 Dear Joltarian, This enterprise goes live on Friday, one day before it is slung around America and the world via email ether. The Mindful Author wishes he had a link for a piece that, alas, is not published prior to press time. Such linkage is impossible. Still, you are counseled thusly: Saturday, February 27, will be the 13th anniversary of the death of our great founder, William F. Buckley Jr. Somewhere on NRO will be a remembrance of him by Yours Truly. Please be on the lookout. In these final moments of typing and preparation, the mystic chords of toy memory are filled with the tunes of various Mr. Potato Head commercials. Momma mia, what were these Hasbro jabronis thinking? Were they even thinking, a lost art in the Age of Emoting and Posturing? Maddie Kearns did a swell little peeling and mashing of the idiocy on NRO when the story broke, which she updated given the ensuing and quick corporate-backpedaling. It's a retreat though. It's not a declaration of defeat. Be prepared, for who among you will be shocked if Hasbro gets re-woke and declares that henceforth "G.I. Joe" will be "G.I. Pat." Imagine the dog tags! OK, the weekly fare of tasty conservative meat and (Mr.) Potato(es) is a head! But First, that Backlash May Make You Think that It Just Might Be the Case that Everything Will Be Okay Which just happens to be the title of the new book by paisana Dana Perino, and if you need her bio then you gotta fix the remote! It's subtitle — Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman) . . . neither term which, for the record is applicable to Your Humble Male Author — explains the project at hand. And it is that, a project: God bless Dana, because she is trying mightily to pull the trigger against triggering, hoping to instill can-do moxie and confidence in younger women so that they might reframe their thinking, believe in themselves, take risks, harness their inner power, and find serenity in all of life's chaos (can Old Dudes get some of that?). While others encourage women to find their inner wimp and to see and contrive safe spaces, Dana is refreshingly pep-talking about empowerment. Now, let's be honest: It's Dana's own fault that she had to write this book. You see, her last one, And the Good News Is . . . Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side, kicked off a very personal mentoring passion, as she communicated with countless young women in their early 20s who reached out about the almost-overwhelming distress caused by our modern times. Here's the pitch: If you have a daughter or granddaughter who is this book's sweet spot, consider getting Everything Will Be Okay (it's not formally published until March 9th, but you can pre-order it here). Waddleyaget? A ton of common sense and wisdom: Dana delivers with guidance on topics as managing relationships (colleagues, family, love) . . . being your best self on the job . . . gauging if the chosen career path is the right one . . . how to transition from junior staffer to Da Boss . . . solving problems and finding that oh-so-needed serenity . . . and maybe even figuring how to make your worries the stuff that actually fuels solutions. You know a job-seeker fresh out of college? An ambitious career woman looking to make her next big jump up the ladder? Get her Dana Perino's Everything Will Be Okay: Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman). NAME, RANK, LINKS EDITORIALS Democrats' "Equality Act" Is an Unjust Civil Rights Proposal Xavier Becerra Is Biden's Most Divisive Nominee Biden Stimulus Package: Wasteful and Unnecessary Florida Leads on Voting Reform Amazon Kneel to the Mob Biden's Policy of Weakness Toward Iran ARTICLES David Harsanyi: Anthony Fauci Is Not Our Parent, or God Madeleine Kearns: Andrew Cuomo, an Unfunny Caricature of Himself Maria McFadden Maffucci: Don't Forget Andrew Cuomo's Other Coronavirus Victims Zachary Evans: Andrew Cuomo & Coronavirus: New York Failures Exposed Alexandra DeSanctis: Xavier Becerra & Nuns: Fact-Checking the Washington Post Fact-Checkers William J. Watkins Jr.: Robert A. Taft: The Forgotten Ohio Senator Is Needed Now Dan McLaughlin: Originalism Does Not Need a Makeover Frederick Hess and R.J. Martin: Hostility to Free Thought Is Rampant in Higher Education Isaac Schorr: Syracuse University Women’s Lacrosse ‘OK’ Sign Controversy: School Shamefully Bows to Woke Mob Steven Watts: 'Whiteness' Studies Started in Academy, Corrupted Political Discourse Brian Allen: Racism and Sexism Accusations Torpedo the Indianapolis Museum of Art Jack Fowler: Stanford Lefties Must Swallow Their Hoover Hate — For Now Steve Hanke: China Rattles Its Rare-Earth-Minerals Sabre Again Cameron Hilditch: In the Second Cold War, Religious Americans Must Lead the Way Itxu Dรญaz: The Spiritual Heart of Old Europe Aches CAPITAL MATTERS Kevin Hassett counsels no to the GOP tat: A Compromise on Senate Confirmations Travis Nix suggests a stitch in time: Biden's Stimulus Hurts Businesses. One Tax Tweak Can Change That Mike Hunter pipes up: Keystone Pipeline Is Good for America LIGHTS. CAMERA. REVIEW! Kyle Smith applauds Hopkins: The Father Explores Struggles of Old Age Armond White concludes it's from Russia, with squirm: Dear Comrades! and Sin Challenge Narratives of Biden-Harris Era Back to Kyle: It's not woke being green: The Muppet Show Trigger Warning Attacks a Nonproblem Even More Kyle: Enjoy getting wiiggy: Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar Is Splendidly Silly More Armond, who knows e pluribus pluribus when he sees it: Mr. Soul! Is the Newest Divide-America Documentary AND NOW, MOUNDS OF SMOOTH AND FILLING WISDOM (NO LUMPS!) Editorials 1. The Equality Act is a stinker. From the editorial: The Equality Act would redefine sex to include "gender identity," thus forcing every federally funded entity — most notably schools and colleges — to treat males who declare transgender status as if they were females. It would stamp out religious exemptions by regulating religious nonprofits and even goes so far as to prevent the Religious Freedom Restoration Act exemption. And it would, as National Review's John McCormack has explained, greatly expand "the number of businesses that count as 'public accommodations' under the Civil Rights Act." It is neither proportionate nor desirable to use the full weight of the federal government against every injustice, real or imagined. But the bill's drafters are transparently exploiting the association with a historic bill fighting racial discrimination in order to smuggle in false equivalences and unsupportable claims. For instance, the bill states that "transgender people have half the homeownership rate of non-transgender people and about 1 in 5 transgender people experience homelessness." This is alarming, certainly, but what proof is there that the predominant cause for this is discrimination? Psychiatrists and psychologists in the field of gender dysphoria have long observed that, even in instances of social acceptance, mental health co-morbidities are high among this population. Moral platitudes are similarly deployed to smooth over the bill's shortcomings. President Biden — whose administration endorsed the Equality Act, and who promised during his campaign to sign it into law within 100 days of office — says that "every person should be treated with dignity and respect." And who could object? Actually, many people could when "dignity and respect" are hijacked to include a legal requirement to treat men as though they are women in various contexts that would grossly disadvantage females.
2. The Biden political-payola-crammed "stimulus" bill is unnecessary. From the editorial: Yet even if the economic outlook were as negative as the Democrats claim, Biden's proposal would do little to improve it. More than one third of the so-called stimulus won't be spent until 2022 or later. Public-education grants are expected to last until 2028, even as teachers' unions refuse to reopen schools. That's partially because $113 billion in education aid from the last relief bill remains unspent. So too with $370 billion in state and local assistance, the lion's share of which would sit unused until 2023. With some exceptions, state and local budgets are in good shape. The Committee for a Responsible Budget finds that state and local tax receipts grew by 10 percent in 2020. What the Democrats position as emergency relief is in fact a bailout of profligate public-pension plans and mismanaged blue states. The money that will be spent this year — on checks to households and unemployment top-ups — is wasteful at best and contractionary at worst. Thanks to last year's CARES Act, personal incomes are higher now than they were before the pandemic. Most Americans used the first round of checks to pad out their savings accounts and pay down debt. The second round, delivered in December, contributed to the highest bump in retail spending since 2009. A deficit-funded subsidy to consumers might be a boon to economic growth if Americans went back to work, but the Biden administration is committed to making unemployment as attractive as possible. The proposed $400 unemployment top-ups, extended until September, would leave 60 percent of benefit recipients making more off-the-job than on-the-job. Not to mention Biden's proposed federal minimum wage of $15, which would kill 1.4 million jobs according to ... READ MORE
| 
Comments
Post a Comment