Discourse on Race Has a Conformity Problem

Source: Persuasion
by John McWhorter

“A graduate school colleague told me that her subfield of linguistics was more valid as science than the subfield some other students were working in. Her metric was that the findings in her subfield were more counterintuitive, as opposed to applying terminology to things we basically know are true already. I didn’t like it. My work was commonly (mis-)associated with the kind she was dissing. … However, her valuation of the counterintuitive was also correct. I have carried her lesson with me since. It’s important to describe things and to give them careful labels. But the real magic is figuring out workings of the world that we would not have expected. Motion is matter’s default state rather than stasis. English, Polish, Persian, and Hindi began as the same grandfather language. Tomatoes are fruits. Betty Boop was originally a dog.” (04/24/25)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/discourse-on-race-has-a-conformity

Thomas L. Knapp

Trump Is a Virus

Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman

“It has been amazing to watch the stock market gyrating in response to things that aren’t even policy changes — they’re hints and rumors of policy changes. Today’s Washington Post has an article with the headline ‘White House eases tone on tariffs on China but won’t be cutting them soon.’ OK, how much does the change in ‘tone’ tell you about what will actually happen? Why, then, did stocks rise on this non-news? I’d say that the market is like someone caught in an abusive relationship — still in denial, seizing on every hint of decency as evidence that their partner is really changing their ways.” (04/24/25)

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-a-virus

Thomas L. Knapp

An Absurd Rationale for Provoking a Constitutional Crisis

Source: The Dispatch
by John McCormack

“[T]he argument that the Alien Enemies Act is a key tool necessary to carry out mass deportations is absurd on its face. Trump’s proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act applied only to a very tiny percentage of the more than 500,000 Venezuelan unauthorized [sic] immigrants in the country — those who are members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). While there aren’t reliable estimates for the total number of TdA members in the United States, it is perhaps a number in the thousands. The gang MS-13, which is much more well-established in America than Tren de Aragua, has an estimated 10,000 members in the United States according to the Department of Justice. In other words, Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation likely applies to less than 0.1 percent of the entire population of 15 million illegal [sic] immigrants in the United States.” (04/14/25)

https://thedispatch.com/article/donald-trump-supreme-court-immigration-constitution/

Thomas L. Knapp

Dems, Clintons & globalists work together to censor Americans … for “democracy”

Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley

“In his historic speech in Munich this year, Vice President JD Vance confronted the Europeans over their attacks on free speech, declaring ‘If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.’ That is manifestly true, but it appears that there is something that certain Americans can still do for Europe. As the European Union ramps up its long-standing campaign against free speech, it is increasingly calling upon Americans to make the case against both free speech and the United States. Europeans and globalists see the Trump administration as a threat to efforts to create transnational governance systems.” (04/24/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-democrats-clintons-globalists-work-together-censor-americans-democracy

Steve Trinward

NH: Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s push to end DEI in K-12 public schools

Source: SFGate

“A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s guidance forbidding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 public schools. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights. In February, the U.S. Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or they would risk losing their federal funding. Earlier this month, the department ordered states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls ‘illegal DEI practices’. The directive does not carry the force of law but threatens to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices.” (04/24/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-trump-s-push-20292549.php

Steve Trinward

Ukraine, Europe can’t afford to refuse Trump’s peace plan

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Anatol Lieven

“Most of the peace plan for Ukraine now sketched out by the Trump administration is not new, is based on common sense, and has indeed already been tacitly accepted by Kyiv. Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that its army has no chance in the foreseeable future of reconquering the territories now occupied by Russia. Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement that the U.S. plan would ‘freeze the territorial lines … close to where they are today’ simply acknowledges an obvious fact. On the other hand, by reportedly agreeing to a ceasefire along the present front line, Putin has indicated his readiness to abandon Russia’s demand that Ukraine withdraw from the parts of the provinces claimed by Russia that Ukraine still holds. This too is common sense.” (04/24/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-ukraine-peace-plane/

Thomas L. Knapp