I like this technique. I’ve seen it a few times now. Instead of partisan gotchas, the incompetence of Biden nominees is exposed by asking them basic questions about the job for which they’ve been nominated.
In this one, the nominee for FAA Chief goes 0-for-7 on questions about aviation policy.
I’ve seen judicial nominees who couldn’t answer questions like “As a judge, how do you handle a Brady motion?” or “What does Article 5 of the Constitution do?”
2 + 2 = White Supremacy: How Woke Ideologues Corrupted Canada’s Math Curriculum — nationalreview.com
White supremacy? Wasn’t arithmetic invented by the Babylonians? Were Babylonians white?
How great a threat is white supremacy in Canada? I’m thinking not much since when I’ve been in Canada, I didn’t see anything but white people and a few Asians.
From the above-linked article:
Two plus two no longer equals four, according to members of the Ontario Mathematics Coordinators Association (OMCA), who consider the equation to be a white-supremacist dog whistle instead of a basic mathematical truth.
According to a webinar created by OMCA president Jason To, proponents of math’s political neutrality who use the phrasing “2 + 2 = 4” are engaged in an act of “Covert White Supremacy.”
Former OMCA president Heather Theijsmeijer, who originally publicized the webinar, pointed to commentary by Laurie Rubel, an associate professor of mathematics education, explaining that proponents of “2 + 2 = 4” are grounded “in white, Western mathematics that marginalizes other possible values.”
Not to marginalize the horror of marginalizing things, but there are no other possible values for 2 + 2.
Meanwhile, for some probably unrelated reason, test scores in Ontario have plummeted.
Not even half of sixth-grade students meet provincial math standards at present; 52 percent of ninth-graders met the bar during the 2021–2022 school year, down from 75 percent just three years prior, according to provincial standardized testing administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). Woke Math advocates have doubled down in the face of falling performance, seeking to incorporate so-called Indigenous Knowledge Systems and anti-racism.
Theijsmeijer and OMCA did not respond to a request for comment.
I can only think of two possible explanations. Either Ontario students are more than 30 percent dumber than they were three years ago, or the quality of math education, as a consequence of politicizing the curriculum, is 30 percent worse than it was three years ago. The second explanation seems more likely.
For the last decade, the EQAO has documented the continuous decline of math scores among third- and sixth-graders. International tests such as the OECD’s “gold standard” Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show similar declines.
To facilitate comparisons, PISA standardizes test scores around an average of 500 score points. Students in the Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang regions in China had by far the highest average scores in reading (555), math (591) and science (590), vaulting over previously dominant Singapore, which was relegated to second place. Macao and Hong Kong, other Chinese territories, were also in the top four places in reading and math.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and speculate that while kids in Ontario were learning to be anti-racist and queer-affirming, and searching for other possible values for 2 + 2, kids in the high-scoring regions were actually learning math.
NPR didn’t really concede much with its correction. Here it is:
Correction: An earlier tweet incorrectly stated there is limited scientific evidence of physical advantage. Existing research shows that higher levels of testosterone do impact athletic performance. But there’s limited research involving elite trans athletes in competition.
To me, NPR’s statement is so stupid that “scientific research” is not required to refute it. Let’s look at some anecdotal evidence:
Lia Thomas, a biological male, a total nobody as a swimmer in men’s competitions, won an NCAA championship when swimming against women.
CeCe Telfer, a biological male, a total nobody as a hurdler in men’s competitions, actually won a national championship by a full second-and-a-half when competing against women.
Tiffany Thomas (no relation to Lia AFAIK), a biological male, recently won a New York City women’s cycling race. Thomas is a Category 1 (i.e., elite) women’s cyclist, despite being 46 years old, not starting cycling until age 40, and competing against women in their 20s and 30s.
I’m not making a list like this to imply anything negative about women, just to point out that it’s delusional to say that men don’t have a significant physical advantage in sports.
I’d make a list of trans-identifying men (i.e., women) who’ve competed successfully against male athletes but I’m not aware of any.
I saved my favorite example for last. Anne Andres, a biological male, competes in women’s powerlifting competitions in Canada. Apparently the male-or-female rules are pretty loose in Canadian powerlifting and if you say you’re a woman, you can compete as a woman. There are no rules about testosterone, hormones or surgeries.
Naturally, Anne Andres wins all these competitions and also likes to badmouth the lackluster quality of his competitors.
One of the powerlifting events is the bench press, in which Andres, until recently, held the record at 275 pounds, which seems pretty good for a woman, but Andres is a pretty big (fat) guy who probably weighs about 275. Not to mention, you could walk into any gym in America and find at least one guy who can bench 275 pounds.
So at the recent Heroes Classic powerlifting tournament in Lethbridge, Alberta, Avi Silverberg, the head coach for Team Canada Powerlifting since 2012, made a mockery of Anne Andres and the whole transgender sports issue by entering the women’s bench press.
Silverberg is a biological male, which, if you couldn’t tell by his name, you could certainly tell by looking at him, including the fact that he has a full beard.
Silverberg won the women’s bench press, although I couldn’t tell just from watching the video below how much weight he was using. The competition was in Canada, so the numbers on the screen are in kilos, but it turns out that what you’re seeing is Silverberg pressing, quite easily, 380 pounds, breaking Andres’s record by more than 100 pounds.
????? Team Canada powerlifting coach, Avi Silverberg just broke the Alberta WOMEN's bench press record in the 84+ kg category at the "Heroes Classic."
Former record holder, trans-identifying male, Anne Andres had a front row view as Silverberg mocked the discriminatory CPU policy… pic.twitter.com/ajhUJPB4gc
Andres made some obligatory statement about Silverberg being “a bigot and a coward,” even though Silverberg is doing the same thing Andres is doing, but he’s just a lot better at it.
What does “woke” mean? I’ve heard a lot of different definitions, some with a positive connotation, some with a negative connotation.
I’d say a woke person is one who makes sweeping, prejudicial judgments about others based on race, gender and sexual preferences. People are sorted into identity groups and the groups are stack-ranked from best to worst.
Riley Gaines is attacked by violent trans activists mob, physically assaulted by a man in a dress, and then held hostage by the vicious mob because she dared to speak out to save women’s sports. The left is SILENT. pic.twitter.com/4Db0NGLa85
The woke left is silent about things like this because trans is the best identity group you can be in right now. It doesn’t matter that the trans branding is “We are militant, violent and delusional.”
It doesn’t even matter that you shoot up a school and murder children. As long as you identify as trans, the woke media will portray you as a victim.
The FBI uses a “glossary of terms” to look for online that could indicate someone is involved with “violent extremism.
According to the FBI glossary, “based” means “someone who has been converted to racist ideology.”
“Red pill” or being “redpilled” means someone is accepting racist, antisemitic or fascist beliefs, according to the FBI.
I’ve never heard those definitions. I’ve heard “based” used in tech culture to admire, sometimes ironically, someone’s authenticity and boldness.
Let’s run it by ChatGPT:
The word “based” is often used to indicate that something has a foundation, source, or origin in something else. It means that a particular thing, person, or concept is rooted or founded in something else, or that it has a particular relationship to something else.
For example, if we say that a company is based in New York, it means that the company’s headquarters or main operations are located in New York. Similarly, if we say that a book is based on a true story, it means that the book is inspired by a real-life event or person.
In general, “based” is used to express a connection, reliance, or dependency on something else.
Not really close to the FBI definition.
I’ve heard “redpilled” used a lot of different ways, but mostly in a Matrix type of context.
Here’s ChatGPT again:
“Redpilled” is a term that originated from the 1999 movie “The Matrix,” in which the main character, Neo, is offered a choice between taking a blue pill, which would allow him to continue living in a simulated reality, or a red pill, which would awaken him to the truth about the world around him.
In contemporary culture, “redpilled” is used to describe a person who has become aware of or enlightened to certain truths, usually related to politics, society, or culture. It is often associated with an attitude of skepticism towards mainstream or commonly accepted beliefs, and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
The term is often used within certain online communities, particularly those associated with the political far-right or conspiracy theories, but it has also been used more broadly to describe people who have undergone a personal transformation or change in their worldview.
Taken all together, the evidence seems to indicate that “redpilled” is pretty benign unless you’re hanging out in online conspiracy theory communities, which probably indicates more about you than your use or non-use of certain FBI no-no words.
Hunter Biden Sues Laptop Repair Shop Owner Citing Invasion of Privacy. — The Washington Post
The lawsuit is an implicit admission that the laptop that was given to the FBI and Rudy Giuliani was in fact Hunter Biden’s laptop. The only way the laptop could be responsible for invading his privacy is if the material disseminated from it was in fact authentic.
Pretty much everyone now knows and admits that the laptop is authentic, and pretty much everyone knew in October of 2020 that the laptop was authentic, including the corporate media and social media that were propagating a lie formulated by the CIA that the laptop was “Russian disinformation.”
What we know for sure is that the media lied [about the laptop] and it’s Journalism 101 that when you make a mistake, as you’re going to do as a journalist, even big ones, the first thing you do is you go to your readers or your viewers and you say, I reported this, I’ve since learned it was false. This is why I got it wrong. I apologize. I retract it. And here’s what we’re doing to ensure it never happens again. That’s what you do if you are actually a journalist. That’s Journalism 101. If you don’t do that, you have no business claiming that title.
Not one single corporate outlet, not one, not a single one, every single time there’s more proof that they lied, has even acknowledged the evidence showing that they lied, let alone accounted for what they did, let alone retracted it. And they never will. Even now that Hunter Biden is suing the repair store in Delaware, implicitly acknowledging that that laptop was his all along, that he left it at the Delaware repair store, there’s not the slightest pressure to even acknowledge what they did or to retract it, because they are not journalists. They are there to lie on purpose. This is their mission. If you perform your job well, you don’t apologize. They’re showing you what their job is by not apologizing. Their job is to lie. Their job is to spread lies on behalf of the U.S. Security State and the Democratic Party to please their audience and to serve the political agenda that they all have. And that’s what they did here effectively, and that’s why they will never retract it.
So, every time there’s new evidence of this, I’m going to report it, I’m going to note it. I’m going to talk about it. As I say, I’ll probably do it until I die. And I know for sure, Hunter Biden could go on camera and say, “I now have a recovered memory. I remember clearly bringing my laptop to this repair shop, and then I abandoned it there and I recognized every document that was published by the New York Post as my own – and that, therefore, the way The New York Post claimed they got the story is, in fact, how they got this story.” He could swear to that under oath, and they still will never apologize for the lies that they spread for weeks before the election because lying is their mission, and they know that.
[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE]
Greetings mortals —
I saw a post on LinkedIn from a woman who just lost her job at Google. There are lots of layoffs happening in the US economy. Joe Biden says the American economy is “stronger than hell” but I can assure you that the economy in Hell is much stronger than the Biden economy in the US. No layoffs here, ever.
The LinkedIn poster said, “I feel God’s grace in this transition and know He has greater things ahead.”
I can’t help noticing that people who believe that God is going to make good things happen in their life have a lot of bad things happen in their life.
Willis Reed is best remembered for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in Madison Square Garden, not for his performance on the court (he scored only four points), but for limping gamely onto the court during warmups. Reed hadn’t played in Game 6 because of a torn thigh muscle and was considered unlikely to play in Game 7.
Even as a Laker fan, I have to admit it was an all-time iconic moment, so much so that no one (except Frazier himself) remembers that Walt Frazier had one of the greatest Game 7 performances in NBA playoff history: 36 points, 7 rebounds, 19 assists and 6 steals. That game is always remembered as “the Willis Reed game.”
Every time some gun-related tragedy occurs, we get to hear from innumerable people who know nothing about guns other than everything is the NRA’s fault. And everything they think they know about the NRA is wrong. In other words, they think they know one thing but the one thing they know is wrong.
The thing they think they know is that the NRA pays off (Republican) politicians to vote against gun control bills.
I asked ChatGPT “How much does the NRA donate annually to politicians?” And I got this answer:
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a powerful lobbying organization that has donated millions of dollars to political candidates and causes over the years. However, the organization is not required to disclose its exact political contributions, and the amount it donates can vary widely from year to year and election cycle to election cycle.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, the NRA’s political action committee (PAC) spent more than $10 million on the 2020 election cycle.
Keep that number in mind: $10 million.
Then I asked ChatGPT “Who were the top 50 contributors in the 2020 election cycle?” Here’s the answer:
The following information is based on data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. Here are the top 50 contributors in the 2020 election cycle:
Bloomberg LP – $1.7 billion
Future Forward USA – $436 million
Democratic Party of Wisconsin – $381 million
Senate Majority PAC – $373 million
Presidential Action Fund – $313 million
American Bridge 21st Century – $297 million
Senate Leadership Fund – $279 million
Conservative Solutions PAC – $277 million
National Republican Senatorial Committee – $257 million
Congressional Leadership Fund – $256 million
Senate Conservatives Action – $225 million
Fair Fight PAC – $208 million
Service Employees International Union – $203 million
Priorities USA Action – $192 million
WinRed – $187 million
National Republican Congressional Committee – $176 million
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees – $175 million
Laborers’ International Union of North America – $163 million
American Crossroads – $161 million
House Majority PAC – $159 million
UNITE HERE – $156 million
Democratic Governors Association – $155 million
Republican National Committee – $153 million
New York State Democratic Committee – $149 million
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East – $143 million
American Federation of Teachers – $135 million
SEIU Committee on Political Education – $134 million
National Education Association – $133 million
American Medical Association – $132 million
Laborers’ Political League Education Fund – $130 million
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners – $129 million
Carpenters & Joiners Union – $128 million
American Association for Justice – $126 million
Center for American Progress Action Fund – $124 million
Sixteen Thirty Fund – $122 million
National Association of Realtors – $118 million
Senate Majority PAC – Reid – $117 million
Northrop Grumman – $115 million
Operating Engineers Union – $114 million
National Education Association Advocacy Fund – $111 million
Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund – $110 million
United Steelworkers – $109 million
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – $108 million
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund – $106 million
Club for Growth – $105 million
American Postal Workers Union – $104 million
United Auto Workers – $103 million
National Beer Wholesalers Association – $102 million
Republican Governors Association – $100 million
The Lincoln Project – $99 million
It’s worth noting that this list includes a mix of political parties, PACs, labor unions, and other organizations.
A couple that jumped out at me here are the Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund (at #41) and the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (at #44), neither of which I’ve ever heard of, but which contributed a combined $216 million, more than 20 times the $10 million contributed by the NRA. In fact the NRA’s paltry $10 million puts it a full order of magnitude outside the top 50 contributors.
The “NRA buys everyone off” myth is one of the biggest red herrings in American politics. It’s a stroke of genius, I suppose, to have embedded it so deeply in our collective psyche that anyone who’s so inclined can throw it into a conversation about guns at a moment’s notice, even though it’s completely 100% false.
The woman above is Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan of the state of Minnesota, who said at a press conference, “When our children tell us who they are, it is our job as grown-ups to listen and to believe them. That’s what it means to be a good parent.”
If it wasn’t already obvious from the way she’s dressed, this woman needs to be institutionalized.
My son, when he was much younger, told me he was Thor, he told me he was a gorilla, he told me he was a dinosaur . . . I didn’t believe him in any of those cases. Am I a bad parent?
He never said he was a girl, but at that time he wouldn’t have been continually propagandized on the topic by “grown-ups.”
Vermont Christian School Barred from Future Competition for Refusing to Play against Male Athlete — nationalreview.com
Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS) has been excluded from competing in future tournaments sanctioned by the Vermont Principals’ Association after its girls basketball team forfeited a match against an opposing team that includes a male player who identifies as a girl.
It’s a human rights violation! Vermont law permits transgender females to compete in the group corresponding to their gender identity and prohibits so-called discrimination based on sex.
Since the school in question is a Christian school, let’s ask ourselves what would Jesus do if Jesus were a basketball coach? Better yet, what would God do? Because God is wrathful and doesn’t put up with nonsense.
I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them. (Ezekiel 25:17)
If I were God, I’d take the MVCS boys team and girls team combined as my girls team, and inform the opposition that even though some of the players look like boys, they all identify as girls.
And if that breaks some rule about having too many players on a team, the girls could cheer from the stands.
And while I wouldn’t specifically direct my players to injure the other team’s male player, I would tell them to employ a very physical style of basketball against him.
Is gender-affirming care the same thing as gender-affirming therapy? I’m sick of both phrases but it seems like gender-affirming therapy obviously involves a therapist. I thought the job of a therapist is to get at the true cause of whatever is keeping the patient from moving forward in life, not to give patients a pat on the head and affirm whatever self-diagnosis they present with.
And I’ve always taken gender-affirming care to mean that a doctor is involved. When I visit a doctor, I expect the doctor to gather the evidence and provide a diagnosis. I don’t expect to have my intestines removed because I “feel” like I have colon cancer.
What does affirmation have to do with the job of a doctor?
Highly inclusive culture, with more than 90% of our workforce coming from historically underrepresented backgrounds in Tech
If you relegate the majority of your industry to a single-digit percentage of your workforce, is that highly inclusive or highly exclusive?
If it were up to me as a lover of freedom, companies could hire whoever they want to, but my understanding is that my opinion does not align with the laws of the United States, which prohibit companies from hiring based on race, sex, etc., etc., etc.
Given that the numbers above couldn’t have been achieved by accident, is that even legal? The fact that the company advertises it suggests that maybe it is, but everything I know about employment law (i.e., not much) suggests that it isn’t.
The Independent reports that the White House has called for Mike Pence to apologize for what it called a “homophobic” joke about Pete Buttigieg’s decision to take paternity leave when his twins were born.
Pence said Buttigieg, who is the first openly gay Cabinet secretary, took “maternity leave” while airline problems happened in 2021.
“Pete is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression,” Pence said at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington on Saturday.
That’s a good joke. What a nation of whiny crybabies we have become.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “He should apologize to women and LGBTQ people, who are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”
And why would being gay entitle anyone to be treated with dignity and respect? Jeffrey Dahmer was gay, right? And John Wayne Gacy? How much dignity and respect are they entitled to?
If you’re gay, you’re gay. Not everyone is going to shower you with dignity and respect. Why do you care anyway?
I’m not saying gay people shouldn’t be treated with dignity and respect, I’m saying they shouldn’t be treated with any more dignity and respect than anyone else just because they’re gay.
