The New Normal, round 2

[swordfish]

"Why do we have to explain the pain caused by the visual offense that we see in that building that is supposed to be an institution for learning?" asked one woman at a public meeting about the issue on Tuesday.

Doesn't history count as learning?  Moreover, how is a kid supposed to learn to "get over it" if they are over protected from every potential offense?

[Muda69]

In light of #MeToo, Disney quietly deleted a "blooper" scene from the latest release of Toy Story 2: https://news.avclub.com/in-light-of-metoo-disney-quietly-deleted-a-blooper-1836044123

Quote

It looks like Disney is reevaluating some of its earlier work to better fit the current climate - one that hopefully finds creepy behavior less amusing and more...well, fucking creepy. One such moment took place in Toy Story 2's faux blooper reel. The scene begins at 3:29 where Stinky Pete, the antagonistic prospector voiced by Kelsey Grammer, is seen in a box with twin Barbie dolls. Pete is speaking rather lecherously, asking them if they are “absolutely twins,” and suggestively flexing his ability to get them parts in the next Toy Story sequel while grabbing one of their hands. As soon as he realizes he’s being filmed, his demeanor changes entirely and he quickly escorts them out of his box. As quick as it is, Disney is now realizing that the implications of the clip are not worth the potential laughs and removing it entirely from future DVD and digital copies.

...

As one of the comments states "Thank heavens society has finally been protected."

[Muda69]

14-Year-Old Posts Picture of Airsoft Gun on Snapchat, School Suspends Him for 3 Weeks: https://reason.com/2019/07/05/airsoft-gun-suspend-school-zero-tolerance/

Quote

A Maryland eighth grader was suspended for three weeks and did not get to graduate with his class in June. This was his punishment for appearing in the background of a friend's video in which said friend held a disabled airsoft gun. The eighth grader also posed for a photo with the friend, who held him in a headlock with the fake gun pointing at his head. The picture was shared with 13 other friends on Snapchat.

Are you silently giving thanks that social media didn't exist when you were a middle schooler? Me too. The 14-year-old boy later admitted he was trying to look like a "badass."

On Monday his dad—David Bernstein, a nonprofit director—wrote a piece about the incident for The Washington Post. He said he had asked the private Silver Spring school to reconsider the punishment. After all, his son did not threaten anyone with a gun. He did not own a gun. He did not say anything about wanting to kill students, or take his own life, or do anything violent. He was, his dad wrote, just being a "knucklehead."

But the school insisted the incident was "very, very serious" and therefore warranted suspension through the end of the year.

I'm just not sure how serious it is to be in a photo or video that is stupid but ultimately unthreatening and harmless. But anyway, in an email to me, Bernstein added that this was not the first time he was dismayed by the administration's take on things.

"I first realized something was amiss at the school when I received a call earlier in the year about another 'very serious' incident," said Bernstein. "My son had told a friend that he observed a teacher texting while driving. He was then hauled into the principal's office and asked to apologize to the teacher, which he only did reluctantly. 'The teacher was very hurt,' the principal stated. 'And [your son] didn't seem to care.' Confused about the 'crime,' I asked the principal what if my son was telling the truth. 'That's beside the point,' she said. 'He violated our community values by hurting the teacher's feelings.'"

You don't have to be John Grisham to sense something is a little off here. On the one hand, a child is punished for reporting an actual danger: a texting driver. On the other hand, the same child is punished for participating in a video and photo that did not represent an actual danger.

Clearly the school is very worried about feelings and not so worried about reality. It worried that the teacher accused of texting would feel hurt. And it worried that students might feel "anxiety" if they heard about or saw the video or snap.

In this way, the school is tutoring its students in safetyism—the word Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff use in The Coddling of the American Mind to describe the demand for pointless safety measures. The students are being taught to believe that they are literally unsafe when actually they are just uncomfortable—and that the administration is required to respond.

Note that responding doesn't actually make kids any safer, because they were not in any real danger to begin with.

As for the three-week suspension, it seems to mirror the criminal justice system's obsession with longer and longer sentences. Seems like any kid who is told to "reflect" on his actions for three days has done enough reflecting. "Indeed," Bernstein noted in his piece, "multiple studies show that long-term suspensions make for worse, not better behavior."

But of course, Bernstein is dealing with reality. The school is not.

Safetyism indeed.  Today's parents and the educational institutions can't allow children to fail nor can they allow them to feel uncomfortable.  Why has doing so now become a kind of cardinal sin?

 

[Irishman]

The headline was all I could handle....won’t even bother reading the article. 🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩 

https://www.insider.com/instagram-star-belle-delphine-sold-used-bath-water-2019-7

[Muda69]

14 hours ago, Irishman said:

The headline was all I could handle....won’t even bother reading the article. 🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩 

https://www.insider.com/instagram-star-belle-delphine-sold-used-bath-water-2019-7

The free market in action.  For almost any product/service there is a willing buyer.

 

[Muda69]

The NBA’s PC Move Away from the Word ‘Owner’: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/nba-move-away-from-word-owner-politically-correct/

Quote

Last month, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told TMZ Sports that the NBA has “moved away” from the word “owner” because of its connotations with slavery.

“I don’t want to overreact to the term because, as I said earlier, people end up twisting themselves into knots avoiding the use of the word owner,” Silver said. “But we moved away from that term years ago in the league.”

“We call our team owners ‘governor of the team’ and ‘alternate governor,'” he continued.

Since the comments, many people have come out to mock them — including sports personality Stephen A. Smith, who said on his national radio show Monday that the concern over the word means that the NBA must be “smoking crack”:

The idiocy in this politically correct world that we’re living in, where we’ve got to literally have a discussion to the point where it becomes a media storyline. “Oh my god. An owner says he owns his team. That’s offensive to people.” Y’all smoking crack. Something is wrong with you people. What the hell has this world come to?

Now, I’m not sure about crack specifically, but I am sure that Stephen A. Smith is right to think that this is unbelievably stupid. In fact, what struck me the most about the controversy was that I remembered that I had actually used the concept of people becoming offended at the word “owner” as a joke in an NRO column I wrote two years ago.

The column was about how a college, Rice University, had decided to stop using the word “master” to describe the heads of its residential colleges because the word is associated with slavery. As a way of arguing against this decision, I stated in a tongue-in-cheek way that having a problem with the word “master” for this reason would be like having a problem with the word “owner:”

There are also so many words other than “master” that could be considered offensive based on this standard. For example, people with slaves were also called “slave owners,” which, if you notice, has the word “owner” in it. The exact same logic that’s leading Rice and other colleges to get rid of the word “master” would also demand that words and phrases such as “homeowner,” “pet owner,” and “girl, own it!” be changed — and, sorry, but I really don’t think I’ll ever refer to myself as “a possessor of a pet.”

Let me be clear: I thought, at the time, that my example was perfect for showing just how ridiculous and nonsensical the “master” controversy was. Little did I know that, according to Silver, there already was a group (the NBA) that, in all seriousness, had an actual problem with “owner.”

It’s mind-blowing, but it’s true: We have now entered an era of political correctness when parody has become almost impossible. I always wondered when a joke I’d made in my column about oversensitivity would turn out to come true — and it seems that the day has finally (unfortunately) come.

Yes — people owned slaves, and yes, that is an unspeakable horror. But the thing is, people have owned, and continue to own, lots of things. For example, I (not to brag) own a toothbrush. Is it offensive to say I’m a toothbrush owner? If I own a home someday, can I call myself a “homeowner”? Or do I have to call it something else? I guess I could say “person who has a home,” but I don’t know if even that would work. Other than it being stupidly wordy, wouldn’t the word “has” be offensive too, according to the NBA logic about the word “owner”? After all, there can be all sorts of horrific things that a person “has” — like cancer, for example. If “owner” is offensive because there have been people who owned slaves, wouldn’t “has” be offensive because there have been people who “have had” (and continue to “have”) things like cancer? Words can mean different things to different people at different times, and as long as you’re not using them in an offensive way, you shouldn’t have any problem using them.

In any case, I am truly terrified to see how stupid this could get. After all, just when I think it couldn’t possibly get any more stupid, I’m usually proven wrong. All I can do is hope that no one reads my parody-like example about the word “has” and decides that this word actually is offensive. But, after what happened with my 2017 example of using the word “owner,” it wouldn’t be the first time that what I thought was parody turned out to be reality.

 

[Impartial_Observer]

On 7/8/2019 at 6:59 PM, Irishman said:

The headline was all I could handle....won’t even bother reading the article. 🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩🤦‍♂️💩 

https://www.insider.com/instagram-star-belle-delphine-sold-used-bath-water-2019-7

I wouldn't even sit in my own bath water....hence I haven't had a bath since I was a kid.

[gonzoron]

26 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I wouldn't even sit in my own bath water....hence I haven't had a bath since I was a kid.

The last time I took a bath, I took a shower first.

[Impartial_Observer]

17 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

The last time I took a bath, I took a shower first.

I ain't going to lie, my wife has a garden tub in her bathroom, and I may have been enticed once or twice, but there was a shower first.

[DanteEstonia]

On 6/1/2019 at 4:22 AM, Bobref said:

Update:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-met-illinois-recreational-marijuana-legislation-20190531-story.html

Interesting that Illinois becomes the first state to legalize recreational use of marijuana by legislative act, rather than voter referendum.

Illinois is one signature away from joining the 10 other states that have legalized recreational use of marijuana.

With a bipartisan vote of 66-47, the House approved a bill Friday that had been passed by the Senate Wednesday. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who campaigned for office on a promise to legalize pot, almost immediately issued a statement in which he promised to sign a bill that he said offers “the most equity-centric approach in the nation.”

“This will have a transformational impact on our state, creating opportunity in the communities that need it most and giving so many a second chance,” Pritzker said in his statement.

With the governor’s signature, Illinois would become the first state to create a commercial recreational marijuana industry through the legislature rather than by voter initiative.

Supporters hailed the measure as an acknowledgement that the prohibition of marijuana has failed, and they argued that the bill will begin to address decades of racial disparities in the prosecution of drug crimes.

Will employers still test for marijuana once recreational use is legal in Illinois? Don't keep a pipe at your desk just yet. »

“Prohibition hasn’t built communities. In fact, it has destroyed them,” said Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, who worked with Chicago Democratic Sen. Heather Steans for more than two years to craft the bill. “It is time to hit the reset button on the war on drugs.”

The bill takes effect Jan. 1 and would allow residents age 21 and older to legally possess 30 grams of cannabis, 5 grams of cannabis concentrate or 500 milligrams of THC contained in a cannabis-infused product. Nonresidents could possess 15 grams of cannabis.

It would also create a licensed cultivation and dispensary system while directing Pritzker to pardon people with past convictions for low-level pot possession.

Illinois only allows referenda on amending one article of their Constitution.

[Muda69]

The Mob Comes for Scarlett Johansson Again — and Wins Again: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/scarlett-johansson-pc-mob-wins-again/

Quote

Political correctness kills art, rendering it bland. Which is why it was encouraging when Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson said that — as an actress — she should be able to play “any person, or any tree, or any animal.”

No doubt Johansson would make a very sexy tree, and a very bold badger besides, but her claim to be able to play “any person” sparked furious controversy. I mean, just who does she think she is?

This is not the first time the world’s highest-paid actress — a person who pretends to be others for a living — has had a run-in with woke culture. Earlier this year, Johansson reluctantly withdrew from a film in which she was slated to play a transgender man. She had stood by her decision at first following an outcry from LGBTQ activists, but then bowed to pressure. “I am grateful that the conversation regarding inclusivity in Hollywood continues,” she told Out. “I am thankful that this casting debate, albeit controversial, has sparked a larger conversation about diversity and representation in film.”

And after a furious backlash from her recent comments, she has capitulated again, explaining that her remarks had been “edited for click bait” and “widely taken out of context.” She reiterated that she, of course, understands the needs and demands of the LGBTQ community.

As National Review’s Rich Lowry put it, “the mob always, or usually, wins.”

Of course, to those of us who live outside the confines of woke culture, this is all extremely silly. But it is worth unpacking nonetheless, if only to show how such twisted logic and bully-boy tactics will continue to damage the creative industries, ruining not only films, but comedy, literature, and music too.

The argument — more screamed than expressed — is that because Johansson is not transgender, when she accepts the role of a trans person she is both insulting the trans community by appropriating their lived experience and robbing them of the opportunity to play themselves.

The sheer narcissism of this is breathtaking. Films are premised on the concept of people pretending to be others in order to tell a story. In other words, the focus isn’t supposed to be on the actors. When the actual subject is on screen, we call it a “documentary” or a “reality show.”

As for appropriation — well, frankly, where does it end? Must all Jewish characters be played by Jews? Must one-legged Spanish kings be played by one-legged Spanish kings? And in the context of the trans debate, are trans people to be excluded from playing “cis” people?

If the argument is simply for greater representation, then why not make the sky the limit for actors from tiny minority groups? Why suggest that trans people must be shoehorned into roles that align perfectly with their own stories?

For example, the Huffington Post recently ran a story about the transgender (male to female) baritone who played the title character in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. That’s a man who identifies as a woman playing a man. That’s the spirit!

But sadly, the activist outrage machine isn’t interested in remedying its own contradictions, taking such issues into consideration, or making any sort of compromises. As long as it remains hungry for enemies, the beautiful heads will keep on rolling as art gets worse and worse.

 

[swordfish]

Yeah - I know, the website is a right-wing site.

This doctor is quoted "It’s a scientific and medical fact that men can get pregnant and also have abortions."

My take away is Julian Castro (Former HUD Secretary and current Presidential Candidate) stating that "Biological men must have abortion rights".......

SF doesn't agree with abortion and certainly doesn't agree with the "scientific" premise that "men can get pregnant", but isn't the abortion rights stand on this that it is a "woman's right to choose" - not a man's......So by default, isn't JC going a bit off-track of the left's position on this?

https://www.chicksonright.com/opinion/2019/07/16/anti-trump-doctor-tweets-its-a-scientific-and-medical-fact-that-men-can-get-pregnant/?fbclid=IwAR3Pde9_Y8__zQKUDooxUVdDO7QPA6QY935H7vmBoiD8UIDbpx53_vEEBDE

Remember when Science was based on facts and research and real-world observations as opposed to feelings and unicorn farts?

Yup. Those were the days.

Now we’ve entered a time when wishing you were a woman makes you one, and men can get pregnant and have abortions.

It’s “science,” y’all… because even “science” isn’t science anymore.

Eugene Gu, a doctor who has earned internet notoriety for his foaming-at-the-mouth hatred for our President, wants you to know it’s SCIENTIFIC FACT men can get pregnant.

Eugene Gu, MD

 

✔@eugenegu

 

 

It’s a scientific and medical fact that men can get pregnant and also have abortions. Trans men and non-binary individuals are human beings who deserve to be acknowledged by society. They choose their own identity—not me, not you, not any doctor, and certainly not any politician.

 

2,850

12:53 PM - Jul 12, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

 

6,080 people are talking about this

 

 

 

 

This man is a DOCTOR, folks.

That’s scary to me. I feel like doctors should understand how human bodies work, you know?

 

Of course, Dr. Gu isn’t alone in this befuddling belief.

According to Daily Wire:

Gu is comfortably in the company of many high-ranking Democrats when he speaks of men allegedly getting pregnant and needing abortions. Last month, Julian Castro, who served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under former President Barack Obama, said biological men must have abortion “rights.”

“Let’s also not forget someone in the trans community, a trans female, is poor, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the right to exercise that right to choose,” stated Mr. Castro.

Gu’s claim to fame is kneeling to apparently protest America’s pervasive racism, a nod to anthem-kneeling former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The persistent Trump-basher even sued the president after Trump blocked him on Twitter; Trump was eventually forced to unblock Gu’s account.

Fortunately, this dude’s medical career isn’t exactly taking off:

As reported by the Tennessean last year, Dr. Gu was canned three years into a five-year surgical residency at Vanderbilt. Though Gu complained that his contract was not renewed because of his political activism, Vanderbilt said he was let go due to his “work performance and professionalism,” the outlet noted.

“The take-home message here is that there is an unwritten rule for surgical residents and that is rule is, always make your program look good and always make your hospital look good, and often that means stay silent,” Gu said, according to the Tennessean. “But as an Asian-American physician, unlike a white doctor, I don’t always have the same luxury to stay silent.”

[Impartial_Observer]

Who sits around and thinks about such things?

https://sf.curbed.com/2019/7/17/20698146/berkeley-manhole-changes-name-maintenancehole-gender-neutral?fbclid=IwAR2UUoA_GQADYhMuiCLEKiFR7RYqcIBtGisR6ARDDOHmahIIxotEP2Vpn1I

Quote

Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to amend its municipal code to excise gender-specific terms in favor of gender neutral ones, meaning that, among other thTheings, a “manhole” will soon be known as a “maintenancehole.”

 

[gonzoron]

3 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Who sits around and thinks about such things?

https://sf.curbed.com/2019/7/17/20698146/berkeley-manhole-changes-name-maintenancehole-gender-neutral?fbclid=IwAR2UUoA_GQADYhMuiCLEKiFR7RYqcIBtGisR6ARDDOHmahIIxotEP2Vpn1I

 

 Meanwhile, in nearby San Francisco, the term will continue to be celebrated.

[swordfish]

Seen this today - Adorable - and then I thought "unless she chooses to become some other gender"........😰 The new normal......

Take a picture with your flowergirl wearing your wedding shoes and give to her on her wedding day!

[Muda69]

8 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

Berkeley is on a roll......now banning natural gas

https://powerthefuture.com/berkeley-bans-natural-gas-in-new-homes-and-restaurants/

Can we put a wall around California??

I would be content with breaking California up into several new states,  or having it secede from the union altogether.

 

[DanteEstonia]

20 hours ago, Muda69 said:

I would be content with breaking California up into several new states,  or having it secede from the union altogether.

 

Be careful what you wish for.

[Muda69]

1 minute ago, DanteEstonia said:

Be careful what you wish for.

Please elaborate.

 

[gonzoron]

Pastor Claims He Was Sucking Demons Out Of Men He Sexually Assaulted, Lawsuit Claims

https://thegailygrind.com/2019/07/19/pastor-claims-he-was-sucking-demons-out-of-men-he-sexually-assaulted-lawsuit-claims/?fbclid=IwAR1eV8x2jDyptvLj-Y1F5e6Ud3EKR1R-FmyRurChP_3sxOQT-qw6CbT-Qv4

[Muda69]

Goodbye, Mr. Bond: https://spectator.org/goodbye-mr-bond/

Quote

n every period between James Bond movies, the progressive chorus starts singing the same tiresome two songs, right on key. Song No. 1 chants that it’s time for a black Bond, a female Bond, or a gay Bond, and they’ve now added a transgender Bond refrain. Idris Elba’s name comes up so often, I keep thinking he’s played 007 already. Angelina Jolie, no stranger to superspy action leads (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Salt), has said, “I’d like to be Bond.” More intersectional dream-Bond casting always ensues. It was only a matter of time before the franchise keepers succumbed to the leftist cultural pressure; hence the upcoming 25th Bond film has been licensed to kill two birds with one stone. Agent 007 will be portrayed by black actress Lashana Lynch. To paraphrase Richard Harris in the brilliant English thriller Juggernaut, they may be stupid, but they’re not bloody stupid, since James Bond himself will still be portrayed by Daniel Craig.

...

As the late, great film critic Roger Ebert astutely wrote, “James Bond is not an action hero,” despite all contemporary efforts to reduce him to that and jettison what made him work for generations. He’s what his creator, the novelist Ian Fleming, envisioned: the British answer to Mike Hammer. Fleming loved the American hardboiled fiction school of Hammett, Chandler, and Spillane and dismissed the plethora of literary English fops like Lord Peter Wimsey. He created a chauvinist predator dedicated to Queen and country who enjoys a hedonistic lifestyle precisely because he knows it could end violently in an instant. He’s the quintessential toxic male, albeit with charm and wit. Men want to be like him, and women want to be with him — not be like him, as well.

All this brings us to Lashana Lynch. She may be a terrific actress, but as 007, she’ll damage the franchise. I believe the expression is “get woke, go broke.” The Double-Os have always been like undercover Navy SEALs: top assassins who can blend in to hostile territory, think their way through a mission, and if necessary battle their way out. Lynch’s 007 cannot believably do two out of the three. She’d be utterly worthless in male-dominated Asia, Arabia, or Latin America. Nor can she fulfill the traditional function for female field agents — seduction and entrapment — because, frankly, she lacks the pulchritude for it, and because the filmmakers would never dream of giving her such a sexist role. In fact, they just banned the term “Bond Girl” from the set of the new movie, tentatively titled Bond 25, opted for “Bond Woman,” and hired a feminist co-screenwriter. In their desperation to fit in with the Hollywood zeitgeist rather than respect Fleming’s vision, they will accomplish what countless villains over 60 years have failed to do: kill Bond, now!

*sigh*  What's next, a female Indiana Jones?

 

[Irishman]

2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Goodbye, Mr. Bond: https://spectator.org/goodbye-mr-bond/

*sigh*  What's next, a female Indiana Jones?

 

Nope...Thor

[Muda69]

14 hours ago, Irishman said:

Nope...Thor

Yeah, but in the comics Jane Foster taking a turn as "Thor" is actually canon: https://nerdist.com/article/jane-foster-female-thor-comics-natalie-portman/

 

[swordfish]

https://www.chicksonright.com/opinion/2019/08/22/san-francisco-board-comes-up-with-a-new-term-for-convicted-felon/?fbclid=IwAR2tVVLIIdzAudwLb5HgDJWIIAbpsLzktuFWDaDSZyPuJLTtkPGsipVGqb0

San Francisco is facing a horrific crime problem. So what has the San Francisco Board of Supervisors done?

They’ve come up with new terms in order to “soften” criminals.

According to Fox News:

Crime-ridden San Francisco has introduced new sanitized language for criminals, getting rid of words such as “offender” and “addict” while changing “convicted felon” to “justice-involved person.”nd Out More >

The Board of Supervisors adopted the changes last month even as the city reels from one of the highest crime rates in the country and staggering inequality exemplified by pervasive homelessness alongside Silicon Valley wealth.

The local officials say the new language will help change people’s views about those who commit crimes.

 

 

A juvenile “delinquent” will now be called a “young person with justice system involvement,” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system.”

And drug addicts or substance abusers, meanwhile, will become “a person with a history of substance use.”

“We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done,” Supervisor Matt Haney told the newspaper.

“We want them ultimately to become contributing citizens, and referring to them as felons is like a scarlet letter that they can never get away from.”

So what GOOD does this do?

The sanitized language, though unlikely to do much to address the crime problem, may result in some convoluted descriptions of crimes in the future.

The newspaper noted an individual whose car has been broken into could well be known to police as “a person who has come in contact with a returning resident who was involved with the justice system and who is currently under supervision with a history of substance use.”

 

THIS WILL SOFTEN CRIMINALS?

Edited August 22, 2019 by swordfish

[swordfish]

  

 

OK - I don't get it......If you are a vegan (opposed to eating meat) then why would you want to pretend to eat meat?

Maybe a vegan wants to identify as a part of the top of the food chain........Not sure....

[gonzoron]

Seventh Day Adventists have been doing it for decades. It’s not new

Edited August 29, 2019 by gonzoron