Faculty members at my university will now have to complete time sheets for every day of work. It’s ludicrous because a professor’s work doesn’t happen within specific time limits. I answer emails and work on my research constantly. I read and think about my book at different, weird times.

Everybody knows this, but still, the policy is being introduced. Why? To turn everybody into a liar. Nobody can honestly keep track of all these different times of work. People will simply mark 9 am to 4 pm in the system, and be done with it. Everybody will potentially be open to persecution because they will effectively falsify records. And that’s the goal of this policy.

“I’m not proud of America. There isn’t much to be proud of,” said Matt Walsh in his most recent show. How is this different from AOC and the rest of the wokesters?

Well, it’s not. He’s upset that there are too many trans surgeries and they that there’s not enough. And for that unpleasant but tiny blip they condemn the whole country. Anti-Americanism is in vogue, and that’s sad.

I witnessed a conversation between two colleagues last week. One is from Cameroon and another from Buffalo. The American colleague was trying to wrangle from the immigrant colleague an admission that he’s disappointed in America, that it’s a bad country, and that he’s unhappy to be here. The Cameroonian was clearly confused. He loves it here. He tried explaining what things are like back home but the American wasn’t having any of it. There are flaws! Imperfections! You must be sorry you even came!

People have lost all perspective. They’re living charmed lives but they are nitpicking everything into oblivion.

I’m very proud of this country and its people. Even in comparison with Canadians, whom I love, Americans are stronger, better, more curious about the world, more confident in demanding their rights and getting them. But you tell them this and they react like a person with amputated legs would react to hearing praise of his running skills.

I’m not known for my compassion skills but I do feel bad for these poor people.

It turns out that people with foreign accents in English are now non-white.

“Imagine!” told me a colleague at the Friday meeting. “People look at us and think we are white just because of how we look. But then we start speaking, and they are so confused! They had no idea we are not white.”

It all sounds insane until you remember that “white” now means “bad.” And nobody wants to be bad. So people invent stupid things like these to persuade themselves they won’t be grouped with these horrible “whites.”

I’m very saddened by all this, people. I feel like a moron trying to explain that equating race with moral inferiority leads to very nasty results. One would think this should be obvious by now. But clearly it’s not. People around me pronounce “white” with the disgust usually reserved for “vermin”. Will we never learn anything?

This is an absolute horror. To do this to an 18-year-old child because he “chose” it without remotely being able to comprehend what it means is an atrocity. This is where the deification of “choice” leads. It’s a bad philosophy with terrible consequences.

What’s really maddening is that Afghanistan was an exceptional, outstanding success for the US but people don’t know this because nobody tried to explain.

For 20 years, the US kept a very conflictive region stable at a very low cost. Pakistan was kept out of the hands of nutso fundies. No confrontation between India and Pakistan arose. And then the US very elegantly unloaded this whole issue on China and stepped away. It was masterful. For the textbooks.

But nobody tried to explain this to the people. All everybody saw was a pathetic, bungled withdrawal. And instead of the consciousness of victory Americans were hit by a feeling of frustration and defeat.

The withdrawal was bungled precisely because nobody ever explained to people that this was a triumphant operation. Americans thought it was shameful and pathetic, so it had to be rushed to satisfy their feeling of urgency in ending it.

It’s objectively a lot easier to explain what’s going on than create and execute such a long-term operation. But the failure happened precisely at the level of explanation. Our talking heads failed us. Stole our victory. We should be more upset about this.

And the reason the talking heads failed to explain Afghanistan, lying about women’s rights and gender-studies courses as the US goals in Afghanistan, is their deep investment into anti-American narratives. Both left and right-wing pundits revel in anti-US sentiment. As a result, they couldn’t bring themselves to talk about this amazing achievement. We need a new pundit class. The MSM, the YouTubers, the Twitter commentators. They all suck bullets. They all need to get fired.

The “not my war” crowd reminds me of a guy who is surrounded by a group of rapists. They grab him, pull down his pants.

“This is not my rape,” the guy objects. “I don’t know what these guys’ names are. Plus, I’m against rape. I believe in loving sexual relationships. Nobody asked me if I want to be part of this rape. I’m not going to participate.”

There is no difference between this refusal to accept that reality exists and the fantasy that you can become a woman if you feel like it.

I told you, folks. That’s how Russia always does it. First, a tiny step that’s easy to disavow, giving everybody a chance to pretend that nothing happened. Then another. And another.

You keep thinking, “hey, is it worth starting a large conflict over something so tiny? I might have misunderstood what’s happening. Maybe I’m just imagining bad intent where it’s none.”

The tiny steps continue, and you find yourself in “a new normal” that it’s late to do anything about.

What people don’t get is that Russia’s goal in this war isn’t to conquer Ukraine. “If the West stops sending weapons to Ukraine, the war will end” is what silly little fools say. Because if the West stops sending weapons, that’s when the war really begins.

Russia’s goal in the war is for the West to not exist. So you can bleat “not my war” but that’s not your choice to make. Your adversary decides if it is your war.

And the adversary decided that it is.

I like to listen to news updates from Ukraine when I’m working on my research. They are in Ukrainian or Russian, so nobody in the neighboring offices or hallways can understand what’s being said.

It was all going great until I started listening to a report about the coup in Niger. It was discussed because of Russia’s heavy involvement in Africa. People were trying to figure out why Russia pretty much abandoned its interests in Latin America in favor of Africa.

I really wanted to hear the discussion but, unfortunately, the Russian-language pronunciation of “Niger” does not sound nice in English. I had to turn the newscast off immediately before somebody reported me for a micro aggression.

The readers who said it wasn’t necessary to bring anything to the Dean’s home party were right. People weren’t bringing anything. I did bring sunflowers but they worked perfectly with N’s Ukrainian-themed clothes.

I found a small group of working-class people (support staff’s family members) and then I actually enjoyed myself. It’s really easy for me to relate to working class people. We have good, unstilted conversations with funny jokes. I was probably a diner waitress in my previous life.

And here’s why I love Americans. These good people were completely up-to-date about what’s happening in Ukraine. Hell, they had fresher information about Prigozhin’s shenanigans than I do. And some great new Wagner memes.

In Spain, people with fancy PhDs can’t discuss this stuff with as much enthusiasm and insight as a regular American truck driver or dollar store cashier. Americans are interested in stuff. And in people. I love Spain, obviously, but America has something really special.