A roundup of news and commentary from around the interwebs.
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If you want to know how insufferable America’s elites are becoming, look no further than this mass email by National Geographic, posted to Twitter by Rod Dreher. Susan Goldberg, the editor-in-chief, signed off by actually citing her “race card” and listing: “White, privileged, with much to learn.” Not so much that it can’t be done from a gated community though, I suspect.
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Barbara Kay, one of the few Canadian commentators who actually has the guts to take on the progressive consensus, notes that a biological male competing as a weightlifter at the Tokyo Olympics might finally reveal how ridiculously unfair this is for female athletes. The transgender issue, after all, has been confined to women’s sports. There are no women identifying as men cleaning house in men’s events.
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The wave of laws establishing “sanctuary cities for the unborn” have passed their first hurdle in Texas. From the Texas Tribune:
A federal district judge dismissed on Tuesday a lawsuit to block a voter-approved abortion ban from taking effect in Lubbock, saying Planned Parenthood did not have standing to sue the city.
The decision comes just weeks after Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit to stop the Lubbock ordinance, which outlaws abortions and empowers “the unborn child’s mother, father, grandparents, siblings and half-siblings” to sue for damages someone who helps others access an abortion. The “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance was passed by voters in May, after being shot down by City Council members who said it conflicted with state law and could be costly to defend. It took effect June 1.
Pastor Mark Dickson, who is spearheading this initiative, joined me on my podcast to talk about the latest pro-life campaign. Give it a listen.
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In Illinois, a school has backed down after confiscating a second grader’s Bible just for reading it during recess. The obvious animus of many public school teachers eradicates their claims to neutrality.
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An Italian artist has literally sold an “invisible painting”—that is, nothing—to a bidder for over twenty grand. From CTV:
The good thing about buying a sculpture by Salvatore Garau is you don’t have to worry about accidentally knocking it over.
The Italian artist last month sold one of his works, an “immaterial sculpture” entitled ‘Io Sono’, for 15,000 euros (CAD$22,000), a price that was pushed up by a bidding war, according to news site italy24.com. This for a work that does not actually exist, at least in the material world.
“When I decide to “exhibit” an immaterial sculpture in a given space, that space will concentrate a certain quantity and density of thoughts in a precise point, creating a sculpture that from my title alone will take the most varied forms,” he said, according to the site.
The work comes with instructions that it be placed in a private house within a space free from any obstruction and at 150 by 150 centimeters in size.
The good news for the buyer here is that this “art” is substantially less ridiculous than much of what the post-moderns have produced.
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More soon.