Target on the cutting edge of societal changes

340,000 Pledge to Boycott Target over Transgender Bathroom Policy

"More than 340,000 have signed a pledge to stop shopping at Target, in response to the corporation’s announcement this week that transgender employees and customers will be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“ 'This means a man can simply say he ‘feels like a woman today’ and enter the women's restroom... even if young girls or women are already in there,” stated the American Family Association, which started the petition.

"Target on Tuesday became the first giant retailer to weigh in on an issue at the center of a heated national debate.

"The announcement came just after North Carolina passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms in public facilities that correspond with their gender at birth.

“ '#BoycottTarget has resonated with Americans,” wrote AFA president Tim Wildmon." . . .

AN OPEN LETTER TO TARGET: REGARDING YOUR NEW RESTROOM POLICY  

"I am a woman. I am a frequent shopper in your stores. I am first and foremost a mother. Your recent change in policy of who you allow to use each restroom concerns me. You stated in your blog post, “We believe that everyone…deserves to be protected from discrimination and treated equally.” and “…you’ll always be accepted, respected, and welcomed at Target.” As a business owner, I do understand your right to make a stance as a company. As a parent, I will never understand why you would trade the safety of our women and children for the sake of not hurting  feelings.I realize that everyone needs to feel accepted, loved, and wanted. I know the struggles of a person struggling to find their identity. I also know that as of September 2012, a Gallup poll showed that approximately 3.4% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. If, for argument’s sake, we assume that those groups are of equal representation in that number, that would indicate that of the American population, only 0.85% of Americans identify as transgender.

 

New U.S. Navy Carriers Opt for Gender-Neutral, Urinal-Free Bathrooms

. . . "Urinals are omitted from the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers, due to hit the fleet in 2015, as both a cost-saving measure and an attempt to make bathrooms more gender-neutral. Urinal-free ships allow the Navy to easily switch a bathroom's designation between male and female, helping the ship adapt to changing crews. The U.S. Navy has deployed women on ships since 1994, but every carrier built since then has included urinals.

"In addition, urinals clog more than toilets and can cost more to maintain, Capt. Chris Meyer, manager of the Future Aircraft Carriers Program for the Naval Sea Systems Command, told CNN. Several sailors speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Navy Times that urinals were hard to clean and easily broken, and they were glad to see them go.

" 'There's a lot more at play in the design objectives than (making the toilet areas) gender-neutral," Meyer told CNN. "We're saving money in maintenance costs, and we’re improving quality of life.' " . . .

Then this Facebook post purporting to be from a lady in an LA Target:

"It's true. ..I'm in the women's bathroom at a Target north of LA...they actually took out a stall for women in order to accommodate the ones who have giblets...yes, these are urinals...for men...and so the war on women progresses. ..."  Hat tip to Kathleen Crawford

What Obama has done to our special relationship with Britain

We and the United Kingdom have been allies all of the 20th century. We stood by them when they were alone against Hitler and the Nazis, they stood by us in our trials  and battles. 
Now see what this British writer says Obama and  Democrats have done to our century-plus alliance with our ancestral homeland.
Do you think it wise to keep Democrats in office and continue the damage done this past eight years?  The Tunnel Dweller

PETER HITCHENS: America isn't our special friend. It ruined our Navy, Empire and future 

" Now will we grasp that the United States is not our friend, but a foreign country whose interests are often different from ours?

"President Obama’s blatant intervention in our internal affairs is not a sudden breach of a soppy ‘special relationship’. The USA’s only real special relationship is with Saudi Arabia, a 70-year-old hard pact of oil, money and power, welded together with such cynicism it ought to make us gasp.

"Barack Obama’s open desire for us to stay inside the EU is by no means the first or worst example of White House meddling here in these islands. Bill Clinton forced us to cave in to the Provisional IRA in 1998 and his successor, George W. Bush, continued the policy by making us do Sinn Fein’s bidding afterwards.

"Washington came close to scuppering our recapture of the Falklands in 1982. And with the current state of our Armed Forces, which can nowadays do nothing without American support, I often wonder how the White House and the Pentagon would behave if Argentina once again seized Port Stanley." . . .

"If anyone thinks Hillary Clinton is a great friend of Britain, they’re in for a big surprise."

Regrettably, I do take issue with Mr. Hitchens' point of view on this next:

"In the blackest months of the Second World War, just after the fall of France, the US Congress demanded almost every penny we owned before it would authorise the famous Lend- Lease programme.Secret convoys of Royal Navy warships carried our reserves of gold bullion (estimated to have been worth £26 billion in today’s values) across the Atlantic – mostly never to return. Billions in negotiable securities went the same way, and British assets in the USA were sold off at absurdly low prices."

True, Great Britain did almost bankrupt herself buying war materials from America. We were forced to do cash-and-carry because of the neutrality act and would have legally had to sell to Germany on the same basis. President Roosevelt's concern was for Britain's solvency and his desire was to-as he said- "remove the dollar sign". The American President with the help of Congress and the trade of some British bases approved lend-lease whereby we "loaned" Britain the materials to resist Hitler. This is discussed in some detail in the chapter titled "Lend-Lease" in Winston Churchill's history of World War Two, Their Finest Hour. Sir Winston calls Lend-Lease "the most unsordid act in the history of any nation".

As to Hitchens' opinion of Obama, I am in full agreement.
The Tunnel Dweller

Germans Say “Nein!” To Obama…

Weasel Zippers

"Making friends wherever he goes.

"Via Yahoo:

Tens of thousands of opponents of a proposed transatlantic trade deal poured onto German streets Saturday on the eve of a visit by US President Barack Obama.

A loose coalition of trade unions, environmentalists and consumer protection groups in the northern city of Hanover said they drew a crowd of 90,000 to a march and rally outside the city’s opera house.

Police mobilised a large force to keep the peace and put attendance at 35,000.

Obama’s trip — to open an industrial technology fair and hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders — was intended to lend momentum to flagging efforts to see the world’s biggest trade pact finalised this year.

On a visit to London on Saturday, Obama sought to address sceptics’ fears head-on, admitting that some past trade agreements had “served the interests of large corporations and not necessarily of workers in the countries that participate in them”.

Keep reading…

Obama infuriates the Brits as he threatens to send UK 'to the back of the queue' if they vote to leave the European Union

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: This President is last man we should heed

"Mr Obama’s grasp of history is shaky, too, if he believes the EU can take credit for seven decades of relative peace."

"The tone was patronising, the language menacing – and the message not only hypocritical but, frankly, insulting.

"Certainly, Barack Obama has every right to say he thinks it’s in America’s best interests for Britain to remain in the EU, if that is what he believes.

"But he has no business to come here and preach that submission to Brussels is good for the people of the UK." . . .

"By arguing that a Britain outside the EU would be at the ‘back of the queue’ for a trade deal, to Number 10’s delight, Mr Obama displayed contempt for voters and left little doubt that he sees the special relationship as a one-way street.

"Has he forgotten he leads a nation founded to proclaim independence from overseas control, whose citizens died for the right to make their own laws?

Which brings us to Mr Obama’s own sorry record as Commander-in-Chief and architect of America’s foreign policy.This is the man who made way for the rise of IS by his reckless withdrawal from Iraq. He has failed even to honour his pledge to close Guantanamo Bay. And his chief foreign policy ‘success’ has been a deal with terrorist-sponsoring Iran.

Obama's amazing THREAT to Britain: UK would be at the 'back of the queue' after Brexit

"Obama threatens the British if they dare vote for Brexit, with trade. So much for special relationship."

Hunter Objects To US Navy Ship Named For Carl Levin

“If you want to make an exception, justify it,” Kasper said. “Maybe there is a perfectly good explanation for why Secretary Mabus circumvented the rule book. But this name in no way fits the Navy’s ship-naming convention for destroyers.”

Defense News  "Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., echoed Wicker’s approval.

“Let me just add my congratulations to Senator Levin,” Ayotte said. “I can't think of a better person to name the ship after. That's great.”

"But at least one prominent Republican in the House begs to differ with the choice.

“I would like an explanation as to how this decision properly reflects Navy ship-naming rules,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., wrote Tuesday in a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who oversees the service’s ship-naming process.

“ 'It is important that the Navy adhere to its own ship-naming rules and take every effort necessary to avoid politicization of this process,” Hunter wrote.

. . . 

"Hunter is a long-time critic of Mabus’ choices for ship names, in particular the secretary’s 2011 choice to name a support ship after union organizer and activist César Chavez, a selection that annoyed many conservatives. Hunter raised enough of a ruckus that the Navy and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) each produced reports on current and past ship-naming practices.

"Hunter, in his letter, took pains to note this most recent objection was not directed at Levin personally, rather it’s aimed at the choice of the name of a non-veteran for a destroyer.

"Such ships, the Navy notes in its online explanation, are “named for American naval leaders and heroes.” The Navy and CRS also note that exceptions to the rule are not unusual." . . .

Silver: NBA must move all-star game if no change to controversial North Carolina law

WaPo

"NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday that if the league is to keep the 2017 all-star game in Charlotte it will require a change in the controversial North Carolina law passed last month that overturned protections for gay and transgender people.

“ 'We’ve been, I think, crystal clear, that a change in the law is necessary to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event,  . . .

Can you see a connection between these two articles?

Revealed: ISIS Plot To Enter United States Through Mexico…
. . . "Gules Ali Omar told the ISIS members about the route so that it could be used to send members to America to carry out terrorist attacks, prosecutors alleged in a document filed this week." . . .

and this one? . . .


Chelsea Clinton: Now that Scalia’s Gone We Can Enact Gun Control

"While campaigning for her mother recently, Chelsea Clinton admitted that the left is planning to use the Supreme Court to enact greater gun control if a Democrat wins the presidency this fall.

"The Washington Free Beacon reported:" . . .

"Chelsea Clinton: Gun Control Opportunity on Supreme Court With Scalia Gone" . . .

ISIS Executes 250 Women For Refusing To Serve As Sex Slaves…

Weasel Zippers

"Via International Business Times:"

"The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has executed at least 250 women in northern Iraqi city of Mosul in Nineveh province for refusing sex slavery, according to reports Wednesday. The women had been ordered to accept “temporary marriages” to the militants, and were all put to death after their refusal.

. . . "Earlier this year, it was reported that several teachers and civil servants in Mosul were executed by the ISIS for refusing to follow a new curriculum the militants had introduced to schools. The militants also raided schools and arrested dozens of teachers from Nineveh province for refusing to teach their students the new curriculum. ISIS reportedly removed major subjects, including math, biology, chemistry and philosophy, from school curriculums across Syria and Iraq and replaced them with lessons on jihad and the history of ISIS."

 More here.

Seven Earth Day predictions that failed spectacularly

Be aware when reading this that actor Alec Baldwin declares these people "mentally ill".  TD

WUWT

"Environmentalists truly believed and predicted that the planet was doomed during the first Earth Day in 1970, unless drastic actions were taken to save it. Humanity never quite got around to that drastic action, but environmentalists still recall the first Earth Day fondly and hold many of the predictions in high regard.

"So this Earth Day, The Daily Caller News Foundation takes a look at predictions made by environmentalists around the original Earth Day in 1970 to see how they’ve held up.

"Have any of these dire predictions come true? No, but that hasn’t stopped environmentalists from worrying. From predicting the end of civilization to classic worries about peak oil, here are seven green predictions that were just flat out wrong." . . .

Via Benny Peiser. (H/T, Ronald Bailey at Reason and Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute).

Setting up Obama's greatest apology ever. More national humiliation at the hands of this Democrat president

"If you liked Obama apologizing to the murderous Castros in Cuba, you're going to love what he has to say at the site of the first atomic bomb ever dropped."

Here he comes again: 

Just as Rev. Wright and Bill Ayres would do.

Rick Moran  "A senior government official quoted in a Japanese newspaper says that the US will propose a visit to Hiroshima by President Obama in May following the G-7 summit.

. . . 

"I'm sure those surviving veterans of World War II would have a thing or two to say to President Obama if he apologizes for the US shortening the war and saving millions of lives. The planned invasion of the islands would have cost a million American casualties - about 250,000 dead. Japanese losses, civilian and military, could have topped 2 million. Many millions more across Asia were saved as the war would have dragged on into at least 1947.

"We are still handing out Purple Heart medals left over from that planned attack.

"But none of this is as important as pandering to leftists around the world - and our former enemy who has so sanitized their barbaric atrocities committed during the war as to make the history they teach their children unrecognizable.

"We dropped the bombs to wake up the Japanese government to the danger of their country's total destruction. Before that, Japan's "peace" cabinet had proposed keeping the military in charge as well as allowing them to keep some of their territorial gains. It was a recipe for another war a decade or so later. 

"We owe no one an apology." 

Celebrating the nation with the smallest carbon footprint UPDATED

Happy Earth Day From North Korea, Where Every Day Is Earth Day!

Where capitalism has never reared its ugly head.

Plus this Earth Day related feature:

FLASHBACK FRIDAY:  When The Founder Of Earth Day Murdered His Girlfriend, Then Turned Her Into Compost

"Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. Seven years later, police raided his closet and found the "composted" body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk." . . .

'The Usual Suspects' in the Persecution of Global Warming Skeptics
. . . "It appears that Matt Pawa, John Passacantando, and Kert Davies, along with Al Gore, are trying out the new theory that going after "climate deniers violating racketeering laws" will finally silence people who criticize the notion of catastrophic human-caused global warming.  But rather than winning big with it, is this now a situation that will expose that it's been a clique of enviro-activists engaging in racketeering efforts for the past 20 years?"

Obama Gives Queen Photo Album Featuring Pics Of Himself…

Doesn't this president realize he just isn't the attraction anymore that he continues to think he is?

They don't greet President Obama at the airports anymore 
 . . . Yes, our president is now greeted by governors.  It does not get any more insulting than that.  Maybe having Russian jets fly within 50 feet of U.S. warships is a very close second!"

Weasel Zippers

"I suppose it’s not as bad as the time he gave her an iPod full of his own speeches."

White visiting the Queen, the Obama family gave her an iPod,prompting raised eyebrows from the British Press. The MP3 player came pre-loaded with photos from President Obama’s inauguration and audio files of the president’s speech as a senator to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his 2009 inauguration address.