Notes on the Way
Greed, gender, guns and a straw in the wind
Our lamentable president is at it again. Flailing about for someone or something to take the blame for skyrocketing gasoline prices, he’s now picking on those supposedly greedy, price-gouging service station owners. Yesterday he scolded them, employing his trademark whisper, and demanded that they lower their prices. No but wait, just fifteen minutes ago and fifteen minutes later it was all about “Putin’s price hikes.” Or was it down to those rapacious energy companies? Or was it due to a sinister conspiracy of refinery operators? Or was it just that once again, the dog ate Joe Biden’s cue cards…?
Speaking of the Biden Administration, it intends to abolish womanhood in the name of gender equity. All you female athletes who’ve been complaining about the injustice of being forced to compete against “trans women,” i.e. men who self-identify as women, are about to be become officially identified bigots under the terms of a proposed expansion of Title IX protections to cover transgender individuals. Indeed, anybody who notices the obvious—that trans men and women are not real men and women—may now be liable for federal government persecution. So Mom? Dad? Think hard before you protest to your local school board about that trans female who frequents school restrooms and locker rooms used by your daughters. Joe Biden and his minions may not be able to define woman—but they know a transphobic MAGA fascist when they see one…
Today the Supreme Court announced a decision on Second Amendment rights that’s sure to send the anti-gun mob into a three-foot hover of hysterical outrage. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court struck down New York State’s extremely restrictive concealed-carry law, which made it virtually impossible to carry a handgun legally. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas noted that “The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different. New York's proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.” Another win for the Bill of Rights…
Well, well—another straw in the wind. The city of San Francisco has long been notorious for its bleeding-edge Woke progressive politics. And yet, and yet—! Back in February, fed-up San Francisco voters booted three progressive school board members in a recall election. People couldn’t understand why that leftie troika spent its time bloviating about identity politics & etc. instead of figuring out how to get schools back open once the COVID-19 pandemic had passed its peak. A particularly objectionable decision of the Woke board members was to replace merit-based admissions at the elite Lowell High School with a lottery system—because equity, don’t you know. But the new school board has reversed course, restoring the merit system. And just recently, San Francisco voters also sacked their criminal-hugging, cop-bashing progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, in another recall election. While I wouldn’t look for a GOP renaissance in the Golden City, it does seem that even there the bloom is fading from the rose of Woke progressivism…