White Sox SS Tim Andersons defense continues to be work in progress: Weve got work to do – Chicago Sun-Times

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DETROIT At spring training, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson shared his goals for the season. He said he planned to be more consistent and disciplined at the plate. He also wanted to commit fewer errors in the field.

Anderson accomplished the first goal and then some, but his defense remains a weak part of his game.

He owns a league-leading .336 batting average, a major improvement from his .240 mark last season. In the fifth inning Saturday, he hit his 18th homer of the season and fourth in September. The Sox have hit at least one home run in 15 of their last 17 games.

But Anderson leads the league in another stat: errors. Despite missing a month because of an ankle injury, Anderson has committed 25 errors, five more than he had in 2018.

Anderson has the tools to be an elite shortstop. His range and athleticism are top notch.

So what gives?

Manager Rick Renteria believes its a matter of staying focused and being committed to completing plays.

Anderson knows he needs to shore up his defense if he wants to be a top-tier shortstop.

Weve got more work to do, Anderson said. This offseason, Im going to continue to work and get better and try to do it all over again.

If Anderson can minimize his errors next season while maintaining his offensive production, could he become the best shortstop in the game?

Yeah, thats possible, Anderson said. I already feel like that.

Renteria believes so, too. The skipper thinks Anderson could be as good as four-time All-Star Francisco Lindor.

My hope for him is we cut those [errors] in half, which would put him in a pretty elite class of shortstops, especially with his offense, Renteria said. Its possible for him to do it, and hes still going to get better.

Eloy making an impression

Theres a lot to appreciate about rookie Eloy Jimenez, who hit his second career grand slam Friday. Along with his fun-loving personality, Jimenez slashed .268/.317/.509 with 29 homers and 75 RBI in 116 games entering Saturday.

But what has impressed Renteria the most has been the way Jimenez has controlled his emotions in the spotlight.

The best way to describe it is hes a young man whos taken the ups and downs of this season and not allowed it to affect him in a grand scheme, Renteria said of the 22-year-old.

Hes continued to do work, hes trying to understand exactly whats going on with him at the plate in terms of how guys are attacking him, and hes continuing to push and persevere.

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White Sox SS Tim Andersons defense continues to be work in progress: Weve got work to do - Chicago Sun-Times

Illinois Crop Progress for week ending Sept. 22 | News – Agri News

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There were 5.5 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending Sept. 22.

Statewide, the average temperature was 74.4 degrees, 10.2 degrees above normal. Precipitation averaged 0.80 inches, 0.04 inches below normal.

Topsoil moisture supply was rated at 11% very short, 22% short, 59% adequate, and 8% surplus. Subsoil moisture supply was rated at 8% very short, 23% short, 62% adequate, and 7% surplus.

Corn dough was at 97%. Corn dented was at 77%. Corn mature was at 26%. Corn harvested for grain was at 2%, compared to 26% last year and 16% for the five-year average. Corn condition was 4% very poor, 14% poor, 37% fair, 39% good, and 6% excellent.

Soybeans setting pods was at 96%. Soybean coloring was at 53%, compared to 92% last year and 83% for the five-year average. Soybeans dropping leaves was at 14%. Soybean condition was 4% very poor, 14% poor, 39% fair, 36% good, and 7% excellent. Winter wheat planted was at 1%.

Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Heartland Regional Field Office.

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Illinois Crop Progress for week ending Sept. 22 | News - Agri News

Trump Celebrates Progress on Border Wall With Hundreds of Miles to Go – Newsweek

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President Donald Trump has celebrated the "GREAT progress" he claims his administration has made on construction of his long-promised border wall on Wednesday. The announcement followed a visit to crews in Otay Mesa, a neighborhood in San Diego, California situated on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Shortly after the visit, the U.S. leader took to Twitter to share a video montage of his meeting with construction crews, with one scene showing the president signing his name onto a newly constructed section of his border wall.

"GREAT progress on the Border Wall!" Trump exclaimed in his tweet.

In a daily news summary sent out by the White House, the Trump administration also touted Trump's border wall visit, saying the project was possibly "President Trump's most important promise kept to the American people."

"As a matter of policy, it adds to and replaces outdated, often embarrassingly ineffective fencing to protect our country from human smugglers, drug traffickers, and criminal cartels," the White House's 1600 Daily report said.

Meanwhile, it said, "as a matter of symbolism, it reassures Americans that after years of empty promises from Washington to fix immigration, their voices mean something."

However, while Trump and his administration already appear to be celebrating the border wall project as a success, the fact remains that more than three-quarters of the 450 to 500 miles of barriers the president has vowed to build before the end of 2020 has yet to be put up.

In late August, Newsweek reported that the Trump administration had seen less than 15 percent of its border wall constructed, with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency asserting that it had so far overseen the construction of just over 60 miles of the long-promised partition as of August 23.

Since then, that total has increased only to 66 miles as of September 13, according to progress report from CBP shared with Newsweek.

"As of September 13, 2019, CBP has 654 miles of primary barriers on the southwest border, including approximately 317 miles of pedestrian fencing and approximately 280 miles of vehicle barrier constructed prior to January 2017, as well as approximately 57 miles of new border wall system constructed since January 2017," the report states. "An additional 9 miles of new secondary border wall system have also been built since January 2017, bringing the total new construction to 66 miles."

As the report notes, however, the 66 miles that CBP has seen built has only been constructed "in place of dilapidated and outdated designs," meaning no new extensions of existing barriers have been put up.

Despite that, in its report, the agency says that "by the end of 2020, CBP expects to have completed 450 miles of new border wall system and to have an additional 59 miles under construction in high priority locations across the Southwest border, pending availability of real estate."

Whether the Trump administration will actually be able to reach its goal by the time the 2020 presidential election rolls around remains to be seen.

However, just this week, the border wall bid was hit with yet another setback, with the Defense Department deciding to ax three border wall projects in California and Arizona, citing "insufficient contract savings," according to CNN.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had approved the construction of an additional 20 miles of barriers using $2.5 billion pulled from a counter-drug initiative, using the authority to spend money on the border wall bid to block off "drug-smuggling corridors."

While the Pentagon had thought it would be able to afford the extra miles due to a previous request for 135 miles of fencing costing less than the Defense Department had anticipated, a Monday court filing reportedly revealed that there were not enough funds, in the end, to cover to costs of the endeavor.

The Pentagon's reversal is just one of many snags that the Trump administration has hit in seeing the president's border wall ambitions come to full fruition. However, the U.S. leader continues to maintain that the project is making steady progress.

This article has been updated with information from CBP.

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Trump Celebrates Progress on Border Wall With Hundreds of Miles to Go - Newsweek

270 Park Avenue’s Shrouded Demolition Making Progress in Midtown East – New York YIMBY

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By: Michael Young 8:00 am on September 23, 2019

Work to prepare270 Park Avenuefor its demolition is continuing in Midtown East. Since YIMBYs last updatein late July,more scaffolding and netting have been installed on the lower section of the Modernist-style skyscraper. JPMorgan Chaseis the developer of the project to tear down the1.5-million-square-foot, 52-story tower and replace it with a57-story supertall designed byFoster + Partners Architects, with Adamson Associatesas the architect of record.

New photos from across the street and around the Midtown property show that state of progress on the project. Another major step in the demolition process is the installation of a construction crane on the southern elevation of the skyscraper. The steel base and support was previously spotted in our last update before the crane arrived and was assembled. This will aid in the lifting of heavy objects and structural materials from every floor until 270 Park Avenue reaches street level.

Looking down Park Avenue with 270 Park Avenue and One Vanderbilt. Photo by Michael Young

The lower floors of the main eastern elevation. Photo by Michael Young

Looking down at the construction crane and lower floors of 270 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young

The construction crane. Photo by Michael Young

Looking up the northern elevation. Photo by Michael Young

Meanwhile, almost the entire lower western section of the tower is covered in black netting and scaffolding. Workers can be seen carting dozens of filled dumpster bins along East 48th Street, containing various materials like ceiling tiles, metal studs, drywall, and other miscellaneous scrap pieces.

The northern corner of 270 Park Avenue with One Vanderbilt in the background. Photo by Michael Young

No renderings of the new skyscraper have been spotted yet, though building massing studies are the only visual depictions that give us an idea of how tall and massive this new supertall will eventually become.

Subscribeto YIMBYs daily e-mailFollowthe YIMBYgram for real-time photo updatesLikeYIMBY on FacebookFollowYIMBYs Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews

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270 Park Avenue's Shrouded Demolition Making Progress in Midtown East - New York YIMBY

Progress on recovering missing troops, but still a daunting task ahead – Military Times

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Navy Capt. James Bauders burial at Arlington Cemetery on Thursday marked the completion of 53 years of work to bring the pilot back to American soil after his death in North Vietnam.

Leaders at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said the ceremony serves as a reminder to the public of the ongoing work to bring every missing service member home, and a reminder to the agency of the work still to be done.

There are more than 81,000 still missing I dont think (most Americans) know about that, said Kelly McKeague, director of DPAA. But for many Americans, when they hear about the nations commitment to our MIAs and their families, I think theyre struck by the noble nature of it.

Friday marks National POW/MIA Recognition Day, with numerous military and veterans groups planning events to highlight the ongoing recovery missions.

DPAA has made 204 new identifications of fallen troops remains so far this fiscal year, up slightly from fiscal 2018 totals and more than double from the totals four years ago, before the agency was overhauled to cut down on redundancies across the military services.

Officials have a goal of at least 350 new identifications annually by fiscal 2025, one that McKeague said will require some technological advances and new partnerships with outside universities and non-profits.

DPAA has seen significant advances in both in recent years, including eight formal partnerships and less permanent arrangements with 60 other organizations helping with recovery and identification efforts.

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Theyre clamoring to help, he said.

On the technology side, new isotope testing capabilities have enabled researchers to identify DNA with less biological material and with greater accuracy. New aquatic capabilities could allow more under ocean recoveries, a major advance given that half of the known 81,000 missing troops from all wars were lost at sea.

Right now our limitations are about 150 feet in depth, he said. But we just tested out a new dive capability the Navy has that can operate in 300 feet without decompression time turn-arounds. Were going to look at that for recovery of a bomber down 250 feet off the coast of Papua New Guinea next year.

Bauders remains were recovered using similar methods off the coast of Vietnam, with assistance from local military officials there. McKeague said training and coordination with recovery teams in Vietnam have risen significantly in the last few years, one of 46 international humanitarian agreements the United States has on the issue.

The most noticeable agreement lacking is with North Korea. In summer 2018, the leadership regime there turned over 55 cases of remains connected to the Korean War to U.S. and United Nations officials, a major diplomatic breakthrough stemming from President Donald Trumps meeting with Kim Jong Il.

Since then DPAA officials have made 37 positive identifications of missing U.S. troops from the remains, and isolated evidence of at least 150 more potential missing American service members.

But promised follow up coordination between U.S. and North Korean recovery teams has not progressed, a frustrating reality after initial high hopes.

We believe field operations in North Korea would be highly successful, just as they were between 1996 and 2005, McKeague said. Its just out of our grasp, but we know if we were afforded the opportunity to collaborate with the North Koreans, we would be providing a number of answers to waiting families.

But for now, those operations are on hold. McKeague said the agencies main focus is for missing Vietnam War troops, because the climate and soil acidity in southeast Asia threaten to more quickly degrade any human remains than in other regions.

Bauders name is now off the list of the estimated 1,600 American servicemen and civilians still unaccounted for in that war.

Earlier this year, military officials added a rosette next to his name at the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, to mark the end of his five-decade journey home. McKeague said agency staff are hoping for many more updates in the years to come.

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Progress on recovering missing troops, but still a daunting task ahead - Military Times

Croatia’s Homeland Security System Makes Huge Progress? – Total Croatia News

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Source: Ministry of Defence

ZAGREB, September 24, 2019 - Croatia has made huge progress in the homeland security system, but needs to develop it further and remove its shortcomings, the Homeland Security Coordinating Committee said at a meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday.

"We have achieved huge progress, but the system must develop in conceptual, legal, organisational, operational, educational and technological terms," said the Committee chair, Defence Minister Damir Krstievi.

"It is only through the homeland security system that we can cope with all threats and risks to contemporary society," Krstievi said, calling on all stakeholders to continue addressing the system's shortcomings and weaknesses to improve its coordination and functioning.

Interior Minister Davor Boinovi spoke of illegal migration, saying that the state border was secure despite challenges. Croatia has a key role in preventing secondary movements of seekers of international protection, which have brought into question the European asylum system and resulted in introducing controls on the internal borders of the Schengen area, he added.

The assistant chief of the Border Directorate, Gilio Toi Sinti, said that the greatest migratory pressure was coming from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that there was also increasing pressure on the border between Greece and North Macedonia. "The police departments in Karlovac, Sisak-Moslavina and Lika-Senj counties are under the biggest pressure," he said, adding that there had been as many as 211 percent more attempts to illegally cross the Croatian border in the first eight months of this year than in the same period of 2018.

The national chief of police, Nikola Milina, said: "There are a lot of challenges ahead of us so it is necessary increase the capacity, interoperability and exchange of information between all components of homeland security because the pressure on the state borders will continue to increase."

The Committee also discussed this year's fire season, concluding that all tasks had been successfully carried out because all firefighting units were well prepared, organised and coordinated.

More political news can be found in the dedicated section.

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Croatia's Homeland Security System Makes Huge Progress? - Total Croatia News

Does Trudeau’s brownface photo end absolute political correctness? – Estevan Mercury

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Perhaps, just perhaps, we have seen the end of the expectation of absolute, lifetime political correctness in Canada.

Surely we must, for the only solution otherwise would be for the Liberal Party of Canada to expel its leader, Justin Trudeau, the incumbent prime minister, in the middle of a federal election campaign.

Live by the sword, die by the sword, to paraphrase Matthew 26:52.

Im pissed off at myself, Trudeau said on his airplane in the evening of Sept. 18 in a hastily called press conference. This was after Time magazine published a school yearbook photo from 2000-01. In that photo, a 29-year-old school teacher named Justin Trudeau, teaching at an elite private school, wore brownface and a turban to an Arabian Nights-themed costume party. He also had his darkened hand draped across the neck of an attractive woman.

How could he? Shouldnt he have known the implications in the 21st century of ever doing something that could be considered wrong, in any way, shape or form? Of being risqu, or making some form of off-colour joke, of being anything but perfectly politically correct?

Didnt he know that any past action could be punished, severely, and without significant recourse, with no forgiveness? That all are to be perfect from the cradle to today?

How times has he written the political obituary of those whom have erred in some manner or another? Be it a tweet or some allegation, unproven in court? How many candidates have been dropped or not even considered due to a social media post? How many MPs, of his party and others, have been flambed at the stake of perfect political correctness?

Does the standard, the immediate political banishment Justin Trudeau has applied to so many others, apply to all? Or is that just a standard for everyone not named Trudeau?

Trudeau, and he alone, has to bear the consequences of his actions, and I dont mean for what he did some 19 years ago. If he expected others to fall on their swords for any past moment of impropriety, then he should do the same. If not, his apologies should not only extend to those offended, but those who he has punished for similar or lesser offences.

This event should spell the end of the 21st century requirement that everyone be perfectly politically correct for their entire lives, with no record existing anywhere of any bad behaviour, or, to use Trudeaus own terms in sacking two Liberal MPs, serious personal misconduct.

Every time he called someone else out for their politically incorrect behaviour in the past, was he thinking in the back of his mind, I hope to God that no one digs up that yearbook?

The Liberal government has been apologizing for all the wrongs of the last 152 years of confederation, based on todays current sensibilities. Now he is being judged for something that happened long ago.

Will he step down? In the middle of an election? As the incumbent prime minister?

I wrote a column back in 2017 about how Winston Churchill, the man who saved Britain from Nazi Germany, would never be electable today. He was a racist, through and through, and didnt have much respect for those with coloured skin. Sound familiar? But wait, theres more.

Churchill was an imperialist, and truly felt England should rule a large chunk of the world (see above on racism). The man had issues with Ghandi. Yes, that Ghandi!

He was an elitist who apparently, not once in his life, drew his own bath, and always had servants. He grew up the son of one of the most prominent parliamentarians of his respective age. Churchill was a chauvinist and sexist. Any one of his cracks made to or about women would today sink him as soon as it hit Twitter. Trudeau would surely have expelled him.

As I wrote back then, by todays standards, Churchill was deeply flawed, politically incorrect to the extreme. One social media search would sink his chances of ever getting elected again. There is not forgiveness for flaw of any type in todays society.

Now, Im not saying that Justin Trudeau is Winston Churchill. But I am saying that no one, but no one, is without sin. No one can attain the point of political correctness perfection modern society demands. Justin Trudeau has been the high priest of the temple of political correctness worship.

So that really leaves us with just two outcomes.

Either Justin Trudeau resigns as leader, and resigns from the Liberal caucus, essentially forfeiting the election, or the reign of terror of political correctness ends, now. We cannot have both. Our society must come to the realization that all people have made errors, that they are flawed, but are not beyond redemption.

Either the impossible standards are applied to all, or we become Biblical about this.

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. John 8:7, KJV

Justin Trudeau has cast many a stone.

Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.

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Does Trudeau's brownface photo end absolute political correctness? - Estevan Mercury

Bill Burr’s "Paper Tiger" is a Roaring Dragon Against Political Correctness – The Libertarian Republic

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If you thought Dave Chapelles: Sticks and Stones was just what America needed, then buckle up buttercup because Bill Burrs new comedy special Paper Tiger kicks it to overdrive.

Burr slays many of the progressive worlds sacred cows as he addresses everything from the insane turns the Me Too Movement has taken to cultural appropriation. If you are one who is easily offended this isnt for you, but if you need a break from the crazy Im offended by everything culture that has gripped our world over the past several years.

I highly recommend it.

Burr started off talking about how people were upset by Bryan Cranston playing a quadriplegic in his new film The Upside and that the idea of having a quadriplegic play in the role was ridiculous because it wouldnt be acting, So tell us, what did you do to prepare for the role? Well I dove headfirst into a pool when I was 23, I feel like Ive been preparing for this role my entire life,, Burr said.

Burr also points out the illogical thinking behind the modern feminist movement and how something like the Me Too movement which began with good intentions has turned into a witch hunt that would ruin a mans life as due process has been entirely replaced by a womans accusation of sexual assault against a man.

Burr jokes about how he was sexually assaulted by a woman while playing a private event. Bill says the woman who he followed while playing the event flipped him in the penis in a bullying manner, but how he couldnt say anything because he would be shamed and nobody would believe his story. In a laughable way he points out the double standard that feminists champion.

What I love about comedy it often takes certain stereotypes and points them out in a way that everyone can see how ridiculous they are. Burr does this in an excellent way when he discusses how his wife, who is black, got upset while they were watching a documentary on Elvis Presley. Burr says his wife got upset, as the man who discovered Elvis said the reason he became the King of Rock N Roll was because he was a white man who successfully blended white bluegrass music with the blues. Burr says his wife claimed Elvis was only successful because he was a white man who culturally appropriated Black music.

He countered his wifes statement by pointing out how he doesnt get upset at her when she attempts to ride a skateboard. Do I get mad at you when you get a skateboard and start going down the f*cking street? Do I get all offended like, hey man thats the white shit, stop appropriating my culture, some dirty white kid in Santa Monica came up with that, Burr said.

Burr finishes out his special talking about discussing potential problems that we are creating in our world by the abuse of technology. He particularly addresses how using something like a blowup sex doll used to be taboo, and now people are creating incredibly realistic sex robots and how it could potentially lead to people no longer wanting to have sex with each other, which would then lead to a war between the sex robots and hipsters with Civil War beards in Star Wars costumes.

The beauty of comedy is that it pushes boundaries and forces us to look at how utterly ridiculous we can be as people. Comedy takes hard topics that need to be discussed in our society and make them easier to talk about because they introduce an element of humor. Comedy is good for humanity because it forces us not to take ourselves so serious 24/7. Humor is one of the spices of life that makes life more vibrant and worth living instead of a dull and miserable existence.

It is indeed refreshing to see comics like Bill Burr and Dave Chapelle who refuse to let the PC police march us to our own doom as a society. Burrs Paper Tiger is certainly not a hidden dragon when it comes to humor. It will leave you roaring with laughter which contrasts starkly with the bleak walls of the politically correctness.

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Bill Burr's "Paper Tiger" is a Roaring Dragon Against Political Correctness - The Libertarian Republic

Column: Does Trudeau’s brownface photo spell the end of absolute political correctness? – Pipeline News

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Perhaps, just perhaps, we have seen the end of the expectation of absolute, lifetime political correctness in Canada.

Surely we must, for the only solution otherwise would be for the Liberal Party of Canada to expel its leader, Justin Trudeau, the incumbent prime minister, in the middle of a federal election campaign.

Live by the sword, die by the sword, to paraphrase Matthew 26:52.

Im pissed off at myself, Trudeau said on his airplane in the evening of Sept. 18 in a hastily called press conference. This was after Time magazine published a school yearbook photo from 2000-2001. In that photo, a 29-year-old school teacher named Justin Trudeau, teaching at an elite private school, wore brownface and a turban to an Arabian Nights-themed costume party. He also had his darkened hand draped across the neck of an attractive woman.

How could he? Shouldnt he have known what the implications in the 21st century of ever doing something that could be considered wrong, in any way, shape or form? Of being risqu, or making some form of off-colour joke, of being anything but perfectly politically correct?

Didnt he know that any past action could be punished, severely, and without significant recourse, with no forgiveness? That all are to be perfect from the cradle to today?

How times has he written the political obituary of those whom have erred in some manner or other? Be it a tweet or some allegation, unproven in court? How many candidates have been dropped or not even considered due to a social media post? How many MPs, of his party and others, have been flambeed at the stake of perfect political correctness?

Does the standard, the immediate political banishment Justin Trudeau has applied to so many others, apply to all? Or is that just a standard for everyone not named Trudeau?

Trudeau, and he alone, has to bear the consequences of his actions, and I dont mean for what he did some 19 years ago. If he expected others to fall on their swords for any past moment of impropriety, then he should do the same. If not, his apologies should not only extend to those offended, but those who he has punished for similar or lesser offences.

This event should spell the end of the 21st century requirement that everyone be perfectly politically correct for their entire lives, with no record existing anywhere of any bad behaviour, or, to use Trudeaus own terms in sacking two Liberal MPs, serious personal misconduct.

Every time he called someone else out for their politically incorrect behaviour in the past, was he thinking in the back of his mind, I hope to God that no one digs up that yearbook?

The Liberal government has been apologizing for all the wrongs of the last 152 year of confederation, based on todays current sensibilities. Now he is being judge for something that happened long ago.

Will he step down? In the middle of an election? As the incumbent prime minister?

I wrote a column back in 2017 about how Winston Churchill, the man who saved Britain from Nazi Germany, would never be electable today. He was a racist, through and through, and didnt have much respect for those with coloured skin. Sound familiar? But wait, theres more.

Churchill was an imperialist, and truly felt England should rule a large chunk of the world (see above on racism). The man had issues with Ghandi! Yes, that Ghandi!

He was an elitist who apparently, not once in his life, drew his own bath, and always had servants. He grew up the son of one of the most prominent parliamentarians of his respective age. Churchill was a chauvinist and sexist. Any one of his cracks made to or about women would today sink him as soon as it hit Twitter. Trudeau would surely have expelled him.

As I wrote back then, by todays standards, Churchill was deeply flawed, politically incorrect to the extreme. One social media search would sink his chances of ever getting elected again. There is not forgiveness for flaw of any type in todays society.

Now, Im not saying that Justin Trudeau is Winston Churchill. But I am saying that no one, but no one, is without sin. No one can attain the point of political correctness perfection modern society demands. Justin Trudeau has been the high priest of the temple of political correctness worship.

So that really leaves us with just two outcomes.

Either Justin Trudeau resigns as leader, and resigns from the Liberal caucus, essentially forfeiting the election, or the reign of terror of political correctness ends, now. We cannot have both. Our society must come to the realization that all people have made errors, that they are flawed, but are not beyond redemption.

Either the impossible standards are applied to all, or we become Biblical about this.

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. John 8:7, KJV

Justin Trudeau has cast many a stone.

Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.

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Column: Does Trudeau's brownface photo spell the end of absolute political correctness? - Pipeline News

The war against meat – Washington Times

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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The 2020 election cycle has witnessed some of the most bizarre proposals from Democratic candidates. From free health care for illegal immigrants to calls for the confiscation of AR-15s, 2020 Democrats are in a constant competition to outdo themselves in putting forward outlandish proposals.

One particular plan that has gained tremendous momentum on the left has been the campaign against meat. What started out as a movement only confined to animal rights and plant-based living circles has now entered mainstream political discussion. In fact, the talk about reducing meat consumption has gotten so shrill that Fox News host Tucker Carlson has chimed in about the matter.

In one of his latest episodes of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Mr. Carlson asserted the left is highly neurotic about food. A bold claim to say the least.

However, clips from his show demonstrate that the Fox News host is not so off base. From Kamala Harris to Andrew Yang, most candidates in the recent debates were in favor of reducing meat consumption in some form.

Mr. Yang and Elizabeth Warren linked meat eating to global warming. Mr. Yang believes that cutting back on meat consumption is good for the environment, its good for your health if you eat less meat. Certainly meat is an expensive thing to produce.

Ms. Warren added, there are a lot of ways that we try to change our energy consumption Some of it is with lightbulbs, some of it is on straws, some of it, dang, is on cheeseburgers, right?

The linkage of meat consumption to global warming has gained momentum ever since the Green New Deals rollout earlier this year by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Besides the blatant calls for the government to play a larger role in the economy by subsidizing clean energy and enacting new regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions, snuck inside the Green New Deal are plans to reduce meat consumption. All of this is in the name of fighting global warming.

Such a campaign marks a golden opportunity to double dip and rail against politically correct hobby horses. Indeed, the War on Meat can be seen as one theater of the political correctness wars being launched across the West to demonize otherwise normal activities for offending the sensibilities of PC gatekeepers in legacy institutions. Meat consumption is not only being connected to global warming but has also been tied to the bogeyman of white privilege.

For the activist left, politicizing everything from the television we watch to the food we eat, is paramount. This way, they can get our already massive administrative state to further infringe upon the basic property rights and the rights of association of millions of consumers nationwide. The meat bashing of the last debate has people wondering how 2020 candidates will reach their lofty goal of lower meat consumption. Looking at the Green New Deal would be a good place to start. The Green New Deals FAQ sheet details the differing approaches to achieving 100% clean and renewable energy and 100% renewable energy.

For the Green New Dealers, emissions from farting cows are the principal obstacle toward realizing the goal of a purely clean and renewable energy source. Although this assertion elicited widespread cackling across the Internet, the implications of such a claim are quite disturbing.

But how will the meat consumption be reduced?

If history shows anything, government-sponsored slaughter programs are likely the solution to this problem. And this is not a baseless political speculation. A trip down memory lane shows how in the original New Deal during the 1930s, the federal government presided over the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which carried out emergency livestock reductions.

At the time, New Dealers argued there was an oversupply of pigs which depressed livestock prices. In a zealous fashion, the government started buying and sending millions of livestock straight to the slaughterhouse. Historian Tom Woods recounts that the AAA slaughtered some six million pigs with the intent of trying to keep prices up during the Great Depression.

The Green New Deal and 2020 Democrats proposals to slash meat consumption are lacking in policy specifics. However, the ideological background many of these proponents hints at a potential government mandate. For all we know, mandatory slaughters may be resurrected.

Appealing to science has become fashionable for political elites who desperately want to take action on political topics like climate change. Cliche expressions like the science is settled serve to silence any kind of dissent and facilitate the passage of legislation.

But if we want to remain faithful to the scientific process, we must be ready to do extensive inquiry and debate. Often times, the science is not so settled after all. Especially in the case of meat consumption and its relation to global warming.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates greenhouse gas emissions coming from livestock and their manure only constitute 2 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Furthermore, the connection between livestock activity and global warming has been disputed by Virginia Tech and USDA-ARS. They concluded the elimination of livestock from agriculture production would merely decrease U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent or 3.6 percemt.

We should always remember that science is a process, which is subject to change. It is not always settled. Quickly jumping to conclusions and mixing politics makes for bad policy decisions in the long-term. What we need is more rigorous inquiry and a desire to find ways to solve problems through civil society and market means, not the legislative process.

When discussing meat consumption, were talking about an activity millions of people peacefully partake in. Any form of government intervention would affect millions of lives. The world of government intervention is filled with unintended consequences that even the original drafters of legislation could never even account for. So, we should always tread lightly when trying to get the state involved in private affairs.

There are valid questions to ask about the ethics of meat production and how livestock are treated. But this belongs in the domain of civil society, where individuals and organizations are free to raise awareness and inform consumers about the consequences of these activities.

Getting the state involved in our food just opens the door for abuse and increased politicization of our daily lives, which are already sufficiently flooded with politics as it is. For once, lets have some lengthy discussions that come up with solutions that dont have to involve laws or bureaucratic ordinances. Free individuals are capable of finding a way to solve these problems.

Lets give that a try instead.

Jose Nino is a Venezuelan-American freelance writer.

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The war against meat - Washington Times

‘Downton Abbey’ director Michael Engler addresses rich white people criticism – INSIDER

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"Downton Abbey" director Michael Engler responded to criticisms that the show and subsequent movie focused too much on wealthy, white people and their servants.

"I certainly understand that point of view," Engler said to Insider when asked about the criticism. "I don't disagree that some people don't necessarily have to be interested in [the show], and [some] aren't. And I'm OK with that."

Read more: The 'Downton Abbey' movie really makes you care about the problems of rich English people and sometimes, not much else

Engler emphasized that a wide range of stories should be told, even though the film and hit show mainly portrayed the struggles of the wealthy Crawley family (an aristocratic English family with a sprawling estate) and their servants.

"We all need to be thinking more about what stories we're telling, whose stories we're telling, who's telling them," he said.

But for the director, "Downton Abbey" wasn't quite the right project to do this.

"[The show] started as one thing, and that's what it is," Engler said, adding, "We weren't just going to change it for political correctness."

Read more: THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Downton Abbey'

The director also spoke about the challenges of making a period piece.

"You kind of have to learn about whatever world you're working in, whether it's a different place or a different kind of profession," Engler said. "You just have to learn about that world and then try to portray it as realistic."

Engler helmed the upcoming "Downton Abbey" movie, which hit theaters Friday. A continuation of the beloved show, it focuses on the wealthy Crawley family and their servants as they prepare for a visit from the king and queen of England.

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'Downton Abbey' director Michael Engler addresses rich white people criticism - INSIDER

Guest column: The road we choose to follow is ours; choose wisely – Victoria Advocate

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, the Aug. 6 Advocate cartoon depicting a confused equine at a political highway junction was a dandy. Should it continue the middle road of moderation, veer left toward more liberalness or veer to a more conservative right? The cartoon could as easily have portrayed a pachyderm confronting the same choices. To be sure, the character arrived at the junction perplexed and flustered. Perhaps, as never before in our history, the polarization of political viewpoints is causing America to lose its way; confused as to which road is the better choice.

Veering to the left side of the road are those typically convinced Americas problems are the result of its past. Advocates of this view think the nation has not evolved far enough from its founding principles of limited government, individual liberty, and free markets. They press for a living Constitution, believing our founding document was never intended by its writers to be static, but rather be interpreted in the light of constantly evolving experiences of the American people. This view was recognized as dangerous by Thomas Jefferson in 1781 when he wrote, Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. A living, fluid constitution would result in establishing a class of ideological rulers who could, and no doubt would, determine the rights of all the people. This would literally shred the Constitution as a document promoting freedom of choice and force citizens to conform to unchanging rules of code and conduct in fostering their general and personal welfare. Admittedly, the U. S. Constitution is not perfect and requires periodic fine tuning, but most believe doing anything more than that constitutes a clear danger of dismembering the very foundation of our constitutional republic. Unlike the founders, a far-left ideology strongly desires the government to be ever larger, yielding more malevolent authority and power. They see as good, the government taking more of corporate and individual income and redistributing it to whom they feel are deserving. Rather than safeguarding equal opportunity for all, this liberalism advocates the imposition and enforcement of equal outcomes to everyone, regardless of merit.

Veering towards the roads right side, we find others equally concerned about which path the nation is taking. But, their tendency is to view our most important problems being borne more recently, having their genesis within the last couple of generations. Through their eyes, the pillars of American history, including the U. S. Constitution; separation of powers; rule of law; freedom of assembly, religion, and speech; free market economy; and Americas role as a world peace-keeper, is crumbling. This group shudders when Americas public school, college, and universities are infiltrated by socialist administrators and educators teaching their children and grandchildren to be ashamed of those things that brought forth Americas greatness. They weep as they witness ex-presidents, governors, state legislators, members of the U. S. Congress and candidates for the highest office in the nation view the fruits of Americas accomplishments with contempt and disdain.

Regardless of validity, conservatists often accuse the liberalists as being a satanic false belief countermanding what the Founding Fathers set forth in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Believing like the founders that government must be fiercely constrained, the more conservative view todays trends toward secularism, humanism, political correctness, destruction of the traditional family, decline in faith, corruption within government, and out-of-control illegal immigration as major threats to the safety and well-being of the constitutional republic.

Perhaps their greatest apprehension is seeing the animosity directed toward themselves and anyone else who believes that there are moral and ethical absolutes; who promotes individual self-sufficiency; who advocates for family and parental rights; who dares to invoke the name of Jesus Christ in truth; or who is naive enough to believe that all of humankind is created equal with certain unalienable rights, granted them by their Creator.

The forefathers of this nation were willing to die to establish the rule of law, and many over the course of our history have given their lives sustaining our constitutional law. It must be remembered that the U. S. Constitution is the foundation of our Republic and the Ten Commandments are, in many ways, the foundation of the Constitution. The writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution firmly believed that if Gods Commandments were not kept, the Republic would collapse. Their words and beliefs were never ever intended to be taken lightly.

A former president said, If we ever forget that were one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. The right to choose and the road we choose to follow is ours. We must choose wisely.

Bobby D. Whitefield, of Victoria, is a former director of special programs for the Texas Water Commission in Austin. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor of biology at the University of Corpus Christi and head of the science department at Tuloso-Midway ISD in Corpus Christi.

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Guest column: The road we choose to follow is ours; choose wisely - Victoria Advocate

Whats on TV Tuesday: Mixed-ish and American Horror Story – The New York Times

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MIXED-ISH 9 p.m. on ABC. The premiere of the newest black-ish spinoff from Kenya Barris centers on the early years of that shows matriarch, Rainbow Johnson, as she recounts her experiences growing up in a mixed-race family in the 1980s. In the prequel series, a young Rainbow (whos called Bow, for short) and her siblings, Santamonica and Johan, try to adjust to life in the suburbs after their parents, played by Tika Sumpter and Mark-Paul Gosselaar, move them from a hippie commune. Bow is played here by Arica Himmell, with narration from Tracee Ellis Ross, who portrays the character on black-ish. Like black-ish and its sister spinoff grown-ish, the new series will explore ideas around race, identity and assimilation.

THIS IS US 9 p.m. on NBC. This fan favorite family drama returns for its fourth season, charting the Pearsons ups and downs through their past, present and future. This season, the show will continue to uncover more about the parents Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and the Big Three the triplets Kate (Chrissy Metz), Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kevin (Justin Hartley). But it will also introduce a few new characters. In the premiere, Rebecca introduces Jack to her parents, which may serve as the first time fans will meet Rebeccas father, played this season by the actor Tim Matheson. Jennifer Morrison has also been confirmed as a recurring guest star, though its not clear yet how her character connects to the Pearson clan. And the director M. Night Shyamalan, who was spotted in the Season 4 trailer, may even somehow make it into the mix.

EMERGENCE 10 p.m. on ABC. This new thriller follows Jo Evans (Allison Tolman), a police chief in a quiet Northeastern town who finds herself caught up in an atypical adoption scenario after she finds a young girl, totally unharmed, at the site of a mysterious plane crash. Not long after that act of kindness, Evans gets caught up in a conspiracy that surrounds the girls identity.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE Stream on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Just as American Horror Story: 1984, the newest installment of Ryan Murphys horror anthology series, begins its run on FX, fans can revisit Season 8, which focuses on the end of the world. Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters and Emma Roberts star in this crossover between Season 1 (Murder House) and Season 3 (Coven), where the worlds chosen elite wait out the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse in a secure, but mysterious, fallout shelter.

JEFF DUNHAM: BESIDE HIMSELF Stream on Netflix. The comedian Jeff Dunham tackles topics like parenting and political correctness with his unique brand of humor which just so happens to include a little help from a few ventriloquist dummies. In addition to his usual gang of puppets like Walter, Bubba J and Peanut, Dunham will introduce his hometown audience in Dallas to Larry, a chain-smoking, on-again, off-again adviser to the president.

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Whats on TV Tuesday: Mixed-ish and American Horror Story - The New York Times

How the Past Informs Trump’s Vision of America’s Future – NBC Connecticut

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President Donald Trump's vision of America's tomorrows looks much like its yesterdays.

He loves "beautiful" coal. "Beautiful" warships. And "those four beautiful words: MADE IN THE USA!" He speaks of the country's might as measured by its steel mills, farms and cars rolling off Detroit assembly lines.

He's not merely summoning happy memories. His nostalgia shapes policy and lives, too.

Trump glorifies the muscle and sweat (but not the labor unions) of those who toil in factories and till the soil, like those idealized depictions of labor in century-old murals.

He does not love wind power. He's a fossil fuel guy. A meat and potatoes man, too, he steers an administration that reflects not just his agenda but his pre-woke diet, as when it pulled back on requirements for whole grains in school lunches.

He's had it out for those newfangled light bulbs for years, ever since he warned flatly and falsely that they "can cause cancer."

He waves off modern worries about global warming by pointing to a cold snap. His campaign sells plastic straws to thumb its nose at what Trump considers political correctness.

Meantime the world moves on.

Industry, technology and much of the culture are finding new ways of doing and living.

Even the auto industry, which doesn't like being told by government what to do, has found itself unhappy about how Trump is easing fuel economy requirements . Crusty old Detroit has already moved on from its most gas-guzzling days and invested massively in more efficient vehicles, kicking higher even as Trump lowers the goal posts.

U.S. prosperity has been driven for decades by services, technology and new things, not the grunt work of old that is celebrated by Trump. He sees trade in terms of the exchange of goods and he ignores services, where long-standing U.S. strength in global competitiveness does not fit his world view of an America under siege by rapacious traders like China.

"We are bringing BACK," he likes to say, and always with exaggeration. "We are bringing back America faster than anyone thought possible! We are bringing back our factories, we are bringing back our jobs, and we are bringing back those four beautiful words: MADE IN THE USA!"

"All those things come from the '50s and '60s," said Irving Rein, a professor of communications at Northwestern University who has studied cultural trends for more than a half century. He says that when Trump cheers things such as king coal, big steel and trade protectionism with the "big, beautiful tariff" on China, he knows his audience a largely older one that takes comfort in a filtered view of the past.

Yet modernity advances.

"Popular culture is like a river; it just kind of floats by," Rein said. "Some of it stays." And Trump has captured those eddies.

In his own way, Joe Biden has, too.

While disagreeing with the 73-year-old Trump on almost all of the above, the 76-year-old Democratic presidential hopeful invokes a time of comity between political opponents "the feeling that, nostalgically, there was more compromise," Rein said and holds out the prospect of bringing back those days. This, while Trump and most of Biden's rivals seem ready to lunge at each other.

Trump's throwback tendencies are not unique in leadership. Ronald Reagan could be steeped in sentimentality, too, if without the sharp edges of this president.

Constantine Sedikides, a psychology professor who studies nostalgia from Britain's University of Southampton, said right-wing populists in Europe have romanticized the past to advance goals such as Britain's exit from the European Union and the marginalization of "outgroups" such as Islamic migrants and refugees.

"Trump is using collective nostalgia sentimental longing about the country's rosy past to his political advantage," Sedikides said by email.

By its nature, such cultural observers say, collective nostalgia is history seen through a veil, with old hardships and prejudices put out of mind in favor of wistful remembrance. "You cherry-pick things," Rein said.

Some of Trump's retro impulses are reflected by now in law or in the lifting of regulations, a trend most pronounced when it fits his pro-industry conservatism as well.

This past week his administration barred California's longtime authority to set stricter car and truck emission standards than federal rules require. Nearly half the states sued to block the Trump administration's action, which by its own reckoning is likely to result in additional fuel consumption of 500,000 barrels a day.

The auto industry, instead of being relieved, warned that their vehicles will become less competitive globally if the incentive to increase fuel efficiency is lost. Trump called them "politically correct Automobile Companies."

Trump has eased up a variety of environmental regulations, in part to serve his interest in reviving coal. But that effort is up against forces of the modern free market, awash in natural gas, as utilities continue closing coal-fired plants in favor of energy sources that are cleaner, cheaper or both.

This month the administration slowed a long push by Congress to wean the country from old-time incandescent bulbs in favor of LEDs and other lights that use less energy. Trump argues the savings aren't worth it, consumers should have a choice and under those new bulbs "I always look orange."

"And so do you," he told a Republican gathering, as if realizing he has been associated with that color anyway.

Continued here:

How the Past Informs Trump's Vision of America's Future - NBC Connecticut

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Reclaiming Common Sense’ – Washington Times

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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

When Thomas Paine appealed to common sense to make the case for American independence, it probably never crossed his mind that there would ever be a need to make the case for common sense itself, at least not in America, writes Robert Curry, author of Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea (Encounter Books, 2015), contributor to a variety of journals and a director of The Claremont Institute, in Reclaiming Common Sense: Finding Truth in a Post-Truth World.

Today, however, common sense falls under steady attack. Deep thinkers have discarded it, elites have learned to disdain it, and leftist politicians reject all manifestations of it as reflections of the deeply flawed nature of our economic system and theory of government.

Examples of the war on common sense are now everywhere in public life. Mr. Curry points to the current unhinged national discussions about gender. Not long ago, a boy in a tutu and a tiara who claimed he was a girl would still be regarded as a boy. Today, academic and cultural elites as well as government officials insist that gender identity is more real than biology, with at least one website claiming there are at least 63 existing genders.

The war on moral common sense has reached new heights of absurdity. Mr. Curry points out that if we take common-sense steps to protect ourselves from Islamic terrorists, who demonstrably exist in the real world, we are said to suffer a psychological condition called Islamophobia, which unlike other phobias claustrophobia, for instance makes us victimizers rather than victims.

Also, when we attempt to secure our borders, we are met by cries that walls are immoral. Evidently the common-sense wisdom that good walls make good neighbors has been taken down by the masters of political correctness.

It would be inconceivable to the Founders, writes Mr. Curry, that the common-sense realism that structured our nation, saw it through our formative years, and made it unique in the world could fall victim to such irrationality.

But, as he points out, a great deal of effort has gone into assailing it. Proponents of irrationalist doctrines that came on in wave after wave beginning in the nineteenth century romanticism, Hegelianism, Marxism, progressivism, existentialism, postmodernism, and the like have been pounding away at common sense for a very long time.

For many years, the foundation of an American college education was common sense. But in the 1960s, the pounding of the irrationalists finally found a point of entry, and the rise of the New Leftists, whose victories seemed minimal at the time, resulted in populating American campuses with politically radicalized professors.

Those professors, eventually tenured and assisted by radical (or frightened) administrators, have replaced education with indoctrination in multiculturalism and an ever-changing array of politically correct doctrines that are inimical to the American foundational philosophy.

The struggle against common sense is the beginning of speculative thinking, wrote Herbert Marcuse, the philosopher who interpreted Marx for the New Leftists of the 1960s. And that Marxist/Marcusian struggle against common sense continues to motivate the leftists of today.

Unlike the American Revolution, which was successful by any measure, the revolutions based on Marxist thinking failed, and failed spectacularly. The Soviet Union murdered its own people in the tens of millions and then collapsed, in part as the result of attempting the impossible: trying to run a country according to Marxist economic ideas.

Moreover, this continues to be the case today in those countries North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba that still attempt to apply Marxian principles to the governance of their nations. But what no contemporary champion of those principles will admit is that the failure of those ideas to work wherever they have been tried must mean that the ideas are wrong.

Nevertheless, we find candidates competing for the presidential nomination in our own country campaigning on variations of those very principles.

As Mr. Curry puts it, Everyone knows, or rather everyone ought to know, that government is always and everywhere inefficient. Its a common-sense observation, based on the normal experience of government. Yet for the Left, government is always and everywhere the solution.

And that makes no sense at all, common or otherwise.

John R. Coyne Jr., a former White House speechwriter, is co-author of Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement (Wiley).

RECLAIMING COMMON SENSE: FINDING TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD

By Robert Curry

With a foreword by Brian T. Kennedy

Encounter Books, $19.99, 107 pages

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BOOK REVIEW: 'Reclaiming Common Sense' - Washington Times

Past informs Trump’s vision of future | News, Sports, Jobs – The Daily Times

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WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps vision of Americas tomorrows looks much like its yesterdays.

He loves beautiful coal. Beautiful warships. And those four beautiful words: MADE IN THE USA! He speaks of the countrys might as measured by its steel mills, farms and cars rolling off Detroit assembly lines.

Hes not merely summoning happy memories. His nostalgia shapes policy and lives, too.

Trump glorifies the muscle and sweat of those who toil in factories and till the soil, like those idealized depictions of labor in century-old murals.

He does not love wind power. Hes a fossil fuel guy. A meat and potatoes man, too, he steers an administration that reflects not just his agenda but his diet, as when it pulled back on requirements for whole grains in school lunches.

Hes had it out for those newfangled light bulbs for years, ever since he warned flatly and falsely that they can cause cancer.

He waves off modern worries about global warming by pointing to a cold snap. His campaign sells plastic straws to thumb its nose at what Trump considers political correctness.

Meanwhile, the world moves on.

Industry, technology and much of the culture are finding new ways of doing and living.

Even the auto industry, which doesnt like being told by government what to do, has found itself unhappy about how Trump is easing fuel economy requirements. Crusty old Detroit has already moved on from its most gas-guzzling days and invested massively in more efficient vehicles, kicking higher even as Trump lowers the goal posts.

U.S. prosperity has been driven for decades by services, technology and new things, not the grunt work of old that is celebrated by Trump. He sees trade in terms of the exchange of goods and he ignores services, where long-standing U.S. strength in global competitiveness does not fit his world view of an America under siege by rapacious traders like China.

We are bringing BACK, he likes to say. We are bringing back America faster than anyone thought possible! We are bringing back our factories, we are bringing back our jobs, and we are bringing back those four beautiful words: MADE IN THE USA!

All those things come from the 50s and 60s, said Irving Rein, a professor of communications at Northwestern University who has studied cultural trends for more than a half century. He says that when Trump cheers things such as king coal, big steel and trade protectionism with the big, beautiful tariff on China, he knows his audience a largely older one that takes comfort in a filtered view of the past.

Yet modernity advances.

Popular culture is like a river; it just kind of floats by, Rein said. Some of it stays. And Trump has captured those eddies.

In his own way, Joe Biden has, too.

While disagreeing with the 73-year-old Trump on almost all of the above, the 76-year-old Democratic presidential hopeful invokes a time of comity between political opponents the feeling that, nostalgically, there was more compromise, Rein said and holds out the prospect of bringing back those days. This, while Trump and most of Bidens rivals seem ready to lunge at each other.

Trumps throwback tendencies are not unique in leadership. Ronald Reagan could be steeped in sentimentality, too, if without the sharp edges of this president.

Constantine Sedikides, a psychology professor who studies nostalgia from Britains University of Southampton, said right-wing populists in Europe have romanticized the past to advance goals such as Britains exit from the European Union and the marginalization of outgroups such as Islamic migrants and refugees.

Trump is using collective nostalgia sentimental longing about the countrys rosy past to his political advantage, Sedikides said by email.

By its nature, such cultural observers say, collective nostalgia is history seen through a veil, with old hardships and prejudices put out of mind in favor of wistful remembrance. You cherry-pick things, Rein said.

Some of Trumps retro impulses are reflected by now in law or in the lifting of regulations, a trend most pronounced when it fits his pro-industry conservatism as well.

This past week his administration barred Californias longtime authority to set stricter car and truck emission standards than federal rules require. Nearly half the states sued to block the Trump administrations action, which by its own reckoning is likely to result in additional fuel consumption of 500,000 barrels a day.

The auto industry, instead of being relieved, warned that their vehicles will become less competitive globally if the incentive to increase fuel efficiency is lost. Trump called them politically correct Automobile Companies.

Trump has eased up a variety of environmental regulations, in part to serve his interest in reviving coal. But that effort is up against forces of the modern free market, awash in natural gas, as utilities continue closing coal-fired plants in favor of energy sources that are cleaner, cheaper or both.

This month the administration slowed a long push by Congress to wean the country from old-time incandescent bulbs in favor of LEDs and other lights that use less energy. Trump argues the savings arent worth it, consumers should have a choice and under those new bulbs I always look orange.

And so do you, he told a Republican gathering.

PITTSBURGH (AP) A man was arrested Monday on suspicion of providing a white powdery substance tainted with ...

NEW CUMBERLAND The regular meeting of the Hancock County Board of Health will be held at 4 p.m., Oct. 1 at the ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) President Donald Trump made his political priorities clear Monday within an hour of ...

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Past informs Trump's vision of future | News, Sports, Jobs - The Daily Times

Maxime Bernier: Choosing smart populism with the Peoples Party – Toronto Sun

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NOTE: The Toronto Sun has offered column space to all of the major political party leaders to make their pitch to you, the voter. Here is Peoples Party Leader Maxime Berniers contribution.

MAXIME BERNIER

Populist sentiment is on the rise in almost every Western country, including Canada.

Populism does not simply express anger at the current government. Its a symptom of a deeper disconnect.

Its a reaction from disenfranchised citizens who have lost faith in our institutions capacity to reflect their concerns. And who feel that even their right to voice these concerns is being negated by the elites disdain and a curtailment of their free speech.

The Peoples Party is populist because it proposes solutions to Canadas problems that radically differ from those of all the establishment parties.

Or course, that doesnt mean theyre good solutions. You can have a reactionary type of populism with disastrous economic policies. Or smart populism, based on sound policies.

In all my career, I have always supported sound, small-government, responsible free-market policies.

Depending on the issue, the policies my party is proposing are supported by a majority or a substantial minority of Canadians. These Canadians deserve a voice.

The Peoples Party is the only one that will reduce immigration to a sustainable level, from 350,000 per year to a maximum of 150,000. We will increase the proportion of economic immigrants who bring skills in demand, choose immigrants who share Canadian values, and close the border to false refugees at Roxham Rd.

The PPC is the only party also that will end official multiculturalism and the constant glorification of diversity. We will focus on the integration of immigrants in our society.

The PPC is the only party that will abolish foreign aid, except for help in emergency situations. Before we send money to build roads or provide health care and education in Africa and Asia, we should take care of the many Canadians in need.

The PPC is the only party that will balance the budget in two years and then use surpluses to lower taxes. We will end the corrupt practice of pandering and buying votes from interest groups and political clienteles with taxpayers money.

The PPC is the only party that rejects political correctness, is not afraid to oppose radical Islam, and will protect free speech.

The PPC is the only party that opposes climate alarmism and will not increase taxes or regulations to fight global warming.

The PPC has a unique platform on so many issues that its hard to list them all. Its also the only party that will:

Stop Ottawas meddling in provincial jurisdictions such as health care. Provinces should have the autonomy to experiment and solve our long waiting lists for surgery.

Reduce equalization payments, and change the formula so that it stops being a permanent welfare program for poorer provinces.

Use article 92(10) of our Constitution to ensure that pipelines get built.

Abolish the costly system of supply management for dairy, poultry and eggs.

Abolish corporate welfare and lower corporate taxes equally for all businesses.

Reduce Canadas presence in corrupt UN institutions to a minimum, and withdraw from treaties such as the Global Compact for Migration and the Paris Climate Accord that threaten our sovereignty.

Defund the CBC.

Reinstate a fair disability pension to our injured or disabled veterans.

Eliminate interprovincial trade barriers and the capital gains tax.

I could go on and on.

Canadians have a real choice in this election.

Vote for one of the establishment parties with the same policies.

Or vote for the smart populist, principled alternative with sound policies.

Bernier is leader of the Peoples Party

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Maxime Bernier: Choosing smart populism with the Peoples Party - Toronto Sun

Suspended wrestling ref a victim of PC; N.J. township would benefit from speed bumps | Letters – NJ.com

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I differ with the Times Sept. 22 editorial, Dreadlock wrestling ref still has lessons to learn.

The high school wrestling referee in this issue, Alan Maloney, was recently suspended from officiating two years by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association for an incident in which he made an African American wrestler cut off his dreadlocks in the middle of a match. The editorial endorsed the suspension, but also asked why Maloney should be allowed to return as a high school referee in 2022.

I believe that Maloney was clearly a victim of political correctness. The NJSIAAs rules for high school wrestling regarding to hair length were established without regard to race. Maloney just happened to have enough integrity during the match in question to enforce the rule because the wrestler, Andrew Johnson of Buena Regional High School, chose to wear his hair in long dreadlocks.

If Johnson was humiliated by having to have his dreadlocks cut during that match in order to compete, it was due to his own lack of personal responsibility, in my view. The issue of his race is totally irrelevant. If he would have chosen to get rid of his dreadlocks before he even joined the wrestling team, this controversy would have never happened. (Johnson had been allowed to wrestle in earlier matches that were not refereed by Maloney.)

Political correctness is whats wrong in our country today. Its the reason why honest people like Alan Maloney, who believe everyone should follow the rules established for order, are persecuted by the media, the Hollywood left and liberal lawmakers who have no business at all governing our country.

George I. Anderson, Vineland

N.J. township would benefit from speed bumps

In Washington Township, driver speed-limit reminders have sprung up with great intentions. Some of the signs read, Drive like your child lives here.

On Whitman Drive, the main thoroughfare through Whitman Square, there are electronic signs that flash the speed to bring to drivers attention that the speed limit is 25 mph Many years ago, speed humps were installed in some sections of the township. However, there are no speed bumps, which are more aggressive in slowing down motorists.

Some claim that installing speed bumps are too expensive or that they are are unsafe. But how safe are our streets without them?

Speed bumps force drivers' attention and create a must-slow-down situation. In my conversations with neighbors, many expressed wishes that something would slow down the drivers on our streets. On many Whitman Square side streets, there are no speed limit signs.

I have observed cars taking less than two seconds to pass two houses on these side streets, which suggests that they are traveling at speeds greater than the speed limit.

My friend, the late Donald Dunn, walked throughout Whitman Square every day. In his retirement years, he often wrote letters complaining about cars speeding on Whitman Drive, as well as Johnson Road, another main thoroughfare.

In keeping with my friend's good example, I am writing this letter. Please slow down. Why race to the corner?

In the style of the old Burma Shave highway advertising signs: As on the Burma Shave signs of old: " When in school zone. Heed traffic instructions. Protect our little tax deductions.

Gerald Keer, Turnersville

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

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The WWE Legend Who Wrestles the Woke Left – The American Conservative

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In the 2017 film Roman J. Israel, Esq., Denzel Washington plays a civil rights veteran, who, while giving a speech to a group of young progressive activists, sees two black women without seats. Im sorry, excuse me. I see two sisters standing, Washingtons character Israel says. Why are the sisters standing and the brothers sitting?

This aint 40 years ago, spits back one woman.

What is the statute of limitations on chivalry? Israel asks.

Thats gendered and sexist, the other woman replies. The progressive Israel is bewildered. In his mind, hes on these liberals side.

I recall this illuminating scene almost every time I listen to pro wrestling legend Jim Cornettes popular weekly podcasts. You know what somebody called me on Twitter? posited Cornette in September. A cis gender white male.

Now I dont have a f***ing clue what that means, Cornette admitted, but it doesnt sound complimentary.

Cornette is arguably the greatest manager in the history of professional wrestling, becoming something close to a household name in the Southeast United States during the 1980s. Hes worked as a talent and producer for every major pro wrestling company over the last four decades, including Vince McMahons dominant World Wrestling Entertainment. Today, hes a key personality on Vicelands immensely popular Dark Side of the Ring series, currently shooting its second season.

Cornettes claim to fame? Being an a**hole. No matter your race, gender, weight, or any other possible category, the tennis racquet-wielding mamas boy will run you down and harshly. Hes called female valets ugly. Hes described wrestlers fathers as alcoholics and their mothers as whores. When he hit a woman in the stomach with his tennis racket in 1986 (as part of a wrestling storyline), he bragged that she may not be able to have kids. He claims to have received more death threats for that episode than anything else in his career, letters that he proudly displays on his office wall today.

If this sounds offensive, good. Hes just doing his job.

But like Denzel Washingtons character, Cornette has always considered himself a liberals liberal. A healthy chunk of his podcasts are spent blasting Donald Trump and anyone who supports the president. The self-described democratic socialist considers Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren the best candidates in 2020. Cornette regularly lectures listeners, many of whom dont agree with his politics, on why they should never vote Republican.

He does this all the time. Hes done it for a long time. He does not care if he chases away some of his audience. You would think any liberal this dedicated could join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs Squad.

But they wouldnt want him. The 58-year-old is liberal in the sense that most meant the term during the 1990s and aughts.

Things change.

Many wrestling fans branded Cornette homophobic in May for saying of flamboyant gay wrestler Sonny Kiss, Here comes Sonny Kiss who apparently got off his day job at the drag-show at the f**king Tropicana. Kisss fianc, a Cornette fan, was understandably hurt by the comment and tweeted a reply. That led to many more critical responses to Cornettes alleged bigotry.

Cornettes complaint was that a wrestler with an over-the-top gimmick wasnt being explained properly to fans by the TV announcers. He contended, I didnt know the guy was gay in real life, or say that he was gay on my show, or insinuate that that is a bad thing.

You can tell in Cornettes longer explanation that the charge of bigotry caught him off guard. After all, not only is he a liberal who supports gay marriage and LGBT rights, he also managed a controversial androgynous wrestler during the 80s, and worked alongside Pat Patterson in the WWE, who has been openly gay for years.

While Cornette is a fan of womens wrestling and has been a champion of contemporary young performers like Tessa Blanchard among others, hes been called sexist for suggesting that men and women are biologically different and therefore should perform differently in the ring.

Critiquing a womens match in 2018, Cornette said, The moonsault into the f***ing triangle was insane and the suplex off the apron to the floor, which was the second one of those Id seen in two days, that was too much for the girls. Im sorry. Yes, Im gonna be sexist there. Theres no reason for a vertical suplex off the apron on the floor. Those girls dont have any padding. They dont have enough fat on them to f***ing do that and its too much.

He admitted he knew his words would sound sexist to some, but as a wrestling purist, he proudly prioritized the quality of the match over political correctness. Of course, he was blasted for it.

When transgender wrestler Nyla Rose recently emerged as a player for the formidable, billionaire-backed upstart All Elite Wrestling, Cornette was immediately a fan due to her talent and large size. He also had an idea to make her famousclobber every other woman in her division using the national debate over transgender athletes competing in womens sports as the backdrop.

Turning national politics into wrestling storylines is as old as the business itself. Still, Cornette was taken to task for this suggestion too.

There are too many examples of these supposed transgressions to be listed here, but the dynamic is the same nearly every week: the liberal wrestling legend habitually offends many of his listeners, often the younger ones, by unintentionally challenging todays identity politics orthodoxy.

Many of these young fans might not even be overtly political, but theyve still absorbed this mindset from their peers. Its a largely generational civil war thats also applicable to some of the older 2020 Democratic candidates. For example, Joe Biden might defend LGBT issues, but he also calls women sweetheart while doing itand hears about it.

But was Bidens intent malicious? And if not, shouldnt that be taken into account? Or is the sin of not being woke enough too great? Likewise, does Cornette have ill will towards women or gay Americans? A fair listener of his programs would conclude that he does not.

Does Cornette talk like he doesnt give a damn what anyone thinks? Yes, but hes done that his entire career. Comedian Dave Chappelles style isnt drastically different from the early 2000s, but todays current illiberal environment makes him a villain to some. This ongoing totalitarian cultural shift has also affected the careers of other comedians of Chappelles generation.

As extreme as the woke Left can be, I have sympathy for those standing up for minorities or groups that have been historically oppressed. But as a lifelong Gen X wrestling fan stuck between the Millennials and Baby Boomers, I can also see where both groups, which often prioritize different values, talk past each other.

New York Times columnist David Brooks warns, The greatest danger of extreme wokeness is that it makes it harder to practice the necessary skill of public life, the ability to see two contradictory truths at the same time.

It can be true that Cornette uses words that offend, while also being true that he is not a hateful bigot in doing so.

Cornettes woke critics will likely never be able to accept both, and the unrepentant rasslin villain will continue to dismiss them all as a bunch of p*ssies.

Bad guys and good guys. Heels and faces. Who is which depends on where you stand.

Maybe Jim Cornette is even more of a wrestling genius than his haters give him credit for.

Jack Hunter is the former political editor ofRare.usandco-authored the 2011 bookThe Tea Party Goesto Washingtonwith Senator Rand Paul.

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The WWE Legend Who Wrestles the Woke Left - The American Conservative

The Interview: author Ann Pachett on #MeToo, political correctness and her book The Dutch House – The Times

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Pre #MeToo, wed have been thrilled to hop into bed with Philip Roth. Interview by Helena de Bertodano

The Sunday Times,September 22 2019, 12:01am

Ann Patchett is not nice. At least thats what she wants me to believe. For years she has been fighting a charge of extreme niceness, with critics saying her award-winning novels are unrealistic as a result. John Updike once wrote that Patchett gives us the world as it should be, rather than as the dirty, abrasive place it is.

He thought I lacked teeth, says Patchett. And it is true that if my body of work has one glaring shortcoming, it is my inability to write villains. And yet Andrea [the wicked stepmother in her latest novel, The Dutch House] is truly a villain.

Spoken about in the same breath as the likes of Jennifer Egan or Dave Eggers, Patchett is one of the most

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The Interview: author Ann Pachett on #MeToo, political correctness and her book The Dutch House - The Times