The Fight of Our Lives: documentary

From the documentary’s website: The Fight of Our Lives –- Defeating the Ideological War Against the West examines the internal and external threats facing the West. The cast of distinguished scholars and experts trace the emergence of anti-Western ideas and movements, and their subsequent penetration into Western academia, politics, and society.

We bought the DVD and watched it at home. About 66 minutes. Among those interviewed are Niall Ferguson, Ayan Hirsi Ali, Victor Davis Hanson, Melanie Phillips, and many more; most readers will recognize quite a few of the commentators.

From Cynthia Cai’s The Epoch Times interview with the producer of the documentary, Gloria Greenfield:

Another scholar who contributed to the film commentary was Bruce Thornton, an American classicist at California State University Fresno and research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

“[Thornton’s] understanding of what he refers to in the film as the ‘therapeutic age,’ where feelings are the most important and there’s been a rejection … of taking any responsibility for their actions—I thought that was a very important notion that needed to be addressed in the film,” said Greenfield.

. . .

“Soon after the film came out, I received an email from a professor in Paris, who was so grateful for the film and told me that he was using it in his classrooms,” said Greenfield.

So, do you know any teachers or professors or colleagues who would be interested in organizing a screening or showing it in a local classroom? Check out the website here for lots more information. It's also listed at Amazon. 

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Intergenerational welfare

image credit: buildabear.com

Several years ago, I read Diana West’s The Death of the Grown-up – a sober and somewhat frightening exploration into why America is full of adults who do not grow out of adolescence. The other day, I came across Mark Steyn’s words on the subject:

Almost every structural defect of western societies arises from the contemporary phenomenon of prolonged childhood - later family formation, leading to collapsed birth rates, providing an "urgent need" for remorseless, mass unskilled immigration, setting in motion profound, destabilizing cultural transformation. Indeed, one reason why the existential threat of that transformation is so hard to recognize is because, among its other effects, protracted adolescence so infantilizes the populace (as Wells saw in The Time Machine) that it utterly enervates even a basic survival instinct.

Why be surprised by that? A society in which it becomes the norm for 40-year-olds to climb the stairs every night to their childhood bedroom, the same one that once had the teddy-bear wallpaper and the Thomas the Tank Engine coverlet, will not be a world that makes men, or women, in any meaningful sense of those terms.

The rest of Mr. Steyn's blog post is here. This may not be, technically speaking, a Tea Party subject, but since perpetual adolescence carries its own micro- version of “fiscal responsibility" – or should I say “fiscal irresponsibility” - I thought it worth posting.

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Wrap-up: Democrat Panderfest debate (2)

image credit: CNN via Treehouse

Mark Penn called it a "Panderfest." There are dozens of takes online on last night’s unwatchable Democrat debate, and here are two extracts that are short and snappy. First, Mr. Vodkapundit, closing his drunkblogging report:

It was a big dud tonight.

Not that there weren't any fireworks, because there were a few. Not because it was tedious, which might just be my partisan bias. And not just because the field of ten had maybe three actual contenders.

It was a big dud because -- and correct me if I'm wrong here -- nobody did anything to move the needle.

Biden recovered from his last outing, but didn't show us anything new. Harris failed completely to capitalize on her earlier gains, and if I found out she really was on some kind of cold medicine, I wouldn't be in the least surprised. Booker promised to take on Biden, but demurred. Gabbard is *this* close to being a real contender, but isn't quite campaigning at that level. Castro is better than expected, but not that much better. And the rest were all just kind of there.

. . .

And here's some of Liz Sheld’s Morning Brief at PJ Media:

. . . there is really no difference between the candidates. The most important thing to these jokers is getting rid of Trump and they are counting on people who hate Trump to vote for them no matter what lunatic policies they are pushing. If you think about it, it's a smart strategy: desperate people make rash decisions and the deranged anti-Trump folks are desperate to get rid of Trump. If the cost is open borders, health care for illegal immigrants, an alarmist "climate change" policy that will wipe out loads of American jobs, forcing people out of their preferred healthcare plans in favor of one administered by postal workers, raising taxes, taxpayer-subsidized abortion, post-birth abortion and getting back in bed with Iran, so be it. As I wrote yesterday, the only question that matters in this election is whether people hate Trump more than than they hate these whacked-off policies. If it weren't for this media-Democrat manufactured Orange Man Bad crisis, people wouldn't swallow the radical, left-wing policy crap so easily. G-d help us.

But maybe cartoonist Henry Payne said it best:

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Unwatchable primary debates and Free Stuff

image credit: dreamstime.com

Libertarian John Stossel tallied up the Democrat candidates’ promises and plans for giving away Free Stuff. No matter which candidate is making promises,

We can't afford it! The federal government is already $22 trillion in debt -- $150,000 per taxpayer.

While Trump's $267 billion is bad, the Democrats' plans are worse. We counted $297 billion proposed by Biden, $690 billion from Buttigieg, $3.8 trillion from Warren, $4 trillion from Sanders and $4.3 trillion from Harris. That would double what the entire federal government spends now.

Senator Harris "wins" the free stuff contest.

Taxpayers lose.

The second unwatchable debate is this evening at 8pm – 11pm. The line-up:

Former Vice President Joe Biden; California Sen. Kamala Harris; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand;  Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and Julián Castro, former housing secretary in the Obama administration.

Remember, Stephen Green, a/k/a Mr. Vodkapundit, will be live drunkblogging again this evening (Wednesday). He watches so you don’t have to. Here’s the link –click to his website; his drunkblog link will be on the right-hand sidebar.

UPDATE 7:50pm: Here's the live link to Vodkapundit's Drunkblog. Click here.

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Round 2 of Unwatchable Debates

Stone-cold sober Stephen Green, a/k/a Mr. Vodkapundit, will be live drunkblogging both the Tuesday (tonight) and Wednesday Democrat debates this week. He watches so that you don’t have to. Here’s the link to his website; look for drunkblog link on the sidebar. Debate starts at 8pm. Runs for 3 hours!

Please note: Vodkapundit's drunkblog automatically refreshes, so stay at the top of the blog. You can check in from time to time, or scan through it in one hit after the debate is over.

UPDATE 5pm: Here's the page link, and here are opening thoughts from Mr. Vodkapundit himself:

I mean, have you seen these people, the folks who run for office? If you can't have fun at their expense, then you're taking them entirely too seriously. That probably goes double for a race where Slow Joe Biden is the frontrunner in a crowded field of more than 20 candidates. Speaking of doubles, we have another double Democratic debate this week, and I'll be here -- carbo-loaded, glasses-wearing, beverage cart next to my desk -- to have far too much fun with all the action. Click in right here at around 7:45 Eastern on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for all the action.

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Preparing for the Democrat debates this week

It'll take less than 5 seconds:

Cartoon by Steve Breen via Townhall

[Note; check back here after 6pm for Liveblog link]

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Cleveland makes the list

image credit: imgbin.com

Issues and Insights is the editorial blog for Investor’s Business Daily. Here’s part of John Merline’s column (h/t Instapundit):

On Friday, Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, who had been complaining about conditions at the border, by saying “his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous.” Trump called it “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

He’s right about the rats. Last year, the pest-control service Orkin rated Baltimore as one of the “rattiest cities,“ behind Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.

. . .

Indeed, if you want to see what liberal Democratic policies tend to produce, go to any one of those cities, or other Democratic strongholds. Democrats promise to help the poor and downtrodden, grow the middle class, make life more fair. But their policies consistently produce the opposite.

. . .

Washington, San Francisco, New York, Detroit, and Cleveland are also among the 10 worst-run cities, according to WalletHub. Three other Democratic strongholds — Oakland, Flint, Hartford — make WalletHub’s worst-run list. 

Yet, whenever the desperate conditions of these cities get discussed, they’re treated either as if these problems simply fell out of the sky, that somehow Republicans are to blame, or that more taxpayer money will solve everything. The connection to liberal policies never gets made.

. . .

Read the rest here.

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