Category Archives: Culture

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Blaming other people for your failures

Caitlin Clark and Connor McCaffery. From her Instagram page.

Caitlyn Clark is the basketball phenom from the University of Iowa who topped Pete Maravich’s career NCAA scoring record, and has twice led her team to the NCAA’s women’s Final Four. The number one draft choice by the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, she is doing well, though not scoring at the same kind of pace as she did in college, because in the pros, all of the other players are good.

Miss Clark has had a rough rookie year, being greeted by the more physical play that all of the WNBA players encounter. The publicity she received has been celebrated by many, as well as trashed by many, frequently with the racist overtones that she only got the attention she did because she’s white, decent looking, and sexually normal. That overlooks the fact that other white, good-looking, and heterosexual WNBA players before her, such as Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu did not have the same popularity as Miss Clark; there must be some other factor involved. At any rate, Miss Clark is the rising tide that has lifted all WNBA boats, as league attendance and revenues have jumped, and, after Miss Clark’s shoe contract, a few other WNBA players got them as well.

But this is the silliest take of all:

UFL Blames Caitlin Clark For League’s Poor Attendance Numbers

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#Antisemitism at Columbia University How can educated administrators be so calm and complacent about it?

My old Bible, using an Israeli ₪20 note as a bookmark.

Catholics the world over have just completed a series of liturgical readings from the Gospel of John, and Gospel readings at Sunday Mass now come from Mark. But the Gospel of John is disturbing in its language, with its frequent reference to “the Jews.” From the foreword to The Gospel According to John, The New American Catholic Bible:[1]© Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1970. This has been the Bible I’ve had and used since the 1970s, purchased sometime between 1976 and 1978, and is the one pictured at the top of this … Continue reading

The polemic between the synagogue and the church[2]At the time. John is believed to be the last of the Gospels written, with editing into its final form being completed between 90 and 100 AD. influenced Johannine language toward harshness especially by reason of the hostility toward Jesus manifested by the authorities — Pharisees and Sadducees — who are referred to frequently as “the Jews”.

Yes, I wince at some of the readings from John, even though I know the real meanings of the language used.

I attribute a significant amount of anti-Semitism among Christians to just such language, and I hate that. Jews are our religious forebears, and the hostility of some, hopefully few, Christians toward Jews is simply wrong. Sadly, the tradition of anti-Semitism seems to be festering again. From The Times of Israel:

In newly revealed texts, Columbia deans discuss Jewish student ‘privilege’ and ‘$$$$’

US House panel probing antisemitism at universities publishes exchange between administrators who called Hillel official a ‘problem’ during May event on campus

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References

References
↑1 © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1970. This has been the Bible I’ve had and used since the 1970s, purchased sometime between 1976 and 1978, and is the one pictured at the top of this article. It is a true hard-cover publication, but the spine is broken, and a couple of forward pages are missing. I broke down and bought a newer, larger-print Bible several months ago, because it’s easier for me to read.
↑2 At the time. John is believed to be the last of the Gospels written, with editing into its final form being completed between 90 and 100 AD.
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Bad causes attract bad people * Updated! *

As we predicted on June 22nd, Joel Searby has scrubbed his internet profile. His Twitter account has been deleted, and his personal website has been reset to “Private”. This “Husband, Father, Friend. Renewer, Reformer, Dreamer,” is in some seriously deep doo-doo.

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As we noted three years ago, The Lincoln Project, an organization of anti-Trump “Republicans” which had been doing everything they could to hamper our 45th President, was then distancing itself from and denying any real knowledge about co-founder John Weaver. Many publicly mused about how co-founders George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Reed Galen, Jennifer Horn and Rick Wilson could not have known about Mr Weaver’s activities. Twenty-one young men, including one who claims that things began when he was just 14, have accused Mr Weaver of sending unwanted sexually provocative messages, sometimes including solicitations for sex, often in exchange for the promise of career help, to which Mr Weaver admitted once caught.

And yes, of course Mr Weaver was married to a woman at the time. Bad causes attract bad people. Continue reading →

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Philly advocates for prostitutes want the johns arrested, but not the hookers

It has always struck me as odd that something which is completely legal to do for free can be illegal to do for money, but such is prostitution and the buying of sex. But an OpEd in Tuesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer raised a point that I suspect the authors didn’t realize:

Want to eradicate the sex trade in Kensington, Mayor Parker? Arrest the people buying sex.

Traffickers and sex buyers perpetuate sexual exploitation and keep the commercial sex trade alive. Philadelphia police should arrest them instead of those who are already exploited. 

by Shea Rhodes, Mary DeFusco, and Ann Marie Jones | Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | 5:00 AM EDT

As experts in sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and systems of prostitution, we disagree with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s recent decision to empower the Philadelphia police to make arrests for prostitution in Kensington.

People in prostitution should not be arrested or charged with prostitution offenses. The practice of prosecuting people in prostitution perpetuates a harmful ideology that they are criminals, rather than people who are being exploited.

Traffickers and sex buyers perpetuate sexual exploitation and keep the commercial sex trade alive. Police should arrest them instead.

Parker’s decision will also create additional barriers for victims attempting to exit “the life” of sexual exploitation. Criminal convictions serve as an additional hurdle for survivors to seek meaningful employment, housing opportunities, immigration opportunities, federal student loans, and more.

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Once again, the hoitiest and the toitiest rally in favor of #Hamas So, what happens to the Stanford grads when it comes to their employment prospects?

Stanford University, 2024-25 tuition only: $21,709 per quarter, a private university in the Pyrite State, has a joyous image of commencement featuring a pretty, blonde girl openly smiling and cheering and clapping her hands in the California sunshine headlining the university’s website main page, or at least they do on Monday, June 17th, at 7:42 AM EDT. Stanford, one of the truly prestigious universities in the United States, sort of an Ivy League of the West school, attracts students from around the world, applying in a highly selective environment.

One would think that, as savvy and smart as those students are, they’d occasionally check the news, and ought to have seen stories noting that corporations which recruit top students are wary of hiring those who’ve been taking part in the pro-‘Palestinian,’ pro-Hamas demonstrations which have taken place. Continue reading →

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Nooo, not anti-Semitism at all! What would they have said had people been shouting at the 6.1% of the USC student body who are black, "Go back to Africa"? 

Genesis Chapter 15:

18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, 20 the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”

That is how it should be, but, Alas!, so many students at our universities have no knowledge of the Bible, or seemingly of not-so-ancient history. Continue reading →

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Jonathan Zimmerman, get your head out of the clouds! Well heeled Ivy League professor wants Ivy League students to forget high paying "sellout jobs", go into social justice fields, and then whine on TikTok about how underpaid they are

We have previously noted University of Pennsylvania professor of education and history and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jonathan Zimmerman on several occasions. Dr Zimmerman has been very supportive of the freedom of speech, but he’s just managed to miss the point in his latest writing.

The biggest problem at Penn is matching what we say about student careers with what we do

Half of our undergraduates enter the fields of consulting or finance. Penn talks the talk of public service, then teaches young people to line their pockets.

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If it looks like a coverup, and smells like a coverup, . . . .

As we have previously reported, Robert Davis, 20, the killer of Josh Kruger, was expected to plead guilty in exchange for a 15-to-30-year prison sentence. Yesterday, he did just that:

Man sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for murder of Josh Kruger

Robert Davis, 20, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related offenses, and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.

by Robert Moran | Monday, June 10, 2024 | 8:55 PM EDT

A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for the October fatal shooting of local journalist and advocate Josh Kruger, court records show.

The negotiated guilty plea for third-degree murder and related offenses was expected from Robert Davis, who killed the 39-year-old Kruger on Oct. 2. Continue reading →