At Celeb Jihad, "SYDNEY SWEENEY SELFIE PHOTOS."
Monday, December 14, 2020
Chinese Communist Party Pushing Narrative of the Superiority of its Authoritarian Political Model
I hear Buddy Holly singing up there near the Pearly Gates, "That'll Be the Day..."
At NYT, "China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way":
In one Beijing artist’s recent depiction of the world in 2098, China is a high-tech superpower and the United States is humbled. Americans have embraced communism and Manhattan, draped with the hammer-and-sickle flags of the “People’s Union of America,” has become a quaint tourist precinct. This triumphant vision has resonated among Chinese. The sci-fi digital illustrations by the artist, Fan Wennan, caught fire on Chinese social media in recent months, reflecting a resurgent nationalism. China’s authoritarian system, proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior. It is a long-running theme, but China’s success against the pandemic has given it a sharp boost. “America isn’t that heavenly kingdom depicted since decades ago,” said Mr. Fan, who is in his early twenties. “There’s nothing special about it. If you have to say there’s anything special about it now, it’s how messed up it can be at times.” China’s Communist Party, under its leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted the idea that the country is on a trajectory to power past Western rivals. China stamped out the coronavirus, the messaging goes, with a resolve beyond the reach of flailing Western democracies. Beijing has rolled out homegrown vaccines to more than a million people, despite the safety concerns of scientists. China’s economy has revived, defying fears of a deep slump from the pandemic. “In this fight against the pandemic, there will be victorious powers and defeated ones,” Wang Xiangsui, a retired Chinese senior colonel who teaches at a university in Beijing, averred this month. “We’re a victor power, while the United States is still mired and, I think, may well become a defeated power.” The firm leadership of Mr. Xi and the party has earned China its recent success, say newspapers, television programs and social media...
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Today's Deals
At Amazon, Today's Gold Box Deals.
More, Amazon Best Sellers.
Still more, American Furniture Classics 840 4 Gun Wall Rack, Medium Brown.
Here, Fixed Blade Knife with Wood Handle for Hunting and Fishing - Good for Camping and Travels - Dependable Knife for Survival.
And, Cold Steel Bushman Series Fixed Blade Survival Knife with Hollow Handle, Fire Starter and Sheath - Great as a Camping Knife and Throwing Knife.
Plus, Jinager Survival Gear Kits Outdoor Survival Gear Tool for Trip,with Fire Starter, Whistle, Wood Cutter, Tactical Pen for Camping, Hiking, Climbing for Wilderness/Trip/Cars/Hiking/Camping.
More, Amazon Best Sellers.
Still more, American Furniture Classics 840 4 Gun Wall Rack, Medium Brown.
Here, Fixed Blade Knife with Wood Handle for Hunting and Fishing - Good for Camping and Travels - Dependable Knife for Survival.
And, Cold Steel Bushman Series Fixed Blade Survival Knife with Hollow Handle, Fire Starter and Sheath - Great as a Camping Knife and Throwing Knife.
Plus, Jinager Survival Gear Kits Outdoor Survival Gear Tool for Trip,with Fire Starter, Whistle, Wood Cutter, Tactical Pen for Camping, Hiking, Climbing for Wilderness/Trip/Cars/Hiking/Camping.
BONUS: Tim Wu, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age.
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Shop Amazon Outlet
Here, "Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals."
Also, High Peak Outdoors Moose Country Gear-20 Degree Regular Sleeping Bag, Orange/Grey.
And, "Carhartt Men's Arctic Quilt Lined Yukon Active Jacket.
BONUS: Ilya Shapiro, Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court.
Joe Biden's Wife, Soon to Be First Lady, Should Drop the 'Dr. Jill Biden' Ruse
Heh.
This is hilarious, at WSJ, "Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.":
Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” before your name? “Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title “Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.” A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc. I taught at Northwestern University for 30 years without a doctorate or any advanced degree. I have only a B.A. in absentia from the University of Chicago—in absentia because I took my final examination on a pool table at Headquarters Company, Fort Hood, Texas, while serving in the peacetime Army in the late 1950s. I do have an honorary doctorate, though I have to report that the president of the school that awarded it was fired the year after I received it, not, I hope, for allowing my honorary doctorate. During my years as a university teacher I was sometimes addressed, usually on the phone, as “Dr. Epstein.” On such occasions it was all I could do not to reply, “Read two chapters of Henry James and get into bed. I’ll be right over.” I was also often addressed as Dr. during the years I was editor of the American Scholar, the quarterly magazine of Phi Beta Kappa. Let me quickly insert that I am also not a member of Phi Beta Kappa, except by marriage. Many of those who so addressed me, I noted, were scientists. I also received a fair amount of correspondence from people who appended the initials Ph.D. to their names atop their letterheads, and have twice seen PHD on vanity license plates, which struck me as pathetic. In contemporary universities, in the social sciences and humanities, calling oneself Dr. is thought bush league. The Ph.D. may once have held prestige, but that has been diminished by the erosion of seriousness and the relaxation of standards in university education generally, at any rate outside the sciences. Getting a doctorate was then an arduous proceeding: One had to pass examinations in two foreign languages, one of them Greek or Latin, defend one’s thesis, and take an oral examination on general knowledge in one’s field. At Columbia University of an earlier day, a secretary sat outside the room where these examinations were administered, a pitcher of water and a glass on her desk. The water and glass were there for the candidates who fainted. A far cry, this, from the few doctoral examinations I sat in on during my teaching days, where candidates and teachers addressed one another by first names and the general atmosphere more resembled a kaffeeklatsch. Dr. Jill, I note you acquired your Ed.D. as recently as 15 years ago at age 55, or long after the terror had departed...
Too good, lol.
And the fallout (the inevitable leftist hissy-fit), at the Wrap, "Wall Street Journal Slammed as Sexist for Op-Ed Calling Jill Biden ‘Kiddo’ and Urging Her to Drop Doctor Title."
Jay Richards, William Briggs, and Douglas Axe, The Price of Panic
At Amazon, Jay Richards, William Briggs, and Douglas Axe, The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic into a Catastrophe.
Miley Cyrus for Rolling Stone
Here, "Miley's Rock & Roll Heart."
And at Taxi Driver, "Miley Cyrus Flashing the Camera for Rolling Stone Magazine."
Friday, December 11, 2020
The 60-Year Curriculum
This is phenomenal.
Here's the book, The 60-Year Curriculum.And at NYT (FWIW), "60 Years of Higher Ed — Really? The idea that college education is over after four years, or even eight or 12 is so — yesterday."More, "Learning for a Lifetime.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
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