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March 2022

Silence of the Lambs Michael Walsh

https://the-pipeline.org/the-silence-of-the-lambs/

It seems that a lad named Will Thomas, complete with God-given willie—his John Thomas if you will—is now a NCAA “women’s” swimming champion, having finished “first” in a women’s 500-yard freestyle event, beating off a bunch of real girls in the course of his famous victory. Not that he pretends to be a real woman, mind you; no, he’s “making history” as “the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title,” a dubious distinction given that he’s not “transgender” in any meaningful sense of the word, and thus his “first place” finish in a women’s event has exactly zero validity. As Abraham Lincoln once said: calling a dog’s tail a leg doesn’t make it so. If Thomas wants to be called “Lia” that’s his business—but let him compete in the men’s events.

Ah, but this is the lunatic world we currently live in, thanks in large part to the tolerance brigade, which demands that normal people (and yes, there are such things) tolerate and even encourage mental illness on a hitherto unimagined scale—as a glance at the mentally ill people who post their psychological problems on TikTok and Twitter for all the world to admire plainly indicates. Never mind the damage this does to impressionable and insecure young people, some of whom have killed themselves after being pressured into “transitioning.” Time was when demanding that humanity address you as Napoleon bought you a trip to the funny farm; today, psycho-sexual mini-emperors lord it over the rest of society and demand to be indulged and given prizes.

 What did Dr. Lecter say? “He’s making himself a girl suit out of real girls.”

Tulsi Gabbard Roasts Ketanji Jackson for her Inability to Define ‘Woman’ By Matt Margolis

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/03/24/tulsi-gabbard-roasts-ketanji-jacksons-inability-to-define-woman-n1583978

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been widely mocked by the right for saying she couldn’t define what a “woman” is because she isn’t a biologist, but she’s also getting mocked from the left.

On Thursday, former congresswoman and Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard blasted Jackson, saying that if she can’t define what a woman is, she can’t protect the rights of women.

“In order to have a Supreme Court committed to protecting the rights of all Americans, including women, every justice needs to understand there is such a thing as a woman, as distinct from a man,” Gabbard said on Twitter. “Yet when asked to define the word ‘woman,’ Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said, ‘I don’t know.’”

“The hypocrisy and absurdity of this is that she was nominated by President Biden in large part because she is a woman,” she added.

Before Going to War, Consider Who’s in Charge Let’s not go charging into the valley of death with our junto of fatuous fanatics in command.       By Stephen Balch

https://amgreatness.com/2022/03/23/before-going-to-war-consider-whos-in-charge/

America is drifting toward war, wafted by a chorus of political and punditical sirens. A great many of them are conservatives, including popular media personalities with large audiences. They’ve been warned by other conservatives about the risks of confrontation with Russia that deeper intervention in Ukraine poses.

But since few want to abandon the Ukrainians altogether, the conservative camp faces a quandary. How much risk is too much risk? Is riskiness more a matter of the quantity or the quality of support we provide to Ukraine? Is it more a matter of optics or battlefield utility? Does it matter from exactly whence it immediately arrives? Is it important how much it steers the antagonists toward possible off-ramps? These would be difficult questions for even a consummate diplomatist to answer. Not an eager player of Russian roulette, for whatever it’s worth, I incline toward overall prudence. Keep the supplies flowing at pretty much their present rate and hope deadlock leads eventually to an agreement that neither side will like but that both can politically accept. Or so it seems to me.

‘Diversity’ at Annapolis By Jim Tulley

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/03/diversity_at_annapolis.html

“The Naval Academy’s ODEI Mission web page states goals of making the Academy an “inclusive campus,” ensuring “equitable access'” and addressing the “challenges of underrepresented populations.”  This reads like political correctness at an institution where the real mission is to train combat leaders.  So, Admiral, please enlighten us.  How and why does your new diverse culture make our Navy a stronger fighting force?”

“Why” is a wonderful, troublesome, puzzling, and sometimes irritating word.  When asked by children, it often elicits a response of “because I said so.”  In other situations, it might cause us to think.  So when someone says, “Our diversity is our strength,” why does no one ask why?

If the statement means “diversity of thought,” who could disagree?  This country has practiced such for over 200 years.  It is central to the structure of our federal government, as 50 states govern in different ways that work best for their unique circumstances.  If it’s diversity of culture, there is no argument.  In an open society, it is almost a given.

Russia not taking Gen. Mark Milley’s phone calls By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/03/russia_not_taking_gen_mark_milleys_phone_calls.html

Gen. Mark Milley, the Pentagon swamp creature who brought us the Afghanistan pullout and turned the U.S. military focus to “white rage,” doesn’t seem to be able to get Russia’s generals, now bombing Ukraine, to return his phone calls.

According to the Washington Post:

Repeated attempts by the United States’ top defense and military leaders to speak with their Russian counterparts have been rejected by Moscow for the last month, leaving the world’s two largest nuclear powers in the dark about explanations for military movements and raising fears of a major miscalculation or battlefield accident.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have tried to set up phone calls with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov but the Russians “have so far declined to engage,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in a statement Wednesday.

The attempted calls by Austin and Milley, which have not previously been reported, come as Russia conducts operations near the borders of NATO members Poland and Romania while the United States and its European allies conduct air-policing operations over the Baltic Sea and pour weapons and equipment into Ukraine by ground transport.

The Absurd Attempt to Defend Lia Thomas’s Competing as a Woman By Jenna Stocker

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/the-absurd-attempt-to-defend-lia-thomass-competing-as-a-woman/?utm_source=recirc-

A Washington Post columnist ridiculously argues that we shouldn’t care about Lia Thomas competing as female because sports aren’t about competition anyway.

W riting in last Thursday’s Washington Post, Sally Jenkins poses several questions regarding the nature of college athletics, the purpose of the NCAA, and the role of competition in collegiate sports — all in the context of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. But what Jenkins is really doing is ignoring the essential element of sport: competition — specifically, fair competition. Removing fair competition from the debate and making it about “becomingness” obscures the inherent biological advantage of transgender women, because admitting to unfair competition means drawing the conclusion that transgender women are not women, and revealing that the whole progressive argument for gender identity being equal to immutable biological fact is a farce.

Thomas, up until the spring 2019, identified as a man and swam on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swimming team and just recently competed in the NCAA women’s swimming championships, where he placed in the prestigious top eight in all three of his individual events, including a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.

Trying Trump by Resignation Letter Is Disgraceful By Charles C. W. Cooke

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/trying-trump-by-resignation-letter-is-disgraceful/

“But none of this happened. Trump was not charged “with falsifying business records.” The prosecutors did not secure “an indictment of Mr. Trump.” The matter was not “the highest-profile case ever brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.” Mr. Trump was not “the first American president to face criminal charges.” And Mr. Dunne and Mr. Pomerantz did “not demonstrate that the former president had intended to inflate the value of his golf clubs, hotels and office buildings.” 

The leaked judgments of a dissenting Manhattan prosecutor can’t be allowed to negate the presumption of innocence to which every American is entitled.

Y esterday’s New York Times contained a long report on a resignation letter that was leaked from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, in which it is revealed that “one of the senior Manhattan prosecutors who investigated Donald J. Trump,” Mark F. Pomerantz, “believed that the former president was ‘guilty of numerous felony violations’ and that it was ‘a grave failure of justice’ not to hold him accountable.”

Americans of all political stripes should be horrified by this development, and the leaker, whoever he may be, should be summarily fired.

Arizona Passes Bills Banning Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports, Gender Reassignment Surgery for Minors By Caroline Downey

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/arizona-passes-bills-banning-transgender-athletes-in-womens-sports-gender-reassignment-surgery-for-minors/

Arizona passed bills Thursday banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports and minors from undergoing gender transition surgery, adding another member to the growing coalition of Republican states that have passed such measures.

It is uncertain whether Governor Doug Ducey will sign the bills. While he is a Republican, that doesn’t necessarily mean he will rubber stamp the bills, given that the Republican governors of Utah and Indiana recently vetoed their versions of the sports legislation.

Prohibiting transgender athletes from female sports has become a major Republican platform issue. Multiple red states have passed bills restricting K-12 and collegiate athletics to biological sex. Idaho was the first do so in 2020, but its law is currently entrenched in litigation, as is West Virginia’s.

In Texas, Governor Gregg Abbott has ordered investigations into medical providers and parents who enable children’s transition surgeries.

Market Innovations Make Nuclear An Energy Crisis Solution By Roy Mathews

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/03/22/market_innovations_make_nuclear_an_energy_crisis_solution_823059.html

One of the few positive takeaways from the war in Ukraine is the long overdue reconciliation of people’s overblown fear of nuclear power and the world’s need for sustainable clean energy. The current energy crisis rocking the U.S. has seen pipelines canceled and prices rising at the pump, with electric vehicles being touted as the answer. Fears of another Chernobyl have long dogged the nuclear industry and limited its appeal.

But, as they say, needs must.

The stigma of nuclear power being too prone to human error to be a viable and safe energy source may be headed to the dustbin of history. European countries that have recently moved away from nuclear power are starting to realize that dependence on Russian fossil fuels is a problem that perhaps only nuclear power can abate. Take Germany, for example: With Russia as its largest supplier of crude oil, the country has had to reconsider a decision that would shut down half of its nuclear plants this year.

Americans face triple whammy as rent, gas and electric bills surge By Irina Ivanova

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inflation-gas-prices-rent-electricity-bills-rise/

Zachary Lloyd makes $14,800 a year as a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University — right around the poverty line for a single adult. So the 25-year-old was looking forward to a pay increase starting this fall that would net him about $1,000 more, just about covering his higher costs for groceries, fast food and gasoline.Then his lease came up for renewal, and Lloyd learned his management company was raising the rent on the Tallahassee apartment he shares with a fellow student by $250 a month.

“I was shocked when I opened the letter today — it was almost 18%, which is not covered by a pay raise,” he told CBS MoneyWatch.

Lloyd is facing a dilemma distressingly common among America’s 120 million renters. With the cost of rent, transportation and utilities all rising at double-digits, many households are forking over last year’s pay increases, and then some, just to make ends meet.