News of the Week for May 31^st, 2020

• Corona Virus
• Election 2020
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Corona Virus

 

 

What We Can Learn from Coronavirus Per Capita Death Rates
The main takeaway from the massive disparities in death rates so far is their regional patterns.

A deadly “checkerboard”: Covid-19’s new surge across rural America
The novel coronavirus arrived in an Indiana farm town mid-planting season and took root faster than the fields of seed corn, infecting hundreds and killing dozens. It tore through a pork processing plant and spread outward in a desolate stretch of the Oklahoma Panhandle. And in Colorado’s sparsely populated eastern plains, the virus erupted in a nursing home and a pair of factories, burning through the crowded quarters of immigrant workers and a vulnerable elderly population.

A second hairstylist who worked while symptomatic potentially exposed 56 clients to Covid-19, officials say
The stylists and clients wore face coverings

Arkansas Gov. Defends Not Issuing Stay-At-Home Order: ‘Modeling Has Lost a Lot of Credibility’
On Sunday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) defended his decision against issuing a stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, noting that projections and modeling have lost credibility and pointing out the economic devastation of the lockdowns in other states. While Arkansas is experiencing a second spike in COVID-19 cases, the governor noted that the increase is “fairly modest” and that the state has fewer than 100 people hospitalized with the coronavirus.

Authorities in China Underreporting CCP Virus Cases: Leaked Documents
The Jilin provincial government in northeaster China is underreporting the number of CCP-virus-disgnosed patients, leaked internal documents recently obtained by The Eppoc Times reaveal

The Reopening Debate Is Progressing Slower Than the Actual Reopening
“Spike in South Korea virus cases shows perils of reopening,” declares the ominous Associated Press headline. You have to go to another article to find the number of cases and deaths in the country: “The Asian nation reported 40 new cases for Tuesday, the biggest one-day increase since April 8, according to data from Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, or KCDC, with most of the cases connected to a distribution center of an e-commerce firm. This takes the total tally to 11,265 cases while the virus-linked deaths were unchanged at 269.”

COVID law review paper promotes “ableism and eugenics,” activists say, demanding retraction
“Untenured professor of color” accuses law students of intersectionality faux pas

Hong Kong, Coronavirus, and the Specter of Tiananmen
Not since the eve of the 1989 Tiananmen slaughter have we seen China’s communist regime more clearly girding to demolish a vibrant democracy movement. Thirty-one years ago, China’s Communist Party shut down democracy protesters in Beijing by shooting them in the streets. This time the CCP’s target is the former British colony of Hong Kong, where protesters turned out in huge numbers last year to defend the rights and freedoms that China promised them for at least 50 years after the 1997 British handover. Now, while the world grapples with the China-spawned coronavirus pandemic, China is preparing a national security law that would override Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous system. Under this law, as previewed by China’s authorities, Beijing could criminalize any activity in Hong Kong it deems a threat, and send mainland security operatives into Hong Kong as enforcers. Hong Kongers have richly demonstrated that they are a freedom-loving people, unlikely to bow down en masse and obey. The stage is set for a nightmare showdown.

Hannity: C’mon, People, Protect Your Grandparents By Wearing The Mask
He deserves a pat on the back for this, although I had to laugh at the idea of making a plea to young adults on a cable news network. The average age of Fox’s primetime viewership is 66! The Fox audience isn’t at risk of infecting grandma and grandpa because they behaved recklessly at a pool party over the weekend. They are grandma and grandpa.

Canada Activists Warn: Social Distancing Is Creating A Social-Disease Outbreak
The mechanics of this defy explanation … except as an attention-grabber. Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, people keep their distance and remain masked even when they do venture outside, both here and in Canada. So how can venereal disease outbreaks intensify in a lockdown, unless someone’s doing one or the other very badly.

Amidst the Pandemic, Our Fellow Citizens Are Self-Medicating with Self-Righteousness
On the menu today: some people need to get rid of their superiority complex; Dan McLaughlin writing on Gregg Jeffries; a new paper saying the virus didn’t spread from a patient in Washington State; and two astronauts are set to blast off today.

Why Does the CDC Think the COVID-19 Fatality Rate Is So Low, and Why Won’t It Tell Anyone?
Last week I was searching the Internet for some COVID-19 statistic or other, and I came across a new CDC website. The site featured some numbers the federal government is using to model the spread of the epidemic. One in particular caught my eye: 0.4 percent, the “current best estimate” of the disease’s “case fatality rate.” The document also said that 35 percent of infections are asymptomatic, which suggests the infection fatality rate is just 0.26 percent.

Vendors from Wuhan’s infamous live wild animal market linked to COVID-19 pandemic have reopened their stalls elsewhere
Former traders of Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market have relocated

The World Is Still Far From Herd Immunity for Coronavirus
The coronavirus still has a long way to go. That’s the message from a crop of new studies across the world that are trying to quantify how many people have been infected.

Let’s Focus on China’s Origin Story Again
On the menu today: a return to the topic of the Wuhan labs and the origin of the coronavirus, as China’s top epidemiologist declares the Huanan Seafood Market was not the origin point of the coronavirus.

Coronavirus: Monkeys ‘escape with COVID-19 samples’ after attacking lab assistant
One of the primates was reportedly later spotted up in a tree, chewing one of the sample collection kits.

COVID-19: China says Wuhan wet market was site of ‘superspreader’ event, not ground zero
Chinese health authorities say animals for sale at the market were tested and found not to contain the novel coronavirus

Manufacturing plants, grocery stores, delivery companies all have COVID-19 outbreaks in GTA
Public health officials watching for more cases in workplaces as businesses reopen

Coronavirus task force chief Mike Pence: You did it, America
It was early in the virus fight when only a few in the United States had died of COVID-19 that White House coronavirus task force leader Vice President Mike Pence and Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx went into the Oval Office with bad news.

LA County Official, a Former Child Actor, Says Minority Communities Can’t Meet Reopening Guidelines
LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl came out this week in opposition to a plan to allow individual cities to allow commercial activity to resume in some cities around the county. The reason? “It would be difficult for any city with a high minority population to meet these guidelines,” Kuehl said. California has only recently begun to reopen after an almost complete lockdown in response to the CCP coronavirus pandemic.

Sweden’s COVID Death Rate Now Ten Times Higher than Norway’s
There have now been ten times as many COVID-19 deaths in Sweden than Norway on a per capita basis.

 

Election 2020

 

A Growing Tide Among Democrats Against Klobuchar As VP
It’s hard to tell if Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is actively angling for a shot at being Joe Biden’s veep pick. She’s certainly never said she would turn down the honor, but if she’s pushing for it, she’s doing it in the background and far more subtly than Stacey Abrams. (Of course, that’s a pretty low bar to surmount.) The two seem to get along well enough, and they had one of the least acerbic relationships during the debates. But Joe Biden is reportedly coming under a lot of pressure to keep her off the ticket. And at least according to some recent reporting from Politico, that pressure is coming almost entirely from Black voters, activists and strategists. So how does race factor into Klobuchar’s popularity or lack thereof?

McCarthy yanks endorsement of California candidate over social media posts
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday rescinded his endorsement of Ted Howze, a candidate for a California House district, after social media posts expressing anti-Muslim sentiment and accusing prominent Democrats of murder and drug use came to light.

What We Can Learn from Coronavirus Per Capita Death Rates
The main takeaway from the massive disparities in death rates so far is their regional patterns.

Against Jo Rae Perkins
On Tuesday, Jo Rae Perkins won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Oregon. The Oregon GOP says it will back her candidacy notwithstanding her associations with the “QAnon” movement. That’s a mistake. Perkins is an unreconstructed exponent of a batty and corrosive conspiracy theory running a longshot campaign that carries only political downside for Republicans. They should do what they can to distance themselves from her candidacy.

Justice Department closing stock investigations into Loeffler, Inhofe, Feinstein
The Justice Department is closing investigations into the recent stock sales involving Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that were made earlier this year in the lead-up to, or the start of, the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities in China Underreporting CCP Virus Cases: Leaked Documents
The Jilin provincial government in northeaster China is underreporting the number of CCP-virus-disgnosed patients, leaked internal documents recently obtained by The Eppoc Times reaveal

Could The GOP Really Lose The Senate?
While everyone is focusing on the Presidential race and the electoral college this year, some GOP strategists are getting a bit nervous about the Senate. Of the upper chamber seats up for grabs, the GOP is defending more of them that look potentially vulnerable if Democrats get some momentum going. This is probably even more important than the question of who wins the White House. If Donald Trump manages to lose his bid for a second term, a GOP Senate majority is the only thing that would act as a check on the new Democratic president’s agenda, whether that winds up being Joe Biden or somebody else.

Strib Poll: Biden Struggling In Minnesota?
He’s leading — but not by much, in a polling series noted for its leanings toward Democrats. In the latest Star-Tribune/KARE11 poll in Minnesota, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump among registered voters, but barely outside the margin of error. Biden also fails to get to a majority, and has real problems once outside the friendly confines of the Twin Cities proper.

Study finds amazing predictor of timing and scale of coronavirus outbreaks: Feces
Finally, finally, we know how to avert a second wave of the disease. And not a moment too soon.

A congressman caught in the 1970s Abscam sting is now at the heart of a Philly election fraud probe, sources say
A central question lingered after federal authorities last week disclosed that a South Philadelphia poll worker had admitted taking bribes to stuff ballot boxes in local elections: Who was the unnamed campaign “Consultant #1” described in court filings as the man who paid Domenick DeMuro, 73, to inflate vote totals on behalf of favored candidates between 2014 and 2016?

This is Curious and a Bit Bothersome
It was funny to see this story crop up in Politico this morning because it is something I wanted to talk about on radio even before seeing the story. Outside groups are concerned that the Trump team is not doing enough to stop Joe Biden now.

Nevada Senator Withdraws from the Biden Veepstakes
Nevada Democratic senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, a darkhorse to be Joe Biden’s running-mate, says she doesn’t want to be considered for the job

Conservatives Pan Kushner Plan to Shrink GOP Platform
It is no secret that Donald Trump remade Republicans in his own likeness, casting aside old orthodoxies and introducing new doctrines to transform the Grand Old Party into a more protectionist, more populist entity. What Jared Kushner wants to do, however, was secret. That is, until last week.

GOP operatives worry Trump will lose both the presidency and Senate majority
A little more than three months ago, as Democrats cast their ballots in the Nevada caucuses, Republicans felt confident about their chances in 2020. The coronavirus seemed a distant, far-off threat. Democrats appeared poised to nominate a self-described socialist for president. The stock market was near a record high. The economy was roaring. President Donald Trump looked well-positioned to win a second term, and perhaps pull enough incumbent Republicans along with him to hold the party’s majority in the Senate.

COVID-19 cases spike in South Korea, Russia, Iran as global deaths pass 360K
South Korea struggled to contain a spike in new COVID-19 cases while Iran and Russia each logged significantly higher numbers Friday as the worldwide death toll from the pandemic surpassed 360,000.

 

Gun Rights

 

NZ Gun Crime Rates Soar Following Gun Bans
American gun control activists looked at New Zealand’s response to the Christchurch massacre with a high degree of awe. They desperately want the United States to follow that lead after the next mass shooting. They would love for our government to swoop in after such an event and snatch away all our guns, but particularly those nasty so-called “assault weapons” that they don’t think we have any business owning.

The Left’s Latest Dilemma: Ban Guns or Ban Police?
One of the offshoots of the protests and riots that have erupted in most American cities over the past few days has been a growing call on the left to defund law enforcement and end policing. Search Twitter for the hashtag #DefundPolice and you’ll see thousands of people urging an end to law enforcement as a radical, yet necessary step to eliminate injustices perpetrated by police officers.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Destroying the environment to save it
Pseudo-green energy will wreak devastation, pretending to prevent exaggerated climate harm

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Oklahoma Bans “Quality of Life” Health-Care Rationing
As many in the bioethics movement push various schemes to ration health care based on “quality of life” — such as the odious QALY (quality adjusted life year) system beloved of the New England Journal of Medicine — some are pushing back and insisting that health-care coverage and treatment public policy be predicated on the intrinsic equal dignity and moral worth of all patients.

Strange Math: More means Less, ACA-syle
So, another day, another TwitterSpiration©: “ACA Marketplace Plan Affordability Is Likely To Decrease For Subsidized Enrollees In 2020”

 

War & Terror

 

 

On Eve of Memorial Day, NYT Accuses U.S. Military of Celebrating ‘White Supremacy’
Memorial Day often marks the beginning of summer in earnest. Americans go outside, enjoy a barbecue, watch football, and take some time to remember the brave men and women who lost their lives to protect and serve the United States of America. The coronavirus may dampen some of these celebrations, but it should not impact America’s tribute to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Yet the editors at The New York Times thought Memorial Day weekend a great time to post a screed asking the question, “Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?”

A Memorial Day reflection
He knew what was coming and was there when it came. He was in Pearl City that Sunday morning in 1941 when World War II began.

Girl, 13, is “beheaded by her father while she slept in Iranian honour killing”: Victim had fallen in love with 34-year-old man
Romina Ashrafi, 13, had previously told authorities she feared for her life

The Central Park Dog Case Is Covington 2.0
Once again, further evidence upended the narrative of a viral video — but not before someone’s life and reputation were destroyed.

A border dispute between India and China is getting more serious
China is nibbling away at Indian territory and digging in

UK opens door to citizenship for 300,000 HK residents
Extension to visa rights promised if Beijing does not row back on national security laws

China Threatens “Cold War” against United States
China’s foreign minister accused Washington of being infected with a “political virus” that makes “use of every opportunity to attack and smear China.”

Iran Sets Up Espionage Operations in Venezuela
The Presidential Commissioner for Security, Iván Simonovis, revealed that with this center in Venezuela, he seeks to “monitor” air and sea communications

Riot Police, National Guard ‘Completely Abandon’ Perimeter in Minneapolis, Chased Away by Protesters
Townhall’s Julio Rosas is on the ground in Minneapolis this week, reporting on the protests and riots. Tonight he’s reporting that the riot police and the National Guard have abandoned a perimeter they had set up earlier in the day, chased away by the rioters.

RNC claims gunshot fired into GOP field office, but police say damage ‘not believed to be caused by firearm’
The Republican National Committee told Fox News they believe a gunshot was fired through a window of a GOP office in Mohave County, Arizona during a Trump Victory event Thursday night, but local police say they don’t believe the shattered glass was caused by a firearm.

Man shot and killed as protests continue in Detroit
A 19-year-old man was killed after shots were fired into a crowd of protesters in Detroit late Friday, the city’s police department said in a statement.

Black Firefighter Spent His Life Savings To Open A Bar. Then Minneapolis Looters Burned It Down
A black firefighter who invested his life savings into opening up a sports bar in Minneapolis was reduced to tears after looters destroyed his life’s work.

Trump Puts Military Police Units On Alert to Go to Minneapolis
If the mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey refuses to keep order in his city, someone is going to have to.

ANTIFA National Mobilization? Riots Across Country Raise Questions About Coordination
Mayors and others are complaining about organized outside agitators exploiting the community protests.

Minneapolis goes Bagdhad
The Minnesota state authorities held a press conference at 10:00 yesterday morning. Governor Walz led the parade with a classic yammer yammer yammer blah blah blah performance. I have embedded the video below. He is — they are — over their head, out of their depth, out of it, clueless. You have to see it to believe it.

NYPD Hit With Molotov Cocktails By “Peaceful Protesters”
As we’ve already seen, rioters in Minnesota, Chicago and Atlanta have been brazen enough in recent nights to vandalize police cars and even burn down a police station. But in typical fashion, the hoodlums in New York City are never to be outdone. Rather than simply yelling at the NYPD or smashing their windows, at least one woman decided to take things to the next level on Friday night. She and her friends threw four Molotov cocktails at the police, including tossing one into a clearly marked (and occupied) NYPD van. Thankfully, the bomb didn’t explode, but the rest caused serious injuries and set off yet another blaze in the process. Unlike other “protesters” who launch cowardly attacks and flee into the night, the cops brought this woman down quickly.

 

National

 

California Democrats Want to Bring Racial Preferences Back
In 1996, Californians voted to end racial preferences at state universities. The Left has been fighting to restore them ever since.

Forget The Murder Hornets. Here Come The Cannibal Rats
Let’s see. First, we got hit with the pandemic. Then there was a literal plague of locusts swarming across Africa. Then came the volcano lighting. We were next warned of an incoming wave of murder hornets. Well, the hornets have turned out to be something of a bust, at least thus far. But the next curse to fall upon your houses will probably sound even more messed up. Get ready for hordes of cannibal rats who are becoming increasingly aggressive according to some rodentologists at the CDC.

Trial by Zoom Jury?
I was scheduled for jury duty just as the COVID-19 crisis came to a head in March and courts, along with everything else in the state, closed. With legal cases piling up and the coronavirus court lockdown still in place, the inevitable question arises: Will there be trials in California decided by juries watching on Zoom or other video conferencing applications?

Liz Cheney Urges Trump to Stop Promoting Baseless Conspiracy Theory
Over Memorial Day weekend, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to promote a baseless conspiracy theory that MSNBC host and former congressman Joe Scarborough might have murdered one of his staffers, Lori Klausutis, who died unexpectedly in 2001 while working in a Florida office while Scarborough was in Washington, D.C.

Many Astronomers Now Think Planet Nine Might Not Exist After All, Here’s Why
Planet Nine is a theoretical, undiscovered giant planet in the mysterious far reaches of our Solar System.

Man In Viral Video Asks Online Mob: Stop Threatening To Kill The Central Park Karen
But … this is our culture now.

Walz Activates National Guard To Control Rioting In Twin Cities; Update: Mass Transit Shuts Down
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey had made the request earlier. The spread of attacks into Saint Paul’s Midway probably convinced Tim Walz to finally make the call. The governor issued an executive order authorizing the National Guard to impose order on the streets in the wake of rioting the last two days, an offshoot of protests over the death of George Floyd while in police custody

New report explains why allowing “hate speech” keeps America free
A new report published by a conservative think tank argues that attempts to criminalize discourse that some call “hate speech” actually threatens America’s ability to self govern.

Amy Klobuchar didn’t prosecute officer at center of George Floyd’s death
George Floyd’s death in police custody is renewing criticism of Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) prosecutorial record.

As Trump runs out of appeals court vacancies to fill, Lindsey Graham calls for “originalist” judges to take Senior Status
The Circuit Courts arguably are the most important because the Supreme Court takes so few cases, and that is where Trump and Mitch McConnell have put their focus.

Nevaga AG Ford supports discrimination against Asian-Americans
In the name of diversity, Attorney General Aaron Ford supports discriminating against Asian-Americans.

Criminal Complaint: Preliminary Findings Are That George Floyd Didn’t Die Of Strangulation And Had Underlying Health Conditions
I’m guessing this is what the DA was thinking of last night when he referred to certain evidence that doesn’t support a criminal charge against Derek Chauvin.

‘We want a first-degree murder charge’: George Floyd family speaks out on charge against Derek Chauvin
George Floyd’s family spoke out on the charges against the Minneapolis police officer who allegedly killed him, saying they don’t go far enough.

George Floyd protest on Strip results in 2 injured officers, multiple arrests
A demonstration that started peacefully Friday with hundreds marching on the Strip to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis turned into tense standoffs with police and multiple arrests by the evening hours.

Twin Cities Situation Deteriorating as Keith Ellison Fans the Flames
Twin Cities rioters and leftists are spreading a conspiracy theory: they claim that an agent provocateur, an undercover police officer, was the first to vandalize property in Minneapolis, and therefore the police are “really” responsible for the arson, looting, and so on now taking place. This is absurd, of course. But now Attorney General Keith Ellison, the state’s chief law enforcement officer, has signed on with the far-left kooks

Chinese cheating rampant in U.S. college applications, and in classrooms
As lawmakers mount pressure on Chinese foreign students, Campus Reform reexamines a scandal that has affected campuses across the country: rampant cheating from Chinese students.

Walz calls
After I wrote “Minneapolis goes Baghdad” in the early morning hours yesterday, Governor Walz called a 10:00 a.m. press conference. With the fires still smoldering in Minneapolis, Walz announced that he had activated our entire National Guard contingent and declared that the curfews in Minneapolis and St. Paul would be enforced yesterday evening (video below). Apparently between 4,000 and 5,000 National Guard soldiers enhanced the law enforcement officers in the unified command deployed throughout the Twin Cities last night.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Bad water, bad debt, and man, the police shoot a lot of people.

Dragon docks at International Space Station 19 hours after NASA-SpaceX launch
Dragon is docking after a 19-hour journey.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

U.S. seeks to revive domestic rare earth industry dominated by China
Several businesses are attempting to restore the United States’ rare earth minerals and metals industry, as the federal government seeks to reduce its dependence on China, the world’s leading miner, processor and exporter of the materials.

Biden’s Middle-Class Tax Pledge
Biden is pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. As I note in my Bloomberg Opinion column, Democratic proposals to increase income taxes keep getting narrower in scope. In 1993, President Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress raised income taxes on households making more than $115,000 — about $205,000 in today’s money. In 2010, President Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress raised taxes on investment income for couples making more than $250,000. That’s about $294,000 today.

Oversimplifying the Working Class
Salena Zito makes the case that President Trump’s promotion of American manufacturing will aid his reelection. But in the course of making that point, she generalizes too much

U.S. Secretary of State Rules that Hong Kong Is No Longer Autonomous From China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today notified Congress of a finding that should make China think hard about its next move with regard to Hong Kong.

Make ‘Temporary’ Regulatory Relief Permanent After the Pandemic Passes
The health crisis revealed red tape that hobbles our lives even in good times.

BBC’s Katya Adler exposes growing panic in Brussels as EU faces ‘entire eurozone collapse’
BBC’s Brussels correspondent Katya Adler has revealed that Brussels is increasingly alarmed that the entire European economy will collapse after several member states resisted calls to back Ursula von der Leyen’s huge bailout plan.

 

International

 

191 parliamentarians and policymakers from 23 countries slam Beijing for “assault” on Hong Kong freedoms and rule of law
A coalition of 191 parliamentarians and policymakers from 23 countries have issued a statement condemning Beijing’s “unilateral introduction of national security legislation in Hong Kong,” and calling for sympathetic governments to unite against this “flagrant breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”

Quieter Night In Hong Kong Following Protests, Mass Arrests
Hong Kong’s evening stayed relatively quiet on Sunday following a day of mass arrests and protests over the changes to their Basic Law. RTHK reported protesters and police clashed several times during the evening hours with multiple people either led away in handcuffs or ticketed.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says China’s new security law ‘won’t affect freedoms’
Carrie Lam told Hong Kong residents: “There is no need for us to worry.”

Irony! BDS Activist Roger Waters Banned By Former Group, Pink Floyd
Hey Roger, How Does It Feel To Be Banned?

Hong Kong ‘no longer autonomous from China’ – Pompeo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told Congress that Hong Kong no longer merits special treatment under US law.

The 82-Day Dictatorship
Worries about Hungarian authoritarianism prove overblown, but are they hiding the real danger?

Are Europeans ready for an insect-based diet?
While insect-based foods have so far been a niche product, they are viewed as a highly promising solution to the challenges facing the food industry. Although new EU regulations should pave the way for these products, European eating habits will have to change too.

Uighurs Need All the Help They Can Get
China is the most effectively tyrannical country on earth and one of the most despotic in history. As if the COVID debacle and Hong Kong suppression weren’t enough, these days it is energetically suppressing religious belief — because to the Communist Party leaders, there can only be one source of truth and one locus of loyalty, and that is the State.

Butteryfly Effect: China’s Real Target is Taiwan
For Xi Jinping, the new controversial law for Hong Kong is part of a bigger plan to restore his credibility at home and send a message to Taiwan and the West.

Left melts down as Alberta moves to recognize Christian parents’ right to choose education for kids
Premier Jason Kenney said the bill was introduced because ‘we believe that parents know better than politicians or bureaucrats about what’s in the best interests of their kids’

 

Opinion

 

It’s Time to Mothball the IMF
Established as part of the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, the IMF was designed to be primarily responsible for extending short-?term, subsidized credits to countries experiencing balance-?of-?payments problems under the post-war, international, pegged-?exchange-rate system. In 1971, however, Richard Nixon, then U.S. president, closed the gold window, triggering the 1973 collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement and, logically, the demise of the IMF. It was then that the IMF should have been mothballed. But since the Bretton Woods collapse, the IMF has used every crisis as a chance to dream up a new mandate and expand.

Some good advice for President Trump
John has written about President Trump’s recent tweets regarding Joe Scarborough. Trump is suggesting that, nineteen years ago, an aide to Scarborough, whose death was found to be the result of a heart attack, may have been murdered. And Trump advocates the opening of a “cold case against Psycho Joe Scarborough” in connection with the staffer’s death.

Who Benefits If Trump’s Worst Tweets Are Removed?
If Twitter were to take down the Tweets from President Trump that they deem most offensive, controversial, tasteless, or unacceptable, as some of the president’s critics desire . . . wouldn’t they be doing the president a favor by ensuring that his worst messages would be the least-seen and would disappear from the news cycle and public perception quickly?

Preserve Prop. 209: Don’t let racial discrimination return to California
Quick! Close your eyes and think of how coronavirus can be used as a justification for a law that you want to be enacted. Be creative! What’s the biggest stretch you can come up with?

47 U.S.C. § 230 and the Publisher/Distributor/Platform Distinction
I’m still doing some research related to President Trump’s “Preventing Online Censorship” draft Executive Order, and hope to post more about this today. But for now, I wanted to post some background I put together earlier about 47 U.S.C. § 230 (enacted 1996), the statute that is so important to the order; I hope people find this helpful.

Preventable Violence in California
A homeless man named Peter Rocha is in San Francisco police custody after allegedly beating 94-year-old Leo Hainzl to death with a stick.

Why the Narrative Goals of the 1619 Project Matter
They seek to support a radical, anti-American view of history.

Five Thoughts on the George Floyd Story
After a night of riots, looting, and arson in Minneapolis to protest the police killing of George Floyd, five thoughts spring to mind

The Damage That Academic Theorizing Has Done
Almost a quarter century ago, Alan Sokal famously poked fun at academic theorists with his brilliant spoof: an article contending that gravity was merely a social construct. It was written in trendy jargon and the editors were taken in. When Sokal later admitted his scheme, the academics denounced him, of course.

Mike Lee: Keep Government Far Away from Social-Media Regulation
In an interview with Guy Benson, Utah Republican senator Mike Lee weighs in on President Trump’s new executive order: “[K]eep government as far away from it as you possibly can. Look, this may be attractive from a distance to some at any given moment, but it’s a very dangerous, slippery slope to start opening the door to having the government regulate these platforms.”

The U.S. Should Immediately Grant Visas to Hong Kong Residents Who Want Out
And it should keep taking Chinese college students too. Both strategies would be more damaging to China than the current plan of using sanctions.