Tag: oppression

Imran Awan, Wasserman Schultz’s computer geek, indicted

3:33 pm

A grand jury today indicted the computer expert who for years ran the computers for numerous congressional Democrats, led by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida).

Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats have been on investigators’ radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft, and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.

The indictment itself, which merely represents formal charges and is not a finding of guilt, addresses separate allegations that Awan and his wife engaged in a conspiracy to obtain home equity lines of credit from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by giving false information about two properties – and then sending the proceeds to individuals in Pakistan.

What I find interesting is that the indictment completely avoids the issues of security and equipment theft that could have been a direct security threat to the country. It is also interesting how the grand jury investigation was aimed at Awan only, and avoided looking into Wasserman Schultz’s part entirely.

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ISIS files “cultural appropriation” complaint against ANTIFA with UN

12:21 am

Link here. The complaint, from ISIS High Command (“somewhere along the Syria-Iraq border”), begins as follows:

As you may know, there is a new category of outrage that “social justice warriors” the world over are fighting to stop: “cultural appropriation.” Loosely defined, this outrage occurs whenever a person, group or organization begins adopting the habits and mannerisms that originate elsewhere…. In this vein, we are writing to file a formal complaint with the UNHRC’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, regarding a matter that we consider most serious: the fact that the recently-organized, global “ANTIFA” movement has:

(1) Culturally appropriated what is clearly ISIS’s trademark black uniforms

(2) Culturally appropriated the terror-tactics we employ while wearing these uniforms

They then provide documented evidence, including photos, and then note, “Now, if you were to see one or the other of these groups marching down your street, would you be able to determine, at a glance, if they are with ISIS, or ANTIFA?”

Their solution?

You might mention to the ANTIFA punks that in quite a few aspects, we are at war with the very same people, organizations and ideas, and, in fact, Western civilization itself. So, if you could arrange a sit-down over tea with us, and them, it might serve all of our interests, and provide a holistic, inclusive resolution to our complaint. Thanks!

Makes perfect sense to me. I mean, really, these guys all seem to have the same goals.

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Three leftist protesters arrested in Chicago

1:30 pm

Brownshirts: During a leftist protest today in Chicago, where the protesters wore masks and chanted “Cops and Klan go hand in hand,” three demonstrators were arrested when they tried to block traffic.

Remember, these people are not demonstrating against any real racism or oppression. What they are protesting is the existence of the United States and American culture. Anything they can do to destroy it will please them.

I must add that a red flag should immediately be raised against anyone who requires a mask to protest. If you do not have evil intent you have no reason to hide your face.

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The mob attacks

10:11 am

Fascists: Here are a few more stories today that suggest to me that the new wave of protests over statues honoring individuals from the Confederate side of the Civil War has nothing to to with fighting racism and everything to do with exerting mob rule and power over others.

This mob will tolerate no disagreement, now or ever. And if you dare mention this to them, they will come at you with every weapon possible (including fists and sticks), not to debate you but to literally destroy you. And they aren’t merely interested in silencing any dissent, they wish to destroy our knowledge of American history, so that no one will know anything and be more at their mercy.

Update: I will likely be adding links to this list all day today.

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UC-Davis establishes rules to allow free speech

9:35 am

This could be a victory: A working group established by the administration of the University of California in Davis (UC-Davis) has recommended rules that will punish students who disrupt speakers and prevent them from speaking.

[T]he working group recommended the implementation of an “anti-disruption disciplinary rule” that would punish student who disrupt speakers, as was the case during Yiannopoulos’ visit to campus.“Although the determination of what constitutes disruption may be fact-specific and contextual in some cases and require the exercise of official discretion, the campus should clearly delineate disruptive behavior it deems presumptively unacceptable and provide clear notice to students engaging in such behavior that their conduct warrants a disciplinary response,” the working group explains.

Additionally, the report recommends regular “freedom of expression education events” to highlight the “values served by freedom of expression on a university campus.” Among such events, the working group suggests “interactive town halls and workshops” that would include discussion on the “theory of creative political expression to provide compelling examples of other, constructive and expressive options students have to respond to controversial speakers.”

This sounds good, but we will only find out if the administration means it when a conservative speaker decides to come to UC-Davis to speak. The article includes many comments from students who participated in the working group that opposed these recommendations and were hostile to allowing any dissenting voices on campus.

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Radical left calls for more violence

11:31 pm

A wide range of leftist radical groups, most of which have been involved in the variety of violent attacks in the last year against conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters, are now calling for even more violence against anyone who opposes them.

Many of the same groups that have organized violent demonstrations in Berkeley, California and elsewhere are now calling for an aggressive response to the violence in Charlottesville. Far-left “anti-fascist” (or antifa) figures are advising agitators to do the job that police won’t: shutting down “fascists” and preventing them from organizing.

Radical left-wingers have for months justified violence as a way to fight back against “fascism” and “racism” — terms that they have applied not just to white nationalist fringe groups but to prominent figures on the right as well. “Charlottesville is just the beginning. If the alt-right can get away with murder there, none of us will be safe. We have to stand up to white supremacists, we have to shut down and chase out these bigots every time they try to organize, or else they will kill more people,” reads one poster created by anarchist group CrimethInc, a self-described “international network of aspiring revolutionaries.”

Read the whole article. If you have any doubts these are leftist groups, note that several condemn capitalism and democracy. Moreover, if you have read any history about the organizing tactics used by the Nazis in Germany, the Fascists in Italy, and the Communists in Russia and China, you will find the language and tactics here very familiar.

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North Korea appears to back down

6:27 pm

A news report today out of North Korea suggests that its leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped back from a plan to test fire four missiles in the direction of Guam.

This could be related to China’s decision this week, under strong pressure from the Trump administration, to finally go along with UN sanctions and ban imports of iron, lead, and coal from North Korea.

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A celebration of hate and ignorance

1:34 pm

The last few days have not been good ones for American free speech and freedom. Not only have we seen violence perpetrated to silence the free expression of dissent, we have seen an effort after the fact to use that violence as a club for destroying any opposition to the liberal and leftist dogma that dominates the American political and academic community.

The following links will provide a nice overview of how our cultural elites, especially on the left, have responded to this weekend’s terrible events in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one person was killed and almost twenty injured when a car rammed into a crowd of competing racist demonstrators.

That is how our elites responded, not with conciliatory remarks aimed at bringing people together, but with anger and hate, hate of Trump, hate of the Republican Party, hate of the NRA, hate of whites, hate for anyone that dared disagree with their leftist agenda. Then, when Trump issued a statement condemning all violence in the name of bigotry, the response was equally hateful:
» Read more

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Chinese engineers and astronomers fight over new telescope design

9:10 am

A dispute over the design of a new Chinese optical telescope has broken out between the astronomers who will use it and the engineers who will build it.

In April, an international committee convened by [Chinese Academy of Science’s] Center for Astronomical Mega-Science, which is responsible for the project, reviewed the competing designs and recommended the three-mirror option [the preference of astronomer Jiansheng Chen and China’s astronomers]. On 10 July, [Xiangqun Cui, the instrument’s chief engineer] organized her own review committee that picked the SYZ design as better. Cui’s panel “leaned toward one side,” Chen says. And one member says that the three-mirror design was not sufficiently presented, partly because no one from the Huazhong team was there. Cui and Su explain in their open letter that a member of their own group who knows it well introduced the Huazhong design. “Members were repeatedly reminded they could abstain from voting,” they write. One-third of the 21 committee members did abstain.

Meanwhile, to date, more than 130 young astronomers have signed an open letter to the astronomical community urging that the recommendations of the international panel be respected.

The fundamental disagreement, according to Chen, is “whether a large science project should be technically or scientifically oriented.” Cui and Su say the choice is between incorporating “rapidly developing new technologies” that ensure a long life for the facility, or “simply replicating a 10-meter telescope built 30 years ago.”

This spat reinforces the impression gained from the recent other story about China’s inability to find a manager for its newly built radio telescope. Its top-down management approach (where decisions are made by well-connected powerful bureaucrats at the top of the chain of command) produces office politics that generally does not lead to good technical decisions.

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White nationalist protest in Virginia

11:33 pm

Racism goes all around: A demonstration of white nationalists gathered today at the University of Virginia, holding torches and shouting pro-white chants.

Sharing a photo of the torch-bearing march on Friday, Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler wrote on Twitter, “Incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to here & aren’t going to take it anymore. Tomorrow we #Unitethe Right #Charlottesville.”

Prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer, who led a similar march in Charlottesville in May, was also at the rally on Friday night.

You hate people merely because they are white, and what you will get is alliances forming to defend whites, focused entirely on their race. The result is that everyone becomes bigoted and racist.

It is important to remind everyone that no one has been a slave in the United states in more than 150 years, and discrimination solely because of race ended pretty much a half century ago. The nation, which is dominated by whites, elected a black president twice in the past decade. For minorities to hate whites today is absurd, and can only be founded on the basis of race hatred. For white leftists to do it is even more absurd, and is the epitome of self-hatred.

As always, the battle here is between those who treat each person as an individual, and those who can only see them as members of a group. The former believes in individual freedom and personal responsibility. The latter believes in bigotry and racism. I proudly rank myself in the former group. To which group do you belong?

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A memo from Google advising employees on correct thought

10:33 pm

Link here. This memo clarifies for everyone what is expected of Google employees. I especially find this quote informative:

Please remember, as you no doubt read in the Employee Handbook, Google’s commitment to diversity is complete and unequivocal. Any variance from diversity is not permitted and will be dealt with immediately. It is only when all of us think exactly the same thoughts that we can achieve perfect diversity.

Of course, Google is also completely committed to the advancement of science and human knowledge. If history has taught us anything, it is that science can only flourish where the allowable topics of discussion are highly circumscribed. Approved subjects of conversation are posted throughout the campus, so please look before you speak.

I believe some of the problem lately has been a simple misunderstanding of my last memo. Unfortunately, I mistyped that Google “approves of free speech.” I meant to write that Google must “approve free speech.” I want all of our employees to feel perfectly free to express themselves however their political, moral, or religious beliefs impel them; provided of course that they receive prior written authorization.

Read it all. It really explains everything.

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An article in New York magazine claims blonde hair is racism

8:32 pm

Want to see bigotry on display? Read this New York magazine article: Political Peroxide: Blonde privilege

Attributes associated with whiteness — light skin, narrow noses — have dominated American beauty ideals as long as there’s been such a thing. Which means that blondness has always been … charged: The ’50s gave us Doris Day, who once said that her only ambition ever had been to “be a housewife in a good marriage” (“Preordination had other plans”). To be blonde was to be a good American woman, pure of intention and heart — which implied also, of course, that to be a good American woman, pure of intention and heart, meant being blonde. Betty was blonde, Veronica was trouble. Ditto Sandy and Rizzo. Hitchcock liked to cast blondes because he said they made the best victims: “The color was virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.”

Fox News and Donald Trump have given blonde hair a new chapter: Now, blonde is the color of the right, for whom whiteness has become a hallmark. Over the past decade or so, as inclusiveness became the hallmark of Obama-era liberals, the left found feminist icons in Rachel Maddow, Samantha Power, and Michelle Obama, who make no apologies for their failure to fit traditional ideals. But #MAGA, Fox News America is a place where all the classic signifiers of privilege and wealth work on overdrive: country-club-issue blue blazers with brass buttons and khaki pants, and above all else, for women, that yellow-blonde, carefully tended hair — a dog whistle of whiteness, an unspoken declaration of values, a wink-wink to the power of racial privilege and to the 1980s vibe that pervades a movement led by a man who still believes in the guilt of the Central Park Five. During that Republican Preppy Handbook era, when Dynasty and Dallas were on TV, the type of conspicuous ostentation that would lead a real-estate developer to sheath his entire apartment in gold leaf was actually in vogue. Look at the movies: Jake’s girlfriend in Sixteen Candles with the lush swoop of thick, blonde locks that ended up stuck in a door (losing the boyfriend to a redhead of all things meant, literally, losing that luscious hair). Johnny, the villain of the Karate Kid films, had a decisive swoosh of blond hair that obscured his headband. We knew, the moment we saw that hair, that small, ethnic Daniel was up against more than another teenager, he was up against privilege itself. [emphasis mine]

Not only is this incredibly stupid, it reeks of hatred and bigotry. You have blond hair? You must associate with white supremacists. You choose to dye your hair blond? You must be a white supremacist!

Don’t be surprised when these leftwing progressive bigots take the next step and strongly suggest that we need a final solution to this problem of “whiteness,” that maybe we should round up all these evil whites so they can’t do society any harm anymore.

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Stanford University course to study the evils of “whiteness”

10:51 am

Academic bigotry: Stanford University is planning to offer a course in the fall that will study the evils of “whiteness” in order to figure out how to abolish it.

Citing pundits who say “the 2016 Presidential election marks the rise of white identity politics in the United States,” the upper-level anthropology seminar will draw “from the field of whiteness studies and from contemporary writings that push whiteness studies in new directions.”

Questions to be posed throughout the semester include: “Does white identity politics exist?” and “How is a concept like white identity to be understood in relation to white nationalism, white supremacy, white privilege, and whiteness?”

“Students will consider the perils and possibilities of different political practices,” according to the course description, “including abolishing whiteness or coming to terms with white identity.” The course will be taught by instructor John Patrick Moran. Reached by e-mail, Moran declined to comment, instead directing The College Fix to Stanford communication’s office.

Ernest Miranda, a spokesman for Stanford, told The Fix via e-mail that “‘abolishing whiteness’ is a concept put forward in the 1990s by a number of white historians. Their belief was that if other white people would, like them, stop identifying politically as white, it would help end inequalities.”

If the course was solely designed to look at bigotry, by all races and ethnic groups, I’d applaud it. That it is specifically aimed at only whites and white nationalism tells me instead that this is merely a bigoted way to attack whites, and whites only, as well as to politically smear the people who voted for Trump (as indicated by the first paragraph in the quote above). I note also that this course doesn’t seem to have a problem with those people who focus on their “black identity,” even as it condemns those who focus on their “white identity.” Both are bad, since they are both race-based and bigoted. That the course picks on only one illustrates its bigotry.

If you give money to Stanford University, you might consider this information before you consider future donations.

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University backs down, will allow 9/11 memorial as planned

10:39 am

This is a victory: Southern Methodist University (SMU) has backed down from a decision to shift its annual 9/11 memorial to a remote place on campus so that it might not offend some students.

[In its original decision] the campus administration cited a new “lawn display” policy which, it claimed, tries to balance “the right of all members of the SMU community to express their opinions” and the right to “avoid messages that are triggering, harmful, or harassing.”

A bipartisan coalition of students blasted the policy, including the SMU College Democrats whose co-vice president said “If expression is banned from a part of this campus, that is detrimental to the education of the students.” Fox News reports SMU donors, alumni and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined the criticism, as well.

The school changed its mind late Wednesday. “I thank the students from across campus who came together in the spirit of mutual respect and civil discourse to achieve this outcome,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said in a prepared statement. “Throughout these discussions, students have expressed their commitment to freedom of expression – a value the University shares.”

Conservatives on campus expressed guarded caution, noting that though the university has backed down here, it has also not yet revised its new more restrictive speech policies.

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China admits it will do nothing to stop North Korea from attacking US

10:25 am

In an official editorial, China has admitted that it will do nothing to stop North Korea from using missiles to attack the US territory of Guam.

Beijing is not able to persuade Washington or Pyongyang to back down at this time. It needs to make clear its stance to all sides and make them understand that when their actions jeopardize China’s interests, China will respond with a firm hand.

China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral. If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.

In other words, China will not stop North Korea from carrying out its attacks, but if it does so China will also not do anything if the U.S. responds.

The editorial is intellectually dishonest however. It also states,

The real danger is that such a reckless game may lead to miscalculations and a strategic “war.” That is to say, neither Washington nor Pyongyang really wants war, but a war could break out anyway as they do not have the experience of putting such an extreme game under control. [emphasis mine]

The highlighted words are simply wrong. It has been very clear now for several years that North Korea is eager for war, and has been doing everything it can to instigate a conflict.

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The fifteen most popular search engines

1:40 pm

Link here. Considering the increasingly fascist attitude of Google towards its employees and its users, I thought it worthwhile to provide this list of alternatives. I use Startpage, which isn’t listed because it is actually a slightly different version of Ixquick.

There is no reason to blindly and mindlessly depend on Google. There are many choices out there. Use your freedom and choose. It is our own personal responsibility to do so.

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Minnesota writing conference cancelled because of too many whites

1:34 pm

Bigoted intelligentsia: A Minnesota writing conference was cancelled yesterday because people complained the line-up of speakers did not have enough minorities.

Twenty-two authors were set to speak at the event, but only one had an ethnic background. William Alexander, winner of a National Book Award, is a Cuban-American author. Udesen said the event was canceled in part because of the lack of diversity in the line-up, but also because not enough people were going to attend.

[Britt Udesen, executive director of the event] added that they invited more than 30 people of color to speak at the conference, but none accepted the invitation.

So, now it is unacceptable to even hold an event if minorities are not interested in participated. They must be there, since whites don’t count.

Utter and blatant bigotry. That’s all this is.

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University excludes white males from $10K journalism grant

11:20 am

Bigoted academia: For the second year in a row Brandeis University is offering a racist $10K journalism grant only to minorities and women, specifically excluding white males.

The grant’s entire eligibility requirements, from the university’s press release, are quite blunt:

Applications from women and journalists of color working in any type of media — print, audio, video, online — will be considered.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens but can be reporting from abroad.

As the article above notes, federal law forbids any organization that receives federal funds (as Brandeis does) from discriminating based on either sex or race. But then, bigotry today in the leftwing community is perfectly all right, as long as you are oppressing whites or men.

I think Lous Brandeis, for whom this university is named, would be horrified by its actions.

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How did the Democrats’ IT foreigners get in the U.S?

10:48 am

Michelle Malkin has raised an interesting question regarding the three Pakistani brothers who ran the Democrats computer infrastructure in Congress for the past thirteen years and are now charged with bank fraud and are suspected of doing much worse: How did they get in the country in the first place?

Were the Awans and their family and friends H-1B tech workers — like so many of the 650,000 “temporary” foreign guest workers imported into America under that program over the past quarter-century and predominantly working in IT?

And if they’re not H-1Bs, how exactly did Awan and company get here, when did they get here, and who brought them over here and why?

…Awan first landed a job with former Democrat Rep. Robert Wexler as an “information technology director” in 2004 at the ripe age of 24 or 25. His younger brother, Jamal, is reportedly only 23 years old, yet has pulled in a salary of nearly $160,000 a year since 2014 (when he was 20!) as an information technology worker for Democrat Rep. Julia Brownley. That’s 3.1 times greater than the median salary for a House IT worker, according to InsideGov.

Who sponsored these young foreign techies and chose them to do work in our nation’s capital doing a job that countless young Americans are qualified to do? If not H-1B, did they arrive first as students on foreign visas (who are supposed to return home after their course of study), then game the system to work through the cheap-labor loopholes, such as the Optional Practical Training program? Or did they switch visa categories? Did they pull strings through their well-connected Democratic employers?

Not surprisingly, she has been unable to get an answer to this question from any of the many Democrats who had hired these Pakistanis. You would almost think the Democrats are stonewalling the investigation. It would also be reasonable for you to think the Democrats seem more interested in protecting non-Americans, coming from a Muslim country with many ties to radical Islamic terrorists, then in defending the security of the United States.

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The Google Gulag

10:37 am

Link here. The essay contains a nice collection of links documenting Google’s increasing leftwing fascist bent. The key quote however is this:

Damore [the man Google fired] was working on Google’s search infrastructure. And there’s little doubt that he was wasted there. Google’s search has grown more useless even as the company’s search revenues have grown. Google’s goal is to streamline and shape search results for a mobile environment by giving users what it thinks they want rather than what they are actually searching for. Google isn’t just politically left-wing, its product mindset has become all about forcing users to do what it thinks they should be doing. [emphasis mine]

In other words, Google’s approach to providing a search engine is now aimed at shaping all searches to go where they want them to.

If you use Google, it is time to find another search engine.

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