Treating Women as Body Parts

Once upon a time, in the halcyon early days of feminism, liberated women insisted that they wanted to be respected for their minds, not for their body parts. Obviously, this predated the time when women donned adornments they called pussy hats and marched behind the leadership of virulent anti-Semites. 

And now, thanks to the ambient madness about transgenderism, the American Cancer Society, surely not a member of the vast left wing conspiracy, has taken to reducing women to their body parts. It has banned the word “woman” and replaced it with: individual with a cervix.

Monica Showalter expresses her outrage:

Suddenly, women are being reduced to body parts, commodified, based on the strange contortions of recognizing men with body dysmorphia as actual women, and vice versa. To accomodate this small group of people, women are being reduced to spare parts.

It’s dehumanizing, don’t you see:

To reduce women to body parts is absolutely dehumanizing - it's what the porno industry does, it's what butcher shops (which serve legitimate human needs) do. But now the medical industry is doing the same thing, reducing women to body parts as if they carried these parts around with them by choice in suitcases.

The very word 'woman' now has to be broken down into body part functions when in fact, all the characteristics that amount to being a woman or being a man are entirely integral to one's personhood. It goes right down into the DNA and chromosomes, XX for women, XY for men. No transgender surgery can change that, and it would be insane to treat someone medically as if they held the opposite configuration.

Of course, she’s right. If the human body contains some 4 trillion chromosomes, all of which are typed either XX or XY, changing your mind, even changing your pronouns has absolutely no effect on them. 

Showalter predicts a bleak future for women-- at least for those who accede to this madness. One hopes that sensible feminists will call halt to this ideologically driven insanity:

What's bad here is that this won't be the end of it. If women can be reduced to body parts, it's only a matter of time before more commodification happens. Body parts will eventually become like property, and perhaps bought and sold. And if bought and sold is the norm, then graded by quality - USDA choice, as commodities are. After that, they could also be stolen, or expropriated. Just as disgusting, a woman who's had a double masectomy could easily be classified as 'not a woman,' since women are now being defined by parts.

Who Will Bail Out New York?

Like most blue states New York is going broke. It probably is broke already, but don’t tell anyone. As Francis Menton explains in an excellent post on his Manhattan Contrarian blog, the truth is, New York needs a federal bailout.

All the negotiations about coronavirus relief will eventually boil down to the Democrats desire to bail out blue states. If you want to know why it is so vitally important that Joe Biden assume the presidency come this January, the reason is: blue states are about to fall into an abyss. Only the federal government can save them. That means: the citizens of fiscally responsible states.

Menton’s analysis is worth your attention:

The blue state progressive political model consists of an endless list of government spending and redistribution programs, expected shortly to deliver perfect fairness and justice among all people, all financed by an assumed ever-increasing gusher of tax revenues. Then along comes the coronavirus: the productive economy gets intentionally suppressed, tax revenues plummet, and then what? Are we now expected to cut back on the government programs so recently touted as the sine qua non of human moral advancement? Worse, are public servants — those selfless individuals giving their lives to the righteous cause of human advancement through government spending — now to be laid off? Or have their pay or benefits reduced?

All of the blue states are currently facing this circumstance to greater or lesser degree, but none more so than my home state of New York. A June Report from researchers at Arizona State and Old Dominion Universities, cited at Bloomberg here, projected an annualized average decline in tax revenues among the states of 20%, but with New York leading all states with a projected 40% decline in tax revenues. Even if the decline turns out to be well less than the 40%, we’re still talking about a large part of the support for most-expensive-in-the-nation spending programs in areas like Medicaid, housing, and K-12 education. What’s the plan, Governor Cuomo?

The virus has been a catastrophe for these states, especially New York. And that’s not even considering the numbers of people that Gov. Cuomo consigned to an early death by sending coronavirus patients to nursing homes.

Menton concludes:

Good New Yorker that he is, Cuomo’s brain is just incapable of contemplating substantial cuts to state spending or the state workforce, even in areas like Medicaid and K-12 education where our state spends double or more per capita the average of the other states. Nor are meaningful tax increases really an option — we’ve basically already maxed out on the potential for squeezing big money out of a handful of the richest citizens. So there’s really only one option: the federal government just has to step up and pay our bills.

Homeless Encampments in New York City

In French there’s a useful phrase that now pops into mind-- il ne manquait que cela. Roughly it translates: it’s all that was missing. One might add: to complete the picture.

Today the picture is New York City’s decline. What with the rising crime rate and the empty office buildings, what with the diminishing tax base and the political ineptitude, what with addicts taking over streets and churches, the only that that was missing was homeless encampments.

After all, we follow the splendid example of the great cities on our west coast, so we are happy to welcome homeless encampments into our midst. Like mayors of west coast cities, New York’s mayor, comrade de Blasio is against homeless encampments. And he even sends an occasional team around to break them up. 

This being New York, no one takes him seriously. Once an encampment is shut down another one pops up to take its place.

The New York Post  has the story:

With the pandemic emptying out the city’s streets, and the NYPD focused elsewhere, foul and filthy homeless encampments are popping up across the city — exposing the impotence of the vast social-service system that’s supposed to prevent such horrors.

One shantytown sprawls under the FDR Drive in lower Manhattan, stretching south from Catherine Slip to Pier 11, in what one resident called “a scene out of a zombie movie.”

Security guard Jesse Alberio, 56, who lives nearby, says, “It gets real intimidating! I won’t come out here at night,” adding that some of the vagrants sneak into his building “and s - - t in the stairwells.”

And they’re stubborn. Sanitation workers last Sunday rooted out an East Village camp on Second Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets — but the “residents” were back in under a day.

Locals say the “campers” just went across the street, waited under the marquee of the Orpheum Theater, then returned once the city workers left.

It’s not quite the same thing as listening to some whiny adolescent complaining about someone’s use of the wrong pronoun, but still:

And yet the shantytowns remain (or return after a brief pause), making New Yorkers feel unsafe in their own homes and ’hoods.

City and city-paid nonprofit workers either can’t or won’t do what’s needed. As long as the mayor refuses to see that tough love is the only answer, “zero tolerance” will continue to look more like “throw-up-your-hands acceptance.”

It’s the Big Apple-- for now. 

Every Child Left Behind

The Babylon Bee has uncovered a new national cause. They call it: Every Child Left Behind. Naturally, it is being led by the teachers’ unions.

Here’s the story:

U.S.—Teachers who have been enjoying the extended time off due to COVID concerns are eager for it to continue. Desperate to avoid returning to the classroom in the fall while still getting paid for it, teachers have come together to launch an “Every Child Left Behind” movement.

Citing concerns of possible exposure to the virus, teachers have expressed that they will not be returning until their safety can be guaranteed. They also do not want to be bothered by teaching online, either. “We don’t want some kids falling behind and other, more privileged kids learning online.” said Director of Education Susan Birchfield, “No! We say all kids should have their education equally hindered.” 

“My greatest joy in life is teaching my wonderful, little angels, but if I can not go to work and still get paid then see ya later, snot-nosed brats!” said 2019 teacher of the year Kathy Frazzelbum as she floated by in her pool tube while sipping a piña colada.

“Kids have their entire lives to learn. It’s not like these are formative years that could leave their education stunted and trailing behind the rest of the world,” explained teacher’s union founder Trish McDonald.

Teachers across the nation expressed their utmost thanks to the taxpayers and assured them that this was money well spent. “I am much more productive as a teacher thanks to the Every Child Left Behind movement. Now I can go run errands as I please and instead of grading papers I can binge Netflix!”

At publishing time, the teacher’s union was planning a series of strikes to continue the Every Child Left Behind movement until a cure for all sickness and death was found.

Why Does Twitter Foment Anti-Semitism?

How stupid do you have to be to work for Twitter? How stupid does Twitter imagine that people really are?

So, while no one was paying attention a Twitter spokeswoman was testifying before the Israeli Knesset last week. The question was: why does Twitter block access to tweets by President Trump but while allowing tweets by the Iranian Supreme Leader-- which promote genocide?

The New York Post reported:

A Twitter spokeswoman has defended the company’s decision to block and restrict tweets from President Trump but not those of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei which call for genocide of the Israeli people.

The reason? Because the Iranian dictator’s tweets pass as “commentary on political issues of the day” while Trump’s could “inspire harm,” Twitter claims.

During a hearing in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, lawmakers grilled a Twitter representative over why the platform was policing missives from Trump, but not other world leaders such as Khamenei calling Israel “a cancerous growth.”

“You have recently started flagging the tweets of President Trump. Why have you not flagged the tweets of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has literally called for the genocide of Israel and the Jewish people?” asked Arsen Ostrovsk, a human rights lawyer and member of the Israeli Jewish Congress.

“We have an approach to world leaders that presently say that direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy saber-rattling on military and economic issues are generally not in violation of our Twitter rules,” the spokeswoman responded.

Stunned lawmaker Michal Cotler-Wunsh interrupted: “So calling for genocide is OK?”

“Calling for genocide on Twitter is OK, but commenting on political situations in certain countries is not OK?” she continued.

Got it? Calling for genocide would not inspire harm.

Naturally, the American press, given its current predilections, has ignored the story:

A clip of the exchange was shared on Twitter on Wednesday by former acting director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell who wrote: “This should be something the US media reports. Wow.”

Iran’s leader has repeatedly shared tweets calling Israel a “deadly, cancerous growth” to be “uprooted and destroyed” — all going unchecked by Twitter.

“The long-lasting virus of Zionism will be uprooted thanks to the determination and faith of the youth,” Khamenei wrote as recently as May.

The Twitter spokeswoman worked herself in a knot as she refused to answer why the platform had begun restricting the president’s tweets, but not Khamenei’s — leading to accusations of “double standards.”

“If a world leader violates our rules, but it is a clear interest in keeping that up on the servers, we may place it behind a notice that provides some more context about the violation,” the Twitter rep said.

“That it has happened for the Trump tweet, that tweet was violating our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line of that tweet and the risk that it could possibly inspire harm and similar actions,” she continued.

In May, Twitter placed a “public interest notice” on the president’s tweet amid violence in Minneapolis which read: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” leading to accusations of censorship and political bias.

Simply put, anti-Semitism is OK. Calling for genocide of Jews is OK. Being pro-Israeli is evidently not OK. Whatever the rationale, we know which side they are on. 

Attack on New York's Billionaires

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of Democrats. Billionaire New York Democrats might have imagined that their staunch support of Democratic candidates, like Andrew Cuomo, would ensure that they would be spared the inconvenience that the current insurrection has visited on those of lesser means. They have just discovered that protection money does not go as far as it used to. (via Zero Hedge)

Not so fast, bunky. In truth, the recent wave of protests has even reached the Hamptons, where a group of peasants with pitchforks protested outside the summer homes of billionaires.They are militating in favor of a billionaire’s tax, a tax on immense wealth. As you know Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the source of monumentally stupid ideas, has been promoting it.

Over 200 protesters wielding pitchforks marched through the Hamptons Thursday to demand that Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) slap billionaires with a wealth tax.

According to Business Insider, the group - organized by a coalition of activist groups including New York Communities for Change, a homeless advocacy organization, and News Guild (CWA) marched throughout the ultra-wealthy vacation town. Stops included the homes of several billionaires, including investor Daniel Loeb, real-estate developer Steven Roth and Hudson Yards developer Steven Ross - all Cuomo donors, according to the report (citing The Guardian).

It would have not have been complete if it did not have a leftist politician advocating to keep poor children stupid. How would he want to do so? By shutting down charter schools.

The protesters were joined by State Senatorial candidate Jabari Brisport, who said outside of Loeb's East Hampton mansion "If there is one thing that makes me more mad than billionaires, it's billionaires like Dan Loeb that push and advocate for charter schools," adding "I'm sick of the attacks on our public school children, and I'm sick of people like this donating to Andrew Cuomo so he can sit there in Albany twiddling his thumbs about how to deal with this budget deficit."

As of now New York state has 118 billionaires. Gov. Cuomo has declared that if they institute such a tax, the billionaires will all leave New York. Already, I suspect that many of them are seeing the writing on the wall. They did not get that rich by being stupid.

If Black Minds Mattered....

If Black Minds Mattered we would all follow the advice offered by the Economic Prism blog (via Zero Hedge):

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, math scores of U.S. students rank 30th in the world.  The East Asian peers of today’s American students will eat their lunch in the growth industries of tomorrow.

Here’s where Black Lives Matter has a real opportunity.

The protests.  The riots.  The calls for reparation payments.  Social justice wealth transfers.  White privilege taxes.  All the nonsense.  Where’s the strategy?  Where’s the long-range ‘strategery’?

No doubt, those selling BLM T-shirts in Walmart parking lots are exercising gumption.  But it’s not gonna cut it.  Moreover, like bingo winnings, reparation payments will be quickly squandered while the unhappiness remains.

Here at the Economic Prism we hesitate to offer advice.  We don’t know the answers.  We hardly know the questions.  But we do observe, contemplate, and reflect…

And as far as we can tell the BLM movement is empty of ideas and without direction.  

Hence, from a place of modesty, we offer an immodest suggestion:

If BLM was strategic they’d be fighting for school vouchers to start pumping out semiconductor engineers 10 to 12 years from now.

Within half a generation they could take a significant role in driving America’s much needed productivity miracle.  Apathy would be replaced with dignity. 

The politics of race, class, identity would be vanquished.

Certainly, it would take hard work and relentless perseverance.  Yet it’s within reach…for those willing to take a grab at it.

Bottom-line, performance is the only measure.  Professional sports has shown that the best performers make the big bucks, regardless of race.  Why not become top performers in a high-paying growth industry?

This is an industry where America’s up and coming generation has fallen a step behind its global competitors.  There’s a need.  There’s demand.

You can thank us in 2030.

Excellent idea-- destined to be quickly forgotten.