Triad Conservative

It's OK To Acknowledge God

Indeed, it is necessary:

The Implications of Lies Built Upon Lies

Anthony Esolen, Chronicles:

... Satan was “a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks what is false, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44)...

A man is not a woman and can never become a woman. A woman is not a man and can never become a man. What an offense it is against the beauty showered upon us by the Creator who made us male and female in the beginning, to mutilate the body and mar the face, all in the vain pretense that we can do the impossible! There is no such thing as a “trans-man” or a “trans-woman.” There are only men or women pretending to be what they are not, and insisting that others participate in the pretense or delusion. 

The beginning of wisdom, said the sage Confucius, is to call things by their right names. The beginning of folly, cowardice, capitulation, or treason is to allow confused or wicked people to prevail upon you, so that you call things by their wrong names.

It is no small thing we insist upon here. The whole creation hangs in the balance. Saint Paul tells us that the invisible God is in part known by the visible things he has created. But men and women now claim the right to uncreate. “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,” says Adam when he first beholds Eve (Gen. 2:23). The sexual madness of our time would choke Adam’s words in his mouth. The marriage of man and woman is an image of Christ’s union with his bride the Church (Eph. 5:32, Rev. 21:2), and that is meant as no mere poetry. The madness of our time would reduce the Bible’s most exalted revelation of the nature of the divine image in man and of the union of God with man to a figure of speech...

Never make light of the lie. A little cancer can kill...

The lie gnaws at the soul, hollowing it out. And what about those who stand by to witness it? They see that you do not really believe what both nature and the word of God say. They conclude that you are a coward, a fool, or a hypocrite. Go evangelize the world that way. Your very children will believe the lie. But God will brook no excuses. “I tell you,” says the Lord, “on the day of judgment men will render account for every idle word they utter” (Matt. 12:36).

Speak the truth, always.

The absurdities that have recently been advanced as norms in our society regarding sexuality, reproduction and family are obviously now being forced upon us. Gender and marriage are the most recent wrinkles.

But it is all based on a lie because it is contrary to God's design and expressed will. Esolen is right.

The Weinstein/ Epstein Democrats: A Conviction to Celebrate, with an Assist from the 'Hood

It was extremely gratifying to see that Harvey Weinstein was convicted yesterday.

Aside from being a sleazeball who used his position to extort sexual intercourse from young, aspiring actresses, he also was known for producing trash in Hollywood including some films that pushed anti-Christian themes. The fact that some of these actresses were willing to prostitute themselves to pursue a career in Hollywood does not diminish the severity of his crimes.

Another gratifying aspect of this situation is that I have a very indirect connection with the prosecutor who successfully obtained Weinstein's conviction. Joan Illuzzi is an assistant District Attorney in Manhattan whose family home was approximately seven or eight blocks from where I grew up on Staten Island. I did not know her family from the neighborhood; but I went to college with her sister. 

It is so neat that a girl from the 'hood brought Weinstein down.

Some might be confused that the Harvey Weinstein/ Jeffrey Epstein Democrats are supposed to represent feminism. But we must remember that several worldview components are involved in this case-- sexual liberationism, cultural relativism and radical feminism. And when these are in conflict with each other, then sexual license and relativism invariably win; and feminism loses. That is also, in fact, why media barons like Weinstein are able to push hypersexualized content that historically has degraded and objectified women. That is why the socialists were able to celebrate Bill Clinton. Feminism takes a back seat.

(Another interesting sidelight: Joan Illuzzi's boss is the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr. His father, in turn, was Jimmy Carter's secretary of state forty years ago.)

Weinstein was the toast of Hollywood for decades. This reflects the debasement of that entire industry and the culture that it represents.

Some are not unequivocally cheering the success of the #MeToo movement because of its broader implications. But we all ought to be delighted that Joan Illuzzzi got the conviction in this case.

Greensboro City Council Members Seek to Clear Way to Lead Black Babies to Slaughter

A drama has been unfolding at Greensboro's sole abortion clinic located in east Greensboro.

Two local ministries-- the Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center and Love Life Greensboro-- have been gathering at the facility to pray for and engage with the young mothers considering abortion at the clinic. It is a life-saving effort. Other parties have also been engaged in this effort.

The local leftist media-- especially Yes!Weekly-- has been dramatizing this effort to make it appear that what these parties are doing is wrongful. More recently, pro-abortion activists have been on the scene; and have sought to engage the attention of the new police chief and city council members. The reports also describe the efforts of the local religious left to assure that abortions will take place.

The police chief made statements suggesting that the efforts of the pro-life groups seem illegal. It should be noted that the abortion clinic sits deep off Randleman Road; and clients must pass through a commercial parking lot to reach the clinic's parking area. The commercial parking lot appears to be private property; and does not appear to be a public thoroughfare. It is in this parking lot where most of the activity takes place.

(While I don't pretend to know the legalities associated with attempting to engage drivers passing through a commercial parking lot, it appears the Pregnancy Care Center and Love Life need to engage with their respective attorneys if they have not already done so to establish precisely what their rights are.)

The Supreme Court has explicitly rejected the premise that mothers seeking to kill their babies must be granted a buffer around the abortion clinic they are attempting to visit. 

In any case, it was reported elsewhere yesterday that two Greensboro City Council members-- Michelle Kennedy and Tammi Thurm-- visited the site; and Ms. Kennedy sought to have police interfere with the pro-life efforts of those present. Kennedy is a lesbian; and Thurm is a progressive Jewish woman. (Readers are reminded that key worldview elements of contemporary Judaism are sexual liberty, radical feminism, cultural relativism and secularism).

These council members were seeking to assure that black babies could be killed in the clinic. The clientele of the clinic will be disproportionately African-American.

This overall confluence of forces-- pro-abortion activists and escorts, left wing local newspapers, the religious left, and ethically corrupt politicians-- veritably represents cultural Marxism on parade, right here in Greensboro.

It represents unrepentant, unmitigated evil.

Your Family's Medical Records Accessible to Social Service Agencies, Prisons, "First Responders", Schools in NC?

Within the last decade or so, liberty-minded citizens launched a protest with our state government because of the content of a form used for physical examinations required for entry into the public school system. The concern was that the schools-- and our government-- would have access to information about our kids they didn't need to have. The protest was successful, and the form was modified.

Let's fast forward about a decade.

Now, the vast majority of health care facilities in North Carolina are connected to the North Carolina Health Information Exchange (NC HIE). This is a division of our state government that houses a massive computer database containing the medical records of millions of North Carolina residents. 

Readers will recall that Republicans in the General Assembly created and funded this database several years ago. It was presented to the public as an advancement despite the obvious concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality.

The Exchange published an update earlier this month that contains some very interesting information. Check this out:

(N)early all responding HIEs have partnered with one or more of the following communities and social service organizations: correctional health, social service agencies, drug and alcohol treatment programs, first responders, school nurses or blood banks. The responding SHIEC HIEs are exchanging 3.3 billion messages annually and delivering 453 million alerts of admissions, discharges and transfers (ADTs) to HIE participants to improve coordination of care, including nationwide HIE to HIE alerts through the Patient Centered Data Home™ (PCDH) initiative.

“In North Carolina we are proud to be a part of the HIE fabric that is knitting connected communities of care across the nation and bringing much-needed health information to providers across a patient’s care continuum,” said Christie Burris, executive director for the NC HIEA. 

First responders typically include police, fire and ambulance. Will police have access to our medical records?

Social service agencies include those that take kids away from parents, and that intervene in cases of suspected neglect and abuse. Public schools have the power to advantage-- or to disadvantage-- certain kids and families. Police obviously have powers of their own over citizens.

These are all described as "providers" deserving of access to citizens' medical records that rightfully ought to be private and confidential.

Both major political parties now accept and encourage a profoundly statist approach to health care. The political conversation today does not consider whether there ought to be governmental intervention and control over medical care; or whether it should be reduced. Instead, both major parties discuss how much more intervention and control there should be.

Be sure to thank your Republican state legislators for creating this huge state government electronic database with your family's health information. 

Communist Presidential Candidates

And it ain't just Sanders: 

We Need an Immigration Pause

Tom Piatak, Chronicles: 

A prime example of radical change the mainstream conservative movement proved too timid to notice is the rapid demographic change brought about by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. The pace of change has been dizzying. The white student population in American public schools declined from roughly 85 percent in 1970 to 49 percent in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). That number is projected to decline to 45 percent by 2027, according to the NCES.

This transformation was not natural but the result of government policy that has systematically favored immigration from non-European countries. If Burkean conservatism has anything to tell us at all, it is that such rapid change bodes ill for the body politic.

Indeed, even some leftists are beginning to see potential dangers posed by America’s demographic transformation. Recently, Tufts professor Monica Duffy Toft penned an article entitled, “Identicide: How Demographic Shifts Can Rip a Country Apart.” Toft began her piece by asking:

What happens to a country when its core national identity—its preferred image of itself in terms of race and religion—doesn’t match its demographic reality?…The answer, unfortunately, is ‘nothing good.’ Internal strife, perhaps civil war or collapse often precedes a decisive demographic shift...

The message from the (New York) Times and its myriad collaborators is clear: white Americans are suspect at best and evil at worst, and the country they created is rotten to the core. No wonder our politics are so turbulent.

Instead of doubling down on an approach guaranteed to increase rancor and division, we should instead lessen the dangers posed by rapid demographic change by slowing it down. The way to do that, of course, is to severely curtail legal immigration and to stop illegal immigration.

Such immigration pauses have been beneficial, allowing both recent immigrants to assimilate and reassuring older Americans that the country is still the one they loved. The alternative, as Professor Toft seems to recognize, is too terrible to contemplate.

Judicial Activism Alive and Well in North Carolina

I remember the old blog conversations from a decade ago or more. I would sound the alarm about the possibility of judicial activism in the state of North Carolina; and the former editorial page writer for the News and Record, Doug Clark, would insist that this is not a problem in our state. He argued that we had a culture of good judges, and that activism was not an issue here. He carried all the accumulated wisdom and the fund of knowledge many would deferentially presume to typify editorial writers.

How do we define judicial activism? It is when rulings are inconsistent with the text, structure, logic and history of the Constitution (or of individual statutes).

We have recently seen two rulings in state courts that are great examples of judicial activism.

The first is the ruling by three judges on the North Carolina Court of Appeals that essentially invalidates a constitutional amendment passed by North Carolina citizens on the matter of voter ID. Civitas skillfully deconstructs the pile of horse manure that this decision represents. It appears that two of the three judges violated the state's Code of Judicial Conduct when they invalidated voter ID.

The second decision is a ruling in connection with the old, notorious Leandro case. Last month, a Superior Court judge ruled that the state's leaders must

"work expeditiously and without delay to take all necessary actions” to improve the state’s education system.

Therefore, a Superior Court judge effectively ordered our state legislature to spend lots more money on public education. While some would argue that more money does not purchase educational quality, it is quite clear what the court intends. The ruling is a flagrant violation of the General Assembly's jurisdiction as a co-equal branch of government; and an attempt to place the court's thumb on the scales to alter the balance of powers. It will be interesting to see how Republican leaders in the North Carolina House and Senate will ultimately respond.

Let's think about these two decisions. These are precisely what you get, of course, when you place democratic socialists in the courts.

But the state's Republicans have not done a good job of electing constitutional conservatives to the state's highest courts during recent years. And they have not even tried to use their legislative powers to restrain the state's courts from issuing activist decisions. We can blame these two decisions on the socialists, but in fact they represent Republican failures also. With all the advantages of being one of the two major parties in the state, and having controlled both the General Assembly and the governor's mansion for a period of four years, they had every opportunity to take effective action to prevent these ugly scenes.

But they did not.

NC Newspaper Travails

A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Warren Buffet was deep-sixing his investment in newspapers. Here in the Triad, the Greensboro News and Record and the Winston-Salem Journal will now be controlled by Lee Enterprises, which already had a managerial role with these papers. Don't expect much of a change in editorial policy.

Then this past week, we learned that McClatchy, which owns the Raleigh News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer, has filed for bankruptcy.

All of these papers, of course, are afflicted with recalcitrant, intractable left-wing bias. 

One cannot help but wonder what Buffet was thinking when he bought our local papers. Yes, he is the very definition of the limousine liberal; and perhaps he was trying to preserve the progressive/socialist long march through these particular institutions. But he is an extremely savvy investor, and surely knew it was a failing business model. Little changed under his leadership except perhaps further downsizing. Why sell it now? 

McClatchy's financial bankruptcy follows its longstanding demonstrations of ethical and moral bankruptcy. 

But the fact that it is taking advantage of bankruptcy law is another way of saying it is preparing to stiff its creditors and perhaps its vendors. It is officially granted relief from those who might try to collect on McClatchy's indebtedness. Remain mindful that this is an organization that pronounces itself competent to characterize and register editorial opinions on other persons and entities and movements. And they go running for bankruptcy protection because they cannot pay their own bills.

The business model these organizations followed-- alienating and angering huge portions of their readership with their frank bias-- virtually assured that many customers would head for the exit doors once online alternatives arose. Nobody wants to spend extra money for such a tainted product if they have other options. And now, many local communities no longer have viable local journalism. We certainly do not here in Greensboro.

There has been some talk that the tech giants would begin to fund local journalism, but that would not fix the underlying dynamic.

As these entities continue to circle the drain, there is no alternative with integrity on the horizon to provide local journalism once again.

 

Forbes Magazine Highlights Reductions in Regulations in NC

Forbes:

North Carolina’s Regulatory Reform Act of 2013, enacted after Republicans took complete control of state government in 2012, subjects a large share of state regulations to periodic review and sunset. In the seven years since that reform passed, it has produced real results. 

North Carolina’s Rules Review Commission subjected 19,361 rules to a periodic review process established by the 2013 reform. More than 2,000 of those rules (approximately 10%) have been repealed and roughly 5,500 (29%) have been returned to the rule-making process. 

In 2019 North Carolina lawmakers enacted House Bill 590, a follow up reform intended to address the more than 60% of rules that avoided scrutiny through the process set up by the 2013 reform. With the enactment of HB 590, all rules will now be subject to review on a regular basis. 

Jeff Hyde from Greensboro now chairs the Rules Review Commission. A gentleman from Colfax, Paul Powell, also serves on the Commission. Yet another person serving is former NC State Senator Tommy Tucker.

Hyde is the first non-attorney who has chaired the commission. Other members are listed here.

This is a worthy endeavor; and it is very good this activity is taking place.