Lost in Space

As technological and engineering feats amaze us, are we squandering our inheritance like spoiled, wealthy children?

by John Conlin for American Greatness

As technological and engineering feats amaze us, are we squandering our inheritance like spoiled, wealthy children?

Here I sit at my kitchen table watching on satellite TV a live commercial space flight that took four passengers—including Captain Kirk of “Star Trek” fame—65 miles above the surface of the Earth, right to the edge of space. It was an amazing accomplishment of private enterprise and quite a feat of engineering. Watching the reusable booster rocket come down and basically land itself is awe inspiring.

While I watch I’m working on my laptop computer with my smartphone lying nearby. Both have more processing power than a supercomputer from a few decades ago—a super computer which required a tremendous amount of temperature-controlled warehouse space. Now I can hold that power in my hand.

Although ubiquitous now, even the satellite TV is built on what was “gee-whiz” technology not that long ago.

With the Internet I have the knowledge of the world at my fingertips and can communicate in real-time with almost anyone on the planet.

We are unlocking the most fundamental aspects of matter, space, and life and are perhaps on the verge of transforming life on the planet.

We live in the freest, wealthiest, most diverse and tolerant society the world has ever known. Poor people in this country live better than kings and queens did only a hundred years ago.

Yet, at the same time, many people seem to have lost the ability to tell a male from a female. It has become “normal” for young children to determine for themselves whether they are a boy or girl and to be fed untested hormones and drugs which will forever alter their physical being.

Many “leaders” champion political ideas which have never worked in all of history—bringing only poverty, despair, and violence to all who have walked that path.

Our public education system seems to have lost track of why it even exists. After 12 years of “education” a frightening number of students are not even proficient in any subject. Eighty-one percent are not proficient in geography. Seventy-six percent are not proficient in mathematics. Sixty-four percent are not proficient in reading. Seventy-eight percent are not proficient in science. Eighty-nine percent are not proficient in U.S. history. Seventy-five percent are not proficient in writing. 

And these results are on tests that many decry as having been dumbed down over the years. In response many school districts simply don’t test, so there will be no poor results to lament.

These are the fruits of a national public education system failure, not any single employee’s incompetence or union idiocy. And to add insult to injury, the poorer the child, the more he is being damaged by this life-destroying horror.

Due to this educational apocalypse, social mobility has ground to a halt—in all likelihood Americans born today will remain at the same level into which they were born. 

Widespread, disgusting racist thoughts, marketed as critical race theory and “antiracist,” are becoming more and more the norm. At their core, many of these are based on a repulsive—and hidden—belief in black inferiority.

The ghosts of tribalism raise their destructive heads again as the repugnant belief of “it’s in the blood” finds new traction. Far too many truly believe one is responsible for the past actions of people long dead—depending on one’s skin color of course. This vile thinking holds that one’s status as victim or oppressor is stamped in the soul—and there is ultimately little to nothing one can do about it.

There is more than a malaise in the country. There is palpable fear that this glorious society is unravelling before our very eyes. There is very real fear that the amazing technical and engineering feats mentioned above are but a sign of our fading glory.

Are we as a society like the spoiled children of wealthy parents? Children who believe the wealth and privilege they enjoy simply are—and will always be? Children who have no true idea where the wealth comes from or how it is created and thus are very poor stewards of this wealth once it is placed in their hands?

It was a glorious space flight—let us take actions today to ensure it is not simply one of the last hurrahs of a failing, intellectually bankrupt society.

X22, Christian Patriot News, and more-Oct 16th

 

Today has, thankfully not been a drag! It's actually been pretty fun! And my mom came home a day early from Florida. Here's tonight's news:

Breaking: https://bestnewshere.com/urgent-supreme-court-has-canceled-universal-vaccination-in-the-united-states/

Biden Priorities Put Citizens, Not National Enemies, in the Crosshairs

The Biden Administration believes the greatest threats are citizens who disagree with the administration’s agenda. For confirmation just read the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance report. 

by Watson Cassandra for American Greatness

When 13 U.S. service members were killed by suicide bombers as American citizens were abandoned in Afghanistan last August—in perhaps the most ill planned military operation since our efforts in Somalia which resulted in naked U.S. servicemen being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu—it should have given us a clue about the Biden Administration’s priorities. Much as the Somalian disaster led to a massive influx of Somali immigrants, which is changing the makeup of the Midwest, we can soon expect a surge inAfghan immigration.

In retaliation for the Kabul airport bombings, the United States conducted a drone strike on what the world was told were ISIS-K members. When confronted about the irregularities of the operation, General Mark Milley described the air attack as a “righteous strike.” We later learned this “righteous strike” killed an innocent aid worker and nine members of his family. No one has been held accountable for this tragic political slaughter.

When Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller posted a now viral video criticizing the competence of the regional geographic commander Marine General Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr. and President Trump’s appointee to Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mark Milley, he also offered to resign from the Marine Corps. The resignation was not accepted but Scheller was subsequently arrested and held for a week  in the “brig,” the Marine equivalent of jail. Scheller pleaded guilty to violating several articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including Article 88 (contempt toward officials), Article 89 (disrespect toward superior commissioned officers), Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer), Article 92 (dereliction in the performance of duties), Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation), and Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman). Of course, there are some in the media who say Scheller is just an insurrectionist, and argue that no tears should be shed for him. On the other hand, no one subject to the UCMJ was ever charged for criticizing President Trump.

Too many colleagues and civilians find these events surprising, but no one should be surprised. After all, the current administration has told us what its priorities are for keeping the country “safe” and it has demonstrated what it is willing to do to enforce those priorities.

On March 3, 2021 Joe Biden released his administration’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance report (INSSG). The intent of the INSSG is to provide immediate direction to all agencies and, essentially, to update and replace Trump’s National Security Strategy. 

Normally, the National Security Strategy focuses on external threats, how those threats can be met, and what the domestic response to them should be. Biden’s INSSG is unique in that early on it states, “. . . [D]emocracies across the globe, including our own, are increasingly under siege. Free societies have been challenged from within by corruption, inequality, polarization, populism, and illiberal threats to the rule of law.” 

Interestingly, the administration views threats from within as perhaps the greatest danger to the United States. The president also has directed all U.S. agencies under his control to align with the INSSG.

A quick review of the INSSG notes that “extremism” is mentioned seven times. In comparison, Russia is mentioned only five times. The statement also includes this quote, “Domestic violent extremism challenges core principles of our democracy and demands policies that protect public safety while promoting our values and respecting our laws.” Clearly an indication the current government views internal political disagreement as a significant threat. 

A simple tool for finding out what the administration believes is important is to conduct a word search in the document for terms mentioned the most. For instance, “economic” is perhaps the most frequently mentioned key term at 34 times. China, in contrast, is only mentioned 15 times. The spirit of the statement respecting economics, however, is best summarized by this quote:

We have an enduring interest in expanding economic prosperity and opportunity, but we must redefine America’s economic interests in terms of working families’ livelihoods, rather than corporate profits or aggregate national wealth. That places an imperative on an economic recovery grounded in equitable and inclusive growth . . . .

The INSSG wants all agencies to work on redefining the U.S. economy. 

Meanwhile, “NATO” is mentioned once, and “proliferation” a mere four times. So much for our external threats and alliances.

In addition to “economic,” other terms that have pride of place include “climate” (mentioned 27 times), “democracy” (mentioned 23 times), “domestic” (mentioned eight times), “law” (mentioned 10 times), and “extremism” (mentioned seven times). 

It seems the authors of the INSSG consider economic issues and climate change the greatest threats to the United States. In response to climate change, however, the INSSG proposes only domestic solutions, even though such a concern (if real) must be a global matter. The INSSG does not contemplate going to war to end carbon emissions in China, or pollution in India. The proposed solutions within the INSSG are all domestic. Other topics of concern in the INSSG are domestic criminal justice reform as well as the elimination of domestic extremism. 

Of course, the ever-sacred “diversity” is mentioned seven times. Diversity is so important to our national security that it is mentioned more often than Russia. The INSSG also highlights climate action, criminal justice reform, “inequalities in educational access,” “income inequality,” and the fight against “tax havens.”

So if you want to know why Lt. Col. Scheller was incarcerated, it is because the INSSG insists he is the sort of domestic threat that cannot be tolerated. When you question why the Department of Justice is wielding the force of federal law enforcement at local school board meetings, just read the INSSG comments on education. Why would Biden want to add 87,000 IRS agents? The answer is in the INSSG. If you see a billboard asking you to report “hate crime” to the FBI while on your commute to work, there should be no surprises as the administration has already told us what they believe the threats are and what they will do to stop them.

Why has no general, planner, or weapons commander been held accountable for the disasters of the Kabul airport bombing, and the “righteous strike” of innocents? Presumably, because they agree with the goals of the INSSG. Arnold Toynbee said, “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” The United States has sacrificed 20 years of blood and treasure in Afghanistan, only to have the associates of Mullah Omar, including Mullah Omar’s son, assume the reins of authority in Taliban Afghanistan. And now we have an administration that believes the greatest threats are those citizens who disagree with the administration’s agenda.

Sovereign Citizens or Greengrocers?

How many Americans are muttering slogans and going through the motions just to keep the weaponized leftist government and its lackeys off their backs—or worse?

by Thaddeus G. McCotter for American Greatness

The infamous Louisiana Democratic demagogue Senator Huey Long (a.k.a. “the Kingfish”) once famously pandered, “Every man a king, but no one wears a crown!” Notable for his “share the wealth” platform, Long was a more charismatic precursor to the socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Both men rose to political prominence making expansive promises to the populace that reality couldn’t cash. While it is unclear which well-heeled leftist pol owned more houses, both socialist demagogues—indeed, all of their collectivist, redistributionist ilk—require their victims to believe the lie that government can make every person a king or queen, let alone without anyone wearing the totalitarian crowns required to coerce society into this illusory Eden.

Despite the multitude of socialism’s historical horrors, the lie hasn’t lost its allure for the Left. After all, it is their lie and they remain fond of it. If it were merely their personal fantasy, the rest of us could light a candle for the redemption of their souls and go live our lives. But the Left is nothing if not irksome, insistent, and intrusive about their lie—for the only way these deluded loons believe they can reach their unattainable aim is by compelling the rest of us to believe it too. We must all recognize and even celebrate their subjectively defined and abjectly socialist “common good” or else we aren’t good.

Yet, even armed with the weaponized powers of the state, the Left cannot do what it means to do without our consent.

Consequently, as American Greatness’ Emina Melonic recently observed when discussing Soviet dissident (and later American citizen) Joseph Brodsky’s essay, “On Tyranny”:

Brodsky writes that ‘tyranny . . . structures your life for you. It does this as meticulously as possible . . . any display of individualism in a crowd may be harmful . . . the dream is to make every man his own bureaucrat.’ The point, today, is to turn every person into a soulless dullard who self-reports and accepts surveillance, and who turns himself into a machine for ideological living. 

To transmogrify individuals into automatons, the Left utilizes an incessant barrage of coercive governmental measures with the complicity of its fellow travelers in the private sector and the corporate media to promote, coerce, and compel compliance with their lies. Systemic indoctrination and compliance are the dual goals of the ironically named “diversity, inclusion, and equity” agenda, or whatever canard or action is specifically employed at any time—be it socialism, censorship, critical race theory, personal pronouns, the “1619 Project,” transgenderism, or any other leftist agit-prop they deem as “their truth” that must be accepted under threat of being “cancelled.”

The elitist “accountability journalist” play a critical role in the proselytization and compliance of the Left’s life of lies. As Walter Kirn has noted: “They lie and lie and lie and yet people keep believing them, or pretending to, which I think is worse. The default position must be total skepticism; antagonistic skepticism. If power can’t prove its statements on the spot, presume it is deceiving you. Or do you like that?”

According to public surveys, the vast majority of sovereign American citizens decidedly do not like living in a nation where the Left is waging war on their God-given, constitutionally recognized rights. The threats to these rights have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which the Left has pimped to to further cement its lies into every aspect of American life. Kirn characterizes this as, “They’ve turned reality into a pharma ad. I’m not exaggerating in the least. You are dwelling inside a live drug commercial.”

Yet, it is far worse than that. In his essay “The Power of the Powerless,” the Czech dissident (and later president of a liberated nation) Václav Havel exposed the bankrupt core of the absolutist Left—a moral contagion they are bent upon foisting upon the rest of us as it constitutes the end game of their totalitarian enterprise. Under the Left’s tyranny, people “must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system.”

Yet, even as the vast majority of Americans are resisting the coercive, totalitarian Left’s lies, not all have done so. As Melonic notes, “Certainly, what’s been the most troubling aspect of our time right now is how many people are willing to turn themselves into dutiful subjects of the tyrants.” 

Like Havel’s greengrocer who hangs in his shop window a sign emblazoned with a regime approved slogan, he doesn’t believe at all in what he is saying, but neither does he demand to be left alone by the state. How many Americans are muttering slogans and going through the motions just to keep the weaponized leftist government and its lackeys off their backs—or worse?

While the linear arc between Long and Sanders’ socialist lies is crystalline, from “every man a king” to “everyone a bureaucrat,” its actual realization is impossible. The only question is how much damage the Left’s lies will be allowed to cause the public? 

That depends upon how many Americans decide they are strong enough to be sovereign citizens and how many are willing to be meek greengrocers.

Supply Chain: Working California Ports 24/7 Will Not Help, Here’s Why

The California Version of The Green New Deal and an October 16, 2020, EPA Settlement With Transportation is What’s Creating The Container Shipping Backlog

Sundance reporting for Conservative Treehouse

Hundreds of requests for details on the specifics of the container shipping backlog.  So, I spent 3 days calling sources, digging for details and gathering information on the substantive issue at hand.  The epicenter of the problem is not what is being outlined by financial media, corporate media and politicians who have a specific interest in distracting from the issues at hand.  This has nothing to do with COVID-19.

The issues being discussed today relate to events that happened a long time ago.  As a matter of fact, it was so predictable that Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target all had taken actions years ago -long before COVID- because they knew this day would come.  It was not accidental that those companies showed up at the White House to discuss the issue, because there’s now a full court press to hide it.

There is one very specific regional issue driving the problem.  Read on:

The trucking issue with California LA ports, ie the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), is that all semi tractors have to be current with new California emissions standards.  As a consequence, that mean trucks cannot be older than 3 years if they are to pick up or deliver containers at those ports.  This issue wipes out approximately half of the fleet trucks used to move containers in/out of the port.  Operating the port 24/7 will not cure the issue, because all it does is pile up more containers that sit idle as they await a limited number of trucks to pick them up.  THIS is the central issue.

On October 16, 2020, the EPA reached a settlement agreement [DATA HERE] with California Air Resource Board (CARB) to shut down semi tractor rigs that were non-compliant with new California emission standards:

2020 SAN FRANCISCO – “Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced settlements with three interstate trucking companies imposing $417,000 in penalties for violating the California Air Resources Board’s federally enforceable Truck and Bus Regulation, Drayage Truck Regulation and Transport Refrigeration Unit Regulation.

“As trucks are one of the largest sources of air pollution in California, EPA will continue to ensure these heavy-duty vehicles have the needed pollution-control equipment and operate in compliance with the rules,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator John Busterud. “These companies have agreed to bring their trucks into compliance and operate more cleanly in all communities they serve.”

Transportation is a primary contributor to the high levels of air pollutants in Southern California and the Central Valley. Diesel emissions from trucks are one of the state’s largest sources of fine particle pollution, or soot, which is linked to health issues including asthma, impaired lung development in children, and cardiovascular effects in adults. Many of these trucks are older models and emit high amounts of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

[…] California Truck and Bus Regulation and Drayage Truck Regulation have been essential parts of the state’s federally enforceable plan to attain cleaner air. California requires trucking companies to upgrade vehicles they own to meet specific NOx and PM performance standards and to verify compliance of vehicles they hire or dispatch. Heavy-duty diesel trucks in California must meet 2010 engine emissions standards or use diesel particulate filters to reduce the diesel particulates emissions into the atmosphere by 85% or more.  (read more)

In effect, what this 2020 determination and settlement created was an inability of half the nation’s truckers from picking up anything from the Port of LA or Port of Long Beach.  Virtually all private owner operator trucks and half of the fleet trucks that are used for moving containers across the nation were shut out.

In an effort to offset the problem, transportation companies started using compliant trucks (low emission) to take the products to the California state line, where they could be transferred to non-compliant trucks who cannot enter California.   However, the scale of the problem creates an immediate bottleneck that builds over time.  It doesn’t matter if the ports start working 24/7, they are only going to end up with even more containers waiting on a limited amount of available trucks.

Yesterday, in an effort to obfuscate and actually hide the epicenter of the issue, the White House put on a performance to provide political cover.  In a grand pantomime, Joe Biden met with the heads of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero, respectively), and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

The publicized meeting and White House conference was sold as Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg showing actions they are taking to address delays and congestion across the transportation supply chain in Southern California.

As a result of the meeting, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) announced that it will join the Port of Long Beach (POLB) in expanding to 24/7 operations. POLA will add new off-peak nighttime shifts and weekend hours, nearly doubling its hours of operation. The ILWU said its members are willing to work those extra shifts to add needed labor capacity.

That publicly promoted action event was a complete political farce.   No amount of extra productivity in working the docks to off-load ships will solve the issue of trucks that cannot pick up the containers and distribute them toward manufacturing or warehouses.

As I noted, the issue started becoming visible several years ago when the California Air Resource Board (CARB) announced the new environmental regulations.  Several massive multinational corporations, with specifically in-tune supply and logistics operations, immediately recognized the issue they would face if 50+ percent of the trucking fleet would be blocked from entering California ports.

Yes, years ago the private sector predicted this would happen, and they started taking actions to protect their supply chains.  What these massive corporations did to reduce their exposure to supply chain disruption was to immediately formulate plans to divert their goods to other ports.   This was a very expensive shift in supply chain and logistic efforts for these massive corporations, which includes: Amazon, Walmart, UPS, FedEx, Samsung, The Home Depot and Target.

A long time before and during the era of the Trump administration, those massive multinational corporations knew they would need to redirect their import cargo quickly to avoid the bottleneck caused by California’s new emission standards.  They began organizing new destination ports for their products and began setting up new hubs and distribution networks to avoid the predictable California port bottlenecks.

Obviously, for politically correct reasons; and in an effort to avoid the woke mob of environmentalist jackboots, the corporations didn’t publicly share any of the issues they could foresee coming – they just worked independently and quietly to avoid the issue.

However, it costs more money to move and entire supply chain for trillions of tons of goods coming.  Hence, we saw prices climbing as a  result of increased transportation costs being factored in to the new logistics.  Did you hear about massive increases in container shipment prices?  Well, THAT’S WHY.  The entire supply chain from Asia to the United States was being modified from the closest port (California) to the ports where internal transportation would not be an issue.

Ships from China and SE Asia being diverted from California into the Gulf of Mexico or East coast have to go through the Panama Canal.  It takes twice as long and costs twice as much, if not more.  Hence, massive shipping price increases:

Unfortunately, small companies and small brokers of import goods do not have the control over their part of the supply chain from Asia to the West Coast.  They don’t contract for entire cargo ships with thousands of containers.  Those wholesalers, brokers and smaller companies that feed raw material and parts supplies to manufacturing and smaller retail outlets are stuck waiting for their containers to get through the trucking issue in California.

The bottleneck at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach run by Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero is not caused by a lack of longshoremen and dock workers to off-load the vessels.  The bottleneck is caused by half of the previous trucks used to enter the ports and pick up containers not being allowed.  Factually, it doesn’t make a tinkers damn worth of difference if the port works 24/7/365.   The ports are simply running out of space.

The ports are running out of places to store containers full of goods that are getting off-loaded.   Hundreds of thousands of them are piling up.  The central issue is the inability of emission compliant heavy transportation in California to move those containers full of goods to manufacturing, warehouses  and distribution points.

This California bottleneck has been building, and building and building for years, until now it has reached a crisis point.

If you want to know how long this has been taking place, take the time to watch this video of a trans-continental shipment belonging to Amazon Inc from China.  As you watch this really good discussion, think about how long Amazon Inc. has known about the problem in order for them to have put such a massive solution into place in order to avoid California.

Yeah, this California emissions issue has been identified for years, and Amazon has been planning to avoid it for years.  WATCH:

Joe Biden Surrenders to Donald Trump on the Border

Bonchie reporting for RedState

The Southern border is still bumping up against all-time levels of chaos as the crisis continues. Reports of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being released into the interior have exasperated the issue, with another human convoy of tens of thousands of Haitians making its way through Central America.

The message from the White House has been clear by virtue of their actions: the border is wide open.

But maybe that’s finally changing? According to The Hill, Biden is waving the white flag in November and reimplementing Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy.

The Biden administration told the courts late Thursday that it plans to reimplement the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy in mid-November if it can get buy-in from the neighboring government.

The move comes after an initial victory by Texas and Missouri in a suit that argued the Biden administration too hastily withdrew the policy, under which the U.S. transported 70,000 asylum-seekers to Mexico to await a determination in their case.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has appealed the case and is working on a memo to rescind the program anew, but it is still required to reimplement what was formally termed the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) “in good faith.”

Of course, this surrender isn’t voluntary but forced by a court decision that found in favor of Texas and Missouri recently regarding the Remain in Mexico policy And while they are appealing, given the precedent set under the Trump administration in regards to executive rescinding programs, it’s unlikely the Supreme Court would offer relief.

I suspect the appeal is just a formality anyway. The administration has to signal to its far-left base that they really want the border to remain a dumpster fire, but in reality, I suspect they want this crisis to end just as much as Republicans do. It’s a bleeding wound for Biden’s presidency, and the longer it’s left open, the worse things will get for Democrats in 2022.

Besides, the Remain in Mexico policy worked. It served as a deterrent because illegal immigrants knew they wouldn’t be immediately released into the United States. It also allowed the federal government to process people claiming asylum with some semblance of organization. What is happening now is an affront to the rule of law and a humanitarian disaster, but Biden needs to save face. This court order provides the cover they need to go ahead and surrender while pretending they didn’t surrender.

And at this point, fine. Whatever it takes to provide some relief, do it. Things are that bad at the Southern border, and the current situation is completely unsustainable.

Chicago Art Inst. Tells White Docents: We Don’t Want Your Kind Volunteering Around Here

Chicago Art Institute Tells White Docents: 

We Don’t Want Your Kind Volunteering Around Here

From firing well-trained museum volunteers to eliminating gifted programs, the cult of wokeness has shown all it cares about is the optics of 'diversity.'

Helen Raleigh for The Federalist 

I have many fond memories of visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, an art lover’s heaven on earth. With 300,000 works of art, visitors can easily get lost inside AIC. However, thanks to their friendly and knowledgeable docents, I was able to quickly find my old favorites and discover new art and artists during each of my past visits.

I was shocked to learn that AIC fired all of its 82 docents last month because most of them are white. Corporate media largely neglected to report the story, probably because it doesn’t fit a particular woke narrative.

A Corps of Talented, Generous Volunteers

Here are some facts you should know about the docents. They’re unpaid volunteers: not just any volunteers, but highly skilled and well-trained volunteers. According to the docents’ committee letter to AIC President James Rondeau, each docent had to undergo “eighteen months of twice-a-week training to qualify as a docent.”

In addition, they had to have “five years of continual research and writing to meet the criteria of 13 museum content areas, and monthly and bi-weekly training to further educate ourselves with the materials, processes, and cultural context of the AIC’s 300,000 works of art.” On average, each docent had 15 years of experience in “training, research, collaboration, and facilitating the highest-quality tours worthy of an AIC program.”

The AIC docent corps existed for six decades. They helped make every visit to this world-class institute a memorable experience. Besides offering highly informed and tailored tours to students and visitors, the docents did research projects, published papers, and organized lectures.

They also raised money to fund scholarships and art programs for students, and specifically reached out to “students with special access needs.” At the time they were terminated, the docent corps consisted of 82 active docents and 40 school group greeters.

In recent years, AIC and the docent corps have tried to recruit people of varied skin colors to become docents but apparently haven’t been successful enough for the institute’s leadership. The intense time commitment, the amount of knowledge and training required to do the job well, and the fact that this is an unpaid volunteer position, mean that being a docent is not suitable or desirable for everyone. Not surprisingly, many of AIC’s docents have been older white women who love art, have the time to be trained, and can afford to work for free.

Fired for Being Too White, Too Wealthy

When a group doesn’t reflect the exact racial percentages of nearby communities, the woke left sees a racial problem that must be stamped out immediately. Thus, in September, Veronica Stein, the executive director of learning and public engagement at AIC’s Women’s Board, fired all 82 docents and abruptly ended the 60-year-old docent program.

Had most docents been non-white, it’s easy to imagine that such mass firing would have received wall-to-wall coverage by corporate media and be set up as another example of institutional racism. Instead, social justice megaphones such as The New York Times and the Washington Post made no mention of it at all. The left does not see injustice when privileged white people are discriminated against.

Stein announced the 82 unpaid volunteer docents would be replaced with a “pool” of part-time employees who would earn $25 an hour. She claimed such a change would allow “community members of all income levels to participate, responds to issues of class and income equity, and does not require financial flexibility to participate.”

Stein also announced “unpaid volunteer educators will be reintroduced” in 2023. To ensure “diversity and inclusion,” future docents will be selected through an “income equity-focused lens.” All these buzzwords really mean that skills and knowledge about art are not nearly as important to the institute as docents’ skin color.

For AIC, replacing unpaid and highly skilled docents with a group of paid part-timers not only doesn’t make financial sense but will also affect visitors’ experience. Since the AIC presumably doesn’t have enough staff to provide the breadth and depth of tours and services that the docent corps did for the last six decades, future visitors to AIC should be prepared for a mediocre experience.

Sniping Excellence In Education

This isn’t the only example of the left hailing mediocrity in the name of “diversity and inclusion,” nor is this trend limited to art museums. It may be most endemic in education, where New York’s soon-to-be ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced the city would phase out its gifted and talented program for elementary students and eliminate the test students used to take to qualify for the program.

De Blasio and his leftist allies argued that the highly selective gifted program worsened school segregation because white and Asian American students are overrepresented. That’s the same argument de Blasio used to justify his attempt to eliminate the admission test to the city’s elite high schools, when he blamed the admission test for the low enrollment of black and Hispanic students in these schools.

The New York City Independent Budget Office estimated that de Blasio’s proposal would cut qualified Asian American students’ enrollment at these specialized high schools by half. Although the proposal ultimately failed amidst fierce opposition from Asian Americans, de Blasio succeeded in getting rid of the gifted program at the city’s elementary schools.

“Achievement isn’t the problem with New York schools. Failure is,” commented The Wall Street Journal editorial board, noting “only 10% of New York City’s black eighth-graders are proficient in math, and 14% in reading.” During his two terms, de Blasio had done little to improve the education outcomes of black and Hispanic students he claims to support. Instead, as Karol Markowicz of The New York Post noted, de Blasio “destroyed the rare functioning component of the NYC school system” by ending the gifted program.

From firing well-trained museum volunteers to eliminating gifted programs, the cult of wokeness has shown that all it cares about is the optics of “diversity.” It is fine with sacrificing excellence to achieve ideological purity. Rather than inspire and motivate everyone to be the best they can be, the left brings people down, punishes efforts and talents, and prevents them from living to their full potential.

This mindset enforces mediocrity, which is the worst enemy of progress and prosperity. As Robert D. Kaplan warned, such a purge “ultimately leads toward a controlled society driven by the bland, the trivial and the mundane.” If we settle for mediocrity, America will be well on its way to self-imposed decline. In the end, the only equal outcome we will have is our equal share of misery.