tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51224332024-03-19T19:26:07.872+13:00POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/bouojwe.jpg"><br><br> With particular attention to religious, ethnic and sexual matters. By John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) <br><br>
This site is regularly backed up. See http://jonjayray.com/pcarc.html <br><br>
MOTTO: Vita haec habitatio justitiae non est
<br><br>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.comBlogger7134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-5290550046299748762024-03-19T19:25:00.002+13:002024-03-19T19:25:17.457+13:00<br><b> Explaining narcissism</b><br/>
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I have already written on narcissism a few times and have noted some versions of what it is and how people get like that. Is there something that turns a person into a narcissist?<br/>
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There are few attempts to answer that out there but all are highly theoretical with very little objective research supporting the explanations. The explanations sometimes reflect clinical experience but inferences from clinical experience are inevitably subjective and incapable of proving anything. It should be noted that even Freud was not satisfied with the explanation he offered for its origin.<br/>
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The big problem with all the theories is that narcissism does not really exist as a single coherent syndrome. The two recurrent themes in theories about narcissism are an inflated sense of self-esteem and a feeling of insecurity about one's own worth and competence. For short, the two traits are grandiosity and vulnerability. And the basic claim of narcissism theories is that the two traits belong together in some way.<br/>
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But they do not. The survey research tells us that the two traits are NOT correlated. People with grandiose feelings about themselves MAY also have feeling of vulnerability but that is not automatically so. There are many grandiose people who do NOT feel vulnerable. Many grandiose people are perfectly confident that their ideas about themselves are perfectly correct and not open to serious challenge. They are not bothered by people who doubt them. Such people are sometimes said to have "a thick hide".<br/>
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And of course many people with feelings of vulnerability do not also think that they are wonderful<br/>
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So in asking what causes narcissism, we are essentially asking the wrong question. There are really three questions there: What causes feelings of grandiosity, what causes feelings of vulnerability and how does it happen that some people have both feelings at once?<br/>
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The programmatic explanation for all three questions is that all human personality traits occur along a continuum. There are always strong and weak tendencies towards a particular behaviour type. And thinking well of oneself, for instance, is normal and as such in no particular need of explanation.<br/>
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It does beg for explanation when it is extreme but the explanation needed is about degrees of self-esteem, not degrees of "narcissism". And there is a very large literature on self-esteem in the annals of psychological research. I am not up to date with it so will not endeavour to summarize it<br/>
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Similarly there is a HUGE literaure on anxiety and neuroticism so that literature tells us about feelings of vulnerability. I have had rather a lot of research published in that field so I will suggest the elements of an explanation for it.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/anxiety.html">http://jonjayray.com/anxiety.html</a>
</p>
Neuroticism/anxiety just seems to be one of the basic ways people differ. It affects all sorts of behaviours. We all have it to some degree and it matters a lot how strong it is in us. It seems in fact to be hard-wired in our neurology. We are born with it but to different degrees. As such, there is no way to "cure" it but we can of course do some things to ameliorate its effects. Valium being an obvious example.<br/>
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So how come both vulnerablity and grandiosity sometimes co-occur? It may need no particular explanation. The processes that cause both tendencies just sometimes overlap. Some people may simply be both neurotic and full of themselves. The one tendency does not cancel out the other, perhaps surprisingly. They are the people we often identify as narcissists but they appear to be not the outcome of any single influence.<br/>
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My previous posts on the matter give more detail<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2022/10/narcissism-and-sam-vaknin-vaknin-is_0.html">https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2022/10/narcissism-and-sam-vaknin-vaknin-is_0.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2023/05/revolutionary-leftists-are-narcissists.html">https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2023/05/revolutionary-leftists-are-narcissists.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/are-leftists-narcissists-mayo.html">https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/are-leftists-narcissists-mayo.html</a>
</p>
<i> Self-confidence</i><br/>
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So where does self-confidence fit into the two factor picture I have outlined?<br/>
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Self confidence is clearly the opposite end of feelings of vunerabiity. It is a lack of self confidence that plagues the vulnerable person. Confidence is clearly one part of a broader factor -- a continuum of confidence/vulnerability<br/>
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So is the grandiose person self-confident? It might seem automatically so. But the answer once again has to be that there are two factors involved. As we see from the statistical correlations, it is perfectly possible -- but not automatic -- for grandiose people to feel vulnerable. Some people with grandiose views of themselves are not at all confident that they are so admirable and tend therefore to do things to prop up that belief.<br/>
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As I have argued previously, the subset of people who are both grandiose and vulnerable often find relief as active political leftists. They actively promote themselves as good and kind and wise and righteous, with sometimes unfortunate results when they get something wrong. It is precisely their vulnerabiity which makes them so keen to censor the views of anybody who disagrees with them<br/>
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Coincidentally, a well-sampled study has recently appeared which found that "woke" attitudes correlated with "depression, anxiety, and (lack of) happiness". The correlation with depression was particularly high -- clearly vulnerable feelings.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sjop.13018">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sjop.13018</a>
</p>
I have always had self-confidence in spades. I inherited it from my mother. A non grandiose example may be of interest:<br/>
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After completing Junior school, I saw that Senior school took a further two years to do and disliked that prospect. So I looked at the Senior syllabus and its listing of the knowledge required to pass the Senior exam. I thought that I could easily acquire the knowledge required in one year. So I quietly did just that. I taught myself the requirements for the Senior exam in one year and got respectable passes in it, including a couple of "A"s. I was confident of my abilities and it paid off.<br/>
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So self confidence is pretty good stuff. And I am not remotely grandiose. I have never sought the limelight despite several opportunities in that direction. It always seemed too much bother.<br/>
<br/>
JR<br/>
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<b> Do Americans have the will to fight?</b><br/>
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<i> I am pretty sure most Trump supporters do but I don't know about the rest</i><br/>
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For those of you who do not know her, Bari Weiss is the journalist who had the courage and intellectual honesty not only to leave her gig as an opinion writer at The New York Times in 2020 but to pen a public resignation letter that exposed the oppressive culture there that prompted her departure.<br/>
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Weiss thereafter launched The Free Press, a subscription-based online news and opinion journal that has already acquired a reputation for ideological balance, in-depth coverage of complex issues, and willingness to interview and publish articles from individuals who have been effectively banned from “traditional” media.<br/>
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Weiss has written extensively about the horrific terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as what those attacks portend for America. The address Weiss gave at the Federalist Society’s annual Barbara K. Olsen Memorial Lecture (“You Are the Last Line of Defense”) garnered a standing ovation and made headlines across the country, not least because the Federalist Society is a politically conservative legal organization, and Weiss is neither an attorney nor a conservative.<br/>
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This week, Weiss published a piece titled “The Holiday from History Is Over.” In it, she describes conversations she had on her recent visit to Israel with survivors and family members of those killed on Oct. 7. According to Weiss, Israelis believe they are fighting “a second war of independence—an existential war necessary for the survival of the state.” Israeli journalist Gadi Taub told Weiss that “one of the slogans of this war is lo noflim midor tachach! which loosely translates to ‘do not fall short of the ‘48 generation’”(referring to 1948, the year the modern state of Israel was founded).<br/>
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Weiss opines that it’s “nearly impossible to imagine” a comparable sentiment in the United States, a “rallying cry about not falling short of the 1776ers.” Toward the end of the piece, she asks rhetorically:<br/>
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“What would the people I know do if we ... had to fight for homes and our families, and the homes and families of our fellow citizens? ... Does courage emerge spontaneously out of necessity? Or is there a quiet wellspring inside some people or some cultures waiting to be tapped? Do we have that here in America? Would we answer the call if it came?”<br/>
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Weiss fears that Americans think we live “outside” of history.<br/>
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I think she’s wrong.<br/>
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Does this country contain citizens who view themselves as inheritors of the mantle of the Founders? Would Americans step up to defend their homes and families, and those of their neighbors? Do we have the courage we would need in a crisis?<br/>
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The answer to each of those questions is “yes,” and the proof is in the headlines every day—although perhaps not in the way Weiss might see it.<br/>
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Americans who take seriously the wisdom of the Founders are fighting vigorously to defend the natural law principles in the Declaration of Independence, for judges who use originalist interpretations of the Constitution, for the preservation of the Electoral College and the current composition of the U.S. Senate, for checks and balances and limited government.<br/>
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And for that, they are denounced as beneficiaries of “white privilege,” defenders of “systemic racism,” and (most recently) as “Christian nationalists.”<br/>
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Millions of Americans are prepared to defend their homes, families, and communities; they are the ones fighting for our rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.<br/>
And for that, they are blamed for the deaths of children at the hands of every lunatic who decides to commit mass murder, for urban gun violence and for crimes committed by those unlawfully in possession of a weapon. If they happen to live in the country, they are now accused of harboring “rural white rage.”<br/>
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And as for courage? The average American displays it every day in droves. Courageous Americans are fighting school administrators and teachers trying to insert pornography into school libraries and curricula. They are fighting against activists encouraging vulnerable young people to undergo chemical castration or surgical mutilation to “change” their gender—often without the knowledge or over the objections of parents. They are fighting to preserve sports and safe places for women and girls. They fought for truthful science and against COVID-19 lockdowns and forced inoculations of experimental drugs. They fight for the free exercise of religion, free speech, and the lives of unborn children, praying and protesting outside abortion clinics. They fight for the integrity of our elections and government accountability, and against vote fraud.<br/>
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And for displaying the courage to fight for their rights—and the rights of others—these Americans are denounced as racists, bigots, “deplorables,” “domestic terrorists,” and “insurrectionists” by the same “elites” Weiss accuses (rightly) of having “all of the noblesse with none of the oblige”; they are doxxed, censored, shamed, silenced on social media (other than X), sued, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and even incarcerated.<br/>
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These Americans are not too blinded by bread and circuses to see the very real threats facing us.<br/>
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The Americans who are paying attention—and there are millions—are all too aware. These are the same Americans fighting to close our borders, for the enforcement of our immigration laws and the deportation of those who violate them. They are fighting against the two-tiered “justice” system and the use of “lawfare” by the politically powerful against their opponents. They are the Americans who decry the degeneration of our cities and the proliferation of homelessness and substance abuse in our streets. They are demanding that crime be punished and criminals be imprisoned. They want an end to foreign policies that kill millions of innocents abroad, enrich sponsors of terrorism, and embolden our enemies.<br/>
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No, Bari, Americans do not think we live outside of history. But they do understand that those in power at present are setting the stage for a disastrous future. When the inevitable crisis comes, will Americans “answer the call”?<br/>
Some already are.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/responding-to-bari-weiss-5607459">https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/responding-to-bari-weiss-5607459</a>
</p>
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<b> JK Rowling vows to defy Scotland's 'ludicrous' new hate crime laws and refuses to delete posts calling trans TV presenter 'just a man'</b><br/>
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JK Rowling has called Scotland's new hate crime laws 'ludicrous', as she vowed not to delete social media posts describing a transgender TV presenter as 'just a man'.<br/>
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The Harry Potter author was cleared of any wrongdoing by police in England earlier this month over an online post about broadcaster India Willoughby, who complained she had been 'misgendered'.<br/>
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But Ms Rowling has now been targeted by activists who claim she could be prosecuted under the controversial new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, due to be introduced on April 1.<br/>
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The 58-year-old wrote on X that she would not be taking down any of her posts about Ms Willoughby.<br/>
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She said: 'If you genuinely imagine I'd delete posts calling a man a man, so as not to be prosecuted under this ludicrous law, stand by for the mother of all April Fools' jokes.'<br/>
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Ms Rowling was responding to a post from a user claiming to be a British lawyer who wrote: 'Delete the posts about India Willoughby as they most likely contravene the new law. Start deleting!'<br/>
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Supporters of Ms Rowling praised her for 'standing up against the woke mob'.<br/>
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And feminist group For Women Scotland wrote: 'Not sure anyone claiming to be a lawyer should be posting misleading info.'<br/>
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Police Scotland has indicated that only incidents after April 1 will be investigated under the new law, meaning Ms Rowling would not face retrospective action.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13212107/JK-Rowling-vows-defy-Scotlands-ludicrous-new-hate-crime-laws-refuses-delete-posts-calling-trans-TV-presenter-just-man.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13212107/JK-Rowling-vows-defy-Scotlands-ludicrous-new-hate-crime-laws-refuses-delete-posts-calling-trans-TV-presenter-just-man.html</a>
</p>
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<b> Faith-Based Schools Can’t Maintain Ethos Under New Religious Discrimination Bill: Australian conservatives</b><br/>
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<i> It is actually the Bible which is the problem. It describes homosexuals as an abomination and says that God will judge them (Romans 1 & 2). And Christians are commanded to preach Christian teachings actively (Matthew 28: 19 & 20). Legislating against the Bible is surely a vast cultural leap that can only end badly. Christian beliefs must be allowed or there will be big consequences. Prime Minister Albanese is already headed for the boot. If he enacts this he will go out in a landslide</i><br/>
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Faith-based schools could find themselves getting bogged down in litigation as a result of the Labor government’s religious discrimination bill, according to the federal opposition.<br/>
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Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash has taken aim at the Albanese government’s upcoming religious discrimination protections, which she said could obstruct religious schools from maintaining their religious ethos.<br/>
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What Is The Proposal About?<br/>
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The bill, which was initially introduced by the former centre-right Coalition government in 2021, set out to protect Australians from discrimination on the basis of religious belief.<br/>
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However, the Coalition failed to pass the law prior to the 2022 federal election after five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to support amendments by the then-opposition Labor Party, which were designed to prevent discrimination against gay and transgender students by religious schools.<br/>
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On the other hand, faith-based groups have expressed concern that the bill would do little to legislate protections for religious Australians, arguing the protections were too narrow to be effective.<br/>
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The topic would soon resurface in public debate as the Australian Law Reform Commission prepared to release a long-awaited report in March 2023 that would recommend “making discrimination against students on the grounds of sexual orientation … unlawful.”<br/>
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This would be done by repealing section 38(3) under the Sex Discrimination Act, a move that could potentially bar faith-based schools from preferencing candidates who share the schools’ spiritual outlook during recruitment. It could also prevent schools from asking students to abide by the school’s belief system.<br/>
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The shadow attorney-general warned that under Labor’s religious protection bill, faith-based schools wouldn’t be able to conduct themselves in a way that is consistent with their values.<br/>
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“What they’re saying to me is ‘Michaelia, we just want to educate; under Mark Dreyfus and Anthony Albanese, we’re going to wind up litigating,’” Ms. Cash told Sky News on March 17.<br/>
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She also said she had heard “very concerning things” about the new amendments, adding that this would likely include an anti-vilification provision, which criminalises speech that is considered hateful.<br/>
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‘A Cure That Is Worse Than The Disease’: Think Tank<br/>
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Similar concerns have been voiced by Morgan Begg, the director of the Legal Rights Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. He said the religious freedoms of Australians would be under siege due to the “weaponisation of anti-vilification and anti-discrimination laws.”<br/>
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“This notoriously ambiguous concept creates an opening for bureaucrats and courts to tie up supposedly legitimate speech in legal limbo,” he wrote in an opinion article for The Epoch Times.<br/>
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“For example, saying ‘marriage is between a man and a woman’ is something that many religious Australians believe, but saying so could be considered ‘hateful’ by some in the community.”<br/>
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Mr. Begg warned the religious discrimination bill would “add more laws on top of bad laws” and described it as “a cure that is worse than the disease.”<br/>
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Pressure To Conform<br/>
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In recent years, faith-based schools have been facing mounting pressure to compromise on their spiritual values with LGBT groups.<br/>
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The conflict was highlighted during the controversy surrounding Citipointe Christian College in 2022, which saw the school’s principal stand down over an enrolment contract that described homosexuality as a sin.<br/>
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The contract, which stated that the college would only enrol students on the basis of the “gender that corresponds to their biological sex,” had attracted public protests and criticism, with some parents accusing the school of stigmatising a “vulnerable community.”<br/>
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Former Principal and Pastor Brian Mulheran said at the time that his intention was “only to offer families a choice about how their children educated, and to be open and transparent about our religious ethos.”<br/>
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“I am sorry, sorry that some students felt that they may be being discriminated against at Citipointe. We would never discriminate against any student on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity,” he wrote in a letter.<br/>
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Ahead of the 2022 election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised he would resume addressing the religious discrimination bill during their term of parliament.<br/>
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“We’ll do it in a way which is much more consultative and brings people together in a way that I hope characterises the way my government functions,” Mr. Albanese said, adding that he “respected people of faith.”<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/faith-based-schools-cant-maintain-ethos-under-new-religious-discrimination-bill-opposition-5609230">https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/faith-based-schools-cant-maintain-ethos-under-new-religious-discrimination-bill-opposition-5609230</a>
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My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
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<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-15396301913269909212024-03-18T16:10:00.001+13:002024-03-18T16:10:09.053+13:00<br/>
<b> Being a trad wife these days is not as safe as it was in the old days</b><br/>
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<i> Women in the past had more security in their marriage due to laws, social pressures and customs. These days a trad wife could have her husband walk out at short notice, leaving her with a greatly disrupted life</i><br/>
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I have seen these posts about traditional living and being a “trad wife” all over social media lately.<br/>
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My mom hasn’t chosen that lifestyle. Same as my mom’s mom. However, I spoke my dad’s mom. My paternal grandma.<br/>
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And she very much lived that lifestyle. That and more. She has lived all her life in semi-rural Sicily. And she raised six kids. And she was a housewife, and the picture perfect homemaker.<br/>
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Except that as she would tell you it was much less “instagrammable” as the kids say these days than you would think.<br/>
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Six children and a household to manage, her everyday — as I heard through various stories — was a testament to resilience and sense of duty. And with one income and six children, money was also tight.<br/>
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The community was tight-knit and neighbors leant on each other for support and occasional gossip.<br/>
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When I talked to my grandma and showed her some clips, she raised some interesting points.<br/>
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First she pointed out that while she enjoyed her life, that lifestyle was hardly a choice. It was what was normal really. It was how it was.<br/>
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But then she raised a good point. She said back then, women had fewer choices but so did men.<br/>
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I started right away disagreeing with her as to me the men held all the power. But then I understood what she meant.<br/>
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Divorce was frowned upon in the past. So a man deciding to leave his wife was much less common. And it would receive a lot of pressure, from society, his own family, his colleagues, his boss, his social circle and so on.<br/>
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A man deciding to leave his wife was pretty big deal (I am sure things where different in different part of the world but at least in relatively terms I feel there is some common ground — especially compared with today).<br/>
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Today — if either one, decides to leave.. well nobody is going to make a big deal out of it. The barrier to exit are much lower, shall we say?<br/>
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Social expectations solidified the family unit and these dynamics provided a form of security, although not leaving much room for individual needs or aspirations outside of predefined roles.<br/>
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Back then if you were a husband who decided to leave your (financially very much dependent) wife you would have a number on people on your case. Her family for sure but also your own family. And your own social circle and friends.<br/>
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You truly risked being ostracized.<br/>
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Fast forward to the present — the situation has dramatically changed. And I am not saying it is bad — people finally have some agency that is good news.<br/>
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But as my grandma pointed out if you choose a trad wife scenario where you are financially dependent on your husband (or partner), you still have the lack of financial independence minus the safety net that society’s expectations provided.<br/>
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Separation or divorce is far less stigmatized leaving traditional wives potentially more vulnerable than in the past.<br/>
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<a href="https://medium.com/long-sweet-valuable/i-spoke-about-trad-wives-to-my-sicilian-grandma-and-she-told-me-what-she-thinks-ae0a70b7b3bf">https://medium.com/long-sweet-valuable/i-spoke-about-trad-wives-to-my-sicilian-grandma-and-she-told-me-what-she-thinks-ae0a70b7b3bf</a> (Condensed)<br/>
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<b> SC Is Protecting Its Children With “Help Not Harm” Bill</b><br/>
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South Carolina legislation HB 4624 is called the “Help Not Harm” bill—and with good reason. Approved by the House in January, it bans so-called “gender affirming” medical interventions for minors under the age of 18 and prohibits Medicaid coverage of those procedures for anyone under the age of 26.<br/>
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After passing a Senate subcommittee just days ago, the bill now heads to the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee for a vote. Lawmakers there must show the courage of their colleagues in the House because the bill is precisely the kind of legislation that America’s children need—and need immediately.<br/>
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In increasing measure, vulnerable pubescent and pre-pubescent children are being proselytized into a fictional belief that they can be “born in the wrong body.” In fact, so effective have been the influences of social media, peer pressure and pro-trans narratives in this space that UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute reports that more than 300,000 high school-aged (ages 13-17) children in the United States today identify as “transgender”—making them the largest and fastest-growing share of the overall trans-identified population in the country.<br/>
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Between 2017 and 2021, the number of children in the United States taking puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones doubled. And double mastectomies performed on adolescent girls increased by nearly 400% during the same period.<br/>
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These increases aren’t organic. They are a direct result of what appears to be a national social experiment targeting children who are not old enough to vote, get tattoos, buy cigarettes or enter into contracts. The federal government has been working overtime to convince the nation that these experimental procedures are “life-saving care” and that if children don’t have access to these “gender affirming” treatments, they will commit suicide.<br/>
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But the support for such inflammatory rhetoric simply doesn’t exist. We’re being asked to believe that minor children possess the maturity to make life-altering medical decisions and can fully comprehend the risks of these procedures—those that include everything from incontinence to tissue death to lack of fertility, and worse.<br/>
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Nothing could be further from the truth.<br/>
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The increase in a new cohort of the population—de-transitioners—is proof positive of the regretfully life-altering and experimental nature of these kind of “gender affirming” medical interventions. It also demonstrates that children, as easily influenced as they are, must not be used as pawns in a political play that caters to a small but vocal and well-funded minority.<br/>
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This legislation isn’t hateful or bigoted. It’s a common-sense bill that protects minors when the integrity of their bodies and mental health are on the line. It’s also representative of the widespread and bipartisan support for these kinds of bans, as the majority of Americans oppose “gender affirming care” for minors.<br/>
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But the tide is turning. Several European countries that once uncritically embraced “gender-affirming care” for minors have already reconsidered or reversed course as the lack of evidence supporting the safety of these procedures and increasing evidence of long-term complications surfaces. The FDA is being sued for allegedly concealing records regarding the off-label use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on minors. Medical malpractice claims against hospital systems that rushed minor children into “gender affirming” surgeries with little to no investigation of the minor’s underlying mental health co-morbidities are on the rise.<br/>
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Nearly two dozen states have already enacted laws prohibiting “gender-affirming” interventions for minors in most circumstances. Now is the time for South Carolina to join them.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/gender/commentary/sc-protecting-its-children-help-not-harm-bill-more-states-should-follow">https://www.heritage.org/gender/commentary/sc-protecting-its-children-help-not-harm-bill-more-states-should-follow</a>
</p>
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<b> DEI, Sold as a Way To Promote Racial Harmony, Does Just the Opposite</b><br/>
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Programs designed to instill “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) do not promote racial harmony. The trainings, which have become commonplace in schools, workplaces and government agencies nationwide, may in fact be manipulative, unlicensed attempts at psychology.<br/>
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Just ask Chad Ellis.<br/>
<br/>
Ellis, a former researcher at Chevron Philips Chemical Company, holds a Ph.D. in chemistry. He was forced to undergo DEI training and “received confirmed mental health damage from coerced, mandatory workplace attendance at a psychological video series,” according to Ellis’s complaint in district court against the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. The techniques used in the training mirror the psychological coercion used in military interrogations, according to expert witness testimony in the complaint.<br/>
<br/>
Chevron used a DEI training series called “Here and Heard,” which attacked viewers’ loyalties and personal appearances, accusing the viewers of maintaining bias based on their skin color. The program uses images of abuse and genocide to create distress in viewers’ minds—which are psychological, not instructional, techniques.<br/>
<br/>
DEI sessions are not simply teaching tools. In fact, the DEI trainer in the Here and Heard video said that the approach was “purposefully designed to cause visceral reactions,” which sounds like emotional manipulation, not instruction.<br/>
<br/>
The trainer was not a psychologist, though (she was a part-time real estate agent), which means the training program could be unlicensed practice of psychology. In an interview, Ellis said the training was “very provocative…highly graphical [with] emotional content.” He says he told his supervisors, “You don’t have my consent to do this,” but, “I didn’t get anywhere.” Ellis says he is not opposed to some DEI activities, but someone with a psychology license should be accountable for the trainings’ effects.<br/>
<br/>
Ellis is not asking for sympathy for facing DEI training. Rather, he asked Oklahoma’s board of examiners to investigate the Chevron program to determine whether it constitutes the practice of psychology. The board dismissed his complaint.<br/>
<br/>
In the legal battle that ensued, with Ellis contending that the state board should at least make a determination, the chemist said, “Just like if I’m exposed to a chemical spill, I deserve to know what’s in that. If I’m exposed to something like this, I deserve to know where it’s coming from and who stands behind it.”<br/>
<br/>
Ellis is not the first to make claims such as this. In Pennsylvania, a former professor at Pennsylvania State Abington alleged he faced racial discrimination and experienced harm as part of a DEI program at the college. A district judge is allowing the case to proceed, despite university opposition.<br/>
<br/>
Ellis said Here and Heard was “pushing the levers of guilt and shame and humiliation to coerce belief change.” This helps explain why researchers have found that DEI fails to change individual attitudes and behavior. DEI does not appeal to our better natures, but accuses anyone who does not see racism everywhere of being racist. It holds that if you do not see racism everywhere, you are trying to maintain power over others. That’s hardly a message that helps build camaraderie.<br/>
<br/>
Policymakers in six states, including Oklahoma, have either prohibited the use of taxpayer spending on DEI programs or called for an end to DEI in public spaces. Officials in nearly a dozen other states are now considering similar proposals in favor of civil rights over DEI.<br/>
<br/>
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, reminded residents in his executive order that the state constitution prohibits “preferential treatment” or discrimination based on race, ethnicity or sex. These are the very racist ideas DEI programs advocate for.<br/>
<br/>
Chevron Phillips is a private joint venture between Chevron and Phillips 66, so the DEI prohibitions may not apply to them, but allowing the practice of unlicensed psychologists is still illegal. Ellis’s legal filings say Here and Heard is “trying to mold the minds of these employees and, again, practicing psychology without any consent and without any license.”<br/>
<br/>
If DEI sessions are psychological treatments—from unlicensed psychologists—all the more reason to bolster state and federal civil rights laws, protect equality under the law, and reject DEI and its racist results.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/commentary/dei-sold-way-promote-racial-harmony-does-just-the-opposite">https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/commentary/dei-sold-way-promote-racial-harmony-does-just-the-opposite</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The Phantom Economic Benefits of SCHIP Expansion</b><br/>
<br/>
Proponents of federal spending programs commonly extol the many jobs that would be created if their spending wishes were met. Defense contractors do it. Highway bill supporters do it. Now even proponents of higher federal health care spending are claiming more funding translates into more jobs and higher wages. The trouble is that such claims are almost never true. A case in point is analysis published by Families USA in support of the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).[1]<br/>
<br/>
Families USA's Research on SCHIP Expansion<br/>
<br/>
SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health insurance to children in low-income families whose earnings are too high to qualify for Medicaid but below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Like Medicaid, SCHIP is jointly funded by the federal government and state governments. States can make their SCHIP program a simple extension of their Medicaid program, design a stand-alone program, or craft some combination of the two. The federal government's role is essentially to approve the program design and provide a chunk of funding to the respective states.<br/>
<br/>
Federal SCHIP funding was originally set at $40 billion over 10 years. A straight extension of the program would cost $25 billion over the next five years, but there is great pressure to expand the program by allowing it to cover adults and children in wealthier families--those with incomes as high as 400 percent of the federal poverty level in some proposals.<br/>
<br/>
Families USA, an advocacy organization, favors a much expanded SCHIP program as part of its broader effort to achieve nationwide government-run health insurance. To bolster its case, the group released projections of the economic effects of a doubling of the SCHIP program to $50 billion over five years.<br/>
<br/>
To make its analysis more useful to state-based advocates and Members of Congress, Families USA created reports for all 50 states and the District of Columbia emphasizing how much additional federal money a state could expect if SCHIP were expanded to a $50 billion, five-year program, and how much "business activity," wages, and employment would rise due to the expansion. For example, the analysis suggests that business activity in Alabama would increase by $331.1 million a year; wages in Missouri would increase by $137 million; and employment in Wisconsin would rise by 3,032 jobs. Altogether, according to the analysis, business activity in the United States would increase by $21.4 billion, total wages by $7.7 billion, and employment by 227,065 jobs.<br/>
<br/>
Erroneous Analysis<br/>
<br/>
The problem is that higher government health care spending would not create net economic activity or increase real wages and jobs. There is still a debate in some quarters as to whether government spending can boost the economy when the economy is operating well below full employment. There is no serious debate, however, that such effects do not occur when the economy is operating at roughly full capacity, as it is today.<br/>
<br/>
As a rule, a change in the composition or level of federal spending will shift the composition of demand in the economy from one area to another, such as from business investment to consumption or from consumption of goods to consumption of health care services. As demand shifts, the allocation of capital and labor resources shifts accordingly. For most federal spending, there is no resulting increase in the amount of capital or labor employed in the economy.<br/>
<br/>
Expressed another way, there would almost certainly be an increase in employment in health services if SCHIP spending were doubled, and the increase could even be around the 227,000 jobs predicted by Families USA, but there would also then be 227,000 fewer workers employed in the rest of the economy. Higher health sector employment due to increased government spending on SCHIP would crowd out other types of employment; it would not increase employment.<br/>
<br/>
Shifting the composition of demand by increasing federal spending does not generally increase overall economic activity, because it does not increase the level of productive resources available to the economy--that is, labor and capital. There are exceptions, such as when federal spending materially raises the quality of the infrastructure on which the private economy depends--which is rare today--or when federal spending expands the frontiers of technology applicable to producers. But these are exceptions, not the rule, and an expansion of SCHIP funding is not among the exceptions.<br/>
<br/>
Herein lies an important distinction between tax relief and spending increases. A wide variety of tax relief options would increase the level of productive resources available to the economy. Reducing marginal individual income tax rates, for example, improves the incentive to work and, therefore, increases the supply of labor and the level of potential output. Reducing the tax rates on dividends, capital gains, or corporate income would each reduce the tax disincentive to invest in new plants and equipment, thereby encouraging growth in the capital stock and raising productivity and, therefore, wages and output. In general, spending increases lead to none of these things.<br/>
<br/>
To argue that an SCHIP expansion would have no economic effects is actually generous toward Families USA's cause, because to do so ignores the increase in inefficiencies in the economy due to such spending, inefficiencies that would reduce wage and income levels. For example, expanding SCHIP would divert resources from other uses in which, according to economic incentives, they are more valuable. One can certainly make moving and valid arguments about the importance of health insurance for children. Those arguments move the heart, but they do not move the GDP.<br/>
<br/>
Further, the Congressional Budget Office notes that increasing health care spending is likely to decrease, not increase, employment and output.[2] The reason is that, to the extent that additional health care spending is valued by consumers, the additional health resources "reduce people's incentives to work and save."[3] Thus an SCHIP expansion would reduce total employment by encouraging workers to leave the workforce.<br/>
<br/>
In addition, this increase in spending must somehow be matched by a like increase in taxes, and this is the case whether the Budget Resolution or the economy dictates the outcome. Higher taxes--even higher taxes on tobacco, which is the announced intent of the Senate Finance Committee--distort the allocation of resources and reduce economic output. Taxing tobacco may be popular, but that popularity does not displace the reality of economic incentives and the consequences of distorting those incentives with taxes.<br/>
<br/>
Conclusion<br/>
<br/>
Poor economic analysis only confuses those who receive it and muddies debate. Family USA's state-by-state economic analysis of an SCHIP expansion should be withdrawn or at least simply ignored.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/the-phantom-economic-benefits-schip-expansion">https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/the-phantom-economic-benefits-schip-expansion</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
***************************************<br/>
<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-40151786471038297752024-03-17T11:03:00.001+13:002024-03-17T11:03:09.519+13:00<br><b> The Politics of Inflation</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> The article below omits to mention that inflation came down in response to the Fed stifling demand, people being unable to buy what they usually would, which was and is hard on a lot of people. So Biden is far from off the hook</i><br/>
<br/>
February’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices up by 0.62% in the past month. If that rate of increase kept up for the rest of the year, the annual inflation rate would be 7.4%. But the CPI won’t keep rising that fast.<br/>
<br/>
Over the past several years, almost all of the annual increase in the CPI came in the first half of the year, so if this year is like past years, month-over-month inflation will come to a halt after mid-year. That would seem to be advantageous to the Biden administration in November.<br/>
<br/>
The annual rate of inflation is coming down, if slowly. It was 3.4% for 2023 and has fallen to 3.2% from February 2023 to February 2024. If it keeps dropping at that rate, the Federal Reserve will hit its 2% inflation target in six months—another seeming advantage to the Biden administration’s November hopes.<br/>
<br/>
However, most people are not concerned about inflation per se, but rather high prices. Whether inflation is up or down is not something most people keep track of. People are looking at how much they have to pay for stuff. So, even if the Fed’s inflation goals are met by November, prices will still be higher than they were a few years ago, and people will still associate those few years with the Biden administration.<br/>
<br/>
For that reason, no matter how successful the Federal Reserve is in curbing inflation, inflation will weigh as a negative on the Biden administration’s reelection prospects. People will remember that the Biden administration claimed that inflation was a transitory phenomenon. However, prices are still higher than they were a few years ago.<br/>
<br/>
Is this fair to the Biden administration? Inflation has subsided more rapidly than I expected (but less rapidly than Biden and Jerome Powell said it would). I’m willing to call that a success and credit Powell and the Federal Reserve.<br/>
<br/>
Most voters will not see it that way. Prices are still high, and they will not be coming down. People care about that, and this issue will matter in November.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://blog.independent.org/2024/03/13/the-politics-of-inflation/">https://blog.independent.org/2024/03/13/the-politics-of-inflation/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The NHS puberty blocker ban for children is long overdue</b><br/>
<br/>
Debbie Hayton<br/>
<br/>
Children in England will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at NHS gender identity clinics. This is good news: it was never appropriate to halt the normal physical development of young people struggling with the concept of growing up into the men and women that nature intended.<br/>
<br/>
Puberty blockers, followed by cross-sex hormones, were a so-called solution that, in my view as a transgender adult, created a very serious problem. A cohort of young people identified as transgender, non-binary or maybe something yet more mysterious. They demanded powerful and life-altering drugs to ward off what they – or their parents – feared might be a mental health catastrophe. All too readily, those demands were met.<br/>
<br/>
Hundreds of under-16s have been prescribed puberty blockers on the NHS<br/>
<br/>
Now, Hilary Cass – the paediatrician who is conducting an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people – has helped put the brakes on this madness. She said, in a 2022 review, that there is a lack of clarity over whether the drugs simply ‘pause’ puberty or if they act as ‘an initial part of a transition pathway’ with most patients becoming ‘locked in’ to changing their gender. The landmark guidelines issued yesterday back Cass up: these said that there is not enough evidence that the drugs are safe and from now on they should only be given as part of clinical trials. This is long overdue.<br/>
<br/>
Hundreds of under-16s have been prescribed puberty blockers on the NHS since 2011, having been referred to the gender identity clinic run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in north London. In recent years, demand for treatment has overwhelmed the limited provision and waiting lists for children – as well as adults – have mushroomed. According to reports, fewer than 100 children are now currently on puberty blockers through the NHS Gender Identity Development Service, though how many more have their lives on hold is unknown. Waiting forlornly for a call from a distant clinic is no way to live.<br/>
<br/>
The fact that the treatment may ultimately be worse than the wait is hardly comforting to children who have been led to believe that it would solve their problems. It won’t – and that is a particular tragedy for children who would otherwise benefit from timely community mental health support. If the promises made by gender clinics cannot be delivered, then it is better not to make them at all. As such, yesterday’s news is welcome all round.<br/>
<br/>
Unfortunately, that is not the full story. The interim policy on which NHS England consulted last year suggested that, ‘access to puberty suppressing hormones for children and young people with gender incongruence/dysphoria should only be available as part of research’. One would hope that further research involving clinical trials would now be struck down as unethical, but a loophole is left open for further meddling with children’s development.<br/>
<br/>
Then there is the rest of the United Kingdom to worry about. NHS England’s remit is for England. Scotland, whose government seems desperate to be ever more wokier-than-thou, has a separate NHS. While increasing caution has been applied south of the border, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), part of NHS Scotland, outlined the need for prescribing to continue outside research because of rising numbers of adults and children seeking help.<br/>
<br/>
Finally, there are private providers ready to sell into a market that will pay. Last year, GenderGP asserted that NHS England Specialist Services does not govern what GPs and hospital consultants do in their own services, and has ‘no impact on private doctors and what they decide is the right care for their patients.’ GenderGP says it will ‘continue to provide puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones to patients who need them’.<br/>
<br/>
So, while yesterday’s announcement is a step in the right direction, more is needed to protect children. Liz Truss’s private members’ bill to Amend the Health and Equality Acts is due to be debated on Friday. This bill would make it an offence to prescribe, administer or supply medicinal products to a child as part of a course of treatment for gender dysphoria for the purposes of stopping or delaying the normal onset of puberty, or affirming the child’s perception of their sex where that perception is inconsistent with the child’s sex.<br/>
<br/>
It’s a worthy and valuable aim, but one that is unlikely to be delivered without the active support of the government. To make progress, this bill needs time and expertise to ensure that the drafting is watertight. The Tories look doomed whatever Rishi Sunak does between now and the election. But what better legacy to leave than the protection of children? If Sunak means business, this is an opportunity to make a lasting difference.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/the-nhs-puberty-blocker-ban-for-children-is-long-overdue/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/the-nhs-puberty-blocker-ban-for-children-is-long-overdue/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The dangers of the TikTok bill</b><br/>
<br/>
“The TikTok bill gives Biden the power to ban websites & apps run by ‘a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity.’ Given that Biden routinely smears political opponents as being under the control of Putin, the danger should be obvious.”<br/>
<br/>
That was entrepreneur David Sacks on X (formerly Twitter) on March 13 noting the fact that H.R. 7521, which has easily passed the House and is now on a fast track in the U.S Senate will give the President, right now it’s Joe Biden but also future presidents, can force divestiture of any website or application or else have it removed from hosting services if the President determines it is run by “a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity” including Russia, China, North Korea or Iran.<br/>
<br/>
To get there, according to the legislation, the application must be “determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States”.<br/>
<br/>
It applies to the Chinese-owned TikTok app, but the bill goes further to leave it to the President for all future determinations about who is “subject to the direction or control” of Russia, China, North Korea or Iran.<br/>
<br/>
That’s actually dangerous because Sacks is right. The U.S. government has been routinely accusing political opponents of being foreign agents who are “subject to the direction or control” of Russia and other countries.<br/>
<br/>
The biggest recent example was Russiagate. In fact, to obtain surveillance of the Trump campaign, as happened in Oct. 2016, the FBI and the Justice Department had to give the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court a “statement of the facts and circumstances relied upon by the applicant to justify his belief that… the target of the electronic surveillance is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power…”<br/>
<br/>
The Oct. 2016 application to the FISA Court stated, “The target of this application is Carter W. Page, a U.S. person, and an agent of a foreign power… The status of the target was determined in or about October 2016 from information provided by the U.S. State Department…”<br/>
<br/>
In part, those allegations relied on the Clinton campaign and DNC-financed Christopher Steele dossier that there was a “well-developed conspiracy” by Russia and the Trump campaign to hack the DNC and give their emails to Wikileaks.<br/>
<br/>
But they also stated as part of the justification for that interference in the Trump campaign that Russia was attempting to convince the Trump campaign to not send weapons to Ukraine and to instead recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea in Ukraine, telling the FISA Court that the Trump campaign, per the FISA application, “worked behind the scenes to make sure [the Republican] platform would not call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces” stating Trump “might recognize Crimea as Russian territory and lift punitive U.S. sanctions against Russia,” citing news reports.<br/>
<br/>
The Justice Department also included an Aug. 2016 Politico story highlighting Trump’s opposition to U.S. intervention in Ukraine, including his suggestion the people of Crimea preferred to live in Russia, and his doubts that the territories Russia had seized could be reclaimed suggested without risking World War III.<br/>
<br/>
At a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Politico report relied upon by the Justice Department quoted Trump saying a military conflict to take back Crimea would risk nuclear war: “You wanna go back? …You want to have World War III to get it back?” And it quoted Trump on ABC’s “This Week” suggesting the people of Crimea supported Russian annexation: “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”<br/>
<br/>
So, that was the predicate before the FISA Court: A foreign power was allegedly attempting to influence the candidate, Trump, via campaign volunteers like Page but also hired help like Manafort, to simply recognize Russia’s claims to Ukraine’s sovereign territories in order to avert war. But these are also political and policy differences Trump had with the Obama administration and his opponent, Hillary Clinton.<br/>
<br/>
During the convention, Paul Manafort was campaign chairman, who was swiftly removed by Trump after the New York Times non-coincidentally ran an erroneous hit piece in Aug. 2016 stating he had corrupt dealings in Ukraine, with a supposed ominous sounding “black ledger.” Manafort was the campaign manager of deposed former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych when he was first elected in 2010. He also helped Gerald Ford secure the Republican nomination on the floor against Ronald Reagan in 1976, and then helped Reagan do the same thing in 1980. In 2016, Trump tapped him to win the convention by ensuring Trump delegates he won in the primaries would vote for him on the floor.<br/>
<br/>
Page was similarly removed from the campaign when a Sept. 2016 news story appeared alleging, falsely as it turned out, he was a Russian agent.<br/>
<br/>
Ultimately, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller found there was no Trump campaign conspiracy with Russia to hack the DNC and give the emails to Wikileaks. According to Mueller’s final report to the Attorney General, “the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.”<br/>
<br/>
The report added, “In particular, the Office did not find evidence likely to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Campaign officials such as Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page acted as agents of the Russian government — or at its direction, control or request — during the relevant time period.”<br/>
<br/>
Manafort was brought up on unrelated tax and bank fraud charges. As for Michael Cohen, “Cohen had never traveled to Prague…” and so, he very well could not have been there meeting with Russian intelligence officials as Steele had alleged.<br/>
<br/>
As for Page, he was never charged with anything.<br/>
<br/>
But all it took for federal intervention in the presidential campaign to occur was a mere accusation of being a foreign agent.<br/>
<br/>
And that is precisely how the TikTok bill could be used against other apps besides TikTok, Sacks now warns.<br/>
<br/>
On March 14, he noted some on X who believe “X is ‘foreign adversary controlled’”.<br/>
<br/>
And others who believed “Tucker Carlson Network is ‘foreign adversary controlled’”.<br/>
<br/>
And others who believed “Rumble is ‘foreign adversary controlled’”.<br/>
<br/>
And others who still believe “Of course Trump is ‘foreign adversary controlled’ — and through him the entire Republican Party.”<br/>
<br/>
The legislation now under consideration, if it became law, and if the President agreed that Donald Trump who also runs Truth Social, Rumble, X and Tucker Carlson were “foreign adversary controlled” then the federal government could force divestiture or else have the websites and apps removed from hosting services.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://dailytorch.com/2024/03/if-h-r-7521-was-only-about-tiktok-it-would-only-apply-to-tiktok">https://dailytorch.com/2024/03/if-h-r-7521-was-only-about-tiktok-it-would-only-apply-to-tiktok</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> High-Income Earners Pay Much More Than Their “Fair Share”</b><br/>
<br/>
What is your fair share of what someone else has earned? That’s the fundamental principle being tested when discussing “the wealthy paying their fair share.”<br/>
<br/>
Politicians frequently use this hackneyed phrase with ill-defined terms in their calls to raise taxes. Still, the numbers don’t support the idea that the wealthy are skirting their financial responsibility to the nation.<br/>
<br/>
According to the U.S. Treasury, the bottom 10% of income earners pay no taxes, and the second income decile has an average tax rate of minus-4.8%. Mechanisms like refundable tax credits mean this group receives more from the Treasury than it pays in taxes, creating a negative rate.<br/>
<br/>
Those in the 20% to 30% of income earners pay an average tax rate of just 2.8%. Predictably, as a person earns more, he or she pays a higher percentage of his or her income in taxes. Still, no one in the bottom half of income-earners pays more than a 10.1% average tax rate.<br/>
<br/>
The average tax rate has climbed 27% for the top 10% of income earners, but many Americans are surprised to learn that the threshold for this group is just $136,000 for individual income earners.<br/>
<br/>
Most people in the top-income decile are considered middle class. To find the “wealthy,” we must look at a much narrower portion of the income distribution.<br/>
<br/>
The threshold for the top 0.1% of income earners is $3.3 million, and their average tax rate is 33.5%, meaning just over one-third of their income is confiscated in federal taxes.<br/>
<br/>
Then, there are state and local taxes to consider. In places like California and New York, these can push average tax rates close to 50%.<br/>
<br/>
Is it fair to take half of what someone else has earned? And who is wealthy? A high income is not the same as wealth, which is only acquired through saving and investing.<br/>
<br/>
It’s disturbing that the current political climate tends to demonize wealth. The saving and investing of income, not dissipation through spending, generates economic growth. Without savings, capital will decline. That means fewer factories and machines, fewer homes available, slower technological advances and medical breakthroughs, etc.<br/>
<br/>
Investment in capital puts tools in the hands of workers, making them more productive, which increases their incomes. More capital also means more houses and apartments, something America desperately needs amid a housing shortage and cost-of-living crisis.<br/>
<br/>
Capital investment also results in higher living standards because it drives economic growth. As capital accumulation spread across the globe over the last century, technological improvements exploded. The percentage of people living in poverty was cut from 80% to less than 10%, even as the population grew exponentially.<br/>
<br/>
Those who think the wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes should also remember if you tax something, you get less of it. Wealth is no different. A reduction in wealth means a reduction in economic growth, leaving everyone worse off, particularly low-income earners.<br/>
<br/>
The top 0.1% of income earners provide a disproportionate amount of America’s economic growth, which is why they also earn a disproportionate amount of the nation’s income. But the amount of taxes they pay are even more out of proportion, accounting for 14.9% of all federal tax receipts from just 8.9% of family incomes.<br/>
<br/>
That indicates high-income earners are already paying more than their fair share.<br/>
<br/>
Unfortunately, complex data like these rarely involve conversations around amorphous words like “wealthy” and “fairness.” Instead, bureaucrats gin up class envy by cherry-picking data to promote a false narrative of imagined animosity between income groups.<br/>
<br/>
The facts are very different. While capital investment and innovation undoubtedly make investors and inventors wealthier, they make society wealthier too. More than 90% of the benefits created by inventors fall on society broadly, with less than 10% going to the inventors themselves.<br/>
<br/>
For example, the creators of smartphones have obviously received substantial benefits from selling their invention, but everyone who owns a smartphone has clearly benefited, too. (You may be reading this on one right now!)<br/>
<br/>
High-income earners already pay disproportionately high taxes and receive disproportionately low amounts of the proceeds from their economic activity. They’re paying their fair share as is. Confiscating even more is a surefire way to kill innovation and hurt middle-class America.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/taxes/commentary/high-income-earners-pay-much-more-their-fair-share">https://www.heritage.org/taxes/commentary/high-income-earners-pay-much-more-their-fair-share</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-46011713379066751942024-03-14T14:41:00.003+13:002024-03-14T14:44:19.064+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Consanguinity and miscegenation</b><br/>
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Consanguinity refers to the degree of "blood" (genetic) relationship between two people, first cousins, second cousins etc.<br/>
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Christian churches have always had some prohibions against consanguinity in marriage. At one time it was forbidden to marry even your 7th cousin, though more usually the prohibition stretched only to 4th cousin. These days almost anything goes. Only brother/sister relationships are really frowned on.<br/>
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From a geneticist's viewpoint, consanguinity prohibitions do have some benefit. If a person has a genetic defect, such as a deformity, it is usually found in more than one member of a family. But it is often the case that the defect is recessive, meaning that it only becomes visible in the progeny if both partners to a marriage have it. So marrying "out" reduces the chances of that happening.<br/>
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Another benefit is "hybrid vigour", meaning that the progeny from quite different bloodlines are often more healthy, vigorous etc than either of the parent populations. So consanguinity prohibions undoubtedly helped keep Christian populations healthy.<br/>
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The scene is very different with Islam. The laxity of Muslim divorce law means that a woman and her children have no security or protection from her marriage. She can lose her marriage and any bebefits it conveys in a matter of minutes.<br/>
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So how does she get any security in her marriage? She has to rely on social pressures, and family pressures in particular. If her husband is her cousin and he tries to divorce her, both families will come down heavily on him with condemnations. So that is why consanguinity in marriages, cousin marriages, is very common in Muslim populations<br/>
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And the genetic consequences follow as night follows day. In Britain, almost all birth deformities presented to the NHS come from Muslim families.<br/>
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That is all reasonably well known but I want to extend the point a little further. Mental abilities such as IQ are a brain function and the brain is just another organ of the body. So cousin marriage should affect that too. There should be a lot more poorly functioning brains among Muslim populations. Real bright sparks should be rarer. And they are. The average IQs in the Middle East are markedy lower than they are in Europe, around 90 compared to 100 in Europe. So Muslims exemplify well the laws of genetics. Their failure to regulate consanguinity has dumbed them down and made them less fit generally on average.<br/>
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So how does that affect interracial marriage or "miscegenation"? It should in theory be an extreme example of the benefit of avoiding consanguinity. The progeny of such unions should display hybrid vigour. And I have seen many rather obvious examples of that happening -- where one of the parents is East Asian, usually Chinese. I have often seen good-looking and very capable offspring from such unions. Australia's population is about 5% Chinese by ancestry and young Chinese-origin women often choose Caucasian men as partners, almost invariably tall ones, so Eurasian children are common. I have written at some length on Eurasians in Australia below:<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/eurasian.html">http://jonjayray.com/eurasian.html</a>
</p>
But now we come to the tricky one: black/white marriages. Miscegenation was historically forbidden in America but the grounds for the ban are not entirely clear. There was a clear belief that whites were superior in many ways so mixed race chidren were undoutedly regarded as inferior, but in what way was not systematically argued. Should not mixed race children benefit from hybrid vigour?<br/>
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It would seem that they have done. The term "black" is very loosely used in America today -- covering skin tones from almost Mediterranean to literally black And in the "black" population, lighter skinned blacks cruise. They are generally looked up to by other "blacks". They are more prestigious. And part of that prestige is probably fairly earned. They probably really are healthier and more capable. But it is a topic that would be too fraught to study systematically. I have probably said too much already<br/>
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But, as even the APA has conceded, the black/white gap in average IQ in America is still large. The APA has put it as one standard deviation, which is a lot. The gap is even greater if we consider blacks back in Africa so miscegenation in America has reduced the average black/white IQ gap but not by a lot.<br/>
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But however you look at it miscegenation has been BENEFICIAL<br/>
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<b> Is Britain's NHS choked by bureaucracy?</b><br/>
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<i> "Support" staff don't usually replace anything the doctors do. On the contrary, they just create more paperwork for the doctors</i><br/>
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It used to be that our beloved NHS was in crisis every winter. But now the NHS seems to be permanently in crisis. And every year we’re told the NHS needs ever more of our money and ever more staff. In this week’s budget it was handed another few billion which will no doubt disappear down the massive toilet of waste and profligacy that is our national healthcare service.<br/>
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I realise we have had the pandemic and then seemingly endless strikes by doctors and others. But the NHS’s problems started long before the pandemic and the strikes.<br/>
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Last week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data showing the number of staff by main work categories for each of the constituent parts of the U.K. – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (These figures are expressed as FTEs – full-time equivalents – so this takes account of people who may be working part-time.)<br/>
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As each of the countries classes NHS employees in slightly different ways, it’s difficult to get reliable total NHS employee figures for the whole U.K. However, if we just look at the largest part of the NHS – NHS England – we can get a reasonable idea of what’s going on.<br/>
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Now let’s look at the numbers:<br/>
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The number of doctors increased by 37,467 (up 37%) from 101,137 in 2013 to 138,604 by 2023.<br/>
The number of nurses and midwives increased by 68,063 (up 23%) from 295,163 in 2013 to 363,226 in 2023.<br/>
The number of scientific staff increased by 42,938 (up 13%) from 123,912 in 2013 to 166,850 in 2023.<br/>
The number of support staff increased by 125,510 (up 45%) from 279,579 in 2013 to 405,089 in 2023.<br/>
The number of infrastructure staff increased by 62,758 (up 41%) from 152,437 in 2013 to 215,195 in 2023.<br/>
The number of ambulance staff increased by just 1,721 (up 10%) from 17,537 in 2013 to 19,258 in 2023.<br/>
Here are just a few things you might have noticed:<br/>
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The total number of staff increased by 338,4577 (35%) from 969,765 in 2013 to 1,308,222 in 2023.<br/>
The largest increases were in non-medical staff, with support staff shooting up by 45% and infrastructure staff rising by 41%.<br/>
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The smallest increase was in ambulance staff – up just 10%. Some people might find that slightly worrying. But don’t worry, at the same time as the number of ambulance staff has gone up by only 1,721, the number of DIE (diversity, inclusion and equality) managers has shot up from virtually none in 2013 to more than 800 now. So, if an ambulance does actually manage to reach you before you croak it, the ambulance workers will no doubt be wonderfully racially and gender diverse, which is what you absolutely want from an ambulance service.<br/>
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We’re constantly told that one reason the NHS is collapsing is a rising population. But the population of England only rose by around 7% between 2013 and 2023. At the same time the number of doctors rose by 37% and the number of nurses and midwives rose by 23%. In Scotland the number of NHS staff rose by about 20% while the population only rose by around 2.7%. In Wales NHS staff numbers increased by 32% while the population only went up by 2%. And in Northern Ireland, NHS staff numbers rose by 20% while the population only increased by 4%. So the excuse of the NHS needing many more staff to cope with a rapidly rising population doesn’t hold water.<br/>
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Another reason given for the NHS’s constant state of disintegration is that the U.K. population is getting older. Over the period from 2013 to 2023 the mean age of the U.K.’s population rose from 39 years to about 41.5 years – a rise of 6.4%. So this excuse seems pretty flimsy, too.<br/>
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And then there’s the usual bleating that we don’t spend as much on health as other developed countries. It’s true that we spend less per capita than several European countries. But U.K. health spending per capita is on the OECD average:<br/>
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While there is some truth in the claim that some other countries spend much more per capita on health, many spend less and we don’t hear about their health systems collapsing like our beloved NHS. So levels of spending and staffing cannot be the only reasons for the utter chaos in our health service.<br/>
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A better explanation for the NHS’s floundering failure can possibly be seen in the massive increase in non-medical staff – an increase in support staff in the NHS England of an astonishing 45% and in infrastructure staff of 41%. It’s not obvious why a population which has increased by just 7% between 2013 and 2023 and which has got very slightly older should require such a huge rise in non-medical NHS staff. And there has been a 22% increase in NHS administrative staff in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland yet the population served by the NHS there has only gone up by around 2.7%.<br/>
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But you can look at the numbers, think about your own, your friends’ and your families’ experiences of our pitiful NHS and make up your own minds about the competence of NHS management and the fact that our NHS seems to be doing ever less with ever more money and ever more staff.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/11/nhs-crisis-doctors-up-37-and-support-staff-up-45-in-10-years-how-does-the-nhs-do-so-little-with-so-much/">https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/11/nhs-crisis-doctors-up-37-and-support-staff-up-45-in-10-years-how-does-the-nhs-do-so-little-with-so-much/</a>
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<b> This Masculine Woman Realized How “Crazy” She Looks to Men</b><br/>
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A young woman on TikTok recently went viral for her video about why men don’t seem interested in marrying her.<br/>
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She explains how all the men she’s interested in are already married to women who are soft and feminine.<br/>
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In contrast, the woman making this observation has tattoos, nose piercings, big burly muscles, fake eyelashes, and nearly a pound of makeup.<br/>
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“I look crazy!” she says, recognizing how her aesthetic is completely different from the women she initially describes.<br/>
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She also goes on to say that she thought men liked tough girls. She runs her own business, is a fitness influencer, and has always worked hard to be independent and strong.<br/>
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But apparently, these qualities are not what men want.<br/>
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How did she get it so wrong?<br/>
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Yet another lie of modern feminism<br/>
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Modern feminism has completely missed the mark when it comes to the qualities that make a woman attractive to men.<br/>
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We’ve been told that a successful career, being strong and independent, and not “needing a man” are the qualities that men seek out in their female counterparts.<br/>
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There’s nothing wrong with having those qualities if you genuinely want to live your life that way.<br/>
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But if you think that the average man will find it attractive, that’s where your thought process has gone wrong.<br/>
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Women today are being encouraged to act more like men.<br/>
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Put your career first, be loud and assertive, forgo childbearing, and objectify your body in the name of “sexual liberation.”<br/>
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By all means, women are free to choose this path. But if they’re hoping to be whisked away by Prince Charming at the end of it, they are sorely mistaken.<br/>
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Men want feminine women<br/>
This shouldn’t be controversial, but this reality is hitting young women like a bucket of ice-cold water.<br/>
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Typically, men prefer kind and agreeable women with natural beauty and feminine charm. Masculinity and femininity are natural complements that draw two people together. (Generally, masculine men are attracted to feminine women, but feminine men may be attracted to masculine women as well).<br/>
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The irony here is that most women want masculine men, while simultaneously assuming that having masculine qualities of their own will make them more attractive to said men.<br/>
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Having a “high-paying job,” a substantial amount of sexual experience, and a go-getter attitude isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.<br/>
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At least not in the dating world.<br/>
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What can women do?<br/>
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Re-learning what it means to be feminine<br/>
In some circles, there has been a return to classical femininity.<br/>
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Dressing more modestly, being sexually selective, enhancing natural beauty, and embracing marriage and motherhood are some ways that women are choosing against modern feminist culture.<br/>
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But femininity is not just checking certain boxes. It also involves being comfortable letting others lead, learning how to nurture and care for those around us, and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable.<br/>
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While independence has been drilled into us as an aspirational concept, it also results in emotional detachment, an inflated ego, and a false sense of self-reliance.<br/>
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The reality is that being ‘strong and independent’ does not make most women happy.<br/>
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In the same way that men want to feel needed, women also thrive while being an active part of a community.<br/>
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Final thoughts<br/>
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Everyone is free to choose how they live their lives, how they act, what they prioritize, and how they present themselves to others.<br/>
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However, we don’t get to choose how others perceive us.<br/>
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The woman on TikTok is free to have tattoos, build her physique, wear nose piercings, and as much makeup as her heart desires. If that’s what makes her feel happy and confident, more power to her.<br/>
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But — she cannot demand that the men she desires also find her attractive.<br/>
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If better luck in the dating market is what you desire, a return to classical femininity might not hurt.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://medium.com/the-straight-shot/this-masculine-woman-realized-how-crazy-she-looks-to-men-77e848b9bee2">https://medium.com/the-straight-shot/this-masculine-woman-realized-how-crazy-she-looks-to-men-77e848b9bee2</a>
</p>
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<b> The decline of marriage</b><br/>
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<i> A lot of marriages in the past s were pretty unhappy so this may not be a wholly bad thing</i><br/>
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‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in Holy matrimony, which is an honourable estate…’<br/>
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This once-standard ceremony has seen a dramatic decline, but this decline is perhaps not terminal.<br/>
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The recent Irish referendum, with its goal to rewrite definitions of marriage and the role of women and parenthood into the Constitution, has been a dramatic failure. Despite support from all major parties, the two proposals went down by 67 per cent and 74 per cent respectively. After successful referenda on divorce in 1995, same-sex marriage in 2015, and abortion in 2018, the progressive agenda has gone too far.<br/>
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In Christian terms, the Holy rite was ordained for the procreation of children, to avoid fornication, and for the mutual help and society that one ought to have for the other. It was also intended to last ‘through sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live’. For many hundreds of years, this institution prospered and provided stability in the English-speaking world. In the last 50 years, this stability has been increasingly under threat.<br/>
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Examples of changed attitudes are provided by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and the latest American Presidents. There have been multiple progenies through multiple liaisons. Even Barnaby Joyce is enjoying a second round of parenthood. Darling of the Left, ex-Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has belatedly signed up. The latest political surprise is Prime Minister Albanese’s announcement that, after a failed marriage, he will marry Jodie Haydon. Maybe all is not lost?<br/>
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Attitudes to marriage have changed dramatically and, compared with a level of 85 per cent 50 years ago, only 20 per cent of modern couples are married. This, in combination with effective contraception, has resulted in a different attitude to sexual relations and a falling birth rate.<br/>
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The origins of the institution of marriage are lost in the mists of time. The first recorded marriage ceremony was held in around 2,300 BC in Mesopotamia where the institution developed when humans moved from hunter-gathering to permanent settlement and acquisition of property. Prior to this, family units consisted of small groups of men, women, and children. All were shared in sexual polygamy.<br/>
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Subsequently, the wedding ceremony was later found in Greek, Roman, and Jewish communities, binding women and their heirs to men.<br/>
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In other societies, a man was allowed to have as many wives as he could afford. In Shiite culture a temporary marriage, be it for hours or days, (known as Sigheh), is allowed to permit sexual relations. A worldwide survey in 1949 documented 1,200 different groups and found 186 had a monogamous society, over 1,000 with polygamy (multiple wives), and in the Himalayas, 4 with polyandry (multiple husbands). Polygamy is still allowed in many societies, mainly in Africa and the Middle East, and in the Mormon Church in the American State of Utah.<br/>
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Historically, marriage was used to secure economic or political advantage, with little concern about compatibility. This approach is still normal in many cultures, with the husband not eligible for marriage until financially secure, usually resulting in a significant age gap. It was not until the 1500s that, although marriage was frequently arranged, consent of the individuals was required by the church. These concepts remained firmly established until the last few decades.<br/>
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In the UK, the Clandestine Marriage Act of 1753 required all couples to be married by a minister of religion, subsequently the Marriage Act of 1836 allowed for non-religious weddings in registry offices. Child marriage was common until the 19th Century, and is still practised in India with a legal age of 14, and Islamic countries following puberty.<br/>
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In the UK divorce was rare, and individuals required an act of Parliament until a legal process was introduced in 1858. Up to this point, there had only ever been 324 documented cases (only 4 brought by women). Divorce in India, although only around 1 per cent, is increasing in both Hindu and Muslim communities, as recent legal changes mean the wife is less disadvantaged. Australian statistics from 2017 show there were around 110,000 marriages (a fall of 5 per cent on the previous year, and 30 per cent compared with 1975, (when the population was half that of now), and around 40,000 divorces that year. The top 10 countries for divorce are all communist.<br/>
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The social and religious stigma attached to divorce declined in the 1960s, and the contraceptive pill reduced unwanted pregnancies and forced marriage. Women’s liberation increased, with their involvement in the workforce producing greater independence and less subservience. With the introduction of no-fault divorce legislation in 1975, the divorce rate rose dramatically, at its maximum the rate was 4.6 per thousand of the total population. This has declined, to 2 per thousand in 2017, as fewer now marry.<br/>
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The number of marriages in Australia continues to drop, falling from 6 per 1,000 in 1999 to 4.5 per 1,000 in 2019, and a low of 3 during the Covid years. Those who cohabit surprisingly have a five times higher separation rate than those who marry, and experience a lower sense of well-being. Around 50 per cent of those who cohabit ultimately marry. Surprisingly, their divorce rate is a third higher when compared with non-cohabitation before marriage.<br/>
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Surveys of both men and women have demonstrated a greater satisfaction, stability, health, economic development, and commitment in marriage compared with cohabitation, which is associated with increased infidelity and conflict. Studies continue to show that the most successful marriage is the old-fashioned breadwinner/homemaker relationship.<br/>
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Those who do marry do so at a later age, for men the average is 32 (it was 23 in 1976), for women the average is 30 (it was 21). A consequence of this delay is the increasing age of motherhood, now averaging 31, and an increased likelihood of infertility. Despite this supposed maturity, the expectations of personal freedom, lack of commitment, and boredom have undoubtedly increased the rate of changing partners. The influence of Christian religion in marriage has declined from over 95 per cent of church weddings in 1902, to 50 per cent by 1999, and 22 per cent in 2016. This mirrors falling church attendance, with the 45 per cent attending in 1950, falling to 16 per cent by 2016. The latest 2021 Census showed around 43 per cent still identify as Christian.<br/>
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The effect of marital breakdown on children has been extensively researched. Studies suggest they are more prone to behavioural problems as they tend to blame themselves for the marital failure. They have worse educational achievement and are more prone to the development of anxiety, depression, aggression, drug use, poverty in later life, and a criminal record. This has to be compared with the stress of being brought up in a dysfunctional relationship.<br/>
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With divorce or separation comes the likelihood of a new relationship and the arrival of a step-father, many studies have suggested that the new relationship, now labelled the Cinderella effect, maybe more dangerous for the child. Nevertheless, a good male role model is believed important for the child’s future development. The latest Census statistics from 2021 show that there are more than a million one-parent families, a steady increase to now 16 per cent of families.<br/>
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As heterosexual marriage declines, the demand for homosexual marriage has increased. Gay marriage is rare in history but not unknown. The Roman Emperor Nero had two formal weddings to men and the acceptance increased in 2nd and 3rd Century Rome. It was finally banned in 324 A.D., but this failed to halt the empire’s dissolute decline. Same-sex marriage was recognised in many indigenous cultures in the Americas and in Asia. In 2005, the Civil Partnerships Act was introduced in the UK to accord the same rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples.<br/>
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Australia introduced legislation in 2017. The number of heterosexuals marrying fell soon after, perhaps with Covid, but these marriages are now at 60 per cent of the pre-Covid level. Same-sex marriage peaked at 6,000 couples in the first year following the legislation, now around 4,000 annually. The cost of the plebiscite was $130 million, around $100,000 for each marriage that year. This legislation is still not enough for the activists. They seem bent on the destruction of traditional life and the marriage that previously sustained it. This is best exemplified by the incomprehensible statement by a lesbian activist that, ‘Future generations will thank us for eliminating heterosexuality!’<br/>
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Currently, over 30 countries have legislated to formalise same-sex relationships. Australian Census figures from 2016 revealed there are 46,000 couples (around 0.4 per cent of the population and 0.9 per cent of couples) in same-sex relationships, half male and half female. This was an increase from 33,000 recorded in 2011, which was itself a 32 per cent increase from the numbers from 2006. The latest Census figures, from 2021 show there have been 25,000 same-sex marriages.<br/>
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Statistics for the 10 years from 2005-15 show a failure rate of 30 per cent for lesbian relationships and half that rate for gay males, with a comparison rate of 20 per cent for heterosexual couples.<br/>
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Historically, Western society has been held together by several important threads. Christianity has been a stabilising force, providing a moral compass while marriage has provided a structured basis for family life. In the post-modern era, our traditions and religion are also under threat. There are increasing demands from intellectuals that we apologise and compensate others for supposed sins of the past.<br/>
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These pillars of tradition are weakening, we are becoming increasingly selfish and self-centred and losing compassion for others as we fail to commit. The traditional nuclear family has been a target of Marxism since the 19th Century, with the goal of its replacement by the state.<br/>
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The Millennial generation are increasingly following what has been labelled polyamory, with an expectation of partner rotation or multiple partners. This lack of commitment (currently estimated at 5 per cent in this group, compared with 2 per cent in the homosexual group) is resulting in increased sexually transmitted disease, (levels tripled from 2001-11), financial difficulties, and poorly functioning offspring.<br/>
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This triumph of self-fulfilment ignores the need of children for stable parenting.<br/>
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Marriage in many societies will continue to be dictated by their culture, with the rapid expansion of Islam perhaps an important factor for the future of women. In the West we have gone through the stages of marriage for tribal reasons, financial gain, religious requirements, and love. Sexual freedom is now widespread with its self-centred concept of relationship without responsibility. The modern generation need two incomes to support their conspicuous consumption. This has resulted in delay or even abandonment of procreation and a falling birth rate. In Australia there were 23 births per thousand in 1950, this has progressively declined to half that number in 2019, well below replacement levels.<br/>
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Twenty years ago, some were calling these trends a marriage crisis. It may also prove to be a crisis for our Western society. The advent of Covid produced its own challenges, with the number marrying falling further by 31 per cent in 2021. Perhaps Albo can re-invigorate the institution with his own marriage? The result of the recent Irish referendum indicates that all is perhaps not lost.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/marriage-a-fading-institution/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/marriage-a-fading-institution/</a>
</p>
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My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
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<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
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<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
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<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-38625332958085889012024-03-13T14:57:00.004+13:002024-03-13T19:03:49.478+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Another pathetic PFAS study</b><br/>
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<i> PFAS is a class of chemicals that is totally harmless to humans. But because there is a lot of it around the do-gooders are determined to find something wrong with it. They have been at it for years -- always finding nothing like what they theorize. Attention-whore Erin Brockovich was one of the early players. The latest attempt is below. As usual, no harm from PFAS was found. But they scratched around in their data to find something to talk about<br/>
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They were, fortunately, honest enough to admit that their reults were inconclusive. But the results were more than inconclusive. They totally vindicated PFAS. I simply quote from the journal article:<br/>
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"In the overall analyses, no associations were found between PFOA, PFOS, or PFHxS and the clinical lipid measurements when adjusting for age, sex, and education"<br/>
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Get that: NO ASSOCIATIONS </i><br/>
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Toxic chemicals lurking in cookware, make-up and toiletries might be harming the heart, another study suggested today.<br/>
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Scientists have for years warned about the dangers of perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.<br/>
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Dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they can linger in the environment for hundreds of years, they have been linked to everything from cancer to infertility.<br/>
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But the latest evidence by Dutch and German researchers suggests that the impact of PFAS on human health could be even greater than suspected.<br/>
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Tests showed 'clear' signs PFAS led to higher levels of 'harmful' blood lipids, such as cholesterol and other fatty substances.<br/>
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Excess lipids or fats in the blood can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, studies show.<br/>
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The findings do not prove the chemicals, added to cookware, carpets, textiles and other items to make them more water- and stain-repellant, cause any adverse heart issues because other factors could be at play.<br/>
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Scientists said the results, however, should serve as a warning that 'there may be no safe levels below which exposure is without health hazard'.<br/>
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Study author Professor Monique Breteler, director of population health sciences at German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), said: 'We see clear signs of a harmful effect of PFAS on health.<br/>
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'We have found at the same PFAS concentration in the blood, the negative effects are more pronounced in younger subjects than in older ones.<br/>
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'Our data shows a statistically significant correlation between PFAS in the blood and harmful blood lipids linked to cardiovascular risk.'<br/>
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However, she noted: 'The higher the PFAS level, the higher the concentration of these lipids.<br/>
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'Taken strictly, this is not yet proof that PFAS chemicals cause unfavorable blood lipid profiles.'<br/>
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PFAS are a class of chemicals that are more properly known as per and polyfluoroalkyl substances.<br/>
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Famed for their durability and stain resistant properties, they have been used in a host of products from nonstick cookware, to clothes, packaging, cosmetics and even children's toys.<br/>
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But industries are now moving away from them because of their detrimental impacts.<br/>
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When PFAS enter the body either through food and water that people eat and drink or by inhaling contaminated air, they can distribute throughout the body in tissues and organs.<br/>
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PFAS has previously been linked to kidney cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer, among others.<br/>
<br/>
While these links are not definitive and research is ongoing, part of the concern is because PFAS are so ubiquitous in modern life and persist so long in the environment they could infiltrate water supplies, further increasing exposure.<br/>
<br/>
The Government's Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) currently sets a limit of 0.1 micrograms per litre (μg/L) for PFAS in UK tap water, with the body running a specific programme testing for levels in British water supplies.<br/>
<br/>
In their study, researchers at DZNE and Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands analysed blood samples from over 2,500 Dutch men and women aged between 30 and 89.<br/>
<br/>
PFAS were detected in the blood of almost all test subjects.<br/>
<br/>
Professor Breteler added: 'Even if we don't see an immediate health threat for the study participants we examined, the situation is still worrying.<br/>
<br/>
'In the long term, the increased risk may very well have a negative impact on the heart and cardiovascular system.'<br/>
<br/>
The findings, based on three of the most common types of PFAS (PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS) were published in the journal Exposure and Health.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13186847/chemicals-scientists-toxic-PFAS-blood-heart.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13186847/chemicals-scientists-toxic-PFAS-blood-heart.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Crazy priorities from Joe Biden</b><br/>
<br/>
Before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the pundit class was predicting that he would deliver a message of unity and calm, if only to attract undecided voters to his side.<br/>
<br/>
He did the opposite. The speech revealed a loud, cranky, angry, bitter side of the man that people don’t usually see. It seemed like the real Joe Biden I remember from the old days, full of venom, sarcasm, disdain, threats, and extreme partisanship.<br/>
<br/>
The base might have loved it except that he made reference to an “illegal” alien, which is apparently a trigger word for the left. He failed their purity test.<br/>
<br/>
The speech was stunning in its bile and bitterness. It’s beyond belief that he began with a pitch for more funds for the Ukraine war, which has killed 10,000 civilians and some 200,000 troops on both sides. It’s a bloody mess that could have been resolved early on but for U.S. tax funding of the conflict.<br/>
<br/>
Despite the push from the higher ends of conservative commentary, average Republicans have turned hard against this war. The United States is in a fiscal crisis and every manner of domestic crisis, and the U.S. president opens his speech with a pitch to protect the border in Ukraine? It was completely bizarre, and lent some weight to the darkest conspiracies about why the Biden administration cares so much about this issue.<br/>
<br/>
From there, he pivoted to wildly overblown rhetoric about the most hysterically exaggerated event of our times: the legendary Jan. 6 protests on Capitol Hill. Arrests for daring to protest the government on that day are growing.<br/>
<br/>
The media and the Biden administration continue to describe it as the worst crisis since the War of the Roses, or something. It’s all a wild stretch, but it set the tone of the whole speech, complete with unrelenting attacks on former President Donald Trump. He would use the speech not to unite or make a pitch that he is president of the entire country but rather intensify his fundamental attack on everything America is supposed to be.<br/>
<br/>
Hard to isolate the most alarming part, but one aspect really stood out to me. He glared directly at the Supreme Court Justices sitting there and threatened them with political power. He said that they were awful for getting rid of nationwide abortion rights and returning the issue to the states where it belongs, very obviously. But President Biden whipped up his base to exact some kind of retribution against the court.<br/>
<br/>
Looking this up, we have a few historical examples of presidents criticizing the court but none to their faces in a State of the Union address. This comes two weeks after President Biden directly bragged about defying the Supreme Court over the issue of student loan forgiveness. The court said he could not do this on his own, but President Biden did it anyway.<br/>
<br/>
Here we have an issue of civic decorum that you cannot legislate or legally codify. Essentially, under the U.S. system, the president has to agree to defer to the highest court in its rulings even if he doesn’t like them. President Biden is now aggressively defying the court and adding direct threats on top of that. In other words, this president is plunging us straight into lawlessness and dictatorship.<br/>
<br/>
In the background here, you must understand, is the most important free speech case in U.S. history. The Supreme Court on March 18 will hear arguments over an injunction against President Biden’s administrative agencies as issued by the Fifth Circuit. The injunction would forbid government agencies from imposing themselves on media and social media companies to curate content and censor contrary opinions, either directly or indirectly through so-called “switchboarding.”<br/>
<br/>
A ruling for the plaintiffs in the case would force the dismantling of a growing and massive industry that has come to be called the censorship-industrial complex. It involves dozens or even more than 100 government agencies, including quasi-intelligence agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which was set up only in 2018 but managed information flow, labor force designations, and absentee voting during the COVID-19 response.<br/>
<br/>
A good ruling here will protect free speech or at least intend to. But, of course, the Biden administration could directly defy it. That seems to be where this administration is headed. It’s extremely dangerous.<br/>
<br/>
A ruling for the defense and against the injunction would be a catastrophe. It would invite every government agency to exercise direct control over all media and social media in the country, effectively abolishing the First Amendment.<br/>
<br/>
Close watchers of the court have no clear idea of how this will turn out. But watching President Biden glare at court members at the address, one does wonder. Did they sense the threats he was making against them? Will they stand up for the independence of the judicial branch?<br/>
<br/>
Maybe his intimidation tactics will end up backfiring. After all, does the Supreme Court really think it is wise to license this administration with the power to control all information flows in the United States?<br/>
<br/>
The deeper issue here is a pressing battle that is roiling American life today. It concerns the future and power of the administrative state versus the elected one. The Constitution contains no reference to a fourth branch of government, but that is what has been allowed to form and entrench itself, in complete violation of the Founders’ intentions. Only the Supreme Court can stop it, if they are brave enough to take it on.<br/>
<br/>
If you haven’t figured it out yet, and surely you have, President Biden is nothing but a marionette of deep-state interests. He is there to pretend to be the people’s representative, but everything that he does is about entrenching the fourth branch of government, the permanent bureaucracy that goes on its merry way without any real civilian oversight.<br/>
<br/>
We know this for a fact by virtue of one of his first acts as president, to repeal an executive order by President Trump that would have reclassified some (or many) federal employees as directly under the control of the elected president rather than have independent power. The elites in Washington absolutely panicked about President Trump’s executive order. They plotted to make sure that he didn’t get a second term, and quickly scratched that brilliant act by President Trump from the historical record.<br/>
<br/>
This epic battle is the subtext behind nearly everything taking place in Washington today.<br/>
<br/>
Aside from the vicious moment of directly attacking the Supreme Court, President Biden set himself up as some kind of economic central planner, promising to abolish hidden fees and bags of chips that weren’t full enough, as if he has the power to do this, which he does not. He was up there just muttering gibberish. If he is serious, he believes that the U.S. president has the power to dictate the prices of every candy bar and hotel room in the United States—an absolutely terrifying exercise of power that compares only to Stalin and Mao. And yet there he was promising to do just that.<br/>
<br/>
Aside from demonizing the opposition, wildly exaggerating about Jan. 6, whipping up war frenzy, swearing to end climate change, which will make the “green energy” industry rich, threatening more taxes on business enterprise, promising to cure cancer (again!), and parading as the master of candy bar prices, what else did he do? Well, he took credit for the supposedly growing economy even as a vast number of Americans are deeply suffering from his awful policies.<br/>
<br/>
It’s hard to imagine that this speech could be considered a success. The optics alone made him look like the Grinch who stole freedom, except the Grinch was far more articulate and clever. He’s a mean one, Mr. Biden<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-grinch-who-stole-freedom-5603861">https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-grinch-who-stole-freedom-5603861</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Diversity Row Erupts at National AI Institute After 180 Staff Sign Letter Questioning “Inclusivity” of Hiring Four Male Scientists</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> Why is it so difficult to accept that men and women are good at different things? They always have been and always will be
<br/><br/>
It's part of the restless nature of Leftists. They are never happy with how things are. So they press for change to anything that seems restricted. But that can easily be destructive. Wanting women to do things that they are less good at just diverts them from things they are good at, resulting in a general decline of capability</i>
<br/>
<br/>
A diversity row has erupted at the U.K.’s national AI institute after staff signed a letter questioning the “inclusivity” of the appointment of four male senior scientists. The Telegraph has more.<br/>
<br/>
Employees and researchers at the Alan Turing Institute, Britain’s flagship data science and AI research organisation set up in 2015, questioned whether its “commitment to inclusivity” was being followed in its hiring process.<br/>
<br/>
More than 180 people signed the letter, which was first reported by the Guardian, after four top male academics were appointed in February. The signatories said the hiring suggested a “continuing trend of limited diversity within the institute’s senior scientific leadership”.<br/>
<br/>
In the letter, addressed to Chief Executive Dr. Jean Innes and its Operations Lead and Chief Scientist, the staff said: “This is an excellent time to reflect on whether all voices are being heard and if the institute’s commitment to inclusivity is being fully realised in our recruitment and decision-making practices.”<br/>
<br/>
The protest comes after the Government agreed to hand the institute a further £100m over the next five years for research focusing on “grand challenges” in the use of data and AI in healthcare, defence and sustainability.<br/>
<br/>
Four new scientists, including experts from UCL and Imperial College London, were hired to help lead those efforts. All were men.<br/>
<br/>
The staff who signed the letter to the Turing Institute’s leadership said their intention was “not to undermine” the scientists’ credentials, but they added: “Our aim is to highlight a broader issue within our institute’s approach to diversity and inclusivity, particularly in scientific leadership roles, with a specific eye towards gender diversity.”<br/>
<br/>
Four of the 12 research programme directors at the institute are women.<br/>
<br/>
Dr. Innes, the chief executive of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “Our appointments are made through free and fair competition and on the basis of merit. We recognise the critical importance of diverse leadership and welcome dialogue with our community about what more we can do.<br/>
<br/>
“As the national institute for data science and AI we are committed to increasing the proportion of under-represented groups in these fields.”<br/>
<br/>
Let’s face it. The activists were never going to be happy with equal opportunity. Only the full-on socialist ‘equity’ of equal outcomes between identity groups was going to be acceptable to those bent on bringing down the ‘evil oppressors’.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/11/diversity-row-erupts-at-national-ai-institute-after-180-staff-sign-letter-questioning-inclusivity-of-hiring-four-male-scientists/">https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/11/diversity-row-erupts-at-national-ai-institute-after-180-staff-sign-letter-questioning-inclusivity-of-hiring-four-male-scientists/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Envy and the left</b><br/>
<br/>
We are all familiar with the concept of envy. As we know, this corrosive, malignant state of mind is one of the seven deadly sins of Christianity, but it’s also condemned in Islam, Buddhism, and most secular ethical systems. Writing in 1930, Bertrand Russell identified envy as a major, and largely unacknowledged, cause of unhappiness in Western societies. If anything, its pernicious hold is stronger than ever today and growing. Social media is widely blamed for this, but progressive ideology is also a culprit, and perhaps the most important one. True, the left has always appealed to envy, but as its Utopian ambitions have grown, so too has its demonetisation of the successful.<br/>
<br/>
Let’s start with the government’s ditching of the Stage Three personal income tax cuts. In a classic Robin Hood ploy, it is taking money from all those who earn more than $150,000 (compared to what they would have received under Stage Three) to pay for higher tax relief for those on lower incomes. The latter could have been funded by spending cuts, preserving the reform intention behind stage three.<br/>
<br/>
So why was this option apparently not even considered? Doling out benefits to the needy does not provide, for the envious, the frisson of pleasure that penalising others in the community does. Envy was the leitmotif of Bill Shorten’s leadership. Under Prime Minister Albanese, the appeal is less overt, but still unmistakably there: a dog-whistle rather than a campaign slogan.<br/>
<br/>
Envy’s reach extends well beyond tax. It is hard-wired into identity politics. Consider what kind of world its adherents aim to create. Their goal is not equality in the true sense of the word: a colour-blind society where all enjoy the same rights and freedoms. No, they crave hierarchy and privilege. Power must be stripped from imagined oppressor groups (white males and Jews, to take two favourite targets) and transferred instead to their supposed victims (women, Indigenous people, and Palestinians). Where the traditional left at least paid lip service to the abolition of all privilege, progressives covet it for themselves. Covetousness, as we know, is a close relation of envy.<br/>
<br/>
Nor is climate change ideology free of envy. As Bertrand Russell pointed out, many people mask their envy in virtue. I suspect this was a large part of the psychological appeal of last century’s prohibition movement. I have no doubt that it motivates climate change moralisers today, who insist we give up – for our own good, of course – cheap and reliable power, viable agriculture and industry, and even the type of cars most of us want to drive. For many of them, I suspect, this harsh prospect provides a warm inner glow. Not only can they indulge their worst envious instincts, they can pose as morally superior at the same time.<br/>
<br/>
If you think I am drawing a long bow, consider why renowned economist and climate believer Bjorn Lomborg is so despised by the left. By rejecting the need for emissions austerity, he is denying climate zealots the opportunity to take others’ petrol-powered SUVs away.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, none of us is immune from envy. This vice can afflict conservatives as well as progressives, libertarians as well as socialists, in their personal lives. Equally, no political philosophy is free from morally corrupting influences and ethical blind spots. For conservatism, at least in the eyes of its critics, a lack of compassion toward the less fortunate is highlighted in this regard. For the left envy is the age-old moral hazard, given how easily compassion can morph into the urge to hurt the better off.<br/>
<br/>
Mainstream social democratic parties, to their credit, used to keep this malign instinct within certain limits, confining their ambitions to income redistribution. In the past, the tall poppy syndrome was about pricking the pretensions of high and mighty rather than outright cancellation. Today’s progressive left, like its socialist predecessors, has given envy far freer rein. Indeed, it is an inevitable by-product of progressivism’s basic worldview.<br/>
<br/>
By denying the existence of individual merit or excellence, progressives are suspicious of success of any kind, which is attributed to privilege, luck or the lottery of the free market. By rejecting traditional religion, they blind themselves to the darker realities of human nature, not least their own. And consider the effect of the depressing, zero-sum view of the world progressivism adopts: the belief that everything we value, whether material wealth, cultural riches, and indeed treasured historical memories, must have been stolen or appropriated from some oppressed group.<br/>
<br/>
Rather than giving in to envy, we can respond to the success of others in a constructive way. We can admire them. We can seek to emulate, and possibly even surpass them. This competitive impulse, while decried by some, is a positive social and economic force. It has always been the key to capitalism’s dynamism and social mobility.<br/>
<br/>
This truth was recognised by our greatest Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke and John Howard. Their policy settings, which put aspiration (and where merited, compassion for the less fortunate) before envy, yielded enormous economic and social dividends. We became richer and more socially cohesive as a result. I suspect we were happier and more content. Yet this era seems a world away.<br/>
<br/>
If you want to know why socialism, for all its manifest failures, retains its attraction, you don’t need to look beyond its appeal to envy. After all, there is a reason why the major political party of the left in Australia is called the Greens. Progressive ideology, the socialism of the 21st Century, has given this vice new impetus and cover, pulling the impressionable young into its orbit. They may initially have good intentions, but for too many envy’s seductions (and addictive effect) eventually take over. This is a recipe not for happiness and fulfilment, but for anger, emptiness, and demoralisation. We can see every day in the faces of progressive protesters.<br/>
<br/>
Envy can be overcome. People can change for the better. The ancients, in their wisdom, gave us the clue we need. Envy, they believed, is a form of selective blindness (as its Latin word invidia suggests). Those afflicted by it must remove their self-imposed blinkers. Yet for progressives who, whether from hubris or vanity, refuse to see this is no small task.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/envy-and-the-left/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/envy-and-the-left/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-32749762687575454212024-03-12T16:59:00.000+13:002024-03-12T16:59:06.318+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Taking two popular supplements after the menopause could raise women's risk of heart attack</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> I have reproduced above the original headline of the article below. It is totally misleading. The research was high-quality and if you look at the the orignating journal article what you find is that "There was no overall effect on other measures, including all-cause mortality". In other words taking the pills did not help you live longer or shorten your life. The pills increased your risk of heart attacks but reduced your risk of cancer, with the two effects almost perfectly balancing one-another out. So old ladies will not be harmed by those pills. They will live just as long with or without them.<br/>
<br/>
Another important inaccuracy is that the pills are not usually taken "to stave off the effects of menopause". HRT is used for that. The pills in this case are used to prevent crumbling bones. So the pills may give some comfort without killing you. That sounds like good news to me </i><br/>
<br/>
Taking two popular supplements after the menopause could raise women's risk of heart attack, according to major 20 year study<br/>
US researchers followed more than 30,000 women for two decades<br/>
They found that those who took certain supplements had raised heart risk<br/>
<br/>
Taking supplements to stave off the effects of menopause could leave you more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease, according to a landmark study involving 36,000 women.<br/>
<br/>
Researchers from The US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute looked at the health outcomes of roughly 18,000 women who took daily calcium and vitamin D pills for seven years - all of whom were between the ages of 50 and 79.<br/>
<br/>
They followed the women up 20 years later, and compared the incidence of heart disease and cancer to a group of a similar number who didn't take supplements in their later years.<br/>
<br/>
The results, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that those who'd taken the pills - which are said to strengthen bones - had a six percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, compared to the other group.<br/>
<br/>
However, those in the supplement arm of the study were also seven percent less likely to die from cancer.<br/>
<br/>
Notably, the authors said the increased risk of cancer was only seen in those who had been taking supplements in their younger years, before the study launched.<br/>
<br/>
This is the largest randomized trial of women using these supplements, according to the study's authors.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-us/article-13184253/menopause-supplements-risk-heart-attack.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-us/article-13184253/menopause-supplements-risk-heart-attack.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Out-of-Control HR is Destroying Britain</b><br/>
<br/>
An all-pervasive ‘just be kind’ mindset in every walk of life is turning the economy to mush, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph. And it’s being driven by out-of-control HR. Here’s an excerpt.<br/>
<br/>
One way to respond to this [explosion in worklessness] would be to say that Britain is a sicker country than it used to be. But as one noted psychiatrist put it earlier this year, the “rate of defined disorders has not changed for 50-60 years”. What may have changed instead is our willingness to describe ourselves as being mentally unwell, and the willingness of the state to accept that claim without excessive interrogation.<br/>
<br/>
Indeed, in the HR state, attempts to shift people into employment are frowned upon as unkind, even though work can be beneficial for mental health. And so the taxpayer continues to fork out for workers who don’t work, public services decline and the tax burden grows.<br/>
<br/>
Once you start to see the growing power of HR culture, it’s everywhere. It’s in the way we speak to each other, with normal, everyday interactions increasingly governed by rules on what can be said, on what level of rudeness incurs civil or criminal liability.<br/>
<br/>
Rather than taking offence – with the implication that we can choose how to respond, including shrugging ill-judged words off – we are harmed by insensitive language. And the HR state intervenes to protect us, levelling jail sentences at people who are rude online, or handing massive payouts to those offended by their colleagues at work.<br/>
<br/>
It doesn’t matter if that offence is given with good reason. Demanding excellent performance from highly paid civil servants and employees is out. And getting rid of employees isn’t always an option either: in one notable case, a judge found in favour of an employee complaining about being let go after 808 sick days (and racking up £96,000 in sick pay).<br/>
<br/>
You aren’t even really free to choose what you pay your employees. At any point, the state could decide your arrangement is insufficiently fair.<br/>
<br/>
Take the de facto bankruptcy of Birmingham City Council. Poor decisions, like spending millions of pounds taxiing students to school, played a role in this affair. But perhaps the biggest blow came when a judge determined that completely different jobs, with completely different demands – and market rates – met a nebulous definition of equal worth.<br/>
<br/>
It didn’t matter that men and women in the same roles were paid the same wages. The simple fact that some jobs – such as street cleaners and refuse collectors – received bonuses that others – such as cooks and care workers – did not was enough to show that the council had breached the law. The result was £1.1bn in payouts, with possibly another £760m in liabilities remaining, and a torrent of follow-on lawsuits against councils, supermarkets, and all sorts of other employers.<br/>
<br/>
From an economic perspective, this is nuts. It’s closer to old Marxist theories of value than it is to anything modern economists would recognise. Different jobs earn different wages because they are different; they differ in staffing levels, capital intensity, travel time, injury risk, hours, unpleasantness, and any number of other features.<br/>
<br/>
Wages reflect all of these things and more. Of course different jobs pay different wages! But in the eyes of the HR state, none of this matters. All that matters is that a judge believes they are of equal worth.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/08/out-of-control-hr-is-destroying-britain/">https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/08/out-of-control-hr-is-destroying-britain/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Surviving in black America</b><br/>
<br/>
When I was 15-years old, I rejected the advances of an aggressive young Jamaican boy who had recently moved into my Harlem neighborhood.<br/>
<br/>
My dismissal of his passes made him angry and he verbally threatened to hurt me. At first, I brushed it off and didn’t take him seriously. But after the initial incident, there were other times I would see him around the neighborhood and he would physically grab me by the arm and make the same threat. He wasn’t afraid of anyone seeing or hearing him terrorize me. Although I didn’t show it or express it to anyone, but eventually I did begin to fear him.<br/>
<br/>
By this point, I was used to the familiar feeling of being unsafe in my environment.<br/>
<br/>
One Saturday night in the summer, I went outside to meet up with my friends. It had been a hot day and my block was crowded with kids and teenagers who had been having water fights. My apartment building was located on 8th Avenue and I started walking towards 7th Avenue, before I could reach the end of the block, I saw the the Jamaican boy walking towards me and noticed he was pulling a gun out of his waistband.<br/>
<br/>
I immediately stopped walking and froze in place. As he got closer, I could see the sinister grin on his face. He grabbed me and we tussled for a few moments with the gun in his hand. The next thing I remember is being hit with the butt of the gun on the right side of my head. He laughed as he walked away from the scene of the crime.<br/>
<br/>
I was dizzy from the assault but I stumbled back to my building and sat there for a while trying to make sense of what had just happened while my head throbbed in pain. As I wiped the tears streaming down my face, I decided it was time to climb the three flights of stairs to my family’s apartment and tell them about the assault. I didn’t realize that my younger brother had jumped in to help me. That might’ve been the action that saved my life. Although there were many witnesses, no one else intervened.<br/>
<br/>
I continued to attract aggressive boys and men who felt the need to exert their predatory prowess over my feminine nature and petite frame.<br/>
<br/>
That incident was not the first time I had to physically struggle or was attacked by a young boy or a man, that I knew personally, for violating me. I kept these incidents to myself but I wasn’t aware that being silent about it would be detrimental to my health and my future self.<br/>
<br/>
I was slapped in public a couple of times and date raped by one of my boyfriends. I fought off a rape attempt by a “friend” I was not involved with the incident happening only a few steps from my apartment door. Another attack involved an older family friend inside of my apartment when no adult was home. Later on in my early twenties, a guy I worked with locked the supply room behind us and also attempted to sexually assault me.<br/>
<br/>
All of these occurrences slowly eroded my spirit leaving my perpetrators free of consequences because of my swift compartmentalization of each offense.<br/>
<br/>
After years of normalizing the propensity of violence towards me, I lost the strength to fight back in intimate relationship dynamics that were rooted in my complacency. Any drop of self-respect I may have had was gone if it ever existed. I found myself saying yes to things that I really wanted to say no to because I was exhausted of hoping they could see my worth and treat me better. My malaise was a sure sign of low self value.<br/>
<br/>
The external harm manifested into an internal behavior pattern of self-betrayal, self-harm and a strange addiction to destructive sociopathic behavior in men. Experiencing a repetition of trauma lead to insanity and the scale had finally tilted to the other side.<br/>
<br/>
The day came in 2018 where I had to face the truth of my past and my violent history with men. The rude awakening was after another dangerous man that made vile attempts against my well-being.<br/>
<br/>
After spending four years in a psychologically abusive and mentally draining relationship, I had a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with a second autoimmune disorder. I had wasted more of my precious time with someone whose intention was to bring forth destruction and disturb my peace.<br/>
<br/>
The troubling red flags were the warning signs I needed to escape another troubling situation but I ignored after months of his persistent pursuit. It only took a couple of days after he moved into my home for his sinister planning and unpredictable actions to take root thus destabilizing the sacred environment I had created for my son and I. Later he confessed with a badge of honor his lack of empathy and narcissism.<br/>
<br/>
His admission and self awareness of his dark traits did nothing for the lack of self respect that I exhibited that became a playground for his abuse.<br/>
<br/>
Self deprecation was not a new experience. I had deep feelings of unworthiness that I carried since I was a child. I was unaware of the subconscious attraction to violent men until one day, I suddenly remembered the incident that contributed to my dissociation from over thirty years ago. It was time for me to reflect on my habits and behaviors that continued to welcome this malevolent spirit.<br/>
<br/>
I had spent many years blaming myself for what the Jamaican boy had done to me and not dealing with the remnants of that trauma. I had not allowed him to be solely responsible for his violent behavior. Even though he did not physically kill me that night, a part of my spirit died. He didn’t pull the actual trigger on the gun but shot a bullet through my soul.<br/>
<br/>
Living life in victimhood did not serve me well.<br/>
<br/>
Deep down in the recesses of my mind and body, I did not want to represent the damsel in distress personae so I covered up these infractions towards me and hardened my feelings that blocked any real long term opportunities for a genuine and healthy intimate connection, one in which my safety would be a priority.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://saidbysimone.medium.com/the-night-i-was-hit-with-a-gun-554d4887d614">https://saidbysimone.medium.com/the-night-i-was-hit-with-a-gun-554d4887d614</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Is this the beginning of the end of America's woke madness? The Democrat cities rolling back progressive policies</b><br/>
<br/>
In San Francisco and Portland, leaders are reversing liberal drug policies after they led to a sharp rise in addiction and deaths by overdose.<br/>
<br/>
And across the country in New York, Mayor Eric Adams wants changes the Big Apple's sanctuary status following a surge in migrant arrivals. The city has also announced the drastic step of stationing National Guard troops on its subway in response to a rise in crime.<br/>
<br/>
These policy shifts come as moderate Democrats in some blue strongholds attempt to oust their most progressive leaders, including in Washington DC, where activists are trying to oust two prominent councilmembers following a sharp rise in violent crime.<br/>
<br/>
The policy shifts mark a stark tilt away from radical policies including drug decriminalization and the defunding of police forces - measures which have been blamed for causing the crises.<br/>
<br/>
New York<br/>
<br/>
New York Mayor Eric Adams has called for an overhaul of its sanctuary city status as his administrations battles with the impact of 180,000 migrant arrivals since the beginning of last year.<br/>
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The city is also taking radical steps to tackle rising subway crime. On Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced National Guard soldiers and State Police will be deployed onto platforms to solve the crisis.<br/>
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The measures indicate the willingness of both leaders to take an increasingly tough stance on the city's most pressing issues.<br/>
<br/>
Adams took office with a pledge to maintain the city's sanctuary status - which protects people from detention or prosecution based on their immigration status.<br/>
<br/>
But that was before the recent influx which Adams has conceded could 'destroy New York City'.<br/>
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More than 560 cities, states and counties have declared themselves sanctuaries since the early 1980s and New York adopted the status under former Democrat Mayor Ed Koch.<br/>
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Speaking on Monday, Adams told a town hall meeting: 'We need to modify the sanctuary city law that if you commit a felony or violent act we should be able to turn you over to ICE and have you deported.'<br/>
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Two days later, Governor Hochul was announcing the drastic measure of drafting in almost 1,000 National Guard to try and preventing spiraling subway crime in the city.<br/>
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She is working with Adams to solve the issue after figures published in mid-February revealed there were 266 crimes on the subway network since the beginning of the year, a 22.6 percent increase on the same period in 2023.<br/>
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The crackdown will also see subway riders subjected to 'random' bag checks while the number of plainclothes cops patrolling the station will be increased.<br/>
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Adams stressed the subways are particularly seeing an increase in attacks on MTA workers, which he blamed on a small number of criminals being able to target people hundreds of times each.<br/>
<br/>
He noted that 38 people were arrested for a staggering 1,126 attacks on MTA workers in 2023, while 542 people were arrested last year for over 7,600 shoplifting crimes.<br/>
<br/>
Portland, Oregon<br/>
<br/>
Oregon lawmakers passed a bill on March 1 to recriminalize possession of drugs in response to a statewide fentanyl crisis which has brought Portland, the state's most populous city, to its knees.<br/>
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The bill recriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs reverses a key part of the state's drug decriminalization law, which was the first of its kind in the U.S.<br/>
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Progressive leaders who touted decriminalization promised it would end criminal convictions for the city's most vulnerable citizens and also refocus efforts on recovery from addiction.<br/>
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Instead, Oregon has seen a 190 percent increase in overdose deaths since the initial decriminalization bill went into effect in February 2021, according to the CDC. Areas of downtown Portland have been taken over by homeless drug addicts who openly use fentanyl in broad daylight.<br/>
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In the 12 months leading up to February 2021, there were 861 overdose deaths in Oregon; that number increased to 1,650 deaths in the same 12-month period ending in September 2023.<br/>
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The decision to walk back on the policy has been couple with an increase in funding for police after budgets were slashed in the wake of BLM protests and the 'defund the police' movement.<br/>
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Homicides hit record highs in 2022 and violent offences also surged, but crime was down markedly last year after the budget increases were implemented.<br/>
<br/>
The sharp rise in crime started in 2020, when Portland City Council voted to approve $15 million in reductions to the police bureau and 84 sworn staff positions were cut.<br/>
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Portland's homicide rate exploded from 36 in 2019 to 85 last year, which followed a record 97 homicides in 2022, according to Portland Police Bureau data.<br/>
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Violent crime rates also increased significantly since 2019, according to separate FBI statistics.<br/>
<br/>
In November 2021, little more than a year after police budgets were cut, Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged 'many Portlanders no longer feel safe' and the city council voted to increase police spending by $5.2 million.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-america-s-woke-madness-the-democrat-cities-rolling-back-progressive-policies/ar-BB1jBeWe">https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-america-s-woke-madness-the-democrat-cities-rolling-back-progressive-policies/ar-BB1jBeWe</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-21870706985778762532024-03-11T15:57:00.002+13:002024-03-11T15:58:30.521+13:00
<br/>
<b> Understanding national conservatism</b><br/>
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<i> National conservatism sounds suspicuously like Trumpism, particularly on trade issues. "Free trade" has always sounded good to conservatives but Trump showed that it should not be an all-powerful consideration.<br/>
<br/>
And Trump was not really being unorthoox in his trade restrictions. Economists have always recognized exceptions to the desirabiity of free trade: "Infant industry" and the "Australian" cases for instance. And the "supply-chain" difficulties presently besetting trade rather vindicate that</i><br/>
<br/>
<img height=350 width=550 src="https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/5446562a8b273cc7e2fc27e5faa6b47d">
<br/>
<br/>
The Economist, the British magazine well-known for its particular metropolitan liberal worldview, had a pearl-clutching cover piece last week where it bemoaned ‘the growing peril of national conservatism’.<br/>
<br/>
‘It’s dangerous and it’s spreading,’ the editorial warned its readers – making it sound like some new Covid variant.<br/>
<br/>
What exactly is national conservatism?<br/>
<br/>
Australians could be forgiven for being a little in the dark, for while there have been national conservative conferences in Washington DC and Florida in America, and in London, Brussels, and Rome in Europe, there has been nothing similar so far here. There are no mainstream Australian journalists who describe themselves using that label. Nor, unlike elsewhere, are there leading politicians or any groupings in any of our mainstream parties who march under that banner. I have found it a struggle to get those involved in the think tank world and in centre-right politics in Australia to even understand the concept properly.<br/>
<br/>
The Economist labelled national conservatives as those ‘seized by declinism’, ‘the politics of grievance’, and those who see the ‘state as its saviour’. But that is unfair and does not do this intellectual movement justice. National conservatives have a deep philosophical critique of the assumptions held by policymakers in the capitals of the West. As some of the leading intellectuals of the movement, like Yoram Hazony, have explored in great depth, they are critical of aspects of classical liberalism and the dominant worldview which over-emphasises the sovereign individual, rather than the family, the nation, and our religious traditions as the source of our prosperity and freedoms. They believe the focus in centre-right circles has, in recent years, gone awry. In the words of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, it is time to ‘put conservatism back into its traditional sphere of national identity’.<br/>
<br/>
Perhaps the most obvious areas where national conservatives differ from the current centre-right are in relation to immigration, trade, and foreign policy.<br/>
<br/>
First and foremost, national conservatives reject the long-standing consensus on immigration. They believe that mass immigration perhaps poses more of an existential threat to the West than Soviet missiles ever did. Nations like Poland and Hungary recovered from years of communist domination. But it is far less clear whether parts of Western Europe and elsewhere will survive the ethnic conflicts and other threats to social cohesion that have been carelessly imported into their homelands. This is not simply about ‘stopping the boats’ or ‘building the wall’ – although many Western governments struggle to do even that. It is emphatically also about legal immigration. There needs to be a reassessment from first principles as to what level and what type of immigration, if any, makes sense for Western nations and our peoples going forward. In the Howard era, there was an oft-repeated line that because the government was able to control illegal immigration Australians welcomed higher levels of legal immigration. If that was ever actually true, it is not true now.<br/>
<br/>
National conservatives also recognise that the trade and investment policies of the West need a serious rethink. They reject the idea that the end goal, beau ideal, should be open borders trade and investment between nations, without regard to their differing economic, social, or political circumstances. To be clear, this means large numbers of Australia’s existing trade and investment agreements, including but not limited to, the one we signed with China, will need to be torn up or at the very least significantly redesigned. Our trade and investment policies have created boom towns in places like Shenzhen and Bangalore and rust belts in places like Stockbridge, Elizabeth, and Youngstown. They have gutted our national industrial capacity and destroyed communities. They have turned us into exquisite connoisseurs of imported goods, rather than producers of anything other than primary produce or overpriced housing to sell to foreigners. The idea, so beloved by The Economist, that it should be as easy to import manufactured goods from China to Australia as it is to import the same from England to France needs to be consigned to the ash heap of history.<br/>
<br/>
National conservatives also believe that our foreign policy needs to change. The reckless evangelicalism that has characterised Western military adventures for well over the last quarter century needs to stop. What is needed is a new prudence that is focused instead on our vital interests (narrowly defined) and which is far more selective about the conflicts we allow ourselves to be dragged into. Large numbers of our people are simply sick to the back teeth of endless and pointless wars in places like Somalia, Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and elsewhere. These are places that they do not really care that much about, but which they or their children have been expected to die for. These interventions always seem to follow a similar storyline: some bad guy is the ‘next Hitler’, a particular incident is the ‘new Munich’. Unless we get involved and offer unlimited economic or military support, we are Neville Chamberlain-like appeasers. Certain politicians then get to globe-trot around the globe pretending they are the next Winston Churchill. Inevitably what then follows, many years later, is a loss of blood, treasure, and national prestige, the destabilising of entire regions and a flood of refugees, and all manner of second-order unintended consequences. In nearly all cases these are not grand ideological struggles, but messy intractable ethnic disputes where there are no pure actors on either side.<br/>
<br/>
There are other areas of policy where national conservatives have new and constructive things to say, including on social policy – where a reconstitution of family structures and traditional ways of life is going to be as important as the reconstruction of our national borders and identity. But if there is one theme that unites this movement, it is that they are anti-Utopian. The left was in the past the utopian ones, the ones who liked to ‘imagine there is no countries’. But since the great victory in the Cold War the centre-right has also become increasingly un-moored from reality. It has ignored the importance of the nation-state when it comes to trade, immigration and foreign policy and many other issues. All national conservatives are asking is that we get real again.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/understanding-national-conservatism/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/understanding-national-conservatism/</a>
</p>
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<b> Transgenderism is an attack on women</b><br/>
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The 21st Century Australian woman has greater freedom and opportunities afforded to her than at any other time in history, and to truly honour this legacy, we must reflect, be proud and thank those who led the way.<br/>
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However, in the abundance of blessings, women face a new battle. It is not to do with votes or pay but an attack on our very being – an attack on the identity of a woman.<br/>
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What is a woman? An adult female human.<br/>
<br/>
Plain and simple I would have thought. Not so, according to some. Sadly, the movement to let men parade as women and demand female recognition has erased the uniqueness, beauty and femininity of a woman by claiming that womanhood is merely a subjective feeling that can be experienced by any person, notably men!<br/>
<br/>
This modern tendency to question basic biology places women in greater danger than even the suffragettes would have thought possible. It disgraces the hard-fought battles women have mounted and won, to achieve equality.<br/>
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Women deserve to feel safe and respected. We have achieved this through removing the marriage bar, criminalising marital rape and legislating against sex discrimination.<br/>
<br/>
However, despite this progress women today now find themselves in a fight for the right even to be recognised as biological women. The right to safe spaces including single-sex toilets, change rooms and female-only prisons has now also been denied.<br/>
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It is becoming increasingly common to have all-gender and trans-inclusive bathrooms to cater to a minority of men who feel like women. Women can’t even be guaranteed a safe place to champion women’s rights, including on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne. This idea would outrage suffragette women and the early feminist movement and rightly so.<br/>
<br/>
The fact is that today, feelings trump women’s safety and very existence. And for what?<br/>
<br/>
The logical fallacy that people should choose the restroom that they feel most comfortable using over the protection of vulnerable girls is unacceptable. The fact that women can be raped in a woman’s prison by a man masquerading as a woman is deplorable.<br/>
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The dignity of women is further disgraced by rhetoric that distorts the truth of motherhood.<br/>
<br/>
The ability to produce and nurture life is a phenomenon that only women can experience. But today, inclusivity has overridden our right to be called a mother, in favour of ‘person who gives birth’, ‘chest-feeder’, or simply ‘parent’. For the record, I’m not a birthing parent but a proud mother.<br/>
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Gender blindness, including the use of gender-neutral language, destroys the significant differences between men and women, a basic biological factor in life.<br/>
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Our over-sensitivities today strip women of their dignity and right to existence.<br/>
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I never thought that upon my entrance into the Victorian Parliament in 2018, I would have to fight to uphold the definition of womanhood and argue for the protection of rights for women and girls.<br/>
<br/>
We do a great disservice to those women who achieved equality and respect by allowing the identity for which they were really fighting to be erased.<br/>
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As we approach International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the achievements of women yesterday, be thankful for the blessings we have today, and proudly and boldly proclaim the uniqueness and dignity of womanhood for tomorrow and the foreseeable future. And we must also applaud our modern-day heroes, fighting at the barricades of social media and legislative halls to preserve the unique and precious identity of what is, a woman.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/women-back-to-the-barricades/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/women-back-to-the-barricades/</a>
</p>
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<b> San Francisco overwhelmingly votes in favor of law and order ballot measures and new rule that'll force welfare recipients to pass drug tests</b><br/>
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<i> Reality breaks through</i><br/>
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San Francisco voters pivoted away from their progressive reputation Tuesday night, as a number of ballot measures meant to rein in crime and drug use overwhelmingly won the vote of city residents.<br/>
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San Franciscans voted in favor of two measures - Measures E and F - which will, respectively, expand some police powers in the city and require drug screenings for adults receiving welfare.<br/>
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Proposition E will, among other things, make it easier for police officers to pursue suspects. It will also provide the force with new cameras and drones that are meant to make their daily job of fighting crime easier and more effective.<br/>
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And Proposition F is designed to help adults struggling with drug addiction, by telling them that they will only remain eligible for cash welfare assistance from the city if they enroll in a treatment program. Drug testing will be required to ensure they comply.<br/>
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed backed each of the measures on the ballot and called it a win. The Democrat has herself pivoted back from extreme progressive positions - including defunding the police - with her re-election widely believed to be in peril in the city's November mayoral election.<br/>
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'It is clear that people want to see changes around public safety. What’s exciting about this for me is I get the kind of tools I need to continue the work we're doing,' said Breed, who is up for re-election in November.<br/>
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As the results rolled in Tuesday evening, Breed thanked the voters for passing the measures. Prop E, said wrote, gives 'our officers more tools to do their jobs.'<br/>
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While Prop F will be used to 'bring more treatment and accountability to San Francisco. This is how we get more people the help they need and change what’s happening in our City.'<br/>
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A spokesperson for Breed told Fox that the election results indicate residents are 'fed up and want more action to address crime.'<br/>
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'Over the last few years, the City’s policies swung too far to the left. Now, it’s time to send a message that San Francisco is closed to criminals and brazen theft will not be tolerated,' he said.<br/>
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Breed is facing a tough battle to hold on to her position. Voters in San Francisco have increasingly become fed up with the city's relaxed attitude toward drugs and violent crime.<br/>
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Last year, more than 800 people in the city died of an accidental drug overdose - many of them were addicts living on the streets of the city, which are plagued by an abundance of fentanyl and xylazine.<br/>
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Breed's campaign has, to some extent, read the tea leaves and is trying to mold a campaign around a more moderate platform that takes into consideration the quality of life of tax-paying, law-abiding San Franciscans.<br/>
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For many years, the city has voted for hyper-progressive politicians and measures, but the tide began to change in 2022, when voters recalled far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was well-known for letting violent criminals back out onto the streets following their arrests.<br/>
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Those who opposed the propositions said they will be detrimental to privacy and civil liberties and will only hurt the marginalized communities the city prides itself on helping.<br/>
<br/>
But Breed, the first black woman to lead San Francisco, said at a January campaign stop that residents from poorer, black and immigrant neighborhoods are pleading for more police.<br/>
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Non-profit leaders who work primarily with low-income people endorse Breed's drug-testing measure.<br/>
<br/>
Trent Rhorer, executive director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency, which provides cash assistance and employment services to low-income residents without dependent children, said the current situation is in the city is not improving lives.<br/>
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'To give someone who's addicted to fentanyl $700 a month, I don´t think it helps improve their lives,' he said. 'In fact, I think it does the opposite.'<br/>
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Rhorer said the welfare program for single adults - which serves about 9,000 people per year - already asks applicants about substance abuse, with about 20 percent self-reporting an issue.<br/>
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A data check with the Department of Public Health revealed that almost one-third of recipients have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder, he said.<br/>
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The ballot measure would replace that question with a more rigorous screening test that would be verified by an addiction specialist.<br/>
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If substance abuse is discovered, Rhorer said, the specialist and applicant would agree on treatment options that include residential care, a 12-step program, individual counseling and replacement medication.<br/>
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There is no requirement the person be sober, only that they make good-faith efforts to attend their program, with the hope that 'at one point a light bulb will go off,' Rhorer said.<br/>
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The measure calls for the city to pay the rent of those accepted into the program for 30 days or longer to avoid eviction.<br/>
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About 30 percent of the people who fatally overdosed in 2023 were homeless, and more were living in subsidized city housing.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13164321/san-Francisco-ballot-measure-rules-welfare-drug-trust.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13164321/san-Francisco-ballot-measure-rules-welfare-drug-trust.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Drake, Raleigh and the irony of ‘inclusivity’</b><br/>
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The past has been cancelled at Exeter School in Devon. The names of Elizabethan naval heroes Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake are being erased from their school buildings. For so long central to Britain’s national story, the pair have now been tried and found wanting. Forget their brave exploits: the head teacher Louise Simpson has decreed that neither Raleigh nor Drake ‘represent the values and inclusive nature’ of the school. Deemed inappropriate for today’s children, their names must be scrubbed out, their legacy forgotten.<br/>
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A by-now familiar irony of ‘inclusivity drives’, such as the one being undertaken by Exeter School, is that they almost always involve exclusion. Drake and Raleigh, Simpson explains, have ‘less than positive connotations’ in modern times. In other words, Elizabethan sea dogs do not stand up to woke scrutiny. They are tainted by association with a less than perfect past and must be expelled.<br/>
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Removing Raleigh and Drake’s names from buildings tells us far more about today than it does about the past<br/>
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The children of Exeter School will be spared exciting tales of British victory over the Spanish Armada and the circumnavigation of the globe for fear they might accidentally imbibe some of those ‘less than positive connotations’. This is a grim view of the past. Raleigh’s ventures contributed to the colonisation of North America and Drake helped captain trading vessels carrying slaves across the Atlantic but neither was primarily involved in the slave trade. These dark allusions to slavery and imperialism brand Drake and Raleigh with the very modern stamp of ‘racist’. At a stroke, their remarkable achievements and contributions to British naval history have been deleted. Exeter’s head teacher hardly thinks highly not just of the past but of her own pupils if she deems them too stupid to comprehend the nuance of historical context.<br/>
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This is not the first time that Drake in particular has been targeted by the history-erasers. A petition was launched in 2020 calling for the removal of a statue of Drake in Plymouth. Signatories incorrectly claimed he was a ‘pioneer’ of the slave trade. And just last year the Sir Francis Drake primary school in south London was renamed Twin Oaks following a vote by parents and teachers. Tellingly, the BBC’s online coverage of the school renaming had to be amended. The broadcaster’s initial report ‘suggested Sir Francis Drake was predominantly known for his links to the slave trade’.<br/>
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One argument against plaques, statues and buildings named after historical figures is that they do not simply inform but valorize. They help transform men into heroes by literally putting them on a pedestal. But what is wrong with children having heroes? Mythologising of the two began while Drake and Raleigh were still alive. Over the centuries, they have come to represent idealised British values. Whatever the truth about either man, their names came to stand for bravery, daring, courage and determination. Beyond even this, they became powerful national symbols of British identity, recalling an age of heroism and – yes – British military might. It is precisely these values, and the idea of a positive sense of British identity, that are now considered ‘less than positive’.<br/>
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Bravery, a spirit of adventure, a desire to travel further and faster than any Englishman has ever done before. These ideas have the power to excite, inspire and also, crucially, to unite.<br/>
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They have been ditched for an identikit set of woke platitudes: justice, equity, diversity, inclusion. These are not values to aspire towards but meaningless soundbites. In place of historical figures, Exeter School will name buildings after local woodlands, castles and topographical features. Woodland is certainly beautiful but it hardly represents the pinnacle of human achievement. It is to be admired, not emulated.<br/>
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In terms of history, the same rejection of nuance in favour of mythologizing is taking place today as in the past. But instead of idealising Drake and Raleigh as representatives of the best of British, they have been transformed into monsters who symbolise all that is shameful about Britain’s past. The hope of the revisionists and the erasers is not so much that erstwhile heroes will be forgotten, but that they will be remembered only for their sins. Rather than offering a new generation inspiration, they serve as a lesson in the dangers of national pride and hubris.<br/>
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The charges against Drake and Raleigh are historically illiterate. Removing their names from buildings tells us far more about today than it does about the past. It tells us we are a country uneasy with our national history and determined to dislocate future generations from all positive associations not just with the past but with national identity. This is a mistake. Few things are more inclusive than the nation. Citizenship has no regard for race, sex or religion.<br/>
<br/>
If head teachers want to promote inclusivity, then making pupils aware of their nation’s story is a good place to start. Children raised in ignorance of their past, with scant knowledge of only national sins, are not ‘included’ but left rootless and alienated from their country.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/drake-raleigh-and-the-irony-of-inclusivity-drives/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/drake-raleigh-and-the-irony-of-inclusivity-drives/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Pure unadulterated hate</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> From a religion of hate</i><br/>
<br/>
A Sydney imam has described Jews as a 'criminal, barbaric, tyrannical enemy' in an anti-Semitic sermon, claiming Jihad was the 'only solution' to restore Palestine.<br/>
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Australian Imam Abdul Salam Zoud delivered the sermon to his congregation at Masjid As-Sunnah Mosque in Lakemba, southwest of Sydney, on February 9.<br/>
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The sermon, which was streamed live on the Mosque's Facebook page, was unearthed and translated by the Middle East Media and Research Institute - an American group that monitors Muslim extremists.<br/>
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Imam Zoud said the Jews had trespassed on land and oppressed the people of Palestine.<br/>
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He praised Jihad and Hamas, claiming the Prophet Muhammad and the Righteous Caliphs did not conquer the world by peaceful means, negotiations or concessions.<br/>
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'These people (Jews) only understand the language of force,' Imam Zoud said.<br/>
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'Do not even dream that [Palestine] can be regained through negotiations. By Allah, Palestine will only be restored through Jihad.'<br/>
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'Jihad for the sake of Allah is the only solution when it comes to the infidels.'<br/>
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He said'all the billions that were spent to improve, beautify, and highlight the image of the Jews have all gone in vain'.<br/>
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He added the goal of Jihad was not to kill people and take over their land but rather to remove obstacles preventing the spread of Islam.<br/>
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The sermon has outraged MPs and Jewish leaders in Australia, with many claiming the hateful speech should not be tolerated.<br/>
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Liberal Senator Dave Sharma labelled the sermon 'disgusting' and 'un-Australian', claiming the imam was inciting violence.<br/>
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'If it is not unlawful it should be,' Senator Sharma told the Daily Telegraph. 'That crosses the line from free speech into inciting violence.'<br/>
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NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said the sermon was 'incredibly dangerous' and 'inconsistent with Australian values'.<br/>
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'If we are serious about maintaining the communal cohesion and harmony we all treasure, we surely cannot tolerate hate preachers poisoning the minds of their adherents by vilifying other Australians and calling for jihad,' Mr Ossip said.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13178143/Sydney-imam-gives-shocking-anti-Semitic-sermon-Masjid-Sunnah-mosque-Lakemba.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13178143/Sydney-imam-gives-shocking-anti-Semitic-sermon-Masjid-Sunnah-mosque-Lakemba.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-51117840586572059862024-03-10T14:05:00.003+13:002024-03-10T14:09:33.934+13:00<br><br/>
<b> How not to retire from the mating game</b><br/>
<br/>
One frequently hears of both men and women who have given up on finding a partner, usually because their attempts at finding a suitable partner have been very frustrating.<br/>
<br/>
Some people have genuinely lost interest in pairing up, often because they have other satisfying activities in their lives. But I am talking here of people who have given up because of failure, not because of lack of interest.<br/>
<br/>
I am reminded of them by the writings of Yael Wolfe, a frequent contributor to medium.com. Her latest post is a long screed about how satisfied she is to be single.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://medium.com/wilder-with-yael-wolfe/an-ode-to-the-quiet-dignity-of-the-single-woman-25ef949c57b3">https://medium.com/wilder-with-yael-wolfe/an-ode-to-the-quiet-dignity-of-the-single-woman-25ef949c57b3</a>
</p>
It reeks of desperation. She writes at great length in an effort to convince herself, it seems to me. In her previous entries she has often mourned her attempts to find a lasting partnership with a man. She has had relationships but none have lasted. And she really still badly wants a relationship.<br/>
<br/>
I don't know her so have no real idea of where she has gone wrong. I suspect, though, that she has set her sights too high. She goes for men who are of a higher quality than is really available to her. Her own qualities are not attractive enough to hold the men she aspires to.<br/>
<br/>
So what should she do to enhance her lasting attractiveness? I have no knowledge of her particular situation but I think there is a clue for us all in a story that a smart and attractive woman told me not long ago. It is a story that could apply to both men and women, it seems to me.<br/>
<br/>
It is really a simple story. For background, the woman concerned is rather pretty and has a university degree. She is in a fairly well-paid semi-professional job.<br/>
<br/>
The odd thing is that she had for a time been in a relationship with a working class man who had very little money. So how did he attract and hold her? He did it by being very attentive. He would listen carefully to what she said about what she liked and wanted. So if she mentioned in passing that she liked mangoes, there would be a mango or two on the table the next day.<br/>
<br/>
They were mainly little things that he did but he was simply very good at listening and finding ways to give her things she liked. She became quite entranced and for a time thought she had found a life partner. So, as a certain cat has argued, being poorer than your partner or prospective partner is not necessarily an obstacle to a good relationship.<br/>
<br/>
<iframe width="356" height="200" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i83EZLn76YM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen title="Cat discovers what AMBITIOUS MEN Will HATE HEARING From WOMEN with Alexander Grace"></iframe> \<br/>
<br/>
A powerful affection can be created just by doing little things<br/>
<br/>
Sadly, other obstacles arose in the relationship concerned which ended it, to the considerable disappointment of the woman concerned. Last time I heard, she was one of those people who are "off" relationships, but I hope that is not permanent.<br/>
<br/>
So her personal story is in the end a sad one but I think it does contain within it a a powerful account of how to create affection in challenging circumstances.<br/>
<br/>
There are of course many other things that generate good relationships: Good looks, self-confidence and a good sense of humour being prime. But the power of attentiveness should be added to those.<br/>
<br/>
I have myself retired from the mating game but that is because I already have a bright and good-looking girlfriend. And if a geriatric 80-year old like me can have a girlfriend, there is hope for everybody. There are some details of that relationship on my personal blog, in the unlikely event that anybody is interested. She is referred to there as "Z":<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://memoirsjr.blogspot.com/">https://memoirsjr.blogspot.com/</a>
</p>
JR<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
<b> The Left-Right Divide Is Not Bridgeable</b><br/>
<br/>
Millions of Americans, depressed by the ideological divide in America, harbor a wish that something or someone can bridge this divide.<br/>
<br/>
This wish is understandable. But it is fantasy. The divide is unbridgeable. One might as well wish that daily consumption of a hot fudge sundae will lead to weight loss.<br/>
<br/>
To cite a few samples:<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the gap between those who believe men can become women and women can become men, and those who don’t believe this? Between those who believe men menstruate and those who believe only women menstruate?<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the divide between those who believe “colorblind” is a racist notion and those who believe “colorblind” is the antidote to racism?<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the divide between those who believe Israel is the villain and Hamas is the victim, and those who believe Israel is the victim and Hamas, which openly states its dedication to annihilating Israel and its Jewish inhabitants, is the villain, morally indistinguishable from the Nazis?<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the divide between those who believe young children should be brought to drag queen shows and those who believe this sexualization—and sexual confusion—of children is morally detestable?<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the divide between those who believe reducing the number of police will reduce violent crime and those who believe reducing the number of police will increase violent crime?<br/>
<br/>
* How are we to bridge the divide between those who believe in suppressing free speech if they deem any given speech “hateful” or “misinformation” and those who believe in free speech?<br/>
<br/>
Every one of these positions is mutually contradictory. And this is just a partial list.<br/>
<br/>
Ironically, even those who hold these mutually contradictory positions agree that these positions are unbridgeable. Only the naive (usually meaning non-Left liberals) believe otherwise.<br/>
<br/>
I recommend that any American who believes the Left-Right gap is bridgeable read the comments submitted by New York Times readers to any column that discusses a Left or Right position. These comments are a superb indicator of what those on the Left, including liberals (I often distinguish between liberalism and leftism) believe.<br/>
<br/>
To submit a comment to a New York Times article or column, one must be a subscriber to The New York Times. So, virtually all those who comment are on the Left, graduated from college, and have enough disposable income to subscribe to The New York Times.<br/>
<br/>
This came to my attention again this past week when reading all the most popular comments reacting to a column on “Christian nationalism” written by Ross Douthat, the one New York Times columnist who defends Christian conservatives.<br/>
<br/>
“Christian nationalist” is the latest left-wing smear of conservatives. It joins “sexist,” “racist,” “homophobic,” “Islamophobic,” “transphobic,” “xenophobic,” “fascist,” and “threat to our democracy” as the Left’s way of smearing—rather than responding to, let alone debating—those with whom progressives differ.<br/>
<br/>
Douthat wrote an intelligent column explaining four distinctive conservative Christian positions and groups.<br/>
<br/>
The comments rated highest on the list of “Reader Picks” are not only left-wing; they are irrational. Few, if any, actually define “Christian nationalism.” They simply declare conservative Christians “Christian nationalists,” just as they declare “transphobic” anyone who opposes hormone blockers for minors or opposes men who say they are women competing in women’s sports.<br/>
<br/>
These comments also reveal a lack of self-awareness I believe is a defining characteristic of leftism. Nearly every commenter writes that any American who seeks to advance policies rooted in Judeo-Christian values is a Christian nationalist and therefore a “threat to democracy.” But if you seek to advance policies or laws rooted in a secular value system, that is perfectly in accord with American democracy.<br/>
<br/>
“We progressives can advance our agenda based on our values, but when our opponents promote their values from a biblical perspective, they threaten democracy.” In other words, leftists can bring their values into American life, but conservative Christians (and Orthodox Jews) may not.<br/>
<br/>
As for the lack of self-awareness, the Left never perceives itself as imposing its values. The Left forced as many Americans as possible to get the frequently harmful COVID-19 vaccine. The Left forced young people who were at minimal risk from the virus to get vaccinated and forced children to miss school for nearly two years.<br/>
<br/>
But New York Times readers do not see themselves as imposing their values on Americans. In their minds, they never “threaten democracy”; only conservative Christians who wanted open churches and open schools did. And they never explain how, if a majority of the citizenry wants and votes for a particular value (or candidate) deemed conservative, democracy is “threatened.” Isn’t that the very definition of democracy—the candidate or policy with the most votes wins?<br/>
<br/>
If you still think the Left-Right divide is bridgeable, it is only because it is too painful to confront the tragic reality of contemporary American life: Today’s Left-Right divide is at least as great as the North-South divide before and during the Civil War. The only thing that remains the same is that it was the Democratic Party that opposed freedom then, and it is the Democratic Party that opposes freedom today.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/05/the-left-right-divide-is-not-bridgeable/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/05/the-left-right-divide-is-not-bridgeable/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Ban of WWII kiss picture part of the left’s mad crusade to erase history</b><br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-image">
<a class="asset-img-link" style="display: inline;" href="https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/WW2K.jpg"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3a95335200c img-responsive" alt="image from https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/WW2K.jpg" title="image from https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/WW2K.jpg" src="https://jonjayray1.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3a95335200c-580wi" /></a><br />
</p>
A busybody undersecretary at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, RimaAnn Nelson, declared the famous Aug. 14, 1945 Times Square kiss picture “inappropriate” because the smooch wasn’t consensual, and said it needed to be “promptly” removed from all VA property.<br/>
<br/>
Never mind that Greta Zimmer, the nurse, didn’t have a problem with the photograph, and understood that sailor George Mendonsa was caught up in the joy of Japan’s final surrender when he randomly kissed her.<br/>
<br/>
Zimmer later became friends with Mendonsa and his wife, Rita.<br/>
<br/>
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis R. McDonough, reversed the removal decision — when he found about it.<br/>
<br/>
Which makes you wonder how many woke middle managers are out there in the government declaring what is “appropriate” based on whatever they learned at Oberlin.<br/>
<br/>
Throughout society, progressives are pulling this exact nonsense every day, tearing down statues, emptying museums, erasing history.<br/>
<br/>
As George Orwell warned: “Those who control the past control the future.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/opinion/ban-of-wwii-kiss-picture-part-of-the-lefts-mad-crusade-to-erase-history/">https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/opinion/ban-of-wwii-kiss-picture-part-of-the-lefts-mad-crusade-to-erase-history/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The numbers prove it: Bail reform drove a 66% recidivism rate for repeat crooks</b><br/>
<br/>
In a recurring theme in the debate over New York’s criminal-justice reforms of recent years, the outfit Data Collaborative for Justice offers a new study meant to show the no-bail laws worked — when its numbers indicate the exact opposite:<br/>
<br/>
Among the most worrisome criminals, they boosted crime. To alarming rates.<br/>
<br/>
As former Queens prosecutor Jim Quinn explains in The Post, the study — which focused on parts of the state outside the city — openly admits that two out three defendants freed under bail reform despite recent prior arrests got picked up for new crimes within just two years.<br/>
<br/>
That telling number includes perps who’d been nabbed for violent felonies, then rearrested and released for committing new crimes.<br/>
<br/>
And get this: Nearly half (49.3%) were hauled in for new felonies — a quarter (26.2%), violent ones.<br/>
<br/>
Not only are the rates are up since bail reform, but they were troublingly high to begin with.<br/>
<br/>
Oh, and with far more people being freed at higher rates, the total number of crimes they commit has soared.<br/>
<br/>
It all adds up to overwhelming proof that bail reform has been an unmitigated disaster, not the success that the Data Collaborative and other progressives claim.<br/>
<br/>
The group boasts that the reforms “tended to reduce recidivism for people facing less serious charges and with limited or no recent criminal history.”<br/>
<br/>
Fine. Yet it also admits they “tended to increase recidivism for people facing more serious charges and with recent criminal histories” — that is, precisely the ones who account for most crimes, including the worst ones.<br/>
<br/>
And “minor” crimes can add up to a plague.<br/>
<br/>
Per NYPD stats, just 327 people were responsible for 30% of city shoplifting arrests in 2022. Bail reform created a revolving door for these repeat offenders, and retail theft is now killing shops large and small across Gotham.<br/>
<br/>
Perps with priors are likely to re-offend if and when they’re released — not just because crime is simply the chosen career of many, but also because their repeated releases send the message that they’ll pay no consequences for their anti-social actions.<br/>
<br/>
Let’s be honest: It’s no mere coincidence that crime shot up after the 2019 no-bail laws, which came after Albany had already relaxed other criminal-justice reforms, via measures like Raise the Age, and as the city passed more and more rules handcuffing cops.<br/>
<br/>
Shoplifting, thanks to repeat offenders freed on no bail, has gone through the roof.<br/>
<br/>
Nor did it help that the city and state used the pandemic as an excuse for early release of thousands of career criminals.<br/>
<br/>
The numbers don’t lie: Bail reform — as even researchers who support it quietly admit — has played a key role in fueling the recidivism that’s driving crime.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/opinion/how-bail-reform-drove-a-66-recidivism-rate-for-repeat-crooks/">https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/opinion/how-bail-reform-drove-a-66-recidivism-rate-for-repeat-crooks/</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-33619481217391578112024-03-07T19:23:00.003+13:002024-03-07T19:25:24.511+13:00<br><br/>
<b> New Research, Psych Experts Call Left-Wing Leaders ‘Psychopathic’</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> I have previously put up an extensive survey of the evidence for Leftism being psychopathic:<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/psycho.html">http://jonjayray.com/psycho.html</a>
</p>
The psychopathy is sub-clinical, meaning that its sufferers do not normally get locked up or medicated. Depending on how you define it, sub-clinical psychopathy is probably widepread, meaning that not all sub-clinical psychopaths are focused on politics. But people who are heavily focused on Leftist politics do appear to be psychopathic to a significant degree<br/>
</i><br/>
<br/>
The Biden administration – which insists Donald Trump’s reelection would be very bad for America – enthusiastically supports amputating the breasts and sexual organsof thousands of troubled children, is obsessed with ushering as many millions of illegal aliens (including terrorists, fentanyl smugglers, MS-13 gang members, child sex traffickers and legions of surly, military-age Chinese men) as possible into America, and – just to pick one of many examples of bureaucratic insanity – recently demanded, via its FAA, that U.S. airlines employ more people, including pilots, with “severe intellectual” and “psychiatric” problems.<br/>
<br/>
It’s increasingly clear that many of America’s current leaders are, to put it plainly, stark raving mad.<br/>
<br/>
But stating this is not an exercise in hurling nasty epithets at one’s political opponents, as the left does continually.<br/>
<br/>
Rather, what follows is a brief but serious look at the proposition that America’s current leaders are genuinely insane – in a clinically diagnosable way. This is about rampant Borderline Personality Disorder, Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder and other scary-sounding conditions whose clinical symptom-pictures perfectly match many of today’s leaders.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, many cases of what the secular psychiatric world labels “mental disorders” ultimately boil down to individuals who, one way or another, have fallen into the grip of dark spiritual forces.<br/>
<br/>
Yet it’s illuminating to briefly explore how current research in psychiatry, a field ironically dominated largely by the left, nevertheless has concluded that leftist radicals and leaders are, more often than not, certifiably crazy.<br/>
<br/>
For example, in a groundbreaking study published in March 2023, titled “Understanding left-wing authoritarianism: Relations to the dark personality traits, altruism, and social justice commitment,” authors Dr. Ann Krispenz and Dr. Alexander Bertrams found that left-wing extremism is closely associated with “psychopathic tendencies.”<br/>
<br/>
“Narcissistic individuals and those with psychopathic tendencies are more likely to strongly endorse left-wing antihierarchical aggression,” summarized the widely cited PsyPost website, which reports the latest research on human behavior.<br/>
<br/>
“Individuals with dark personalities – such as high narcissistic and psychopathic traits – are attracted to certain forms of political and social activism which they can use as a vehicle to satisfy their own ego-focused needs instead of actually aiming at social justice and equality,” the authors explain.<br/>
<br/>
Stated simply, left-wing psychopaths pretend to care about “social justice and equality,” but in reality are just feeding their massive “ego-focused” lust for power, glory and revenge, the authors say.<br/>
<br/>
“In particular,” they add, “certain forms of activism might provide them with opportunities for positive self-presentation and displays of moral superiority, to gain social status, to dominate others, and to engage in social conflicts and aggression to satisfy their need for thrill seeking.”<br/>
<br/>
Likewise, retired psychiatrist Brad Lyles, M.D., explains that “one way of understanding the increasingly outlandish beliefs and behaviors of the left is through the lens of Borderline Personality Disorder. The Borderline diagnosis,” he notes, “is among the most infamous diagnoses in psychiatry. It is the diagnosis that keeps therapists up at night, covered in sweat, fearful of every encounter with this sort of patient.” Lyles writes:<br/>
<br/>
Understanding the long-researched processes driving Borderline Personality Disorder provides unique insights into the processes driving the more extreme politics of the left. The Borderline model explains not only the often inexplicable behaviors of the left – but also why the left is so legitimately dangerous.<br/>
<br/>
The most dangerous feature of the Borderline model – and the process most dangerous in our politics – is “psychological” projection, as distinct from the “political” variety.<br/>
<br/>
Psychological projection hardens a patient’s mere belief or suspicion that the OTHER (person, organization) is bad into a CONVICTION the other person is bad. In particular the patient KNOWS the other person is bad.<br/>
<br/>
On the contrary, political projection – “accusing the other guy of what you are doing” – is merely a STRATEGY. A prominent – and execrable – example would include the three years Democrats accused President Trump of “colluding with the Russians” while they themselves were in fact colluding with the Russians.<br/>
<br/>
Psychological projection is not a strategy. It is a threat.<br/>
<br/>
With psychological projection there are no gray areas in the belief structure: The other person is ALL BAD. There is no circumstance in which a person (or political party) is understood to possess a combination of both good and bad features.<br/>
<br/>
This “ALL BAD” belief structure is what the late Pulitzer-winning columnist and trained psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer was getting at when he famously wrote,“To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”<br/>
<br/>
Of course, it’s this same “conservatives are evil” belief that underlies the left’s continual and epically deranged comparison of President Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler, hands-down the most reviled, genocidal mass murderer in world history. Yet top Democrat politicians including Joe Biden – as well as the “mainstream” media – have continually likened Trump to Hitler since before he was elected president in 2016 and continuing to today, eight years later.<br/>
<br/>
Yet if Trump really is another Hitler, where exactly are all of his Hitler-like policies and actions? After all, the man was president of the United States and leader of the free world for four extremely important years. So, what are all these evil practices that justify such a comparison?<br/>
<br/>
In reality, of course, Trump’s policies were right in line with the values and sensibilities of the vast, center-right American middle class that has long constituted this nation’s moral, economic and spiritual backbone. America’s economy was stable and strong under Trump, unemployment was at historic lows, perverse trade agreements were replaced with fair, pro-American ones, border enforcement was a priority, America’s military was being rebuilt, and the world was free of major wars due to Trump’s personal strength and leadership.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, the current president, Joe Biden, having degraded and just about destroyed America in every conceivable way, has sunk to the level of a third-world dictator by casting hundreds of American patriots into prison, destroying their lives and their families, all for protesting his theft of the 2020 election.<br/>
<br/>
Therefore, seeing as Biden’s has been hands-down the worst administration in American history, the playbook governing leftwing power politics demands that Trump simply must be Hitler – period – or else the Democrats will lose power. And that’s not an option for them.<br/>
<br/>
Expert diagnoses Obama<br/>
<br/>
But hold on. Can all this really be true? Is it actually possible that many of America’s top Democrat leaders are ruthless psychopaths?<br/>
<br/>
Let’s rewind a few years and briefly focus on Barack Obama, since much of today’s societal madness began or accelerated because of him, and a great many people believe Obama is calling the shots in Washington, D.C. today. And of course, Obama’s wife Michelle is increasingly considered a top contender for becoming the Democrats’ presidential candidate later this year.<br/>
<br/>
Many Americans believe, and some widely respected voices have said so publicly, that Barack Obama is a “sociopath” or “psychopath.” (For the record, though numerous psychology articles attempt to differentiate between “sociopathy” and “psychopathy,” in the end the analysis always boils down to the two being essentially the same, with “psychopaths” just being a little worse than “sociopaths.”) In 2016, Dr. Ben Carson referred to Obama on camera as a “psychopath.” The aforementioned columnist-author Charles Krauthammer, a psychiatrist by training, dubbed Obama a “narcissist” who “talks like the emperor, Napoleon.” Pulitzer prize-winning columnist George Will wrote about “Barack Obama’s intellectual sociopathy.” And so on.<br/>
<br/>
Closely consider this typical description of sociopathy: “Sociopaths are often well-liked because of their charm and high charisma, but they do not usually care about other people. They think mainly of themselves and often blame others for the things that they do. They have a complete disregard for rules and lie constantly. They seldom feel guilt or learn from punishments.” Remind you of anyone?<br/>
<br/>
During the Obama administration, this writer communicated frequently with veteran forensic psychiatrist Lyle Rossiter, M.D., who suggested a slightly different diagnosis for Obama, but similar to “sociopathy” – namely, “Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” The modifier “malignant” signified the version of “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” that may cross over into criminality, he explained.<br/>
<br/>
Rossiter, who has since passed away, had been retained as an expert in more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases and was a genuine world-class authority in forensic psychiatry, which is the intersection between criminal behavior and mental disorders. He carefully reviewed with me a list of some of the major symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, comparing them with Obama’s behavior as president. Here are a few of the key markers:<br/>
<br/>
1) a grandiose view of one’s achievements (everything with Obama was “historic”),<br/>
<br/>
2) an utter inability to handle criticism (everyone criticizing Obama or his policies was attacked as an “extremist” or “racist”), and<br/>
<br/>
3) lack of genuine empathy. (For just one example, Obama gave a televised speech on the day of the Fort Hood terror attack in which a Muslim U.S. Army major shot 45 Americans, 13 fatally.<br/>
<br/>
With the entire nation reeling in total shock and horror, and yearning for strong, reassuring words from their commander in chief, Obama instead engaged in small talk and an inane “shout-out” for two full minutes before even mentioning that the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 had occurred just hours earlier.)<br/>
<br/>
Now fast-forward to today. From President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to the presidential Cabinet – including in particular Attorney General Merrick Garland, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra – all of these people lie literally all the time. It’s what they do for a living. And to all appearances, they do so easily, reflexively and without conflict or conscience.<br/>
<br/>
Even Karine Jean Pierre, whose daily job is to tell absurd and embarrassingly obvious lies to the nation in order to put a good face on the most destructive, corrupt and mentally incompetent president in U.S. history (not to mention the head of a crime family) has publicly described herself as a “historic figure,” as the first black lesbian ever to serve as White House press secretary.<br/>
<br/>
Democrats twice as likely as Republicans to be mentally ill<br/>
<br/>
Interestingly, it’s not just the left’s leaders who are “mentally ill.” Gallup pollsters conducted an extensive study involving more than 4,000 interviews conducted over the course of four years, which concluded that Republicans had “significantly” better mental health than Democrats.<br/>
<br/>
Likewise, a SurveyMonkey survey commissioned a few years ago by the left-wing news site BuzzFeed (which has since shut down) found that Democrats suffered significantly more mental illness than Republicans. In fact, Democrats were found to be twice as likely to have been diagnosed with a mental disorder as Republicans in almost every category, from anxiety, depression and PTSD to bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and narcissistic personality disorder.<br/>
<br/>
Yet, it is the left that is continually accusing Donald Trump and his supporters of being deranged, delusional and engaging in projection – accusing others of the very evil of which they are guilty.<br/>
<br/>
Recently a “gender-affirming” psychologist, Dr. Harriette Wimms, gave an extraordinary demonstration of projection, a favorite tactic of the left: At the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s 27th annual training symposium in Montreal, Canada, Wimms, who is the clinical director for the Village Family Support Center in Baltimore, Maryland, announced that parents who oppose cutting the breasts and/or sex organs off of their precious children – wait for it – have a “mental illness.”<br/>
<br/>
Yes, there is a lot of “mental illness” in America today. And as mentioned earlier, most serious psychiatric diagnoses in the “sociopath,” “psychopath,” “malignant narcissist” arena really amount to very dark and demonic spiritual conditions being described through a secular, non-theistic lens.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, the general population also sadly includes large and growing numbers of genuine casualties of today’s deranged, sociopathic leadership, whether in government, education, medicine or culture – especially among the youth, where depression, delusion, anxiety and suicide are rampant.<br/>
<br/>
They are true victims.<br/>
<br/>
But as for the increasingly totalitarian ruling elites themselves – from the “let’s cut off kids’ body parts and engineer a massive foreign invasion of America” Biden administration to the “let’s terrify everyone about global warming and insist they eat insects while we dine on steak” globalist crowd?<br/>
<br/>
They’re just evil.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/new-research-psych-experts-call-left-wing-leaders/">https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/new-research-psych-experts-call-left-wing-leaders/</a>
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<b> ‘Let the Reckoning Begin’: Detransitioners Vindicated by Expose of WPATH Experimentation on Minors</b><br/>
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Detransitioners have been trying to warn the public that so-called gender-affirming care—transgender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers—is both experimental and dangerous, especially for minors.<br/>
<br/>
Now, thanks to the efforts of journalist Michael Shellenberger, we know that World Professional Association for Transgender Health doctors and medical experts pushing these practices were well aware of the experimental and lasting nature of the procedures they were recommending. Yet these so-called health professionals pushed forward, despite alarming awareness of tumors developing from hormones, reduced sexual function, lack of proper informed consent for minors, and more, according to Shellenberger’s reporting.<br/>
<br/>
“Let the reckoning begin,” says Luka Hein, a young woman who underwent a double mastectomy when she was only 16 years old, believing that she would be happier if she could become a boy. “Because of organizations like WPATH I’m missing body parts and struggle with pain.”<br/>
<br/>
The WPATH medical professionals acknowledge in the messages that some of the minors who are being given puberty blockers have no idea that they will be sterilized. Other messages reveal WPATH doctors saying they went ahead with performing surgery on patients with severe mental health problems, even though they were worried the patients couldn’t give full informed consent.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m relieved the files are out in the world for everyone to read,” Shellenberger told my colleague Tyler O’Neil, sharing that the files reveal WPATH’s “whole paradigm falling apart over the last three years.”<br/>
<br/>
“Nobody can claim to understand the gender issue without reading ‘The WPATH Files,’” he added.<br/>
<br/>
The news prompted a number of detransitioners to speak up, sharing the mental and physical anguish that they have gone through as a result of this ideology.<br/>
<br/>
“I was a scared kid who thought doctors were going to help me … and look at how these butchers talk about what happened to those like me behind closed doors,” Hein added in another X post.<br/>
<br/>
A detransitioner is someone who attempted to transition to another gender, then realized that such an attempt is impossible, and “de-transitioned.” Many of these individuals, like Hein, say they were betrayed into irreversible hormonal and surgical procedures by doctors and therapists who ignored biological realities in favor of ideology.<br/>
<br/>
I document numerous stories of these transitioners in my upcoming book, “Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult,” an intimate look at the lived experiences of detransitioners, including the manipulative therapy sessions, botched surgeries, and attempts to construct phantom body parts.<br/>
<br/>
“WPATH gave my therapist the green light to destroy my body,” said Abel Garcia, a young man who attempted to transition to become a girl by taking hormone and undergoing breast augmentation surgery. “The people who hurt me sleep with no problem, while I live in emotional, physical & mental pain.”<br/>
<br/>
“These files prove what detransitioners have always said but now it’s coming from their own mouth,” he added. “Let the truth prevail.”<br/>
<br/>
Chloe Cole, a young woman who underwent a double mastectomy as part of her teenaged gender transition, specifically addressed WPATH conversations reported by Shellenberger about developmentally delayed 13 year olds attempting transition.<br/>
<br/>
“There is no ethical approach to taking an already developmentally delayed child and preventing them from going on the only path they have towards growing into an adult,” she said. “We are leaving vulnerable children stunted for life.”<br/>
<br/>
“This is unimaginable levels of cruelty,” added Cole.<br/>
<br/>
Laura Becker, another female detransitioner who has become an outspoken advocate against gender ideology, commented on Shellenberger’s revelation that doctors asked permission of all the “alters,” or alternative identities, of one client who had dissociative identity disorder (DID).<br/>
<br/>
“I can’t believe this,” she wrote. “WPATH doctors got ‘consent’ from all a patient’s ‘alter’ personalities before doing surgery … instead of you know, treating the DID symptoms. Absolutely unethical.”<br/>
<br/>
Some detransitioners called for punishments for the medical professionals who led them down this path.<br/>
<br/>
“Justice for all victims,” wrote Richie, a man who attempted to transition to become a woman. “Jail time for the surgeons that held the scalpel, and the therapists that signed off the surgery. If I took everything from them, we still wouldn’t be even.”<br/>
<br/>
“I didn’t think anyone should be jailed when I first ‘came to’ post-transition,” chimed in Michelle, another detransitioned woman, on X. “Changed my mind now. Probably would’ve still had some mercy in me if we hadn’t been gaslit so badly.”<br/>
<br/>
Prisha Mosley, a young woman who has detransitioned and travels the country testifying in defense of biological sex, emotionally shared on Monday evening that she could not yet bring herself to read “The WPATH Files”: “No one deserves this monstrous form of irreversible medical harm … “<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/05/let-the-reckoning-begin-detransitioners-vindicated-by-expose-of-wpath-experimentation-on-minors/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/05/let-the-reckoning-begin-detransitioners-vindicated-by-expose-of-wpath-experimentation-on-minors/</a>
</p>
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<b> Austin ‘at the brink of disaster’ as police staffing shortages set city back over 15 years: ‘Policies epically failed’</b><br/>
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Austin, Texas residents are expressing outrage over police staffing shortages and longer 911-call response times in the aftermath of the city council’s vote to defund the department in 2020.<br/>
<br/>
In February, a section of the city was notably left without a single police officer for a few hours on a Saturday due to the ongoing shortages.<br/>
<br/>
Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, who called attention to the vacancy on X, told Fox News Digital that a steady decline in public safety has put the city on the “brink of disaster.”<br/>
<br/>
“Previous councils and leadership have actively worked against our officers and department, which has now put us in a free-falling staffing crisis,” Bullock warned. “Twice now we’ve had our contract voted down or it has been allowed to expire. Each year since 2017, we’ve lost more officers than we’ve hired. We had to gut our specialized units and force detectives to work backfill on patrol just to try and respond to 911 calls.”<br/>
<br/>
Last year, the department was on the verge of a staffing collapse after 40 officers filed retirement papers following a 9-2 city council vote to scrap a four-year contract that the city had previously agreed to in principle and instead pursue a one-year contract that the police union’s board had rejected.<br/>
<br/>
“As a result,” Bullock continued, “our staffing has been set back at least 15 years and at the same time we’ve dealt with a population growth of over 250,000 new residents. Combine that with a district attorney who has made it very clear that targeting officers and releasing criminals is his priority – not public safety.”<br/>
<br/>
In 2020 following the Black Lives Matter riots, Austin’s city council voted unanimously to cut up to $150 million from its police department budget — about 34% of its current total — and reinvest the funds in other services. The following year, the Texas Legislature passed a law essentially forcing Austin to restore the funding, but the officer shortage persists.<br/>
<br/>
Lauren Klinefelter, a longtime Austin resident, told Fox News Digital that the days of knowing you’d receive help when placing a 911 call are “long gone” after she was unable to get help following a 2022 car accident involving her young children.<br/>
<br/>
“We needed an ambulance and some emergency assistance because not only was my car totaled, but my children were both bleeding and visibly injured,” she said, adding her kids were only eight and two-years-old at the time. “I called 911 and, to my surprise, it rang and rang endlessly, only to be routed to a 311 operator for non-emergencies.”<br/>
<br/>
Klinefelter said she was left to take a Lyft to the nearby hospital after being unable to obtain help.<br/>
<br/>
“My children were bleeding and over an hour had passed, so with no other option, we got a Lyft to the hospital and back home. The police never showed up, I was never contacted by anyone to follow up on the incident.”<br/>
<br/>
Nick Kantor, whose brother Doug was killed in one of the most high-profile mass shootings in recent Austin history, said his sibling would still be alive today if the police department was not defunded.<br/>
<br/>
Twenty-five-year-old Doug was visiting Austin in June 2021 to celebrate earning his master’s degree with friends when two rival gangs of teenagers opened fire on each other in the city’s packed Sixth Street entertainment and nightlife hub.<br/>
<br/>
The New York native, who had just bought a new home and was set to marry his high school sweetheart, was killed in the shooting and 13 other innocent bystanders were injured.<br/>
<br/>
“I found out that the anti-gang task force, along with most of the preventative crime measures, were the ones that were defunded due to prejudicial concerns about the ethnicity of the people being targeted by these factions of the APD,” Nick told Fox News Digital.<br/>
<br/>
Kantor’s family became highly critical of far-left Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza in the two years leading up to the shooter’s trial, including his decision not to pursue charges against the several other gang members who were at the scene. De’ondre White was convicted and sentenced to 30 years for the shooting in September 2023.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/us-news/austin-at-the-brink-of-disaster-as-police-staffing-shortages-set-back-over-15-years/">https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/us-news/austin-at-the-brink-of-disaster-as-police-staffing-shortages-set-back-over-15-years/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> UK: Sarah Everard report sparks demand for urgent action to restore trust in police</b><br/>
<br/>
Sarah Everard’s “devastating” murder was “entirely preventable”, campaigners have said, as they called for urgent reform of policing to restore women’s trust.<br/>
<br/>
The Angiolini inquiry found that Wayne Couzens should never have been given a job as a police officer and that chances to stop him were repeatedly ignored or missed.<br/>
<br/>
Elish Angiolini, the inquiry’s chair, said that without a radical overhaul of policing practices and culture, there was “nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight”.<br/>
<br/>
Responding to the damning 347-page report, women’s groups called on the government and the police to take urgent action to address the inquiry’s findings.<br/>
<br/>
Harriet Wistrich, the director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “The report must make devastating reading for the family of Sarah Everard who know now that her murderer could have been stopped many times before the ultimate horrific outcome.<br/>
<br/>
“Its recommendations must of course be acted on not just by the Met police but by all forces across the country.”<br/>
<br/>
The report said that as long as “vile behaviour and deeply abusive language” were normalised and accepted as banter in policing culture and elsewhere, “people like Couzens will be able to continue to commit atrocious crimes undetected”.<br/>
<br/>
Wistrich said that those who failed to report wrongdoing and managers who did not “stamp out misogynistic culture within policing units” should also be held accountable.<br/>
<br/>
Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, said the government and police must work with women’s organisations “to transform the culture of policing to root out misogyny, racism and other forms of discrimination, and demonstrate transparency and accountability at all levels”.<br/>
<br/>
She added: “It is absolutely devastating that the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard was entirely preventable. It is clear from this report that Couzens should never have been employed as a police officer or permitted to continue a career in policing.”<br/>
<br/>
Following the publication of the inquiry, the home secretary, James Cleverly, told MPs that police officers would be automatically suspended in future if charged with certain criminal offences.<br/>
<br/>
But Amy Bowdrey, a policy and public affairs officer at Refuge, said the government’s measures did not go far enough.<br/>
<br/>
She said: “Refuge is calling on the government to act. Our message is clear: suspend officers and staff in policing accused of any form of violence against women and girls pending quick and thorough investigation.<br/>
<br/>
“Vetting standards are far too low and must be urgently pulled up to standard. There should be zero tolerance to misogyny within policing, the consequences for women and girls are far too high.”<br/>
<br/>
Claire Waxman, London’s commissioner for victims, said the report was “a difficult read”.<br/>
<br/>
She posted on X: “This report is a defining moment and we must resolve to tackle VAWG [violence against women and girls] in all its forms and dismantle a culture that attracts officers who exploit and harm others.”<br/>
<br/>
Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said the report was “seriously damning”, adding: “We can have no more empty words.”<br/>
<br/>
Women’s Aid said that urgent reform was desperately needed to rebuild women’s trust in the justice system to ensure that no one had to go through the horror that Everard suffered.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/29/sarah-everard-report-sparks-demand-for-urgent-action-to-restore-trust-in-police">https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/29/sarah-everard-report-sparks-demand-for-urgent-action-to-restore-trust-in-police</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-52915013481652096992024-03-06T13:38:00.003+13:002024-03-06T13:38:57.955+13:00<br> <br/>
<b> California Transformed Prisons to the ‘Norway Model,’ Insiders Reveal the Deadly Cost</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> This is an old, old story. Claims that "humane" treatment of serious criminals will "reform" them go back at least a century, with the Glasgow Barlinnie experiement being best known. The Barlinnie experiment pulled out all stops, including significant funding, to rehabilitate offenders, but in the end most offenders backslid to criminal ways once released. The sad truth is that it needs harsh treament in prison to have much deterrent effect on future offending<br/>
<br/>
It is true that treatment of offenders is lighter and recidivism is lower in Switzerland and the Scandinavian nations but the populations concerned are not the same. In both Glasgow and the United States, levels of criminality are higher to start with. Glasgow Saturday nights are notorious</i><br/>
<br/>
Prison reforms in California aimed at rehabilitation and release are a ticking time bomb according to current and formerly incarcerated individuals, whistleblowers, active and retired correctional officers, and other staff who spoke to The Epoch Times.<br/>
<br/>
As part of the reforms, which are based on Norway’s model, California’s prisons are moving away from punishment and toward rehabilitation, education, and re-entry.<br/>
<br/>
The transformation dovetails with a decade of sentencing and parole reforms as authorities move to depopulate and close facilities statewide.<br/>
<br/>
But the reality inside California’s prisons, insiders say, is increasingly dangerous for both inmates and staff.<br/>
<br/>
In the first six weeks of 2024, there were six homicides in California prisons, according to the corrections department. Five were inmate-on-inmate homicides and one involved a correctional officer shooting an inmate to prevent him from fatally stabbing another inmate.<br/>
<br/>
Additionally, an Epoch Times review of the department’s statistics reveals a dramatic increase over the past several years in total incident reports, as well as in important categories including assault and battery on inmates and officers, use of force, and sexual assaults.<br/>
<br/>
From January to October 2023, the most recent data available, there were 17,993 total incident reports—compared to 14,138 and 12,717 for the same periods in 2022 and 2021, respectively.<br/>
<br/>
Assault and battery incidents on corrections officers and non-inmates have risen steadily from 2021 through 2023, the latter increasing 35 percent from January to October 2023 over the previous year. In the same period, assaults on inmates rose 29 percent, use of force increased 46.3 percent, and sexual assaults jumped 62 percent.<br/>
<br/>
Patrick “Jimmy” Kitlas, who began serving a life sentence in 2007 and is now eligible for parole, told The Epoch Times by phone that there have been many “really sweeping and drastic” policy changes—but they are often contradictory or not implemented.<br/>
<br/>
“This place has definitely become a less structured, a less secure, and a much more violent place,” he said from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, where he’s been since 2015.<br/>
<br/>
Mr. Kitlas and others who spoke to The Epoch Times blamed a top-heavy administration disconnected from reality on the ground.<br/>
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“The guys up top who aren’t actually in the buildings with the officers and inmates providing custodial supervision, they’re making a lot of insane and violence-provoking policies without regard to the staff that have to enforce them,” Mr. Kitlas said.<br/>
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A new policy will often hit inmates and staff at the same time, he said, resulting in chaos.<br/>
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“No one ever seems to really have a firm grasp of where the policy came from, what its purpose is, and how is the best way to implement it—which is super dangerous,” he said.<br/>
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San Quentin is California’s oldest prison and one of the country’s most notorious, conducting all of the state’s executions since 1937. Now, it’s the blueprint for California corrections reform, offering innovative programming to help inmates like Mr. Kitlas transform their lives, overcome trauma, and become community leaders.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/california-transformed-prisons-to-the-norway-model-insiders-reveal-deadly-cost-5597236">https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/california-transformed-prisons-to-the-norway-model-insiders-reveal-deadly-cost-5597236</a>
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<b> Appeals Court Overturns Jan. 6 Defendant’s Sentence, Potentially Impacting Dozens of Cases</b><br/>
<br/>
An appeals court in Washington unanimously ruled that a Jan. 6 defendant’s sentence was improperly enhanced, a move that could impact numerous other Jan. 6 cases.<br/>
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On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Larry Brock, who was convicted for a range of crimes related to Jan. 6, improperly had additional charges of “interference with the administration of justice.” The judge who wrote the court’s opinion wrote that the charge doesn’t apply to a sentencing enhancement, however, and struck it down.<br/>
“Brock challenges both the district court’s interpretation of Section 1512(c)(2)’s elements and the sufficiency of the evidence to support that conviction,” wrote the judge, Patricia Millett.<br/>
<br/>
The judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, concluded that any interference with Congress’ certification of the 2020 electoral votes isn’t tantamount to a sentencing enhancement.<br/>
<br/>
“Because Section 2J1.2’s text, commentary, and context establish that the ‘administration of justice’ does not extend to Congress’s counting and certification of electoral college votes, the district court erred in applying Section 2J1.2(b)(2)’s three-level sentencing enhancement to Brock’s Section 1512(c)(2) conviction,” the judge wrote.<br/>
<br/>
The judges, in siding with Mr. Brock, wrote that Congress’ function on Jan. 6 was not judicial but was only a part of the 2020 presidential election process.<br/>
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“Taken as a whole, the multi-step process of certifying electoral college votes—as important to our democratic system of government as it is—bears little resemblance to the traditional understanding of the administration of justice as the judicial or quasi-judicial investigation or determination of individual rights,” the panel concluded.<br/>
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Law enforcement officials who were there at the Capitol on that day, they added, were “to protect the lawmakers and their process, not to investigate individuals’ rights or to enforce Congress’s certification decision.”<br/>
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“After all,” the judges wrote, “law enforcement is present for security purposes for a broad variety of governmental proceedings that do not involve the ‘administration of justice’—presidential inaugurations, for example, and the pardoning of the Thanksgiving Turkey.”<br/>
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Now, Mr. Brock’s sentence under the statute will be vacated and will be remanded to the district court for resentencing, according to Friday’s order.<br/>
<br/>
But it’s not clear whether Mr. Brock’s sentence will be reduced or whether it will apply to a number of other people who were charged with interference in the administration of justice related to the Capitol breach. However, the ruling could impact plea negotiations for future Jan. 6 defendants who are charged with the felony.<br/>
<br/>
Dozens of Jan. 6 defendants have been convicted and sentenced for interference in the administration of justice, according to data provided by the Department of Justice. It may mean that their time in prison and other penalties need to be reduced.<br/>
<br/>
The Justice Department, meanwhile, has often asked judges to apply the enhancement charges to the defendants, saying that the Congressional session on Jan. 6, 2021, to count electoral votes and certify the election was the same as a judicial proceeding.<br/>
<br/>
But Mr. Brock’s lawyers successfully argued in an appeal that the charges shouldn’t impact his sentence after he was given a two-year prison term in 2023. At the time, the lower court judge who convicted and sentenced Mr. Brock calculated that the obstruction charge meant he should spend more time in jail.<br/>
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The court made the sentencing decision as it simultaneously upheld Mr. Brock’s felony conviction regarding his activity on Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands breached the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the election.<br/>
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During court arguments in September, Mr. Brock’s lawyer noted that he committed no violence on Jan. 6 and said the man believed the 2020 election was stolen. “Mr. Brock thought he was acting righteously, patriotically and with a eminently proper purpose,” attorney Charles Burnham said at the time, according to reports.<br/>
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That argument was rejected by the panel of judges on Friday. “Brock participated in a riot that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election by force, and that he was himself prepared to take violent action to achieve that goal,” the judges wrote.<br/>
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Because of his social media posts about the election, the court added, “Where a defendant announces his intent to use violence to obstruct a congressional proceeding, comes equipped for violence, and then actually obstructs that proceeding, the evidence supports a finding that he acted with an impermissible purpose or knowledge of the wrongfulness of his actions.”<br/>
<br/>
Some Jan. 6 defendants have argued in court motions that the law have been improperly applied to charge them with felonies. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Jan. 6 defendants’ appeal in April on the application of the law, which could also impact special counsel Jack Smith’s case against former President Donald Trump as he faces two obstruction charges in Washington.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/appeals-court-rules-some-jan-6-sentences-were-improperly-increased-5598530?ea_src=au-frontpage&ea_med=most-read-0">https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/appeals-court-rules-some-jan-6-sentences-were-improperly-increased-5598530?ea_src=au-frontpage&ea_med=most-read-0</a>
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<b> UK: How a tranquil oasis for female swimmers became a front line in the culture wars: Bitter row over whether trans women are allowed to bathe in historic single-sex pond comes to a ferocious head...</b><br/>
<br/>
Ever since she moved to London more than 20 years ago, Venice Allan has made a point of carving out time to visit a place she finds brings her particular pleasure.<br/>
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It means a lengthy trek across the city on the Tube from her home in south London. But such is the magical pull of Kenwood Ladies Pond, a natural swimming lake on Hampstead Heath, that she goes as often as she can.<br/>
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‘It’s the most beautiful, special place,’ says the 48-year-old jewellery designer. ‘It really feels like an oasis.’<br/>
<br/>
Many hundreds of other women have long felt the same, among them local celebrities including Helena Bonham-Carter and Emma Thompson, who live in and around this fashionable – and achingly liberal – part of London.<br/>
<br/>
And certainly, for decades the Ladies’ Pond has been a unique space. Designated women only in 1926, for nearly a century it has been billed as a place of refuge and security for women of all ages, something underlined on the sign at the entrance which makes clear that men – who have access to their own male-only pond, as well as a mixed pond nearby – are not allowed ‘beyond this point’.<br/>
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You might think that message could not be clearer – except, of course, that the definition of ‘woman’ has latterly become a vexatious, highly contentious issue.<br/>
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So perhaps it was only a matter of time before it reached the once tranquil setting of the Ladies' Pond, which now finds itself mired in an ongoing and increasingly ugly row.<br/>
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On one side are 11 of the 12-strong committee members of the Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association (KLPA) – backed, it must be said, by a sizeable contingent of other regular swimmers – who have declared that anyone who identifies as a woman has a right to swim there and that to suggest otherwise is a breach of the 2010 Equality Act.<br/>
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On the other is an equally large band who believe that the committee has become overtly politicised and ‘captured’ by gender ideology, and is trying to strong-arm those who do not subscribe to their views.<br/>
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The latter insist that the committee is ignoring the wishes of members who want the pond to become a female-only space again.<br/>
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They also accuse the committee of stoking division between women who swim all-year round and those who are unable, or unwilling, to swim every week. They point to a failed attempt by the committee to establish a form of ‘pond apartheid’ which would have limited the rights of fair-weather swimmers to have any say in Association matters.<br/>
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The row is set to come to a head this Sunday at the pond’s annual general meeting, at which one committee member, Janice Williams, has submitted a resolution asking that the organisation recognise that the definition of woman can - in this context - only apply to those born biologically female.<br/>
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There has been some wrangling over whether the resolution can be aired at all: co-chairs Pauline Latchem and Beth Feresten have made clear the proposal may be unlawful, sending a note to AGM members reading ‘Pending further legal advice, the amendment may be removed from consideration at the AGM’ – something Janice labels ‘nonsensical’.<br/>
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‘How can a vote be unlawful?’ she asks. ‘It is a cornerstone of the democratic process.’<br/>
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It is certainly all a very long way from the genteel pond’s inception. Along with the other bathing ponds on Hampstead Heath, the Ladies’ Pond was originally created in the 17th and 18th centuries as one of the reservoirs to meet London’s growing demand for water.<br/>
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Some were repurposed for swimming, used mainly by male swimmers, until in 1926, the Kenwood Pond was designated as women-only.<br/>
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Over the years thousands have visited, enjoying the magic of swimming in fresh water in the heart of a busy urban capital.<br/>
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‘You walk down the pedestrian lane to get to the entrance, and it is like being in the heart of the countryside,' says Sally Kennedy, a 46-year-old teacher and devoted swimmer who loves the pond so much that she moved to north London from her native east London ten years ago so she could be nearer to it.<br/>
<br/>
Three years ago, the writer Esther Freud wrote of the way it unified women across the social and age spectrum. ‘At the height of summer, as many as 2,000 women of every shape and size, all classes, all ages, from across London, across the country, even from abroad, arrive to swim and sunbathe on the meadow,’ she wrote in an article for Vogue magazine.<br/>
<br/>
In more recent times, however, controversy has started to lap round the edges of this once untroubled space. In 1989, the running of Hampstead Heath and its ponds came under the control of the City of London Corporation which, in 2005, to the dismay of many, instigated a ‘self-policed’ charging system suggesting a contribution of between £1 and £2 be made by swimmers each time they visited.<br/>
<br/>
Many believed this went against the fundamental ethos of the pond, and protests followed, but the City of London went on to make the charges compulsory in March 2020. Entry is now strictly controlled by barriers and a gate, a turn of events that is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge.<br/>
<br/>
But this controversy pales when set against the backdrop of today’s increasingly toxic row about access, which dates back to 2019 when the City of London adopted a new policy to allow trans women (biological males who identify as women) to use the pond, citing the Equality Act.<br/>
<br/>
The policy was overseen by Edward Lord, a City of London councillor and diversity champion (pronouns ‘they/them’) who launched an online survey consultation on whether trans people should be able to access services relating to their gender identity.<br/>
<br/>
On paper the answer was an overwhelming yes, as 12,390 had voted in favour of transgender users, and 8,610 against – until it emerged that nearly 19,000 other responses had been disregarded as users were deemed to have not answered the survey in full.<br/>
<br/>
Either way, Lord was very clear on the issue: ‘It shouldn’t be a debate,’ they declared. ‘Trans women are women; trans men are men.’ The self-ID policy was duly ushered in, which allowed any male to access the Ladies’ Pond merely on their claim to be a woman.<br/>
<br/>
A series of protests followed, including a demonstration during which around 20 women ‘identified’ as men next to the men’s pool of Hampstead Heath.<br/>
<br/>
One woman sported a pantomime beard; another wore a lime green mankini (a Borat-style male version of a bikini) before demanding access to the nearby men’s pond to highlight the absurdity of ‘gender self-identification’. They were promptly ejected by staff.<br/>
<br/>
Undeterred, Venice Allan went on to found Let Women Swim – a campaign to reclaim the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond as a female-only space by 2025, in time for the centenary of its foundation.<br/>
<br/>
In August 2022 she staged another protest, in which 130 women lined the pedestrian lane to the pool. ‘The only buoy allowed’ read one placard, sported by a woman with a lifebuoy round her neck.<br/>
<br/>
‘I don’t want to live in a female-only society, I’m not a separatist,’ Venice told the Mail this week. ‘But it’s a special, iconic place that has now become unnecessarily politicised. It’s also deeply ironic that the City of London talks about inclusion, when its policy clearly discriminates about women.<br/>
<br/>
‘Trans women can swim in the mixed pond, but the female-only pond is the only place where women of certain religious faiths like Orthodox Jewish women and Muslim women can swim, as they cannot be in a space with someone who is biologically male. I know for a fact that some women from those backgrounds now no longer come.’<br/>
<br/>
Venice herself is clear that she has swum in the presence of biological males. ‘I’ve been there when someone with hormone-induced moobs is at the edge of the pond letting it all hang out and it is hard to feel that it isn’t a statement,’ she says.<br/>
<br/>
Another regular swimmer, who asked not to be named, said that she had watched in amazement as a man in tiny trunks showing his genitalia entered the pond unchallenged. He then went on to sunbathe nearby.<br/>
<br/>
Such infractions – as they are seen by many pond users – have fundamentally changed the feel of the place, according to Sally Kennedy.<br/>
<br/>
‘For many women the pond serves two quite separate functions,’ she says. ‘Yes it’s a place to swim, but it’s also this very special outside female-only space in which to just relax, hang out, and that’s really rare. In the wider world we have our guard up but not there. That has now changed, certainly for me.’<br/>
<br/>
Venice acknowledges that others beg to differ. ‘Leaving aside the politics on the committee, there is a conflict amid pond users which is pretty much divided by age,’ she says. ‘There are many women who have been swimming there for decades who are bitterly opposed to the changes. Many – but not all – younger women are not as bothered.’<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13146349/How-tranquil-oasis-female-swimmers-line-culture-wars-Bitter-row-trans-women-allowed-bathe-historic-single-sex-pond-comes-ferocious-head.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13146349/How-tranquil-oasis-female-swimmers-line-culture-wars-Bitter-row-trans-women-allowed-bathe-historic-single-sex-pond-comes-ferocious-head.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Popular Australian media figure tells renters to ‘love your landlord’</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> Unusual wisdom in a public figure</i><br/>
<br/>
Former Sunrise host David Koch has weighed into the rental crisis debate, urging renters to “love your landlord” and instead point the blame at governments.<br/>
<br/>
Writing for The Nightly, Koch said it may sound like “heresy, but tenants should direct their anger towards all three levels of government — not their landlords — when it comes to skyrocketing rents”.<br/>
<br/>
“Governments, not landlords, have been derelict in not foreseeing and planning to avoid this rental crisis,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s complex and there is no silver bullet solution. But so-called ‘greedy’ landlords are being unfairly targeted as the scapegoat. You probably have one in your family, or among your friends, and I bet they have increased the rent to cover rising loan repayments. But vilifying property investors is going to make the crisis a whole lot worse. The reality is many of those landlords are now saying it’s simply not worth it and are selling up, which just adds to the problem.”<br/>
<br/>
Koch noted that there were around 2.2 million landlords in Australia, according to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data, or one fifth of the population, the vast majority of whom own just one investment property.<br/>
<br/>
“They aren’t property moguls, they’re ordinary Australians trying to build a nest egg,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
He argued the reason rents were rising — in some cases by more than 50 per cent — was not “greed” but a combination of “rising interest rates, a lack of new developments because of a shortage of land, delays in approvals, banks reducing borrowing capacity, and developers going broke”, as well as “a lack of commitment from governments to develop enough affordable low-cost rental housing”.<br/>
<br/>
Koch did not mention Australia’s record immigration intake of 518,000 net overseas arrivals last year, which a growing number of experts have conceded is a key driver of housing demand.<br/>
<br/>
He echoed comments last month from billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff, who said a large reason developers were going broke was the lack of investors due to the low net return of about 2.5 per cent.<br/>
<br/>
“The only way to quickly resolve the rental crisis is to love your landlord and encourage more property investors to make more stock available,” Koch said.<br/>
<br/>
“So when debating the merits of negative gearing, be careful what you wish for. Between 1996 and 2021, private investors provided 1.1 million rentals. Community groups added 41,000 but there was a reduction of 53,000 in government properties. Rather than castigate landlords, governments should be trying to match them in the amount of new properties coming onto the market.”<br/>
<br/>
He added that the federal government’s “much-vaunted $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund will only provide an additional 30,000 social and affordable homes which is tiny compared with what is needed”.<br/>
<br/>
“So private investors will have to continue to do the heavy lifting,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
The piece, for Seven West Media’s newly launched online news site, received mixed reaction online.<br/>
<br/>
“The Nightly — off to a flyer delivering bangers,” former union boss Tim Lyons wrote on X. “Perspectives we don’t hear from new, interesting voices.”<br/>
<br/>
Another user wrote, “This daring pro-boomer pro-landlord position is exactly the sort of fearless principled stand that has been missing from the Aussie media landscape. Well done to the editorial team at The Nightly.”<br/>
<br/>
Anne Crarey, executive general manager of property services at Little Real Estate, told news.com.au last month that the rental crisis was “only getting worse” and “I don’t see anything on the horizon that’s going to change where we’re at”.<br/>
<br/>
Ms Crarey also argued the solution to the crisis has to be “encouraging people to be buying investment properties”.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t foresee any other way out of it,” she said.<br/>
<br/>
“I don’t think the government’s going to be able to build what we need to build to make the rental crisis go away, so the solution firmly lands with the government in regards to making incentives to invest in properties more enticing.”<br/>
<br/>
Australia’s rental crisis has seen a “marked escalation” with an increasing number of suburbs recording the “highest possible distress score”, according to Suburbtrends’ February Rental Pain Index.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/kochie-tells-renters-to-love-your-landlord/news-story/b9721bb398d1fed9e552342d728a7f42">https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/kochie-tells-renters-to-love-your-landlord/news-story/b9721bb398d1fed9e552342d728a7f42</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-3294019049162848682024-03-05T15:12:00.005+13:002024-03-05T15:12:28.189+13:00<br><b> Psychologist tells Steven Bartlett's The Diary of a CEO podcast why couples stop having sex</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> A factor omitted below is that the harmony between a couple can become so good that the two feel like brother and sister -- and you don't have sex with your sister!</i><br/>
<br/>
A leading sex therapist has shed light on why couples often gradually stop having sex, saying the 'sexual currency' that keeps passion alive at the beginning of a romance fades with familiarity.<br/>
<br/>
Appearing on Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett's The Diary of a CEO podcast, Dr Karen Gurney, who is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychosexologist, told the entrepreneur that she's constantly seeing couples who are struggling to keep the flames of ardor alive saying the same thing.<br/>
<br/>
The mental health professional, whose new book is called How Not to Let Having Kids Ruin Your Sex Life, explained that couples regularly tell her: 'I didn't really feel like it but we had sex and it was great, and afterwards I said "why don't we do it more often?"'<br/>
<br/>
Dr Gurney told the podcast that it's often a case of the more you have, the more you want, saying: 'That's responsive desire, it emerges out of sexual activity.'<br/>
<br/>
Discussing the concept of sexual currency, she said that sometimes it's the small gestures that diminish over time - but collectively, they're crucial for keeping a relationship alive.<br/>
<br/>
She told Bartlett: 'The problem of long term relationships is that we see a decline in what I call sexual currency.<br/>
<br/>
'We start to see sex a bit like an on/off switch. We're having sex, but the rest of the time we're not being sexual together.<br/>
<br/>
'We're not passionately kissing unless it's part of sex. We're not sending the flirty messages like we used to do at the beginning, we're not spending time lounging around naked in bed on a Sunday morning being naked together in a way that might kickstart desire.'<br/>
<br/>
Preventing the death knell sounding for a happy sex life long into a relationship is, she said, all about keeping those smaller gestures going.<br/>
<br/>
'Low levels of sexual currency with high levels of familiarity - seeing the same person every day - means our brains just don't code them as sexual stimuli in the same way.'<br/>
<br/>
She also had advice for new parents, saying tending to a newborn can leave one partner with sex on their mind, and the other feeling like it's the last thing they want to do.<br/>
<br/>
'A crying child has an impact on what's happening in your sex life and for your desire. We tend to see that the more times you get up [in the night], the less happy you are with your sex life.'<br/>
<br/>
Dr Gurney explained that not getting a good night's sleep affects how your body responds to sexual response in terms of 'the chemicals in the body that help us be prepared for arousal to build, but also it's the cognitive distraction of being woken up by something quite upsetting [a baby crying]'.<br/>
<br/>
Parents should share the workload, she suggests, because 'if one of you is getting a good night's sleep and feeling horny all the time and another one's getting up three times and sex is the last thing on their mind, probably the best thing that you can do is try and share it'.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13145529/Diary-Ceo-couples-stop-having-sex.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13145529/Diary-Ceo-couples-stop-having-sex.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Is there a way to make losers attractive to women?</b><br/>
<br/>
There is an underwear enthusiast who claims that there is. Catboy is skeptical:
<br/><br/>
<iframe width="600" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ThiA30bPzME" title="Catboy discovers THE SECRET of WHY WOMEN sleep with BUMS (Their true nature) with Casey Zander" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br/><br/>
Catboy is a fast talker so it may help to click on the subtitles (wheel icon)
<br/><br/>
The link is:
<br/><br/>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThiA30bPzME&t=162s
<br/><br/>
**************************************************<br/>
<br/>
<b> Step inside the ‘dangerous’ mind of Douglas Murray and you will find a fierce defence for civilisation as we know it</b><br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-image">
<a class="asset-img-link" style="display: inline;" href="https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/5abe18ae19eb6cf29a623e7260a8f214?width=480"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3a8dfaa200c img-responsive" alt="image from https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/5abe18ae19eb6cf29a623e7260a8f214?width=480" title="image from https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/5abe18ae19eb6cf29a623e7260a8f214?width=480" src="https://jonjayray1.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3a8dfaa200c-580wi" /></a><br />
</p>
To some, Murray is the new Christopher Hitchens, the late Anglo-American journalist and political shapeshifter, who was an early supporter of Murray’s work. The theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, a friend of both men, recently observed: “Douglas is more conservative, Christopher was in some ways more liberal, but their deep reserve of knowledge combining literature and current events makes listening to either one of them compelling.”<br/>
<br/>
It’s not easy to put Murray in a box. He is gay, but trenchantly against the LGBT movement; a poetry aficionado and English scholar who appals the left-wing literati. He doesn’t believe in God, but calls himself a Christian.<br/>
<br/>
This month, Murray arrives in Australia for a national tour in conversation with podcaster Josh Szeps. After a number of shows sold out, more have been added – a sign of his growing worldwide profile, although Murray insists his tour is not about feeding that. “Anyone who’s a writer should not seek fame, because this is a very bad profession to go into if you just want to become famous,” an exhausted Murray says. He’s speaking from a London hotel room following an extended stint of reporting in Israel, where he has rock-star status. “It’s very moving,” he says of his warm reception in that country. But, he adds, “it’s sort of saddening to me because it suggests they feel that they don’t have very many sympathetic voices in the non-Jewish world. I think that’s terrible; it saddens me enormously.”<br/>
<br/>
When talking to Murray you get the sense of a man completely secure in his opinions. There is no trace of arrogance or malice. The subjects on which he writes are rarely uplifting, but he does not come across as a lugubrious or cynical personality. In conversation Murray is warm, humorous, even playful.<br/>
<br/>
While the progressive orthodoxy may demonise him, Murray delivers his arguments with clinical precision. Appearing on Britain’s Talk TV, Murray was asked by host Julia Hartley-Brewer about “proportionality” in Israel’s response to Hamas. “Proportionality in conflict rarely exists,” he said. “But if we were to decide that we should have this fetish about proportionality, then that would mean that in retaliation for what Hamas did in Israel, Israel should try and locate a music festival in Gaza, for instance (and good luck with that), and rape precisely the number of women that Hamas raped, kill precisely the number of young people that Hamas killed …”<br/>
<br/>
To his enemies, Murray is a dangerous man and thinker. In response to his vocal support of Israel, a lecturer at King’s College London – during a course on counterterrorism – branded Murray a figure of the “far right” (when Murray founded the think-tank The Centre for Social Cohesion, he described it as apolitical) and likened him to American podcaster Joe Rogan. The lecturer even speculated on how to silence such people. “To deplatform them would cause issues,” he told students, “so society needs to find other ways to suppress them.”<br/>
<br/>
Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson observes that Murray engages in a kind of “judicial pitilessness”, in which he marshals his rhetorical powers and sends them into combat. Peterson said of his friend in a recent interview: “He doesn’t let anyone off the hook”.<br/>
<br/>
Szeps, whose Uncomfortable Conversations podcast hosts figures from across the political spectrum, says he wanted to bring Murray to Australia because he’s one of the few intellectuals who can question taboos in a “bullshit-free manner”. Murray has a knack for “puncturing the self-certainties and biases that we don’t even know we hold”, says Szeps. “He flirts with subjects and opinions that are close enough to being beyond the pale among polite society” even if people may “take the worst possible interpretation of what he’s saying and frame it as if he’s not worth listening to.”<br/>
<br/>
Szeps believes Australians are eager to listen to a fearless speaker who will add something “unusual, fresh and heterodox” to the national debate. “People have said, ‘When you Google Douglas Murray you see that he’s been peddling [far-right] conspiracy theories’,” Szeps says. “And when I ask, ‘What far-right conspiracy theories?’ they always say, ‘I don’t know but, you know, it’s on Google.’”<br/>
<br/>
Szeps says Murray’s early critique of treatment for transgenderism in children has turned out to be prescient: “He spoke out at a time when it was incredibly toxic to discuss transgender pediatric care and now we’re in a climate where many reasonable people in the medical field feel that the way things were being done, maybe three years ago, was probably a bit ideological, and probably wasn’t in the best interests of young people with gender dysphoria. He was a clarion call at a time when it was incredibly unpopular to be saying those things … the world has continued to vindicate his concerns.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/the-making-of-douglas-murray-most-people-in-the-west-have-no-idea-what-were-at-risk-of-losing/news-story/98863bc78a15c22bcb3bf3ba56b7cbfb">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/the-making-of-douglas-murray-most-people-in-the-west-have-no-idea-what-were-at-risk-of-losing/news-story/98863bc78a15c22bcb3bf3ba56b7cbfb</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Why cash should not be abolished</b><br/>
<br/>
Caitlin Fitzsimmons<br/>
<br/>
I’ve found myself in furious agreement with Queensland politician Bob Katter about one issue – that businesses should accept cash.<br/>
<br/>
Last month Katter was fired up because a cafe in the Australian Parliament House initially refused to accept his $50 note, telling him it was a cashless business. Katter told them it was too bad for them because cash was legal tender, and they legally had to accept it.<br/>
<br/>
He went on Sky News to explain himself. “If you have a cashless society, the banks control your life, you’re not able to buy a loaf of bread without permission from the banks,” Katter said. “It’s bad enough now but it will become infinitely worse.”<br/>
<br/>
Like most Australians, I lost the cash habit at some point in the past decade, content to tap away to pay for everything from coffee to groceries. I often have no cash in my wallet.<br/>
<br/>
Recently, though, I’ve been trying to change that. I started noticing that more and more retailers, especially cafes and small shops, were imposing surcharges for card payments. Being the former Money editor of this masthead, I knew how quickly little amounts can add up. I’ve also been finding that an increasing number of businesses no longer accept cash. I’ve encountered this several times in the month since Katter’s run-in at the Canberra cafe.<br/>
<br/>
On the Saturday before last, I was unfortunately not at the second Taylor Swift concert, having failed to find tickets. Nor was I at the Bondi Beach Party, murdering the dance floor with Sophie Ellis-Bextor. But I was at the Capitol Theatre, seeing the entrancing Australian Ballet production of Alice with my daughter.<br/>
<br/>
I was surprised to find that the bar at the theatre is cashless. The bartender informed me that this was stated in the terms and conditions of sale when I bought my tickets. The website confirms the policy but does not state a reason.<br/>
<br/>
Earlier in February, I came across the same phenomenon at Spice Alley, off Broadway, where there is a collection of small food stalls and shared tables in a central courtyard. I wanted to give my teenagers cash, so they could go and choose their own meals, but the stalls were all cashless, forcing us to go one by one. One of the stallholders told me that Spice Alley management did not allow them to take cash, but customers could load currency onto a cashless payment card at a central cashier. The Spice Alley website says the policy is to improve “speed of service, safety and hygiene”.<br/>
<br/>
Like Katter, I thought cash was legal tender and that businesses had to accept it. It turns out we were both wrong. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website states that businesses can choose which payment types they accept, but consumers have to be informed before they make the purchase.<br/>
<br/>
Informing customers can be as simple as a sign at the cash register, or a notice on a website, which feels like a loophole. There’s no doubt card payments are convenient, but we’re all paying the price, and we should have a choice.<br/>
<br/>
A cashless society is not a globalist conspiracy, but it is a capitalist one because the banks and other financial institutions are making a fortune from card payment fees.<br/>
<br/>
How much exactly? I’m glad you asked.<br/>
<br/>
Reserve Bank figures show, in the year ended December 2023, there were about 3.6 billion credit and charge card transactions and 11 billion debit card transactions in Australia. The business is charged a merchant service fee every time someone pays with a card. Sometimes they have a package deal, but on average, it ranges from 0.35 per cent of the transaction for eftpos to 1.69 per cent for Diners Card. The merchant acquirer – the big four banks and newcomers such as Stripe – and the card issuer all get a cut.<br/>
<br/>
Businesses are legally allowed to pass on the cost directly to consumers in the form of a surcharge. My hunch that surcharging is becoming more common was on the money: businesses passed on a surcharge to consumers on 7 per cent of transactions in 2022, up from 5 per cent in 2019. The median surcharge was 50c per transaction.<br/>
<br/>
My rough and ready calculation is that Australian consumers are directly paying $511 million a year for the privilege of paying with a card. The rest of the time, the retailers pay instead – and consumers pay indirectly.<br/>
<br/>
Lance Blockley, the managing director of The Initiatives Group, a payment consultancy, estimates that Australian businesses are charged $5.8 billion a year – $3.5 billion for credit and charge cards and $2.3 billion for debit cards.<br/>
<br/>
In Katter’s Sky interview, he made a leap from talking about cash to warning against “intermittent power” aka renewable energy. At this point, he lost me. He’s wrong about renewables, but not about cash.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-i-found-myself-agreeing-with-cash-king-bob-katter-20240226-p5f7wv.html">https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-i-found-myself-agreeing-with-cash-king-bob-katter-20240226-p5f7wv.html</a>
</p>
************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-36193344378614468292024-03-04T16:58:00.004+13:002024-03-04T17:02:45.111+13:00<br><b>There’s One Thing Husbands Love More Than Sex </b><br/>
<br/>
<i> I am reluctant to believe this. Or at least I ask what is the frequency of this? It sounds plausible but is surely found only in shaky marriages. But all women should undoubtedly take note of it.<br/>
<br/>
Even my ex-girlfriend strokes my bare skin on appropriate occasions. I recognize and enjoy it and see it as something that normally accompanies affection. I hope I am far from alone in that experience</i><br/>
<br/>
Women’s jaws would drop if they could listen in on my conversations with married men. Our discussions contradict just about every misconception wives utter about their husbands.<br/>
<br/>
Husbands don’t want to hurt. They don’t want to argue. They don’t want to control. And they definitely don’t “just want sex”.<br/>
<br/>
These guys are desperate for her to know the truth. And they shed tears at the thought that their wife may never WANT to know the truth.<br/>
<br/>
The truth for these men lies in the end of her pinky finger. In that finger is packed an unspeakable power many wives choose to ignore or have yet to discover.<br/>
<br/>
It’s so simple and so tender that men are afraid to even ask for it. We barely talk about it with each other! We don’t want to appear soft. We don’t want to risk a woman’s reaction to our weakness.<br/>
<br/>
What is it?<br/>
<br/>
It is the power of a delicate, skin-to-skin touch of feminine acceptance and approval.<br/>
<br/>
When a woman calmly grazes the end of her pinky finger across any part of a man’s body and offers a verbal or non-verbal vote of confidence or support, his world changes at that instant.<br/>
<br/>
It is so powerful we are often left speechless. Our throats and tear ducts begin to swell and we quietly indulge in the comforting reassurance of the moment. If we could package the word “love”, it would feel like this when the bottle was opened.<br/>
<br/>
Our “well-being meter” pegs out and our heart rate and breathing slows.<br/>
<br/>
Every husband I know is dying to feel this. Simple, easy-peasy feminine acceptance and approval. Nothing else. Just…this.<br/>
<br/>
A World of Men Speak About Pinky Power<br/>
<br/>
These are real examples of how men across the globe describe it. In every case I can hear their clenched voice of vulnerability trying to sound “strong” as they speak. Just for fun, try to imagine their accents as you read these.<br/>
<br/>
Oklahoma<br/>
<br/>
“She reached over during the movie and put her hand on my knee and looked at me and smiled and said ‘I’m happy you brought us here, thank you.’ ”<br/>
<br/>
Alberta<br/>
<br/>
“She touched my arm and giggled and called me ‘stud’ “<br/>
<br/>
UK<br/>
<br/>
“She scratched the top of my head for about two minutes and didn’t say anything. It was awesome.”<br/>
<br/>
Turkey<br/>
<br/>
“She touched my elbow and whispered, ‘You’re such a good father and a sweet man, I love that about you.’ “<br/>
<br/>
Jordan<br/>
<br/>
“When I told her about my idea for a better vacation spot she grabbed my arm and said, ‘I f#cking love you!’ “<br/>
<br/>
New Zealand<br/>
<br/>
“She just reached across the car seat and scratched the back of my head softly as I drove. It’s intoxicating.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://medium.com/hello-love/theres-one-thing-husbands-love-more-than-sex-and-here-s-the-reason-why-they-can-t-tell-you-2b6dc0610866">https://medium.com/hello-love/theres-one-thing-husbands-love-more-than-sex-and-here-s-the-reason-why-they-can-t-tell-you-2b6dc0610866</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> A wise cat discusses the importance of money in male/female relationships</b><br/>
<br/>
<iframe width="600" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i83EZLn76YM" title="Cat discovers what AMBITIOUS MEN Will HATE HEARING From WOMEN with Alexander Grace" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br/><br/>
If there are points where the cat is hard to follow, the subtitles may be helpful. To activate them, click on the wheel icon at the bottom of the video
<br/><br/>
If the embed does not work, the link is:
<br/><br/>
https://youtu.be/i83EZLn76YM?si=RHZhgVfSmCR6dgxk\
<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
<b> Conservative Leaders Urge Lawmakers to Back Amendment Protecting Traditional Views on Marriage</b><br/>
<br/>
Dozens of leaders of conservative organizations planned to send a letter Friday to members of Congress demanding that the lawmakers adopt protections for religious Americans who support the traditional idea of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.<br/>
<br/>
The signees urged House Republicans to protect religious freedom by prioritizing passage of the so-called Roy Marriage Amendment, named after Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.<br/>
<br/>
Advancing American Freedom, a conservative policy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, spearheaded the letter.<br/>
<br/>
It also includes signatures, among others, of Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Joe Waresak, president of the James Dobson Family Institute; and Tom McClusky, director of government affairs for Catholic Vote.<br/>
<br/>
If adopted, the Roy amendment would prohibit the government from engaging in “any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person speaks, or acts, in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief, or moral conviction” regarding marriage between a man and a woman, according to the text.<br/>
<br/>
The amendment also would prevent the federal government from eliminating a religious group’s tax exemption status for their beliefs on marriage.<br/>
<br/>
Roy submitted the amendment to the House in 2022 in an attempt to include it with the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires all 50 states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states and was passed in December of that same year.<br/>
<br/>
The House has been attempting to avoid a partial government shutdown after failing to pass a new budget for fiscal year 2024 in September. Members voted Thursday to extend the deadline to March 8, prompting Advancing American Freedom to encourage lawmakers to push the Roy amendment through before a potential shutdown.<br/>
<br/>
“This provision is needed now more than ever, for no one should ever fear government punishment for holding to traditional marriage as the unique blessing that it is for all. We strongly encourage you to once again include the Roy ‘Marriage Amendment’ in upcoming appropriations bills,” the conservative leaders’ letter concludes.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/01/conservative-leaders-urge-lawmakers-to-back-amendment-protecting-traditional-views-on-marriage/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/03/01/conservative-leaders-urge-lawmakers-to-back-amendment-protecting-traditional-views-on-marriage/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Trump has been called racist - so why are growing numbers of black and Latino voters now backing him?</b><br/>
<br/>
There is a certain predictability about Donald Trump's rallies. A sea of red 'Make America Great Again' hats, tons of stars and stripes flags and an enthusiastic crowd of predominantly white, working-class fans who make up his loyal base.<br/>
<br/>
But in recent months there has been a noticeable shift in the people turning out to cheer the former President on as he campaigns from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona to Arkansas in his bid to return to the White House in November's presidential election.<br/>
<br/>
Increasingly, supporters wearing 'Blacks For Trump' T-shirts and brandishing 'Latinos For Trump' placards are standing alongside his traditional supporters – and their numbers are growing each week.<br/>
<br/>
Recent polls have shown working class minorities, who historically vote for the Democratic Party headed by President Joe Biden, are turning their backs on him in droves. A poll by AP-NORC showed only 50 per cent of black adults said they approved of Biden, down from 86 per cent in July 2021. At the same time, 25 per cent of black adults said they approved of Trump, up from 18 per cent in 2021.<br/>
<br/>
Craig Scott, 54, a black filmmaker and Trump supporter from North Carolina, isn't surprised in the slightest. 'When it comes down to it, people vote with their wallets and no one can argue life in America today is better under Biden than it was under Trump. A trip to the grocery store or gas station is hitting folks where it hurts. Biden is old and out of touch. Ask most people if they were better off under Trump and the answer is 'yes'.'<br/>
<br/>
Facing multiple lawsuits for everything from election fraud to tax evasion – which Trump describes as 'a political witch hunt' – has, ironically, garnered him sympathy from minority voters.<br/>
<br/>
Scott, who joined a black militant group as a teenager in the 1980s and was jailed for 26 years for holding up a white-owned bank and depositing the money he stole into a black-owned bank, said: 'Black communities are used to feeling persecuted. When Trump had his mugshot released a lot of us felt sympathetic towards him.<br/>
<br/>
'His run-ins with the law and what seems like an unfair obsession with putting him behind bars, reminds us of what has historically been done to us.'<br/>
<br/>
For Latinos, predominantly Mexican immigrants and those from Central and South America, the decision to back Trump is more personal. It is a backlash against Biden's disastrous 'open border' policies which have seen 7.3 million migrants illegally cross the southern border of the US since he took office, according to US Custom and Border Protection official figures.<br/>
<br/>
There are 36.2 million eligible Hispanic voters in 2024, up from 32.3 million in the 2020 election. Latinos are now almost 15 per cent of America's electorate and will likely hold the key to whoever wins in November, particularly in battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada, which Biden narrowly won in 2020.<br/>
<br/>
In January, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll showed Trump was ahead with 39 per cent among Latino voters, compared with Biden's 24 per cent – a massive slump since the 2020 election when Bidden garnered 65 per cent of Latino votes.<br/>
<br/>
Texan dentist Alma Arrendondo-Lynch, 67, took part in a 'Take Our Border Back' rally: 'I'm not against people coming into America but they should do it legally,' she said.<br/>
<br/>
Another woman who arrived in Los Angeles 20 years ago from El Salvador and who preferred not to give her name, said: 'It took me years and thousands of dollars to get a Green Card and US citizenship. It's wrong Biden is letting millions of illegals flood in. Why should they be given work visas and be allowed to stay when they haven't followed the same rules as the rest of us?<br/>
<br/>
'It's our communities that are hurting because of these illegals. They are taking resources away from poor areas. Our schools can't cope, our hospitals can't cope. That's why I'm voting for Trump.'<br/>
<br/>
Professor Taylor Dark, of the political science department at California State University, said people should not be surprised minorities are supporting Trump.<br/>
<br/>
He said: 'Many of the predominantly working-class blacks and Latinos feel Biden isn't prioritising their interests. Economically they feel worse off under Biden.<br/>
<br/>
'The Democratic Party is dominated by college-educated people and their focus on issues such as trans rights doesn't align with the views of these working-class groups. They are turned off.<br/>
<br/>
'Many blacks and Latinos don't like the scale of illegal immigration. They don't like it in principle and they view illegal immigrants as people who will potentially take their jobs. These minority groups are turning towards Trump for the same reasons the white working classes embraced him in 2016.'<br/>
<br/>
Neither blacks nor Latinos seem bothered by claims Trump is a racist who once declared he didn't want immigrants from Haiti and Africa and 'other s***hole countries'. 'Trump isn't perfect and he's said stupid things and has been photographed with some stupid people but I don't care about that,' said a film executive who is a member of the group 'Blacks For Trump'.<br/>
<br/>
'This is a fight for America. When he was President, Trump introduced prison reforms which helped African-American communities, he gave grants to black colleges, he gave stimulus cheques to promote black-owned small businesses. What has Biden done for us?<br/>
<br/>
'Biden talks the talk but he's a limousine liberal who has done nothing of any real importance to change the lives of ordinary black people in this country. We've traditionally voted Democrat but many were disillusioned by Barack Obama.<br/>
<br/>
'He arrived in the White House offering change and hope, but nothing changed. Black people are sick of being fed lies. Trump can't do any worse than Biden.'<br/>
<br/>
Trump has said he is considering Tim Scott, the first black senator from South Carolina in America's historically racism-riven Deep South, as a potential vice-presidential running mate. Scott, who briefly stood against Trump before dropping out of the race to be the Republican nominee, dismissed Trump's legal woes and previous racist statements, saying: 'The American people are more focused on the future than on his past.'<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-13149759/donald-trump-racist-joe-biden-election.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-13149759/donald-trump-racist-joe-biden-election.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> It’s time to eliminate the concept of ‘mental health’</b><br/>
<br/>
Theodore Dalrymple<br/>
<br/>
The concept of mental health is a hypochondriac’s, narcissist’s, shirker’s and social security fraud’s charter: for who can prove that someone does not so feel depressed, anxious, or grief-stricken that he is unable to work? Who can distinguish between can’t, won’t and would rather not?<br/>
<br/>
Unfortunately, mental health has come to mean any deviance from a state of perfect equanimity and satisfaction<br/>
<br/>
Fragile mental health, and especially mental health issues, are said to be preventing large numbers of young Britons from working, with people in their early twenties now more likely to be out of work than people in their early forties as a result. One even hears people nowadays say that ‘I’ve got mental health’ – not meaning something positive but negative. Mental health means something bad, something incapacitating.<br/>
<br/>
Those with mental health issues, or just plain mental health, can get by economically without working. This is a powerful cause, I would guess, of considerable psychological unease, for even now most people do not like to feel useless to others. The frauds among them, of course, are delighted to be paid to do nothing, especially if they can supplement their income on the side.<br/>
<br/>
But the difference between the genuine cases and the fraudulent, insofar as the genuine cases really do experience wretchedness of one kind or another, is not absolutely categorical. If you play a part long enough, after all, it is what you become: habit changes character.<br/>
<br/>
What is mental health? The only definition I can think of is the absence of outright lunacy. Unfortunately, it has come to mean any deviance from a state of perfect equanimity and satisfaction. A long time ago, I noticed that the word ‘unhappy’ had disappeared from the everyday lexicon, in favour of the word ‘depressed’. For every person now who claims to be unhappy there are a thousand who say that they are depressed, and this is irrespective of the conditions that are making them so. When I used to say to depressed women that there would be something wrong with them if they were happy while their disgusting boyfriends were pulling them by the hair and banging their head on the floor, they would laugh, as if they knew all along that to complain of depression in such circumstances was absurd.<br/>
<br/>
But the semantic change from unhappiness to depression, in so many cases absurd and even laughable, is not without its deleterious effects. If you are unhappy, you seek the causes and, if you have what used to be called inner resources, confront them. (Unfortunately, there are circumstances, truly tragic, in which this is not possible.) But if you claim to be depressed, you pass the responsibility over to professionals who are expected to do something to or for you that will remove the depression as a diseased appendix is removed.<br/>
<br/>
This is fatuous and explains why expanding so called mental health services will always resemble an animal chasing its own tail. The supply creates its own demand. The psychiatrist Colin Brewer formulated a quasi-law: misery increases to meet the means available for its alleviation.<br/>
<br/>
I once calculated that if you look through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, 5th edition (in which British judges believe with all the fervour of a Latin American peasant praying to a miracle-working Virgin for the recovery of his pig) you would conclude that the average citizen in the western world suffered from two and a half mental disorders a year.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, there are fashions in diagnosis. A generation ago it was multiple personality – The Three Faces of Eve kind of thing – and the DSM 5 suggested that the prevalence might be as high as 1.5 per cent of the adult population, that is to say one in every 66 people. Multiple personality has since become very rare.<br/>
<br/>
These days it is gender dysphoria that is fashionable, with child gender-identity referrals increasing from 210 per year in 2011 to 5,000 per year in 2021. Either there must be something new in the water supply, or we are dealing with a socio-psychological epidemic.<br/>
<br/>
I do not deny that there is real madness or that physical illness may present with psychological symptomatology straight out of the DSM 5. Both the psychiatrist and the ordinary physician must be aware of this. But this overlap does not explain the vast increase in diagnosis of psychiatric disorders among the young. Nor do I deny that there are many reasons for the young to be dissatisfied or anxious about the future, from the instability of family life to the uncertainty of economic prospects. But no army of nurses, psychologists, therapists or doctors will improve matters: on the contrary, it will dig a pit from which it will be difficult for the young to escape.<br/>
<br/>
The ever-expanding gamut of psychiatric diagnosis encourages the belief that all departure from a desired state of mind is a medical condition susceptible to medical or some other technical solution. This results in a propensity to hypochondria of the mind, with people taking their mental temperatures, as it were, as hypochondriacs take their blood pressure. But it precludes honesty or genuine reflection and leads to the search for bogus cures of bogus diseases. A corollary is the neglect of those who genuinely require care, who drown in a sea of inflated need.<br/>
<br/>
There are ways to ameliorate the situation. The first is the complete abandonment of the concept of mental health. The second is the abandonment of the automatic legal equivalence of psychiatric disorder and physical illne<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/its-time-to-eliminate-the-concept-of-mental-health/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/03/its-time-to-eliminate-the-concept-of-mental-health/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-65082105520899806042024-03-03T04:10:00.001+13:002024-03-03T04:10:09.290+13:00<br>
<b> Blow for tissue maker Kleenex as lawsuit accuses company of polluting entire Connecticut town with cancer-causing PFAS chemicals</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> The old PFAS scare again. The chemicals "Have been linked to". What weasel words! Some dummy has just got to claim that X causes Y and X "has been linked to" Y. No need for actual evidence of a connection. And in this case the evidence is sadly deficient. It is a much tested connection but NO LINK among humans has routinely been found in the studies concerned. See some previous reports below:<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com/2018/06/professor-bragged-about-burying-bad.html">https://australian-politics.blogspot.com/2018/06/professor-bragged-about-burying-bad.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-10/pfas-study-katherine-williamtown-oakey-finds-no-cancer-link/100690484">https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-10/pfas-study-katherine-williamtown-oakey-finds-no-cancer-link/100690484</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com/2023/06/more-pfas-excitement-ever-since-erin.html">https://antigreen.blogspot.com/2023/06/more-pfas-excitement-ever-since-erin.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-pfas-panic-continues-see-below.html">https://pcwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-pfas-panic-continues-see-below.html</a>
</p>
</i><br/>
<br/>
Tissue maker Kleenex has been accused of polluting a town's air and drinking water with toxic 'forever chemicals'.<br/>
<br/>
Locals in New Milford, Connecticut — about two hours from New York City — say the company's plant has been releasing these substances which have been linked to cancer and infertility.<br/>
<br/>
The lawsuit — which is seeking millions in damages — says the chemicals are being released by the factory's smokestack and also leaching from its 165-acre landfill site into the local water systems.<br/>
<br/>
Locals say the company has put them at risk of numerous health issues and is driving down house prices in their area.<br/>
<br/>
The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Connecticut Federal Court against Kimberly-Clark, Kleenex's parent company.<br/>
<br/>
The plant is said to use per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals to make its tissue paper<br/>
<br/>
PFAS are toxic forever chemicals that get their name because they are extremely hard to break down, persisting in the environment for centuries.<br/>
<br/>
Tea, meat and peanut are some of the unassuming foods that lead to a build-up of PFAS 'forever chemicals' in the body, new research suggests.<br/>
<br/>
Over time, they can build up in waterways and even inside people's bodies — with previous studies also linking the chemicals to weakened immune systems.<br/>
<br/>
PFAS chemicals may be mixed with tissue paper during the manufacturing process to help make pulping the paper more efficient.<br/>
<br/>
They may also end up in the paper if they come off machinery, which is coated in the chemicals in order to stop paper pulp from sticking.<br/>
<br/>
PFAS are also used in a range of other products including cooking equipment, food packaging such as microwaveable popcorn bags and waterproof clothing.<br/>
<br/>
Kimberly-Clark says it does not use PFAS in its tissues, that the claim is 'unfounded' and that it plans to 'vigorously' defend itself in court.<br/>
<br/>
The lawsuit was filed by Bethany DePaul, Arlene Quaranta and Meredith Quaranta who all live less than three miles from the factory in New Milford.<br/>
<br/>
The suit states: 'Kimberly-Clark's manufacturing practices caused stack emissions containing PFAS chemicals to go airborne, travel and ultimately deposit PFAS chemicals on the real property and in the drinking water wells of plaintiffs.<br/>
<br/>
'Kimberly-Clark knew, or reasonably should have known, that PFAS chemicals are toxic, harmful to human health, resist natural degradation, render air, soil and drinking water unsafe and/or non-potable and are capable of being removed from air and water supplies if proper steps are taken.'<br/>
<br/>
The suit accuses the company of being negligent, arguing it has a duty to take reasonable care not to expose the residents to toxic chemicals.<br/>
<br/>
They say the company violated that duty because it failed to warn them that PFAS was being used and failed to take steps to stop its release.<br/>
<br/>
The proposed lawsuit would include all residents living in the area, with New Milford having a population of about 6,700 people.<br/>
<br/>
It seeks damages for financial losses and punitive damages and would require Kimberly-Clark to install water filters and create a fund to pay to monitor the health of residents.<br/>
<br/>
The court will now need to determine whether the case meets the requirements for class certification — or that it represents people in the area — and both parties will then need to start gathering evidence for PFAS chemicals in the area.<br/>
<br/>
Both parties will be encouraged to settle their differences out of court before the case goes to trial.<br/>
<br/>
It is not clear how much money the locals are seeking, but in a case against DuPont over PFAS pollution last year the company had to pay more than $1.2billion for damages and to help clear up the local area.<br/>
<br/>
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed in recent years against manufacturers of PFAS and the companies that use the chemicals to create a diverse array of products, including lawsuits against other companies that produce paper products in Wisconsin and Maine.<br/>
<br/>
Chemical manufacturers including 3M, DuPont de Nemours, Chemours and Corteva have also been hit with lawsuits.<br/>
<br/>
Kimberly-Clark said in a statement: 'We believe the allegations raised in this lawsuit are unfounded and plan to vigorously defend against them.<br/>
<br/>
'We do not use PFAS in any of our US consumer products.'<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13146689/Giant-blow-tissue-maker-Kleenex-lawsuit-accuses-company-polluting-entire-Connecticut-town-cancer-causing-PFAS-chemicals.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13146689/Giant-blow-tissue-maker-Kleenex-lawsuit-accuses-company-polluting-entire-Connecticut-town-cancer-causing-PFAS-chemicals.html</a>
</p>
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<b> Vilifying Israel is the left’s new form of anti-Semitism</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> The Left actually hate us all. Jews are just a scapegoat/i><br/>
<br/>
Henry Ergas<br/>
<br/>
When the crowds, wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, gathered in Sydney immediately after October 7, their chant wasn’t “where are the Zionists?”; it was “where are the Jews?”. Nor were the writers and artists whose names and details were recently “doxxed” by Hamas’s local supporters targeted for being Zionists; they were targeted for being Jews.<br/>
<br/>
And if angry protesters surrounded Raheen in Kew the other night, it wasn’t because it was a Zionist hub; it was because it is owned by Jews.<br/>
<br/>
Now, as we reel from the news that a pro-Palestinian militant in Melbourne allegedly kidnapped and tortured a man, there can be one question and one question only: How has it come to this?<br/>
<br/>
That Labor is less culpable than the Greens for fanning the flames of hatred is beyond doubt; however, as the party of government, it cannot avoid its responsibility. Anthony Albanese has repeatedly claimed, with palpable sincerity, that the government aims at balance; but whatever its intentions, it has, at best, appeared equivocal – and, at worst, has risked encouraging the rage against Israel that is undeniably a rage against Jews.<br/>
<br/>
Time and again, it has called on Israel to respect international law, with the implication that it hasn’t. Time and again, it has lamented the plight of the people of Gaza while ignoring the fact that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes by rocket attacks that, starkly violating international law, target schools, hospitals and homes.<br/>
<br/>
But all that is mere kindling. If the fire has burned so high and spread so fast, it is because there is, on the Australian left, a dense undergrowth of anti-Semitism on which the blaze could feed.<br/>
<br/>
That anti-Semitism is not the conventional Jew-hatred that marked the Australian labour movement from its earliest days. Explicitly based on repulsive stereotypes – Jews, wrote the Sydney Worker in 1932, are naturally “unscrupulous, callous, resourceful, insidious and cunning” – the traditional anti-Semitism centred on denunciations of “Shylock” and “the money power”.<br/>
<br/>
Reaching fever pitch in the Depression, which the Labor press blamed on “the London Jews” who “conspired with the Bank of England” to protect their “fat rake-off”, it resurfaced, in the late 1940s, during the battle over bank nationalisation. Discredited by the Holocaust, that anti-Semitism was eventually consigned to a shadowy existence on politics’ lunatic fringe. Yet the underlying pathogen survived. Mutating into a new form, it obtained a fresh lease of life in the intellectual chaos of the 1960s New Left and, later, of Corbynism.<br/>
<br/>
The new form’s essence was simplicity itself: each and every one of the traditional anti-Semitic tropes – Jewish arrogance, vindictiveness, tribalism, unbridled desire to dominate and the global tentacles with which to do so – was projected on to the state of Israel. What could no longer be said directly about Jews could, it seemed, be said with impunity about the Jewish state; and, by implication, about the Jews who were its champions. At the same time, just as traditional anti-Semitism cast Jews as the uniquely evil source of the world’s ills, so this new variant cast Israel not as a complex society with real people embroiled in internal and external conflicts, but as a caricatural representation of all that is illegitimate in the international community.<br/>
<br/>
Responsible, according to prominent British academic Jacqueline Rose, for “some of the worst cruelties of the modern nation state”, the Jewish state stood as a fundamental obstacle – if not the fundamental obstacle – to a better world. It goes without saying that Rose made no attempt to test her contention, as any comparison to historical reality would have demonstrated its complete absurdity. All that mattered, for her countless disciples, was the conclusion that so monstrous an evil could only be cured by being eliminated.<br/>
<br/>
The existential fight to the finish between “the Jew” and the “healthy elements” in society that permeated traditional anti-Semitism was thereby seamlessly transposed into the disease’s new form. There was, however, an additional feature of the variant that became increasingly pronounced as its prevalence grew. In conventional anti-Semitism, “World Jewry” was the West’s mortal enemy.<br/>
<br/>
But in anti-Semitism’s new guise, the Jewish state, far from being the West’s “Other”, was transformed into the distilled, if entirely mythologised, image of what the radicals viewed as the West’s most despicable features. Israel was not the West’s antithesis; it was its apotheosis.<br/>
<br/>
Here, after all, was a country that, in an age of appeasement, rejected fashionable pieties, defending itself from every attack. In a world of disposable selfhood, where you are whatever you want to be, it remained stubbornly attached to an identity gained by birth and forged by faith. And most of all, at a time when the “nowheres” were triumphant and the nation denigrated as a straitjacket, it harboured an intense, widely held patriotism.<br/>
<br/>
There was, however, even worse: like Australia, Israel bore the indelible stain of “settler colonialism”. But rather than cringing apologetically, it celebrated the country the settlers had built: a country that, for all its faults, is a prosperous democracy in a world of tyrants, provides world-class education and healthcare to all of its citizens and that cherishes life, instead of worshipping, as the Islamists do, at the shrine of death.<br/>
<br/>
Little wonder then that it provokes our leftists into uncontrollable fury. Consumed by self-loathing, trapped in a vision of Australia that imputes perpetual virtue to themselves, perpetual guilt to everyone else, they cannot forgive Israelis for standing proud. And when they act out their tantrums, it is not just at Israel that they are shouting. It is at all those who believe Australians too should stand proud, and unashamedly defend the achievements of our country, our culture.<br/>
<br/>
Israel deserves our support. In the end, however, it will take care of itself. As for the Jews, we know hatred. Yet we also know the strength of faith and the power of resolve.<br/>
<br/>
But what about Australia? Each civilisation, said Edward Gibbon, breeds the barbarians it deserves. Ours, brimming with rage, are no longer at the gates – they have stormed the citadel and seized important parts of the commanding heights. Marching arm in arm with the Islamist apologists for terrorism, their calling card is venomous threats and poisonous anti-Semitism.<br/>
<br/>
However, as the incidents accumulate, each more shocking than its predecessors, they may finally have gone too far, inciting the reaction we desperately need to have. Nothing can erase the horrors of recent months. But if we fail to act on their lessons, it is us, not the barbarians, history will call to account.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/vilifying-israel-is-the-lefts-new-form-of-antisemitism-under-a-different-guise/news-story/987cb3dc4e554a11f9c7330f24be892c">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/vilifying-israel-is-the-lefts-new-form-of-antisemitism-under-a-different-guise/news-story/987cb3dc4e554a11f9c7330f24be892c</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The obvious reason behind Trump’s undying political strength is somehow still dumbfounding ignorant Big Media elites</b><br/>
<br/>
It is not my habit to read Paul Krugman’s screeds, much less recommend them, but every dog has its day.<br/>
<br/>
And Krugman’s latest piece commands attention because of what he inadvertently reveals about elite ignorance.<br/>
<br/>
Under the headline “The Mystery of White Rural Rage,” the New York Times columnist approvingly cites a book that details the decline of rural America.<br/>
<br/>
Spoiler alert, technology gets the blame.<br/>
<br/>
But Krugman, an economist, quickly adds, “I still don’t get the politics” of rural Americans, and later writes “I still find it hard to understand” recent voting patterns.<br/>
<br/>
What he means, of course, is that nearly nine years after Donald Trump came down that escalator to launch his first campaign, Krugman still hasn’t figured out the source of the former president’s enduring political strength among people living in what media masters call “fly-over” America.<br/>
<br/>
Choice to be dumb<br/>
<br/>
Even now, as Trump rolls through primaries on his way to a third presidential nomination, Krugman professes to be in the dark.<br/>
<br/>
Perhaps he is, but, if so, it’s a choice.<br/>
<br/>
Willful ignorance is the only way to explain his bizarre claims, which include that New York is a “relatively safe” city compared to the “hellscapes” of rural America.<br/>
<br/>
He also ridicules the idea that illegal immigration, wokeness and the deep state are real problems, blaming nearly every rural ill on technology.<br/>
<br/>
He concludes by declaring that white rural rage is “arguably the single greatest threat facing American democracy.”<br/>
<br/>
There you have it, a naked display of the know-nothing cosseted class.<br/>
<br/>
His echo of Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” comment, a slur that will live in infamy, shows how stuck they are in their mental swamps.<br/>
<br/>
In fairness, it’s not just leftists who are confused by Trump’s remarkable comeback.<br/>
<br/>
Nikki Haley is roadkill because she believed his GOP support was soft and that the party was looking not only for a new generation but also a new direction.<br/>
<br/>
It is more than a footnote that her campaign has been kept afloat in large part by Democrats, voters and donors.<br/>
<br/>
The first primary challengers to fall, including Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie and Tim Scott, took a different path by offering personal versions of Trumpism without Trump.<br/>
<br/>
They, too, were quickly dispatched.<br/>
<br/>
All the wannabes discovered that Trump’s GOP base had essentially doubled since the start of 2023, from the mid 30s to 75% now.<br/>
<br/>
Polls show he is also gaining support among black and Latino voters in the population at large.<br/>
<br/>
Against that backdrop, Krugman’s ignorance strikes me as especially revealing.<br/>
<br/>
At this late stage of the Trump era, there is no mystery, only an arrogant refusal to accept truths that don’t fit neatly into a blinkered worldview.<br/>
<br/>
<u> Most of the left still believes America would thrive if only it traded its patriotic and cultural distinctions for the warm embrace of globalist institutions, and that anybody who rejects that vision is stupid. </u><br/>
<br/>
That’s hardly a new development at the Times or Big Media in general.<br/>
<br/>
Recall that after Trump’s stunning 2016 victory over Clinton, the editor and publisher of the Gray Lady wrote a mea culpa letter to subscribers conceding their failure to realize Trump could win.<br/>
<br/>
“Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters?” they wrote.<br/>
<br/>
Here we go again<br/>
<br/>
While insisting the Times staff had “reported on both candidates fairly,” they also vowed the paper would “rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor.”<br/>
<br/>
Baloney.<br/>
<br/>
If they had actually reported the campaign fairly and honestly, even Krugman might have learned something.<br/>
<br/>
Instead, here we go again, with virtually every Trump story in the Times these days an opinion piece arguing he’s not fit to be president again.<br/>
<br/>
It’s a replay of 2016 and 2020, so much so that we can probably expect some kind of Russia, Russia, Russia hoax any day now.<br/>
<br/>
The paper and its ilk have no problem with the unprecedented onslaught of prosecutions against Trump.<br/>
<br/>
No former president had even been indicted, but Trump has been hit four times, with a total of 91 felony counts.<br/>
<br/>
The leftist media have been cheerleaders for all four cases and the civil ones, too, including the outrageous show trial concocted by New York state Attorney General Letitia James and a “Gong Show” judge.<br/>
<br/>
Once again, the hatred for all things Trump has blinded them to the impact the cases are having on the electorate.<br/>
<br/>
Rather than scare away most of the GOP and independent voters, the cases are drawing supporters to him.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/opinion/the-obvious-reason-behind-trumps-undying-political-strength-is-somehow-still-dumbfounding-ignorant-big-media-elites/">https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/opinion/the-obvious-reason-behind-trumps-undying-political-strength-is-somehow-still-dumbfounding-ignorant-big-media-elites/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Nothing ‘false’ about my choice to be a stay-at-home mum</b><br/>
<br/>
By JANET ALBRECHTSEN<br/>
<br/>
I thought we were done with misery-guts feminism. It turns out not by a long shot. This week prominent director Diane Smith-Gander claimed women were making a “false” choice to stay home to care for kids. She was quoted as saying women were being forced to make this “false choice” by taking on lower-paid work in order to care for children. She bemoaned a society that perpetuated a “gender stereotype that Dad goes out to work and Mum stays home with the kids”.<br/>
<br/>
Reading that took me back to a conversation from my late 20s. Some girlfriends, all young mums of little kids, were hanging about a playground by a Sydney beach one morning. Kids playing, shrieking, grubby little mouths and dirty feet, one kid probably crying because there is always a kid crying.<br/>
<br/>
The young women spoke in hushed tones, swearing each other to secrecy. We agreed never to tell anyone quite how much we loved staying at home caring for our noisy, messy, beautiful little children. The pact was a joke. But only partly.<br/>
<br/>
We knew better than to rave in public about loving being stay-at-home mums – for two reasons. Hanging about playgrounds, wiping little noses and hands and bums wasn’t what we were meant to be doing after graduating from university with fine degrees, suiting up and working hard for big flash law practices and other professional firms. The other reason was we didn’t want our husbands edging us out of a role we loved.<br/>
<br/>
I turned my back on a legal career with a big law firm because I wanted to be at home with my kids. If someone had offered me a heap of money to return to work when they were babies, I would have said “no thanks”. That’s not for me, that’s not what we want for our kids. So I stayed home, had help with the kids, worked from home and earned less.<br/>
<br/>
There was nothing false about these choices. Nothing coerced or unpleasant, which is the underlying message in Smith-Gander’s claim about false choices.<br/>
<br/>
Some years later, I was encouraged by a senior politician to stand for a safe seat in politics. It was flattering. I had the full support of my husband. But I decided against that, too. I didn’t want to be a member of a political party. More important, my kids were moving into their early teens and while they most assuredly didn’t think they needed me at home, I suspected they might. I didn’t want what the books call “quality” time because you can’t pick and choose those moments when kids need you most.<br/>
<br/>
So I remained at home, writing, managing work and deadlines, and being there for the quotidian challenges and enchantments of children pushing the envelope in different ways.<br/>
<br/>
One afternoon, racing to finish some work at home in my office, one child kept coming up behind my chair with questions about sex. That was the inconvenient moment she picked for The Talk. I was busy, so to tide her over I plucked from the shelf beside me a book that I had bought months earlier in anticipation of this moment. The book was possibly meant for an older age bracket.<br/>
<br/>
Being a fanatical reader, she appeared to devour it faster than she did Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Soon enough she was lurking behind my chair again, seeking clarification, stumbling over a big new word from one of the later chapters that I wrongly assumed she wouldn’t get to so soon. I wished my office was not at home.<br/>
<br/>
I was far from the perfect mum, but that’s not the point. Each of us makes deeply personal decisions, tweaking this, changing that, as the years go on. We fumble through, mostly doing our best, in the belief that the decisions we make to work or look after kids, or both, are the best ones.<br/>
<br/>
There are many trade-offs, of course. If we go to work, we miss out being at home with children. The more time we spend at home, the more we trade from our working lives. The sliding scale doesn’t render our decisions any less free, informed – and thrilling.<br/>
<br/>
Many highly educated women I know started out in interesting, well-paying jobs, on paths to stellar, clever careers, but chose to step away. Working long hours in big professional careers, jumping on planes maybe for a meeting here, a meeting there, eating croissants on International Women’s Day with like-minded women, nannies for during the week, and on weekends, is not for everyone.<br/>
<br/>
Many women, including me, would rather wipe the bums of many babies than live like that. My choice to alter the trajectory of my career, trading potential professional success for raising kids, was a no-brainer because raising three children will always be, for me, life’s greatest success.<br/>
<br/>
Not every woman can choose to stay at home with their kids. I freely acknowledge my good fortune in being able to make my choice. There are many women for whom the choice to stay at home to care for little children is much more financially difficult than it was for me. But to demean any of these choices as false is obnoxious paternalism. It’s also deeply insulting to women who would have loved to have had children and would have loved to have stayed home to care for them.<br/>
<br/>
So why does Smith-Gander presume to speak for women? How can she and her ilk possibly know about our lives, our personal decisions, our deepest desires, what we value? It is terrific that this high-profile corporate woman has risen to the top of her chosen fields. Given Smith-Gander is older, perhaps she experienced some big and nasty hurdles to get there. Good on her for pulverising them. I have nothing but respect for her choices. Her views about stay-at-home mothers, well, that’s another matter.<br/>
<br/>
How great it would be if respect were reciprocated. Instead, there is an underlying assumption that caring for kids is a second-rate job, a forced and false choice. It’s a common affliction among gender ideologues to perpetuate miserable generalisations. Their message is that caring for kids is a burden. They never, ever talk about it as a prize.<br/>
<br/>
The Albanese government’s National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality discussion paper, from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, devotes a chapter to women who “bear the burden of care”. The joyless language perpetuates this idea that caring for little children is a rotten choice. It asserts that “patterns of care” are “generally driven by social and economic structures that reflect and reinforce gendered care norms”. Nowhere does the paper mention that many women desperately want to stay at home to care for children. Norms be damned. Many of us make that choice from meandering paths.<br/>
<br/>
I wasn’t mentally prepared to fall pregnant at 27. I thought I had a lingering stomach bug. I fainted with shock when the petite female doctor told me it was a baby. For months I could barely say the word pregnant. I was annoyed at these foreign big breasts that arrived many months before the baby did. Why the rush? My reticence turned into a fierce desire to stay at home to care for our kids.<br/>
<br/>
For some, the deep, primordial tug from a newborn child defies ideology and ambition. It can’t be measured in dollars. We are bombarded with the work side of the equation: we are told women need to work to maintain an identity, to exist on equal terms with men, to support the family and to maintain their own financial independence.<br/>
<br/>
But the culture of “I work, therefore I exist” denies the falling in love with baby so central to most women’s experience. I would have fought off my husband like a banshee if he’d said he wanted to stay at home and care for our kids. He did stay at home for many, many weeks, and those periods were some of the most special times of our lives.<br/>
<br/>
There is a misery to the views of Smith-Gander and other gender ideologues that is untethered from the privilege and pleasure of caring for kids. The ideologues pine for a wretched world where men and women all work exactly the same way and every workplace is made up of equal numbers of men and women, and women’s choices to live differently are demeaned as false.<br/>
<br/>
The other glaring omission from all these discussions about women and work is the wellbeing of children. Back in 2017 there was a kerfuffle when American psychoanalyst Erica Komisar published Being There: Why Prioritising Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters. As The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, one agent told her they wouldn’t touch a book like that. Conference organisers disinvited her because her book, they said, would make women feel guilty.<br/>
<br/>
Alas, as a society, we still don’t seem interested in exploring whether having a mum – or dad – at home in the early years is best for a young child.<br/>
<br/>
The Prime Minister’s Gender Equality paper repeats recent Australian Institute of Family Studies data showing that, as at December 2021, women in 54 per cent of families usually looked after the children, while 40 per cent of families reported equal sharing of responsibility. Only 4 per cent of families reported that a man usually or always looked after the children.<br/>
<br/>
In other words, even with women pouring out of universities at higher rates than men, leaving with more degrees than men, filling the professions in equal numbers, many women continue to embrace what Anne Roiphe in A Mother’s Eye calls the “whole complicated warm messy frustrating dear and dreadful business of raising children”.<br/>
<br/>
Change is afoot, of course. And if gender ideologues treasured the important job of caring for young children instead of treating it as a chore, maybe more men would choose to do it sooner.<br/>
<br/>
For good reasons, Western women have spent years telling the patriarchy where to get off. Why would a man presume to know what we want? It’s time to let that go. Right now, the biggest enemy of women’s choices is a small group of professional women who have the temerity to tell women what we really want.<br/>
<br/>
Is there a polite way to say “f..k the matriarchy”?<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/my-secret-truths-as-a-stayathome-mother/news-story/c09f3f8859966a1e463dc6e97f88b091">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/my-secret-truths-as-a-stayathome-mother/news-story/c09f3f8859966a1e463dc6e97f88b091</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-12133353460309031902024-02-29T18:49:00.005+13:002024-02-29T18:55:50.822+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Ultraprocessed foods are 'harmful to EVERY part of the body'</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> The academic journal article behind this report is<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310">https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310</a>
</p>
Its title is:<br/>
<br/>
"Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses"<br/>
<br/>
The BMJ tends to be rather opinionated<br/>
<br/>
I suppose I should see this report as a brave endeavour but I am instead inclined to find it hilarious. It is a meta-analysis of meta-analyses. The big flaw with meta analyses is what is excluded. In one analysis of a topic that I had often written on, only two of about 100 of relevant papers by me were included in the analysis. Which two? The only ones that had something favourable to say about the conclusions the authors drew! Huge bias towards confirmatory research is well known. I am glad that I have survived to age 80 so that I can continue to point that out<br/>
<br/>
And the present report quite properly admits that they gave more weight to some reports than others. But to which reports did they give most weight? Ones that they found most "convincing". So the selection of what to rely on had a clear and admitted subjective element. And since their conclusions are very congenial to the conventional wisdom about diet, we can be pretty sure that they were more easily convinced by reports that were congenial to the conventional wisdom about diet. They simply joined the crusade about the evils of highly processed food. Their article probably tells us more about what they believed than what is the case.<br/>
<br/>
For many years I have had the pernicious habit of reading journal articles right through rather than adopting the academic vice of relying only on the abstract. And it is amazing how often the conclusions correspond much more closely to the initial hypothesis than to what was actually found as reported in the "Results" section. Reports relying on extreme quintiles for their analysis are almost all suspect of that.<br/>
<br/>
So a wagon of sodium chloride could well accompany any reading of this report </i><br/>
<br/><br>
Diets high in ultra-processed food may be harmful to every part of the body, a major review of research found.<br/>
<br/>
Eating a lot of foods such as ready meals, sugary cereals and mass-produced bread is linked to an increased risk of 32 health problems including cancer, type 2 diabetes and mental health disorders.<br/>
<br/>
Often high in fat, salt and sugar and low in vitamins and fibre, researchers found 'convincing' evidence higher consumption was associated with a 50 per cent greater risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.<br/>
<br/>
In the biggest analysis of evidence to date involving 10million people, researchers found those eating the most had between a 40 and 66 per cent increased risk of dying from heart disease.<br/>
<br/>
They were also significantly more likely to be diagnosed with obesity, lung conditions and sleep problems.<br/>
<br/>
Likening it to tobacco, they said 'public policies and actions are essential' to curb intake and called on public health officials to urgently develop guidelines and 'best practice' for ultra processed foods.<br/>
<br/>
In a linked editorial, they suggest foods are clearly labelled when 'ultra-processed'.<br/>
<br/>
UPFs refers to items which contain ingredients people would not usually add when they were cooking homemade food.<br/>
<br/>
These additions might include chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life.<br/>
<br/>
Restrictions should be placed on advertising and sales 'prohibited in or near schools and hospitals,' they say.<br/>
<br/>
Governments need to adopt national dietary guidelines recommending varieties of minimally processed foods, they say, while taking steps to make freshly prepared meals cheaper and more accessible to all.<br/>
<br/>
The UK is the worst in Europe for eating ultra-processed foods, making up an estimated 57 per cent of the national diet.<br/>
<br/>
They are thought to be a key driver of obesity, which costs the NHS around £6.5billion a year.<br/>
<br/>
Often containing colours, emulsifiers, flavours, and other additives, they typically undergo multiple industrial processes which research has found degrades the physical structure of foods, making it rapid to absorb.<br/>
<br/>
This in turn increases blood sugar, reduces satiety and damages the microbiome - the community of 'friendly' bacteria that live inside us and which we depend for good health.<br/>
<br/>
Food additives like non-nutritive sweeteners, modified starches, gums and emulsifiers also seem to affect the microbiome, levels of gut inflammation and metabolic responses to food which may also increase risk of heart attack and stroke.<br/>
<br/>
An umbrella review conducted by academics in Australia analysed 14 review articles published in the last three years which associated consumption with poor health outcomes.<br/>
<br/>
Evidence was graded as convincing, highly suggestive, suggestive, weak or no evidence.<br/>
<br/>
There was convincing evidence higher intake was linked to a 50 per cent greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease, a 12 per cent greater risk of type 2 diabetes, and a 48-53per cent greater risk of developing anxiety.<br/>
<br/>
There was 'highly suggestive' evidence that eating more ultra-processed foods can increase chances of dying from any cause by a fifth, according to findings published in the BMJ.<br/>
<br/>
This was also the case for when it came to obesity, type 2 diabetes, sleep problems and dying from heart disease, which all showed between a 40 to 66 per cent heightened risk.<br/>
<br/>
Researchers from Deakin University, Australia, also found a 22 per cent greater risk of developing depression and a 21 per cent greater risk of death from any cause.<br/>
<br/>
The evidence between UPF intake and asthma, gastrointestinal health, some cancers, and intermediate cardiometabolic risk factors remains limited, they said.<br/>
<br/>
In an accompanying editorial, academics from Sao Paolo, Brazil said: 'Overall, the authors found that diets high in ultra-processed food may be harmful to most—perhaps all—body systems.'<br/>
<br/>
They wrote: 'No reason exists to believe that humans can fully adapt to these products.<br/>
<br/>
'The body may react to them as useless or harmful, so its systems may become impaired or damaged, depending on their vulnerability and the amount of ultra-processed food consumed.'<br/>
<br/>
They added: 'It is now time for United Nations agencies, with member states, to develop and implement a framework convention on ultra-processed foods analogous to the framework on tobacco.'<br/>
<br/>
Further research to determine the different mechanisms by which these foods impact health is also vital, they said, but should not delay policymakers from making urgent changes.<br/>
<br/>
Scientists said there were limitations to the study, including inconsistent data collection methods in the original research.<br/>
<br/>
Commenting on the findings, Gunter Kuhnle, Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Reading, said: 'Many studies also show that people who consume a lot of ultra-processed foods also have an unhealthy lifestyle and therefore a higher risk of disease.<br/>
<br/>
'Although many studies attempt to adjust for this, it is virtually impossible to do so completely.'<br/>
<br/>
A government spokesperson said: ‘We are taking strong action to encourage healthier food choices and to tackle obesity – recognising that it is the second biggest cause of cancer and costs the NHS around £6.5billion a year – while respecting the importance of individual choice.<br/>
<br/>
‘We have introduced calorie labelling on food sold in restaurants, cafes and takeaways to empower people to make informed personal choices about their lifestyle, and thanks to our salt reduction programme, the amount of salt in food has fallen by around 20 per cent.<br/>
<br/>
‘Pre-packed foods are required to set out a variety of information to aid shoppers – including a list of ingredients and nutritional data.’<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13135781/processed-foods-cigarettes-expert-cancer-heart-lung-disease.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13135781/processed-foods-cigarettes-expert-cancer-heart-lung-disease.html</a>
</p>
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<b> Why is the BBC not telling the full truth about a trans cat-killing murderer?</b><br/>
<br/>
Given that the BBC places great store in having a ‘Verify’ unit to root out fake news emanating from other outlets, one might expect the corporation to be merciless on itself when it comes to sticking to the facts. Yet the roughly two million viewers who tuned into BBC1’s flagship lunchtime news yesterday were at risk of being deceived by misinformation every bit as disturbing as any of the stuff that Marianna Spring and colleagues unearth on far-right websites.<br/>
<br/>
The item involved the story of what experienced BBC news anchor Ben Brown introduced as a ‘woman who livestreamed herself’ killing and dissecting a cat ‘before fatally attacking a man and leaving him to drown’.<br/>
<br/>
She was called Scarlet Blake, he informed us. Brown then handed over to the equally experienced Duncan Kennedy outside Oxford Crown Court, where Blake was due to be sentenced. Kennedy regaled viewers with more details of the terrible things that ‘she’ had done. He reported that the prosecution had outlined how ‘she was obsessed with murder and sexual gratification’. Kennedy added that ‘she thought she’d got away with it’ but that a former partner had dobbed her in to police two years later. And that was that. A not insubstantial report lasting a minute and thirty-eight seconds came to an end.<br/>
<br/>
On initial hearing, I thought I remembered the case as having involved a transwoman, i.e. a biological male, but figured this could not be the case because even the BBC would have clearly included that fact at some point in their broadcast report. They couldn’t possibly have left viewers believing that an adult human female had committed foul crimes when in fact a biological male had done so.<br/>
<br/>
Yet a few seconds of online searching was sufficient to reveal that is exactly what the BBC had done. And remember, this was not on a fringe offshoot or late-night regional outlet staffed by young novices who might be at heightened vulnerability to falling into the grip of extreme ID politics. This was prime BBC1 lunchtime news staffed by some of the best editors, producers and reporters on the corporation’s books.<br/>
<br/>
For the record, Scarlet Blake was born a male in China<br/>
<br/>
For the record, Scarlet Blake was born a male in China, and went by the name Fangze Wang earlier in life. Perhaps given the depravity of the crimes committed it would have been reasonable to withdraw any presumption of good faith when reporting this person’s pronouns post-conviction and simply use male ones.<br/>
<br/>
In any event, it beggars belief that at no point did either Brown or Kennedy flag up to their viewers the basic biological facts relating to Blake. A woman did this, they told us. But a woman did not murder Jorge Carreno or livestream the dissection of a cat. A biological male in the grip of typically male forms of violent criminal deviancy did all that.<br/>
<br/>
For a broadcaster which seems more and more to be locked into an unwarranted messiah complex these days the lesson should simply be: BBC Verify, go and verify yourselves.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/why-is-the-bbc-not-telling-the-full-truth-about-a-trans-cat-killing-murderer/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/why-is-the-bbc-not-telling-the-full-truth-about-a-trans-cat-killing-murderer/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> The Church of England should stop distracting itself with ‘racial justice’</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> When they've got archbishops who don't believe in God, why should they waste time on that fuddy-duddy "salvation" stuff?</i><br/>
<br/>
Churches are emptier than ever since Covid. Fewer clergy have more and more parishes to look after; the buildings themselves are falling down, with little money available to repair them. In the face of these existential problems, what high-profile subject was discussed over the weekend by the General Synod of the Church of England? Encouraging more worshippers, perhaps, or possibly improving finances? Not quite. You’ve probably guessed the answer: racial justice.<br/>
<br/>
The Synod ran what can best be described as a consciousness-raising session to cheer on the work of the Archbishops’ racial justice commission. It’s aim, it seems, is to push race towards the top of the ecclesiastical agenda.<br/>
<br/>
St Paul would have had little time for identity politics<br/>
<br/>
After the Archbishop of York started proceedings by describing the promotion of racial justice as ‘how we are the body of Christ’ and demanding a ‘compelling agenda for racial justice and racial change in the Church,’ it was the turn of the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. She was uncompromising. On race, she said, being ‘woke’ was not only acceptable but necessary:<br/>
<br/>
‘The racial justice mandate flows not from identity politics, but from our primary identity in Christ. The gospel calls us to prophetically address head-on the evils in our society, indeed in our world, which leave some parts of humanity dehumanised.’<br/>
<br/>
Others spoke in similar vein. Synod members nodded sagely and approved the proceedings. Parishes will now be encouraged to draw up ‘race action plans’.<br/>
<br/>
Neither the vote, nor the speeches that preceded it, have any legal force. Any thinking Anglican, however, has good reason to be depressed about this episode, for both practical and theological reasons. The latest intervention on racial justice isn’t a one-off. The Archbishops’ racial justice commission, set up three years’ ago and headed by ex-Labour minister Lord Boateng, used its latest report in February to call for racial justice to ‘be a regular and compulsory topic in all relevant deliberations and decision making processes on all levels of Church organisation.’<br/>
<br/>
Is this really necessary? After all, distracting from the Church’s primary work of saving souls and ministering to individual spiritual needs is hardly a good way of attracting new worshippers. Nor does this particular focus do much to persuade existing ones not to forsake it, whether in favour of other churches or simple Sunday laziness. When it comes to lectures on political theory or managerialist solutions to problems of inequality, there are plenty of capable organisations already out there. Why the church hierarchy should think that people will sit in chilly pews to hear it done less well by those whose proper business lies elsewhere is a mystery.<br/>
<br/>
The racial justice being promoted in the Synod appears to involve a demand for jobs in the church, whether in parishes or in the organisation’s increasingly top-down management, to reflect the racial make-up of this country. Not only is this idea likely in principle to drive away many of the faithful. It also cuts across the fact that the church is a people (or at least souls’) business. Parish incumbents must be congenial to their congregations, however unenlightened the latter may be in the eyes of church bigwigs; and senior ecclesiastics must be able to attract and inspire the clergy under them. Regarding the appointment of priests and prelates as an exercise in managerialism and the need to correct perceived power imbalances between racial identities may please intellectuals and church administrators: but it is a sure-fire way to remove any lingering affection between the ordinary worshipper and the church they frequent.<br/>
<br/>
There must also be doubt about this as a matter of theology and doctrine. True, deliberately devaluing someone because of their colour or origin is un-Christian: it flatly contradicts the shining Gospel message that Jesus died for all of us, Jews or Gentiles, and that Christ offers grace quite indiscriminately. It also ignores Jesus’ decision to deliberately associate with different people, such as the woman of Samaria described by St John, not to mention assorted publicans and sinners.<br/>
<br/>
But when St Paul wrote to the Galatians that, for him, there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, this suggests he would have had little time for identity politics, or for seeing people as anything other than souls to be saved. For that matter, Jesus himself, when asked why he had not addressed head-on the evils in Judaean society (in particular his arrest by the chief priests), had a simple response. ‘My kingdom,’ he said, ‘is not of this world.’<br/>
<br/>
The General Synod, and anyone who wants the Church of England to remain a national institution rather than degenerate into a dwindling sect of activists increasingly irrelevant to anyone other than those administering it, could do worse than ponder these words.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-church-of-england-should-stop-distracting-itself-with-racial-justice/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-church-of-england-should-stop-distracting-itself-with-racial-justice/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Australia: Why we need more CEOs to speak up for profits</b><br/>
<br/>
Coles’ Leah Weckert issued an important reminder to corporate Australia: Profit is not a dirty word.<br/>
<br/>
Weckert’s comments have come right at the tail end of a resilient earnings season, and the newish Coles boss has cut through with a reminder about the purpose of her business: To look after shareholders through delivering the sharpest value to her customers.<br/>
<br/>
Supermarkets and Woolworths boss Brad Banducci in particular, have been in the firing line around profits they make.<br/>
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The big two retailers have become an easy target for claims around price gouging and anti-competitive behaviour while Australia is in the midst of an inflation bubble.<br/>
<br/>
This has now spiralled into a Greens-led Senate inquiry and a year-long Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Review into the supermarkets. These will be highly distracting for management and, like the previous ACCC review into supermarket pricing a decade ago, will probably amount to little.<br/>
<br/>
Everyone else is jumping on board with the ACTU and Queensland’s Steven Miles demanding their own probe. The claims are easy to make and always missing from the barbs is what should be the right level of profit for a business to make. No one is willing to go there and nor should they.<br/>
<br/>
Still the attack on profit from all sides of the political spectrum is a worrying trend. Businesses exist to make profit and reward shareholders. In doing so they invest money into the economy and create jobs. The trick is in the balancing act to make sure the pursuit of profit is sustainable over the long run and businesses keep one eye on their social licence to operate.<br/>
<br/>
Banducci, who this month announced his retirement, has struggled to cut through with a simple message on this point and his trainwreck interview on ABC TV only fanned the flames.<br/>
<br/>
Banducci is the architect of Woolies much-needed cultural transformation and this month conceded to The Australian he was the first to get upset with himself when he doesn’t represent his company accurately.<br/>
<br/>
In the middle of the anger, Woolworths triggered some big non-cash writedowns of its business, tipping the retailer into a heavy bottom-line loss.<br/>
<br/>
Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn is the only other boss who is prepared to issue a spirited defence of profits. Comyn regularly points out his bottom-line returns go to millions of shareholders as well as generate the crucial capital so funds can be lent back out to grow the economy.<br/>
<br/>
Weckert, promoted to the top job in May last year, delivered her numbers on Tuesday which included a 3.9 per cent dip in December half net profit to $594m. The numbers show Coles is selling more, with revenue up nearly 7 per cent, but costs are crimping profit margins. Where Weckert draws the line is criticism of the windfall dollars.<br/>
<br/>
“Profits are an essential thing for any business,” Weckert says. “They enable us to continue to operate and for us that means we get to employ 120,000 people. We get to support thousands of suppliers. We pay a very large tax bill every year.”<br/>
<br/>
Coles has more than 460,000 shareholders and many of these are retail investors – the so-called mums and dads. There are millions more who benefit indirectly from the dividends through their super funds.<br/>
<br/>
The simple message Weckert will take to next month’s Senate inquiry that begins in Hobart is that Coles generates $2.60 for every $100 spent by customers.<br/>
<br/>
This is “less than 3c on the dollar,” she says, and points to her profit margins now being stable for at least the past five years, including through an inflation spike. Nor is food inflation unique to Australia, she adds, It’s are often driven by a surge in input costs such as fertilisers or wheat. Indeed, many developed economies, particularly the UK and in Europe, have seen food prices rise at a faster pace.<br/>
<br/>
Weckert says Australian supermarkets are facing more intense competition than ever as offshore giants Aldi, Costco and Amazon make big inroads. Wesfarmers’ Bunnings and Priceline, along with Chemist Warehouse, are making inroads into the non-food sector.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, supermarket customers are trading convenience over value and are using local specialists from butchers to bakers.<br/>
<br/>
The numbers show Coles now has the momentum in the sales race against its rival, Woolies. It can be argued Woolies is more distracted than it has been in years with problems from New Zealand, Big W and its looming leadership transition.<br/>
<br/>
Coles’ supermarkets sale jumped 4.9 per cent in the first eight weeks of the calendar year, while Woolworths delivered 1.5 per cent growth over the first seven weeks. This helped back a near 6 per cent jump in Coles’ shares.<br/>
<br/>
Coles says it is getting on top of the jump in theft rates it experienced last year as it invests more in checkout technology.<br/>
<br/>
This could make a big difference to its earnings line in coming halves as it continues to get theft rates down further.<br/>
<br/>
Australia’s housing and building shortage is now becoming a force on the ASX, although it has taken global players to recognise the value.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/australias-housing-shortage-is-making-waves-offshore/news-story/f2b9b64d041671509d6072b887cf8cc2">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/australias-housing-shortage-is-making-waves-offshore/news-story/f2b9b64d041671509d6072b887cf8cc2</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-10193088495880740442024-02-28T15:11:00.003+13:002024-02-28T15:13:22.719+13:00<br><br/>
<b> “White” is a Way of Life</b><br/>
<br/>
There is a story under the above heading by Sangeeta Kalsi, who is a lady of Indian origins<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://medium.com/fourth-wave/white-is-not-a-color-3a639be326e7">https://medium.com/fourth-wave/white-is-not-a-color-3a639be326e7</a>
</p>
The article is too long-winded for me to reporoduce but her claim is in essence simple. She claims that brown perople like her are treated suspicously and as inferior by whites in the Western world. They are discriminated against because of their skin color and other differences.<br/>
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She also says, however, that they can come to be treated as whites with a suntan if they behave similarly to whites.<br/>
<br/>
From my observations, that is true. So skin color is not the key factor in how they are treated. It is how they behave. And that is her basic point. She gives Nikki Haley as a brown person who came to be treated as white by behaving as one. Haley was a governor of South Carolina as well as making a strong bid for the GOP presidential nomination -- so that is a good example<br/>
<br/>
What Ms Kalsi seems unaware of is that she has described a basic human process that affects us all, not only Indians. We all judge others by how they behave towards us and we all get on best with people who are similar to us. It is often noted in assortatative mating, where men and women who form relationships with one-another tend to have a lot of background factors in common.<br/>
<br/>
There is actually a large literature in psychology on impression formation and stereotyping and its universal conclusion is that our judgment of others changes as we get to know them. When we first get to see a person we judge him/her according to the physical characteristics that we see. And the initial reaction will be a standoffish one but that can rapidly modify as we get to know more about the person. If a person speaks in our accent and uses our slang, an easy and accepting relationship will normally result. Such a person will seem "like us" and the barriers between us will just be normal interpersonal ones.<br/>
<br/>
I have summarized some of the findings of the academic psychology literature below:<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/scots.html">http://jonjayray.com/scots.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/stereo.html">http://jonjayray.com/stereo.html</a>
</p>
So Ms Kalsi would be wise to stop "kicking against the pricks, as St Paul advises us, and accept that what she is seeing is just basic humanity<br/>
<br/>
JR<br/>
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<br/>
<b> ‘Christian Nationalism’: Scaremongering Left’s Newest Red Herring</b><br/>
<br/>
Hollywood director Rob Reiner’s new documentary “God & Country,” released in theaters last weekend, warns Americans of an impending “Christian nationalist” takeover of the country.<br/>
<br/>
The Associated Press declared Saturday, “Many believe the Founders wanted a Christian America. Some want the government to declare one now.” On Tuesday, Alexander Ward and Heidi Przybyla warned in Politico, “Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration.”<br/>
<br/>
Such manufactures represent “a coordinated effort” to stoke fear before the 2024 elections, declared Family Research Council Action President Jody Hice, guest host of “Washington Watch” on Wednesday. Their purpose is not just “to rally the Left but, probably even more so … to intimidate and silence Christians who embrace a biblical worldview,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
The purpose of Reiner’s yellow journalism is more concerning than its aim. The Left’s “definition of Christian nationalism … tends to be a coat that is cut to fit whatever it needs to fit at any given time,” Regent University professor A.J. Nolte said on “Washington Watch.” As with donkeys and tails, it gets harder to pin the scare on the elephant after you’ve been blindfolded and spun in circles.<br/>
<br/>
Some leftist definitions of “Christian nationalism” have little in common with Christianity. Take Reiner’s perspective, “The idea is that America was a born as a white Christian nation, and these people are virulent about returning to that, and they’ll do it at any means necessary, including … violence. And we saw this happen on January 6th.”<br/>
<br/>
Most Christians would have difficulty recognizing themselves in this description. For starters, Christianity knows no ethnic barriers (Revelation 7:9); Christians are commanded to submit to the government (Romans 13:1); and violence disqualifies a man from Christian leadership (1 Timothy 3:3).<br/>
<br/>
Reiner’s definition wasn’t particularly concerned with scriptural accuracy, as the entire documentary really served as a “Trojan horse for progressive ideology,” wrote Southern Seminary professor Andrew Walker. His documentary painted institutions as disparate as The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, and Hillsdale College with the same broad brush, even though the first two aren’t sectarian, and the third isn’t political.<br/>
<br/>
Reiner “gives the game away when he talks about ‘white’ Christian nationalism,” Nolte noted, a mistaken “conflation of white ethnic nationalism with Christian nationalism.”<br/>
<br/>
Some leftist definitions simply equate “Christian nationalism” with social conservatism. Nolte described a book titled “‘Taking America Back for God,’ by two scholars named Perry and Whitehead.” In the book, “They took six questions, which are generally good questions if you’re trying to measure social conservatism” and used them as “measures for Christian nationalism.” These measures included support for prayer in schools, opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, and an acknowledgment of Christian principles in America’s founding.<br/>
<br/>
“So, what you often find is that Christian nationalism is basically just … social conservatism, sort of relabeled,” Nolte concluded.<br/>
<br/>
This definition becomes increasingly unrealistic as left-wing extremism puts more and more Americans on the “Right” side of social and cultural policy disputes, particularly where transgender ideology is at play. The coalition opposed to pornographic books in school libraries, for instance, includes not just Christians, but also Jews such as Ben Shapiro, Muslims like the parents in Dearborn, Michigan, or Montgomery County, Maryland, and agnostics like Jordan Peterson.<br/>
<br/>
The term “Christian nationalism” approaches meaninglessness when used to describe people who are not Christians and might not even be nationalists.<br/>
<br/>
Some leftist definitions of “Christian nationalism” combine biblical positions with non-biblical ones. Thus, Przybyla (co-author of the Politico piece mentioned above) stated Tuesday, “We’re talking about here not just isolationism, immigration. We’re talking about ending same-sex marriage, abortion, reducing access to contraceptives, but also surrogacy, no-fault divorce, sex education in public schools.”<br/>
<br/>
But not so fast! Those are “two separate issue sets,” Nolte pointed out. Opposition to immigration and an isolationist foreign policy are the preferred policies of a populist segment of the contemporary American Right, but they shouldn’t be lumped together with what Nolte called “family-oriented, social conservative policies.”<br/>
<br/>
Even if both sets of positions are found on the political Right, they are espoused by “two separate groups of social conservatives,” Nolte explained. Again quoting Perry and Whitehead, Nolte said, “Among regular church attenders, they actually found less hostility toward those of different racial groups, toward immigrants … but there was more opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion,” while “among those who were socially conservative, but did not attend church, what they found was the exact opposite.”<br/>
<br/>
At the risk of committing an overgeneralization, one might say there was an inverse relationship between the depth of a person’s Christian walk and their espousal of “nationalist policies.” Does that sound like “Christian nationalism”?<br/>
<br/>
Some leftist definitions of “Christian nationalism” simply mean that it’s bad for Christians to be involved in politics. For instance, “They’re all after Speaker Mike Johnson for his Christian faith,” said Hice. “He’s a Christian statesman who is certainly influenced and guided by his faith,” but “that’s no different from the liberal Left being guided by their secular, or whatever, worldview that they embrace.”<br/>
<br/>
“This really galls the Left, [that] Mike Johnson has the unmitigated temerity to be a fairly conventional Southern Baptist,” Nolte agreed, with a touch of sarcasm. “Yes, he’s quite conservative on family issues. … But, as a conventional Baptist, he also stands [with] an over 200-year tradition of Baptists supporting religious liberty.” (Make that nearly 400 years in America since Baptist minister Roger Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island as a haven for freedom of conscience.)<br/>
<br/>
The point is, “If somebody is truly committed to religious liberty, you never have to worry about them imposing Christianity,” Nolte argued. “They want to protect your freedom to believe or not believe as you choose.”<br/>
<br/>
Yet no leftist definitions of “Christian nationalism” acknowledge its presence on the political Left. Follow along, if you will, with this thought experiment Nolte set forth:<br/>
<br/>
Imagine a situation in which a Republican president goes to a church—a church that has been prominently associated with Republican politics in the past—on a federal holiday, and gives a speech where he talks about how New Testament principles ought to be the basis of our politics here in America. Would the media label that as Christian nationalism, do you think?<br/>
<br/>
Over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend in 2023, President Joe Biden spoke from that man’s onetime pulpit in Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, declaring that certain passages of the New Testament described “the essence of the American promise” and inspired his vision to “redeem the soul of America.” Yet, according to the propagandists now loudly decrying Christian nationalism, “that, somehow, was not considered Christian nationalism,” Nolte observed.<br/>
<br/>
So, when defining the term, “it kind of depends on who is using the New Testament and whether the media outlets in question like the use to which the New Testament is being put,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
Nolte suggested the entire project was political. His dissertation had examined how secularists in Turkey, France, and other countries have used “extreme fear language” about “religious reactionaries” to “mobilize constituencies that supported … secularism.” He warned that this strategy backfired in Turkey, where it “generally pushed most of the Islamic believers in Turkey more toward radicalism.”<br/>
<br/>
Nolte argued leftists in America have made a “deliberate attempt” to craft a similar narrative. In particular, he pointed to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a tailor-made scarytale “that’s going to appeal particularly to secular educated women who do not attend church and are not familiar with Christian belief.” Nolte criticized the way it twisted Scripture to depict a “misogynistic, theocratic society” that has nothing in common with the policy goals of socially conservative Christians in America.<br/>
<br/>
Ultimately, fearmongering about the slur “Christian nationalism” says far more about those who wield it than those they aim to describe. In the “Red Scares” of the 1920s to 1950s, allegations that there was a communist under every rock, tree, bush, government desk, and movie script did little to inform the American public about which people really were communists. But they did inform Americans that the accusers were anti-communists. Similarly, accusations of “Christian nationalism” don’t inform Americans about which politicians, if any, wish to establish a theocracy; but they do help Americans understand that the people making the accusations are anti-Christian and anti-nationalist.<br/>
<br/>
One final accusation lobbed against Christianity came from University of California at Riverside professor Reza Aslan, a Christian apostate. “The biggest sin, if you will, of Christian nationalism, is that it sees pluralism as a weakness, and not what it is: the foundation of what it means to be American,” Aslan insisted.<br/>
<br/>
The irony in this inverted statement is so thick you could ice it and slice it. Not only did Aslan overlook the Christian origins of American pluralism, but he also missed the fact that American Christians are still pleading for a pluralistic society, “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:2).<br/>
<br/>
It is totalitarian leftists who seek to de-pluralize American public life by banishing Christians from the public square—and scaremongering about “Christian nationalism” is simply their latest attempt to do so.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/23/leftists-propagandize-christian-nationalist-scare/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/23/leftists-propagandize-christian-nationalist-scare/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> What Is DACODAI?</b><br/>
<br/>
The Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (DACODAI) was formed in 2022. The committee’s website says it is to “examine and provide recommendations to improve racial/ethnic diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity within the DoD [Department of Defense], with a primary focus on military personnel.”<br/>
<br/>
Sounds innocuous. However, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology promotes a radical, un-American belief system. DEI promotes extreme ideas like America is a racist nation, that racism and white supremacy are widespread today, and that whites are oppressors and minorities are oppressed. The committee itself is not diverse. However, the need for DACODAI is questionable, as the DOD’s 2022 demographics report shows the military is extremely diverse, at or above national demographics for race and ethnicity. DACODAI’s own data publicized in December 2023 shows rates on all types of discrimination complaints are tiny fractions of a percent. Examples of military adoption of DEI:<br/>
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$114.7M in FY2024 for military DEI, a substantial increase from 2023.<br/>
<br/>
In ongoing litigations against USMA and USNA, both admitted to using admissions practices that consider race and ethnicity. Specific practices of one or both include (1) reserving vacancies for racial “diversity” applicants, (2) using candidate composite score (only a small fraction of which is standardized test score) thresholds that differ by race when making admission decisions, and (3) using out of order of merit selection to achieve racial diversity. Better-qualified white and Asian applicants, some having much higher candidate composite scores, are not selected to make room for lower-scoring “diversity” applicants. These practices unarguably violate constitutional equal protection of the law, deny equal opportunity to hundreds of higher-scoring but non-selected applicants, demean minorities who gain admission based on merit, and, combined with other poor policy choices, lower standards for about 10%-20% of the entering class. These practices have been concealed from Congress and the American people for decades. The result: Warfighters are not always getting the best-qualified leaders.<br/>
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DOD websites and recruiting emphasize DEI. DEI training is continuous and ubiquitous.<br/>
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In 2022, the chief of staff of the Air Force set a goal of no more than 67.5% white pilots. Currently, 90%+ of AF pilots are white.<br/>
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2023 Navy selection board guidance overtly allows the use of race in selections.<br/>
<br/>
Based on their personal experience or those of their children, thousands of current and former military members objected to DEI’s dilution of merit. These voices represent thousands of years of service. They are the voices of experience, and they warn that the path we are on now leads to disunity, division, lower morale, recruiting and retention problems, and, eventually, failure. These testimonies are at STARRS. Meanwhile, zero data shows diversity improves performance, lethality, or readiness.<br/>
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Col (Ret.) Bill Prince, U.S. Army Special Forces with 11 combat deployments, quotes the USMA’s Chief Data Officer, Col. Paul F. Evangelista ‘96, in commenting on attempts to measure the effectiveness of DEI, “We don’t have the data.”<br/>
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BG (Ret.) Ernie Audino, U.S. Army, nails the issue precisely, saying: “If generals are right, i.e. that racial diversity in our officer corps is a 'national security imperative,’ then the services would at least track racial percentages in their mandatory assessments of unit combat readiness, but they don’t. Racial diversity is not included and never has been.”<br/>
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CDR (Ret.) Phil Keuhlen, USN, is a former commanding officer of a nuclear-powered attack submarine. His analysis of Task Force 1 Navy’s claimed diversity benefits shows the Navy misrepresented source applicability, extended conclusions beyond the data, and ignored source conclusions that gains were due to factors that degrade military effectiveness. His detailed analysis is at RealClearDefense.<br/>
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Col (Ret.) Bing West, USMC, is one of the most decorated combat veterans in our nation’s history. His article, “The Military’s Perilous Experiment,” ought to give our military leaders pause in their headlong pursuit of diversity. He writes: “Inside the military, however, another criterion has taken central booking: diversity. The focus has shifted toward emphasizing gender and racial equality, particularly in leadership positions. Diversity has replaced lethality as the lodestone for the military. … As a Marine veteran, I find this disconcerting. From boot training on, Marines are taught to put aside diversity, not to emphasize it.” The article can be found at the Hoover Institution.<br/>
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DACODAI met in DC on December 14-15, 2023, and invited public comment. The input submitted by multiple public interest organizations was ignored. This behavior by DACODAI is most disconcerting. To ensure DACODAI will have various ideas, STARRS collaborated with leaders of Calvert Group, Veterans for Fairness and Merit, Flag Officers 4 America, the MacArthur Society, and Take Charge Minnesota in producing recorded, public testimony about DEI’s adverse impacts on the military. This powerful public testimony is available at the STARRS website. It deserves DACODAI’s attention and substantive response. Warfighters know it needs both.<br/>
<br/>
DACODAI will meet again in early May. Americans interested in preserving our military’s unity, cohesion, and readiness to defend us against our enemies are urged to tell them what they think about DEI in our military.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/104506">https://patriotpost.us/articles/104506</a>
</p>
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<b> Kudos To Mr. Nuzzo for Taking on the Feminist Status Quo</b><br/>
<br/>
It is refreshing to find Mr. Nuzzo, a lone warrior willing to call out the feminist claptrap throughout the academic world.<br/>
<br/>
There’s a four-year gap in life expectancy in Australia between men and women. So how come our peak science funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), in 2022 allocated over six times more funding to research on women’s health compared to men’s?<br/>
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This glaring bias in research funding attracted the critical gaze of a Perth-based academic with a keen interest in men’s health.<br/>
<br/>
James Nuzzo is an exercise scientist, currently affiliated with Edith Cowan University, who has been busily churning out academic articles on topics like exercise neurophysiology and physical fitness testing.<br/>
<br/>
But he’s become increasingly concerned to see his discipline infiltrated by gender ideologues whining about women missing out while totally ignoring the health outcomes of boys and men.<br/>
<br/>
He’s calling out their bias and poor scholarship in a hard-hitting series of blogs on Substack (The Nuzzo Files) and podcasts.<br/>
<br/>
For instance, Mr. Nuzzo points out that we hear constant allegations about the widespread exclusion of women in clinical trials.<br/>
<br/>
In America, complaints about the neglect of women in health research led, in 1990, to the Office for Research on Women’s Health being established within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).<br/>
<br/>
Since then, annual reports from the Office reveal that women constitute 55-60 percent of all participants in NIH-funded clinical trials each year. Thirty years later, the Office is flourishing, pouring out funding for women-only projects.<br/>
Similarly, Australian governments are falling over each other to prove their commitment to improving health outcomes for women and girls—and the NHMRC funding simply reflects that consistent anti-male bias.<br/>
<br/>
This is simply one more example of the feminist claptrap now seeping throughout our academic world.<br/>
<br/>
I hear regularly from principled researchers grinding their teeth at this blatant ideology and poor scholarship. Most don’t dare put their head above the parapet.<br/>
<br/>
It is refreshing to find Mr. Nuzzo, a lone warrior willing to call it out, despite being well aware he is likely to implode his academic career in the process.<br/>
<br/>
Another Small Victory In the Bag<br/>
<br/>
Mr. Nuzzo’s most recent public skirmish in this territory involved an article in Sports Medicine written by mainly female exercise physiology students from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) claiming that “gender-based violence is a blind spot for sports and exercise medical professionals.”<br/>
<br/>
The UNSW scholars devoted their entire article presenting women as the only victims of interpersonal violence (IPV)—the single mention of men referred to their “socially determined privilege,” an alleged cause of violence against women.<br/>
<br/>
No mention of young male victims of abuse by coaches or fellow athletes, of which there have been plenty, nor of lesbian perpetrators of abuse (lesbians top the chart of rates of IPV). And not one word about the decades of research showing men and women are victims of IPV at roughly equal rates.<br/>
<br/>
Mr. Nuzzo set out to put them straight, seeking to get the true facts published in a response letter in Sports Medicine. And he succeeded, but only after nearly a year of back and forth with the journal. It helped that he combined forces with Deborah Powney, the University of Central Lancashire psychologist doing work on male victims of coercive control, and John Barry, from the Centre for Male Psychology in London.<br/>
<br/>
Sports Medicine took the unusual step of submitting the letter to peer review, but the three reviewers all concurred with the critique by Nuzzo and his co-authors. Ultimately the letter was published—one small victory for proper scientific inquiry.<br/>
<br/>
Their published comment proved it was the UNSW academics who had the blind spot, by providing a summary of some of the best research showing equal gender rates of IPV victimization, which also applied in sports environments.<br/>
<br/>
Storm in a teacup, you might conclude. Perhaps. But it is a telling example of how the feminist take-over of our universities is playing out.<br/>
<br/>
The Next Generation<br/>
<br/>
We now have increasing numbers of radical young female academics and students, probably indoctrinated back in their school days, all keen on displaying their feminist credentials in their so-called scholarship.<br/>
<br/>
Increasingly, they are forcing this sludge into diverse disciplines, right across all academia.<br/>
<br/>
Worryingly, these are the teachers of the next generation, intent on convincing young women they are set for a life of persecution, abuse and discrimination.<br/>
<br/>
They are teaching our future bureaucrats who’ll be setting key policies, the future lawyers, judges, social workers, and the politicians who will be deciding where the dollars are spent.<br/>
<br/>
Their goals are transparent and the process is unfolding before our very eyes.<br/>
<br/>
Kudos for James Nuzzo for having the courage to take them on, in published articles, blogs and podcasts. It’s infuriating to read his research and discover how much we’ve been hoodwinked.<br/>
<br/>
The Big Two Globalist Agencies<br/>
<br/>
Another of Mr. Nuzzo’s published articles concerned bias against men’s issues in the U.N. and WHO. He conducted a content analysis showing consistent promotion of women’s issues whilst men are ignored. The U.N.’s sustainable development goal on “gender equality” is exclusive to females.<br/>
<br/>
The organisation observes nine International Days for women’s issues/achievements and one day for men. They operate 69 Twitter accounts dedicated to women’s issues and none for men. And so it goes on.<br/>
<br/>
DAVIA (the Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance) has launched a petition that calls on groups to “suspend their funding of the United Nations until all U.N. agencies fulfill their pledge to respect the ‘dignity and worth’ of all persons and assure the ‘equal rights of men and women.’” That’s a worthy goal.<br/>
<br/>
It’s also a pleasant change to find someone looking for the good in men.<br/>
<br/>
Mr. Nuzzo recently wrote a blog on Men: The Martyrs of Medicine. He’d unearthed a 1929 medical journal article listing the names of male doctors and researchers who died as a result of acquiring the disease they were studying or medical technology they were developing.<br/>
<br/>
Brave men who gave their lives trying to save others from yellow fever, typhus, bubonic plague, and other infectious diseases.<br/>
<br/>
It was quite a story and a welcome change to see the risk-taking, now so often labelled as ’toxic,' being promoted as valuable, even inspiring.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/kudos-to-mr-nuzzo-for-taking-on-the-feminist-status-quo-5594636">https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/kudos-to-mr-nuzzo-for-taking-on-the-feminist-status-quo-5594636</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-74714172175570582452024-02-27T18:57:00.002+13:002024-02-27T18:57:37.100+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Are Leftists narcissists?</b><br/>
<br/>
The Mayo definition:<br/>
<br/>
"Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence, they are not sure of their self-worth and are easily upset by the slightest criticism"<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662">https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662</a>
</p>
The Mayo clinic is America's leading hospital<br/>
<br/>
Narcissism seems to be getting a lot of press these days. In particular, women are often being advised to be wary of relationships with narcissist men. I think there is no doubt that the term is over-used. Normal selfishness should not be confused with mental illness, where a mental illness is a loss of reality contact<br/>
<br/>
Nonetheless something like narcissism can be observed in some people who have a reasonably good grasp of what the world around them is like. They are selfish and have a high opinion of themselves but not to a disabling degree. They are not blind to where they stand with other people. They are within the psychological normal range.<br/>
<br/>
A related concept is need for approval. The academic psychology literature on that is large and goes back a long way. In that literature it is generally seen it as weak and something to be overcome.<br/>
<br/>
I see something like narcissism and need for approval in Leftists. But to avoid implications of mental illness I have mostly avoided those terms and instead made use of the Greco/Latin term "ego" ("Εγώ"), which simply means "I" in both languages. Freud popularized the word to refer to the conscious self and it has now passed into common use in roughly that meaning. I say that Leftists have "excess ego" or "weak ego", implying that they are people who have a high opinion of themselves but that opinion is weakly held and needs a lot of propping up, similar to what we see in true narcissists<br/>
<br/>
It is excess ego that they badly want to be seen as kind and wise and noble. So it is akin to narcissism but is not as unrealistic. The stances they adopt generally WILL gain them approval.<br/>
<br/>
A classic example that is rather politically hot at the moment is rent control. People advocating it present themselves as "caring" about poor tenants and the policy does at first glance seem beneficial to tenants.<br/>
<br/>
I am not going to give a lesson in economics here but suffice it to say that the policy in fact works out very badly for tenants before long. It reduces the number of places being offered to tenants and makes then pay HIGHER rents for what they get<br/>
<br/>
But the Leftist gets immediate credit for "caring" and that is what they want. The conservative who points out the adverse long-term consequences tends by contrast to be seen as uncaring<br/>
<br/>
I give many more case studies of Leftism in action here:<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/leftex.html">http://jonjayray.com/leftex.html</a>
</p>
So ego need is certainly pernicious. It causes Leftists to advocate policies that sound good even when they are not. An exceptionally moronic example of that in some American cities in recent years has been the cry "defund the police". Most defunders by now have become refunders but the damage done in the meanwhile has been considerable<br/>
<br/>
So, Yes. Leftist ego need is a low grade form of narcissism. It is not a clinical condition but it still does a lot of harm<br/>
<br/>
It should be noted that some care is needed in talking about narcissism among non-clinical populations. Freud's seminal article on narcisissm claimed that traits of grandiosity and vulnerability covaried and that is obviously confirmed in the definition drawn from clinical experience by the Mayo clinic.<br/>
<br/>
But it should not be assumed that the same is true in the population at large. The findings of Paul Wink in particular show that in the general population, not all vulnerable peope have feelings of grandiosity and not all people with grandiose views of themselves also have feelings of vulnerability. Wink found that the two traits formed independent Varimax factors.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://academics.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Wink/Two%20faces%20of%20Narcissism.pdf">http://academics.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Wink/Two%20faces%20of%20Narcissism.pdf</a>
</p>
But within Wink's sample, there was a subset of respondents in which the two factors DID go together and it is such people whom we can reasonably describe as sub-clinical narcissists. Such people will be at least strongly inclined towards Leftism. Whether people who are simply vulnerable or simply grandiose are drawn to Leftism is at this stage unknown<br/>
<br/>
My claim that Leftists are people with large but weak egos in an inference extracted from what Leftists do. It explains what they do. But there is also some general population survey research showing that strongly Leftist views are associated with narcissism. See the two U.S. studies by Krispenz & Bertrams below<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-023-04463-x">https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-023-04463-x</a>
</p>
I make no claim that ego need is the whole of Leftist motivations. As I have discussed elsewhere, there are many influences which may lead to Leftism. See<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/leftism3.html">http://jonjayray.com/leftism3.html</a>
</p>
Chief among them would appear to be a tendency to anger. The great outpouring of rage and hate that greeted the election of Donald Trump leaves no doubt about that. Never before has hatred been so openly expressed by so many people. Krispenz & Bertrams also found an association between Leftism and antagonistic attitudes. They conclude that Leftist activists "use political activism to endorse or exercise violence against others to satisfy their own ego-focused needs".<br/>
<br/>
JR<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
<b> NZ Realtor Faces 5 Year Ban for Rejecting ‘Woke’ Training</b><br/>
<br/>
A real estate agent in New Zealand is at risk of having her 30-year career cut short after rejecting a compulsory course on Maori culture and customary behaviours.<br/>
<br/>
Janet Dickson is seeking to challenge the New Zealand’s Real Estate Authority (REA) in court after the regulatory body allegedly threatened to cancel her licence for five years for refusing to take the course, according to the advocacy group Hobson’s Pledge.<br/>
<br/>
Under current regulations, real estate agents need to complete 20 hours of continuing professional development each year to maintain their licence, including two hours of mandatory topics and eight hours of elective topics.<br/>
<br/>
Ms. Dickson was concerned that the REA overstepped its power by forcing real estate agents to complete courses that had little to do with their jobs, especially on contentious topics.<br/>
<br/>
In a Facebook post, Ms. Dickson called REA’s alleged practice of imposing compulsory courses as “woke madness” and vowed to fight to ensure that other people would not be subject to the same fate.<br/>
<br/>
Ms. Dickson is seeking a judicial review in New Zealand’s High Court to challenge the REA’s power to impose compulsory courses, believing that it is essential in addressing the alleged overreach, and could set a precedent for other professional organisations.<br/>
<br/>
“The ramifications of this case extend well beyond the realm of real estate. Similar mandates have detrimentally affected a wide array of professions, including doctors, teachers, and lawyers,” the webpage of her campaign read.<br/>
<br/>
“The imposition of these mandates, infringing upon the fundamental freedom of conscience, requires immediate action.<br/>
<br/>
“This (the judicial review) is essential not only to rectify the excessive use of authority in the present case but also to establish a precedent that will guide and inform the conduct of other professional regulatory bodies.”<br/>
<br/>
Ms. Dickson’s campaign seeks donations of up to NZ$50,000 (US$31,000) from the public to cover part of her NZ$150,000 legal fee.<br/>
<br/>
Response from Other Parties<br/>
<br/>
Don Brash, the former Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor and Hobson’s Pledge’s founder, criticised REA’s “draconian” rules, saying it was an attempt to impose a particular worldview that was not in line with the majority of New Zealanders. “It’s inappropriate for the REA to force people to do a course that’s not relevant to their work,” he said, as reported by the New Zealand Herald newspaper. “We don’t want a particular view of the world forced on anybody.”<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile, Bernie O’Donnell, a Poutaki Mātauranga Maori adviser at the University of Auckland, said it was necessary for real estate agents to understand Maori due to the nature of their business.<br/>
<br/>
“You can’t go into that profession blindly in Aotearoa ... it’s important they understand the history of their country,” he said, noting that it was a shame that some people didn’t want to go through that step.<br/>
<br/>
“Maori are the indigenous people of this land, and in this new world, we have to start making an effort to understand their worldview.<br/>
<br/>
“And even though there’s a huge history to this land, people just want to get down to business.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/nz-real-estate-agent-at-risk-of-losing-licence-for-rejecting-woke-training-5593368?ea_src=au-frontpage&ea_med=special-coverage-australian-politics-1">https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/nz-real-estate-agent-at-risk-of-losing-licence-for-rejecting-woke-training-5593368?ea_src=au-frontpage&ea_med=special-coverage-australian-politics-1</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Indigenous people sue over alleged Canadian secret medical experiment</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> An MRI is just a scan. It doesn't do anything to you</i><br/>
<br/>
Members of a First Nation in Canada have launched a lawsuit alleging they were subjected to a secret medical experiment without their consent that left them feeling “violated and humiliated”.<br/>
<br/>
The class-action lawsuit, which was certified by the Nova Scotia supreme court in early February, revives the painful history of Canada conducting medical experiments on Indigenous peoples and the persistent discrimination they continue to face within the country’s healthcare system.<br/>
<br/>
In a statement of claim, Chief Andrea Paul, the lead plaintiff, says she and 60 other members of the Pictou Landing First Nation participated in an MRI in 2017 for a medical research project administered by the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds.<br/>
<br/>
But after the test finished, staff at the hospital in Halifax kept her for a second test.<br/>
<br/>
“As she lay inside the claustrophobic MRI chamber, holding her breath, and cringing from the loud banging sounds around her, the MRI scans generated data that revealed intimate medical information about her body without her knowledge or consent,” reads the statement of claim. “She had been singled out for the one reason – she was Mi’kmaq.”<br/>
<br/>
A year later, Paul, who also serves as regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations in Nova Scotia, learned that two radiologists had allegedly used the second procedure to conduct MRI elastography to study the livers of Indigenous subjects, without their knowledge or consent.<br/>
<br/>
The class-action lawsuit has named the radiologists Robert Miller and Sharon Clarke as defendants. According to the claim, Miller met with Paul in 2018 and told her the MRI had been used for a broader research project titled “MRI Findings of Liver Disease in an Atlantic Canada First Nations Population”. Miller, an associate professor at Dalhousie University’s faculty of medicine who previously served as president of the Canadian Association of Radiology, allegedly told her the findings had been shared with a radiology conference after initially denying disclosing the test results.<br/>
<br/>
Neither researchers with the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds nor the plaintiffs were given the results of the test.<br/>
<br/>
Canada has a dark history for its treatment of Indigenous peoples under the guise of healthcare, with the deadly effects of systemic racism persisting into the present day.<br/>
<br/>
In the 1940s, nearly 1,300 Indigenous children across Canada were starved for studies about the effects of malnutrition as part of a government-run study. Indigenous women have also been sterilized against their will, leading human rights groups to call for an end to the practice.<br/>
<br/>
“Knowing the long history of subjecting Indigenous people in Canada to cruel medical experiments … and to confirm the Indigenous right to own and control research data of Indigenous people, Chief Andrea felt powerless, vulnerable, and discriminated against because she was Mi’kmaq.”<br/>
<br/>
The claim also asserts that Indigenous people “have been reluctant to participate in health research and receive treatment from non-Indigenous doctors, health centers, and hospitals” because of a legacy of mistreatment and abuse.<br/>
<br/>
“There is an historically and evidentiary based mistrust at the healthcare system,” the claim reads. Paul says in the claim she had worked to persuade community members to participate in the initial MRI test and the actions of the two radiologists is emblematic of the mistrust held by Indigenous communities.<br/>
<br/>
Paul and 60 members of Pictou Landing are seeking a declaration from the defendants for invasion of privacy, unlawful imprisonment, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, charter breaches and damages. They also argue the tests amount to assault and battery because the MRI scan procedures “amount to a medical procedure that was performed on [the plaintiffs] without their knowledge or informed consent”.<br/>
<br/>
A lawyer for the two radiologists has said neither will provide comment. None of the allegations have been tested in court and no hearing dates have been set.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/medical-experiment-indigenous-canadians-lawsuit">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/26/medical-experiment-indigenous-canadians-lawsuit</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Australia: Fact checkers fall out</b><br/>
<br/>
The ABC has ended its partnership with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) FactLab, with which it has operated the ABC RMIT Fact Check project for the past seven years.<br/>
<br/>
On Tuesday afternoon ABC news director Justin Stevens notified staff via email that the national broadcaster would replace the partnership with an internal fact-checking team, known as “ABC News Verify”.<br/>
<br/>
Stevens said Verify would be a “team of specialists with the ability to scale up to support our special coverage in times of crisis. It will be part of the Investigative Journalism and Current Affairs team led by Jo Puccini.”<br/>
<br/>
“In parallel with our decision to establish our own specialist verification team we have also taken the decision to not extend our current participation in ABC RMIT Fact Check when our current agreement expires in the middle of the year,” he wrote.<br/>
<br/>
Crikey understands RMIT management felt blindsided by the decision from the ABC, with sources saying it appeared that the ABC had concerns over pressure from fact-checking politicians.<br/>
<br/>
One source told Crikey that the relationship between RMIT and the ABC had become one-sided in recent years, with the university taking a lot of criticism from conservative media over the Fact Check project.<br/>
<br/>
It comes as the partnership and the ABC have come under significant pressure in recent months over accusations of bias following the Voice to Parliament referendum. In May, RMIT FactLab published a fact check of itself, refuting claims that the organisation was being “used” by proponents of the Yes campaign to “rig the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum”.<br/>
<br/>
The organisation’s participation in Meta’s fact-checking program was briefly suspended last year after its accreditation with the International Fact-Checking Network lapsed.<br/>
<br/>
The Australian reported last year that the ABC had spent $165,000 a year on the RMIT partnership since 2020, according to figures released in Senate estimates.<br/>
<br/>
In budget estimates this year, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts asked ABC managing director David Anderson about the make-up of ABC RMIT Fact Check in relation to the Voice referendum.<br/>
<br/>
Anderson responded on notice that of the 17 articles published between June 1 and September 29, RMIT ABC Fact Check published two articles focusing on claims made by the Yes campaign or proponents, 10 on the No campaign or proponents, and five on claims made by proponents of both sides.<br/>
<br/>
Anderson said “checkable claims more frequently surfaced from proponents of No arguments than from proponents of Yes arguments” in the ABC’s media monitoring process.<br/>
<br/>
“When a Yes claim surfaced which was checkable and important to the national debate, Fact Check made sure it was covered in a timely manner.”<br/>
<br/>
A spokesperson for RMIT said in a statement that the university was “proud of the long-standing partnership” with the ABC.<br/>
<br/>
“The partnership between RMIT and ABC will conclude at the end of the current agreement [on June 30, 2024]. RMIT is committed to upholding the integrity of public information and will continue to do this through a range of activities,” the spokesperson told Crikey.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/02/21/abc-rmit-fact-check-partnership-abc-news-verify/">https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/02/21/abc-rmit-fact-check-partnership-abc-news-verify/</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-72277614953200157292024-02-26T17:32:00.002+13:002024-02-26T17:32:19.701+13:00<br><br/>
<br/>
<b> The biggest enemy of Gazans is HAMAS</b><br/>
<br/>
Hamas launched a big terrorist strike into Israel in the full knowledge that Israel always hits back proportionally at attacks on it. It was a deliberate provocation motivated by their undoubted hatred of Israel.<br/>
<br/>
Most Muslims are antisemitic. Their prophet tells them to be. But HAMAS are Islamic extremists. So they start out with religious hatred and add to it envy over Israel's notable success in most ways. Its success is an offence against the lowly place of Jews according to Muslim teachings<br/>
<br/>
Helmut Schoeck has written eloquently about how dire in general it is to be envied and there is no doubt that Israel suffers in just the way that he predicts<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/ENVY-Theory-Behaviour-Helmut-Schoeck/dp/0865970645">https://www.amazon.com/ENVY-Theory-Behaviour-Helmut-Schoeck/dp/0865970645</a>
</p>
And the Leftist "protesters" who claim to be speaking for Palestinians ignore the fact that Gazans are a small minority of Palestinians. Large numbers of Palestinians live in Jordan, the West Bank and Israel itslf. And they live peacefully with Israel.<br/>
<br/>
It is HAMAS that the Left would be demonstrating against if they has any real concern for the people of Gaza. Without HAMAS, peace already reigns between Israel and Palestinians.<br/>
<br/>
It should be noted that there is no clear agreement about who is a Palestinian. The name Palestine as a geographical term goes back to Herodotus but has never denoted a place with any clear boundaries. In ancient times generally, however, terms similar to it do seem to have mostly denoted the central or Southern part of the Levantine coast. So the term Palestine would seem to refer pretty well to what we now know as Eretz Israel. In that case some Jewish Israelis are Palestinians.<br/>
<br/>
By courtesy, however, the term is usually reserved for Arabs with some ancestral attachment to the area. The vagueness of the term does however make it difficult to say precisely how many Palestinians there are in any particular place. If we include members of the Palestinian diaspora, Gazans are a really tiny fraction of the total Palestinian population<br/>
<br/>
JR<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>
<b> ‘Good’ girls, ‘bad’ boys? That’s no way to make progress</b><br/>
<br/>
Nikki Gemmell says boys in the West are angry. They want power and control, she says, pointing to a Gallup poll that apparently shows young men “flinching into conservatism” while young women are embracing and facilitating social reform.<br/>
<br/>
The impetus for girls is fairness and equality, she says, a natural step for the educated. It’s why “the Taliban wants to stop females from being educated”, she wrote on the weekend.<br/>
<br/>
The impetus for boys, says Gemmell, is to preserve what they had. She claims they are hurting, raging and lost.<br/>
<br/>
Let’s put the Taliban to one side, given that in Australia girls are educated, they work, dress as they wish, vote, run companies, and become prime minister.<br/>
<br/>
Lumping girls in the good column and boys in a bad one is not helpful. The world can’t be summed up so simply. Let’s dissect two claims – one about politics, the other about gender, at the centre of Gemmell’s thesis.<br/>
<br/>
Having followed politics for a long time, I can safely say the world is more complicated than saying that conservative equals bad and progressive equals good.<br/>
<br/>
If “progressive” meant only good things, we would do away with elections right now, and make Adam Bandt leader for life. In fact, the Greens are not genuinely progressive. For starters, they harbour anti-Semites.<br/>
<br/>
This word, “progressive”, is often a crock. The progressive Greens are economic dunces; they’d wreck the economy overnight with their taxation and spending policies. We know from experience that being progressive on immigration – in other words, handing over control of our borders to people-smugglers – led to thousands of deaths at sea for desperate people.<br/>
<br/>
So-called progressive policies can be wickedly regressive. When a bunch of elites thought that granting special rights to one group of Australians was such a good idea it should be enshrined in the Constitution, the response from Australians was an overwhelming “no”.<br/>
<br/>
That No vote was the height of social and political equality: it was progressive and liberal.<br/>
<br/>
When I hear claims that “progressive” is all sweetness and light, and comes in the shade of teal, it pains me to point out that most of the teals are frauds.<br/>
<br/>
For all their kvetching about the need for more integrity in politics, and attacking low-hanging fruit such as pork-barrelling, they haven’t shown any interest, on behalf of taxpayers, in getting to the bottom of why the federal government handed over $2.4m to Brittany Higgins. Not a single injured veteran is able to secure that amount of money, no questions asked. How’s that for political integrity.<br/>
<br/>
Nice-sounding words can’t hide poor outcomes. When diversity translates into discriminating against men, the result is neither fair nor equal.<br/>
<br/>
Earlier this year, Caroline Overington reported on a bookshop owner in Melbourne who was concerned that while she had shelves of great women’s fiction writing, “positive stories with men and boys are almost missing from the mix”. We reported that women filled seven of the top 10 places in fiction writing last year. It was the same internationally.<br/>
<br/>
Women coming out on top is great news, so long as it’s not manufactured by booting men out of the mix. Sadly, it’s seen as “progressive” to do precisely that.<br/>
<br/>
Gender quotas are routinely used to fill board seats, sidelining merit. It’s easy to predict what flows: boards end up reflecting a political monoculture comprising people who think quotas make sense. That’s not genuine diversity.<br/>
<br/>
When I wrote extensively many years ago about the importance of phonics when teaching young kids to read, I discovered phonics was described by its opponents as a conservative plot to entrench the political status quo. What on Earth? We’re talking about giving the kids the building blocks to read, a necessary step so they can learn, expand their horizons, think for themselves.<br/>
<br/>
Back then, progressives believed kids learned to read by osmosis, by being exposed to words, and most schools bought their magic pudding. The steady stream of poor literacy results for Australian students reveals how regressive that progressive project has been for kids. Talk about being mugged by reality.<br/>
<br/>
According to a piece in The Financial Times about the Gallop survey, the #MeToo movement is the trigger for women moving to the progressive side of politics. Gemmell repeated the claim. So, let’s look a little closer at this recent progressive movement.<br/>
<br/>
The #MeToo movement has helped women feel empowered to report sexual assault and call out bad behaviour that falls short of assault. But not everything about #MeToo is positive. For example, the oft-repeated mantra that we must “believe all women” can only serve to undermine the presumption of innocence. That’s a dangerous path for a society committed to fairness, let alone fair trials.<br/>
<br/>
There are other, less serious, but equally boneheaded responses to the #MeToo movement. One of Sydney’s most prestigious boys schools told boys in an assembly not to use the word “moist” because it offends girls. That school and others are going co-ed because apparently boys will become civilised human beings by sharing a classroom with girls.<br/>
<br/>
The boys I know aren’t angry about sharing power, let alone classrooms. They’re not hurting, or raging, or lost, as Gemmell suggests. They weren’t born to be at the top of the tree. Nor are they hankering for cosy arrangements to continue. If I had to guess, what annoys both boys and girls – along with some of their parents – are evidence-free anti-male messages that go unchallenged.<br/>
<br/>
Sky News contributor Daisy Cousens says the MeToo movement’s celebrity activists do not actually care about…<br/>
Young men and women in Gen Z are entering a world where labels and slogans are routinely used to dumb down society. Just as people are complex, so too are political philosophies.<br/>
<br/>
For those interested in learning about conservatism as a political philosophy, there are plenty of books I could suggest. But let’s cut to the chase: being conservative means looking at what people did before us, holding on to what works and, yes, changing what doesn’t work.<br/>
<br/>
Conservatism is rooted in lived experience, to coin a phrase from the progressive zeitgeist, not crossing your fingers, closing your eyes and saying a little prayer that good intentions will translate into good outcomes.<br/>
<br/>
Now to another point about boys and girls. Gemmell claims Gen Z is “split” and living in “two separate worlds”. I looked at the Gallop results. In the US, Gallop’s news website says “a widening of the ideological gaps between men and women over time has been due to women becoming more liberal at a faster rate than men, rather than women and men moving in different ideological directions”. So, let’s take a breather.<br/>
<br/>
I must live in a different part of Australia to my colleague. Having young men and women waft through our homes for many years, I can vouch for relationships forged above politics and social movements.<br/>
<br/>
These young men and women befriend, work with, partner and marry people who have different views. The reason is simple: in most workplaces, pubs and homes, politics need not be a morality contest; ergo progressive doesn’t mean good, and conservative doesn’t mean bad. Or vice versa.<br/>
<br/>
Perpetuating a myth that girls are progressive social reformers, while boys hanker for the good old days when men ruled the world, will only help to make the world more, not less, polarised.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/good-girls-bad-boys-thats-no-way-to-make-progress/news-story/88decbcbf36cbe764d95c448ce9aebf0">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/good-girls-bad-boys-thats-no-way-to-make-progress/news-story/88decbcbf36cbe764d95c448ce9aebf0</a>
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<br/>
<b> A complete Leftist nutcase</b><br/>
<br/>
The co-founder of a Black Lives Matter chapter has slammed Taylor Swift fans as 'racists' and referred to Kansas City's Super Bowl victory as a 'right-wing, white-supremacist conspiracy' in a series of posts on social media.<br/>
<br/>
Melina Abdullah, 51, a professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State University Los Angeles, took to X, formerly Twitter, to unload her opinions on the pop singer and her athlete boyfriend over the course of two weeks.<br/>
<br/>
'Why do I feel like it’s slightly racist to be a Taylor Swift fan?' Abdullah wrote on February 11, the day of the Super Bowl.<br/>
<br/>
'I said FEEL, not think,' she continued when another user asked her to elaborate. 'Kind of like that feeling I get when there are too many American flags.'<br/>
<br/>
Hours later, after the Kansas City Chiefs were declared the winners, Abdullah wrote: 'Why do I feel like this was some right-wing, white-supremacist conspiracy?!?! Booooooo!!!!'<br/>
<br/>
As her posts drummed up attention from other users, Abdullah doubled down on her stance. 'Folks think they’re attacking me by asking why I think everything is racist…I’m not offended,' she wrote. 'Virtually everything is racist.'<br/>
<br/>
In response to one commenter, the advocate clarified: 'And I’ve also decided to work with all my might and in a community of committed people to upend racism and oppression.'<br/>
<br/>
On February 23, Abdullah returned to social media to post a voice message sent by a man who blasted her as 'a joke,' 'ignorant,' and 'what's wrong with this country.'<br/>
<br/>
'How dare you throw out the racist ideas you throw out on a daily basis?' shouted the man, who identified himself as Ethan George from Texas, before proclaiming that he wished she would 'die.'<br/>
<br/>
'If this is what a tweet about Taylor Swift fans being “slightly racist” brings, I’ll edit myself…Y’all are full-fledged violent white-delusionists,' Abdullah wrote.<br/>
<br/>
The 51-year-old is also a co-director of BLM's advocacy wing, Black Lives Matter Grassroots.<br/>
<br/>
She sued the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020 after they descended on her home during a reported swatting incident.<br/>
<br/>
On August 19, 2020, the LAPD received a 911 call from someone who claimed he had taken people hostage in Abdullah’s Crenshaw home.<br/>
<br/>
In court documents filed with California Superior Court, the mother of three said she feared LAPD SWAT officers would fire their weapons into her home and hurt her children.<br/>
<br/>
She accused the LAPD of failing to contact her beforehand despite having her that contact information and claimed the department staged the incident in ‘retaliation’ for her activism.<br/>
<br/>
She added that police did not actually believe the claims of an ongoing hostage situation.<br/>
<br/>
As proof, Abdullah cited an instance where police allowed her security guard, whom officers did not know, to pass through a perimeter and enter the home as they staged around it.<br/>
<br/>
Two neighbors were also permitted to enter the home to check on her and walk alongside her as she walked out to speak with officers, the lawsuit claimed.<br/>
<br/>
Abdullah deemed the response 'an attempt to put down protest, to target me as someone who's been very visible and vocal in protesting LAPD.'<br/>
<br/>
She was swatted twice more after the lawsuit was announced.<br/>
<br/>
In a separate legal battle, Abdullah and BLM Grassroots accused Black Lives Matters Global Network Foundation Inc. of raising donations off the work of city-based chapters and subsequently leaving activists out of decision-making.<br/>
<br/>
BLM Grassroots is comprised of two dozen BLM chapters across the country, who argued that they were entitled to tens of millions of dollars from the national foundation.<br/>
<br/>
However, the case was thrown out by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last year after the activists failed to prove they were entitled to the funds among other unsubstantiated claims.<br/>
<br/>
Abdullah said the group was 'stunned and dismayed' by the court's dismissal order.<br/>
<br/>
'As always, the work of Black Lives Matter continues, regardless of the court ruling,' she vowed in a statement.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13124173/taylor-swift-fans-racist-chiefs-super-bowl-travis-kelce.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13124173/taylor-swift-fans-racist-chiefs-super-bowl-travis-kelce.html</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Why it’s a mistake to deny the science of sex</b><br/>
<br/>
In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir wrote that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. For decades after her claim, feminists have championed the idea that social conditioning is what creates differences between the sexes.<br/>
<br/>
As little girls we are encouraged by our parents to play with dolls. As we get older we are encouraged to be decorative. From the clothes we wear to the interests we pursue, thousands of tiny interactions with the world mould us into the women we are.<br/>
<br/>
But advances in neuroscience are throwing at least some of this conventional wisdom into question. While we have known for a long time that sex may have some subtle influences on the brain (how could it not?), a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests such influences may be more expansive than previously thought.<br/>
<br/>
The landmark study, conducted by Stanford professor Vinod Menon, and with Srikanth Ryali, PhD, and academic staff researcher Yuan Zhang, PhD, took a large sample of fMRI brain scans from 1500 young adults between 20 and 35, and then tested whether deep neural networks (AI models) could detect their sex. They could.<br/>
<br/>
The AI models looked at many brain images from each person taken at different times (the brain scans were also taken from people in different regions). It found complex patterns that predicted if a brain was male or female with over 90 per cent accuracy.<br/>
<br/>
The AI could not only tell if a brain was male or female, but the researchers also created explanatory models to predict cognitive abilities based on their images. Because male and female brains are so different, separate models were needed for each sex.<br/>
<br/>
I contacted Professor Menon to ask what this meant. He told me “there were no gender differences (found) in the general intelligence factor, but response inhibition and reward sensitivity were higher in males than females”.<br/>
<br/>
There are a multitude of implications in these findings. Male brains having higher reward sensitivity and variable response inhibition may explain why males tend to be more vulnerable to addiction and ADHD, for example.<br/>
<br/>
The finding that males and females are different may strike many as intuitive and hardly worthy of journalistic attention, much like the observation that water is wet.<br/>
<br/>
One might argue quite reasonably that anyone who spends any time around children knows girls and boys are different, and that these differences are not superficial. Nevertheless, in the world of academia, simple intuition does not go very far. In the scientific fields at least, empirical claims have to be proven with data.<br/>
<br/>
Not only that, but there has been significant hostility from some quarters towards the idea that male and female brains differ at all. This hostility has been grounded in the fear that any discovery of differences will be used to reify gender stereotypes and justify discrimination against women – something female academics are naturally attuned to. Writing in Quillette in 2019, veteran neuroscientist Larry Cahill wrote: “Senior colleagues warned me as an untenured professor around the year 2000 that studying sex differences would be career suicide.”<br/>
<br/>
But sexism does not need any scientific justification to exist. The odious Andrew Tate, for example, uses social media to spread his noxious misogyny and, as far as I am aware, is not relying on any findings from neuroscience in doing so.<br/>
<br/>
Republicans in the United States are restricting women’s reproductive rights – including abortion and even IVF – on theological rather than scientific grounds. And I am not aware of the Taliban subscribing to Neuroscience News.<br/>
<br/>
In truth, sexism flourishes wherever scientific progress is suppressed, not where it is advanced.<br/>
<br/>
And ignorance about the influence of sex on the brain harms, rather than helps, women. For decades, basic research was only conducted on male cells, male animals and male clinical trial participants. Yet we know the incidence of many neurological conditions, from migraines to Parkinson’s disease, manifest differently according to sex. The failure to study how sex influences out of fear it will contribute to sexism means women miss out on having medical treatments tailored to their needs.<br/>
<br/>
The fear of acknowledging sex differences has also, ironically, given rise to another form of anti-female prejudice. Today the denial of biology has metastasised into the denial of sex itself. Trans activists argue that one can literally change biological sex, and that biological males have no physiological advantage over women in sports.<br/>
<br/>
Women are being denied the right to single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and change rooms, and new mothers are insultingly described in government-mandated protocols as “chestfeeders”. This is Simone de Beauvoir’s argument on steroids – this time used to erase womanhood altogether.<br/>
<br/>
Refusal to grapple with biological realities has hampered progress in a way that has helped no one. Indeed, the denial of sex differences has not eradicated sexism but instead has led to the neglect of women’s health needs and the emergence of new forms of prejudice unimaginable just a decade ago.<br/>
<br/>
While there may be some risks associated with new discoveries in neuroscience, these risks are outweighed by the potential benefits. As Larry Cahill has quipped: “The potential to misuse new knowledge has been around since we discovered fire and invented the wheel. It is not a valid argument for remaining ignorant.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/why-its-a-mistake-to-deny-the-science-of-sex/news-story/06dce2923275fa1c0522ab86fed4ded1">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/why-its-a-mistake-to-deny-the-science-of-sex/news-story/06dce2923275fa1c0522ab86fed4ded1</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
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<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-32488623203852475492024-02-25T16:08:00.002+13:002024-02-25T16:09:56.490+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Alabama hospital puts pause on IVF in wake of ruling saying frozen embryos are children</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> There are really two issues here: The failure to implant and the failure to thrive after implantation. As the father of an IVF son, I am acutely aware of the issues.<br/>
<br/>
My wife undertook 10 IVF treatment cycles with only one embryo implanting. And it grieves me to this day that many of my children went down the drain. I would have loved them all. But to me there was no fault by any person involved. It is just nature's way that many embryos are lost during menstruation. Though I suppose that an argument could be mounted that taking any part in IVF is willingly creating life that will mostly not survive. You are both creating life and extinguishing it<br/>
<br/>
In the abortion debate it has to me always seemed nonsenense to say that a "fetus" is not a human being. It is clearly just a human being at an early stage of growth. So I do have some understanding of the Alabama ruling. And I am an atheist so there is no religious issue involved in my case.<br/>
<br/>
But there are clearly many adverse consequences of the ruling so I would say that a fertiized egg that is never implanted has never begun the process of developing so should not be regarded as a human person. A ruling to such an effect may be needed to allow IVF and its great blessings to continue</i><br/><br>
<br/>
A large Alabama hospital has paused in vitro fertilisation treatments as health care providers weigh the impact of a state court ruling that frozen embryos are the legal equivalent of children.<br/>
<br/>
The University of Alabama at Birmingham said in a statement Wednesday that its UAB Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility has paused the treatments "as it evaluates the Alabama Supreme Court's decision that a cryopreserved embryo is a human being."<br/>
<br/>
"We are saddened that this will impact our patients' attempt to have a baby through IVF, but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments," the statement emailed by spokeswoman Savannah Koplon read.<br/>
<br/>
The ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court prompted a wave of concern about the future of IVF treatments in the state and the potential unintended consequences of extreme anti-abortion laws in Republican-controlled states.<br/>
Patients called clinics to see if scheduled IVF treatments would continue. And providers consulted with attorneys.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/alabama-us-hospital-pauses-ivf-in-wake-of-ruling-saying-frozen-embryos-are-children/14ded1e2-6f32-4abb-bb1f-f12fcb630954">https://www.9news.com.au/world/alabama-us-hospital-pauses-ivf-in-wake-of-ruling-saying-frozen-embryos-are-children/14ded1e2-6f32-4abb-bb1f-f12fcb630954</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> ADL Gives Head-Scratching Reason for Excluding Nashville Transgender Shooter From ‘Extremist Murders’ Report</b><br/>
<br/>
Nashville Transgender Shooter Not a Left-Wing Extremist Because She Called Victims ‘Faggots,’ ADL Says<br/>
<br/>
The Anti-Defamation League claimed that right-wing extremists committed “all” the extremist-related murders in 2023, discounting the apparent extremism of Audrey Hale, the transgender shooter who killed three adults and three students in March at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.<br/>
<br/>
Conservative commentator Steven Crowder released three pages of the shooter’s manifesto, which police confirmed were legitimate, in November.<br/>
<br/>
Hale, a white female, reportedly identified as male and went by the name “Aiden.” Her manifesto expresses hatred for white people, whom she refers to as “crackers.”<br/>
<br/>
“Kill those kids!!! Those crackers. Going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis and sports backpacks with their daddies mustangs and convertibles. F— you little sh—s,” she wrote. “I wish to shoot your weak ass d—s with your mop yellow hair, wanna kill all you little crackers!!! Bunch of little faggots with your white privileges. F— you faggots.”<br/>
<br/>
These remarks echo the Left’s ideological talking points on “white privilege” and reveal a disdain for others based on their skin color. This hatred of white people echoes the Marxist claim that America is institutionally racist, so justice demands stripping whites of their “privilege” and elevating racial minorities rather than securing a level playing field for all races.<br/>
<br/>
Yet the ADL told The Daily Signal that Hale’s case does not show “clear evidence of extremism.”<br/>
<br/>
“The case of Hale does not appear in the report, as we did not find clear evidence of extremism,” the spokesperson said. “Hale left some writings, not released by police, that they described as lacking any specific political or social issues. Three pages of a document were later leaked that contained hateful epithets directed at white and LGBTQ+ people, which did not provide evidence of any particular extremist ideology, but rather primarily resentment and grievance at students from the shooter’s former school perceived to be better off than the shooter was.”<br/>
<br/>
“If additional information comes to light, this determination may change,” the spokesperson added.<br/>
<br/>
The ADL appears to have considered Hale’s decision to condemn her targets as “faggots” to be an example of “epithets directed at … LGBTQ+ people,” thus muddying any potential left-wing extremism as a motivating factor.....<br/>
<br/>
The ADL noted that “although our statistics determined that all extremist-related murders in 2023 were perpetrated by far-right extremists, as ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt made clear upon the release of the report: ‘Last week’s sickening attempted mass shooting in Houston by a woman who had praised Islamist terrorist groups reminds us we cannot stand idly by as hateful extremists continue to threaten our security from across the ideological spectrum.’”<br/>
<br/>
The ADL has claimed that Fox News host Tucker Carlson endorsed a racist antisemitic conspiracy theory when he claimed that the Democratic Party is attempting to “replace the current electorate” with “third-world voters” by keeping the southern border open.<br/>
<br/>
The ADL’s Center on Extremism has flagged critics of gender ideology, attacking conservative figures like Chaya Raichik, the Jewish woman behind the influential Libs of TikTok X account.<br/>
<br/>
The ADL has even alerted law enforcement to conservatives who have criticized transgender orthodoxy, such as Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Chris Rufo and conservative commentator Matt Walsh.<br/>
<br/>
The ADL has faced harsh criticism for adopting many of the Left’s favored causes, often in the name of fighting antisemitism.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/22/nashville-transgender-shooter-left-wing-extremist-called-victims-faggots-adl-says">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/22/nashville-transgender-shooter-left-wing-extremist-called-victims-faggots-adl-says</a>
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<b> Bandy Lee is back</b><br/>
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<p class="asset asset-image">
<a class="asset-img-link" style="display: inline;" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/avatars/549195/width238/Dr._Bandy_X._Lee.jpg"><img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3abd70e200b img-responsive" alt="image from https://cdn.theconversation.com/avatars/549195/width238/Dr._Bandy_X._Lee.jpg" title="image from https://cdn.theconversation.com/avatars/549195/width238/Dr._Bandy_X._Lee.jpg" src="https://jonjayray1.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008de3ffc883402c8d3abd70e200b-580wi" /></a><br />
</p>
<i> One of Korea's gifts to the USA, she behaved unprofessionally and gave an invalid dagnosis by passing judgment on a person she had not interviewed. She is a disgrace to her profession</i><br/>
<br/>
The psychiatrist who led efforts in 2017 demanding a 25th Amendment ouster of then-President Donald Trump said she does not have the same concerns about President Joe Biden, despite a Justice Department report last week that said Biden has “diminished faculties.”<br/>
<br/>
Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist who edited the 2017 book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” told The Daily Signal and the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project that Biden’s case is different.<br/>
<br/>
Asked about special counsel Robert Hur’s report, she, “Cognitive decline is a normal part of aging.” But she concluded, “The 25th Amendment question, therefore, is even more relevant to Trump, as long as he wishes to be president again, but neither appropriate nor relevant for Biden at this time.” (Her full comment can be found below.)<br/>
<br/>
The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members to determine whether a president should be temporarily removed from office if he is deemed unfit to serve. It would require two-thirds majorities of both houses of Congress to permanently remove the president under the amendment.<br/>
<br/>
The report Hur released on Feb. 8 said Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” at his home and office. However, Hur said he would not seek charges because Biden would appear to a jury to be an “elderly man with a poor memory” and because his “diminished faculties” make it less likely he intentionally violated the law.<br/>
<br/>
The Hur report says Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended … and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began.” The report also stated: “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”<br/>
<br/>
After the report, several Republican lawmakers called for using the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office, just as several Democrats pushed for using the amendment to remove Trump from the presidency<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/psychiatrist-called-trump-presidency-dangerous-unconcerned-biden-special-counsels-report/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/psychiatrist-called-trump-presidency-dangerous-unconcerned-biden-special-counsels-report/</a>
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<b> NYC law that would have allowed 800K non-citizens to vote struck as unconstitutional by appeals court: ‘Enacted in violation’</b><br/>
<br/>
A controversial New York City law that would have allowed 800,000 non-citizens, but legal residents, to vote in municipal elections was struck down as unconstitutional by a state appeals court Wednesday.<br/>
<br/>
“We determine that this local law was enacted in violation of the New York State Constitution and Municipal Home Rule Law, and thus, must be declared null and void,” Appellate Judge Paul Wooten wrote in the 3-1 majority decision.<br/>
<br/>
Wooten said the state constitution broadly refers to only citizens having the right to vote in elections, municipal as well as statewide or for state legislative offices.<br/>
<br/>
“Article IX provides that the elected officials of `local governments’ shall be elected by “the people, which incorporates by reference the eligibility requirements for voting under article II, section 1, applying exclusively to `citizens,'” the judge wrote.<br/>
<br/>
The decision upholds a lower court ruling issued by Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio in June of 2022, which Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council had appealed.<br/>
<br/>
Writing for the Appellate Division’s 2nd Department, Wooten said if non-citizens are allowed to vote, it stands to reason they could also run for mayor.<br/>
<br/>
He ruled such a dramatic change violated the Municipal Home Rule Law, saying the council and mayor had failed to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.<br/>
<br/>
Judges Angela Iannacci and Helen Voutsinas concurred in the ruling.<br/>
<br/>
Judge Lilian Wan issued a dissenting opinion.<br/>
<br/>
“The majority, by deeming the noncitizen voting law invalid, effectively prohibits municipalities across the state from deciding for themselves the persons who are entitled to a voice in the local electoral process,” she wrote.<br/>
<br/>
“The majority’s determination also disenfranchises nearly one million residents of the City, despite the fact that its people’s duly elected representatives have opted to enfranchise those same residents.”<br/>
<br/>
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella was the lead plaintiff in the case along with Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island), among others.<br/>
<br/>
“During a time where nearly 200,000 migrants have flooded our city and streets, disrupting the public and attacking our police officers, my colleagues and I have worked tirelessly to protect our voting laws which were created for citizens of the United States,” Tannousis said.<br/>
<br/>
“Democracy always wins and I am proud to say it was delivered yet again today.”<br/>
<br/>
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) was also among the lawmakers who applauded the decision.<br/>
<br/>
“We determine that this local law was enacted in violation of the New York State Constitution and Municipal Home Rule Law, and thus, must be declared null and void,” Appellate Judge Paul Wooten wrote in the 3-1 majority decision.<br/>
<br/>
“There is nothing more important than preserving the integrity of our election system, and in today’s age, the government should be working to create more trust in our elections, not less,” the congresswoman said.<br/>
<br/>
“The right to vote is a sacred right given only to United States citizens. It is my hope that left wing lawmakers stop pushing these unconstitutional and reckless measures that dilute the voices of American citizens,” she added.<br/>
<br/>
A city Law Department spokesman said, “We’re reviewing the court’s decision and evaluating next steps.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/us-news/nyc-non-citizen-voting-law-struck-down-as-unconstitutional/">https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/us-news/nyc-non-citizen-voting-law-struck-down-as-unconstitutional/</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-91595884863822969262024-02-22T16:52:00.002+13:002024-02-22T16:54:13.193+13:00<br><b> Black privilege</b><br/>
<br/>
One day in my ninth-grade year at my private day and boarding school, I heard shocking news: A student whose last name adorned one of our dormitories would be kicked out of school. His crime? Breaking the school’s alcohol and drug use policy. I went home that day and told my parents, dismayed at what had just happened: The child of one of my school’s biggest benefactors was being expelled. For many years, I had believed that certain students with important last names would be above the rules. But I was wrong. My high school tried its best to apply rules equally to students. Going into university, I suspected that I would similarly find this equal application of school rules. But I was wrong again.<br/>
<br/>
At Northwestern University, I would not be surprised if the progeny of mega-donors experience leniency when it comes to breaking the rules. What does surprise me, however, is how another group of students receives preferential treatment thanks to a different immutable characteristic: their race.<br/>
<br/>
This past month, news came out that the pair of students who copied our campus newspaper’s designs would be facing Class A misdemeanor charges. The newspapers featured a headline accusing Northwestern of complicity in the supposed genocide of Gazans and poked fun at Jews who take their birthright. When news of these charges circulated campus, there was enormous public backlash. Why? The Student Publishing Company (SPC), which oversees The Daily Northwestern, supposedly engaged in clear discrimination by pursuing these charges because they happened to be against black students. In accordance with the university’s values of anti-racism, there was no other conceivable explanation for the SPC’s decision to press charges aside from its deep-seated hate of Northwestern’s black community.<br/>
<br/>
Unfortunately, the SPC obsequiously bent the knee to students’ demands that the charges be dropped and decided to intercede with the state attorney. The SPC issued a letter, saying: “It’s only been in the last four days that we learned more information about the people charged: that they are students; that they are Black. Some may disagree, but these facts matter to us.”<br/>
<br/>
This recent incident is not the only one in which a particular group experiences preferential treatment because of its melanin content. This past spring, our student government announced the distribution of $29,000 with $11,000 of it going to a single student group: For Members Only, Northwestern’s premier Black Student Alliance. On a campus with hundreds of student organizations, one group receiving over a third of distributed funds is blatantly unfair. But such complaints about fairness raised by a single courageous ASG senator were dismissed by declaring that lowering FMO’s funding would be the real unfair action. And what was FMO spending this money on? A spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to “learn about and engage with a landmark of Black history.”<br/>
<br/>
I have now learned that it is not just mega-donors’ children who experience a double standard of justice; groups that are the subject of white guilt do as well. Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald has summed this up in two words: black privilege. I repeat this phrase with great trepidation, however. It is clearly not true that all blacks experience preferential treatment or double standards. But when one attends an elite university, the privileges that were once exclusively bestowed upon extraordinarily wealthy WASPs are now being granted to particular racial groups.<br/>
<br/>
The creation of a quasi-racial spoil system in academia is emblematic of a much larger problem facing The Great American Nation: the absence of an individualistic spirit that tempers the collectivist desire to favor some at the expense of others. Given that the university serves as a harbinger of intellectual fads that eventually trickle down to the masses, a change in society’s attitudes about race will be limited by the extent to which universities move away from this new spoil system and toward a universalist framework that does not put group identity at the forefront of decision-making and discipline.<br/>
<br/>
Still, as bad as things sound, I hold a lot of hope that eventually the tide will turn and the university will be made great again.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/104536-academias-new-wasps-2024-02-20">https://patriotpost.us/articles/104536-academias-new-wasps-2024-02-20</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> “London is Not London Any More, I Literally Feel Unsafe”: Jewish Father Reveals “Horrendous” Pain at Discovering Home Office Staff “Defaced” his Baby’s Birth Certificate</b><br/>
<br/>
A Londoner whose baby’s birth certificate was “defaced” by Home Office staff no longer feels safe in the U.K. as cases of antisemitism continue to rise across the country. The Mail has the story.<br/>
<br/>
Israel, a father-of-three who lives in Edgware, North London, and his wife Dorin, 29, were left in disbelief when they found five-month-old baby Ronnie’s identification papers had been tampered with.<br/>
<br/>
The certificate, returned from the Passport Office, had been ripped and her father’s place of birth – which was Israel – had been scribbled out with a biro pen, leading the Home Secretary to launch an investigation into the case.<br/>
<br/>
“I felt horrendous when I saw it for the first time,” the 32-year-old engineer said. “It took me a few more times to look at that and understand what’s going on.”<br/>
<br/>
Ever since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7th, the family have been living in fear and have started to feel “unsafe”.<br/>
<br/>
“The situation here is not good,” Israel told Sky News. “To be Jewish in the U.K. is very hard. And it’s not getting better, it’s getting worse and worse.<br/>
<br/>
“I think my daughter, in 20 years, that’s her future, because London is not London any more, and I literally feel unsafe.”<br/>
<br/>
Yesterday Israel, who is also father to eight-year-old Adiel and five-year-old Ella, told MailOnline his family felt like a “target” as if they were living in 1930s Germany where Nazis would put notes on Jewish people’s documents.<br/>
<br/>
“[My wife] found it was ripped half way through and my place of birth – which was Israel – had been scribbled out with a pen,” Israel, who did not want to reveal his surname, told MailOnline.<br/>
<br/>
“We felt as if we had been taken back to 1930s Germany where the Nazis would put notes on Jewish people’s documentation.<br/>
<br/>
“It is completely warped and it hurts my heart that my daughter is not even six-months-old and she has already been discriminated on in the worst way.”<br/>
<br/>
“The Home Office is in charge of our safety as a minority in the U.K. and they deal with our most private documents but instead of sending us back the certificate in the right way someone within their system has scribbled out Israel because they have hostile feelings,” Israel added.<br/>
<br/>
The shocked family were advised to contact the Campaign Against Antisemitism who approached the Home Office on behalf of the family to raise the issue.<br/>
<br/>
The birth certificate was returned to the family with a tear on the right hand side, while the birth place of Ronnie’s father’s was scratched out in what appears to be a biro pen. Her mother’s birthplace of Israel, however, was left untouched.<br/>
<br/>
As the certificate has been defaced it is no longer valid and the family will need to wait for the Home Office to re-send the document.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2024/02/21/london-is-not-london-any-more-i-literally-feel-unsafe-jewish-father-reveals-horrendous-pain-at-discovering-home-office-staff-defaced-his-babys-birth-certificate/">https://dailysceptic.org/2024/02/21/london-is-not-london-any-more-i-literally-feel-unsafe-jewish-father-reveals-horrendous-pain-at-discovering-home-office-staff-defaced-his-babys-birth-certificate/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Australian public broadcaster host Paul Barry slammed by Jewish leaders over war coverage ‘analysis’</b><br/>
<br/>
<img height=300 width=550 src="https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/aa32bb6b4841bf1636ab9cfd4ba61769">
<br/>
<br/>
<i> That squinty "host" above is a Leftist, has always been a Leftist and will always be a Leftist. And Leftists are feline predators that do not change their spots. And from Karl Marx on, Leftists have always despised Jews</i><br/>
<br/>
Jewish leaders have expressed outrage at claims made by the ABC’s Media Watch program that the public broadcaster has been the only news outlet to “give equal coverage to both sides” in the Israel-Hamas war.<br/>
<br/>
On Monday night’s episode of Media Watch, host Paul Barry referenced “preliminary analysis” by the Islamophobia Register that showed the ABC was the only news organisation to have provided impartial coverage of the conflict.<br/>
<br/>
The analysis, by academic Susan Carland for the Islamophobia Register, was based on an undisclosed number of Instagram posts by media outlets.<br/>
<br/>
The research found that the social media posts by The Australian and 9News “all humanised Israeli victims but not Palestinians”, according to Media Watch’s interpretation of Dr Carland’s report.<br/>
<br/>
“So, what do we conclude from all this? Well, simple, really,” Barry told viewers.<br/>
<br/>
“The big Australian newspapers we looked at have failed to cover the Gaza conflict fairly, in terms of giving equal weight to the victims on each side, with the Nine papers (The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) not too bad, but The Australian failing in spectacular fashion.”<br/>
<br/>
The Media Watch host praised other news sources, including Al Jazeera (which is funded by the Qatari royal family), for covering “human stories of Palestinian suffering”.<br/>
<br/>
But when contacted by The Australian, Dr Carland said her report clearly stated the research “should not be taken as, a definitive analysis of Australian media bias against Palestinians”.<br/>
<br/>
“As this research is limited to the Instagram posts of the six outlets, this report is also not a definitive account of the outlets’ reporting on the Israel-Gaza war, and does not comment on fairness or equality found in any of their other stories on the Israel-Gaza war on their other platforms,” the report says.<br/>
<br/>
Asked if she felt that Media Watch had misrepresented her research, Dr Carland told The Australian: “I cannot comment on the intentions of Media Watch. That would be a question best posed to them.”<br/>
<br/>
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told The Australian that the Media Watch story was “a joke”.<br/>
<br/>
“If the subject matter wasn’t so serious, Media Watch’s report would have simply been parody,” Mr Ossip said. “Relying on sources such as the rabidly anti-Israel Al Jazeera and other highly partisan publications as evidence of the purported bias of legitimate news publications doesn’t pass the sniff test.”<br/>
<br/>
Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, said: “It’s no surprise that an ABC program like Media Watch finds The Australian’s coverage of the Israel/Hamas war to be appalling, given that much of the ABC seems to think the story of the war should be told overwhelmingly from a Palestinian perspective.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s also predictable that Media Watch neglected to mention failings by much of the Australian media to the detriment of Israel, such as the failures to cover the links between journalists and Hamas, or UNRWA and Hamas, (stories) that were highlighted by The Australian, which was typical of its overall balanced, comprehensive and factually accurate coverage.”<br/>
<br/>
Media Watch’s executive producer Tim Latham said in a statement: “We stand by our story and what we put to air.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/abcs-media-watch-host-paul-barry-slammed-by-jewish-leaders-over-war-coverage-analysis/news-story/01cbae6ff804d67a63c8e2186c4ae1d7">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/abcs-media-watch-host-paul-barry-slammed-by-jewish-leaders-over-war-coverage-analysis/news-story/01cbae6ff804d67a63c8e2186c4ae1d7</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Australia: Stop treating child criminals like ‘little angels’, says NT Labor MP Marion Scrymgour</b><br/>
<br/>
Youth justice laws need to stop treating [Aboriginal] criminal minors as “little angels” and start applying “tough love” to lawless children, the [black] federal Labor MP representing Alice Springs has declared.<br/>
<br/>
In an extraordinary intervention against her own party’s handling of the Northern Territory youth crime crisis, Marion Scrymgour says authorities need to stop “pussyfooting around” on juveniles, that the decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility is not working, and that it is time for parents to be held accountable for their children’s actions.<br/>
<br/>
It came as NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said in a “perfect world” she would not have children in detention facilities, and linked her opening of a new youth justice centre in Alice Spring on Wednesday to the British sending convicts to Australia in the 18th century.<br/>
<br/>
After revelations in The Australian of children as young as 10 driving stolen cars around the streets of Alice Springs, Ms Lawler said that young people had been in criminal trouble for “the whole history of Australia” and that the nation’s history was built on the convict system.<br/>
<br/>
The NT Police Association on Wednesday alleged crime statistics in the territory were “not being reported properly” and Alice Springs locals said children were getting more out of control.<br/>
<br/>
Ms Scrymgour – the federal MP for Lingiari – had her own home broken into while she was sleeping last month, and said governments needed to make serious changes to NT youth justice laws.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s got to be a rethink of how we deal (with youth crime) … a bit of tough love never hurt anyone and I think that’s what needs to come into this equation,” she told The Australian.<br/>
<br/>
“We’ve got to stop thinking we’re dealing with little angels here … When you look at those photos they’re laughing and smiling, they think it’s a joke, and it’s not, because they could have an accident and one of them could get killed.<br/>
<br/>
“We’ve got to stop pussyfooting around here and thinking that these kids are going and they’re being taken home to a responsible adult because in a lot of these cases there isn’t a responsible adult there and the reality is these kids don’t listen.”<br/>
<br/>
Ms Scrymgour did not directly call on NT Labor to reverse its decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 – the highest in the country – but said the policy was not working to bring down crime and that Alice Springs residents needed immediate action.<br/>
<br/>
“At the moment, obviously lifting the age of criminal responsibility isn’t working,” she said.<br/>
<br/>
“The government was saying they’d done this co-response team between police and territory families. Obviously, it’s not working, if we’ve got these kids out on the street and there’s still this issue; obviously, we’ve still got problems.<br/>
<br/>
“Labor is talking about a review of the Youth Justice Act, there are some critical areas in the Youth Justice Act which can be done now … it doesn’t need to be put off for 12 months.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not left and I’m not woke, I just think we’ve got to hurry up and stop thinking that all of these measures are working, because they’re not.”<br/>
<br/>
Ms Scrymgour’s comments come as Alice Springs locals say the rate of home invasions, incidents of violence on the streets and the theft of cars have “skyrocketed” rise despite Anthony Albanese’s visit to the area just over a year ago.<br/>
<br/>
Locals say the children – who appear to be getting younger and younger – roam the streets late at night, when they breaking into the homes of residents and commit horrifying home invasions, stealing cars and ransacking for cash and jewellery.<br/>
<br/>
Ms Lawler – who came to power only at the end of last year after her predecessor Natasha Fyles resigned, and faces an election in August – last Monday announced a review of youth justice laws as part of a public address into her priorities for 2024.<br/>
<br/>
As she was opening a $32m detention centre for juvenile criminals on Wednesday, Ms Lawler conceded the crime crisis was a failure of government, but linked youth crime to colonial history.<br/>
<br/>
“Overall, it would be the perfect world if we did not have a detention facility in the Northern Territory,” the Chief Minister said.<br/>
<br/>
“Let’s not forget the history of Australia was built on us being colonised by a detention facility from England, so we have had young people, we’ve had people in trouble with the law for the whole history of Australia.”<br/>
<br/>
NTPA president Nathan Finn on Wednesday morning claimed the Territory government was hiding crime statistics from the public as part of a “political campaign”, and that the work by police officers on the ground was “not being recorded” after the police force moved to a new $65m system.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s a smoke-and-mirrors campaign as we lead into an election where crime is the biggest issue, policing is the biggest issue, safety and security of members in the public is a big issue … and the community and the police need to know this,” he told ABC radio.<br/>
<br/>
Mr Finn said the new system was experiencing numerous glitches, including people being wrongly arrested, and that up to 200 domestic violence orders hadn’t been scheduled in court.<br/>
<br/>
“That means possibly that there are 200 plus people out there who aren’t getting the protection they require right now.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/indigenous/stop-treating-child-criminals-like-little-angels-says-nt-labor-mp-marion-scrymgour/news-story/226a1da0ac41a66d22551f9bae474de9">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/indigenous/stop-treating-child-criminals-like-little-angels-says-nt-labor-mp-marion-scrymgour/news-story/226a1da0ac41a66d22551f9bae474de9</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-12408240860168464312024-02-21T17:57:00.002+13:002024-02-21T17:57:55.008+13:00<br><b> What a Lot of Women Confided to Me Behind Closed Doors in HR, Especially the successful ones</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> Many women would be tradwives if they could</i><br/>
<br/>
One particular VP visited me often because she had ongoing issues with two employees who were constantly at war with each other. But one day I could tell she wasn’t there to talk about her usual troublemakers.<br/>
<br/>
At 35, she was the highest performing VP in her division and the highest compensated by far. She had worked hard and it had paid off handsomely for her. An inspiration for women and young girls everywhere.<br/>
<br/>
But that day, I could tell something was wrong.<br/>
<br/>
She wouldn’t look me in the eye as she said her next words. She turned her body to the wall and dropped her voice down low as if what she was saying was a profoundly shameful confession.<br/>
<br/>
She did not want to be the powerful executive they were grooming her to be.<br/>
<br/>
In fact, she did not want to be a VP at all. She secretly wished she was the department admin where all she had to do were expense reports, schedule meetings, and organize holiday parties. She wanted a job she could walk away from at 5 pm and forget about when she got home.<br/>
<br/>
And if she were being really honest, she didn’t even want to work. She wanted to stay home and take care of the house and garden.<br/>
<br/>
And yes, make dinner for her husband.<br/>
<br/>
Like a Boiled Frog<br/>
<br/>
Things started out well for her.<br/>
<br/>
Early in her career, she got hired into an entry-level job that she excelled in, and she was promoted repeatedly. She was quickly rewarded for her hard work and business sense.<br/>
<br/>
Her first job as a manager was fun at first. She dove into leadership training and learning how to be a good manager. She enjoyed taking the lead in the department operations, running team meetings and managing a group of people.<br/>
<br/>
That changed quickly as she got settled into her role.<br/>
<br/>
When 5 pm came, she kept working, and when she did finally go home for the night, work came home with her. The more she advanced in her career, the more she hated the politics, the pressure, the constant demands from senior leadership.<br/>
<br/>
She couldn’t turn it off in her mind, and she found herself spending more time on PowerPoint presentations and prepping for meetings than she spent relaxing with her husband or friends. Her personal projects and passions, including redecorating the house and putting together a greenhouse, were neglected.<br/>
<br/>
The job had grown into something that didn’t feel good to her.<br/>
<br/>
She loved to cook but had little energy to do it. She loved hosting gatherings at their house — now she didn’t have it in her to do that either. She had dreams of redoing the entire garden — but never had the time or energy.<br/>
<br/>
There were parts of her job that she enjoyed. She felt valued at work. She knew how to do the job well. And she liked how admired she felt.<br/>
<br/>
But she was secretly miserable. And she couldn’t see an exit.<br/>
<br/>
She wasn’t the only one<br/>
<br/>
I have lost track of how many women have confided that they just wanted to be stay-at-home moms or work part-time.<br/>
<br/>
This doesn’t mean these women want to stay in entry-level jobs. I’ve known many who would have loved to stay in a high-level job — if they could do it for 20 hours a week.<br/>
<br/>
Priorities change for women as they age and their lives evolve. Some women want to have their afternoons at home with the family. Or they have personal pursuits they want to focus on such as writing or a side business.<br/>
<br/>
While some women thrive in leadership roles and feel great personal fulfillment, it’s worth noting that it isn’t for everyone. And that’s okay.<br/>
<br/>
Some women are most fulfilled by taking a more traditional role of being a stay-at-home wife or mother. Some women prefer to have a part-time job that allows them to care for the home and their family so they can be with their kids when they get home from school.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://medium.com/modern-women/what-a-lot-of-women-confided-to-me-behind-closed-doors-in-hr-8c15b54d48d0">https://medium.com/modern-women/what-a-lot-of-women-confided-to-me-behind-closed-doors-in-hr-8c15b54d48d0</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Young Men Searching for Purpose on Valentine’s Day</b><br/>
<br/>
For all the single ladies, it is Galentine’s Day. But what is it for the bachelors? To my knowledge, men do not band together en masse on February 14th to mix up fruity pink cocktails, watch chick flicks, and build solidarity in their singleness. In fact, bromances appear to be in decline, as 15% of men say they have zero close friends.<br/>
<br/>
The male friendship recession is just one manifestation of the boy crisis, a crisis worth reflecting on especially today, the day of big romance. The boy crisis is widespread, impacting boys and men academically, economically, physically, and spiritually. On average, the IQs of boys are declining. The second leading cause of death for American men under 45 is suicide. Largely due to drug abuse and physical and mental problems, only 25% of men ages 17-24 qualified for military service in 2020. As the wages of those with a high school degree decline, some men are willingly checking out of the workforce altogether, so much so that male workforce engagement now matches the level it was during the Great Depression.All this adds up to millions of young men who have been left without purpose.<br/>
<br/>
While our education system and the shift from a manufacturing to a global knowledge economy have done their fair share of damage, according to The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys are Struggling and What We Can Do About It, (Farrell & Gray, 2018) the ultimate driver behind the boy crisis is dad deprivation. Approximately 40% of children are born out of wedlock; because of this and high divorce rates, as Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, states, “only about half of children will spend the duration of their childhood with both of their biological parents.” Moms and dads contribute in unique and essential ways to the raising of children, but boys especially need the modeled manifestation of what it means to be a good man, and their first model is their fathers.<br/>
<br/>
Single parents, who have sometimes been unwillingly left behind by divorce, make valorous sacrifices for their children, and nonresidential fathers are doing a better job of staying involved. But the practical realities of fatherhood apart from marriage are often challenging. For example, according toThe Boy Crisis, “when unmarried couples live together when their child is born, by the child’s third birthday, 40 percent of those children will have no regular contact with their dad for the next two years—between ages three and five.” For this reason, if we want to get serious about addressing the boy crisis, we need to get serious about marriage. Understanding the purpose of marriage will help us fortify it.<br/>
<br/>
Many now believe that romance is the cornerstone of marriage. Once it dissipates, the couple should part ways so that each individual can find that lovin’ feeling again. More frequently than in the past, couples are divorcing for less serious reasons. The dissolution of “low conflict” relationships is particularly detrimental for children, as they can experience more stress and more of a feeling of loss following separation.<br/>
<br/>
Much of our culture reinforces such attitudes towards relationships. The radical autonomy of expressive individualism permeates our moral imagination. Expressive individualism, “involves growing and changing as a person, paying attention to your feelings, and expressing your needs.” As Andrew Cherlin, a sociology and public policy professor at Johns Hopkins University, explains in The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today, under such conditions, “marriages are harder to keep together, because what matters is not merely the things they jointly produce—well-adjusted children, nice homes—but also each person’s own happiness.” And by happiness we mean pleasure and psychological self-actualization, not human flourishing grounded in virtue and obligation.<br/>
<br/>
In truth, admirable marriages are replete with work and adventure. Their purpose is to provide a stable and loving environment for the rearing and education of children and to form the character of each spouse. Marriage is often not easy or comfortable. As human beings, we grow attached to our favorite vices, and letting them go can be painful. But it is also freeing. Ideally in marriage, rather than prioritizing his or her own emotional satisfaction, through choice and circumstance, each spouse sacrifices for the sake of that mysterious third entity: the marriage.<br/>
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Our culture largely no longer promotes this understanding. Those Galentine’s Day favorites (excluding the incomparable work of ethicist Jane Austen) often don’t depict what it is that really matters when looking for a spouse. Indeed, it is no accident that many chick flicks end at the altar, perhaps because marriage occasionally falls short of being camera-ready. This is not to say that all romantic films are bad. Part of the reason they appeal to us is because they affirm how important relationships are for long-term happiness. The choice of a spouse is the decision of a lifetime.<br/>
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Yet numerous singles today have been left confused about how to choose well. Many children of divorce grow up lacking a model of a solid marriage. As adults, such children can have a negative view of marriage, struggle to work through conflict in a healthy manner, and are unsure what characteristics to prioritize in a partner. Online dating makes this worse. After being bombarded with profiles, users end up thinking that they should be able to find someone who embodies all the features they dream they desire.<br/>
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We need to shift our cultural conversation around marriage, to move away from pure romance toward the deep, abiding, and sacrificial love that husbands and wives offer each other and their children. Doing so will help end the dad deprivation that is the main driver of today’s boy crisis. And then, perhaps, our boys, too, will have valentines.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/young-men-searching-purpose-valentines-day">https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/young-men-searching-purpose-valentines-day</a>
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<b> 'All Hell Breaks Loose': Harvard Professor Recalls One Study That Caused the Left to Implode</b><br/>
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Harvard professor Roland Fryer conducted a study that was timely and thought-provoking at a time when officer-involved shootings have become a media beat that’s not interested in the truth but a way for over-educated pseudo commentators to offer lectures about white supremacy and police overreach.<br/>
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Remember, these shootings are part of a covert genocide against black men. More often than not, the police’s use of deadly force turns out to be justifiable. Fryer opted to do a study on whether there were racial biases in these shootings.<br/>
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His study suggested race was not a factor, which caused everyone to lose their minds. Being a thorough scholar, he redid the study and hired a new team of researchers. The results were the same.<br/>
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Fryer has come back into the news after he sat down with former New York Times editorial writer Bari Weiss, who also fled due to her former place of employment becoming an illiberal cesspool. Fryer said his study would ruin his career. He was forced to obtain armed security due to the backlash. You could say Fryer was canceled after sexual misconduct allegations were lobbed against him, which caused him to be suspended and close his research department. Then-President Claudine Gay said of these allegations, "The totality of these behaviors is a clear violation of institutional norms and a betrayal of the trust."<br/>
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He remains at Harvard, but his access to teaching remains limited. Gay was busted for serial incidents of plagiarism, which is the cardinal sin in the academic world.<br/>
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So, karma is a bitch, as they say. Or, in the words of Fryer, “I hear it’s a motherf**ker,” an appropriate message to his former boss, who one could argue was an academic fraud. Fryer’s persecution also exemplifies what happens when Harvard and other higher education institutions opt to move away from legitimate fields of study because it might anger progressives’ snowflake attitudes about life and politics<br/>
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(via Fox News):<br/>
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A Harvard professor said that "all hell broke loose" and he was forced to go out in public with armed security after he published a study that found no evidence of racial bias in police shootings.<br/>
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During a sit-down conversation with Bari Weiss of The Free Press, Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer discussed the fallout from a 2016 study he published on racial bias in Houston policing.<br/>
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[…]<br/>
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When Fryer claimed the data showed "no racial differences in officer-involved shootings," he said, "all hell broke loose," and his life was upended.<br/>
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[…]<br/>
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Fryer said people quickly "lost their minds" and some of his colleagues refused to believe the results after months of asking him not to print the data.<br/>
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"I had colleagues take me to the side and say, 'Don't publish this. You'll ruin your career,'" Fryer revealed.<br/>
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The world-renowned economist knew from comments by faculty that he was likely to garner backlash. Fryer admitted that he anticipated the results of the study would be different and would confirm suspicions of racial bias against minorities. When the results found no racial bias, Fryer hired eight new assistants and redid the study. The data came back the same.<br/>
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Fryer recalled how he was shopping for diapers for his newborn daughter with an armed bodyguard, noting how insane that whole situation was. He did a study on officer-involved shootings, and the data didn’t align with the Left’s worldview, so some threatened to kill him. But it’s conservatives and Donald Trump who are the real threats to societal norms, right? Receiving death threats for a research-based study is all too common with today’s progressives.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/02/19/a-harvard-professor-conducted-a-study-whose-conclusions-caused-everyone-to-lose-their-minds-n2635415">https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/02/19/a-harvard-professor-conducted-a-study-whose-conclusions-caused-everyone-to-lose-their-minds-n2635415</a>
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<b> The Housing Crunch Is Causing Americans To Delay Marriage and Children</b><br/>
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Failed public policies are undermining the institution of marriage in America. Rates of both marriage and child births have been trending down for decades, but the current cost-of-living crisis is poised to accelerate these declines. If you can’t afford a place to live, chances are you won’t get married and have kids.<br/>
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That’s precisely the calculus for millions of young Americans today who can’t make ends meet despite a record number of them holding second or even third jobs. Sixty percent are living paycheck to paycheck. Americans have accumulated a record high $1.1 trillion in credit-card debt as many can’t cover even necessities.<br/>
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But Americans aren’t just falling into debt—they’re falling behind on payments too. Defaults and delinquencies are rising at the fastest pace since the Great Recession when there was a mortgage meltdown and a global financial crisis.<br/>
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The financial strain on American families explains why people view current economic conditions so unfavorably in polling. Perhaps nothing illustrates this pessimism better than the housing market.<br/>
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The monthly mortgage payment on a median price home has doubled in the last three years. Unless your income has also doubled, you’re falling behind when it comes to buying a house.<br/>
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The median price of a new home has shot up to a stratospheric $435,000. Even the median price of an existing home, at about $387,000, would have been inconceivable three years ago.<br/>
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The typical family buying a home today will have a monthly cost of homeownership around $3,000. That’s about half the median household income—before income taxes. It’s no wonder that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s homeownership affordability index is at a record low today.<br/>
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The index even shows that the cost to own a median price home in several major metropolitan areas requires more than 100 percent of the median household after-tax income. In only a single metropolitan area with at least 500,000 people is the median price home affordable in America.<br/>
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While homeownership is normally a great tool for building wealth, it is also often a precursor to major milestones in life, like starting a family. But with the American dream of homeownership having turned into a nightmare, nearly an entire generation of young people can’t buy a home and are delaying family formation because of it.<br/>
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And this isn’t simply theory—empirical research published by Federal Reserve economists has already demonstrated that higher mortgage interest rates has a negative impact on the birth rate. That’s because those higher mortgage interest rates increase the cost of homeownership.<br/>
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What caused this sad state of affairs? It was a deadly combination of impolitic public policies.<br/>
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Since 2020, the federal government has been spending trillions of dollars it didn’t have, running massive deficits. The Federal Reserve covered these deficits by simply creating money for Congress to spend. That devalued the dollar, which fueled inflation as prices soared—including prices for housing.<br/>
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But home prices got an extra boost from the Fed’s artificially low interest rates. What a homebuyer is really concerned about is the monthly payment on a home, not so much the home’s price. Lower interest rates allowed people to take on much larger mortgages for the same monthly payment, creating frenzied bidding wars for homes.<br/>
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When interest rates finally rose to fight inflation, they pushed monthly mortgage payments through the roof, completely out of the reach of most Americans. It also trapped millions of Americans in their homes.<br/>
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When a home is sold with a mortgage, the homeowner loses the loan and must get a new one, at current market rates. If someone bought a home just a few years ago, they are likely going from a 2-3 percent mortgage to a 7-8 percent one. That would cause their monthly payment to explode.<br/>
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The options are to drastically downsize or not move at all—and millions have chosen the latter. That’s helped cause a severe shortage of homes for sale, the lowest level in decades. Consequently, home prices are staying high despite today’s higher interest rates.<br/>
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While the failures of public policy are often measured in dollars, the unaffordability of housing today demonstrates that there can be even more far-reaching consequences: families never formed, and lives never lived.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/housing/commentary/the-housing-crunch-causing-americans-delay-marriage-and-children">https://www.heritage.org/housing/commentary/the-housing-crunch-causing-americans-delay-marriage-and-children</a>
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My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
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<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-4383015171009138642024-02-20T17:06:00.002+13:002024-02-20T17:06:56.512+13:00<br><br/>
<br/>
<b> Partnership With ADL Compromises FBI’s Integrity and Fairness</b><br/>
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<i> The ADL is just a far-Left outfit these days. The only remnant of their original advocacy for Jews is their hatred of Christians</i><br/>
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Most Americans recognize that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a far-left, dark-money behemoth with assets of nearly a quarter-billion dollars. The once-respected FBI is now viewed as being similarly politicized. Overall support for the agency has nose-dived to only 37% among the general public and a meager 17% among Republicans.<br/>
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Yet few Americans realize how closely the ADL works with the FBI to advance their leadership’s political interests. This is a dangerous collaboration wherein the increasingly radical group provides ideologically driven guidance to people with the guns.<br/>
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Right now, the FBI is pointing those guns at the political enemies of the far Left.<br/>
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The ADL’s work covers the usual left-wing causes célèbres: fighting voting integrity measures, pushing for open-borders policies and amnesty for illegal aliens, and vigorously defending the Black Lives Matter riots, to name a few.<br/>
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The group has now politically weaponized its charges of antisemitism, falsely smearing conservatives while excusing blatant antisemitism among its political allies. For example, the organization has groundlessly denounced Elon Musk, a powerful libertarian voice, as an antisemite in a baldfaced effort to drain his social network, X, of advertising revenue. Yet, when now-Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) came to the defense of his uncle for antisemitic remarks he made in the ’90s, the organization refused to condemn him.<br/>
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Jonathan Tobin of Jewish News Syndicate traces ADL’s hard-left turn to its change in leadership from longtime leader Abe Foxman to Jonathan Greenblatt, a former staffer in the Clinton and Obama White Houses. Tobin writes, “Greenblatt has helped shift the ADL from its former stance as the nonpartisan gold standard for monitoring hate to being just another liberal activist group whose priority is helping the Democratic Party.”<br/>
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Last month, The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project released an investigative report detailing an “Extremist Sitrep” email from the “ADL Law Enforcement” account to The Washington State Fusion Center, a collective of various law enforcement entities spanning from local to the FBI. The email advises law enforcement officers responsible for investigating domestic terrorists to focus their resources on the likes of Matt Walsh, Chris Rufo and Libs of TikTok. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)<br/>
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Much like the FBI’s infamous anti-Catholic targeting memo, the ADL email suggests that law enforcement agencies—people with guns and the power to imprison and financially destroy enemies of the state-should concentrate their efforts on nonviolent citizens whose only “crime” is to have exercised their First Amendment freedoms in support of political viewpoints contrary to the authoritarian Left.<br/>
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The goal here is clearly to punish the “thought criminals” and force adherence to the dogmas of the state.<br/>
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What’s the big deal about such a problematic email? Law enforcement agencies must get all sorts of memorandums, requests and phony tips from every corner of the nation, right?<br/>
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The problem here is that, according to former FBI agents, they are conditioned from the very beginning of their careers to be receptive to ADL propaganda. One of the first experiences of a new agent is an ADL-sponsored trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The ostensible purpose of the trip is to impress on new agents that they bear a tremendous responsibility that should never be abused.<br/>
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That lesson should be salubrious. But former agents tell me the trip’s real purpose is to prepare agents to be receptive to the onslaught of propaganda and rewards that the ADL will be sending their way throughout the coming years. At the very beginning of an agent’s career, the FBI is sending the clear message that the ADL is a trusted partner.<br/>
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The ADL and FBI partnership only grows from there. According to the ADL’s website, “We educate annually an estimated 15,000 law enforcement personnel from local, state and federal agencies.” Moreover, “in 2021 alone, the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) provided law enforcement with critical intelligence about extremism over 1,300 times and tracked over 7,300 incidents of hate on our online, interactive H.E.A.T. map.” The ADL even operates a school for executive-level law enforcement officials:<br/>
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In 2003, the ADL founded the Advanced Training School, which has provided education on extremism and terrorism for senior law enforcement from more than 250 agencies across the U.S. This three-day course provides an examination of major types of extremist movements, case studies of recent terrorist acts presented by law enforcement leaders with firsthand experience, and guidance on the critical importance of protecting civil rights and liberties.<br/>
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The very agency the feds trust to educate them on matters of “extremism” is producing politically driven, far-left reports on who counts as an extremist. Much like the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ADL writes and applies the definition they wish government to enforce. They take care to ensure that it predominantly captures those opposed to their ideology, while excusing their political allies.<br/>
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Were these organizations to apply a neutral definition of hate or extremism, it would undercut the leftist narrative that so-called MAGA extremists and their ilk are the most clear-and-present danger to the United States.<br/>
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Beyond orientation, training, and propaganda, the ADL provides FBI personnel with awards. Since 2010, the ADL has been handing out “ADL SHIELD Awards” to FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors for investigative and prosecutorial successes. It’s a brilliantly subversive tactic. The awards cost the ADL next to nothing, and in exchange, the organization receives a false veneer of legitimacy and builds a list of FBI executives and agents beholden to the ADL.<br/>
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Conditioning FBI personnel to be receptive to ADL political propaganda and then doling out rewards to FBI leaders is beyond unseemly. With this incentive structure in place, is there any reason to doubt that the FBI would be more inclined to take in and act on slanted ADL material?<br/>
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Small wonder that public confidence in the FBI is at record lows. One obvious remedial measure would be to end the partnership between the ADL and the FBI. It’s time to draw a bright line between dark, far-left operations and the most powerful law enforcement entity in the country and make sure that line is not crossed.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/time-end-fbi-adl-partnership/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/time-end-fbi-adl-partnership/</a>
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<b> The feuding tearing apart the Royal Society of Literature</b><br/>
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You’d think, wouldn’t you, that the Royal Society of Literature (founded 1820) might be one of those institutions that chugs on benignly year in year out with nothing to disturb the peace of its members. But on Thursday morning, a letter in the Times Literary Supplement, got up as I understand it by Jeremy Treglown and signed by 14 more distinguished writers (among them Ian McEwan, Alan Hollinghurst, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Fleur Adcock), calls on the leadership of the RSL to refer itself to the Charity Commission. That is, as charitable foundations go, something like demanding that they turn themselves in to the cops.<br/>
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Everybody is briefing everybody, furious letters are circulating about leaks, and the whole thing is adding to the gaiety of nations<br/>
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It’s only the latest fusillade in what seems to be something barely short of civil war in this longstanding institution. Many longstanding Fellows of the Society are deeply unhappy with the current management – principally its director, Molly Rosenberg and its chair, the poet Daljit Nagra. Everybody is briefing everybody, furious letters are circulating about leaks, and the whole thing is adding to the gaiety of nations and the public stock of harmless pleasures for popcorn-chewing onlookers, while causing considerable distress to those directly involved.<br/>
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‘It’s such a clusterfuck! It’s such a clusterfuck! Everyone is falling out with everyone else,’ said one RSL Fellow I spoke to this week, with the characteristic mixture of grief and glee that attends any feud between writers. ‘It’s just unbelievable how much everyone hates each other. It’s like one of those long marriages that seems to have been perfectly happy… and then suddenly you discover they’ve both been seeing other people and have called in the lawyers.’<br/>
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This rather well captures the multi-dimensional quality of the warfare going on. It’s a slightly tricky row to unpick, as the charge sheet against the present management of the RSL consists of several unrelated (or only marginally related) disgruntlements, but here goes.<br/>
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The first (and it’s what has kicked off the latest round of sniping, writing of open letters, thinly veiled legal threats and furious behind-the-scenes gossiping) is the suppression of the society’s own journal, the RSL Review, and the alleged summary firing of its editor Maggie Fergusson. I should say, incidentally, that Maggie is a friend of, and frequent contributor to, the books pages of The Spectator. The RSL Review was in final proof, just before Christmas, when the RSL’s director Molly Rosenberg apparently took exception to an article in it about writers in Palestine. The whole magazine was summarily pulled from publication and the editor (a three-decade servant of the RSL and a former director herself) was hoofed out.<br/>
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The RSL’s version is that the magazine’s publication has merely been ‘postponed’ for editorial improvements, that Maggie Fergusson departed by mutual agreement, that she had always known that this would be the last issue she edited (both of which claims Fergusson flatly denies), and that all contributors to the postponed magazine have been kept informed as to the fates of their contributions. Far be it from me to call this a pack of lies. But it does seem that, using the unimprovable formula of the late Queen, ‘Some recollections may vary.’ At any rate, the signatories of the letter to the TLS clearly feel on firm ground saying: ‘The issues to be investigated would have to include the censorship attempt, which we are quite sure occurred and which plainly contravened fundamental literary values.’<br/>
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The second issue, which strikes that one slightly slant, is to do with a change in the way that Fellows of the society are elected. The laws of the society have it that candidates must have at least two works of ‘outstanding literary merit’ to their name, be proposed and seconded by existing Fellows, and approved by the Council. In the interests of diversifying the membership – which does skew whiter and older than the population at large – and making the RSL an institution ‘for all writers’ (as its president Bernardine Evaristo has put it) some new methods of election have been put in place. Evaristo wrote in this week’s Guardian that in ‘some schemes, members of the public sometimes get the chance to nominate writers who might otherwise be overlooked because they are outside the elite London literary networks’.<br/>
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There will be those who frame this as a woke-youngsters-versus-traditionalists ding-dong, in which a doddery and snobbish old guard seeks to defend the citadel of their white privilege from the younger, browner writers hitherto denied their due by the literary establishment. I don’t presume to take a view on how the RSL manages its affairs. It also seems fair to Bernardine to make clear that her role in the RSL is ceremonial, so she is not the prime mover behind the controversial changes. (If this was all about a ‘woke agenda’, incidentally, it’s surprising that the piece alleged to have been censored was one sympathetic to the Palestinian side in the conflict.)<br/>
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I restrict myself to a couple of observations. One is that the idea of the RSL being ‘for all writers’ is questionable: as one person I spoke to pointed out, we already have an organisation for all writers, and it’s called the Society of Authors. The RSL is supposed to be an organisation for really good writers. Which is as much as to say that being involved with ‘elite… literary networks’ is sort of the point. And if the guiding principle is to have two works of ‘outstanding literary merit’ in print, you would expect it to skew a bit older. Many, perhaps most, writers go a whole career without getting even one ‘OLM’; you can expect the majority to take a decade or two to get two written. It’s not like football, where if you haven’t done it by 23 you’re finished: the longer you go at it, in general, the better you get.<br/>
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On race, there is, no doubt, a pipeline problem here, too. If the publishing establishment has been reluctant until relatively recently to give writers of colour a fair shake (which I think you’d be a fool to dispute), the pool of candidates for Fellowship at this point will on average be whiter than maybe you’d like. There will be fewer writers of colour mid-career and with a belt full of OLMs, because 20 years ago fewer writers of colour were getting the chance to begin a career. You can take the view that this is a problem that time will solve – the fruits of today’s determination across the industry to platform diverse voices will be filtering through in the next decade or two – or you can put your thumb on the scales.<br/>
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The third and final strand in the current row is the question of whether, and how, the RSL is to take a view on supporting writers’ freedoms and freedom of expression in general. Many Fellows were distinctly dismayed when a motion in Council to speak out in support of Salman Rushdie after an Islamist lunatic attempted to murder him was squashed. The reasoning, according to Evaristo, is that the RSL should remain ‘impartial’ in political matters. Let us say of this only that several writers, including Sir Salman himself, were not super impressed by this stance.<br/>
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What unites these disparate threads seems to be a reluctance by the senior management to engage directly with the membership they ostensibly serve. ‘They’re treating us like enemies, rather than like colleagues,’ one Fellow told me. Complaints, queries, requests for explanations have, according to more than one Fellow I’ve spoken to, gone unanswered or been bureaucratically stonewalled. If Daljit Nagra does decide to bring the Charity Commission in (an option he seems to have at least countenanced in conversation with Treglown) that will at least be a step in the direction of clearing the air.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-feuding-tearing-apart-the-royal-society-of-literature/">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-feuding-tearing-apart-the-royal-society-of-literature/</a>
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<b> The problem with the ‘paraglider girls’ ruling</b><br/>
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<i> Leftists can do and say no wrong</i><br/>
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Yesterday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, three women were convicted of terror offences for wearing clothes or carrying signs that appeared to glorify Hamas – and they were let off virtually scot-free.<br/>
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The leniency of this ruling raises yet more questions about judicial impartiality in this country<br/>
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At a central London pro-Palestine march the week after the October 7 attack in Israel last year, Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, had attached images of paragliders to their backs, while Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, had attached one to a sign. Paragliders, as had been reported widely in the media, were how Hamas terrorists crossed the Gaza-Israel border to carry out their barbaric pogrom against Israeli civilians. The trio were found guilty of appearing to show support for a terrorist group after a two-day trial. The Judge said there was no evidence that the individuals were supporters of Hamas, but the CPS said displaying the images amounted to the ‘glorification of the actions’ of the terrorist group.<br/>
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Convicted under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, they faced a possible six months in prison. But district judge Tan Ikram said he had ‘decided not to punish’ the defendants, instead handing the trio a 12-month conditional discharge each.<br/>
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From a purely free-speech point of view, this leniency is welcome. Any glorification of the slaughter of more than 1,200 Jews is of course grotesque. Yet as hateful as these kinds of sentiments are, it is generally better to have them out in the open and to know they exist than forcing them underground. Unless it is clear and direct incitement to violence, the best answer to vile speech is rarely punishment or censorship, but counter-speech.<br/>
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But the leniency of this ruling raises yet more questions about judicial impartiality in this country. These are questions that have been hanging over the justice system more widely since 7 October, after what many saw as a soft-touch approach by the police toward the pro-Palestine marches last autumn.<br/>
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It’s not as if this leniency toward the ‘paraglider girls’ is down to Britain being a haven for free speech. Quite the contrary: the British state has proven it will come down hard on anyone who seems to violate today’s ever-expanding progressive taboos. Ed West has recently detailed the many sorry examples, such as a woman interrogated by police after photographing a sticker on a trans pride poster; a teenager arrested for saying a policewoman looked like her ‘lesbian nana’; and a Conservative councillor arrested for an alleged hate crime after retweeting a video criticising police treatment of a Christian street preacher.<br/>
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Indeed, the record of the judge in this case, Tan Ikram, has repeatedly sparked concerns that woke sensibilities may be distorting the British justice system. In an unprecedented ruling in 2022, he jailed police constable James Watts for 20 weeks for sharing racist WhatsApp memes mocking George Floyd, the patron saint of Black Lives Matter. Not only was this sentence extraordinarily harsh, last year Ikram appeared to act against judicial conduct guidance that says judges should not talk about their cases in public, when he publicly boasted about the sentence: ‘This was a police officer bringing the police service into disrepute,’ he told American law students. ‘So I gave him a long prison sentence. The police were horrified by that.’<br/>
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If Ikram’s comments suggest he might hold a grudge against the police, his later rulings do not dispel that suspicion. In December, he gave six retired Met officers suspended sentences and community service for racist messages sent in a private WhatsApp group chat. This followed his extraordinary ruling that, though the messages were never intended to be seen by anyone else, they were nevertheless ‘offensive to many good people in this country and not only people who might be directly offended’. One of the officers had sent a boomer meme about parrots and was convicted by Ikram on the sole basis of its offensive ‘implication’.<br/>
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That Ikram has handed down prison sentences for private memes makes his leniency towards the paraglider trio more difficult to swallow. Attempting to explain his decision not to punish the defendants for their support of a terror group, Ikram said the offences had taken place at a time of ‘much passion and polarisation’. ‘You crossed the line’, he said, ‘but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue’. But why should the fact that emotions were running high reduce the severity of the punishment? No less bizarre was his claim that the defendants’ ‘lesson has been well learned’ – despite them being let off by the court.<br/>
<br/>
It is not quite clear which emotions Ikram referred to in his sentence. It is indeed fair to say that emotions were running high at that time. Many will have seen the alarm, shock and distress of British Jews – who first witnessed a barbaric pogrom in Israel, in which many lost friends and loved ones – and then the orgy of violent anti-Semitism it brought to the streets of London. But it seems that to a judiciary steeped in identity politics, it is only certain emotions that count.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-problem-with-the-paraglider-girls-ruling">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/the-problem-with-the-paraglider-girls-ruling</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> #MeToo has driven young men into an opposing stance of bullish conservatism</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> Feminism has driven men and women apart -- a loss for both</i><br/>
<br/>
We have a problem. As a species. Particularly in the western world. An ideological divide is opening up in many countries that goes to the heart of the human race, the future of us. It is a problematic divide between girls and boys, a widening philosophical gap in terms of aspiration/outlook that’s having impacts in many arenas. Not least in our high schools.<br/>
<br/>
Recent research shows that girls are becoming more progressive; boys, more conservative. The rift is demonstrated in a study from the Gallup Poll Social Series, which shows that political ideology for females aged 18-29 in countries such as the US, Germany, the UK and South Korea is veering towards a small-l liberal ideology, but boys, in opposition, are cleaving to conservatism.<br/>
<br/>
So, Gen Z is split. Two separate worlds. Of increasingly aware girls not afraid to call it out, and frustrated boys trying to deal with the new voices roaring at them. What will the future be, for all of them, together? How will these findings affect marriage rates, birth trends, the politics of the schoolyard, workplace relations, societal harmony? The new dynamic is already being demonstrated in elections here – the rise of the Teals was thanks in large part to women. The trend will continue as females search for representatives who understand them, listen.<br/>
<br/>
And ahead, an even more dramatically cleaved society. I watch, perturbed, feeling for both sides. The impetus for the girls is towards fairness and equality; a move away from subservience. A natural step for the educated, and why the Taliban wants to stop females from being educated at all. Ignorance keeps the female subjugated, in servitude to the male; it removes the threat of women with a voice.<br/>
<br/>
The impetus for boys, understandably, is to preserve what they had. Which was power and control, for millennia. My heart goes out to males because so many are hurting, raging, lost. Imagine it. A person born to be at the top of the tree, who has expected this all their childhood, and who steps into adulthood wanting this cosy arrangement to continue. But girls are now digging in their heels, saying enough, we want those chances too. Life’s been unfair for usfor a very long time, and we’re just as competent.<br/>
<br/>
Why all this now, so fractiously? A theory. The very loud #MeToo movement, which galvanised young women, has driven young men into an opposing stance of bullish conservatism. We all have to work through it, with compassion and sensitivity, until equality is normalised and young males don’t see this new way of being as a threat. But it will take many years. Generations.<br/>
<br/>
What we have now is the fulcrum, the tipping point. Boys flinching into conservatism, into what’s been comfortable and known throughout history; conservatism by nature means a cleaving to traditional models, the status quo. Progressivism is about social reform. Embracing it, facilitating it. Which is where a lot of educated young women are now and there’s no going back from it. #MeToo and the first and second wave feminist movements before it are exploding the parameters that kept females in their place.<br/>
<br/>
Meanwhile boys and girls retreat into their siloed worlds online, with little crossover. There’s a lack of tolerance for the “other” on both sides, a scorning and sneering at these divergent environments. Some boys find their Andrew Tates to cling to, while for girls the messaging all around them is that they can now be anything, do anything, and as well as the boys. Female teens are unstoppable and school boys have to concede some of their traditional power. But it’s messy. I feel for teachers in co-ed high schools right now, the cauldrons of this vast societal shift. What’s needed, urgently, is empathy and understanding. From both sides.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/columnists/metoo-has-driven-young-men-into-an-opposing-stance-of-bullish-conservatism/news-story/25dc565729f566e31579486553bbe9d0">https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/columnists/metoo-has-driven-young-men-into-an-opposing-stance-of-bullish-conservatism/news-story/25dc565729f566e31579486553bbe9d0</a>
</p>
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<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-81536625415763241962024-02-19T17:42:00.004+13:002024-02-26T01:18:30.299+13:00<br /><br />
<b> Why I deplore Scottish nationalism</b><br />
<br />
And other nationalisms like it. I was once instinctively for it but I was biased.<br />
<br />
About my bias:<br />
<br />
I do have some Scots ancestry; I was brought up to be pro-Scots; I have on occasions worn Highland Dress and very much enjoy that; I have been to Scotland more than once -- from Sauchiehall st to the Western Isles; I once married a bonnie Scottish lass and put on Scottish songs exclusively at our wedding reception; I have done extensive academic survey research in Scotland about Scottish attitudes. See:<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/scotland.html">http://jonjayray.com/scotland.html</a>
</p>
From all that it should be clear that speaking ill of Scotland and the Scots pains me deeply. But it appears that I have to do so. The crux of the matter can be seen in this video<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W8tNgAIh-TI" title="Flower of Scotland | Singalong At Home!" width="550"></iframe>
<br /><br />
It's a prelude to a Scottish Rugby match at Murrayfiend stadium. The song is "Flower of Scotland", now accepted as Scotland's national anthem. The words are as follows:<br />
<br />
Flower of Scotland<br />
<br />
O Flower of Scotland,<br />
When will we see<br />
Your like again,<br />
That fought and died for,<br />
Your wee bit Hill and Glen,<br />
And stood against him,<br />
Proud Edward's Army,<br />
And sent him homeward,<br />
Tae think again.<br />
<br />
The Hills are bare now,<br />
And Autumn leaves<br />
lie thick and still,<br />
O'er land that is lost now,<br />
Which those so dearly held,<br />
That stood against him,<br />
Proud Edward's Army,<br />
And sent him homeward,<br />
Tae think again.<br />
<br />
Those days are past now,<br />
And in the past<br />
they must remain,<br />
But we can still rise now,<br />
And be the nation again,<br />
That stood against him,<br />
Proud Edward's Army,<br />
And sent him homeward,<br />
Tae think again.<br />
<br />
Flower of Scotland,<br />
When will we see<br />
your like again,<br />
That fought and died for,<br />
Your wee bit Hill and Glen,<br />
And stood against him,<br />
Proud Edward's Army,<br />
And sent him homeward,<br />
Tae think again.<br />
<br />
What they are singing about is the Battle of Bannockburn which took place in 1324. It is one of the few battles with the English that Scotland won. The song is however much later than the battle. It was composed in the mid-1960s by Roy Williamson of the folk group the Corries.<br />
<br />
The thing that disturbs me about it is that it is hate-based. It is a song of hatred of the English. And you have to note above how devotedly it is sung by a whole stadium of apparently ordinary people. It is heartfelt among them. That they should be enthusiastic about antything that took place in 1324 is absurd. It is not that event which moves the singers in the video. It is hatred and contempt for their Southern neighbours that the event inspires.<br />
<br />
The Left sometimes conflate nationalism and patriotism. It is part of their theory of "ethnocentrism". But that is typical of their slipperiness. All nationalists are patriots but not all patriots are nationaists. Nationalists dislike other nations. Patriots just like their own nation.<br />
<br />
Americans are highly likely to be patriotic but nationalism among them is virtually unknown -- except for a regrettable period in the "progressive" era associated mostly with Theodore Roosevelt over 100 years ago. See<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/tr2.html">http://jonjayray.com/tr2.html</a>
</p>
I have actually done some published survey research on patriotism and consistently found that liking for your own group did NOT imply dislike of "outgroups"<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/genrace.html">http://jonjayray.com/genrace.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/disutil.html">http://jonjayray.com/disutil.html</a>
</p>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/racethno.html">http://jonjayray.com/racethno.html</a>
</p>
And Scottish hatred of the English has been disastrous for them. They lost many bloody battles. And hatred begrets hatred regardless of who "started" it. The Bhagavad Gita tells us that it is sometimes better to let our opponent win but the Gita has never had much of a following in Scotland. Matthew 5:38-40 has simlar advice but that too appears to have had no influence<br />
<br />
I have personally experienced Scottish hatred of the English, as have many Australians. Scots cannot usually tell the difference between an educated Australian accent and RP, so when Australians go to Scotland, the Scots initially assume that we are English. They think we "sound like the TV", as one of my survey interviewees put it.<br />
<br />
Wise Australians, however, hasten to undo that impression: "We are Australians, not English", we say. And the effect of that can be a wonder to behold. Scots see Australians as fellow "victims" of the English so the initial "dour" attitude towards us can immediately be replaced by a very warm one. We are suddenly friends and are treated accordingly. How sad that an accent can make such a diffrence.<br />
<br />
So, as always, I can only deplore hatred. The current outpouring of hatred of Jews and Israel coming from the Left over Gaza shows how it can subvert all reason<br />
<br />
JR<br />
<br />
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<br />
<b> Are blacks stressed by living among whites?</b><br />
<br />
<i> There is no scientific evidence for it but it suits the Left to believe it. For a REAL stressful environment try any city in Nigeria. If blacks can survive there, an American environment should be a doddle</i><br />
<br />
In 1986, an upstart public health researcher named Arline Geronimus challenged the conventional wisdom that condemned the alarming rise of inner-city teen pregnancies. While activist minister Jesse Jackson and health care leaders were decrying the crisis of “babies having babies” as a ghetto pathology, Geronimus contended that teenage pregnancy was a rational response to urban poverty where low-income black people have fewer healthy years before the onset of heart problems, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.<br />
<br />
Although Geronimus’ claims gained little traction at the time, the concept she pioneered – “weathering” – eventually became a foundation for the social justice ideology that is now upending medicine and social policy. She has stated in interviews and in her writings that the term “weathering” was intended to evoke the idea of erosion and resilience.<br />
<br />
A white professor at the University of Michigan whom The New York Times hailed last year as an “icon,” Geronimus has combined race theory with data and statistics to argue that the chronic stress of living in an oppressive, white-majority society causes damage at the cellular level and leads to obesity and other health conditions, resulting in shorter life expectancies for African Americans. In more than 130 published studies, she has expanded the weathering hypothesis from an explanation of poverty harming one’s health into a dystopian sociological worldview that identifies middle-class assimilation and professional striving within the “American Creed” of hard work as the silent killers of people of color.<br />
<br />
“Living life according to the dominant social norms of personal responsibility and virtue is not universally health‑promoting,” Geronimus wrote in a Harvard Public Health essay last year. “On the contrary: if you’re Black, working hard and playing by the rules can be part of what kills you.”<br />
<br />
The subject of hundreds of peer-reviewed studies and thousands of citations, the weathering hypothesis is now widely taught in public health schools and accepted as perhaps the most plausible scientific explanation of how American society grinds down black and brown bodies. And the weathering paradox – that “relatively young people can be biologically old” – is now influencing policy decisions at all levels of governance.<br />
<br />
Geronimus’ hypothesis was the foundation of many of the policy decisions of the White House COVID-19 health equity task force. In New Hampshire, the governor’s COVID-19 Equity Response Team issued a report and recommendations in 2020, citing weathering (and “racial battle fatigue”) as documented and established realities of American life. Weathering was recently extended beyond American people of color and accepted as evidence in federal courts to win early release of non-white detainees, some as young as their 30s, who were deemed to be prematurely aged and therefore at higher risk for COVID complications.<br />
<br />
Some critics are beginning to push back against what they see as the heavy-handed, COVID-era politicization of healthcare. Ian Kingsbury, research director at Do No Harm, a nonprofit that seeks to keep identity politics out of medicine, said the uncritical acceptance of the weathering hypothesis as factual science has created an aura of invincibility.<br />
<br />
“Unfortunately, judges and other policymakers look to academic journals to be authoritative and trustworthy voices on what is evidence and what is science,” said Kingsbury. “And so you sneak this stuff in there and, unfortunately, as far as a lot of people are concerned, you’ve created knowledge.”<br />
<br />
More broadly, Boston University public health dean Sandro Galea warned in a new book, “Within Reason: A Liberal Public Health for an Illiberal Time,” that his profession has veered into overcorrection and revolutionary excess. Galea doesn’t name names in his book, but he rebukes public health advocates for favoring political narratives over empirical data, denying the reality of social progress, and fixating on a utopian quest “to create a world free of risk.”<br />
<br />
Geronimus' research on weathering's damage to blacks in a white world: "It’s the physiological consequence of being vigilant all the time or what we also call ‘managing your social identity’ or code-switching: various ways you try to put on your A-game and do what you need for the people around you to respect you and not to fear you."<br />
<br />
The rise and reach of Geronimus’ weathering hypothesis – a once obscure and idiosyncratic idea that is becoming conventional wisdom in medicine – provides a window into how activist rhetoric and social justice ideology pioneered by feminist, queer, and critical race theorists are recasting healthcare as a Machiavellian power struggle between the privileged and the oppressed.<br />
<br />
The public health field has long focused on “social determinants of health,” such as one’s environment and socioeconomic status, as contributors to health outcomes. The weathering hypothesis takes political empowerment to the next level, by medicalizing social relations and politicizing medicine. Weathering prefigured the recent flood of medical research that centers race in public policy and supplies the rationale for such moves as 265 public authorities declaring racism as a public health crisis; health officials jettisoning colorblindness and prioritizing people of color for COVID vaccinations and heart treatment; and medical schools training future doctors in social justice activism.<br />
<br />
In her 2023 book, “Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society,” Geronimus sweeps across time and space, omnisciently diagnosing celebrities and public figures with weathering. She claims it explains why Martin Luther King Jr. had the damaged heart of a 60-year-old when he was assassinated at age 39 and why Fannie Lou Hamer died of breast cancer and complications of hypertension at age 59. She asserts that the trauma of being black in America is one reason why tennis greats Serena Williams had life-threatening blood clots at age 36, and why Arthur Ashe had a heart attack at age 36.<br />
<br />
“Success comes at a spectacularly high health cost for those who have to fight the hardest to achieve it in the context of a society that doesn’t value them,” Geronimus stated in her book. “Structural violence is insidious, pervasive, and fateful. It is the fundamental cause of weathering, and it is entirely ignored in the age-washing narrative.”<br />
<br />
It is amply documented that African Americans of all social classes have worse health outcomes, earlier onset of chronic diseases, and average life expectancies reported as five to six years less than whites. Weathering science, as Geronimus calls it, measures various biomarkers of what is presumed to be psychosocial stress – such as cortisol levels, telomere lengths, cytokine storms, and allostatic loads – to make the case that on average black adults are as much as 10 years older biologically than white people of a comparable chronological age.<br />
<br />
But the data is complicated, requires interpretation, and doesn’t always add up. For example, in a 2021 study, a gerontology scholar at the University of Southern California assessed 13 measures of epigenetic aging. It found that some of the measures indicate accelerated aging among African Americans, while others indicate slower aging for African Americans. Epigenetics refers to the way genes function or malfunction under environmental stress and cultural conditions; most of these “epigenetic clocks” associate accelerated aging with obesity and lifetime smoking. This research, noting “the lack of expected effects of race and ethnicity,” suggests that there is no gold standard for measuring premature aging, and that weathering research is highly sensitive to the variables and measures that researchers select.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, Geronimus compares the African American experience of living and working among white people to the fight-or-flight adrenaline rush of a prehistoric human fleeing a cheetah – except, she says, that a 21st-century black person in a majority white society is trapped in that high-stress mode all day, every day, without reprieve, resulting in a flood of stress hormones that dysregulate the body.<br />
<br />
Fluent in the language of social justice activism, Geronimus describes American society as a relentless onslaught of “microaggressions,” “othering,” “existential insults,” “daily indignities,” “voice erasure,” “identity threat” and other forms of “cultural oppression” that lead to early death. In response to those ever-present dangers in “the privileged space known as whiteness,” black people are constantly forced to adopt “high effort coping strategies” that Geronimus describes as “identity management” and “identity safety.” In a 2015 study titled “Black Lives Matter,” Geronimus and her co-authors estimated that racism and weathering caused 2.7 million “excess black deaths” in the United States between 1970 and 2004, a death toll of genocidal proportions.<br />
<br />
This one-dimensional way of analyzing social relations has the effect of privileging the stress of those presumed to be oppressed, said Stanley Goldfarb, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school and founder and chairman of the Do No Harm nonprofit.<br />
<br />
“The problem with the theory is that these hormones and these stress responses don’t know what skin color you have,” Goldfarb said. “The point is: What’s unique about their stress? The point isn’t that stress is bad. The point is you decided that your stress is unique and different from everybody else’s stress.”<br />
<br />
Still, weathering is an attractive explanation to researchers because the link between psychosocial stress and physical wear and tear is consistent with lower life expectancy for African Americans and lower-income people.<br />
<br />
Moreover, the hypothesis is “very intuitive” to economists because of its similarity to modeling health depreciation, and to social scientists who seek explanations of differential outcomes, said economist Robert Kaestner, a University of Chicago public policy professor who co-authored a weathering study with Geronimus in 2009.<br />
<br />
However, weathering studies do not actually measure stress or racism, but only correlate biological metrics back to the weathering hypothesis. The scientific conundrum is that the same biological evidence that supports weathering could also be “consistent with a lot of other things,” Kaestner said in a phone interview. “It’s always a measurement problem.”<br />
<br />
“Weathering is a hypothesis, still in search of definitive evidence,” Kaestner said. “I’ve never seen one [study] – including my own – where it’s a definitive study that this really is a smoking gun that racism or prolonged psychosocial stress causes adverse health outcomes.”<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/02/13/medicine_now_diagnoses_the_non-white_oppressed_with_an_oppressive_case_of_weathering_1011026.html?mc_cid=e19b3e008b&mc_eid=012a6b3e32">https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/02/13/medicine_now_diagnoses_the_non-white_oppressed_with_an_oppressive_case_of_weathering_1011026.html?mc_cid=e19b3e008b&mc_eid=012a6b3e32</a>
</p>
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<br />
<b> Teachers Sue Gavin Newsom Over Policy Forcing Them to Lie About Student’s Transgender Status to Parents</b><br />
<br />
Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, two teachers at Rincon Middle School in Escondido, sued the Escondido Union School District in April, alleging violations of their First Amendment rights. They allege that the school district’s “Parental Exclusion Policy” prevents teachers from disclosing “the fact that a student identifies as a new gender, or wants to be addressed by a new name or new pronouns during the school day.”<br />
<br />
The teachers added Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta to the lawsuit last month.<br />
<br />
“The governor is the boss,” Paul Jonna, the lawyer representing Mirabelli and West, told The Daily Signal in a statement Friday. Newsom “has ultimate responsibility for setting education policy for those under his supervision,” Jonna, special counsel at the Thomas More Society and partner at the firm LiMandri and Jonna LLP, added.<br />
<br />
“Rincon Middle School and the Escondido Union School District do not operate in a vacuum,” he noted. “The California Constitution provides that education is ultimately a matter of state responsibility.”<br />
<br />
The lawsuit alleges a school district procedure titled the “Parental Exclusion Policy” prevents teachers from disclosing “the fact that a student identifies as a new gender, or wants to be addressed by a new name or new pronouns during the school day.”<br />
<br />
The legal nonprofit Thomas More Society, which is representing Mirabelli and West, claims that “the district outright refused to exempt the teachers from the Parental Exclusion Policy—compelling them to systematically deceive the parents of their students.”<br />
<br />
In August 2022, the teachers received an email with a list of students, including their preferred names and pronouns. The list included directions on whether teachers could disclose the names and pronouns to the students’ parents or guardians. Mirabelli reportedly received an email with a list of students like this: “[student name]: Preferred name is [redacted] (pronouns are he/him). Dad and stepmom are NOT aware, please use [redacted] and she/her when calling home.”<br />
<br />
Mirabelli and West claim the policy violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.<br />
<br />
In September, a U.S. district court judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing the school district from enforcing the Parental Exclusion Policy on Mirabelli and West.<br />
<br />
Judge Rodger T. Benitez called the policy a “trifecta of harm:”<br />
<br />
It [the policy] harms the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse. It harms the parents by depriving them of the long recognized Fourteenth Amendment right to care, guide, and make health care decisions for their children. And finally, it harms plaintiffs who are compelled to violate the parent’s rights by forcing plaintiffs to conceal information they feel is critical for the welfare of their students—violating plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.<br />
<br />
In January, the educators added Newsom and Bonta to the lawsuit, claiming that the school district is acting under their direction in attempting to enforce “state and federal anti-discrimination law.”<br />
<br />
The California Department of Education has interpreted the law to require school districts to hide students’ transgender identity from certain parents on pain of state education funds.<br />
<br />
The amended legal complaint also says that “according to the attorney general, the State of California will sue any school district who fails to adopt these policies.”<br />
<br />
Bonta “has been threatening school districts to adopt policies to conceal student gender incongruity from parents and legal guardians, pitting students, parents, and schools against each other,” Jonna, the teachers’ lawyer, said.<br />
<br />
He said Benitez’s order deemed those policies unconstitutional, and the attorney general has shown no willingness to follow it.<br />
<br />
“Bonta’s actions have demonstrated the state of California is not taking any actions to comply with Judge Benitez’s orders, so he will now be made to,” Jonna said.<br />
<br />
Jonna says his clients are also desiring “a declaration that the parental exclusion policies violate parental rights because they cannot be forced to break the law.”<br />
<br />
When asked to respond to Newsom’s arguments about such policies, Jonna said, “The policies are not needed to protect students—they harm students.”<br />
<br />
“When teachers are forced to lie to the parents who have entrusted a child into their care – that is unconscionable,” he added.<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/teachers-sue-gavin-newsom-being-forced-hide-students-transgender-status-parents/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/16/teachers-sue-gavin-newsom-being-forced-hide-students-transgender-status-parents/</a>
</p>
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<br />
<b> Scranton Joe and the Temple of Doom Spending</b><br />
<br />
Millions of young Americans seem to have given up on their economic future, turning instead to “doom spending.” Rather than save up for a house, to start a family or for retirement—which they view as fruitless—they’re spending more than they earn without a plan to get ahead.<br />
<br />
That’s the upshot of a recent study by Intuit, the company that makes TurboTax. It shows Americans, especially the young, are spending beyond their means to alleviate stress. But like the dieter who thinks progress is impossible and gives up trying to lose weight, these doom-spenders are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and digging the very financial abyss they fear.<br />
<br />
The problem is becoming systemic. The study found that 96% of Americans are concerned about the economy today. (The remaining 4% are presumably politicians and their donors.) In response, 27% of Americans, about 90 million, have simply given up and turned to doom spending.<br />
<br />
Even among those who haven’t thrown in the towel, things look bleak: Almost 60% of respondents are living paycheck to paycheck and lack sufficient savings to pay for an unexpected expense, like a major appliance breaking down. About a quarter of Americans—roughly 80 million—have zero savings.<br />
<br />
And things aren’t improving, with half of respondents saying economic conditions have deteriorated further in the last six months. Pessimism is concentrated among the young, with more than 70% of Millennials and Zoomers reporting financial anxiety. A full quarter of Zoomers, those just entering the workforce, cannot even find decent-paying jobs.<br />
<br />
That explains why more than one-third of these young Americans are doom spending, as are more than 40% of Millennials. Consequently, adults under 30 are moving back in with their parents at rates not seen since the Great Depression, giving up on the American dream of homeownership.<br />
<br />
What used to be the most common age to start a family—mid to late 20s—is now the exact point Americans instead give up and resign to living for today.<br />
<br />
Like many problems, this one started in Washington, D.C.<br />
<br />
To finance perpetual government deficit spending, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates artificially low for almost two decades, creating money for the politicians to spend. That devalued the dollar and imposed a hidden tax of inflation, which sapped the value of savings and gutted the real return on investment, while simultaneously incentivizing spendthrift behavior.<br />
<br />
It also grossly distorted prices and created misallocations of capital. Take the construction of densely packed apartments instead of homes. This drove up home prices, helping make homeownership the exclusive purview of the wealthy. Meanwhile, those same interest rates that drove inflation suckered people to go into debt for worthless college degrees while racking up more than $1 trillion in new credit-card debt that now has an average interest rate of over 21%.<br />
<br />
At this point, horrendous fiscal and monetary policy have created two whole generations of Americans who have largely given up. They don’t believe it’s possible to ever afford their own homes and to afford the lifestyle in which they themselves were raised. They live only for today.<br />
<br />
The tree of big government has born its noxious fruit of inflation, and those who have tasted it have contracted hedonism.<br />
<br />
After all, why scrimp and save for something in the future when the real value of those savings is taxed away through inflation? If with each passing year as home prices climb faster than incomes, an adequate down payment will be forever out of reach, leaving the young to rent with roommates for life or move back in with their parents.<br />
<br />
Instead of running to exhaustion on this treadmill, young Americans have thrown up their hands. The end result is a broader cultural decline where family formation, community stability and the perpetuation of American ideals have lost value in the minds of our youth. They become abstract, unattainable, old-fashioned luxuries for a previous generation.<br />
<br />
This assault on the young continues with Bidenomics, which has added another $6.5 trillion to the national debt, created 40-year-high inflation, and produced record costs of home ownership. So long as the uniparty in D.C. keeps spending like there’s no tomorrow, America’s youth will believe there’s no tomorrow for them.<br />
<br />
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/scranton-joe-and-the-temple-doom-spending">https://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/scranton-joe-and-the-temple-doom-spending</a>
</p>
****************************************<br />
<br />
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br />
<br />
*****************************************<br />
<br />jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-41736885211229884842024-02-18T12:14:00.001+13:002024-02-18T12:14:18.568+13:00<br><br/>
<b> America's Hostile Overclass</b><br/>
<br/>
What does America's overclass think of the rest of us? The short answer is "not much." They think ordinary people's splurging on natural resources is destroying the planet and needs to be cut back forcefully. And that the government needs to stamp down on ordinary people enjoying luxuries that, in their view, should be reserved for the top elites.<br/>
<br/>
These are the implications of the results of two surveys of elite people conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, an organization that supports low tax rates and low government spending. The surveys covered not large swaths of the population but were confined to the top 1% of society.<br/>
<br/>
One survey, the Elite, included only respondents with postgraduate degrees, household incomes above $150,000 and residents in a ZIP code with more than 10,000 people per square mile. Another, Ivy League graduates, included adults who attended Ivy League or other selective private colleges such as Chicago, Duke, Northwestern or Stanford.<br/>
<br/>
You probably won't be surprised that the large majority of this Elite feels economically well off. Nor, if you've kept up with recent changes in party identification, will you be much surprised that 73% of these elites identify as Democrats and only 14% as Republicans.<br/>
<br/>
What is surprising is the extent to which this American overclass would deprive its fellow citizens of things they have taken for granted. Half of these groups, 47% of Elites and 55% of Ivies, say the United States provides people with "too much individual freedom."<br/>
<br/>
More than three-quarters favor, "to fight climate change, the strict rationing of energy, gas, and meat," a proposition rejected by 63% of the public. Again, "to fight climate change," between half and two-thirds favor bans on gas stoves (a recent target despite demurrals of Biden bureaucrats and New York state Democrats), gasoline-powered cars (heavily disfavored by Biden Democrats and California rules) and SUVs, "private" air conditioning and "nonessential air travel."<br/>
<br/>
The ascetic economist Thorstein Veblen, in his 1899 book "The Theory of the Leisure Class," argued that the rich engaged in "conspicuous consumption" activities such as golf, polo and art collecting, for which ordinary people had neither the time nor the money.<br/>
<br/>
A century and a quarter later, America has rich people hoping to deprive ordinary people of "conspicuous consumption" activities they can afford and where they clutter up the airports, interstate highways and high-end malls.<br/>
<br/>
For generations, Democrats have liked to portray themselves as the tribune of the little man, the defender of policies that enable ordinary people without special advantages, or with many disadvantages, to live comfortably, securely and in dignity. There may be some condescension in this posture, but also a considerable element of respect.<br/>
<br/>
This survey shows that today, this 1% of the public, which includes virtually all elective and appointive Democrats in Washington and states like California, New York and New Jersey, tends to see the bulk of its fellow citizens as selfish and destructive, in need not just of discipline but deserving of harsh restrictions on their freedoms.<br/>
<br/>
This attitude is echoed by the wider group of Democratic voters. A 2023 Pew Research survey shows that while 31% of Republicans, even with their party out of power, think America "stands above all other countries in the world," only 9% of Democrats do so.<br/>
<br/>
It's an unstable and dangerous situation when a largely one-party elite looks, with fear and loathing, across what Rasmussen describes as a "Grand Canyon gap" between it and its multiparty fellow citizens. It's reminiscent somehow of the "let them eat cake" French royalists in 1789 or Russian nobles in 1917. An overclass this disconnected and contemptuous risks disruption.<br/>
<br/>
A better approach comes from an undoubted member of America's elite, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Speaking to CNBC at Davos last month, Dimon recounted a bus trip to Spokane and Boise and Bozeman: "People are growing. They're hungry to grow. They're innovating. It's everywhere. It's not just Silicon Valley."<br/>
<br/>
Perhaps aware the Mountain West votes Republican, Dimon, who calls himself a centrist Democrat, conceded that former President Donald Trump "wasn't wrong about some of the critical issues" and was "kind of right" about NATO and immigration and "grew the economy quite well."<br/>
<br/>
Of elite Democrats' contempt for Trump supporters, he had less to say. "The Democrats have done a good job with the deplorables, hugging their Bibles and their beer and their guns. I mean, really? Can we stop that stuff and actually grow up and treat other people respectfully and listen to them a little bit?"<br/>
<br/>
It's a question other members of our dysfunctional overclass might ask themselves.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2024/02/16/americas-dysfunctional-overclass-n2635314">https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2024/02/16/americas-dysfunctional-overclass-n2635314</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Understated by Feds, Through-the-Roof Housing Inflation Is Crushing Would-Be American Homeowners</b><br/>
<br/>
Business headlines say that inflation is down, yet countless Americans are struggling, particularly with finding somewhere affordable to live.<br/>
<br/>
How do we reconcile these seemingly contradictory notions? First, lower inflation means prices are rising slower, but still rising. Second, housing inflation is being undercounted by official government metrics as much as 4-to-1.<br/>
<br/>
The consumer price index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is designed to measure the cost increase of a common basket of goods. Surprisingly, though, it doesn’t include the cost of housing.<br/>
<br/>
The CPI tries to capture consumption, but not anything considered an investment, which would include a home and any improvements to it, like installing a swimming pool. Similarly, things like the chlorine tablets used to maintain the swimming pool are also excluded since they’re considered part of an investment.<br/>
<br/>
This isn’t a trivial fact, because when the price of those tablets skyrocketed more than 200% in 2022, that increase was nowhere to be found in the CPI. This is just one example of how the index undercounted the increase in the cost of living for many Americans.<br/>
<br/>
While it doesn’t directly measure the cost of homeownership, the CPI does try to estimate it by looking at renter surveys. Basically, the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the responses in these surveys to estimate not only the change in the cost of renting, but also the change in the cost of homeownership through a category called “owner’s equivalent rent.”<br/>
<br/>
If the cost of rent increases at the same rate as the cost of homeownership, then this methodology should theoretically create an accurate measurement of the increased cost of housing overall. The problem today is that the cost of homeownership has risen much faster than rents over the past three years.<br/>
<br/>
Although rents are at a record high today, the premium to own a home vs. renting one has never been so large before. According to the CPI, rents have gone up 19.5% over the last three years, and the more-encompassing shelter component of the CPI has risen 19.4% over the same time.<br/>
<br/>
According to the National Association of Realtors, however, the median sales price of existing homes is up 23.7% in the past three years. And interest rates on mortgages have more than doubled in that time, increasing the monthly mortgage payment even more.<br/>
<br/>
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta compiles a monthly homeownership affordability index, which estimates the cost to own a median-price home and compares that with the median household income. The index looks at not just how much a homeowner would need to pay in principal and interest, but also homeowners’ insurance, taxes, and personal mortgage insurance.<br/>
<br/>
In January 2021, the median price of a home was just under $300,000, while the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was 2.7%. All in all, it costs $1,600 a month to afford a home, which is 28% of the median household income. That’s one of the most affordable ratios since the Atlanta Fed started keeping track of this metric in 2006.<br/>
<br/>
By November 2023 (the most recent period for which figures are available), things had deteriorated. In just under three years, the price of a median home shot up to $363,000, while interest rates were 7.4%. Taxes and insurance also skyrocketed, helping drive the monthly cost of homeownership to an eye-opening $2,831.<br/>
<br/>
That’s a 77% increase in just three years or four times the increase in rent counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It now takes 43.9% of the median household income to afford a median-price home. But note that this is before-tax income. After taxes, it takes well over half of the median household income to own a median-price home.<br/>
<br/>
The stratospheric cost of homeownership has led many American families to cut corners wherever possible. That’s why 18 million Americans today are doing without homeowners insurance. The untenable cost of living has forced them to roll the dice on their financial futures.<br/>
<br/>
But neither the exorbitant cost of owning a home, nor the drop in insurance coverage is incorporated in the CPI. This undercounting of inflation is a key reason why so many people disapprove of the economy despite the official metrics improving. Flawed statistics won’t help cover your unaffordable mortgage.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/14/through-roof-housing-inflation-understated-feds-crushing-would-be-homebuyers/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/14/through-roof-housing-inflation-understated-feds-crushing-would-be-homebuyers/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Oakland restaurant owner says city needs more cops, crime problem ‘worst I’ve ever seen’: ‘It’s scary’</b><br/>
<br/>
Stories about high-profile companies in Oakland closing shop or hiring extra security have made grim headlines in recent months.<br/>
<br/>
But it’s not just corporations that are feeling the crunch of increased crime in the Bay Area.<br/>
<br/>
One local Oakland restaurant owner bluntly told Fox News Digital that the city where she’s spent nearly all her 45 years is “the worst I’ve ever seen it.”<br/>
<br/>
Target closed its downtown Oakland location last year after police responded to more than 100 smash-and-grab thefts and similar incidents in 2023.<br/>
<br/>
In-N-Out recently announced its sole Oakland burger joint was closing, the first time in the company’s history it had to make such a decision, due to rampant burglaries, property damage and armed robberies in the area.<br/>
<br/>
A Denny’s also closed down last month because of the crime epidemic.<br/>
<br/>
Then there’s Blue Shield, Clorox, and Kaiser Permanente, the largest employer in Oakland, who have issued warnings to employees, hired security guards or taken other actions in response to a crime surge in the city.<br/>
<br/>
Weyanti Ahmed, who runs Y’s Choice restaurant in the city’s Jack London district near the waterfront, says the developments show Oakland won’t begin to thrive until it makes serious changes.<br/>
<br/>
The neighborhood has been beset by rising crime, forcing local hubs to close or raise prices in response.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s scary for business owners,” she told Fox News Digital.<br/>
<br/>
“It’s scary for even a citizen just walking down the street. It’s just not comfortable. You’re always on guard, and it’s absolutely affected my business tremendously.”<br/>
<br/>
She described one particularly terrifying incident in December when a shooting occurred near the restaurant while she had customers inside.<br/>
<br/>
She has seven employees, and she says she no longer allows them to use public transportation if they don’t have their own vehicle.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s just not enough police presence in Oakland,” she said. “Especially in our area, like downtown, Jack London, it’s a tourist attraction. So it only makes sense for a lot of the crimes to happen there, because they know a lot of tourists are down there.”<br/>
<br/>
One woman told local outlet KTVU last year the once-vibrant district was turning into a “ghost town,” recounting seeing cars broken into in broad daylight while she walked her dog.<br/>
<br/>
Another man said, “this could be a vibrant community but it ain’t right now.” “Defund the police? That don’t work,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
Ahmed says she and her fellow business owners in the neighborhood do their best to look out for one another, but they’re limited in what they can do.<br/>
<br/>
She’s been forced to rely more on delivery apps like DoorDash and Grubhub because people don’t feel comfortable dining at her restaurant, which specializes in soul and seafood.<br/>
<br/>
She also said she’s considered closing down her own location because of how many dine-in customers she’s lost.<br/>
<br/>
“So when you’re going to have dinner or lunch or whatever it is, and then you go outside and your car’s broken into, that $30 meal has now cost you over $230,” she said.<br/>
<br/>
“Would you go back? Probably not… The whole dining experience in Jack London, it’s just not going to happen because no one is comfortable to sit down and eat.”<br/>
<br/>
Oakland is the county seat of Alameda County, whose District Attorney Pamela Price has faced criticism for being perceived as soft on crime with her progressive policies, including such measures and efforts as not trying juveniles as adults, seeking lower sentences and probation for more crimes, and doing away with special-circumstance sentencing enhancements.<br/>
<br/>
Oakland is also without a permanent police chief at the moment, and Ahmed said she’s “fed up” and disappointed with Democratic Mayor Sheng Thao and the City Council.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/business/oakland-restaurant-owner-slams-citys-crime-problem/">https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/business/oakland-restaurant-owner-slams-citys-crime-problem/</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> They do hate us</b><br/>
<br/>
They are trying to destroy America, of course, because Leftist ideology is built upon power and control of others, regardless of how many people they must kill, maim, torture, imprison, enslave, terrorize, or otherwise oppress and cower into obedience. Liberty is the enemy of power. Thus, true American values are the enemy of Leftism and totalitarianism, thus the enemy of the Democratic Party. That the political party largely established by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison has become such a hater of America and freedom is one of the saddest tales of history.<br/>
<br/>
To repeat, true American values—those so proudly proclaimed to the world in our Declaration of Independence—are the enemy of Leftism and totalitarianism. The United States is not, has not been, and never will be a perfect country because we have been, are, and always will be composed of imperfect human beings, of which modern-day Democrats are the worst America has ever produced. But, despite its faults, this America has also done countless good deeds in its history, without which these modern-day hate-America Leftist hypocrites would not be able to do what they do and are trying to do, i.e., destroy the very country that has given them the freedom to make the very attempt at the destruction they are making.<br/>
<br/>
Which nation was it, in the 20th century, that fought two world wars that were really none of its business but had to fight because it was brutally attacked by freedom-loathing, totalitarian regimes who wanted power they had no right to have? Great Americans—twice—in two world wars shed their blood to save Europe and the world. If it wasn’t for America, how many extra people on earth today would be speaking German or Japanese? I told more than one Chinese when I lived there, “If it wasn’t for America, you’d be speaking Japanese now.” It was a thought they had never contemplated because their Leftist, freedom-hating, murderous, totalitarian government wouldn’t allow them to.<br/>
<br/>
Further, which country was it that led the world in defeating the most horrible, homicidal philosophy—atheistic communism led by the Soviet Union—mankind has ever seen? At one point, half the world’s population lived under a despotic communist regime. Who stopped that? Who put an end to it? The United States of America did, thank you, and especially, thank you, Ronald Reagan. We probably could save a billion and half more people from communism today if only we had a President who believed in something other than the perversion of perverts, who truly cared about human rights and prosperity, and who didn’t love China and hate his own country.<br/>
<br/>
And speaking of human rights, which country was it that announced the sublime truths, “all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”? Which country was it that led itself and the world out of thousands of years of human bondage and slavery? Which country was it that pointed the world to freedom and gave all its citizens equality under the law? Which country was it that has been the most prosperous, richest nation in human history, so wealthy that its current government has wasted countless trillions of dollars on useless projects, at home and abroad, and its people are STILL the wealthiest the world has ever seen?<br/>
<br/>
I’ll tell you, for you Leftists who know nothing about true American history—the United States of America, the greatest country the world has ever seen, the country YOU are trying to destroy, did all of that. It’s still a magnificent country, even with Biden, Pelosi, Obama, Schumer, and McConnell plaguing it. And they are plaguing it ONLY because America IS a magnificent country. Do you think the Soviet Union or communist China would allow Uniparty politicians to do to THEM what they are trying to do to America? Nancy, believe me, you would have been in a gulag a long time ago, but only if the Cheka or KGB hadn’t first put a bullet in your empty, hypocritical skull or Xi Jinping hadn’t cut your guts out. They eat their own, too.<br/>
<br/>
America remains a great country because there remain some great people in it. People akin to those who were willing to die in two world wars and fight godless communism to save the world from tyrannical, power-hungry, murderous, megalomaniacal Leftists. People who truly believe that “all men are created equal”—TRULY believe it, not like Leftists—and who hate slavery and human oppression and never want to see it anywhere, ever again. People who still believe in God and “go and sin no more” and who are willing to allow their hard-earned tax dollars to be given to innumerable people, at home and abroad, who don’t deserve a penny of it. But they are willing to do that because those are the kinds of people they are and the sacrifices they are prepared to make for America.<br/>
<br/>
But, honestly, we ARE getting a wee bit weary of it. And we are getting tired of it, Leftist, because of people like you who are the exact opposite of true American greatness.<br/>
<br/>
We know you want to bring down and destroy the greatest country the world has ever seen. We aren’t blind anymore; we can see it now. And we are going to fight you every step of the way. You’ll destroy America, the world’s only hope, over our dead bodies.<br/>
<br/>
And don’t think we won’t take a whole lot of you with us. We fought to save Europe, Asia, and the world. We’ll certainly do whatever is necessary to save America.<br/>
<br/>
America is still the greatest country in the world. It has been since July 4, 1776. Oh, Leftist, July 4, 1776, is the day America became independent. You probably don’t even know that.<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2024/02/17/hey-lefty-america-is-worth-savingfrom-you-n2635380">https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2024/02/17/hey-lefty-america-is-worth-savingfrom-you-n2635380</a>
</p>
****************************************<br/>
<br/>
My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
<br/>
*****************************************<br/>
<br/>
jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-34446164734232484672024-02-15T20:20:00.002+13:002024-02-15T20:20:32.219+13:00<br><br/>
<b> ‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point</b><br/>
<br/>
<i> Once again this destruction can be traced to the Left. If "there is no such thing as truth", why not put out false claims about global warming, vaccine safety, sexual mutilation of minors and all the rest. No credibilty without replication must now be the watchword</i><br/>
<br/>
Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.<br/>
<br/>
Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud.<br/>
<br/>
“The situation has become appalling,” said Professor Dorothy Bishop of Oxford University. “The level of publishing of fraudulent papers is creating serious problems for science. In many fields it is becoming difficult to build up a cumulative approach to a subject, because we lack a solid foundation of trustworthy findings. And it’s getting worse and worse.”<br/>
<br/>
The startling rise in the publication of sham science papers has its roots in China, where young doctors and scientists seeking promotion were required to have published scientific papers. Shadow organisations – known as “paper mills” – began to supply fabricated work for publication in journals there.<br/>
<br/>
The practice has since spread to India, Iran, Russia, former Soviet Union states and eastern Europe, with paper mills supplying fabricated studies to more and more journals as increasing numbers of young scientists try to boost their careers by claiming false research experience. In some cases, journal editors have been bribed to accept articles, while paper mills have managed to establish their own agents as guest editors who then allow reams of falsified work to be published.<br/>
<br/>
“Editors are not fulfilling their roles properly, and peer reviewers are not doing their jobs. And some are being paid large sums of money,” said Professor Alison Avenell of Aberdeen University. “It is deeply worrying.”<br/>
<br/>
The products of paper mills often look like regular articles but are based on templates in which names of genes or diseases are slotted in at random among fictitious tables and figures. Worryingly, these articles can then get incorporated into large databases used by those working on drug discovery.<br/>
<br/>
Others are more bizarre and include research unrelated to a journal’s field, making it clear that no peer review has taken place in relation to that article. An example is a paper on Marxist ideology that appeared in the journal Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. Others are distinctive because of the strange language they use, including references to “bosom peril” rather than breast cancer and “Parkinson’s ailment” rather Parkinson’s disease.<br/>
<br/>
Watchdog groups – such as Retraction Watch – have tracked the problem and have noted retractions by journals that were forced to act on occasions when fabrications were uncovered. One study, by Nature, revealed that in 2013 there were just over 1,000 retractions. In 2022, the figure topped 4,000 before jumping to more than 10,000 last year.<br/>
<br/>
Of this last total, more than 8,000 retracted papers had been published in journals owned by Hindawi, a subsidiary of the publisher Wiley, figures that have now forced the company to act. “We will be sunsetting the Hindawi brand and have begun to fully integrate the 200-plus Hindawi journals into Wiley’s portfolio,” a Wiley spokesperson told the Observer.<br/>
<br/>
The spokesperson added that Wiley had now identified hundreds of fraudsters present in its portfolio of journals, as well as those who had held guest editorial roles. “We have removed them from our systems and will continue to take a proactive … approach in our efforts to clean up the scholarly record, strengthen our integrity processes and contribute to cross-industry solutions.”<br/>
<br/>
But Wiley insisted it could not tackle the crisis on its own, a message echoed by other publishers, which say they are under siege from paper mills. Academics remain cautious, however. The problem is that in many countries, academics are paid according to the number of papers they have published.<br/>
<br/>
“If you have growing numbers of researchers who are being strongly incentivised to publish just for the sake of publishing, while we have a growing number of journals making money from publishing the resulting articles, you have a perfect storm,” said Professor Marcus Munafo of Bristol University. “That is exactly what we have now.”<br/>
<br/>
The harm done by publishing poor or fabricated research is demonstrated by the anti-parasite drug ivermectin. Early laboratory studies indicated it could be used to treat Covid-19 and it was hailed as a miracle drug. However, it was later found these studies showed clear evidence of fraud, and medical authorities have refused to back it as a treatment for Covid.<br/>
<br/>
“The trouble was, ivermectin was used by anti-vaxxers to say: ‘We don’t need vaccination because we have this wonder drug,’” said Jack Wilkinson at Manchester University. “But many of the trials that underpinned those claims were not authentic.”<br/>
<br/>
Wilkinson added that he and his colleagues were trying to develop protocols that researchers could apply to reveal the authenticity of studies that they might include in their own work. “Some great science came out during the pandemic, but there was an ocean of rubbish research too. We need ways to pinpoint poor data right from the start.”<br/>
<br/>
The danger posed by the rise of the paper mill and fraudulent research papers was also stressed by Professor Malcolm MacLeod of Edinburgh University. “If, as a scientist, I want to check all the papers about a particular drug that might target cancers or stroke cases, it is very hard for me to avoid those that are fabricated. Scientific knowledge is being polluted by made-up material. We are facing a crisis.”<br/>
<br/>
This point was backed by Bishop: “People are building careers on the back of this tidal wave of fraudulent science and could end up running scientific institutes and eventually be used by mainstream journals as reviewers and editors. Corruption is creeping into the system.”<br/>
<br/>
<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/03/the-situation-has-become-appalling-fake-scientific-papers-push-research-credibility-to-crisis-point">https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/03/the-situation-has-become-appalling-fake-scientific-papers-push-research-credibility-to-crisis-point</a>
</p>
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<br/>
<b> Why progressives don’t face real consequences</b><br/>
<br/>
One of the most tedious and repetitive observations made in the often tedious and repetitive discourse around cancel culture is the notion that ‘freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences’. This slightly sinister cliché is the progressive version of ‘well, think on, you wouldn’t have been shot if you hadn’t been trying to escape’. It is usually offered forth as if it is somehow a seismic statement.<br/>
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Some clumsy clots – the hapless Graham Norton last year, for example, when discussing JK Rowling – have even tried to frame cancel culture as ‘accountability culture’ or ‘consequences culture’. But it strikes me that there is a shadow image of cancel culture that we might call ‘no consequences culture’.<br/>
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As I write, the story of Azhar Ali, the Labour candidate in the Rochdale by-election, is still developing. Ali was recorded spouting the conspiracy theory that the Israeli government had deliberately allowed Hamas to rape and massacre its citizens on October 7th. This is a modern version of the ancient blood libel against the Jews.<br/>
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Ali made a quick apology. And bish bash bosh, all was forgiven by the Labour party, which stood by him until Monday evening. Even then the party only withdrew its support for the candidate after ‘new information about further comments’ made by him came to light. Ali may well still become an MP – who votes with Labour in the Commons – if he is elected. It is, apparently, procedurally too late to switch him off the ballot, so he will still be the Labour candidate in the by-election.<br/>
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Frontbencher Lisa Nandy was campaigning right alongside him on Sunday, after the revelation. (In a grim irony this was at a ‘women’s Q&A session’.) Another frontbencher, Pat McFadden, looked even more android-like than usual as his speech circuits informed Trevor Philips on Sunday that Ali’s ethnic conspiracy was ‘totally wrong’ but that he would remain the Labour candidate in Rochdale.<br/>
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This is a model illustration of where cultural and political power actually resides in modern Britain. Racism is supposedly our biggest taboo. Labour are planning to bring in a Race Equality Act. But you can spout the nastiest racial conspiracies about Jews, drop a quick apology, and the party will rush to your defence.<br/>
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Diane Abbott and Kate Osamor have both had the Labour whip removed, for lesser though still egregious, outbursts. But the party was perfectly able to come to Ali’s aid. As Lord Frost tweeted before the suspension, ‘The only possible explanation is that (Labour) fear (dropping Ali) will have worse consequences within their party than doing nothing and hoping it all goes away.’<br/>
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This is just the latest example of no real comeback for serious lapses. Here are some more. Nancy Kelley, the disastrous former CEO of Stonewall, described lesbians as ‘sexual racists’ if they refused to entertain the idea of having sex with ‘trans women’ and suggested gender-critical groups were akin to anti-Semites. A pretty spectacular slip, you’d think, for the head of a gay rights charity. But somehow this bizarre outburst didn’t beleaguer Kelley at all, and she is now part of the team leading Lesbian Visibility Week. Then we have the tube driver who led a ‘free Palestine’ chant on his train – slapped wrist, back on duty. We don’t even know who it was that authorised or facilitated the transfer of Scarlett Jenkinson to a new school and neglected to inform them that she had poisoned a classmate at her old one. This person or persons, whose actions put children directly in danger and led to the horrible murder of Brianna Ghey, has been totally forgotten. Nobody seems even to be asking who they are, or how to ensure such a situation cannot happen again.<br/>
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Whereas, as we know, there are ‘consequences’ galore for trivialities, bad taste, gaffes and opinions expressed that aren’t a part of the ‘progressive’ package.<br/>
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It might be said that when an apology is forthcoming then good manners and Christian forgiveness should mean a transgressor is given a second chance. But a grovel and a touch of the forelock only works if you are on the correct side. It is inconceivable, for example, that a parliamentary candidate who had said what Ali did about any other ethnic minority and then apologised would be backed by a mainstream political party.<br/>
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There are no real consequences for such people because they are progressives, and their progressive confreres control all of the institutions. Most of the press and broadcast media don’t even notice their transgressions and they slip quickly off the media and down the memory hole – who even remembers that actress Maxine Peake spouted a bizarre anti-Israel conspiracy about the death of George Floyd? Who even remembers that Lisa Forbes, former Labour MP for Peterborough, said ‘I have enjoyed reading this thread so much’ under a Facebook post that claimed Isis was created and funded by Israel?<br/>
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There’s one law for progressive and non-progressive alike, but the punishments differ.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/why-progressives-dont-face-real-consequences">https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/why-progressives-dont-face-real-consequences</a>
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<b> The Lord is with Gen Z! Catholic core sweeps TikTok as devout youngsters share their advice for wearing veils, show off their rosary beads and embrace the full Latin mass</b><br/>
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From Madonna's Like a Prayer video featuring stigmata and a kiss with a saint to Lady Gaga as Mary Magdalene going clubbing with Jesus in her son Judas, Catholic iconography has long been deeply embedded in popular culture.<br/>
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But Gen Z are taking it one step further with so-called Catholic core sweeping Tiktok, and rather than just borrowing the aesthetic, 18 to 25-year-olds are fully embracing religion.<br/>
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From showing off their rosary beads to 20-something priests asking their followers to rate 'their fit' on vestments, many are sharing their love of God online.<br/>
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The beliefs, it seems, as are important as the aesthetic, with people sharing clips of pretty churches, Catholic statues and even church 'OOTD' (outfits of the day), including lace mantillas.<br/>
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Many sharing their faith online weren't raised Catholics but are converts to the religion.<br/>
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Maya, 22, who grew up as a 'feminist with purple hair' in Czechia, which she describes as an 'atheist country', has built up a following online going by the 'veiled convert'.<br/>
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She wears a lace mantilla because she believes 'covering her hair gives all her glory to god', having built up more than 40,000 followers sharing Bible passages and pictures of religious candles, paintings of Saints and rosary beads in her home.<br/>
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Maya says that she converted after suffering with her mental health during the pandemic and meeting a 'scientist' who was also a convert.<br/>
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Elsewhere, Gen Z It girl Sabrina Carpenter - rumoured girlfriend of actor Barry Keoghan - recently filmed her video for hit single Feather in a Catholic church, which caused a furore.<br/>
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Maya, 22, who grew up as a 'feminist with purple hair' in Czechia, which she describes as an 'atheist country', has built up a following online going by the 'veiled convert'. Pictured before and after converting<br/>
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Monsignor Jamie J Gigantiello issued a grovelling apology and was sacked as church administrator after the former Disney star turned sex siren cavorted in the apse of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn.<br/>
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His furious bishop Robert Brennan was 'appalled' at the video for Feather which has now attracted 11 million views online, sprinkling the altar with holy water as he forced Gigantiello to conduct a 'Mass of Reparation'.<br/>
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The video shows Carpenter, 24, arrive provocatively dressed at the church in a pink hearse for the 'funeral' of former boyfriends in front of an altar decorated with their pastel coffins, one of which includes the inscription 'RIP B****'.<br/>
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'I offer my sincere apologies for this shameful representation which I whole-heartedly denounce,' Gigantiello told his parishioners in a letter posted on Facebook.<br/>
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The priest, who has served at the Victorian church for 29 years said he granted permission for the video in a bid to 'further strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community'.<br/>
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The church originally claimed Carpenter's team 'failed to accurately represent the video content'.<br/>
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But that did not wash with his Bronx-born bishop who concluded that he was told enough to know the video would feature 'inappropriate behaviour unsuitable for a church sanctuary'.<br/>
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Elsewhere, Aussie TikTok star John is Catholic, 20, has racked up more than 100,000 TikTok followers for sharing videos about religion.<br/>
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In one clip he uses cricket to explain the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism.<br/>
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John's priest is Father Sam French, 30, who shares very Gen Z friendly clips. In one, he asks his followers to rate his fit, asks people to 'hmu' (hit him up) after mass, and says religious references in songs are 'fire'. He's racked up nearly a million views on TikTok for the fun videos.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13074409/Gen-z-Catholic-core-TikTok-mass-rosary-beads.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13074409/Gen-z-Catholic-core-TikTok-mass-rosary-beads.html</a>
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<b> National Collegiate Athletic Association Official Resigns Over Transgender Takeover of Women’s Sports: This Is ‘Massive … Authorized Cheating’</b><br/>
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Whatever hopes people had for a new day at the NCAA have officially died out. A year into Charlie Baker’s reign and the wildfire threatening to burn down women’s sports still rages—no thanks to the unsympathetic man at the helm.<br/>
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If anything, Mark Emmert’s successor has proven to be coldly indifferent to the plight of collegiate women, refusing to even meet with victims of his transgender policy until Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., demanded it.<br/>
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Now, in a stunning turn of events, Baker—a former Republican governor of Massachusetts—is facing rebellion in his own ranks, as a longtime NCAA committee member resigns in protest.<br/>
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William Bock, a former general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, quit his post at the NCAA on Friday, blaming the organization’s stubborn refusal to protect girls’ sports. Bock’s departure, after eight years, is already sending shock waves through the sports ranks.<br/>
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With more than a year left in his current term, Bock says he could no longer stomach the radical policy.<br/>
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“Although I may not have agreed with the wisdom of every rule in the NCAA rulebook,” he wrote in his letter, “I believed the intent behind the NCAA’s rules was competitive fairness and protection of equal opportunities for student-athletes. This conviction has changed as I have watched the NCAA double down on regressive policies, which discriminate against female student-athletes.”<br/>
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The Washington Examiner, first to obtain the letter, details Bock’s objections to the current requirements, which are based on reduced testosterone levels, not an athlete’s passage through puberty. While a growing number of international sports bodies recognize that hormones are just one part of the problem, the NCAA stubbornly refuses to adopt tighter restrictions.<br/>
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It’s puberty, Bock argued, that gives men such a biological advantage.<br/>
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“… [T]hose changes that you get through development—they don’t go away,” Bock said. “And you’re going to reduce performance by a small amount if you reduce testosterone levels, but you’re never going to bridge the gap between men and women. And so, it’s a ruse to say that testosterone suppression, it’s a level playing field, so it’s not true.”<br/>
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As someone who’s worked against doping, he insists his mere presence in a “sport integrity role” is compromised when “there’s massive, essentially authorized, cheating taking place and dramatically harming women.” Bock decided that he didn’t want to help the NCAA project this lie of fairness and equity.<br/>
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“… [I] needed to resign with the hope that maybe [it] will cause other people to look at the issue more closely,” he wrote.<br/>
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Just this past week, a biological boy literally leapt over the girls’ teams in New Hampshire’s high-jump championship, robbing young women of their place on the podium. His winning jump, people point out, was 10 inches lower than the boys’ highest mark—but it was enough to trash real girls’ dreams.<br/>
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No wonder New Hampshire is racing to join the other 25 states that have protected women’s sports.<br/>
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Frankly, Baker should have seen the wave of pushback to this agenda and responded, Concerned Women for America’s Doreen Denny insisted on “Washington Watch.” But, unfortunately, “the NCAA is a coward,” she pointed out. It was a coward under Emmert, it’s “a coward to institutions that are woke. It’s a coward to the culture that wants to convince us that males can take women’s places, because they’re now female—and we know that’s just a farce.”<br/>
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In the meantime, they should all be taking Bock’s resignation seriously, Denny said, because “his reasons come from his own expertise.”<br/>
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“He was a part of the U.S. Doping Agency that litigated Lance Armstrong and the testosterone doping scandal that happened. And he said [that] even Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal … pales in comparison [to] the advantage that males have in women’s sports.”<br/>
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To see someone like Bock step down should prompt some major “soul searching,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins suggested.<br/>
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“His expertise is the wisdom that NCAA leaders should heed, but instead have rejected,” Denny agreed in a conversation with The Washington Stand. “From the start, NCAA’s policy for participation of trans-identifying male athletes in women’s sports has had no justification in law or science. In fact, it is nothing short of institutional discrimination against female athletes. It’s time for the NCAA to admit this and repeal its wrongheaded policy that is robbing collegiate women of equal opportunity in their own sports.”<br/>
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“We need more people to take a stand and be courageous,” she urged. “And we just have to keep working.”<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/14/ncaa-official-resigns-trans-takeover-womens-sports-this-is-massive-authorized-cheating/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/14/ncaa-official-resigns-trans-takeover-womens-sports-this-is-massive-authorized-cheating/</a>
</p>
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My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5122433.post-62865509838710872012024-02-14T21:13:00.002+13:002024-02-14T21:13:32.280+13:00<br><br/>
<b> Dating Crisis Fuels Marriage Crisis</b><br/>
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<i> Katrina Trinko (below) is right. When I became single in 2021 it took me nearly a year to find a new partner. I met many possibles but only one ever wanted me. But I am 80 so maybe that figures<br/>
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I can see no remedy for what she describes. Both men and women say, "There's no-one out there". Almost the whole singles population is invisible. The characteristic Leftist dissatisfaction with everything seems to have spread. Christian thankfulness for our blessings would be a healthier attitude. Selfishness is self-defeating in the end.<br/>
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I think dating sites have spread Leftist dissatisfaction attitudes. They have made both sexes too critical and too fussy. Realism and tolerance are in short supply. </i><br/>
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If you’re not looking to date this Valentine’s Day, be grateful. It’s a disaster out there.<br/>
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Pair the lingering effects of the sexual revolution, of a world where too often sexual pleasure is prioritized over relationships founded on love and giving, with Big Tech’s noxious dating apps, where algorithms seem far better at perpetuating singledom than finding people soulmates, and you’ve got a hellscape.<br/>
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Yes, conservatives—and all Americans who value the family—rightly fret over the state of marriage in the United States.<br/>
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The number of 40-year-old Americans who never have been married is higher than ever at 25%, according to Pew Research Center. The number of births per woman has plummeted to 1.6. Nor is that because women want fewer children: Almost half of women want three or more children, according to Gallup.<br/>
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For conservatives, who rightly view the family as the foundation of society, these numbers are horrifying—and a siren that our culture is languishing, our social ties dissipating. Loneliness is on the rise, and unsurprisingly, so are addiction rates and suicide rates.<br/>
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But as an unmarried woman in my 30s, I also realize there’s no quick fix to this situation—and that married Americans are often unaware of how bleak the current dating landscape can be. Ultimately, if we’re going to have more healthy marriages, we need to change our dating culture.<br/>
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Take this new lawsuit, which highlights just how insane the current dating world is.<br/>
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The plaintiff, Nikko D’Ambrosio, alleges he was defamed in a private Chicago Facebook group for women, called “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook groups with this name began sprouting up in 2022, allowing thousands of women to swap information—rarely of the flattering variety—about local single men.<br/>
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Although this seems like a recipe for idle gossip, it was also a way for women to warn other women of the bad behavior of particular local men so they could avoid them.<br/>
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D’Ambrosio says he was defamed in the Chicago Facebook group, but was unable to join it to defend himself or get the moderators to remove the posts about him. In one post mentioned in his lawsuit, a woman wrote: “Very clingy very fast. Flaunted money very awkwardly and kept talking about how I don’t want to see his bad side, especially when he was on business calls.”<br/>
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Another woman wrote: “I went out with him a few times just over a year ago—he told me what I wanted to hear until I slept with him and then he ghosted … I’d steer clear.” (The term “ghosted” refers to when a romantic interest stops responding to all forms of communication without announcing a breakup or an end of contact.)<br/>
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These Facebook groups of women who warn each other about bad men are hugely popular: Over 200 such groups with 3.5 million members exist worldwide, according to a GoFundMe by Paola Sanchez, the founder of this network of groups (and a defendant in the lawsuit).<br/>
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The groups’ wild popularity is just another sign of the desolate dating landscape in modern times. Online dating apps promise a world of romantic fulfillment and the ability to find a soulmate who shares your values, lives locally, and may be contacted from your living room.<br/>
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But instead of romantic fulfillment, online daters are finding disappointment—and betrayal. According to a 2023 study, co-authored by Stanford University professor Elias Aboujaoude, almost two-thirds of Tinder users are either married or in a romantic relationship. (Tinder, an extremely popular dating app known for promoting casual flings, disputes the findings of the survey.)<br/>
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Even when would-be partners aren’t married or hiding a girlfriend, it doesn’t mean they’re exactly pure of heart, seeking to find meaningful romantic relationships. Online dating has spurred a plethora of phrases to describe bad behavior.<br/>
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In addition to “ghosting,” there’s “lovebombing,” which refers to a man or woman being effusively romantic and/or discussing a long-term future, before abruptly and suddenly withdrawing contact. There’s also “breadcrumbing,” which is when a person tries to keep a romantic interest engaged by sending very occasional messages without committing more fully.<br/>
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Or there’s also the awful experience of being sent, to use a popular crude term that aptly describes it, a “dick pic.” According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 56% of women and 25% of men ages 18 to 49 say they’ve received an unsolicited, sexually explicit image or message.<br/>
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Bring on the wedding bells, am I right?<br/>
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It’s no wonder that millions of women are trying to avoid emotional pain and find out whether other locals on Facebook can speak to a man’s character. (Although men have formed some groups of their own to judge women’s character, those groups appear far less popular.)<br/>
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But of course, it’s not that women are necessarily always being fair or honest, either: Are the men they are bashing on these groups always guilty? Is crucial context being left out?<br/>
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The outcome of D’Ambrosio’s lawsuit isn’t certain. (In the interim, D’Ambrosio was convicted for tax fraud.) And although I don’t think that that these women’s Facebook groups are the answer to today’s dating woes, I do think they highlight just how awful things are right now.<br/>
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But even if two people are able to find each other and start dating, it’s a more complicated path to marriage these days. Searching for monogamy? You might be surprised by a romantic partner’s desire to explore polyamory—after all, a third of singles have been in a nonmonogamous relationship, according to a 2023 survey by the dating site company Match.<br/>
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Nonmonogamy isn’t the only way the zany ethics of the sexual revolution continue to infect romance. Pornography is changing men and women and what they sexually desire.<br/>
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In her 2022 book “Rethinking Sex,” columnist Christine Emba recounted attending a holiday party and being asked by another woman, whom she hadn’t met before, what she thought about choking during sex. The woman was struggling because she liked everything else about the new guy she was seeing—he was attractive, had a good job, and was smart—but she couldn’t seem to shake the unease she felt about being choked during sex, even though she had consented to it.<br/>
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Nor is this woman alone in her quandary. A fifth of women said they’ve been choked during sex. You know what wasn’t in the fairy tales I read growing up? A discussion between Cinderella and her fairy godmother about whether she should overlook the fact that Prince Charming could be turned on only by acting violently toward her.<br/>
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Yet, in our porn-saturated world where men (and yes, some women) seem to need more and more extreme and horrific sexual actions to feel pleasure, this is where we’re at.<br/>
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Of course, I’ve sketched a bleak picture—and to be fair, some singles are still finding love and pursuing marriage in today’s world. Among adults who are married or in a serious romantic relationship, 10% of them met that person online, according to Pew Research Center.<br/>
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Yet overall, the dating landscape desperately needs improvement if we want to improve marriage rates.<br/>
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For instance, even for singles who reject dating apps, the apps still have infected today’s dating world. Online and app dating has made it less likely that a young adult will approach another young adult who is a stranger; after all, the norm increasingly is that you meet someone online, not in real life. Approaching someone in real life can be seen as being “creepy”—which is unfair and awful, but I understand why some are reluctant to do it.<br/>
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If you are living in a “Benedict Option” world, as writer Rod Dreher advocates in his popular book, there’s no guarantee of finding a spouse. In religious circles, women tend to outnumber men.<br/>
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As former Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican known for championing family values, said during a recent Heritage Foundation panel on working-class Americans: “I wish I had a nickel for every young woman I know who’s just amazing—in their 20s and 30s and they can’t find a marriageable man. It’s pathetic. It’s awful. We’re just destroying our own culture, and we don’t talk about it. We as conservatives don’t talk about it.”<br/>
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We don’t.<br/>
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Of course, based on anecdotal evidence, marriageable single men are out there, but they can be hard to find—and, frankly, are too few.<br/>
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Furthermore, religious men and women aren’t immune from the temptations of porn and other scourges of modern life; it’s not clear, even if such people are single, whether they are in a state to be a good spouse.<br/>
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Of course, none of this is to claim that every single person is perfect and has zero responsibility for remaining single. Some are too picky. Some women, no doubt, place too much emphasis on height and income, while some men place too much emphasis on looks.<br/>
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Both sexes struggle with the Hollywood-popularized idea of soulmates. It’s easy to think, particularly with the seeming abundance of matches on dating apps, that someone out there has the perfect personality, body, and temperament that will make you optimally happy. This is a noxious myth that forgoes the real joys of marriage for a fantasy of happily ever after.<br/>
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And of course, there’s also a noble tradition in Christianity of being single for the sake of leading a life more focused on God. While marriage is a good for many, I’d never claim all people should strive to get married.<br/>
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So where does this leave us?<br/>
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As conservatives look to advocate marriage, it’s not enough to talk about its importance. We need to talk about healthy marriages. We need to talk about how porn warps imaginations (and hearts). We need to look at the bruised, wounded singles of today and not say, “Why aren’t you married?” but “Is there a way I can help?”<br/>
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Maybe it’s married couples setting up mutual friends. Maybe it’s all of us praying. Maybe it’s helping a friend who is struggling become a better person—which will benefit the culture whether he ultimately gets married or not. Maybe sometimes it is, if asked for advice by a single friend, to gently nudge them away from excessive pickiness. Maybe it’s married couples with decades of success mentoring younger couples, helping them learn how to communicate and love in a healthy way.<br/>
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Maybe it’s criticizing the dating landscape of today and saying, who is happy? Can sexual pleasure really be worth all this? Maybe it’s showing there can be a different way where you prioritize a selfless love, not just sexual pleasure. Maybe it’s more recently married couples, who survived today’s dating landscape, sharing how they kept hope and persisted.<br/>
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Maybe it’s married couples being more honest about what each has compromised on for a spouse instead of furthering the soulmate myth with gauzy social media photos and holiday cards. Maybe it’s them talking more vulnerably about dating, about how sometimes an amazing love story starts not with fireworks, but with a slight interest that then blossoms into something greater—and perhaps more enduring than fireworks.<br/>
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We don’t want people to slap a ring on it just because they hear marriage is good. We’re not looking for more divorces and lonely marriages and toxic marriages. We’re not looking to bring children into bad situations.<br/>
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Instead, we need to present something more compelling: an alternative vision. Not talk of marriage as it is in fairy tales and in Hollywood movies, but as it is in real life. We need to talk about the beauty and the growth in a marriage where each spouses prioritizes the other one, where they tackle real challenges by honest conversations and genuine goodwill. We need to talk about how sexual pleasure is often found more in marriages and relationships that follow traditional norms, not in sleeping around.<br/>
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And we need to build up singles who are trying not to cave into the wretched norms of the 2020s and yet who perhaps feel they are looking at never getting married as a result.<br/>
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It’s so, so ugly out there in dating today. That’s a tragedy—and it’s going to take more than singles to fix it. If we want a culture with more and better marriages, we need to work together to make dating better.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/want-more-marriages-make-dating-less-brutal/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/want-more-marriages-make-dating-less-brutal/</a>
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<b> The Left and Chaos</b><br/>
<br/>
Dennis Prager<br/>
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It is impossible to understand what is happening to America—and to the rest of the West—without understanding the most dynamic ideology of the last hundred years: leftism.<br/>
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We need to begin with the understanding that leftism (or “progressivism”) and liberalism are not only not the same ideologies, they are in fact opposed to each other on virtually every major issue.<br/>
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Leftism and liberalism have only two things in common:<br/>
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One is belief in big government, which, given that individual and societal liberty decline as the state grows, is a significant similarity.<br/>
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The other Left-liberal commonality is antipathy to the Right. This is even more important than commitment to big government because it explains why liberals vote for the Left despite the fact that liberals differ with far more left-wing positions than with conservative positions.<br/>
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Unlike the Left, most liberals love their country. Unlike the Left, most liberals do not believe that there are more than two sexes/genders; that prepubescent boys and girls who claim they are members of the other sex should be given hormone blockers; that girls under 21 should be allowed to have their breasts surgically removed; or that men who say they are women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. So, too, liberals do not believe that capitalism is evil, that America is systemically racist, that all whites are racist, that Israel is the villain in the Middle East, and that Zionism is racist.<br/>
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So, then, given that those leftist positions are as destructive as they are absurd, how are we to explain leftism?<br/>
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This question has preoccupied me all my adult life. It is why I was one of fewer than 10 graduate students in all of Columbia University to major in what was called “Communist Affairs.” (I was a fellow at the Russian Institute at Columbia’s School of International Affairs.) In other words, I have studied the Left all my life.<br/>
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Early on, I recognized that the Left opposes liberty—the clearest example being that wherever the Left gains power, whether at a university or in society as a whole, it suppresses free speech—and that it destroys everything it touches. But while I (and many others) have always understood that the Left (again, not liberalism) has always, everywhere, been a force for evil, I needed to understand why.<br/>
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How can people believe that men give birth; that a country to which more than 4 million black people have emigrated and which twice elected a black president is systemically racist; that the freest country in the Middle East, one in which millions of Arabs live as equal citizens, is the villain, while its barbaric enemies are worthy of support?<br/>
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Here are some answers:<br/>
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Throughout their history, Americans have had three great providers of meaning: family, religion, and patriotism. Leftists lack the latter two (indeed, they seek to get rid of them), and increasing numbers of them lack the first.<br/>
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Since human beings cannot live without meaning—it is as great a need as food, and even greater than sex—they seek meaning elsewhere. So they create new meanings through creating secular religions: socialism, communism, feminism, environmentalism, DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), “anti-racism,” anti-Zionism, LGBTQIA+ pride, and trans activism, among others.<br/>
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All these are united by one overarching aim: destroying the institutions of Western civilization (e.g., religion, art, music, the nuclear family, moral norms, schools and universities, free speech, capitalism, even medicine).<br/>
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Those of us who appreciate Western civilization and wish to preserve it (while, of course, correcting its flaws) cannot understand why anyone would want to destroy it. That is a major reason it is so difficult for non-leftists to understand the Left.<br/>
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After decades of mulling this over, I think I have discovered one answer that is not obvious even to all leftists.<br/>
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What opened my eyes are the Left’s beliefs that men can become women and women can become men; men give birth; there are more than two genders/sexes; men who say they are women should be placed in women’s prisons, women’s colleges, and women’s shelters; men who say they are women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports; and children should be taken to drag queen shows.<br/>
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All these positions represent … chaos.<br/>
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The Left’s trans-positions are the most obvious areas of Left-induced chaos, but there are many others. These include the Left’s contempt for the ideal of the nuclear family (i.e., a married mother and father and children); its support for defunding police; its raising the dollar value of stolen goods that qualifies as a felony, which can only incentivize theft; and its support for progressive district attorneys.<br/>
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Fighting crime represents order; crime represents chaos.<br/>
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And why does leftism seek chaos? Because the Left hates the opposite of chaos: order. And order ultimately represents a religious view of life. Order represents divine order.<br/>
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The proof is that no religious people say, “Men give birth.” Not all secular people believe men give birth, there are more than two sexes, men can compete in women’s sports, children should be exposed to drag queen shows, or children should be given hormone blockers if they claim to be a member of the other sex. But only secular people believe those things. Virtually no one who believes in the Bible and the God of the Bible believes them. We believe in a God-created social order.<br/>
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Chaos is the normal state of the world. The second verse of the Bible states that the world was in a chaotic state. God then made order. Which is why the Left is undoing it.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/the-left-and-chaos/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/the-left-and-chaos/</a>
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<b> ‘Gender-Based Political Violence’: Former Lawmaker Targeted for Calling a Man Who Identifies as a Woman a Man</b><br/>
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Mexican authorities convicted civil society leader and former Mexican Congressman Rodrigo Iván Cortés of “gender-based political violence.” His crime? Criticizing a man who identifies as a transgender woman.<br/>
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Cortés drew fire over posts on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, that referred to a trans-identifying Mexican congressional representative as a “man who self-ascribes as a woman,” according to ADF International, the organization representing him.<br/>
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That trans-identifying lawmaker, who goes by the name Salma Luévano, filed a complaint against Cortés, arguing that his social media posts constituted a “denial of identity” and violated Luévano’s right to be “acknowledged as a woman.”<br/>
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Luévano, asked via X if those who called him a man should be punished, responded: “Of course they should be punished. It’s hate speech, and hate speech is the precursor to hate crimes.”<br/>
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In an interview with The Daily Signal, Cortés described how he was punished by the government for speaking up in defense of biological sex, his ongoing legal battle, and how he listened inside his home as assailants arrived and smashed his car.<br/>
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Cortés warned that Americans should be “very worried” about whether such punishments for speech will soon become common in the United States.<br/>
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“What is happening, in plain sight, before our eyes, the freedom of speech has been canceled,” he explained. “I cannot say even the truth in my country. The religious freedom is canceled. And they want to make the Christian teachings and the Bible itself as a hate speech.”<br/>
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“I’m Catholic, and I believe that Christian teachings are important,” he said, when asked whether he regrets speaking up. “It’s not that I’m glad to say it, but I feel confirmed, because you must be sure that you are in the good fight, so at least that I feel that I am in the good fight.”<br/>
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“They are taking things to upside down—principles, values, laws, terms,” he added, “I think I must give my testimony. I don’t know if I’m going to win. So far, I’m not, but at least I am saying the truth.”<br/>
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The former lawmaker appealed, unsuccessfully, to Mexico’s Electoral Superior Chamber. And after he was convicted of “gender-based political violence,” the Superior Chamber imposed a fine of $19,244 Mexican pesos on him (the equivalent of about $1,000). The court also ordered him to “publish the court ruling and a compelled apology written by the court and imposed verbatim on Cortés, on his social media accounts, daily, for 30 days,” ADF International said.<br/>
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“They sentenced me to deconstruct myself,” he told The Daily Signal, laughing. “How could I do that? How could I deconstruct myself?”<br/>
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He also was ordered to take a “gender-based political violence” course and was entered into the National Registry of Sanctioned Persons for Violence Against Women in Politics—meaning that he cannot hold any public position at the municipal, state, or federal level, Cortés said.<br/>
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ADF International filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in January on behalf of the former lawmaker, pleading that the commission will take his case and “hold Mexico to its duty to respect the fundamental right to free speech and expression,” Kristina Hjelkrem, ADF International’s attorney on the case, said in a statement.<br/>
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“Disagreement is not discrimination, and peaceful dissent is not violence. Cortés spoke out, peacefully, in support of self-evident truth, and for that, he has been convicted as a violent offender and subjected to onerous punishments,” said Hjelkrem. “The Mexican government’s continued censorship of its citizens violates their international human rights obligations to uphold freedom of speech.”<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/former-lawmaker-convicted-gender-based-political-violence-speaks/">https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/02/13/former-lawmaker-convicted-gender-based-political-violence-speaks/</a>
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<b> Dissecting ‘Gender-Affirming Care’</b><br/>
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As this author has mentioned again and again, “gender-affirming [read: gender-denying] care” is a treatment method without sufficient or even credible scientific evidence for people who claim they have gender dysphoria. It seems more and more obvious that it’s only in the U.S. and Canada that this treatment method is doggedly defended as a “right” for “transgender” people. Europe is largely starting to abandon this model.<br/>
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To recap, the “gender-affirming” model of treatment starts with the psychologist validating the patient’s delusion that he or she is, in fact, the wrong gender. That typically leads the person who is under such a delusion down an ever more extreme treatment path: social transition, puberty blockers and/or cross-sex hormones, and then ultimately bodily mutilation. These individuals are encouraged throughout this process in the fruitless effort to be something they are not, wasting time and money and causing mental anguish. It’s the opposite of affirming gender.<br/>
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The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak has now reported on even more evidence that “gender affirmation” or the “Dutch Protocol,” as it is known in Europe, is baseless and an illegitimate form of treatment. The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) and the legal group that represents it have analyzed 60 studies regarding probably the most crucial aspect of this entire debate: Does the process of “gender affirmation” actually improve the mental health outcomes of these gender dysphoric individuals, particularly youth?<br/>
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Their findings have several important factors. First, none of these studies that support the notion that “gender affirmation” is effective has any data tracking patients’ mental health beyond a year after “transition.” European doctors have sought to remedy this, and their findings aren’t good for suicidality three to five years post-transitioning.<br/>
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Other important analysis found that many people who have the rapid-onset/social contagion variety of gender dysphoria tend to attract those with dark tetrad personality traits, or were autistic, or had serious underlying mental illness comorbidities.<br/>
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Perhaps the biggest bombshell of all is that the justification for “gender-affirming care” and thus transgenderism — i.e., if you don’t allow your child to transition they will commit suicide — is a lie. The Heritage Foundation had already conducted a study that disproved the lie of decreased suicidality post-transition. However, the ACP itself analyzed several studies.<br/>
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Rosiak writes: “When activists cite studies that state that affirmed transgenders do better than non-affirmed ones, a look at the actual available data show[s] that the slight difference in suicidality between the two groups is far less notable than how unacceptably high the figure is for both groups. For example, in one study billed as promoting how essential it was to give puberty blockers to youth, 42% of those who received care still tried to kill themselves.”<br/>
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Rosiak also points out: “A study using Denmark’s national database, reviewing 6.6 million individuals over four decades, found that transgender people were 3.5 times more likely to kill themselves compared to normal people. If accommodating and supporting transgender people was a sufficient treatment, then that disparity shouldn’t exist.”<br/>
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It’s not a matter of society treating gender dysphoric people badly that leads to suicidality. Rather, it’s preexisting mental illness that is being masked by the gender dysphoria diagnosis or having dark tetrad personality types that contribute to this level of suicidality. One could also argue that the claims of suicidality, particularly among young people, are a socially constructed manipulation that preys on the fact that minors don’t actually understand what they are threatening to do when they say they are suicidal. They have no concept of long-term planning because their prefrontal cortexes aren’t fully developed until age 25. Moreover, they don’t fully understand that death is final and that they are being fed this storyline (one that all too many try to follow through with) in order to manipulate the adults in their lives into submission.<br/>
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On a side note, political pundit Matt Walsh made the astute observation in a podcast earlier this week that threatening to commit suicide unless you give someone what they want in any other circumstance would cause people to classify that person as dangerously narcissistic and emotionally abusive. Transgenderism uses that threat as a political weapon. It’s probably not a coincidence.<br/>
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The ACP is the conservative answer to the political American Academy of Pediatrics. Though the arguments that the ACP is trying to combat deals with children, its analysis is applicable to the greater transgender population. Its findings couldn’t have had better timing if it tried. Just last week, a story broke that the entirety of the justification possessed by the Department of Health and Human Services for its long-held stance that “gender affirmation” is the way to treat people with gender dysphoria was a two-page-long PDF brochure written by HHS itself. No long-term medical evidence, and certainly no specifics.<br/>
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The only reason “gender affirmation” has so much power over our children and the medical establishment is because it’s a political, financial (hello life-long patients), and social fad. Transgenderism’s “gender-affirming care” model is a pernicious and destructive one that is going to leave behind a string of broken people and ultimately help no one.<br/>
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<p class="asset asset-link">
<a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/104350-dissecting-gender-affirming-care-2024-02-13">https://patriotpost.us/articles/104350-dissecting-gender-affirming-care-2024-02-13</a>
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My other blogs. Main ones below:<br/>
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<a href="https://dissectleft.blogspot.com">http://dissectleft.blogspot.com</a> (DISSECTING LEFTISM)<br/>
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<a href="https://edwatch.blogspot.com">http://edwatch.blogspot.com</a> (EDUCATION WATCH)<br/>
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<a href="https://antigreen.blogspot.com">http://antigreen.blogspot.com</a> (GREENIE WATCH)<br/>
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<a href="https://australian-politics.blogspot.com">http://australian-politics.blogspot.com</a> (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)<br/>
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<a href="https://snorphty.blogspot.com/">http://snorphty.blogspot.com/</a> (TONGUE-TIED)<br/>
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<a href="http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html">http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html</a> More blogs<br/>
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jonjayrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13363092874281160320noreply@blogger.com0