Category: Bob Small

Separate League Is Latest Transoversy

Separate League Is Latest Transoversy

By Bob Small

The latest transoversy: Should there be separate leagues for transexuals engaged in amateur athletics.?

One reason for this is purely statistical.  Shouldn’t we have four lanes for stats;  i.e., men. women, MTF and FTM, or do the numbers really matter?

Well, even amateur sports declare a champion and winners of individual meets, so, rightly or wrongly, most societies emphasize winning, and, mostly, in what is considered a “fair” manner, without any performance enhancing drugs or operations, etc .

“If you go through male puberty you should not be able to take away medals away from females,” said Trans Activist Caitlin Jenner. At the same time “Trans women who transitioned before male puberty do not have a performance advantage”.  

My addition to this is that, however you do it, it should be post op transexuals.

TheWorld Boxing Council believes this also.

Two of many dissenting views are Trans Girls Belong on Girls’ Sports Teams – Scientific American  and Myths About Transgender Girls in Sports | ACLU of Iowa 

Note “The Olympics have had trans-inclusive policies since 2004, but a single openly transexual athlete has yet to qualify.

Another voice for separate competitions is Let Trans Athletes Have Their Own Sport Competitions 

“What about male transsexuals? Are they to have no competitive arenas of their own? Due to their use of estrogen, they are weaker and less competitive than otherwise would have been the case, but still far stronger than undrugged girls. And their female to male counterparts are stronger and thus more competitive than they were before, thanks to doses of testosterone, but still nowhere near the level of males. No, they should not be banished from sports rivalry. They, too, deserve to experience the joys of competition. They should be allowed to organize their own events, whether in high school, college or the Olympics. We already have the Paralympic Games. Why not also organize athletic games for transsexuals? 

However, there have been some FTM exceptions (see below)

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/dear-schuyler/

https://us.srichinmoyraces.org/archives/1989/24hours/Whiting

Ethics Explainer: The Other – THE ETHICS CENTRE 

One more voice;

An 8th Grade Girl Explains Why Male Athletes Should Not Be Allowed in … 

In March of this year, the WAC (World Athletics Council) voted to exclude male athletes who have undergone male puberty from female World Ranking competition”.

Lastly, can we advance to the place where we are no longer “otherizing” Transexuals, athletes or not, once we’ve found agreement on the above issues.

Separate League Is Latest Transoversy

Separate League Is Latest Transoversy

A Friend From Carolina

A Friend From Carolina

By Bob Small

If we’re looking for a bald Republican candidate for president, look no further than Brian Friend of North Carolina, whose slogan is “America Reborn 24;”

Friend moved to Kure Beach, NC in 1987 and received his bachelor’s in accounting from UNC-Wilmington, while washing truks for $4.50 hour.  

He also has a masters degree from the former Jones International University in Forensic Accounting/Advanced Taxation.

He heads Port City Insurance which he started in 2003.

In some ways, his campaign is boiler plate GOP, describing it as

Pro God,
Pro Military,
Pro Law Enforcement,
Pro 2nd Amendment

And he adds the statement that “America needs to be baptized”.

However, he sees the need for other changes.  He is for affordable housing, choice for vaccination, school choice, cutting healthcare costs and trade schools

He also wants Americans “stranded in Afghanistan and Yemen” to be returned.

He is also anti-digital currency and defends bail bonds saying, “it is essential to . . . to keep dangerous criminals off the street, but also to let criminals that are not dangerous  the opportunity for release.”

See also  Brian Friend – Ballotpedia 

A Friend From Carolina

A Friend From Carolina

Alternatives For DVD Fans With Netflix DVD’s Passing

Alternatives For DVD Fans With Netflix DVD’s Passing

By Bob Small

Since Netflix DVD has ceased to exist as of, today, Sept. 29, we have begun to investigate alternatives.

These are two of the mail-order alternatives; one is Scarecrow Video of Seattle. It offers a humongous list of titles.

Then there’s Cafe DVD, for which you can even pay for your DVD’d by check if you want to be really old-school.

Scarecrow and Cafe are two of the most recent listings of alternatives to Netflix.

Here are some lists of others.

7 Alternatives to Netflix for Renting DVDs – MUO

Five DVD Subscription Services to Replace Netflix – How-To Geek

With all of these alternatives, it may be helpful to check out CNET or another site that presents aggregate reviews. For the next month, many of these services will probably get a rush of customers and will have to learn to adjust.

If you’re ready to travel within Delaware County, there is a great old-timey store called Goodies that offers DVDs and even unopened videotapes for sale. Of course, stores such as Goodies also offer the opportunity for socialization. Many of us have been inside too long and would welcome the chance to meet and talk to other people who are also interested in movies.

There are also various thrift stores that offer DVDs and videotapes.

Here are some links:

THE BEST 10 Thrift Stores in Delaware County, PA – Yelp

Family Thrift Shoppe – 1011 Macdade Blvd – Foursquare and 

NANA’S ATTIC – 23 Photos & 16 Reviews – Yelp

Dollar stores sometimes sell DVD’s, although my friend Peggy observes that “you can’t buy anything there any more for a dollar!”

Then there is the Delaware County Library System, which has the added advantage of letting you search online before you go to the library.

Of course, there’s always Redbox, possibly the least social option for finding movies to watch.

Alternatives For DVD Fans With Netflix DVD's Passing

Alternatives For DVD Fans With Netflix DVD’s Passing

Effigy Burning Is An International Tradition

Effigy Burning Is An International Tradition

By Bob Small

Recently, New London, CT revived the Burning Benedict Arnold Festival, in remembrance of the Sept. 6, 1781 raid on that town, burning most of it to the ground. Derron Wood, organizer and also Artistic Director of New London’s Flock Theatre calls it the “Original Burning Man Festival”.

Victor Chiburis, also of Flock Theatre, said that one year, there were mock Arnold Supporters butit usually is very peaceful and historic.

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, hanging in effigy was a common form of political protest in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

In 1765, the patriots of Boston lynched the British Imperial Taxman

There were also traditional burnings in effigy of Robert Lundy, who betrayed the defense of Derry with Ian Paisley describing Margaret Thatcher and David Trimble as “Lundies”.

In present times both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been hung in effigy if not burned. These deeds are protected by the First Amendment. Similarly, Mexicans were also burning Trump effigies.

The Times of India indicates burning a politician in effigy is not considered a crime except for “rash and negligent handling of fire or combustible matter”.

Going further back in history, we have the “burning of Judas” and the last known case of that was in Liverpool, England in 1971. To my knowledge, it’s not a practice in any US Churches.

Any discerning fan of horror cinema is aware of the Hammer Studios Contributions, and The Wicker Man (1973)   is actually based on Druidic legend

The final citation is not a person burned in effigy but Covid 19

One wonders whether there should be an unofficial US  Effigy Day, perhaps every Sept. 6, as an unofficial day of protest against whatever tyrants groups choose.

The choice, of course, would be up to the group.

Effigy Burning Is An International Tradition

Jimmy Cooper Of Georgia Runs for President

Jimmy Cooper Of Georgia Runs for President

By Bob Small

Maybe we should call them SPD’s, or Second Party Dems, because they don’t have any realistic chance of reaching the Democratic Party debates.

The Democrats are having debates, aren’t they?

Anyway, there are a lot of SPD’s, and some of them express really innovative and challenging ideas. One such candidate is Jimmy Cooper of Georgia, not related to Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper, or any other Jim Cooper.

Cooper mentions on his website that he is being treated for a recently diagnosed multiple myeloma. 

He ran as a Green, for the US House representing Georgia’s 8th District in 2018 and 2020, and for the State of Georgia’s 145th District in 2022. He also volunteered in the campaigns of both Bernie Sanders (D) and Jill Stein (Green).

Green Party presidential nomination, 2024 – Ballotpedia

Jimmy Cooper Of Georgia Runs for President
Jimmy Cooper

Though the Green Party Presidential Convention isn’t until Aug. 22, 2024, Cornell West seems to be the presumed candidate, and others need not apply.

This situation is similar to that of both the Dems and the GOP, where only one person is being considered for each.

By the way, the Libertarian Party Convention is May 24-26, 2024.

Though Cooper is running as a Democrat this time, his Greenness can be seen by perusing his 20 pages of issues. Among the ones worth mentioning are the following:

  • Abolish the Electoral College
  • Repeal GATT, NAFTA, and Taft-Hartley
  • Initiate A Basic Income (currently a hot topic in the UK and elsewhere)
  • Guarantee 100 percent of the necessary medical care that wounded veterans need to heal
  • Enact House Resolution 568, or the Unhoused Bill of Rights
  • Statehood for D.C.
  • Require that police actually live in the communities in which they serve

His other initiatives are available in the twenty pages of issues listed on his web site.

Lastly, he favors Marianne Williamson for president, but only if he doesn’t win.

For Jimmy Cooper’s past history, see Jimmy Cooper declines qualifying fee to run as Democrat Secures ..

Anti-Semitic Podcast Hosted By State Department Worker

Anti-Semitic Podcast Hosted By State Department Worker

By Bob Small

“If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” — Noam Chomsky

Hate speech, as long as it’s only speech, is reprehensible and regrettable, but not illegal, at least in the U.S.

Now we get to  Bloodandfaith.com, a podcast by Fritz Berggren.

Six years of “The Jews worship Satan and they’re Satan’s own children” just might qualify as hate speech.

So why does this particular hate speech matter more than other?

Berggren is a long-term employee of the U.S. State Department. He was removed from the Bahrain embassy after complaints from fellow workers yet he remains working to represent America’s interests abroad.

This is despite 70 members of Congress in 2021 and 2022 urging he be canned.

More than 70 State Department staffers in 2021 called on Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is Jewish, to take action.

Nothing happened.

Berggren received a PhD in 2001 from the University of Miami. He is married with four children.

His connections with the U.S. State Department were outed by Politico.

We recently saw The House on Carroll Street which was based on Operation Paperclip, in which the government brought 16,000 former Nazis into America in the 1950s. entailed the US Government bringing approximately

Berggren is also anti-LGBTQ, anti African-Americans, and anti anyone who is not a white Christian supremacist. His belief is that “Jesus Christ came to save the world from the Jews” — ignoring the fact that Jesus himself was Jewish, as was made very clear to me when I was being harangued by a chapter of Jews for Jesus.

Possibly the U.S. State Department is constrained by the First Amendment. Any thoughts?

Anti-Semitic Podcast Hosted By State Department Worker

Anti-Semitic Podcast Hosted By State Department Worker

GOP Look To Become Even Weaker In Philly

GOP Look To Become Even Weaker In Philly

By Bob Small

The Guv throws a spanner in the works. Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has thrust himself into this November’s City Council Election in Philadelphia.

He endorsed the current City Council at-Large incumbent, from the Working Families Party, one Kendra Brooks.  She is also a member of the leftish DSA (Democratic Socialist).

Bob Brady, former Democratic Representative and current chair of the Democratic Party of Philadelphia, commented on this.  He’s stated that Shapiro’s endorsement of a non-Democrat probably violates state party rules.  It was unclear what their response could be.

On the other hand, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Sharif Street said  “He can support who he chooses”, so this may be a tempest in a teapot.

Ms. Brooks was elected in 2019, the first non-Republican or non-Democrat to win an at=large seat in over 70 years. It probably helped that she was endorsed by Larry Krasner and Elizabeth Warren.

Ms. Brooks’ campaign  says they are planning a fundraiser with the Governor.

Ms. Brooks and Shapiro have worked together before, including a campaign ad last year..

Ms. Brooks has said she doesn’t believe the Republicans deserve governing power in Philadelphia.

This may hurt the GOP more than the Democrats for two reasons.  First, the WFP is closer to the Dems than the GOP.  Secondly, and more importantly, there are seven at large City Council seats, with two reserved for the minority party.  Both the GOP and the WFP have two candidates.  Since 9 of the 10 District Council seats don’t have a Republican opposition, the only other Republican who can win, and probably will, is District 10 incumbent Brian O’Neill.

For information about the Philadelphia Republican Party, such as it is, and their at-large candidates, see  Republican Party of Philadelphia | PhillyGOP | United States 

The Philadelphia GOP has not responded to phone and/or email requests for comment on this issue.

GOP Look To Become Even Weaker In Philly

GOP Look To Become Even Weaker In Philly

Tiny Homes For Homeless?

Tiny Homes For Homeless?

By Bob Small

In the ’90s when I finished my degree at Neumann (Night School), one of their “causes” was “Books for the Homeless”.  Other groups collected clothes, food, offered donations of haircuts, healthcare, raincoats, shaves, shoes, and etc.

Now, someone has come up with a fairly radical solution, homes for the homeless.

The Tiny Homes Community Collaborative (THCC) Facebook page explains the alternative therapeutic farm at Penny Lane is just one part of the project.  Each tiny home can be produced for $50,000 through a public/private partnership through XDS, inc. and the UNC School of Social Work

Their first goal is 15 tiny homes with five of those prioritized for veterans with chronic health conditions.

The engine behind this is Thava Mahadevan,who is a clinical addiction specialist and director of operations at the UNC center for Excellence in Mental Health. He began his journey as a Tamil in Sri Lanka and then fled to India where he experienced homelessness. Mahadevan expects these houses to rent for $250 per month.

Alaina Money-Garman, the founder and CEO of Garman Homes, says she believes private and public partnership are key to addressing affordable housing challenges.

Not everyone is thrilled with this concept.

“We don’t want this here,” Robert Wilson of Charlotte said.  We don’t think it’s the right place for it here. We feel like it’s going to hurt our property values.”

Tiny Homes For Homeless?

Tiny Home Industry Association is a website dedicated to the latest in tiny homes.

Some of these proposals even include tiny homes on wheels! 

There are even tiny homes TV shows.

Some of these, by the way, are not for persons with mental problems, but for people with tiny incomes.

This is happening throughout the country.

Is Delaware County next?

Tiny Homes For Homeless?

Tiny Homes For Homeless coming?

Fear Of A Dem Pro-Life Candidate

Fear Of A Dem Pro-Life Candidate

By Bob Small

Having been arrested at anti-government demonstrations, I have nothing but respect — never mind the cause — for those willing to be arrested for a belief. 

The would include Terrisa Bukovinac. She is among those seeking the Democratic nomination for president 

Ms. Bukovinac is the founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) which she says is a “liberal pro-life group”.  She says that The Progressive case against abortion “is inconsistent with the noon-violent instincts of feminism to tie the liberation of women to the elimination of any group of human beings”.

The Christian Post notes Ms. Bukovinac’s group includes pro-life activists who have been convicted of federal charges — and face 11 year sentences — in connection with a 2020 lockdown” of a D.C. abortion clinic.

Ms. Bukovinac has been rallying to their defense.

Ms. Bukovinac was also among those outside the federal prosecutor’s office, last October, protesting the persecution of Mark Houck

She talks about the need to bring back the concept of “ rescue”.  Rescue is a PAAU tactic that involves “entering abortion facilities to pass out roses with pregnancy help information attached to abortion-minded patients.”

She has also served on the boards of Democrats for Life of  America and Rehumanize International

The loyal Democrats of Swarthmore had never mentioned either to me.

In this Minimise interview, she simply says “I want to change the way that humanity views unborn life.”

In this CRUX interview, she asks the question, as an atheist, “if we only get one life to live and there’s no God to bring about justice in the end , how could abortion be just?”.

She believes we need “a willingness to disrupt the status quo.”

“No social justice movements are won without critical nonviolent direct action,” she says.

She is a co-leader of Secular Pro Life and serves on the board of Let them Live.

Here is an update regarding the D.C. Abortion Blockade trial.

Most of the updates, for some reason, seem to be from The Christian Post.

My arrests for civil disobedience also had to do with disagreements about US Government Policy.

My time in jail was hours, however, not years.

Fear Of A Dem Pro-Life Candidate
Terrisa Bukovinac supporting Mark Houck, Oct 7., 2022 in Philadelphia

Fear Of A Dem Pro-Life Candidate

The Radical History of Labor Day

The Radical History of Labor Day

By Bob Small

When my wife and I worked as State of Pennsylvania drones, one of us usually marched in the Philly Labor Day parade, to show solidarity with our union, the Pennsylvania Social Services Union a.k.a PSSU.

Exactly how did all this Labor Day marching get started?

Matthew Maguire and Peter Mcguire conspired to create Labor Day, and the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City in 1882.

Theses articles, here and here, point to Matthew Maguire not being granted “Father of Labor Day” status due to his strong socialist leanings, including being the Socialist Party candidate for president in 1896.

Grover Cleveland made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1896, hoping to make amends for sending in the military to squash the Pullman Railway strike.

Grover Cleveland did not become the first president to serve three non-consecutive term However, Grover Cleveland remains the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. That could change next year.

 Grover Cleveland jailed socialist Eugene Debs, who then ran for president from jail.

Eugene Debs: The Socialist Who Ran for President From Prison – Men

Both of the purported founders of Labor Day are buried in New Jersey. The Peter J. Mcguire Memorial and Gravesite lies in Pennsauken.

The Matthew Maguire gravesite, sans museum, lies in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totawa.

The Department of Labor was founded on March 4, 1913, by President William Howard Taft, on his last day of office.

For a more philosophical discussion of Labor Day and the new socialism from an Austrian perspective, see this article from the Mises Institute.

 The author proposes that “over the past thirty years, international bureaucracies have played a growing role in making the world a better place for socialism.”

Nowadays, rather than discuss the Pullman strike of 1894, we discuss Labor Day sales and barbecues, and we no longer march. One might say capitalism has won.

The Radical History of Labor Day

The Radical History of Labor Day