News Weakly - 2/23/19

This Is What It Comes To
Colin Kaepernick et. al. still protests the American flag and the national anthem because of racism in America. Fine. Whatever. So what, right? Well, here's "so what". An 11-year-old boy in Florida was arrested after becoming disruptive and resisting arrest after he refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Why did he refuse? Because the American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance are racist. And so are all the school staff. Thanks, Colin.

Almost as upsetting to me is the media approach. Every story I saw on this said something like, "Florida boy arrested after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance." Really? Well, perhaps literally, but not actually. The school does not require participation in the pledge and the student was not arrested for refusing to participate. "This arrest was based on the student’s choice to disrupt the classroom, make threats and resisting the officer’s efforts to leave the classroom." The disruption followed the refusal, so "after refusing" is correct, but it would have been just as correct to say, "The Florida boy was arrested after crossing the street to come to school." The public will make this about overbearing Americans (who are obviously racist because this boy is black), not about the illegal activities of the boy. Thanks, news media.

Well Played, Mitch
You've heard about the Democrats' "Green New Deal" plan offered up by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in the House and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts in the Senate. The goal is to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 10 years, create millions of good jobs in the process, alter infrastructure to meet sustainability goals, secure "clean air and water; climate and community resiliency; healthy food; access to nature; and a sustainable environment," and promote justice by stopping oppression (past, present, and future) of indigenous, minority, and migrant communities along with the poor, women, and youth. (What that last item has to do with "green" eludes me.) AOC has suggested the termination of air travel, but her bill doesn't mention it and calls for high-speed rail and zero-emission vehicles. The bill would eliminate 80% of the existing power production to be replaced with 100% renewable energy. There are questions about cows, since about a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture including cows, but they took that out of their documentation. The plan guarantees "a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States." (Again, "green"?) The bill doesn't include it, but the party would like to cut military spending by at least half and close overseas military bases. Reports are that most of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020 are in favor of the plan.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says she won't bring it to a vote in its current form but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will bring the plan to a vote on the Senate floor. So it's utterly ironic that Senator Markey is complaining that they hope to bring the bill to a vote. It will certainly require those Democrats who lean to the Socialism side to raise their hands or disqualify themselves from being regarded as honest. We'll see what happens.

We Need a New Word
John Wayne, as it turns out, was racist and homophobic. This according to a 1971 Playboy interview in which he stated his belief in "white supremacy" and his belief that homosexual behavior was "perverted." And, of course, the Twitterverse goes wild, oddly enough spewing massive hate about what they consider massive hate.

I need a new word. I'm tired of "homophobic" that is used every time someone expresses the belief that homosexual behavior is wrong. The term means either the fear ("phobic") of homosexuals (or, perhaps, fear of being one yourself) or the hatred of homosexuals (although nothing in the word works that way). John Wayne expressing the same moral belief that the vast majority of Americans would have expressed at that time is neither fear of nor hatred for those who commit the acts. You'll need to come up with a new term ... like, maybe, "anti-sin" or something. I'll take that.

A Crimp In Their Style
Apparently the Trump administration is going to launch a "worldwide effort to end the criminalization of homosexuality." Given the current position of the media and other left that simply assumes, "If Trump did it, it's bad," this has got to be tough. "Yes! We favor the decriminalization of homosexuality. Oh, wait! Trump's administration is pushing for it? No! We're against it because he's for it. No, hang on ..." I would guess that the conservative Christians still holding out hope that Trump is a Christian might face a similar dilemma. "Yeah! Trump's a Christian, so decriminalizing homosexuality is good! Oh, hang on. No ... oh, boy."

Not the Bee
It's my own fault. I like to give out an occasional "fake news" story from the Babylon Bee. Pretty sure you'll think this is one of those. It's not. The First Annual Christian Witches Convention is taking place in April in Salem, Massachusetts. No kidding. Declaring that Jesus was a sorcerer and the Bible is a book of magic, a "born witch" who runs "the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School" hopes to encourage more Christians to practice witchcraft and other practices forbidden by Scripture (e.g. Gal 5:18-21). No kidding. And not very funny.

Sorry, CNN, Your Bias is Showing
"Don't get your news from Fox; they're biased." That's what they tell me. I respond, "And you think CNN is not?" Turns out, CNN is ... big time. This was exposed this week when CNN hired a political conservative to head the network's coverage of the 2020 Presidential Campaign. CNN staffers were "demoralized" by it. Why? Because she's conservative ... and they're not. A blatant admission of bias. Mind you, I don't believe any media outlet is unbiased. I am just amazed that there are those who think such an outlet exists.

Vermont Ups the Ante
Not to be outdone by New York's new "kill the babies" law, Vermont has passed their own version. In an effort to make sure that women for perpetuity can kill their babies if they want, they've voted to pass H57 which gives the right to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy for any reason. Specifically in the text in order to remove all doubt, the bill explicitly says, "A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus shall not have independent rights under Vermont law." Federal law says that anyone who causes the death of a child in utero is guilty of murder (called the "Laci and Conner's Law"). Most states will charge someone with murder if they kill a mother and double homicide if her unborn child dies, too. Not Vermont. Not New York. They hold to the "magical birth canal" theory in which the transit through the birth canal endows rights not previously given ... although some are arguing for post-partum abortion as well. "Let it be born and then we'll decide if we're going to kill it or not." Followed immediately with "Let's see what they do in life and then decide if we're going to kill it or not." No? Why not?