Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
Study: Franchise Workers Will Lose Out on Minimum Wage Hikes ~ Majority of small business owners say they’d replace workers with robots. The Left is just stuck-on-stupid with this reality-defying $15/hr demand.
 
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch: “No one defends Islam like Arab Christians” ~ Way to embrace Dhimmitude dude ~

Melkite Greek Catholics and all the victims and the present and future and potential victims of Islamic jihad deserve better than these clerics who do nothing but betray them into the hands of those who hate them. Siding with killers against their victims isn’t Christian charity by any rational standard, however much Gregory III and his minions try to dress up their betrayal in clerical robes.

 
Keeping the piranhas busy: the terrifying implications of legalizing assisted suicide ~ Jonathon Van Maren at Life Site wonders where giving doctors the right to kill will ultimately lead society.

 
At the Pentagon, General Chaos is in Charge ~ Great summary of the awful damage the Left has inflicted on our military. It’s desperately in need of restoration by a conservative administration. ~

The surrender (earlier this month) of two US Navy vessels of war and their crews to the Iranians without firing so much as a shot and the subsequent and sickening apology by the commanding officer, speaks volumes about the current fighting spirit, training and state of readiness of the US military in 2016
 
The conduct of the US Navy officer in charge, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was nothing less than a complete and utter disgrace.[…]
 
The Shining City on the Hill is in danger, because we are losing the one force that has always defended it, the United States Military.

DHS: More than Half a Million Aliens Overstayed Visas in 2015 ~ And no one has any idea where they are… (Dear Lord, make it stop!)

 
Climate Change May Spell More Traffic Fatalities ~ Economists find bikers, motorcyclists and pedestrians are most at risk. Yes, they’re serious – it’s SanFran logic. “Climate change” is such a convenient phony demon for progressives. Anything at all – the “polar vortex,” terrorism, climate refugees… traffic fatalities – can be said to be caused by global warming (since the whole theory is based on a massive load of false data), thereby justifying any and all new controls they want to impose, While at the same time claiming they’re doing so in the name of protecting we-the-people from ourselves. What an evilly ingenious, scam.

 
Detroit motorist watching porn on phone crashes, dies ~ Whoa. Porn is a victim-less crime? I think not.

 
I Criticized Black Lives Matter In My High School Newspaper And Got Death Threats ~ It’s not just most college campuses that are rejecting the first amendment and trying to silence free speech, the thought police are now popping up in secondary education as well ~

As managing editor of my high school newspaper, The Centralizer of Central High School in Philadelphia, I’ve always been concerned with the issue of censorship and free speech on campus. As I’ve learned from the past few weeks, the culture of micro-aggressions, safe spaces, and political correctness many of us lament arises not from a vacuum, but from the high school classroom.[…]
 
The article, headlined “A Case of Overreaction,” ironically enough elicited from students, alumni, and teachers the precise brand of mindless overreaction to which the article itself alluded. Students posted on Twitter that someone ought to “shoot” me, that I must be “dealt with,” and that I will “catch these hands” in the main hallway […]
 
I, as a student journalist, wrote an article that faculty approved. We published the article, I received threats against my life, and the response of the administration was censorship of my speech, silence on my security, and suppression of my editorial duties.

 
Indicted Detroit Principal Claims Robin Hood Status, Collected Six-Figure Paychecks ~ Robin Hood didn’t get $112,000 salary. Multiply this story by a couple hundred and you’ll begin to understand how the Motor City has become a disaster area ~

Wilbourn, who said in the story she considered herself like Robin Hood, was also quoted about her own financial problems: “We’re talking about systemic poverty and what does that look like?” she said. “Yes, I may have a Gucci bag or a pair of Cartier (glasses), but I don’t have any money for an emergency.”

And that would be whose fault?

 
Bankers & Investors Close Ranks & Doom Wind Industry to Death By A Thousand Cuts ~ Reality (and what remains of the free market) is catching up with windmills ~

The big operators have absolutely no interest in wind power; and every interest in killing off the Large-Scale RET (Renewable Energy Technology) that created, and for the time being sustains, the wind industry.
 
As pointed out previously, the retailers’ switch to large-scale solar is a canny, but fleeting move – designed to avoid the shortfall penalty for the few years it takes for the LRET to collapse; as the political and economic toxicity of the policy escalates over the next year or two.

 
Allowing Transgender Olympians Is Unfair To Women ~ When will this lunacy end??

To accommodate transgender athletes, many women will have to give up their dreams of Olympian gold. That goes for girls in everyday sports leagues, too […]
 
Aside from being wholly unfair and dangerous to women, your heart has to break for these athletes. Many are very young women who have trained all their lives to compete in the Olympics, in hopes they’ll bring home gold. Imagine being one of these girls as they watch a man identifying as one of them walk away with a medal he shouldn’t have. What’s worse is that in today’s political climate these girls will have to smile and pretend it’s wonderful, or else they will become public pariahs, with all the ridicule and non-endorsements that go with it.

 
Things are really getting surreal these days… 😯 Here, have a few laughs ~ You Should Probably Stop Worrying About the 2016 Election Because These Seven Things Suggest the End of the World Is Nigh