News of the Week for June 18^th, 2017

• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Gun Rights

 

Olympics drops several historic shooting events for 2020
Moving towards being “more youthful, more urban, and more women” the International Olympic Committee approved a host of changes to the shooting sports for the upcoming Tokyo Games.

Victory!: Governor Abbott signs Texas “Bowie Bill”
Huge news out of Texas. Today Governor Abbott signed into law a repeal of one of the most moronic, and undeniably most ironic knife restrictions in the nation. HB 1935, known colloquially as the “Bowie Bill” removes daggers, dirks, stilettos, poniards, swords, spears and most notably, Bowie knives, from Texas statute, effectively legalizing carry of said knives almost everywhere in the state.

Seattle gun tax update: Sales way down, shootings way up
Do you happen to recall this story out of Washington state that we covered here last year? It dealt with a steep tax on firearms and ammunition levied in Seattle, ostensibly intended to fund research into the effects of gun violence. It went into effect in 2016, receiving great applause from gun grabbing groups around the nation. But after nearly a year of being in place, the city was refusing to release any figures on how much money the tax had brought in nor what impact, if any, it was having on gun violence.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

There is No Such Thing as Affordable Renewable Energy
Awareness is slowly permeating through the media that renewables inevitably lead to higher electricity prices – and that the Australian energy grid is in deep trouble. But this awareness is too little, too late, to save what is left of what was once one of the cheapest electricity grids in the world.

Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction
According to renowned Smithsonian Paleontologist Doug Erwin, people who claim we are in the midst of an anthropogenic mass extinction don’t have a clue what a mass extinction actually is.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Obamacare Repeal Moves Steadily Forward
Ignoring the sound and fury over Comey, the GOP is easing ACA toward the abyss.

GOP Senate leaders aim to bring health-care legislation to the floor by end of June
President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are pressing for an ambitious timeline to complete the bill, although it is being drafted in the Senate with little assistance from the White House.

Regulations vs Productivity, Medical-style
Interesting article today in MedPage about how five doc’s manage their practices (or have bailed on them) through years of increasingly onerous paperwork and record-keeping reg’s.

 

War & Terror

 

The Challenge of Modernizing Nuclear Weapons
The Senate Armed Services Committee hosted a hearing last week on defense nuclear acquisition programs and doctrine.

ANTIFA Demonstrator attacks police horse during March against Sharia in Harrisburg
A Philadelphia woman is facing charges after she attacked a police horse with a flag pole during a demonstration in Harrisburg on Saturday morning.

Rep. Scalise shot in Alexandria
A man with a rifle went on a shooting spree targeting Republicans practicing in Alexandria for the upcoming Congressional Baseball Game. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was wounded in the attack.

Suspect identified in Scalise shooting
Asked whether Republicans were practicing; Update: Sanders condemns shooter

Congressional Shooter Was A Bernie Bro Who Joined ‘Terminate The Republican Party’ Facebook Group
An Illinois man allegedly shot at congressional Republicans who were practicing at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia Wednesday morning, injuring Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), a congressional staffer, and two police officers.

Charleston Dirty Bomb Investigation Results in Man Who Reported it Detained
Late last night the U.S. Coast Guard and the FBI responded to a reported threat of a dirty bomb on board a container ship docked in Charleston, SC. No bomb was found but the man who reported the threat has been detained for questioning.

FBI Investigates Package With “White Powdery Substance” Sent to GOP Candidate in GA-6
Karen Handel, Republican Congressional candidate in Georgia’s sixth district, received a package with a threatening letter

China Is Ticking All the Boxes on Its Path to War
There are currently three communiques that have guided U.S.-China relations for the last 45 years. These joint statements by the U.S. and Chinese governments were signed in 1972, 1979, and 1982. Among other things, the second communique states that, “Neither should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or in any other region of the world”.

Watch as Russian Fighter Jet Intercepts US Bombers Over Baltic Sea During NATO Exercise
A Russian fighter jet last week intercepted a formation of 11 NATO aircraft, including U.S. bombers, as they flew within international airspace over the Baltic Sea as part of a military exercise.

SecDef explains what war with North Korea would look like
This is an unpleasant topic to tackle, but given the recent arc of events it’s rather tough to avoid. The Secretary of Defense, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, went before the House Appropriations Committee to give testimony recently and he was asked about the prospect of war with North Korea.

Bogota Mall Explosion Leaves 3 Dead, 11 Injured
The shopping center, one of the busiest in the country, is currently being evacuated.

 

National

 

Supreme Court strikes down gender-based citizenship law
A unanimous Supreme Court on Monday stuck down a law that makes birthright citizenship harder for children of unwed fathers to obtain than children of unwed mothers.

UW-Madison class explores “harms and forms of injustice associated with capitalism”
“Exploitation, domination and irrationality”

Sex Scandal: When colleges treat men and women the same – women get hurt, author says
Men and women are not the same, and colleges should not treat them as such.

Dennis Prager Adopts Leftist Rhetoric In Calling Trump-Era Politics “A Civil War”
Early American progressives believed the nation needed to harness the moral urgency of warfare and direct it towards alarming Americans into expanding government.

Students accuse Weinstein of hiding behind Jewishness
The letter blasts Weinstein, arguing that “he has held fast to his seemingly innocuous position of victimhood.”

Prof: Internet is racist because of users, search engines
Prof. Charlton McIlwain analyzed web traffic and search rankings to determine if users were going out of their way to avoid “nonracial” sites.

“Safe Space Committee” works to challenge “heterosexism”
Old Dominion University’s Safe Space Committee provides a number of initiatives for students and faculty, such as LGBT groups, activist events, and networks.

University of Maryland students demand :hate speech” be classified as “cult activity”
President proposes $100k for diversity efforts, “hate-bias task force”; student group demands more

Actor Mark Ruffalo Demands NBC Stop Hiring “White Conservatives”
Actor Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk in The Avengers movie franchise, has never been shy when it comes to making his political opinions known to the public.

Brain Architecture: Scientists Discover 11 Dimensional Structures That Could Help Us Understand How the Brain Works
Scientists studying the brain have discovered that the organ operates on up to 11 different dimensions, creating multiverse-like structures that are “a world we had never imagined.”

Evergreen prez now “immensely disappointed” by protests
The president of Evergreen State College now says he is “immensely disappointed” in the student protesters who recently shut down the campus, despite having previously praised their “courage.”

Scalise shooting fallout: GOP rep receives threatening email
U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, says she received a threatening email Wednesday morning from a constituent, hours after a gunman shot Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice in Virginia.

Police Seize Nearly $1 Million In Meth-Infused Lollipops Shaped Like Yoda
Authorities seized nearly $1 million worth of methamphetamine disguised as lollipops shaped like butterflies, flowers and even Yoda from Star Wars during a raid in Texas Monday.

Prosecutors sat on text exonerating college athlete accused of rape for nine months
Rape accuser wanted to extort son of famous athlete

Evergreen State College vows to create social justice warriors in teaching program
100 percent employment for grads in “teaching positions”

When an anti-Trump witch was asked to cast a spell against ISIS, this happened
You see a lot of really weird things living in New York. In one of the most bizarre acts of Trump derangement syndrome, a witchcraft shop in Brooklyn is casting spells on President Trump. Yes, you read that right.

Turkish Embassy brawl: Warrants issued for Turkish agents, Canadians
Police were on the hunt for 14 people, including nine Turkish security agents and three Turkish police officers, in the brawl that broke out in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit in May, officials announced Thursday.

Moms are asking their infants for permission to pick them up – in order to combat “rape culture”
New moms on Instagram have launched a new trend to combat “rape culture”: They are asking their infants for permission before picking them up.

Rescission of Memorandum Providing for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”)
On June 15, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, after consulting with the Attorney General, signed a memorandum rescinding the November 20, 2014 memorandum that created the program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) because there is no credible path forward to litigate the currently enjoined policy.

Ohio Wesleyan to launch “Social Justice Major” in fall
Ohio Wesleyan University will begin offering a degree in Social Justice starting in the fall semester.

Prof claims American patriotism is “drenched in whiteness”
A University of Florida professor claims that the American notion of patriotism is “drenched in whiteness” and implies that black people are “un-American.”

CA Dem Official Caught Berating Gay Petitioners
A local Democratic official was caught on camera berating and cursing out a group of gay petitioners because they were clip-boarding for a conservative cause.

Trump Admin Rescinds DAPA Amnesty Program
The Trump administration has fulfilled another one of Donald Trump’s campaign promises by rescinding the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program implemented under Barack Obama that could have allowed as many as five million illegal aliens with children who are citizens or lawful permanent residents to remain in the country if they met certain criteria.

Steve Scalise’s Shooter Was Carrying A Hit List Targeting the Freedom Caucus
According to FoxNews and the Daily Caller, Bernie Sanders supporter and failed assassin, James Hodgkinson, was carrying what amounts to a hit list containing names of members of the Freedom Caucus

TX school district buys $700k home to tear down for access road – then superintendent moves in!
A Texas news station is blowing the lid off a local school superintendent’s pricey perks paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Parents fume over $336k school board room renovation amid $107 million budget deficit
Parents in the Hillsborough County school district are fuming over the school board’s plans to spend more than $336,000 to upgrade the board room at a time when the district is struggling to cut costs.

School-issued computers allow administrators to spy on students – at home
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling out Rhode Island’s student computer programs for allowing school officials to remotely spy on students with the devices, including at home.

GOP Congressman: Trump ‘Partially to Blame for Demons That Have Been Unleashed’
A GOP congressman said he wasn’t blaming President Trump for Wednesday’s shooting at a Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., when he said Trump’s behavior had contributed to unleashing “demons” that have taken political discourse over the brink.

Schools Resurrecting Recess are Seeing Incredible Results
All work and no play…

St. Louis Cardinals stand up to LGBTQ activists
For nearly three decades, the St. Louis Cardinals have held a yearly event called “Christian Day.” The team calls this a reflection of its commitment “to bringing like-minded groups together to share in the unifying experience of Cardinals baseball.” The same commitment manifests itself in Jewish Community Night, Catholic Family Night, Bosnian Heritage Night, Fiesta Cardenales (heavy on cultural appropriation, I hope), etc. And this year the Cardinals are scheduled to host their first “Pride Night” for members of the LGBT Community.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Cook County Exempts Food Stamps From Soda Tax
This is the second reversal of the law.

Right-Wing Central Planning Is as Foolish as Left-Wing Central Planning.
It is the old familiar dream of the central planner, an orrery economic universe in which things move in predictable and comprehensible patterns. That model of the economy has no relationship to reality. A million different things might become of any given laid-off steelworker; predicting what would happen to an entire industry’s work force (or even a small portion of it) in the absence of a certain protectionist policy is not economics – it is speculative fiction.

Hawaii could become the first state to offer its citizens universal basic income after bill passes through both houses of state legislature
Hawaii is working to becoming the first state to offer guaranteed basic income

 

International

 

Black Lives Matter Halts Toronto Gay Pride Parade
If you ask a social justice jihadi, everyone besides straight white males is oppressed, period. But Leftist groups that don’t fit one of those descriptors are lately engaged in a battle for oppression supremacy, which PhD sociologists with no other marketable skills refer to as “intersectionality.”

Swedish womyn social (justice) workers love refugees – literally
We know the type. Aging, feminist, socialist spinsters who have nothing else to do but make other people’s lives miserable with constant multi-cultural rants and harping on the male dominated hierarchy or some such. So where to find happiness in their frustrating and demented existence, outside of providing coffee and donuts at an antifa riot? Well, the womyn social justice warriors in Sweden have come up with a solution.

Cultural appropriation: Make it illegal worldwide, Indigenous advocates say
Indigenous advocates from around the world are calling on a UN committee to ban the appropriation of Indigenous cultures – and to do it quickly.

Meanwhile in Venezuela, protesters set fire to the Supreme Court building
The Supreme Court of Venezuela recently handed down a ruling in favor of the government of Nicolas Maduro which rejected a measure designed to prevent the dictator from rewriting that nation’s constitution. The current plan is for a group of people largely selected by Maduro to elect a “constituent assembly” to draft a new version of the document. The court’s ruling keeps that plan in place for the time being.

Dennis Rodman Gives Trump’s “Art of the Deal” to Kim Jong-un as Present
Former NBA player Dennis Rodman hand delivered President Trump’s best selling book, The Art of the Deal, to North Korea’s sports minister as a present intended for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Several Scandals Hit Macron’s New Administration
French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has shown “extremely worrying” signs of hostility toward the media during its first month in office, unions representing France’s major media outlets claim.

Helmut Kohl dies at 87, Germany’s “chancellor of unity” marred by corruption scandal
Helmut Kohl, the long-serving former chancellor whose life in the political limelight spanned the joyous zenith of German reunification and the shattering nadir of a corruption scandal, died Friday at his home in Ludwigshafen, Germany. He was 87.

The homes of rich people in Kensington should be SEIZED for Grenfell Tower residents made homeless by fire, says Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn has voiced anger over the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower

Nursery blast kills seven in China’s Xuzhou
At least 66 people were also wounded in the explosion at a nursery in Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu, state media reports.

The Spanish Left Yearns for Deconquista
Muslims demand to worship in a cathedral that hasn’t been Islamic since 1236.

EU Sues Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic For Not Taking Enough Muslim Refugees
The European Union launched legal action Tuesday against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic over their refusal to take refugees.

 

Opinion

 

Sanders’ Religious Test Goes Against Founders’ Vision
What does a man’s theology have to do with the U.S. economy? A lot, if you’re Russell Vought.

Brits need heat-packing bobbies to cope with Europe’s “new normal”
First-responders run towards calamity while everyone else is running away, but apparently that wasn’t the case at Borough Market in the U.K. where Islamists went on a bloody rampage.

Gay Pride = Hate Republicans?
This year’s Los Angeles Pride Parade was turned into an anti-Republican political protest, from which gay Republicans were banned. It’s rather difficult to explain the logic of this, given that Trump was the most pro-LGBT Republican ever nominated for president, and his most prominent supporters include gay billionaire Peter Thiel. If you look at exit polls, you discover that Republicans get more votes from the gay community than they do from the black community, and why?

Baseball Shooter a Big Wake-Up Call for the Left
It couldn’t be more obvious that highly disturbed individuals such as the deranged gunman using baseball-playing Republican congressmen for target practice on Wednesday can come from all political, ethnic, racial and religious categories; nevertheless, it’s high time for some introspection from the left. This should be a wake-up call for them. Indeed, for the sake of our country, it had better be.

The Left Embraces Political Violence
The Alexandria shooting is the continuation of the riots in Berkeley and Middlebury.

How Do We Evaluate Art in the Kingdom of the Blind Marxist?
This morning I woke up to find one of my distinguished colleagues was raging at dumb conservatives for not liking the Trump-Julius Caesar play.

Our Public School System Isn’t Producing Education Equality
All across America, preparations are underway for high school graduation. It’s a glorious time, representing both a milestone and a gateway to adulthood.

On Kamala Harris and The Interruptions
It sure doesn’t take much to become a progressive icon these days.

The Left Is Rotting From Within
There is great evil afoot in this country. The left is imploding before our very eyes. But it is a rot from within, and it is self-imposed. The Democrat Party has no substantive platform any longer other than obstruction, “resist,” foul-mouthed vulgarity, violence, anger, and excessive whining.

The Michelle Carter verdict was a total miscarriage of justice
Having had the night to sleep on it, I wanted to take a moment today to offer a different perspective on the Michelle Carter verdict than the sentiments expressed by Allahpundit yesterday. While he’s clearly aware of the dubious nature of the conviction in legal terms, I can sympathize with the concept of viewing a person who clearly acted in a reprehensible fashion which ended up involving the death of a loved one and really wanting to find some way for society to punish her. But this verdict seems to lack a lot of the elements of other laws involving indirect action in a criminal enterprise which were brought up.

Darkness in Virginia
To increase the number of Democratic voters in his state, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe gave the right to vote to 206,000 convicted felons. He did so by executive order in 2016.

Can a President’s Exercise of His Constitutional Powers Be Obstruction of Justice?
The Manhattan Contrarian asks a good question

A “few” words about men interrupting women
Since I left for my trip, there’s been a big to-do about the fact that David Bonderman, at an Uber board meeting, made a slightly stale, 1950s-esque joke about women:

The #FreeLaura Hashtag Warriors Deliver Some of the DUMBEST Takes on Free Speech
Earlier today Jay Caruso wrote about the Trumper snowflakes that had to disrupt a play because they didn’t like its content. In the age of Trump there are more and more “conservatives” who think the best way to advance conservatism is to act like crybaby leftists. It goes without saying that a play depicting the assassination of a sitting president is over the top, offensive, and possibly an incitement to violence. Basically it’s a very leftist thing to do. As is the #FreeLaura hashtag activism currently spreading stupid all over Twitter.

On Being Persona Non Grata
You could say I have a contrary disposition. You could also say water is wet.