FRIDAY short TAKES.

Silly me, I thought "March Madness" referred to the NCAA's basketball tournaments, and here it really means the celebration of a school shooter in Weimar America.  "The Democratic Party and its press allies have created an environment where mentally ill people are 'affirmed' instead of being given the help they need and then they want us to play by their rules when one of those mentally ill people lashes out and commits an atrocity."  Sapir-Whorf are wrong.  "Not calling transsexualism a mental disorder did not make it any saner."  At least hippies could take a bath, and get a haircut, or nature would run its course.  "Usually fads aren’t quite so permanently damaging as the trans mania has proved to be. I would cautiously hope that this one is on the deflationary spiral, although I am afraid that whatever appears to replace it in shallow public awareness might prove to be even worse."  Women and girls are hardest hit.  "'Self-identifying female' athletes aren’t competing with girls and women so much as swaggering and peacocking before them. And if you’re a talented female who’s worked hard at your sport, all you can do is smile with your second-place trophy." It's reality versus fantasy time.  Just don't call attention, the rage mob will come after you.

The weekly round-up of pithy elaborations on traditional Cold Spring Shops themes follows.

1.  They couldn't be more wrong.  "The Left needs to be relentlessly, but gently, corrected and acidly, but calmly, castigated for using the false and deadly trope that fewer guns mean fewer shootings."

2.  Prophesies, fulfilled.  “To Improve Public Perception, Kamala Harris Taking Likability Lessons From Hillary Clinton.”

3.  The president is senile.  "His eyes are tiny, his skin is taut, and he seems unable to control his mannerisms at times."

4.  We can go back to enjoying life.  "Without stressing over an endless succession of panics invented by politically insecure losers."  Are we a nation in trouble?  "Disaffected, demoralized, and losing hope."

5.  We are a country in decline.  "If you knew what really happened in Kenosha, and if you knew what really happened in many different states that Summer, there is no way you could have seen the riot at the Capitol as the worst attack since the Civil War."

6.  Instead of complaining about bike lanes, try paying attention while you're driving.

7.  Lose the medieval aggregates!  "I dislike the very term 'Asian American' and use it reluctantly while assuming a shared understanding of its limitations, because it collectivizes a diverse group of individuals into a container of sameness."

8.  By their fruits.  "The 'smart people' and 'experts' haven’t had a very good decade."  They're only as good as their last recommendations.  "The progressive attempts to push pseudoscience on Americans are reaping some unintended consequences."

9.  The incompetence tax.  "Service as we once knew it has gone to hell in this country, and it seems to be getting exponentially worse by the day."

10.  Sacrifice your powerboat, not a virgin.  "We can only stop it if we live our lives a little more miserably. Or much more miserably: If ordinary people are inconvenienced by climate ideology, true believers are prone to despair."

11.  The wokies will become dizzy with success.  Depend on it.  "On a long list of issues, the right has won through normal politics."

12.  The Growth Ponzi Scheme, with Chinese characteristics.  "Local-government officials continue to spend on local projects without the money to pay for them. It seems like these officials can’t quit the fact that new construction looks good on paper while they can brag about creating jobs."

13.  Legal residency takes too damned long.  "The problem is the immigration process itself, not a lack of funding."

14.  Progressives are creating a world that is easier for men and more difficult for women.

15.  Rent-seekers doing what comes naturally.  "Far from the delusions of dreamy internationalists and Big Government disciples who believe that 'good intentions' and devotion to 'public service' will generate policy decisions that cultivate 'progress' for the 'greater good,' government agents will always act to protect and expand their own powers without regard for the deleterious effects those actions might have upon the people."

16.  Garbage in, garbage out.  "There is no evidence of a climate 'crisis' in terms of temperature trends, polar sea ice, tornadoes, tropical cyclones, wildfires, drought, flooding, or ocean alkalinity."  There will be a quiz later.

17.  Yes, this will be on the final exam.  "Not everything that has public value is a public good."