[American Thinker] Indulge me for a moment while I explain how my thinking on gay rights evolved over a period of about twenty years. As a person with a definite libertarian streak, I have always thought that sex between consenting adults in private, including gay sex, is none of my business. It’s not that I ever rooted for gay sex. It’s just that I could really care less; it had no impact on my life. Then, around the turn of the century, some gay people in the Bay Area became more activist around gay rights. A common protest slogan at the time was: "We’re here! We’re queer! Get used to it!" So, the issue for me went from "I don’t care because it has no impact on my life," to "should I tolerate sexual expression in public." Nowadays, there are events in San Francisco like the Folsom Street Fair (an annual event) where attendees have sex in public, in full view of non-attendee passersby, including children. Say what you want about whether such behavior comports with the general community standards of a place like San Francisco, but I’m not down. Sure, I don’t live in San Francisco, but it’s a fifteen-minute drive from home.
Fast forward to now and the "slippery slope" that some commenters warned about has morphed into a triple-black-diamond ski run. The point is that the people who warned about the slippery slope were right and the people who dismissed the slippery slope argument with their cries of "For Pete’s sake! No one’s talking about (gay marriage, changing genders... fill in the blank)." were wrong; at least on the issue of gay rights.
I don’t know whether the "no one’s talking about" people are genuine when they say that; my guess is it’s a clever diversion to limit discussion to the immediate without consideration of the long-term implications. Either way, I’m not buying it anymore. The only question for me is the next thing that no one’s talking about. Legalized pedophilia? Human-robot marriage? Legalized bestiality? It’s time for people to take these scenarios seriously while there is still a modicum of community standards resisting such horrors. Because even though some might say "no one’s talking about" it, you can sure bet there are some activist people thinking it.
Now, let’s move on to gay marriage. I’m not a fan, though I did have an alternative in mind (too late now), which some of my friends dismissed as unworkable back before Newsom started marrying people at City Hall in 2004. Specifically, why is the government in the marriage business in the first place? Wouldn’t it be better to convey legal status to couples for purposes of taxation, medical access, etc., through universal civil unions? If it were handled that way, any couple, same sex or not, could be treated equally under the law, without mixing up the legal side of things with the religious-sociological implications of redefining marriage. People who want to be married, in addition to having their civil union, could have a separate ceremony at church willing to accept them for that purpose. Just a thought, and like I said, it’s too late now.
Get Woke, Go Broke, Chapter 133. This is another example of Hollywood movie makers lack of ideas and creativity. Since it's all CGI bullshit to begin with they probably won't lose their shirts, thus inviting another round of crappy 'movies' of self-absorbed athletes who go through the motions to grab another paycheck.
I hope you like reading bad movie reviews as much as I do.
[Outkick] - Space Jam: A New Legacy starring LeBron James sucks, according to nearly every film critic. Get ready, these are good.
"LeBron James’ film is an abomination," the New York Post says. "During the endless final sequence of Space Jam: A New Legacy, Porky Pig calls himself ’the Notorious P.I.G.’ and begins to rap. ’This pig is lit,’ the Looney Tune says. ’I’m super legit.'"
"Porky should’ve added: ’And my movie is s—t.'"
Fair enough.
CNBC, not as liberal as the rest of NBC’s properties but still bad, calls Space Jam 2 a "bloated mess."
Word is LeBron’s new film was scored "Rotten" on Rotten Tomatoes, holding just a 37% score. For context, that’s awful. For some perspective that's tied with Ishtar, for those keeping score at home.
Space Jam supporters and LeBron stans bragged about the film’s CGI. According to the L.A. Times, though, the movie’s CGI mirrors a garbage tornado.
#2
Nobody gets fired when a "prior success" just doesn't work this time -- even when it's as much a failure of execution as a failure of the material. So we're still going to see endlessly recycled old hits.
Plus, you don't need to cut anyone new into the deal. Poorly paid Korean animators or CGI crews using intellectual property the studio's owned for a century, a handful of "celebrities" famous for being famous, a script churned out by a "new talent" who will accept peanuts...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/17/2021 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Coming soon to a Wal-Mart bargain bin near you.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/17/2021 18:48 Comments ||
Top||
We had this in 2006, but it seems worth reviewing again in light of current conditions since then.
[Gov Lamm's 2003 speech] We know Dick Lamm as Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders . A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hanson talked about his latest book, 'Mexifornia,' explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal - was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America .
The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, 'If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America . It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'
Continued on Page 49
#3
Not really paywall. This story just doesn't have any text (for some reason). Other stories are shown just fine.
Viewing and entering comments however requires a paid subscription. Been that way for some time.
[WND] Against the backdrop of conflagration in South Africa, I offer positive commentary about the country of my birth. Do I need to provide a disclaimer before saying positive things about South Africa mid-riots?
Probably — given that I'm the author of a scathing, 2011 — dare I say prescient? — indictment of the political dispensation forced upon South Africa by the "Anglo-American Axis of Evil."
That dispensation is the "one man, one vote, one time" arrangement, to quote "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons for America From Post-Apartheid South Africa": "Democracy is especially dangerous in ethnically and racially divided societies, where majorities and minorities are rigidly predetermined and politically permanent."
That's what the West forced on South Africa.
For the last decade, I've seen South Africa as a sea of troubles — and a harbinger of things to come in America. When America becomes a majority-minority country, it will likely resemble South Africa.
Community members left reeling after days of violence and looting caused widespread destruction and more than 200 deaths.
Johannesburg, South Africa – Shelves broken, decorations ripped off the walls and empty boxes that used to carry colourful party supplies litter Thandi Johnson’s store. The devastated shop owner looks through the debris of her popular party-rental shop in Diepkloof, Soweto, for anything she might be able to salvage.
Direct translation via Google Translate
[Regnum] The Japanese command, having received the news of the death of Adm. Makarov, decided to begin the landing on the Liaodong Peninsula, the victory at Turenchen - the first test of strength in a clash with the European army - strengthened the belief in success.
The planned transportation of the 2nd army regiment General Yasukata Oku - from Hiroshima to Liaodong - demanded to use up to 80 transports. They followed in groups of 4-5 pennants under the cover of military vessels. On April 20 (May 3), 1904, the Japanese admiral again tried to block the exit from Port Arthur Bay with transports.
Continued on Page 49
"while the RussiansRepublicans were arguing about a grand strategy, the JapaneseDemocrats methodically seized the initiative and, without hesitation, tirelessly pursued their strategic goals, and this was what turned out to be decisive in their victory."
[ZERO] For the past several months we have warned about the pernicious effects soaring prices are having on both corporations ("Buckle Up! Inflation Is Here!") and consumers (""This Is Not Transitory": Hyperinflation Fears Are Soaring Across America"), prompting even otherwise boring sellside research to get (hyper) exciting, with Deutsche Bank (which warned this week that "Inflation Is About To Explode "Leaving Global Economies Sitting On A Time Bomb"") and Bank of America (which "Just Threw Up All Over The Fed's "Transitory" Argument") now openly claiming that the Fed is wrong, and the US is facing an unprecedented period of far higher, non-transitory inflation, with DB going so far as to warn "policymakers will face the most challenging years since the Volcker/Reagan period in the 1980s."
But none of this has spooked the Fed into conceding - or believing - that inflation is anything more than transitory. And maybe just this once, the Fed has a point because all else equal, by which we mean lack of rising wages, the best cure to higher prices is, well, higher prices.
[Townhall] The investigation into one of Hunter Biden's many sordid affairs was punted until after Election Day — a more politically convenient time for the Biden family — by those investigating the first son, according to a new report published Friday morning.
As Townhall reported on December 9, 2020 — barely a month after Election Day — Joe Biden's presidential transition team revealed that Hunter Biden was under federal investigation over questions about his taxes and unreported income.
"I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs," explained Hunter in a statement.
But according to a report, Hunter could — and perhaps should — have learned about the investigation months earlier at the height of the presidential contest between his father and President Donald Trump.
As early as last summer, POLITICO reports, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware had collected enough evidence and "reached a point at which investigators could have issued grand jury subpoenas and sought search warrants that might have revealed its existence at a time when many of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters were seeking to draw attention to Hunter Biden’s actions."
Investigators and officials "advised Delaware’s U.S. Attorney, David Weiss, to avoid taking any actions that could alert the public to the existence of the case in the middle of a presidential election."
This "dilemma" over whether to move forward with the investigation as normal or delay taking further action to push making the probe public until after the election resulted in U.S. Attorney David Weiss — a Trump appointee — choosing to punt.
#2
Sooooo, now that any hint of political effect has passed, you will be sending out investigators, subpoenas and warrants will be forthcoming for Hunter and other family members? Maybe there will be coordination with the much anticipated Durham investigation bombshells? .....oh wait, word salad, blah, blah, balh... creeping radio silence as the story, like the Seth Rich investigation, joins others a the Ft Marcy Park black hole..
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WND] Against the backdrop of conflagration in South Africa, I offer positive commentary about the country of my birth. Do I need to provide a disclaimer before saying positive things about South Africa mid-riots?
[ZERO] For the past several months we have warned about the pernicious effects soaring prices are having on both corporations ("Buckle Up! Inflation Is Here!") and consumers (""This Is Not Transitory": Hyperinflation Fears Are Soaring Across America"), prompting even otherwise boring sellside research to get (hyper) exciting, with Deutsche Bank (which warned this week that "Inflation Is About To Explode "Leaving Global Economies Sitting On A Time Bomb"") and Bank of America (which "Just Threw Up All Over The Fed's "Transitory" Argument") now openly claiming that the Fed is wrong, and the US is facing an unprecedented period of far higher, non-transitory inflation, with DB going so far as to warn "policymakers will face the most challenging years since the Volcker/Reagan period in the 1980s."
[Townhall] The investigation into one of Hunter Biden's many sordid affairs was punted until after Election Day — a more politically convenient time for the Biden family — by those investigating the first son, according to a new report published Friday morning. 
