Bonkers, Blather, Blunders, & Buffoons #6
Normally, it takes longer in between Quad-B postings to fill the tank. But this time, there has been so much crappola going on, nationally and within some Dem-dominated states, that the Quad-B stack far more rapidly hit tilt.
On the subject of school board activism, carried out in recent weeks by concerned, well-meaning public-school parents (Thank You, Virginia voters!), push back from board members in Mankato, Minnesota came in the form of requiring parents/residents to state their home address before being allowed to speak. Well, yes, we need to make certain that audience speakers actually live within the particular school district’s boundaries. Oh, but that naïve reason isn’t the issue. What the defensive Mankato, Minnesota school board is really trying to pull off with this address requirement is to stifle First Amendment free speech (a tactic likely to spread rapidly to other jurisdictions in Minnesota and broadly to other states). How does it stifle opposition speech? Simple. Provide one’s home address and you can expect to be bullied by activist zealots, even (and likely) to the point of having (possibly paid?) pro-CRT-types show up at one’s home, and not for the best or safest of reasons. This seemingly innocent address request effectively shuts down the parental speech of those who don’t want to end up paying today’s consequences of expressing one’s feelings. Yet, this is a perfectly reasonable, Constitutionally protected effort to protect their children from racial divisions and false-hoods being imposed on them in some, perhaps way too many, of our public schools. This parental-rights issue has miles yet to run.
Speaking of classrooms, a Progressive teacher in a California high school added the following question to her history test. Students were asked to identify: “A complete group of idiots.” And here were the only possible answers: “KKK – All of Florida – Fox News – Texans.” If you look carefully, you can perhaps detect a subtle bit of political slant there! Responding to complaints, the School District promised to investigate. No word on repercussions, if any.
Oh, and regarding children, parents, and the abortion issue. The Illinois legislature (both houses) have now passed, and the governor has signed, a new law that allows female children/youth under the age of 18 to seek an abortion without the consent of her parents. In the interest of all-abortion, all-the-time, this is a tremendous set-back for parental rights and control over the decisions of their minor children. This is a very scary and foolish decision by those in power in this Democrat-dominated state. Once again, Government knows best! This time overriding parents regarding the health and safety of their children.
And while we’re substituting perfectly fine English language terms, used through the ages, for gender-inclusive stuff, strictly for the satisfaction and yearning of the college-level wokies, so as to avoid hurting (sorry, threatening) any one’s feelings about anything on the planet, the University of Pittsburgh Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion tells us that, on campus at least, words like the following are no longer to be used: mankind, chairman, freshman, secretary/clerk, all and more examples of what is now considered to be “Sexist Language.” Freshmen are now to be know as “first year students.” Secretary/clerk is now to be “administrator,” quite a diminishment for actual administrators! If you have absolutely nothing else to do, you can figure out the remaining substitutions. And for heaven’s sake, don’t ever again use the word “man” in any form!
In a recent report from the White House Gender Policy Council, with the title “The National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality,” it is suggested as one step to “ending so-called inequality between men, women, and transgender people,” we should work hard to remove cash bail. Cash bail is an important means of keeping presumed dangerous people in jail prior to their trials. Eliminate it, and alleged criminals are rapidly freed from confinement. And in too many instances, such persons sometimes then go on to commit other crimes, too often, very serious, even deadly ones. This is a disastrous idea, already in place in some Dem-dominated large cities, where real concern for public safety seems to be of marginal interest to those in political power.
Reportedly, both Chicago and Los Angeles are preparing to begin “universal basic income” pilot programs. Los Angeles, for example, reportedly will pay $1,000 each month to a pilot group of 3,200 families, at a total cost of $40-million (no information regarding whether this is for just the pilot or for an entire year). And such payments would be on top of continuing federal welfare checks. Taxpayers, of course, will shoulder the cost, once again, of encouraging people to stay home, just as they did with the federal COVID payments that went on way too long. Supposedly 40 other U.S. cities are considering such programs, and those identified are all Dem-dominated. So, if you wanted to disincentivize work, this is the perfect solution. Here’s another idea. Rather than cash payments with no expectation of effort, why not provide funds for skills training and job placement? Why not encourage, and underwrite, the work ethic? Said former assistant treasury secretary in the Trump administration, Michael Faulkender: “There are still millions of low-skilled jobs out there, and you have small business owners who can’t find workers to join their companies.” We need ways to get people back to work, not continuing to sit at home, becoming more and more dependent on government.
Meanwhile, speaking at a climate conference in Scotland, Mrs. Pelosi reportedly couldn’t resist taking a foolish, self-aggrandizing shot at America’s military, in front of the world, on foreign soil. She apparently agreed with a comment some other military non-supporter has voiced indicating that the U.S. military is “a larger polluter than 140 countries combined.” She did state that our military is a “big user of fuel” stating then that there have been “many initiatives over time to convert from fossil fuel to other sources of fuel to run our military.” Makes one wonder just what those “other sources of fuel” are, and why we’re not hearing more about such exciting developments! Beyond the blather, our great military will be powered by oil and specific gasolines/diesel fuels for decades to come. Or are we thinking that our tanks will before long be all-electric, needing to pull up to changing stations (that won’t exist) in combat? Time to praise, encourage, further fund, and be ever-thankful for our military, the source of America’s defense and security, rather than cast blame on it for being a “polluter.” As it is currently, sure seems like far too much ideological “pollution” is emitted daily by the administration’s own Progressive speech.
(Mankato, Minnesota school board speech restriction data via foxnews.com, Paul Best, 10-28-21; California political quiz question data via dailymail.com, Adriana Diaz, 11-7-21; Illinois abortions for minors law data via dailywire.com, Emily Zanotti, 10-28-21; U. of Pitt sexual language substitutions data via foxnews.com, Adam Sabes, 10-27-21; Cash bail report via freebeacon.com, Joseph Simonson, 10-26-21; Universal Basic Income plan data & quote via foxbusiness.com, Peter Aitken, 10-28-21; Pelosi pollution comments while overseas & quotes via foxnews.com, Michael Lee, 11-10-21).