Dan Wismar

Cleveland guy….love my Buckeyes, Browns, Guards…politically homeless. Say true things.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

I do think it's time for Republicans and conservatives of conscience to publicly disassociate themselves from Donald Trump. I hereby do so.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

I wrote about the issue of the Democratic Socialists of America and communism twice this week, but I didn’t fully scratch the itch. So here’s a thread. 1/

https://t.co/diLvM0SRZF

https://t.co/FxecbMHmD8

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

Some still look to us. Let us be worthy of it.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

Happy Fourth of July to you too — but I don’t think you’re being fair here.

Reducing America’s “outputs” to processed food, social media, and war is not a serious balance sheet. It’s like looking at the history of fire and saying, “Mostly arson, by that jerk Gary.” Sure, we all know Gary is an arsonist, but we’re talking about the history of fire here.

“Processed food” is doing a lot of work here. Are we talking about ultra-processed junk food? Would not recommend living off of it, but I do love Twinkies. But shelf-stable food? Refrigeration? Fortification? Food logistics? Mass agricultural productivity? That stuff was a godsend. Fresh food is better than boxed food. You know what’s worse than boxed food? Starving. Historically very common. Terrible reviews.

And America didn’t just export Doritos. It helped revolutionize food production, storage, transportation, and abundance. The country blamed for processed food also helped create the conditions under which ordinary people could eat better than aristocrats did for most of human history. Also, I assume you’re leading the organic/local/farm-to-table movement now? Because that too is largely a luxury of abundance.

On social media: yes, it has downsides. I co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind. I am not exactly Captain TikTok.

The same technological ecosystem gave us the Internet, search, email, online education, citizen journalism, dissident networks, and instant access to more knowledge than any emperor, pope, or king in history ever had. Does that come with real harms? Of course. So did the printing press. It gave us science, mass literacy, religious war, propaganda, and eventually liberal democracy. No major technology arrives with only benefits. Progress is not a spa day.

And “violence and wars”? Come on. The American record is mixed because history is mixed. Some American wars were tragic mistakes. But pretending America’s military history can be summarized as “wars and bad feelings” is dorm-room geopolitics.

The Revolutionary War produced the first large-scale democratic republic. The Civil War ended slavery in one of the largest slave societies on earth, at horrifying cost. The U.S. helped prevent Imperial Germany from dominating Europe in World War I. In World War II, the Soviet Union bore the main ground burden against Hitler, absolutely — but without American industry, Lend-Lease, air power, naval power, and the western front, Europe’s “liberation” could easily have meant swapping one totalitarian nightmare for another. Stalin was not exactly waiting at the Elbe with a basket of civil liberties.

And in the Pacific, the United States was the central force that destroyed the Japanese Empire, which was al trulybrutal empire that was replaced with an amazing and dynamic free Japan. Later, the U.S. helped free Kuwait and intervened in Kosovo to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians. Were all these decisions pure? No. Was every intervention wise? Obviously not. But war is hardly something America invented, and some of them really were worth fighting.

The actual story is harder and more interesting: America is powerful, inventive, chaotic, self-critical, and open. That openness produces junk food and Nobel Prizes, Twitter mobs and dissident speech, Hollywood nonsense and world-changing art, terrible wars and the defeat of even worse regimes.

So yes, criticize America. Please. It’s practically an American duty. But if your critique can’t distinguish Lunchables from famine prevention, Instagram from the Internet, and Iraq from stopping fascist empires, then the problem isn’t American exceptionalism. The problem is an audit that only counts the liabilities.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

Be careful today....

[AlphaFox @alphafox]

This July 4th clip will live on in infamy:

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

worth rereading, at least once a year....

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. 1/2

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

Is America a universal nation or a specific, "peculiar" one? The answer is: yes. We are a nation "in the air" and also "on the ground." I have written a little essay, for your consideration. Happy Fourth, and Happy 250, my friends. https://t.co/WIyVZKZude

[The Free Press @TheFP]

There is no modern parallel for the scale and shamelessness with which the president is enriching himself in office. https://t.co/aBCGHNCvww

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

This is excellent...

[The Free Press @TheFP]

"The world’s largest encyclopedia was overrun by bias and censorship—and pushed me out when I tried to fix it."

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

Hear, hear...

[Enes Kanter FREEDOM @EnesFreedom]

Socialism may sound appealing to some people today but history shows it has failed in many countries.
Just look at Venezuela, Cuba, the Soviet Union and others. Those countries faced economic decline, shortages, and a loss of freedom. We shouldn’t repeat those mistakes.

Many young people are struggling with high housing costs, student debt and uncertainty about their future. Those are real problems and we shouldn’t ignore them. But history shows that socialism doesn’t solve those problems. It often leads to less freedom, less innovation, and fewer opportunities.

Instead of abandoning the system that has created so much opportunity, we should fix what’s broken while protecting the freedoms that have made America a country that millions of people still dream of coming to.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

Man, I feel so bad for Cooper Ingle...his second unforgivable gaffe this week. He's a catcher by trade, remember. #guardians

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

@TonyGerdeman They'll be called hydration breaks.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

@Castellani2014 I'm starting to understand why the Red Sox are in last place. The defense is horrendous.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

@Tom_RedRight88 Saw the Rolling Stones (and Stevie Wonder) there in ‘72.

It was a dump then too.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

@AnthonyDiPiero7 They did win the abbreviated Tigers series 2-0.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

Every last word of this, Charlie Cooke.

Darializa Avila Chevalier Is an Enemy of the American Creed https://t.co/d8TDp4DNnZ

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

@BBGreatMoments 10/3/95...Tony Pena walk-off vs Boston, 13th inning, Game 1 ALDS...first postseason win for CLE since 1948. Ball left the yard at 2:08 a.m. I was there, and more than a little drunk. (Same day as the O.J. Simpson verdict)

[Lt. Governor Jim Tressel @LtGovJimTressel]

Forever grateful.

[Lt. Governor Jim Tressel @LtGovJimTressel]

Thank you, Buckeye Nation!

[Lt. Governor Jim Tressel @LtGovJimTressel]

I’m honored to be part of this tradition and am truly humbled.

[Dan Wismar @dwismar]

This is awesome....and overdue.

[Ohio State Football @OhioStateFB]

.@LtGovJimTressel taking it all in for the Ohio Stadium Ring of Honor Surprise 🌰 🥹