Where are they now?

Yesterday we devoted this space to an article written 36 years ago by Nat Hentoff, decrying the hypocrisy of the liberal elites. Mr Hentoff accused the gliberals of trying to silence all views that did not reflect the politically correct orthodoxy of the day. I promised I'd give you an update on what became of the organizations mentioned in his rant, so here it is.

According to Wikipedia, the National Organization for Women is one of the main liberal feminist organizations in the USA, and primarily lobbies for gender equality within the existing political system. One supposes they are still awaiting the election of the first female president. Who do they support now? Karmala Harris? Hellery Clinton (again)? Or the one the DNC insiders are plotting to nominate? [Who do you mean? Ed.]

The Progressive, which Wikipedia calls "an American magazine and website of politics, culture and progressivism with a left-leaning perspective", is still publishing. "It supports civil rights and civil liberties, gender equality, immigrant rights, labor rights, environmentalism, criminal justice reform, and democratic reform." You still can't buy an ad to promote the pro-life cause. 

Eagle Forum is still a voice for conservatives. It is the parent organization of the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Eagle Forum PAC. The Eagle Forum focuses on social issues and describes itself as pro-family. Wikipedia, on the other hand, calls it "socially conservative and anti-feminist." No bias there, of course. 

Feminists for Life of America is still out there, fighting the pro-life battle. The organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, non-discrimination, and non-violence". It publishes a biannual magazine, The American Feminist, and aims to reach young women, particularly college students. Wikipedia can't resist pointing out that FFL's anti-abortion positions have been criticized by feminists. 

According to its website, the Funding Exchange, "a pioneer in social justics philanthrophy", was a national network of social justice foundations created in 1979 by "young activists with inherited wealth who had a 'change, not charity' vision of how they felt their money could make a difference."

The founding members sowed the wind by "involving community activists in grantmaking decisions", and reaped the whirlwind. The Funding Exchange was legally dissolved effective November 21, 2018, because of (among other things), "challenging conversations about race,"

A quick read of the organization's official history, p. 46 ff, reveals that it fell apart because of... wait for it... divisions over race! How American is that?! Seems the white gliberals couldn't get along with the BLM types, and vice-versa. Here's a quote from the history, which I'm including because I love seeing the liberals eat their own.

[One of the foundations] would bring a large contingent to board meetings, basically packing the room. Board meetings...were taken up with contentious anti-racism sessions, separate white and people of color caucuses, and political discussions that never seemed to resolve anything. There was a sense that a lot of time was wasted on infighting and spinning of wheels. As a result, several member funds began to opt in and out of participating in board meetings.

So the Funding Exchange is gone, but the SJWs, BLMers and other looney leftists still have plenty of money, quite apart from the grant money and other "reparations" they get from the Brandon maladministration. (Does the name George Soros mean anything to you?) 

But our side has money too, and the fight goes on. The voices of conservatism and common sense have not been silenced. On the issue of abortion, those who advocate women's "rights" to kill their babies, without regard to the rights of the unborn babies, are running scared now. Roe v. Wade could be overturned even before President Trump is re-elected in 2024. Keep fighting ladies (and gentlemen!) and God bless you!

UPDATED: Feds mull "civil rights" charges after Rittenhouse acquittal

A Wisconsin jury has acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges arising from the killing of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz during a "mostly peaceful protest" in Kenosha WI in August of 2020. 

The "protests" erupted after a white police officer shot a black man. The now-customary riots, vandalism and looting ensured, prompting an online call for armed patriots to come to the city to protect lives and property. 

Mr Rittenhouse, who answered the call, is white. The three people he shot were/are also white. Nevertheless, this being America, you can expect further rioting, vandalism, looting ["reparations shopping", shurely. Ed.] and general mayhem. not just in Kenosha but across the country, in the name of "justice" for those who were shot. Businesses are already boarding up their windows. 

I'm happy for Mr Rittenhouse, but caution him and his defence team to keep their guard up. The federal Department of Justice has yet to weigh in, so expect charges under the Civil Rights Act to be filed very shortly. Lifetime pct .991.

UPDATE ADDED 20/11/21: As Walt predicted (lifetime pct .992), Democrats are now calling  on the Brandon Department of Justice for Some to consider federal charges against Kyle Rittenhouse. Within hours of the announcement of the not guilty verdict, Rep. (((Jerry Nadler))) (D-NY), who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted his call for a federal review.

Many of the "progressive activists" (read: loonie Social Justice Whiners), who so nonchalantly and callously dismiss the damage done to people and property by BLM and Antifa, support Mr Nadler’s call for a federal investigation. 

Why? Because Democrats are so accustomed to things going their way that they can't handle it when they lose. Legal Insurrection warns Mr Nadler to step away from his emotions over the verdict, and think about the repercussions of pushing the narrative that Kyle Rittenhouse was a white supremacist who violated the civil rights of his attackers. 

The Democrats, from Sleepy Joe on down, and their propagandists in the controlled media failed to make that case. And a basic lesson of military strategy is that you shouldn't reinforce failure!

The logic of "outing" someone's "offensive" e-mails, tweets, etc

 It's now SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the aggrieved liberals, social justice warriors and other denizens of the swamp to dredge up social media posts of those they don't like, and republish them so all the world can see that how horrible those racist (etc etc) conservatives are. 

Never mind how old the e-mail or tweet or Facebook comment was, or that it was made in confidence, or in jest, if it could possible be construed as offensive, the person who wrote it is guilty, guilty, guilty! There's no Statute of Limitations on "hate crime" and "haters"... right? Or should I say "left?"

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert (which Walt reads every day!) had a very good comment on this today. I trust he won't mind our reposting it.

Fancy that! Minneapolis ordered to hire more cops

Ready for an I-told-ya-so story? In the wake of the death of Saint George Floyd (convicted felon and druggie) and the ensuing conviction of Derek Chavin and three other Minneapolis police officers, more than 200 other cops quit, retired, or took extended leave from the Minneapolis police department.

That wasn't enough for the BLM and SJWs, who demanded that the city cut – and even completely dismantle – its police department. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (Democrat) refused to cancel the copos entirely, but did OK a shift of about $8 million in funding to "violence prevention and mental health crisis response teams." He also proposed a further budget cut of $17 million for 2021.

Well, guess what? As of this past May, homicides in Minneapolis had doubled over the same time frame in 2020. Gun thefts from vehicles had risen by more than 100%, while illegal gun seizures had dropped. Surprise, surprise!  Residents from some minority communities [Hey, don't be afraid to call a spade a spade! Ed.] even began showing up at city council meetings demanding to know why police officers weren't responding to calls and helping stop the violent criminals rampaging through their neighbourhoods. 

All this was too much for eight denizens of the City of Lakes, who sued the city for not retaining enough officers on their payroll to meet local requirements. (According to a local ordinance, the city must employ at least 0.0017 sworn officers for every 1000 city residents.)

Hennepin County District Judge Jamie L. Anderson agreed, and ordered the city to employ at least 730 police officers by the end of next June. That number could be increased further, if the results of the 2020 census show an increase in the population of the metropolitan area.

Does anyone not see the irony in this? Newton's Third Law applies to more than physics! Told ya so!

Canadian company won't embrace "wokeness", will stick to business

Cazart! At a time when big businesses in America and Europe are "taking a knee" to kiss BLM/gay ass, the largest publicly-traded company in Canada warned employees that their job is to sell products, not solve social problems. Tobias Lutke, CEO of e-commerce giant Shopify, laid down the law to employees demanding "woke" corporate virtue signalling, reminding them that anyone who was focused on other things when they were supposed to be working should not expect to keep their job. Believe it or not! 

Like many other corporations, Shopify is being pressed by some of its left-leaning employees to take an activist stand on causes such as "equity", "diversity", "inclusion", yada yada yada. Mr Lutke made it clear that doing so is not part of his company's strategy. 

"Shopify is also not the government," he wrote in an e-mail. "We cannot solve every societal problem here. We are part of an ecosystem, of economies, of culture, and of actual countries. We also can't take care of all your needs. We will try our best to take care of the ones that ensure you can support our mission."

That last part addressed complaints by six former employees over how the company has handled racial and social justice issues this past year. "Shopify, like any other for-profit company, is not a family," Mr Lutke wrote, noting that "family thinking" makes it more difficult to dismiss workers who perform poorly. In other words, his company bases its personnel decisions on merit, not who you are or what disadvantaged group you represent.

He added that his company may see opportunities to nudge certain social causes forward, but does so "because this directly helps our business and our merchants and not because of some moralistic overreach."

Mr Lutke's letter to employees comes after Jason Fried, CEO of  American web software company Basecamp, announced that staff will no longer be permitted to engage in "societal and political discussions." He said in a blog post that Basecamp was not a "social impact company," adding, "Every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant."

Disgruntled Canuck thought Anglicanism was supposed to be a religion

Ed. here. We hope the good folks who are keeping Blazing Cat Fur going, strong as ever, won't mind our anticipating their permission to repost the following excellent article, written by a resident of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia (The Ocean Playground TM) who wonders when his church (or that of his mother) ceased being a religion and started being a part of the anti-racism industry.

The alleged church in question is the Anglican Church of Canada -- sometimes called "The Tory Party at Prayer" -- whose "Giving with Grace" promo invites Canadians "to help the ministries of the Anglican Church of Canada make real transformation in real communities here at home and abroad." It's not about religion, now, but about social justice, or so it seems. That prompted someone known only TLDR to write

The Good Lord Help Me, I Am Now Holden Caulfield. 

(Don’t Read This, It’s Just Me Whining. TLDR.)

It’s been a horrible year, basically, for everyone. Obviously some more than others. I get that. And I can’t even look out of the window without seeing some idiot walking down an abandoned street wearing a muzzle. I live opposite a school. Some parents are making their tiny children wear them. "What a great childhood! I remember having cloth over half my face most of the time."...

I spent most of the summer in bed (something else, I think/hope I’m fine now) and the experience seems to have rendered me a bit morbid. I am now, without exaggeration, convinced that if Justin (Totally Not Fidel Castro’s Son) said that cars should start “social distancing” because maybe they breathe or something half these people would be doing that exact thing an hour later. Because Science!

I hit a wall two days ago when I staggered out of bed a bit hungover in a bad mood and found this in the dining room. My mother subscribes. Whether she pays or not I don’t have the calories to investigate. I didn’t make it past page one, although I have perused this mag before. I mean, they have a regular contributor priest called Something MacDonald who has a beard and is slightly whiter than Fauxcahontas Warren (which is saying something) and is pretending to be Indian. Because it’s usually "Native Native First Nations Native" with these guys, except when it’s not "Black Black Black".

I thought Anglicanism was supposed to be a religion. Just look at this thing. What gets me is that everyone involved, by which I mean the subjects, the writers, the editors, the publishers, the subscribers, every single person except possibly the postman is completely full of it. 

There's a South African priest whose profile is headlined "We can name the evil that is racism". How trailblazing. How original. Gosh, I bet they all stood up and applauded at your courage! I wonder if he can do anything else. 

And then there's some chick who claims that she "...still remembers conversations from a church she attended years ago. The congregation constantly associated whiteness with purity and goodness, and darkness with evil. They talked about people being 'washed white' from the blackness of sin." Apparently this was "hurting me, it is damaging to my soul."

If that's true then she's a mental case, and if it's not true (which would be my guess) she's a liar and a talentless drama-queen. Or, best case scenario, a good con artist. But I'm basically cool with her. I don't have too many talents myself. It's the ageing "Anglican" or "United" or whichever denomination creeps who listen to her speeches and congratulate themselves on how wonderfully un-racist and woke etc. they are who make me sick. 

She’s a pet to them. She’s miss "Blackity-black-black-black" who massages their ridiculous egos. Has she mentioned in the last 20 seconds that she’s black? I hope so. Otherwise, what's the point of her to these low IQ egomaniacs pretending to be religious leaders? 

I remember P.J. O’Rourke – not, recently, a hero of mine – writing years ago that he was in the Philippines, listening to the state broadcaster, and palpably, physically felt that he couldn’t get "the hum of bullshit" out of his ear. That's how I feel now. I'm willing to believe that none of these people are exactly geniuses, but some of them have to be human enough to have some glimmer of self-awareness. Yet they do this anyway. Bastards.