Hernandez says she is paying rent for an apartment she no longer feels that she can live out of.
She has turned to living in her car with her three young children. She adds the children are terrified of the rats.
"It’s not fair to them, we can't live here. We can't," said Hernandez.
Hernandez said she moved down from Oklahoma after escaping a violent relationship.
And then she turned her life around, she was hoping that this was going to be their fresh start.
Chris Tritico, FOX 26’s senior legal analyst, said per Texas property code, this is a habitability issue and Hernandez could have a good case for breaking her lease.
FOX 26 has not received a statement from the leasing office about this issue.
SIGN UP FOR THE FOX 26 NEWSLETTER


thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--Houston Independent School District Says 42% of Students Failed at Least One Class During First Grad

Houston Independent School District Says 42% of Students Failed at Least One Class During First Grading Period

Houston ISD says 42 % of students failed one or more classes during the first few weeks of virtual learning .
HISD 's first grading period included six weeks of 100 % virtual learning , due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The district released the information Tuesday as schools prepare to wrap up their second grading period .
Michelle Williams , a teacher at Kashmere High School says 42 % of kids failing may sound alarming , but she doesn ’ t believe the number is too far off from years past .
`` A lot of our kids are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic hit a lot of those structures and supports were taken away .
I 'm not surprised that that is happening .
And I can almost guarantee you that a lot of them are coming from kids at schools they struggle anyway .
So when you dig down into the numbers , disaggregate it , and break it up by school , it would n't be alarming .
I can almost guarantee that , '' said Williams .
Williams also serves in leadership at a local teacher 's union .
Williams soundly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the change to virtual learning are the ones who come from struggling families .
She proposes having more flexibility in when kids can learn .
`` Especially at our high school , I have cases where students are working and a lot of kids are helping out at home because a lot of our kids , their parents may have worked at restaurants and are not bringing in the same type of income that they were .
And I think that 's where our school district needs to get creative and help kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to create creative solutions for these students that fit their needs , because that 's the only way that they 're going to be successful , '' Williams said .
Currently , the district says 59 % of students have chosen to remain learning virtually , and 41 % have chosen to return to in-person learning .

Houston ISD says 42% of students failed one or more classes during the first few weeks of virtual learning.
HISD's first grading period included six weeks of 100% virtual learning, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district released the information Tuesday as schools prepare to wrap up their second grading period.
Michelle Williams, a teacher at Kashmere High School says 42% of kids failing may sound alarming, but she doesn’t believe the number is too far off from years past.
"A lot of our kids are below grade level anyway, so when the pandemic hit a lot of those structures and supports were taken away. I'm not surprised that that is happening. And I can almost guarantee you that a lot of them are coming from kids at schools they struggle anyway. So when you dig down into the numbers, disaggregate it, and break it up by school, it wouldn't be alarming. I can almost guarantee that," said Williams.
Williams also serves in leadership at a local teacher's union.
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Williams soundly believes the kids most disproportionately affected by the change to virtual learning are the ones who come from struggling families.
She proposes having more flexibility in when kids can learn.
"Especially at our high school, I have cases where students are working and a lot of kids are helping out at home because a lot of our kids, their parents may have worked at restaurants and are not bringing in the same type of income that they were. And I think that's where our school district needs to get creative and help kids be successful meaning night school. We need to create creative solutions for these students that fit their needs, because that's the only way that they're going to be successful," Williams said.
HISD returned to in-person instruction on October 19.
Currently, the district says 59% of students have chosen to remain learning virtually, and 41% have chosen to return to in-person learning.
Featured article
Houston ISD released this statement following our report:
"During the 2020-2021 school year, 42-percent of students received one or more Fs in the first grading period of the year which was 6 weeks in length and was 100-percent virtual.
During the 2019-2020 school year, 26-percent of students received one or more Fs in the first grading period of the year which was 9 weeks in length and 100-percent in-person instruction.
The most notable difference between last year and this year is the virtual education component implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person instruction is the preferred method as it typically produces a better educational outcome.
HISD resumed in-person instruction Oct. 19, 2020. It is up to parents to decide if their children should return for face-to-face instruction or continue learning virtually at home. The district is prepared to accommodate all virtual instruction students wishing to return to campuses as long as CDC, local and state health authorities, and HISD’s Communicable Disease Plan guidelines are followed.
To digitally support virtual students, HISD has provided 111,000 devices and 38,700 hotspots for those who did not have the proper equipment for remote instruction. All students who have requested a device have been provided one.
Campus leaders and teachers are monitoring student progress, including failures, especially among students who continue to learn virtually. They are also reaching out to families to address individual issues. Teachers are providing support during small group instruction, meeting with students individually during their office hours, and holding parent meetings to discuss options.
Additionally, to support students who are facing academic challenges, interventions are in place during the school day. Academic enrichment days were offered prior to the start of the school year and continue to be offered during each vacation period such as Thanksgiving, Winter Break and Spring Break. Also, high school students can attend virtual online classes for credit recovery."


Et tu, Barr?

The noise rises around us like a polluted tide , slinging ocean trash and tangled seaweed into us .
It probably won ’ t get better in the next couple of weeks .
If ever there were a situation for keeping our mouths shut – that gross stuff coming at us in waves doesn ’ t need more ways to get in .
Here ’ s what I recommend : that we listen with our ears , and not our preconceptions .
The big news Tuesday was that Attorney General Bill Barr said the following in an interview with AP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.
” That seemed like a painful betrayal to many who were hoping Barr ’ s silence up to now has meant he ’ s working away on the evidence referred to the Justice Department by the Trump legal team .
It ’ s not that people expected Barr to have all the answers by now .
It ’ s more that they don ’ t see why he would make this seemingly unnecessary , discouraging , indeed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back promptly with counterbattery ( from a press release by Rudy Giuliani , via Sara Carter ) : “ With all due respect to the Attorney General , there hasn ’ t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation .
We have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states , which they have not examined .
We have many witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud .
As far as we know , not a single one has been interviewed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also hasn ’ t audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth.
” Trending : Schumer demands Senate confirm Biden cabinet picks right after Ga. runoffs : Just one problem All of which is true .
Of course , the mainstream media are going to emphasize what Barr said .
But in the spirit of listening with our ears , I ’ d like to suggest pondering what Barr did not say .
For some reason – and you tell me – Barr didn ’ t say the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ordinary , usual , natural thing to say in a situation like this one .
He didn ’ t say , “ It ’ s too early to comment .
We ’ re still looking at it , and I can ’ t give you a read on that yet .
I ’ ll let you know when we have something we can share.
” Why didn ’ t he just say that ?
I ’ ll put this out there .
He reportedly spent over two hours in a meeting in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is being interpreted as perhaps a rebuking or discipline session in the Oval Office , since it followed the release of the AP interview very closely .
Personally , however , I doubt that Barr made his “ we have not seen fraud ” comment based on an intensively argued difference of opinion with the White House .
In that case , and especially in the absence of any indicators that Barr is charging off in a separate direction , it would have been too easy and obvious to simply give a standard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud issue .
You ’ ll have to decide the “ why ” of that for yourself .
In context , meanwhile , the comment was paired with the disclosure on Tuesday that Barr appointed John Durham , his Spygate investigator , as a special counsel – back in October .
The media have focused on one aspect of this : that it makes Durham hard to fire for a new administration .
But the appointment was made in October .
That was before the election .
The appointment wasn ’ t based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming in .
There ’ s something else it achieves , however , and that ’ s independence for Durham in filing indictments in federal court .
As a special counsel , he doesn ’ t have to refer them to another U.S. Attorney for action .
He can do it himself .
I haven ’ t by any means catalogued all the bustling activity of the Trump administration since 3 November , but there ’ s been a fairly substantial amount .
An article at Defense One on Tuesday is just one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of movement out of such a dead cat .
To my eye , the Trump administration is acting like an administration that expects to still be there after 20 January .
It ’ s what the administration anticipates between now and then that we can ’ t see clearly .
I have zero stake in any of the clue-driven scenarios out there , and won ’ t mention them here .
Readers are free to pursue the ones that interest them .
My concern is making sense of the mainstream information we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be more on this , but I see options and possibilities , enough to make it far from foolish for the Trump administration to imagine still being there in 2021 .

CNN video via CBS, YouTube
The noise rises around us like a polluted tide, slinging ocean trash and tangled seaweed into us. It probably won’t get better in the next couple of weeks. If ever there were a situation for keeping our mouths shut – that gross stuff coming at us in waves doesn’t need more ways to get in.
Here’s what I recommend: that we listen with our ears, and not our preconceptions. The big news Tuesday was that Attorney General Bill Barr said the following in an interview with AP: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”
That seemed like a painful betrayal to many who were hoping Barr’s silence up to now has meant he’s working away on the evidence referred to the Justice Department by the Trump legal team. It’s not that people expected Barr to have all the answers by now. It’s more that they don’t see why he would make this seemingly unnecessary, discouraging, indeed prejudicial statement.
The Trump team came back promptly with counterbattery (from a press release by Rudy Giuliani, via Sara Carter): “With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation. We have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined. We have many witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud. As far as we know, not a single one has been interviewed by the DOJ. The Justice Department also hasn’t audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth.”
All of which is true. Of course, the mainstream media are going to emphasize what Barr said. But in the spirit of listening with our ears, I’d like to suggest pondering what Barr did not say.
For some reason – and you tell me – Barr didn’t say the most normal, typical, common, ordinary, usual, natural thing to say in a situation like this one.
He didn’t say, “It’s too early to comment. We’re still looking at it, and I can’t give you a read on that yet. I’ll let you know when we have something we can share.”
Why didn’t he just say that? I’ll put this out there. He reportedly spent over two hours in a meeting in the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
Pool report: Attorney General Barr left the WH at 5:07 p.m. He had entered at 2:42 p.m. That’s a long meeting — Sam Stein (@samstein) December 1, 2020
This is being interpreted as perhaps a rebuking or discipline session in the Oval Office, since it followed the release of the AP interview very closely. Personally, however, I doubt that Barr made his “we have not seen fraud” comment based on an intensively argued difference of opinion with the White House. In that case, and especially in the absence of any indicators that Barr is charging off in a separate direction, it would have been too easy and obvious to simply give a standard, noncommittal response to AP on the fraud issue.
You’ll have to decide the “why” of that for yourself. In context, meanwhile, the comment was paired with the disclosure on Tuesday that Barr appointed John Durham, his Spygate investigator, as a special counsel – back in October.
The media have focused on one aspect of this: that it makes Durham hard to fire for a new administration.
But the appointment was made in October. That was before the election. The appointment wasn’t based on any assumptions about a new administration coming in.
There’s something else it achieves, however, and that’s independence for Durham in filing indictments in federal court. As a special counsel, he doesn’t have to refer them to another U.S. Attorney for action. He can do it himself.
I haven’t by any means catalogued all the bustling activity of the Trump administration since 3 November, but there’s been a fairly substantial amount. An article at Defense One on Tuesday is just one example: there’s an awful lot of movement out of such a dead cat. To my eye, the Trump administration is acting like an administration that expects to still be there after 20 January.
It’s what the administration anticipates between now and then that we can’t see clearly. I have zero stake in any of the clue-driven scenarios out there, and won’t mention them here. Readers are free to pursue the ones that interest them. My concern is making sense of the mainstream information we have to work with. There will be more on this, but I see options and possibilities, enough to make it far from foolish for the Trump administration to imagine still being there in 2021.


thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--Fox’s Anti-Christian Drama Ends as It Began: ‘Offending Viewers of Faith en Masse’

After a 10 episode run , Fox ’ s Filthy Rich is finally over .
The show was canceled late last month due to low ratings .
It seems viewers weren ’ t too keen on the offensive portrayal of Christians , week after week , centered around one televangelist family , the Monreauxs , with Margaret ( Kim Cattrall ) the matriarch running the show .
Minutes into the first episode , the philandering patriarch , Eugene Monreaux ( Gerald McRaney ) , is believed to be dead following a plane crash .
Eugene has not only fathered two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each with a different woman , as she comes to find out .
He ’ s also very much alive , unbeknownst to the family , with viewers believing this brush with death means he ’ ll make amends .
As tiring as the drama quickly became , it was all leading up to the finale , the November 30 episode “ 1 Corinthians 3:13.
” When Margaret asks upon their reunion , “ Where the hell have you been ?
” Eugene claims , “ God sent me on a spiritual quest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home.
” Once the major players are all in the same room , Eugene ’ s true colors are revealed .
He is still the same , illustrated in part by fathering his daughter-in-law ’ s child : Margaret : Was any of it ever love ?
Eugene : Of course , it was .
You were my jewel , but we ... We were a love built on blood and treasure .
Margaret : If you do n't want our business , then why are you here ?
Eugene : I made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eric 's eyes , and I saved him from a life of corruption .
I saved Antonio 's son from the clutches of a madman .
I breathed life into Jason .
But I have failed my girls .
Now , I wanted to walk Rose down the aisle , but I 'm too late .
I tried to make a new life for Ginger , a life she thought she wanted , but she is more like you than either of you are willing to admit .
And I realized there was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , my ownership stake in Monreaux Unlimited .
Ginger : No , I did n't ask him , Margaret .
I swear .
Eugene : But it is what you wanted , darling , more than anything .
And so now you will have to seek salvation on your own .
It 's your turn to be tested by God .
Eugene : No , I am clear .
God saved me so that I may do right by all six of my children .
Becky : Eugene ?
You came back for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ led me home .
Eugene : No .
I am just a humble sinner , a humble sinner born again .
Once Eugene leaves with his daughter-in-law , Becky ( Olivia Macklin ) , and their infant daughter , Margaret orders everyone out and burns down the home rather than let Eugene return .
The series ends , then , right where it began , with the Monreaux mansion on fire .
Eugene is not the only wicked man , far from it .
A major theme is how terrible men who present @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are .
There are the `` uncles '' who want to stake their claim on the Monreaux ’ s Sunshine Network .
At least one of them , who is running for governor , is a customer of pornographic websites run by Ginger .
Margaret 's son Eric also uses the site , and falls in love with one of the performers despite being married to Becky .
In reality , Becky has also had a sexual relationship with Ginger , in addition to conceiving a child with Eugene .
The child Eric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s husband , is actually his baby sister .
What was creator Tate Taylor trying to get at here with this mess of morally abhorrent characters ?
It was “ the real version ” of the South , which “ for all of its flaws , is complex , multidimensional and often contradictory , ” as reported in a nola.com piece featuring Taylor .
It ’ s fitting , then , that the last lines of the series would be “ You let the old south burn ” and “ So something new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually supposed to not be offensive : While there ’ s a delicate balance to strike there , there ’ s universal confidence from the cast that the show manages to find it , exploring themes of greed and corruption in a religious context but without offending viewers of faith en masse .
“ I don ’ t want to make fun of the South .
I don ’ t want to make fun of faith , ” said co-star Steve Harris , a Chicago native who was raised in both the Baptist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not what ( the show is ) about .
You can actually delve into it , and the people who are really involved can laugh with you as opposed to having them think you ’ re laughing at them or think we ’ re making some sort of mockery of it.
” The show ’ s creators certainly missed the mark on not “ offending viewers of faith en masse.
” We ’ re glad it ’ s finally over .
The program had many repeat offender sponsors through the series .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with two ads ; Downy ; Colgate with two ads ; Kohl ’ s ; Old Navy ; Verizon with two ads ; Discover , Pampers ; Starbucks ; and Humira .

After a 10 episode run, Fox’s Filthy Rich is finally over. The show was canceled late last month due to low ratings. It seems viewers weren’t too keen on the offensive portrayal of Christians, week after week, centered around one televangelist family, the Monreauxs, with Margaret (Kim Cattrall) the matriarch running the show.
Minutes into the first episode, the philandering patriarch, Eugene Monreaux (Gerald McRaney), is believed to be dead following a plane crash. Eugene has not only fathered two children with Margaret, but three others each with a different woman, as she comes to find out. He’s also very much alive, unbeknownst to the family, with viewers believing this brush with death means he’ll make amends.
As tiring as the drama quickly became, it was all leading up to the finale, the November 30 episode “1 Corinthians 3:13.”
When Margaret asks upon their reunion, “Where the hell have you been?” Eugene claims, “God sent me on a spiritual quest, a crooked path that led me home.”
Once the major players are all in the same room, Eugene’s true colors are revealed. He is still the same, illustrated in part by fathering his daughter-in-law’s child:
Margaret: Was any of it ever love? Eugene: Of course, it was. You were my jewel, but we... We were a love built on blood and treasure. Margaret: If you don't want our business, then why are you here? Eugene: I made amends to my sons. I opened Eric's eyes, and I saved him from a life of corruption. I saved Antonio's son from the clutches of a madman. I breathed life into Jason. But I have failed my girls. Now, I wanted to walk Rose down the aisle, but I'm too late. I tried to make a new life for Ginger, a life she thought she wanted, but she is more like you than either of you are willing to admit. And I realized there was only one thing that would satisfy her, my ownership stake in Monreaux Unlimited. Ginger: No, I didn't ask him, Margaret. I swear. Eugene: But it is what you wanted, darling, more than anything. And so now you will have to seek salvation on your own. It's your turn to be tested by God. Margaret: You're insane. Eugene: No, I am clear. God saved me so that I may do right by all six of my children. Margaret: Six? Ginger: Six? Becky: Eugene? You came back for us. Margaret: I was just a child. Eugene: My child has led me home. Margaret: You are a monster. Eugene: No. I am just a humble sinner, a humble sinner born again.
Once Eugene leaves with his daughter-in-law, Becky (Olivia Macklin), and their infant daughter, Margaret orders everyone out and burns down the home rather than let Eugene return. The series ends, then, right where it began, with the Monreaux mansion on fire.
Eugene is not the only wicked man, far from it. A major theme is how terrible men who present themselves as good, Christian men really are. There are the "uncles" who want to stake their claim on the Monreaux’s Sunshine Network. At least one of them, who is running for governor, is a customer of pornographic websites run by Ginger. Margaret's son Eric also uses the site, and falls in love with one of the performers despite being married to Becky. In reality, Becky has also had a sexual relationship with Ginger, in addition to conceiving a child with Eugene. The child Eric thought he fathered, as Becky’s husband, is actually his baby sister.
What was creator Tate Taylor trying to get at here with this mess of morally abhorrent characters? It was “the real version” of the South, which “for all of its flaws, is complex, multidimensional and often contradictory,” as reported in a nola.com piece featuring Taylor. It’s fitting, then, that the last lines of the series would be “You let the old south burn” and “So something new can rise.”
Yet the show was actually supposed to not be offensive:
While there’s a delicate balance to strike there, there’s universal confidence from the cast that the show manages to find it, exploring themes of greed and corruption in a religious context but without offending viewers of faith en masse. “I don’t want to make fun of the South. I don’t want to make fun of faith,” said co-star Steve Harris, a Chicago native who was raised in both the Baptist and Catholic traditions. “That’s not what (the show is) about. You can actually delve into it, and the people who are really involved can laugh with you as opposed to having them think you’re laughing at them or think we’re making some sort of mockery of it.”
The show’s creators certainly missed the mark on not “offending viewers of faith en masse.” We’re glad it’s finally over.
The program had many repeat offender sponsors through the series. Ads this episode included L’Oreal with two ads; Downy; Colgate with two ads; Kohl’s; Old Navy; Verizon with two ads; Discover, Pampers; Starbucks; and Humira.


thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--The Fake News Media Stole the 2020 Election Before a Single Vote Was Cast

The impact of the media 's mass manipulation .
The media stole the 2020 presidential election , plain and simple .
They did it over the course of four years by creating a caricature of Donald Trump and convincing voters that to save the country and the planet , his defeat was imperative .
They persuaded millions of voters that the president who had turned the economy into a job-creating engine , made us energy independent , secured the borders , transformed an activist judiciary , and returned sanity to American foreign policy , was a monster -- a racist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a bungling foreign-policy loner , and an anti-science know-nothing .
I ’ ve been following media coverage of campaigns since Goldwater .
I worked in a newsroom for 19 years .
In terms of bias , I thought I ’ d seen it all .
I was wrong .
Media assaults on Trump were wall-to-wall bias , 24/7 , bias on steroids .
A survey by the Media Research Center found that between June 1 and July 31 , coverage of Trump by the networks was 95 % negative , while coverage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The mainstream media had lies for all occasions .
There was Trump the bigot ( who supposedly praised neo-Confederates and inflamed racial tensions ) , Trump the Russian agent , Trump who refused to take the Coronavirus seriously ( who called it a hoax ) while 260,000 died , and Trump who refused to provide relief to the unemployed and businesses going under to punish Democrat cities and states .
All were lies , but ( following Goebel ’ s much-quoted adage ) , accepted as truth by a segment of the electorate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Republican cause this year .
• Trump the bigot – It started during the 2016 campaign , when he said murderers and rapists were coming across our southern border .
Nonsense !
They were Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls .
It continued with the lie ( that ’ s now become entrenched ) that Trump said there were “ good people ” among the white supremacists in Charlottesville .
The media took his comment that there were good people on both sides of the argument over removing Confederate monuments , and turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And he ’ s yet to issue a commemorative stamp for George Floyd .
• Trump who exploits racial tensions for political gain –In the face of rioting , looting and burning that Democrat mayors refused to lift a finger to stop , Trump urged elected officials to act against urban anarchy .
And what should he have done – acted like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler who thought the riots would burn themselves out , like Joe Biden who ignored the whole thing for the first three months , like the media call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian agent – It started when Trump refused to get hysterical over Putin ’ s interference in the 2016 election .
Was Trump an agent of Putin or was Putin an agent of Trump ?
In fact , Moscow tried to spread confusion to discredit democracy .
The idea that Moscow favored Trump because it wanted an America that was energy-independent and strong militarily is absurd on its face .
• Trump who refused to take the Coronavirus seriously until it was too late – When Trump ordered a travel ban on China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Pelosi – who lives in a beauty parlor Neverland with her $ 13-a-pint ice cream – urged people to party in San Francisco ’ s Chinatown .
We ’ re now weeks away from a COVID vaccine thanks to Trump and Operation Warp Speed .
Democrats did with the contagion what they accused the president of doing with the riots – exploited it to the max for political advantage .
If the election had gone on much longer , the media would have found a way to blame Orange Man for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to aid COVID victims – Trump delivered a number of stimulus packages .
Pelosi held the latest hostage to a federal bailout of the state and municipal sinkholes Democrats dominate .
The left always finds a way to force taxpayers to subsidize its stupidity .
• Trump whose go-it-alone foreign policy made us the laughingstock of the international community – Of course the international community loathed him .
They missed Uncle Sucker , who footed the bill and asked no questions , who paid for the defense of our grasshopper European allies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shat on our friends .
By throwing away the rule book , POTUS brokered Middle East peace deals once thought impossible .
• Trump : The President who would be king – Because the president is fighting for election integrity – in the face of irrefutable evidence of massive fraud – he ’ s an incipient dictator who will never leave the White House , they tell us .
Next to the grave of Trump ’ s achievements buried by the media , is the plot where Biden scandals were interred : Tara @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Joe and Son ’ s foreign cash machine , the reality of the Vice President ’ s increasingly pronounced mental decline ( claiming 150 million dead from gun violence since 2007 , another 120 million felled by COVID-19 ) and bizarre behavior .
What was the impact of this massive media manipulation ?
A survey by The Polling Company showed that if they ’ d been aware of the Hunter Biden/Big Guy scandal , 9.4 % who voted for the Vice President would have switched , giving Trump all six swing states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voted not for a Swamp creature who ’ d been around for eternity but against a candidate who never existed ?
On a level playing field , there ’ s no way the Incredible Hack could have defeated Captain America .

The media stole the 2020 presidential election, plain and simple. They did it over the course of four years by creating a caricature of Donald Trump and convincing voters that to save the country and the planet, his defeat was imperative.
They persuaded millions of voters that the president who had turned the economy into a job-creating engine, made us energy independent, secured the borders, transformed an activist judiciary, and returned sanity to American foreign policy, was a monster — a racist megalomaniac, an enemy of the environment, a bungling foreign-policy loner, and an anti-science know-nothing.
I’ve been following media coverage of campaigns since Goldwater. I worked in a newsroom for 19 years. In terms of bias, I thought I’d seen it all. I was wrong. Media assaults on Trump were wall-to-wall bias, 24/7, bias on steroids.
A survey by the Media Research Center found that between June 1 and July 31, coverage of Trump by the networks was 95% negative, while coverage of Biden was 67% positive.
The mainstream media had lies for all occasions. There was Trump the bigot (who supposedly praised neo-Confederates and inflamed racial tensions), Trump the Russian agent, Trump who refused to take the Coronavirus seriously (who called it a hoax) while 260,000 died, and Trump who refused to provide relief to the unemployed and businesses going under to punish Democrat cities and states.
All were lies, but (following Goebel’s much-quoted adage), accepted as truth by a segment of the electorate which otherwise would have been sympathetic to the Republican cause this year.
Trump the bigot – It started during the 2016 campaign, when he said murderers and rapists were coming across our southern border. Nonsense! They were Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls. It continued with the lie (that’s now become entrenched) that Trump said there were “good people” among the white supremacists in Charlottesville. The media took his comment that there were good people on both sides of the argument over removing Confederate monuments, and turned it into an endorsement of cross-burning. And he’s yet to issue a commemorative stamp for George Floyd.
– It started during the 2016 campaign, when he said murderers and rapists were coming across our southern border. Nonsense! They were Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls. It continued with the lie (that’s now become entrenched) that Trump said there were “good people” among the white supremacists in Charlottesville. The media took his comment that there were good people on both sides of the argument over removing Confederate monuments, and turned it into an endorsement of cross-burning. And he’s yet to issue a commemorative stamp for George Floyd. Trump who exploits racial tensions for political gain –In the face of rioting, looting and burning that Democrat mayors refused to lift a finger to stop, Trump urged elected officials to act against urban anarchy. And what should he have done – acted like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler who thought the riots would burn themselves out, like Joe Biden who ignored the whole thing for the first three months, like the media call bloodshed peaceful protests?
–In the face of rioting, looting and burning that Democrat mayors refused to lift a finger to stop, Trump urged elected officials to act against urban anarchy. And what should he have done – acted like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler who thought the riots would burn themselves out, like Joe Biden who ignored the whole thing for the first three months, like the media call bloodshed peaceful protests? Trump the Russian agent – It started when Trump refused to get hysterical over Putin’s interference in the 2016 election. Was Trump an agent of Putin or was Putin an agent of Trump? In fact, Moscow tried to spread confusion to discredit democracy. The idea that Moscow favored Trump because it wanted an America that was energy-independent and strong militarily is absurd on its face.
– It started when Trump refused to get hysterical over Putin’s interference in the 2016 election. Was Trump an agent of Putin or was Putin an agent of Trump? In fact, Moscow tried to spread confusion to discredit democracy. The idea that Moscow favored Trump because it wanted an America that was energy-independent and strong militarily is absurd on its face. Trump who refused to take the Coronavirus seriously until it was too late – When Trump ordered a travel ban on China, Democrats said it was racist, and Pelosi – who lives in a beauty parlor Neverland with her $13-a-pint ice cream – urged people to party in San Francisco’s Chinatown . We’re now weeks away from a COVID vaccine thanks to Trump and Operation Warp Speed. Democrats did with the contagion what they accused the president of doing with the riots – exploited it to the max for political advantage. If the election had gone on much longer, the media would have found a way to blame Orange Man for the common cold.
– When Trump ordered a travel ban on China, Democrats said it was racist, and Pelosi – who lives in a beauty parlor Neverland with her $13-a-pint ice cream – urged people to party in San Francisco’s Chinatown We’re now weeks away from a COVID vaccine thanks to Trump and Operation Warp Speed. Democrats did with the contagion what they accused the president of doing with the riots – exploited it to the max for political advantage. If the election had gone on much longer, the media would have found a way to blame Orange Man for the common cold. Trump who refused to aid COVID victims – Trump delivered a number of stimulus packages. Pelosi held the latest hostage to a federal bailout of the state and municipal sinkholes Democrats dominate. The left always finds a way to force taxpayers to subsidize its stupidity.
– Trump delivered a number of stimulus packages. Pelosi held the latest hostage to a federal bailout of the state and municipal sinkholes Democrats dominate. The left always finds a way to force taxpayers to subsidize its stupidity. Trump whose go-it-alone foreign policy made us the laughingstock of the international community – Of course the international community loathed him. They missed Uncle Sucker, who footed the bill and asked no questions, who paid for the defense of our grasshopper European allies, who made nice with our enemies and shat on our friends. By throwing away the rule book, POTUS brokered Middle East peace deals once thought impossible.
Of course the international community loathed him. They missed Uncle Sucker, who footed the bill and asked no questions, who paid for the defense of our grasshopper European allies, who made nice with our enemies and shat on our friends. By throwing away the rule book, POTUS brokered Middle East peace deals once thought impossible. Trump: The President who would be king – Because the president is fighting for election integrity – in the face of irrefutable evidence of massive fraud – he’s an incipient dictator who will never leave the White House, they tell us.
Next to the grave of Trump’s achievements buried by the media, is the plot where Biden scandals were interred: Tara Reade’s accusation of sexual assault, Joe and Son’s foreign cash machine, the reality of the Vice President’s increasingly pronounced mental decline (claiming 150 million dead from gun violence since 2007, another 120 million felled by COVID-19) and bizarre behavior.
What was the impact of this massive media manipulation? A survey by The Polling Company showed that if they’d been aware of the Hunter Biden/Big Guy scandal, 9.4% who voted for the Vice President would have switched, giving Trump all six swing states and the election.
How many suburbanites voted not for a Swamp creature who’d been around for eternity but against a candidate who never existed?
On a level playing field, there’s no way the Incredible Hack could have defeated Captain America.


thelibertydaily--2020-12-02--A Visit to Dubai Shows the Enduring Power of President Trump’s Peacemaking

Shillman Fellows open a new front in the fight against terror and BDS on campuses .
Daniel Greenfield , a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center , is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism .
While the Biden campaign was announcing a slate of radicals sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood to stack its foreign policy desk if it ever takes over the government , a very different sort of trip was underway in the middle east that clarified how wrong and dangerous they were .
In an event that would have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fellows of Reservists on Duty , an organization founded by Israeli military veterans that tours college campuses to speak about the realities of fighting terrorism , were on their way to Dubai .
Dubai , as part of the United Arab Emirates , had formerly banned Israeli travelers , but was now welcoming them in as part of the Abraham Accords overseen by the Trump administration .
Amit Deri , the executive director of Reservists on Duty , who had served in command and combat positions , and is a major in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a way to push back against the hatred he was seeing from the BDS movement .
Now , even as support for BDS hate is growing in America and Europe , Amit and his fellow Reservists on Duty were on their way to one of the countries that had been boycotting the Jewish State for generations .
Reservists on Duty had been set up with the generous support of Dr. Robert Shillman to fight the good fight on college campuses , but now its Shillman Fellows were bound to where few Israelis had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been impossible before President Trump .
“ This is all part of a coalition being built by President Trump with our countries , Israel and the Emirates to fight evil , ” Amit told me when I spoke with the executive director of Reservists on Duty over the phone after he had just returned from a whirlwind week in the UAE .
Hanging over the trip was the shadow of the election that had just taken place in the United States .
And yet even with the threat that the old contingent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be in charge by next year , restarting the flow of money to Iran and political support for the Muslim Brotherhood , neither the Israelis nor the Emiratis were abandoning the coalition .
Like Prime Minister Netanyahu ’ s trip to Saudi Arabia , it was a signal that the coalition against Iran that President Trump had built through the Abraham Accords was here to stay .
Reservists on Duty was the first Israeli social organization to arrive in Dubai and at first the locals didn ’ t quite know what to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had set out to create Reservists on Duty , he had wanted the organization to reflect the full spectrum of Israeli life .
Especially as members of the Israeli Defense Forces experience it during their military service .
The Shillman Fellows who arrived in Dubai were not just Jews , but included Arab Christians and Muslim Druze , reflecting a patriotic diversity that encompassed the public service of the nation .
And while a trip to Dubai might seem out of bounds for an organization that had been fighting misrepresentation of Israel in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expanding its duty .
Amit and the other Shillman Fellow were there to build connections with Emirati organizations and young people to spread the word about the threat of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood .
Reflecting the new spirit of change , they were met at the airport by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , and soon began reaching out and making connections .
Their welcome came even as Qatar , a terrorist state closely tied to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood , was in the headlines over forced vaginal searches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While Qatar was living up to its brutal reputation for repression , despite the propaganda broadcast by its state controlled Al Jazeera outlet , the UAE was opening its doors .
On his second day in Dubai , Amit Deri described seeing the Israeli flag being displayed openly and an enthusiastic welcome from locals when they learned that he was from the Jewish State .
In most countries in the region , and in many parts of Europe , wearing a yarmulke and other Jewish garments in public can result in harassment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comfortable .
One of the things that the Israelis and Emiratis had in common was thousands of miles away .
“ One hundred percent , they openly support Trump , ” Amit told me during our conversation .
“ Trump understands the language of the middle east , we all understand , both Israelis and Emiratis , that we have to thank President Trump because he was the one that pushed together with our leaders to make this coalition possible .
It ’ s Pompeo and Trump that made it happen.
” As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he found both uncertainty and determination .
“ Everybody ’ s waiting to see what comes tomorrow , ” he said .
“ Nobody knows what will be with America.
” A new Emirati acquaintance told him that , “ They , the people living in the middle east , will now have to take care of ourselves against Iran.
” In pursuit of that cause , Amit met with activists , academic people , bloggers , and students .
His goal was to touch base with Emirati organizations concerned about Iran .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ would expand the scope of Reservists on Duty to encompass the region .
The UAE was one of the first powers in the region to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat after Obama ’ s disastrous Arab Spring toppled governments and replaced them with terrorists .
And Amit mentioned that people in the UAE view Erdogan , the brutal tyrant ruling over Turkey , terrorizing his people and sending invasive migrants into Europe , as a major threat .
Some there dubbed the Turkish tyrant , the “ head of the snake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trip as a springboard for a new offensive on college campuses in America to counter the Muslim Brotherhood presence and the pro-Iran propaganda that has infested so many institutions that pretend to be progressive .
“ It ’ s a coalition for peace and going to fight evil , ” he said .
“ We the people can strengthen our ties to fight evil.
” As the region prepares for the possibility of a Washington D.C. administration that supports Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood , the Reservists on Duty visit ended with foreboding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because he shows strength , they felt someone was protecting the middle east from Iran in the region , ” he said .
But whatever happens next year , the people in the region are taking their own stand .
“ The great majority of Israelis felt very good about the last four years , ” Amit told Front Page Magazine .
After the Trump administration recognized the Golan Heights , where he lives , his house is , at least for now in the eyes of Washington D.C. officialdom , officially part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a dream for us , it was amazing for us , thinking about the future of my kids , ” he reflected on his trip .
Now he and the Shillman Fellows who accompanied him to Dubai plan to push back against BDS and the radicals who support terrorism on American campuses .
For Reservists on Duty , the battle for the hearts and minds of the free world continues .

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
While the Biden campaign was announcing a slate of radicals sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood to stack its foreign policy desk if it ever takes over the government, a very different sort of trip was underway in the middle east that clarified how wrong and dangerous they were.
In an event that would have been inconceivable under Barack Obama, the Shillman Fellows of Reservists on Duty, an organization founded by Israeli military veterans that tours college campuses to speak about the realities of fighting terrorism, were on their way to Dubai.
Dubai, as part of the United Arab Emirates, had formerly banned Israeli travelers, but was now welcoming them in as part of the Abraham Accords overseen by the Trump administration.
Amit Deri, the executive director of Reservists on Duty, who had served in command and combat positions, and is a major in the Israeli reserves, had been searching for a way to push back against the hatred he was seeing from the BDS movement. Now, even as support for BDS hate is growing in America and Europe, Amit and his fellow Reservists on Duty were on their way to one of the countries that had been boycotting the Jewish State for generations.
Reservists on Duty had been set up with the generous support of Dr. Robert Shillman to fight the good fight on college campuses, but now its Shillman Fellows were bound to where few Israelis had gone before in a flight that would have been impossible before President Trump.
“This is all part of a coalition being built by President Trump with our countries, Israel and the Emirates to fight evil,” Amit told me when I spoke with the executive director of Reservists on Duty over the phone after he had just returned from a whirlwind week in the UAE.
Hanging over the trip was the shadow of the election that had just taken place in the United States. And yet even with the threat that the old contingent of Obama and Clinton foreign policy people would be in charge by next year, restarting the flow of money to Iran and political support for the Muslim Brotherhood, neither the Israelis nor the Emiratis were abandoning the coalition.
Like Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trip to Saudi Arabia, it was a signal that the coalition against Iran that President Trump had built through the Abraham Accords was here to stay.
Reservists on Duty was the first Israeli social organization to arrive in Dubai and at first the locals didn’t quite know what to make of them. When Amit Deri had set out to create Reservists on Duty, he had wanted the organization to reflect the full spectrum of Israeli life. Especially as members of the Israeli Defense Forces experience it during their military service.
The Shillman Fellows who arrived in Dubai were not just Jews, but included Arab Christians and Muslim Druze, reflecting a patriotic diversity that encompassed the public service of the nation. And while a trip to Dubai might seem out of bounds for an organization that had been fighting misrepresentation of Israel in western countries, Reservists on Duty was expanding its duty.
Amit and the other Shillman Fellow were there to build connections with Emirati organizations and young people to spread the word about the threat of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Reflecting the new spirit of change, they were met at the airport by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and soon began reaching out and making connections. Their welcome came even as Qatar, a terrorist state closely tied to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, was in the headlines over forced vaginal searches of Australian and British tourists at gunpoint.
While Qatar was living up to its brutal reputation for repression, despite the propaganda broadcast by its state controlled Al Jazeera outlet, the UAE was opening its doors.
On his second day in Dubai, Amit Deri described seeing the Israeli flag being displayed openly and an enthusiastic welcome from locals when they learned that he was from the Jewish State. In most countries in the region, and in many parts of Europe, wearing a yarmulke and other Jewish garments in public can result in harassment and violent assault, but he felt comfortable.
One of the things that the Israelis and Emiratis had in common was thousands of miles away.
“One hundred percent, they openly support Trump,” Amit told me during our conversation. “Trump understands the language of the middle east, we all understand, both Israelis and Emiratis, that we have to thank President Trump because he was the one that pushed together with our leaders to make this coalition possible. It’s Pompeo and Trump that made it happen.”
As the struggle over the election continues, he found both uncertainty and determination.
“Everybody’s waiting to see what comes tomorrow,” he said. “Nobody knows what will be with America.”
A new Emirati acquaintance told him that, “They, the people living in the middle east, will now have to take care of ourselves against Iran.”
In pursuit of that cause, Amit met with activists, academic people, bloggers, and students. His goal was to touch base with Emirati organizations concerned about Iran. But he also has bigger plans that would expand the scope of Reservists on Duty to encompass the region.
The UAE was one of the first powers in the region to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat after Obama’s disastrous Arab Spring toppled governments and replaced them with terrorists. And Amit mentioned that people in the UAE view Erdogan, the brutal tyrant ruling over Turkey, terrorizing his people and sending invasive migrants into Europe, as a major threat.
Some there dubbed the Turkish tyrant, the “head of the snake”.
Amit envisions opening using his trip as a springboard for a new offensive on college campuses in America to counter the Muslim Brotherhood presence and the pro-Iran propaganda that has infested so many institutions that pretend to be progressive.
“It’s a coalition for peace and going to fight evil,” he said. “We the people can strengthen our ties to fight evil.”
As the region prepares for the possibility of a Washington D.C. administration that supports Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Reservists on Duty visit ended with foreboding and hope.
“They appreciate Trump because he shows strength, they felt someone was protecting the middle east from Iran in the region,” he said.
But whatever happens next year, the people in the region are taking their own stand.
“The great majority of Israelis felt very good about the last four years,” Amit told Front Page Magazine. After the Trump administration recognized the Golan Heights, where he lives, his house is, at least for now in the eyes of Washington D.C. officialdom, officially part of Israel.
“It was like a dream for us, it was amazing for us, thinking about the future of my kids,” he reflected on his trip.
Now he and the Shillman Fellows who accompanied him to Dubai plan to push back against BDS and the radicals who support terrorism on American campuses.
For Reservists on Duty, the battle for the hearts and minds of the free world continues.