News Weakly - 9/7/19

What Did You Expect?
With the recent NBC article arguing that heterosexuality is sexism in disguise and not normal at all, we shouldn't really be surprised that 1) some heterosexuals felt like they needed a "Straight Pride" march or 2) that it ended with counter-protests and injured police officers. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the parade because apparently only males are straight and next year, if they've matured enough, they'll "join LGBTQ fam." Rep. Ayanna Pressley labeled it a "hate march" and applauded those who confronted the police and marchers. (The police took abuse simply for being police.) The parade was protested because it was declared homophobic (Note: "Milo Yiannopoulos, an openly gay right-wing political commentator and writer, was the grand marshal.") as the "Gay Pride" parade is labeled "heterophobic" and "hate." Well, no, it's not, but it should be if we're going to be consistent. At least, it looks as if we're going that direction.

When My Fears Trump Your Freedom of Speech
We are so terrified of guns today (guns, not the people who use them) that for a second time in as many weeks someone is paying for a "gun gesture." In the latest, an American tennis player was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct after a lob against him was called in but, in review, declared out. He pointed to the chair judge and line judge and pointed his racket "like a gun" at them. The fine was $10,000, the highest fine given to a man so far this year. What used to be considered "playful gestures" are now criminal and unsportsmanlike. We are not a kinder and gentler nation. We tend to assume the worst.

More than Pronoun Problems
A 6-year-old girl wrote a letter to a toy company asking them to make female army men. Because women in combat is something to celebrate. The story concludes, "A decisive victory in the battle for equality." Because true equality is gender confused "female army men."

Can't We All Just Get Along?
In Australia a vegan is suing her neighbor for having barbecues in their own back yard. "I can't enjoy my back yard, I can't go out there," she said. "She also took issue with cigarette smoke in their garden, because the fumes waft over into her yard. She is also frustrated by the sound of the neighbors' children playing basketball and making noise in the yard." She has already filed this suit twice and it was dismissed. She's taking it to their Supreme Court. Even though her neighbor removed the barbecue and banned his children from playing basketball. Can't we all just get along? No. Apparently not at all. Not in the slightest.

Rampant Racism
Back in 1967 Alabama a college student reportedly took part in a skit where someone wore blackface. The college student went on to become Alabama's governor. Late last week Gov. Kay Ivey apologized for a college skit she didn't actually remember 52 years ago. The NAACP said it wasn't enough; that the only right response is for her to resign. Others echoed it. She says she won't resign. She said she didn't wear blackface ... ever. "I didn’t remember being at the Baptist Student Union for any kind of skit like that for sure. But I’ve apologized for it. I should not have done that." Doesn't matter. She's still a racist because she's white and because all whites are racist. They want her to resign because "it could bring attention to improving race relations." Because there is no coming back from the sins of the past. At least not for the people we don't like. And burning people to the ground for past mistakes is the best way to improve race relations.

Save the Animals!
California has become the first state to ban fur trapping. That sounds questionable to some, but, look, there are only 72 fur trappers in the state. Not a major impact. It was interesting to note that the ban included both public and private lands. Private game reserves -- that sort of thing -- are out. What was heartbreaking, though, was the intensity of the effort to "protect animals and wildlife" (They're considering banning all fur products and animals in a circuses.) because "it seems especially cruel" but there wasn't an ounce of concern for the hundreds of thousands of babies killed in the state every year.

(For the scoffers, please note that I'm not recommending killing more animals. I'm pointing out the pecking order of who they want to save first.)

That's the way to do it
Meet 6-year-old Jermaine Bell of Allendale, South Carolina. His birthday was coming up and he'd been saving for a trip to Disney World for it, but instead he used all his savings to buy hot dogs and set up a stand along the road where Hurrican Dorian evacuees were passing so he could hand out "free franks, water, chips and prayers." "'The people that are traveling to other places, I wanted them to have some food to eat so they can enjoy the ride to the place that they're gonna stay at,' he told CNN affiliate WJBF."

Good for you, kid. And he got it. In our current "We're done with thoughts and prayers -- we gotta do something" mentality, this kid had the right idea. Pray and do something. So he served food and prayed with them. Good job.

Don't Look Now
US District Judge Anthony Trenga has ruled that the FBI's terror watchlist is a violation of constitutional rights. According to the judge, such a watchlist requires that no innocent people be on it. The list is of "known or suspected terrorists" and the judge complained that not all the people on this list met the criteria for "known terrorist". A watchlist like that, then, can only include guilty people ... which you don't need to watch because they're ... guilty. Keep your eyes open, folks. This could be a bumpy ride when they won't let the authorities watch out for potential terrorists.

In practically the next breath, San Francisco has officially labeled the NRA as a "domestic terrorist organization." Because the NRA has been so busy blowing up buildings, killing people, and creating general terror? The city will examine local vendors' and contractors' ties to the NRA and calls on local government not to do business with anyone associated with the NRA. The goal, of course, is to get that up to state level.

Now, if "terrorist" is defined as one who uses unlawful violence and intimidation to terrorize people for political aims, it would seem obvious that the NRA doesn't qualify because they haven't done any such thing. And if a terrorist watchlist is illegal because it includes potentially innocent people, then it would seem that the courts would obviously rule this declaration from San Francisco as equally unconstitutional. Don't hold your breath. Double standards are the current standard for this crowd.

Thoughts and Prayers
This is an odd story, but it almost sounds like Benny Hinn is giving up on the prosperity gospel. "I'm done with it. I will never again ask you to give a thousand or whatever amount, because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it ... I think that hurts the gospel." Benny Hinn's nephew (a pastor in Gilbert, AZ who refutes his uncle's theology) said, "I was encouraged by his blunt refutation of the prosperity gospel. I sincerely hope and pray that this is the beginning of repentance for him and a turnout in these later years in his life and ministry." Amen. Thoughts and prayers.

As We Suspected
Christine Ford is a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University. She hit the big news in 2018 when she alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in 1982.

There was a lot of speculation as to why she waited so very long to report this. "It's common for survivors to delay action." "She was afraid." "The media pressured her into it." All very reasonable, but it turns out there was also a much more insidious reason. Her lawyer admitted that the real reason was because he was conservative and she was pro-abortion and she wanted to ensure that there was an "asterisk" next to his name so when he came out against Roe v Wade we'd all know where it was coming from. "I believe that Christine's testimony brought about more good than the harm misogynist Republicans caused by allowing Kavanaugh on the court," the lawyer said. "When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is important; it is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine."