News Weakly - 2/27/21

Doesn't Fit
Well, this doesn't fit with the narrative. In Louisiana a shooting took place at a gun store and range that left two dead (one of them was the shooter) and three injured. Authorities credit armed Samaritans with stopping further violence and saving lives. Wait, people with guns stopped a bad guy with a gun? Is that right? I thought guns were bad and made people bad. Go figure.

Disney No More
Disney+ has added content disclaimer warnings on 18 episodes of The Muppet Show. It's not new. They've already tagged Peter Pan, Dumbo, The Arisocats, Swiss Family Robinson and more. Disney continues to prove the impossibility of attaining to "Abstain from all appearance of evil" in a world where "evil" is up to the individual. And then they fired Gina Carano from Mandalorian because she mocked Democrats and people who were irate about using the "wrong pronouns" -- for wrong thinking. Just more reasons I won't be using Disney+ in my home¹. Meanwhile, Disney is warning viewers that The Muppet Show is from a different era when comedy was culturally acceptable.

Something Else to Consider
This Newsweek article was written by a non-Christian transgender. As such, the source is significant. The author is warning parents about the danger of transitioning brought on by insufficient information, a serious lack of medical standards, and an industry driven by profit rather than care. I wonder if the author will be branded "transphobic" for bringing this up.

Sharing a Coke?
The Coca-Cola company took some heat this week when someone on the inside leaked materials of diversity training given to employees. The course by Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, encouraged white people to be "less white." (Go ahead; try that line with any other race.) Coca-Cola said it was just about building "an inclusive workplace" (where "inclusive" is obtained in the classic "exclude" approach). I'm just waiting for the Black Lives Matter folk to come out and honestly admit, "Dr. Martin Luther King was wrong. We do not want his dream where 'they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.' We will continue to judge people by their color as the ultimate good." In the meantime, Coca-Cola is discontinuing Vanilla Coke in order to fight white supremacy.

Bailing Out
Illinois became the first state to eliminate bail. They did it because it's racist; it had a "disproportionately negative impact on people of color." So important is this new law that we're told, "This legislation marks a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities ..." Really? Eliminating bail is a "substantial step" here? Now, the principal purpose of bail is to secure freedom for someone pending trial while ensuring they will return for trial. So in Illinois there is no option of incentivizing defendants to return. This, they tell us, "brings us closer to true safety, true fairness and true justice." I know I feel safer knowing that criminals will be released on their own recognizance with no reason to show up for trial. Let's see, that's Illinois ... remind me not to go there anytime soon.

Inconsistent
Olympic runner Caster Semenya is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights. She is prohibited from competing in certain track events because her testosterone is too high. Now, she was legally identified as a female at birth and has identified as a female her whole life even though she has male XY chromosomes and associated higher testosterone levels. In response to transgender issues where males who identify as females wish to compete with females in the Olympics, the World Athletics introduced rules that restricted testosterone levels for females competing in women's sports. And that, her lawyers say, is "discriminatory attempts to restrict the ability of certain women to participate in female athletics competitions." I don't get it. She said she identifies as a female. I thought "I identify as" was the definition of gender and trumps all other possible concerns. But, then, I thought "XX" and "XY" were the standard definitions of "female" and "male," so what do I know? I just can't keep up.

Who's Wrong?
You've seen that the Equality Act vote is here. So one Illinois Democrat hung a transgender pride flag outside her office in support of it and another put up a poster that read, "There are TWO genders: Male & Female. Trust The Science!" Who is in trouble? The one who trusts the science. Of course. It's okay to tell the one who trusts science she's wrong by hanging the flag, but not okay to urge the one hanging the flag to trust science. In fact, the flag was put out there specifically to annoy the one who favored science. I know Biden said his administration would always "trust the science," so he's got to weigh in on this, right? (Don't hold your breath.)

What Could Go Wrong?
They've come up with a long-range through-wall imaging system. I suppose it's because everyone is quite sure that people are basically good and folks, including the government, can be trusted not to use it, right? I mean, they're completely trustworthy, aren't they? What could go wrong?

I Can't Keep Up
I'm not ashamed to admit it; I can't keep up. These words are changing faster than I can track. So now Mike Tyson is asking his fans to boycott Hulu because they're planning on doing a miniseries on his life story. He's miffed, I suppose, because it's without compensation, and I can see that. But what he said was it was "a prime example of how Hulu's corporate greed led to this tone-deaf cultural misappropriation of the Tyson life story." Cultural misappropriation? I didn't know that Tyson's life story was a culture to be misappropriated. Or is it the culture of "pay me" that was being misappropiated? Oh, I don't know. I can't be expected to obey the rules if they are constantly changing, can I?

Bad Pork Can Kill
The House is getting ready to pass the COVID stimulus package the president wants. Nearly $2 trillion of COVID relief includes money for Planned Parenthood, a a bridge between New York and Canada, an underground rail line between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, $129 billion to schools whether they open or not, and a $15/hr minimum wage (that would likely decrease hiring). Some estimate up to 90% of the bill has nothing to do with COVID relief. There is only $75 billion for vaccines, testing, and other pandemic medical supplies. That's a lot of pork to fork over to the next generation.

Update: I'm sure you noticed that the House passed the bill including the federal $15/hr minimum wage. The general opinion is that the Senate will kill it, but, hey, at least those kindly House folks care about putting money in their the people's pockets, right? (Hint: No.)

Where's the Bee?!
For those of you who are looking down here asking, "Hey, where's some of that humor from the Bee?", I pulled a fast one and sprinkled it around in the stories above. Hope you were looking at links and paying attention.
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¹ Sidenote: There is something interesting here. Some Bugs Bunny cartoons have been removed from circulation because they are "offensive." Disney has completely removed Song of the South from circulation because it was "offensive." John Wayne's movies are being pulled because he, apparently, was a racist. This is different than a boycott, where I said, "I won't be using Disney+ in my home." Where Disney tags "offensive content" is different than removing it as in Song of the South. If it is labeled, you have the choice to watch or not; if it is removed, you don't. If I boycott Business X, I don't prevent others from using it; I simply don't use it myself. All of these removals -- the statues and memorials, the music or work of "offending individuals," the "cancel culture," etc. -- is an attempt to control what you see (and, therefore, think) where my choice not to watch X is my attempt to control what I see or think. See the difference? One side is seeking to control you based on their version of "offensive."