Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Various And Sundry

First up, Jonah Goldberg of National Review has written an article warning his fellow conservatives about hypocrisy and "selective outrage", starting with:
If hypocrisy were a greenhouse gas, the ice caps would be gone by now.
I would add that two major sources of such greenhouse gas would be located along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.  This would make the already too-hot-and-humid summers in the DC area even more unbearable.  Any discussion of political hypocrisy reminds me of my own update of a quote attributed to Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain.  Clemens/Twain reportedly said something to the effect of, "Suppose that you're a congressman.  Suppose that you're an imbecile.  But I repeat myself."  In my view, saying that any politician is a hypocrite is to repeat myself.  Read Goldberg's article at the link above.
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Some buzz has been going around that the Boy Scouts will soon be admitting girls.  This is true, but as a certain saying goes, the devil is in the details.  As reported by the New York Post,
Starting next year, girls will be able to join Cub Scouts programs. Older girls will then be allowed to join a program enabling them to earn the organization’s highest rank of Eagle Scout starting in 2019.
The Cub Scouts are the junior division of the Boy Scouts, for boys (and soon girls) ages 7 to 10.  Here are some more details from the NYP:
According to the plan, existing Cub Scout packs may establish a new pack for girls, create a pack consisting of smaller girl dens and boy dens or remain an all-boy unit. Cub Scout dens, meanwhile, will be single-gender, consisting of either all girls or all boys. While primarily known for its programs for boys, the Boy Scouts of America has offered opportunities to co-eds since 1971, including its Venturing program that will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
It seems that the rules will apply mainly to the Cub Scouts, whose dens will remain single-gender, and that Boy Scout programs for girls are nothing new.  I would thus say that questions about whether the Girl Scouts will reciprocate by admitting boys, or if the two organizations will at some point merge into one, might not (yet) be pertinent.  Read the full story.
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And in other items:


Yesterday, things got weird and then weirder at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

Some people on the left still haven't figured out that the Twitter account Sean Spicier is a parody.

Saudi Arabia's efforts to blockade arms to Yemen are also blockading food.

Conditions in Venezuela continue to be horrible.


A European supermarket gives in to political correctness.

How did the E.U. respond to the referendum in Catalonia?


A British MP agrees with Poland's demand for reparations from Germany.  If you read his last name, you might suspect that his willingness to agree with Poland might not be completely unbiased.  (Due to my own Polish blood, I would likewise have to plead guilty to that charge.)

The bubonic plague, now seen in Madagascar, could possibly come to the United States.  (The article blames "underinvestment" in public health, as if throwing more money at the problem is the principal way of solving it.)

Oxfam accuses the E.U. of putting migrants' lives at risk.  (Whether Oxfam realizes that the migrants place their own lives at risk by illegally traveling to Europe, or understands the risk that migrants might pose to Europeans are not, as far as I can tell, discussed to any significant degree.)

The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the United Kingdom has doubled in four years.

And last but not least, in the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the prosecution rests.

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