News of the Week (May 16th, 2021)

Posted on May 16, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for May 16th, 2021


 

Riots & Revolution

 

Judge Finds “Aggravated Factors” For Enhancing Derek Chauvin’s Sentence In Death of George Floyd
Chauvin now faces up to double the sentencing guideline of 15 years, for up to 30 years.

Space Force Unit C.O. Relieved of Duty for Criticizing Marxism in the Military
Military.com reports that Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier has been relieved of his duties pending an investigation after he appeared on a podcast and criticized the rise of Marxism in the United States military.

Witch Hunt: University Opens Investigation Into Student Who Stated Biological Fact
Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland, has opened a formal investigation into 29-year-old student Lisa Keogh, a mother of two, after she dared to utter biological facts in a debate about transgender identity. The university is investigating her “offensive”” and “discriminatory” comments.

How Biden Aims to Take Critical Race Theory to the Next Level in Your School
If the Biden administration gets its way, the federal government will soon be alternatively bribing and threatening every school district in the country to push divisive and damaging curricula on race in the classroom.

American Airlines Investigating Pilot After Woke Mob Reported Him for Opposing Critical Race Theory
“We hope @AmericanAir remains committed to their values, not to mention their customers who may not want to fly with this man at the controls.” the Southlake Together Twitter account tweeted about a pilot who has been outspoken in his opposition to CRT.

 

Corona Virus

 

Report: Chinese People’s Liberation Army 2015 Dossier On Bio-Warfare Plans Included Coronaviruses
A document obtained by The Australian, titled “The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons,” predicted that World War III would be fought with biological weapons.

Scores of Bodies Dumped in Ganges River as India’s COVID Crisis Worsens
It was a macabre sight in eastern India along the sacred Ganges River as authorities found scores of bodies floating in the water. India is in the midst of a nightmare surge in coronavirus infections and, while authorities have not determined the cause of death, it seems likely that many of them died of COVID-19.

Science Letter Breaks “Chokehold” on COVID-Origin Narrative, Says Lab-Leak Theory “Viable”
For well over a year, a certain clique of researchers tarred the idea that COVID-19 initially escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan as a conspiracy theory. Now, their grip on that narrative within the scientific community is loosening, as a growing chorus of experts calls for a closer look at this lab-leak hypothesis.

 

Gun Rights

 

On Guns, New York City Wants It Both Ways
The Wall Street Journal reports that most of the candidates for Manhattan District Attorney are opposed to jailing people for illegal firearms possession

“Constitutional Carry” Now in Effect in Utah
Last week, a law authorizing adults to carry a concealed firearm in the State of Utah without first obtaining government permission went into effect. The enactment of this bill also fosters an environment hostile to federal gun control.

April Gun Sales Indicate Gun Industry Continues to Thrive
The brisk pace of firearm sales has continues into 2021, despite the fact two of the alleged catalysts no longer provide the overwhelming motivation they initially did: Aggressive vaccination efforts are addressing COVID-19 concerns and social unrest is no longer as widespread or frequent.

One Way or Another, Change Is Coming to the NRA
It is now conceivable that sometime in the not-too-distant future — 2022? 2023? — the National Rifle Association will cease to exist. Even more likely is that a New York court severely sanctions its leadership, or the prospect of this spurs dramatic changes in the organization’s leadership.

Good Guy With a Gun: True Stories of 2nd Amendment Self-Defense, Vol. 1
Escambia County, Fla., May 5, 2021. A 54-year-old male with a history of domestic violence took a detour on his way to anger management treatment, kicked in a door, whipped out a knife, and declared his intention to assault his baby-momma. The tenants retreated to a back bedroom as the assailant threatened them and searched for his target. He confronted a woman in another bedroom and she fired twice. When the cops came, the bad guy was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Escambia County Sherriff Chip Simmons said no charges will be brought against the shooter.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Now it’s CNN: Electric cars could “wipe out this species”
First the New York Times warned about the environmental impact of transforming America’s vehicles to electric. Now CNN reports on the devastating consequences of the mining that such a transformation would necessitate. Environmentalists want to save a species of buckwheat from extinction, an issue that would be largely academic except for the need to produce billions of batteries to replace gasoline

America’s electric cars need lithium so badly it may wipe out this species
Fewer than 40 years after humans discovered Tiehm’s buckwheat, a Nevada plant with yellow flowers, they may drive it to extinction in pursuit of electric vehicles, a technology widely hailed as being environmentally friendly.

The Not-So-Green Biden Plan
Last week, I wrote a column in which I argued that Biden’s infrastructure plan wasn’t as green a plan as the administration would like us to believe.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Threatens Shutdown of Great Lakes Oil Pipeline
Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge continues pipeline operation, ignoring Whitmer’s May 12 deadline.

Going green will require a lot of digging in the dirt May
A report out this month from the International Energy Agency (IEA) points out an aspect of the Biden administration’s green energy ambitions that the green energy proponents will have a hard time swallowing — it will require a massive increase in the mining of minerals such as lithium, graphite, nickel and rare-earth metals.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

American Medical Association Rejects “Equality” and “Meritocracy” In Just-Released “Racial Justice” and “Equity” Strategic Plan
It is hard to overstate how radical the AMA becomes under this Strategic Plan. It rejects meritocracy in medical education explicitly embedding Critical Race Theory in that education, and rejects the core legal protection of “equality” substituting the goal of “equity.”

 

War & Terror

 

Gas Stations Run Dry as Pipeline Races to Recover From Hacking
Gas stations along the U.S. East Coast are beginning to run out of fuel as North America’s biggest petroleum pipeline races to recover from a paralyzing cyberattack that has kept it shut for days.

Emergency Declaration Issued Over Pipeline Shut-Down after Cyber-Attack
Meanwhile, “apolitical” DarkSide hackers “didn’t mean to create problems.”

Coast Guard Fires 30 Warning Shots at Iranian ‘Fast Boats’ in the Strait of Hormuz
Unless Joe Biden is a blithering, drooling, senile old fool, he’s got to realize that Iran is testing his administration, trying to determine how committed the president is to rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.

China increases spending 500% to influence America
New foreign-agent filings are finally detailing a massive Beijing propaganda operation that’s fueled a sixfold increase in disclosed Chinese foreign influence efforts in the United States in recent years.

Colonial Pipeline Hack Fueling Gas Shortages and Panic Buying
As #BidenGasShortage hits social media, administration says, “It’s not that we have a gasoline shortage. We have a supply crunch.”

Nearly half of female soldiers still failing fitness test
Some of the training numbers coming out of the United States Army this year aren’t looking as good as we might like and that’s particularly true of our female soldiers. All of the troops are required to pass the Army Combat Fitness Test, requiring the completion of six challenging athletic events. For the past decade or so, the test has been applied equally to both male and female troops. But while all but a small fraction (seven percent) of the males are making the grade, almost half (44%) of the women are failing. This is once again raising questions about whether or not this test is truly suitable for female soldiers and potentially eliminating some otherwise highly qualified candidates. And any honest assessment of this situation should also have us asking why we continue to insist that men and women meet the same physical standards when there are obvious differences between them.

Beijing Lies Again about the Communist Party’s Atrocities during U.N. Event
At the U.N. this morning, evidence of the Party’s brutal conduct was put on full display during a side event hosted by the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and human-rights groups.

Colonial Pipeline Restarts, Reportedly Paid Hackers $5 Million
The company says that it would still take several days for the system to be fully operational.

The Squad Is Rooting for Hamas
Ocasio-Cortez, usually a font of half-baked socialist economic ideas, now regularly offers thoughts on the Israeli–Palestinian situation to her 12 million Twitter followers.

Lasers Could Clear Space Junk From Orbit
Adaptive optics proposal would allow tracking and steering of small but still damaging orbital debris

Space Force officer relieved of post after denouncing Marxist ideology and critical race theory in military: Report
A commander in the Space Force was apparently relieved from his post after appearing on a podcast to promote his book, which asserts a neo-Marxist agenda is transforming military culture and policy.

Pentagon Confirms Authenticity of Video Showing UFO Maneuvering Near U.S. Navy Ship
Latest clip shows “transmedium vehicle” dropping into Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego in July 2019

 

National

 

The Psychedelic Revolution Is Coming. Psychiatry May Never Be the Same.
It’s been a long, strange trip in the four decades since Rick Doblin, a pioneering psychedelics researcher, dropped his first hit of acid in college and decided to dedicate his life to the healing powers of mind-altering compounds. Even as antidrug campaigns led to the criminalization of Ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms, and drove most researchers from the field, Dr. Doblin continued his quixotic crusade with financial help from his parents.

Biden buyer remorse on Becerra, or vice versa?
Let’s play that fun Beltway game that’s sweeping the nation — er, or should be. It’s called Guess The Leaker, and Politico’s big lead on Xavier Becerra’s relationship with the White House is a perfect game board. Adam Cancryn reports from two anonymous sources that strains have appeared over Becerra’s sudden conservative turn on immigration. Is this a warning shot from the West Wing, or an attempt to burnish Becerra from inside DHS?

Texas lawmakers deliver “the most conservative 48 hours” for Governor Abbott
Texas Republican lawmakers are moving forward with a conservative agenda and Governor Abbott took a moment Saturday to celebrate that. Abbott tweeted out a list of conservative legislative victories achieved in the Texas House of Representatives over the span of 48 hours. It’s enough to make any Republican governor up for re-election proud.

HHS Interpretation of “Discrimination Based on Sex” Shows Urgency of Defeating Equality Act
Today, HHS announced it was reversing the Trump rule that defined “sex” as biological in order to forbid “discrimination” in health care based on sexual identity and orientation.

Noem Pledges to Bar Action Civics and Critical Race Theory
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has given major momentum to a new candidate pledge that not only vows support for honest and informed patriotic education, but promises to bar “action civics” (mandatory political protests for course credit) and critical race theory (CRT) (attacks on “whiteness,” “Eurocentrism,” etc.) from our schools. The pledge is sponsored by “1776 Action,” a new group founded by Adam Waldeck, a former aide to former speaker Newt Gingrich. The group enjoys support from former HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, as well as from Gingrich. After Noem signed the 1776 Action pledge, nearly every candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Virginia did the same.

California’s New Math Framework Demands Educators “Teach Toward Social Justice”
California’s latest mathematics framework draft demands that educators across the state must “teach toward social justice” during math class.

The Rapidly Aging Democratic House Majority
Today’s New York Times has a morbid but insightful article pointing out that the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress is dependent upon the continuing good health of quite a few elderly members.

The Walt Disney Company: Dismayed by America, inspired by China
Leaked documents show that the Walt Disney Company has asked employees to complete a “white privilege checklist” and to “pivot away from white dominant culture.” The documents, published by Christopher Rufo, state (falsely) that the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans are “part of a long history of systemic racism and transphobia.” The documents also cover such topics as “white privilege,” “white fragility,” “white saviors,” “microaggressions” and “antiracism.”

The Mindlessness of the Left
Herewith a series of propositions and observations that all add us to the same conclusion—the left is utterly unprincipled, and will change their views on a dime when it suits their drive for power.

The war on standards, Rhodes Scholarship edition
Rhodes Scholarships have been awarded based, in part, on race for at least 50 years. A friend from high school, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever known, was up for the prize in 1971. In the late stage of the process, he was in a room with other candidates from his region.

Sex robot customers demand ‘angel’ model with wings and groundbreaking AI
RealDoll teased its followers with a picture of a female mannequin with wings and a halo. The company produces a range of sex robots, some of which have incredible capabilites

California math framework would discourage calculus, potentially hurt students’ college admissions chances
A proposed mathematics framework would de-emphasize calculus and would end advanced math classes before 11th grade.

As “Critical Race Theory” Becomes Toxic Term, New Codenames and Keywords Emerge
Wenyuan Wu: “A cheap reboot in the woke camp is to dissociate their ground efforts from CRT. This unsolicited reaction is a non-denial denial and a demonstration of our effectiveness.”

NBC Says Dropping Golden Globes in 2022 Due To Lack of Diversity
It definitely has absolutely nothing to do with the show’s abysmal ratings over the last few years.

As Predicted, Boston “Zip Code Quota Plan” For Elite Public Schools Reduced Asian and White Admissions, Raised Black and Latino
Lawsuit by parents lost in district court, now on appeal. Attorney: “The goal of the Zip Code Quota Plan was to reduce the opportunity for Asian and White students to attend the Exam Schools, by limiting competition for 80 percent of the seats…. The Boston School Committee achieved — indeed, surpassed — its goal. We continue to believe that such racial gerrymandering violates the constitutional right to equal protection.”

Union leadership kept their pockets full as members went without
The pandemic hit a lot of working-class people hard, with layoffs affecting a significant portion of the country and unemployment figures skyrocketing. That was particularly true of the hospitality industry because so many hotels were cutting way back and many bars and restaurants were simply closed. That unfortunate fact brings us to the story of how UNITE HERE Local 11 handled the situation. The group represents tens of thousands of hospitality workers in California and Arizona. At the height of the COVID outbreaks, more than 90% of their members were out of work and facing financial hardships. And yet through it all, as the Free Beacon recently discovered, the union’s executives saw only a fractional cut in pay and kept up their big-spending ways in terms of political activism as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Some of the workers have noticed, and they’re not thrilled about it.

VA GOP bets on newcomer in gubernatorial race against McAuliffe
They didn’t go full MAGA, nor did they embrace the Never Trump wing of the GOP. They took a pass on the clear establishment candidate as well despite endorsements from the two most recent GOP governors. Virginia Republicans chose a middle path of sorts yesterday in their convention, selecting a newcomer to run in 2021’s only open gubernatorial election.

Why are reporters letting White House officials approve and edit their own quotes?
This isn’t a White House scandal, it’s a media scandal. Every White House will seek to control information; Politico notes that the Obama and Trump White Houses also sought “quote approval” from reporters, although Team Trump did so less aggressively than the Biden White House. Either way, there’s nothing unethical about an official offering an on-the-record quote to a journalist in exchange for the right to edit that quote before it appears in print. The official has no duty to the public to ensure that his comments to the media are as unguarded as possible. If anything, as a public servant, he may feel a duty to clean up those unguarded comments lest they somehow hinder the White House’s ability to enact policies that serve the public good.

Joni Ernst on ousting Liz Cheney: “Cancel culture is cancel culture no matter how you look at it”
I’m sympathetic to Cheney but this is silly. She’s not a random Twitter user somewhere who’s getting fired for having a Bad Opinion. She’s a member of Congress in the Republican leadership. Having political opinions is what she does for a living.

Abolish traffic tickets?
If you can’t abolish the police, just abolish most of the work that they do. That seems to be the message coming from a report published by NBC News this week. I would suggest reading the entire thing to grasp what is actually a complex issue, but we’ll cover the basic gist of it here. The article focuses on a Black Chicago woman named Jessica Washington who lost her job in 2006 and moved to Las Vegas with her children for a fresh start. She got a job with the TSA and purchased a used BMW. Unfortunately, the car had a busted taillight and she wound up being pulled over and receiving a traffic ticket.

AIDS virus used in gene therapy to fix “bubble baby” disease
A gene therapy that makes use of an unlikely helper, the AIDS virus, gave a working immune system to 48 babies and toddlers who were born without one, doctors reported Tuesday.

Scenes from the College Meltdown
Partly because COVID led many graduating high school students to defer applying to college last year, this year’s college application numbers set a record. This may turn out to be a last hurrah for the old college model, however, as colleges are on the brink of a demographic cliff. The decline in the U.S. birth rate that accelerated during the housing finance crash of 2008 is expected to diminish the pool of college-bound students starting in the next few years. And if Democrats succeed in making community colleges and state colleges cheaper or free, how will private tuition-dependent colleges fare? Likely not well.

House GOP ousts Trump critic Liz Cheney from top post
House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader on Wednesday, punishing her after she repeatedly rebuked former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Senator Grassley’s Decision on Running in 2022 Could Ease GOPs Path to the Majority
Will he or won’t he? Both Republicans and Democrats are anxious to know if the 87-year-old Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley will run for re-election. Both sides agree that with Grassley on the ballot, Iowa will remain safely Republican. But if Grassley chooses to hang it up, all bets are off and Iowa becomes a battleground.

Amid violence, UMich student government pledges to be in “lockstep” with Palestinians in their “fight against oppression”
A letter issued by the student government accuses Israel of “settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.”

UC Santa Barbara unveils new “feminist studies” degree program
The University of California-Santa Barbara is using federal taxpayer dollars to create a “feminist studies” degree program.

Biden HHS Redefines Sex as Non-Biological in New “Anti-Discrimination” Rule Change
The Biden administration is reversing a rule initiated by former President Donald Trump that defined “sex” as biological, in an effort to prevent “discrimination” against transgender people in health care practices, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday.

Happy Mothers Day, Philadelphia. Shootings up 40%
It wasn’t a happy Mothers Day for far too many families in the City of Brotherly Love. Last weekend saw 25 people getting shot with seven dying. But this wasn’t some statistical blip on the radar. It’s part of an ongoing trend that has been continuing for months. There have been 186 murders this year as of Monday. That’s a 40% increase from the same period in 2020. That’s double the increase we’ve seen in Chicago, which itself has experienced a 20% jump in killings. Twenty of the dead in Philadelphia were juveniles. The police are now calling for the people responsible for these shootings to “put down your guns.”

The White House’s Approach to the Colonial Pipeline Is Baffling
Sometimes I’m left unsure as to what progressives believe the government is for. In response to the news that the key energy pipeline on the East Coast had been hacked, the White House said this

The Decline of the American University — as Forecast in 1968
The last few years have witnessed a lot of turmoil on our college and university campuses, but that is nothing new. Back in the late-60s and early-70s, they were wracked by riots, building takeovers, and even bombings. Talk about “unsafe places.”

Palm Beach Police Have Reportedly Discussed Trump’s Possible Extradition If He’s Indicted
Law enforcement officials in Palm Beach County, Florida are reportedly developing a contingency plan in case Donald Trump is indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

American University announces ‘Black Affinity Housing’
In its letter about the Derek Chauvin verdict, American University announced that it would institute “Black Affinity Housing.”

Sixth Circuit Rules Property Owners Can go to Federal Court to Argue Takings Clause Bars Seizure of Home Equity in Cases Where Property is Foreclosed to Pay off Tax Delinquencies
The ruling may be the first major effect of the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Knick v. Township of Scott, which ruled that property owners are not required to “exhaust” state court remedies before filing takings cases in federal court.

Betsy DeVos: “Let’s be Really Clear. The 1619 Project is Not History”
“it denies 1776 and our constitution and our founding documents and the goal of forming a more perfect union”

Inflation Spikes as Consumer Prices Soar by 4.2% in April
Hopefully, more people go back to work because history tells us prices will not go down.

NYC subway riders beg for return of Metro cops
As part of the slow reopening of New York City, the subway system returned to 24-hour service this week after more than a year of restricted service during the pandemic. That’s potentially good news for people who work the late shift and those venturing out for evening entertainment activities, but it’s also drawn the attention of muggers and other criminals who prey on commuters. The job of the bad guys was made considerably easier by the city’s decision to bow to the wishes of the “abolish the police” crowd and remove many metro police officers from rail stations. Now there are muggers and crazy people running wild and the commuters are calling for the city to bring back the cops in full force.

Penn State bans more words
In this week’s edition of campus madness, we return to Penn State, where administrators are striking another blow against the patriarchy by banning more words. The vile, forbidden speech in question has nothing to do with slurs against women, however. There are going to be new designations for students entering each of the four standard years of college progression. Newly arriving students will no longer be referred to as “freshmen.” Gone also will be the terms junior and senior for third and fourth-year students. Why? Because those words are apparently non-inclusive and “paternalistic.” No, you really can’t make stuff like this up, folks.

House Republicans elect Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik as conference chair after ousting Liz Cheney
House Republicans voted to make Rep. Elise Stefanik their conference chair, days after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney from the role over her opposition to former President Donald Trump

Coming to America: Africans, Caribbeans Flock to “Systemically Racist” US
If AmeriKKKa is so bigoted, why do Africans and Caribbeans leave black-run, predominantly black nations and come to the United States of America, which the Democrat left condemns as Earth’s headwaters of “systemic racism” and white supremacy?

Psaki: Teaching Critical Race Theory, 1619 Project is “Responsible”
“…we believe that educating the youth and the future leaders of the country on systemic racism is indoctrination. That’s actually responsible.”

California State Board of Ed Dumbing Down K-12 Math Curriculum to Ensure “Equitable Outcomes”
The new Framework aims to enable all California students to succeed as “math learners,” but does this by eliminating accelerated class options.

Oklahoma governor grills steaks under pro-vegan PETA billboard
Oklahoma’s governor grilled steaks and flipped burgers under a pro-vegan billboard on Wednesday as part of an ongoing feud with an animal rights group.

CRT, Little League style
Our descent into madness, hatred, and thought control continues apace. The Washington Free Beacon’s Alex Nester has the exclusive story “Virginia Little League Coaches Must Attend ‘Antiracist’ Training.” Subhead: “Positive Coaching Alliance charges up to $10,000 for diversity and inclusion training.”

Jesus statue toppled, American flag burned in NYC church attack
A statue of Jesus was smashed and an American flag burned outside a Catholic church in Brooklyn — in what cops are calling a possible hate crime.

Critical Race Theory Weakens Society and Breeds Hate, Minorities Say
Critical race theory, at one time limited primarily to academia, has become a controversial issue as it increasingly is showing up in K-12 school curriculums and in training in government agencies and corporate America.

Burgess Owens Introducing Legislation to Fight Biden Rollback of Trump Ban on Critical Race Theory
“Critical Race Theory preserves this way of thinking and undermines civil rights, constitutionally guaranteed equal protection before the law, and U.S. institutions at large.”

University of California drops SAT scores for admission
The University of California won’t consider SAT and ACT scores that are submitted with admission and scholarship applications under a settlement of a student lawsuit.

“How Often Do You Think People Make False Accusations” Related to Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, or Retaliation?
“All the times,” “sometimes,” or “rarely”? A prominent public university’s training module requires faculty to give a particular answer.

Mind Control Not Yet Achieved, Weeping Ensues
Further to this lively exchange, a new form of “violence” has been conjured into being

Scholar booted from APA discussion group after suggesting there are only two sexes
“This incident just illustrates the current inability of some scientific communities to tolerate dissent”

Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had “No Show” Gov’t Job
When Rep. Matt Gaetz attended a 2019 GOP fundraiser in Orlando, his date that night was someone he knew well: a paid escort and amateur Instagram model who led a cocaine-fueled party after the event, according to two witnesses.

The Supreme Court Cases to Watch as This Term Ends
Around 30 opinions remain outstanding.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Corn Is the Latest Commodity to Soar
Prices have risen 50% in 2021, and a bushel costs more than twice what it did a year ago

‘If you build it, they will come’: California desert cashes in on early cannabis investment
“It’s been incredible to see the transformation,” said Doria Wilms, deputy city manager of Desert Hot Springs. “We don’t see it slowing down.”

Congrats, You’re Paying for California’s Governor to Bribe the State’s Voters
I’ve spent much of the last week arguing that the federal government needs to stop: to stop undermining the miracle that is the COVID-19 vaccine; to stop sending money to people who don’t need it and preventing them from returning to work; to stop borrowing trillions of dollars during an expansion and risking utterly disastrous inflation.

The Dirty Little Secret Behind California’s Budget ‘Surplus’
How do you spell “windfall”? In California today they spell it with a seven, a five, and nine zeroes.

UN Panel Recommends A Global Corporate Income Tax To Cut Down On Tax Avoidance
TOPLINE A high-level U.N. panel Thursday made a series of sweeping recommendations aimed at reforming the global financial system, which includes the implementation of an international corporate tax rate.

BLS and consumer price index: Inflation is real, and it’s spectacular
“These are staggering numbers,” CNBC’s Rick Santelli, and while the direction was expected, the amplitude was very much a surprise. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an 0.8% jump in the Consumer Price Index for April, an annualized increase of 4.2%, far above expectations.

Inflation Soars as Biden Pushes for $4 Trillion in More Spending
Inflation has seen its largest increase in decades even as President Biden pushes another $4 trillion in spending at a time of historic U.S. federal debt.

Blame It On the Bunny
The Biden administration has struggled to account for April’s dismal jobs report. Yesterday one of Biden’s economic advisers, Cecilia Rouse, tried to explain the awful numbers without referring to any of the obvious culprits, e.g. workers being paid not to work.

Stumbling Along: U.S. Consumer Confidence Crashes ‘Unexpectedly’
No one here? Good.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Abusive border patrol agents, administrative closure, and a profitable jail.

TSMC looks to double down on U.S. chip factories as talks in Europe falter
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW) is weighing plans to pump tens of billions of dollars more into cutting-edge chip factories in the U.S. state of Arizona than it had previously disclosed, but is cool on prospects for an advanced European plant, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

 

International

 

Taking heart from Hartlepool
I hoped that the June 2016 vote in favor of Brexit might be a harbinger of the outcome in our own presidential election but feared this was wishful thinking. I was thinking — I think I was thinking — of the wave that brought Mehachem Begin to power in 1977, Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and Ronald Reagan in 1980. And so it proved to be.

UK Labor Party Descends Into Civil War Following Dismal Election Results
The UK Labor Party got rid of their anti-Semitic leader Jeremy Corbyn last year after documents came to light showing Labor’s shocking hatred of Jews. The party elected an equally left-wing leader in Keir Starmer, who promised to win back the working class, which had deserted Labor over their far-left policies.

Calgary SWAT Arrest Pastor for “Inciting” People to Attend Church
Artur Pawlowski is charged with “inciting or inviting others to attend an illegal public gathering” aka church.

Tony Blair: Labour needs ‘total deconstruction’ to win power
The Labour Party needs “total deconstruction and reconstruction” to win back power, Tony Blair has said.

Democrats’ tax extension ruled unconstitutional by Nevada Supreme Court
The Nevada Supreme Court has decided a key question affecting spending decisions by the state Legislature.

Nevada Supreme Court invalidates tax hikes; upholds our system of representative government
Today’s ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court striking down a pair of illegally passed tax hikes is good news for those who believe that government should be accountable to the people, rather than merely ruling over them.

Venezuela Seizes Offices of Independent Newspaper
Human-rights groups and others call the takeover an attack on press freedoms

Nuclear reactions at Chernobyl are spiking in an inaccessible chamber
Scientists monitoring the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have seen a surge in fission reactions in an inaccessible chamber within the complex. They are now investigating whether the problem will stabilise or require a dangerous and difficult intervention to prevent a runaway nuclear reaction.

 

Opinion

 

Keep Social-Justice Indoctrination Out of the Therapist’s Office
One of the earliest stains on the legacy of psychiatry, my medical specialty, dates to the American 1840 census, when the US government first began systematically collecting information on “idiocy” and “insanity.” According to the results, the purported rates of mental illness among free blacks in northern cities were deemed to exceed those among enslaved blacks in the south by an 11-to-one ratio. South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, a notoriously strident defender of slavery, seized upon the results as “proof” that “the African is incapable of self-care and sinks into lunacy under the burden of freedom. It is a mercy to him to give this guardianship and protection from mental death.”

A Welcome Backlash against Critical Race Theory
Recent weeks have brought welcome pushback against the spread of critical race theory (CRT) and related dogmas of division in our nation’s schools.

How to Change Minds
I’ve been reading through Thomas Carlyle’s History of the French Revolution recently, one of the greatest cultural artifacts of the 19th century. In Chapter III of that great work, he offers his readers a few words of sage advice on how best to combat lies.

Being Critical of Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is sweeping through many organizations, schools, and even religious organizations today. However, CRT—its origins, its fruits, and its effects—is contrary to love. As Catholics, we must be critical of Critical Race Theory, as it is contrary to Catholicism and common sense.

No, Your Two-Year-Old Is Not “Transgender”
A British couple recently went on national television to explain that their very young daughter is really a boy because the small child said, at two years old, “I’m not a girl, I think I’m a boy.” And that, these days, is enough to make it so!

What Buckley’s Fight with the Birchers Tells Us about Movement Purges
If there’s one thing we must not tolerate, it is an insistence on keeping alive lies that lead conservatives away from the fight against the Left.

Amazon Won’t Let You Read My Book
An enterprising state attorney general might want to look into why it was withdrawn from sale now.

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