By Selwyn Duke

It’s easy to get wrapped up in men and moments. In the current election season, for instance, we may see a candidate appearing to embody all our hopes and dreams (or at least many) and come to assign him country-savior status. Even the great Thomas Sowell — a man for whom I have tremendous respect — has called the November choice “the last chance for America.” Yet even if we do choose the “right” president, it will only amount to a stay of execution.

Many people lament that “Obama has destroyed America these last eight years” or, alluding to same, will say “I don’t recognize my country anymore.” This is much like viewing a woman who marries a greasy-haired, dope-smoking, heavily tattooed and pierced, unemployable reprobate and saying that her matrimonial decision destroyed her, when the real problem was that she was the kind of person who could make such a choice in the first place. Do you really think Obama isn’t a symptom at least as much as a cause? Do you think the 2000 A.D. America that elected him would have been recognizable to 1950 Americans?

And even if the next president is an anomalous good result, he won’t even be a pause that refreshes, but will at best slow down the runaway train racing toward the precipice. This is because our main problems aren’t illegal migration, trade deals or health care, as significant as those things are. Our problems are more fundamental.

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By Selwyn Duke

“The duties of the Senate are set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote. It says appointments shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. That is very different than saying every nominee receives a vote.” The preceding is certainly a view one could take with respect to Obama’s Supreme Court (SC) nominee, Judge Merrick Garland (shown). Another view is that the president is “doing his job … they [Senate Republicans] should do theirs.” The first position was taken by liberal Nevada Senator Harry Reid.

The second position was taken by someone he knows well: liberal Nevada senator Harry Reid.

The first statement was made in 2005 on the Senate floor and dealt with the matter of President George W. Bush’s nominees. The second was made just yesterday and concerned Obama’s Garland pick.

Of course, Reid isn’t alone in giving voters more than their money’s worth (two faces for the price of one), as both Democrats and Republicans have a history of making contradictory statements on SC nominees. Nonetheless, Reid’s first statement was correct; he’s also right in saying the senators should do their job. Since their job is to appoint a judge who’ll do his job, however, it’s important to know what a judge’s job is.

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

“I once tried to light a joint with a fire ant, but what did I know? I was high on glue and in the third grade, just like grandpa.” ― Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not FOR SALE

Pot is now hot, with many viewing it as just the Millennial Martini, no different than an after-work libation. But more and more, studies are revealing the straight dope on dope: Cannabis is a dangerous substance whose habitual use can lead to cognitive impairment and increased social ills.

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

Gun-control laws have been killed off in the Missouri legislature in recent years, and more residents are being killed in the streets. That’s the story, anyway.

One of the storytellers is Jonathan M. Metzl, professor of sociology and psychiatry and the director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. After outlining loosened Missouri gun restrictions, such as easing prohibitions on concealed and open carry and eliminating municipalities’ power to enact their own gun control, he writes:

What followed was a state of affairs that the New York Times has described as a “natural experiment” testing whether more guns led to more safety and less crime.

Instead, according to research, the opposite occurred, in as much as gun deaths soared when it became easier for people to buy and carry firearms.

A team of researchers led by Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, analyzed extensive crime data from Missouri and found that the state’s 2007 repeal of its permit-to-purchase handgun law “was associated with a 25 percent increase in firearm homicides rates.” Between 2008 and 2014 the Missouri gun homicide rate rose to 47 percent higher than the national average. 

This sounds like a smoking gun for anti-Second Amendment-rights activists. But it’s more like a cherry-picked misfire.

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

"Muslims and Christians worship the same God," we so often hear. It's one of those Kumbaya people just love repeating. But is it anything more than self-delusion? In the excellent article below, William Kilpatrick absolutely eviscerates the same-God thesis, pointing out that the Koran specifically condemns the central tenet of Christianity: the divinity of Jesus. 

A former Boston College professor (a rare good academic), Kilpatrick is a hidden gem, one of those brilliant men society wastes by instead exalting and showcasing politically correct clanging cymbals. Years ago he wrote the classic work Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong, and he has hit another home run with the essay below. It is a must-read. 

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Mt. 7:15).

Would “false prophets” include Muhammad? It’s an impolitic question to ask in these politically correct times, but, thanks to political correctness these are also highly dangerous times. Since a good deal of the danger emanates from the religion Muhammad founded, it seems reasonable to ask if he was a false prophet. And if he was, does that mean that Islam is a false religion?  And if it is, why are Catholic leaders so keen on declaring their solidarity with Islam?

It’s a case of either/or. Either the New Testament account of Jesus is true or Muhammad’s account is true. Since they contradict each other, they both can’t be true.

In the gospel accounts, Jesus is rather insistent that he is the Son of God, and the Koran is rather insistent that he is not. Assuming that you know of the many instances in the gospels where Jesus asserts his divinity, here are some Koranic passages that say the opposite:

God is but one God. God forbid that he should have a son! (4: 173, trans Dawood).

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

How severe is vote fraud in America? Some critics say that electoral sleight-of-hand has resulted in stolen elections, while others shrug the problem off as negligible at worst. But a new analysis of 2016 primary voting trends indicates, many analysts insist, that ballot fraud’s magnitude may be quite staggering.

A big story this election cycle has been the enthusiasm gap, with Republican turnout up markedly and Democrat turnout down relative to the Obama-fired, McCain-tired 2008 election. But what’s raising eyebrows is that the Democrat decline is not consistent:

It is 227 percent greater in states with new voter-ID laws than in those without new voter-ID laws.

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

The battle goes to the passionate, is so often the case. Culture wars are no exception, and a handful of stories from the past week — involving the Islamization of the West — illustrate this point well.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history,” George Orwell once noted. This brings us to the United Kingdom, where a MondayExpress headline reads, “Schools teach Islamic history… but ignore 1066 and all that.” The issue is the new national curriculum, through which “teachers are being told pupils need not study British kings and queens, but must learn about early Islamic civilisation, Mayan culture or of Benin in west Africa,” the paper explains. It reports that the curriculum makes the “teaching of landmark events and personalities in British history ‘non-statutory.’” The Magna Carta, the reign of Elizabeth I, the Battle of Waterloo, the Napoleonic wars, Trafalgar, heroes such as Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, and even the two world wars aren’t required to be taught by the government schools.

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

Thomas Jefferson once said that judicial supremacy would reduce our Constitution to a “suicide pact.” Now the Supreme Court is once again vindicating that assessment: On Friday it blocked a Louisiana law that would have saved babies’ lives by reducing the number of facilities licensed to commit pre-natal infanticide.

At issue is 2014 legislation that — mirroring laws in Texas and seven other states — requires “doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Lawmakers said this rule would help ensure consistent care for a patient who has a medical emergency that sends her to a hospital,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Admitting privileges enable a physician to admit a patient to a hospital and personally provide him with care at the facility (as opposed to the hospital’s doctors on staff assuming that responsibility).

Only Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the Friday stay of the Louisiana law…

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

It’s just a paper about the hand. It bears the not-very-titillating title “Biomechanical characteristics of hand coordination in grasping activities of daily living.” But now its authors could use a helping hand after receiving the back of someone else’s.

Written by three researchers from China’s Huazhong University and one from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, the paper was published January 5 in the PLOS ONE journal. And what was its supposed trespass?

It referenced the Creator numerous times.

This created intense controversy, with some scientists and even PLOS ONE editors calling for a retraction and other scientists threatening a boycott. And the journal did ultimately print a retraction on March 4, apologizing to readers for the “inappropriate language.” 

Read the rest here. 

By Selwyn Duke

Things must be made unequal to compensate for America’s inherent “racism,” states Critical Race Theory. The organizers of the Cinder Block Comedy Festival (CBCF) in New York City are taking this principle to heart — and are expanding on it. They’re charging an increased submissions fee for only one group: white men. And there’s more.

Until March 15, it’ll be “No white males need apply.”

The festival, taking place September 15-18 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is limiting early-bird-submission opportunities (February 15- March 14) to women, non-whites, and those “identifying” as “LGBT”; in addition, members of these groups can apply at the discounted rate of $19.25. Submissions from what festival organizers call “token bearded white dudes” will only be accepted between March 15 through April 15, and they will have to pay $25.

The organizers claim to be doing this because, as they put it in a website video, “We think comedy shows should be as diverse as f***.

Read the rest here.