News of the Week for May 9th, 2021
- Riots & Revolution
- Corona Virus
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Riots & Revolution
In a move to create “safer prisons,” California plans early release of 76,000 prisoners
“Good behavior credits” are being offered to nearly 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole.
Candidates Against Critical Race Theory Elected to Dallas Area Affluent School Board
NBC News frames the story as though the new board members prefer and support racist education because of course.
“Safe space” email at California agency turns into reply-all melee about race, police
A mass email sent by a California environmental agency to announce a “safe space” discussion after Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction sparked a reply-all marathon as employees voiced support for police, accused management of “caving to the mob” and asked to be removed from a “racially based” email list.
Uh oh. Chauvin juror seen in picture wearing BLM hat and George Floyd shirt
As we worked our way through the trial of Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd, the voir dire process nearly drew as much attention as the trial itself. Given the wall-to-wall coverage the entire saga generated in news reports across the nation, finding more than a dozen people who were sincerely unbiased and (hopefully) not all that familiar with the story was always going to be a challenge. There were also concerns from BLM supporters that there would be (presumably racist) white jurors who would hold out for a deadlocked jury. In the end, however, they seated the required number of people.
Chauvin Juror Reportedly Compromised
One of the Derek Chauvin jurors, Brandon Mitchell, has gone public, and it appears that he may have been less than honest during jury selection and is in fact a BLM activist.
Chauvin juror who attended pre-trial rally may jeopardize guilty verdict
A juror in the Derek Chauvin trial may have jeopardized the guilty verdict by attending a rally last year and wearing a “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks/BLM” T-shirt, raising questions about whether he told the truth during jury selection.
Chauvin Juror Admits Participating In Pre-Trial Protest, Photographed In “Knee Off Our Necks” T-Shirt
Juror No. 52, Brandon Mitchell, answered “no” to two questions in the juror questionnaire that asked about participation in demonstrations.
Nikole Hannah-Jones Claims A First Amendment Right To Teach 1619 Project in Schools
“This is not about the facts of history — it’s about trying to prohibit the teaching of ideas they don’t like”
Most Portland rioters have their cases dismissed
It’s now been more than a year since the nightly riots in Portland began in earnest, with combinations of Antifa and BLM activists tearing the town up. It’s long since become impossible to easily count up the number of public spaces that have been defiled and/or set ablaze. Police stations have been attacked, along with federal buildings. To their credit, the Portland Police have, at least on some occasions, managed to arrest some of the worst perpetrators. But what happened to all of those people who were led away in handcuffs? As a recent study from Fox News reveals, pretty much nothing for the most part. You can forget about all of the people who were charged with a variety of misdemeanors. They were almost all back out on the street in a matter of hours without facing any real penalties. But even among the more than 100 people who were charged with a variety of felonies, almost all of them have had their cases dismissed or deferred without action having never spent a single day in prison.
Derek Chauvin files motion for new trial in George Floyd case, alleging jury misconduct
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, filed the request alleging that the former officer’s ability to have a fair trial was affected by pretrial publicity.
Combatting violent crime is risky business in the age of BLM
Last year, the homicide count in Washington, D.C. reached a 36-year high. So far this year, D.C. homicides are up 38 percent from the same time last year.
Tony Timpa Suffered the Same Fate as George Floyd — But Received None of the Attention
From her home near Dallas, Vicki Timpa watched the nation erupt last summer after police pinned George Floyd face down in a Minneapolis street for more than nine minutes, killing him.
A redundant prosecution
A federal grand jury has handed up indictments of Derek Chauvin and his three former colleagues for violating George Floyd’s civil rights. I inferred from the leak underlying Andy Mannix’s April 29 Star Tribune story that the federal civil rights investigation was originally undertaken as a backstop to the state criminal prosecution of the officers in the event that Chauvin and his former colleagues were acquitted, but such is not the case.
Chicago suburb set to pay reparations, but not all on board
When Teri Murray tried to buy her first home in 1968, searching this leafy college town for the perfect place, she thought she was an ideal candidate: married, steadily employed, ample savings.
Confrontations Between People In A Crowd Blocking Traffic And Motorists Those Streets
On May 5, 2021, at about 12:12 p.m., Portland Police were dispatched the report of a pedestrian struck by a car near North Interstate Avenue and North Killingsworth Street. This was related to a large group walking in the street there.
Four Former Minneapolis Police Officers, Including Derek Chauvin, Indicted by Federal Grand Jury in George Floyd Death
The three-count indictment names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Chauvin was charged in a separate indictment unrelated to Floyd, for the arrest and restraint of a suspect in 2017.
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors had a fondness for Mao’s Little Red Book (Before becoming a wealthy Marxist)
Thursday a site called the National Pulse turned up an old clip (2010) of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors in which she made reference to a book she was helping to sell, comparing it to Mao’s Little Red Book.
Heavily armed leftists surround, threaten lone Portland motorist. But when fed-up driver points his own gun at them, all hell breaks loose.
The same group attacked a different motorist amid the march; one leftist screamed, ‘You f***ed with the wrong f***in’ people, bro!’
Corona Virus
India’s Covid Nightmare is Beyond Belief
The second most populous country in the world is dealing with a pandemic nightmare that is beyond the ken of understanding for those who live in the western world with a modern health care system. More than 400,000 new infections were reported on Saturday in India with another 396,000 infections on Sunday. The government reports more than 3,500 deaths on Saturday — a figure laughably and tragically wrong.
Top secret report: Coronavirus may have originated from a lab leak
Last May researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory issued a top secret report which concluded the coronavirus could have originated either from natural transmission or as the result of a laboratory leak. James Rosen reports the existence of the document has been confirmed though he says he hasn’t seen it.
India’s “Oxygen Express” Races to Supply Hospitals, but Covid Patients Die as Stocks Run Out
Country is using its railways and air force to speed it to hospitals, but crisis caught system unprepared, say medical and industry experts
The world’s most vaccinated country is … having a COVID wave
Looks like the vaccines are a bust! No, not our vaccines. China’s vaccines. But you already knew that.
Indonesian airport workers accused of reusing nasal swabs for coronavirus testing
As many as 9,000 people may have been given coronavirus tests using nasal swabs that had been washed and reused by an Indonesian pharmaceutical company at Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, according to police, who said they have arrested several employees and the Medan facility’s business manager.
It Takes an American Vaccine to Clean Up a Communist Disease
It is in fashion on the left — and in many quarters of the right — to be myopically concentrated on all that is wrong with this country.
Portland BLM protesters beat and hospitalize a man, vandalize another man’s car
Thursday a group of BLM protesters held a march in the middle of the day through the streets of Portland. Police received a call that a pedestrian had been hit by a car but when they arrived no one was there. Then they started getting calls from other motorists that the crowd was blocking streets.
Cuomo comms director resigns as new scandal emerges
Two things popped up this weekend in Cuomo-world, and while it’s unclear if they are related or not, it’s certainly a curious bit of timing. The first item was the rather sudden resignation of Peter Ajemian, Cuomo’s communications director. He’s been in that position for a couple of years and held other roles in Cuomo’s orbit prior to that. He’s being replaced by long-time senior advisor Rich Azzopardi. He has plenty of experience covering for the Governor, such as when he was recently sent out to explain how Cuomo didn’t prioritize his friends and family for early COVID testing because “we were testing all sorts of people” at the time.
Gun Rights
9th Circuit Deals Blow to Censorship of Gun Blueprints
The effort by a collection of 23 Democratic state attorneys general to outlaw the publication of gun blueprints took a setback on Tuesday.
Old and busted: Gun control. New hotness: Ammo control
Aside from a couple of executive orders, Joe Biden’s plans to pass major gun control legislation such as the confiscation of scary-looking rifles seems to be going nowhere fast at the moment. There might be something on background checks in the works, but that seems to be about it. But that doesn’t mean that gun-grabbing enthusiasts around the various states aren’t still hatching plans. As our Bearing Arms colleague Tom Knighton points out this week, there is a movement afoot in Flordia to introduce “ammo control” legislation. One idea is to impose a massive tax on ammunition, as per an old Chris Rock comedy routine that Tom flashes back to. Another scheme would require background checks for the purchase of ammunition. The bill is named after Jaime Guttenberg, who was killed during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But as Knighton points out, none of the measures under discussion would have impacted that event and would be unlikely to act as a deterrent to future criminals.
America’s Great Gun-Buying Surge Continues
The United States is still in the midst of the greatest gun-buying binge in its history.
3 Things to Know About Second Amendment’s Return to Supreme Court
It’s been well over a decade since the Supreme Court last decided a meaningful Second Amendment case. That wait is about to end.
How to Hone Your Handgun Skills
You have been told that repetition is the secret to improving your skills and maintaining the edge that satisfies the goals you have set for yourself. Even though you have thousands of repetitions of basic handling and shooting skills, it has become going through the motions without noticeable improvement. In fact, it has become a chore that is somewhat boring to go through the repetitions over and over again with every visit to the range.
Kansas Legislature Overrides Veto to Pass Gun-Carry Bill
Kansas gun-rights advocates won a battle with governor Laura Kelly (D.) on Monday when a gun-carry bill passed over her veto.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
Renewable Nonsense
This Barron’s story from a few days ago almost slipped by unnoticed: “90% of Wind and Solar Could Be Economically Competitive by 2030, Says New Study”
Scientists make alarming discovery: The Amazon has ‘flipped’ to become major producer of greenhouse gasses
“We don’t know at what point the changeover could become irreversible.”
Should We Let China Control Our Energy Supply?
“Green” energy is a terrible idea for many reasons. One of the most fundamental is that it relies on low-intensity, intermittent energy sources like wind and solar, which in practical terms are vastly inferior to fossil fuels or nuclear power, and tries to make these unreliable sources work through the magical medium of batteries.
One in Five Electric Car Owners in California Switched Back to Gas-Powered
Meanwhile, governors of California and 11 other states urge Biden to back phasing out gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035.
Victoria Announces the End of Affordable Home Heating, Because Climate Change
The cold Aussie state of Victoria has announced that in the future, people will have to rely on their increasingly unstable and unaffordable electricity grid, to hold back the winter chill.
China’s emissions surpass all developed nations combined
The distribution of global greenhouse gas emissions has reached an inflection point: China’s emissions exceeded developed nations combined in 2019, a new Rhodium Group analysis concludes.
Is cutting agricultural output to save the climate a good idea?
Writing on today’s opinion page of the Elko Daily Free Press, Cheyenne, Wyo., attorney Karen Budd-Falen warns of some of the consequences of the Biden administration’s so-called 30×30 Plan to conserve in its natural or unproductive state 30 percent of the nation’s land and water by 2030. The plan’s stated objective is to avert “a profound climate crisis.”
Diversity Over Discovery
Biden’s war on merit puts America’s scientific edge at risk.
US pipeline company halts operations after cyberattack
A U.S. energy company says a cyberattack forced it to temporarily halt all operations on a major pipeline that delivers roughly 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Why would you trust California to run a single-payer system?
If you need more reasons to oppose a state takeover of health insurance in California – more than the fact that it would cost about $400 billion per year and make all existing private health care policies illegal – consider the mess that the state has made out of vaccine distribution.
New England Journal of Medicine Pushes Open Borders
I always say that if you want to see what will go terribly wrong in the country, read the professional journals. Radicalism. Woke perspectives. Transgender ideology. Critical Race Theory in health care. Socialized medicine. “Nature rights” advocacy. It’s all there in the world’s foremost professional publications, along with advocacy for policies reflecting those views.
War & Terror
The CIA’s Recruitment Video Is Well-Targeted
Progressives seem upset that the CIA has “co-opted” their language in a new recruitment video that features a “cisgender millennial” woman who says she is “intersectional,” that she is “unapologetically me,” and that she refuses to “internalize misguided patriarchal ideas.”
Global microchip shortage has China eyeing Taiwan
Some worry China may use military force to seize Taiwan and its microchip industry
“I am intersectional”: CIA recruitment ad goes … woke
Righties and lefties are each disgusted by this for different reasons. For the right, it’s evidence of the creeping woke-ification of everything. For the left, it’s proof that even the most un-progressive institutions are willing and able to cynically co-opt progressive rhetoric to serve their own aims.
China plans to revive strategic Pacific airstrip, Kiribati lawmaker says
China has drawn up plans to upgrade an airstrip and bridge on one of Kiribati’s remote islands about 3,000km southwest of Hawaii, lawmakers told Reuters, in a bid to revive a site that hosted military aircraft during World War Two.
Blinken at China-Led Meeting: Trump Admin “Undermined” Rules-Based Order
China is making the most of its month-long U.N. Security Council presidency, using the mostly ceremonial role to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s version of multilateralism. During a high-level meeting this morning chaired by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, these efforts got a slight boost from the Biden administration.
Former Xinjiang Detainee Warns of China’s “Threat to the World”
The people who have personally faced the Chinese Communist Party’s abuses say that the regime’s actions within its borders are an international threat. That’s the message that you’ll hear from leaders in the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, and it’s the same as the one that you’ll hear from Uyghurs.
At Least 30 Killed in Bombing Outside Girls School in Kabul
A horrific attack on an Afghan girls school in Kabul has left at least 30 people dead, mostly students between 11-15 years old. Another 50 or more were injured in a bombing that the Taliban has denied responsibility for.
Confronting an Outlaw State with Superpower Status
They are an outlaw authoritarian state with superpower or near-superpower status. They represent a colossally failed gamble, going back at least three decades and arguably half a century, that greater American and Western interaction with China would soften the regime. President Bill Clinton declared in 2000, “the more China liberalizes its economy, the more it will liberate the potential of its people to work without restraint, to live without fear.” We now know that belief represented an epic misjudgment.
How China has bought influence in Africa as US warns of new naval base there.
Opened in 2017, this is China’s first overseas military base – but could soon be one of many located across Africa if those sounding the alarm in Washington are correct.
Leaked Chinese document reveals a sinister plan to “unleash” coronaviruses
A leaked 2015 government paper has revealed a discussion by top Chinese scientists who said a virus could be “unleashed in way never seen before”.
West Point probed for allegations it’s pushing critical race theory on cadets
Rep. Mike Waltz speaks on allegations: “The enemy’s bullets … don’t care about these issues”
National
How the Fastest Spaceship Ever Is Getting Terrifyingly Close to the Sun
Adam Szabo and Betsy Congdon, two leads on the Parker Solar Probe, discuss the mission’s discoveries and its daredevil future.
Ron DeSantis Calls Critical Race Theory ‘a Bunch of Horse Manure’
You gotta hand it to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis… in addition to his excellent management of the COVID pandemic in his state, he’s also crushing it when it comes to other issues.
NASA Extends Ingenuity Helicopter Missions After Four Successful Flights on Mars
Perseverance rover’s MOXIE oxygen-generator successfully created 5 grams of life-essential gas.
White Farmers Excluded From Biden Loan Forgiveness Program Sue To Stop “use of race discrimination as a tool to end ‘systemic racism'”
“Plaintiffs are farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio who have direct loans with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or loans backed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). They are otherwise eligible for the loan-forgiveness program in ARPA, except for the color of their skin. As white farmers, Plaintiffs are ineligible for this government benefit.”
“It Just Isn’t Fair”: Caitlyn Jenner Opposes Transgender Girls Competing in Female Sports
The mob instantly attacked Jenner on social media.
The Biden chicken wings crisis
We’ve done plenty of stories on the border crisis, the gun rights crisis, the free speech crisis, and all the rest. So let’s turn our attention to a crisis of a different kind that’s currently plaguing the United States. That’s right, my fellow Americans, we’re facing a chicken wing crisis. Owners of bars and restaurants around the nation are noticing that chicken wings are suddenly in short supply. Orders are going unfilled and, at least in some cases, prices for the popular dinner item are rising. What’s causing the sudden shortage? Well, according to some economists who have been looking into the matter… it’s complicated.
Harry Reid: Yeah, we might have some UFO wreckage laying around someplace
Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been back in the news a surprising amount this year, though it’s generally not because of his political positions. Reid, as you may recall, was one of the three senators who helped set up the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) more than a decade ago. While that program allegedly ended, later being replaced by the UAP Task Force (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UFOs as we used to call them), Reid has remained highly interested in the topic and remains in touch with elected officials and our military. He’s given several interviews in the past couple of weeks, with a few more big ones coming up, discussing recent revelations, including video and photos allegedly showing some of these remarkable craft. But few have contained as much of a potential bombshell as the one he did with the New Yorker. During that discussion, Reid didn’t simply refer to “sightings” of anomalous vehicles. He went one very large step further and suggested that the United States may have been in possession of materials retrieved from crashes of such craft. And who had these materials? Reid suggests that you’d have to ask Lockheed Martin.
NAS Alliance Appeals to Cornyn to Abandon Bogus Civics Bill
Leading members of the Civics Alliance, convened by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) to fight action civics and related dangers, have issued an open letter appealing to Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Congressman Tom Cole (R., Okla.) to abandon their support for the egregiously misnamed “Civics Secures Democracy Act.” This $6 billion bill (which should be named the Action Civics and Critical Race Theory Harm America Act) will impose these pernicious pedagogies on every school in the nation, just as Obama used massive federal grants to spread Common Core. Cornyn and Cole are Republican co-sponsors of this “bipartisan” bill, and their exit from that sponsorship could kill this legislative monstrosity before it manages to destroy American education.
Trump: From now on, the stolen election is “the big lie.” Liz Cheney: No, it isn’t.
Most of the pundit chatter about this exchange today has dwelt on how Cheney has made trouble for herself in the caucus once again by rebuking Trump. Which is true, just as it’s also true that she’s getting closer to being ousted from leadership.
More 2022 worries for House Dems
Last week, I wrote about the decision of Rep. Cheri Bustos not to seek reelection in 2022, and the possibility that the Illinois congresswoman’s retirement might cost the Democrats a seat in the House. I also mentioned that several other House Dems from potentially competitive seats — Cindy Axne of Iowa, Tim Ryan of Ohio, and Val Demings and Stephanie Murphy of Florida — are considering leaving the House to run for the Senate.
Who’s Really Running the Show at the White House? We Now Have a Name.
The two things I enjoy reading the most are report cards for either of my boys with straight-As, or a Democrat-friendly puff-piece in a major publication gone horribly wrong.
How Critical Race Theory Is Taught in Public Schools
Critical race theory is making its way into institutions across America.
Watch Live: John Cox campaign to launch bus tour in Sacramento featuring 1,000-pound bear
The event will be streamed on this page at 10 a.m.
Bronx Judge Releases Man Allegedly Responsible for Numerous Jewish Hate Crimes
The Jewish community is scared: “The release of the perpetrator is terribly disheartening to the community — is unnerving, is causing significant anxiety.”
Viral video shows mother pushing 6-year-old daughter to confess gender identity: ‘Are you a boy or are you a girl?’
A mother’s parenting skills are being questioned after a TikTok video about her 6-year-old daughter’s gender identity went viral.
“You’ll never be white”: Latino cop endures racist tirade during traffic stop
An overnight viral sensation with nearly four million views as I write this at 10:30 a.m. ET. Partly that’s due to the power of Fox News, which ran the video during Tucker Carlson’s show. And partly it’s because the many people who sympathize with cops for what they endure in an average day wanted to show off the professionalism of one officer in a stressful situation. Normally when footage of traffic stops gets public attention it’s because the police abused the driver. Not this time. Rather the opposite.
Woke Prince Harry lectures Americans about acting “collectively” at Vax Live concert
Los Angeles loves Harry. Prince Harry a.k.a. Duke of Sussex was a featured celebrity of Global Citizen’s VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World. The event was taped Sunday at the SoFi Stadium. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle served as co-chairs of the concert meant to emphasize the need for COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The special concert was recorded on Sunday, May 2 at the new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It will be televised next Saturday, May 8.
Adam Silver Can’t Explain Away the NBA’s Cozy Relationship with China
National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner Adam Silver is among those rarest of things: a political-science major making a lot of money. A lot of money — around $8 million a year, in fact. There’s not a single congressional staffer or journalist or operative with that same degree who isn’t jealous of Silver’s financial success. There’s also not, for those who’ve read Silver’s recent interview with Time, a single one who’s not haunted by the question: How did he do it? Because as a trained talker with the task of representing a sport, Silver embarrassed himself in what was supposed to be a flattering piece about the league.
What’s up with this photo of the Bidens and the Carters?
This was a sensation on political Twitter last night, for more than one reason.
Florida Democrats desperate to defeat DeSantis
As expected, Rep. Charlie Crist announced today that he will run for governor of Florida. Crist, a former Republican, is one of the biggest charlatans in American politics, in my view.
Coke Drops Woke Faster Than They Dropped New Coke
Insanity Wrap needs to know: What does it mean when one of America’s wokest corporations starts learning the steps to the Backpedal Tango?
Houston Chronicle Media-Splains Cinco de Mayo to Texans; Tejanos Ratio It Hard in Comments
Cinco de Mayo is primarily celebrated by Americans of Mexican descent. It commemorates a military victory by Mexico over the French in 1862.
They Told Their Therapists Everything. Hackers Leaked It All
A mental health startup built its business on easy-to-use technology. Patients joined in droves. Then came a catastrophic data breach.
Newsmax Making Chris Wallace the Face of Fox News Is a Fascinating Strategy
It’s fascinating to watch when Newsmax TV makes Chris Wallace the face of what was formerly America’s most conservative cable channel. It’s not something they do every day, or even every week. But periodically, just when the upstart channel’s viewers may have forgotten Wallace’s egregious offenses, a segment about the Trump-averse Fox News Sunday anchor’s latest offense will splash across the screen.
U.S. birth and fertility rates in 2020 dropped to another record low, CDC says
Births fell for the sixth consecutive year to the lowest levels since 1979, the CDC said.
Psychological Games in Family Court: Missouri Parents Speak Out About Being Falsely Diagnosed with Mental Disorders
During my trip to St. Louis, Missouri to dig deeper into the family court controversy that PJ Media has been covering, I sat down with many parents who say they’ve been targeted by a money-making scheme through the court process. A major part of that scheme, they say, is being falsely diagnosed with a mental disorder in order to remove their children from them and give them to the other parent. In almost all of the cases allegations of abuse were made by the children against the parent the court gave them to. The children’s voices were completely suppressed.
Where Did the Absurd “Diversity Training” Idea Come From?
Diversity training is a huge industry today, with many companies and speakers claiming that they can (for a hefty fee) root out all those nasty latent prejudices in people. After all, academics tell us that nearly all white people have racial biases. Companies and educational institutions now spend billions lest they be accused of not caring.
South Carolina bringing back electric chair, firing squad
We recently looked at a story about a convicted murderer in Nevada who is fighting to avoid being executed by lethal injection, preferring instead to have a firing squad end his life. That case is still in legal limbo, but it appears that South Carolina is looking to avoid having similar issues crop up. The legislature there just passed a bill that will bring back the firing squad as an option for executions when drugs aren’t available for the lethal injection process. South Carolina already has the electric chair as a third option. The state senate had already passed a similar bill so a final version should soon be heading to the Governor’s desk for approval.
Dems: Iowa, New Hampshire don’t meet our “diversity demands” for first primary states
Need we explain “diversity” in this instance? The Boston Globe filled in the blanks pretty well a few days ago as the DNC debates whether to demote Iowa and New Hampshire in presidential primaries. Activists within the Democratic Party certainly aren’t worried about ideological diversity, needless to say
Biden endorses state-sponsored theft from pharmaceutical companies
As vaccinations continue to roll out around the world we’ve heard plenty of complaints about how some countries are lagging far behind the wealthier nations where most of these vaccines were developed and are being produced. This has resulted in understandable requests for countries like the United States to more quickly begin sending more doses to those nations that are in need. Unfortunately, we’re cranking these vaccines out about as quickly as is physically possible already. One solution that’s been proposed is to allow other companies around the world to start producing their own using the scientific breakthroughs achieved by companies like Pfizer and Moderna, but that would run afoul of their patents and intellectual property rights. Never fear, socialists. President Joe Biden is endorsing a plan put forward by the World Health Organization to simply “pause” those patents and let other companies run with the ball. The American pharmaceutical companies are not fans of the idea, to say the least.
Why won’t Liz Cheney’s replacement move on from talking about the election?
There are two reasons being offered for why Cheney needs to go, one of which is true and one of which is spin.
Dems: We’re re-introducing the “Mommies Act” to benefit … “birthing people”
“Birthing people.”
Tennessee General Assembly Passes Bill to Ban Critical Race Theory
Tennessee’s governor said he will sign the bill into law once it reaches his desk.
Rep. Cori Bush Demotes Mothers to “Birthing People”
Happy… Birthing People’s Day?
Student Sues Virginia Tech Alleging She Was Forced Off Soccer Team for Refusing to Kneel
“If the allegations are true, she could have not only a winning case but a case that could set important precedent for the freedom of speech.”
Is Elise Stefanik a conservative?
I don’t know the answer to the question in the headline but I know the answer to this one: Does it matter if she isn’t?
Will New York Democrats Try to Redistrict Elise Stefanik Out of a Seat?
With news that Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik is very likely to replace Liz Cheney as GOP conference chair next week, will New York Democrats be tempted to use redistricting as a tool to try to end Stefanik’s congressional career?
Sasse Blames Jobs Miss on Congress “Paying More for Unemployment Than for Work”
Last month, the United States economy added 266,000 jobs—falling far short of economists’ expectation of one million jobs. Axios reports this is “the biggest miss, relative to expectations, in decades.”
Biden: On Second Thought, Yes, China Is Indeed Eating Our Lunch
Joe Biden’s assessment of China, May 1, 2019: China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. Joe Biden’s assessment of China, May 6, 2021: The Chinese are eating our lunch.
The Campaign to Thwart Paleogenetic Research Into North America’s Indigenous Peoples
One of the major North American archaeological discoveries of the 20th century was made in 1967 by a bulldozer crew preparing a site for a movie theater in the small fishing village of Port au Choix (PAC), on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula. It was a vast, 4,000-year-old cemetery created by a complex maritime culture known among researchers as the Maritime Archaic. The graves contained beautifully preserved skeletons covered in a brilliant red powder called red ocher (powdered specular hematite). Buried with the skeletons were many finely crafted artifacts. A few similar ones had previously turned up in earlier field surveys on the island, but no archaeologist had suspected that such a large and magnificent ceremonial site existed in the North American subarctic.
Detroit police chief preps Michigan governor campaign against Whitmer
James Craig has been in talks with Republican officials in Michigan about a campaign.
Females told to “be quiet” on transgender issue – ex-weightlifter
Former Olympic weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs says females are being told to “be quiet” when they complain about the fairness of transgender New Zealand athlete Laurel Hubbard competing in women’s competitions.
California’s Population Drops for First Time Since Becoming a State 171 Years Ago
“The nation’s most populous state lost more than 180,000 people between January 2020 and January 2021”
The Wokest Place on Earth
Disney mounts an internal campaign against “white privilege” and organizes racially segregated “affinity groups.”
Washington Gov. Inslee Signs Bill Requiring Critical Race Training For Public School Teachers
“The legislature plans to continue the important work of dismantling institutional racism in public schools and recognizes the importance of increasing equity, diversity, inclusion, antiracism, and cultural competency training throughout the entire public school system….”
New York City Shootings Up 94 Percent Over Pre-Pandemic Levels
Two women and a four-year-old girl were shot in Times Square in broad daylight yesterday (or as the New York Times delicately put it, a beef between two men opening fire wound up “injuring” the trio). All three were expected to survive their injuries. One of the women who was shot told the New York Post that as she lay on the ground with a bullet in her leg people filmed her on their cell phones instead of helping. “I was screaming, ‘I don’t want to die, please help me!’ — and people were just recording, they weren’t helping,” she said.
Economy & Taxes
Eating Chicken Is So Popular, Stocks Are Running Low
The animal rights/radical environmentalist cabal wants to get us to quit eating meat. The vegans claim the mantle of compassion — ignoring the fact that human beings are naturally omnivores and that the only way to go totally meat and dairy free is to take supplements. Even then, such diets are bad for children.
California Tribe Buys Palms Casino in Vegas for $650 Million
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians agreed to buy the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas from Red Rock Resorts Inc. for $650 million, the biggest purchase by a Native-Indian tribe in the U.S. gambling capital.
Yellen Says She Isn’t Predicting Higher Interest Rates
Treasury Secretary walks backs comments she made earlier suggesting that rates might rise
BIDEN BUST: Unemployment Rate Up, Numbers “Way Worse Than Expected,” Inflation May Be Coming
With the creation of multiple vaccines in historic time, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed close to being over, paving the way for rapid economic growth.
Report: U.S. Government’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio Now Worse Than Greece Before the 2008 Crash
“Biden’s plan will almost certainly make the deficit worse. Though the plan contains various tax increases to fund its programs, the taxes are likely to fall well short of government outlays, economists say.”
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.
International
Manchester United fans riot in protest against American owner
In English football, it doesn’t get much bigger than Manchester United vs. Liverpool. Unfortunately, today’s match between these titans had to be postponed because a protest by Man U fans turned into a mini-riot.
Egyptian archaeologists unearth rare tombs dated back to before Pharaohs
They also found tombs nearby from the later Hyksos period (1650 to 1500 B.C.), when Western Asian migrants took over the country, putting an end to Egypt’s Middle Kingdom.
At least 20 dead after Mexico City metro overpass collapses
Nearly 50 other people were taken to hospitals after Monday night’s collapse, officials said.
Marine Le Pen: French far-right leader cleared of hate speech
A French court has acquitted far-right leader Marine Le Pen and a party colleague of breaking hate speech laws by posting three images of Islamic State atrocities on Twitter.
Chinese man flees to Taiwan in rubber raft saying life in China is ‘all kinds of bad’
Last Friday a 33-year-old Chinese man named Zhou set sail on a small rubber raft he’d purchased on the internet. He arrived in Taiwan about 10 hours later and told police he came to Taiwan for “freedom and equality.”
A Diabolical Bind
Gulchehra Hoja is a Uyghur-American journalist, working at Radio Free Asia. We have a piece about her on the homepage today, here. She is a warm and very brave lady. She and her colleagues at RFA report the truth about what the Chinese government is doing to the Uyghur people. The government then retaliates against their families.
Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border
A farmer in Belgium has caused a stir after inadvertently redrawing the country’s border with France.
Olympic Committee Bans Black Lives Matter Apparel, Threatens to Punish Those Who Protest
“The IOC AC is very concerned about the risk of politicisation of the athletes and the risk that athletes may be put under external pressure.”
Bizarre new trend to eat raw, ROTTEN meat to get high can cause “explosive incontinence”
PEOPLE are forcing down chunks of rotten, raw meat in a bid to get high in the latest bizarre social media trend.
Colombian president withdraws tax hike; 19 people killed in protests
Colombian President Ivan Duque has withdrawn a nationwide tax increase as more than a dozen people died during days of protests against the measure.
How the SNP wrecked Scottish education
“The politicians aren’t listening to us,” an exasperated teacher tells me by phone. “There’s nothing left for us to do but get on with it.” The despair felt by Scottish teachers is a notable shift from the anger I encountered in the staffroom when I trained among them five years ago.
Farmer left paralysed by violent robbery in South Africa 20 years ago is tied up and murdered in his wheelchair in a second horrifying attack
Neil McKay, 46, was found by his mother when she visited his farm to see him
Being touched by a humanoid robot makes people happier, more likely to listen to machines
Does a reassuring pat on the back bring you comfort during a tough day? A new study finds, when it comes to touching, people aren’t even picky about who’s doing the touching. Researchers in Germany say the touch of a humanoid robot makes people happier and more likely to follow their requests.
Major Swedish Hospital Bans Puberty Blocking for Gender Dysphoria
The actual science is beginning to overcome transgender ideology. First, the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence — basically the NHS’s decision-maker for what to cover — determined that there was “very low” evidence of benefit to allow children with gender dysphoria to have their natural puberty blocked — which is an “off label” use of those drugs, by the way.
How “Indigenous Ways of Knowing” Works In Venezuela
The concept of “indigenous ways of knowing” is increasingly popular in North American universities. However, this enthusiasm is largely abstract, for educational institutions have not yet processed the implications. In Venezuela, my experience as an educator has been different. Members of the Bari tribe believe that the semen of multiple men can contribute to the formation of the embryo. Should this be respected as an “indigenous way of knowing”? I posit that it should not, and I urge North American institutions to take note.
Tories Romping in U.K.
Elections are underway in the United Kingdom, by-elections and council elections that could be analogized to off-year races in the U.S. They are significant in part because they are the first U.K. elections since 2019.
The Cancer of Wokism Takes a Hit
I wrote yesterday about the Labour Party’s crushing defeats in Great Britain’s by-elections and council elections. As you would expect, post mortems are being written, this one by Rakib Ehsan in the London Times: “Labour’s embrace of racialised politics will lead to more electoral disasters.”
The SNP has no mandate for a second referendum
Tom Bradby got them started. On Friday night, the News at Ten anchor opined that “if the SNP can assemble a pro-independence majority”, he couldn’t see “how it would be credible to deny them another referendum”. In fact, “it would make an absolute mockery of the principle of democratic devolution”.
Opinion
Biden’s Political Vulnerabilities
Republicans haven’t found a line of attack on the president personally, I write at Bloomberg, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear.
Milton versus the mob
He spoke truth to power and made heresy a virtue. Lessons on free speech and intellectual combat from John Milton
How To Play Games with Words Part 1: The tactics of the “woke” Critical Social Justice activist
I hope for this to be the first in a series of essays outlining a number of tactics used by the Critical Social Justice (CSJ) movement. This essay contains the first two. But first, a word about how Critical social Justice operates.
Is Wokery Starting to Wane?
More and more the woke pandemic afflicting our elites and causing them to mask their racism is reminding me of forced busing back in the late 1960s and early 1970s—a project to which liberals (and compliant federal judges) were fiercely dedicated (even as rich liberals sent their own kids to private schools), and which was hugely unpopular.
Anti-Racism and Anti-Communism
A great many college leaders today are on the anti-racism bandwagon, insisting that everything possible be done to eradicate racism.
Art Show Demonstrates Again That the “Marginalized” Are Today’s New Elites
Everyone knows who really holds the power in Western societies today: those who are supposed not to have any power. We’re told that everything is rigged (“systemic racism,” you know) in favor of white males, and poor people of color and women are routinely victimized by cruel and callous authorities who take apparent delight in their victimization and marginalization. In reality, today’s society is built on the privilege of being victimized and marginalized, and the more you have of either, or are perceived to have, the richer you are. All this has just been demonstrated anew by man in Britain who is very rich indeed in what counts today: he is both non-white and Muslim, and is parlaying his double-victim status into fame and fortune.
Newsweek Op-Ed: Wokism Is Systemic Racism
Today Newsweek has an important piece on wokism. Entrepreneur Helen Raleigh argues that wokism is systemic racism. She has the receipts.
Due Process Is Opposite of Social Justice
It has been two weeks since the conviction of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin for the second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of George Floyd. The world has moved on.
House Republicans Should Have the Leaders They Deserve
Liz Cheney, sadly, no longer meets that test.
Yes, Grade Inflation Is the Explanation
Writing at Forbes, my good friend Rich Vedder gives me a hat tip for bringing a new paper to his attention, then he proceeds to discuss its findings. The paper is about the appearance that American college students are learning more because graduation rates have been rising. But are they really learning more?
How the Diversity Mania Threatens Freedom of Speech
I’m old enough to remember when leftists held freedom of speech sacred. That’s before their long march through our institutions put them in power. Now they insist on controlled speech.
How Long Do Impassioned Fanbases Stick Around?
In yesterday’s Morning Jolt, I wrote, “While it is inconceivable that Trump would lose a fight over control of the party now, it is conceivable that the air may slowly leak out of the Trump balloon, month by month, year by year.”
The Sexual Revolution Wasn’t about Freedom
I’ll be talking with Fr. Gerry Murray tonight in Manhattan and unpacking a little bit about a powerful quote.
