Among the chorus of unhinged outrage, name calling and mental breakdowns post President Trump’s massive landslide victory on Tuesday, Walmart fashion model and Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman added his own ‘special’ brew of insanity to the mix on Thursday when he called his constituents ‘dipshits’. 

Tweeting about the ongoing Senate race in Pennsylvania, where Republican Dave McCormick has already declared victory (and has been called the winner by AP) while three term incumbent Democrat Bob Casey has yet to concede and is pushing for a recount, Fetterman tweeted that “Pennsylvania is going to count every last vote.”

“That’s not controversial—that’s the law,” he wrote, before finishing his deep thought with “Also, Green dipshits’ votes helping elect the GOP.”

The comment comes hours after the Democrats lost in a landslide, with some Democratic strategists coming to terms with the fact that the party has lost the country because it constantly insults and lectures them.

“I’m going to speak some hard truths to my friends in the Democratic Party. This is not Joe Biden’s fault. It’s not Kamala Harris’ fault. It’s not Barack Obama’s fault — it is the fault of the Democratic Party in not knowing how to communicate effectively to voters,” Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky said on CNN on Wednesday.

Apparently, Fetterman did not get that memo. 

For those looking to keep track of what other consequential impacts Fetterman has had on his party, he also appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast and was completely unable to muster up any type of coherent excuse for Democrats’ horrific job on the border over the last 4 years.

Keep up the great work, John.

Calling Green voters “dipshits” is not a great way to win them over

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2024

Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke and Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The second administration of President-elect Donald Trump is anticipated to bring great change to America’s foreign policy establishment.

From wars in Europe and the Middle East to an increasingly adversarial relationship with China in the Indo-Pacific, Trump has vowed to make sweeping changes to the way the United States approaches international statecraft.

That has some in the foreign policy establishment in Washington on edge. Still, others are confident that there will be a winding down of armed conflicts worldwide as the nation’s highest office embraces a more assertive and, at times, confrontational tone with allies and adversaries alike.

Staring China Down in the Indo-Pacific

Among the most pressing threats to be tackled by the second Trump administration is an increasingly adversarial China, whose ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has repeatedly sought to undermine U.S. interests throughout the world in recent years.

Key to doing that will be to shore up alliances in the region, including with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, as well as reaffirming Washington’s commitment to defend Taiwan from CCP aggression.

John Mills, who previously served as the director for cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said that the nation’s regional partners would welcome the clarity that a second Trump administration would bring to Washington’s foreign policy.

“These countries love the authenticity and clarity of Trump,” Mills told The Epoch Times.

Likewise, Mills said he believes that same clarity would help thwart an overt military conflict between China and the United States from erupting.

“The likelihood of conflict in the western Pacific decreases significantly under Trump,” Mills said. “Why? Because he’s showing clarity and resolve at all times. Clarity and resolve help prevent war. Lack of clarity and resolve creates war.

“Trump 2.0 in the western Pacific will significantly decrease the likelihood of open conflict between the CCP and the Western world.”

To that end, Mills said that the CCP is less likely to engage in overtly hostile acts against the United States under the incoming administration than the Biden administration because Chinese authorities “know they will be held accountable.”

Casey Fleming, CEO of the global risk and intelligence advisory firm BlackOps Partners, said he expects the CCP to curb its more overt malign activity under a second Trump administration.

“A Trump administration will put the CCP on notice and will challenge their unbridled aggression in the Indo-Pacific and throughout the world,” Fleming told The Epoch Times.

Confronting a War in Europe

During his first administration, Trump gained a prickly reputation for toughness with U.S. allies in Europe. He repeatedly threatened to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the world’s largest military alliance, due to a disparity in how much the United States contributed compared to other allies.

Many of the nation’s NATO partners have significantly upped their defense spending since then, both in reaction to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and out of a concern that a Trump administration would not come to their aid if they were perceived as piggybacking on U.S. defense spending.

Trump has also made ending the war in Ukraine swiftly a key campaign pledge, positioning himself in stark contrast to the outgoing Biden administration, which pledged security assistance to embattled Kyiv for as long as it would take to secure Ukrainian victory, though never defined what that victory would look like.

While Trump has said he’d focus on bringing both sides to the negotiating table, Paul Davis, foreign policy analyst and adjunct professor at the Institute for World Politics, doesn’t expect a dramatic drop-off in U.S. support for Ukraine anytime soon.

“I don’t think Trump is going to change a lot,” Davis said. “He did have a meeting with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] back in September, and I think he understands the need to maintain support.”

Likewise, Mills added that a second Trump administration would unlikely pull back its support for partners and allies in Europe so long as those nations carry their own weight in defense spending.

“All that is being asked is at least 2 percent of GDP spent on defense and, in reality, 4 to 5 percent is the new 2 percent,” Mills said.

“That’s all. That is the primary metric Trump looks at [with] partners, and I think that’s extremely reasonable.”

Defending Israel in the Middle East

The second Trump administration will also inherit a precarious situation in the Middle East as Israel expands its war against Iranian proxy groups in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and Yemen.

Trump has repeatedly given vociferous support for Israel and is likely to go to great lengths to ensure the nation has the full support of the United States, following a falling out between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.

Davis said that he expects Trump “will definitely make sure that the world knows that Israel is secured by the U.S. military.”

To that end, it appears Israeli leadership expects the same. Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to call President-elect Trump in the early hours of the morning after the election was called. Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the election and discussed the Iranian threat, according to an Israeli readout of the call.

In 2024, buying a home in the U.S. looks vastly different depending on where you are.

Factors like local demand, land availability, economic conditions, and housing regulations all contribute to the median home prices in each state.

This map, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, visualizes the median home sale price for a single-family home in each U.S. state in 2024.

The data is updated as of September 2024 and comes from ATTOM.

Which States Have the Highest Home Sales Prices?

As of August 2024, the median home sales price for a single-family home in the United States is about $385,000.

Hawaii has the highest median house price in the U.S. at around $852,000, over double the national average, primarily due to its limited land availability, strict housing regulations, and high demand for housing in a desirable climate.

A University of Hawaii report found that regulatory costs, including lengthy permitting processes and strict zoning laws, account for more than half (58%) of the median price of a new condominium in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s finite land area and high demand driven by tourism and military presence further inflate property values.

California comes in at second, with a median home price of $776,000. The coastal state is home to some of the most unaffordable metropolitan areas in the U.S., including Los Angeles and San Jose, where the home price-to-income ratio is over 10.

Predominantly rural states like West Virginia ($167K), Mississippi ($184K), and Arkansas ($191K) have significantly lower median home prices than urbanized states like California ($776K) or New York ($476K).

To learn more about the U.S. real estate market, check out this graphic that visualizes which states have the most cities where homes average $1 million or more.

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Daniel Lurie, a philanthropist and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, appears poised to oust San Francisco Mayor London Breed in her bid for reelection, as the city continued to post election results on Nov. 6.

Lurie led Breed by 12 points Wednesday morning, earning 56 percent of the vote, compared to the incumbent’s 44 percent.

Breed has not yet conceded, but told supporters Tuesday she would wait until all votes were counted.

“It ain’t over till it’s over,” she told supporters at an election night party Tuesday, according to wire reports.

She noted she was also behind in her first race for mayor in 2019, but won the office. Breed is the first black woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco.

The county has not yet certified the results and planned to issue preliminary numbers around 4 p.m. Thursday, according to the Department of Elections.

The county is still processing about 157,000 ballots, most of which are vote-by-mail ballots received Monday and Tuesday by mail and at polling places, the elections department reported in a press release provided to The Epoch Times Wednesday.

The county also has to process 20,000 provisional ballots cast at polling locations by voters whose names are not on the voter registration list.

The county may take up to 30 days after Elections Day to certify the final election results, according to the department.

The mayor’s challenger signaled that he is ready to get to work, according to a letter to his supporters posted on social media and his website.

Lurie thanked his supporters in the letter Tuesday night, saying the city was ready for change.

“Over the past 13 months, I’ve had the great experience of meeting with San Franciscans in every corner of our city,” Lurie wrote. “I heard your frustrations but also your hope and desire to write our next chapter.”

He added it was time for leadership rooted in “true public service, one that puts the people of San Francisco above all else.”

The candidate spent more than $9 million of his own money in the race to replace Breed. He raised more than $16 million, according to financial reports.

Lurie is the son of Rabbi Brian Lurie and Miriam “Mimi” Lurie Haas. His parents divorced when he was a child and Lurie’s mother subsequently married Peter Haas, a great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss.

Haas is a billionaire and one of the largest shareholders of Levi Strauss & Co.

Strauss, an immigrant from Bavaria, opened a dry goods company in San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush in 1853, according to the company. Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis created blue jeans in 1873 to meet the needs of miners, cowboys, and workers at the time.

Lurie is the founder and CEO of Tipping Point Community, a San Francisco nonprofit launched in 2005 that raises money and helps educate, employ, house, and support impoverished people in the Bay Area, according to his biography.

Breed is a native San Franciscan who was raised by her grandmother in the city’s public housing. She has spent much of her efforts during the last year responding to retail, tech, hotel, and corporate departures from the city.

She supported two successful public safety ballot measures passed in March—propositions E and F—to expand police powers and compel some drug users to enter treatment.

Multiple companies have shuttered businesses in the once-thriving City by the Bay in recent years, with some citing the increase in retail theft, homelessness, and open-air drug use.

Most recently, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot during an attempted robbery in the city’s downtown Union Square in August. Pearsall survived the shooting.

Breed did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday and her campaign has not released a public statement after results started rolling in.

We’ve known the ESG grift has been coming to a screeching halt for years now, with major investment banks and companies dropping their initiatives while the GOP goes on a rampage to try root out the faux-virtue signaling. 

But now with President Trump once again taking the White House, one investment bank is advising ESG fund managers to “keep their lawyers very close”, as the full scale death of ESG may very well be on the door step, according to Yahoo Finance.

Aniket Shah wrote in a note this week: “We’d encourage all ESG fund managers to have a lawyer on the team, or on speed-dial.”

He continued: “Antitrust risk remains high for asset managers in ESG; there haven’t been any cases yet, thus there is no legal precedent. Further, legal risks regarding fiduciary duty will stay relevant as states enforce anti-ESG laws.”

Yahoo reports that Trump’s victory has already hit green sector stocks, with wind-energy companies among the hardest hit. Beyond potential bans and obstructive policies, the ESG sector faces rising legal risks.

Key GOP figures argue ESG-focused firms neglect fiduciary duties, while Republican attorneys general accuse financial firms using ESG metrics of collusion against fossil fuels and fueling inflation.

In response, “greenhushing”—keeping ESG efforts quiet—is likely, Jefferies analysts note. Corporate CEOs are also expected to seek legal guidance to adapt to this shifting landscape.

Jeffries said: “General counsels are in the ear of CEOs, frightened about legal retaliation to ESG initiatives. The backlash could lead to more focused and pragmatic companies, engaging in strategic discussions closely tied to their business model.”

Analysts argue that a public backlash, similar to 2016, could pressure companies to address issues like abortion and diversity. Conflicting state policies on ESG could create a “nightmare” of fragmented requirements, they warn.

Shareholders may still push for ESG risk disclosures aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board, even as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce maintains it isn’t against ESG or climate disclosures. Notably, these observations focus on the ESG label itself, not the broader clean energy transition.

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

If you thought Kamala Harris was a sure win in 2024, then you haven’t been paying attention to the epic shift in the cultural zeitgeist over the past few years. The thing that bothers me most about political and social analysis is dealing with people who foolishly assume nothing ever changes. Things change all the time. People can and do learn from the past. Nothing is hopeless, and nihilists are lazy and incompetent.

For example, since 2020 within liberty movement circles there has been a contingent of naysayers claiming that red states were being subversively “turned blue” by leftists relocating during the pandemic. My argument was that this was an idiotic take.

Yes, there were mass relocations across the US but all the data showed the vast majority of these people were conservatives seeking to escape blue state tyranny. I can’t tell you how many “experts” tried to argue with me that Texas, Florida, Idaho, and even my state of Montana were all going to be overrun by progressives. In the aftermath of the election I was once again proven right and they were utterly wrong.

Florida was an absolute landslide for conservatives. It wasn’t even close and I doubt that state will ever come close to being blue again. The same happened with Texas, Idaho, Montana, etc. There was no blue wave. It didn’t exist. It was actually a red wave.

As I noted in my recent article ‘Losing Power? The Elites And The Leftist Mob Would Rather Burn It All To the Ground’, a Trump victory was inevitable along with a conservative mandate. The sea change in American society was evident. That’s why leftists and globalists will continue to use mob actions, economic disaster and geopolitical crisis to burn America to the ground. They know their time is quickly running out and if they can’t control the country, they’ll try to torch it.

Regardless of what you might think of the candidates or the election in general, the fact of the matter is this election was a RESOUNDING rejection by Americans of the woke ideology and the political left. Trump won in a landslide, not just in the electoral college but also the popular vote, and Trump ran on an anti-woke and anti-globalist platform. The public has spoken.

The Democrats embraced woke cultism, they embraced globalist authoritarianism and now they’ve paid the price. Kamala Harris’ embarrassing defeat is the ultimate expression of “Get woke, go broke”. It’s undeniable – No one likes the progressive left. No one likes their race grifting, no one likes their gay and trans grifting, no one likes their targeting of children for indoctrination, no one likes their censorship agenda, no one likes their open borders, no one likes their lying and no one likes their elitism.

Their movement is dead in the water and a lot of them are bewildered as to what happened.  I’m here to explain some of the biggest reasons why they are universally despised…

The Covid Coup

Americans are pissed about the Democrat/globalist attempt to establish a medical tyranny and they aren’t going to forget what happened. Only a couple years ago Democrats and leftist governments around the world were talking about vaccine passports designed to force conservatives to take the experimental vaccine (and the boosters forever).

They were trying to legislate the creation of covid camps for people who refused to comply. They wanted to fine people, lock them up, keep them under house arrest and even take their children away. They shut down the economy, ordered people to wear useless masks, told people to stay six feet apart and they closed down outdoor recreation. They violated every fundamental of viral science in an insane effort to dominate the world.

To this day there are still leftists that wear the masks as a symbol of their fealty to the covid dictatorship. The problem was, they greatly underestimated public resistance to their agenda and it failed. Now, they face a reckoning for their power mongering.

January 6th Propaganda And The Rewriting Of History

Mass conservative protests are pretty rare. We tend to endure quietly and wait for reason to win the day. Violence is not usually in the cards until we are pushed to the brink. This is exactly what happened on January 6th.

Video evidence shows capitol police fired rubber bullets and tear gas grenades into a peaceful and unarmed crowd of protesters. This attack led directly to the crowd fighting back and eventually raising the building itself. Then, the police ultimately opened the doors to the building and let people wander in. Those protesters walked around for a couple hours and then left on their own. That’s not what an “insurrection” looks like.

Afterwards, Democrats cherry picked limited footage from the event and claimed it was an “attack on democracy” akin to treason. They lied incessantly and staged the narrative that conservatives were domestic terrorists bent on installing Trump as a totalitarian leader. Americans have seen through this nonsense and the election shows it.

Economic Denial

The Biden Admin spent the better part of the last four years trying to deny the reality of stagflation. They have also denied that the economy continues to decline, asserting that the country is in “recovery”, that the jobs market is improving and that inflation is going down.

None of this was true. Inflation is cumulative and just because CPI goes down does not mean prices are going down. Americans are still paying 30% to 50% more on most necessities compared to 2019. Om top of that, nation debt and consumer debt have skyrocketed to dangerous levels. One could debate who is ultimately to blame for this (the central banks and establishment elites are to blame), but this doesn’t change the fact that the Democrats tried to hide the threat from the public.

Sexualization And “Transing” Of Children

Leave the kids alone. It was a simple warning from conservatives and leftists refused to listen. Now, they’re going to pay dearly. The woke movement to push trans ideology in public schools is perhaps the most evil scheme our civilization has ever encountered. Gender fluidity is a non-science, a fantasy with no basis in fact. There are only two genders. Period. Pushing confusing gender identity politics on vulnerable kids, often without parent’s knowledge, is monstrous.

The end game of this plan is the chemical sterilization and even physical castration of America’s youth and the majority of Democrats support it. For this alone they should be booted from the country for the rest of their lives.

Beyond the politics, there is also the issue of child sexualization. Democrat politicians have consistently pushed for more degeneracy in public education environments, with sexually explicit content made available even in elementary schools. This is child grooming, plain and simple, and most Americans know exactly where it leads.

Mass Censorship And Government Collusion With Big Tech

The Biden/Harris Administration has been thoroughly busted, first by the exposure of the Twitter Files and then by Big Tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg. It is a fact – The federal government worked directly with legacy media and social media conglomerates to silence public dissent.

They censored contrary data on covid, on the vaccines, on the lockdowns, on the masks, on the mandates. They censored political stories that were harmful to the Democrats like the Hunter Biden Laptop story. They shut down entire YouTube channels and Twitter accounts, destroying people’s access to public discourse as well as their livelihoods. All of this was in absolute violation of the Bill of Rights and the 1st Amendment.

They need to be punished for this, and that’s why so many Americans voted to give Trump a mandate. They want him to deal out retribution on the matter so that it never happens again.

Race Grifting And Calling Latinos “Latinx”

Democrats and woke activists treat minorities as if they are property of the political party. They try to keep minorities firmly chained to the progressive plantation by telling them they are “victims” that need the help of the DNC in order to get “justice.” Clearly, minorities are getting tired of being treated like they’re stupid.

One big factor that I think really crippled Democrats in the election is the woke attempt to “de-gender” the Spanish language by calling Latinos “Latinx”. The Dems went full retard here and it really hurt them. Hispanics voted in record numbers for Donald Trump, and he also doubled his votes among blacks.

I have a message to white liberal women in particular: Minorities don’t need your help, your protection or your pity. Please shut your mouths, shut your legs, go back to your cats and your pointless office jobs and leave them be.

Open Borders And The Great Replacement

The Great Replacement has been falsely portrayed by the corporate media as a “racist” theory, but race has nothing to do with it. The replacement issue is about culture, not skin color.

There is an obvious effort on the part of the progressive establishment to flood the US with third world migrants, thereby erasing the cultural heritage of the west and diluting it with people that have no understanding of individual liberties or responsibilities.

They have offered illegal migrants a host of subsidies and incentives to get them to come to America and they intend to offer these same people amnesty, using American tax dollars to buy off a permanent block of Democrat voters. This would give the leftists a voting majority for generations to come.

It’s not just white Americans that see what’s happening; legal citizens who are Hispanic understand the game as well. Black communities in the US also always suffer when mass immigration takes place and they can read the writing on the wall. No one wants this, which is why the border issue was the top voter concern in every election survey, right next to the economy.

Leftist Arrogance

Progressives have long operated on the fallacy that they are “more educated” than conservatives and are thus smarter and more qualified to dictate the terms of our society. The reality is, most leftists are dumb as stumps.

They live in their own echo chambers on social media. They live in the masturbatory halls of woke academia. They live in dwindling cities controlled by Democrat governments and rarely leave the comfort of their apartments, their dog parks and their coffee shops. They think they are worldly but they know nothing of the world because they never go outside of their ideological bubble. They don’t have the courage to do that.

The reality is, a college degree is a wooden spoon (an award for last place) rather than a legitimate accomplishment these days. Unless a student enters a STEM field they are unlikely to come out of a university with anything of value. These places are indoctrination centers, not pillars of higher learning.

The Inability To Accept Responsibility

Leftists are inherent losers and mentally weak. They were the kids that were babied most of their lives. They were the kids that struggled most with meritocracy in school. They’re the kids that participation trophies were invented for. They have long relied on emotional outbursts rather than effort to get what they want. Instead of improving themselves and striving for something better, they cry victim when they can’t compete.

I never met a leftist in my life that was good at taking responsibility for their own failures. Their narcissism and obsession with personal identity has been exposed. Their fake concern for victim status groups no longer convinces anyone. They desperately want to be the main character in some grand heroic drama that the rest of us applaud, but this is not going to happen.

The best the woke mob can hope for is to return to a life of obscurity where they belong. The more they try to become the center of attention the worse things get for them. Their best bet is to stop trying to rule the world and thank their lucky stars they get to continue living in this country.

*  *  *

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Young white liberal women, plagued with the ‘woke mind virus,’ have swung so far off the deep end that some are now threatening to align themselves with pro-Christian values. They are advocating for abstaining from sex, dating, marriage, and even children over the outcome of the 2024 presidential election because males voted for the ‘Orange Man’…

Far-left corporate media outlets like CBS News and the Washington Post have pushed out stories about South Korea’s “4B Movement”  gaining traction among feminists in the United States shortly after Trump won.

The 4B movement is comprised of four “no’s”—no sex, no dating or marriage with men, and no having children. Some young feminists have adopted it on various social media platforms in the US to show young men voting for Republicans has consequences.

Liberal women are abstaining from having s*x for the next 4 years. pic.twitter.com/VHLrhh26Im

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) November 7, 2024

“Young men expect sex, but they also want us to not be able to have access to abortion. They can’t have both,” Michaela Thomas, an artist in Georgia, told WaPo. 

Thomas continued, “Young women don’t want to be intimate with men who don’t fight for women’s rights; it’s showing they don’t respect us.” 

Genuinely, end it with them if they don’t see the issue of that man being president.

Put yourself first. Put your body first. #4BMovement https://t.co/CLO45pMFZS pic.twitter.com/KpvAUPDaGO

— 🇵🇷𝕹𝖆𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖆 𝕺𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖟⧗𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖋𝖋🇵🇷 (@ScarletWidow901) November 6, 2024

Woman says she has an IQ of 130 and will now “stay dry” and not sleep with men because Trump was elected.

She said it’s punishment for taking away her right to an abortion.

Sounds good. She won’t need any abortions then.

Way to go IQ 130. pic.twitter.com/P6wgGrvYpt

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) November 7, 2024

What’s hilarious is that these young white liberal women have become so confused – and so radicalized – that they don’t even realize not having sex with random guys from Tinder, Bubble, and or Hinge on the reg is more or less a reversion to traditionalism and morally right choices that align with Christian values.

Many liberal women are now beginning a movement called “4B” where they will stop dating and withhold any sex from their partners in response to Trump’s victory since they think abortion has been banned (it hasn’t been nationally banned).

Ladies, welcome to the pro-life movement!

— Ann Vandersteel™️ (@annvandersteel) November 7, 2024

Red State’s Brandon Morse commented on the movement: 

“Dude makes an excellent point about women’s sexuality. They went so left they started going right, claiming they’re going to stop being hoes and won’t put out until men respect them. Uh… that’s what we’ve been saying you should do all along.” 

Dude makes an excellent point about women’s sexuality.

They went so left they started going right, claiming they’re going to stop being hoes and won’t put out until men respect them.

Uh… that’s what we’ve been saying you should do all along. #4BMovement pic.twitter.com/60SZxNZ4DI

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 7, 2024

One woman pointed out, “I think that liberal women are finally starting to understand what pro-life conservative women have been telling them for years …” 

#4BMovement pic.twitter.com/5YwbZNNGLL

— LOU ALFARO (@_louiexlouie_) November 6, 2024

We penned a note shortly after Trump won, “Trump Wins, “Move To Canada” Searches Spike, Liberals Meltdown Online.”

Authored by Michael Poliakoff and Jack Miller via RealClearEducation,

Over the last 60 years, there has been unconscionable neglect of civics and American history at both the K-12 and university levels.

Surveys by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) show that fewer than 20% of colleges nationwide require an American history or government course for graduation. Unsurprisingly, this deficit has made its way into the training of teachers too. Future K-12 teachers are unlikely to learn the basic facts about our founding principles and our long history of working toward that more perfect Union our founders envisioned.

Fortunately, more and more public universities are doing their part to reverse this trend.

In 2016, the Arizona legislature created the School for Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. This school has become a valuable training ground for ASU students seeking a thorough understanding of our nation’s governing institutions and the responsibilities of citizenship in a free society while being exposed to a diversity of viewpoints.

The ASU model has since been replicated at 13 universities in several other states.

Founded a year ago, the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill, which ACTA helped create, has already gained national attention. It was deservedly featured in articles in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. And for good reason.

UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership (SCiLL) offers a civic life and leadership minor that introduces students to key ideas from philosophy, history, political science, and economics. It helps prepare them for participating in consequential policy discussions and debates.

SCiLL is explicitly dedicated to promoting civil discourse and free speech and inculcating the responsibilities of informed, engaged citizenship. UNC-Chapel Hill students who do not participate in SCiLL classes nevertheless benefit from its speaker series and Program for Public Discourse.

Programs such as these consist of a separate academic unit within the university, supported by the state and private donors. Crucially, the head of that unit has hiring authority and almost always reports directly to the provost or president of the university.

New institutes like SCiLL not only educate undergraduates but are also developing M.A. and Ph.D. programs. And they have already reached out to train the K-12 social studies teachers in their regions so that those teachers will be better able to teach their own pupils.

The goal is to continue expanding these programs in states across the country.

The Tennessee General Assembly answered Governor Bill Lee’s call to establish an institute devoted to teaching informed patriotism with a $6 million initial appropriation by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

The Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville offers minor and certificate programs in American civics and constitutional studies, as well as many other events, programs, and scholarships for students. It also features outstanding professional development programs for secondary school teachers. It is already drawing some of the best and brightest students – especially those who want to make a positive difference but previously could not find a constructive, nonpartisan path to pursue this passion.

Through the efforts of Ohio state senators Jerry Cirino and Rob McColley, the State of Ohio has made the largest investment yet – $24 million – for the creation of civic education centers at five public universities in the state. Ohio State University, for example, now has the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. Four other state universities are rapidly coming online with programs devoted to the American constitutional life.

And at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the Hamilton Center is on its way to hiring 50 professors, including distinguished faculty recruited from elite institutions who have grown weary of having their views be marginalized.

Young professors whose interests in the American founding, constitutional and diplomatic history, and our roots in Western civilization are often left without prospects in academe. Now, however, they are finding excellent opportunities to teach at civic centers being established throughout the country. And thousands of public university students now have a chance to get a world-class education in citizen leadership that will serve them well across an array of career pathways.

Nonprofit organizations and their donors can play a valuable part in advancing efforts like these.

For example, ACTA makes the case to trustees and legislatures that establishing these centers must be a priority.

And for many years, the Jack Miller Center has invested in training and helping young professors in their careers and supporting established professors, including funding for outstanding postdoctoral fellows in American political thought and political theory.

Today, the Jack Miller Center’s academic network includes over 1,200 professors on over 300 campuses around the country.  A number of them now hold faculty and senior leadership positions in these new schools and institutes of civic thought and leadership.

These new institutes are devoted to teaching the whole story of America. As the late Bruce Cole, a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and former member of the Jack Miller Center’s Board of Directors, said, they will provide “a story of the center and the margins, the peaks and the valleys.” In contrast to what sadly so often happens on campus, they not only recognize the flaws that must be mended but also the American achievements that inspire the world.

We have an opportunity with new generations of students to create informed patriots and renew their search for the promise of achieving the American dream. Working together, the states, the organizations working in this field, and donors can make this civics renaissance become a reality across the country.

Michael Poliakoff is the president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Jack Miller is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles & History.

It appears President Vladimir Putin is jumping at the opportunity of pursuing a serious reset with the United States under the future Trump presidency. In surprisingly positive Thursday remarks, Putin issued congratulatory statements and heaped praise on Trump for winning the election, also saying he acted “like a man” following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania last summer.

“His behavior at the time of the attempt on his life made an impression on me,” Putin said at the Valdai Club in the Black Sea city of Sochi. “He turned out to be a courageous man. And it’s not just about the raised hand and the call to fight for his and their common ideals… He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a man.”

Significantly these were the very first public remarks given by Putin after the Tuesday election. The Russian leader emphasized that Trump’s campaign promises to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war “deserve attention”. Putin further highlighted Trump’s desire to improve relations with Moscow as a major plus as part of the remarks.

“It seems to me, it deserves attention what was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said. “I have always said that we will work with any head of state who has the trust of the American people.”

Without doubt, these mark the warmest words issued by Putin regarding the spiraling US relationship in years, and certainly the most positive remarks since the invasion of February 2022. Rhetoric between Moscow and Washington have over the course of the war up to now been marked by severe accusations and even veiled nuclear threats.

And importantly, Putin signaled he might speak to Trump, per state media:

Putin congratulated Trump on his win, and said that he is open to a phone call with the president-elect. “It wouldn’t be beneath me to call him myself,” Putin added.

The US-President elect has in turn told NBC the following:

President-elect Donald Trump said that Vladimir Putin wasn’t among the “probably” 70 phone conversations he has held with world leaders since winning the election, but that he still is planning to speak with the Russian president, according to NBC News. 

“I think we’ll speak,” Trump told NBC, Thursday, the news organization said. 

This type of positive dialogue while the Ukraine war rages was unthinkable under the Biden-Harris administration, and for that reason the Kremlin was very closely watching the US election.

Interestingly, despite their recent subtle tensions, Ukraine’s Zelensky and President-elect Trump have spoken in the wake of the landslide election victory. Trump confirmed to NBC that Zelensky was among the congratulatory phone calls from world leaders he’s received so far since Tuesday.

President Zelensky also issued a congratulatory statement on X, expressing hope he could work with Trump to implement “peace through strength” and that his country was “interested in developing mutually beneficial political and economic cooperation that will benefit both of our nations.”

Ukrainian soldiers SHOOT a mannequin wearing a TRUMP SHIRT.

Are they upset that American funds will end?pic.twitter.com/1Ic86hcddf

— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) November 7, 2024

However, following this, in a Thursday press briefing, Zelensky sought to pour cold water on the potential for a quick peace:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poured cold water Thursday on a plan by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to strike a rapid peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, arguing it would amount to a “loss” for Ukraine.

“I believe that President Trump really wants a quick decision” to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Zelenskyy told journalists in Budapest. “He wants that. It doesn’t mean that it will happen this way.”

He complained that a rapid ceasefire would be tantamount to “preparation to ruin and destroy our independence.” Below are more of Zelensky’s words aimed at Trump, revealing serious tensions remain, given in Budapest:

“He [Trump] wants this war to be finished,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “We all want to end this war, but a fair ending … If it is very fast, it’s going to be a loss for Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian leader also responded to an appeal from Hungarian strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, issued minutes earlier from the same stage, for a rapid ceasefire deal between the two warring camps.

“I heard that it’s better to implement a ceasefire and then, ‘we’ll see,’” Zelenskyy said, referring to Orbán’s comments. “[A] ceasefire was tried back in 2014. We tried to reach this ceasefire and we lost Crimea and then we had the full-scale invasion.”

But for several months as Ukrainian forces have suffered a string of defeats in Donetsk, putting the Russian army on the brink of capturing the strategic city of Pokrovsk, there have been signs that behind the scenes Western diplomats have actually been increasing the pressure on Kiev to find an exit strategy – sooner rather than later. 

Authored by Thomas Buckley via ‘The Point’ substack,

So, well, now that’s over, let’s look at the 2028 presidential race.

If you are polite, you just swore in your head – if you’re normal, you did it out loud.

But sometimes we like to torture our readers, so let’s look ahead four years, shall we?

On the Democrat side of the aisle:

First, I wonder how one says “neener neener” in each of the world’s 7,000 languages?

Mean, but I think we all deserve a football spike or two after the last four years.

Donald Trump is the happiest person in the country today, the 73 or so million people who voted for him are a close second, and in a very close third is Gavin Newsom.

It can only be assumed that the his Plumpjack (such a creepy name) wine flowed very freely last night at whichever house Gavin and the First Partner were at.  Donald Trump just did Newsom a huge favor – he vanquished the one person who could have absolutely guaranteed he couldn’t run for president at least 2032 and by that time – let’s face it: the boyish charm will have worn off a bit and the oil slick oin his head will be a bit grey and those are his two “best”  electoral qualities so, phewww.

With her out of the way, Newsom now has a clear path to the nomination.  The national media will fawn over him and try to convince the rest of the country that California is not actually as much of a third world basket case as and if it is it’s, um, Ronald Reagan’s fault.

Last night’s results also means that Newsom will tack to the middle for the next two years as governor, desperately trying to rub the progressive stink off of himself.  Not that that’s really great, but – for California – it’s better than nothing as he may turn back some of the most egregiously silly ideas the legislature tries to foist upon the state.

Case in point, Newsom issued a statement yesterday that he will “work with” the new administration.

One serious downside for Newsom did emerge last night – the nation’s opinion of the state.  That will be tough to overcome, hence one can expect the aforementioned policy shifts.

As for Newsom’s potential competition, let’s start with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.  True, Kamala lost his state but that is not at all on him, as it were.  In fact, it seems she did him a favor by passing him over for the veep spot on the ticket.

Of course she only settled on the rolling dough of goofball that is/was Tim Walz (note to Democrats: stopping nominating chubby white guys named Tim to be vice president,  it just doesn’t work) because Shapiro is Jewish. 

There is no other reason, no matter what she has claimed.  She simply could not have a dastardly colonizing rapacious JEW on her ticket, what with her base being so rabidly anti-Semitic (not anti-Israel, just straight up anti-Semitic.)

If the relatively moderate Shapiro holds Pennsylvania together for the next few years – which will be made easier by Donald Trump’s labor and energy policies, to be honest – he will be very strongly positioned for 2028 as the saner alternative to Newsom.

Then we have Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker, but he has some very heavy baggage.  First, he looks like a Thomas Nast caricature of an evil Gilded Age plutocrat/corrupt politician.

Take a look:

And now Pritzker:

He is also in charge of one of the most poorly run, brokest, and corrupt states in the country that has outmigration numbers that give California a run for its money.  And Chicago has more murders than pretty much anywhere.

In other words, he does not have the charm to try to cover things like that up like Newsom does.

True, he’s a zillionaire (richer than Trump, actually) but it is inherited wealth (hotels) and his other trust fund relatives have done some absurdly woke things with their share of the money.  His cousin Jennifer – it used to be James –gave a $2 million donation to create the world’s first endowed academic chair of transgender studies, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

Oh, and here she/he/whatever is:

Kudos for her military service when she was a guy and her continuing support of veteran’s causes but, well, yikes.  Fat old white guys should not wear dresses.

Case in point, Admiral Rachel Levine:

Speaking of women, there’s Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.  Personally, I’m baffled by her appeal and why she is constantly touted as the Democrats “next big thing,” and that even before her Flamin’ Hot Eucharist stunt.

Oh, and here’s the link to the vid: https://x.com/i/status/1844449775992893861

She’s very controlling and privileged – her record during the pandemic could be the poster child for “rules for thee, not for me,” although she did get pretty lit at a football game so I’ll give her that.

And then you have Pete Buttigieg – he’s gay, ya’ know – and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore – he’s black, ya’ know – and then a bunch of other folks who will give it a shot.

And many others – except Kamala, lol – will give it a shot for it is a rather rare occurrence that a nomination for either party is completely wide open.

On the Republican side, it’s Vice President Presumptive J.D. Vance’s race to lose.

Trump cannot run again, so that opens up the nomination.  And short of Trump nuking Canada and/or appointing Mike Pence as his Chief of Staff, Vance is the very very odds-on favorite.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could have thought about challenging for 2028, but he made the huuuuge mistake of running for president this time around.  And his campaign was a pathetic disaster, so that’s strike two through eleven.

Other than that, at this moment there is no alternative to Vance for the Republicans.

But another issue that will be extremely important in the run up to 2028 will be what the Democrats do internally.

No changes in California – they have 147 legislators out of 120, of course – but in the national arena.

Tuesday’s results must show the party that it is utterly out of touch and that when it does try to touch people it can only be described a “BAD touch!!”

But if the Democrats try to move to the center-ish they will have to deal with the lunatics they have let run the asylum.

Gaza.  Trans.  DEI.  Government unions.  Speech codes.  Greenaholism.  Microaggressions.  And on and on…

The party has based its existence over the past few years, as well as much of its funding, on those very things. 

To paraphrase supporters of Joe Biden in 2020, they have let the children run the room.

And now the regular Democrats – who obviated their responsibility –  have to give them a spanking and that is going to be difficult.  I mean, you have people on the loony left of the party that refer to being “pro-life” as being part of “the forced birth movement.”

The wokerati – who bitch and moan about everything anyway – will not go gently into that good night.

And whiny. And squirmy.  And howly.  And ragey.

But it will be fun to watch.