Notes and Observations

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No To The Irish, Yes To The Muslims: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march in last year’s St. Patrick’s day parade because the organizers would not allow displays of gay pride. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered the city’s schools to close on the two most important Muslim holidays, a religion not noted for its hospitality to homosexuals or famed for its advocacy of gender equality. This year, NBCUniversal employees will be allowed to march under a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender banner. “Too small a change to merit a lot of us participating… we need something more to really feel we have turned a corner,” says de Blasio, perhaps deploying the royal “we”. One wonders whether organizers of a Muslim March would invite the NBC LGBT group to participate. The mayor also objects to the use of horse-drawn carriages, “a profession deeply linked to the city’s Irish,” says the New York Times.

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Hillary’s Mantra: “What difference does it make?” Whether the death of four Americans in Libya was a protest run amuck or some guys out for a walk deciding to kill Americans. What difference does it make whether the Clinton charity accepted but did not report a $500,000 donation from Algeria while she was Secretary of State, cash that could easily have been sent directly to the intended beneficiary? What difference does it make whether a charity with the Clintons’ names on it accepted and continues to accept tens of millions of dollars from foreign countries, donations that cannot legally be accepted by her campaign? What difference does it make whether it was improper or possibly illegal for the Secretary of State to use a personal cell phone and private server for all of the nation’s business, perhaps risking national security, destroys hundreds of emails, and  refuses to grant an independent archivist access to her private server? No difference at all to the Democrats’ prospective presidential candidate. What difference will it make if the Clintons decide to list the Lincoln Bedroom on Airbnb?

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Correlation Does Not Prove Causation:  Michael Kallenbach, a “relationship counsellor” with offices on posh Harley Street in London says that what The Times (London) calls “the cauldron of intense emotions that come with exercise” makes the gym “as good a pick-up place as anywhere.” The gym, reports the paper, has become “the ultimate dating agency … [providing] multiple chances to chat with anyone who catches your eye…[and] the possibility of finding romance between press-ups and shuttle runs….” Fair enough. Then comes dating site Match.com to add that its survey shows that 33 percent of singles who exercise twice weekly have sex at least monthly, compared with only 20% of those who rarely or never hit the gym. The implication is clear: gym-going results in more sex. But consider the alternative: those most interested in having a sexual relationship go to gyms more often than those less interested in such liasons. Seeking sex leads to the gym, rather than the gym to more frequent sex, which may be why the gym has replaced dog-walking as a source of dating. New jazzy workout outfits worn by “someone willing putting themselves through the same thoroughly unpleasant ordeal as you” — presumably referring to exercise — provide a better chance to appraise prospective partners than the parkas worn by dog walkers most of the year.

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Human Rights Progress, Iranian Style: The Washington Post’s Jason Rezian has at long last been given permission by Iran’s judiciary to hire a lawyer to defend him — after being imprisoned for more than seven months. The lawyer’s task will be made difficult by the fact that the charges against Mr. Rezian have not been disclosed. It is not known whether President Obama sees this and the selection of hard-liner Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi to head the key Assembly of Experts, “a blow to progressives”, as signs that his effort to persuade Iran to “produce better behavior over time,” to borrow The Washington Post’s description of Obama’s goal, is succeeding.

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Regulating Love: Hundreds of small yoga studios have sprung up in Colorado, “where physical fitness is a fervor” to train yoga teachers, says the New York Times. This has upset the Division of Private Occupational Schools of the Department of Higher Education, the state regulatory agency, which wants to “protect aspiring teachers from fraudulent and unsafe programs”. So the DPOC of the DHE has decided “not to process any new or pending yoga teacher training programs or school applications” while it decides on its next move. If regulation is imposed, yoga schools would have to pay registration fees of around $2,000 and have their curricula approved by the state. The director of the regulatory drive is a yoga instructor at a statewide chain, and to avoid conflicts has handed day-to-day operations to a deputy. But she is as keen as any regulator to capture new turf. “A lot of people said, ‘We’re teaching love and compassion, how do you regulate love and compassion?’ No one likes to be regulated. But there needs to be some kind of regulation in order to ensure there is some kind of order.” The regulatory mind at work.

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News From Our Coalition Ally: Saudi Arabia’s new king has conferred on one Dr. Zakir Naik, “a prominent Muslim televangelist from India,” in the words of the New York Times, and self-styled “dynamic international orator on Islam and comparative religion”, one of its highest awards. The proud winner has declared that “Jews” control America, that George W. Bush arranged the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, that it is permissible to kill apostates, and that since the U.S. is the world’s biggest terrorist, every Muslim is obliged to terrorize the terrorist. The construction of churches and temples cannot be allowed because “their [non-Muslim] religion is wrong and their worshipping is wrong.” A worthy recipient of an award from a regime that finances the international teaching of Wahhabism, to which ISIL claims adherence.

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Downton Abbey Ends A Busy Season: It took eight episodes for BBC to touch every social and economic base of its left-leaning producers and staff. A low level kitchen girl tries to educate herself so she can rise above her station, but decides it is hopeless when the Labour Party loses an election, ending her chances of advancement in a class-ridden society. The daughter of the Lord of the Manor fears the reaction of a conservative  society were she to reveal that she is a single mom, which she is by virtue of the fact that her lover died before a wedding could be arranged, and so has all sorts of problems that presumably would not exist were society more enlightened. A Russian-Jewish immigrant who has made it big in Britain — ennobled, castle, the works — is the nastiest character to appear in the series, and opposes the marriage of his son to “a shikse”. The most decent and hard-working character is a former chauffeur who married the since-deceased daughter of the Lord of Downtown Abbey; he is a socialist. A maid accused of murdering her rapist finds her defense made difficult by the fact that she once took a knife to a stepfather who was abusing her, a fact shame made her conceal for many years. Because divorce is unacceptable, the career and social life of a perfectly nice diplomat are ruined when he decides he has taken all he stand from his untamable shrew. Oh yes, because homosexuals are discriminated against, one member of staff makes himself dangerously ill with a series of injections aimed at “making him like other men.” On to the news broadcasts, on which complicated Arab names are pronounced flawlessly, but Wolfowitz becomes Wolfovitz, Lowenthal becomes Lowental, and unless the interviewer is warned, Stelzer beomes Steltzer.

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Cash Does Not Always Carry the Day:  Jeb Bush, his own man, is undoubtedly delighted at the prospect of meeting with the selfless supporters who, for the privilege of the private audience, have had to pledge to give or “bundle” $500,000 for his campaign. That should add to the “shock and awe” his fund-raising skills induce in his opponents. But he might reflect on the experience of John Connally and Ada Mills. Connally a former Treasury Secretary, Texas governor all-around political powerhouse and, latterly, bankrupt, decided in 1980 that the time was ripe for a run at the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He raised $11 million, the equivalent in today’s money of over $400 million. At the Republican convention just one delegate cast a ballot for Connally, one Ada Mills, who became known as the “$11 million delegate”. Ronald Reagan was nominated and the rest is history.

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Change Does Not Always Produce Progress: The Denver Nuggets basketball team fired coach Brian Shaw after the team compiled a 20-39 won-lost record, lost ten straight at home, and was in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Shaw had been hired to replace George Karl, fired last season after the team won a franchise-record 57 games and made the playoffs, but was eliminated in the first round.