New book recommendation about higher education for your Public Library

Richard Vedder, "Restoring the Promise; Higher Education in America" his final points.

• "College administrative staff often exceeds the teaching staff. Vedder says, “I doubt there is a major campus in America where you couldn’t eliminate very conservatively 10% of the administrative payroll (in dollar terms) without materially impacting academic performance.”
• Reevaluate academic tenure. Tenure is an employment benefit that has costs, and faculty members should be forced to make trade-offs between it and other forms of university compensation.
• Colleges of education, with their overall poor academic quality, are an embarrassment on most campuses and should be eliminated.
• End speech codes on college campuses by using the University of Chicago principles on free speech.
• Require a core curriculum that incorporates civic and cultural literacy.
• The most important measure of academic reforms is to make university governing boards independent and meaningful. In my opinion, most academic governing boards are little more than yes men for the president and provost."

As reported by Walter E. Williams "Smart Ways to Make College Cheaper and Better," Daily Signal, May 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=A6ryUtm4W9g  A YouTube of Vedder’s lecture on this topic.  Very little has changed since I went to college in the 1960s, except for the soaring costs, and I didn't have to take any diversity or retraining classes.

He reports that “Harvard and Bridgewater State are 15 miles apart--Bridgewater is a better school" (audience laughs). I looked it up--Harvard is 5X more expensive than Bridgewater.

Vedder says had been teaching for 53 years (he’s emeritus at Ohio University) and was told he needed to report for "diversity training" and he refused.  He says University of Michigan has 93 diversity coordinators and wonders if black and Hispanic students are better off. I think OSU beats that, and has more. But IED departments are not intended to help minorities and women, they are intended to punish and terrorize the white majority and provide jobs for administrative staff who graduated with "studies" degrees (my comment, not his).

There's a war against white males on American campuses. Alumni--check out your donor status and demand a change. One question from the audience was from a parent who said her son was required to take a course on "Climate Change" at his college which was not taught by any professor and contained no science, only opinion and popular magazines. She wants her money back! I don't blame her.

The Left eats its own

www.theconservativeinsider.com/harvards-insatiable-identity-politics-cannibals/?

One of the Leftists' own is an infamous lecher (Harvey Weinstein), so they don't want another of their own (Dean Ronald Sullivan of impeccable leftist credentials and also black) to defend him so Harvard fired him. Both conservatives and liberals are crying foul--some liberals have even discovered academic freedom and diversity of thought, something they won't allow for conservatives, in defending Sullivan.

List of new judges appointed in 2017-2019

Usually, I don't site Wikipedia as a source, because of the bias of the contributor (often liberal), but in this case, for a list of PresidentTrump era appointees to the courts, it's the best source. The Supreme Court gets the most attention (Gorsuch and Kavanaugh), but he's also flipping the lower courts, and they are young, and on the side of the Constitution. Yea! Look it over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump?

Congress woman Tlaib is just wrong

Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Congress woman of "Palestinian" ancestry, was definitely NOT taken out of context in her hurtful, hateful comments on Yahoo News about the holocaust, Israel and Jews. Democrats who are defending her are on their way to apologizing for the Nazis, the National Socialist party of Germany, just as over the years they accepted and apologized for former KKK members into their ranks.

The Jews are the modern indigenous people of Israel, not the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians. The Jews are the original Palestinians--they have 3,000 years of history on that tiny speck of land in a sea of Islamic countries. Israel gained independence from Britain in 1948 and the people who now call themselves Palestinians didn't exist. They were a group of Arabs who needed an identity and the rest of the Arab world didn't want them except as a tool in their war chest. It was the UN that gave the Jews that tiny piece of land which they turned into a magnificent, fruitful country.

So if the Palestinians of recent origin have a complaint it is with the entire Arab world and the UN. They could have participated in the new country that offered them health, education, freedom of religion, the right to be elected to the national parliament, freedom of speech, employment, equal rights for women and gays--all the things they can't have in Arab countries where they live in camps, but they chose to be controlled by Hamas and to be mistreated and weaponized by Arab states that hate Jews.

If the Arab world powers had accepted the 1947 UN partition plan, there would not be a single Palestinian refugee today living in camps--a terrible mistake. But it has suited the Jew-haters, including many American Jews and Christians. The Arab world could take in these Arab refugees who call themselves Palestinians, they could give them the rights they have in Israel, but they won't (although most Arab countries don't have those rights even for their own citizens).

Israel is a country which has over 6 million Jews, and nearly half are Israeli by country of origin and the rest are Jews with origins from Africa, Russia, Asia, Europe and North America. 20% of Israel is Arab by ancestry, mostly Sunni Moslem. 10% are Druze (11th c. Islamic sect, not Arab). About 10% of Israel's population is Christian of different sects--Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox. The principle of equal rights for all Israeli citizens–including minorities–is expressed explicitly in the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

Jewish Arabs have had to flee their homelands of hundreds of years and take refuge in Israel, but the Arab countries won't take the Palestinian Arabs. For 70 years the Arab countries have kept the original 700,000 refugees and all their descendants in stateless camps. The Arabs do not want this problem solved, so Ms. Tlaib's argument and hostility should be directed at them.

https://news.yahoo.com/rashida-tlaib-defends-holocaust-comments-143517031.html

https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/589417/

The TV swap

The average 32-inch LCD TV sold for $435 in the second quarter of 2012, down from $495 in Q1. Today I bought a Toshiba 32' LCD TV for $100.99 (clearance). Will be delivered free. We'll take our older 32” to the lake and keep the new one here. I thought 19” since I don’t watch much TV there, but was voted down.  Even if I’d wanted a 50” (wouldn’t fit), they were under $400. 

A different sort of Mother's Day

We had a wonderful time with the Halls and Mallettes from California (we met in Scotland in 2017) touring our great city, the OSU campus, enjoying 2 great museums, the new National Veterans Memorial and Museum and the Columbus Museum of Art, the OSU main library, historic German Village and eating at Schmidt's Sausage House and Cap City Fine Diner. We get to rest today, but they are touring for 2 more weeks! Robin thinks up the ideas and Gene plans the itinerary. Today they are off to Falling Water, Gettysburg, Niagara Falls, the 9-11 memorial and other sites. We ended the day with a peaceful evening and dessert at our home, looking through Bob's paintings and sharing stories and memories.

It’s not your mother’s Democratic Party

"Today, the survival of the liberal establishment depends upon hyper-moralized political correctness and the relentless search for racist transgressions and crimes of exclusion. Over the last generation, rich voters have shifted to the Democratic party. After the 2018 midterms, the Democratic party holds the ten richest congressional districts and 41 of the fifty richest. Whatever remains of the New Deal rationale for the Democratic party has evaporated. It used to be the party of the working man. Now it's the party of Silicon Valley. This necessitates shifting political energy toward anti-discrimination imperatives, all of which REQUIRE discrimination in order to maintain their salience."

". . . Aggressive, minute, and punitive political correctness . . .serves a political need. The Democratic party is the party of the rich. That fact must be disguised, and thus the public square echoes with dog whistles warning of discrimination. White nationalism! Toxic masculinity! This serves to keep immigrants, women, and minorities in a state of constant fear, calling them to come under the protection of the liberal establishment."

". . . Our ruling liberal elite NEEDS racism, sexism, homophobia, and the rest. As a result, the institutions they dominate--mainstream media, universities, the art world, large corporations, and the Democratic party--devise theories, imagery, and rhetoric to ensure that bigotry and "hate" endure forever." R.R. Reno, First Things, April 2019, p. 62

The churches and BDS

IF you attend a liberal, mainline church (can be either Catholic or Protestant) you'll hear about BDS (boycott-divestment-sanctions) as a response to Israel. It's plain and simple Arab anti-Semitism and you've been snookered. Its advocates swarm on college campuses, social media and late night TV. Liberals particularly seem to love BDS. The objective is the killing of Jews and returning those who are left to the statelessness of pre-1948. I don't know exactly how they got such a foothold in academe, the founder, Omar Barghouti attended university in the U.S., so we must have birthed him. Can someone shake the money tree?

Which churches?

Here’s the ELCA, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, a merger of 1988 of 3 major Lutheran synods. download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/PNW_elca_bds.pdf?  Our church, UALC is no long in that synod.

Here’s Church of the Brethren, UCC, Disciples of Christ,  UMC, Presbyterian Church (USA)   https://disciples.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016DNSStatement-on-Anti-BDS-legislation-Aug-22.pdf

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/121645/chutzpah-omar-barghouti-daniel-greenfield

Record black unemployment

The black unemployment rate, 6.7%, is the lowest ever recorded, but that's not how liberals/progressives see it. USA Today asks, "Why is unemployment for blacks 86% above the national average, and 116% above whites." Don't you love statistics? Not a mention in the USA Today article about 2010 black unemployment under Obama was 16.8%. It also notes the number of blacks in prison (1,609 per 100,000) compared to whites (274 per 100,000) and the difficulty in obtaining jobs with a prison record, without noting that blacks have an 8x higher crime rate than whites. Anything they can find to diminish Trump's accomplishments. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/06/black-unemployment-86-higher-than-us-average/39447773/

Higher minimum wage laws hurt minorities, youth and small businesses. https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/minimum-wage-hikes-minority-youth-job-loss/

President Trump and the opioid crisis

• President Trump launched an Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand, introducing new measures to confront the driving forces behind this crisis.
• The President signed the landmark SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the largest and most comprehensive legislative package addressing a single drug crisis in history.
• The President helped secure a record $6 billion in funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
• The Administration provided more than $2 billion in grants in 2018 to help States, territories, tribes, and local communities prevent and treat opioid abuse.
• The Administration pursued scientific solutions to prevent and treat addiction through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative.
• The President launched a national public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction and youth opioid usage.
• Last year, President Trump created a Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which recommends ways to tackle the opioid crisis.
• The Administration declared the opioid crisis a nationwide Public Health Emergency in 2017.
• President Trump is working to cut off the flow of deadly opioids into our country and to disrupt the networks that distribute them to our communities.
• The Administration secured first-ever indictments against Chinese nationals for fentanyl trafficking.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a surge to target fentanyl and heroin dealers in the districts with the most severe overdose death rates.
• The DOJ formed a Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement team and shut down the biggest Darknet distributor of drugs.
• Last year, the DOJ announced the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, arresting more than 120 defendants with opioid-related crimes.
• The President launched a Safer Prescribing Plan that seeks to cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years.
• The Administration has led four National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days, collecting a record-breaking 1,837 tons of expired and unneeded prescription drugs.

https://710wor.iheart.com/featured/mark-simone/content/2019-03-09-the-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-so-far/

Merriam Webster new word Stratagem

1. a. an artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy

b. a cleverly contrived trick or scheme for gaining an end

2 . skill in ruses or trickery

Stratagem is not a “new” word in my vocabulary exactly, but I doubt I use it much.  Strategy, yes, I do use that.  But with the deception going on in Congress, it might be more useful. Investigating Americans because they don’t like them and having no crime to punish seems like a poor stratagem on which to build a campaign.

“A stratagem is any clever scheme—sometimes one that's part of an overall strategy (i.e., a carefully worked out plan of action). The word stratagem entered English in the 15th century and was originally used in reference to some artifice, such as a military plan or maneuver, which was designed to deceive or outwit the enemy. This military sense can be traced back to the word's Greek ancestor stratēgēma, which is itself based on stratēgein, meaning "to act as a general." Stratēgein, in turn, comes from stratēgos (meaning "general"), which comes from stratos ("camp" or "army") and agein ("to lead"). Stratēgos is an ancestor of strategy as well.”

Trying out the aggregator/repository CORE

Periodically I try out new search engines, data collectors and repositories I haven’t used, so today I discovered CORE, https://core.ac.uk/search, which at the moment has open access 135,500,000 publications, documents, blogs, trivia, thoughts, and according to my search, “President Trump,” over 725,000 items on our president even though he’s only been in office two years.

CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research outputs from repositories and journals worldwide and make them available to the public. In this way CORE facilitates free unrestricted access to research for all.

The co-investigator on the Euro Crisis in the Press (Japan) concluded even before Trump took office that he was a phenomenon like the world had never seen.

“Brexit has prevailed, the EU is in tatters, and finally Mr. Donald J. Trump has been elected President of the United States of America. Without any possible overstatement, the consequences of his ascent to the US presidency cannot be underestimated. It is a veritable game changer for global politics, an unexpected and glorious triumph for some, an unfathomable disaster for others.”

Checking his Tweets against the SOTU by three (American or British names) authors at Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico (ICAE)

“State of the Union Addresses (SOUA) by two recent US Presidents, President Obama (2016) and President Trump (2018), and a series of recent of tweets by President Trump, are analysed by means of the data mining technique, sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they differ, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. President Trump's 2018 SOUA and his sample tweets are identified as being more positive in sentiment than President Obama's 2016 SOUA. “

And from a UK blog, an interesting quote from Hillary Clinton even before he was the Republican candidate.

“It’s clear he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. So we can’t be certain which of these things he would do. But we can be certain that he’s capable of doing any or all of them. Letting ISIS run wild. Launching a nuclear attack. Starting a ground war. These are all distinct possibilities with Donald Trump in charge.” –  Hillary Clinton, Speech in San Diego, CA, June 2, 2016

Yes, if I had time to browse 725,000 bad predictions, slanders, and hysteria, it would be interesting, but we’ve heard it all for 3 years.

Book suggestions for 2019-2020

Our book club, which doesn’t have a name, was organized by a group of young mothers mostly who lived in Clintonville and attended Bethel Road Presbyterian Church in 1979.  So this fall, it will be 40 years old.  The babies are grown, most members are grandmothers, new members have joined (I joined in October 2000), others have moved out of the area. We are missionaries, librarians, school teachers, lawyers, administrators, volunteers, and of course, daughters, mothers, wives, sisters, widows and grannies.  Except for a few special occasions, we now meet in the afternoon instead of the evening and at Bethel Road Presbyterian where we have good parking and is centrally located for all but one of us. Part of the group split off and still meet in the afternoon.  In May we select our new books for the next September through May, and these are the suggested titles.  All looked good, so I’ve listed all, but starred the ones who got the votes.

**1. Becoming Mrs. Lewis, by Patti McCallahan  September 9 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39189837-becoming-mrs-lewis  The marriage of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis.  Led by Bev

**2. The black ascot, by Charles Todd November 4  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40133569-the-black-ascot  Inspector Ian Rutledge  Led by Justine

**3. Dream of death, by Connie Berry (local author) March 2 Murder mystery https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42785284-a-dream-of-death Led by Carolyn C.

4.  Beneath a scarlet sky, by Mark Sullivan.  Historical fiction. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32487617-beneath-a-scarlet-sky

5.  What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarity. Fiction, woman forgets a decade of her life

**6. Before we were yours, by Lisa Wingate, October 7, at Peggy’s, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32148570-before-we-were-yours Historical fiction, stolen children placed for adoption. Led by Margie

**7. Road to dawn by Josiah Henson April 6 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32148570-before-we-were-yours  Real life story of slave who inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Led by Gail

8.  Heavenly Man the story of Brother Yun, Chinese Christian.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79421.The_Heavenly_Man

9. Another kind of madness by Stephen Hinshaw. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450861-another-kind-of-madness  Memoir of mental illness

10. White Rose by Kip Wilson, with We will not be silent. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39884755-white-rose  WWII era historical fiction 

11. Road to Character by David Brooks  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22551809-the-road-to-character  Thinkers and inspiring leaders

12.  Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/155712.Mrs_Mike Love story set in Canada

**13. Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  January 13. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079776-the-invention-of-wings  Grimke sisters. Led by Peggy

**14. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. February 3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3228917-outliers Unusual interesting people. Led by Carolyn A

**15. One of the Narnia stories—A Horse and his boy. At Carolyn A.’s home December 2.  Everyone shares in this one. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84119.The_Horse_and_His_Boy

**16. Elephant whisperer by Lawrence Anthony. May 4.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6375561-the-elephant-whisperer  Led by Peggy.

Arizona trip, Day 2, April 3,Walking in Historic Prescott

You're in good hands when you shop with sister Kate.  On Wednesday we went to WalMart (I think it was in Prescott Valley) to buy a new suitcase for Bob.  I didn't realize what a disaster his was until I watched him trying to move it through the airport after Phoebe dropped us off on Tuesday morning.  It was a little larger, but it had 4 wheels and a working extension pull handle. For lunch on Wednesday we went to a Bruce favorite where "everyone knows your name" and they knew the servers and owners.  I think it was called Tony's Too Bar and Grill, at least this looks like the photo. Great food, and then we were off to see historic, downtown Prescott, the county seat.

.

Prescott is known for being a friendly city, and I'd certainly agree. On our walk we met a woman who 2 days before had moved there from Huntington Beach, California, and then later we saw her again talking to some folks sitting outside a restaurant and those people used to live in Columbus, Ohio.  It was so easy to strike up a conversation with anyone, including a "just married" couple walking around the courthouse plaza.  I assume they were married in the court house.

Just married in Prescott, Arizona

Yavapai is the name of the county, but also the name of the native peoples of the area, so there are many buildings, colleges, city organizations, and non-profits called Yavapai.

The county courthouse with a statue dedicated to all veterans from Yavapai County

I think this is how we met the woman from California--

she offered to take our photo and we began talking.

In December all the trees are wrapped with colored lights for a Christmas celebration.

We visited the lobby of an old hotel while walking in the historic district.

Arizona trip, Day 1, April 2, Prescott

Prescott where the Bruces live is about an hour and forty-five minutes from Scottsdale, and as we went higher and higher it got cooler and gradually the cactus began to disappear. People in Phoenix come to the mountains to get away from the heat.  Although it was spring, and we saw a few flowering trees, the landscape was brown.

Rick and Kate's new home in the suburbs of Prescott, 3 bedroom ranch, 3.5 baths, 10 ft. ceilings with 8 ft. doors, 3 garages, covered patio and porch, paver drive way, lighted walk-ways.  Really great for entertaining, and lovely neighbors. 

The neighborhood is about 4 years old, and there were few houses on their street when they selected their model, but now there are just a few lots left.  This is the area we would walk in every day.  I discovered quickly the lack of oxygen at that elevation and had difficulty breathing. All homes had desert style landscaping.  Very little green. 

Front porch--it was cool but we enjoyed sitting here.

Tuesday evening Rick drove into Prescott to get a pizza.  It was a long, but lovely day.

Arizona trip, Day 1, April 2, Taliesin West

With a three hour time difference, we arrived in Phoenix 20 minutes early and before lunch.  Rick and Kate's son, daughter-in-law and grandson live there, so they know the area well, and had a favorite restaurant, Mimi's in Scottsdale not far from Taliesin. https://www.mimiscafe.com/lunch-dinner/  We had purchased tickets on-line for Taliesin West, but arrived an hour early and had no problem getting them changed.  https://www.yelp.com/biz/taliesin-west-scottsdale

Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and school in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Today it is the main campus of the School of Architecture at Taliesin and houses the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The Foundation has attempted to keep it looking much as it did in the 1950s, and it is a very popular tourist destination. We'd visited a number of FLW buildings and homes 10-15 years ago, in Ohio, New York, Oklahoma, and Illinois so we loved being able to see this final phase of his career.

Promotion photo of the Taliesin campus

Waiting for our docent--it was extremely hot with little shade

Students at work, a three year Master of Architecture program

Our docent explaining the history of the buildings and how the school works

One of many sculptures by Heloise Crista who died in March, 2018 at 92. 

Seeking some shade in the gift shop

Auditorium where students gathered with Wright for socializing

Arizona Trip, Day 1, April 2

Last year for Bob's 80th birthday, we had a huge party and his three siblings from Indiana, California and Arizona came here. It was time and money intensive, but I think we managed to outdo it this year for his 81st.  We flew to Arizona to visit brother Rick and sister Kate in their new home in Prescott, Arizona, on April 2 and sister Debbie flew in later in the week so we could be together again.  She also had never seen their new home. I believe they had moved there from Huntington Beach, California in 2015. Due to a divorce, the brothers and sisters had not grown up in the same home--Bob and Jean grew up in Indianapolis with their mother and step-father, and Rick and Debbie grew up with their mother and father in Southern California.

Bob, Rick Debbie and Jean with Grandfather C.L. Bruce in 1952 in Indiana

Rick, Bob and Deb in April 1993 in California for Bob's birthday

Bob, Jean and Deb at Jean's 80th in Indianapolis in February 2016

Deb, Bob, Jean and Rick in April 2018 in Columbus for Bob's birthday

President Trump and religious freedom—know your rights

Trump has done more for religious freedom in the U.S. than many recent presidents, but the media neglect to do their homework and some recent reporting shows the ignorance of journalists raised and educated in the late 20th-21st centuries. They hate him so therefore never dig into the laws and regulations. President Trump's executive order on religious liberty in May 2017 noted, "Federal law protects the freedom of Americans and their organizations to exercise religion." No new laws, no convoluted regulations. Simply implement the laws we had. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/05/04/read-the-full-text-of-trumps-executive-order-on-religious-freedom/?

Section 4 provided guidance (by then AG Jeff Sessions) on 20 principles of religious freedom and guidance for their implementation, followed by an appendix with supporting case law. I wonder how many journalists, pastors, church boards or school principals have read it? https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1001886/download?

Every American Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, others and atheists needs to print and save Sessions' guidelines so they don't look foolish arguing and making charges about settle law.

Was it Obama, Trump or Clinton who declared federal employees may keep religious materials on the private desks and read them during breaks? Clinton. Was it Obama, Trump or Clinton who said federal employees can wear religious jewelry, invite coworkers to attend services, and discuss religious issues? Clinton.

Why do Lutheran schools have the right to employ only practicing Lutherans, or set codes of conduct for non-Lutheran employees? Title VII Civil Rights Act 1964.

Is anyone watching CNN?

"How quickly Washington forgets — when it is convenient. Trump is not the first president to resist congressional investigation of the inner workings of his administration, and Barr is not the first Cabinet officer to negotiate the terms of his appearance before a committee. In fact, the responses are unremarkable." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/01/trump-resists-congressional-subpoenas-thats-what-presidents-do/?

But those who watch CNN will never know that. . . is anyone watching CNN? Ratings are terrible. I see it occasionally at the gym or in snippets on Facebook posts—ridiculing it.

Who believes socialism will be different this time?

I keep reading on WaPo, NYT or BBC or even posts of liberal Facebook friends, that it isn't really socialism destroying Venezuela, but some other hybrid monster. This comment is being passed around on FB as "from a friend," and makes much more sense about what happens when you vote the Socialists in--and doesn't happen overnight.

"A friend writes: "For two decades the people of Venezuela voted for Socialists. They celebrated as their President stripped the successful of their property and their rights. They cheered as their government derided other nations for their commitment to capitalism and property rights and individual liberty.

I don't feel sorry for that majority who created the monster that now runs over them with armored vehicles, that stole their arms and left them defenseless against a nanny-state-turned-cannibal, that left them so penniless and hungry that they're eating their pets.

As Venezuela turns into a river of blood, as all socialist experiments necessarily do, I feel bad only for those who knew better all along. I feel bad for those in Venezuela who know history, who employ reason, who value evidence and logic and know basic economics. They are the victims of the mob, and they are the only victims in Venezuela.

The rest of them are getting exactly what they asked for, whether they knew it or not. Still, it will be less than a week before Democrats in our government demand we import these people here in the hopes they will vote for the same disastrous fiction that now eats their own country, a country that was one of the most-successful countries in the world."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2018/07/08/sorry-bernie-bros-but-nordic-countries-are-not-socialist/#2d99e46f74ad