[H/T MOHIB EBRAHIM] -- YOUTUBE.COM -- CSLEWISDOODLE -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazrat Ali: "The measure of a man depends on the scope of his resolution, and his sincerity depends on the degree of his chivalric virtues. His courage depends on the degree of honour he has, and his integrity is based on the degree of his sense of shame."] ARTICLE: One point about the virtues is that there is a difference between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man. We might think that, provided you did the right thing, it did not matter how or why you did it -- whether sulkily or cheerfully, or fear of public opinion or for its own sake. But the truth is that right actions done for the wrong reason do not help to build the internal quality or character called a "virtue," and it is this quality or character that really matters. We might think God simply wants obedience to a set of rules: whereas He really wants people of a particular sort. You will notice, of course, that you cannot practise any virtues very long without fortitude. Fortitude includes both kinds of courage ...

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YOUTUBE.COM -- PRAGERU -- In 2008, then Senator Barak Obama said: "Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives ... family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation." If "we are honest with ourselves," he went on "we'll admit that too many fathers are missing from too many lives and too many homes." As much as we try to deny the need for real, masculine strength in society, there's no denying its necessity. Healthy families and strong communities depend on the leadership and bravery of good men. Yet, the current trend is to feminize young men in the hopes of achieving some utopian notion of equality and peace. And it starts at the earliest ages. In the school classroom boys are invariably ...

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THEFEDERALIST.COM -- Over at Ask Men, Ian Stobber listed what he considers obsolete man skills, and suggestions for replacing them. Such as replace hunting with cooking, as if it's something men have not been doing since the dawn of time. Although Western restaurant chefs are still typically male, bourgeois Western women traditionally cook for their families. But did you know in Turkey women wouldn't be allowed anywhere near meat? Stobber's advice to take up coding in place of car repair seems a bit odd, too. Computer programming is dominated by men. His most hilarious idea is men should learn to decorate instead of fixing things around the house. Don't put down your power tools just yet. We women ...

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YOUTUBE.COM -- PRAGERU -- What once was the start of healthy debate is now just as often a catalyst for personal and professional destruction. "The mob" is out to cancel anyone who crosses it. Niel Golightly had a long and distinguished career as an executive at Boeing. Until he didn't. James Bennett had a long and distinguished career as an editor at the New York Times. Until he didn't. They and others were cancelled, their careers, their life's work ended in a virtual instant. Former Times columnist Bari Weiss perfectly described the situation in her resignation letter shortly after Bennet's banishment. "Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor." This is the "cancel culture" that now ...

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YOUTUBE.COM -- PRAGERU -- Do you feel forced to keep your values to yourself? Are you afraid to speak up about your views and opinions for fear of creating family tension or losing your friends -- or your job? People, "good people like you," are afraid to say what they think. And why is that? It's because there's a mass affliction spreading throughout the Western world. It's called the Bravery Deficit. Take the "wrong" side of any hot-button issue and your reputation, your friends, and your job ...

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FOXNEWS.COM -- Three of the world's top epidemiologists, Harvard Medical School's Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Oxford University's Dr. Sunetra Gupta and Stamford's Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. Some include worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health - with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Furthermore, keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. Launched just 2 days ago, their "Great Barrington Declaration" (at gbdeclaration.org) has already been signed by over 4,000 medical scientists and practioners. The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits ...

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NATIONALREVIEW.COM -- [ISMAILI DIGEST ED: Hazar Imam, 2007: "Good people do not all think alike, and that we must constantly learn from one another."] ARTICLE: In 1932, US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis famously called the states "laboratories of democracy." Different states can test out different policies, and learn from each other. That proved true in 2020. Governors in different states responded to the COVID-19 pandemic at different times and in different ways. Some states ordered sweeping shutdowns. Others took a more targeted approach. Still others dispensed information but had no lockdowns at all. As a result, we can now compare outcomes in different states to test the question no one wants to ask: Did the lockdowns make a difference? And the data suggest mandatory lockdowns exacted a great cost, with a questionable effect on transmission. If lockdowns ...

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