Peer Pressure

Ping: Scalia warned after the Obergefell same-sex marriage decision that it’d open the doors to use the law to de-normalize things that’d been normal for all of human history.

Pong: Massachusetts – the Caliifornia of New England – rejects an adoptive couple, Mike and Kitty Burke because, as practicing Catholics, they would merely love a gay or transgender child, rather than aggressively affirm the child’s orientation:

“Kitty expressed that she does not believe in gender affirming care for children,” the report noted, adding that she referred to such care as “chemical castration” and said she doesn’t believe that people can choose their pronouns.

Mike Burke, meanwhile, told the social worker he has many friends who are gay or lesbian and has attended several same-sex weddings. He told the social worker he would likely attend his child’s wedding if they married someone of the same sex. 

He also said he would likely not consider any type of gender affirming care for a child under the age of 18….In a later email, the social worker noted that the Burkes “have a lot of strengths” and “really seems to understand adoption/foster care.” However, she wrote, “their faith is not supportive [of LGBTQ+ youth] and neither are they.”

Is there anything Scalia wasn’t right about?

Filmy Streak

Movies are pretty streaky to me.

Before Gran Torino came out I think I’d gone something like 3-4 years without seeing a movie in a theater. No big deal – I scarcely noticed it, and had plenty of other stuff to keep me busy.

After the “lockdown” ended, I went to a couple of films just to throw a throbbing middle fingers at the Karens of the world. I don’t even remember the movies – just how good throwing. that finger fels. Also how much room I had. I literally was the only person in the theater more than once. #ThaanksGovernorWalz

But I’ve been light on movies again, for a while now. I didn’t grow up with comic books (other than “Flaming Carrot” and, later, “King and Country”), so I have no nostalgia for the endless Marvel and DC franchises. For that matters, I lost all interest in Star Wars after “Attack of the Clones or whatever it was called. I literally haven’t seen a single one after the third episode/sixth movie. When asked which universe I prefer, Star Trek or Star Wars, I reply “Firefly“.

And I try to avoid going to movies I reasonably believe are going to be a waste of time and money. I’ve literally walked out of one movie in my life (The Burbs with Tom Hanks).

But I’ve been on a bit of a tear lately. I’ve seen movies four weekends in a row. And – unbelievably – they’ve all been good.

  • Sound of Freedom. Amazing film. . Unbelievably intense. Its critics say “it manipulates the audience ZOMG”. Right . So did “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, “Oliver Twist” and “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”. That’s art, especially art for a cause, for you. .
  • No Hard Feelings. Yep ,a Jennifer Lawrence film. “But she’s a lefty”. I don’t care – it’s a movie with a fundamentally conservative message. One reviewer called it “a sex comedy without the sex”, and it’s not wrong – especially given that the one nude scene is hilarious and diametrically not erotic in the least.
  • Oppenheimer. I love the fact that a director trusts and audience to be able to follow a complex, non-sequential plot.

Aaaaaaaand Barbie.

“Wait – wut”

Yep. Barbie. And I’d do it again – entirely on conservative social criticism grounds .

More tomorrow .

Every Single Conversation

Mitch BERG is on the air in the bunker at AM1280. He’s interviewing Aaron ROSTON, writer at the (possibly fictional) progressive blog “MinnesotaLiberalAlliance.Blogspot.com“.   He is a crossing guard at a school in rural southern Minnesota, and is a bullying activist – mostly focusing on promoting bullying of children of conservatives. ROSTON is talkng into microphone 3, lookng over the console at BERG.

BERG:  So you’re pro-choice? 

ROSTON:  Of course.  Abortion is a human right, 

BERG:  Let’;s define “human”.

ROSTON: That’s kind of absurd.

BERG:  Possible. Let’s see. So I have a question for you. When your mother was pregnant with and delivering you, at what point was it no longer acceptable for her to “terminate” you? Please be specific.

ROSTON:  Well, that was her choice.

BERG:  Right, Understood. So at what point in the pregnancy was it no longer her choice .

ROSTON:  Whenever she said.

BERG:  So could she terminate you now/

ROSTON:  Of course not. That’s absurd.

BERG:  Why?

ROSTON: Because I’m a human.

BERG:  Sure. So when did you become a human?

ROSTON:  When I was born.

BERG:  So two minutes after you were born, you were a human?

ROSTON:  Yes.

BERG:  And thirty seconds before you were born, when you were the exact same person you were ninety seconds later, but not quite out of your mother yet – was your life worth defending?

ROSTON:  That was up to my mother.

BERG:  So the only thing that changed about the moral value of your life in that ninety seconds was you emerging from your mother? It was entirely your mother’s call?

ROSTON: Sure.

BERG:  So could she still “terminate” you?

ROSTON:  Don’t be absurd!

BERG:  Why can’t she?

ROSTON:  You can’t murder a human.

BERG:  So thirty seconds before you were born, you weren’t human?

ROSTON:  Nope.

BERG:  And a minute later you were.

ROSTON: Yes.

BERG:  With the only difference being your mother’s choice?

ROSTON:  Yes.

BERG:  And no other reason she couldn’t terminate you today.

ROSTON:  You’re clearly a racist.

BERG:  Clearly.

(AND SCENE)

It’s Almost As If There’s A Theme

Attorney General Ellison compares Justice Thomas to a “house slave”:

Ellison – whose entire career is was financed by Alita Messinger and George Soros – accuses conservatives on the SCOTUS of being beholden to plutocrats.

And about 1:00 in, he says:

“Anyone who’s watched Django – Clarence Thomas is like Steven.

Ellison is being both a little more artful than Ryan Winkler’s ape-like response that Thomas is “Uncle Tom”. “Stephen” is a dog whistle reference from a Spike Lee movie – a coded reference to “someone all real black people should hold in contempt”.

Last year, with the aid of a 14:1 spending advantage, Ellison won by about a point.

He can be beaten.

Peak Progressive

Spanish environment minister Teresa Ribera…:

  1. Took a private jet to a climate conference – her 17th private jet trip of 2023.
  2. Took a limousine downtown to get to the conference
  3. Stopped a block away from the conference, took out a bike…
  4. And rode the last 1-200 yards, as her entourage followed in their government issue “impress the peasants” rides.

It seems to be all the rage among the “progressive” “elites” these days:

The Cherry On Top

Last week, I suggest that the Abenaki tribe should take Ben and Jerry’s up on their demand to “give America” back to the tribes that used to live there.

I suggested last week that that the Abenaki tribe that used to live where Burlington, Vermont – Ben and Jerry’s HQ – is today should take the company up on it, and reclaim the shores of Lake Iwannavirtusignal (or whatever it’s called).

And as if they were listening…

Dear Abenaki tribe: free airtime awaits. Have your people call my people.

Red Flag

Why have we learned so little about yet another spree killing in yet another blue city?

Oh:

The rifle-wielding suspect who donned a bulletproof vest before allegedly shooting dead five men and injuring two children in Philadelphia has been identified as a Black Lives Matter supporter who shared gun-toting memes on social media.

Kimbrady Carriker, 40, was nabbed shortly after the bloodshed in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood Monday night, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing sources.

Cops haven’t yet publicly disclosed the suspect’s identity.

On his Facebook page, Carriker posted two pictures of himself wearing a bra, a women’s top and earrings with his hair braided long in March, three months before the alleged shooting.

Now, I’m not going to say that being trans/nonbinary predisposes anyone toward carnage. But there’s been a bit of a streak lately:

This is a pretty significant chunk of the spree killings [1] in the past year.

And the best the MSM can do to explain it is to compare the number of trans spree killers [1] with the raw number of mass shootings [2] – which is a little like saying “Elizabeth Taylor didn’t have a lot of husbands” by comparing her total marriage count to all of the marriages in the country.

[1] A mass shooting [2] where the only motivation is to kill people

[2] Any shooting involving 3+ victims – a botched robbery, a murder-suicide, a gangland driveby, even a self-defense shooting where someone takes out a group of attackers.

Presumably Tweeted From Canada

To: Ben and Jerry’s
From: Mitch Berg, obstreporous peasant
Re: Performative Garment Rending Would Be A Great Flavor Name

Ben and Jerry,

You produce yet another product I’ve never bought, and being fairly strict keto, will not be buying any time soon, politics notwithstanding, so this note is of no real consequenes to either of us.

Sort of like the tweet below, in which you join the academic-nonprofit/industrial complex in its latest round of performative consequence-free virtue-signaling:

Then f***ing do it.

Liquidate your business. Give it back to the Abenaki tribe, the people who are indigenous to be area around Burlington, Vermont. All of it, down to the last dime.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenberg? Yep – back to Europe with you, where you can argue about who’s stolen what land dating back to the Romans and before, and be alarmed at how unconcerned anyone in Europe seems to be about the millennia of land-theft behind all the modern states.

After you move to Canada, of course. Which is also “stolen”, come to think of it…

Anyway – until you’ve done that, shut up. Seriously.

That is all.

Tolerance!

Rebecca Brannon is one of perhaps half a dozen actual reporters in the Twin Cities media.

She captured this yesterday at “Pride“:

Looks like someone came up on the wrong end of the intersectional lottery…

Rule Changes

The rule changes in baseball this season got a lot of press.

But a rule change in basketball seems to have gotten less press.

Apparently, two field goals inside the three point line is now worth five points.

In related news, the Wooves/Linx “community” group has decared its “Inspirinig Women” winner for 2023:

A Thousand Points Of Laser Focus

The DFL did so much damage this past session, it’s hard to track all of it.

Rep. Hudson did a pretty good job of cataloging it – and why it matters (expand the tweet to see it all).

I’ll be talking about this extensively on the show this Saturday.

Fake News?

Something doesn’t quite smell right about this story.

It’s a gay bar, dumping Bud Light over them, abandoning the Dylan Mulvaney campaign.

The stereotype of gay bar patrons is that they have impeccable taste.

We are talking Bud Light.

Anyone else seeing the problem here?

Of course, the lesson to companies is, or should be, “don’t get involved in the culture war. Because once you dip your toe in, there is no “middle ground“.

I’m Old Enough To Remember…

…when “Cultural Appropriation” was considered a bad thing.

Realtor markets to gays who are hysterical about Texas laws about…

…checks notes…

…restrictions on chemical neutering of mentally-ill minors, by calling his marketing ploy “the Rainbow Underground Railroad”:

When someone goes to the website FleeRedStates.com, a message reads, “As LGBTQIA+ citizens in Red States, many of us feel at risk. Current laws are highly discriminatory against trans youth and their families. Our marriages, our families, and even our safety are at risk. If you feel the need to leave the jurisdiction of a Red State, let us help you sell your property here and connect with you an LGBTQIA+ or ally agent in a better location of your choice. We are licensed in Texas and we have affiliates in all 50 states and several countries.” People can share their contact information to create an account and start the process of connecting with a real estate expert.

“We’re calling it kind of the ‘rainbow Underground Railroad,’” McCranie said. “We’re trying to get people out quietly and get them to someplace where they feel safer.”

And if you are more than two months old, you’re old enough to remember it, too.

Off Script

SCENE: One morning at MNDFL Headquarters. An array of progressive Minnesota luminaries are gathered around a table. At the head sits Lieutenant Governor Peggy FLANAGAN. To her right, Ken MARTIN, chair of the DFL. The other seats are occupied by Javier MORILLO of the SEIU, Denise SPECHT of Education MInnesota, Alida MESSINGER of Alliance for a Better MInnesota, and the senior staff of Minnesotans United for All Progressive Causes, the non-profit/money-laundering operation that works with the party.

FLANAGAN: Murphy!

(Esme MURPHY enters the room): Yes, Maam?

FLANAGAN: Gimme a g*****mn Manhattan.

MURPHY: Yes, ma’am. (Murphy exits.)

FLANAGAN: OK, Ken, where’s the governor?

MARTIN (Yelling): Governor Walz?

WALZ (Enters from a closet next to the exit door). Hraaaa hraaa hraaaas hreaa One Minnesota hraaaaa hra hra hraaaaaa Best State (holds out an iPhone, takes a selfie) hraaaa hraaaa hra hra donut hraaaaaa hraaaaa…

FLANAGAN: Got it! Enough! (WALZ goes back into the closet).

FLANAGAN: We need an example of a place in the real world that is dominated by Democrats and exemplifies love and equity.

Inge “Lucky” CARROLL, a former guidance counselor at a school for monomaniacs, Inge is Head Meme-Buffer at “Minnesotans United for All Liberal Causes, raises her hand.

FLANAGAN: What?

CARROLL: Let’s have them look at Hamtramck, Michigan. It’s solid Democrat country – their Democrat congresswoman won by a sixty point margin. And the city is majority Muslim and is run by an elected Muslim city council, and they just voted…

(CARROLL squints at a site on her phone) uhhhhhhh

On Tuesday, Hamtramck, Michigan’s city council, unanimously voted to banPride flags from being displayed on public property. Located just outside Detroit, Hamtramck is the only Muslim-majority town in the United States.

The ruling was celebrated with cheers and applause inside City Hall, where dozens of concerned residents, Muslim and Christian, had shown up to express their thoughts on the matter.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the resolution was introduced by Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Mohammed Hassan, and applies not only to Pride flags, but also those promoting any “religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group.”

“Only, the American flag, and the nations’ flags that represent the international character of our City shall be flown,” Hassan stated, adding that it was imperative to “maintain and confirm the neutrality of the city of Hamtramck towards its residents.”

FLANAGAN: (Sits, dumbfounded)

(The closet door opens. Governor WALZ steps out, and wanders around the room like a Roomba)

WALZ: Hraa hra hraaa hra hraaaaa hraaaaa hra BestState hra hraaaa hra Fully Funded hra hra hraaaaaa hra hra hraaa hra…

And SCENE

Ray Of Hope

Maybe, just maybe, the kids will be all right:

Us Gen-X grandparents will have a role in helping our Zeeper/Alpha grandkids reclaim this nation’s actual legacy.

Also: I bet if this keeps up Big Left will stop trying to register teenagers to vote.

You’re Being Gaslit

When trying to win a rhetorical or political battle, the idea is when the fact reflect the proposition that you are winning, and that your victory is inevitable. Not only does it show you are on track to win, but it sucks the morale out of your opponents as the contest slogs to its miserable, inevitable end. Sort of like a Timberwolves season.

The next best thing?

To paraphrase the old law school trope: when the facts are against you, argue the ideals. When the ideals are against you, argue the facts. And when the facts are the ideals are against you, convince the enemy that they favor you anyway.

And that’s what Big Left is trying to do; convince Real America that the game is already over.

It’s nothing new – it’s why they parroted twaddle about “the emerging Blue majority” and “Texas will turn blue!” over the past 20 years, as if all political trends are linear.

But there’ve been a few hot ones lately.

“Minnesota Is Irreversibly Blue!”

The DFL outspent the GOP 18:1 in the 2022 elections – and flipped the decisive seat by less than 400 votes.

Fewer than 1,000 votes would have put the House in GOP control.

But for a pretty dismal showing by the Jensen campaign, and the overturning of Roe (which can’t happen again), the Attorney General and State Auditor were on the cusp of winning.

Yes, statewide races are a problem – and I despair of the current MNGOP cracking that code, not that I’m not gonna try to push it.

But saying “Minnesota is pure blue!” is premature.

“Millennials Are Eternally Progressive!”: Maybe not so much anymore.

In the 2020 presidential election, voters who were 18 to 29 in 2008 backed Joe Biden by 55 percent to 43 percent, according to our estimates, a margin roughly half that of Mr. Obama’s 12 years earlier.

The exit polls show it even closer, with Mr. Biden winning by just 51-45 among voters who were 18 to 27 in 2008 (exit polls report results among those 30 to 39, not 30 to 41 — the group that was 18 to 29 in 2008).

And last fall, the young voters of ’08 — by then 32 to 43 — preferred Democratic congressional candidates by just 10 points in Times/Siena polling.

Nobody stays young and stupid forever (DFL communications staff notwithstanding).

“The General Public Is Embracing The Transgender Ideology”: Sincie 2021, the public perception that there are more than two genders has shifted six points.

Away from the transgender narrative.

Sack up, campers. This fight is just beginning.

The Racket

I’m not the world’s biggest Matt Walsh fan.

Not because of what he says. Mostly because he’s a podcaster whose podcast gets plopped onto radio with a little editing. It’s not necessarily great radio.

But radio purism aside, I watched “What is a Woman?” last week.

And the part that stuck with me, the part I didn’t already know?

Between hormones, surgery and other clinical charges, every single transition yields a total of $1.3 Million.

The return on investment has to be far better than Covid was.

With that in mind, I caught this the other day. It’s a thread – if you cllck into it, it should yield 5-6 related tweets:

“It’s a racket” would certainly explain a lot of the hamfisted way the DFL jammed the issue down this past session.

A Simple Proposition

To: Calvin McDonald, CEO, Lululemon
From: Mitch Berg, Irascible Peasant
Re: Business Stuff

Mr. McDonald,

Last week, a couple of employees at a Lululemon store were axed after they tried to react like a normal law-abiding human when someone robbed their store.

You defended this response:

Lululemon’s CEO stands by his decision to axe two employees who called the police while three masked men robbed a Georgia outpost, citing the company’s “zero-tolerance policy” for intervening with a robbery as reason for firing the workers.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,” Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald told CNBC during Friday’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“Educators” are what Lululemon calls its workers…

Ferguson said that once a robbery occurs, workers are instructed to “scan a QR code. And that’s that. We’ve been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it.”

However, McDonald said that the policy is in place “because we put the safety of our team, of our guest, front and center. It’s only merchandise,” he told CNBC.

Question : Since it’s “only merchandise”, why even charge for it?

That is all.

There Is No Target But Target

To: Target Corp
From: Mitch Berg, Obstreporouis Peasant
Re: Your Descent Into Totalitarianism

Target,

I started boycotting you a couple weeks ago, over the whole “grooming little kids” thing.

Truth be told, it’s been pretty easy.

And it just got easier:

I’d be creeped out of a company required employees to be Christian conservatives – but nobody, not even the dreaded Chik-Fil-A, actually does that.

Forcing political compliance on employees?

Yet another reason Minnesota needs to suck it up and elect an actual Attorney General.

Oh, yeah – not spending a dime with you for the duration.

What is the duration? That’s up to you.

That is all.

UPDATE: A friend of the blog emails:

The only significant difference between working for Target and joining a cult is that Target doesn’t kill you if you try to leave (Yet)

I was thinking something more like the French Catholics chasing the Huguenots out of the country

Pronouns

Minnesota is transferring his first transgender female to the Shakopee women’s prison.

But I’m not here to talk about the obvious issue.

No – there are two issues that go way beyond putting (deep breath) bio-men into women’s prisons.

Stay In Your Lane: Shakopee is referred to as a “women’s. prison”.

Is the MN Department of Corrections a bunch of biologists?

Do are they experts in what “women” are? Like this PhD?

Which leads us to another, inarguably more serious problem.

Pronouns Pronouns Pronouns: What’s in the world “Prison?”

The word “Son”.

Since we don’t know the genders of the incarcerated (indeed, the incarcerated themselves may not know at any given time), it’s time to change the name of the facility to “Shakopee Prixyn”.

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