David Keck’s summary:
“Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther is just finishing his address on policing policy change (June 24). He said a lot of things that, on the surface, are true. He also neglected to say a lot of things that are also true that are key, and said some things that sound good, but do not stand any kind of below surface, or even surface scrutiny.
In distancing himself from the FOP, HE chose to use the word "many" (not most) in describing how many current police are in it for the right reason. Does he not believe that MOST policemen are responsible and dedicated servants? Because he deliberately did not say so. Do you not think he carefully chose every word? He said what he meant.
What does he mean when he says "You are with us or you are against us?" Is that a not-so-veiled threat? Does this leave any room for disagreement on the merits, or are you just going to publicly threaten?
Mayor Ginther, you, yes you, just now pitted your own police department against your city deliberately and clearly for your own political benefit.
Mayor Ginther, you falsely state that the citizens of Columbus are on board with your proposals. This is not at all established. Were they on board when you let them tear down public statuary? Is that why you were not proactive in preventing what was obviously predictable? Is it the citizenry of Columbus who is on board, or the protestors? Do protestors represent the whole city?
In your discussion of what you are going to guarantee those in African-American neighborhoods, what does "equity" mean to you? Equality of what? Opportunity or results? By being vague about that deliberately are you left-handedly promising results, and thereby setting up more frustration? Or will you say what our Declaration of Independence says and Constitution guarantees legally - which is pursuing happiness, not having it?
When you say that minority children should be guaranteed life past the first year, did you mean the unborn? Because, as you know, the number of African-American children aborted is also much out of proportion to the rest of the population.
In throwing money that presumably either comes from higher taxes, driving those who can afford to pay, further into the suburbs, or from other places where it is needed also, did you make any mention at all of stable neighborhoods, and, toward that, stable families? Addressing families with no fathers? You know those statistics.
You made not one mention of those things. Mayor Ginther, you were not honest, and what you propose, if you get all of it, will not do what you hold out as a promise. You are no leader.”
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
BLM and ANTIFA attack Democrat controlled cities
It's a no brainer why the anarchists (BLM and ANTIFA) began their rages in Democrat controlled cities. They attacked the very people most likely to support their movement. Why? They knew they'd get the least resistance, the weakest mayors, and the highest crime rates where the people have the greatest encounters with police. With a victim rate 6x that of whites, the blacks in Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, and other major cities it would be easy to encourage disaffected, recently unemployed youth to loot and riot, while virtue signaling white liberals would just stand around and wave signs.
The mayor of Columbus asked for (June 1) photos or videos of Columbus police over reacting to the rioters when they attacked the police. Has he asked for videos of the rioters and looters destroying businesses and vandalizing public property so they can be arrested? Has he thought of a plan to protect residents and business owners when he doesn't have support of the police? He ran unopposed for his 2nd term on "justice, change and reform," so why so late to the gate?
Google employees are demanding that Google drop police as clients of its technology. Now, what percentage of Google employees do you suppose is minority? Two, maybe three? Well, the trick is with H1B1 visas, a lot of corporations and universities get to "count" internationals as minorities (for some odd reason we're taught to look at skin color), therefore skipping right over any responsibility to bring up American born minorities in house. Nice trick. Then turn on American police with minority citizens on staff who are the protectors of black and brown neighborhoods? Seems like a strange demand from "employees," doesn't it?
BLM is lavishly well funded by white, left wing extremists, and they are infiltrating iconic American corporations--who by the way, also have global interests. Capitalists and Marxists cooperating. Big Tech has been using its profits to "promote" racial justice, except in hiring American blacks.
The mayor of Columbus asked for (June 1) photos or videos of Columbus police over reacting to the rioters when they attacked the police. Has he asked for videos of the rioters and looters destroying businesses and vandalizing public property so they can be arrested? Has he thought of a plan to protect residents and business owners when he doesn't have support of the police? He ran unopposed for his 2nd term on "justice, change and reform," so why so late to the gate?
Google employees are demanding that Google drop police as clients of its technology. Now, what percentage of Google employees do you suppose is minority? Two, maybe three? Well, the trick is with H1B1 visas, a lot of corporations and universities get to "count" internationals as minorities (for some odd reason we're taught to look at skin color), therefore skipping right over any responsibility to bring up American born minorities in house. Nice trick. Then turn on American police with minority citizens on staff who are the protectors of black and brown neighborhoods? Seems like a strange demand from "employees," doesn't it?
BLM is lavishly well funded by white, left wing extremists, and they are infiltrating iconic American corporations--who by the way, also have global interests. Capitalists and Marxists cooperating. Big Tech has been using its profits to "promote" racial justice, except in hiring American blacks.
County with .6% black citizens
This may be the strangest virus regulation I've ever seen. Whites must wear masks, but not blacks, to prevent racial profiling? Doesn't this mean you can spot the blacks easier and thus profile? https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/oregon-county-issues-face-mask-order-exempting-non-white-people/
Like millions of other people, I then googled Lincoln County, Oregon, and see it has a population under 50,000 and is about .6% black. Well, some counties need more publicity than others, and other than being a laughing stock, I suppose this did it. So then I looked at crime rates in Oregon and discovered some very small towns had violent crime rates higher than the national average. Perhaps this is an backassward method of crime control?
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
How’s your county/state on speeding?
There’s a new report by CoPilot looking at the states and counties with the worst speeding problem in the U.S. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and NHTSA, analysts at CoPilot ranked locations according to the percentage of total traffic fatalities that involve speeding.
Included with the report are some interesting graphics, including a table with data on more than 500 counties and all 50 states: https://www.copilotsearch.com/posts/states-and-counties-with-worst-speeding-problem/
“While NHTSA data shows that both the share of traffic fatalities related to speeding and the speeding-related fatality rate have been declining in recent years, these rates vary at the state level. Nationwide, the average annual speeding-related fatality rate for the five year period from 2014-2018 was 2.97 per 100,000 people. However, at the state level, there is a statistically significant relationship between speeding-related fatalities per capita and the maximum posted speed limit in the state. States with higher posted speed limits often experience more speed-related fatalities.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Censorship is coming from Big Tech, not government
“Conservatives have long complained about bias at Big Tech companies like Amazon and Google. The Heritage Foundation experienced this firsthand when YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, censored our video featuring a former transgender individual. YouTube claimed that six words spoken at a three-hour Heritage event violated its “hate speech” policy. Heritage issued a strong rebuke and posted a new video contesting YouTube’s censorship. It’s not just Heritage facing these challenges. Amazon is doubling down on its policy that prohibits customers from donating proceeds from their purchases to well-established conservative nonprofits like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom. Heritage President Kay C. James called out Amazon for allowing customers to donate to Planned Parenthood but excluding conservative organizations. “A piece of free advice for Amazon’s board of directors: I’ve served on several corporate boards during my career, and it’s just bad business to alienate upwards of half of your customers,” “
Don’t let the BLM scam you
Black Lives Matter website https://blacklivesmatter.com describes its goals and mission to destroy our country and culture. The family structure is part of that, as is destroying the church. So I suppose if a researcher points out the lack of fathers could account for high crime rates, or the high single parent homes create poverty, he will be considered racist since the 2 parent family is part of a racist society model invented by white supremacists.
Don’t take it from me—read their own words. They are very transparent. They aren’t keeping it a secret, just renaming a few things like “justice.” This isn’t about “systemic racism” no matter what they call it, anymore than the Russian Revolution was about the Romanovs. That’s the hook to drag you in to participating. Don’t bother with the signs in the yard, especially if you live in a suburb 99% white.
If you believe we live in a racist society, then describe what you’ve personally done that is racist in your own words, not theirs. Don’t fall for that, “implicit bias.” Be specific. And then change. Our Democrat Mayor here in Columbus has been a real push over, bowing and showing support, telling police to stand down and allowing rioters to tear up downtown and now BLM is demanding he step down.
Democrats just don’t know their history or world history.
Faith. Family. Freedoms. Free enterprise. There is no color to it. Just truth.
My greatest desire is for more Americans to remember their conservative roots. Five years ago, I feared conservatives. I thought they were “the bad guys” and that “they” didn’t care about Black people.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/06/22/19-black-americans-explain-why-theyre-conservative/
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Memorial Service for Philip Vincent Bruce June 20
Dear Norma and Bob,
Today’s service remembering Phil was extraordinary! Although I never met him, I feel as if Phil could have been one of my best friends. I’ve never heard so many people speak so lovingly at a funeral service. What a handsome, lovable, loving, and caring person he was! Phil did the Lord’s work here on Earth as he was called to do.
It was also so good to be back inside a real church!!!! My heart was happy and sad at the same time. I hope your hearts are peaceful knowing how much Phil meant to so many! Being a parent is hard but you did your job well!!!
Love and hugs, Jane
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I watched Phil's memorial service online. It was the most beautiful sendoff. The pastor and the praise band were both wonderful. What touched me most was hearing the comments from Phil's friends. What a huge impact Phil had on everyone who knew him - he touched a lot of lives. Hearing from people who knew him well and were with him until the end of his life went straight to my heart. What a wonderful memorial.
I hope Phil's memorial helped your family say goodbye to Phil in the way you wanted.
God Bless, Josh
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What a wonderfully meaningful service, so glad it was available online. The personal tributes were so meaningful and heartfelt. Clearly Phil was a kind, caring person and a gift to so many.
Continued prayers for your comfort in the days ahead. Maureen
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We watched the beautiful service through FaceBook, and were touched by the words of remembrance. What a great testimony to Phil's life.
Our warm regards and prayers are with you and Bob.
Your friends, Eugene and Barbara
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Dear Bob and Norma,
The service was beautiful and touching to both of us. I am so glad we did not have to miss it. I was feeling exactly what Bob expressed when he felt compelled to take up the mike. What marvelous insight into how Phil’s friends were affected by the privilege of knowing Phil. What an extraordinarily compassionate, gentle, generous and loving man he was. I had tears in my eyes throughout the service.
We knew him only a little as an adult. We now both treasure the opportunities we had to get to know him personally as a caretaker for our dog. It gave us an opportunity to spend time with him in his own home and to talk a little about his life, his job, his church and band, and his love of animals. Knowing this much about him, his friends references to their experiences with him came alive. I was amazed at how deftly he used jamming together to get to know people and to share his love for Christ and for them. What a tragedy that his life was cut short. He was the kind of person the world needs more of. We realized something similar when we began to hear the stories told by Martha’s friends at and after her funeral. Now we have to grieve another good life cut short.
I want you to know how much we came to love Phil and how much we grieve with you over his departure. Praise God that he lived in Christ in what seems to be a wonderful Christian fellowship at GRCC.
Love,
David and Donna
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Norma,
It really was a beautiful service. I know why Phil loved the music there. Those musicians were amazing. Right before they sang, "Overwhelmed", I saw a vision of Phil and Jesus on the altar arm in arm. Phil was a very special man. Praise God!
Darlene
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Hi Norma,
I sure yesterday was very difficult for you and Bob and I hope the service offered some comfort and peace. I have to say that it was the most beautiful funeral I have ever attended. Phil was a very special guy. He was loved by many. His joyful spirit and love of Christ will live in all who knew him. We continue to keep the Bruce family in our prayers. Susan
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Friday, June 19, 2020
The Double Standard of the lockdown vs. the riots—Tucker Carlson
“Race is not the only dividing line,” he explained. “The coronavirus lockdowns had nothing to do with race or white and black, thank God. They are probably the only thing in America that doesn’t. Quarantines are instead scientific — they’re purely a matter of public health. That’s what they told us, and we believed them. We sat passively as they destroyed our country’s economy, as they indicted Americans for trying to make a living. And then the Black Lives Matter riots started, and we learned it was all fake. The very same officials who threatened us with arrest for going outside urged their own voters to flood the streets. And they did, and no one was punished. How could this happen?”
Carlson called that double standard “ritual humiliation” and urged Americans to stand against it.
“It was such a flagrant double standard — not even hidden, right in your face,” Carlson continued. “They didn’t try to explain it. They didn’t bother to justify it. Why? Anyone familiar with totalitarian regimes can tell you exactly why, and what’s going on. This is ritual humiliation. Forcing people to accept mistreatment is a time-tested way to subdue them. ‘Of course, we are not treating you fairly,’ they are telling us. ‘You don’t deserve fairness. You deserve what you get.’ That’s the message, and after a while, the population accepts this. Some believe it. They blame themselves. That’s the goal.”
“But we should never accept it,” he added. “The promise of absolute equality under the law is all we have. Laws are designed to protect the weak, not the strong. At the moment, the people leading this revolution against our system are strong. That’s why they are trying to subvert our laws. If they succeed, there will be nothing to protect the rest of us in this country. We cannot let them do that. In the United States of America, all of us are equal under the law. Period. Say that as loud as you can.”
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
How to fix systemic racism
Here are my suggestions about systemic racism being the big problem today.
If you believe that, then do something about it, not by lecturing others or pointing fingers, but by making changes in YOUR OWN LIFE. You are part of many systems within the system. Like veins and arteries within the circulatory system.
Look at your profession. That's close enough for you to work on. You've got something to say about that. If you can't step up and lay your income on the line, then don't expect change.
What's going on in your union? Is it protecting the bad apples? Is it your boss? Union president?
Does your university have a bloated department called "Diversity and Inclusion" that is sucking up money that could be put to use doing something useful? Are you required to take time away from your classroom or research to attend reeducation classes. Say something--some of those students you're shortchanging are black.
Is your employer so "woke" that it doesn't give minorities real opportunities, only feel good spots on diversity committees and positions? Is the only dark face on the board of directors a female in HR? Can you risk your next promotion by objecting?
And where are you living? A suburb with 10% Asian and 2% black, 5% Hispanic and 83% white? Perhaps you need to consider moving. There are many lovely housing areas that are more open housing than that! And they probably have a community organization that isn't 100% white.
Are you supporting Planned Parenthood? Its statistics show genocidal levels for black babies. You don't have to change your opinion on "women's health,," but maybe that money you donate could go to research on why black mothers have a higher fatality rate than other pregnant women. Or you could donate to a non-profit that helps young, single black mothers raise healthy families.
Racism starts at home, in the heart, but if you believe it's the system, start there and work backwards to your heart.
Monday, June 15, 2020
Memorial Service June 20
Not all Republicans are conservatives
It's surprising how many think Republican is synonymous with conservative. It isn't. Many Republicans are pro-big government, pro-choice, and pro-control. The Bushes were Republicans but not conservatives. Trump is a former Democrat who in many respects is a conservative in what he has accomplished, but not accepted by in-power Republicans deep in swamp-dwelling.
Sometimes the only difference in the 2 parties is that Democrats are more likely to stick together and be controlled by their party leaders. It's in their DNA. Democrats, however, are more likely to be hypocrites--witness Pelosi and Pals kneeling for a photographer while culturally appropriating African sacred stoles that symbolize wealth.
"These scarves were traditionally worn by the wealthy land-owners and dignitaries of the Ashanti (or Asante) tribes of what is now known as Ghana. They were made of silk, making them not only rare but also symbolic of wealth. More importantly, they were adorned by those who were involved in the pervasive slave trade the wealthy of the Ashanti tribe embraced."
That's the equivalent of wearing black face in my opinion, but the liberal media will never call them on it because they never research symbols and they are the party mascots. This performance was done while gnashing teeth that the President carried a Bible to inspect a fire bombed, historical church of Presidents and was photographed.
Guns, Gold and Slaves: "The Ashanti’s long-time ally, the Akwamu, were among the first ones to profit from the slave trade with the Europeans. Their captives were almost always prisoners of war, but they were not above to selling Akwamu men who offended the chief. They also kidnapped able-bodied men from other tribes and sold them in the coastal slave markets.
The English (who had displaced the Dutch as the leader in the slave trade) paid three ounces of gold for each male slave. It was a good sum, and many Africans saw this as a profitable venture.
The Ashanti soon joined in the slave trade by kidnapping traveling men or even those who were just working on their farms. They also went to war with neighboring peoples (especially in the Black Volta and savanna regions) not only to expand their territory but also to acquire more slaves which they then sold to Dutch and English traders. This practice had become so profitable that by 1720 the Slave Coast of Ghana had eclipsed the Gold Coast.
A vicious cycle soon emerged from this business. The Ashanti initially accepted gold as payment for slaves, but soon preferred flintlocks, muskets, and gunpowder as payment. With these weapons in hand, Ashanti warriors would then subdue another group of people and sell the captives of war to the European as slaves. By 1730, as much as 180,000 European-made firearms had been shipped to the Slave Coast and handed to the natives. " https://amazingbibletimeline.com/blog/ashanti-empire-trade-slaves-guns/
I am nothing else
“I am nothing else but what God thought of me; I would not be here if there was not a thought in God the Father’s mind about me. I do not just happen to be. God the Father thought of me and wanted me to be here. And God the Son redeemed me and stays in the Blessed Sacrament personally for me to be united with me day by day. And God the Holy Spirit took His abode in my soul by the call of my Baptism and considered my soul His dwelling. His holy place.”
Sister Ida Peterfy, The love of God our Greatest Treasure, https://sacredheartsisters.com/her-words-and-reflections/
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Phil's house is in contract
But I won't hold my breath.
Nothing has gone well for us in the last 9 months; why should it start now?
We actually didn't take the highest bid--and I say bid because it was $15,500 above our asking price. Many people wanted this house, and for similar reasons why Phil wanted it. One floor, easy to care for, in good condition, light and bright and airy, a city lot big enough for a garden, but not too big to take care of, 2 car garage with good storage and accessible for shopping and free-way. It included all the appliances, so that is a cost savings for the buyer. However, we went in contract for less. We accepted the offer of a man with limited vision, foreign born, who lives alone. It's perfect for him. Plus it was a cash offer. The highest bidder had to get financing. But it could still fall through so our realtor will be prepared with a 2nd offer. The buyer has some time to have it inspected and withdraw his offer, even though it was sold as is. We spent a lot (to me) just to have it clean and ready--spent about $2,000 for power wash, repainting trim, and having the inside cleaned and staged. Repainting the inside would have probably been over $5,000 (high ceilings). Since we had 2 offers the first day on the market, we probably wouldn't have needed to do even that or the minor repairs we'd done in May. It's expensive to sell a house--pay 2019 taxes and pro-rate 2020; pay realtor fees; pay the cleaning costs; pay the fees, pay the warranty charges, our lawyer's fees, and my goodness, if we added in our family's time, it's definitely not cheap.
I like thinking about someone as neat and tidy as Phil, who also had limited vision after his stroke, sitting on the deck, watching the geese in the pond, or growing tomatoes in the garden. I hope he'll have some parties for the neighbors like Phil did, or maybe have a dog he loves as much as Phil loved Rosa. Perhaps he'll attend GRCC, which has quite an international congregation. Maybe I'm a sucker for a good story, but I'd like to see a happy ending to this nightmare.
Nothing has gone well for us in the last 9 months; why should it start now?
We actually didn't take the highest bid--and I say bid because it was $15,500 above our asking price. Many people wanted this house, and for similar reasons why Phil wanted it. One floor, easy to care for, in good condition, light and bright and airy, a city lot big enough for a garden, but not too big to take care of, 2 car garage with good storage and accessible for shopping and free-way. It included all the appliances, so that is a cost savings for the buyer. However, we went in contract for less. We accepted the offer of a man with limited vision, foreign born, who lives alone. It's perfect for him. Plus it was a cash offer. The highest bidder had to get financing. But it could still fall through so our realtor will be prepared with a 2nd offer. The buyer has some time to have it inspected and withdraw his offer, even though it was sold as is. We spent a lot (to me) just to have it clean and ready--spent about $2,000 for power wash, repainting trim, and having the inside cleaned and staged. Repainting the inside would have probably been over $5,000 (high ceilings). Since we had 2 offers the first day on the market, we probably wouldn't have needed to do even that or the minor repairs we'd done in May. It's expensive to sell a house--pay 2019 taxes and pro-rate 2020; pay realtor fees; pay the cleaning costs; pay the fees, pay the warranty charges, our lawyer's fees, and my goodness, if we added in our family's time, it's definitely not cheap.
I like thinking about someone as neat and tidy as Phil, who also had limited vision after his stroke, sitting on the deck, watching the geese in the pond, or growing tomatoes in the garden. I hope he'll have some parties for the neighbors like Phil did, or maybe have a dog he loves as much as Phil loved Rosa. Perhaps he'll attend GRCC, which has quite an international congregation. Maybe I'm a sucker for a good story, but I'd like to see a happy ending to this nightmare.
Skipping church on purpose during pandemic panic
It was such a pleasant change to be able to attend church services here at Lakeside two weeks ago. Even in a park, even with social distancing, even with no hymns, even wearing a mask.
But not today. First, it's only about 50 degrees, and it will be much cooler near the lake (service is in the Steele Memorial gazebo). But second, it's a Methodist service, and if I know anything about Methodists, we'll have a lecture on race relations. Methodists, like Catholics, are always in the forefront of social issues, and they do an excellent job. Of all the Protestant denominations, Methodists are the closest to Catholic in obeying Christ's commands in Matthew 25. It's not just "me and Jesus," but it's the Holy Spirit changing the heart for service for God. And I get it. But I don't want to sit in the cold, after the churches, all churches have abdicated their leadership role during this time of unrest and pandemic. They simply closed their doors, closed down their ministries to those mentioned in Matthew 25--poor, sick, imprisoned, thirsty--and decided that skyping and zooming and preaching online was just fine and met their obligations. Even churches with huge parking lots paving over acres, could not seem to find a way to call their congregations together in worship and service. Like ours. UALC with two locations and two huge parking lots and loads of technology.
So I'm not going to sit in a park in a gated community that is 99.9999% white and be lectured about systemic racism and how we white folks need to do better. I don't want to listen to an academic preach it who hasn't studied the statistics about government transfer programs, who are the victims of crime, how many millions of contacts do we have with the police and how many end badly (virtually none) and what is the role of the media. I just won't listen to one more harangue when I know the 60 years of government and business policies that have made things worse, but more often better.
But not today. First, it's only about 50 degrees, and it will be much cooler near the lake (service is in the Steele Memorial gazebo). But second, it's a Methodist service, and if I know anything about Methodists, we'll have a lecture on race relations. Methodists, like Catholics, are always in the forefront of social issues, and they do an excellent job. Of all the Protestant denominations, Methodists are the closest to Catholic in obeying Christ's commands in Matthew 25. It's not just "me and Jesus," but it's the Holy Spirit changing the heart for service for God. And I get it. But I don't want to sit in the cold, after the churches, all churches have abdicated their leadership role during this time of unrest and pandemic. They simply closed their doors, closed down their ministries to those mentioned in Matthew 25--poor, sick, imprisoned, thirsty--and decided that skyping and zooming and preaching online was just fine and met their obligations. Even churches with huge parking lots paving over acres, could not seem to find a way to call their congregations together in worship and service. Like ours. UALC with two locations and two huge parking lots and loads of technology.
So I'm not going to sit in a park in a gated community that is 99.9999% white and be lectured about systemic racism and how we white folks need to do better. I don't want to listen to an academic preach it who hasn't studied the statistics about government transfer programs, who are the victims of crime, how many millions of contacts do we have with the police and how many end badly (virtually none) and what is the role of the media. I just won't listen to one more harangue when I know the 60 years of government and business policies that have made things worse, but more often better.
Why are people not obeying orders on the lockdown? WSJ opinion piece
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-second-wave-covid-scare-11591919250?mod=opinion_lead_pos1&mod=djemMER_h
Most WSJ articles are behind a pay wall, but videos of opinions sometimes can provide the main points.
Most WSJ articles are behind a pay wall, but videos of opinions sometimes can provide the main points.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Name calling and labeling
Why does every person of European ancestry who disagrees with Communists/leftists/progressives who for the moment vote Democrat have to be a white supremist? Why not just a white member of the teachers' union or the electricians' union; why not a white dentist; why not a white retail clerk; why not at white plumber or white farmer? Why are whites who want to save a statue of Thomas Jefferson called racists, but whites who admired Robert Byrd former KKK member and built statues and named highways for him called Democrats? Why are all people who voted for Trump lumped together in Hillary's deplorable basket the same way Democrats used to label all blacks and minorities as foot shuffling janitors and gardeners? Can Democrats discuss anything except sex and race without name calling?
Anonymous letter by a UC Berkeley Professor, part 2
Continued from Part 1
There also exists a large constituency of what can only be called 'race hustlers': hucksters of all colors who benefit from stoking the fires of racial conflict to secure administrative jobs, charity management positions, academic jobs and advancement, or personal political entrepreneurship.
Given the direction our history department appears to be taking far from any commitment to truth, we can regard ourselves as a formative training institution for this brand of snake-oil salespeople. Their activities are corrosive, demolishing any hope at harmonious racial coexistence in our nation and colonizing our political and institutional life. Many of their voices are unironically segregationist.
MLK would likely be called an Uncle Tom if he spoke on our campus today. We are training leaders who intend, explicitly, to destroy one of the only truly successful ethnically diverse societies in modern history. As the PRC, an ethnonationalist and aggressively racially chauvinist national polity with null immigration and no concept of jus solis increasingly presents itself as the global political alternative to the US, I ask you: Is this wise? Are we really doing the right thing?
As a final point, our university and department has made multiple statements celebrating and eulogizing George Floyd. Floyd was a multiple felon who once held a pregnant black woman at gunpoint. He broke into her home with a gang of men and pointed a gun at her pregnant stomach. He terrorized the women in his community. He sired and abandoned multiple children, playing no part in their support or upbringing, failing one of the most basic tests of decency for a human being. He was a drug-addict and sometime drug-dealer, a swindler who preyed upon his honest and hard-working neighbors.
And yet, the regents of UC and the historians of the UCB History department are celebrating this violent criminal, elevating his name to virtual sainthood. A man who hurt women. A man who hurt black women. With the full collaboration of the UCB history department, corporate America, most mainstream media outlets, and some of the wealthiest and most privileged opinion-shaping elites of the USA, he has become a culture hero, buried in a golden casket, his (recognized) family showered with gifts and praise. Americans are being socially pressured into kneeling for this violent, abusive misogynist. A generation of black men are being coerced into identifying with George Floyd, the absolute worst specimen of our race and species.
I'm ashamed of my department. I would say that I'm ashamed of both of you, but perhaps you agree with me, and are simply afraid, as I am, of the backlash of speaking the truth. It's hard to know what kneeling means, when you have to kneel to keep your job.
It shouldn't affect the strength of my argument above, but for the record, I write as a person of color. My family have been personally victimized by men like Floyd. We are aware of the condescending depredations of the Democrat party against our race. The humiliating assumption that we are too stupid to do STEM, that we need special help and lower requirements to get ahead in life, is richly familiar to us. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be easier to deal with open fascists, who at least would be straightforward in calling me a subhuman, and who are unlikely to share my race.
The ever-present soft bigotry of low expectations and the permanent claim that the solutions to the plight of my people rest exclusively on the goodwill of whites rather than on our own hard work is psychologically devastating. No other group in America is systematically demoralized in this way by its alleged allies. A whole generation of black children are being taught that only by begging and weeping and screaming will they get handouts from guilt-ridden whites.
No message will more surely devastate their futures, especially if whites run out of guilt, or indeed if America runs out of whites. If this had been done to Japanese Americans, or Jewish Americans, or Chinese Americans, then Chinatown and Japantown would surely be no different to the roughest parts of Baltimore and East St. Louis today. The History department of UCB is now an integral institutional promulgator of a destructive and denigrating fallacy about the black race.
I hope you appreciate the frustration behind this message. I do not support BLM. I do not support the Democrat grievance agenda and the Party's uncontested capture of our department. I do not support the Party co-opting my race, as Biden recently did in his disturbing interview, claiming that voting Democrat and being black are isomorphic. I condemn the manner of George Floyd's death and join you in calling for greater police accountability and police reform. However, I will not pretend that George Floyd was anything other than a violent misogynist, a brutal man who met a predictably brutal end.
I also want to protect the practice of history. Cleo is no grovelling handmaiden to politicians and corporations. Like us, she is free.
/end
There also exists a large constituency of what can only be called 'race hustlers': hucksters of all colors who benefit from stoking the fires of racial conflict to secure administrative jobs, charity management positions, academic jobs and advancement, or personal political entrepreneurship.
Given the direction our history department appears to be taking far from any commitment to truth, we can regard ourselves as a formative training institution for this brand of snake-oil salespeople. Their activities are corrosive, demolishing any hope at harmonious racial coexistence in our nation and colonizing our political and institutional life. Many of their voices are unironically segregationist.
MLK would likely be called an Uncle Tom if he spoke on our campus today. We are training leaders who intend, explicitly, to destroy one of the only truly successful ethnically diverse societies in modern history. As the PRC, an ethnonationalist and aggressively racially chauvinist national polity with null immigration and no concept of jus solis increasingly presents itself as the global political alternative to the US, I ask you: Is this wise? Are we really doing the right thing?
As a final point, our university and department has made multiple statements celebrating and eulogizing George Floyd. Floyd was a multiple felon who once held a pregnant black woman at gunpoint. He broke into her home with a gang of men and pointed a gun at her pregnant stomach. He terrorized the women in his community. He sired and abandoned multiple children, playing no part in their support or upbringing, failing one of the most basic tests of decency for a human being. He was a drug-addict and sometime drug-dealer, a swindler who preyed upon his honest and hard-working neighbors.
And yet, the regents of UC and the historians of the UCB History department are celebrating this violent criminal, elevating his name to virtual sainthood. A man who hurt women. A man who hurt black women. With the full collaboration of the UCB history department, corporate America, most mainstream media outlets, and some of the wealthiest and most privileged opinion-shaping elites of the USA, he has become a culture hero, buried in a golden casket, his (recognized) family showered with gifts and praise. Americans are being socially pressured into kneeling for this violent, abusive misogynist. A generation of black men are being coerced into identifying with George Floyd, the absolute worst specimen of our race and species.
I'm ashamed of my department. I would say that I'm ashamed of both of you, but perhaps you agree with me, and are simply afraid, as I am, of the backlash of speaking the truth. It's hard to know what kneeling means, when you have to kneel to keep your job.
It shouldn't affect the strength of my argument above, but for the record, I write as a person of color. My family have been personally victimized by men like Floyd. We are aware of the condescending depredations of the Democrat party against our race. The humiliating assumption that we are too stupid to do STEM, that we need special help and lower requirements to get ahead in life, is richly familiar to us. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be easier to deal with open fascists, who at least would be straightforward in calling me a subhuman, and who are unlikely to share my race.
The ever-present soft bigotry of low expectations and the permanent claim that the solutions to the plight of my people rest exclusively on the goodwill of whites rather than on our own hard work is psychologically devastating. No other group in America is systematically demoralized in this way by its alleged allies. A whole generation of black children are being taught that only by begging and weeping and screaming will they get handouts from guilt-ridden whites.
No message will more surely devastate their futures, especially if whites run out of guilt, or indeed if America runs out of whites. If this had been done to Japanese Americans, or Jewish Americans, or Chinese Americans, then Chinatown and Japantown would surely be no different to the roughest parts of Baltimore and East St. Louis today. The History department of UCB is now an integral institutional promulgator of a destructive and denigrating fallacy about the black race.
I hope you appreciate the frustration behind this message. I do not support BLM. I do not support the Democrat grievance agenda and the Party's uncontested capture of our department. I do not support the Party co-opting my race, as Biden recently did in his disturbing interview, claiming that voting Democrat and being black are isomorphic. I condemn the manner of George Floyd's death and join you in calling for greater police accountability and police reform. However, I will not pretend that George Floyd was anything other than a violent misogynist, a brutal man who met a predictably brutal end.
I also want to protect the practice of history. Cleo is no grovelling handmaiden to politicians and corporations. Like us, she is free.
/end
Anonymous letter by a UC Berkeley Professor, part 1
The Department of History at UC Berkeley has denied this is from one of their faculty, but hasn’t addressed the information provided. Any anonymous e-mail is always risky—could be from someone with a different point of view but not from Berkeley. Bolding is from the website that published, not the author's and not mine.
------------------------
Dear profs X, Y, Z
I am one of your colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley. I have met you both personally but do not know you closely, and am contacting you anonymously, with apologies. I am worried that writing this email publicly might lead to me losing my job, and likely all future jobs in my field.
In your recent departmental emails you mentioned our pledge to diversity, but I am increasingly alarmed by the absence of diversity of opinion on the topic of the recent protests and our community response to them.
In the extended links and resources you provided, I could not find a single instance of substantial counter-argument or alternative narrative to explain the under-representation of black individuals in academia or their over-representation in the criminal justice system. The explanation provided in your documentation, to the near exclusion of all others, is univariate: the problems of the black community are caused by whites, or, when whites are not physically present, by the infiltration of white supremacy and white systemic racism into American brains, souls, and institutions.
Many cogent objections to this thesis have been raised by sober voices, including from within the black community itself, such as Thomas Sowell and Wilfred Reilly. These people are not racists or 'Uncle Toms'. They are intelligent scholars who reject a narrative that strips black people of agency and systematically externalizes the problems of the black community onto outsiders. Their view is entirely absent from the departmental and UCB-wide communiques.
The claim that the difficulties that the black community faces are entirely causally explained by exogenous factors in the form of white systemic racism, white supremacy, and other forms of white discrimination remains a problematic hypothesis that should be vigorously challenged by historians. Instead, it is being treated as an axiomatic and actionable truth without serious consideration of its profound flaws, or its worrying implication of total black impotence. This hypothesis is transforming our institution and our culture, without any space for dissent outside of a tightly policed, narrow discourse.
A counternarrative exists. If you have time, please consider examining some of the documents I attach at the end of this email. Overwhelmingly, the reasoning provided by BLM and allies is either primarily anecdotal (as in the case with the bulk of Ta-Nehisi Coates' undeniably moving article) or it is transparently motivated. As an example of the latter problem, consider the proportion of black incarcerated Americans. This proportion is often used to characterize the criminal justice system as anti-black. However, if we use the precise same methodology, we would have to conclude that the criminal justice system is even more anti-male than it is anti-black.
Would we characterize criminal justice as a systemically misandrist conspiracy against innocent American men? I hope you see that this type of reasoning is flawed, and requires a significant suspension of our rational faculties. Black people are not incarcerated at higher rates than their involvement in violent crime would predict. This fact has been demonstrated multiple times across multiple jurisdictions in multiple countries.
And yet, I see my department uncritically reproducing a narrative that diminishes black agency in favor of a white-centric explanation that appeals to the department's apparent desire to shoulder the 'white man's burden' and to promote a narrative of white guilt.
If we claim that the criminal justice system is white-supremacist, why is it that Asian Americans, Indian Americans, and Nigerian Americans are incarcerated at vastly lower rates than white Americans? This is a funny sort of white supremacy. Even Jewish Americans are incarcerated less than gentile whites. I think it's fair to say that your average white supremacist disapproves of Jews. And yet, these alleged white supremacists incarcerate gentiles at vastly higher rates than Jews. None of this is addressed in your literature. None of this is explained, beyond hand-waving and ad hominems. "Those are racist dogwhistles". "The model minority myth is white supremacist". "Only fascists talk about black-on-black crime", ad nauseam.
These types of statements do not amount to counterarguments: they are simply arbitrary offensive classifications, intended to silence and oppress discourse. Any serious historian will recognize these for the silencing orthodoxy tactics they are, common to suppressive regimes, doctrines, and religions throughout time and space. They are intended to crush real diversity and permanently exile the culture of robust criticism from our department.
Increasingly, we are being called upon to comply and subscribe to BLM's problematic view of history, and the department is being presented as unified on the matter. In particular, ethnic minorities are being aggressively marshaled into a single position. Any apparent unity is surely a function of the fact that dissent could almost certainly lead to expulsion or cancellation for those of us in a precarious position, which is no small number.
I personally don't dare speak out against the BLM narrative, and with this barrage of alleged unity being mass-produced by the administration, tenured professoriat, the UC administration, corporate America, and the media, the punishment for dissent is a clear danger at a time of widespread economic vulnerability. I am certain that if my name were attached to this email, I would lose my job and all future jobs, even though I believe in and can justify every word I type.
The vast majority of violence visited on the black community is committed by black people. There are virtually no marches for these invisible victims, no public silences, no heartfelt letters from the UC regents, deans, and departmental heads. The message is clear: Black lives only matter when whites take them. Black violence is expected and insoluble, while white violence requires explanation and demands solution. Please look into your hearts and see how monstrously bigoted this formulation truly is.
No discussion is permitted for nonblack victims of black violence, who proportionally outnumber black victims of nonblack violence. This is especially bitter in the Bay Area, where Asian victimization by black assailants has reached epidemic proportions, to the point that the SF police chief has advised Asians to stop hanging good-luck charms on their doors, as this attracts the attention of (overwhelmingly black) home invaders. Home invaders like George Floyd. For this actual, lived, physically experienced reality of violence in the USA, there are no marches, no tearful emails from departmental heads, no support from McDonald's and Wal-Mart. For the History department, our silence is not a mere abrogation of our duty to shed light on the truth: it is a rejection of it.
The claim that black intraracial violence is the product of redlining, slavery, and other injustices is a largely historical claim. It is for historians, therefore, to explain why Japanese internment or the massacre of European Jewry hasn't led to equivalent rates of dysfunction and low SES performance among Japanese and Jewish Americans respectively. Arab Americans have been viciously demonized since 9/11, as have Chinese Americans more recently. However, both groups outperform white Americans on nearly all SES indices - as do Nigerian Americans, who incidentally have black skin. It is for historians to point out and discuss these anomalies. However, no real discussion is possible in the current climate at our department. The explanation is provided to us, disagreement with it is racist, and the job of historians is to further explore additional ways in which the explanation is additionally correct. This is a mockery of the historical profession.
Most troublingly, our department appears to have been entirely captured by the interests of the Democratic National Convention, and the Democratic Party more broadly. To explain what I mean, consider what happens if you choose to donate to Black Lives Matter, an organization UCB History has explicitly promoted in its recent mailers. All donations to the official BLM website are immediately redirected to ActBlue Charities, an organization primarily concerned with bankrolling election campaigns for Democrat candidates. Donating to BLM today is to indirectly donate to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. This is grotesque given the fact that the American cities with the worst rates of black-on-black violence and police-on-black violence are overwhelmingly Democrat-run. Minneapolis itself has been entirely in the hands of Democrats for over five decades; the 'systemic racism' there was built by successive Democrat administrations.
The patronizing and condescending attitudes of Democrat leaders towards the black community, exemplified by nearly every Biden statement on the black race, all but guarantee a perpetual state of misery, resentment, poverty, and the attendant grievance politics which are simultaneously annihilating American political discourse and black lives. And yet, donating to BLM is bankrolling the election campaigns of men like Mayor Frey, who saw their cities devolve into violence. This is a grotesque capture of a good-faith movement for necessary police reform, and of our department, by a political party. Even worse, there are virtually no avenues for dissent in academic circles. I refuse to serve the Party, and so should you.
The total alliance of major corporations involved in human exploitation with BLM should be a warning flag to us, and yet this damning evidence goes unnoticed, purposefully ignored, or perversely celebrated. We are the useful idiots of the wealthiest classes, carrying water for Jeff Bezos and other actual, real, modern-day slavers. Starbucks, an organisation using literal black slaves in its coffee plantation suppliers, is in favor of BLM. Sony, an organisation using cobalt mined by yet more literal black slaves, many of whom are children, is in favor of BLM. And so, apparently, are we. The absence of counter-narrative enables this obscenity. Fiat lux, indeed.
End pt. 1
------------------------
Dear profs X, Y, Z
I am one of your colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley. I have met you both personally but do not know you closely, and am contacting you anonymously, with apologies. I am worried that writing this email publicly might lead to me losing my job, and likely all future jobs in my field.
In your recent departmental emails you mentioned our pledge to diversity, but I am increasingly alarmed by the absence of diversity of opinion on the topic of the recent protests and our community response to them.
In the extended links and resources you provided, I could not find a single instance of substantial counter-argument or alternative narrative to explain the under-representation of black individuals in academia or their over-representation in the criminal justice system. The explanation provided in your documentation, to the near exclusion of all others, is univariate: the problems of the black community are caused by whites, or, when whites are not physically present, by the infiltration of white supremacy and white systemic racism into American brains, souls, and institutions.
Many cogent objections to this thesis have been raised by sober voices, including from within the black community itself, such as Thomas Sowell and Wilfred Reilly. These people are not racists or 'Uncle Toms'. They are intelligent scholars who reject a narrative that strips black people of agency and systematically externalizes the problems of the black community onto outsiders. Their view is entirely absent from the departmental and UCB-wide communiques.
The claim that the difficulties that the black community faces are entirely causally explained by exogenous factors in the form of white systemic racism, white supremacy, and other forms of white discrimination remains a problematic hypothesis that should be vigorously challenged by historians. Instead, it is being treated as an axiomatic and actionable truth without serious consideration of its profound flaws, or its worrying implication of total black impotence. This hypothesis is transforming our institution and our culture, without any space for dissent outside of a tightly policed, narrow discourse.
A counternarrative exists. If you have time, please consider examining some of the documents I attach at the end of this email. Overwhelmingly, the reasoning provided by BLM and allies is either primarily anecdotal (as in the case with the bulk of Ta-Nehisi Coates' undeniably moving article) or it is transparently motivated. As an example of the latter problem, consider the proportion of black incarcerated Americans. This proportion is often used to characterize the criminal justice system as anti-black. However, if we use the precise same methodology, we would have to conclude that the criminal justice system is even more anti-male than it is anti-black.
Would we characterize criminal justice as a systemically misandrist conspiracy against innocent American men? I hope you see that this type of reasoning is flawed, and requires a significant suspension of our rational faculties. Black people are not incarcerated at higher rates than their involvement in violent crime would predict. This fact has been demonstrated multiple times across multiple jurisdictions in multiple countries.
And yet, I see my department uncritically reproducing a narrative that diminishes black agency in favor of a white-centric explanation that appeals to the department's apparent desire to shoulder the 'white man's burden' and to promote a narrative of white guilt.
If we claim that the criminal justice system is white-supremacist, why is it that Asian Americans, Indian Americans, and Nigerian Americans are incarcerated at vastly lower rates than white Americans? This is a funny sort of white supremacy. Even Jewish Americans are incarcerated less than gentile whites. I think it's fair to say that your average white supremacist disapproves of Jews. And yet, these alleged white supremacists incarcerate gentiles at vastly higher rates than Jews. None of this is addressed in your literature. None of this is explained, beyond hand-waving and ad hominems. "Those are racist dogwhistles". "The model minority myth is white supremacist". "Only fascists talk about black-on-black crime", ad nauseam.
These types of statements do not amount to counterarguments: they are simply arbitrary offensive classifications, intended to silence and oppress discourse. Any serious historian will recognize these for the silencing orthodoxy tactics they are, common to suppressive regimes, doctrines, and religions throughout time and space. They are intended to crush real diversity and permanently exile the culture of robust criticism from our department.
Increasingly, we are being called upon to comply and subscribe to BLM's problematic view of history, and the department is being presented as unified on the matter. In particular, ethnic minorities are being aggressively marshaled into a single position. Any apparent unity is surely a function of the fact that dissent could almost certainly lead to expulsion or cancellation for those of us in a precarious position, which is no small number.
I personally don't dare speak out against the BLM narrative, and with this barrage of alleged unity being mass-produced by the administration, tenured professoriat, the UC administration, corporate America, and the media, the punishment for dissent is a clear danger at a time of widespread economic vulnerability. I am certain that if my name were attached to this email, I would lose my job and all future jobs, even though I believe in and can justify every word I type.
The vast majority of violence visited on the black community is committed by black people. There are virtually no marches for these invisible victims, no public silences, no heartfelt letters from the UC regents, deans, and departmental heads. The message is clear: Black lives only matter when whites take them. Black violence is expected and insoluble, while white violence requires explanation and demands solution. Please look into your hearts and see how monstrously bigoted this formulation truly is.
No discussion is permitted for nonblack victims of black violence, who proportionally outnumber black victims of nonblack violence. This is especially bitter in the Bay Area, where Asian victimization by black assailants has reached epidemic proportions, to the point that the SF police chief has advised Asians to stop hanging good-luck charms on their doors, as this attracts the attention of (overwhelmingly black) home invaders. Home invaders like George Floyd. For this actual, lived, physically experienced reality of violence in the USA, there are no marches, no tearful emails from departmental heads, no support from McDonald's and Wal-Mart. For the History department, our silence is not a mere abrogation of our duty to shed light on the truth: it is a rejection of it.
The claim that black intraracial violence is the product of redlining, slavery, and other injustices is a largely historical claim. It is for historians, therefore, to explain why Japanese internment or the massacre of European Jewry hasn't led to equivalent rates of dysfunction and low SES performance among Japanese and Jewish Americans respectively. Arab Americans have been viciously demonized since 9/11, as have Chinese Americans more recently. However, both groups outperform white Americans on nearly all SES indices - as do Nigerian Americans, who incidentally have black skin. It is for historians to point out and discuss these anomalies. However, no real discussion is possible in the current climate at our department. The explanation is provided to us, disagreement with it is racist, and the job of historians is to further explore additional ways in which the explanation is additionally correct. This is a mockery of the historical profession.
Most troublingly, our department appears to have been entirely captured by the interests of the Democratic National Convention, and the Democratic Party more broadly. To explain what I mean, consider what happens if you choose to donate to Black Lives Matter, an organization UCB History has explicitly promoted in its recent mailers. All donations to the official BLM website are immediately redirected to ActBlue Charities, an organization primarily concerned with bankrolling election campaigns for Democrat candidates. Donating to BLM today is to indirectly donate to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. This is grotesque given the fact that the American cities with the worst rates of black-on-black violence and police-on-black violence are overwhelmingly Democrat-run. Minneapolis itself has been entirely in the hands of Democrats for over five decades; the 'systemic racism' there was built by successive Democrat administrations.
The patronizing and condescending attitudes of Democrat leaders towards the black community, exemplified by nearly every Biden statement on the black race, all but guarantee a perpetual state of misery, resentment, poverty, and the attendant grievance politics which are simultaneously annihilating American political discourse and black lives. And yet, donating to BLM is bankrolling the election campaigns of men like Mayor Frey, who saw their cities devolve into violence. This is a grotesque capture of a good-faith movement for necessary police reform, and of our department, by a political party. Even worse, there are virtually no avenues for dissent in academic circles. I refuse to serve the Party, and so should you.
The total alliance of major corporations involved in human exploitation with BLM should be a warning flag to us, and yet this damning evidence goes unnoticed, purposefully ignored, or perversely celebrated. We are the useful idiots of the wealthiest classes, carrying water for Jeff Bezos and other actual, real, modern-day slavers. Starbucks, an organisation using literal black slaves in its coffee plantation suppliers, is in favor of BLM. Sony, an organisation using cobalt mined by yet more literal black slaves, many of whom are children, is in favor of BLM. And so, apparently, are we. The absence of counter-narrative enables this obscenity. Fiat lux, indeed.
End pt. 1
The kitchen table
Yesterday our son's home went on the market (http://altrealtors.com/) and by evening we had 2 offers. It's a wonderful starter home, or for a retired couple who don't want stairs but a very convenient location. We remember when we bought it in 2004, and over the years the wonderful improvements he made, new deck, new doors, new windows, new blinds, cross and Bible interior doors, new floors, new kitchen cabinets and appliances, new roof after Hurricane Ike, and new bathroom fixtures.
Originally, most of the furniture (and a lot of books and art) came from our home, and over the years, they were mostly replaced as he put his bachelor touches on it. We'll take back the kitchen table, now over 50 years old. I have so many photos of him and that table, with lots of the nicks and scratches that he personally put there as a toddler. Photos of him and grandpa eating ice cream, of him and Phoebe doing art projects, of him and cousins coloring Easter eggs, of him and his bride Holly at the brunch we gave them a few weeks after their wedding, of my Corbett family as we gathered for breakfast before Phoebe's wedding.
I'm not sure where we'll put it, but I'll keep that "antique."
Originally, most of the furniture (and a lot of books and art) came from our home, and over the years, they were mostly replaced as he put his bachelor touches on it. We'll take back the kitchen table, now over 50 years old. I have so many photos of him and that table, with lots of the nicks and scratches that he personally put there as a toddler. Photos of him and grandpa eating ice cream, of him and Phoebe doing art projects, of him and cousins coloring Easter eggs, of him and his bride Holly at the brunch we gave them a few weeks after their wedding, of my Corbett family as we gathered for breakfast before Phoebe's wedding.
I'm not sure where we'll put it, but I'll keep that "antique."
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