In his excellent novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, the author, Amor Towles writes about early Soviet equalitarianism. The main character (the Gentleman) having placed his luncheon meal of a fennel and orange salad, followed by osso buco, ordered a bottle of San Lorenzo Barolo, 1912. The waiter asked if it was a red wine and the Gentleman, a bit taken aback for he was in a fine hotel restaurant, confirmed it with good grace.

Before the wine arrived, the Gentleman had an opportunity to speak to the manager who explained that the waiter was brought on as an employee “because he knew someone.”  Then the manager asked his guest to follow him to the wine cellar, which was one of the best in Moscow with over ten thousand cases of wine. To the dismay of the Gentleman, he found the labels had been soaked off every bottle, so there were only white wines and red wines. The explanation was that under the new Soviet system, it was unfair for one wine to cost more than another, hence the stripping of the labels. Now, all wines were equal.

I mention this tale as it leads quite well into the column by Heather Mac Donald on the great levelling in our medical schools. Under the cover of battling racism and providing equity, many schools are dropping grades based on levels of knowledge and replacing them with the simple pass/fail system. This is because the universities are demanding medical students be actively involved in the battle against racism based on the goal of wanting to, “prioritize an integrate the voices and ideas of people and communities experiencing great injustice and historically excluded, exploited and deprived of needed resources such as people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, and those in rural and urban communities.”  These concepts are pushed so hard, that the medical students do not have sufficient time to study medicine. Hence, the dumbing down of a profession. Are Maoist self-critical confessions next?

There use to be a good argument for getting a younger doctor as they could be more open to new medicines, procedures, and technology. Those days may be behind us. More and more it appears that diversity+equity=lowering standards.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/woke-medical-organizations-are-hazardous-to-your-health-equity-scientific-progress-social-justice-medical-organizations-11659707075?page=1

In his novel, 1984, George Orwell was writing not a piece of fiction, but a representation of what he had seen and experienced while he was involved in the Spanish Civil War. Throughout his book are various phrases which are part of a new language created by the totalitarian leaders of the society. Just as we have experienced a national candidate who could label millions of her fellow citizens “deplorables” and note that they are burdened by a myriad of sins (all described as “phobias”), we now have politicians who tell us that spending billions of dollars will incur no cost and that we are in transistion without ever saying what we are in transistion too. It is that type of thinking which makes Orwell’s novel so timeless as we move forward “progressively”, sure in our rightheous and purity.

The actual definition of Crimestop is “the faculty of stopping short, as thought by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments…and of being bored and repelled by any train of though which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.”

Crimestop provides a wonderfully safe blanket of neutralized thought. It allows one to cancel out all those pesky doubts and questions when supported policies and programs fail time after time, or when the actual cost of an idea becomes reality. How comforting is Crimestop! Only the young and immature need pictures of puppies and plush toys, the skilled believer has Crimestop.

One of the drawbacks of the old affirmative action programs was the realization that any individual of a minority who completed a university degree program or was hired for a position would always be viewed as less than qualified; in effect, there was a fear that those individuals only attained that degree or position because they were the beneficiary of affirmative action. It did not matter if they received top grades, they were the beneficiary of “that’ program. It did not matter if they were a good lawyer or doctor, they only got their position because of “that” program. I personally know of individuals who had to face that type of behind the back comments and it took years of solid, proven achievements before those comments finally died. Affirmative action was a program that created a mindset of suspicion; if your new doctor is a minority, are they competent or did they just get by thanks to affirmative action?

Once again, we find official programs being enforced that will again cause each of us to worry about the competency of our doctors, dentists, etc. In the article linked below, there is a war on excellence based on the religion of “wokeness.”  The Association of American Medical Colleges, representing over 170 US and Canadian medical schools has developed and implemented new requirements based on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There seems to be a war on food; worldwide, we see national leaders following policies which have been proven to lessen the amount of food, increase prices on food and create social upheaval. The attached article points out that the Netherlands, the worlds second-largest exporter of agricultural goods by value after the U.S., is determined to shut down over 11,000 livestock farms and have another 17,600 farmers reduce their herds. The noble goal is to reduce the amount of nitrogen and ammonia emissions to protect European nature areas.

What is interesting is that the same national leaders are not producing solutions to problems what will occur by their actions. Higher unemployment, higher food prices, a loss of international trade, etc. And these actions fly in the known result of such “green” policies as exhibited in Sri Lanka where widespread rioting led to not only a reversal of “green” policies, but the overthrow of the government. Worldwide, we see similar actions such as in Canada where the government has a goal of cutting nitrates by thirty percent within eight years. Farmers face a difficult choice of submitting to working for less, or spending more by planting more acreage even though the Canadian government has just raised the price of fuel further cutting into practical solutions.

At one time, one could believe that governmental leaders were at least trying to help the citizens have a better life, but it is becoming increasingly difficult as we see policies aimed directly to the detriment of the citizens. Wind power, solar power, cutting agricultural productivity, limiting energy choices, do we really have to put up with leaders to seem bend on policies of de-civilization? Must we boldly march backwards into the fifteenth century?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-green-vision-finds-latest-foe-in-dutch-farmers-angered-by-greenhouse-gas-targets-11659690358?page=1

One of the great lessons of the recent pandemic, was the realization that the average American can be as cowed by the authorities as anyone else in the world. The image of the rugged, individualistic American has been severely damaged, and it shall be difficult to regain. It appears that most Americans are as sheep like as the typical Europeans who have left their individual sense of worth in the hands of the bureaucracy generations ago in exchange for the welfare state.

I fully realize that Covid was a new virus and that consequently, there were destined to be many errors in attacking it. That is to be expected and anyone who expects politicians, scientists, doctors, other self-proclaimed experts to be on target with every decision is foolish; we are all human and subject to pressures, politics and pre-conceived notions as we move through the challenges of life. But we should be able to expect those who are in positions of power to act in a relatively rational manner. Remember the Governor who decreed that consumers could purchase certain products at a store but not others? Did she have insight that Covid was attracted to certain products or activities than others? What about another Governor who distained the emergency services provided by the Federal government because he did not want to give credit to a President he disliked? How does that square with the deaths of thousands due to his decision? The list goes on and on, especially of politicians who made medical and policy decisions for which they had little if any training.

Perhaps the single individual who did more to destroy that iconic image more than anyone was Dr. Anthony Fauci. As the pandemic went on, he spoke increasingly Ex-Cathedra finally stating that “If you attack me, you attack science.”  The problem was that his version of “science” had little in common with traditional science. Clink the link below for a review of the five mistakes Dr. Fauci made which brought about terrible results. What makes those errors even worse, is that even today, he holds some of the same views despite the proven costliness of those policies. As time goes on, those who were pushed out of the decision-making process because they dared to disagree with him and his policies are being seen in a new light, for they represented “science” as we traditionally think of it as a realm of questioning as opposed to an area of dogma.

Perhaps, just perhaps, more Americans will be a bit more skeptical next time and so easily bullied into giving up so much freedom to self-proclaimed “experts.”

https://nypost.com/2022/07/23/dr-anthony-faucis-5-disastrous-covid-mistakes/

Over the past fifty years, the Federal Department of Education has received trillions of dollars which is then given back to the States with numerous strings. When it was first formed, the budget for the department was about ten billion dollars, but in the latest budget it has increased to over one-hundred, eighty-five billion ($185,629,999,000). What have we received for those funds except to expand the number of Federal government bureaucrats who have a job for life?

Is there a better way to educate children? Is there a less expensive way which can give us at a minimum, the same results and hopefully, better educated young people. We know that in city after city the test scores in reading and math are abysmal. Yet, year after year we increase local budgets for schools as we are told by “educators” that the problem is a lack of funding. To add insult to injury, we are requested to (in some states which allow voter participation) for new bond issues which add billions in debt with no accountability.

The Russians had to destroy Mariupol to liberate it and bring it back to Mother Russia. That is the logic of Putin’s war which may sound strange to the Western way of thinking, but it is in keeping with centuries of Russian thought.

Mariupol has a long and at times, difficult history. From nomads to Genghis Khan and the Golden Horde, through the Ottoman empire and into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Mariupol managed to survive the Russian Revolution and terrible civil war and even the Nazi occupation, but it faces its greatest test as the “liberating” Russian army is now in control of a ghost town.

The link to an article by Norman Davies, the preeminent historian on Easter Europe will help to put the entire war in proper context. Once you understand the Russian context, you will understand there are no limits to this war, and indeed, it is only for starters.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-founding-conquering-and-destruction-of-mariupol-

Has anyone noticed that the recent group of mass murderers are 1) young males and 2) all marijuana users? It may not be polite to say it, as so many (such as the state of California for example) have a major vested interest in the legalization of marijuana (to the tune in California of about $345,000,000 a year). It is also not polite to mention that today’s marijuana which is so much more potent than the weed that their grandparents smoked, is capable of inducing psychosis such as “scromiting” which is a combination of screaming and vomiting. Given that the brain does not mature until about the age of twenty-five, whose interest is it in to provide young, impressionable, immature minds with a drug that is clearly dangerous to a particular age group?

Yet, in all the talk about gun control with the silly demands from some that the voting age be lowered, the use of marijuana by immature individuals seems to be ignored. The link below is to an excellent article which points out disturbing facts that seem to either be ignored or totally buried by doctors, editors, and government officials. I fear we have unleashed a monster on our youth, and everyone will have to pay a price in destroyed lives.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cannabis-and-the-violent-crime-surge-marijuana-pot-use-thc-shootings-psychosis-mental-11654540197

Is it possible that the golden days of being “woke” and check-the-box ESG are in the past? As the incessant and mostly silly demands of a small minority can never be satisfied or realized and, as the actual costs of the ESG movement are beginning to be dumped on middle- and lower-class citizens around the world, a reaction is taking place. Suddenly, it is the corporations themselves who are having to pay the price for their ventures into woke and ESG areas. They are pushed in part by vocal minorities and youthful employees as well as a desire by often weak-willed senior management which desires to be part of an elite club. How exactly will the head of Disney explain to the mass of his shareholders the fifty-billion-dollar loss in market value in less than two months? Do you really want to go to Pizza Hut where your child who is in kindergarten can receive a free book on the glory of drag queens? “All I wanted was a pizza!” Boycott! Suddenly, taking shots at politicians and ignoring your customer base has a genuine cost.

The link below to an article in the Financial Times shows that a backlash has developed as shareholders are putting their financial well being ahead of the feel-good efforts of corporate management. It is an interesting game to watch and may very well be reflected in the upcoming Novembe elections.

https://www.ft.com/content/e952d6bf-d00e-433c-baf3-2673f925a229

The desire we must “do something” by government fiat to “solve” a problem has always been an amazing idea to me. It seems that if there is a problem, we expect government to fix it by making new laws, creating new forms and applications, hiring more people to oversee the forms and of course, spending more money all in an effort to “do something.”  In the end, all we have done is create a vast bureaucracy which manages to increase in size each year while not really solving the problem. How has that Federal department of education worked out, or the Federal energy department? Have you noticed how the schools are better or how we eliminated rolling black outs? No? But the government “did something” didn’t it?

The attached article says it all so much better than I every could (which is why the author writes for the Wall Street Journal), but it should make you stop and think about what we should really expect from our governments at all levels. Recently, a U.S. Senator was attacked (verbally) because he dared to suggest that Federal laws have a “sunset” clause, which simply means that every five years, those laws and yes, agencies would be reviewed to see what they have accomplished and if they should continue to be funded. Imagine that! Accountability in government? What a crazy idea! Maybe, just maybe, that is a revolutionary idea whose time has come.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-do-something-wont-work-uvalde-texas-shooting-gun-control-policy-politics-11654115980?mod=opinion_featst_pos2