News Weakly - 11/17/18

The New Reality (Hint: It ain't actually connected to reality.)
The chief marketing officer for Victoria's Secret had to apologize for remarks he made in a Vogue interview. He said that he didn't want to include transgender models in their show because "the show is a fantasy." He said they considered it, but "No one had any interest in it, still don't." He has backpedaled and said he would of course include any qualifying transgender model and he's sorry for the offense.

The takeaway. 1) Do not have an opinion of the dysphoria du jour that does not embrace it fully. 2) Society at large is not interested in viewing biological men as women. Society at large still sees "male" and "female" as body parts ... you know, like biology requires. 3) Free enterprise means "As free as we let you be and no more." What does the market bear? Doesn't matter. What do your customers want? Doesn't matter. What is your product about? Doesn't matter. We control the vertical; we control the horizontal. (Sorry, line from an old TV series. You get the idea. They get to control reality.)

The New Centrist
Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of Arizona's hotly contested Senate seat. She beat out a former Air Force pilot with her "solidly centrist positions, according to The Associated Press."

What constitutes "solidly centrist positions"? She favors killing babies in the womb "if mom wants to." She favors increased taxes, which is good because she favors increased federal spending to improve economic growth, but not decreasing corporate taxes if that improves economic growth. She favors gun control, standard "global warming" positions, open borders, and marijuana for recreational purposes. She opposes stay-at-home moms. She has been tied to the Communist Party USA. I am disappointed in Arizona for voting her in, but more of a concern is that these are considered "solidly centrist positions." Good thing I'm not counting on her support.

Anti-Science
A report is out that archaeologists "can determine a person's sex by analyzing a single tooth." Well, maybe, but not their gender, right? Because the tooth can't tell us if it feels like a certain sex; just that it is ... one of only two. "On the wrong side of history," bigoted, binary tooth.

The New Satanic Verses
A pastor of an Assemblies of God megachurch decided to tell his 10,000+ congregation members about a dangerous, nay, demonic activity -- yoga. That's right. If you practice yoga, connected to any religion or not connected to religion at all, you are opening yourself up, merely by taking those exercise positions, to demonic power. How does he know this? Apparently the Bible tells him so. "As a church," he said, "our heart is to provide people with Biblical insight and teaching that will strengthen their faith and their daily walk with God." If you stop the practice, you have nothing to worry about, he says. If not, you do.

I'd just like to point out that my Bible says nothing about yoga and nothing about exercise positions that open you up to demonic powers. My Bible says things like, "If one of the unbelievers invites you to [yoga] and you are disposed to go, [exercise] without raising any question on the ground of conscience" because "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (1 Cor 10:27). My Bible says, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). My Bible says, "We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him" (1 John 5:18). So I'm not sure at all what "biblical insight and teaching" he's talking about; it's not in my Bible.

Juxtaposition
The media is outraged. "You can't do that!" CNN is suing President Trump for removing the credentials of their guy after he appeared to battle with in the briefing room. You will note that they didn't ban CNN; they merely removed Jim Acosta's White House press credentials. That is, the press (CNN in this case) still has its freedom to be there; just not that guy.

I suppose I'm a little baffled by this. "This is a threat to our democracy," they say. "He's entitled to his 5th Amendment rights," they say. "It's retaliation for Acosta's challenges," they say. I don't understand at what point the president lost the ability to choose to whom he gives his information as long as it is to someone. I don't understand how "He took away my press credentials" falls under any sort of crime covered under the 5th Amendment. I don't understand why Disney can do it but the White House can't. The juxtaposition of the two stories is telling. I am not defending Trump; I'm trying to follow the logic. But, hey, that's just me. I see things in "legal" or "logical" terms and think "X." I see "The president removed Acosta's pass and he can because it's his house" while the judicial system determines "He can't because it causes 'irreparable harm.'" Looks bad for CNN, FOX (who backed the notion that the press should be allowed to be wherever they want whenever they want at their whim under the protection of free speech, free press, and the 5th amendment) and American freedom.

Is This Even Legal?
Socialists and Democrats have decided to try to force companies like Amazon and WalMart (by name) to pay their employees $15 because that's a "living wage" and those with the money should give it up. So Bernie et.al. has floated a bill (he calls the "Stop Walmart bill") to prevent them from buying back their own stock until they raise their employees pay to his minimum requirement. Why would a company buy back its own stock? That's how they give back dividends to their shareholders. So the plan is to increase the cost of living for everyone by forcing companies to pay their workers a "living wage" (by which they mean "today ... but not tomorrow") at the cost of the company and its shareholders and, ultimately all of America. That sounds fair. That sounds Socialist.