Former President Donald Trump slammed Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) after he vetoed a law that would have banned transgender surgeries on children.Trump’s comments came just one day after DeWine vetoed…

A federal appeals court on Saturday put a temporary injunction on hold for a California law that would bar most gun owners from carrying guns in many public spaces‚ including banks‚ playgrounds…

It is hard to believe that it has been forty years since the release of Trading Places (1983)‚ the comedy that asks the age-old question: Does heredity or environment determine our destiny? Trading Places…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]“A Happy New Year?‚” editorial cartoon by Shaomin Li for The American Spectator‚ Dec. 30‚ 2023. The post A Happy New Year? appeared first on The American Spectator…

As the Christmas and Hanukkah season rolls toward this evening’s midnight crescendo‚ Hollywood’s year-end prestige movies beckon. Here are my thoughts on three films that I caught while visiting my…

Psychopaths have contempt for everyone else. Many of them feel no remorse for the advantage they take of others because they feel anyone so stupid as to fall for their stratagems deserves what they get. The same is true of psychopathic nations. The tyrants who lead them use deceit and never act in good faith unless it suits their purpose of the moment. That their opponents are tricked they ascribe to their opponents’ stupidity and flaccidity. (READ MORE from Shmuel Klatzkin:A Real Democracy Cannot Protect Hamas) Hitler would appeal to the peace-loving nature of the democracies that he confronted in the West by using the language of peace and indicating that the peace they all wanted only required a few more concessions. He used the Chamberlain’s true desire for peace to get Chamberlain to be complicit in his own lies‚ so that Chamberlain‚ in order to avoid cognitive dissonance‚ would argue on his own that Hitler really wanted peace. The unreality that this created made Britain sleepwalk into World War II‚ doomed millions to death‚ and very nearly saw Britain itself rubbed out or reduced to vassalage. The corruption and incompetence of the current leadership is inspiring at last a well-earned contempt from … the people. Tyrants generally set out their true aims to galvanize their people. Hitler hid from no one that he believed power was self-justifying and that he would use whatever power he needed to make sure that Germany became as dominant as genetics destined it to be. Lenin and his followers did not mince words about their aim for world revolution‚ though the timetable and the tactics could be flexible. And the mullahs of Iran have been saying for nearly fifty years what their goals are — the eradication first of the Little Satan (Israel) and then the Great Satan (America). The architect of the transformation of America‚ the soft-sell tyrannical project that is Obama’s life work‚ has always proceeded on contempt. Americans are too stupid to govern themselves — they must be deceived‚ not asked for a mandate‚ only presented with faits accomplis. So it was with Obamacare; so it was with the return to rigorous racialism written into law and culture; and so it has been with the deliberate appeasement of the mullahs of Iran. Iran and its clients are always forthright about their aims other than when talking to the West directly. Their aims are our destruction. But they find it very useful to allow us to think that they really don’t mean what they say if it will allow them to strengthen themselves to the point where they need no longer be afraid of us. From the hostage crisis at the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency until Obama’s presidency‚ American presidents treated Iran as the dangerous pariah state that it is‚ responding to its provocations by sanctions that kept it starved of the cash it needed to implement its wars‚ mostly fought through proxies. (READ MORE: Bidenpolitik: A Foreign Policy Without Coherence) Obama‚ though‚ after lying about his aims‚ reversed course 180 degrees on Iran in his second term‚ downgraded relations with Israel as much as he felt he could get away with politically‚ and made what he sold as a treaty with Iran‚ bypassing‚ though‚ the Constitution’s requirements for treaty ratification. The treaty was presented duplicitously as constraining Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons‚ when in fact it guaranteed Iran the ability to get the bomb within a decade. Donald Trump reversed Obama’s course and renounced the pseudo-treaty for the dangerous fraud that it was.  He responded ferociously to Iran’s predations‚ taking out its chief terrorist and ratcheting up sanctions to the point that its Hamas‚ Houthi‚ and Hezbollah proxies barely made a peep during his entire presidency. And Biden reversed the reverse‚ opening the cash spigot by lifting the oil sanctions. With billions of petro-revenue flooding in‚ the mullahs armed their bad-boys in Lebanon‚ Yemen‚ and Gaza with all the weapons money could buy. And in the meantime‚ Biden went beyond Obama in destroying America’s credibility as a deterrent force. The unprecedented debacle of the self-inflicted humiliation in Afghanistan showed something truly contemptible — the abandonment of America’s thousands of allies among the Afghan people to torture and death because — who needs to keep faith with their friends? Psychopaths hold their marks as contemptible and feel justified in doing whatever they can get away with. Putin saw it. Biden had said out loud that he’d tolerate a Russian attack on Ukraine if it weren’t too big. Putin took his opportunity and were it not for the brilliant defense of the Ukrainians‚ Biden would not have done anything much. Xi saw it and sent his spy balloon on a humiliating slow-motion mission over American bases from sea to sea with no response. He came to San Francisco to tell Biden to his face that he is going to take Taiwan. Now Iran shows clearly what it sees. It let loose its boys from Gaza‚ unleashing an orgy or rape and murder that began by taking the lives of over a thousand Israeli citizens. Its Houthis clients have effectively shut down the Red Sea to international commerce and have suffered no serious consequence. It’s Hezbollah clients have been escalating attacks against Americans and only get pro forma demonstrations of American displeasure as a result. Now on Dec. 27th the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article headlined “Iran Revs Up Nuclear Program.” Large quantities of uranium are being refined to 60 percent of weapon-grade and the centrifuges now coordinated so that taking the final step to full weapon grade can be swift. Tyrants hold their opponents in contempt always‚ but especially when they show that they have internalized the lies tyrants offer them and consciously ignore their openly sworn aims. Democracies sometimes elevate leaders who are contemptible. But democracies‚ through embracing the distributed intelligence of its people‚ have a strength capable of surviving the misrule of the contemptibles who occasionally rise to the top. Democracies may and do suffer from the misrule of the Buchanans‚ the Chamberlains‚ the Bidens‚ and the Obamas‚ whose weakness empowers the worst in the world and whose bizarre ideologies and policies hollow out our morale. Yet for all that‚ democracies also have shown an indomitable ability to recoup their strength‚ return to their principles with courage and resolve‚ and carry through the fight to victory. (READ MORE: The Totalitarianism of Cultural Fog) The people of America are wise to the lies. The corruption and incompetence of the current leadership is inspiring at last a well-earned contempt from the real sovereigns of the country — the people. Resist the lies‚ resist the truly contemptible‚ the tyrants and their enablers wherever they may be‚ and let us rededicate ourselves to the truths that are the source of greatness. The greatest battle is the spiritual battle to know who we are‚ to embrace truth‚ and to leave the contemptible behind. Without that spirit‚ our wealth and our weapons deter nothing. With it‚ we have already won the battle and we will win the war. The post Reject Iran’s Lies appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

One year ago today‚ countless Catholics lost their spiritual father. The present pontificate has been‚ in the words of the late Cardinal George Pell‚ “a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe‚” leaving faithful Catholics feeling as if they’ve been orphaned and stuck with an abusive stepdad. Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement in 2013 that he would be resigning as Pontiff will be remembered as a critical moment in the life of the Church‚ not only because it was the first time that a Pope had resigned in nearly 600 years‚ but because his place was taken by revolution-minded progressives intent on diluting the teachings of the Catholic Church‚ the very teachings which Benedict XVI had devoted his life to defending.The one-year anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s death certainly serves to emphasize the disastrous effects of the Francis papacy‚ but it should also inspire faithful Catholics. Joseph Ratzinger never wanted to be Pope. He was an academic at heart‚ finding joy and solace in studying and explaining theology. This academic bent served him well in his role as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith‚ as he defended Catholic moral teaching with all the passion and precision of a professor who is master of his chosen field. However‚ the German cardinal spoke frequently of wanting to retire to Bavaria and write. Ratzinger even asked (at the age of 70) if he might be allowed to leave his position as prefect to serve as a librarian in the Vatican archives‚ a quiet and studious job. Pope St. John Paul II ordered him to stay on as head of the CDF. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Which Way‚ Western Man? Satanic Idols or Christian Morality?) Less than ten years later‚ God made a similar demand of Ratzinger and asked him to become the Pope. Cardinals who participated in the 2005 papal enclave recalled Ratzinger nervously “sitting on the edge of his chair” as his episcopal brethren cast their ballots. Pope Benedict XVI himself even stated‚ “At a certain point‚ I prayed to God‚ ‘Please don’t do this to me’ … Evidently‚ this time he didn’t listen to me.” Even Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms quietly acknowledged that he would have preferred a Bavarian library to a Vatican palace. Among images referencing his home diocese and St. Augustine‚ the late Pope’s coat of arms featured a brown bear wearing a pack on his back. According to legend‚ St. Corbinian was traveling from Chartres to Rome when a bear killed his pack horse. The Frankish Saint ordered the bear to carry his pack in the horse’s stead and‚ amazingly‚ the beast obeyed‚ following him all the way to Rome. Since St. Corbinian was sent from Rome to evangelize Bavaria‚ the bear in the story is typically seen as representing pagan culture being “tamed” by Christianity. However‚ Pope Benedict XVI also saw himself as Corbinian’s bear‚ being “tamed by God” to bear the burden of the papacy. Just as the bear was saddled to serve the Church‚ so also was Pope Benedict XVI‚ whose duties pulled him further and further away from the classrooms and libraries he so longed to return to. Pope Benedict XVI carried the burden with which he had been saddled‚ guiding the Catholic Church through a tumultuous period‚ attempting to restore reverence and majesty to the liturgy‚ and striving always to uphold and defend Catholic truth. His life served as an example of Catholic counter-culturalism‚ an example that inspired a generation of young Catholics to follow the lead of their spiritual father and both learn and defend the Faith. The theological depth and loving devotion to Truth evinced by Pope Benedict XVI fostered the beliefs of many‚ although those same qualities often earned him the vicious animosity of the Church’s enemies. In some sense‚ the Church lost Pope Benedict XVI twice — first when he retired from the Chair of St. Peter. The gentle pontiff’s successor has undone much of what Pope Benedict XVI achieved‚ severely restricting the celebration of the Tridentine Mass‚ appointing leftist ideologues to nearly every office of consequence‚ undermining his own papal authority through the creation of democratic surrogates like the Synod on Synodality‚ diluting Catholic moral teaching with intentionally vague and ambiguous declarations‚ and penalizing faithful bishops like Joseph Strickland and Raymond Burke for daring to emulate Pope Benedict XVI and uphold Catholic doctrine. (READ MORE: The Vatican OK With Normalizing the Exception) As Pope Emeritus‚ Benedict XVI led the life that his duties and responsibilities had denied him before‚ studying and writing‚ including collaborating on a book with Cardinal Robert Sarah concerning priestly celibacy‚ although he later asked not to be credited as a co-author. On December 31‚ 2022‚ Pope Benedict XVI passed away after his worsening health finally failed. At his funeral‚ pilgrims called for him to be made a Saint‚ and several prominent Catholic leaders‚ including Cardinal Joseph Zen and Cardinal Gerhard Müller even called for the late pontiff to be declared a doctor of the Church. The one-year anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s death certainly serves to emphasize the disastrous effects of the Francis papacy‚ but it should also inspire faithful Catholics — both laity and clergy — to live up to the example of their spiritual father Pope Benedict XVI and serve the Catholic Church‚ no matter how heavy the burden. The post ‘A Simple‚ Humble Laborer in The Vineyard of The Lord’ appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

In 2020‚ after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon won office with nearly 54 percent of the vote‚ advocates for so-called reforms in the criminal justice system could exhale. When he runs for reelection in 2024‚ however‚ Gascon’s sweet ride may come to an abrupt halt. During his tenure‚ Angelenos have become more concerned about crime‚ not less. Incarceration is not the dirty word it once was.The savvy politician sees how public opinion changes — slowly‚ then all at once. According to the Public Policy Institute of California‚ violent crime in California rose by 5.7 percent between 2021 and 2022. Critics point to Proposition 47‚ a ballot measure approved by voters in 2014 that reduced penalties for nonviolent crimes and downgraded theft under $950 from a felony to a misdemeanor. A shorthand description of Prop. 47 would be: Steal a gun‚ don’t go to prison. Gascon‚ then San Francisco District Attorney‚ was a co-author of the measure. He can’t escape history‚ so he’s repeating it. (READ MORE from Debra Saunders: Journalism‚ a Reckoning) Gascon just named a new chief of staff‚ Tiffiny Blacknell‚ a former public defender who‚ as the 2020 George Floyd riots erupted‚ posted an expletive-laden rant on the platform then known as Twitter. “So please don’t come on my page complaining about protesters or looters‚” Blacknell wrote. Blacknell‚ who is Black‚ also described America as “a country where your people are murdered by a militarized police force paid to control YOU.” Morale has not been particularly high in law enforcement of late. So what does Gascon do? He hires as his chief gatekeeper someone who defended looters while she trash-talked police. And he has done so with the arrogance of a politician who hasn’t really paid for his mistakes. Yet. Gascon is a political animal. He had the right progressive politics as he rose in office. Ergo‚ in 2011‚ he was appointed to serve as San Francisco district attorney after (now Vice President) Kamala Harris was elected state attorney general. Unlike Harris‚ Gascon had yet to try a case in court — but that didn’t stop then Mayor Gavin Newsom from making Gascon the city’s top prosecutor. The savvy politician sees how public opinion changes — slowly‚ then all at once. But Gascon doesn’t seem to see where this likely ends. You’ve heard the saying that a conservative is a liberal who got mugged. California voters don’t want to think they were wrong to pass Prop. 47‚ which is why past attempts to shave it back have failed. But they also don’t want to be afraid to go out at night. (READ MORE: Beautiful Things‚ Extravagant Lifestyle) If someone must be afraid to venture forth‚ let it be shoplifters and burglars. Because they’re not afraid now. Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM The post Will the Pendulum Shift Against Gascon in California? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Ibram X. Kendi was at the top of the world in 2020. He had become the leading evangelist for the idea that Americans should strive for racial equity by active discrimination in favor of African Americans. He stated this idea quite clearly in his 2019 book How to Be an Antiracist: “The only remedy to racist discrimination‚” he said‚ “is antiracist discrimination.” As the movement of racial reckoning swept the country following the death of George Floyd‚ corporate America and higher education treated Kendi’s approach to race as dogma. How to Be an Antiracist rocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and became required reading in schools‚ universities‚ and workplaces across the United States.  RELATED from Ellie Gardey: Michelle Wu‚ Blasted for No-Whites-Allowed Holiday Party‚ Has Long History of Radical Racial Activism According to Kendi’s ideology‚ it is not enough to not be racist; instead‚ people and institutions must take race into account at all times so as to be “antiracist.” Institutions thus devoted themselves to pursuing the “diversity‚ equity‚ and inclusion” project. They hired‚ promoted‚ and delivered opportunities to people based on their race. In addition‚ they created racially segregated groups and events‚ which were typically housed under new or expanded DEI centers. All the while‚ Kendi received endless highly compensated speaking opportunities and book deal after book deal.  Because of his newfound fame‚ Kendi was hired by Boston University with the promise that he would be given his own institute‚ the Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi drew in more than $43 million in donations for the institution within months. He brought on 45 full-time employees‚ far outpacing Harvard University’s Center for African Studies’ six‚ Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights’ 14‚ and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics’ 16. The ambitious size and scale of the institution signaled that Kendi intended to make the Center for Antiracist Research the nation’s new leader in the fight against racism. All of this was to serve his goal of combatting inequities by discrimination against non-minorities.  Fast forward to 2021. Seven members of Kendi’s institute resigned within weeks of one another — seemingly in disgust over how the institute was run. Then‚ in September 2023‚ Kendi fired 19 of the Center for Antiracist Research’s remaining 36 employees. Allegations erupted that the institute had mismanaged its tens of millions in funds and failed to produce any research of significance. The research output of the institute was indeed pitiful in comparison to its size; a COVID racial tracker remained the only truly significant project. Moreover‚ much of Kendi’s original plan for the institute — such as his proposal to offer a minor to Boston University students — had gone by the wayside. Kendi’s grandiose visions had amounted to practically nothing.  As a result of the myriad allegations — many of which came from former employees — Boston University launched a full-scale investigation into the institute’s financial management. Past employees lined up to air their grievances with the institute. For example‚ Rachael DeCruz‚ who was previously the institute’s “associate director of advocacy‚” said it was plagued by a “severe lack of transparency and communication.” Another employee‚ Yanique Redwood‚ its former executive director‚ penned an op-ed in the Boston Globe in which she excoriated the management of the institute:  When I arrived to begin my role‚ I observed that Kendi and the center were failing…. Bodies of work were stalled‚ funders were antsy about productivity‚ and many on staff seemed relieved that I had arrived. When I completed my one-on-one conversations with each staff and faculty member‚ I sensed their anxiety‚ stress‚ anger‚ and fear. Others complained that they had been exploited and paid poorly. Still others said that Kendi had concentrated all the power in his hands only to run the institute into the ground. Simply put‚ Kendi’s subordinates had no faith in his leadership and viewed his efforts as an exercise in failure.  The center’s poor reputation was a major embarrassment to Kendi. Takedowns of Kendi appeared in numerous liberal media outlets. He was reviled in the Washington Post as a “huckster who was happy to cash in on America’s racial trauma.” The Post further described the controversy around Kendi as his “implosion.” The New York Times was slightly more generous in its speculation over why the Center for Antiracist Research had performed so poorly: “Kendi may simply have been ill equipped to deal with a program of that magnitude. He may have been distracted by a nonstop book tour and speaking engagements. Or maybe he just screwed up.” The New Yorker concluded that the “crisis” at the institute showed that its “grand vision” was “one that proved to be short-lived.”  Luckily for Kendi‚ Boston University’s initial investigation did not find evidence of financial mismanagement. It did little‚ however‚ to dispel the overwhelming consensus that the Center for Antiracist Research had failed to live up to its ambitions. Predictably‚ Kendi then described the controversy and ensuing investigation as the products of racism. “Unfortunately‚ one of the most widely held racist ideas is the idea that Black people can’t manage money or Black people take money‚” he told the Associated Press. He asserted that his “skin color” had been people’s “evidence” of wrongdoing. ***** But the worst setback for Ibram X. Kendi in 2023 came in the form of widespread backlash to his antiracist project. After the Oct. 7‚ 2023‚ terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians‚ left-wing college students engaged in a frenzy of anti-Semitic activity. For many‚ these college students’ toxic actions exposed the problems inherent in creating a racial hierarchy in which some — such as Jewish people — are seen as oppressors‚ while others — such as Palestinians — are viewed as oppressed. RELATED from Ellie Gardey: Backlash Against Harvard’s Claudine Gay Is Indictment of ‘Diversity‚ Equity‚ and Inclusion’ The growing understanding of the problematic excesses of Kendi’s antiracist project reached its pinnacle in 2023 through the widely panned congressional testimony of the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology‚ the University of Pennsylvania‚ and Harvard University. All three presidents refused to unequivocally state that calling for genocide against Jews would be against their university’s policies. It seemed evident that the presidents had refused to make such a condemnation because they understood that doing so would offend antiracists — those who subscribe to the ideology of “diversity‚ equity‚ and inclusion” and view Jewish people as “white” oppressors and the Jewish state as a “settler colonial” oppressive regime that persecutes minorities.  In particular‚ backlash against the testimony of the president of Harvard‚ Claudine Gay‚ became bound up with the cause of opposing the DEI agenda. That is because Gay grounded her entire career and presidency on the ideas that Kendi brought to mainstream America. She was even chosen for the role of president on the strength of her efforts to ignite a Kendi-style racial reckoning at Harvard in her former role as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. When she announced the university’s initiatives to “address racial and ethnic equality” following the death of George Floyd‚ she adopted Ibram X. Kendi’s you’re-either-for-us-or-against-us mentality. “This moment‚” she said‚ “offers a profound opportunity for institutional change that should not and cannot be squandered.” The backlash against Gay represented the limits of public acceptance of Kendi’s ideas. More evidence that the influence of Kendi’s ideology had peaked arrived in June 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action is illegal racial discrimination. It marked a definitive declaration that Kendi’s approach of discriminating against certain races‚ such as whites and Asians‚ so as to benefit others is not permissible by public bodies and in higher education. While many on the left opposed the opinion — and signaled they would circumvent it — there remains for Kendi the acute danger that the Supreme Court’s ruling could teach a new generation that Kendi’s ideology contradicts the spirit of America.  In 2023‚ Kendi’s personal institute collapsed at the same time as the wider ideology he sought to lead faced serious resistance for the first time in years. Kendi had a bad year. And 2024 could be even worse. READ MORE from Ellie Gardey: Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams’ Use of Surrogacy Showcases the Practice’s Grotesqueness Harvard Students Question Presidential Selection Process Amid Claudine Gay Plagiarism Scandal How Will Robert Dowd‚ Notre Dame’s New President‚ Address the University’s Controversies? Image: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. The post The Loser of the Year: Ibram X. Kendi appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.