The Western Christian Paideia (WCP)

 The Western Christian Paideia (WCP)

 I’ve been watching some of the ceremonies commemorating the 80^th anniversary of D-Day.  Some of the participating soldiers are still alive.  These soldiers of the 1940’s were 18 and 19 year olds, led by 21 year old lieutenants and 24 year old captains.

 Now, this age group, consisting of seemingly intellectual and educated students and professors, wrap keffiyehs, shemaghs and Palestinian flags around themselves and take part in antisemitic protests.  And this is just one manifestation of an anti-American, anti-establishment, anti-religious movement that has corrupted our youth and American life in general. Ask many modern “twenty-somethings” about their beliefs and interests, and their response is some vacuous paean to progressiveness-based selfishness and self-absorption.

 Major Pete Hegseth writes about how our educational systems have been hijacked by so-called "progressives", who knew that they could not remake America in their own image until they had radically reshaped the culture of the nation. They could secure themselves key positions in Washington, the media, the major industries, and even the universities, but if they could not find a way to seize the reins of education at the grade school level, they would never be able to accomplish their long-term agenda.

 But to do that, to take control of K-12 education, they would first have to remove the one obstacle that could stop them: the Western Christian Paideia (WCP).

 Paideia, a Greek word that means both instruction and enculturation, was invented by the ancient Athenians who knew that they could not preserve their democracy without passing down their culture to morally self-regulating citizens who could think logically and act nobly. They accomplished that goal through an educational system steeped in tradition that shaped its pupils in accordance with universal standards of reason and virtue.

 Hegseth posits that our American Paideia, or WCP, that sustained us through Normandy and WWII into recent times has been eroded away by this modern secular progressivism, that has led to the vacuous selfishness of modern young adults.

 Ray Gruszecki

June 6, 2024

Trump Trial

Trump Trial

 Alvin Bragg, Manhattan DA, and Juan Merchan, acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, are not dummies.  They did not just fall from the turnip truck.  They are both well educated, well experienced democrat operatives in the left-wing New York State court system.  

 A Trump backer can cry “fix’ and “kangaroo court”, without attempting to appreciate the nuances and fine points of the ”novel” case that was woven around Trump.  It takes an ingenious legal mind and some legal legerdemain, to breathe life into a misdemeanor which was past the statute of limitations, and “Frankenstein” it into 34 as yet undefined felonies. And then convince a jury to convict a past President of the U.S. for the first time, choosing from a smorgasbord of several crimes.

 A trump hater can opine “got the bastard”, and “no one is above the law”, and applaud this legal effort without appreciating the impact that it has on the system of justice in NYS and the country.  Targeting an individual rather than a crime is straight out of the Soviet or Chicom or banana republic playbook. Persecuting an individual without naming a crime may be OK in some twisted NYS courtroom, but it would hardly even play in Moscow or Beijing.

 A couple of further thoughts:

Has Trump’s big mouth and combative attitude talked himself into a jail cell?  This guy Merchan is a “hanging judge”, as he has shown several times.  He has been an enemy of Trump and his minions.  I would not put it past him to throw Trump’s ass in Rikers for a spell.

 Many people blithely opine “well it will be reversed on appeal”.  Where, - NYC? Albany? SCOTUS?  When, - by 2028?  Also, remember, Merchan is not a dummy.  He may be a democrat operative, but he is an experienced judge.  He has not left glaring holes in the case. Just because some dislike his verdict does not mean that it was not legalistically valid.  An appeal may not be that easy.

Ray Gruszecki

June 4, 2024

Crucial Times

Crucial Times

 Education, the very foundation forming the basis for our culture, government and its institutions, has been co-opted by the insidious infiltration of what some scholars call “Cultural Marxism”.  This trend began with the morphing of “progressive”, socialist and communist ideologies into our educational systems and universities after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990’s.

 This does not consist of just “seeding” some courses at our universities with left-wing ideologies.  It consists of infusing our whole kindergarten through university curricula with Marxist  doctrines such as CRT, the 1619 project, oppressor vs oppressed and myriad leftist ideologies coached as| “social justice”.  

 In a long life that began in the 1930’s, I have lived and observed many changes in customs, beliefs and politics.  Until the last few years, most of these have been within scope of a distinctly western, Christian and American identity.  Pretty much across the board, we were proud of America and proud to be Americans.

 Differences in political beliefs did not alter our fundamental national identity.  We fought wars to preserve it and fashioned our government around it.  We may have debated politics and opposed wars and political parties, but we were bound together by the Constitution, Bill of Rights and our Laws.

 Our republic recovered from the Civil War, several race riots, two world wars, and the Vietnam War.  But our foundations of government pretty much stayed solid and intact.

 Three recent books alarm us to the takeover of our educational systems by “progressive” leftists.  “American Marxism” by Mark Levin, “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, and “Battle for the American Mind|, by Pete Hegseth.

 This encroachment of left-wing “progressivism” on our schools goes a long way toward explaining how seemingly intellectual and educated students and professors can be led to wrap keffiyehs, shemaghs and Palestinian flags around themselves and take part in antisemitic protests.

 And this is just one manifestation of an anti-American, anti-establishment, anti-religious movement that has corrupted our youth and American life in general.  Ask many modern “twenty-somethings” about their beliefs and interests, and the response is some vacuous paean to progressiveness-based selfishness and self-absorption.  This is particularly true in the Acela corridor and the West Coast, but is spreading to traditionally stable Middle America.

 Unless this attack on the very foundations of our republic are stopped and reversed, there is danger that we may be relegated to the dustbin of history.

 Ray Gruszecki

May 28, 2024

October 7 and Israeli Reprisal

 October 7 and Israeli Reprisal

 “Useful Idiots” waving Palestinian flags have protested at college campuses across the country, and disrupted many graduation ceremonies.  These clueless young folks, organized by older professors and alumni, (with the financial backing of the Soros group and other deep pockets), seem to have forgotten the atrocities committed by the Hamas terrorist butchers on October 7, 2023, and have taken up the cause of Hamas and the terrorists.  The analogy is taking up the cause of Japan against the U.S. after Pearl Harbor.

 I thought that it would be pertinent to document exactly what happened on October 7 during the Hamas attack. 

 It became apparent that one needed to proceed cautiously, since reports about the attack were emotionally charged, with initial reports of babies being beheaded and burned alive by the Hamas attackers.  These, and similar hysterical reports needed to be thoroughly vetted and ignored.

 Caution was also necessary in querying and vetting possible AI manipulation of text and photos.  Not everything is as it appears.

 But, it eventually became evident from both eye witness reports and pictorial evidence that the Hamas attackers acted brutally and sadistically against the Israeli civilians in Southern Israel.  This included torture and murder of Israeli men, women and children, and particularly rape and mutilation of Israeli women as a feature of their rampage through Southern Israel.

 Statistics are sparse, but it is estimated that 320 women, 36 children and 800 men were slaughtered in these attacks.

 The links below are included so that we remember why the IDF is in Gaza to destroy the Hamas terrorist butchers.

 Uninformed students may hold demonstrations and sit-ins on U.S. and world college campuses in support of the Hamas butchers.  The “woke” Biden regime may withhold congress approved armaments from Israel.  The weak and complicit UN and ICC can try to make Israel and Netanyahu guilty for the war in Gaza and deaths of civilians shielding the Hamas terrorists.

 The fact remains that Hamas terrorist gangs brutally killed and  raped nearly 1200 Israeli, American and other nationalities, and took another 250 people+ captive.  It is beyond belief that Israel is being condemned for militarily eliminating the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

 According to a recent poll, only seven percent of Gazans blamed Hamas for their suffering. Seventy-one percent of all Palestinians supported Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on October 7.

 To be noted is that the IDF in Gaza does not torture, rape and kill civilians as tools of war.  They warn civilians away from war zones with enough time to avoid casualties.  Hamas, on the other hand, uses civilians and hospitals as human shields, so there is loss of civilian life.

  

Caution, - the following images are graphic.  Also, some may be doctored by AI or other means.  It is believed that most of the material in the links serves as enough of a reminder of what the Hamas Butchers perpetrated on October 7.

 Oct 7

 https://www.hamas-massacre.net/

 https://saturday-october-seven.com/#/civilsettlements

 https://www.csis.org/analysis/hamass-october-7-attack-visualizing-data

 https://oct7map.com/women

 https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51

 https://prospect.org/world/2024-03-20-what-really-happened-on-october-7/

 Ray Gruszecki

May 2, 2024

Student Antisemitic Protests

 Student Antisemitic Protests

 It is hardly likely that 18 and 19 year old students have the resources necessary to finance and organize the recent college protests across the country.  These kids are not able, on their own, to raise the finances, and to resuscitate the perennially dormant antisemitic ideologies that seem to dwell in western societies, and which have seemed to fuel the recent student protests.

 The above notwithstanding, a survey around “outside agitators” show this term to be deemed by the left to be derogatory and against the pursuit of freedom of speech.  We are guided by the left wing to accept the unlikely premise that these protests and all of their creature supports spring from the ground, are almost holy in nature, and are unaffected by the guidance of older activists.

 At risk of being called “conspiracy theorists”, we can unpack who really are the 30-40 year old paid and unpaid activists and agitators fueling these protests, and who is financing them.  Some of these activists are left-wing professors who have drunk the leftist ”socialist Koolaid”.  Others are disenfranchised, unemployed older “post grad” hangers-on for “social justice”.

 Virtually all protests are left-wing or socialist in nature, hide behind our First Amendment, and are destructive to our infrastructure.  They cite benevolent tropes such as “social justice” or “racial equality” as their driving forces, but there is always an undercurrent of anti-Americanism underpinning these movements.

 What distinguishes the current “pro Hamas”, “anti-Israel” protests is the emergence and activation of perennially dormant antisemitism.

  Again, in spite of the opprobrium of the left-wing, look to the usual suspects for financing and organization.  George and Alexander Soros and their “Open Society Foundation”, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, retired Wall Street banker Felice Gelman, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.  These are the groups with ”deep pockets” buying the Amazon tents, new Palestinian flags, pizzas being hoisted into buildings, and boutique snacks and drinks.

 So, once we acknowledge that the students themselves are primarily Alinsky’s “useful idiots” that are being guided by larger organized movements, we can take a look at the movements themselves. 

 All protests of the last 50 years, though coached as “social justice” protests, have some element of socialist inspired anti-Americanism.  What differs in these pro-Palestinian protests from the big civil rights protests of the 1960’s and the BLM, Floyd protests of 2020 is the emergence of once thought buried antisemitism.  Rather that some modicum of “social justice” as a foundation for past protests, these current protestors proudly chant “we are Hamas”, identifying with the terrorists that butchered 1200 innocent Israeli civilian men, women and children on October 7, 2023. 

 As justification for supporting the Hamas terrorists, protestors cite the Israeli reprisal in Gaza against Hamas, forgetting the fact that virtually all of the inhabitants of Gaza support Hamas. And have  been radicalized against Israel.  The analogy is backing the Japanese after Pearl Harbor after the U.S. chose to respond to their attack.

 These antisemitic protests were not occurring in some ignorant backwater parts of the country.  They are happening at Columbia, Harvard, MIT, USC, UCLA, GWU, CCNY, - prestigious bastions of US academia.  It is truly alarming that these exemplars of higher thinking and learning have been corrupted by the driving forces behind these antisemitic protests.

 Ray Gruszecki

May 11, 2024

Campus Antisemitism

 Campus Antisemitism

 The continuing reports and images of antisemitic, pro-Hamas demonstrations across the country’s most respected college campuses elicit memories of pogroms and “krystal-nacht” in Germany of the 1930’s.

 Saul Alinsky’s “useful idiots”, purple-haired 19-year-old Tiffany, and her bun-haired companion, Brandon, did not organize and finance these demonstrations.  Someone did, - as evidenced by the  multiple rows of new Amazon labelled tents and signs on the campus malls, and the pizzas, soft drinks and other goodies being hoisted into the occupied buildings.

 It develops, upon closer inspection, that a goodly proportion of the campus demonstrators do not belong to the college at all.  They are older outside agitators, paid or unpaid, who are there to abuse first amendment rights by moving the action toward increasingly violent confrontations with the authorities.

 Tracking who is organizing and financing these protests is somewhat amorphous.  Look to the “usual suspects”.  The Soros “Open Society Foundation”, now run by Alexander Soros; The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights; retired Wall Street banker Felice Gelman; The Rockefeller Brothers Fund; other left wing groups.  Also, look to social media as the lubricant for these movements.

 Some colleges, like the University of Texas at Austin, and thankfully, my alma mater, Northeastern University in Boston, recognized this tantrum-like behavior, sent in police immediately, and rectified the situation.  Other, more “woke” and “progressive” institutions like Columbia and NYU, allowed the situation to turn into a national spectacle.

 It is indeed alarming, that these wide-spread demonstrations are in favor of the Hamas terrorists.  Whether they know it or not, these “useful idiot” college protestors are supporting the vicious butchers that slaughtered, raped and beheaded 1200 innocent civilian men, women and children in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

 I have tried to track the genesis of the ideology fueling the antisemitic campus protests.  I believe that it has its roots in the communism/socialism that found a home in our universities after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s.  This has morphed into what some term as “American Marxism” and is the foundation for CRT and the current “wokeness” of our “progressive” society, a major feature of which is the concept of and “oppressor” and “oppressed”.  The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel follows from this.

 So, to support the emergent antisemitism, the Israeli reprisals for October 7 slaughter have made the Israelis the oppressors, and Hamas, the oppressed, in the Gaza war.  And the “useful idiot” young students on our college campuses, fueled by older non-college agitators and social media, support the terrorist butchers.

 Ray Gruszecki

May 1, 2024

Hamas and Antisemitism

 Hamas and Antisemitism

 Anti-establishment protests and demonstrations by (many times) uninformed students and young people are nothing new.  The right of assembly and protest are embedded in our constitution and founding documents as inalienable rights.

 Although not known by many, we still have an “American Communist Party”, as well as an “American Nazi Party” as entities in this country.

 When demonstrations turn violent and cause death and destruction, as did the Floyd/BLM riots of 2020, they should be stopped by lawful authority, like any other threat to a peaceful society. 

 When law and order suffers a collapse because of political factors as has happened in our country, it triggers anarchy and lawlessness in place of a lawful, ordered society.

 Antisemitic and pro Hamas terrorist demonstrations, no matter how distasteful and ill-conceived, are protected under our constitution.  What is not protected are terrorist activities disrupting our society and overt identification as members of Hamas as a terrorist entity whose goal is the active destruction of America.  In fact, one of the motivating slogans of Hamas is “Death to America”, which they shout on our campuses.

 Hamas is an acronym of the transliterated Arabic “Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah”, or “Islamic Resistance Movement”, in English. It is backed by various terrorist groups.  For example, George Soros is a backer and organizer:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/george-soros-caught-funding-groups-behind-pro-hamas-protests/ar-AA1ja8Y5

 Our first amendment allows “peaceful” demonstrations by Hamas and by antisemites.  It does not allow violence or forceful disruption of society.  While considered odious by most law-abiding Americans, these demonstrations are protected by our first amendment.  People behind the pro-Hamas, antisemitism, like Soros, know this and take advantage of our constitution to wreak havoc on our society.

 Ray Guszecki

April 21, 2024

Patriotism and Life

 Patriotism and Life

 I was born in the 1930’s, before the Second World War.  My patriotism and love of my country developed during that war and other events as I grew to adulthood.  I also grew politically aware during this time, and although my mother, who was born in Poland, was an inveterate Roosevelt democrat who had lived in Chicago as a young woman, and I understood that FDR was our “fearless leader” during the war years, I questioned his “new deal” and some of his domestic policies.  I sort of liked old Harry, but not particularly his politics.  By the time Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, I was pretty much libertarian and/or conservative republican in my views.

 With considerably expanded knowledge of politics and how the world works, I really have not changed my views substantially over the last 70-odd years.  Oh, I have tweaked different aspects of my political belief system at various times, such as on abortion and its nuances, and on other issues from time to time.  However, I still consider myself conservative with libertarian leanings.

 Having said all that, it appalls me to see where this country has gone in terms of its ethical and moral degradation.

 Now, I realize that I am considered a dinosaur.  My parents and adults around me had 6^th to 8^th grade educations and worked long hours in factories or agricultural or other menial jobs.  Cars they drove were what they euphemistically called “terreppas” (after the Polish).  Radio and silver screen movies were about the only   entertainment, and you cranked a big box on the wall to reach an operator for an outside telephone line.  Life was mostly simple and devout, and oriented around family, friends, work and church.

 At 12 years old, I was doing odd jobs around yards and farms to make a little money.  By 14, I had a part-time job driving a Farmall M tractor harrowing a potato field.  By 16, I had a full-time shift at a cotton mill, while attending the honors program at a high school scientific course, also full time.

 I worked and earned my way to a degree in Chemical Engineering, getting out of college with no student debt.  Hardly possible now, but it was possible back then, with scholarships, a lot of dedication, hard work and some negative impact on grade point average.  My engineering class was about half returning Korean War veterans, and half younger types.  Guess whom I identified and grew closer to and drank with?

 And by the way, all calculations then were done manually, with use of a slide rule.  I saw my first (mechanical) calculator in New York in 1960, and bought my first “red eyed monster” pocket calculator in the early 1970’s.

 During the Second World War, and Korea, and Vietnam to some extent. The military handed an eighteen year old a bolt action Springfield rifle (or later an M1), and some grenades, trained him for six or eight weeks, and sent him to the other side of the world to fight “the enemy”.  That’s so we didn’t have to fight “the enemy” here in our country.  Some survived. Some did not.  American KIA’s in WW2 were 405k; Korea, 35k; Vietnam, 58k; War on Terror, 7k.

 So, twenty year olds back then were veterans of foreign wars.  Now we have 30 year-old plus millennials still living at home and clamoring for “free stuff”. Like college tuition loan forgiveness in exchange for the democrat vote.

 In my own case, thankfully, I never had to fight in an active war.  I was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and served a short spell on active duty after Korea, and before Vietnam.  I did some reserve obligation in the New York City area before working actively overseas for an international company that supplied large quantities of petroleum products to the U.S. military.  I got my DD-214 and Honorable Discharge without firing a shot other than in training.

 I started living life early, and I write this not to beat my own drum, but to illustrate how times have changed.  Now, terms like “dinosaurs” and “toxic masculinity” are derogatory terms used to describe those out of touch with mainstream society, which is ostensibly kinder and gentler.  Need society be reminded that they would not be here without these predecessors? Or speaking German or Japanese or Chinese.

 Those “dinosaurs” formed this country, fought its wars, died for it.  They maintained and nourished it against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  Now, in Biden’s and Obama’s time, the country is disintegrating into an ideologically extreme left-wing society, that refutes all of the positive history that made it.

 I am in process of reading “The Coddling of the American Mind”, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, a liberal lawyer and social psychologist.  They explore our current society, and its escape to “safetyism”, cancel culture and identity politics. The book provides a pertinent contrast of our increasingly socialist life to bygone days under the influence of “toxic masculinity” and the “dinosaurs”.  This book points me back to original thinkers Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker.

 Ray Gruszecki

March 30, 2024

Who is running Joe Biden?

 Who is running Joe Biden?

 Because, left on his own, by his own admission, he would “get into trouble”.

 A little history: The gullible democrats elected kindly, grandfatherly, 50 years in DC, multi-experienced, Joe Biden as a counter to wild, flamboyant, loud-mouthed, Donald Trump.  What the country got instead was an aged, senile, foul-mouthed, puppet, co-opted by the most leftist socialist ideology in modern times.  Joe Biden could not be left on his own. He needed to be controlled like a puppet.

 But who were the puppet masters?

 Researching this question produces few direct, definitive answers, and a lot of speculation.

 At one time, experts postulated that Susan Rice was the power in the shadows.  She left the administration nearly a year ago.

 Ron Klain’s name keeps popping up, and he is still a prime candidate for one of the “powers behind the throne”. So does the “power couples’, Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer”.

 Barrack Obama has been seen in the white house, and some speculate that Obama is actually in his “third term”.

 Having said all that, the democrats seem intent on running 82 year-old Joe Biden for president again in 2024, apparently counting on enough Trump hatred, (or some other nefarious scheme), to propel them to a win.  Democrats are continuing their unconstitutional efforts to bribe young voters with tuition loan forgiveness, and pro-choice women with abortion issues, so we’ll see if their bribes can succeed to any great extent.

 If some modicum of common sense prevails among the democrats, or if poor old Joe dribbles too many times on his $200 tie, we may see ”cackling girl” Kamala, or “pretty boy” Newsome” running for president.  Or it could be America hating Michelle as Barrack’s “fourth term”.

 Ray Gruszecki

March 29, 2024

Biden Puppeteers and Hamas

 Biden Puppeteers and Hamas

 In three short years, (it seems like a lifetime), the Biden administration have pretty much ruined this country, in a systematic attack to change it into some sort of extreme left dystopia.  This Marxist-oriented cabal have afflicted nearly all aspects of American life.  Biden and his puppet-master minions have corrupted domestic policy, foreign policy, and the very moral and ethical fabric of our society.

 The latest transgression against right and reason is the U.S. call in the UN Security Council for a cease-fire by Israel and continuing rule in Gaza by the Hamas terrorists.  Forgotten are the 1200+ innocent Israel civilian men, women and children that were raped, tortured and brutally slaughtered on October 7^th.  What is remembered are the ultra-liberal rantings of some extreme left purple-haired news maven about the brutality of the IDF against Palestinian children in Gaza.  Also neglected is the fact that three quarters of Palestinian Gazans Support Hamas and their unprovoked, brutal attack in southern Israel on October 7th.

 No one condones killing civilians, and particularly children.  The IDF goes out of its way to avoid this, but Hamas knows this.  So, Hamas establishes command and control in hospitals, kindergartens, and the like.  The IDF is no stranger to such tactics, which break all conventions of war, so, they issue many warnings to civilians, and tread carefully before embarking on a military operation.  Some innocents are inadvertently killed.  Such are the vicissitudes of war.

 Benjamin Netanyahu is a strong leader who has vowed to eliminate the terrorist organization Hamas.  It is doubtful that he will be dissuaded from this goal by a mewling, weak-willed excuse of an American president.

 https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/03/bidens-shameful-betrayal-of-israel-at-the-united-nations/

 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14/

 Ray Gruszecki

March 26, 2024

Our Country is Hurting

 Our Country is Hurting

 Let me list some of the ills afflicting the U.S.

 Probably the most egregious issue, that affects everyone, is the continually increasing high cost of living. As most people know, what once cost $100, now costs close to $150. This pertains to groceries, gasoline. heating oil, utilities  and many other necessities of life.

 Another issue prominently on many people’s minds is crime that is running rampant in the country, and the disregard and disrespect of the law.  Cities, and increasingly, the countryside, are dangerous.

 A third issue is lack of an effective Southern border, and the millions of unvetted illegal aliens flooding into the country, along with deadly fentanyl and human sex slaves.

 Lack of an effective energy policy, and a headlong rush into unproven, expensive, and unwanted EV technology.

 Undue attention and elevation of race, LGBTQ+++++. trans gender, and other minority issues, to the exclusion of equal rights for all Americans.

 Lack of effective climate policy and reliance on pseudo-science.

 Pew Research enumerates and discusses the question better than me’

 https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/inflation-health-costs-partisan-cooperation-among-the-nations-top-problems/#:~:text=The%20public's%20list%20of%20the,drug%20addiction%20and%20gun%20violence.

 It would be easy, as some have, to blame all of these woes on Joe Biden and his sophomoric, Marxist-steeped minions.  But that’s not the whole story.

 The rot in our society spread when the old Soviet Union fell in 1989, and the ideology of communism and socialism spread and morphed into our universities, and thence into our society.  The ground was fertile for these socialist ideas, so they took root and grew into massive ideological constructions.

This process was not overt, like the bigoted Eugene McCarthy communist purges of the early 1950’s. It was gradual and steeped in the language and dicta of academia. We saw smatterings of this left-wing phenomenon in various past U.S. governments, but it did not come to full fruition until Joe Biden, the doddering, stumbling, yelling, “useful idiot” took office. Then it really flourished and resulted in all of the above.

Who can forget Biden's childish glee and vindictiveness as he signed away our energy, our security, our economy, our national identity and our morality with a plethora of nearly 100 executive orders his first days in office.

 Ray Gruszecki

March 23, 2024

Quantum Computing and AI

 Quantum Computing and AI

Our world is constantly changing.

Some of us remember a simpler time, without computers and networks, without the Internet, and without hundreds of TV channels.  Not so long ago.  Within my lifetime.

 We live in a connected world, fueled by all of the above, in which we have instant access to anywhere in the world, and to some of the extended universe.  Our access is limited by the physical structure of silicon and other materials.

 I was just brushing up on where the next, post normal computing and Internet will occur.  It will be Quantum Computing utilizing Artificial Intelligence.

 “Quantum computing and artificial intelligence are both transformational technologies and artificial intelligence needs quantum computing to achieve significant progress. Although artificial intelligence produces functional applications with classical computers, it is limited by the computational capabilities of classical computers. Quantum computing can provide a computation boost to artificial intelligence, enabling it to tackle more complex problems in many fields in business and science.”

 Here are several reference articles on Quantum Computing and AI.

 https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/9-top-AI-and-machine-learning-trends?utm_campaign=20231225_ERU-ACTIVE_WITHIN_90_DAYS&utm_medium=email&utm_source=SGERU&source_ad_id=252503200&src=15005581&asrc=EM_SGERU_284817559

 https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/The-future-of-AI-What-to-expect-in-the-next-5-years

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2023/03/21/if-you-think-ai-is-hot-wait-until-it-meets-quantum-computing/?sh=2cba6dad1ff6

 https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/technology/digital-world/quantum-computing-and-ai/

 Ray Gruszecki

December 26, 2023

Systemic Anti-Semitism

 Systemic Anti-Semitism

 Most of us know the sordid past of anti-Semitism.  The biblical Diaspora and millennia of being outcasts in numerous societies.  The ghettoes and pogroms of historical Russia and Central Europe.  The Dreyfus affair, years of prejudice, and ultimately, the Nazi Holocaust that killed six million Jews.

 And with what Palestinians call the Nakba”, or “Catastrophe”, the formation in 1948, of Israel, a constitutional democracy, in the lands that were once Ancient Israel and Judah.  Some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs, who occupied this land were displaced and left the area as refugees.  Upwards of 200,000 Palestinian Arabs remained in the new Israel, and eventually became Israeli citizens.

 So where did what seems to be a re-emergent anti-Semitism on our college campuses come from?  Why do modern left-wing activists consider the Israelis as “occupiers” and “oppressors”, and the Palestinian Hamas butchers as the “oppressed”?  Why are Palestinian flags being brandished by purple-haired co-eds to chants of “from the river to the sea”?  Why are calls for Jewish genocide not condemned recently by Ivy League college presidents and professors?

 One answer, that I’ve touched on before.  These college educators and indoctrinators are the ideological descendants of the Soviet communists and socialists that lost their battle against class in the early 1990’s, and who replaced class with a myriad of Marxist-based, “social justice” issues, including their interpretation of Israeli occupation and “oppression”.  The Gen-z bunch carrying the Palestinian flag and chanting anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas slogans has been steeped in the current Marxist ideology being taught in our schools.

 Ray Gruszecki

December 10, 2023

Dystopia

 Dystopia

 In the three years that Joe Biden has been in office, he, and his extreme left-wing minions have gone a long way toward ruining this country and its principles, morals and ethics.  Nearly everything that they have touched has turned to crap. They have made a mockery of our government and continue imposing some form of Marxism on the country.

 The reason for normal political parties is to define and implement differences of opinion on government.  Big versus small government, different levels of social programs, different views of environmental matters, and myriad other procedural differences in government philosophy normally define political parties.  In the past, most political parties have been patriotic, loved the country, and promulgated what they thought was best for all of the people of the country.

 It seems that Biden’s administrative state, his advisors, and the people that define Biden’s far left cabal, reflect the same Marxist ideology that festered in our colleges and universities since the demise of the old Soviet Union in the early 1990’s.  This takes several destructive forms.

 One is the Marxist based “oppressor verso oppressed” or the so-called social justice theme that fuels the street mobs like Black Lives Matter and Antifa that caused 20 deaths and billions of dollars in damages in 2021.  The most recent incarnation of these street mobs is the anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian demonstrations now taking place in our cities.  It is inconceivable that millennials and gen-z young people are demonstrating to support the Palestinians and the Hamas butchers, and not the Israelis who were raped and butchered on October 7th.

 Another manifestation of Biden style Marxism and appeasement is what has happened to our country in the last three years.  Whereas, we were historically politically, militarily, and economically strong before Biden, we are now pretty much a weak, vacillating laughingstock.

 There was continuing peace before Biden. Now there are now two wars raging and mainland China is greedily eying Taiwan.  Because of the hesitation and weakness that we have projected internationally, we are closer to World War III than we have ever been.  Our forces in the middle East are attacked by Iranian proxy rockets with impunity.  Aid to Ukraine faces continuing delays and Israel is admonished to enact “cease fires” which help Hamas to regroup.

 Biden and his amateur Marxist advisors have also pretty much done away with our southern border.  Literally millions of undocumented and unvetted aliens and billions of dollars of drugs have flooded into the country.  This includes Fentanyl, which is killing our young people.

 Our economy is in a shambles.  No need to elaborate.  Just buy groceries or gasoline, or any other commodity. What once cost $100, pre-Biden, now costs close to $150.

 Crime is rampant in our streets, particularly in democrat run cities.  Extremist, Soros backed DA’s and prosecutors like George Gascon in Los Angeles, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia and Kim Foxx in Chicago don’t prosecute criminals and have established a “revolving door” for most crimes.  The public either arms themselves or shivers in fear.

 “Queer is better” seems to be the preferential theme for choosing administration officials and other functionaries.  And, we no longer have just male and female.  We have an increasing panoply of ill-defined genders, each seeking some degree of hegemony over the others.  We increasingly teach gender diversity and fragmentation in our schools.

 The Biden administration has used two unconstitutional tools to retain young voters and women in recent elections.  The first is their rhetoric supporting abortion as if it were a constitutional right rather than a legalistic aberration.  The second is Biden’s unconstitutional promise to young gen-z graduates to eliminate their student loans.  Both of these lies have allowed Biden and his extreme leftist cabal to retain control of the senate, and only yield a few votes majority in the house, in spite of all of the negative issues caused by Biden’s inept administration.

 One can hardly define the ethical and moral degradation that this corrupt and incompetent Biden administration has caused.  Biden has enriched himself and his family through corruption and kickbacks.  Yet, he struts around (when not falling), like the corrupt Tammany-style politician that he really is.

 One can argue that Biden should not be there, and he would not be if not for Covid.  It would indeed have been a different world with no China-developed Covid, and Trump’s world peace and his economic principles still in effect.  (And his tweets, too.)

 Can we stop the rot and weakness and degradation that four years of a destructive Biden regime would have enhanced?  Not easy, because our very moral and ethical fiber has been damaged.  Our young people have absorbed the Marxist ideology of oppressed versus oppressor, and violently demonstrate in the streets in favor of the Hamas butchers and rapists because of some twisted view of the Palestinians as the “oppressed”.  How can we reverse this twisted Marxist ideology being taught in our colleges and universities?

 Look at the election choices we have for 2024.  We have Trump again.  Leading all other republicans by over 40 points and leading Biden by 6 points. But Trump has 4 indictments and 91 charges against him.  Biden is 81 years old.  Stumbling, mumbling, incoherent.  Inconceivable that he would run again.  Kamala, and her confused word salads?  And there’s a pretty boy socialist Gavin, ready to turn the country into a San Francisco or California style dystopia.

 Ray Gruszecki

December 5, 2023

Israeli – Hamas War

 Israeli – Hamas War

 Forgotten, it seems, except by Israel, are the atrocities committed by Hamas during their attack on Southern Israel on Saturday, October 7^th, the Jewish sabbath.  Instead now, we have the Hamas cowards using hospitals or civilians as shields, and hiding in tunnels under hospitals in Gaza, or in little girl’s bedrooms.

 Lest the world forget, Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel, and butchered upwards of 1400 unarmed civilian men, women, children and infants.  The pictures of burned and mutilated Israeli babies in their cribs make one’s stomach turn.

 But, in this upside-down, Marxist inspired world of oppressed and oppressor and residual anti-Semitism, the Israelis in Gaza reacting to the Hamas atrocities are the bad guys (the oppressors), and the Hamas butchers somehow became the good guys (the oppressed).

 Benjamin Netanyahu is no Moses or David, but he is a strong leader.

Educated in both Israel and the U.S. (MBA from MIT), Netanyahu has been a major figure in Israeli politics for nearly half a century.

He has coalesced Israel on a war footing, and is determined to eliminate Hamas as a military and political force in Gaza.

Any rational-thinking honest person will wish him and the Israelis “Godspeed”, and success against the Hamas butchers in Gaza.

 Ray Gruszecki

November 13, 2023

Protests and Anti-Semitism

 Protests and Anti-Semitism

 I am reasonably intelligent and politically astute and therefore normally aware of what is happening in the world, and why.

 I was a little taken aback to see massive anti-Semitic demonstrations and protests at universities and on city streets which were pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian, and anti-Israel.  After the October 7 torture and butchery by Hamas of innocent Israeli men, women, children and infants; and the resultant Israeli reprisals against Hamas in Gaza, one would think that the world’s sympathies would be with Israel, rather than with their Hamas attackers.

 So, I set out to research and analyze what was happening.

 One thing that was immediately clear was the left-wing, activist nature of our colleges and universities, and even some of our secondary schools.  Tracking the history, this leftist cult of “oppressed and oppressor” derives from the Soviet communism that effectively died out in its original form, in much of the western world in the early 1990’s.  But Marxism did not disappear.  It morphed, gained philosophical respectability, and found a home in academia throughout many universities in the world.

 Much of the world’s activism emanates from this “oppressed vs oppressor” theme.  Feminism, race, gender, LGBTQ++, and a plethora of social issues relate to this “oppressed” mantra, including Israel as oppressor in Gaza, and Hamas as the oppressed.

 The other piece fueling these anti-Semitic protests, and any populist protest, is social media and the “follow the crowd” mentality of young people.  The “anti-something” or “pro-something” idea appears on Tik-Tok or Instagram or other social media (or is planted by Soros types), and we are “off to the races”.  The word spreads like wild fire, flash mobs are formed, and young people from New York to London to Tokyo are demonstrating at colleges, or in the streets.  

 So, it’s as simple as that.  Pretty much any idea can be transformed into massive populist protests using social media and taking advantage of “follow the herd” mentality.

 In this case, it is good to know about historical anti-Semitism, and about how Sykes-Picot defined the Middle East, and how Theodor Herzl founded and advanced Zionism, but this knowledge does not really explain why millions of young people throughout the world are demonstrating for Hamas, and against Israel.

 If I were a psychologist, I would probably diagnose a general societal malaise and proneness to gullibility.  Many people, including voters that define our country are ill-informed and easily led, even more so now with social media.  And, the “opinionators” know it and take advantage.

 In addition to the Israel-Hamas distortion being perpetrated on society, we have the myths that abortion and free college tuition are rights that somehow derive from the constitution.  Elections have, and will continue to reflect these lies and distortions.

 Ray Gruszecki

November 12, 2023

 

 

 

Antisemitism

 Antisemitism

 Why are there antisemitic demonstrations, not only at our brainless colleges, but also in streets across the world?  Were there not enough Jews killed by Hitler and the Nazis?  Rather than supporting the 1400 Israeli civilian men, women and children  tortured and butchered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, these deranged idiots are rallying in support of the terrorist butchers.

 I have lived and worked in Southern Lebanon in the mid 1960’s, in what eventually became “Hezbollah country”, after anyone in the Middle East who had a fight came to beautiful Lebanon and destroyed it.

 I worked with Lebanese Christians, Lebanese Moslems and Palestinians who were displaced when Israel was formed in 1948. 

I picked up some conversational Levantine Arabic from my time in Lebanon, which was interrupted by the 1967, Six Day War.

 Coincidently, my brother-in-law’s Ernie’s father, Karem, was born in Lebanon and came to America as a child.  Karem was like an uncle with whom I could practice my few words of Arabic, and Ernie was like a brother.

 So, my background with the Middle East is probably more complete than most Americans.  I have seen the poverty at the camps South of Beirut resulting from the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes.  I have also seen the anger, even back then, at Israelis and the westerners supporting them.

 I have also seen the results of antisemitism in the death camps of Dachau in South Germany, and Auschwitz in Southeastern Poland.  These reminders of how a modern Christian country can turn to unspeakable barbarity should never be forgotten.

 And yet, we have antisemitic demonstrations, renewing this ancient prejudice, across the world, and ostensibly across our institutions of higher learning.  It makes one wonder will humanity ever learn?

 Ray Gruszecki

November 4, 2023

Anti-Semitism and the Left Wing

 Anti-Semitism and the Left Wing

 Left-wing students and young people have been holding anti-Semitic demonstrations all over the world, and particularly at colleges and on the streets of U.S. cities.  (And in our congressional hearings).  These demonstrations are not only ant-Semitic, they are anti-Israel and pro the Hamas terrorists that butchered 1400+ innocent Israeli civilian men, women and children on October 7.

 In modern times, how did anti-Semitism migrate from tiki and AR carrying right wing extremists, ala Charlottesville, to mousy, purple-haired college student liberal coeds?  I embarked on some research to find out.

 There has been an undercurrent of anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews in the world since the biblical diaspora.  It has been prevalent throughout history.  This timeline refers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_antisemitism

 The referenced excellent article on the topic is from “The Conversation”, which I vetted to be an honest, balanced source.  It confirms that left-wing activists all over the world have become decidedly anti- Israeli and pro Hamas.  The article explains how this happened, but is a little light on elucidating why it happened.

 Quoting a few paragraphs:

 “Traditionally, antisemitism in the United States was promoted by far-right organizations and movements, such as the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups and skinheads. Such groups focused on propagating traditional antisemitic narratives alleging Jews’ racial inferiority, their control of the financial sector and their role in global cabals aiming to undermine America and Western civilization.

 More recently, progressive and left-leaning movements that are critical of Israel’s policies – especially with regard to the Palestinian population in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 – have become linked to antisemitic practices, too.

 In the U.S., our data shows that 95% of antisemitic incidents motivated by Israel’s policies were perpetrated by far-left or unidentified activists. Just 5% were perpetrated by known far-right activists.

 Thus, it is not surprising that following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, Jewish organizations on American campuses became the main targets of violent activism by Palestinian rights supporters.

 We find that antisemitic hate crimes are occurring especially in politically progressive areas of the country. The New York metropolitan area and the Northeast in general, and urban centers in Florida, California, the Northwest and the Midwest are experiencing the majority of antisemitic incidents.”

 https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-has-moved-from-the-right-to-the-left-in-the-us-and-falls-back-on-long-standing-stereotypes-215760

 Ray Gruszecki

October 31, 2023

Rules of War

 Rules of War

 Not even addressing the alarming antisemitic, pro-Hamas,  demonstrations that have popped up all over the world, the Biden government’s sophomoric “useful idiots” keep prattling on about “the rules of war” and “humanitarian aid”, as if the Israelis were cut from the same cloth as the barbarous Hamas butchers that slaughtered 1400 innocent men, women and children three weeks ago.   The Israeli military is moving to eliminate Hamas in Gaza.  It is a military operation, and not a sadistic, hate-filled, tortuous attack on civilians. 

 Being a “civilized” military, the Israelis seek to spare civilians and have warned them “to get out of Dodge”.  Hamas, on the other hand, hides behind innocent civilians such as emotion-provoking little girls, or hides under hospitals or other civilian targets.

 In these times of misinformation, AI generated propaganda and

Just plain lies, it’s hard to distinguish what’s really happening.

 Generally speaking, I would doubt almost anything coming from

Hamas.   The New York Times and other prestigious news sources

believed Hamas that Israeli bombed that hospital in Gaza and killed

500 innocent people, whereas, actually, a Hamas rocket backfired into the hospital parking lot.

 Netanyahu’s office has released some eye-witness accounts of the medieval horrors perpetrated by Hamas, including burnt and slaughtered infants in their cribs, brutal assassinations and torture of civilians and more.  Our Trey Yingst, a seasoned war reporter gave an emotion-filled walk-through report of the carnage in Southern Israel.  He said that he had never seen evidence of such brutality.

 And, other stories of the brutality and butchery of Hamas on October 7th keep emerging, such as the kidnapping, torture and beheading of Shani Louk, a young German-Israeli concert-goer.

 Reports are that these barbarians laughed and had a great time slaughtering women and children.  They even phoned and texted back to Gaza, proud of their accomplishments.

 https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/news/shani-louk-kidnapped-at-israeli-music-festival-found-dead/?lctg=60ec57ef9bcb294ed4547c78

 Ray Gruszecki

October 30, 2023

Can We Save Our Country?

 Can We Save Our Country?

 There are hopes that this completely inept, “woke”, politically correct administration of a weak, senile old buffoon of a party hack will soon be voted out of office and relegated to the dustbin of history.

 Then, one looks at the 2022 mid-terms, where something like “Cultural Marxism” based educational propaganda, rectification of the unconstitutional abortion law and equally unconstitutional bribes regarding student loans resulted in a democrat senate, and a barely republican house that can’t seem to choose and keep an effective speaker.

 And, even more disturbing are the recent demonstrations in our colleges and cities that are not in support of the innocent Israeli men, women and children butchered by Hamas terrorists 3 weeks ago.  The demonstrations are in support of the Hamas butchers as part of some twisted Marxist Critical Theory of oppressed and oppressor.

 Is there any hope for our country in the near term?  These people elect our president and congress, and they have not done very well recently.  Have they become so indoctrinated to Marxist socialism that they will completely destroy our country?

 We need a strong and charismatic president and equally charismatic legislators to change the direction of the country.  The one politician in the lead for the 2024 election is Donald Trump.  Will he lead from a jail cell?  Because that’s where his democrat enemies have contrived to put him, lead or no political lead.

 There is no sense in saying, “well, if Trump were president, Putin would have never invaded Ukraine, or the ayatollahs would never have given the OK for Hamas to invade and butcher civilians in Southern Israel.”  The first is probably true.  Not so sure about the more rabid Hamas.

 A any rate, we are headed for World War III because we elected an incompetent, arrogant, senile old political hack, and his sophomoric “woke” extremist handlers and minions, espousing and bumbling through their 1960’s and 1970’s socialist justice philosophies, rather than being animated by pragmatic domestic and foreign policies. 

 That’s right, World War III.  An increasingly modern and militaristic China is poised to take Taiwan by force.  Will a weak, mewling politically correct Biden administration and military do anything about it?  And if not, what is next? Philippines? And on and on in the Pacific, while Putin reconstitutes the old Soviet Union, and the ayatollah try to impose Shia Islam on the Middle East.. 

 Who’s to stop them?  Biden will barely mumble through tough-sounding speeches, with no teeth, written by his sophomoric social justice warriors, which will bounce off of the real adults in the world.

 Trump, with congressional majorities, could fix the country and stand up to its foreign adversaries, particularly if he could keep his mouth shut and his thumbs off the tweeter and Truth Social.  He had a great economy going during his first term, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the economy went in the toilet.  He got vaccines developed in nine months, for which few of his enemies gave him credit.  Also, the world was relatively peaceful during his four years in office, we had a real southern border, and crime in the cities was under control.

 Then, his collective enemies, political, media, legal, socio-economic ganged up and fixed the election against him by hiding and manipulating the real news that would have moved the election in his favor.  His reaction, protesting the results of the election were twisted into charges of insurrection, he was once again impeached by Nancy Pelosi and her minions. He has been mercilessly persecuted by his collective enemies ever since.  Although Trump is leading in the race for president in 2024, there are efforts by his collective enemies to prevent him from running.

 Lacking Trump, we need another Reagan, Lincoln, or one of the Roosevelts as executive, and real majorities in the house and senate.

 But dream on.  Even with a real leader as president, our country and its congress is so hate-filled and divided that it is doubtful that they will ever get anything positive done.

 Something has to be done to get our country out of this morass.  God-fearing people say that “God will provide”, and “in God’s time”.  Let’s pray that’s the case.

 Ray Gruszecki

October 29, 2023