And completely consistent with the previous post.
The most frightening thing is that they are so open about it, as if there is nothing wrong with a party saying, “When we get in power, we’ll make sure no one feels safe opposing us.”
Santa Rosa City (Cal.) Schools: Unethical, Illegal, Unconstitutional, Un-American—Now What?
The Cornell Rape Ethics Train Wreck just made a nasty stop.
The captain of the Piner High School football team posted the phrase “Free the Cornell Seven” on Instagram.
So what? That post is entirely, completely, protected free speech, and any semi-informed American dolt over the age of 18 should know it. That message does not involve the school or its students in any way. It is pure opinion.
Never mind. Santa Rosa City Schools officials announced last week that the student had been punished. So far, all we know about the punishment is that the player was barred from attending a team dinner. It doesn’t matter if the punishment was a reprimand in the principal’s office. A school can’t do that.
Not punished, however, were the approximately 200 students—nobody bothered to take names or count them— who walked out of class to protest the fact that their school hadn’t sufficiently punished a fellow student for making a statement of opinion that could not be legally, ethically or constitutionally punished. This is bonkers. The conduct of those students must be punished. Not only that, the teachers and administrators responsible for them not comprehending the essentials of free speech, the First Amendment and the Constitution at such an advanced age should be sacked.
The protesters demanded “accountability” for the football team captain. So did many parents, who complained to the school district that the message “makes light of sexual assault and should not be tolerated.” Not be tolerated? The school’s principal’s answer to the parents should have been,
“Mind your own damn business and get out of my face. You need to go back to high school yourself. You don’t know what you are talking about. First, anyone, including a student here, is free to post any opinion on a controversy in New York on his or her personal social media accounts any time they choose. We have to “tolerate it.” Second, there is no evidence that a sexual assault occurred, despite your fellow travelers on the Left seeking to wreck the lives of young men as a show of solidarity with the worst of American feminists.”
Final Ethics Thoughts On The Katie Zacharia Debacle
1. Shame on Trump for appointing her in the first place, but credit is due for his moving quickly to can her.
2. The President’s quotes regarding her exit were unusually kind, as he implied that the news media was out to get her and said he suggested that she would be happier doing something else. He did fire her, though.
3. The rumor mill in D.C. holds that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles engineered Katie’s exit. Good, if true.That’s her job.
4. Zacharia accepted an important position that she was unqualified to fill. That’s unethical and irresponsible, and also stupid.
5. The more she blathered on about the fake “lawyer” claims, the more she sounded like an idiot. If so, she is one more mediocre talent who cut in front of better candidates because of her looks. Women have every right to resent that.
6. It is undeniable that the President’s bias toward attractive (and loyal) women causes him to entrust important jobs to untrustworthy people.
7. My theory is that Trump still doesn’t think the job of White House spokesperson requires much ability or talent, because that kind of improvised interaction with the press is easy for him. He stuck with the bumbling Sean Spicer for a long time and for no discernible reason. I also think he doesn’t pay much attention to the briefings because he has so little regard for reporters,
Can’t blame him there.
8. Democrats, which means the news media, are estopped from mocking Trump for this episode. I can, but they can’t. Biden’s paid liar for most of his term, poor dim-bulb, mop-topped Karine, was an embarrassment from the start, and the Axis media let her blunder along. They also didn’t criticize Biden for keeping her behind the podium no matter how awful she was because…well, you know why.
9. The Babylon Bee made that gag above about Trump appointing Jessica Rabbit as Katie’s successor. If Trump could, I wouldn’t bet against it.
How Bad Is Trump Derangement In DC? This Bad…
Today I go to Annapolis where the Annapolis Opera has engaged me to do a presentation for its members on “Gilbert & Sullivan in America” in advance of the company’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance” two weeks from now. By pure coincidence, D.C.’s prestigious regional theater Arena Stage is hosting a production of “Makado,” a parody of the Victorian pair’s greatest work “The Mikado.”
To say the thing is witless and a vile blight on culture, intelligence, and one of the greatest entertainment repertoires in the English language would be to engage in criminal understatement. At a full 2.5 hours, a group of talented singers do relative justice to Sullivan’s melodies while emitting pointlessly and incompetently re-written lyrics. In between the songs is dialogue that either quotes Gilbert’s original libretto out of sync with what passes for the “plot,” or injects what the brainless—but woke!—adapters think is hilarious. (The mostly puzzled audience seldom agreed.)
“Makado” is an acronym for “Make America Kingly, Do!” Yet there is literally not a single reference in the new lyrics or the dialogue that makes a satiric observation relating to the title. The role of Ko-Ko in the show is a Donald Trump imitator, who announces the parody version of the famous “Little List”song as “The Lord High Retributioner.” That’s not bad, except that Ko-Ko isn’t the “king” either in the original or in this abortion. That would be the Mikado, you know, the Emperor of Japan, and the character arrives and behaves like the despot he is. The role is also played by a woman despite the Mikado’s iconic “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” solo being written for a bass-baritone and sounding awful in the soloist’s mush-mouthed contralto.
The level of humor in the show is exemplified by the lead female character of Yum-Yum being called “Num-Num.” The original’s opening chorus (“If you want to know who we are, we are gentlemen of Japan”) is now sung by a chorus of two characters, and they are “billionaires of Japan.”
As is so often the case with adapted and even straight productions of G&S shows, the director and collaborators didn’t do their homework, don’t understand the genre, don’t respect their betters, and delude themselves into thinking they can improve the originals that have endured for over a century for good reason. The Savoy Operas are in the public domain and have been for decades, so, like Will Shakespeare’s canon , they suffer this abuse frequently. This pathetic attempt, however, is so incompetent and odoriferous that it could only be tolerated by Trump Deranged hysterics who would applaud a musical version “My Mother the Car” as long as someone sang a song called “Trump is a Poopy-Head.” That the renowned Arena Stage would agree to let its name be sullied by association with such amateurish junk nicely illustrates how bonkers the Distict’s elite have become.
I an hoping Annapolis is a bit better.
EA has four posts about “The Mikado” and progressive politics (Full Disclosure: I have played Ko-Ko twice and directed the show once). You can find them here.
From The Res Ipsa Loquitur Files:
By all means, let us, as Barack Obama sagely advises, have more women in leadership positions.
I guess that loony scene doesn’t entirely speak for itself. I have questions.
Can anyone imagine men behaving like this? Can anyone imagine trustworthy, rational women behaving like this?
What, exactly, are they screaming about?
What good do they think screaming will do?
Who suggested that screaming was the ideal way to support Lucy Craig, aka. “Jane Doe,” who is accusing seven men of sexual assault that took place two years ago after texting one of her alleged assailants that everything was consensual and signing a document that stated that no rape occurred?
After whoever it was suggested this brilliant and articulate protest, what kind of woman would react with, “Perfect! That’s exactly what needs to be done in the interest of justice!”?
Is it possible that the women above think that more viewers will think, “Hey, they make a good point! I’m convinced Lucy was raped!” than will conclude, “Women in this country have completely lost their minds!”?
And again: this is the constituency voters will be siding with when they vote for Democrats next month.
Yikes.
Why Does Katie Zacharia Still Have Her Job? [Update: She Doesn’t!]
UPDATE: Literally minutes after I posted this, I saw reports that she is “transitioning” out of the White House Press Secretary role. Good.]
***
There’s no excuse for this.
The new details on the latest White House paid liar’s misrepresentation of herself as a “lawyer” or “attorney” make her (and the decision to appoint her) appear worse and worse; she’s either a fraud or an idiot. In either case, she has lost all credibility. A paid liar must have credibility, as strange as that sounds.
Katie Zacharia confirmed yesterday that she had never passed a bar exam or and has never been an “attorney.”Then she claimed that she had not misrepresented her legal career by saying she “is” a lawyer. As I have explained already, she’s not. If many members of the public—you know, morons—think that a JD or LLB degree means one is a lawyer, that doesn’t excuse the holder of a law degree thinking or saying that. “Lawyer” means one can act as a lawyer—Duh!—and a mere law school graduate cannot. It is against the law for such a person to practice law, which is what lawyers do—again duh.
In interviews with The New York Times and Real America’s Voice, Zacharia said she had consulted Pepperdine’s president and “others” about how to describe her qualifications before appearing on television, and was told she could use the term “lawyer,” but not “attorney” or “esquire.” Zacharia hasn’t said which “president of Pepperdine” advised her. She graduated from law school there in 2011. Andrew K. Benton was the university’s president at that time. In 2019, Jim Gash became the president told the Times that he was not the one who advised her, though he did call her “a young woman of high integrity.” You know, a a young woman of high integrity who represented herself a lawyer without having a law license. Gash’s representative said “he does not comment on private conversations,” but a statement from Gash said: “Pepperdine is proud to count Katie among our alumni, former colleagues and friends. As she takes on this significant responsibility, we pray that God will grant her wisdom and courage. We look forward to seeing her use her incredible gifts and extensive experience in service to our nation.”
Got it. A non-responsive answer. A law degree from Pepperdine isn’t worth the paper it is printed on, and the school’s presidents are cowards and suck-ups.
Unethical Quote of the Week: James Talarico
“The Bible is silent on the issue of abortion.”
Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas James Talarico, in response to a questioner (a Catholic theology professor) during CNN’s “town hall” featuring the Texas House member and divinity school student (he has yet to graduate despite starting at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2018.
The answer was appropriately contradicted by the questioner, Jody Hunt, who shot back, “I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the 10 Commandments: ‘Thou shall not kill.” She added, “And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when [the Bible is] described that way.”
It didn’t take a theology professor to come up with that response: a relatively astute 12-year-old who has seen “The Ten Commandments” should be able to do it. Talarico’s answer is not only a lie, it’s offensive. This is the “invisible baby” dodge again. No one, nothing, is being killed! Abortion just involves the woman. It’s a choice, not a killing!
Talarico lied and flip-flopped throughout the session, with no push-back from the moderators. (“This is CNN!”) He denied saying that he wanted to abolish ICE, but Talarico is on video saying “It is time to tear down this secret police force.” Asked about the SAVE America Act, he said that he didn’t know enough about the bill to have a firm opinion about it. In August, he said, again on video, “With the SAVE Act, they are trying to rob our neighbors, strictly our black neighbors, of those God given rights.”
That’s a lie too. Just as Bernie Sanders assured radical progressives that Kamala Harris was just pretending to be moderate to get elected and then would show her true colors (you know, like “moderate” Abigail Spanberger in Virginia), Talarico’s woke pastor has said of her devout flock-member, “I can guarantee you that once he gets elected, he’ll change his tune back to where he was.” Have I mentioned that Democrats cheat?
Talarico isn’t even good at lying. I bet Bill Clinton is embarrassed for him.
Friday Open Forum!
A few notes:
I was moved to visit a site purporting to feature a recent “major study” showing that Americans were getting dumber. As I started to read the report, I noticed that this piece was also on the home page: “Luck Is Everywhere For 3 Zodiac Signs All Week, From Now Until October 25.”
***
Speaking of “Is We Getting Dummer?,” AOC recently vomited out this: “Public colleges should be tuition free! They are attacking women’s ability to get an education! They don’t want women to go to college!” “They” are Republicans. Women outnumber men in colleges and law schools by a significant number, and men are being targeted for even existing in colleges. And this idiot is considered a power in the Democratic Party…
***
And speaking of those colleges, The Washington Examiner points out that by banning alll frat parties and events for the rest of the year, “Cornell is punishing all the other fraternities and students for the actions of a fraternity that does not exist and hasn’t existed for the entire time Cornell’s freshman and sophomore classes have been at the university”…”based on no evidence that a rape ever occurred, other than the female student’s claim, weeks after the encounter” [and] “is imposing collective punishment on its student population that does nothing to punish the alleged offenders, based on an alleged crime that still doesn’t appear to be a crime at all.” The Examiner adds, “Cornell is making reactive decisions based on social media posts and liberal media pressure, with no interest in any sort of institutional integrity.”
***
Well, I am officially nauseous.
Now you take over…
Comment of the Day: “Stop Making Me Defend Shawn Gillis!”
Beginning with a quote from the post, Cees Van Barnevelt delves deeper into the issue. Her comment also reminded me of the Debrahlee Lorenzana affair, which I wrote about way back in 2010. [That’s Debrahlee above.] She was a Citibank employee fired because she was deemed to be dressing too “provocatively.” She sued and lost. The post discusses some ethics issues germane to Cees’ Comment of the Day on the post, “Stop Making Me Defend Shawn Gillis!”
***
No, Gillis’s point, and he is accurate, is that many women at co-ed gyms dress to attract the male gaze while the official narrative is that they are just “expressing themselves.” “Observational humor” is supposed to reveal taboo truths.
Women at the gym may dress to attract the male gaze but not from every male. If the wrong man (unattractive to her) looks at her one second too long it may cause problems for him (complaints to gym management, public shaming).
Gym influencer Joey Swoll has many TikTok videos shaming women in tight clothes filming themselves, publishing the video at TikTok while shaming the men who walked into that video looking one second too long; these men might have looked wondering why somebody was filming at the gym!
At work you have a similar dynamic. Recently there was a TikTok generated trend of dressing up as an “Office Siren”, with women wearing clothes more suitable for a night club. This trend is getting people fired (e.g. dress code violations, risks for sexual harassment claims).
Shaming men for the “male gaze” and excusing women who dress inappropriately has undesirable social effects. Males are getting overly cautious around women, to protect themselves from creep shaming and claims of sexual harassment. At work this may mean that women have trouble receiving one-to-one mentoring from male colleagues who do not want to be alone with a women in one room. At the gym men do not volunteer to help a women who is stuck under gym equipment. A women gets a heart attack, and a man thinks twice about doing CPR or using an AED considering the potential for accusations. Men are getting afraid to ask a lady out in person, do to the potential for creep shaming and #MeToo accusations. You can lament about the dating crisis and the loneliness epidemic; shaming men for being and acting like males is one of the main causes.
Once Again Your Host Wrestled His Fingers To The Floor…
Another cherished Facebook friend wrote a few days ago that it was the anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death (October 6) in Laramie, Wyoming. He was the young gay man who was beaten, tortured, and left to die tied to a split rail fence in 1998. Because gay activism was on the rise, a martyr was useful and the murder was lurid enough to attract eyeballs (“If it bleeds, it leads”), Shepard’s murder immediately was styled as a hate crime. After all, he was gay.
My friend wrote, in part, “We pray for the repose of his soul along with the souls of all those taken from us in prejudice.” But there is no evidence that Shepard’s murder was motivated by his homosexuality, other the fact that he was gay. As with the George Floyd debacle, the event was a gleaming example of presumed prejudice, fed by a powerful minority group that was pushing the “hate crime” concept hard. Eventually Barack Obama signed a federal hate crime law bearing Shepard’s name—of course he did, because that’s our O. But there is more evidence that Shepard’s death was the result of a drug deal gone wrong rather than anti-gay hate. Nevertheless, the story is still framed as a hate crime. Here’s NBC (gee, what a great news department!) stating as fact that Shepard’s death was motivated by homophobia.
My friend is gay, usually rational and always astute. It bothers me to see him spreading urban legends and bad history. But his heartfelt post got all sorts of “care” and “love” imogis, and I didn’t have the heart to spoil a public pandering.
Shepard died horribly, but so do lots of people, and that he’s remembered today because he happened to be a gay crime victim when so many genuine heroes are forgotten bugs me: you know how I am. There is not only a duty to remember but a duty to remember accurately, as well as a duty not to make people more ignorant than they already are.
