Bookworm Beat 7/31/2018 — a “world is going crazy” wrap-up

The world is indeed going crazy — but mixed in with the Left’s bad stuff, this Bookworm Beat also has things that are both interesting and good.

Bookworm Beat Woman WritingWe need to take federal funds out of America’s colleges and universities. Exhibit A for this proposal is a long, long, utterly fascinating article that Milo Yiannopoolos has written about the war that the hard-Left, identity-politics driven, social justice warriors are waging within the confines of medieval studies. While medieval studies may sound arcane, the reality is that the article describes in microcosm the vicious, Marxist battles taking place in every college and university — all of which are taxpayer-funded.

This Leftist academic coup needs to stop, which is another reason to vote Republican in the fall. I doubt a Republican Congress will stop the funds, but they’ll still be better than Democrats, who are open in their demands that all colleges be free and that this Marxist crap get full taxpayer funding.

A spirit stronger than the Holocaust. Anyone who survived the Holocaust has an amazing story. Menachem Z. Rosensaft’s father has a more amazing story than most.

I’ve often said that those of us whose parents experienced WWII first hand are the last of the WWII generation. When we go, there is no one left to remember, whether first hand or second hand.

Brennan’s CIA and the attack on Trump. A friend insisted that I read Michael Isikoff’s and David Corn’s Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. If those names are familiar to you, it’s because they were part of publicizing the Steele dossier so that the FBI, in making its FISA application, could claim two sources to justify the application to spy on Carter Page, not just one. David Corn is also a long-time writer associated with Mother Jones and The Nation, so that gives you an idea of his political orientation. Isikoff is the man who sat on the blue dress story lest it embarrass Bill Clinton.

I’ve only read the book’s introduction and the first chapter so far, but I’m finding it hard to keep a straight face as I go. It’s an amalgam of gossip, innuendo, insults, and meaningless anecdotes, all aimed at creating an aura of “badness” around Trump. What makes the book especially ludicrous is that, since its publication, we’ve learned more about the FISA application, we’ve had all sorts of admissions that Obama knew what was going on and did nothing lest it harm Hillary’s candidacy, we’ve seen Trump use his carrot and stick approach to many leaders he finds hostile to America’s well-being, and we’ve seen him make life more difficult for Putin than any other past leader, especially Obama.

Oh, and we’ve learned that Brennan is a corrupt Swamp creature, who was quite possibly one of the architects of an attempted coup against an American president.

Trump is the most patriotic president in my lifetime. Karin McQuillan nails it with this post about Trump’s robust patriotism. Before Carter became a whacked-out Leftist, he was probably something of a patriot too, albeit in a weak, Democrat way, but he certainly wasn’t robust. The same is true for Bush, who was a patriot in a weak, “compassionate conservative” way.

It’s Trump who loves America and isn’t afraid to use America’s vast resources to make sure she’s safe, sound, and strong. This is not dangerous, world-conquering nationalism; this is true love for country and people.

Outside of America, people are beginning to figure Trump out. Our media is so intent upon maligning Trump, and focusing on irrelevant things such as Russia and battles with the media, that they are incapable of seeing how successful Trump is. In China, though, they’ve taken the measure of the man and they know that he’s a formidable opponent.

People like this painting. I do too.

Yes, many Democrats don’t just have bad ideas, they’re really, really, really . . . really stupid. Exhibit A in these ranks isn’t, as you might exhibit, Kamala Harris, an extraordinarily stupid woman who’s kept politically alive only thanks to San Francisco’s Willie Brown. Instead, Exhibit A is Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, who has to be seen to be believed:

Yes, many Hollywood Leftists don’t just have bad ideas, they’re really, really, really . . . really evil. Actually, is evil even a strong enough word for this kind of stuff? Keep in mind that these are the people who are trying to shape our popular culture, and they have the nerve to talk about Trump coarsening America.

Yes, many Jews aren’t just Progressives, they’re really, really, really . . . really antisemitic. Daniel Greenfield details the way these Leftist Jews are horrified that Israel has officially declared itself a Jewish nation.

You’d better not laugh at that joke, you hater. No, that wasn’t a joke. That’s a description of what’s killing comedy today.

Mark Steyn on ABBA’s Waterloo and the Eurovision song contest. I adore ABBA and always have. I loved them first when they were in style. I remained loyal to their music when they went out of style. And I consider myself an old ABBA hand now that they’re back in favor again. No wonder, then, that this Mark Steyn column made me so happy. Here’s ABBA singing the song that put them on the map:

And if you want a taste of the (ahem) glories of Eurovision, you might enjoy this video:

Medical cannabis was always the thin edge of the wedge. Everyone understood that the real purpose behind legalizing medical marijuana was to make it possible to legalize recreational marijuana. In Oregon, the recreational marijuana, which is purely self-indulgent, has drowned out the medical marijuana, which can be genuinely beneficial.

If only Milton Friedman were still around. There was no one like him when it came to making arguments in favor of capitalism and free markets. I suspect he’d be hostile to Trump’s tariff war, but the reality is that Trump is a free trader — he just understands that there’s a difference between free trade and foreign governments perverting the market to America’s decade’s long detriment. I mention all this because Friedman would have turned 106 today.

By the way, if you watch the video at the link, you’ll notice that, while Phil Donahue is clueless, he actually does something that no media types do anymore when confronted by someone who offers ideas with which they disagree: he listens.