Diversity Cards

                Whilst doing blog-prep recently, I stumbled upon a site selling “Diversity Cards.” The set I saw contained 387 different cards. True story. That seemed like a lot. Each card sported a question on the front and an answer on the back. The front of the first card read “All of the ways people are different.” On the back of the card was the one-word answer: “Diversity.”

                Ahh, I see.

                This got me to thinking: wouldn’t it be great if there were “diversity” playing cards? I may have to develop, market, and sell them myself. They would be perfectly suited (pun intended) for today’s society in which everything is seen through the prism of identity politics. It’s not enough to be just “American,” English, French or any other nationality. One must be a bisexual Latino-American or a transgendered, questioning, African-American, for example.

               Think of the fun folks would have playing common card games such as poker, “War” or “Go Fish!” And old standards like “Crazy Eights,” “Hearts,” “Gin Rummy,” and even “Euchre” would be made fun, hip and relevant again!

               Poker:

  “I call. Whaddaya got, Bob?”

              “I’ve got three-of-a-kind, you Ed?”

              “Read ‘em and weep, Bob. Full house, Pansexuals over Two-Spirited!”

               War:

                “It’s a war! One, two, three cards down and now one up…hah, my mulatto boyflux beats your white cisgender!”

                Go Fish:

                “Got any anogenders, Lisa?”

                “Nope. Go fish! Do you have any trigenders?”

                “Yes. Dang! Here you are.”

                The possibilities are as endless as genders. Which means they are literally endless.

                I’ve got another new game (likewise involving cards) coming out in the near future.

                Look for “Cards Against Sanity” soon! It’ll be coming to a store near you.

               

Kroger, Nuro Team Up For Autonomous Grocery Delivery

            Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain by revenue, recently announced plans to partner with driver-less car company Nuro. The two companies will team up to deliver groceries using the latter’s autonomous vehicles.

Delivering fragile and perishable items, some of which require refrigeration and some of which don’t, is an endeavor fraught with peril. Then there are questions surrounding the dependability of the vehicles themselves. Making the task even more difficult is the fact that population density varies wildly across the Fruited Plain, from New York City to Wyoming, leading a few analysts to call the effort “corny.” Some on social media have tried to butter them up and egg them on. Other observers have waffled back and forth with their predictions, alternately proclaiming the venture could lead Kroger back to its salad days or that it could leave it dead in the water.

However, lettuce not be doubters. Though some have called them nuts, with both companies having a steak in the outcome, they are sure to milk this idea for all it’s worth. Though, if Nuro’s vehicles turn out to be lemons, it will put both entities in a pickle. The meat of the matter is, of course, how it affects the two company’s bottom lines. If delivering bread rakes in the dough it will have all been worth it, and shareholders will go bananas. On the other hand, if the undertaking proves a cereal killer and a loss leader, the joint effort will be dropped like a hot potato.

                Salty industry experts, who have been peppered with questions about the deal, say they believe the venture will succeed, making it even tougher for mom and pop stores to compete. They also say it remains to be seen if other large grocery chains will ketchup to Kroger.

                                                         ****************************

                (I apologize to everyone in the world for such a cheesy post. I assure you, tomorrow’s post will not be so punny, and will, in fact, be back to “normal”).

Fewer Americans Proud

The number of Americans who say they are “extremely proud” to be American and the number of Americans identifying as Christian have been falling for years. The ranks of those U.S. citizens proclaiming to believe in God, period, have been dwindling. However, the number of people who believe in man-caused global warming and the sanctity of gay marriage is rising. One begets the other. They go together. Fewer folks might be proud to be an American, but the quantity of LGBTQ “PROUD!” people is skyrocketing.  

The number of people who believe in limited government and the other founding ideals and principles is also falling, which is why the number of people who believe in bullshit/anything else is rising. Fewer folks believe in tangible things, things that actually exist, and/or are demonstrably true. Consequently, an increasing number of people believe in things that are iffy, or untrue, or that don’t exist. (Tragically, no accurate figures are available for the percentage of adults who currently believe in the tooth fairy).

In a related matter, as the percentage of gay clergy in the Catholic church has swelled, the number of sexual harassment claims has done likewise. Now, some mainline Christian sects are debating whether God is a man, woman or gender-neutral. Perhaps He or She could be transgender! Wouldn’t that be cool?! How woke is that?!

It’s just a matter of time before the ever-aggressive LGBTQ community successfully pressures mainstream religions into open speculation as to whether God Himself/Herself/Itself is gay.

Maybe He or She is questioning, too?

Or maybe we should be questioning ourselves, and our own actions. And the damage political-correctness has done to rational thought and discourse in formerly enlightened Western nations.

I’ll start now. Why is Progressivism the one thing that is never questioned, whether on college campuses, in giant corporation’s boardrooms, or in the supposedly “objective” mainstream media?

 Whatever the answer, the fact is…it isn’t.  Here is another fact: it is leading us into temptation and delivering us unto…evil.     

Iranian General Claims Israel Stealing Rain

   

                Iran’s Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of his country’s Civil Defense Organization, asserted that Israel and another nefarious nation in the region have been stealing Iran’s clouds in order to prevent rain from falling over the Islamic republic. Jalali stated during a press conference that Israel was “manipulating weather” and that Iran was the victim of “cloud theft,” metro.co.uk reported. 

                Speaking at the conference, the general said: “The changing climate in Iran is suspect. Foreign interference is suspected to have played a role in climate change.” He went on to insist the results from an Iranian scientific study “confirmed” the assertion: “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain. On top of that, we are facing the issue of cloud and snow theft.” He cited a survey purporting to show that all mountainous areas above 2,200 meters between Afghanistan and the Mediterranean Sea are covered in snow, except in Iran.

                I have taken the liberty of rewriting an enormously popular song, first released in 1969, in honor of the good general:

Raindrops aren’t fallin' on my head,
And Netanyahu’s ears are too big for his head,
Nothin' seems to fit,
Those raindrops aren’t fallin' on my head,
They aren’t fallin'...

So I just did me some talkin' to the hun,
And I said I didn't like the way his nation’s run,
Or the Book of Job,
Those raindrops aren’t fallin' on my head,
They aren’t fallin'...

But there's one thing, I know,
The drones they’ll send to meet me,
Won't defeat me,
It won't be long 'till happiness
Steps up to greet me...

Raindrops aren’t fallin' on my head,
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red,
Cryin's not for me,
'cause, sooner or later we’ll defeat the Great Satan
And you will see
we’ll drive Israel into the sea
we’ll drive Israel into the sea

But there's one thing, I know,
The drones they send to meet me,
Won't defeat me,
It won't be long 'till happiness
Steps up to greet me . . .

... One two three four
Five six seven eight...

Raindrops aren’t falling on my head,
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red,
Cryin's not for me,
'cause, sooner or later we’ll defeat the Great Satan
And you will see
No one’s nuttier than me
No one’s nuttier than me...

(My apologies to Burt Bacharach and B.J. Thomas).

Terrorist Group Bans Plastic Bags

                Al-Shabaab, the barbaric Somali terrorist organization, is infamous for literally butchering thousands of people across east Africa. But that doesn’t mean it can’t show its softer side now and then. The group, one of the world’s most brutal and feared, announced it has banned the use of plastic bags because it believes they are detrimental to life on Earth.

                Do you ever get the feeling that we’re living out one extended Twilight Zone episode? But, I digress.

                The terrorist entity’s mouthpiece, Radio Andalus, broadcast news of the ban last Sunday, according to the Huffington Post. The jihadist outfit, which openly boasts about the acts of extreme violence it is wont to commit, issued a statement saying discarded plastic bags “pose a serious threat to the well-being of humans and animals alike.” As does, ironically enough, Al-Shabaab.

   According to Britain’s The Sun newspaper, Mohamed Abu Abdalla, one of the group’s governors, said that details of how the new rules will be enforced will be announced later. (I’m guessing by slaughtering those that defy it).

  The group also wants to halt the logging of native trees. Seriously.

  We now live in a world so amoral that heinous terrorist groups can get away with the most preposterous of virtue-signaling propaganda.

  Did Hitler ban DDT? Did Khrushchev prohibit the use of disposable diapers? Did Chairman Mao donate to the Humane Society? Did Pol Pot fret about the ozone layer?

 What’ll we hear next? Perhaps Al-Shabaab members are giving 10% of their (ill-gotten) income to the Open Society Foundation?

“Asad, after we stone the lesbian harlot to death, let’s remember to send a check to the Sierra Club, okay?!”

            So, Al-Shabaab wants to ban the use of disposable plastic consumer goods, engages in virtue-signaling, and threatens to attack those with whom it disagrees?

            It’s become indistinguishable from the Democratic Party.              

U.S. Postal Service Error To Cost $3.5 Million

                An error made by the United States Postal Service will cost it (i.e. the American taxpayers) $3.5 million. The USPS used an image of the wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp it issued in 2010, mistaking a Las Vegas-based replica for the real Lady Liberty. Last week, federal judge Eric Bruggink sided with Robert Davidson, the replica’s creator, in saying his piece was different enough from the real thing to be protected by copyright law. Therefore, Judge Bruggink ordered the USPS to pay $3.5 million to the artist, out of the $70 million the USPS made in profit from sales of the bogus stamp.

                The post office originally selected the photo by searching Getty Images, the stock-photo site, incorrectly believing it showed the real statue. It then sized and cropped the photo, fit it on a stamp, and released it to adoring philatelists in December of 2010. It wasn’t until months later, in 2011, after nearly three billion of the stamps had been printed, that a stamp collector noticed it pictured the wrong icon, leading the USPS to change the information in materials it distributed about the stamp. The USPS took no further action regarding the matter until the recent court case, where it argued that Davidson’s statue was so similar to the original Lady Liberty that it didn’t merit copyright protection.

                Mr. Davidson filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the postal service in 2013, claiming it illegally used the image of his piece. The USPS discontinued the design, dubbed the Lady Liberty Forever, in 2014, after reaping $2.1 billion from the sale of nearly 5 billion stamps. (By contrast, Davidson netted $233,000 from the creation of his casino-based statue, according to various reports). Davidson argued that his version of Lady Liberty is “sultry,” “sexier,” and more “fresh-faced” than the one France gifted to America. Well, who doesn’t want a sultrier, sexier Statue of Liberty? I say tart the bitch up and see who comes running. Though, come to think of it, aren’t “sexier” and “sultrier” at odds with “fresh-faced?” (I guess not if you prefer Mary Ann to Ginger on Gilligan’s Island).

                The replica is only half the size of the actual Statue of Liberty and is surrounded by desert not water. It has more defined features, particularly its eyes and lips. Davidson claims that his mother-in-law’s face was the inspiration for the design.

Talk about a suck-up.

                Writer’s Embellishment:

                The USPS has made other errors in the past. It once previously put the wrong “Hope Diamond” on a stamp, mistaking the engagement ring stone of Bob Hope’s wife, Delores, for the 67-carat one once owned by King Louis XIV of France. In fact, it once put the wrong Bob Hope on a stamp, accidentally subbing Robert Q. Hope, a then 69-year-old plumber from Pierre, South Dakota, for the star of such movies as “The Road to Rio” and “The Road to Morocco.”

                The French postal service, La Poste, has also proven quite fallible. Several years ago, it put the wrong Eiffel Tower on a stamp it issued, likewise falling for the half-sized Las Vegas edition. La Poste, too, honored Bob Hope with a stamp in the late 1950’s, after he starred in “Paris Holiday,” a film shot in… Paris. (And, ironically, it’s now clear that The Road to Morocco ends in France).

                                                                                                                                                                               

Hypocrites And Pedophiles

                Hypocrite, thy-name-is-leftist, example number 3,862. And 3,863:

    First, the same imbeciles who say (or laugh at): “Barron Trump should be separated from his dad and put in a cage with pedophiles” are aghast at a child of an illegal immigrant separated from his or her criminal parent. If you’re trying to make a point, whether it be about how horrifying the act of separating a child from his or her parents is, or about how virtuous you are, you certainly can’t do it by saying you’d like to see something worse happen to an innocent child with whose parent you disagree.

                Second, Rachel Maddow weeps-- on the air-- over pictures of illegal immigrant kids in cages but doesn’t realize or care that they are from 2014, when her beloved Obama was president. Nor does she care to acknowledge that fact, let alone apologize.

    The vast majority of these progressive pontificators are proudly pro-abortion (“pro-choice”) too.

                You can’t make this up. It can’t get any more insane.

P.S. I love the “No Human Being Is Illegal” signs, rocket scientists. No human being is “unauthorized,” either, but that doesn’t mean everyone must be let into a nuclear power plant/the Pentagon/my bathroom/the White House/your birthday party/the Montreal Canadians locker room. Neither is any human being “unconstitutional,” but that doesn’t mean everyone on Earth is protected by the Constitution of the United States of America. That status is reserved for legal American citizens. If you break a law, by say, sneaking across our southern border, you have committed a crime. And that is illegal.

Independence Day Quotes

                Independence is a concept no longer in vogue globally, yet it is a hallmark of a healthy person and a healthy society. Liberty is not revered as it should be. Personal freedom is under attack.

                In honor of the Fourth of July (Independence Day), I share with you now some quotes that I hope will help explain the raison de’ etre of the United States of America, at least as founded:

                “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin. (There is never any reason to cede one’s essential liberty).

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln. (Slavery comes in many forms, leftists).  

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.” John Basil Barnhill. (One of the great truisms of all time).  

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell. (MSNBC? CNN? The New York Times? The Washington Post? ABC? NBC? CBS?)

“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” Adlai Stevenson. (And he was a Democrat! The party used to have some like him. Now people hearing this would run to their safe spaces).  

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Benjamin Franklin. (MSNBC? CNN? The New York Times? The Washington Post? ABC? NBC? CBS?)

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” Justice Louis Brandeis. (Beware of progressive’s in power).  

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan. (Absolute. Irrefutable).

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.” H.L. Mencken. (The most accurate description of leftists ever produced. No truer words have ever been spoken).

“The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection … The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.” John Stuart Mill. (Hence, the Bill of Rights).

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.” Hubert H. Humphrey. (He was a Democrat!).  

                “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” George Bernard Shaw. (And nearly all progressives).

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” Winston Churchill. (Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries, yet it has many rich apologists. They don’t have to worry).

“Economic freedom is … an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.” Milton Friedman. (And always has been, around the world).

“The Reagan years showed us that expanding economic freedom should be the North Star - the guiding light - of U.S. policy, because it is the best way to achieve sustained and broad-based prosperity for all.” Jon Kyl. (Duh!).

“When plunder has become a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it.” Frédéric Bastiat. (We are seeing this now. So sad).  

                                                              ***********************

(Thanks to Jeffrey Dorman at Forbes for some of these quotes. A hat-tip also to goodread.com, quotegarden.com, brainyquote.com, Joe Carter, and libertyatstake.com).

                                   

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Abuses Kids

                A subsidiary of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC Life, put out a new video recently in which Canadian television host Jessi Cruickshank cajoles and coerces young children into becoming “gay allies.” The video, aired during LGBTQ “Pride” month, is shot in a room filled with rainbow balloons and bursting with gay pride flags. Cruickshank sits at a table with several kids who appear to be 6-10 years old and asks them questions pertaining to same-sex marriage and sexual diversity. At this age, they should be asked who their favorite cartoon character is or what their favorite breakfast cereal is, not if they heartily support one man putting his penis in another’s anus.

                Ms. Cruickshank begins by exclaiming: “Happy pride everybody!” She then prods the kiddies into defining what gay pride is and asks them if they consider themselves “gay allies.” Surely, she doesn’t expect any of the children to reply, “Well, Ms. Cruickshank, I have been pondering this subject for some time now, and it is my deeply held personal conviction that love is love. The kinkier the prouder, I say. Let those freak flags fly! Of course I am a gay ally, and will be until the day I die!” Knowing this, what do you think is the point of these queries? This “show?”

                Of course, the little people respond “Definitely!” to the question. You can hear the “Yay!!” in their young voices. Cruickshank then proceeds to ask the kids if they know what the phrase “coming out of the closet” means and what they think about having two moms or two dads. Bizarrely, she then talks about Jodie Foster and nudity in general, before asking them if they’ll aspire to be “gay icons” such as Ricky Martin or Lady Gaga.

                It is obvious that at least one or two of the kids didn’t really know what Cruickshank and the show’s producers were trying to do. One child said “coming out of the closet” was a hide and seek game.

                Cruickshank ends the video by stating, “Everybody should aspire to be a gay icon!” The children cheer.

                I don’t much care what consenting adults do as long as it doesn’t needlessly harm someone else. I did not write this as an anti-gay screed. But this is the most potentially damaging, disgusting video I can ever recall seeing. This is virtually unprecedented, if passive-aggressive, bullying presented as a plea for tolerance. This is child sexual abuse, pedophilia, harassment. This was a sad and pathetic exercise in mental masturbation on the part of everyone involved in the making of this documentary of indoctrination. Smiling, smarmy coercion on the part of those older and in power, of those younger and innocent, makes me sick. To do this while virtue signaling is repellent and offensive in the extreme.

                To truly understand progressive hypocrisy—and where our culture is today—imagine if, instead of “gay allies” and “gay icons,” Cruickshank had tried to prod the children into becoming “Trump supporters” or “religious persons.”

                The CBC, as well as NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC, would have unanimously and vociferously blasted the show as an unforgivable exercise in far right-wing bigotry and hate-mongering.

               

The Answer

            Does one’s mind exist as a separate entity even if nothing else were to exist? If there was no Earth, no universe? If everything else went away, would our mind remain? Is our mind necessary for there to be a universe? Is the universe necessary for the existence of our mind? Or, are both required? Neither? What about our souls? Are they inextricably tied to our minds? Could nothing else exist but our soul? Do our minds exist because of the universe, or is the universe only a construct of our minds? Is it possible for nothing to exist? What do the answers to these questions mean in terms of religion and science?

            Maybe the best answer to these queries- maybe the only answer available to us now- is provided by Chris Stapleton in his song Broken Halos:

Don't go looking for the reasons
Don't go asking Jesus why
We're not meant to know the answers
They belong to the by and by
They belong to the by and by