Congrats to Kirsten Gillibrand, one of my home state Senators, for becoming the new semi-official Ice Queen! Why do I say that? Because Gillibrand is now the first Senator to call for the abolition of ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That's rapidly becoming a litmus test on the Left, you see. Back in Obama's day, ICE's main task was to provide free bus travel to recently arrived "refugees", so they could settle in anywhere in the U.S. they pleased. Now, President Trump is allowing ICE to perform what has always been its essential function: to enforce our immigration laws, including those that call for the deportation of illegal immigrants. Lefties find these laws, and all law enforcement officials who execute them, offensive, so, they reason, let's abolish ICE! You have to admire their moxie. Even President Trump, who finds the missteps of the FBI highly annoying, has never suggested that we abolish the FBI. The Dems have no such qualms. And what would be the result of such a calamitous decision? For that, I give you the sage words of Tucker Carlson. Read on:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/29/abolish-ice-goes-mainstream-as-gillibrand-de-blasio-back-calls.html
http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/06/29/tucker-carlson-abolishing-ice-ocasio-cortez-gillibrand-not-thinking-problems
And what, you ask, does any of this have to do with a picture of Gillibrand and Bill Clinton campaigning together? Oh, nothing much. I just thought it was worth reminding you that, before Gillibrand was the fiercest #MeToo anti-sexual harassment activist around, she was a HUUUUGE admirer of Bill Clinton. The times they are a-changin'...
Dr. Waddy: My leftist computer would not let me access the first article (isn't limiting access to information they find disturbing one of the left's hallmarks?) but it did the second. Tucker and Sean are soldiers.
ReplyDeleteImagine perky Kirsten at her desk in the Oval Office when Slick Willy just drops by: "Oh hi Bill, hold on just a sec ok? I'll be on the phone." ("ehhh, send in a couple of guards, somehow I don't want to be alone just now".) Our state is shamed by being identified with her and her mentor, Charles.
Frankly,I think its the word "enforcement" in the ICE acronym which is most offensive to the increasingly Bacchanalian left. I choose that metaphor because the followers of Bacchus were exceedingly destructive in their debauchery. And that the left debauches our polity is lent more credibility every day. "Laws? Why they are whatever we say they are no matter how long they have been on the books and carefully construed. And if you don't like that, we'll trash you in any number of ways. Enforcement, to be just, should be at our pleasure alone because of our unquestionable, well, justice. Now we don't like limits on immigration of those who will help to bring us to permanent and unassailable sway so guess what?" The sweetheart of the junior class, yet naughty and opportunistic Kirsten, is much like those "Che" teeshirt wearers. Most of them would lose control of their functions just to spend an hour with his murderous ilk.
Kirsten is a peach, isn't she? I read that she's very keen on the Bible and very sure of her Biblical rectitude. Amazing what uses the Good Book can be put to...
ReplyDeleteYes, "enforcement" rankles the Left, when the enforcees are among their favored groups, and that should hardly come as a surprise. I must admit, though, the mental dexterity that the Left shows when interpreting the law never ceases to amaze me! They deserve to be called "Orwellian".
Dr. Waddy: When Gov. Patterson appointed her to the Senate she was widely portrayed as a good old girl from a semi rural county in the Albany - NYC corridor. I recall her saying words to the effect of "I come from a gun owning family and I'll always stand for 2nd amendment rights". I wrote to the Governor thanking him for appointing her. Yipes! Its that disingenuous "Daddy's girl" image and her obvious deference to gun grabbing Charles Schumer which motivates me to mock her as I do. My son, who knows his politics, is convinced she will be the nominee.
ReplyDeleteI think the "flexibility' of the left on decisive issues is an old story I think. Mao's China was a good example: "Let a hundred flowers bloom", "struggle against Confucius and Lin Piao" etc. ad nauseum. The study of a very powerful left in a democracy instead of such a dictatorship must be fascinating for political scientists.
Ah, Jack -- you presume most (or some) political scientists are capable of studying "the Left" objectively and in historical perspective. I'm not so sure. American academia isn't famous for its ideological detachment... I wonder if there's an objective way to measure one's propensity for "cognitive dissonance"? It would be an interesting experiment...
ReplyDeleteYes, Gillibrand has undergone a fascinating leftward journey/devolution. I assume we can chalk it up to ambition. She must know a centrist won't get anywhere in the Democratic Party...unless you're a Clinton, in which case you can rely on sheer intimidation to push you over the edge.
D. Waddy: Having experienced the stilted conversation which obtained at the librarian conventions I naively attended early in my career ( I was pleased to shun them later), I can imagine what it must be like for objective political scientists who wish to prosper in their field. Grants ,desirable appointments and tenure are probably largely unavailable to those who do not embrace the party line and who venture to say so at such consequential gatherings. I remember an interview in the Buffalo News with the Chair of the "Women's Studies" dep't. at SUNY Buffalo in which she said, blithely, "you must have a certain point of view to work in this setting". Similar sanctions were later publicly endorsed by the Dean of the Law School. That took crust; there are alot of taxpayers in WNY after all. Picture an interview for a faculty position in (tax payer supported) Berkeley's PoliSci Dep't.: "Despite your obvious unsuitability as a white male conservative (C'mon,we know you vote) we are constrained to consider you. If you will, give us any plausible reason to take you seriously, if you can". Totalitarianism thrives on our campuses. We can and should isolate it, lest it metastisize further.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Jack. Perhaps every time a leftist mouths the word "diversity" we should break into hysterics? True diversity is, of course, the last thing any of them would seek... I suppose we could also descend to their level and refuse to serve them at restaurants, but that would be silly. I fear the only hope for most colleges and universities is if alumni and donors become active in insisting that the leftist stranglehold be broken. Stranger things have happened...
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: I take heart from what I see as a burgeoning effort to inform young Americans that they need not necessarily go to college and careers upon which one can hang one's hat are readily available to those who seek post high school training in technique rather than far too often politically biased humanities and social science curricula. I see much evidence of the left's concern at seeing its fecund recruiting office in the American academy much reduced. Surely that is a prime motivation for such as Cuomo, Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in promoting "free college". Fewer students - fewer cadre - less future power. Believe me, financial aid flowed like wine from Olympian fountains in the mid '60's. One consequence of that: myriad baby boomers learning to hate their country, its culture and its history.
ReplyDeleteDiversity: The left in power has demonstrated beyond doubt its hostility to that concept in any objective form. Ask the Crimean Tatars, Soviet Jews, the Chinese in post war Saigon, the Sinkiang Uighurs today. Again, the established objective record of the left in power is one of murderous and fanatically enacted hostility to any group seen as non conforming. Oh but, American leftists will be different, right? Not!
Jack, for a while at least the Left professed a liking for "tolerance". I suppose they had to in the 60s and 70s, since the notion of a PC tyranny was far-fetched at the time. Now, though, they don't even pretend to have respect for opposing points of view. Hubris is the fatal flaw of the Left, if you ask me. Long may it last!
ReplyDeleteHmm. You suggest that there's a decline of traditional higher ed taking place, but I must say -- I don't see it. A decline of the humanities, sure, but I'm afraid PC values have infested STEM and vocational programs too, but as you say not to the same degree. As far as I know, in any case, leftist institutions are getting just as many applications as ever, and people are paying through the nose for their version of "enlightenment". I'm not convinced that we've turned the tide yet.
Dr. Waddy: It may well be that my perception on the college situation is mistaken. But maybe the increasing cost of college will motivate more people to seek post high school educations concentrating only on vocational necessities in one or two year programs. I think a two year liberal arts degree alone is perhaps of little value; they are often earned at schools having little prestige in the arts and sciences and they afford fewer years of intellectual development to those employers who value a college degree. Perhaps in an America returned to common sense by a wide and deep ranging renaissance now in its early stages, the Academy will become an isolated outpost of irrelevance. Maybe?
ReplyDeleteJack, that's one plausible scenario, but I'd prefer to see right-thinking people claw their way back to some degree of influence in the academy. It puzzles me...when 40% of the country is conservative, why are there not colleges and universities that cater to that demographic? It's odd, no? There's an untapped market there. Let's hope one day academia will get a clue and cater to us...
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: I would guess that the wrong headed boomers who probably hold down so many university Presidencies and Dep't Head positions, and their avatars, are the culprits. An overall revival of common sense in America, which may well be in process, perhaps will encourage those who would return intellectual integrity to our Academy.
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