It’s Wednesday, March 15th, 2023…and 2,067 years ago today, like Alexander 2,144 years later…
…Julius Caesar was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day:
Here’s wishing all of you a better day than Caesar’s.
Now, here’s The Gouge!
First up, though we initially found the following assertion ridiculous on its face…
…we stopped to consider another possibility: What if their plan is working, working in fact to perfection?!? After all, were securing personal power and enrichment at the cost of American economic and national security their plan, a lot of things…
…suddenly begin to make sense.
In a related item, this tweet from Sean Davis is dead-on balls accurate:
It reminds me of that time when the government and bankers ruined the economy, and people who couldn’t make their mortgage payments lost their homes, while the banksters who nearly destroyed the entire global financial system got bonuses and $700 billion in bailouts.
“Many readers may think that the greatest whopper President Barack Obama ever told was that if you liked your health plan you could keep your health plan. But we now have confirmation that there’s another leading contender, and in time the taxpayer cost of this one could be even greater.
It was July 21, 2010 when Mr. Obama, who could have a cruel sense of humor, chose the federal building named after Ronald Reagan to celebrate a historic expansion of government power over Americans’ financial lives. To wild applause from his fellow Democrats, Mr. Obama signed into law something called the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.” Cheered on by Vice President Joe Biden at his side, Mr. Obama proclaimed:
There will be no more tax-funded bailouts — period.
The new law “demands accountability and responsibility from everyone. It provides certainty to everybody,” he added.
Of course the establishment press immediately called out Mr. Obama on his dubious claims. Just kidding—media folk generally embraced the fantasy that giving financial regulators vast new powers would allow them to identify and wisely address risks in the financial system.
Sunday brought this announcement from the Treasury that Uncle Sam would prevent losses for well-heeled customers at certain institutions beyond the limits of federal deposit insurance:
After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that fully protects all depositors. Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.
We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.
But if the feds are really guaranteeing that taxpayers won’t pay a dime, what’s the point of a government rescue? The Treasury release adds:
Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.
“Tax” is such an ugly word. “Special assessment” sounds much more pleasant. And who ends up paying more when the government imposes added costs on the banking system? Also, perhaps regulators can explain exactly why there must be unlimited insurance payouts to those whose accounts are only insured up to $250,000.
At this hour it remains unclear exactly how many vacation homes are owned by the uninsured customers of these institutions. This latest stretching of the federal safety net is especially disappointing because it would be hard to conceive of a population more able and appropriate to bear their (what appear to be very modest) losses than the venture capitalists of Silicon Valley. And with the New York rescue we seem to have new recipients of public assistance on both coasts. Who’s deplorable now?…”
It’s must be noted one of the directors of Signature Bank now begging for MORE government oversight…and taxpayer cash…is one Barney Frank, of Dodd-Frank infamy. This latest bail-out of well-heeled Dimocratic donors is proof positive…as if any were needed…when it comes to any Progressive policy or program, the buck always stops with taxpayers.
“Fairfax County is Virginia’s largest school district, and one of the biggest in the country. A recent test question in an advanced placement (AP) government course asked students a multiple-choice question to choose an “accurate comparison of liberals versus conservatives.” The choices represented a bunch of stereotypical identities — based on race, gender, sexuality and age.
Some concerned parents say regardless of your politics, you should be furious with the nature of the question. Rory Cooper, a Fairfax County father with a background in politics, sharply criticized the school district. “Telling a student that certain people belong in a political philosophy because of who they are, what their gender is, what their race is, that’s not following political trends. That’s telling somebody that they should believe one certain set of beliefs because of their identity,” Cooper told Fox News in an interview. “Right now, it’s it really feels like it’s more about practicing ideology rather than practicing academia.”
The College Board, the national organization creating and overseeing advanced placement programs, denounced the question — quote: “We did not and would not create a question like that for AP students. Neither the content nor the format of this question is appropriate for an AP Exam.”
This is the latest embarrassment for one of the nation’s largest school districts. Fairfax County Public Schools are under investigation by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares after some of its high schools did not tell students they had received National Merit recognition to avoid upsetting others who had not, an issue the district also vowed to probe.
In a statement to Fox News, a district spokesperson said, “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) accepts that an AP Government test question, designed to assess 12th graders’ understanding of American political ideology, did not meet the division’s high expectations. The question, which formed part of an assessment for 12th graders enrolled in the FCPS Online Campus, will be removed from future tests and a review of all AP Government Online Campus test questions will be carried out.”…”
In other words, same sh*t, different day.
Here’s the juice: Just as with the DOJ, FBI and every other federal bureaucracy, nothing will change in public education until the entire system at every level is demolished and rebuilt from the foundation up.
Since we’re on the subject of out-of-control wokeness, NRO‘s Caroline Downey reports at least some women are…
“First-time competitor Kristine Bayntun had no idea she’d been bested by a man at the 2019 British Columbia Powerlifting Association Fall Classic until she heard the winner accept his first-place trophy. “It was a man’s voice,” Bayntun told National Review. “I said, ‘Okay, what’s going on here?’ I had no idea that was even allowed. But I was just happy to be there so I said, ‘Whatever.’”
Bayntun, who came in second in the Women’s 84+ Open that day, didn’t have her suspicions confirmed until this year, when she learned on Instagram that the competitor who bested her is a male who is allowed to compete against women without any restrictions under the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s (CPU) trans-competition policy, which doesn’t even require male competitors to disclose their sex to their female opponents. “Someone had posted it on Instagram and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy, I’m pretty sure that’s the same person I competed against. I didn’t know for sure and now I’m finding out four years later,” she said.
A Minnesota court ruling, announced last week, suggests that the U.S. may be following Canada down the road to unchecked male participation in women’s strength sports. The district court ruled on Tuesday that USA Powerlifting must allow transgender athletes to compete in the women’s division, giving the federation just two weeks to reverse the sex-segregated policy it had instituted to protect female lifters.
The decision is the latest development in a legal battle initiated by JayCee Cooper, a transgender-identifying man who sued the organization for discrimination after being prohibited from entering the Minnesota state bench-press championship four years ago. The league’s officials cited Cooper’s “direct competitive advantage” as reason for disqualification. USA Powerlifting released a statement last week saying it disagrees with the ruling and announcing an appeal.
“Our position has been aimed at balancing the needs of cis- and transgender women, whose capacities differ significantly in purely strength sports,” the organization said. “We respectfully disagree with the Court’s conclusions and its basis. We have filed an appeal.”
Ontario-based female powerlifter April Hutchinson was supposed to face Anne Andres — the same transgender-identifying man who beat Bayntun back in 2019 — in her weight class at the Vancouver national tournament in February, but refused to compete in an act of protest after watching Andres’s behavior on the circuit.
Since taking up women’s powerlifting in 2019, Andres has quickly risen through the ranks, scoring a bronze medal at nationals and setting the bench-press record for the Alberta province at 253 lbs. in the 84+ category, Hutchinson said. Andres isn’t humbled by his natural advantage, as one might expect. Instead he has gloated about competing in the women’s category and insulted female powerlifters for poor performance in certain upper-body exercises. “He actually knocked females for having a weak bench press,” Hutchinson said. “The audacity this guy has. It’s like, ‘Oh, I have an advantage, but you women are weak on bench press because you are women.’ He’s admitting to have an advantage.”
…In solidarity with Hutchinson, who boycotted the tournament on the day Andres was scheduled to lift, Bayntun attended a protest at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel with women from other sports who also felt disenfranchised by transgender inclusion. Dr. Linda Blade, a Canadian performance coach who works with the International Consortium on Female Sports, led the demonstration. Nineteen ICFS members and supporters peacefully demanded fairness for female lifters. Hutchinson refused to show up to the tournament on the day Andres was competing.
“They’ve ignored us. We’ve written them emails trying to get them to understand that the policy is very unfair. They don’t reply, they don’t even want to discuss it,” Bayntun told National Review. The protest was not intrusive, she assured. Cheering for the female lifters, the women wore shirts that said “XY does not equal XX.” A few carried flags and signs. Eventually, they were met with resistance. The president of the CPU, police, and the hotel manager tried to expel them, but they doubled down, Hutchinson said. “There were men there trying to kick out women. It was crazy,” she said. “They said, ‘No, we’re not leaving because we have the right to protest. And we paid admission to come in and we’re here to cheer on the women.’”
The CPU has lost the support of many of its own athletes, according to Hutchinson. “We are so angry that these predominantly men in the federation making these policies won’t ask the athletes, let alone the women, what we want,” she said. To enter the female division, men who identify as women are not required to receive hormone therapy, undergo reconstructive surgery, or disclose their identity or history to the organization, according to the CPU trans-inclusion policy, obtained by National Review.
The CPU’s rules, which Hutchinson said haven’t been updated in about five years, are stunningly lenient compared with those of national and international governing bodies for other high-performance and niche sports. Many organizations require male participants to maintain testosterone levels within a specified limit and to have identified as trans for multiple years in order to compete against women, but the CPU only requires that lifters present a passport listing the sex they’re seeking to compete against. Canadians and Americans can now request a change to the sex listed on their passport by filling out a form.
…Even with testosterone caps, there’s many physiological advantages to being male, Hutchinson said. “It goes right back to grade-ten biology,” she said, “It’s such an insult and slap to women’s faces and women’s rights.”
Her coalition is trying to restore an equal playing field for powerlifting. She wants trans athletes to compete, but they should do so in the division aligned with their biological sex. Or, the CPU should create a new category, she said. “I want everyone to lift,” Hutchinson said. “Everyone has the right to lift and I would love to see them lift. It’s just that it shouldn’t be men against females.”
Hutchinson guessed that the negligence from the CPU policy-makers stems from a fear of litigation from the trans community. But now, Hutchinson, alongside the ICFS coalition, is preparing to sue. Maybe the CPU believes woman are too polite to sue, Hutchinson said. “Well, guess what? We’re ready,” she said.“
And you know what we say? To HELL with the trans community. This is wokeness run amok, which is the only possible destination for such insanity.
But as this next item demonstrates, given a courageous and competent messenger, Conservatism and common sense can triumph over the forces of evil and willful ignorance, as NRO‘s Brittany Bernstein relates the…
Florida ‘Book Ban’ Media Frenzy Persists Despite All Available Facts
“In an effort to debunk claims that Florida is banning books, Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference last week where he shared sexually explicit material from books found in some of the state’s public-school libraries.
The reaction to the material immediately proved his point: that many of these books were not suitable for children.
Nikki Fried, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, shared a tweet from DeSantis of the banned materials and wrote, “Ron posting butt plug porn to own the libs.”
Hours later, seemingly having realized she played into the hands of the governor, she switched tactics: “Of course this book doesn’t belong in school — but which Republican Education Commissioner or Governor allowed it to be there? Time to pull the plug on your plan to remove history books and stop tickling your base, @GovRonDeSantis.”…”
As this tweet so insightfully observed:
Even if you don’t like DeSantis, you have to admit that it was a brilliant move to show a video of the material taken out of schools
Now Dems are sharing his video and calling it porn, effectively conceding that there was porn in school libraries and they want to keep it there pic.twitter.com/Kl3FjybMVl
(2). Speaking of criminal conduct, the Philly FOX affiliate is reporting the latest murder victim in the City of Brotherly Love, one Dhalsim Jackson-Mayes, was struck by more than 70 bullets, and that several shell casings and were found on the porch. “Several” what…hundred?!?
Seriously, we were taught “several” meant three or more, but less than many. Just for the sake of comparison, Bonnie and Clyde only took 50 slugs between them:
(4). What Chuck Todd either fails to recognize or refuses to admit is today, many schools and teachers DON’T present Communism, Marxism and Socialism as evil.
NBC’s Chuck Todd accused DeSantis of playing politics when he told an audience in Vegas that every November 10th, Florida schools teach kids about the dangers of communism.
“…Troy resident Richard Maedge committed suicide in April. Before he died, he called his wife Jennifer and said he was coming home early from work. Jennifer found that Richard’s car was parked outside their house but could not find him. She reported him missing a day later on April 27. Police conducted a thorough search of the Maedges’ residence but could not find Richard.
According to FOX 2 St. Louis, chief deputy coroner Kelly Rogers described the house as a “hoarder home” and said it smelled sewer-like. When Jennifer called the police to report the odor, officials still could not find a cause. A plumber believed it was sewer gas leaking from pipes in the basement.
Jennifer eventually found her husband’s body on December 11. She went to gather Christmas decorations in a closet and discovered his corpse. By that point, his body advanced beyond decomposition and was mummified. According to Rogers, mummified bodies don’t always have a strong odor, which is why it took so long to find. Troy, Illinois authorities searched the house multiple times but could not find a trace of Richard. (FOX 2 St. Louis)
Authorities do not suspect foul play in Maedge’s death.“
Not exactly the Christmas miracle Mrs. Maedge was expecting. Though perhaps finding her mummified husband will inspire her to tidy up a bit.
Magoo
Video of the Day
John Stossel explains why the government is never, EVER the most cost-effective or efficient provider of ANY product or service.
Tales of The Darkside
Alex Epstein exposes the utter impossibility of a green energy future.
On the Lighter Side
In what we’re going to attribute to a case of stage fright, a Florida Dimocrat couldn’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance when invited to do so.
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