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Saturday, May 11, 2024

News Weakly - 5/11/24

Inclusion That Excludes
In the interest of inclusion, the Boy Scouts will no longer be boy scouts. Next year they will be "Scouting America." Which only makes sense in this crazy mixed up world that cannot define "boy" or "girl" and will certainly be offended if you try ... especially with science. Sarcasm aside, it's sad when there can no longer be special gatherings for males apart from females and females apart from males. Oh, wait ... I guess there is still "Girl Scouts," so it's only males who can't have male gatherings. (I liked the Bee's version of the story, where the Boy Scouts, in the name of inclusivity, eliminated every word in their name except "of".)

The American Injustice System
One of Trump's current court trials is over the accusation not that he had a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels nor that he paid her to keep quiet -- neither of which are criminal acts -- but that he falsified business records to cover up the payment. So why is Stormy Daniels giving lurid details of the encounter in his trial? Trump's lawyers suggest it's because they're trying to "inflame" the jury and called for a mistrial (which the "unbiased" judge denied). No one, apparently, is concerned with Daniel's breach of contract by sharing the account for money and no one, it seems, is concerned about the actual charges -- cooking the books -- since Daniel's testimony had no bearing on those charges. I'm no Trump fan, but it looks to me like a marvelous injustice system at work. What's next? "And he looks orange!! You have to find him guilty!!"

Playing the "Innocent Card"
District Attorney Fani Willis refused to testify before a Georgia state Senate panel investigating her. Her reasoning? "I don't think they have the authority, and I didn't do anything illegal." Marvelous! I think everyone should try that. "I didn't do anything illegal. I won't answer any questions." Should work fine. (I didn't think the person being investigated had the right to determine their own guilt or innocence for the authorities.)

Who Are You Going to Believe?
Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal ... and then attacked Israel ... again. The Bee's story says, "Hamas celebrates proposed ceasefire with rocket barrage."

Better Laws Make Better People
Pennsylvania made the news this week for passing a law that prohibits drivers from using cell phones while driving. Of course, I'm in favor of such a ban, but currently something like 25 states already do that, so I'm not sure how newsworthy it is. And, as a person who lives in such a state and sees how many accidents occur from cell phone use despite the ban, I'm not sure how effective it will be. You know, like gun restrictions where people willing to violate the law against murder are expected to follow the law against gun possession. Good laws don't make better people.

Truth Genocide
According to UNICEF, 14,000 children have been killed in the Israel/Hamas conflict since October. I am not quite clear on where that number comes from. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health (MOH) is providing the numbers, but there is no reason to think those numbers can be trusted. The stories are already out of how unreliable MOH and the media can be, since neither are in the business of informing, but in manipulating public opinion. And Hamas is already using the "women and children as shields" strategy, so who is actually causing these deaths? I wrote this entry after seeing a billboard in my area that claimed, "Your tax dollars have killed 18,000 children in Gaza." Well, there you have it ... a truth claim without any substantiation, so you'd better act and act now. Because Americans are not so much concerned with truth anymore, are they?

One From Side Bee
And finally, just for fun, the Bee put up a story about the moment that Joseph and Mary figured out Jesus was actually divine. It was when He completed a carpentry project without going back to Home Depot one single time. I get it.

6 comments:

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

The Boy Scouts went LEFT when they allowed homosexual leaders and scouts, regardless of the oath to remain moral.

The whole trial business against Trump has been unconstitutional and unjust from the get-go.

Fani Willis was just another DEI hire who has no business in her job that she uses to attack political enemies.

Israel should NEVER accept a “ceasefire” proposal from Islam.

Any information from HAMAS about deaths will always be a lie.

David said...

So the Boy Scouts allowed gays into leadership, and they saw decreasing numbers of Scouts. They allowed "trans" people in and continued to see declining numbers. What makes them think that further inclusion will right this ship?

You know, people were just recently in an outrage because Harvey Weinstein got his California charges dropped because of all the witnesses that didn't talk about the crime he committed, but that he was just an awful, mean, sleazebag. Do they not see that they are simply repeating this with Trump? Everyone already knows he had an affair and is a sleazy guy, but if he gets convicted on the testimony about what he did in the bedroom for what he did with money, they're going to run into the same issue. So either they're incompetent prosecutors, or they know what they're doing and just want Trump in trial rather than campaigning.

That certainly would make court cases much easier, "I don't believe you have authority to convict and I don't believe I did anyone wrong, so there is no court case."

Glad to see Qatar and Egypt working so hard to stop fighting with Hamas. Now they just need to bring Hamas and Israel to the table, you know, the two groups that are actually fighting. What are Qatar and Egypt doing trying to make deals for Israel to cease fire when they're not involved?

Honestly, I didn't know there were any states left that didn't have laws about cell phone use while driving. As you say, why is this newsworthy?

You know, most armies strive to keep their own civilians out of harm's way. Civilian death is a sad side effect of conflict. But it certainly becomes slightly less sad when one fighting force invites civilians to known hotspots with the intention of getting them killed, and the civilians voluntarily come. What cowards you must be to hide behind women and children.

Lorna said...

It has been sad for me to see the Scouting programs falling apart in recent decades, having been Scout leaders for both our children (a girl and a boy) many years ago. There is no good reason to require a merging of programs exclusively for boys or girls, as long as both groups are served with similar programs (just like for scholastic sports). It was bad enough that the Boy Scouts of American already permitted girls to join many decades ago, when those girls already had a Scouting program available to them.

I thought (mistakenly, I guess) that Pennsylvania (my home state) already banned cell phone use while driving but that it was generally ignored by drivers--quite evident from the slow reaction time by drivers ahead of us to move once a red traffic light turns green. Let's hope all 50 states get on board with no further delay.

The Home Depot story from the Bee was a hoot (although I think the Bee should draw the line at cracking jokes about our Lord and Savior, no matter how funny). I too can relate, being the wife of an avid DIY-er (and I have made my fair share of “honey-do” lists--just like the Bee reported that Mary made for Jesus! :)

Stan said...

Just a (mostly irrelevant) note there, Lorna. The joke was on Jesus's parents, not Jesus. And the real joke was on all of us who CANNOT seem to complete a DIY task without going back to the store more than once.

Marshal Art said...

Inclusion That Excludes

What we're allowing to be done to kids for some reasons conjures images of millstones.

The American Injustice System

What's happening to Trump is just another degree of the rejection of the man since he first threw his hat in the ring. That this attitude had to get this bad to put the focus where it should always have been might be too little, too late. When his detractors can now see it (and how they never did before is beyond me), that should suggest a potential correction in how people view politics in general. I'm not confident it will. Were all this to fall away, his detractors will simply go back to "detracting" while the real threats continue.

Playing the "Innocent Card

By her standard, Willis must drop the case against Trump. The difference is that Trump actually did nothing wrong.

Who Are You Going to Believe?

With regard to islamists, as I said at Craig's blog, "NEVER Trust; ALWAYS Verify"

Better Laws Make Better People

Proper laws should have a positive affect on the overall character of the population, but they can't do it without the population promoting better character.

Truth Genocide

I don't think Hamas needs any help in lying.

Lorna said...

Yes, I got the humor, all around. Just to confirm I’m not a “wet blanket,” I will share a bumper sticker we saw on a vehicle that passed us on the highway yesterday: “Jesus is coming! Look busy.” (Many bumper stickers aren’t fit to repeat, but that one made me laugh.)