Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

Is there anyone left who doesnt have a handicapped sticker on their vehicles? I drive a lot between several offices and it seems that every third vehicle has a handicapped tag.

Before you get your blood pressure up, it is none of my business whether or not someone needs a handicapped tag. That isnt where this article is going, but it makes a perfect illustration for what I want to address. Our behaviors say something about us individually and our group behaviors say something about us collectively.

A year ago I had a serious accident that nearly took my life and created a major interruption in my mobility for many months. I could have gotten a disability tag and it would have made my life much easier. And if I had gotten that tag, I probably could have kept it forever. After all, Im in the geriatric population and it wouldnt be hard for me to get whatever confirmation I might need to present about the difficulties of my injury, my age, and my aches and pains.

But I didnt because I refuse to see myself as a victim. I prefer to see myself as a survivor.

In my ten-year study of survivors of trauma, one of the things I found that separated healthy survivors of trauma from those who were debilitated was the unwillingness to see themselves as victims. As hard as the troubles they faced might have been, they never gave up. They clung to a philosophy of I can as opposed to I cant. Actually, for most of them, they didnt even recognize this as a philosophy. It was more of an assumption.

More than ever, we live in a culture of victimization and entitlement. The metaphor of the handicapped tag simply illustrates it. I watched a driver wait several minutes for a handicapped parking spot at a store not long ago. There was an open spot right next to it. The lady got out and spryly walked into the store.

Again, I know I dont know what all might be going on in her life. My own leg injury would be invisible to anyone looking unless I was wearing shorts and sandals. I also know handicapped spaces are larger to make room for wheel chairs, walkers, and other mobility assistance. But that didnt appear to be a problem for this lady.

My father was a child of the depression. He grew up with very limited means and worked hard to be successful, and he was. Thankfully, he now is living a restful retirement for which he worked very hard.

From my very youngest days he instilled in me the idea that I was responsible for myself. I got my first job when I was in the fifth grade and Ive never had less than two or three jobs at a time since then. Im grateful for that training.

When I left home for a life as an adult it never crossed my mind to rely on anyone but myself. I just assumed I would make ends meet and I faced each challenge over the past nearly 60 years with an assumption that I would survive.

There are times where we have to ask for help. There is no shame in that. Whether it is food stamps, government housing, or other assistance, a responsible society helps those in need to get back on their feet. One of my dear colleagues told me once that if it hadnt been for public assistance she wouldnt have made it. But as soon as she was able, like any survivor, she took responsibility for herself and her family. She is now a doctoral student and has come a very long way in life to care for herself, her family, and her loved ones.

Our behaviors have meaning on the micro scale (our individual decisions), a meso scale (our communities), and a macro scale (our nation). These behaviors say something about what we value and where our priorities lie.

If an archeologist 1,000 years from now were to dig up a bunch of vehicles from this period in history, she or he would probably conclude were a bunch of ill, unhealthy, and needy people. I think we are more than that and I dont want to be a contributor to that conclusion.

I can predict the angry email Ill get from this column. My grandmother You cant assume Have you no empathy for those who Ill probably get at least a few emails arguing that handicapped or disability are politically incorrect terms. Anyone considering that, be aware in advance that you will only be validating my point.

[Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D., is a college professor, published author, licensed counselor, certified professional counselor supervisor, newspaper and online columnist and public speaker. His website is gregmoffatt.com.]

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What are we saying about ourselves? - The Citizen.com

Every December 9, Tanzania celebrates its political independence day. In 2019, the then Tanganyika, now Tanzania, turns 58.

In this article, the author argues and documents that Tanzania has seen two major U-turns in its economy in the past 58 years. The U-turns separate three different epochs.

Each of the U-turns brought with it major changes with major and far-reaching implications in many spheres of life.

In the economic front, the 1961 1967 period remained more or less the same as it was in the colonial times in some aspects. The economy continued to be owned, controlled and managed by the private sector.

The main actors in terms of ownership of major means of production were Europeans and Tanzanians of Asian origin. Indigenous Tanzanians largely remained spectators than meaningful players in the game.

The first U-turn (change) in the economic history of Tanzania was made in 1967. This was the year when the Arusha Declaration saw the light of the day. Along with it came the Ujamaa ideology.

It was the time period when Tanzania nationalized major means of production that were hitherto owned and controlled by the private sector.

It was an epoch when the country embraced Marxist-Leninist inclined economic philosophy. It was an era of state controlled, owned and planned economy.

This epoch was characterized by state monopolistic market structure in virtually all sectors of the economy.

Air Tanzania Corporation dominated the sky, Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam controlled air waves as Daily News and Uhuru were the standard references in the print media, to list but a few.

Market-oriented and influenced private sector was seen as the enemy of the state. Some would call the private sector such names as exploiters, capitalists and economic saboteurs.

Entrepreneurship suffered

It was almost sinful and politically incorrect to be rich or to be seen attempting to become one. The Ujamaa ideology planted anti-entrepreneurial attitudes and mental framework amongst most Tanzanians.

As part of this, the education system produced white colour job seekers instead of crafting entrepreneurs who would be job craters.

Keynesian economics was put in action in form of interventionist state having its visible hands fully in the economy. It planned, owned, produced, distributed and even influenced consumption of goods and services. The rather closed economy was locally owned, managed and controlled.

The Mid-1980s U-turn (change)

The second U-turn unfolded in mid 1980s. It is more or less a mirror image of the ujamaa era.

It is the Zanzibar Declaration (1991) that kissed goodbye the Ujamaa era and embraced this epoch that is characterized by market-led economic thinking. It is an epoch characterized by neo-liberal economics following Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

As opposed to the era immediately before this, the economy is now largely foreign-owned, managed and controlled through Foreign Direct Investments. The economy is more outward-looking, there is flexible exchange rate regime characterized by exchange rate volatility.

Although there is free interplay of market forces of supply and demand, the government has its hands on the economy.

Its role now is that of facilitator and creator of conducive business and investment climate. This is done through overseeing policies, laws, rules, regulations, peace, order and tranquility that are essential for a proper functioning market economy.

Although the market rules the economy, there are various sectoral regulatory authorities. There have the role of ensuring that the private sector is not abusing its market power.

One also sees executive agencies providing non-core public services on commercial basis as agents of the government whose role is one of a principal.

Tanzanias economic journey since independence is eventfull. The more dramatic epochs are those of 1967 to mid 1980s and mid 1980s to now.

Among the lessons that should be learnt include the fact the state controlled economy era was not particularly successful when one uses such indicators as availability of goods and services.

However, the ideology of the time has been crucial in laying foundations on which the mid 1980s U-turn was built.

For future success of the economy, it is very important for the government to do what governments do best in market economies.

It has to ensure that there are very attractive and friendly investments and business environment for private sector to succeed.

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Tanzania at 58: the economy in two major U-turns - The Citizen Daily

On his HBO talk show Real Time, host Bill Maher told audiences, "The Clintons--they gotta go away," on Friday night. The political commentator proceeded to tear into Hillary Clinton's place in the spotlight leading up to the 2020 election.

The conversation was sparked when Maher asked guest Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, if she will be attending the Democratic National Convention. Maher was critical of Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Presidential candidate, and her visibility in the 2020 election cycle. He said: "It seems like every few months Hillary Clinton bubbles up again, and people are like, 'Oh, she's thinking about running,' or she says something crazy."

He also referenced Congressman Justin Amash's tweet that called Clinton, "a Donald Trump asset," after Clinton claimed Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard and former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein were both Russian assets.

Maher also called former President Bill Clinton "damaged goods." When marketing expert and TV personality Donny Deutsch tried to compare Clinton's image to that of former President George W. Bush, Maher remarked that Clinton's image would be harder to salvage. He said, "We forgave Clinton, then we un-forgave."

Maher also told his panel, composed of Slotkin, Deutsch, podcaster Dan Carlin and comedian Zach Galifinakis, that he thinks the Clintons should steer clear of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. "I'm saying this now, a year out. They can't be at the convention, maybe on the video, waving or something," he said.

Maher has not been shy about criticizing Democrats or Republicans as the 2020 election approaches. The former Politically Incorrect host recently commented on Joe Biden's presidential campaign and the representatives of the "center-left." He told his audience: "My confidence that he can beat Trump is waning." While he liked Biden, Maher said: "We do need someone in the center left who is younger and female-er."

The outspoken liberal Democrat has also spoken about President Donald Trump's attitude and told audiences that he doesn't believe Trump will relinquish office easily, even if he loses the upcoming election. On the October 18 episode of Real Time, Maher told a panel: "I've been saying for a very long time now that I don't think he's leaving." He also said he didn't believe Trump would leave office even if he lost "by a landslide in 2020."

These comments echo similar analysis that Maher made in 2016. Urging viewers to vote for Clinton, Maher told his audience: "Once fascists get power, they don't give it up. You've got President Trump for life."

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Bill Maher: Hillary and Bill Clinton Need to 'Go Away' Ahead of 2020 Election - Newsweek

From the author of Al Pacino: The Movies Behind The Man, Mark Searby releases Rik Mayall: Comedy Genius.

Delving into the rude, serious, anarchic and hilarious, Searby highlights Mayalls spectrum of work not the rumours or an attempt to uncover the deeply private life he led but the more intricate moments that were twisted into creations to make people laugh and subsequently woven in to the fabric of British culture and comic legacy.

Narrated by Searby, over 30 exclusive interviews have been lovingly, laughingly and carefully sought from those that stood closest to him over his working years including the likes of Alexei Sayle (The Young Ones), Nigel Planer (The Young Ones), Ate de Jong (Drop Dead Fred), Christopher Ryan (Bottom), Helen Lederer (Bottom), Gwyneth Powell (Man Down), Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran (The New Statesman) and many more, providing the inner-most workings of Mayall and all of the emotions that working next to him brought with it, namely laughter.

Rik Mayall: Comedy Genius is a deep dive into everything from his most notable work to his lesser-known, yet equally as fascinating moments.

With a career born from frustrations, opinions and political strains of the working class in the 1980s, Mayall and a motley crew of young fresh talent led the uprising of alternative comedy. Taking a lead from Punk music, they took no prisoners. It was politically incorrect, anarchic and stuck two fingers up to the establishment and furthermore it stood for something. In its new form, Mayall and his compadres had made comedy in to a vessel to speak freely and represent the feelings of a fresh, passionate and raw new generation, something that has since been remixed and reworked over the following three decades. As Mayall evolved over the years, his acting, his intellect, his manic, intriguing character and his genius became a thing of interest, inspiration and celebration.

To be published January 24, 2020. Pre-order here

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News: New Rik Mayall Book due out soon - Beyond The Joke

Sharad Pawar must have been born under a super special star with every astral body in the right place. He is indestructible and unstoppable blessed a million times over by the gods who watch over him. Why, they even sent buckets of rain for him in Satara during the last leg of his hectic campaigning trip. Talk about divine intervention try beating that!

Some say the downpour swung several votes in his partys favour, as voters watched a portly 78-year-old seasoned politician address a mass rally, drenched to the skin. It was an inspired, brilliant decision to not cancel. Its hard to think of a single other politico whod have the shrewdness to carry on with the show, and behave like it was normal to address a gathering with the heavens opening up unexpectedly. That single visual established several things in one go Maharashtras Maratha strongman was back in the game!

He owned Satara like a boss. And proved sceptics hopelessly wrong. Every political analyst had written off Pawar, given the tattered state of his party at the most crucial time. Loyalists had jumped ship, brazenly defected, and were all set to start their new innings under a different captain. They had clearly underestimated Pawar and his game plan. Here is one politician capable of decimating any opposition, using his phenomenal brain power, while they foolishly focus on the obvious muscle power. Taunted by Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtras chief minister, on countless occasions, Pawar hit back with stunningly aimed left hooks that flattened the Fadnavis offensive. This is a Pawar speciality that foes should overlook at their own peril. As those who wrote him off will soon discover, when he strikes as he will he chooses his timing with lethal precision.

There is much to learn from these chatur warhorses! And the rather unexpected results of the two state elections (Maharashtra and Haryana) are telling indeed. To state it bluntly: the party bosses handling all things BJP screwed up big time. They now need to wake up and smell the sherbet. Nothing and nobody can be taken for granted, least of all the canny voter. No political party can afford to sit back and relax, regardless of its overall success. Political fortunes are made and unmade in a flash. Politics bites back viciously when no ones looking. Complacency kills. And this is exactly where the BJP faltered, stumbled and fell flat on its face. Could Fadnavis have ever imagined hed lose his tactical advantage and deliver such poor numbers? Ditto for the Haryana chief minister. Pawar as kingmaker and leader of the opposition in the state assembly is a googly nobody anticipated! Team Fadnavis went for a six overnight! Similarly, Dushyant Chautala with 10 seats will be the man pulling all the strings in Haryana. The underdogs are on a roll in both states, and it will be fun to watch who walks away with the bone.

The comatose Congress party provided the other big surprise, with a respectable showing that left political watchers gasping. How did they do it collect 44 seats in Maharashtra and 31 in Haryana when critics were busy looking the other way? After singing bhajans at the funeral of the ridiculously diminished Congress party, given the embarrassing performance during the general election, comes this sudden spike in popularity! How? Any explanations? None! One can keep redoing the math and still not figure out the anomaly. Which has made cynics wonder: if a down and out, and hopelessly demoralised, obviously headless party of losers and non-performers has pulled off this Diwali dhamaka, what would happen if someone actually took charge at this critical stage and gave those lazy party slackers serious grief? This could be Sonia Gandhis big moment to assert herself and seize control directly. Not through a phony proxy. God knows what her inner voice is telling her at this point, but lets hope wise counsel is being provided by that mysterious voice. If she assumes her natural position as the commander-in-chief in a more upfront way, with Priyanka as a trusted lieutenant (forget Rahul he aint cut out for this rough game), the political narrative could change rapidly. Nothing is as impermanent as the game of thrones politicians play around the world. The reality check provided to the BJP this week could lead to two responses the clever one would be to undertake an internal audit, instantly reboot and try to find someone to take over day to day matters from Amit Shah. The other, less clever option would be to go into denial and play the blame game. Either way, the ball is in the BJPs court. Lets not keep saying: Where is the alternative to the BJP? What other option do we have? Heres the good news: there is always an alternative. And the options are under our nose. Jaago, desh waasis we the people are the alternative and the option. The future of India is safe in the voters hands.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Excerpt from:
TINA factor? Poll results show people are the real alternative - Economic Times

Nearly half of the residents of a village in a Uyghur-majority area of northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been sent to internment camps amid a policy of mass incarceration targeting minorities in the area, according to an official source.

Authorities in the XUAR are believed to have detained 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect ideas in internment camps since April 2017.

Reports suggest that authorities are detaining as many Uyghurs as possible in internment camps and jails regardless of their age, prior service to the ruling Communist Party, or the severity of the accusations against themas part of a bid to satisfy quotas ordered by the regional government.

Those who fail to meet the detention quotas face official scrutiny and, in some cases, are sent off to the camps themselves.

While investigating the number of people held in camps in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefectures Yengisheher (Shule) county, RFAs Uyghur Service spoke with a police officer from Ermudun (Ai'ermudong) townships No. 1 village, who said that at least 45 percent of the population there had been sent for detention.

There are more than 400 households with 1,336 residents, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

People from more than 300 households [have been detained] If we estimate at least two people from each household [are adults], that means there are more than 600 [detainees].

The officers estimation suggests that 75 percent of households in No. 1 village have had at least two people detained in camps.

When asked how households are able to manage farm labor in the largely agricultural area of Kashgar, the police officer said authorities are providing help, and the village leadership is offering help as well, without providing further details, other than that the families are working hard.

RFA also spoke with the head of a neighborhood committee in Ermudun township who said that No. 1 village is not even the subdistrict of Ermudun with the largest number of detainees per population.

No. 2 village, he said, when asked which of the villages have had most inhabitants sent to the internment camps.

The neighborhood committee chief was unable to provide statistics for the number of inhabitants of No. 2 village.

When asked how many people from Ermudun had been sent to the camps, a township official told RFA that he was unsure, saying he had only started working there a month earlier.

While RFA was unable to obtain details, the number of detainees in Ermuduns No. 1 village seemed to mirror an estimate provided by an official from Misha (Mixia) township, in Kashgars neighboring Peyziwat (Jiashi) county, who also declined to be named.

I dont know the exact number [but] it is approximately 50 percent of the population, the official said.

When asked whether there was any plan to release those held, the official said, No such information has been given to us.

The official acknowledged that families are experiencing difficulties carrying out their farm labor amid the detention of many of the townships household members of working age, but said they cannot complain about the situation.

For those who need assistance, the work group organizes volunteers to help themwe have been helping them in the fields to do things such as harvesting corn or building homes, he said.

[Volunteers] are mainly university students who have returned home for their summer vacations. The work group forms a labor workforce by organizing them into teams, and they support families who lack manpower.

Similar numbers

The numbers from Kashgar are similar to those RFA has reported in other parts of the XUAR, and appear to be linked to directives issued to local authorities by higher-level officials in the region.

In October 2017, officials from two villages in Hotan (Hetian) prefectures Qaraqash (Moyu) county told RFA that they had been given a target quota for sending residents to internment camps.

A police officer in one of the villages said he had been informed during an online conference in mid-June of that year that his department was to detain 40 percent of the local population for exhibiting signs of religious extremism.

While Beijing initially denied the existence of internment camps, China this year changed tack and began describing the facilities as boarding schools that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalization, and help protect the country from terrorism.

Reporting by RFAs Uyghur Service and other media organizations, however, has shown that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities.

Mass incarcerations in the XUAR, as well as other policies seen to violate the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslims, have led to increasing calls by the international community to hold Beijing accountable for its actions in the region.

In September, at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said that the U.N. had failed to hold China to account over its policies in the XUAR and should demand unfettered access to the region to investigate reports of the mass incarceration and other rights abuses against Uyghurs.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Nearly Half of Residents of Uyghur-Majority Village in Xinjiang Held in Internment Camps - Radio Free Asia

Arriving onstage coiled and poised to strike, the auditorium thrilled with anticipation and schadenfreude at the prospect of what Edna might inflict on them. Edna's talent for mockery is legendary, and as several hapless latecomers filed in, you wondered which part of her vast arsenal of delicious putdowns and backhanded compliments she might reach for.

As it happened, she pursed her lips and kept her powder dry, saving the barrage of banter and casual judgment for "non-entities" in the front rows and, after interval, selecting three guests to come up on stage for a taste of talk-show treatment.

That went swimmingly. Edna asked one woman about her husband's most annoying habit, and on discovering he was dead, held a mortified expression for a few moments before replying: "Well, there's nothing more annoying than that!"

Playful audience interaction was the main game, but more traditional jokes, potted reminiscences and occasional bursts of song featured too. Just under the make-up, you could tell Humphries was itching to be politically incorrect, and though nothing too outrageous was said, a gag about Edna's trans stand-up comedian daughter Valmai proved a bit of a clunker.

Not, mind you, because it disrespected trans people. Edna's approach to buzzwords like diversity, inclusivity, gender and ethnicity satirises suburban blindness, or at best lip-service, to them, and if there was any doubt about that, it was removed at the start, when the Dame acknowledged the Pratt family as traditional owners of the land on which we met.

It's more that with Edna's trans daughter the landscape of political correctness isn't assiduously surveyed. And Humphries seems to have poached his punchline from George Bernard Shaw, who used to appear in dressing rooms after shows he did not admire and exclaim, "Marvellous is not the word!"

Dame Edna maintains a terrific rapport with her public, though, and Humphries' enduring comic genius survives the show's loose format and digressive style. Fans should grab, while they still can, the chance to see Edna live.

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Years on, there's still nothing like a Dame - The Age

Mark Zuckerberg's Congressional testimony makes it clear that he takes inspiration from China, where WeChat serves as a one-stop portal to the greater internet. There, users conduct their banking, shopping, and bill payments without ever leaving the app. The ability to control users' economic interactions comes with the privilege of deciding the medium of exchange. If it follows suit, Facebook may end up looking like another familiar monopolist - our own government, which creates the national currency we use to pay our taxes.

It's no wonder regulators and central banks view the Libra project as a threat to the international monetary system. In a recent report, the G7 Working Group warns that global cryptocurrencies could undermine cross-jurisdictional efforts to combat illicit finance. All international transactions using US dollars currently clear through the New York Federal Reserve, where they can be monitored and stopped if deemed unsavory. Previously, members of the Senate Banking Committee have expressed concern over Facebook's ability to handle economic sanctions on foreign regimes.

Zuckerberg has promised that Calibra, Facebook's payment app, will include robust compliance systems to fulfill regulatory obligations. However, the greater risk is that Calibra will go above and beyond its regulatory duty. Facebook already employs a more restrictive speech code than legally required - the platform blocks various forms of hate speech, harassment, misinformation and inauthentic behavior. Publishers must accept Facebook's opaque Terms of Service or risk not being seen at all. It's one thing to deny politically incorrect figures the ability to share inflammatory content; it's another thing to leave them economically isolated.

In a competitive market, those who disagree with Facebook's terms could simply take their business elsewhere. The Libra Association currently includes twenty-one member companies, after some early members dropped out. If Facebook mimics WeChat in establishing itself as a go-to payment portal, those former members may have no choice but to return to the cartel.

Global regulators are so worried about preserving their own monopoly status that they've forgotten that monopolies have victims. Just look at what Facebook did to publishers. When Facebook emerged as the arbiter of eyeballs, publishers lost control of their audiences and ad revenue, and consumers ended up with a barrage of clickbait. If Facebook disintermediates the banking system, it could take control of the economic relationship between businesses and their customers, with greater restrictions on financial transactions than ever before. It's almost enough to make you wish for a decentralized currency.

Elaine Ou is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a blockchain engineer at Global Financial Access in San Francisco. Previously she was a lecturer in the electrical and information engineering department at the University of Sydney.

MCT

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Facebook could do to banks what it did to newspapers - The Australian Financial Review

ON Wednesday we published an article headed Polar bear expert frozen out for telling the truth by Dr Benny Peiser, Director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. That and the comments of our readers prompted us to compile a list of academics who have recently been sacked, suspended or otherwise come under siege because of their politically incorrect views.

We begin with the man who perhaps more than anyone else has confronted modern repressive academic orthodoxies and, reportedly, has taken a bit of a beating in terms of his health for his worldwide one-man stand.

Professor Jordan Petersons views are well known to our readers, not least for his authorship of 12 Rules for Life and his take-down of Channel 4s Cathy Newman.

It was his refusal to use the non-binary gender pronouns zee, hir and per communicated in a series of videos that brought him to prominence. So what, you might say. But for a professor employed by the University of Toronto, backed up by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, it constituted discrimination, and is punishable by law.

Earlier this year Professor Peterson was in the news again because an offer of a visiting fellowship at Cambridge Universitys Faculty of Divinity was rescinded, a decision in which the university Students Union appeared to have quite a say.

Professor Sir Roger Scruton, another TCW favourite our intellectual mentor, no less is one of Britains most distinguished beleaguered academics. His Damascene conversion in 1968 to small-c conservatism set him on a trajectory for, in his own words, a life beyond the pale of institutional academia. It was the Marxist gobbledegook of the then New Left, which almost every other social thinker at the time lapped up, that got to him.

His academic career at Birkbeck was blighted by his conservatism, and particularly by his third book, The Meaning of Conservatism (1980).

It did not succeed in quenching his prodigious output, volleys in his lonely intellectual war against what he sees as the academic and philosophical shortcomings of Left-wing thinking in the 20th century.

Yet hostility to his views has never let up and extended, this year, even to the Conservative Party in whose name he founded a Philosophy Group. Sacking this most eminent conservative thinker from his unpaid role advising the government on how to build better towns was, as TCWs Robert James described it, another squalid milestone in its journey Leftwards.

Earlier in TCWs history we were the first out of the traps in condemning University College Londons treatment of one of the countrys foremost scientists, the Nobel prize winner Sir Tim Hunt (physiology or medicine 2001). In 2015 he was made to issue a grovelling apology and resign his honorary professorship for what can only be described as a petty thought crime. Yes, he was nave enough to make a joke about women worse, scientific women one that, I suspect, if subjected to dispassionate scientific investigation would not have been without an element of truth. He has since sought a new life in the less judgmental Japan. Who can blame him? It is the UKs loss.

Since then the Left have become progressively more intolerant. Until last year the Italian physicist Dr Allessandro Strumia was unknown outside his field. But in a workshop about gender at Cern, the European nuclear research centre in Geneva, he dared challenge the politically accepted code, saying that physics was invented and built by men, its not by invitation.He further observed that it is men, not women, who now suffer from gender bias. He was fed up, it emerged from later interviews, with the false feminist narrative of complaint about discrimination, and had set out to show it was not true.

These people are so worried about problems that dont exist. What I actually said has good purpose. We are not discriminating, women have been helped for years, Dr Strumia said, pulling the rug in one tug from under the feminist victim narrative. It wasnt the message they wanted to hear.

It was unacceptable to Cern, contrary to their code of conduct and to a brigade of virtue-signalling scientists. They announced Strumias suspension with immediate effect.

The Cambridge academic Noah Carl is one of the latest victims of the new intolerant academic culture. St Edmunds College terminated Dr Carls post after academics and students called for his appointment to be investigated in a classic example of how the Left destroy anyone they dont agree with.

More than 1,000 signed an open letter accusing Dr Carl of producing racist pseudoscience.

The sociologist had become a controversial figure after speaking at the London Conference on Intelligence, where eugenics was allegedly debated, and publishing a paper arguing that stereotypes about the criminality of certain immigrant groups in the UK were reasonably accurate.

At the start of this year students started a petition to stop Professor John Finnis, Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy at Oxford University and a world authority on natural law, from teaching on the grounds of what they declared to be a long record of homophobic, transphobic and other discriminatory views. This is their interpretation of the professors position that the state should deter public approval of homosexual behaviour while refusing to persecute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, basing this position not on the claim that homosexual sex is unnatural but on the idea that it cannot involve the union of procreation and emotional commitment that heterosexual sex can, and is therefore an assault on heterosexual union. The case pitted an unusually distinguished and subtle defender of traditional beliefs against an unusually incoherent campaign, the Catholic Herald pointed out.

This once doctoral supervisor of US Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and author of the most scathing critique of the UK Supreme Courts recent prorogation ruling, survived to see another day and fight another fight.

Another Oxford academic, Nigel Biggar, Professor of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, has likewise been on the receiving end of censorious and prejudiced students. His crime? A comment in the Times entitled Dont feel guilty about our colonial history in which he defended another academic, Bruce Gilley, a professor of political science at Portland State University, for making The Case for Colonialism. For the last 100 years, Western colonialism has had a bad name, he wrote, and it is high time to question this orthodoxy.

Following its publication the knives came out for him.

Professor Biggar may have Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equalities Commission who defended him against his critics, to thank for still being in situ, though no less besieged.

We salute all these heroes. And we will be looking out for more.

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Jordan Peterson and Co academic heroes who defied the PC brigade - The Conservative Woman

In the past decade or so, audiences have been devoured by hordes of zombie movies and TV-shows like The Walking Dead.

This subversive sub-genre that used to be defined by edgy indie productions has now received hundreds of millions of dollars in producing funds, casts and crews from the very tippy-top of the A-list, to quote the first installment. Most of the time, these gobs of cash do nothing but sterilize the gritty and zany aesthetic that were epitomized in inspiring films of the genre like Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

The original 2009 Zombieland marked the beginning of the popularization of the genre in general culture and was an incredibly fresh, funny and touching story that still holds up.

However, director Ruben Fleischer and actors Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin return to the genre after a ten-year hiatus. Unlike many others recently, they prove that even Academy Award-winning, and nominated, talents funded by millions of dollars can produce one of the funniest and most genuine zombie-films to date.

Ten years after Eisenbergs Columbus and Harrelsons Tallahassee saved Stones Wichita and Breslins Little Rock at the Pacific Playland theme park, the group has traversed the United States of Zombieland to arrive at the White House in Washington D. C.

This odd quartet of antisocial, zombie-slaying and meta punch-line delivering badasses become a battle-hardened family that cares for little more than each other. However, when their hardened personalities are forced to stay with each other in one location for an extended period of time without having to fight off a horde of the undead every day, they find a disease much worse than a modified form of Mad Cow disease: cabin fever and adolescence.

The group splits up, leaving all of the members dispersed throughout Zombieland to discover the familial bonds that end up uniting them more than their fears can divide them.

Zombieland: Doubletap is, ironically, one of the most life-filled films of the year.

Throughout their journey, Columbus, Wichita, Tallahassee and Little Rock come across other survivors who have figured out unique methods of survival in the apocalypse.The film wastes no potential for copious amounts of fun-filled and politically incorrect social commentary.

These new survivors introduce a whole new layer to the world of Zombieland and throw our returning characters into a series of riotously fun sequences that are sure to make fans of the original love this sequel, and are likely to win over more cautious viewers.

In the ten years that separated this sequel from the original, the cast has clearly done nothing but grow in ability and talent. All original cast members return, and it feels like they never left. If anything, the groups chemistry together is better than it was in the original.

Additionally, Harrelson, Eisenberg, Breslin and Stone maintain their character mannerisms and advance them all with the maturing of their characters over the course of a decade. As meta and funny as this film is, all of the main characters ground the film through their realistic responses to their unrealistic circumstances.

This film is certainly an improvement over its predecessor when it comes to the films set design, cinematography and visual effects; these zombies are some of the best-looking undead to ever stumble and snarl across the silver screen.

Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung and Fleischer were clearly dedicated to advancing the quality of the cinematography in the sequel without sacrificing the indie-aesthetic that marks some of the most beloved films in the zombie-genre. No fancy editing or glossy camerawork is employed here. Instead, the careful viewer will notice the dedication to detail-oriented scene construction, especially in some thrilling one-shots.

However, where this film falters compared to the original is all in its writing. Zombieland was one of the most memorable films of the 2000s because of its then-unique focus on meta-humor in a story about totally different people making it work in a world overrun with the undead.

Now, audiences have grown somewhat accustomed to violent and meta movies like Deadpool and Cabin in the Woods. The formula used in Zombieland: Doubletap still works, it just isnt as fresh as its predecessor. This especially shows in some, albeit humorous, sequences that were obviously written to extend the runtime beyond what the movies main narrative could support on its own.

Despite its familiar feel and some conventional writing, the talented cast and crew return to Zombieland and deliver a film about family. Filled with heart, meta-humor, big guns, social commentary and lots of rotting corpses, the film is well worth the price of admission.

Excerpt from:
Zombieland: Double Tap is worth the wait - University of Dallas University News