America's Paper of Record explains Gov. Abbott's decision

(Babylon Bee)

Texas lifts mask mandate to scare Californians away

AUSTIN, TX—Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has just lifted the mask mandate and is allowing business to return to 100% capacity. The Governor explains that in these trying times, extreme measures must be taken to stop the spread of Californians into Texas and to scare them off from ever wanting to return. 

“The last thing we need is a bunch of sissies from California moving to our beautiful state of Texas and screwing everything up and turning the state blue!” said Governor Abbott during a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event. “Too many Californians have entered our state. Too many ridiculous liberal ideas have already been proposed. This must end. It’s time to open Texas 100%.”

Pending in the Back Country

33 Highland Farm Road, currently priced at $5.350 million. Built by BSF (excellent firm), it sold new in 2003 for $4.8, resold (after improvements) for $6.9 in ‘05, then to these owners for $6.1 in 2013. They priced it at $6.725 last May, and have finally found a buyer. My guess is that they’re gping to end up back at the 2003 price.

Price cut on Rogues Hill

297 Round Hill Road, now asking $3.495 million. Interesting price history on this house: it sold for $4.5 in 2003, to people who renovated it in what I thought was unfortunate taste, but nevertheless were able to sell it for $5.7 in 2006. More “renovation” by those buyers resulted in a resale for $5.2 in 2010. These owners have been trying on-and-off to unload it since 2013 when they started at $5.7 million.

While I still prefer its original 2003 configuration, $3.495 does seem to be approaching a decent value.

In a better world, this would go nowhere, but today?

Colorado Dem introduces a bill to ban hate speech and fake news from social media.

On Friday, Colorado Senate President Pro Tempore Kerry Donovan, who is also running to unseat U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), filed S.B. 21-132, a bill to regulate “digital communications.” The bill would create two regulatory agencies to monitor Big Tech companies and penalize them for allowing a person to engage in “unfair or discriminatory digital communications practices,” including promoting “hate speech,” “undermining election integrity,” allowing the spread of “fake news,” and targeting for digital ads.

The bill does not define these hot-button terms, apparently leaving their definition up to the state digital communications division. This Big Tech regulation seems ripe for abuse. It would give cover for Big Tech to censor conservatives in the name of fighting “hate” and “fake news.”

S.B. 21-132 would create a digital communications division and a digital communications commission, tasking these bodies with registering every “digital communications platform” — including “social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and media-sharing platforms like YouTube and Twitch” — and monitoring their activity to prevent “discrimination.”

“The division shall investigate and the commission may hold hearings on” claims alleging that one of these Big Tech companies “has allowed a person to engage in … unfair or discriminatory digital communications practices on the platform,” such as:

• “practices that promote hate speech”

• practices that “undermine election integrity”

• practices that “disseminate intentional disinformation, conspiracy theories, or fake news”

• or practices that “authorize, encourage, or carry out violations of users’ privacy.”

I can’t remember any government commission that regulates speech doing anything good.

The Back Country revival is still deferred

New price for 96 Conyers Farm today: $8.990 million. It’s been on the market since October, 2019, when it began at $12.5 million. By way of contrast, these owners paid $13.750 for it in 2005, 20 days on market.

The Great Reset; if "we'll" own nothing, and be happy about it, who do you suppose WILL own it?

Our friends at the World Economic Forum have plans for us.

Good Point

Asks the important question, and answers it

Ed Driscoll:

As John Nolte of Breitbart.com notes though, the DNC-MSM dogpile over Cuomo’s (very real) #metoo problems are really an excuse for the media to attack him over his COVID debacle, but protect other Democratic governors. “Why is America’s corrupt media not at all interested in some 15,000 dead senior citizens while they tar and feather Cuomo over the allegations he made three left-wing women uncomfortable? The answer is obvious…Four other Democrat governors issued the same sociopathic nursing home order as Cuomo. Four other Democrats ordered infected coronavirus patients be admitted into nursing home facilities where 1) the most vulnerable live, and 2) they’re not set up to handle an infectious virus.”

The downward spiral continues

College professors call for “labor-based” grading

Two writing professors at St. Olaf College are calling on their faculty peers and campus writing tutors to prioritize what they call “labor-based grading,” which puts a de-emphasis on calling out and correcting traditional writing errors.

“This approach to responding to student writing prioritizes students’ process and growth instead of a single standard of writing,” stated writing professors Bridget Draxler and Diane LeBlanc in an article on the college’s website.

Such a method, the two argued, would “decenter white, upper-middle class educational and social experiences” and help students feel more confident and accepted.

To be fair, this might actually be a good approach to teaching remedial students who get to college without having learned to write: a steady stream of “Fs” could easily crush a student struggling in waters over his head, and maybe this method can keep them engaged and learning. But if it extends beyond remedial classes, which it probably will, that’d be bad news.

The new rule: novels, poetry, translations may contain only characters of the author's own race, just as actors may not play roles different from their own race or sex

(Photo credit, not The Bee)

The writer chosen to translate the poem Amanda Gorman delivered at Biden’s inauguration into Dutch has been fired after an “uproar” over the fact that she is white

You know who thought it was pretty cool that Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, a young talented Dutch writer and poet, would be translating Amanda Gorman's work? Amanda Gorman.

Amanda Gorman herself was also immediately enthusiastic about the choice for the young poet.

She even retweeted Rijneveld's tweet announcing her selection.

But what would a young, unsophisticated black woman with a Harvard degree know about racism? Thank God there are sophisticated whites around to protect her, even in Holland.

Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!

Short sale on John Street

77 John Street, $1.2 million. The house last sold in 2005 for $2.4 million, but it was allowed to go almost to ruin, with mold throughout, and other problems. Nevertheless, there were multiple bids. Interestingly enough, my own client’s full-price bid of $1.2 million was rejected “because we have several higher offers”.

Apparently not.