Splendid Isolation

Basic Stupidity

Several of you sent me this lovely little bit of governmental stupidity:

More than 140 people experiencing homelessness in Denver will each be provided up to $1,000 in cash a month for up to one year as part of a basic income program designed to help “lift individuals out of homelessness,” the city announced last week.

The $2 million contract with the Denver Basic Income Project was approved by the City Council and will provide direct cash assistance to more than 140 women, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, and families in shelters.

Civic altruism and wokism, all subsidized by taxpayer dollars.  And I hate to break it to these Colorado morons, but “up to” a grand is going to lift precisely nobody out of poverty.  It will, however, encourage more people in similar circumstances to come to Denver…

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of socialists.

Story Of The Day

From Knuckledragger:

I wandered into the gun shop on the public square in town yesterday afternoon about 1 PM to buy a brick of 22LR and when I went to pay for it with cash, Brett started laughing at me with, “I guess you’ve heard about that credit card bullshit too, huh?”
He told me his credit and debit card sales are down 90% lately and every single one of his sales so far that day were cash transactions.

I’m going to head over to our local merchant of death later to see if he says the same.

Placeholders

Here’s another one of those “Wow, who’d a thunk?” moments:

The Defense Department’s chief diversity equity and inclusion officer has a history of anti-white tweets.  Kelisa Wing is the DEI chief at Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA, which provides K-12 education to the DoD community in the U.S. and all over the world), also wrote books on ‘white privilege,’ defunding the police and BLM.

“I’m exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.” Wing wrote in a July 2020 tweet, according to Fox News. This lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too… I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS… [W]e are not the majority, we don’t have power.”

“Caudacity” is a slang term to describe “audacity” demonstrated by white people specifically in reference to ‘white privilege.’

Frankly, I think that any job title containing the words “diversity”, “equity” or “inclusion” should be labeled as what it really is:  “A Worthless Job For An Otherwise-Unqualified Black Person”.

By the way, Sister Kelisa:  Black people not only can be racist — see Jesse Jackson talking about “Hymietown”, and just about every other speech uttered by that equally-foul racist, Al Sharpton — but they are racist;  ask any Korean or Indian shopkeeper for examples.

Also:  racism doesn’t stem from power, you fucking moron, if you ever gave it a moment’s thought.  (“Thought?  Wut’s that White-ass shit?)  You’re just another of those bullshit artists parlaying their private grievances into a “career”.

And just on a point of order:  if it describes a sin committed by Whites, shouldn’t it be “waudacity”, if we’re going to invent words to convey a meaning?

By the way:  she looks exactly as you’d expect her to look.

Two Strikes

Oh, how pleasant.  First, from the Democratic Soviet of Minnesoduh:

About 15,000 nurses in Minnesota walked off the job Monday to protest understaffing and overwork — marking the largest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history.

Slated to last three days, the strike spotlights nationwide nursing shortages exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic that often result in patients not receiving adequate care. Tensions remain high between nurses and health-care administrators across the country, and there are signs that work stoppages could spread to other states.

Interesting, that.  It’s not like the hospital administrators can just round up random people in the streets and say, “Hey, wanna job?” (although I suspect that Parkland in Dallas has been doing just that for years already).

Round about now, I bet those same hospital administrators kinda regret firing all those people for refusing to be guinea-pigs for an untested vaccine.

Anyway, the next bit of end-of-summer cheer comes from the railroads:

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said on Wednesday that its members rejected a tentative deal by its leaders intended to avoid a nationwide railroad strike.

BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific — four of the nation’s largest rail lines — announced embargoes on certain shipments earlier this week as negotiations continued, although 10 of the nation’s 12 largest railroad unions had tentatively endorsed an agreement outlined by the White House. However, IAM — which was originally among the 10 unions — announced its members rejected the deal.

Strikes could begin later this week if union leaders and rail companies fail to make a deal. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said on Monday that Congress, which has the authority to block strikes, would intervene “if needed.”

Supply chain bottlenecks driven by labor shortages and worldwide government lockdowns have impacted the American economy over the past two years, leading to inflationary pressures as consumer goods fail to reach shelves. The daily cost of a nationwide rail shutdown could amount to $2 billion, according to a report from the Association of American Railroads, which noted that trucking companies and other alternatives do not presently have the capacity to carry freight previously handled by rail lines.

Hands up all those who think that the current Administration has the ability to prevent either of these — oh, none of you, huh?

Me neither.

Self-Destruction

Victor Davis Hanson delivers an almighty spanking on America’s well-deserving backside:

Our enemies abroad, particularly China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, are watching all this woke, comic madness with absolute glee.

They are delighted the United States is diverting trillions of dollars and man-hours away from production to ideological witch hunts, woke cannibalism, green virtue-signaling, spendthrift consumption, racial and gender fixations, warped science, suicidal surveillance, and commissariat indoctrination.

Woke means that Americans have less money, labor, and time to hone their military readiness. They will produce less competitive energy, but more pseudo-science, non-meritocratic advancement, and unsound investment—all the reasons why America will no longer dominate the world.

As with all VDH’s musings, you must read them all.

That Awful Colonialist Elizabeth

A whole bunch of racist assholes (and disaffected Argies) have been rejoicing at the death of Queen Elizabeth II, as a “colonialist” and all that rubbish.  Accusing Elizabeth of colonialism is the same as accusing (for example) Joe Biden of slavery — i.e. it happened a long time ago and in Elisabeth’s case, was an inherited legacy.

That nitwit in the first link says that “we should examine the role of Queen Elizabeth in colonialism.”

Okay, let’s.

Why don’t we see what happened to all those British colonies in Africa, for example, following Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953:

Sudan: 1956
Ghana: 1957
British Somaliland (Somalia): 1960
Nigeria: 1960
Sierra Leone: 1961
Tanganyika (Tanzania): 1961
South Africa: 1961
Uganda: 1962
Kenya: 1963
N. Rhodesia (Zambia): 1964
Nyasaland (Malawi): 1964
Gambia: 1965
Bechuanaland (Botswana): 1966
Basutoland (Lesotho): 1966
Swaziland: 1968

The dates following the countries’ names refer, of course, to their full independence from Britain and becoming thus fully-fledged nation-states.

And all happened during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Some colonialist.