Here are the news items I really would not want you to enter the weekend having missed. Just think of how well these will play in idle chit-chat at your weekend pool party!
Number Nine. The Gateway Pundit. Green Hypocrisy in Full Swing: 16 million trees axed in Scotland.
On February 7, 1968, an unidentified U.S. Army officer explained to a journalist why it had been necessary to napalm several hundred South Vietnamese civilians when their village had been overrun by Viet Cong forces:
The iconic quote was: “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”
The statement was understandably mocked as a classic example of much-derided “military intelligence”, and became something of a rallying cry for anti-war demonstrators at home.
We are at it again, this time in Scotland, that land of myth and beauty. It turns out the beauty is fast becoming a myth. In this case, it seems, parts of Scotland must be destroyed in order to be saved.
The big emergency in 2019 was that Scotland did not have enough trees, and did not suck up enough deadly CO2, so there was a national effort to reforest the land. In all, 22 million trees were planted that year. (Or so says the article. I frankly find it a stretch. 22 million??? In one year???)
This initiative was derived from the received wisdom of self-appointed protectors of the climate.
But now in 2023 it emerges that even while this was going on, with the other half of their brain the Scots were cutting trees down to make way for wind farms. And not just a few trees: 16 million of them were taken down. (One wonders if they were burned… just think of the carbon released into the atmosphere.)
In place of the trees in their now-desiccated moonscape, they will erect institutional wind turbines, some at a height of 850’, which is sure to enhance the pristine natural attraction of that chunk of the island. Especially when you add the obnoxiously persistent mechanical wind noise, facilitated by hundreds of gallons of gear oil atop non-recyclable fiberglass-and-plastic monstrosities, punctuated with the crump of smashed birds falling to the ground.
This, too, is the received wisdom of the protectors of the climate.
Are we about ready to let the grown ups have another turn?
Number Eight. The Western Journal. Biden administration enacts new oil lease ban.
But we may need all that wind power.
The Bureau of Land Management plans to take 600 existing oil wells out of production over 1.6 million acres of Colorado. That state is the 5th largest oil producing state in the Union, a fact which has got to be seriously embarrassing to progressives in the Front Range. Wiping out oil production is apparently the answer to their social awkwardness.
Whether it answers any other problem is a subject not to be raised in polite company.
Strangling the oil industry is also the answer to growing prosperity among a few Native American tribes, whose land it is, and whose economic future is dependent on those now-cancelled oil leases.
But I am quite sure the IRS has an efficient tax-credit plan that will replace their expected oil profits with monthly paychecks, easily obtainable by standing in line at a downtown location, all the while exhibiting the stoic dignity we have come to expect from the noble savage.
Because once we decided that that was what he was, we were apparently determined that that is what he shall remain.
Number Seven. Bloomberg dot com. Hamptons partygoers cast a worried eye on New York’s future.
Meanwhile there are serious issues afoot back East. Southampton Hospital hosted their annual Summer Party, a fundraiser for the well-heeled and well-connected, but angst has begun to run high.
The Big Apple is losing its appeal. So far, the swanky end of Long Island 100 miles east of downtown is holding steady in the face of the core city’s rising crime, rampant shoplifting and sketchy city services.
It has become bad enough that some of the uber-rich have been forced to purchase modest multi-million dollar bungalows at Florida’s Palm Beach just to escape the potential of having to venture into downtown New York City and view the Great Unwashed.
But there is a silver lining: Many have discovered that with no state income tax in Florida, they can move their permanent address to their second location, use the cash savings to maintain the prestige address in the Hamptons, and fly back and forth in their private jets to experience the best of both worlds.
And never have to rub shoulders with the crowds on 57th Street.
Is this a great country, or what!
Number Six. Daily Wire. Marxist lesbian president of American Library Association doubles down on agenda.
The American Library Association, ALA, is the largest library trade organization in the country, wielding outsized influence over the selection of materials available in public school libraries. It is fortunate, therefore, that the ALA is managed by newly appointed Emily Drabinski, a woman noteworthy in multiple ways.
We know she is, because she made clear in a recent NBC News interview that she is excited to celebrate two completely unique and never-before contemplated aspects of her identity.
In the first place, she is a Marxist who is convinced that collective power can build a better world. That is truly a cutting-edge economic philosophy which no one else has ever thought of, and which has been around since well before the French Revolution.
In the second place, she is a lesbian — of course, she is! — because we would be shocked if she were to tell NBC News that she is excited to proclaim her traditional CIS-gender double-X chromosome identity, of which she is obviously an example.
Actually, THAT would make real news, because no one would expect the new president of the ALA to be straight, let alone announce such a private irrelevancy in public and expect others to congratulate her for her bravery in pointing it out.
If Ms. Drabinski is not careful, the narrative will change again and we’ll all start chasing some other shiny object. Which might leave her behind as yet one more disillusioned, lonely Communist languishing on the ash-heap of history and pattering on about the bourgeousie.
An intriguing footnote to this article is that those unenlightened rubes of the Montana State Library Commission, who have watched entirely too much Yellowstone, have now severed their relationship with the ALA. (One might ask, why did they even HAVE a relationship with the ALA??)
It seems that such a national affiliation creates a legal entanglement for the Big Sky people, as the state-appointed officials in Montana each swore an oath which precludes association with an organization led by a self-proclaimed Marxist.
You decide:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Montana against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the governor of the state of Montana; that I make this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office… upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.
I guess they’re right. It sounds like a conflict.
I wonder whether any other state in the Union has such an oath for state-appointed officials, and whether any of them has formal ties to the Marxist-led American Library Association.
Number Five. The Western Journal. China is funding America’s public schools in $17 million Global Influence plan.
Here are all these public K-12 schools in the USA, struggling to fund critical educational needs in the face of rising taxes, growing inflation, increasingly out-of-control MAGA school board members and teacher’s union who believe they deserve more, when suddenly an unexpected gift arrives in the mail. Manna from heaven!
This is just what we need! And just in time!
So far, 143 school districts in 34 states — that would be 10% of the districts and 2/3 of the states — have received cash and in-kind contributions to contribute to a full, well-rounded education for American children, from a magnanimous, wealthy, philanthropic and agenda-free entity known as the Chinese Communist Party.
The CCP, through its Confucius Classrooms program — who could NOT like Confucius?? — has been leveraging its growing influence in U.S. universities downward into elementary schools.
The Confucius Classrooms project also appears to be quite interested in promoting global peace, judging by their interest in owning land near U.S. military bases and thus positioning themselves to offer more direct influence on the children of military families.
Public schools are in such dire financial straights, and the money available from Confucius is so readily available, that one might almost think the conditions that prompted the needs could possibly have been sponsored by the entity that offers the solution. But, not to over-examine the happy confluence of tight budgets with loose money, we’ll take the money.
Surely there will be no strings attached.
Number Four. The Western Journal. Woman overjoyed after showing how she pays for groceries.
This one is just too juicy!
A Las Vegas girl known as “The Chip Girl” has a large following on TikTok and her exuberant video of buying groceries went viral this week. This routine and mundane task was breathed new life when she got to the checkout line. There, she merely waved her hand over the payment kiosk and voila! her groceries were charged to her credit card!
Burgundy Waller had an RFID — radio frequency identification — chip surgically implanted in the palm of her right hand, and now she can use it to automatically access her credit card or other important data whenever she wants.
No more bother with the so-yesterday wallet and hard plastic.
Whether Ms. Waller has ever read the Book of Revelation seems unlikely. It seems just as unlikely she has never even TALKED to anyone who has read the Book of Revelation. All those LaHaye/Jenkins Left Behind stories are presumably in the same category with Stephen King horror literature.
Just as intriguing is the fact that millions of TikTokkers are just as enraptured with the new technology as Burgundy is. This can create a whole new market for palm and forehead cosmetic surgery.
Perhaps it could be pared with clever tattoo art, such as “Take my data”, or “Buy-Sell-Trade”, or “Devils have more fun!” or the simple, honest and direct “666 Girl.”
Number Three. PJ Media. New York City Playstation riot demonstrates the decline of the West.
(Read that article. I can summarize it here but I really can’t top the snark. It’s pretty delicious.)
Fashionable Union Square Park on 5th Avenue was the scene of a riot this week. It was not an actual protest in the vein of a Teamster’s strike or a Justice for Palestinians march or even a Transgenders are People Too demonstration. No, this was a thousand city folk who all wanted to be first in line for a free Playstation 5s, complete with microphone, computer and accessories.
Gamer Kai Cenat — as though the title “gamer” suggests a job or career — announced the giveaway on social media and the “likes”, and the crowds, poured in.
Having promised to appear with the goods at 3:30 pm, by 4:00 an estimated 1,000 rioters were throwing bottles, rocks and garbage cans, hurling the usual unprintable epithets at police who were somehow responsible for something or other, and generally trashing the park.
Mr. Cenat was rescued by New York City’s finest, though why they bothered is an open question, and apparently no one got the free Playstation. That’s a bummer.
But the sanitation workers probably got some overtime pay to clean up the mess, so it was not without benefit. Just another day in the big city.
Number Two. The Gateway Pundit. July marked 48 straight months of record gun sales.
If you recall, Barack Obama was named Salesman of the Year by several gun store owners during his first administration when purchases of handguns and the dreaded Scary Black Gun skyrocketed on news of a new ban. Which never materialized.
Now, Joe Biden is vying for similar accolades.
Estimated sales of new firearms in the U.S. exceeded 1 million again in July 2023, down slightly from one year ago but still quite credible.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reports the 1 million mark has been surpassed every month for the last 4 years. There is no sign of a let up. For the arithmetically challenged, that means probably 50 million guns have been added to an already quite robust though unmeasurable arsenal in the private hands of U.S. citizens.
Who would possibly want to invade such a nation? Perhaps the Founders got this one right.
Number One. PJ Media. Minnesota will pay reparations for weed.
And finally, to brighten your day and help you into the weekend with a spirit of hopefulness and optimism, consider this item that should reinforce your belief in the steady, mature decisions of seasoned lawmakers.
The home of Lake Woebegone passed its recreational marijuana law, but that has fallen somewhat short of offering real justice for Minnesotans. Prior to that ray of sunshine being let into the dismal, paternalistic and oppressive state that had all its laws and statutes and “thou shalt nots” on the books, harmless and fun-loving residents who indulged themselves in harmless and fun-loving gateway drugs had been liable to arrest and conviction for using such things like marijuana.
Which we all know is just like the Mary Jane of the Woodstock era, except about 800% more potent.
But the arrests and convictions carried serious life-altering penalties, such as being found guilty of a misdemeanor.
So now, the state has funded the ground-breaking “CanRenew” grant program, a $15 million per year initiative, to fund projects that will “improve community-wide experiences” and thus repair past harms unrighteously inflicted.
The reparations program will, appropriately enough, be supervised by the Office of Cannabis Management. Individuals with misdemeanors who were caught up in that web of malicious punishment in the past will have their records immediately expunged. Felony convictions will be eligible to be reviewed by the Cannabis Expungement Board.
There is no word on whether the legal decree of expungement will be effective in expunging the stunted brain development on the part of the users.
But predictably, the plan is not without its naysayers. One tweeted response captured the negative and Debbie-downer mood of certain disaffected portions of the population: “Why doesn’t the government give me money for doing right things all my life? Why do they take my money and give it to degenerates and criminals? Is this not immoral and unjust?”
But I suppose the glass-half-empty deplorables will be with us always.
Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend! Get with your friends and demonstrate for free computer games and reparations for all those extra laps you were made to run in middle school gym class!
Curt
The Alligator News Roundup