Author: springmagazine

Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal is a little too convenient

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By Monica Chen  The New York Post’s bombshell story in October 2020 of Hunter Biden’s laptop, full of suspicious emails and much personal debauchery, was not “Russian disinformation” afterall.  The New York Times confirmed on Wednesday that the infamous laptop does belong to Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden.  Buried in a story updating the progress of the Department of Justice investigation on Biden’s taxes, the Times wrote:  People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation. Conservatives cheered the revelation as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to shut down questions from reporters this week: No, Hunter Biden isn’t a government employee, but his father is. And when …

First take: Putin calls everyone’s bluffs

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By Monica Chen  On Monday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced that his government would formally recognize the independence of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia would also send troops into the region for “peacekeeping.” This came after nearly a week of the Biden administration’s steady drumbeat of a “Russian invasion” in the media despite the scheduled date of invasion, Feb. 16, having come and gone without any sign of trouble. The Biden administration also said he would hold a meeting with Putin soon, supposedly to show off President Joe Biden’s diplomatic skills and talk Putin down from any further invasions. On Monday afternoon, Putin put his foot down: Enough.  Putin’s speech sent shockwaves through the Biden administration, its allies in Europe and elsewhere, and the media that had become used to the public and even political leaders swallowing the warmongering narrative without any pushback.  It was a stunning move.  Everyone expected Putin to keep playing along. He refused. “Show your cards,” his actions said. “You’ve got nothing.”  And he is right.  Let’s look around this …

Criticisms of Critical Race Theory

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Contrary to what the media would have the general public believe, there always have been criticisms of Critical Race Theory in academia and even in the media. Here are some examples: Leroy Clark, professor emeritus at Columbus School of Law and former Legal Defense Fund counsel during the Civil Rights Movement, in the “Denver Law Review,” 1995: Professor Bell’s “analysis” is really only accusation and “harassing white folks,” and is undermining and destructive. There is no love — except for his own group — and there is a constricted reach for an understanding of whites. There is only rage and perplexity. No bridges are built — only righteousness is being sold. A people, black or white, are capable only to the extent they believe they are. Neither I, nor Professor Bell, have a crystal ball, but I do know that creativity and a drive for change are very much linked to a belief that they are needed, and to a belief that they can make a difference. The future will be shaped by past conditions …

The corrupt intellectual foundation of Critical Race Theory

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By Monica Chen  In the summer of 1989, the leaders of Critical Race Theory held their fledgling movement’s first conference in Madison, Wis.  For the first time, it was made official the academics who were devoted to the CRT cause beyond the main founder, Derrick Bell. Bell was the first tenured black professor at Harvard Law School who had written the definitive CRT treatise, “Race, Racism and American Law,” published in 1970. He died in 2011. The event has been painted ever since as the time when minority and women professors found strength by coming together. It was about “support and survival within the white male-dominated legal academy,” an admirer would write as late as 2012.  There were 20 professors in attendance, including Bell, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Crenshaw, Mari Matsuda, Patricia Williams, and Angela Harris, all of whom have been and are still teaching CRT in higher education.  But the CRT founders’ views on race show they are the opposite of being anti-racist:  Matsuda, for example, does not support removing quotas for Asian-American students at …

“Lawn Boy” IS pedophilic. Here’s why. (Explicit)

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By Monica Chen  The author of “Lawn Boy” and his supporters say parents who want the book removed from libraries have not read it, and do not put it in the right context.  Alright, I read the book. Its pedophilic, exploitative and abusive elements go beyond the swear words and the sexual passages.  To sum up the news surrounding “Lawn Boy”: A mother in Leander, Texas, took her son to a school board meeting and read passages from the book out loud last September. That video is here. Jonathan Evison, the author of “Lawn Boy,” posted a statement to the publisher’s web site, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. That statement is here. Evison and his supporters want to say the book is a coming of age story and add an extra layer of LGBT romance to defend and cover up its actual attack on boys, on young men, on the freedom that kids should have while they grow up. The gay romance is not important to this book at all. Basically, the book reads like …

What’s going on with Ukraine and Russia? A brief explainer. 

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By Monica Chen  Russia is vocally denying that it had anything to do with the recent cyberattack on the Ukrainian government.  But the conflict in the Donbass, the Southeastern part of Ukraine, has going on for years now. More than 13,000 people have been killed. What is it? Why has it not been resolved? Where is it headed?  Russian officials are frustrated with the narrative in the global media. The Russian deputy representative to the United Nations also pointedly corrected the U.S. Under Secretary of State this past week:  But anyone in the world would be alarmed at the build-up of Russian forces at the Ukrainian border, numbering more than 100,000 troops as of the past week, according to The Wall Street Journal. What’s going on? Imagine if two regions in Mexico with significant ties to America declared they were seceding from Mexico and pleaded to America for assistance, saying the Mexican government had become intolerably Fascist. Imagine America sending assistance to those regions, but then they turn around and sign agreements with the Mexican government …

Wake DA silent on parents’ criminal charges against schools for pornography

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By Monica Chen Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has not taken any actions following parents filing criminal charges on pornography against Wake schools in recent weeks. Freeman’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment before Christmas and after the holiday last week.  A group of parents filed nine complaints at the Wake County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 30, on counts of distribution of pornography and sex offense against juveniles. The parents say they are concerned the books are “grooming” children to become more susceptible to sexual abuse and sexual assault.  “We are pressing criminal charges because we want these adults to be held accountable, and we don’t want them to ever work with kids again,” said Michele Morrow, a nurse and a mother of four who lives in Cary.  Morrow is a member of Liberty First Grassroots and Education First Alliance. The loose group of parents also include members of Moms For Liberty of Wake County.  The parents had been involved in looking into critical race theory and mask mandates in schools …

What is Liz Cheney’s Wyoming?

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By Monica Chen If someone only knew about Wyoming from paying attention to Liz Cheney, they might think it was a cozy, domestic kind of place. A state that likes to hold a lot of meetings in rooms with pin-cushioned couches. A state that holds a lot of conferences in comfy banquet halls. And a place where people really like Zoom meetings. They also might think people in Wyoming are frothing at the mouth angry about what happened on Jan. 6 and desperately want their Congressional representative, the Republican Cheney, to take action. But Cheney was ousted from the Wyoming Republican party in November for her role on the committee and also because she was a no-show at county party meetings. In response, as CBS News reported, Cheney’s office turned up its nose: “She is bound by her oath to the Constitution,” a spokesman said. “Sadly, a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle, and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man.” …