News of the Week for Oct. 18^th, 2020

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

 

Supreme Court Vacancy

 

Sen. Hawley Unloads on Those Who Attack Barrett’s Catholic Faith: “That’s Bigotry”
“When you tell somebody that they’re too Catholic to be on the bench, when you tell them they’ll be a Catholic judge, not an American judge, that’s bigotry.”

Dianne Feinstein Opens Barrett Hearings With a Great Big Whopper About Preexisting Conditions
The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett today, and Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) let everyone know what the Democrat members’ focus would be. On November 10, the Supreme Court will begin hearings on Texas v. California, which challenges Obamacare’s constitutionality. Feinstein was careful to refer to the legislation as the Affordable Care Act.

Abortion as an “Option”
In his opening statement at Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing, Senator Cory Booker warned that a Justice Barrett would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Predictably, Booker avoided addressing the legal merits of overturning Roe, instead relying on consequentialist arguments for upholding it. Moreover, in making those arguments, he resorted to euphemism rather than scientific or moral reasoning. Women in states that banned or restricted abortion in a post-Roe world would have “no options” according to Booker. Of course, Booker knows that describing abortion as an “option” is politically preferable to acknowledging that the result of an abortion procedure is the ending of a distinct human life, and delving into the violent reality of what such a procedure looks like.

Ever Wish You Could Vote against the Greatest Evil?
A great many Americans who are prepared to vote for Biden are really Trump opponents. By the same token, many of those who are prepared to vote for Trump are actually most desirous of avoiding a Biden presidency. Unfortunately, our voting system doesn’t allow us to express our strongest preference if it is negative. We have to vote for the lesser of two evils — but why?

Amy Coney Barrett and Ben Sasse: Traitors to Their Class
Michael Brendan Dougherty has a typically perceptive analysis of why some of the opposition to Amy Coney Barrett seems different from past Supreme Court nominees from Republican presidents. In short: Her background, while obviously still impressive, deviates in certain ways from what those on the left “expect” of someone of her stature — even of her Ivy League and/or Beltway-saturated potential colleagues on the Court.

Booker Defends Roe with a Series of Euphemisms
During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) used part of his opening statement to assert that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is a threat to Roe v. Wade.

Graduating from Barrett’s High School Does Not Make You an Expert on Her Nomination
The Guardian has published an op-ed this morning by Lisa M. O’Neill, who graduated from St. Mary’s Dominican High School in Louisiana, the same high school from which Amy Coney Barrett graduated.

Sasse (And WaPo): Stacking, Packing, Biden, And Boneheads — A “Civics 101” Lesson
This might be the most worthwhile eleven minutes of the entire confirmation hearing for Amy Coney Barrett, and it’s not surprising that it came from Republican Ben Sasse. He’s been a gadfly at times, a more committed conservative than partisan actor, and perhaps the GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee with the most credibility to deliver this “Civics 101” spanking to his colleagues.

Sheldon Whitehouse’s not so beautiful mind
I skipped yesterday’s hearing on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. I didn’t want to waste a day listening to speeches by Judiciary Committee members.

Dick Durbin’s not so beautiful mind
In a post below, I complained about how, instead of questioning Amy Coney Barrett, Senators are using her as a prop while they make speeches. Not surprisingly, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a world class grandstander, was the biggest culprit during three hours or so of the hearing that I watched.

Sen. Hirono Asked Barrett if She “Ever Made Unwanted Requests for Sexual Favors,” or Committed Sexual Harassment
Sorry, Senator. No Kavanaugh theater for you!

Graham Kicks Off Barrett Hearing With Takedown of Obamacare
“We want ‘South Carolina Care,’ not Obamacare.”

Shorter Coons to Barrett: Calling a Chief Justice Ruling “Unsound” is Chastising
No, Senator. You can criticize or disagree without it being considered “chastising.”

Barrett Reminds Klobuchar That “Scholars Across the Spectrum” Also Don’t Consider Roe v. Wade as “Super Precedent”
Hey, Klobuchar. Even RBG criticized SCOTUS’s reasoning on Roe v. Wade.

Durbin Shows He Didn’t Read Barrett’s Dissent on Felons Owning Guns
Nonviolent felons, Durbin. Read her opinion.

Mazie Hirono To Barrett: Have You Ever Sexually Assaulted Someone?
Not the first question that would occur to me to ask when interviewing a very Catholic mother of seven, but Hirono’s prone to losing her mind during Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Remember two years ago when she said Brett Kavanaugh might not enjoy the same presumption of innocence on a rape claim as everyone else because he’s a judicial conservative?

Senator Ben Sasse Explains How Courts Work in the American System
Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) deftly used his questioning of Amy Coney Barrett to illuminate the true purpose and role of America’s judiciary.

Richard Blumenthal’s Fear-Mongering
Citing the Ginsburg Rule, Amy Coney Barrett continues to refuse to opine on constitutional issues that may come before her should she be confirmed to the Supreme Court. In the context of in vitro fertilization, Senator Richard Blumenthal called that refusal “chilling” and insisted that the woman in an example he used, Tracy, would be fearful after hearing it.

World’s Greatest Deliberative Body
Dumber than nine chickens, that guy.

Democrats’ Judicial Consequentialism Is on Display Today
Health care, with NFIB v. Sebelius as its avatar, and abortion, with both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as its own, have been at the forefront of Democrats’ questioning of Amy Coney Barrett. As of 3:15 p.m., Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, and Chris Coons have had the opportunity to interrogate Barrett on her judicial views, including her academic criticism of Chief Justice John Roberts’s majority opinion in Sebelius. That’s a combined three hours of time. Several of them have noted her criticism of the opinion in Sebelius and suggested that Barrett would rule against the ACA in future cases. Feinstein gave a monologue about how important abortion rights are. Whitehouse made about as much sense as the typical InfoWars guest. None of them have even tried to explain why the majority opinions in Sebelius, Roe, or Casey were well-reasoned. That pretty much says it all about the merits of those opinions and the Democrats’ judicial consequentialism.

Sheldon Whitehouse’s Funhouse Math
Rhode Island Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse was in full-bore conspiracy-theorist mode today, to the point where he did not even allow Amy Coney Barrett to answer a single question during his time speaking. Senate Republicans were ready — Ben Sasse cracked that Whitehouse was using “Beautiful Mind conspiracy charts” and Ted Cruz bored in detail into Whitehouse’s hypocrisy given the torrents of money on his own side. Whitehouse’s claim that all legal disagreement with him is the result of a unitary conspiracy to buy off the legal system is par for the course for him — as I’ve discussed before at length — but one particular line struck me as especially dishonest: He talked about 80 cases that were decided 5-4 (by the “Roberts Five,” as if they were some sort of criminal gang) in favor of what he characterized as dark-money corporate interests, and he went on a rant about how this was an “eighty to nothing” record and showed that there was a conspiracy

Sheldon Whitehouse Is a Loon
As those of you who are watching this hearing will now be aware, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is a lunatic. Here’s a good rundown on him from Dan McLaughlin.

Pass the 28th Amendment: The Case for Codifying a Nine-Justice Supreme Court
The states should step in and take the option of court-packing off the table forever.

Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democrats’ Conspiracy Theorist and Hatchet Man against the Rule of Law
Whitehouse’s conspiratorial bent runs deep.

Richard Blumenthal Lied about Amy Coney Barrett’s “Radical” Quote
During his questioning of Amy Coney Barrett, Senator Richard Blumenthal claimed that the nominee had admitted in her dissent in Kanter v. Barr — a case that revolved around the gun rights of a convicted non-violent felon — that her position sounded “radical.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Is A Conspiracy Nutter
Spent 30 minutes espousing a grand theory of right-wing conspiracy, the same one he used against Brett Kavanaugh and Neomi Rao, while not asking Amy Coney Barrett a single question.

Barrett Smacks Down Critical Race Theory Prof Who Claimed She’s A Colonizer For Adopting Black Children
“It was the risk of people saying things like that, which would be so hurtful to my family, that… I had to really weigh the costs of this.”

Morning Consult: 48 Percent Support Barrett’s Confirmation, 31 Percent Oppose
Maybe Democrats would be better off just getting the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination over and done with quickly.

Merriam-Webster Alters Definition Of Sexual “Preference” To Say It’s Offensive After Hirono Attacked Barrett For Using It
As far as I can tell, critics have them dead to rights on this.

Merriam-Webster Alters Dictionary to Align with Democratic Attacks on Barrett’s Use of “Sexual Preference”
Merriam-Webster on Tuesday changed its definition of “preference” to note that the term is “offensive” when used in connection to an individual’s sexual orientation, just as a Senate Democrat was criticizing Judge Amy Coney Barrett for using the term during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

If Amy Coney Barrett Has To Apologize for Saying Sexual ‘Preference,’ Does Joe Biden?
Sens. Mazie Hirono and Cory Booker both criticized the Supreme Court nominee for saying “preference” instead of “orientation.”

LGBT Websites Now Say “Sexual Preference” Is An Offensive Term. They Were Fine With It Last Month.
After Judge Amy Coney Barrett used the phrase “sexual preference” during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Democrats rushed to condemn the term and claim it was outdated and “offensive.”

Chuck Schumer: Dems will deny GOP a quorum to advance Barrett
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Democrats will not supply a quorum with which to advance the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Schumer defended this move, saying that Barrett’s nomination is “illegitimate, dangerous and unpopular.”

Webster Changes “Preference” Meaning After Dems Attack ACB’s Use of “Sexual Preference”
“Webster’s dictionary has revealed itself to be a propaganda machine,” noted one astute Twitter user.

Leftist “Dark Money” Opposing Barrett Nomination
Don’t be fooled by the myriad groups with fierce names and slick websites like Demand Justice. They represent Beltway Big Money, not America.

Greta Thunberg Mocks Amy Coney Barrett For Not Having “Views On Climate Change”
Teen activist Greta Thunberg has mocked the US Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett for declining to give her opinions about climate change during her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill this week.

On Senator Feinstein’s Ghastly Hug
As the Senate Judiciary Committee wrapped up its hearings for Judge Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, Senator Dianne Feinstein had some egregiously sharp words for her colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham. Typically, we err on the side of not publishing such profane remarks, but given the circumstances, we think it best to share them with you.

 

Riots & Revolution

 

Portland Rioters Topple Statues of Roosevelt and Lincoln, Smash Windows at Oregon Historical Society
On Sunday night, rioters in Portland, Ore., toppled statues of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage at the Oregon Historical Society. Declaring a day of action, the “indigenous wing” of antifa threatened violence to anyone caught live-streaming or recording video of their actions leading into Columbus Day.

“Day Of Rage” Rioters In Portland Tear Down Statue Of Abraham Lincoln, Vandalize Buildings
Today is Columbus Day which has been renamed “Indigenous People’s Day” in many places around the country. In preparation for today a group of Antifa in Portland planned an “Indigenous People’s Day of Rage” promising “direct action.”

Patriot Rally Shooting Suspect, Victim Identified
When we discussed the killing of a Trump supporter at a Patriot Rally in Denver on Saturday, many questions remained. Law enforcement was being tight-lipped about the details, including the identity of both the shooter and the victim as the investigation moved forward. By the end of the weekend, a few of those questions had been answered. The victim has been identified as Lee Keltner, a 49-year-old military veteran, father, and grandfather. Making an already horrible situation even worse, Keltner was shot dead right in front of his son.

Denver: “Mostly Peaceful” Protest Until Gunman Murdered a Trump Supporter
Nothing quite so perfectly illustrates what’s wrong with America’s media class as what happened Saturday in Denver. A group of conservative “Patriots” announced a pro-police rally. The organizer of the event said the intention was “to make a public show of force after communist and socialist protesters broke up a pro-police rally in July.”

“Spontaneous” Street Violence Is Well Organized, Pursuing a Radical Agenda
Add up everything we know about the ongoing violence in America’s cities, and you get a troubling picture.

Michael Reinoehl Had People Helping Him Run From Authorities After The Portland Shooting
Tuesday afternoon both the NY Times and ProPublica published stories about the death of Michael Reinoehl, the man who shot and killed Aaron “Jay” Danielson in Portland on August 29. Reinoehl was located several days later in Olympia, Washington, more than 100 miles away. He was clearly on the run and the ProPublica story has some interesting details about how he got there [emphasis added].

Portland’s Rogue District Attorney in Inaction: 543 Cases of Injustice
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt has refused to prosecute more than half of the protest-related cases referred to his office by law enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon. That”s 543 cases that will never be tried.

Police Arrest Man After He Sets Fire to Patrol Car
Around 1:30 PM, an officer was in their patrol vehicle in an alley between Dexter Avenue and John Street looking for a man who was reportedly brandishing a flaming piece of lumber.

Sheriff says police “omnipresence” will stem Las Vegas Strip violence
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo acknowledged that the recent rash of violence on the Las Vegas Strip is a significant problem that could hurt tourism, but he said he is “100 percent confident” police will get a handle on it.

At Least 118 Officers Left Seattle Police Department in 2020, Report Says
According to Jason Rantz of KTTH, at least 118 Seattle police officers have left the police department in 2020, with 39 of them leaving in September.

Legislators Pass Bill To Ban Cops From Stopping Cars For No Headlights At Night, Other Violations
Virginia is poised to drastically reduce the circumstances in which law enforcement officers will be permitted to conduct traffic stops and enforce traffic laws.

San Francisco Conservative Rally Attacked By Antifa Mob
When you think of San Francisco, a conservative rally in support of the President and law enforcement probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But a group called Team Save America somehow managed to pull one off yesterday. Or at least they did so briefly. The group was displaying Thin Blue Line flags, along with American flags as they protested Twitter’s suppression of free speech and the blackout of news unfavorable to Joe Biden. The reason the rally didn’t last long was that hundreds of Antifa thugs showed up almost immediately and began attacking both the protesters and the police who were attempting to keep the two groups apart. At least one protester was taken to the hospital and multiple officers were injured.

Denver Shooter Of Trump Supporter To Be Charged With 2nd Degree Murder
Despite the protestations from Denver shooter Matthew Dolloff that he acted in self-defense, it sounds like the law enforcement officials investigating the case aren’t buying it. According to CBS Denver, The Denver District Attorney announced on Thursday that second-degree murder charges will be filed against Dolloff on Monday. The killer already has an attorney and they initially claimed that Dolloff was going to dispute the charges, but the DA clearly feels she has a winning case. It’s possible that some plea bargaining may be taking place in the background, but we probably won’t know about that until after the weekend.

18 people arrested after downtown Phoenix protest against police brutality
Police say 18 people were arrested in downtown Phoenix during a protest against police brutality on Oct. 17.

 

Corona Virus

 

Hong Kong facing 1,000 winter deaths from coronavirus, expert warns, as city records seven new cases of Covid-19
The coronavirus could kill 1,000 residents and leave tens of thousands sick this winter if holes in Hong Kong’s defences are not plugged, an infectious disease expert has warned, as the city recorded seven new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

A 25-year-old man becomes first in the U.S. to contract coronavirus twice, with second infection “more severe”
It is the first confirmed case of a U.S. patient becoming re-infected with Covid-19, and the fifth known case reported worldwide.

Virus at “turning point” in Europe, hitting at-risk groups
Doctors are warning that Europe is at a turning point as the coronavirus surges back across the continent, including among vulnerable people, and governments try to impose restrictions without locking whole economies down.

Sex banned indoors for Tier 2 couples living apart, Number 10 confirms
Boyfriends and girlfriends will be able to meet outdoors in Tier 2 but are expected to adhere to social distancing rules such as hands, face and space. They must also adhere to the rule of six.

 

Election 2020

 

Adam Schiff Favors Ending Small State Voting Rights – and That’s Just the Beginning
The Bloviating Bullsh*ting Burbank Barrister, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads up the House Intelligence Committee, has power and influence despite his constant leaks and lies. He was recently interviewed on Bill Maher’s Real Time on HBO. Maher, a far-left hack, asked shifty-Schiff about the U.S. Constitution. Maher, who hates religion, prefaced his questions by mentioning that many Americans think that Jesus delivered the Constitution. Schiff ending voting rights

Unofficial ballot drop boxes popping up throughout the state worry elections officials
Promoting such boxes — which have been found in Los Angeles, Orange and Fresno counties — could be a felony.

Cease and desist order issued to CA GOP over illegal ballot drop boxes
California’s Republican Party has acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials say are illegal.

California General Election Ballots Have Been Duplicated, Misprinted, Trashed, and Sent to the Dead
So California Gov. Newsom’s executive order is working as expected!!!

Biden: People Who Think They’re Better Off Under Trump Shouldn’t Vote for Me
“They think—54 percent of the American people believe they’re better off economically today than they were under our administration? Well, their memory is not very good, quite frankly.”

California Republicans Are Setting Up Their Own Ballot Drop Boxes
This sounds like more of a nothingburger than any sort of constitutional crisis, but if nothing else it may be good for a laugh. Out in California, the battle over mail-in ballots and collection boxes is raging as it is across much of the country. But in the Golden State, Republicans have added a twist to the story. They’ve taken to distributing their own drop boxes in locations including churches and gun shops. These collection boxes are not produced or placed by state election officials, so the Democrats in charge of the state are complaining loudly, claiming that the boxes are illegal. But at least thus far, the GOP is basically telling them to pound sand.

Trash bags of mail found outside Pennsylvania postal worker’s home
Trash bags full of undelivered mall were discovered at the curb outside the home of a postal employee in Pennsylvania.

Two Senate races, two runoffs? Double-overtime a growing prospect in Georgia
The wild special election for U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s seat was always destined to head to a runoff. But there’s a growing possibility the state’s other Senate contest could also go into overtime, making Georgia home to twin January showdowns that could determine control of the Senate.

If the polls are wrong, why is Trump holding rallies in Georgia and Iowa this week?
I haven’t seen a ton of poll denialism this month but I saw a little this morning and was left wondering how true believers square his campaign itinerary with the “FAKE POLLS!” spin.

California GOP to Keep ‘Unofficial’ Ballot Dropboxes
The California Republican Party has placed “unofficial” ballot dropboxes for mail-in ballots and Democrats don’t like it.

Students support removing Trump with 25th Amendment…without even knowing what it is
Campus Reform recently asked students at the University of Florida if they support the bill that Pelosi is introducing that would give Congress power to remove Trump from office with the 25th Amendment.

C-SPAN Suspends Steve Scully Indefinitely for Lying About Having His Twitter Hacked
C-SPAN has taken decisive action against one of its star anchors in an ongoing media controversy.

The View from the Trump Camp
Here is how the Trump camp is looking at things.

Twitter vs. the New York Post
The efforts of Facebook and Twitter to suppress the New York Post’s reporting represent exactly the wrong way to approach these kinds of questions. A better way — one I suggested to Mark Zuckerberg a couple of years ago, to no apparent effect — is to begin with an institutional approach.

“Dirty Voter Rolls” Plus Huge Mail-In Vote Risk “Disaster,” Election Law Experts Say
Election security is paramount, but it will be hard to achieve in the 2020 elections due to the massive increase in mail-in voting, experts said during an online briefing Thursday held by The Heritage Foundation.

After Censorship Outrage, FCC Will Move Forward with Rulemaking to Clarify Free Speech Rights of Social Media Companies
“Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech. But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.”

Twitter and Facebook’s Shameful Repression of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden Story
This morning, Andy Stone, Facebook’s policy communications manager (and, per his bio, a former staffer for Barbara Boxer, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the House Majority PAC), announced that the social-media giant would begin “reducing” the “distribution” of a New York Post investigation into emails purporting that Joe Biden met with a top executive from the Ukrainian natural-gas firm Burisma Holdings at the behest of his son Hunter Biden.

Censored and Suppressed
Today is a doozy: Facebook and Twitter decided that their users shouldn’t see or be able to read a particular article in the New York Post, and why so many Democrats perceived the Post story as a traumatic flashback to former FBI director James Comey’s letter about Hillary Clinton on October 28, 2016.

Twitter and Facebook’s Shameful Repression of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden Story
This morning, Andy Stone, Facebook’s policy communications manager (and, per his bio, a former staffer for Barbara Boxer, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the House Majority PAC), announced that the social-media giant would begin “reducing” the “distribution” of a New York Post investigation into emails purporting that Joe Biden met with a top executive from the Ukrainian natural-gas firm Burisma Holdings at the behest of his son Hunter Biden.

Censored and Suppressed
Today is a doozy: Facebook and Twitter decided that their users shouldn’t see or be able to read a particular article in the New York Post, and why so many Democrats perceived the Post story as a traumatic flashback to former FBI director James Comey’s letter about Hillary Clinton on October 28, 2016.

Arizona Senate Race Shaken Up
Mark Kelly, Gabrielle Giffords’ husband, is running for Arizona’s Senate seat against Martha McSally. Kelly, a former astronaut, is one of those Democrats who pose as normal Americans. His cover was blown today when it came out that a key campaign aide denounced police officers as “worthless fucking pigs” one week before he went to work for Kelly

RNC Files FEC Complaint: Twitter Gave ‘In-Kind Contribution’ to Biden Campaign
On Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), condemning Twitter’s suppression of The New York Post’s Hunter Biden bombshell story as an “in-kind contribution” to the Joe Biden campaign.

Biden Endorses Transgender Activism for 8-Year-Old Children
During the ABC News town hall on Thursday, Democratic nominee Joe Biden explicitly endorsed transgender identity and activism for children as young as 8 years old. He suggested that he would force schools, homeless shelters, and other institutions to let biological boys into girls’ restrooms, changing rooms, other facilities, and sports in the name of fighting “discrimination.”

Kelly Campaign Spox Calls Police “Worthless F—ing Pigs”
Comments came as Arizona Dem tried to portray himself as moderate on policing issues

Cunningham’s Mistress Donated to Campaign Around Time of Sexual Encounter
Senate Dem hopeful slept with Army vet’s wife then cashed campaign checks

Raising Arizona Taxes (Maybe)
California, to be expected, Illinois too, but Arizona? It’s a measure, perhaps, of that state’s changing politics that it may soon be seeing an increase in income tax — and not a small one.

“Crashing This Plane . . . with No Survivors!”
There is one point of agreement between Donald Trump and The Lincoln Project: It’s time for Senator Susan Collins to go. On Twitter this morning, Trump blasted the four-term swing-state GOP senator, who is facing a tough reelection challenge from Maine House speaker Sara Gideon.

Do TV Commercials Really Work in a Presidential Race Like This?
Below, Rich reports that the Trump team “believes it is investing shrewdly in door-to-door canvassing and phone calls, in contrast to Democrats who are spending on TV to the exclusion of traditional GOTV operations.”

Eight-Dimensional Chess: Trump Rips … Susan Collins For Not Supporting Barrett
I’m trying to talk to myself into believing this is strategy on the president’s part, mindful of the fact that he’s doesn’t really do “strategy” when he’s attacking people. He has impulses, and sometimes those impulses align with what strategy would call for under the circumstances.

GOP challenger Rodimer outraised Democrat Lee in 3rd quarter
Nevada Republican Dan Rodimer outraised incumbent Democratic congresswoman Susie Lee in recent months, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

Las Vegas voter: I could have voted four times thanks to vote-by-mail
If Laurel Morley weren’t honest, she could have voted four times in this election. Blame Nevada’s rushed vote-by-mail system.

Report: Trump Keeping Tabs On Republicans Who Are Disloyal To Him In The Home Stretch
I may be a Never Trumper, but in the battle of POTUS versus the Republican weasels in the Senate who gladhanded him for four years only to finally find their balls when he slipped 10 points behind Biden, I’m as MAGA as they come.

Close To Half A Million Ballots Sent To California Voters Who Have Moved Or Died
Why do you suppose California Republicans are setting up their own ballot drop boxes at churches and gun shops to offer voters a safe way to ensure their votes make it to election officials for counting? Do you suppose they have some concerns about how well the mass mail-in voting system will perform when it’s put to the full test on November 3rd? Perish the thought. I’m sure everything will be fine. Well… nearly everything. But we might not be entirely confident about the eventual fate of roughly 400,000 ballots that went out this month. That’s because their voter rolls don’t appear to have been tended very well over the years and that huge slug of ballots went to people who had either moved out of the state or taken up residence in cemeteries.

California election officials allow GOP’s “private” ballot boxes with safeguards
Ballot Harvesting: It’s not just for Democrats anymore

 

Gun Rights

 

Fact-Checking Gun Control Activists’ Lies About Amy Coney Barrett
As the Senate Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings this week for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, it’s a good time to take a deep look at one way some already have tried to attack her: her Second Amendment jurisprudence.

The Founders Wanted You to Own an AR-15
In his questioning of Amy Coney Barrett regarding an Indiana case about a non-violent felon and his constitutional right to bear arms, Illinois senator Dick Durbin dropped numerous false claims about Chicago gun crimes. But he topped it all off with one of the most egregiously inane arguments used against the private ownership of guns

Kyle Rittenhouse, accused in Kenosha shootings, will not face gun charges in Lake County over AR-15-style rifle, prosecutors say
Kyle Rittenhouse will not face gun charges in Lake County related to the AR-15-style weapon he is charged with using to kill two men and wound a third during violent protests in Kenosha in August, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

California Guns Sales Continue To Break Records
I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen in the liberal paradise of California. While some sectors of the economy continue to tank in the Golden State, particularly tourism and restaurants and bars, another type of business is cleaning up. While not all gun shops are open, the ones that are can’t keep their products in stock. Gun sales this year have surged to levels never seen before and they’re on track to see the largest number of sales in a single year ever. Surveys conducted of those making purchases in 2020 show that nearly 40% of the people buying a firearm legally are doing so for the first time. And the reasons they give for doing so are both predictable and familiar.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Climate Reparations
In case there was any doubt that “Climate Change” was not communism, here is an article in Foreign Policy that will remove it.

Nevada writes off nearly $12 million in federally funded clean energy loans as “bad debt”
Nearly $12 million in federally funded loans earmarked for clean energy projects in Nevada stemming from the 2009 federal stimulus package were never spent and has been written off as unrecoverable by the state.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

More People Delaying Health Care Over Costs Now Than Pre-Obamacare
A common myth being presented during the Amy Coney Barrett hearings is the notion that many Americans who couldn’t afford healthcare before the Affordable Care Act was passed and implemented suddenly could.

Netherlands Gets Ready for Child Euthanasia
The Netherlands is about to expand its euthanasia law to allow children ages 1–12 to be killed by doctors. (Children older than 12 already can be euthanized).

 

War & Terror

 

China Invades Taiwan: Two Scenarios
Two different pieces have come out recently, painting competing pictures of what a Chinese attempt to conquer Taiwan would look like.

China Bringing Xinjiang-Style Forced Labor Camps to Tibet, Report Says
In what appears to replicate what’s happening in China’s Xinjiang region to Uighur Muslims, a new report from the Jamestown Foundation, corroborated by Reuters, details evidence of a vast program in a remote region of Tibet aimed at promoting Chinese national unity and patriotism, instilling “work discipline,” and eradicating what the Chinese Communist Party refers to as “backward thinking” by the Tibetan people.

The Armenian genocide is back and nobody seems to be noticing
A few weeks ago, on September 27th, Azerbaijan launched a series of attacks on the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, located in the southern Caucasus Mountains. The region has a population of roughly 150,000, primarily ethnic Armenians. In response, the Armenians allegedly destroyed a couple of Azeri helicopters and tanks. At first glance, this probably doesn’t look like a terribly unusual incident. That region has been a disputed territory for a very long time, claimed by both Azerbaijan and the Armenians. But this time there’s something different about it. Not only do the Azeri forces outnumber the native Armenians by roughly three-to-one, but they are now sporting some significantly improved military hardware and weaponry. And it’s being supplied to them by Turkey, in what appears to be a sort of proxy war being waged by the Turkish tyrant Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As the NY Post pointed out this week, this is all too reminiscent of the Armenian genocide inflicted by Turkey roughly a century ago.

China Invading Taiwan Follow-Up: From Nukes to Knives
There have been some interesting comments, both here and at Instpundit, on my Taiwan invading Taiwan scenarios piece.

Forces: The Chinese Aspirational Army
On paper the Chinese army looks pretty impressive, with 78 combat brigades and nearly as many specialized brigades. Over the last decade the Chinese army has been converting its divisions to brigades, many of them independent brigades like the American Brigade combat teams. That conversion is still underway, although by now nearly all the regiments that formerly comprised the major subunits of divisions have been converted to brigades.

Chinese Increasing Nuclear Submarine Shipyard Capacity
As China pushes to become a blue-water power, nuclear-powered submarines are critically important to Beijing’s plan. Historically the Chinese Navy’s (PLAN) nuclear-powered submarine fleet has been constrained by its limited construction capacity. There is only one shipyard in the country up to the task. But that yard has been undergoing a massive enlargement. And now, recent satellite imagery suggests an additional capacity expansion.

America Must Stop Turkey’s Rogue Adventurism In The South Caucasus
America can help realize Armenian aspirations for self-determination by recognizing Turkey’s rogue behavior for what it is. It should subsequently allow capable powers such as Russia the means to challenge Ankara’s hostility in the interest of regional stability.

Emmanuel Macron denounces ‘Islamist terror’ after Chechen gunman, 18, BEHEADED a teacher who ‘showed his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during lesson on freedom’ before being shot dead by police
A teenager has beheaded a teacher in northern Paris for showing pictures of Prophet Mohammed in class

Suspect in French Teacher Beheading Asked Students to Point Him Out
More details are emerging in the gruesome beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty that highlight the calculated nature of the attack.

 

National

 

The left created a fictional version of Christopher Columbus to erase his holiday
Innovative, courageous and dedicated to bettering the world

Race discrimination at Yale
Last week, I reported that the Department of Justice has sued Yale University for discriminating against Whites and Asian-Americans in undergraduate admissions. Today, I want to look more specifically at what the DOJ’s complaint alleges.

Chicago On Track To Have Highest Murder Total In More Than Two Decades
Chicago’s murder rate is currently about 50% above what it was at this time last year according to data released by the Chicago Police Department.

Las Vegas police make 80+ arrests on Strip between Friday and Saturday
Las Vegas police have been responding to an increase of crime on the Strip since the resort corridor mostly reopened in June.

Here’s Doom running on 100 pounds of moldy potatoes
Potatoes plus zinc equals electricity. But how many do you need to get Doom running?

Social justice advocates want Gov. Pete Wilson statue removed from downtown
Critics say Wilson supported “dehumanizing” policies, but supporters call his accomplishments remarkable

University of Minnesota lecture features 12 step recovery program for whiteness
Lecturer: Whiteness has “violent legacy”

Philadelphia: Murder City, U.S.A.
If you want to stay alive, stay out of Philadelphia. Earlier this month, the total of murders in the city surpassed last year’s total.

SCOTUS: We’re Done With The Census
Even while they are short one justice, the Supreme Court has been getting plenty of emergency requests to act on since returning to work. The latest of these involved a decision to halt the census count on October 31st. (Trick or treat?) In a ruling handed down last night, the Supremes overruled a lower court that allowed the process to drag on further and agreed with the government that we need to get things wrapped up by the end of the month. A number of media outlets have been playing the usual game of describing this as some sort of skullduggery engineered by Donald Trump, but that’s simply fake news. The people asking to finish up the process on schedule were actually the heads of the Census Bureau.

Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time
Physicists have reached a long-sought goal. The catch is that their room-temperature superconductor requires crushing pressures to keep from falling apart.

Some Bad News About The Replication Crisis In Social Science
Vox published an interesting story today about the replication crisis in science. If you’re not familiar with this idea, it’s the fact that a significant percentage of all of the peer-reviewed social science that has been published in the past can not be replicated by other scientists, which is a pretty clear sign that the claims made in the original papers aren’t true. How bad is the situation.

Wake Forest University offers new “antiracist use of math” class
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Wake Forest University this fall is offering a “racist and anti-racist uses of math and statistics class” in an effort to combat racism within the discipline of mathematics and the math department itself, according to the scholar who created it

Writing teachers: Standard English is racist
In the name of “linguistic justice,” college writing instructors have agreed that teachers should “stop using academic language and standard English as the accepted communicative norm,” writes Matthew Stewart, associate professor of humanities and rhetoric at Boston University, on the Martin Center blog.

University of Minnesota lecture features 12 step recovery program for whiteness
Lecturer: Whiteness has “violent legacy”

Exploiting Transgenders Part 1: Manufacturing an Industry
How do you build an industry? How do you market it and provide support backing up your marketing? How do you exploit a community, while creating a glamorized trend throughout society, stemming from chaos and confusion? How do you grow your margins and take it all the way to the bank? How do you do all of this, and still sleep at night? The exploitation and manufacturing of the transgender “industry” kicked off in the 1950s with a mix of social and medical engineering, with a moving target on children. The manufacturing of this industry goes far beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, and if you dare question it, it is discrimination. The real discriminators are those exploiting a community who truly suffer from trauma, depression, and an attempted suicide rate of 40 percent. They are the ones who should be angrier than anyone about the atrocities these people have committed. They are now exploiting your children, and they have taken this to dangerous extremes.

S.F. might change 44 school names, renouncing Washington, Lincoln and even Dianne Feinstein
A third of San Francisco public schools could see their names changed as officials push to replace “inappropriate” ones honoring presidents, writers, generals and even Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

“Roughly 1 in 4” Young People Identify as Queer
Politico cites a professor of political science at Washington College and the author of a forthcoming book on Generation Z as finding that “roughly 1 in 4 [Gen Zers] identify as queer, either transgender or ‘genderqueer.’ A third of Gen Zers say they know someone who uses gender neutral pronouns to refer to themselves and nearly 6 in 10 say forms or online profiles should allow more options than ‘man’ or ‘woman,’ according to Pew Research Center.”

Katie Hill to launch ‘Naked Politics’ podcast
Former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) is launching a new podcast that promises to “expose the naked truth behind what goes on” in Washington.

Orion spacecraft ready to return humans to deep space, officials say
The anticipated return to deep space in 2024 for the first time in nearly 50 years brings a unique set of challenges that only one spacecraft on the planet currently can meet, officials with Lockheed Martin said at a global space event this week.

Many male breast cancers diagnosed late, making it more lethal
Breast cancer in men is rare. But because it’s not often suspected in men, diagnosis often comes only after a tumor has begun to spread throughout the body, new research shows.

Catholic university runs two ‘healing circles’… one for ‘White allies,’ one for ‘Black folks’
Marymount University is hosting “healing circles” for students based on their race.

Major Anti-Vaping Scientific Study Retracted
Vaping is supposed to be a form of harm reduction, that is, allow nicotine addicts to have access to the drug without the harmful tars and chemicals in cigarettes that cause cancer, heart disease, and other maladies.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

To-go alcohol sales now allowed in Ohio for good, under bill signed by Gov. Mike DeWine
Ohioans can now order up alcoholic beverages for carryout or delivery for good, under legislation signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Mike DeWine.

Socialism Means Central Control of the Means of Production
BREAKING NEWS, PASS THIS ON BY EVERY CHANNEL AVAILABLE TO YOU: Emails: Top Ukrainian Exec Asked Hunter How to “Use Your Influence” on Burisma’s Behalf AND Facebook, Twitter “Reducing” the Distribution of New York Post Story on Hunter Biden Emails (And by reducing the distribution, read “banning.”) Pass it on: email, phone, your blogs. Just pass it on. Show them they can’t silence AMERICANS!

The South Sudanese Pound Bites the Dust
In July 2011, South Sudan was carved out of the former Sudan. Since then, it has been engulfed in corruption and instability. Now, it is facing yet another severe currency crisis and economic collapse. Indeed, surging prices have forced shops across South Sudan to close their doors. In the face of skyrocketing prices, customers have gone on strike.

 

International

 

A Shocking Find in a Neanderthal Cave in France
A rock structure, built deep underground, is one of the earliest hominin constructions ever found.

China insists Genghis Khan exhibit not use words ‘Genghis Khan’
Museum in Nantes pulls show after intervention by Beijing, which comes as Communist party hardens discrimination against ethnic Mongols

Scientists at Large Hadron Collider hope to make contact with PARALLEL UNIVERSE in days
SCIENTISTS conducting a mindbending experiment at the Large Hadron Collider hope to connect with a PARALLEL UNIVERSE outside of our own.

Are We Seeing The Beginning Of A Revolution In Thailand?
The government of Thailand declared a state of emergency in their capital last night. It was caused by what’s being described as a student-led protest against the current administration and the monarchy. Riot police were called out and arrests were made. Is this starting so sound familiar to those of you who keep track of the news from America’s large cities these days?

Italian mafia sees German justice system as ‘a joke’
The Italian mafia has hundreds of members in Germany pulling strings in the international drug trade. The latest major trial shows how lengthy legal procedures and lenient verdicts are no match for organized crime.

CTV, CHCH display trigger warnings before airings of Seinfeld, The Brady Bunch
Photos have emerged on Twitter of what appears to be woke viewer discretion advisories broadcast by Canadian television channels CTV and CHCH.

Erdogan Declares War on Arabs
“Some countries in our region did not exist yesterday, and they may not exist in the future….” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing parliament on October 1, 2020.

Supergiant star Betelgeuse smaller, closer than first thought
It may be another 100,000 years until the giant red star Betelgeuse dies in a fiery explosion, according to a new study by an international team of researchers.

 

Opinion

 

Will the Cultural Revolution Be Canceled?
The challenge to our civilization is real, but most Americans aren’t sympathetic to social radicalism.

Annual Admiral Of The Ocean Sea Appreciation Post
Today President Trump proclaimed Columbus Day, taking a swing at “radical activists” trying to undermine the legacy of the great explorer. Well, the best defense against these leftist ninnies is the truth, and what better way to find the truth than by reading Samuel Eliot Morison’s classic Admiral of the Ocean Sea, a “vivid and definitive” biography buttressed by Morison’s 1939 expedition to retrace the route taken by Columbus on his way to the New World. As for the radical activists, Conquistador-chan has a few words.

How America Became the World’s Brain
Welcome to “The Tuesday,” a newsletter about politics, language, and culture. They don’t give out Nobel prizes for newsletters, but you don’t get into the newsletter game for the glory.

Plymouth Rock Landed on Them
The immigration crisis of 1620.

Big Tech: Conservatives Should Be Wary of Compromise on Antitrust
Conservatives should resist the Left’s talking points on Big Tech.

Fatherless Households: A National Crisis
In a recent television appearance, I discussed my appointment to a presidential commission called “The Social Status of Black Men and Black Boys.” I called fatherless households America’s top domestic problem, a particularly severe phenomenon in the Black community where nearly 70% of kids begin their lives in households with unmarried mothers.

My Brief Spell as an Activist
I knew a few social justice campaigners in high school. They were advocates, they liked to remind the rest of us, and they were endowed with holy outrage and an acute awareness of inequality and a passion for tolerance that never quite translated into actual kindness. They wore t-shirts that bore slogans like “The Future Is Female,” they crusaded against “oppressive” dress codes, and they confronted a patriarchal grading system. They were practised in the art of derailing conversation with accusations of heteronormativity or cultural appropriation. The battles they won (“We can wear tube tops now!”) were triumphs of resistance, while those they lost only accentuated the ubiquity of the inequity du jour. No matter how petty and irrational their grievances became, these students eluded criticism from peers, teachers, and administrators alike. Nobody wanted to take them on. After all, who wanted to argue with the pursuit of justice?

Censorship Is about Power
At NR, we know a thing or two about censorship. At its essence, it is an exercise in power, no? Your speech may do innocuous and fun and frivolous things, such as provide a new recipe, or recount the Little League game, or reminisce about last year’s vacation, or call the kids in for dinner. But what about when your speech turns political? What if it, say, attacks the Establishment’s preferred presidential candidate? Or not even attacks — merely raises doubts about him?

Corrosive Effects of the “BlackLivesMattering” of Higher Education
Extreme ideas about race were already prevalent on our campuses before the death of George Floyd back in May; since then, they have been at flood stage.