Loose Ends

"If fascism ever comes to America, it'll come in the name of liberalism" Ronald Reagan: 60 minutes 1975 Of course, its very easy to quote from the past and attach it however liberally you like to pretty much anything you want in order to back up your beliefs. Just take a look at how many people quote Orwell out of context or any host of eminent academics of the past. Yet having devoured Douglas Murray's latest book "The War On The West" my mind was immediately drawn to this Reagan quote from almost 50 years ago before I had even finished the introduction. Divided neatly into 4 easily digestible chunks and 3 very interesting interludes, the final conclusion leaves not only Murray admitting he has no definitive answer, but to leave the reader in the belief that at this point even token resistance is futile. In fact, what I found was most interesting about the whole book was one could imagine Murray typing himself into a depressed stupor and leaving the book al...

In 1976 little known US female Tennis player Renee Richards was outed publicly as a man by local Tv anchor Richard Carlson. It caused such a stir that it prompted the USTA, WTA and the USOC to require all athletes who wish to compete in the female category of sports to subject themselves to the Barr body test of their chromosomes to ensure that they were biologically women. (Fun fact: Richard Carlson is the father of Tucker Carlson) In the 1976 US open, Richards applied to compete as a woman but refused to take the test so was not allowed to compete in that years open, Wimbledon or the Italian open. In 1977 Richards sued the USTA in the New York courts alleging discrimination by gender. On August 16th 1977 Judge Alfred M. Ascione found in Richards favour. While her tennis career never quite hit the heights that many predicted, a precedent had been set and nearly a half century later sport is still struggling with this difficult legacy. How much of an advantage do transgender women have...