Paul Craig Roberts paulcraigroberts.org January 18, 2021
For years I have been cataloging America’s decline into collapse, not merely economic collapse from economic concentration and the offshoring of jobs and investment, but also the collapse of the belief system that created some unity among a diverse population. Today not only is the economy done for, but so is the belief system that sustained social and political stability.
America no longer exists. A geographical entity exists of diverse peoples and interests, but not a country, much less a nation. The United States itself has degenerated into an empire. It is no longer simply a country with an empire. The 50 states are themselves the Establishment’s empire, and it can only be held together by force.
Earlier in my life free speech was used by liberals to legalize pornography, homosexual marriage, and abortion, all of which were opposed by the majority of the population. This did not stop liberals from imposing their agendas on the people.
In the course of human events there have always been those who deny or reject human freedom, but Americans will never falter in defending the fundamental truths of human liberty proclaimed on July 4, 1776. We will—we must—always hold these truths.
The declared purpose of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission is to “enable a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776 and to strive to form a more perfect Union.” This requires a restoration of American education, which can only be grounded on a history of those principles that is “accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling.” And a rediscovery of our shared identity rooted in our founding principles is the path to a renewed American unity and a confident American future.
A media company that employs right wing talk-radio hosts, including Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and Dan Bongino, circulated a memo after the pro-Trump riots on Capitol Hill telling hosts to dial down allegations of election fraud, or else face termination.
Cumulus Media sent the internal memo to employees on Wednesday, according to Inside Music Media. The Atlanta-based company owns 416 radio stations throughout the country, many using a talk-radio format with local and national right-wing personalities. (Shapiro has not contested the results of the general election.)
“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Cumulus’s executive vice president of content Brian Philips wrote in the memo. The company “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’”
It’s been said that male confidence is the greatest aphrodisiac.
In 2020, no member of Congress proved this theory more than Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.).
Swalwell may be ugly, broke, and stupid, but no one has ever accused him of lacking an outrageous amount of self-confidence.
Over the past 18 months, Swalwell ran for president and quit; appeared on television thousands of times; branded himself an “Avenger”; failed to imprison the president of the United States; and most noxiously, cut an enormous fart on live television.
It takes a special kind of confidence to achieve all of that in such a short period of time.
Decision will likely embolden employers to actively police workers’ personal political views & social media activities
Jim Saunders News Service of Florida (November 17, 2020)
A federal appeals court has backed a decision by Florida Atlantic University to fire a professor who drew national attention for questioning whether the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut actually occurred.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected James Tracy’s First Amendment arguments that he was fired in retaliation for views posted on a blog. The panel upheld a jury’s decision on the First Amendment issue and a district judge’s rulings against Tracy on other issues.
Ruling contradicts Court’s own observation in 2019 oral argument that FAU’s application of “outside employment/activities policy” was and remains capricious.
“To establish that he was discharged in retaliation for protected speech, plaintiff had to prove, among other things, that his speech played a ‘substantial part’ in the university’s decision to terminate him,” said the 26-page opinion, written by appeals-court Judge Julie Carnes and joined by Senior Judges Stanley Marcus and Paul Kelly. “The jury found that plaintiff had failed to do so, as it found that plaintiff’s blog speech was not a motivating factor in the university’s decision. We conclude that there was more than sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.”
Tracy was a tenured faculty member in FAU’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies and had a blog that explored conspiracy theories and criticized the media, according to the appeals court. He drew attention for questioning whether the Sandy Hook massacre — in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults — had occurred.
The firing came after a protracted dispute between Tracy and the university about a request that he report his outside activities. The appeals court said such reporting was required under a collective bargaining agreement.
In addition to raising the First Amendment arguments about retaliation, Tracy also argued that the reporting policy was vague and overbroad and that the university had breached the collective bargaining agreement by firing him, according to Monday’s opinion.
The appeals court said the reporting policy was designed to identify potential conflicts of interest. It said Tracy had not shown that the university had prohibited any professor from engaging in speech.
The opinion said Tracy argued that “no reasonable juror could have found that his blog speech did not motivate the university to fire him,” but it concluded that he “cherry-picks” the evidence and that he was fired for insubordination related to not filing reports about his outside activities.
“Given the university’s multiple warnings that plaintiff was required to file outside-activity reports and plaintiff’s repeated refusal to do so, there is little doubt that plaintiff was insubordinate,” Carnes wrote. “Indeed, plaintiff privately confessed to his union president that his conduct was ‘cut-and-dry’ insubordination and that he had not complied with university directives because he believed his tenure status would insulate him against any discipline.”
Over the course of many years George Soros has used philanthropy as a guise under which his panoply of front groups to use “social justice activism” against entire countries to enact “soft coup” regime change. Such tactics of late have been tied to the wave of rioting, violence and vandalism that has swept the US in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election.
The term “white supremacy” so prevalent in recent news and political events has been decades in the making. Its origins lie in 1940s-era social scientific research targeting conservative American culture and values.
A communist-style revolt is sweeping across the United States. In recent weeks Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King has called for the destruction of “White European Jesus” statues and imagery. But exactly how European is Shaun King, and how closely is he tied to the entities bankrolling the revolution? MHB Report investigates.
THE JOURNAL’S FINDINGS undercut one of Google’s core defenses against global regulators worried about how it wields its immense power—that the company doesn’t exert editorial control over what it shows users. Regulators’ areas of concern include anticompetitive practices, political bias and online misinformation.
Permit to me quote from the WSJ’s takedown at length – although I encourage readers, if possible, to read the entire (paywalled) version, for it contains a wealth of information, as well as lots of cool graphics:
Google’s evolving approach marks a shift from its founding philosophy of “organizing the world’s information,” to one that is far more active in deciding how that information should appear.
More than 100 interviews and the Journal’s own testing of Google’s search results reveal:
• Google made algorithmic changes to its search results that favor big businesses over smaller ones, and in at least one case made changes on behalf of a major advertiser, eBayInc., contrary to its public position that it never takes that type of action. The company also boosts some major websites, such as Amazon.com Inc.and Facebook Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
• Google engineers regularly make behind-the-scenes adjustments to other information the company is increasingly layering on top of its basic search results. These features include auto-complete suggestions, boxes called “knowledge panels” and “featured snippets,” and news results, which aren’t subject to the same company policies limiting what engineers can remove or change.
• Despite publicly denying doing so, Google keeps blacklists to remove certain sites or prevent others from surfacing in certain types of results. These moves are separate from those that block sites as required by U.S. or foreign law, such as those featuring child abuse or with copyright infringement, and from changes designed to demote spam sites, which attempt to game the system to appear higher in results.
In this edited video legendary humorist and author Tony Hendra discusses his role in the history of postwar comedy. Hendra is best-known for playing Ian Faith, manager of the mock heavy metal band Spinal Tap. He was also a pioneer in early British political satire, working with Monty Python founding members Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and was the first managing editor of the National Lampoon, America’s pioneer multimedia comedy powerhouse, where he worked alongside Lampoon founders Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Rob Hoffman. While at Lampoon Hendra produced the Woodstock mockery Lemmings, discovering comedy giants John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest.
In recent days I discovered that the Canadian branch of the Israeli-US-based Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith is reporting that I am “well known for using academic credentials to deny the Holocaust.” On August 29, Daniel Leons-Marder mirrored the Canadian B’nai Brith report under the title, “Facebook Allows ‘Kill All Jews’ Post on Wall of Canadian Professor.” In an item Leons-Marder claims has been shared 11,000 times, he asserted “B’nai Brith Canada reported the image, which was ruled acceptable [by Facebook] within two hours, when it was alerted to it having been posted on the Facebook page of Canadian Academic Professor Anthony Hall, who is a holocaust denier.”
Legendary iconoclast Tony Hendra joins Real Politik to discuss the history of postwar comedy and his role therein. Hendra is best-known for playing Ian Faith, manager of the mock heavy metal band Spinal Tap. He was also a pioneer in early British political satire, working with Monty Python founding members Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and was the first managing editor of the National Lampoon, America’s pioneer multimedia comedy powerhouse, where he worked alongside Lampoon founders Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Rob Hoffman. While at Lampoon Hendra produced the Woodstock mockery Lemmings, discovering such figures as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest.
European academics call for statist social-psychological approach to silence public inquiry and dissent
Le Monde, 6 June 2016, p. 29 English translation
The Ministry of Education must test its pedagogical tools against conspiracy culture. The wrong cure might only serve to spread the disease.
Conspiracy theories are on many people’s minds and are the object of all kinds of initiatives, sometimes local, sometimes more ambitious. The French government is among them, evidenced by the collaboration between the Ministry of Education and France Télévisions to produce and diffuse a ‘video-kit’, available to all in the teaching profession (https ://vimeo.com/151519913). They also explore suitable responses to the worrying spread of these ‘theories’ by proposing, here and there, an intellectual defence or critical response. Ultimately, these associations come together to fight against this particular form of contemporary misinformation known as ‘conspiracism’.
known for playing Ian Faith, manager of the mock heavy metal band Spinal Tap. He was also a pioneer in early British political satire, working with Monty Python founding members Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and was the first managing editor of the National Lampoon, America’s pioneer multimedia comedy powerhouse, where he worked alongside Lampoon founders Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Rob Hoffman. While at Lampoon Hendra produced the Woodstock mockery Lemmings, discovering such figures as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest.
