Friday roundup

On the heels of the New York Times pouring cold water on moon landing anniversary celebrations by pointing out that that achievement did not meet modern woke diversity standards comes this reason for considering Leonardo DiCaprio's career problematic:

In response to a glowing profile in The Hollywood Reporter that hailed the "Titanic" actor as "the last movie star" in preparation for the upcoming release of "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" — his second collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino — film critic Guy Lodge of The Guardian and Variety blasted DiCaprio on Twitter for not working with a single woman director since 1995's "Total Eclipse."

"This is all well and good, and some fine work has come out of it, but I wouldn't call his choices adventurous either: huge studio prestige productions with established male directors," Lodge wrote on Twitter, according to Indiewire. "He hasn't acted in a film with a female director since 1995, which I don't think is an insignificant fact … I like that he's choosy, and resistant to franchise fodder: he's played his career well. But at this level of stardom, he has the clout to get riskier ideas (and talents) off the ground."

Today's entry from the The-UN-Is-Utter-Garbage file:

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among members of the UN’s 54-nation economic and social council, a principal organ of the world body, who voted to single out and condemn Israel yesterday as the only country in the world that violates women’s rights.

The Jewish state was harshly and repeatedly condemned in a resolution, adopted 40 to 2 with 9 abstentions and 3 absent (see breakdown below), for allegedly being the “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society.”

Out of 20 items on the UN Economic and Social Council’s 2018-2019 agenda, only one — Item No. 16 against Israel — focuses on condemning a specific country. All the other focus areas concern global topics such as disaster relief assistance and the use of science and technology for development.

The resolution completely ignores how Palestinian women’s rights are impacted by their own governing authorities—the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza—nor does it mention how women are discriminated against within patriarchal Palestinian society.

Moreover, ECOSOC concluded its annual session by ignoring the world’s worst abusers of women’s rights, refusing to pass a single resolution on the situation of women in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, or DR Congo, all of which ranked in the top ten worst countries in last year’s Global Gender Gap Report, produced by the World Economic Forum.

Dude, why are you putting your employer in this sticky situation? Why don't you just go find another job where your indulgence in resentment of your DNA isn't going to be a customer service problem?

“I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I was just gasping for air.” 

That’s how Nancy Rost recalls the moments after her husband, Tom, walked through the door of their home six years ago this month. 

In his hand, Tom held a letter from a long-time employee. On his face, the easy confidence Nancy had seen from Tom every day since they met each other as children was missing, replaced by a palpable sense of anxiety.

Immediately, Tom and Nancy knew that the contents of the letter had the potential to devastate R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, which Tom’s grandfather had established in 1910 to serve grieving families throughout Detroit. As it stands now, Tom’s five-generation family business is in the hands of the Supreme Court, with oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 8.

So, what was in the letter? 

Anthony Stephens, a biological male employee who had agreed to and followed the funeral home’s sex-specific dress code for more than six years, intended to show up to work—as well as to the homes of grieving families—dressed as a woman.

For years, Tom’s company had required employees to agree to and abide by a sex-specific dress code that aligned with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requirements. The regulation-consistent policy ensured that family members of a deceased loved one could focus on processing their grief, not on the funeral home or its employees.

Over the next two weeks, Tom carefully considered his situation. Tom was concerned for Stephens—a longtime, valued employee—and for Stephens’ family. He also had to consider the rest of his staff, including an 80-year-old female employee, who would be sharing the women’s restroom facility with Stephens. 

Finally, Tom pondered the impact on the funeral home’s clients.

In the end, Tom decided that he could not agree to Stephens’ proposal. That decision that was fully in line with federal law. Yet, in a matter of months, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the funeral home.

And then that body of unelected bureaucrats got a judicial-branch body to massage the wording of the relevant federal statute:

Later, following the commission’s urging, a federal court of appeal effectively redefined the word “sex” in federal law to mean “gender identity.”

The Cincinnati City Council has before it a resolution to aid and abet illegal aliens looking to circumvent fast-track deportation. Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld spewed a bunch of bleeding-heart boilerplate about members of the community who pay taxes and add to the diversity of their neighborhoods, but this fast-track initiative is for rounding up those who have been here less than two years, not the proverbial parent of a medical school student.

Sweden seems to be having second thoughts regarding the wisdom of flinging open its borders to hordes of people from very different cultures.

At Law & Liberty, Alan Mendenhall revisits Russell Kirk's 1957 classic Concise Guide to Conservatism. A taste:

In 12 brisk chapters, Kirk addresses the following themes: the essence of conservatism, religious faith, conscience, individuality, family, community, just government, private property, power, education, permanence, and change. He concludes with the question: “What is the Republic?” His answer: “a commonwealth in which as many things as possible are left to private and local management; and in which the state, far from obliterating classes and voluntary associations and private rights, shelters and respects all these.”

Anyone familiar with Kirk will recognize in the opening chapter the “chief principles” of conservatism that in The Portable Conservative Reader (1982) and The Conservative Mind (1953) he condenses into six “canons.” These involve a recognition of moral laws derived from God, a celebration of variety and diversity over coerced uniformity, the pursuit of justice, the protection of private property, a skepticism of power and centralization, a reverence for custom and tradition, and the rejection of utopianism or political programs predicated on a belief in the perfectibility of man.

Ilhan Omar splits with her husband.