News of the Week for April 11^th, 2021

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

 

Riots & Revolution

 

Chauvin trial break
On Friday Minneapolis Police Department Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman took the stand. He is the department’s senior homicide investigator and its most senior officer period. He was called to the scene on the evening of George Floyd’s death. Having subsequently watched bodycam videos of the restraint of George Floyd, he found it unreasonable and excessive in relevant respects under department policy.

Chauvin Trial Week One Analysis: State Offers Abbreviated Versions of Video Evidence
When the jury sees the full videos, it may come back to bite the prosecution case if the jury concludes the abbreviated videos were misleading.

Portland’s Police Exodus Continues As Murder Rates Surge
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on all of the action in Portland, Oregon, where the “autonomous zone” set up by rioters has been plaguing both residents and the law enforcement officials tasked with maintaining order. But now that the trial of Dereck Chauvin is underway with the possibility that the entire “justice for George Floyd” initiative may be nearing the finish line, things are probably finally starting to calm down, right? You’d probably like to think so, but you would be mistaken. This weekend the rioters set fire to a police station… again… and the police are still leaving the force in droves. It almost seems as if the law-abiding civilian population will have to start joining the cops’ exodus before long.

Chauvin Trial Day 6 Wrap-Up: Chief Says Neck Restraint Not Trained, But Does It Matter?
Not trained doesn’t mean wrongful, and even wrongful doesn’t mean cause of death

Chauvin Trial: When Are Leading Questions Allowed?
If you’re watching the Chauvin trial on Court-TV, you are probably baffled by some of the commentators, who seem confused about when leading questions are allowed. To be clear, a leading question conveys the answer sought — e.g., “Isn’t it a fact that Albany is the capital of New York?” It is distinguished from questions asked in a normal direct examination (when a party is questioning a witness the party has called), which are supposed to be open-ended so that the witness, rather than the lawyer asking the question, is providing the information — e.g., “What is the capital of New York?”

Chauvin Trial Day 7 Wrap-Up: a horrible day for the prosecution
Prosecution visibly shaken after cross-examination of MPD force & medical experts

UPenn professor condemns “White evangelicals” as a “public health issue”
University of Pennsylvania professor Anthea Butler joined Joy Reid on MSNB’s The Reid Out, where she condemned “White Evangelicals” for vaccine skepticism.

Best-Selling Devotional Has Prayer to ‘Help Me to Hate White People’
How far have we come since Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech?

Chauvin Trial Bombshell: “I Ate Too Many Drugs”
Prosecutors at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial in Minneapolis seemed jolted Wednesday when one of their most important witnesses initially testified that during George Floyd’s detention by police, while he appeared to be in fear for his life, Floyd stated, “I ate too many drugs.” Floyd, who was later pronounced dead, could be heard speaking on an audio/visual recording. The witness, Agent James Reyerson of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, acknowledged during cross-examination by Chauvin’s counsel, Eric Nelson, that he could hear Floyd say, “I ate too many drugs.”

The Chauvin Trial So Far
Here in Minnesota and around the country, all eyes are on the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the alleged murder of George Floyd. We are nearing the end of the prosecution’s case, so this is perhaps an opportune moment to assess what has happened so far. While not listening to every moment of the testimony, I have followed the trial closely. Much could be said, but here are a few big-picture observations

Chauvin Trial Day 8 Wrap-Up: “I Ate Too Many Drugs” Video May Be Game-Changer
Once again the defense weaponizes prosecution “expert” witnesses against the prosecution case.

Chauvin Trial Day 9 Wrap-Up: Medical Experts Resuscitate Prosecution Case
Medical experts gave testimony state needed, without imploding on cross

U. Colorado Boulder Prof: Violence By Blacks Against Asians A Result Of White Supremacy
“when a Black person attacks an Asian person, the encounter is fueled perhaps by racism, but very specifically by white supremacy”

BLM Founder Cash In
Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors calls herself a “trained Marxist” and is a bitter enemy of free enterprise, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t enjoy the finer things in life. The Daily Mail reports that she has bought herself a $1.4 million home in an exclusive section of Los Angeles that is almost entirely white

Professor: White supremacy is to blame for ALL racial violence in the U.S.
An ethnic studies professor from the University of Colorado Boulder claims that all race-based violence in the United States has its roots in white supremacy.

Marxist Black Lives Matter Founder Buys $1.4 Million Home in LA
Is this a great country, or what? Where else can a radical Marxist, racist revolutionary like Patrisse Cullors, a founder of Black Lives Matter, become rich and famous by trashing the system, government, and people that made her wealth possible?

Report: Kristen Clarke Organized Conference That Championed Cop-Kilelrs
According to Fox News, Kristen Clarke, Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, organized a conference at which left-wing activists championed cop-killers and backed the freeing of violent criminals.

 

Corona Virus

 

US Grant to Wuhan Lab on Bat-Based Coronaviruses Didn’t Get Review, NIH Says
An oversight board created to scrutinize research that would enhance highly dangerous pathogens did not review a National Institutes of Health grant that funded a lab in Wuhan, China, to genetically modify bat-based coronaviruses.

60 Minutes Spreads Misinformation About Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID Vaccine Rollout
You can tell the mainstream media fears DeSantis 2024, they are trying to damage him early.

Suicides Are Down During The Pandemic And Traffic Deaths Are Up
If I’d asked you to predict 12 and a half months ago as America began locking down whether suicides and road fatalities would rise or fall in 2020, you would have guessed there’d be many more of the former and far fewer of the latter. And when I say “you,” I mean all of you. It seemed a fait accompli that mass unemployment plus intense social isolation plus the stress of manifold life disruptions (e.g., schools closing) that came with pandemic living would drive some people to take their own lives who in normal times would have been fine. And because so many businesses and workplaces were closed and so many Americans were afraid to congregate and risk infection, there’d be far less reason to drive and therefore fewer dangerous car accidents.

WHO: After an Extensive Investigation… We Know Nothing.
Roughly sixteen months after the COVID-19 pandemic started, the World Health Organization, after having acquiesced to every possible demand, restriction, and nudge from the Chinese government, issued its report upon the origins of the outbreak and declared… they can’t rule anything in or out, they couldn’t figure out much that we didn’t know a few months into the crisis, and they don’t have any real answers yet.

Blue Shield spent years cultivating a relationship with Newsom. It got the state vaccine contract
Over the next 16 years, as Newsom’s political career flourished, the health insurance behemoth became one of his most generous and trusted supporters. It contributed nearly $23 million to Newsom’s campaigns and special causes, according to a California Healthline analysis of political and charitable contributions. Of that, nearly 90% has funded the homelessness initiatives that critics and allies say are dearest to Newsom’s heart.

Antifa Just Did Something Even Ted Wheeler Admits Is Attempted Murder, Not Protest
On Saturday night, about 100 leftist protesters dressed in antifa’s signature black bloc set fire to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Portland, Ore., with people inside the building.

Maryland Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto to Repeal Police Bill of Rights
Maryland’s Police Bill of Rights covers due process for officers accused of misconduct. The state’s Democratic legislature decided that instead of reforming the process, they would repeal it entirely. They are replacing it with a series of measures designed to make it harder for police to do their jobs and measures that, in some cases, would make it more dangerous.

 

Gun Rights

 

6 Concealed-Carry Tips You Need to Know
If you’re going to carry a firearm, you need to adopt a habitual way of living. This can include where you go, what you do, how you dress and how you view other people and situations. It starts with awareness and alertness. The world can be a dangerous place, and you may have to face that danger at some point to protect yourself or your loved ones. That’s why we carry.

Biden to unveil long-awaited executive action on guns
The announcement, expected for Thursday, comes amid a spate of high-profile shootings and as some advocates have grown frustrated in the White House’s delay.

Biden’s Next EO. Background Checks For “Ghost Guns”
It’s being reported that after taking a break for a couple of weeks, President Joe Biden will resume his record-setting pace of issuing executive orders next week, this time focusing on gun control issues. National Review reports that the only specific action that’s been confirmed thus far will be an EO requiring background checks covering the sale of so-called “ghost guns.” These are guns that are made at home by private gunsmiths and lack serial numbers, or unfinished firearm frames that are sold to others. Additional executive orders covering this topic are expected.

Design of AR-15 could derail charges tied to popular rifle
A subtle design feature of the AR-15 rifle has raised a technical legal question that is derailing cases against people who are charged with illegally buying and selling the gun’s parts or building the weapon.

The Bill of Rights Doesn’t Have to Be “Absolute” to Have Teeth
Invariably, people who say that a “right isn’t absolute” are not trying to determine the proper scope of the right so much as they are trying to skip a step by implying that if some regulation is permissible then all regulation is permissible.

Joe Biden Lied About Gun Shows
Joe Biden said today, “Most people don’t know: you walk into a store and you buy a gun, but you go to a gun show you can buy whatever you want and no background check.”

Joe Biden’s Amazing Second Amendment Whopper
Here is how the president of the United States, Joe Biden, proud graduate of Syracuse University Law school, opened his remarks on his new gun control efforts

Biden’s Executive Actions on Guns
You can read about them here. There are six of them, but they are mostly not too big of a deal.

Biden Nominates Anti-Gun Fanatic to Run the ATF
David Chipman, like many gun grabbers, tries to shock people with irrelevant and misleading outliers.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

High-Speed Rail Advocates Should Pay Attention to California’s Costly Disaster
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says we should be “dreaming big.” But the Golden State’s vaunted high-speed rail project is turning out to be a train to nowhere.

Climate Czar Kerry ‘Hopeful’ the U.S. Can Work With China on Climate Change
Is there any U.S. politician/diplomat of the last 100 years that’s been as clueless and delusional about the intentions of America’s enemies as John Kerry?

Today’s Theological Heresies on Race and Climate
Speaking of theological heresies, the Cult of Climate Change has struck again. If you think climate change represents a potential apocalypse for the planet, you’d think we’d want to know as much as possible about every means of forestalling it, including what is known as “geoengineering” or “solar radiation management” (i.e., cool the planet by mimicking the effects of a volcano) The idea has been around for a while now, but the climatistas stoutly oppose it because the real purpose of the Cult of Climate Change is purging us of our sins of using hydrocarbon energy.

Germany’s Energy Disaster
The Biden administration remains committed to some version of the Green New Deal, despite devastating blackouts in California and Texas that should serve as warnings of the consequences of depending on inherently unreliable sources of electricity. Germany is one country that has advanced far down the path that “green” advocates want to take the U.S. So what has been the German experience, and how does it relate to the disasters we have seen in California and Texas?

John Kerry Continues to Be Wrong about Climate and the CCP
Climate czar John Kerry is on an international tour to promote President Biden’s approach to international climate negotiations. During a stop in Abu Dhabi last week, he affirmed the administration’s intent to engage Beijing on the issue

Stanford student gov passes ‘carbon pricing’ climate resolution
The Undergraduate Senate of Stanford University passed a resolution “urging” school officials to explore imposing “carbon pricing” policies on school buildings and facilities.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Thanks but no thanks: States are wary of President Joe Biden’s offer to help them expand Medicaid
State Rep. Steve Harshman voted again and again against expanding Medicaid eligibility in Wyoming, sure there had to be a better way of getting health care to low-income residents than what the federal government offered through the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

 

War & Terror

 

Satellite images show huge Russian military buildup in the Arctic
Russia is amassing unprecedented military might in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons in a region freshly ice-free due to the climate emergency, in a bid to secure its northern coast and open up a key shipping route from Asia to Europe.

Report Warns of Shortage of Military Working Dogs
Meanwhile, Air Force unleashes robot dogs.

Sexually transmitted infections increasing in the military
Cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis have increased significantly across the military over the past eight years, a study found.

Iran Claims Victory Over United States as New Nuke Talks Begin
Tehran set to unveil ‘133 new nuclear achievements’

China Warns Biden White House Against Taking “Superior” Position in World Affairs
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang: “China will not accept … that any nation will have a final say on world affairs.”

Report: Border Patrol Arrest Two Yemeni Men on FBI’s Terrorism List
Border Patrol agents arrested the first man in January and the second one in March. Both arrests occurred in California.

Chinese Christians Held in Secretive Brainwashing Camps: Sources
Under the aegis of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, religious believers are subjected to torture and brainwashing, witnesses say.

F-35: The Only Way to Win a War Against China
Why? An F-35 jet can function as a multi-domain sensor connecting not only to other F-35 jets but also to surface ships, land-based weapons, and other vital air assets such as the F-22 jet. And that is something Beijing cannot match.

US military cites rising risk of Chinese move against Taiwan
The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for capturing control of Taiwan, the island democracy that has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing for decades and is widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China war.

Officials ID Navy Corpsman Who Shot 2 Sailors Before Being Killed by Police
A Fort Detrick police quick reaction force shot dead a Navy corpsman Tuesday morning when he brandished a weapon after penetrating security at the Maryland Army base.

Iran’s IRGC-Linked Spy Ship Hit by Explosion off Yemen Coast
Blast comes after repeated Saudi complaints about ship’s suspicious movement along its coast.

The “Banshee” Threatened And Harassed By China For Telling The Truth About Xinjiang
Vicky Xiuzhong Xu is a 26-year-old reporter and researcher living in Australia. She was born in China and came to Australia to study abroad. While there she came across a documentary about Tiananmen Square, something she’d never heard about at school in China. She applied to transfer her studies to an Australian university.

Greenland’s Elections Could Have Been a Disaster for U.S. National Security
The U.S.-China competition has shined a spotlight on some oft-overlooked places, and in the most recent such example, Greenland’s snap elections this week garnered an unusual level of attention.

China builds advanced weapons systems using American chip technology
In a secretive military facility in southwest China, a supercomputer whirs away, simulating the heat and drag on hypersonic vehicles speeding through the atmosphere — missiles that could one day be aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier or Taiwan, according to former U.S. officials and Western analysts.

What Is China Really up to on Canadian Soil? A Woman’s Brutal Murder Sheds Light on a Cult and a Disturbing Chinese Spy Network
It’s a sunny day and you’re driving down a backcountry road far from any military bases. Out of nowhere, you spy several dozen adults in camouflage marching together as if they’re a military unit on patrol. That would be out of place enough by itself. Add to it that they appear to be clad in gear resembling that of another nation’s military. You’d probably grab your phone and capture video of the incident.

No Longer Sci-Fi: Laser Guns Are Coming to the U.S. Military
These weapons will help defend against fast drone swarms and could even eventually be used against missiles.

Taiwan says may shoot down Chinese drones in South China Sea
Taiwan has spotted Chinese drones circling the Taipei-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea and may shoot them down if they stray too close, a government minister said on Wednesday, a move that could dramatically increase tensions with Beijing.

Putin Threatens Full-Scale War in Ukraine as U.S. Sends Two Warships to the Black Sea
Russia now has more troops along its border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has little hope that war can be avoided. Moscow’s demands are impossible to meet.

 

National

 

Well, Apparently, Trees Might Be Racist Now, Too
A high school in Portland, Ore., has postponed changing its mascot to the evergreen tree after a committee member raised concerns over the possible racist connotations.

New Research Shows Why Democrats Should Be Very Worried About Latino Vote
A new report from Equis Labs highlighted reasons why Donald Trump’s appeal to Latino voters changed the political landscape in several states and brought the GOP victories in several House races in Texas and Florida.

Portland School Delays “Evergreens” Mascot Vote Due to Fears It’s Linked to Lynching
Why even have a mascot?

Feds Considering CA’s Long Beach Convention Center as Emergency Migrant Shelter
On the other hand, Florida’s Orange County Convention Center has too many citizen-supporting events booked to be used as shelter.

Rare Win For Oberlin College Male: “We were the first case in Oberlin’s history to win a Title IX hearing”
John Doe No. 2 found not liable, sued accuser for defamation, and wants damages from college. His lawyer: “We were the first case in Oberlin’s history to win a Title IX hearing. The Oberlin process is screwed to favor the complainant. We overcame the process and were blessed with a fair panel.”

Border Crisis: New Tent Facility and 19 New “Processing Coordinators” In Texas
Your tax dollars at work

A Professor Pushed Back On Mandatory “White Fragility” Training For Four Minutes, The School Investigated Her For Nine Months
Today Reason published a piece by Jesse Singal about an English professor named Elisa Parrett. Parrett teaches at a public technical college outside of Seattle called the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Last June 19, in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the school held an event called Courageous Conversations which was based partly on Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility. The event was mandatory in the sense that the school’s president sent an email asking every professor to attend unless they had a conflict with their teaching schedule. It was also segregated by race, meaning whites in one room and people of color in a separate one.

Alison Collins Sues School Board For $87 Million
For those who haven’t been following this saga, a recap. Alison Collins was the Vice President of the San Francisco school board. She supported the board’s effort to rename schools (based on shoddy research) and also voted to end selective admissions at San Francisco’s Lowell High School. Importantly, Lowell’s strict admissions had led to it being disproportionately Asian, and many Asian parents whose student attended were upset with the board’s decision.

Warnock’s War On Easter
So how did you spend your Easter day? For many among the Christain faithful, it was a time to attend church services (if you’re local government didn’t have your church locked down) or gather with friends and family to reflect on salvation and the Ressurection of Christ. Others engaged in the more commercial aspects of the holiday, with children biting the ears off of chocolate rabbits or hunting for colored eggs. But for newly minted Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, it represented an opportunity to remind his social media followers that you don’t need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to save your soul. You see, we can save ourselves. His ill-considered tweet was quickly removed, but not before some alert Twitter users captured it for posterity.

Why Does Georgia Get No Credit for No-Excuse Absentee Voting That Other States Don’t Allow?
In 2005, Republicans in Georgia’s state legislature enacted no-excuse absentee voting under state law, in the face of objections from Georgia’s Democrats, who contended voting by that method would “open the door wide to opportunities for voter fraud.”

Family of the Fresno man who died in taco eating contest is suing Grizzlies’ owner
The son of a Fresno man who died during an amateur taco eating contest in 2019 is suing the organizers of the event for negligence.

Congressman Alcee Hastings, after career of triumph, calamity and comeback, dies at 84
Congressman Alcee Hastings, whose life was marked by perseverance, calamity and a comeback, has died. He was 84.

Ark. House and Senate Override Veto on Bill Protecting Kids From Chemical Castration
On Tuesday afternoon, the Arkansas House and Senate voted to override Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of H.B. 1570, the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act. The bill would “prohibit a physician or other healthcare provider in Arkansas from providing any gender transition procedures to minors that are intended to alter the gender of a child or delay puberty.” Experimental “puberty-blocking” drugs and cross-sex hormones may have long-lasting impacts on fertility, so advocates have branded them “chemical castration.”

Latest Marvel Comic: Captain America vs. Jordan Peterson?!
Marvel fans are well-familiar with Captain America’s nemesis, Red Skull, a man too evil for Adolf Hitler. Seriously, Red Skull sets up the evil organization Hydra to go where Hitler would not, and only Captain America can stop him. In the latest version of the comics, written by none other than Ta-Nehisi Coates, Red Skull draws inspiration from none other than Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.

McConnell Takes Aim at Corporate Surrender to the ‘Outrage-Industrial Complex’
Senator Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in Congress have decided to take a stand against Democratic Party/media propaganda and are trying to shame corporate America into backing them.

Senate Parliamentarian Will Allow Reconciliation for Infrastructure Bill
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough probably shouldn’t have this kind of power. But someone has to set the rules and interpret them, and the unelected MacDonough happens to hold her position at a crucial time in history.

Baltimore’s Rogue Prosecutor Mosby Facing 3 Probes of Official Duties, Travel, Gifts
It’s been a lousy spring for Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore’s rogue prosecutor.

MLB Moves All-Star Game to Colorado, a State With Voter ID Laws
Also: “Like GA, Colorado specifically outlaws electioneering/ campaign workers in campaign gear from handing out food and water to waiting voters.”

Mitch McConnell Threatens Woke Corporations Objecting To Georgia Election Law
Accuses Companies Fightin GA Election Law Of Dabbling In Behaving Like A Woke Parallel Government

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Captain America Comic Suggests Jordan Peterson Is Worse Than Hitler (Update)
Ta-Nehisi Coates became a best-selling author with his book “Between the World and Me” and the same year he took a job with Marvel comics writing for the titles Black Panther. That series started off as a big hit. A spin-off series he created called Black Panther and the Crew didn’t do as well and was canceled after just two issues

Seattle Kids Return To Schools With Homeless Camps On School Property
This makes about as much sense as anything else in Seattle. Children at two Seattle schools are now returning to classrooms but just outside the schools, on school property, there are homeless camps that have been in place for months. Neighbors complain the camps have brought drug use and rampant theft to the area but the city doesn’t appear ready to do anything about it.

San Francisco School Board: On Second Thought, About Our School-Renaming Project…
As Wilford Brimley once observed in Absence of Malice — “Wonderful thing, subpoenas.” Faced with lawsuits over its historically illiterate school renaming decisions, the San Francisco Unified School District board will vote to cancel the project entirely, the Associated Press reports this morning. The effort had already been “paused” after the school board got an avalanche of criticism over its “shoddy research,” and also the timing of the effort

With Ninth Accuser, Andrew Cuomo Vaults Past the Al Franken Standard of Sexual Harassment
You may have missed that a ninth woman accused New York governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, claiming the governor kissed her “in what I felt was highly sexual manner,” while visiting her home to assess flood damage in 2017.

Today in Propaganda: Gender Alteration Described as “Gender-Affirming”
As Alexandra DeSanctis notes, it is disappointing that Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson “vetoed a bill that would ban doctors from performing gender transition surgery or offering puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors.” The law prohibits minors from making all sorts of decisions that adults may make, most of them far less irrevocable than genital mutilation. Arkansas is just trying to protect kids from decisions that they may regret later, which carry exceptionally high risks of suicide, depression, and other pathologies.

North Las Vegas mayor ditches ‘elitist’ and ‘socialist’ Democratic Party to join Republicans
A Nevada mayor announced he is leaving the Democratic Party to join the Republican Party, claiming pervasive socialism and elitism in his former party.

United Airlines prepares to shake up white, male-dominated pilot population
United Airlines said on Tuesday it wants women and people of color to make up at least half of the 5,000 pilots it plans to train this decade at its new flight school, a push to diversify a career traditionally dominated by white men.

Biden commences his war on the suburbs
Joe Biden’s “infrastructure” bill isn’t about improving America’s roads, bridges, and other elements of our infrastructure. It’s about transforming America as radically as can be done through spending legislation.

Randi Weingarten has strong words for Jews who say unions are an obstacle
American Federation of Teachers President Weingarten speaks on coronavirus and school closures.

Boy, 10, Who Took Minivan And Led Police On Chase Says He Just Wanted To Buy Cheerios
A 10-year-old Stillwater boy who led police on a chase in his parents’ minivan says he was headed to the store to buy Cheerios.

Will Justice Stephen Breyer Retire From the Supreme Court Soon? He Has a Warning for Joe Biden.
Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the left’s most important voices on the Supreme Court, has been considering retirement for months, friends and associates say. With a liberal safely ensconced in the White House, Breyer, who was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, may see it as the perfect opportunity to leave while he’s still upright.

Are You Ready for a Trans Republican Governor of California?
Caitlyn Jenner, the world’s most celebrated transgender individual — at least until Joe Biden named Rachel Levine as an HHS assistant secretary — is thinking of running for governor of California as a Republican.

Facebook and YouTube Censored Cincinnati Church’s Easter Video Because It Showed Crucifixion Scenes
Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, says big-tech giants Facebook and YouTube both came to similar conclusions about a video the church posted: They temporarily banned the video just before Easter.

Federal judge rules in favor of Christian students after years-long court battle; university still blames the students
After a long battle with Wayne State University, a federal court has ruled in favor of a Christian student organization that had its First Amendment rights violated.

He Lived Under Socialism in Venezuela. That’s Why He’ll Never Support It.
Andres Guilarte is a university student who lived in Venezuela under a democratically elected socialist regime.

Over 250 Male California Prison Inmates Request Transfer to Women’s Facilities
Since January, 261 California prison inmates have requested transfers to prisons aligning with their gender identity, 255 of them biological males who say they identify as women, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Fight Against California’s Neo-Marxist Critical Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Shifts To Individual Districts
The battle isn’t over yet.

Breyer Warns Democrats: “Think Long And Hard” Before Trying Any SCOTUS Court-Packing
Welcome to Stephen Breyer’s TED Talk — or at least the Supreme Court justice’s very deliberate effort to school his fellow liberals. Breyer offered an ominous warning to Democrats plotting to “reform” the court, telling Harvard Law students that they should think “long and hard” before making any changes to the institution. Court-packing à la FDR would only exacerbate the politicization around it, and erode confidence in yet another American institution of government

Cotton Backs Arkansas Legislature’s Override of Hutchinson’s Veto
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas backs the Arkansas legislature’s action to stop doctors in the state from performing gender-transition surgeries on minors or prescribing puberty-blocking hormones to minors who identify as transgender.

A Tiny Particle’s Wobble Could Upend the Known Laws of Physics
It’s not the next Higgs boson — yet. But the best explanation, physicists say, involves forms of matter and energy not currently known to science.

Keira Bell: My Story
As a teen, she transitioned to male but came to regret it. Here’s how it felt to enter history in the trans debate.

Race-based preferences in Ivy admissions aren’t about diversity
Last night, I reported that white Americans make up only 18 percent of those offered admission to Princeton’s class of 2025, and that males make up less than half of that group. Princeton admitted only 129 white American males, many of whom are recruited athletes.

Is United’s set-aside program for minority and female pilots legal?
Last night I wrote about United Airlines’ plan during this decade to train 5,000 pilots for jobs with United, and to have half of the 5,000 be women and “people of color.” I suggested that, unless United can show that this regime is necessary to make up for past discrimination based on race and gender, the company’s plan might lead to unlawful results.

Princeton admits only 129 white American males
Princeton has offered admission to its class of 2025 to 1,498 applicants. According to numbers provided by the University, fewer than nine percent of them (129 out of the 1498) are white American males. Of that small number many — perhaps most — are recruited athletes.

Biden Insists the Border Isn’t in Crisis. He Also Wants NASA to Stop Exploring Space to Help Deal With It
I spent eight years working on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. I never once saw anything like this.

Big Moves From Mike Pence. What’s His Endgame?
Former Vice President Mike Pence may be laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential run, or he may be working to bring the Republican Party together to a new post-Donald Trump synthesis, or he may be solidifying his legacy. Whatever his ultimate goal, Pence is making some big moves.

Harvard uses ‘arbitrary and illogical’ race criteria in admissions, attorney says
Cory Liu, partner at Ashcroft Law Firm, filed an amicus brief in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

Free Speech on Campus: “It Is Vital That UVA Lose This Case, and Lose Badly”
A federal judge has rejected the University of Virginia’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya, a former UVA medical student who was suspended after he asked a few questions during a campus panel presentation on “microaggressions.” Robby Soave’s account of the case is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how “social justice” has turned elite institutions into Kafkaesque nightmares.

What Is “No Place for Hate” Program Actually Teaching K-12 Students?
Americans agree that schools should be no place for hate. Instead, we should foster respect, and reject bullying and racism. But how do we best achieve that shared goal?

Caitlyn Jenner Might be Weighing a Run for California Governor in Upcoming Recall Election
Californians may chose “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” over the current episode of “Twilight Zone” now playing in the state.

A New Grievance Course at University of New Hampshire
The kudzu-like invasion of “social justice” courses continues apace in American colleges and universities.

George Gascón’s plan to downsize DA’s gang unit concerns top deputies, demoralizes prosecutors
Recording from prosecutors’ Zoom meeting reveals consternation over new mission of decentralized Hardcore Gang Investigations Unit

Professor investigated for nine months after disagreeing with anti-racism diversity training
“Everyday Americans of all colors, creeds, backgrounds, and beliefs are being held hostage”

Jewish Judge gets stuck in Dubai
Richard Bernstein, 46, is a judge serving on the Michigan Supreme Court. He’s been stuck in Dubai for two months and counting.

GOP Senators Again Demand Investigation of Planned Parenthood’s Loan Fraud
For the second time, Republican senators have written to the Small Business Administration, asking for an investigation into the loan fraud that Planned Parenthood affiliates committed last spring to improperly obtain COVID-relief funding.

Legal Insurrection Sues SUNY Upstate Medical Univ. Over Refusal To Produce Critical Race Training Records
What is happening at SUNY Upstate Medical is a symptom of a wider spread of Critical Race Training throughout higher education and now professional schools.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink reveals monkey playing Pong with brain implant
A new Neuralink video shows nine-year-old Macaque playing the classic video game… using a brain-implant device.

Republicans Plan to Retake the House Using a Key Part of Democrats’ 2018 Playbook
Republicans need just 5 seats in the 2022 mid-terms in order to flip the House and theyre celebrating the military veterans who have decided to run on the GOP ticket.

New Marvel ‘Villain’ Dr. Jordan Peterson Devilishly Mocks His New Red Skull Caricature
Mild-mannered Canadian professor and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson found himself in a starring role in the MCU earlier this week as supervillain Red Skull.

Undercover Videos Protected for Animal-Rights Activists, but Not Pro-Life Ones
Activists often use undercover video exposés as part of their advocacy campaigns. But it is increasingly apparent that the legality of such activities may not depend on the question of secretly taping, but on the ideology of the activists with the cameras.

The detainment of Lt. Caron Nazario
A Twitter pal watched the body-cam footage below and remarked that it’s striking how the cops keep trying to escalate the situation while the military man does the opposite. Maybe that’s a function of training, maybe it’s a function of personality, maybe some of both. But for six long minutes, it is what it is.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Accessible websites, remote voting, and 325 pages of opinions on the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Biden administration on track to accept fewer refugees than Trump’s, report says
Since his days on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden has tried to cast himself as diametrically opposed to Donald Trump when it comes to welcoming refugees into the United States.

Supreme Court leaves major conservative cases waiting in the wings, from abortion to guns
Rather than handing conservatives a string of victories, Supreme Court justices have left advocates on the right grasping for answers about why challenges dealing with some of the nation’s biggest controversies have languished.

Lobbyist for Dictator Accused of Cannibalism in Line for Key Biden Administration Post
A lobbyist who once represented the brutal regime in Equatorial Guinea whose dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has been accused of eating his political rivals, is in line for a position in the Biden administration’s State Department.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Janet Yellen to call for global minimum tax rate
Janet Yellen will use her first major address as Treasury secretary to argue for a global minimum corporate tax rate, Axios has learned, as she makes the case for President Biden’s plan to raise U.S. corporate taxes to fund his $2 trillion+ infrastructure plan.

Joe Manchin Rejects Biden’s Call for a 28 Percent Corporate Tax Rate, But Still Wants Higher Taxes
Senator Joe Manchin has rejected President Biden’s proposal to hike the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, which is a key way that the administration wants to raise money to partially offset the new infrastructure bill.

Progressives of the World, Unite!
The New York Times reports: Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen made the case on Monday for a global minimum tax, kicking off the Biden administration’s effort to help raise revenue in the United States and prevent companies from shifting profits overseas to evade taxes.

Unions want to dismantle Arizona’s right-to-work protections. Will Sinema, Kelly go along?
Opinion: The PRO Act could force Arizonans into unions and decimate the gig economy. Will Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly side with Arizonans or union bosses?

New York State, City Finalizing Highest Tax Rates In Nation
When you see a story about tax hikes these days, your thoughts probably immediately turn to Joe Biden and the congressional Democrats. And that would be a fair assumption. But the swamp isn’t the only place where big tax increases are on the way. That state government of New York is currently working overtime to dig deeper into everyone’s pockets on top of the expected federal tax increases. Governor Andrew Cuomo took time out of his busy schedule of dodging sexual harassment allegations and lying about the number of body bags coming out of nursing homes to coordinate with the legislature on a plan that will make some New Yorkers the proud bearers of a new title: the most heavily taxed citizens in the United States.

EU backs U.S. call for global minimum corporate tax, but rate to be decided
The European Commission backed on Tuesday a call from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for a global minimum corporate tax, but said its rate should be decided in talks in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

What’s Happening to Inflation Expectations?
A few weeks ago I wrote here that some people are overestimating the risk of high inflation because they are misinterpreting one widely used indicator of market expectations. They’re looking at the difference in yields between Treasury bonds that are indexed for inflation and those that are not, and treating that difference as the market’s implied expectation for inflation. What that simple method misses is that bond purchases by the Federal Reserve can muffle the signal of these markets by affecting their liquidity. At the moment, the effect is to make expected inflation look higher than it is. And since the effect varies over time, it also distorts our understanding of trends in inflation expectations. Applying one method of correcting for the effect, inflation expectations at the end of February weren’t any higher than they were at the end of 2019.

New York’s $212B budget deal includes mobile sports betting, taxing wealthiest
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers reached a new budget deal in Albany early Wednesday morning.

New York about to give away $2.1 billion to … “undocumented workers”?
It’s a good thing Congress passed all of that state bloc-grant money in the COVID-19 relief bill, eh? Blue states demanded federal infusions to close budget gaps created by hits to tax revenues in the pandemic, gaps which turned out to be mostly illusory. Few if any governors were as vocal about it as New York’s Andrew Cuomo, who routinely and loudly complains that the Empire State over-contributes and under-benefits from federal disbursements even under normal conditions.

Biden Wants to Raise Spending by 8.4 Percent to $1.5 Trillion in 2020 Budget
$1,500,000,000,000 spending in 2022.

 

International

 

Glenn Greenwald Bound and Robbed at Gunpoint in Terrifying, Violent Home Invasion
Journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed that he was robbed at gunpoint by a group of five men in a terrifying home invasion last month.

Russia: Vladimir Putin signs law allowing him to rule till 2036
The Russian president has signed legislation that gives him the right to run for two more consecutive terms. The constitutional amendment was approved by referendum last year.

Alexei Navalny ‘seriously ill’ on prison sick ward, says lawyer
Russian opposition figure has fever, cough and has lost weight, according to legal team member who visited him

Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter
In just 100 days in 1994, about 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists. They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents, irrespective of their ethnic origin.

Prince Philip has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace announces
Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Restoring Paris’ Famed Notre Dame Cathedral Could Take “15 or 20 Years”
France fells centuries-old oaks to rebuild the iconic spire.

Ancient Egypt’s “Lost City of Gold” Discovered near Luxor
Likened to the discovery of the Roman city of Pompeii, in terms of its potential importance to archeologists and historians.

EU Parliament Wants Pirated Sports Streams Taken Down Within 30 Minutes
The European Parliament is considering a draft resolution that requires online services to take pirated sports streams offline within 30 minutes. This includes a proposal to allow copyright holders to act as trusted flaggers. According to Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer, the plan is dangerous as it can cause massive collateral damage.

 

Opinion

 

White People Keep Posing As People of Color for Clout
For generations, people of color have had to pass for survival. Now white people are wearing the experiences of racialized people like a costume—and getting called out for it.

George Floyd and “The Riot Ideology”
The best book on the failure of liberal urban policy is Fred Siegel’s The Future Once Happened Here: New York, D.C., L.A., and the Fate of America’s Big Cities. Siegel devotes much analysis to the “riot ideology” whereby organized violence (or the threat thereof) is used to intimidate officials into doing the bidding of “community leaders.”

A Short History of Wokery
Wokery burst onto the scene much like covid or, more appropriately, the Black Death. Or World War II. Has so much stupidity been promulgated so quickly and so broadly at any time in human history? Maybe not. Previous stupid phenomena like the witchcraft scare and phrenology took longer to take root.

The Scariest Word In Politics: Transformational
It was October 30, 2008, days away from the presidential election. Then-Senator Barack Obama was in Columbia, Mo., when he declared, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

Satanic Panic 2.0 and Heavy Metal
That eeevil Heavy Metal Music. Catholic activists slam Seton Hall radio station’s ‘Satanic’ music

Revisiting FDR’s Four Freedoms
Hint: they’re not all freedoms, and they’re still relevant eighty years later.

Journalism and Mental Health
Dear Ms. Aviles: What you need here, ma’am, is an expert analysis, and you’ve found the right guy for the job because — ask around — I’ve always been crazy.

Why Not Fewer Voters?
The fact is that voters got us into this mess. Maybe the answer isn’t more voters.

Fewer Voters, Continued
Responses to my piece on voter qualifications have come in a number of predictable varieties.

Governor Phil Scott’s Disgusting Smear of His Critics
Vermont’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, has issued a statement responding to critics — including yours truly — of his state’s use of racial preferences in determining who is eligible for the life-saving coronavirus vaccines. Its title? “Statement by Governor Phil Scott About Racist Response to Efforts to Vaccinate Vermont’s BIPOC Population.”

Wokeness Is a Weapon of Privilege
Ed Bastian made $17 million in 2019 as chief executive officer of Delta Airlines, Georgia’s largest employer. Bastian just blasted Georgia’s new voting law. He thinks it is racist to require the same sort of ID to vote that Delta requires for its passengers to check in.

The Woke Revolution Is Powered by the Elites
Ed Bastian made $17 million in 2019 as chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, Georgia’s largest employer. Bastian just blasted Georgia’s new voting law. He thinks it is racist to require the same sort of ID to vote that Delta requires for its passengers to check in.

Ron DeSantis Is What the Post-Trump GOP Should Look Like
DeSantis has navigated the Trump years with a deft political touch.

Republicans Should Oppose Corporate Favors In General, Not Just As Retribution Against Woke Capitalism
The egregious decision by Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game from Georgia over its disagreement with a piece of legislation passed by the state legislature has been a seminal moment in the development of woke capitalism.

So-called GOP identity crisis about personal power, not policy
The Republican Party’s so-called identity crisis post-2020 falls more into the category of the figurehead than policy. It’s all about who gets credit for any future, and in some cases past, success.