Saturday Miscellany

First, polyamory is having a moment. So much so that I wrote about it myself on January 15. 

Now, Brad Wicox cautions:

Big media push re: polyamory overlooks ways in which kids are put at risk by relationships that circulate unrelated adults through the household.

By the numbers, via the University of Chicago School of Medicine:

Young children who live in households with one or more unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die from an inflicted injury, usually being shaken or struck, as children living with two biologic parents.

Second, dare we say that it has been more than embarrassing for denizens of the political left to discover the rampant anti-Semitism practiced by those it has been defending. 

City Councils in Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle have passed resolutions condemning Israel for its attacks against Hamas and calling for a surrender.

Now, the Anti-Defamation League, purportedly dedicated to combating anti-Semitism has called for investigations into people who refuse to accept the current transmania. Imagine that-- it wants to put a Jewish woman, by name of Chaya Raichick, on the terrorist watch list.

: Join us this afternoon as we discuss being placed on the @ADL’s “anti-LGBTQ+” terrorist watchlist with @libsoftiktok, @MattWalshBlog and @realchrisrufo. Don’t miss it!

They have denounced certain conservative commentators, like Chris Rufo, Matt Walsh and Chaya Raichick for amplifying the hatred of trans people.

Given that transgenderism is nothing but a delusional belief, one wonders why those who oppose it should be subject to such opprobrium.

Third, American universities have become hotbeds of anti-Semitism. The Daily Signal reports:

A report released Monday by the Combat Antisemitism Movement in partnership with the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University in Israel found that antisemitism has exploded in U.S. higher education.

The numbers are shocking, but not surprising.

The report found that in the fourth quarter of 2023, from October through December, there was a 1,753% increase in far-left incidents of antisemitism and a 268% increase of Islamist antisemitic incidents on college campuses since the previous quarter.

At the risk of being redundant, these incidents have not been perpetrated by white people. Or even by white supremacists.

The ADL needs to reconsider its function.

Fourth, and the children will lead them, or some such. The Biden administration consulted with a 25 year old influencer named Alex Haraus and, as a result of their conversation, issued an order stopping liquid natural gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

At a time when the supply of natural gas is threatened, it takes a special degree of stupidity to shut down supply because some dope in Colorado is unhappy.

The Biden administration will indefinitely pause approvals for new liquefied natural gas export terminals along the US coastline, dealing a blow to a booming industry and giving a win to climate campaigners. 

The US is the world’s biggest exporter of LNG, with the number of cargoes shipped growing rapidly since the first set sail from Louisiana in 2016. The European energy crisis triggered by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine bolstered demand as countries searched to replace gas piped in from Russia. 

But the US industry’s multibillion-dollar liquefaction plants have become a target for climate activists who argue that the rapidly expanding infrastructure will lock in reliance on fossil fuels for decades to come. 

The pause from the Department of Energy will temporarily halt pending applications from 17 projects awaiting approval to proceed.

This morning the Wall Street Journal editorialized about the fallout from this decision:

Who cares about the real-world impact, or the signal to allies and adversaries that the U.S. isn’t a reliable partner? Europe and Asia should plan to import their gas from Qatar, Russia or even Iran. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin now know they can exploit the Administration’s climate obsession to undermine U.S. interests.

Fifth, as for the consequences of environmentalist policies, we can again look at Germany under a leftist government.

The current condition of the German economy was aptly described by a Financial Times editorial on 1-26:

At Davos last year, Ger­man Chan­cel­lor Olaf Scholz spoke of a “new Ger­man speed” that would set a bench­mark for eco­nomic reform. A year on, Europe’s largest eco­nomy is start­ing to look more like a slow-mov­ing car crash than an accel­er­at­ing jug­ger­naut. In 2023 it con­trac­ted by 0.3 per cent, mak­ing it the world’s worst-per­form­ing major eco­nomy. This has been accom­pan­ied by policy set­backs, nation­wide strikes, and a steep decline in the rul­ing coali­tion’s pop­ular­ity.

It means:

House­holds and busi­nesses have been hit hard by high energy costs, and are low on con­fid­ence. Indus­trial pro­duc­tion is fall­ing. The auto industry is strug­gling to com­pete amid a global trend towards elec­tric vehicles. Mean­while, skills short­ages are high and the eco­nomy remains too reli­ant on trade with China. Bick­er­ing and policy mis­haps have added to doubts over the coali­tion’s abil­ity to guide the coun­try for­ward. An ambi­tious but poorly handled green policy that urged homeown­ers to replace gas boil­ers with heat pumps had to be amended after a pub­lic out­cry.

So, a leftist government implemented leftist policies and severely damaged the economy. 

Sixth, as a testimony of modern leftist governance, the city of Oakland just lost its last In-N-Out Burger. It was quite popular, but it attracted more than its fair share of thieves.

How did this happen? Well, the city decided to cut back on policing and to shift funds to government employee pensions. 

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Oakland’s progressive City Council in 2021 bowed to antipolice activists by limiting the number of police academies for training new officers and freezing 911 surge units, all while boosting funding for putative violence prevention “alternatives.” Meantime, as federal pandemic largesse shrank, spending on government-worker benefits ballooned.

Between 2019 and 2023, Oakland’s spending on public-worker retirement benefits rose 42% ($73 million) and 34% ($49 million) for fringe benefits. Last year Oakland spent more on government worker benefits than it collected in property and sales tax. To close a $360 million budget deficit, the city cut back on law enforcement even more.

The unsurprising result: Surging crime. Robberies last year were up 22% over the three-year average. Auto burglaries (23%), carjackings (15%) and motor vehicle theft (29%) also spiked. Roughly one of every 30 Oakland residents had a car stolen last year. Many In-N-Out patrons and workers found their car windows smashed, if they were lucky enough to avoid being held up at gun-point.

Seventh, the United Nations has just discovered that a dozen of its employees in Gaza participated in the October 7 massacre in Southern Israel. It has just fired them all:

The New York Post has the story:

The United Nations organization for Palestinian refugees has fired a dozen staffers over claims they took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, the agency said Friday.

Israeli authorities handed over the information alleging that 12 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees were involved in the murderous rampage in southern Israel, the agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, said.

“To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.”

The US immediately cut funding to the agency in the wake of the allegations surfacing, the State Department said – marking a significant reversal from the Biden administration’s strong support for UNRWA.

One might take the next step and say that it’s high time we fired the United Nations.

Eighth, Axios reports that President Biden has been pressuring Israel to wind down its war against Hamas:

SCOOP: Biden last week pressed Netanyahu to scale down the Israeli military operation in Gaza, stressing he is not in it for a year of war. A Biden adviser told Axios the White House is very concerned about losing young voters.

Because the really important thing for Biden is young voters.

Upon being informed, Bonchi’s Twitter replied:

So we are in it “as long as it takes” when it comes to Ukraine, but the Jews should surrender because it might cost Biden young voters. Good to see principles are really guiding all these foreign policy decisions.

Ninth, the press is reporting that Kenneth Eugene Smith was in pain for some twenty-minutes before he died from nitrogen gas.

The Daily Mail has the story:

The convicted killer, 58, had a gas mask placed over his face before a stream of 100 percent nitrogen gas suffocated him, with Smith thrashing against his restraints in his final moments. Smith was officially pronounced dead at 8:25 local time, following a 22-minute ordeal where he appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. He shook violently and pulled on the restraints on the gurney, continuing to breathe the nitrogen gas heavily until he succumbed and passed out. The murderer's spiritual guide, Jeff Hood, described the execution as the 'worst thing' he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock as he died far slower than anticipated. 'When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,' Hood said. In his final words, delivered through the gas mask on his face, Smith said: 'Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards... I'm leaving with love, peace and light.' He was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife in 1988. Smith's pastor John Ewell told DailyMail.com before his execution that the killer was 'really struggling' with the reality of his imminent death, and officials said he barely touched his final meal of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs and A1 Sauce from Waffle House.

Of course, we can easily solve the problem by importing another, more efficient method, from France.

Time to try out the guillotine!! He would have felt no pain!

Tenth, another chapter in the annals of Biden administration incompetent military actions. Daniel Greenfield remarks this:

after almost a month, Biden has failed to secure the Red Sea from a bunch of terrorists

Eleventh, I now have some free consulting hours in my coaching and counseling practice. If you are interested, email me at StuartSchneiderman@gmail.com.