A Potpourri of News

I had to laugh. Seven Democratic Senators, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, put out a statement outlining mandatory provisions for any deal President Trump may make with North Korea. 1. The dismantlement and removal of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons from the country. 2. Complete and verifiable denuclearization of No. Korea, with the removal of all items related to nuclear production. 3. The end of their ballistic missile program. 4. Inspections anywhere and anytime. 5. The deal must be permanent. (Info from the 6/4/18 online edition of National Review.) Why was I laughing? Where were these Senators when then President Obama was making his deal with Iran? Hypocrites! (Yes, Schumer opposed it - until Trump wanted to back out. Then Schumer supported it.)

Out of Hanover, New Jersey, is a story about the High School cheer team. It seems that one girl complained to her Mom that she did not make the cut. The students are judged on their ability to jump, do choreography and the like. Well, that girl's Mom would have none of it, and complained to the District. The superintendent, like all good wimpy bureaucrats, caved in. He decided that ALL 11th and 12th grade cheerleaders would be on the school's elite squad, regardless of their skills. One former head cheerleader, clearly annoyed by that decision, explained that her sister did not make the squad after trying out. Their Mom told that daughter "You better get to work." There's a great Mom. No excuses. No blaming the person who made the decision or the unfairness of not every girl qualifying. No - get to work! Try harder! Which Mom is raising the stronger child? Which child will be better able to deal with life's challenges? (From CBS New York online.)

Trump uninvited the Super Bowl champs Philadelphia Eagles after a number of players said they would not go. That was a mistake. However many did show, along with their many fans, would have been able to celebrate at the White House. So what if you can't get everybody on board. Yes, once upon a time not that long ago, no one would have passed on an opportunity to be at the White House and meet the President. But those days are over.

And shame on Fox News. They initially put up pictures of Eagle players kneeling, suggesting that the kneeling occurred during the playing of the anthem. They had to apologize, because it turned out the players were kneeling in prayer prior to the game. No Eagle player kneeled during the playing of the anthem all year, although some stood with a raised, clenched fist. Still, Fox is a large enough company to not make these mistakes. A couple players complained that Fox was just in the tank for Trump. Oh come on - almost the entire mainstream media was in the tank for Obama for eight years. Did they complain about that?

This adherence to "identity politics" has got to stop. The idea that we judge people based on what "group" they belong to, instead of as individuals based on their words and deeds, is wrong and even evil. Do you want to be judged based on how the conventional wisdom (i.e. current political correctness) perceives whatever group you may belong to? If you are on a college campus and a Jew, then you are out of favor. In his recent book, "Suicide of the West" (Crown Forum/Random House, 2018), Jonah Goldberg tells us he took a look at the 2015 Yale University course catalog. Here's what he found: "Yale offered at least twenty-six courses on African-American studies, sixty-four courses on 'Ethnicity, Race and Migration,' and forty-one courses under the heading 'Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies."

In the 5/28/18 USA Today, Alia Dastagir had a piece on implicit bias. "While I struggled with a deep sense of class shame and the message that I was 'less than,' (apparently she grew up somewhat poor) I still always knew that I was white and that made me 'better than' poor people of color." What? My family was lower middle class. We never had extra money for much of anything. But, being white, I never was told by my parents, nor did I feel, that I was better than poor people of color. It's the difference between the classical liberal democrats, my parents, and today's Leftists. We were taught to treat everyone the same; another bygone belief filled with wisdom, compared to the shallowness of Leftist thinking.

Recently, Kuwait put forth a proposed resolution at the UN Security Council. The resolution expressed "grave concern" about violence in the Palestinian territories. It called on the Secretary General to issue a report within 60 days to ensure "the safety, protection and well=being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation." It also called for an "international protection mechanism." Would that be sending troops in to fight against Israeli forces, even though there was zero mention or concern about Hamas terrorist attacks against Israelis? But, no fear; out of 15 members of the UNSC, 10 members voted in favor, 4 abstained, and the USA thankfully vetoed. One vote against, thanks to President Trump. As the US has a veto, the measure did not pass. But voting in favor were those two outstanding European countries - France and Sweden. Of course, it could be strictly coincidental that they both have large Muslim populations. Abstaining were three European countries - the UK, the Netherlands, and Poland. Sad.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Supreme Court decision regarding the Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding. SCOTUS ruled 7-2 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission did not fairly consider Mr. Phillips religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman. Mr. Phillips said that he offered cakes "off the shelf," but those were rejected. One of the commission members said that the use of religious beliefs in a manner that hurts others "is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use." The Court was quite concerned over the commission's overt hostility to religion. Religion is one of those things protected by the First Amendment. While there is nothing in the Constitution about marriage, and certainly not about gay marriage, SCOTUS only a few years back interpreted the Constitution to include this right to gay marriage.

These cases involving competing rights, especially Constitutional rights, do not make for good law. However, the Court found a way to make a narrow decision based on the specific facts of the case. No one should think that that any business would be allowed to refuse to sell to gay couples for their wedding if the product in question is prepackaged. The USA Today had a different take in their 6/5/18 editorial. "Phillips has an absolute right to his religious beliefs against gay marriage, but when the practice of those beliefs infringes on the rights of others to equal treatment, it goes too far." So, believe what you want, but don't actually practice your beliefs? That is an unsatisfactory result.

A number of liberal and Reform Jewish groups expressed their displeasure with the decision. I would ask them to ponder this. Imagine a Jewish baker whose family was murdered in the Holocaust. In walks a neo-Nazi couple asking the baker to make their wedding cake with swastikas covering the top and sides of the cake. I hesitate to think what these liberal Jews might require of that baker.