News of the Week (April 18th, 2021)

Posted on April 18, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for April 18th, 2021


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Firing Line Friday: Is Modern Architecture Disastrous?

Posted on April 16, 2021 by The Political Hat

     In the hopes of encouraging a more civil, and illuminating, discourse, here is another episode of William F. Buckley, Jr.’s “Firing Line”.

     Between the reversal of former President Trump’s Executive Order on requiring “classical” architecture for Federal Buildings and the resurgence of former President Obama’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” initiative under President Biden, let us look back on when William F. Buckley, Jr. discussed with Tom Wolfe the very question of whether modern architecture was disastrous or not.

     Until next Friday.

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Quick Takes – Ghoulish Euthanasia: Infanticide; Starved to Death; Organ Harvesting

Posted on April 15, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: “Cannibal Corpse” songs are not supposed to be “how-to” guides.

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

Death, Rx

     Your body, your choice? Not if you preemptively declare that you don’t consent!

“Nevada — which now permits dementia patients to order themselves starved to death when they become incapacitated — has legislation that would change the state’s system from opt-in to opt-out. The bill is very awkwardly worded, deploying double negatives. From SB 134 (the bracketed words are existing law to be deleted):

“‘A donor may make an anatomical gift: (a) By [authorizing] not refusing to authorize a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor’s driver’s license or identification card) By [authorizing] not refusing to authorize a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor’s driver’s license or identification card.’

“In other words, driver’s licenses or ID cards would normally come printed with consent to donation, that would only be revoked if the person refused to authorize that default message. One must object to refuse donation. Doing nothing provides automatic consent.”

     The bill as introduced:

Nevada SB134 (2021) as Intr… by ThePoliticalHat

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War On The ‘Burbs

Posted on April 14, 2021 by The Political Hat

     The Obama administration’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” initiatives to turn the suburbs and housing in general into centrally controlled Leftist utopias has reared its head again under the Biden Adminitration’s housing policies… give or take a furry. All of this—legislatively—is being pushed in the “Infrastructure Bill”.

“With the introduction of his massive, $2.3 trillion “infrastructure” bill, President Biden’s campaign to end suburban single-family zoning has begun

“…

“How, exactly, does Biden plan to end single-family zoning? According to the fact sheet released by the White House, “Biden is calling on Congress to enact an innovative new competitive grant program that awards flexible and attractive funding to jurisdictions that take concrete steps to eliminate [‘exclusionary zoning’].” In other words, Biden wants to use a big pot of federal grant money as bait. If a county or municipality agrees to weaken or eliminate its single-family zoning, it gets the federal bucks.

“The wildly overreaching Obama-Biden era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation — which Biden has pledged to revive — works in a similar fashion. The difference is that by adding another gigantic pot of federal money to the Community Development Block Grants that are the lure of AFFH, Biden makes it that much harder for suburbs to resist applying — and that much more punishing to jurisdictions that forgo a share of the federal taxes they’ve already paid so as to protect their right to self-rule.

“Are federal carrots enough, however? Prosperous suburbs may forgo the grants in an effort to secure their independence. The success of Biden’s initiative depends in part on exactly how much money gets allocated to grants tied to zoning reform. The details of that ask haven’t yet been released, but the $213 billion allocated to Biden’s total affordable housing initiative leave room for an awfully big pot for the anti-zoning portion.

“If there aren’t enough carrots, however, how about sticks? During the campaign, Biden backed a draconian plan to withhold federal transportation grants for road repair from suburbs that refuse to kill off single-family zoning. That hasn’t been proposed by Biden, and the reason is fairly obvious. Democrats don’t yet have the votes to pass such a law. The only way they can get around the filibuster is to squeak spending bills through Congress under the rules on ‘reconciliation.’ So, for now, it’s carrots all the way down. If Senate Dems expand their majority and kill the filibuster in 2022, however, out come the sticks and down goes suburban zoning.”

     This, ironically, gives the Republicans a chance to win back the suburbs, which they have been increasingly losing their grasp on in the past five years, if not longer… provided that they are smart enough to not waste an opportunity.

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Buggy-Whips of Reason (Repost)

Posted on April 13, 2021 by The Political Hat

     This post was originally posted four years ago. Since then, the author’s account is no more, and the embedded Tweets don’t show.   Thankfully, I kept screenshots, and rather than go back to change the old post, I though I’d repost the entire post with the screenshots because it is even more relevant today.

     Continuing on…

     One of the basic lessons of Sun-Tzu is to understand the enemy. Another of Sun-Tsu’s basic lessons is to understand oneself.

     Twitter poster “John Of Argghh!” points out that many on the Right who act like they are still the dominant culture and can talk using terms and definitions they use and expect to appeal to a fundamentally transformed America.

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Arkansas vs. Critical Race Theory

Posted on April 12, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Yet another state is seeing legislation introduced that bans the state from pushing “divisive concepts” of systemic inequality: This state being Arkansas!

     The main part of the legislation reads:

     As used in this subchapter:

(1) “Contractor” means all persons, individuals, corporations, or businesses of any kind that in any manner have entered into a contract, or perform a subcontract pursuant to a contract, with the state of Arkansas;

(2) “Divisive concept” means the concept that:(A) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(B) The state of Arkansas or the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist;

(C) An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously orunconsciously;

(D) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex; (E) Members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex;

(F) determined by his or her race or sex;

(G) An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members ofthe same race or sex;

(H) Any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex;

(I) Meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another race; or

(J) The term “divisive concept” includes any other form of

race or sex stereotyping or any other form of race or sex scapegoating;

(4) “Race or sex stereotyping” means ascribing character traits, values, moral and ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a race orsex, or to an individual because of his or her race or sex;

(5)(A) “Race or sex scapegoating” means assigning fault, blame,or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex because of theirrace or sex.

(B) “Race or sex scapegoating” encompasses any claim that,consciously or unconsciously, and by virtue of his or her race or sex, members of any race are inherently racist or are inherently inclined to oppress others, or that members of a sex are inherently sexist or inclined tooppress others; and(6)(A) “State entity” means an instrumentality of stategovernment, including

(i) The Department of Agriculture;

(ii) The Department of Commerce;(iii) The Department of Corrections;

(iv) The Department of Education;(v) The Department of Energy and Environment;(vi) The Department of Finance and Administration;(vii) The Department of Health;(viii) The Department of Human Services;(ix) The Department of the Inspector General;(x) The Department of Labor and Licensing;(xi) The Department of the Military;(xii) The Department of Parks, Heritage, andTourism;

(xiii) The Department of Public Safety;

(xiv) The Department of Transformation and Shared Services; and

(xv) The Department of Veterans Affairs; and

(B) “State entity” does not include:

(i) Political subdivisions of the state;

(ii) Public schools;

(iii) Charter schools;

(iv) Institutions of higher education; or

(v) The offices of constitutional officers.

25-1-602. Unlawful propagation of divisive concepts by a state entity.

(a) A state entity shall not teach, instruct, or train any employee, contractor, staff member, or any other individual or group, to adopt or believe any divisive concepts.

(b) No employee, contractor, or staff member, of the state of Arkansas shall face any penalty or discrimination on account of his or her refusal to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon, or otherwise assent to the divisive concepts defined under § 25-1-601.

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News of the Week (April 11th, 2021)

Posted on April 11, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for April 11th, 2021


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Four Legs BIPOC; Two Legs White?

Posted on April 9, 2021 by The Political Hat

     “Social Justice” has advanced in all its systemic privilege and systemic power to outright say that the mere existence of Whites as students who contribute to a schools “total whiteness” score is inherently bad and that denying students admission because they are White is a laudable “justice” goal. The veritable Christopher Rufo yet again shows this “Animal Farm” thinking:

     BIPOC:White::Four Legs Good:Two Legs Bad

     Aside from the fact that the law in the United States (and the rest of the Anglo-sphere) is based on Common Law that was developed by…Whites so White they were literally Anglo-Saxons, the idea that that legal inheritance can be improved or harmed by the mere color of a law student’s skin is and ought to be repugnant not just morally but to the very essence of the law.

     And they will destroy anything and everything, including academic integrity, in order eliminate “excess whiteness”.

     When “justice” becomes qualified by the word “racial” or “social”, it isn’t.

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Quick Takes – Woke Segregation: College Orientations; Coffee Klatches; Mandatory Racial Bias Training

Posted on April 8, 2021 by The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

Wouldn’t want to subject the “BIPOC” to what those icky gringo honky crackers deserve, amirite?

“Lewis & Clark enlisted a Portland-based ‘social justice activism’ group to run a mandatory orientation workshop Aug. 29 where, in the name of providing ‘safe spaces’ for discussion, students were required to choose whether they most identified as one of three options: ‘Black,’ ‘Indigenous, Person of Color,’ or ‘White.’ Students were then divided by race into different virtual Zoom breakout rooms for separate educational experiences, unlawfully limiting their ability within the program to engage with students of different races.”

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Denying the Existence of Biological Sex is Now Mainstream

Posted on April 7, 2021 by The Political Hat

     The sympathetic magic that is transgender ideology necessarily involves denying basic biological reality, including by denying a word’s meaning and denying the meaning of words. The conflation of “gender identity” and biological sex was but the first step in denying the biological reality of biological sex has been noted and debunked both by your humble author and others, but people continue to deny  scientific reality.  This craziness has gone mainstream to the point where the “mainstream media” is now openly saying that “biological sex” is not only a disputed term but scientifically questionable as to its very existence!

“Though the two executive orders signed by [South Dakota Governor Kristi] Noem do not explicitly mention transgender athletes, they reference the supposed harms of the participation of ‘males’ in women’s athletics — an echo of the transphobic claim, cited in other similar legislative initiatives, that transgender women are not women. The orders also reference ‘biological sex,’ a disputed term that refers to the sex as listed on students’ original birth certificates.

“It’s not possible to know a person’s gender identity at birth, and for some people, the sex listed on their original birth certificate is a misleading way of describing the body they have.

“While sex is a category that refers broadly to physiology, a person’s gender is an innate sense of identity. The factors that go into determining the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate may include anatomy, genetics and hormones, and there is broad natural variation in each of these categories. For this reason, the language of ‘biological sex,’ as used in this legislation, can be overly simplistic and misleading.”

     Many have taken to scufaw at CNN for denying that biological sex is real but at best only disputed.   It is crazy they say, to deny the obvious. But increasingly, across businesses, schools, and even scientific journals, the accouterments of science are being used to, in a mix of truth and lies, force science through the ideological lens of “gender”.

     But when this sentiment has gone mainstream, it is important to review objective biological reality and understand the gaslighting, deception, and obfuscation of the truth going on.

     This is like saying “What are birds? We just don’t know”.

     Even vaunted scientific journals are declaring that biological sex is so complex that it is all an intricate spectrum, with near infinite varieties such that we should not even try to categorize people according to sex, but rather use “gender identity” that is both an essential aspect and a social construct concomitantly.

     It is obvious to anyone not indoctrinated to notice that we are a biologically dimorphic species with physical and actual physiological differences that are both acute and so statistically noticeable to become manifest to anyone who does not filter reality through a gender-ideological lens. But under the guise of “science” this ideology distorts and obfuscates reality—deconstructing it and then reconstructing it like it was some magical spell.

     They insist that there are a plethora of metrics concerning biological sex and it is a result of intersectional axes of various aspects such as genitalia, chromosomal sex, hormonal sex, neurological sex, behavioral sex, &c.—all of which are on its own “spectrum”—and how not all of these always line up into a manichean perfect binary. They present it as if there is no correlation between of of this; that “spectrum” of near infinite seeming combinations is a dishonest characterization and a “false dilemma” fallacy.

     The truth of the matter is that humans develop into two basic forms: Male and female. Even with bonafide medical conditions, including intersex individuals, these two forms are the default functional norm. That these separate axes of sex are strongly correlated suggests causation, which is born out by objective scientific inquiry and consistent with what humans understood at the onset of our species, and which all sexually dimorphic species in the animal kingdom instinctively act upon as well.

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