They say it's temporary... Harvard College has joined peers in a major — albeit temporary — shift in college admissions: It’s dropping the requirement for standardized testing for the class of 2025, as the pandemic has restricted access to the SAT and ACT. For these institutions in particular, I think it's a waste of time. …
Being Unpatriotic Slowly Becomes Fashionable
That's the finding of this Gallup poll: American pride has continued its downward trajectory reaching the lowest point in the two decades of Gallup measurement. The new low comes at a time when the U.S. faces public health and economic crises brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest following the death of George …
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An old Zenith Colour Television Broadcasts the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King
Just about every television I grew up with was a Zenith. So I was intrigued when I saw this video of a Zenith colour "roundie." We had one in our family room in Palm Beach (I'm not sure whether it was this exact model but it was close.) https://youtu.be/Mo8n3jLoM_U?t=293 The sample broadcast he chose is …
“All police forces get buffeted from time to time, but they know one thing: through revolutions, political-line changes and the fall of governments, the police are eternal.”
From John Fraser's The Chinese: Portrait of a People. His observations centred on the Gonganju (Public Security Bureau) in China. They became enmeshed (and very politicised) with the Great Leap Forward and later the Cultural Revolution, and after Mao's death the Party began an effort to disentangle the Gonganju from political life (and ultimately involvement …
Both the radical Left and Right are ‘left-behinds’ — UnHerd
In my twenties, I inhabited a fringe of the London political activism scene that included full-on black bloc anarchists. I had begun working life as a middle-class graduate in London, soaked in critical theory and hostile to the economic system I was expected to join. Instead of knuckling down in a Big Four consulting firm… via …
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Covid has exposed America as a failed state — UnHerd
It is remarkable how the effects of Covid on the international system mirrors its impact on individuals. Its lethality, in the acute phase, may be lower than we feared, yet there is a risk of sudden catastrophic relapse after a seeming period of recovery, and the long-term effects are of a gravity we can only… via …
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The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, 1898-1918 by Sean McMeekin — The Logical Place
Originally posted on Books & Boots: Memorandum on revolutionizing the Islamic territories of our enemies (Title of a paper written in October 1914 by German archaeologist and Orientalist Max von Oppenheim which argued for enlisting the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to call on the world’s Muslims to engage in a Holy War or jihad …
Liberty, Prosperity and Life — vulcanhammer.info
I've spent some time trying to figure out something worthwhile to say about the COVID-19 crisis and the challenges it has for our civilisation, but as I am wont to do I turned back to the history of my 144-year enduring family business to accomplish that. Hope you enjoy it. Although Vulcan would experience more …
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The case against identity politics — The Logical Place
Originally posted on Books & Boots: Steve Bannon thinks identity politics are great for President Donald Trump. That’s what the president’s adviser told Robert Kuttner at the American Prospect. “The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left… via …
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The Real “Greatest Achievement” of Russia
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell thinks it was getting Donald Trump in the White House: "It is Vladimir Putin’s greatest achievement. Decades after America’s victory in the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, the president of the United States is now helping the president of Russia help the president of the United States to get re-elected." …
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Positive Infinity 