Rants of a Fuzzy Curmudgeon

As most folks are probably aware, the Christian Colorado baker who’s so far 2-0 in court (1 outright win, 1 settlement that was effectively a win) has been sued YET AGAIN by the same fucking plaintiff, who apparently can’t get enough of that sweet sweet court action — even though plaintiff effectively lost twice already.*

For a lot of people, it’s difficult to decide where to come down on this case.  Either it’s a religious freedom issue, or it’s a public accommodation issue.  Either you have the right of your religious convictions to not create art for people who go against your religious convictions, or simply by being in business serving the public, you are bound to create art for anyone who asks you to (and is willing to pay for it), regardless of how it might violate your religious convictions.

I just saw a comment on Facebook that might put the whole thing into perspective:

There’s a big difference between baking bread to FEED people, a common need, and making cult-items for cult-worship, which is extraordinarily specific. Each community has to provide those items for its own members.

In essence, nobody “needs” a wedding cake; and if they want a particular kind of wedding cake that is not the sort of thing someone outside of their community is likely to agree to make, they are expected to find someone in their own community who will, rather than trying to force someone not of their community to do so.

The two communities in question are the Christian community, and the gay community.

And we’re all aware that Masterpiece Cakeshop was targeted specifically to spark the legal battle that ensued.  The plaintiffs can’t lie about that; there were plenty of other cake shops, the owner offered to sell them a non-customized cake, and they weren’t having any of it.  This is weaponized lawfare, pure and simple.

But it violates the dictum that nobody should be forced to do something against their will simply because they happen to operate a business that makes the sort of thing that someone else wants to pervert for “reasons”.

I mean, let’s say I have an old Ford Model A and I want my mechanic to make a rat-rod out of it.  But my mechanic doesn’t believe in making rat-rods, and in fact feels very strongly that my Model A ought to be restored.  Can I sue him for refusing to do what I want to pay him to do?  Sure, if I want to be laughed out of court and find a new mechanic.**

No, I would be expected in that case to seek out a mechanic who specialized in, or at least did rat-rod conversions.  Thus fulfilling the commenter’s dictum that cult-items for cult-worship should be provided by the cult’s community.

Conversely, if plaintiff had approached Masterpiece Cakeshop and simply purchased a ready-made cake, the owner would not have been put in the position of having to provide a custom cult-item for plaintiff’s cult-activity.

This seems fair to me.  Every rule can be taken too far, and the folks who argue that this is a public accommodation case are simply wrong.  “The public” does not typically walk into a Christian-owned wedding cake shop and order a cake for a gay wedding.

And let’s pose another proposition:  What if plaintiff had walked into a Muslim-owned bakery and asked for such a cake?  (Yes, that proposition has been posed before.)  Does anyone in the “public accommodation” arena actually believe a discrimination suit would have been filed against the baker?  (Does anyone actually think plaintiff was deranged enough to ASK a Muslim-owned bakery for such a thing?)

What this was and continues to be about is the attempted destruction of the majority Christian society in this country and its adherents who still believe certain things are immoral and will not participate in the doing of them.

Those people have rights, too.  And those rights are being trampled on in the name of inclusiveness and diversity, both of which ought to be considered obscenities rather than virtues.  It needs to stop, and I have a feeling one of these days it’s going to stop — violently.

Citizens, be vigilant.

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* See how I did that without pronouns?

** For the record, I don’t own a Model A, and I think rat-rods are ridiculous.

I see that the CEO of Goodwill Industries is being jacked up for taking a $730,000 annual salary while paying disabled workers “pennies”.  The actual complaint is that Goodwill is legally taking advantage of an 80-year-old law that allows them to pay the disabled significantly sub-minimum wages.

Note carefully the word “legally”.

As Judge Learned Hand memorably said regarding taxes,

Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.

The same is true of wages.  Even minimum wages are a form of immoral overreach by governments, because the fact is that some jobs simply aren’t worth the minimum wage.  (Flipping burgers and asking if you want fries with that being particular examples of the concept.)  And the further fact is that the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. § 203) explicitly allows entities such as Goodwill to pay sub-minimum wages to disabled workers.*  So if you want Goodwill to pay the disabled more than “pennies”, stop bitching about the CEO’s well-deserved pay and work to get the law changed.  (And good luck with that — you’ll need it.)

That said, I do not understand the left’s penchant for chewing out CEOs of multinational corporations about their level of compensation. With the money also comes significant responsibility, and the bigger the company, the more responsibility. Plus, such CEOs probably work longer hours than most of their employees, because CEOs simply cannot be effective if they insist on being nine-to-fivers.  Most progressives probably never worked more than 40 hours a week in their lives, and probably never worked as more than middle management (let along as a CEO or small business owner), so they don’t understand this.

In the current contretemps over Goodwill’s CEO compensation, whether or not “he” pays disabled employees “pennies” (decisions about individual compensation at that level are more than likely made well below his level; he probably sees the summaries of the summaries of the budget summaries and has no idea what the average employee takes home) is not the point.

What I believe I really see in these “CEOs make too much money” complaints is envy and jealousy. If you can show me real evidence of wrongdoing, I’ll be happy to say the guy should be canned. But be warned, the guy who replaces him will want the same kind of compensation package. Probably more, because he’ll be fully aware of how his predecessor was hounded out.

FWIW, used to see the same kind of complaints about the United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. ad nauseum. No corporation, profit or non-profit, is immune to the REEEEEEE brigade of the woke left.

(Also FWIW, I do not give any money to the United Way — and have not done for over 25 years — because I think they ARE a waste of money. I prefer to give money directly to United Way partners because that way I know where the money is going. Blindly giving money to the United Way — even if you designate a partner or partners for your donation as many do with payroll deduction — just means the money gets filtered through another layer of bureaucracy before it gets to the people it’s meant to help.)

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* Let’s also remember that in this day and age, people who are disabled to the point of being qualified to do the sort of work Goodwill (and other such organizations that employ the disabled) hire them to do are by and large the recipients of monthly disability checks from the U.S. Government, paid for by the generous (?) wallet-Hoovering suffered by the rest of us on an annual basis.  While a disability check isn’t anything to write home about, it’s still money being paid out for no other reason than the person being paid is (allegedly) unable to work at a regular job.  Thus one could view what Goodwill pays the disabled as supplementary income as opposed to “gee this person only makes 58 cents an hour, holy shit, that’s immoral, reeeeeeeeeeee!”

The other point that should be made is that typically the point of Goodwill providing these jobs in the first place is to give people a) something to do and b) a sense of purpose, when they would otherwise be sitting around doing little or nothing.  If that means you can buy a little something for yourself at the end of the pay period that you otherwise would not be able to afford, that’s icing on the cake.  Nobody likes to sit around and mope simply because they don’t have the skills or abilities to do what the rest of us would consider an everyday job.

Endorsed.  Kaepernick Nike need not apply.

…just in time for Independence Day!

(Nah, bro, just joking, fuck Nike and the Kaepernick they rode in on.)

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he would call a special legislative session to address gun control after a gunman killed 12 people at a Virginia Beach government building on Friday.

Mr. Northam, an embattled Democrat who has held on to office after a racist photo from his medical-school yearbook re-emerged in February, called Tuesday for sweeping changes, including universal background checks and expanding local authority to regulate firearms, such as in government buildings.

“I will be asking for votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers,” the governor said at a news conference. He hopes to convene the special session by the end of June, his spokeswoman said.

As Glenn Reynolds memorably said many years ago, in the wake of Sandy Hook,

“When people say things like ‘don’t let this moment pass without acting on gun control,’ what they’re really saying is our arguments are so unpersuasive that they can only succeed when people aren’t thinking clearly.“

And as usual, that’s exactly what’s going on here.  The bottom line, Mr. Northam, is you don’t need new gun laws, you need to enforce the gun laws you already have.

And let’s talk for a moment about “silencers”, since everyone has their panties in a knot because the jerk used one. Silencers aren’t. They don’t work the way you think they do, if the only place you’ve ever seen them used is in Hollywood films. That’s why they’re actually called “suppressors”, not “silencers.” The idea is to suppress enough of the bang to bring it down to a reasonable level…kind of like putting a muffler on your car.

And moreover, y’know, you can’t walk into a gun store and walk out with a suppressor. In some states you can’t even buy one. They’re designated Class III arms — just like full-auto machine guns. To buy one, you have to apply for BATFE approval and, once approved (which is not “same-day” like a 4473 usually is), you have to register the suppressor’s serial number with BATFE. And you’re not done, because most legal experts recommend setting up a trust for the purpose of registering the suppressor. That costs money. And then, so does the tax stamp you have to buy from the BATFE for each and every suppressor you register — $200 each.*

So this dude either stole that suppressor, or he bought it legally and went through a maze of requirements to get it. Or he built one in his garage out of an old oil filter or suchlike, in which case he’s as much of a federal felon as if he’d stolen a manufactured one.  How much more gun law do you need, Mr. Northam?

FWIW here’s all the BS you have to go through to buy a suppressor — and I’d own them for my guns simply to save my hearing, if it wasn’t such an expensive, Byzantine process.

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* I was reminded by a Facebook friend that said tax stamp can take 6 months or more to receive AFTER you apply and pay for it.

…were you REALLY surprised when HBO fucked the end of the series the way they did?

Author can’t even write the last two books.

Hands over the show to the screenwriters, with some notes that might or might not be how he really would have written the books.  (No author ever actually knows how books are going to come out until they’re finished and off to the printer.  And if they do, it’s because they’re formula writers.)

HBO has not one but two spinoff series that they’re itching to get started.

GoT is in the way and needs to be killed with an axe…so they used a dragon.

Will I ever buy anything else George RR Martin writes?  Doubtful.  If he couldn’t arse himself to write one book, OK, two books because he’s incapable of self-editing, to finish the series, then fuck him.  There are better things to read.

I don’t know your heart
I don’t know where to begin
But I could feel you erasing the rivers I’d drawn in