(MOONBATTERY hat-tip) Abortion is the ultimate sacrament in the liberal religion. Even to acknowledge the prolife point of view — let alone agree with it — is considered beyond the pale. How can something so awful have such intense proponents? Dave Morrison finds that the most vehement abortion enthusiasts are often childless middle-aged women who, rather than face the horror of their mistakes, attempt to cast their errors as virtue:
Author: Papa Giorgio
Capitalism vs. Socialism (Prager U)
Decades after capitalism seemed to have triumphed over socialism, politicians are once again arguing about the merits and drawbacks of these opposing economic systems. Why are we still having this debate? Andy Puzder, former CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., explains the misconceptions that keep the debate alive.
CLIMATE FLASHBACK: We Had A Decade In 1989
Bob Frantz (TWITTER) fills in for Hugh Hewitt and reads a 1989 Associated Press article about the dire warnings from the United Nations giving us a decade to turn it around.
- “1989 FLASHBACK: U.N. Predicts Climate Disaster by 2000 if Global Warming Wasn’t Stopped” (BIG LEAGUE POLITICS)
Good segment – I added the “Goreacle” video and the full “Kat Timpf” segment from Greg Gutfeld’s show. (Related, “Occasional-Cortex Called A ‘Pompous Little Twit‘”) For more failed predictions see my: “CLIMATE MANTRAS“
SNL Mocks Dianne Feinstein’s “Kerfuffle”
Hat-tip, RIGHT SCOOP:
The Wiki-Leaks “Dump” Was Already Public Knowledge (A Media Myth)
The Wiki-Leaks “Dump” pre-dated when Roger Stone supposedly told Trump. In other words… the information about the dump was already publicized BEFORE Roger Stone “told” Trump. While I do not agree with everything below, it is humorously pointed out that Congress and the media are clueless about htis simple fact.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AKA, the “Pompous Little Twit”
John and Ken had me cracking-up today reading from a New York Post article and Patrick Moore’s Twitter.
- Gas-Guzzling Car Rides Expose AOC’s Hypocrisy Amid Green New Deal Pledge (NEW YORK POST)
- Former Greenpeace Activist Patrick Moore Shreds Ocasio-Cortez As ‘Garden-Variety Hypocrite’ (WASHINGTON TIMES)
- Patrick Moore’s TWITTER
- Greenpeace Co-Founder Tears Into Ocasio-Cortez, Green New Deal: ‘Pompous Little Twit’ (FOX)
- Hypocrite: Report Shows Ocasio-Cortez’s Massive Fossil Fuel Consumption Despite Green New Deal Demands (TOWNHALL)
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Chose Uber And Lyft Over Mass Transportation…Jetted Around U.S. To Support Fellow Dems (100% FED-UP!)
BONUS: AOC’s mom moved to Florida to escape NYC’s high property taxes…
The Boy [Father] Crisis
Dennis Prager had Warren Farrell on his show today to speak about his recent book now in paperback, titled, “The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It“. I clipped some stats Dr. Farrell went through. Great stuff.
Three People Raised In Same-Sex Families Discuss Same-Sex Marriage
These are stories of people who struggled with growing up in same-sex households. Their testimony and others was given recently before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opposing same-sex marriages. The WASHINGTON TIMES continues,
- Dawn Stefanowicz said her gay father was so preoccupied with sex that when she was in high school and brought home a male classmate, both her father and his lover propositioned him for sex.
- B.N. Klein said her mother and lesbian partner disdained heterosexual families completely, and she didn’t have a clue about the daily interactions of a husband and wife until she went into foster care.
- Robert Oscar Lopez said his two lesbian mothers were conscientious about his upbringing, but he became so emotionally confused that he turned to gay prostitution as a teen and gay and bisexual relationships as an adult.
CNS NEWS points out that “B.N. Klein, Robert Oscar Lopez, Dawn Stefanowicz, and Katy Faust all grew up with homosexual parents. All four argued that redefining marriage to include same-sex couples would harm children by depriving them of a mother or father.” Following this short intro are their stories.
Katy Faust
Dr. Robert Oscar Lopez
Dawn Stefanowicz
Michael Cohen and Rashida Tlaib Use Race Card
Dennis Prager covers a few issues, some of his thoughts on Michael Cohen, Rashida Tlaib calling Mark Meadows a racist, how the Left uses the “racist claim” to seemingly make a point, and the like. One of Rush Limbaugh’s points was that when Michael Cohen said this,
- “I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power. And this is why I agreed to appear before you today”
… Rush knew someone else had written his statements. Yep. He is kowtowing to the Left, which he is from.
Behold a Pale Horse (Book Review)
I am posting these because like the EX-CONSPIRACY THEORIST, I too had my exodus from the movement (I will post an excerpt explaining my exodus from conspiracism via an excerpt from a chapter in my “book” — after the media below). I also liked the below because it tackled a book and person well. Bringing information to those who will never read such nonsense — rightly so. That is a book I myself never read — but saw at the conspiracy book store I use to shop many years ago.
PART 1: Behold a Pale Horse Book Review
PART 2: Who was William Cooper?
MY OWN EXODUS
From my chapter on the Emergent Church:
Learning Curves
Before continuing, I want to challenge the reader who has already made up their mind in regards to the emerging movement to allow me to be conversant with them. All persons in my opinion should be introduced to debate, two sides of any topic or subject. This is sometimes the best way one can come to an understanding in regards to evidence a particular subject has or lacks. This is, in fact, what the pro-life movement wants; a presentation of all the facts, confident that once viewed the young mother will choose life much more often. Debate typically sheds light on positions that often times are ignored or hard to digest. A prime example is myself.
My pre-Christ life would make the chief of sinners, Paul, wag his head (1 Tim 1:15); my post-Christ life would make Moses break the tablets a second time. During seasons in my life as the Holy Spirit points me towards maturity, often times dragging me kicking and screaming, I have firmly believed in an aspect of reality one way — and then when presented evidence that is contrary to what I first believed I will often times change my position with deep contemplation or the proverbial smack across the back of the head. Nature, history, truth, theology, aspects of reality, etc, all these positions changed under direction of the Holy Spirit via God’s Word and the Body of Christ, the book of nature, and Christian luminaries (if there is such a thing). One example I can give specifically are my positions concerning history and eschatology.[1]
As a renewed Christian just out of the L.A. County jail system,[2] I became immersed in everything to do with Jesus Second Coming. Often times this type of intense study will lead to the idea that there is a secret cabal pulling the strings of history behind such organizations as the Trilateral Commission, the Council of Foreign Relation, the Bilderbergers, Illuminati, Masons (Freemasons), Skull and Bones, and the like. I am sure that most reading this have seen the movie The Da Vinci Code, the same thinking by conspiratorial advocate, Ralph Epperson, follows:[3]
The Accidental View of History: historical events occur by accident, for no apparent reason. Rulers are powerless to intervene.
The Conspiratorial View of History: historical events occur by design for reasons that are not generally made known to the people.[4]
Mr. Epperson continues by comparing two quotes with this idea in mind:
Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor…. [wrote]: “History is much more the product of chaos than of conspiracy…. increasingly, policy makers are overwhelmed by events and information.” ….Franklin D. Roosevelt who certainly saw many monumental events occur during his consecutive administrations. President Roosevelt has been quoted as saying: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way.”[5]
This immersion eventually led me to meeting regularly with a group of John Birch Society members.[6] I read many books on the New World Order, which is intimately entwined with the conspiratorial view of history. A few years later I came across a Jewish radio talk show host who on every full moon would only allow callers who believed in this type of history. He called the show on that day the Conspiracy Day, and it was not until I heard debate and opposition to my view that I began to weigh the evidences for it. In the end, my interpretation of history collapsed under the weight of the evidence. I do not want this to escape the reader, as, this will lead to a more fruitful discussion of the topic at hand – primarily, the postmodern view of history, theology, and ultimately truth. I mentioned just a moment ago “debate.” The American Heritage Dictionary[7] defines debate as:
- To consider something; deliberate.
- To engage in argument by discussing opposing points.
Black’s Law Dictionary[8] defines deliberate, a word used in the American Heritage Dictionary definition, as:
- Intentional; premeditated; fully considered.
- Unimpulsive; slow in deciding.
You see, it was not until I heard true debate on the topic of whether or not history was guided by an ill-intentioned cabal or not that I even considered revising my position. This debate allowed me time to deliberate and meditate on the issue causing a healthier picture of history to immerge based on all — or at least more — of the historical information available. Pride, selfishness, shoddy thinking, presuppositions, (in other words — our nature), will get in the way of us coming to conclusions in our life that could have saved us time, energy, feelings hurt, friends and family lost, as well as faith destroyed… ours – or others around us. Another point worth mentioning is during this time of formulation, deliberation, and reformulation — I was still saved in the fullest sense of the word. Jesus and His sacrificial covering of my sins were not affected by my peripheral eschatological viewpoints; no matter how disjointed it made my life. My unhealthy view of history and my subsequent forcing of Biblical passages to fit that unhealthy view did not affect the person and deity of Christ.
Space to Grow
The question becomes this: What is the church’s role in all of this? When we are too compulsive in some areas of our life but too slow in deciding on matters that would speed up healthy living, is it the church’s responsibility to fly in — red cape and all — and point fingers? On the other hand, should it be the church’s role to provide a place where people feel safe by being loved? I believe it to be the latter. Another aspect here to keep in mind is that there are misunderstandings on what a person needs to believe, and at what time during their journey. We are not all robots made identical so that the Holy Spirit can move us along on the same path in the same time period.[9] Ravi again clears up this thinking in his patented cogent way after asked a question by a student at a Q&A forum at Georgia University:
What does it take to be a Christian? I would tell you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that God raised him from the dead… you – with your heart and mind – trust in Jesus Christ. You are a believer. What does it take to come and belong to your church? If you join the church where I am a member now, there are certain doctrinal beliefs that you have to believe. For example: You cannot believe that the bible is 90% rubbish and 10% good and still be a member of the church… you can’t do that. There are certain doctrines you are committed to, there is a certain code of conduct you are committed to. If you belong to a community of believers, it is not just a belief in Christ, but also a certain community expression of that belief that you are submitted to. What does it take to teach at Whitcliff-Hall Oxford University? Now you have to add even more than that. So with each line of affiliation you put the plus – plus – plus. Not because the second or the third make you a Christian, but it places upon you a greater accountability and responsibility as a dispenser of truth to which you are held accountable by a community of believers.[10]
The newer believer needs a place where the concerns of life and faith can safely be expressed and which will allow them to grow in the understanding of their faith and what God has planned for their lives, better influencing the world around them. Only as the believer is immersed in a healthy-well-balanced church and community can conversation/debate with fellow trusted believers start to zero in on certain mistruths and myths held by many in regards to our faith and history. The reason for this critique.
It is possible for a person to view the historicity of the virgin birth, for instance, with skepticism and disbelief and still be saved in the truest sense of the word, as I was in regards to my view on eschatology. However, as the believer matures in his or her understanding of faith, such an issue grows in importance. The mature believer should keep in mind that focusing in on a doctrinal issue too early in a believers walk may not create dialogue or understanding as much as tension and misunderstanding. This brings me full circle to the topic at hand, that is, as the person moves up the scale of understanding, say, to the level of a pastor, what is his level of understanding and teaching expected to be? Is the virgin birth an event that is key to who (and thusly, what) Christ claimed to be? Is it a doctrine we can forego in our panoply of beliefs? Is the issue and manner in which Christ was born worth defending or pronouncing as a historical fact? Is it a unique event? What about some of the other doctrines, such as the Trinity and Resurrection, how important are these? I will hope to answer some of these questions here. Before I do however, I must discuss this issue in light of who I am contrasting these views with. In this case, it is Rob Bell.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Eschatology – “Study of the ‘last things’ or the end of the world.” Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville, KT: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), cf. eschatology, 92.
[2] I am an ex-con from 20[+] years ago… in case you didn’t follow the footnotes in chapter one.
[3] The following book I would no longer recommend for reading, but find it useful to define this view.
[4] A. Ralph Epperson, The Unseen Hand: An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History (Tucson, AZ: Publius Press, 1985), 6.
[5] Ibid., 7.
[6] John Birch was a brash and sometimes controversial figure in history who died near the end of WWII, most would argue as a hero. The society that was founded in his name was at first concerned primarily with possible infiltration into our government by communist sympathizers. The organization metamorphosed over the years into what we find today, an organization that would posit that this infiltration is more than merely a communist infiltration, which was bore out as true (see for instance: M. Stanton Evans, Blacklisted By History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthey [New York, NY: Crown Forum, 2007]). Today, however, the John Birch Society has had issues published of its monthly magazine that would take the position, for instance, that the United States Government was intimately involved in the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building (see for instance: William F. Jasper, “Proof of Bombs and Cover-up,” The New American 14, no. 15 [July 1998]: 10-15.). They would believe that our government took down the Twin Towers, as would I have believed if this event took place 15-years ago. Moreover, they would posit that this infiltration and planned corruption and control of society goes back through most epochs of history to the mystery religions. The Revolutionary War, WWI, WWII, the Vietnam War, as examples, were all started by plan and years of preparation to entrench even more the power of these “controllers of history.”
[7] American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), cf. debate, 468.
[8] 7th ed. (St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1999), cf. deliberate, 438.
[9] I wanted here to reference a beautiful story that some will recognize when they see it, as, it comes from the “king” of evidential apologetics., Josh McDowell. Josh finishes off his rational, historical, fact based argument with his most important chapter. It details the experiential impact that God had on his life, and in this presentation there is more weight to the changes wrought by Calvary than in the previous 12 fact filled chapters. In it, you can see that it took Josh almost 18 months to shake his skepticism and embrace what God had planned for him; in his Father’s case it was almost instantaneous. Let’s read, remember, it is Josh speaking:
I hated one man more than anyone else in the world—my father. I hated his guts. I was mortified that he was the town alcoholic. If you’re from a small town and one of your parents is an alcoholic, you know what I mean. Everybody knows. My high school friends would make jokes about my father’s drinking. ‘They didn’t think it bothered me because I fell in with the joking and laughed with them. I was laughing on the outside, but let me tell you, I was crying on the inside. I would go to the barn and find my mother beaten so badly she couldn’t get up, lying in the manure behind the cows. When we had friends over, I would take my father out to the barn, tie him up, and park his car behind the silo. We would tell our guests he’d had to go somewhere. I don’t think anyone could hate a person more than I hated my father. About five months after I made that decision for Christ, a love from God entered my life so powerfully that it took that hatred, turned it upside down, and emptied it out. I was able to look my father squarely in the eyes and say, “Dad, I love you.” And I really meant it. After some of the things I’d done to him, that really shook him up. After I transferred to a private university, a serious car accident put me in the hospital. When I was moved home to recover, my father came to visit me. Remarkably, he was sober that day. But he seemed uneasy, pacing about the room. Then he blurted out, “Son, how can you love a father like me?” I answered, “Dad, six months ago I despised you.” Then I shared with him the story of my research and conclusions about Jesus Christ. I told him, “I have placed my trust in Christ, received God’s forgiveness, invited him into my life, and he has changed me. I can’t explain it all, Dad, but God has taken away my hatred and replaced it with the capacity to love. I love you and accept you just the way you are.” We talked for almost an hour, and then I received one of the greatest thrills of my life. This man who was my father, this man who knew me too well for me to pull the wool over his eyes, looked at me and said, “Son, if God can do in my life what I’ve seen him do in yours, then I want to give him the opportunity. I want to trust him as my Savior and Lord.” I cannot imagine a greater miracle. Usually after a person accepts Christ, the changes in his or her life occur over a period of days, weeks, months, or even years. In my own life the change took about six to eighteen months. But the life of my father changed right before my eyes. It was as if God reached down and flipped on the light switch. Never before or since have I seen such a dramatic change.
Josh and Sean McDowell, More Than a Carpenter, revised and updated ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2009), 163-165.
[10] The video of this exchange can be seen at my VIMEO or YOUTUBE (last accessed 3-3-19).
The Destruction of Women’s Sports No Big Deal… To the Left
A friend posted a picture of the back of my van, a sticker I print based off of him saying the “equal” sign looks like a “pause button” on a remote control:
Some interesting conversation ensued on his Facebook after this was posted. My main response is to the idea expressed by one person that this is not a big deal:
- How is this such a huge topic? The percentage of the population on the planet is significantly low(< 1%). No one deserves to be discriminated against-but your over stating calling it a Huge topic as a whole. The vast majority of the general public doesn’t even know a transgender person.
I wish to reprint ans add to my response to the original ideas for cataloging here at RPT. My general first point was to note a very recent article by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova….
Martina Navratilova earlier had commented about the issue being unfair. She was slammed, and said she would educate herself better. She went and studied the issue more and came back MORE convinced about her position. I think she is still wrong in part thinking that a removal of a sex organ of mutilation to the body changes her statement “A man builds up muscle and bone density, as well as a greater number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, from childhood,” —- BUT, even her position is anathema to the Democrat Party withing the past 5-years.
….Navratilova was chastised in December when she tweeted, “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women,” but then apologized and said she would “educate myself better” after she was accused of being transphobic.
After doing the research, however, she said that if anything, “my views have strengthened.”
“To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organization is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,” she said.
In a Tuesday article, Out Magazine called her a “TERF,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist, and said her comments were “scientifically unsound,” while McKinnon told Reuters that the tennis legend “trades on age-old stereotypes and stigma against trans women.”
Martina Navratilova Has Decided to Pivot to TERF
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) February 20, 2019
Gay Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova on Transgender Athletes: ‘It’s Insane and It’s Cheating’
— CNSNews.com (@cnsnews) February 19, 2019
Navratilova argued that it wasn’t enough to require reduced hormone levels, as many sports governing bodies have done in response to transgender athletes (CNS NEWS)
“A man builds up muscle and bone density, as well as a greater number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, from childhood,” she wrote. “Training increases the discrepancy. Indeed, if a male were to change gender in such a way as to eliminate any accumulated advantage, he would have to begin hormone treatment before puberty. For me, that is unthinkable.”
The 62-year-old Navratilova also blasted those who wield the “transphobe” label to silence critics, calling it “just another form of tyranny.”
“I’m relatively tough and was able to stand up for myself in my Twitter exchange with McKinnon, but I worry that others may be cowed into silence or submission,” she said…..
Now, here is my direct response to the above “what’s the big deal” quoted:
…it is a huge topic because the professional Left is taking that less than 1% and demanding the majority change their concept of gender by state force and rules in women’s sports. In other words, in only 5-years this has changed women’s sports dramatically. Can’t wait for the next decade [<sarcasm]. The Washington Times notes just how unfair this issue is in high school sports.
Transgender Sprinters Finish 1St, 2Nd At Connecticut Girls Indoor Track Championships
- “She” [Andraya Yearwood] recently finished second in the 55-meter dash at the state open indoor track championships. The winner, Terry Miller of Bloomfield High, is also transgender and set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds. Yearwood finished in 7.01 seconds and the third-place competitor, who is not transgender [a girl*], finished in 7.23 seconds.
Parents spend time and money to have their girls compete to attain a level of competition to enter either the Olympics or get a scholarship at a prestigious college (or both). This is no longer the case. The professional Left is ruining women’s sports in the name of “equality.”
Remember, you either want liberty, or equality, but you cannot have both.
* CR Commented On My Friend’s Original Post (OP):
- There is so much wrong with your statement but your point I do agree with. A woman born in a male body should not be allowed to compete against a woman born in a female’s body. It’s not fair. I agree. I’m just not sure where the line should be drawn….
I try to help draw a line:
…it is simple to draw a line. If you have double X chromosomes, a vagina, a uterus, ovaries, menstrual periods and lactating breasts, you are a female. You should compete in female sports. If you dope (by taking estrogen to mask some male qualities) or were born with a penis and XY chromosomes, you should not compete in women’s sports.
Don’t be a racist and transphobic for attacking these two beautiful young Nubian queens who placed first and second in a high school track event.
I also expressed publicly a question many ask. That is, why do people simply support — uncritically — or promote actively these issues with little or no countering information to balance their knowledge of the issues? I always encourage people to be logically coherent and support these other “categories” of persons who “feel” someway about themselves:
Trans-Topics
- Transageism
- Transgender
- Transhuman
- Transmisogynist
- Transracial
- Transspecies
- Transterrestrial
- Trans-Multiracial
These are issue being muddied with the arguments put forward by those pushing “equality.” BUT MY QUESTION IS WHY? I think David Mamet* has a reasonable answer. It is the transferring of “Sainthood” to a growing secular culture. It gives people a sense of worth they think is beyond them… what use to be in the realm of faith, is now internalized. It offers a “metanarrative” for people to view the world. For instance, in a wonderful National Review article by Andy Ngo (last name sounds like “Noh”), he notes of Jussie Smollet’s bio line on his Twitter (the actor who faked a hate crime):
- “While I can only speculate as to Smollett’s motives, perhaps a clue can be found in his bioline on Twitter. Smollett writes: ‘I am simply here to help save the world’.” (NATIONAL REVIEW | See more on my site: Hate Crime Hoaxes In The Trump Era)
The hubris involved in a political movement that thinks through legislation it can change gender and weather patterns is legend. And it is really a transfer of Sainthood:
MAMET
* [David Mamet] …is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). He first gained critical acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway 70s plays: The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. His plays Race and The Penitent, respectively, opened on Broadway in 2009 and previewed off-Broadway in 2017.
Feature films that Mamet both wrote and directed include House of Games (1987), Homicide (1991), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Heist (2001), and Redbelt (2008). His screenwriting credits include The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Verdict (1982), The Untouchables (1987), Hoffa (1992), Wag the Dog (1997), and Hannibal (2001). Mamet himself wrote the screenplay for the 1992 adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, and wrote and directed the 1994 adaptation of his play Oleanna (1992). He was the executive producer and frequent writer for the TV show The Unit (2006–2009).
Mamet’s books include: The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; Bambi vs. Godzilla, a commentary on the movie business; THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE: ON THE DISMANTLING OF AMERICAN CULTURE (2011), a commentary on cultural and political issues; and Three War Stories (2013), a trio of novellas about the physical and psychological effects of war.
(WIKI)
QUOTE ONE
One might say that the politician, the doctor, and the dramatist make their living from human misery; the doctor in attempting to alleviate it, the politician to capitalize on it, and the dramatist, to describe it.
But perhaps that is too epigrammatic.
When I was young, there was a period in American drama in which the writers strove to free themselves of the question of character.
Protagonists of their worthy plays had made no choices, but were afflicted by a condition not of their making; and this condition, homosexuality, illness, being a woman, etc., was the center of the play. As these protagonists had made no choices, they were in a state of innocence. They had not acted, so they could not have sinned.
A play is basically an exercise in the raising, lowering, and altering of expectations (such known, collectively, as the Plot); but these plays dealt not with expectations (how could they, for the state of the protagonist was not going to change?) but with sympathy.
What these audiences were witnessing was not a drama, but a troublesome human condition displayed as an attraction. This was, formerly, known as a freak show.
The subjects of these dramas were bearing burdens not of their choosing, as do we all. But misfortune, in life, we know, deserves forbearance on the part of the unafflicted. For though the display of courage in the face of adversity is worthy of all respect, the display of that respect by the unaffected is presumptuous and patronizing.
One does not gain merit from congratulating an afflicted person for his courage. One only gains entertainment.
Further, endorsement of the courage of the affliction play’s hero was not merely impertinent, but, more basically, spurious, as applause was vouchsafed not to a worthy stoic, but to an actor portraying him.
These plays were an (unfortunate) by-product of the contemporary love-of-the-victim. For a victim, as above, is pure, and cannot have sinned; and one, by endorsing him, may perhaps gain, by magic, part of his incontrovertible status.
David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture (New York, NY: Sentinel Publishing, 2011), 134-135.
This next quote deals with “saint-hood”… but notes that people support it at others cost. When it happens to them, it isn’t fair.
QUOTE TWO
There is a Liberal sentiment that it should also punish those who take more than their “fair share.” But what is their fair share? (Shakespeare suggests that each should be treated not according to his deserts, but according to God’s mercy, or none of us would escape whipping.)
The concept of Fairness, for all its attractiveness to sentiment, is a dangerous one (cf. quota hiring and enrollment, and talk of “reparations”). Deviations from the Law, which is to say the Constitution, to accommodate specifically alleged identity-group injustices will all inevitably be expanded, universalized, and exploited until there remains no law, but only constant petition of Government.
We cannot live in peace without Law. And though law cannot be perfect, it may be just if it is written in ignorance of the identity of the claimants and applied equally to all. Then it is a possession not only of the claimants but of the society, which may now base its actions upon a reasonable assumption of the law’s treatment.
But “fairness” is not only a nonlegal but an antilegal process, for it deals not with universally applicable principles and strictures, but with specific cases, responding to the perceived or proclaimed needs of individual claimants, and their desire for extralegal preference. And it could be said to substitute fairness (a determination which must always be subjective) for justice (the application of the legislated will of the electorate), is to enshrine greed—the greed, in this case, not for wealth, but for preference. The socialistic spirit of the Left indicts ambition and the pursuit of wealth as Greed, and appeals, supposedly on behalf of “the people,” to the State for “fairness.”….
….But such fairness can only be the non-Constitutional intervention of the State in the legal, Constitutional process—awarding, as it sees fit, money (reparations), preferment (affirmative action), or entertainment (confiscation)….
….“Don’t you care?” is the admonition implicit in the very visage of the Liberals of my acquaintance on their understanding that I have embraced Conservatism. But the Talmud understood of old that good intentions can lead to evil—vide Busing, Urban Renewal, Affirmative Action, Welfare, et cetera, to name the more immediately apparent, and not to mention the, literally, tens of thousands of Federal and State statutes limiting freedom of trade, which is to say, of the right of the individual to make a living, and, so earn that wealth which would, in its necessary expenditure, allow him to provide a living to others….
….I recognized that though, as a lifelong Liberal, I endorsed and paid lip service to “social justice,” which is to say, to equality of result, I actually based the important decisions of my life—those in which I was personally going to be affected by the outcome—upon the principle of equality of opportunity; and, further, that so did everyone I knew. Many, I saw, were prepared to pay more taxes, as a form of Charity, which is to say, to hand off to the Government the choice of programs and recipients of their hard-earned money, but no one was prepared to be on the short end of the failed Government pro-grams, however well-intentioned. (For example—one might endorse a program giving to minorities preference in award of government contracts; but, as a business owner, one would fight to get the best possible job under the best possible terms regardless of such a program, and would, in fact, work by all legal and, perhaps by semi- or illegal means to subvert any program that enforced upon the pro-prietor a bad business decision.)*
Further, one, in paying the government to relieve him of a feeling of social responsibility, might not be bothered to question what in fact constituted a minority, and whether, in fact, such minority contracts were actually benefiting the minority so enshrined, or were being subverted to shell corporations and straw men. †
* No one would say of a firefighter, hired under rules reducing the height requirement, and thus unable to carry one’s child to safety, “Nonetheless, I am glad I voted for that ‘more fair’ law.”
† As, indeed, they are, or, in the best case, to those among the applicants claiming eligibility most capable of framing, supporting, or bribing their claims to the front of the line. All claims cannot be met. The politicians and bureaucrats discriminating between claims will necessarily favor those redounding to their individual or party benefit—so the eternal problem of “Fairness,” supposedly solved by Government distribution of funds, becomes, yet again and inevitably, a question of graft.
David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture (New York, NY: Sentinel Publishing, 2011), 116-117, 122, 151, 154.
THE BLAZE posts on this excellent response to a question at a Heritage Foundation seminar. MOONBATTERY says this of Dr. Cretella: “Dr. Cretella is President of the American College of Pediatricians. No doubt social engineers are out for her head.”
Jobs and Revenue Lost If New York Closes Airports (Green Deal)
Even small airports bring in the $$$$$
…The total economic impact of the airport in 2012 was more than a half billion dollars. The impact takes into consideration not only jobs, income and taxes, but also incorporates the money the airport spends for daily operations and capital expenses. Additionally, the study conducted by Boyd Group International, factors in transportation cost savings.
The Akron-Canton Airport generated an estimated $50.7 million in local, state, federal, sales and excise tax revenues in 2012. These taxes support many programs that aim to improve the quality of life in the community, such as the support of schools, infrastructure improvements and further economic development.
The airport and its tenants directly employed 1,821, and total employment generation equaled 3,086. The average annual income of those employees reached $57,400, in 2012….
Here is just a snippet of the economic impact of New York airports:
…In total, New York’s commercial airports, which includes LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and New York Stewart International, flew 138 million passengers in 2018, a 3.8 percent increase.
LaGuardia — based in Cortez’s district – employs 12,000 individuals directly and as many as 136,000 indirectly, totaling $6.8 billion in wages and $18.7 billion in economic activity for New York and New Jersey, according to data from the New York Port Authority…
(FOX)
…Passenger operations at JFK International Airport have an estimated impact of $30.4 billion on the region, while LaGuardia Airport had a $11.2 billion impact and Newark Liberty International Airport was at $16.5 billion.
Cargo at JFK alone is an $8.8 billion bump.
To handle the massive number of travelers and goods, JFK employs 38,232 workers. Newark employs 20,268 followed by LaGuardia at 11,977….
(CRAIN’S)
Think of all the jobs lost, continued revenue, taxes, and the like if Cortez gets her way:
ANDREW CUOMO’S Press Room:
Two New Major International Terminals Will Add 4 Million Square Feet to Airport’s North and South Sides, Increasing Airport’s Capacity by at Least 15 Million Passengers Annually and Transforming Traveler Experience from Curb to Gate
Historic Investment Advances Governor’s JFK Vision Plan for a Unified, Modern Airport with World-Class Passenger Amenities, Expanded Taxiway and Gate Capacity, State-of-the-Art Security, Streamlined Roadway Access and Centralized Ground Transportation Options – See Renderings Here
First New Gates Will Go Live in 2023 with Project Completion in 2025; 90 Percent of $13 Billion Plan Represents Private Investment
Includes 30 Percent MWBE Goal for Contracts and Financing Interests; Extensive Community Opportunities to be Created, Including Local Office to Assist with Contracting and Job Placement to Open in Jamaica this Fall……