Today’s blacklisted American: Protesters force Obama’s Homeland Security head to withdraw as speaker at Vassar
Eating their own: Leftist protesters at Vassar College have forced Jeh Johnson, who was Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, to back out of giving the college’s May 22nd commencement speech.
Johnson was replaced by an actor, illustrating once again the growing vapidness of modern academia. The accusations against Johnson also illustrate this bankruptcy by their empty slogans and shallow cliches:
The switch in commencement speaker has sparked heated online debate among students and alumni, with one camp opposed to what one student called Johnson’s “violence on marginalized peoples” and the other camp complaining of runaway “woke” politics.
The controversy deepened after a story that had quoted students referring to Johnson as guilty of “war crimes” — and which warned of “protest and disruption” should he speak — was deleted from Vassar’s student newspaper website, the Miscellany News. [emphasis mine]
The deleted article appears to be available here. This quote in particular from it demonstrates the empty-headed and intolerant thinking in today’s academia, aided by the intellectual dishonesty of an agenda-driven reporter:
Some students of color feel especially impacted by Johnson’s policies. In regards to Johnson’s history with Homeland Security, Oona Maloney ’22 was not at all surprised by the announcement: “It’s not surprising that Vassar, a predominantly white institution, would invite someone who played a key role in the Obama administration by exacting violence on marginalized peoples in the Middle East and at the border in the name of protecting US imperial interests,” she said. [emphasis mine]
The word “some” is a typical journalistic lie. The reporter quotes one person, and implies that the quote represents the opinions of many. Meanwhile, Oona Maloney’s words reek of leftist cliches and empty catchwords. Worse, she is entirely focused on race hatred, not tolerance and good will to all. To her, whites are evil, and any action that she disagrees with must be “racist.”
As a Democrat who worked for Obama, Johnson however is no saint in this matter. His withdrawal statement illustrates his eager kow-towing to these leftist brownshirts:
I believe commencements should be joyous, tension-free events for graduates and their families. In my public life I managed many difficult and contentious issues. In my private life I do not seek to be the object of controversy or speak at a commencement where students will object to me.
…Immigration is a difficult and painful issue. In my three years as Secretary of Homeland Security, I visited our southern border numerous times. During those visits, I often took the time to enter Border Patrol holding stations and speak directly through a translator to the children in our care, to ensure their welfare. As a father, I wanted to take them all home with me; as the Cabinet official responsible for securing our border, I knew I could not. At the same time, on my watch, the number of deportations from our country went down, the percentage of those deported who were convicted of serious offenses went up, and the number of young people enrolled in DACA went up. Whether immigration, border security or national security, leaders with a sense of humanity are often faced with less than perfect choices, sometimes nothing but ugly choices, but we always try to do the right thing.
During Obama’s administration border security was horrible, but there at least was an effort to follow the law. That effort has mostly now vanished during the Biden administration, which has apparently been captured by people like Oona Maloney who view anything the U.S. does to protect its sovereignty to be an example of the “US’s imperial interests” and “violence against marginalized peoples.”
The result: Even Obama officials are now subject to blacklisting.
Welcome to the New America, a land of propaganda, slogans, blacklisting, and the abuse of power against anyone who does not agree.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Eating their own: Leftist protesters at Vassar College have forced Jeh Johnson, who was Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, to back out of giving the college’s May 22nd commencement speech.
Johnson was replaced by an actor, illustrating once again the growing vapidness of modern academia. The accusations against Johnson also illustrate this bankruptcy by their empty slogans and shallow cliches:
The switch in commencement speaker has sparked heated online debate among students and alumni, with one camp opposed to what one student called Johnson’s “violence on marginalized peoples” and the other camp complaining of runaway “woke” politics.
The controversy deepened after a story that had quoted students referring to Johnson as guilty of “war crimes” — and which warned of “protest and disruption” should he speak — was deleted from Vassar’s student newspaper website, the Miscellany News. [emphasis mine]
The deleted article appears to be available here. This quote in particular from it demonstrates the empty-headed and intolerant thinking in today’s academia, aided by the intellectual dishonesty of an agenda-driven reporter:
Some students of color feel especially impacted by Johnson’s policies. In regards to Johnson’s history with Homeland Security, Oona Maloney ’22 was not at all surprised by the announcement: “It’s not surprising that Vassar, a predominantly white institution, would invite someone who played a key role in the Obama administration by exacting violence on marginalized peoples in the Middle East and at the border in the name of protecting US imperial interests,” she said. [emphasis mine]
The word “some” is a typical journalistic lie. The reporter quotes one person, and implies that the quote represents the opinions of many. Meanwhile, Oona Maloney’s words reek of leftist cliches and empty catchwords. Worse, she is entirely focused on race hatred, not tolerance and good will to all. To her, whites are evil, and any action that she disagrees with must be “racist.”
As a Democrat who worked for Obama, Johnson however is no saint in this matter. His withdrawal statement illustrates his eager kow-towing to these leftist brownshirts:
I believe commencements should be joyous, tension-free events for graduates and their families. In my public life I managed many difficult and contentious issues. In my private life I do not seek to be the object of controversy or speak at a commencement where students will object to me.
…Immigration is a difficult and painful issue. In my three years as Secretary of Homeland Security, I visited our southern border numerous times. During those visits, I often took the time to enter Border Patrol holding stations and speak directly through a translator to the children in our care, to ensure their welfare. As a father, I wanted to take them all home with me; as the Cabinet official responsible for securing our border, I knew I could not. At the same time, on my watch, the number of deportations from our country went down, the percentage of those deported who were convicted of serious offenses went up, and the number of young people enrolled in DACA went up. Whether immigration, border security or national security, leaders with a sense of humanity are often faced with less than perfect choices, sometimes nothing but ugly choices, but we always try to do the right thing.
During Obama’s administration border security was horrible, but there at least was an effort to follow the law. That effort has mostly now vanished during the Biden administration, which has apparently been captured by people like Oona Maloney who view anything the U.S. does to protect its sovereignty to be an example of the “US’s imperial interests” and “violence against marginalized peoples.”
The result: Even Obama officials are now subject to blacklisting.
Welcome to the New America, a land of propaganda, slogans, blacklisting, and the abuse of power against anyone who does not agree.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Vassar is right down the road from me. They deserve no more and no less, than to have Barney (the lovable purple dinosaur – notably a person of color) as their commencement speaker. If this is the future of America, we ought to just pack it in and beg Russia to nuke us all for our own good. Four years in a prestigious college and this is the result – pure racism and intolerance on proud display.
OK, were they CONFUSED and thought this was HANK (GUAM) Johnson and it was a bunch of GUAMIANS who protested? OR were they afraid that a BLACK MAN might actually say something INTELLIGENT? Jeh has been known to slip up and speak a truth every now and then!
There’s that moment when you drive off a cliff and haven’t hit bottom yet, nor really even built up any speed on that downward trend. But the commitment is made. This nonsense in the academic halls cannot sustain. The lunatics in the asylum do not make a salable product. Eventually the laws of nature will resolve this.
Might be nice if those in authority would resolve it as a matter of deliberate choice and avoid the coming wreck. Do they look gutless or what?
If Vassar is such a terrible place, why did she stick around for four years and why will she almost certainly accept a degree from it?