Showing posts with label Culture War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture War. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 02, 2026

Quick Hits: Volume CDXIII

- After the absolute debacle that was the MNGOP convention this past weekend, the runner-up in the gubernatorial endorsement is taking it to the August primary. 


House Speaker Lisa Demuth will continue her campaign for Minnesota governor despite losing the state Republican endorsement to former healthcare executive Kendall Qualls at the state party convention in Duluth.

She and her running mate, attorney Ryan Wilson, announced their decision on Tuesday. Demuth will run in the GOP primary on Aug. 11 against Qualls and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, after this weekend’s convention failed to eliminate top Republican candidates in the races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Demuth had originally pledged to abide by the GOP’s endorsement before the convention, but left the door open after “unusual circumstances” with the balloting process on Saturday.

“We fully expected when we agreed to abide by the endorsement that that process would be fair,” Demuth said on the steps of the state Capitol after filing paperwork to run. “That was brought into question.”


Demuth had led on the first four ballots, increasing her percentage on each occasion. But then from ballots 4 to 5, the result went from Demuth leading Qualls 42.4% to 35.8% to her trailing 49.9% to 46%. And if that wasn't suspicious enough, the number of delegates casting votes dropped by nearly 400. It was when results were being tabulated for ballot #6 that it was ascertained there were technical issues involving the clickers being used to cast votes. A 15-minute recess to address the issue turned into multiple hours before voting resumed. Qualls would eventually reach the 60% threshold on the 10th ballot. 


Look, I'm not suggesting that Qualls' victory is illegitimate. However, given the flawed process, the state party was absolutely justified in allowing Demuth to rescind her pledge to abide by the endorsement if she so chose. 


Finally, friend of the NARN (and occasional guest host) Dave Osmek with perhaps the paramount reason why the endorsement process should be gassed altogether. 





If MNGOP activists indeed don't want the party to perpetually be in the minority, what would they be doing differently if they did? 



- Given it's the month of June, major organizations look to pander to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. And certain media outlets are witting accomplices in calling out those who refuse to do so.  





Unless the Rangers are actively banning gays from participating in their various promotional nights, I'm not really seeing an issue here.  



- I wrote a few weeks ago that the national Democrat party has an extremism problem. 


A lot has been made of Graham Platner (or is it Grähäm Plätner?), the guy vying to be the Dem Senate candidate to oppose Susan Collins in Maine. Turns out the Nazi tattoo on his chest may, shockingly, be the least of his issues.  


But if you think that's jarring, get a load of the official Democrat candidate for Congress out of New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. 





I guess this all makes sense. For a solid decade now, progs have painted Donald Trump as evil and morally bankrupt. Turns out they were only doing so to justify the lunatics they're now regularly putting forth for political office.


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Monday, June 01, 2026

It's the month of June......

 ....which means..........





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Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Quick Hits: Volume CDV

 - If the LGBTQIA+2S community is truly an oppressed folk, why is that when someone so much as looks at them cross-eyed, the clap back is a veritable tidal wave? 


The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team Monday, hours after he posted a lengthy video rant on social media about religion and other topics that included anti-gay sentiments.

Ivey has gone live on his Instagram account more frequently in the past week, posting at least three lengthy videos after he was shut down for the rest of the season by the team because of injury last Thursday. On Monday morning, he called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, saying it celebrates "unrighteousness."

"The world proclaims LGBTQ, right?" Ivey said during the video stream. "They proclaim Pride Month and the NBA does, too. They show it to the world. They say, 'Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.' They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it on the streets. Unrighteousness."

In another live stream Monday evening, Ivey questioned why he was waived before speaking again at length about religion.

"[The Bulls] said my conduct is detrimental to the team," he said. "Why didn't they just say, 'We don't agree with his stance on LGBTQ'? Why didn't they say that? ... How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players?"




The Bulls likely believe this gives them plausible deniability in that they didn't specifically cite Ivey's comments about LGBTQ. 


Naturally, most Christians believe this is yet another instance of bigotry against their faith and that Ivey wasn't bullying others as much as he was questioning forced advocacy. But those who supported Ivey's ouster claim it was more out of concern for his mental health than what he was actually saying. Well if that's true, why didn't the team intervene to provide him whatever assistance he needed as opposed to leaving him high and dry? And the fact Ivey will receive his entire salary for the season suggests the Bulls organization just wants this to go away. Heh. In a country bound up by nonstop culture wars, this definitely is not the last we'll hear of this. 



- Just your periodic reminder that students, in the minds of the teachers union, are not the top priority when it comes to education funding. 





There has been ungodly amounts of money thrown at Minnesota public education for decades, yet there's been no discernible improvement in student aptitude. Also, why should schools continue to receive funds for a student who is no longer attending there?  That's not "defunding" as much as it is refusal to allocate resources for a kid who isn't even a part of that school. 


Public schools are a failing business model, yet not enough people are asking why. Let's start there.



- I'm thinking the Rocky Mountain state oughta get out of the business of demanding people acquiesce to the LGBTQ+ lifestyle. 


The power of government to regulate the professions, especially in medicine and law, has created a lot of levers to enforce conformity. That power can be exercised openly through lawmaking, and more subtly by delegating licensing and disciplinary powers to quasi-public cartels run by the professions themselves. In Chiles v. Salazar, the Supreme Court struck a blow against the use of those powers to dictate orthodoxy and stifle disfavored opinions. Still more encouragingly, Justice Neil Gorsuch’s ringing opinion attracted a lopsided 8–1 majority, with only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent.

Chiles arose from yet another effort by Colorado to ban dissent from “LBGTQ+” ideology, which was yet again defeated by a legal team from Alliance Defending Freedom. A state law bans licensed counselors from engaging in “conversion therapy” with minors, on penalty of fines and loss of license. The law is flagrantly one-sided: It applies only to therapy that aims to resolve gender dysphoria or to reduce homosexual attraction, while permitting state-favored counseling in favor of gender transition and homosexuality. It is coercive and destructive of parental authority: While blue states have schemed to let public schools “socially transition” kids without telling their parents, Colorado won’t even let the disfavored therapists talk to minors when both the minor and the parent consent. It is speech-specific: Unlike red-state bans on irreversible surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs, the law applies to purely talk-based therapies. And it is harmful as well: Most children and teens suffering gender dysphoria can outgrow the problem and learn to live in their bodies; talking through their problems can help.

he Court called this what it is: discrimination against a particular viewpoint. As Gorsuch wrote, “Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. Certainly, censorious governments throughout history have believed the same. But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.” Even Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, emphasized that “the case is textbook. The law distinguishes between two opposed sets of ideas—the one resisting, the other reflecting, the State’s own view of how to speak with minors about sexual orientation and gender identity.” To Kagan’s credit, she added that this is just as bad when her own side does it: “It does not matter what the State’s preferred side is.” Justice Jackson, who opened by urging that there is “no right to practice medicine which is not subordinate to the police power of the States,” could use a remedial course on that score.


As has often been the case, Justice Jackson shows she's more of an emotional ideologue than a legal mind. 





In celebration of this decision, I hope Colorado therapists buy some baked goods from Masterpiece Cakeshop. 


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Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Quick Hits: Volume CCCXCVI

 - If the Trump administration is not making an effort to tank their party's prospects in the 2026 midterms, what would they be doing differently if that were their intention? Alienating perhaps the most passionate, substantive and well organized political movements (i.e. the Second Amendment advocates) would be a place to start if you wanted to surrender your electoral prospects. 


In the aftermath of the shooting death of Alex Pretti, it was Trump himself as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel decrying the fact Pretti was even carrying a firearm, despite the fact he had a permit to do so and never brandished it. 


But the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia took it a step further. 





Yikes. I would expect such rhetoric out of the proggiest of prog D.A.'s, but a Republican appointee? 


Pirro later walked back her remarks in an episode of "What I should have said." 





In a way, this is heartening. While the vast majority of gunnies likely vote Republican, they aren't going to play good little tribalists if the team leader goes off the reservation. I'm guessing Ms. Pirro found that out the hard way. 



- Meanwhile, if Republicans are genuinely looking for a way to strengthen messaging for the midterms, perhaps they should air on an endless loop this statement by the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate. 


 



If this is indeed "Jim Crow 2.0," that sentiment hasn't filtered down to the demographics which leftists claim will be most harmed by voter ID.  





Gee, what s surprise. The progs taking the "20" on an 80/20 issue.



- Hey, speaking of an 80/20 issue.......


 



For context, this "conservative" is a journalist out of Toronto, Canada, so that designation isn't quite the same to Canadiens. 


Anyhow, my take is simple. I will be glad to "STFU about trans people" provided they and their allies cease with attempts to make it a "hate crime" to refer to a dude wearing a dress (and possessing an XY chromosome) as a "he." Sorry, but no one should be coerced into denying empirical facts in order to justify one's delusion. Play daily dress up all you want, but basic biology can't be overturned. 


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Friday, January 16, 2026

Transitioning out of trans madness.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing a case on the constitutionality of states making laws prohibiting transgender women and girls (aka biological men and boys) from competing on women and girls' athletic teams. If this past week's oral arguments are any indication, SCOTUS is primed to allow such laws to stand. 


Perhaps one of the most damning exchanges occurred when Kathleen Hartnett, attorney for one of the challengers of these laws, couldn't coherently define a woman when pressed by Justice Samuel Alito. 





Justice Alito continued with even more pointed questions. 


 



Conservative commentator Erick Erickson put forth a theory that, despite fighting vehemently for "trans rights" for about a decade now, elected Dems may actually be pining for a way out of this madness. 

 

Right now, Republicans are on their knees praying fervently that the Supreme Court saves Trump and the GOP from tariffs by throwing them out. Increasingly, Democrats are burning sage and taking psychedelics to channel their inner chakra and focus it on the karma of the Supreme Court, hoping the Court says boys can be banned from girls’ sports.

Both sides want the Court to save them from themselves. With the GOP, Trump is fleeting and will be gone in three years. The problem for Democrats, in addition to the Electoral College and census (particularly if deportations continue), is that Trump will go. But the Democrats are stuck with the progressive donors and trans-advocates.1

So they better be able to answer if a man can get pregnant with a straight face.

Well......they're not off to a good start.




Kinda hard to gracefully exit this movement when a good number of high profile progressives have referred to transgender rights as "the civil rights issue of our time." 


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Monday, December 22, 2025

Standards ≠ Cancelation

This past weekend's AmFest, an annual conservative gathering put on by the late Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA, wrapped up on Sunday. 


One of the final speakers of the weekend was Vice President JD Vance. And one excerpt of his talk really made the rounds afterwards.





This is likely in reference to a speech given by Ben Shapiro, who challenged AmFest attendees to call out folks who believe a "big tent" should include hateful bigots and those who borderline appease them. So with all due respect to the VP, Ben was exemplary in honoring Charlie in that they both wanted nothing to do with those who were not only openly antisemitic but also those would stand idly by while such behavior festered. 


Also, VP Vance's assertion that people like Shapiro look to "de-platform" others with whom they disagree is a strawman. Shapiro's deeply held belief is that no speech should be squelched, but rather torn apart rhetorically with fact-filled dissent. And it's something he's built his career on and has done so wildly successfully. 


It was also pretty revealing that the likes of Candace Owens and Steve Bannon went right to ad hominem attacks on Shapiro as opposed to substantively refuting anything he said. 


In the end, I love what Allie Beth Stuckey had to say regarding calls for "unity." 





It's rather telling that those who are presented with inconvenient truths are the ones who are making the loudest calls for "unity" as opposed to substantive discourse. Perhaps it's because they're incapable of the latter, which makes the former unsustainable. 


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Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Quick Hits: Volume CCCLII

- We just surpassed the 2-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Upon the announcement of that decision, staunch pro lifers knew full well that the most intense work was about to begin. Sure, the individual states could pass whatever abortion laws they desire, but no statute is ever going to completely eradicate infanticide.  


Former NFL player (and one of the most outspoken pro life figures) Ben Watson comes at this from a perspective which more pro lifers ought to broach. 


I want to issue a challenge to men in particular. We as a country are suffering our wounds of abortion in large part due to dereliction or outright abuse caused by men. Many women seeking abortion are victims of domestic violence or are unsupported by their male partner. Some men secretly want to stand up for their child in the womb but are too passive to protect their partner and child from the abortion industry. Others have been influenced by social trends and clever slogans, believing they can't speak out on this issue because they aren't women. While others simply feel ill equipped and unprepared to be a father or husband.

Meanwhile, for better or worse, men in public roles have made and continue to make decisions that affect the rest of the country, whether they be in the halls of Congress, in the White House, in a corporate boardroom, or with a major medical organization. Don't forget that it was a group of men who decided Roe v. Wade. Men like Alan Guttmacher played key roles in the eugenics movement and the abortion movement during the 20th century.

So to all conflicted men out there, just know that if you forfeit your sacred duty to protect your child or advocate for life because you don't want to "speak for" women, just know that other men will gladly take your place—and they may possess values diametrically opposed to yours. Your silence is their gift.


So when pro abortion folks hit back at men who defend life, they often do so with a talking point of "Well men should be forced to pay the lion's share of expenses for the pregnancy as well as financially support the child if they're advocating for the kid's birth." As a pro lifer myself, I say those terms are acceptable. 



- U.S. House prog collective "The Squad" is losing a member. 


Rep. Jamaal Bowman was trounced in a suburban New York race that became a referendum on progressives’ attitudes toward Israel and the most expensive House primary in U.S. history.

Moderate Democrat George Latimer bested Bowman on Tuesday by 17 points with 88 percent of the vote in, making Bowman the first member of the Squad to lose an election since the far-left group formed in 2018.


Fellow "Squad" members Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Cori Bush (D-MO) are also facing very formidable challenges in their respective August primaries. 


Given some of the high profile primary results this cycle, far left progressivism isn't exactly mainstream among Dem voters. 





It's amazing what happens when voters who can barely afford day-to-day necessities are inundated with issues (i.e. 2SLGBTQIA+ "rights," fReE pAlEsTiNe, etc.) which will do nothing to quell those concerns. 


- If you're wondering how Minnesota has seemed to have taken a quantum leap towards becoming a "cold California" over the past 17 months.............


 



......it's because too many vital institutions are littered with staunch partisans assuming leadership roles. This never ends well. 


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Friday, October 06, 2023

The decline continues

If today's American college students are tomorrow's lawyers and judges, then this country could be sliding towards complete totalitarianism. 

From Brad Polumbo at Newsweek: 

The (college) kids are not alright.

A new poll from the Buckley Institute surveyed students at four-year colleges—and the results are deeply alarming. Young Americans are turning their backs on basic American principles of free speech, tolerance, and due process, in a way that's so drastic it genuinely endangers the future of our political order. And this disintegration is only accelerating.

The Buckley Institute has conducted this poll for nine years, yet this year, for the first time ever, more students support shouting down speakers they disagree with than oppose this kind of mob censorship. In another first, a whopping 51 percent of students support speech codes, a drastic shift from last year, when a plurality opposed speech codes.

What's more, 46 percent of students now believe that "offensive" opinions should get other students reported to the university administration. Oh, and more than 50 percent of students literally believe certain topics should be "banned" from being debated on campus.

There's also an alarming violent twist to the censoriousness rising among Gen Z college students. A whopping 45 percent of students told pollsters it is justified to use physical violence to prevent people from expressing "hate speech" or making "racially charged comments." This radical, un-American idea is only becoming more popular: Back in 2017, for example, only 30 percent of students supported this same proposition.

See the pattern yet?


Indeed I do. 


Today's young adults have been convinced that they are under zero obligation to be exposed to a worldview or basic ideals that may fly in the face of their deeply held beliefs. As such, it's inevitable one's intellect will atrophy when it's never used to form a rebuttal to rhetoric which they find objectionable. Why I'm old enough to remember when students were willing participants in spirited debates with their college professors, an exercise the profs themselves welcomed. Not only did such discourse assist in the learning process, it was invaluable in helping students form their worldview. This idea that today's college kids will tuck tail and run to an administrator at even the slightest perception of a "microagression" doesn't bode well for America's standing on a world stage over the next several decades. 


In short, we've expedited the notion that the movie Idiocracy is actually a documentary. 


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Friday, July 21, 2023

Try canceling this

I'm not much of a country music fan anymore, but I've at least heard of Jason Aldean. Apparently one of his latest tunes got leftists all twisted up. 


Country singer Jason Aldean released a new music video this week touting how small towns wouldn't put up with the kind of riots and lawlessness many cities across the country faced during the summer of 2020.

With lyrics warning violent criminals, as well as those who disrespect law enforcement and the American flag to "try that in a small town," Aldean sings, "Yeah, ya think you're tough? Well, try that in a small town, see how far ya make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own, you cross that line, it won't take long for you to find out, I recommend you don't."

Footage from smash and grab robberies and cities burning during the 2020 riots are shown in the background of the new music video for "Try That in a Small Town." The song's tough stance on crime and pro-Second Amendment messaging upset some liberals, who voiced their complaints on Twitter.


Some progs have indicated that the lyrics to this song is full of "racist dog whistles." That actually says more about leftists than it does Aldean when the proggies believe Aldean is referring to black people when he warns against rioting and looting. In fact, I would daresay it was lily white Antifa thugs who were at the epicenter of the looting and violence that occurred in the summer of 2020, but that's something the left would rather not discuss.


Some even went so far as to suggest that the filming location of the song's video was driving home a nefarious message. 


 



While the optics certainly aren't great, it's quite a leap to suggest that a singer singing about defending his small town can be conflated with lynching a person solely because of the color of their skin. And Mr. Pittman might also have a point if that location wasn't, y'know, frequently used as a backdrop. 

 

As the music video's production company correctly pointed out in a statement, the site is a ”popular filming location outside of Nashville."

The Columbia courthouse is indeed frequently used for video productions, such as Mario Lopez's movie "Steppin' into the Holiday." Even Miley Cyrus' "Hannah Montana: The Movie" was filmed at the famous location, which featured prominently in the film several times.

"Any alternative narrative suggesting the music video’s location decision is false," production company Tacklebox told Fox News.


Bottom line is no one is inciting violence here. The message of Aldean's song is people choose to live their lives in peace and thus don't want their neighbors to suffer any unnecessary loss over issues in which they had no culpability. In short, don't wake a sleeping giant.


True to one lyric in Aldean's song, his supporters "took care of their own."

 

The controversy has caused the opposite effect critics may have intended, however, as Aldean's single shot to number one on iTunes charts while also topping the platform's video rankings and showing up on YouTube's trending music videos page.


As usual, few people are buying what these maniacal, pearl-clutching progs are trying to sell. 


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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Quick Hits: Volume CCCXX

 - Since I no longer serve as Master of Ceremonies for the annual Miss Minnesota pageant, I don't pay near the attention to national/worldwide "beauty pageants" like I used to. 


Looks like I got out just in time. 





The winner was Rikkie Kollé, a trans woman. 





For the record, I vehemently support women who believe that traditionally female endeavors should be exclusive to biological females. On the other hand, I concur with RedState writer Bonchie that if certain women's groups wanna kowtow to the trans ideology (like the other Miss Netherlands contestants who seem unbothered by losing a beauty pageant to a dude), then Godspeed. 

If they don’t care that they just got completely rolled by the abusive giant of transgender ideology, why should I care? Why should I go to bat for people who don’t want me to go to bat for them? It’d be one thing if the women had stood somewhat solemnly or even just politely clapped without the overabundance of physical exertion shown in the video. At least then we could watch it and judge that they are holding back their true thoughts. That’s not what’s in that video, though. Those women are genuinely thrilled that their cumulative decades of hard work have been nullified by a biological man who meets no objective standard of beauty, even putting aside the transgender issue.

There has to be a breaking point. If all of these women, whether they are playing sports or competing in beauty pageants, refuse to reach that breaking point, there’s little the rest of us can do. Every contestant should have stood up and refused to compete. That they didn’t and instead have chosen to prop up this insanity makes them culpable. In other words, I don’t feel sorry for any of them.


I have whiplash from observing how quickly we've gone from the feminist cry of "SMASH THE PATRIARCHY!!!" to "We embrace any patriarchal figure who chooses to erase womanhood."



- Prog celebrity couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell hosted a star-studded dinner party recently, of which Ms. Bell took the liberty of photo documenting. 






And as is custom with Woko Haram, there were certain observations made about the guests in attendance. 

I'll save you a click by cuing you in on what was the predominate take. 





You're welcome. 


- Another maniacal driver evading police results in tragic consequences in a Twin Cities suburb. 

A motorist remains in the hospital Monday and under arrest on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and causing a Robbinsdale crash that killed a minivan driver and severely injured her husband.

The driver who died Saturday night at North Memorial Health was identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office as Emily Gerding, 34, of Crystal, whose vehicle was hit broadside by the suspect's car at the intersection of N. Orchard and 36th avenues following a brief pursuit by police. The Robbinsdale officer called off the chase, but the driver continued at speeds of up to 90 mph before the fatal crash.

Gerding's husband, 34-year-old John Gerding, was taken by ambulance to North Memorial; he was in critical but stable condition Monday morning, said police Capt. John Elder.

Fox 9 News interviewed Emily's mother, who had to emphasize that she and the rest of the family did not share the public's ire towards police who were, y'know, doing their job by attempting to pull over the suspect vehicle. Once again we have a situation (like with the Derrick Thompson incident) where instead of mourning a senseless loss as well as providing prayers and warm wishes to the victims' families, some people feel the need to sway blame from where it squarely belongs (i.e. the driver of the Tesla) by demonizing police. So at the risk of adding to the melee, I'll just leave it at that.

The Gerdings' two young children are now without a mother and it's touch-and-go whether their daddy will survive. As such, a GoFundMe page has been established to help the family with funeral expenses as well as needs for the children. Please check it out here ===> (LINK). 

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Monday, July 10, 2023

What a drag

Somehow drag queens have become a significant part of America's culture wars these days. While dudes dressing up as glam chicks isn't anything new, the phenomena of them catering to an audience of literal children is a recent development.

A small shop in a southwestern Twin Cities suburb is the latest to get in on the act. 


A Chaska children’s boutique’s high-profile drag queen story time drew a supportive crowd Saturday morning in spite of protests.

The event drew attention after the store’s owner posted a video on TikTok of an angry customer arguing that it promoted sexual entertainment for children. The video received more than 500,000 likes and thousands of comments supporting Little Roos.

Darcie Baumann, who helped run the event, said in part due to these types of threats, the store was prepared when members of the right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys showed up on Saturday and shouted at attendees.

Police and members of Minneapolis-based security team Sequeerity helped keep the peace, Baumann said.

“We’re very lucky to be on private property and have the support of the property manager, and we were not going to engage,” Baumann said. “Any attention that we give them is just fueling that fire.”

But what wasn’t expected was the 200-strong crowd that packed the store to create colorful chalk art and hear drag queen Miz Diagnosis read two children’s books. Little Roos owner Marissa Held-Nordling said they weren’t able to fit everyone in the store.


The rationale I hear most often for exposing kids to drag queens is to show the youngsters that members of the LGBTQ+ community are regular, everyday people who just wanna live normal lives. And hey, how can adults who reads fun stories to kids be in any way harmful? 


As someone who is a firm believer in free speech as well as strident private property rights, I'm not at all a fan of any kind of government intervention to ban events like what took place at Little Roos. Sure, I may question the parents' decision to expose their kids to any kind of sexual orientation at such a young age, but also being a strong advocate for parental rights means I concede they have that discretion. It's not unlike the time in 1987 when I witnessed a father bringing his pre-teen son to the movie theater to see Fatal Attraction, which was an "R" rated movie. It probably was not a great idea to expose a kid to such messy adult interactions but, again, the parents were apparently willing to deal with any fallout from the impact the film had on their child (at least I hope they were).


All that being said, there's just one thing I can't get past --- why is it so many drag queens themselves seem overly willing to not only command an audience of kids but also take it beyond just reading to them?


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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Quick Hits: Volume CCCXIX

 - The 2SLGBTQIA+ crowd (yes, I just learned 2S is a thing) and their "allies" take great exception to some of their members being labeled as "groomers." Such a label was affixed when dudes in drag started "twerking" in front of kids. Ah, but we were emphatically told that such incidents were isolated and that the majority of kids' exposure to drag queens was merely having books read to them. 


So when shocking video footage emerged from Pride parades over the weekend, including an LGBTQ group chanting that they're coming for kids, leftist TV network NBC went into spin mode. 





Then we see this: 


 



What a remarkable coincidence. Dare I say "mission accomplished?"



- Vice President Kamala Harris has a historically low approval rating, plummeting to a net-negative of -17. 


I guess we're all racist misogynists now, eh Jimmy Kimmel? 



- The son of a far left former MN state rep was charged with 10 counts of vehicular homicide by a typically lenient prog county attorney. No political favors. No grandstanding by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. Granted these should be low bars to clear but with a society teetering ever closer to a Banana Republic, this almost seemed to be going along too smoothly.


Leave it to the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to attempt to muddy the waters. 


Somali Americans grieving the five young women killed by a speeding driver want answers.

Among their questions: Who was responsible for the unauthorized release of the crash video that went viral on social media? Why did the suspect in the crash, Derrick Thompson, have his license reinstated in Minnesota after he was imprisoned for a 2018 hit-and-run in California? What was the involvement of the state trooper who began following Thompson's rented SUV after it sped past him on Interstate 35W just before the SUV left the interstate and slammed into the women's car?

"We are asking the governor of the state of Minnesota to create an independent investigation into this case," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota.


Emphasis was mine. 


While outrage over the release of video footage is a red herring, I concur that there has to be answers for why Thompson had his license reinstated. But the insinuation that law enforcement was at all complicit in this incident smacks of mere pig piling upon Minneapolis' favorite foil -- the cops. 


The Minnesota Police & Peace Officers Association responded: 





This incident was avoidable and never should have happened, so I can certainly understand how a community is struggling to come to grips with this senselessness. But this appears to be nothing more than a situation where a young man's poor life choices resulted in the tragic deaths of five innocent people. As such, the women and their families will get justice since Thompson will likely never see the light of day again. Focusing energy elsewhere will only serve to gouge at already deep emotional wounds. 


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Friday, May 26, 2023

Holy strawman......

 Someone in my Facebook community recently shared this post:





I can identify nearly all the TV show/movie characters pictured in that post. And the statement is partially correct in that I was largely entertained by most of those performances. All that said, this pictorial retrospective is a textbook definition of a logical fallacy. None of those people ever "twerked" in front of children or discussed sexual proclivities with the kids, unlike what some drag performances have devolved into today. Alas, this is a classic example of progs being unable to defend those tendencies, so they have to construct a strawman like this. 

But what makes that pro-drag post beyond outrageous? They didn't include the lead actress from the '80s classic movie Just One of the Guys. 

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Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Today's Venn Diagram

People who lauded NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem and people blowing the proverbial gasket over NHL players declining to wear "Pride" warmup jerseys:


via GIPHY



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Monday, March 20, 2023

Quick Hits: Volume CCCVII

 - Despite not yet having declared a 2024 run for President, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has drawn the ire of Donald Trump and his performative leg humpers. Then over the weekend when Trump announced he would likely be arrested on Tuesday over charges filed the the Manhattan District Attorney, Trumpkins insisted DeSantis come forward and call out this perceived political witch hunt. 


While DeSantis had no obligation to do so, his responses when asked about this saga proves he has more political acumen in his pinky toe than Trump and his bobos collectively. 





DeSantis effectively calls out the Soros-funded D.A. while side stepping any unnecessary verbal jabs towards Trump himself. But since DeSantis didn't kiss the proverbial ring, crazed loser Trump fired off one of his obligatory unhinged social media posts. 





Trump has this innate gift of turning the potential of being a sympathetic character into his becoming a despised, frothing kook. It's truly a gift. 


- Speaking of unsympathetic characters, some 2-year old video footage came out of Dr. Anthony Fauci attempting to basically sell the COVID-19 vaccine door-to-door.

 




Huh. Musta been that MAGA-ite misinformation that got to these folks in that conservative mecca of....uh...Washington, D.C. 



- It's fortuitous that my friend David Strom is now part of the national conservative powerhouse blog that his HotAir.com. Given our fair state of Minnesota is in the habit of making national news for all of the wrong reasons, Strommie has a front row seat to all the lunacy. 


The latest being Minnesota's most prominent woman these days is actually......a biological male. 



(Minnesota State Rep. Leigh) Finke must be one impressive “woman,” since “she” rose from being just a guy to the most impactful woman in my state is less than 6 years. It’s the same path that transgender athletes take so often: a mediocre man becomes an exceptional woman, not through hard work, diligence, accomplishment, or anything similar. They do it by pretending to be a woman, and the rest of society applauds them and plays along.

We are constantly lectured about The Science™, and indeed there of plenty of people who call themselves scientists who argue that natal males and females can shed their sex and transform magically into another, or none at all.

We get lectures about seahorse sexuality, natal males getting cervical cancer without having a cervix, transgender female periods, and other irrelevancies and fantasies. Every biology textbook has been tossed out the window for no other reason than to flatter the delusions of mentally ill people.

And it isn’t even disputable that they are mentally ill and deserving of compassion. “Dysphoria” is by definition a mental state, and the only evidence that a person is “born in the wrong body” (an absurdity) is the claim. Logically there is zero difference between that claim and the claim that a person is an eagle trapped in a human body. Or a space alien. Or whatever.


I've asked this question before and I'll ask again: Where are the old school radical feminists? The essence of their movement, which started about a half century ago, was that women endured unique challenges which men could not possibly understand, much less relate to. Yet in today's society we're to believe that men can not only relate to women but can actually morph into the gender????


Since radical feminists and LGBTQ+ folks typically vote for the same stripe of politicians, I'm guessin' the old school gals are willing to "go along to get along" to ensure the right people get into office. Plus one for the patriarchy in this case. 


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Thursday, January 19, 2023

Forced advocacy

A little more than nine years ago, conservative commentator Erick Erickson wrote a piece entitled "You will be made to care." The essence of his essay was to address the culture having shifted to the majority of Americans approving of gay marriage. Even a good number of social conservatives, while disagreeing that such a union is indeed "marriage," acquiesced by saying "whatevs." As long as they don't force their views upon us, we'll do the courtesy of not doing the same. The problem is, the secular left isn't willing to play that game. It's no longer good enough to say "live and let live." Secular progs believe they're firmly entrenched in the moral high ground, so anything less than full acquiescence is unacceptable. No more hiding behind your deeply held religious beliefs, they say.


Fast forward to earlier this week when an NHL player chose to stand on principle. 


Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov did not participate in the team's LGBTQ+ Pride Night festivities Tuesday night — which included wearing a rainbow-themed warmup jersey prior to the Flyers' game against the Anaheim Ducks.

The 26-year-old Provorov, who says he is Russian Orthodox, explained that he chose not to participate because of his religious beliefs.

"I respect everybody's choices," he told reporters after the game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, which the Flyers won 5-2. "My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion."

Flyers coach John Tortorella did not bench Provorov, and came to his defense, saying Provorov is "being true to himself and to his religion."

"This has to do with his belief and his religion," Tortorella said in his postgame comments. "It's one thing I respect about Provy: He's always true to himself. That's where we're at with that."


Good on coach Tortorella for backing his guy despite anticipating an intense backlash. 


Whenever sports and social issues intersect, it's give the sports media (the vast majority of whom lean left) an opportunity to sit at the adult table. Problem is, they come off as vacuous hacks. 



 

 

 



In the end, Provorov gave everyone a blueprint on how to beat back the "wokes." That is, calmly and unapologetically state your beliefs and then don't address the situation again. Sure, the wokes will display their impotent rage for a few days, but then they'll move on to the next great affront. 


Leave it to a Russian born citizen to provide Americans the template for defending free expression.


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Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Quick Hits: Volume CCC

Insufferable leftist university being hit with a lawsuit. 


The adjunct professor accused of Islamophobia for showing artwork in class that depicted the Prophet Muhammad filed a lawsuit against Hamline University on Tuesday as Hamline’s president conceded the school mishandled the controversy.

Professor Erika Lopez Prater is suing the school in Ramsey County District Court for defamation, breach of contract and religious discrimination, among other claims.

Her complaint recounts the controversy that has been described in numerous news articles and opinion pieces in the last six weeks.

Lopez Prater says she warned students repeatedly — on the syllabus shown to students and Hamline higher-ups and during the Oct. 6 class itself — that visual depictions of Muhammad and other religious figures would be shown during her art history class.

Yet, when a Muslim student viewed the artwork and complained to Hamline administrators, the school sided with the student. Lopez Prater was allowed to finish teaching the class, but she says Hamline withdrew its offer to have her teach a contemporary art class in the spring.


In what felt like a preemptive strike ahead of being dealt a loss in court, some Hamline officials conceded to a "misstep" in how this situation was handled. 


As an aside from the lawsuit itself, I'll never get used to the idea of college kids being unable to tolerate an opposing viewpoint. Baby Boomers, Gen X and even some millennials made hay out of open debate with their college professors, a skill which proved useful in life. But today's generation? They seem to feel more empowerment from getting someone fired as opposed to fortifying their own beliefs through discourse. What a shame. 



- Speaking of attempts to squash dissent.......


Another day, another piece of constitutionally illiterate legislation coming out of Congress. This time it’s Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, whose new bill criminalizing “hate speech” would trample over the First Amendment and imperil free speech.

The “Leading Against White Supremacy Act” starts with a relatively uncontroversial premise, reiterating the illegal nature of white-supremacist-motivated hate crimes. If this was all it did, few would object. But it then also criminalizes those who engage in a “conspiracy” with the perpetrator of a hate crime—and defines it so broadly that it could encapture people who simply post racially insensitive things on social media.

If someone posts “hate speech that vilifies or is otherwise directed against any non-White person or group,” an eminently subjective category of speech, on social media or other public forums and then someone sees it and commits a hate crime, that original poster is now on the hook for hate crime conspiracy. Yes, even though they never met or spoke to their “co-conspirator” and had no involvement in any actual crime—and, even though the “hate speech” in question is, in fact, protected by the First Amendment.


Of course this is merely a symbolic gesture by Rep. Jackson Lee given a GOP House majority will never allow such a bill to see the light of day. But then, that may well be the point. Dems, assuming people aren't actually digging into the substance of this legislation, can put forth a chanting point of "REPUBLICANS SUPPORT HATE CRIMES!!!!" in an effort to tighten their 2024 campaign messages. 


Just ten years ago I wouldn't have believed voters were that gullible. Now? Let's just say I wouldn't bet my house on that sentiment. 



- Just four months ago, President Joe Biden said that the COVID-19 pandemic "is over." However, the Federal government's appetite for draconian COVID mitigation remains.  


The Justice Department on Tuesday asked an appeals court to reverse an April 2022 ruling that overturned the CDC’s public transportation mask mandate.

Appearing before a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Department lawyer Brian Springer argued that the CDC should have the authority to declare universal mask requirements during a public-health crisis, such as the COVID pandemic. It is necessary “to prevent the possible infections and deaths that could result if people didn’t do the simple thing of just putting on a mask while they were traveling,” Springer argued, according to Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled last year that the CDC’s mask mandate violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it was implemented “without allowing public participation through the APA’s notice and comment procedures.”


Masks have shown to be, at best, a mitigating factor in the spread of COVID. And in the nine months since the mask mandate was overturned, it's not like there's been an inordinate number of "super spreader events" due to people utilizing public transportation. 


In the end, the DOJ appeal has little to do with masks' effectiveness as opposed to defending Federal agencies' ability to implement arbitrary mandates. Here's hoping the initial overturn is allowed to stand. 


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Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Quick Hits: Volume CCXCIII

Progs went into hyperdrive to exploit last weekend's spree killing at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, CO. In addition to the obligatory calls for "gun control" (thus undermining the Second Amendment), they're now openly calling for the stifling of dissent (i.e. undermining the First Amendment). 

While we have yet to ascertain a motive of the gunman who killed five and wounded several others a Club Q, progs still concocted a convenient narrative that the political right's objections to affirming children's desire to change genders via damaging medical procedures is what set the gunman off. Hence they're flooding the zone with the phrase "stochastic terrorism," which is defined as follows: 

The public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.


You can see where this is going, right? Now any rhetoric the left finds objectionable, they can claim it must be shut down in the name of defeating "terrorism." That means they'd be more aggressive than ever in moving forward with their loony ideas, and do so unchallenged. Pretty tidy.  



- President Joe Biden attempts to circumvent the judicial branch which shut down his "student debt relief plan."





Again, all matters concerning fiscal policy need to be decided in Congress. Doing so via Executive fiat in flatly unconstitutional. Not sure why Biden feels confident the nation's highest court would rule in his favor. 



- Now this is a legitimately courageous stance against one's country. 





Remember how certain bobbleheads lauded former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for "sacrificing his NFL career" because he took a knee during the Star Spangled Banner? Well Kap has actually gotten wealthy off of trashing of America, all the while being spared potential brain trauma by not playing the NFL. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that these Iranian soccer players aren't going to reap those kinds of benefits given the heavy handed government in their home country. 


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Tuesday, June 07, 2022

Resist virtue signaling

Advocacy is fine. Compelled advocacy is not. And compelled virtue signaling is vacuous. 


Five players on the Tampa Bay Rays roster opted not to wear a patch the team added to its uniforms intended to celebrate Pride month in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. During the team's 16th annual Pride Night celebration Rays caps and uniforms had logos colored in the style of the modern LGBTQ+ pride flag, but not everyone in the clubhouse chose to participate.

Pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson were among the players who did not wear the patch on their uniforms and chose to wear the team's standard caps for the June 4 home game.

Adam was selected by the organization to speak on behalf of the players who opted out, and called it a "faith-based decision" and that the decision wasn't "judgmental," per the Times.

"So it's a hard decision. Because ultimately we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here. But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it's just a lifestyle that maybe — not that they look down on anybody or think differently — it's just that maybe we don't want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who's encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like [Jesus] encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It's no different."


I applaud Adam for taking this stance, but his rationale is likely to fall on deaf ears. In today's "WOKE!" culture, your fealty is to be to the church of progressivism or you're a hateful bigot. There's no in-between. 


While I obviously don't know the five individuals who declined to wear the "pride" symbol, I would venture a guess that their respective worldviews would compel them to love others as God has loved us, especially since we all fall short of His glory. Wearing a vapid symbol is irrelevant in comparison to one's actual works. 


The woke mob's reaction to these Rays players is an embodiment of an episode of the TV show Seinfeld where Cosmo Kramer was an avowed supporter of ending AIDS despite not wanting to don a ribbon showing said support. 





While I disagreed with the rationale for NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem, I stopped well short of my desire that they be required to stand. And those players were making an effort to be noticed whereas the "Rays Five" weren't interested in bringing attention unto themselves. 

Like I essentially said earlier, there are no compromises with the "WOKE!" mob. 

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Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Quick Hits: Volume CCLXXVIII

 - Tell us you're a struggling incumbent Democrat governor without telling us you're a struggling incumbent Democrat governor. 


Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's first term will be defined partly by his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as his re-election looms, he's reframing the virus as less of an immediate threat.

Walz said the pandemic was transitioning to endemic as he toured St. Paul College's nursing training facilities Tuesday. The often-confused "endemic" term means COVID will be present but at more predictable levels. Variants make the future of the virus uncertain.

The DFL governor's administration has made a series of strategy shifts this week. Minnesota is winding down an at-home testing program at the end of March. Then, state officials said that Minnesota had finally hit a goal of recruiting 1,000 certified nursing students, making the state better prepared for future strains on the health care system.


This, in addition to a proposal of giving Minnesotans $500 stimulus checks (aka Timmy stimmies) to help alleviate the skyrocketing gas prices is giving off a clear vibe that Walz is pulling out all the stops to ingratiate himself to voters. 


It shouldn't be a high bar for Republicans to take advantage of this debacle, but these are Minnesota Republicans we're talking about.  



- I was OK with the overtime format the NFL had been utilizing since 2010 which was a team can only win after one possession by scoring a touchdown or the defense forcing a safety. While some fans claimed that the OT coin toss essentially determined the winner, I argued that defenses we're always more than welcome to prevent a team from reaching the end zone on the first drive (uh, hello? The Cincinnati Bengals in January's AFC Championship Game?). 


That said, the new rule adopted on Tuesday gives both teams an opportunity to possess the ball in OT (postseason only; regular season remains unchanged). And yes, I consider this an upgrade. 


I'm just grateful the NFL Competition Committee didn't attempt to pass something moronic like the NCAA football OT rule. 



- Despite leftist kooks' best efforts to gaslight, the Sunshine state has a new law on the books. 


(On Monday), Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill (HB) 1557, Parental Rights in Education, which reinforces parents’ fundamental rights to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children. The bill prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through 3rd grade and prohibits instruction that is not age appropriate for students and requires school districts to adopt procedures for notifying parents if there is a change in services from the school regarding a child’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being. The bill builds on the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which was signed into law in Florida last year, and is part of Governor DeSantis’ Year of the Parent focus on protecting parental rights in education.


In the aftermath, Walt Disney Co. continued with the sheer disingenuousness.  





Gov. DeSantis responded. 


 



It just absolutely shocks me how Disney caves to its woke employees but completely ignores the fact that the majority of its largest consumer base (i.e. adults of young kids) are likely on board with this legislation. 


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