Military Draft Confirms Transgender Policy, Iran Attacks Doctors Who Treat Wounded Protestors, Starbucks Abandons "Corporate Leftist" Stance By Indimidating Union Workers (The Five for 10/11/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
One note before we dive in.
Unlike most websites/newspapers…The Five is not organized by importance, the way most newspapers are…but chronologically.
Segments 3-5 this week just happened yesterday and today.
Just an FYI.
Also, it occured to me that this issue focuses on foreign wars, Union strikes (and worker intimidation) and the military draft.
In other words…(cue the classic Christmas tune melody) “It’s beginning to look a lot like…
…the Vietnam era.”
As the popular saying goes…history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme.
Let’s dive into the news.
[one]
I guess we’re kicking things off today with a segment called “really racist stuff said by famous people this week.”
Up first, comments from LA City Council member Nury Martinez, who resigned after referring to a black child as a “monkey.”
From The Daily Wire:
While discussing Bonin, Martinez called his son “Parece changuito,” or “He’s like a monkey,” soon afterward. She later referred to Bonin as a “little b****” and said he is raising his child like a “little white kid.”
Martinez also admitted that her actions fell short of her goal to empower communities of color.
“As someone who believes deeply in the empowerment of communities of color, I recognize my comments undercut that goal,” she added. “Going forward, reconciliation will be my priority. I have reached out to many of my Black colleagues and other Black leaders to express my regret in order for us to heal.”
The recorded conversation included Martinez remarking about Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón after his name was mentioned.
“F*** that guy,” Martinez said. “He’s with the blacks.”
Not to be outdone, Kanye West went and Kanye’d in his first tweet in years.
I’m a huge fan of West, but this is gross and inexcusable.
Also, it’s true that SOME Africans are historical Jews (mainly in Ethiopia, Morocco, a handful of other locales) that does not make every person with ancestry in Africa Jewish.
But who knows…maybe Elon fixed it?
Although I hate West’s comment…I still defend his right to say it.
Free speech means free speech.
[two]
Howard Shulz, the Starbucks founder known for his leftist politics, is now facing the demise of his own legacy due to bullying and intimidating Starbucks workers attempting to unionize.
It’s a really weird move from a guy who left his company to try to run for President on hard-left policies.
On picket lines outside the stores, pro-union workers were slamming Schultz as a greedy, out-of-touch billionaire with a $130 million yacht. The National Labor Relations Board was accusing Starbucks in court filings of carrying out a “virulent, widespread and well-orchestrated” anti-union campaign that relied on firings, threat and surveillance. Democratic senators who once praised Schultz as a “pathbreaking” and humane leader were now castigating him for undermining his workers’ rights.
To Schultz, the unionization drive felt like an attack on his life’s work. In previous speeches to his employees, he had cast the union as “a group trying to take our people,” an “outside force that’s trying desperately to disrupt our company” and “an adversary that’s threatening the very essence of what [we] believe to be true.”
The stress of it all was weighing on Schultz, who had been back on the job for three months and had told Starbucks’s board that he didn’t have the energy to stay for more than a year. That gave him 12 months to convince his nonunion workers that his version of benevolent capitalism could offer them more than any union. In his mind, he had 12 months to save his company.
“Why is this so personal to me?” he asked the executives in the room. Schultz stared down at the ground, his arms resting on his knees and his shoulders bent.
“I know what it has taken to build this place. I know what’s at stake right now,” he continued, struggling to get the words out. “And we have to show — … to show up in a different way.” The room fell silent. Schultz steadied himself.
“And let me be honest with you,” he told them. “Time is not on our side.”
Schulz is proving the striking workers right…he IS an out of touch billionaire who sees himself as a bastion of progressive values even as he is allegedly using under-handed (illegal) tactics to silence his workers.
[three]
The Secret Service made it’s stance clear on drafting transgender individuals this week.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Transgender women who were born male are still required to sign up for the Selective Service in the event of a military draft.
The policy, which has already been in effect for some time, gained new attention after the Selective Service System issued a reminder for men between the ages of 18 and 25 to register for the service. "Parents, if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS," the SSS said in a now-viral tweet sent on Friday.
Many of the comments reflected social commentary about changing views on gender, as well as remarks about the timing, as Russia's war in Ukraine escalates. "Parents, we may kill your son and end your bloodline and family name for the sake of defending some irrelevant pile of sand in some godforsaken corner of the globe that holds no worth whatsoever to you or your family," tweeted conservative commentator Matt Walsh, the man behind the What Is a Woman? documentary.
A transgender section on the SSS's website, to which its tweet links, stressed that all biological males are required to sign up for the draft, and this applies to citizens or immigrants of the United States who were born male and had their gender changed to female.
For transgender men who were listed as female at the time of their birth, the SSS does not require them to register. People who have changed their gender to male are required to complete a Status Information Letter request form and provide a copy of their birth certificate to the SSS.
In addition to the transgender issue…if you were looking for comfort that we’re NOT gearing up for WWIII…uhhh, this aint it.
[four]
Tulsi Gabbard, formerly a Congresswoman for Hawaii who ran for President in the Democratic Primary in 2020, announced she’s leaving the Democratic Party today.
On Twitter, #byfelicia (a reference to the movie Friday? I think. I’ve never seen it) started trending on Twitter, along with hateful comments.
Uhh, what?
If the goal of politics is to win elections, isn’t it a bad thing for a prominent, respected and beloved politician to leave your political party?
Despite what you may see about Gabbard in the coming days she’s a minority, pro-choice, anti-war and a devout Hindu. I expect the headlines will paint here as a diet version of MAGA in the coming days, despite the fact that Gabbard has been a vocal critic of former President Trump.
What she does next is anyone’s guess. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gabbard join Andrew Yang’s Forward Party. I also wouldn’t surprised for her to wind up as a VP running mate for the Republican Party in 2024, as she seems like a good pairing with DeSantis, as the pair are both younger (by political standards, where the average Senator seems to be about 104 years old these days), articulate and calming voices.
Or, maybe she just wants to be a really successful YouTuber. Who knows.
But a former POTUS candidate switching parties, especially one with Gabbard’s strong following, certainly signals something…even though I’m not sure where this goes next.
[five]
As the Iran protests continue to escalate to full-scale revolution status…the regigme is now allegedly physically attacking doctors who offer aid to protestors who have been beaten or shot.
As Iranians' anger at their theocratic leaders raged into a fourth week, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said on Saturday the death toll had risen to at least 185, including at least 19 children. Some Iranians joining the protests have been killed instantly by security forces as they wage a massive crackdown to quell the upheaval, while others have died later from their injuries.
Many Iranians wounded by the security forces amid the protests are too afraid to go to a hospital for treatment, because some protesters seeking medical help have been detained, according to several accounts shared with CBS News, from both inside and outside Iran.
News reports have claimed that Iran's morality police — the very force accused of torturing and killing 22-year-old Mahsa Amini almost a month ago, sparking the current unrest — are even using ambulances in the capital city of Tehran to transport injured protesters directly to police stations.
That is why, the doctor explained, many injured protesters stay home and appeal to physicians like him for help privately. He said he's seen a wide range of wounds, from a wide range of weapons.
"[The security forces] use a variety of weapons to suppress the people — from plastic to lead pellets to Kalashnikovs, even sniper fire," the doctor told CBS News. "We had a case of someone who was shot but preferred to go blind rather than to be admitted to the hospital."
The physician said he and other medical professionals who've been treating injured protesters in secret have been threatened constantly by Iranian authorities, and some have been pressured to sign written pledges to refrain.
On Monday, a Kurdish group called the Hengaw Orgnanization for Human Rights reported that plainclothes security agents had severely beaten and detained an Iranian doctor for treating wounded protesters in Amini's hometown of Saqqez.
Again, I’m not in the business of predicting the future, but I’m baffled by the amount attention Ukraine is getting when compared to the citizens of one of the most oppressed nations on earth fighting back against the Iranian government, who are both generally evil and anti-US in particular.
But, like our abandoned allies in Afghanistan currently being slaughtered at the hands of the Taliban, we’re apparently not that interested in helping oppressed people if they’re brown.
Until the next one,
-sth