Today In The News

 

My take on some of today’s news items:

*A lay member recently asked the Church of England’s legislative body, the General Synod: “What is the Church of England’s definition of a woman?” The Church responded, via a written reply, "There is no official definition.” Guess we’ll have to update the Book of Genesis. “Male and fem-, uh, man and wom-, darn…umm, they and they He created them?”

*A University of California-Berkeley professor was recently questioned by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) who stated, “You’ve referred to ‘people with a capacity for pregnancy,’ would that be women?” The professor replied, in part, “There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy, as well as non-binary people who are capable of pregnancy.” This prompted Hawley to ask, “So your view is that the core of this, this right then, is what?” Which led the nutty professor to respond: “I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic and it opens trans people up to violence.” Yes, just like questioning if the Earth is flat is flat-earthphobic and opens flat-earth believers up to violence.

*Erin Fitz-Henry, an Australian professor, wrote in something called The Conversation that the medical journal The Lancet noted that, as of 2015, countries of the “Global North” accounted for 92 percent of “excess” CO2 emissions. She then opined: “[M]ost rich white countries, including Australia, are doing precious little to properly address this inequity. For the most part, they refuse to accept the climate debt they owe to poorer countries and communities.” She added that this “injustice” is a type of “atmospheric colonization,” a form of “deeply entrenched colonial racism that arguably represents the most pressing global equity issue of our time.” Yes, those bastards in The Great White North (Australia?!) owe people in the rest of the world for, um, let’s see, inventing the zipper, hearing aid, dental floss, light bulb, automobile, airplanes, air-conditioning, the internet, the polio vaccine, phonograph, artificial heart, telephone, personal computer, email, wi-fi, etc., etc. All of which the rest of the world has shamelessly appropriated, without being harangued for so doing.

*Various academics have recently essentially claimed that dog names are racist. Sorry, no. They are barking up the wrong tree on this one.

*First we had the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada. Now we have the Dutch farmers. Maybe Atlas is finally beginning to shrug. We can only hope.

*According to reports, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is committed to providing funds to money-losing Canadian legacy media even after 2024, the year the existing $595 million federal “journalism” bailout ends. According to David Larose, a spokesperson for the Department of Canadian Heritage, “The government is committed to supporting the long-term viability of the Canadian news sector including through various tax measures and programs.” Talk about a state-sponsored and controlled media! But I’m sure these outlets are all totally fair and balanced.