Saturday Miscellany

First, third world here we come. Apparently the Biden administration does not want third world countries to feel bad about being third world countries, so he is emulating their dysfunction.

Way to go, Joe.

Charlie Kirk opines on Twitter:

So we have students getting kicked out of schools to house illegals in New York, and now we have travelers getting blocked from entering entire sections of O'Hare Airport in Chicago to house illegals. Joe Biden is turning America into a third world hell hole.

Second, a little comic relief from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, to members of Congress:

Let’s talk about the fact that President Trump incited an ERECTION.

Third, the mentally challenged White House Press Secretary, who has needed a backup in John Kirby, cannot do her job and cannot be fired. I need not explain it to you.

Anyway, Karine Jean-Pierre said this:

We took on Big Farmer, and we won!

Fourth, the leaders of the city of San Francisco voted 8-3 for a resolution in favor of Israeli surrender in Gaza. It is effectively not their purview and not their responsibility, but, whatever.

To which Hillel Fuld offered a riposte:

Tel Aviv just voted 10-0 to have SF clean up the human feces and heroine needles on their streets before thinking they have a right to preach to anyone about literally anything.

Fourth, our hapless and hopeless Secretary of State, the man that John McCain held responsible for Joe Biden’s serial errors in the realm of foreign policy, is racking up frequent flier miles, in a futile effort to get someone to pay attention to him.

Marc Zell comments on one of Blinken’s forays:

Total lunacy: After Abbas has been in office without elections for 17 years and is widely known to head one of the most corrupt operations anywhere in the Middle East (just like his predecessor Arafat) ==> US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority, in comments after they met in the West Bank earlier today. “What I take away from this meeting is that he is committed to that and is very much prepared to move forward,” Blinken tells AFP in Bahrain in response to a question about Abbas’s commitment to reforming the PA.

Fifth, the revived Senator John Fetterman had something to say about the current trial, initiated by notoriously anti-Semitic South Africa, at the International Criminal Court. Speaking to South Africans, Fetterman said this:

“Maybe you ought to sit this one out!” 

In the meantime the South African delegation cannot get its religions straight. Adam Ma’anit writes on Twitter:

Really inspires confidence that the South African delegation really know what they’re talking about…

“In South Africa, we have got a number of Jewish people doing business, living with us, and they also attend their churches in peace.”

You might recall that when the municipal leaders in Capetown decided that they could overcome a pending water shortage by building a desalination plant, they discovered that the best company to do so was Israeli.

Being stone-cold anti-Semites, they chose not to build the plant. Better to be dehydrated than to work with Israelis.

Sixth, Alan Dershowitz for the defense. Writing on Substack Dershowitz defends Israel against the South African blood libel:

The blood libel accusation against Israel has now begun in The Hague. The failed nation of South Africa has brought genocide charges against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

What is the International Court of Justice? It is not international, because it excludes judges from certain countries. It is not a real court, because the judges are selected by their countries and many of them simply follow the instructions of those who appointed them. And it has never done justice, because it has long been biased against Israel. It is the United Nations court, and that tells you all you need to know about it. The United Nations has become the megaphone of bigotry and anti-Semitism. As an Israeli diplomat once put it, if Algeria introduced a resolution that the earth is flat and that Israel flattened it, it would win 120 to 27 with 32 abstentions. And you can name the countries in each of the groups before any evidence is presented.

It is the Hamas charter that calls for genocide against the Jews of Israel, and it is South Africa that is harboring Hamas terrorists and defending its murders and rapes. It should be Hamas that is on trial for attempted genocide and South Africa that is on trial for complicity with Hamas.

Seventh, in the meantime Arabs who live in Israel have expressed patriotic loyalty to the nation. Apparently, they are not supporting Hamas.

Nellie Bowles write in her TGIF column, for The Free Press:

Arab Israelis feel closer to the country than ever, another reminder that Israel is a multiethnic democracy that has nothing to do with the conspiratorial insanity abroad. 

True enough, the world could use a lot less conspiratorial insanity.

Eighth, in crime-friendly Canada, the authorities have just declared that it is against the law to post videos of package thieves, because it would violate their privacy.

You can’t make this stuff up. 

Ninth, on the learning loss front, things are not looking good, even for kindergarteners. The Wall Street Journal has the story:

America’s youngest students entered school this year with weaker math and reading skills, compared with before the pandemic, according to new data that is surprising some educators. 

In kindergarten, students tested in 2023 were about 2 percentage points less likely to begin school at grade level in both math and reading, compared with 2019, data compiled by the testing company Curriculum Associates show. Scores also remained below prepandemic levels in the first and second grades.

Tenth, on the promotion-loss front, you will recall the old days when American business was agog with stories about the new work-at-home phenomenon. To our credit, we were skeptical about it all.

Now the Wall Street Journal reports that working at home has cost people their promotions. Alas:

For a while, remote workers seemed to have it all: elastic waistbands, no commute, better concentration and the ability to pop in laundry loads between calls.

New data, though, shows fully remote workers are falling behind in one of the most-prized and important aspects of a career: getting promoted. 

Over the past year, remote workers were promoted 31% less frequently than people who worked in an office, either full-time or on a hybrid basis, according to an analysis of two million white-collar workers by employment-data provider Live Data Technologies. Remote workers also get less mentorship, a gap that’s especially pronounced for women, research shows. 

Don’t say I did not warn you.

Eleventh, on the transmania front, you can kiss Scotland good-bye. It has just passed a law that will imprison parents who refuse to allow the state to mutilate their children. The Draconian law would also punish parents who do not allow their children to cross-dress:

From the Telegraph:

“Proposals published on Tuesday state that actions designed to “change or suppress” another individual’s gender identity, causing them physical or psychological harm, would become illegal under the radical law,” reports the Telegraph.

The law would ban so-called ‘conversion practices’ which often take place in a “family setting,” according to ministers.

It would mean that if parents try to stop their child “dressing in a way that reflects their sexual orientation or gender identity,” they could face criminal sanctions even if they believe they are acting in the child’s best interests.

And you thought the Canadians were the only bunch that had lost their minds.

Before we get too smug over this, the American Academy of Pediatrics just declared that denying children what they call “gender-affirming care” is abusive. 

That’s right, medical professionals are arguing for mutilating children. 

Twelfth, apparently everyone loves Robert Kennedy, Jr. To each his own. The biggest mystery about him is why the media has had nothing to say about how he apparently drove his first wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, to commit suicide. 

Bobby Kennedy rendered her destitute and threatened to take her children away from her. She hanged herself in the barn. Perhaps someone in the media should investigate.

Thirteenth, the bottom story of the week comes to us from Wesley Yang. 

Very belatedly learned that 95 percent of wasabi served at restaurants is fake. I'm not sure if I've ever had the real thing.

Please subscribe to my Substack, for free or preferably for a fee.