Saturday Miscellany

First, as for what could possibly go wrong, consider this. The three leaders of the Los Angeles Fire Department are all lesbians named Kristen. Better yet, their background is as paramedics.

Second, Once-Great Britain has surpassed Russia in jailing people for incorrect speech.

There were 98 convictions for internet speech in Russia from 2007-2018.

During the same period, the UK had 1400 convictions for internet speech. —

Keep in mind, this predates the current Labour government’s effort to shut down any and all unnice words about Islam.

Third, keep in mind, Britain’s Parliament has just voted down a proposal to investigate the gang rapes and sex trafficking of British schoolgirls by Pakistani migrants.

But, it is going to investigate Elon Musk for drawing attention to the issue.

As for popular opinion, we read this:

76% of British people want a national inquiry into the rape gangs and 77% want to deport dual nationals who are convicted of grooming children 

In a democratic nation the will of the people would be respected. Not in Once-Great Britain.

Fourth, once upon a time the world’s large banks signed up for a Net Zero admissions goal. Nothing quite like tanking your economy in the name of climate change.

Convened by the UN Environment Programme finance initiative but led by banks, the NZBA commits members to align their lending, investment and capital markets activities with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or earlier.

Now, the winds have shifted and the world’ largest banks are abandoning the Net Zero folly:

The six biggest banks in the US have all quit the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, with the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump as president expected to bring political backlash against climate action.

JP Morgan is the latest to withdraw from the UN-sponsored net zero banking alliance (NZBA), following Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. All six have left since the start of December.

“A few years ago, when climate change was at the front of the political agenda, the banks were keen to boast of their commitments to act on climate. Now that the political pendulum has swung in the other direction, suddenly acting on climate does not seem so important for the Wall Street lenders.”

Fifth, now they tell us. A study conducted in Sweden has discovered that when the female member of a marriage makes more than the male member, the result is-- worse mental health for the male member. 

The New York Post reports the shocking findings:

In their study, the team analysed the incomes and mental health of heterosexual couples in Sweden. 

They found that women becoming the breadwinner resulted in a higher risk of mental health issues for both members of the couple - but especially for husbands. 

'The share of couples where the wife outearns the husband is increasing globally,' the researchers said. 

'Crossing the threshold where the wife starts earning more significantly increases the probability of receiving a mental health diagnosis. 

'In the most restrictive specification, the likelihood increases by approximately 8% for the whole sample and by 11% for men.' 

Sixth, meanwhile in Argentina, everyone’s favorite libertarian president, Javier Milei,  is doing rather well. 

Mario Nawfal reports:

ECONOMISTS WHO PREDICTED MILEI'S 'DEVASTATION' NOW AWKWARDLY QUIET AS ARGENTINA REBOUNDS Turns out the "crazy" guy with a chainsaw knew what he was doing. After experts warned Milei would destroy Argentina, his 30% spending cuts and mass bureaucrat firings led to the first budget surplus since 2008. Even more shocking? His 50% approval rating suggests Argentinians prefer smaller government and 2.4% inflation over socialism's 118% interest rates. Who knew? 

Seventh, over at Facebook there’s a veritable cultural revolution going on. It’s not just about silencing the fact checkers-- point that has seriously upset our president-- but the company has put an end to its diversity programs:

Newsmax reports:

Meta Platforms is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, including those for hiring, training and picking suppliers, it said in a memo to employees posted on an internal company forum Friday.

The move comes in the run-up to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, as the company attempts to mend relations with the leader who has criticized its political content policies and threatened its CEO with imprisonment.

"The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing," Janelle Gale, Vice President of Human Resources at Meta, said in the memo, which was seen by Reuters.

And that’s not all. Another report suggested that Meta is removing transgender and nonbinary themes from its Messenger chat app. 

In a final insult to Tim Walz, Meta has been removing tampons from the men’s restrooms.

A cultural revolution I call it.

Eighth, Americans are nothing if not neighborly. You don’t even have to live in the neighborhood. The New York Fire Department offered to help the LAFD with the Los Angeles fires. Mayor Karen Bass turned down the offer.

The New York Post reports:

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass rebuffed an offer by the FDNY to help try to contain the area’s deadly fires — even though California officials have said they don’t have enough firefighters themselves, The Post has learned.

New York City fire Commissioner Robert Tucker made the helpful overture to the embattled Bass in recent days, as five blazes rage around Los Angeles and its suburbs, killing at least 10 people and destroying thousands of homes and businesses, sources said Friday.

JetBlue even offered to pay for the city smoke-eaters’ flights across the country from the Big Apple to Los Angeles, sources said.

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