Culture

[Cackalacky]

I have several friends who refuse to have more than a couple kids (1 stopped at a single daughter) due to the bogeyman of overpopulation and its effects on climate change.

Yep. I know plenty of younger adults who share this opinion.

 

[wizards8507]

I have several friends who refuse to have more than a couple kids (1 stopped at a single daughter) due to the bogeyman of overpopulation and its effects on climate change.

Yep. I know plenty of younger adults who share this opinion.

I don't doubt that. But anecdote and ubiquity are not the same.

 

[Legacy]

Immigrants and Community Policing in Garden City, Kansas

Immigrants and Community Policing in Garden City, Kansas

A matter of trust (Garden City Telegram)

On a warm day in October 2016, Mursal Naleye was getting ready to attend Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque inside his Garden City apartment complex. It was around noon when he received an unexpected call from Garden City Chief of Police Michael Utz.


“Mursal, some things have come up regarding the safety of folks in your neighborhood,” Utz told him. “I need you and the other tribal leaders down here at the police station — by 1 p.m.”


“OK, chief, no problem,” Naleye quickly replied.

This wasn’t the first time the chief had reached out to the 27-year-old Tyson Fresh Meats trainer for help. 
But the request made him nervous. His initial thought? There was a problem within his Somali community. Perhaps someone had committed a serious crime. Were they all in trouble? Why would the police want them together? And on such short notice?


There wasn’t much time. He started making calls. As president of the local African Community Center, Naleye was connected to leaders in the Somali society, composed primarily of refugee families who have migrated to Garden City over the past decade. Some were his friends on West Mary Street. Others were his co-workers at the local Tyson beef-packing plant near Holcomb, where most work the evening shift starting at 3 p.m.
...

 

[ickythump1225]

That might be the most pretentious sentence I've ever read. Translation: Young people check Twitter while they're taking a dump.

This entire review reeks of urban / coastal bias. I'm 28 years old, I live in one of the bluest states on the map, and I work for a company that many consider to be a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. And I have never, in my life, heard somebody actually claim that they were holding off on having children because of climate change. Yet this is the ubiquitous argument that an entire demographic cohort is supposedly making en masse? The rest of the analysis is similarly disconnected. It's not a generational divide outside of the major metropolitan centers. The people in small towns and suburbs are behaving as their parents did.

Young people are having less kids, or no kids, in order to live extended adolescences and pursue any number of materialist comforts. People push off having kids until their 30s to pursue careers and material wealth and then sacrifice their kids and families in pursuit of further material comfort.

In my adult life I've lived in 4 states, 2 red and 2 blue, and have made friends in all 4 states (and have friends all over the country including some of the bluest and reddest states) and they are having less kids because:
A) too expensive
B) not enough time
C) "not ready" (these are men and women in their late 20s/early 30s)
D) just don't want them

Not wanting children because of the global warming/overpopulation boogeyman is flawed thinking but at least there is some reason bigger than their own little lives. Sadly the majority of millennials/young Gen-Xers I know are just caught up in capitalistic hedonism and want to delay any true responsibility for as long as possible, if not forever.

 

[Legacy]

The meat packing industry whether established in a town or a new plant brings jobs and paychecks and economic growth to small towns. Those towns may also struggle to provide the basics for those workers - healthcare, schools, housing - as well as adapting to cultures with different religions, dress, and ways of life. Those immigrant employees also face similar culture shocks in adapting to America. Meatpacking is mostly done in the Midwest and in the South in one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. More than 500,000 people are employed in the meatpacking industry, most of them immigrants and refugees. Companies like Tyson illegally recruit workers from Mexico and Central America and, of course, contribute to the culture changes and illegal immigrants in these small towns. Refugees are ideal for the meatpacking industry since they have legal status, can't afford to complain about dangerous working conditions and, historically, are less likely to join unions as well as uninformed about occupational safety standards. So those companies actively recruit Somali, Ethiopian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Micronesian and Hispanic workers. But for a town and all the workers, meatpacking jobs provide an economic benefit for established residents and the growth of small businesses.

Dangerous Jobs, Cheap Meat
Chopping Chicken in Missouri: Immigrants — Not Locals — Still Fill the Processing Lines
In A Small Missouri Town, Immigrants Turn To Schools For Help
Big Poultry finds workers in an immigrant community known for its culture of forgiving

Muslims potentially face an additional stress for both towns/residents and the immigrants/refugees.

Dispute Over Prayer Breaks Divides Muslim Meatpacking Workers
“The Only Good Muslim Is a Dead Muslim”
Muslims Used To Love Living In Tennessee — Now It's A Nightmare
Somalis Living an American Dream in Kansas Glimpse a Nightmare
Federal Panel Sides With Muslim Meatpacking Workers In Colorado Prayer Dispute
Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day for Muslim Holiday

A few articles on Somali refugees:

Somalis finding their place in Minnesota
Somali refugees change face of southwest Mo. town Somali refugees change face of southwest Mo. town
Somalis arrive in Emporia with tuberculosis

The towns that welcome those jobs, the economic benefits they provide, and adapt to refugees with different cultures know that a meatprocessing/slaughterhouse plant can be moved elsewhere, bring in legal refugees or be subject to ICE raids that would leave them suffering.

In California's poultry plants, refugees fill the vacuum left after President Bush's immigration raid
Cherokee Tyson plant to close; 450 jobs cut
How an immigration raid threw a small Iowa town into economic crisis
ICE Raids Reopen Old Wounds for Families in This Small Town

 

[Whiskeyjack]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW POST: Our doom is upon us... in terms of total fertility rates. 2017 will be very low fertility, further decline is likely, and no recovery can be responsibly forecast, even with plausible policy reforms. Despair ye mortals. <a href="https://t.co/FvCW2R8PgE">https://t.co/FvCW2R8PgE</a> <a href="https://t.co/MOdLh1YKrx">pic.twitter.com/MOdLh1YKrx</a></p>— Lyman Stone (@lymanstoneky) <a href="https://twitter.com/lymanstoneky/status/935912846055047170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[zelezo vlk]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW POST: Our doom is upon us... in terms of total fertility rates. 2017 will be very low fertility, further decline is likely, and no recovery can be responsibly forecast, even with plausible policy reforms. Despair ye mortals. <a href="https://t.co/FvCW2R8PgE">https://t.co/FvCW2R8PgE</a> <a href="https://t.co/MOdLh1YKrx">pic.twitter.com/MOdLh1YKrx</a></p>— Lyman Stone (@lymanstoneky) <a href="https://twitter.com/lymanstoneky/status/935912846055047170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm glad you're finally back posting in the important threads.

 

[wizards8507]

Woo Connecticut fertility gains!

Doing my part... Convinced the wife that we need at least three.

From the comments:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'd bet it would explain somewhere in the 25-50% range. Apartments are crappy environments for kids, esp multiple kids. Millenials still overwhelmingly express a preference for single family detached housing for family life</p>— Matt Corbett (@CorbettMatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/CorbettMatt/status/935921347770843136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Don't tell Buster.

 

[NorthDakota]

Woo Connecticut fertility gains!

Doing my part... Convinced the wife that we need at least three.

From the comments:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'd bet it would explain somewhere in the 25-50% range. Apartments are crappy environments for kids, esp multiple kids. Millenials still overwhelmingly express a preference for single family detached housing for family life</p>— Matt Corbett (@CorbettMatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/CorbettMatt/status/935921347770843136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Don't tell Buster.

3 children? What are you...Lutheran? Be fruitful and multiply!

 

[wizards8507]

3 children? What are you...Lutheran? Be fruitful and multiply!

I said "at least" three. She was stuck on two since we were dating but I finally have her convinced that we're not done.

 

[Legacy]

Why the Child Tax Credit is not enough to help working families (The Hill)

Early indications suggest both policies remain a tough sell to GOP members. In meetings last week, some Republican lawmakers expressed a preference for an expanded Child Tax Credit in lieu of paid parental leave and more child care assistance. But however well intentioned, an expanded Child Tax Credit is not enough to help increase work among poor and low-income families. Given the problem of low labor force participation in the U.S., policies that increase work are badly needed.

Many Republican politicians have long been against paid parental leave and child care assistance. Beyond the usual arguments against any new government spending and employer mandates, federal paid leave has been described as hurting women, being too paternalistic, and leading to “lower pay, stingier promotions, and employer favoritism toward the childless.” When it comes to child care assistance, some believe it penalizes stay at home parents and can be harmful to children. While the truth is more nuanced, it doesn’t change the fact that many on the right have a difficult time supporting either policy.

Marco Rubio wants to make a huge change to the GOP tax bill — and Trump won't like it (Business Insider)

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Mike Lee announced an amendment to the GOP tax plan that would increase the tax breaks for families with children at the expense of corporations.

The pair released their amendment on Wednesday, saying the change was "a chance to do better by working families in this tax bill." It is unclear how much support the amendment has on Capitol Hill, but it will likely not go over well in the White House.

The amendment would pay for the expansion of the child tax credit by cutting the corporate tax rate to 22% from the current 35% federal rate. As written, Senate GOP's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would that rate to 20%.

President Donald Trump has said the 20% rate was a red line, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the corporate rate staying at 20% is "the president’s number one issue that is not negotiable."

 

[wizards8507]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I spend full semester addressing how consent in sacramental marriage necessitates full gift of self in love. Then, I see this. And wonder what I’m doing at all. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDMarriage?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDMarriage</a> <a href="https://t.co/0DvJ7y1Efg">pic.twitter.com/0DvJ7y1Efg</a></p>— Timothy P. O'Malley (@timothypomalley) <a href="https://twitter.com/timothypomalley/status/935870532167393280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sexual morality at The University of Notre Dame: Don't drink and bone.

 

[zelezo vlk]

He's a pretty good follow

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Lol

 

[wizards8507]

If you include "problematic" in your complaint, you're almost assuredly an idiot.

 

[ickythump1225]

'Turdina isn't a princess. She's a boy!' Miss Heinous tells the audience, but the headmistress' revelation doesn't affect the princesses' favorable views of Turdina.
'That doesn’t prove anything! Princesses can be hairy!' one princess in the crowd responds, while a hairy princess adds: 'Yeah, we believe in you, Turdina.'
Overwhelmed with guilt, Marco admits that he has been lying to them and removes his gown to show that he is indeed a boy.
Miss Heinous argues that Marco's lie is proof that she needs to be running St. Olga's; however, the other princesses refuse to see gender as a factor in deciding who can be a princess.

Disney debuts first 'boy princess' with chest hair | Daily Mail Online

The Mouse has fallen to utter degeneracy. Time to burn the mouse.

 

[wizards8507]

Disney debuts first 'boy princess' with chest hair | Daily Mail Online

The Mouse has fallen to utter degeneracy. Time to burn the mouse.

Lmao did you actually watch the clip? It's a bizarre humor type show. That headline is fake news.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[connor_in]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"There is a common misconception that the mom who miscarries is a very different person than the woman who aborts, but I'm here to say there is no difference. I am both of those women." -<a href="https://twitter.com/DCampoamor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DCampoamor</a> <a href="https://t.co/si6ejCrgrL">https://t.co/si6ejCrgrL</a> <a href="https://t.co/mKFfxpwbrm">pic.twitter.com/mKFfxpwbrm</a></p>— Planned Parenthood (@PPact) <a href="https://twitter.com/PPact/status/939214521993973768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who else believes miscarriage and abortion are the same?

 

[NorthDakota]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"There is a common misconception that the mom who miscarries is a very different person than the woman who aborts, but I'm here to say there is no difference. I am both of those women." -<a href="https://twitter.com/DCampoamor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DCampoamor</a> <a href="https://t.co/si6ejCrgrL">https://t.co/si6ejCrgrL</a> <a href="https://t.co/mKFfxpwbrm">pic.twitter.com/mKFfxpwbrm</a></p>— Planned Parenthood (@PPact) <a href="https://twitter.com/PPact/status/939214521993973768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who else believes miscarriage and abortion are the same?

Jesus. Planned Parenthood. Disgusting.

 

[wizards8507]

Have any of you bros read Cat Person?

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[zelezo vlk]

Have any of you bros read Cat Person?

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Nah

 

[irishog77]

Have any of you bros read Cat Person?

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Isn't that ACamp's blog?

 

[wizards8507]

https://www.fastcompany.com/4050357...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Until now, I never realized that some people say "woke" unironically.

 

[irishog77]

Does anybody follow Libertarian Catholic on facebook or twitter or anywhere? If so or not, thoughts?

 

[IrishSteelhead]

https://www.fastcompany.com/4050357...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Until now, I never realized that some people say "woke" unironically.

The most ironic part is most of these people using the term are the exact embodiment of what woke people loathe.......

 

[connor_in]

SMDH!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is your latest problematic fave: <a href="https://t.co/ARhhF9ftse">https://t.co/ARhhF9ftse</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ScOiahbf3">pic.twitter.com/9ScOiahbf3</a></p>— Slate (@Slate) <a href="https://twitter.com/Slate/status/942491042997325824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Irish YJ]

SMDH!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is your latest problematic fave: <a href="https://t.co/ARhhF9ftse">https://t.co/ARhhF9ftse</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ScOiahbf3">pic.twitter.com/9ScOiahbf3</a></p>— Slate (@Slate) <a href="https://twitter.com/Slate/status/942491042997325824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LOL.... some people are just beyond stupidity.

 

[Legacy]

Masterpiece Cakeshop: The Slope Is, in Fact, Slippery (National Review)

The case forces us to ask how far we want anti-discrimination laws to go.

Background: While the baker, Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, appealed the decisions against him based on both Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion grounds, the Court accepted the case for only Freedom of Speech.

SCOTUS for law students: Splitting the free speech community (SCOTUS blog)

First, it may be helpful to give a quick summary of the core arguments in the case. Lawyers for Masterpiece Cakeshop and the baker, Jack Phillips, maintain that his wedding cakes are a form of creative expression and that he cannot be compelled by the government, in this case the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, to create expression with which he disagrees. Lawyers for Colorado and for the now-married, same-sex couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, argue that the state civil-rights law prohibits discriminatory business practices, such as refusing to sell a cake because of disagreement with same-sex marriage. Any burden on the baker’s free speech is incidental and allowed by anti-bias laws, they maintain.

This disagreement is not surprising. What is perhaps unusual is that there are free-speech advocates on both sides.

In the courtroom:
Kristen Waggoner, arguing for Masterpiece Cakeshop of Colorado, made the argument that the baker “intended to speak through that cake” and that when the cake maker bakes, “he is creating a painting on that canvas that expresses messages” — and is covered by the First Amendment.

When asked who else in weddings that couples may employ could refuse services due to protected free speech, Waggoner's responses to Justices' examples:
Justice Ginsberg:“The person who does floral arranging. Would that person also be speaking at the wedding?”

Waggoner: "Yes. if they are custom-designed arrangements.”

Ginsberg: “How about the person who designs the invitation to the wedding or the menu for the wedding dinner?”

“Certainly.”

Justice Elena Kagan: “The jeweler?”
"Possibly."

“Hairstylist?”

“Absolutely not.”

Kagan: “The makeup artist?”

Waggoner said that the makeup artist would not be speaking — neither would the wedding tailor or the chef.

Kagan: “The baker is engaged in speech, but the chef is not engaged in speech?”

Solicitor General Noel Francisco, also arguing for the cake maker, said that the first question was whether “the cake rises to the level of speech.”

Justice Kennedy asked Francisco that, if the court were to grant such a right, would a store owner with religious objections be able to post a sign in the window stating that gay couples are not served?

Francisco answered "Yes" and: “The problem is when you force somebody not only to speak, but to contribute that speech to an expressive event to which they are deeply opposed, you force them to use their speech to send a message that they fundamentally disagree with. And that is the core of what the 1st Amendment protects.”

Justice Kennedy:
"The problem for you is that so many of these examples ... do involve speech. It means that there's basically an ability [for businesses] to boycott gay marriages."

Justice Breyer:
"We're asking these questions because we want some kind of distinction that will not undermine every civil rights law from the Year Two, including African Americans, including the Hispanic Americans, including everybody who has been discriminated against in very basic things of life, food, design of furniture, homes and buildings.”

David Cole, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, who was representing Charlie Craig and David Mullins. said, when the couple stopped by the Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips refused to make them a custom cake for their reception because the Bible said marriage was limited to a man and a woman".

Cole said the dispute did not involve words or speech. “The only thing the baker knew about these customers was that they were gay. There was no request for a design. There was no request for message. He refused to sell any wedding cake. And that’s identity-based discrimination.”

Colorado, like 21 other states, says businesses that are open to the public may not deny equal service to customers because of their race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation.

 

[Legacy]

As far as the limitations of freedom of religion in a society of general laws, Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (No. 88-1213)

We have never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the State is free to regulate. On the contrary, the record of more than a century of our free exercise jurisprudence contradicts that proposition.

As described succinctly by Justice Frankfurter in Minersville School Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586, 594-595 (1940):

Conscientious scruples have not, in the course of the long struggle for religious toleration, relieved the individual from obedience to a general law not aimed at the promotion or restriction of religious beliefs. The mere possession of religious convictions which contradict the relevant concerns of a political society does not relieve the citizen from the discharge of political responsibilities.

And,

Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.

Scalia continued:

Subsequent decisions have consistently held that the right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes)

Some of our cases prohibiting compelled expression, decided exclusively upon free speech grounds, have also involved freedom of religion, cf. Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705 (1977) (invalidating compelled display of a license plate slogan that offended individual religious beliefs); West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) (invalidating compulsory flag salute statute challenged by religious objectors). And it is easy to envision a case in which a challenge on freedom of association grounds would likewise be reinforced by Free Exercise Clause concerns. Cf. Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609, 622 (1983) ("An individual's freedom to speak, to worship, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances could not be vigorously protected from interference by the State [if] a correlative freedom to engage in group effort toward those ends were not also guaranteed.").

The present case does not present such a hybrid situation, but a free exercise claim unconnected with any communicative activity or parental right. Respondents urge us to hold, quite simply, that when otherwise prohibitable conduct is accompanied by religious convictions, not only the convictions but the conduct itself must be free from governmental regulation. We have never held that, and decline to do so now. There being no contention that Oregon's drug law represents an attempt to regulate religious beliefs, the communication of religious beliefs, or the raising of one's children in those beliefs, the rule to which we have adhered ever since Reynolds plainly controls.

So, since SCOTUS has consistently held these limitations on religious beliefs, they must resolve Makepiece not only on free speech issues but also in light of Frankfurter's limitations on freedom of religion that

"To permit this would be to make professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself."

 

[Legacy]

In a decision today,

Appeals court upholds fine against Christian bakers who refused to make same-sex wedding cake (Oregon Live/The Oregonian)

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a decision by Oregon's labor commissioner that forced two Gresham bakers to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple for whom the bakers refused to make a wedding cake.

Melissa and Aaron Klein made national headlines in 2013 when they refused to bake a cake for Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer, citing their Christian beliefs. The Bowman-Cryers complained to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, saying they had been refused service because of their sexual orientation.

An administrative law judge ruled that the Kleins' bakery, Sweetcakes by Melissa, violated a law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in places that serve the public. Brad Avakian, the state labor commissioner, affirmed heavy damages against the Kleins for the Bowman-Cryer's emotional and mental distress.

The decision will likely be the most controversial ruling, and the one with the biggest impact, handed down by Avakian during his nearly 10 years in the role. He has decided not to seek re-election when his term expires next year.

The Kleins appealed Avakian's decision, arguing for a religious exemption from the Oregon Equality Act, the anti-discrimination law. They also argued Avakian was biased against them, that his actions violated their rights to free expression as artists and their right to due process, and that the fine was excessive.

But in their ruling Thursday, a panel of state appeals court judges sided with Avakian, saying the Kleins did, in fact, deny the Bowman-Cryers because they were lesbians. The justices also rejected the Kleins' argument that Avakian's ruling violated state and federal free speech protections.

In the ruling, Judge Chris Garrett wrote that Avakian's order does not violate the Klein's free speech rights because it simply "requires their compliance with a neutral law." Garrett also wrote that the Kleins "have made no showing that the state targeted them for enforcement because of their religious beliefs."...