News of the Week for July 3rd, 2021
- Riots & Revolution
- Corona Virus
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Riots & Revolution
When City Officials Are Pro-Crime
We have written many times about the sad decline of the City of Minneapolis. Perhaps the number one villain of the story is City Council President Lisa Bender, who famously said on television that calling 911 when someone breaks into your house “comes from a place of privilege.” It is remarkable that such goofballs can be elected to public office.
UN rights chief: Reparations needed for people facing racism
The U.N. human rights chief, in a landmark report launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, is urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence and systemic racism against people of African descent and “make amends” to them — including through reparations.
Ideological Capture: When Top Military Leaders Adopt Critical Race Theory Verbiage
Wesley Yang: “‘White rage’ is a term of art derived from the lexicon of CRT derivatives; to use it at face value is to accept the doctrine rather than to read merely to be informed about its content.”
Master’s Programs Are Breeding Ground for Critical Race Theory, Teacher Says
‘It’s just coming straight from the universities.’
Minneapolis Protesters Hold Black Transgender City Council Member “Hostage,” Demand Riot Charges Be Dropped
Protesters surrounded a black, transgender city council vice president’s car at a Pride event in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the weekend and held the official “hostage” until they agreed to sign a list of “people’s demands,” which included “dropping charges against criminal rioters,” according to Fox News.
Michigan State University Professor Says English Language Is Racist, Used To Reinforce “Racism And Violence”
Although there does not seem to be direct proof he actually said it, the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is credited with pointing out that England and America were two countries separated by a common language.
Seattle mayor’s race suggests ‘defund the police’ is no longer a winning message
The Seattle mayor’s race seems to be following the pattern set in New York City, i.e. there’s evidence that “defund the police” is no longer a winning message here. There was a Zoom debate among six of the candidates this Thursday and none of the candidates were willing to endorse more defunding
UNC-Chapel Hill Caves to Pressure, Grants Tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones
“The board voted 9-4 to accept the tenure application at a special meeting that included a closed-door session that had sparked a protest by supporters of Hannah-Jones.”
Austin Is Spending Millions on No-Bid Contracts to Push Critical Race Theory on Its Newest Police Officers
In March 2021, as violent crime including homicide exploded across Austin and police officers were leaving in droves, Mayor Steve Adler and the city council approved a new police cadet class. But not before certain ideas for “reforms” were laid out. Those were based on recommendations made by a couple of firms hired by the city council. The council had canceled previous classes, also per the consultants’ recommendations, leaving APD shorthanded as it lost officers due to attrition from retirements and other separations.
Court Orders Minneapolis to Hire More Police
There is a lot of judicial news today. This one is hot off the press: a judge of the Hennepin County District Court has granted a motion for a writ of mandamus against the City of Minneapolis, ordering the city to “immediately take any and all necessary action” to increase the size of the Minneapolis Police Department. The case was brought by residents of crime-ridden North Minneapolis, represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center, on whose board I serve.
National Education Association To Invest In Researching Groups Opposed To Critical Race Training
“NEA will research the organizations attacking educators doing anti-racist work and/or use the research already done and put together a list of resources and recommendations for state affiliates, locals, and individual educators”
11 people in custody after hourslong armed standoff on I-95
An hourslong standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially shut down Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts state police said.
Wakefield Standoff Suspects Claim To Be Part Of Group Called “Rise Of The Moors”
Interstate 95 in Wakefield was shut down by a standoff between Massachusetts State Police and a group of heavily armed men Saturday morning. The men claim to be part of a group called “The Rise of The Moors – The Moorish American Arms.:
Corona Virus
How China used US techniques to engineer bat viruses in unsafe conditions
MIT Technology Review has published an interesting story spelling out exactly what the Wuhan Institute of Virology was doing with bat viruses over the past few years. It’s interesting because this story really explains how the WIV was essentially taking US know-how and running experiments at much lower safety levels in order to make progress more quickly.
Poll: Majority believe US Government and media tried to cover up Wuhan lab leak theory
Now that we’ve reached the point where Facebook and Twitter aren’t automatically suspending the accounts of anyone who even suggests the possibility that the novel coronavirus might have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan rather than a bat cave, the mainstream media is also reluctantly talking about it. An obvious question is whether or not there had previously been an orchestrated effort to suppress the idea. So is that information sinking in among the public at large? According to the most recent poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen (not to be confused with Rasmussen Reports, which he is no longer associated with), the possibility is not only catching on, but it’s quickly becoming a majority opinion. It’s no longer a “fringe” idea to question whether there was a coverup. More people are now aware of the Wuhan Institute of Virology than anyone could have imagined only three years ago, and suspicions are growing that something wasn’t right at that facility. There is clearly also a rising tide of suspicions that this might not have been “an accident” at all.
Gun Rights
New York supports bail… for gun crimes
Our colleague Tom Knighton at Bearing Arms points us to some new legislative madness coming out of the Empire State this week. The New York legislature has been following New York City’s lead recently in their efforts to empty the jails. Those efforts included eliminating cash bail for a variety of crimes, turning most courts into revolving doors for criminals. Some of the more serious, violent offenses could not be included, however, and many of them allowed for the possibility of a suspect being held without bail. One group of lawmakers is unhappy with this situation and they’re seeking to expand the list of crimes that are eligible for bail. Which crimes? Why, gun crimes, of course. Because it would be unfair and almost certainly racist to keep someone behind bars for more than a couple of hours after they just stuck a handgun in some convenience store clerk’s face, right?
San Jose Attempts to Trample the Rights of Law-Abiding Gun Owners
California’s third-most-populous city wants to tax citizens for exercising their Second Amendment rights.
Gun Owners in San Jose, CA to Face New Tax and Confiscation for Noncompliance
“The city council’s aim is to try to recoup the cost of responding to gun incidents such as shootings and deaths.”
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
U.N. Considers Global Ban on Chemical Essential to Manufacture Plastics
Proponents of the plastics industry intend to fight these plans…in order to prevent “climate change.”
California: Try not to recharge your electric cars, folks
California is on track to ban the sale of non-electric vehicles in an effort to “go green” as fast as possible. They’re even banning the construction of new gas stations in the next decade. But a slight hitch may have shown up in that plan, caused by a stretch of high temperatures this summer. How are the two related? Well, their power grid is being increasingly driven by renewable energy, specifically wind and solar power. But that leaves the grid teetering precariously on the edge of collapse after the sun goes down. And that’s when a lot of people come home and start turning on their lights and their air conditioners. And they also plug in their electric cars to recharge. That has the people running electrical power distribution asking everyone to unplug those cars to avoid a blackout.
Time Magazine: How to fix the “air conditioning problem”
Here’s a subject that’s on the minds of a lot of Americans this month, particularly up in the pacific northwest. With temperatures breaking records, people have been scrambling to get air conditioning. People who have never needed it suddenly want it and people who have it want more of it. This has led the helpful folks at Time Magazine to publish a very long “explainer” about the history of modern air conditioning and why it’s a problem. The title is, “AC Feels Great, But It’s Terrible for the Planet. Here’s How to Fix That.”
Electric Vehicles On Collision Course With Reality
Some people, not all of them liberals, think that electric vehicles are the wave of the future, part of an inevitable “green” revolution. But the facts suggest otherwise. My friend Robert Bryce testified before a House committee yesterday on the subject of electric vehicles.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Medicaid expansion takes effect in deep-red Oklahoma
A voter-approved expansion of Medicaid took effect Thursday in Oklahoma after a decade of Republican resistance in a state that has become emblematic of the political struggle to extend the federal health insurance program in conservative strongholds.
War & Terror
Xi Jinping, Harvard, and the Universal Constant of Socialist Hypocrisy
It’s nice to know that no matter where you are in the world, no matter what culture, no matter what country, no matter what form of government, you can find people in power insisting that other people forsake benefits and advantages that they themselves enjoy.
Chinese Official Badgers Uyghur Leader at the U.N. Human Rights Council
The head of the World Uyghur Congress was interrupted repeatedly by a Chinese diplomat during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council yesterday.
Xi Jinping’s Faustian moment
‘Only he deserves freedom as well as life who must conquer them every day’ – Goethe’s Faust
Chinese Communist Word Games
The most memorable passage of Xi Jinping’s speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s existence is easily this
China, India Move Tens of Thousands of Troops to the Border in Largest Buildup in Decades
Both countries have built new infrastructure to support larger deployments and positioned advanced military equipment in the region
Press Military Leaders Up for Promotions Tougher on Critical Race Theory, Cotton Urges
Sen. Tom Cotton suggested he would ask tougher questions of nominees of top military command positions about their views on critical race theory before they are given promotions.
WW3 fears as Chinese state media reveals “three-stage battle plan” to invade Taiwan as US stages war games in Pacific
WORLD War Three fears are growing after China vowed to invade Taiwan and explained how it would do it as the Communist Party celebrates its centenary.
Biden Admin Alarmed Over China’s Growing Nuclear Arsenal
Chinese President Xi Jinping: Beijing’s enemies will “have their heads cracked and bleeding” in any future conflict.
National
Supreme Court Will Not Hear Virginia School Bathroom Case, Securing Victory For Transgender Male
School District has wanted Court to rule on the following Question: “Does Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause require schools to let transgender students use multiuser restrooms designated for the opposite biological sex, even when single-user restrooms are available for all students regardless of gender identity?”
Neil Gorsuch Tacitly Admits He Pulled the Wool Over Americans’ Eyes in His Transgender Ruling
On Monday, the Supreme Court announced it would not take up the case Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board (2020), a high-profile case concerning whether or not Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 forbids schools from designating bathrooms according to biological sex. The school board had allowed single-user restrooms as an alternative to dropping the sex-specific restroom policy, but Grimm challenged it, anyway.
Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: What Anti-Critical Race Theory Legislation Actually Does
After the House of Representatives voted 415-14 to make Juneteenth a national holiday, New York Times national political reporter Astead Herndon tweeted, “its kinda amazing: juneteenth is gonna be a federal holiday for reasons teachers won’t be allowed to explain to their students out of fear critical race theory backlash.”
“Trump isn’t the dictator”: Wisconsin GOP inches away from Trump
Trump tried to blow up a top state lawmaker for failing to vigorously pursue his false election claims. But the attack was a dud.
Lisa Murkowski is in Serious Danger, and it’s Not 2010 Any More
Usually, an Alaska Senate race in what is more than likely to be a GOP favored year wouldn’t make much noise. While it has trended towards democrats, it hasn’t done so to the point where the state is competitive. At least at the federal level. But 2022’s senate race will bring multiple storylines. Part of it will be Alaska’s new electoral system of a top four blanket primary runoff for the general. The other part is the status of incumbent Lisa Murkowski. While some, like Elections Daily Editor-in-chief Eric Cunningham, initially felt that Murkowski would be fine, that momentum is changing. I no longer think that’s the case. In fact, I think Murkowski is in more danger than most currently believe she is.
“Where’s the Equity for Black Murder Victims?”
I have a piece up on the home page about equity and the homicide rate for black males
Progressive Division around the Pride Flag
In my recent piece about the growing absurdity of the Pride Flag, I failed to discuss fully the co-opting of various groups’ symbols, e.g., Pride Flag, Black History Month, the inclusion of women in Father’s Day, etc. as a platform for certain (typically) wealthy, white folks to signal to progressive friends their inclusiveness and enlightened state. I wonder how much of this current trend to incorporate disparate, progressive elements into the Pride Flag comes from the same impulse to elevate oneself, regardless of whether the group being heralded at the moment approves of the alterations or not.
Dungeons and Dragons goes woke
Do today’s players care if orcs are racist?
The revolution comes to Juilliard
The Manhattan Institute’s invaluable Heather Mac Donald wrote “The revolution comes Juilliard” for MI’s City Journal last month. The story Heather tells is a tale of our time from the ever larger land beyond satire. Racial hysteria and opposition to Western civilization are among its themes.
Critical Race Theory: Illinois Teacher Sues District Over “Equity” Push
They don’t even hide their Marxism. They’re indoctrinating kids K-8th grade about the evils of the nuclear family.
Recent Supreme Court Off-Campus Free Speech Win To Face Reality Of Anti-Free Speech Student Attitudes
While those who value free speech should be celebrating the Mahanoy decision, decades of iron-fisted school control over what students are allowed to say has normalized such authority in the minds of many.
Alito Suggests SCOTUS “Unwilling” To “Bear The Criticism” Of Upholding Use Of Force Eerily Similar To George Floyd
Appeals court ruled no excessive force where arrestee suffocated after being held face down. Rather than deny petition, leaving ruling in place, or taking the case and ruling itself, SCOTUS summarily vacated and remanded. Alito Dissent: “The Court, unfortunately, is unwilling to face up to the choice between denying the petition (and bearing the criticism that would inevitably elicit) and granting plenary review….”
California Democrats change election rules ahead of Gavin Newsom recall
California lawmakers on Monday passed a bill that will change portions of the state elections code in an effort to benefit Gov. Gavin Newsom in the all-but-certain recall election to be held later this year.
Portland Protesters Tore Down Statues of Presidents. New Rules May Keep Them Mothballed.
The statues have remained in city storage since they were toppled. All three could run afoul of the new standards RACC has adopted.
FIRE on the debate over Critical Race Theory in schools
Yesterday the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) published a 5,000 word article on the battle over the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools. The article covers a lot of territory and is broken in 13 separate points. I’m only going to focus on four of them but you’re free to read the whole thing which is very nuanced and tries to fairly weight the concerns about what is going on from both sides of the argument.
Blaming Children
Writing about the new, much-discussed Texas education law in The New Yorker, Benjamin Wallace-Wells concludes that its point is to “establish a protective halo around white students, so that they do not hear that their success might have something to do with their race, or that the structures of racial power and privilege in the past also apply to the present.”
Maricopa Audit Hijinks
I am very sympathetic to observations that the ongoing election “audit” in Maricopa County, Ariz., is an embarrassing clown show, of the kind that Republicans would be blowing a collective gasket over had Democrats tried such a thing. The county and state government are controlled by Republicans; they certified and audited the vote, confirming that Biden won. The so-called audit orchestrated by state senate Republicans (egged on by the Trump-fanatical state GOP organization) is being conducted, without adequate bipartisan supervision, by Cyber Ninjas, an organization with no experience in audits, led by a 2020 election conspiracy theorist.
Scientific American Removes Anti-Israel Op-ed after Sharp Criticism…From Scientists
“While purporting to be a scientific statement about public health, the paper addressed important historical and political issues superficially, inaccurately, and prejudicially. In reality, the piece is a call for activism that, in our view, is unsupported by the facts.”
Eric Adams Was Right – NYC Board of Elections Admits To 135,000 Vote Overcount
Adams originally met with fury that he was just like Trump for complaining about strange vote count.
Court Orders SUNY Upstate Medical University To Turn Over Critical Race Training Docs To Legal Insurrection Foundation
Court orders production of “all records received, reviewed, or created by the Diversity Task Force Chair, Daryll Dykes, PhD, MD, JD, regarding the business of the Diversity Task Force and/or Implement and Oversight Tiger Teams.”
If the Woke Revolution Cancels Truth Itself, What Then?
In academia and beyond, the last fifty years have seen the rejection of the idea of “Truth” and its replacement by partisan political commitment. Critical theory resuscitated the old “sociology of knowledge” paradigm that reduced statements to the political interests of the speaker or writer. Postmodernism rejected science and adopted subjectivity, asserting that each person has his or her own truth. The powerful feminist movement rejected “Truth” on the grounds that whatever a woman felt from her “positionality” was her truth.
Virginia PTA Moves to Dissolve Parent Group After CRT Opponents Won a Majority
Critical race theory has sparked a civil war in education, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), the top-performing high school in the nation, has become a key battleground on the issue. Last year, the Fairfax County School Board eliminated TJ’s admissions test in a push for “equity,” and new policies have increased the numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and whites entering the school, at the expense of Asian students.
Sen. Toomey: Federal Reserve “Stonewalling” Transparency Requests Over New Racism Focus
The Federal Reserve has thus far refused to respond to requests for congressional oversight regarding what the Senate Banking Committee’s top Republican calls its “politically charged” focus on “racial justice,” social, and environmental policies.
Bill Cosby’s Sex Assault Conviction Overturned by Court
Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his suburban estate. He served two years of his three-to-10-year sentence
Mom says she’s “so proud” because her “15-year-old transgender son is going through menopause” ??
I promise I’m not making these headlines up.
In March, the Solicitor General Began To Use “Noncitizen” Instead of “Alien”
The Acting SG relies on Justice Kavanaugh’s footnote in Barton v. Barr (2020)
One trick pony does its one trick: CRT critics are all racists
Today Politico published a piece written by an actual Critical Race Theorist. Gary Peller is a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University and his piece is meant as pushback against the critics of CRT. Even if you hadn’t read my headline you could probably have guessed where this will end. If you guessed that critics of CRT are just racists, come collect your winnings.
DeSantis Vetoes Stealth Protest-Civics Bill
In an impressive move, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has vetoed a stealth protest-civics bill, S.B. 146. Ostensibly, S.B. 146 was designed to forward “civic literacy education.” In fact, it was a quiet effort to gain money and state sponsorship for protest civics (aka “action civics”), a practice that grants course credit for student political protests and lobbying, almost invariably for leftist causes. Although DeSantis has moved to bar Critical Race Theory (CRT) from Florida’s schools, S.B. 146 could very easily have allowed CRT to creep back into Florida’s education system.
Insiders Reveal Kamala Harris’ VP Office Is A Toxic Abusive Mess, Just Like Her Campaign
Maybe Kamala is the problem.
Error mars vote count in NYC mayoral primary
The Democratic primary for mayor of New York City was thrown into a state of confusion Tuesday when election officials retracted their latest report on the vote count after realizing it had been corrupted by test data never cleared from a computer system.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Dead At 88
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld died Wednesday at his home in Taos, New Mexico, according to a statement from his family.
California Bans State-Funded Travel to Red States, Citing ‘Wave of Bigotry and Discrimination’
On Monday, California’s attorney general forbade state-funded travel to five more states, citing an “unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination” against people who identify as LGBT. The new policy sent a rebuke to conservative Republicans who have moved to protect fairness in women’s sports and to protect children from experimental transgender “treatments” that arguably constitute chemical castration.
“Human Rights Campaign” Sues Florida Over Transgender Sports Ban
The lawsuit alleges the bill violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Law Professor Calls For Elimination Of Bar Exam Requirement After Latest Results Show Large Racial Gap
“If the bar exam is a known impediment to access to the legal profession, it is beyond time that our accrediting bodies recognize alternative measures of professional competence.”
Insiders Reveal Kamala Harris’ VP Office Is A Toxic Abusive Mess, Just Like Her Campaign
Maybe Kamala is the problem.
16 injured in explosion of illegal fireworks seized from South L.A. home
A cache of illegal fireworks seized at a South Los Angeles home exploded Wednesday evening, damaging nearby homes and cars and injuring at least 16 people, three of them seriously, authorities said.
Supreme Court Strikes Down California Policy Forcing Disclosure Of Non-Profit Donors To State Regulators
In an Opinion issued today, the Supreme Court has stricken a California policy requiring disclosure of large non-profit donor information to state regulators. The case establishes the important principle that if you want to make, ahem, large donations to organizations like the Legal Insurrection Foundation, your identify would not need to be disclosed on a routine basis to state regulators.
Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Ballot Harvesting Restrictions
SCOTUS rules 6-3 in Opinion by Alito.
Sacramento Will Mandate City-Provided Housing for the Homeless—and Make the Homeless Accept It
Sacramento’s Mayor Darrell Steinberg has a big problem. The homeless population in his city is growing faster than bureaucrats can get people the help they need.
Corrupt as Hell: Biden Mexico Deal Revealed, ‘Flippin Gigantic’
Welcome to Insanity Wrap, your daily dose of the best of the worst. The flippin’ gigantic Biden Mexico deal is today’s big crazy.
Trump Says He’s Made Up His Mind About Running in 2024
There has been a ton of speculation about whether Donald Trump will seek the Republican nomination again in 2024. Polls have shown he’d be the frontrunner if he does, and he’s previously indicated that he’s been thinking about it. But, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Trump gave the strongest indication yet that he’ll run again.
Good News: U.S. Kids Growing Up With Both Mom and Dad at 30-Year High
The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) found a surprising outcome when it tabulated the latest U.S. Census Bureau data: the percentage of children who live in two-parent households has risen to a thirty-year high of 70.4%.
Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg is paraded through court in CUFFS and pleads not guilty to charges he evaded taxes on $1.7m in income and on company perks after five-year investigation that’s cost New York millions
Allen Weisselberg appeared in court to be charged with conspiracy, grand larceny and fraud
Update from South Dakota: Judge Kornmann Appoints Special Prosecutor To Try U.S. Marshals For Contempt
The brewing separation of powers conflict continues.
Robin DiAngelo Is Very Disappointed in the White People Making Her Rich
Nice Racism—and the “anti-racism” consulting business—rakes in the bucks while losing hearts and minds.
Newsom recall election has been certified after Democrats changed election laws to benefit governor
Things are moving quickly in the recall election of California’s Gov. Newsom and that’s not by accident. Today California’s elections chief certified the recall which means the vote could take place in mid-September
How College Sports Are Changing
For the better part of a century, the NCAA’s rules about “amateurism” in college sports said that players were forbidden to earn any money, which led to all kinds of evasions to get them to to enroll. But things were starting to change even before the Supreme Court’s recent decision that the NCAA was stifling competition in violation of the antitrust laws.
Schools Use “Equity” as Trojan Horse for Toxic Critical Race Theory
In a clever move to utilize the existing modicum of “cultural competency” training, educators bent on revising American history and pushing equal outcomes have found a place to embed the elements of critical race theory. States are running it up the flagpole and out to local school boards in cleverly packaged messaging that demands equity.
How Radical Are the Teachers’ Unions?
America’s teachers’ unions are the country’s single most malign influence. They do more to promote leftist extremism, and do it more effectively, than anyone else. The teachers’ unions dominate the schools of education, from which most teachers come, and they control school board elections in most districts. In effect, they run the public schools, which is the main reason why the public schools are so bad.
Virginia Education Dept. Tells Schools to “Eliminate Gender-Based Practices” Under New Transgender Rules
“Starting this school year, all public schools in Virginia must take new steps to prevent discrimination based on gender identity.”
“Bioessentialist Concepts of Gender”
My journalistic skepticism kicked in when I saw this tweet screencapped by Ace. Surely, this can’t be real? But then I checked, and indeed this is a real tweet by a real person — well, a Canadian, anyway. I’ve never considered Canadians fully human, but let’s not digress . . .
San Francisco DA mandates use of preferred pronouns to show dignity and respect
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said that the staff in his office will be required to use people’s preferred pronouns.
Economy & Taxes
Some questions about the deal
Joe Biden blundered bigtime when he said he won’t sign the compromise infrastructure bill unless Democrats in Congress first pass his social spending priorities through reconciliation. As I noted at the time, Biden’s statement opened the door for Republicans who had announced their support for the compromise bill to walk away from that commitment, since there is no compromise when the Democrats take some of what they want through agreement and the rest without it.
The FTC is Moving on Trustbusting. That’s Not a Good Thing
When it comes to government expansion, ask, and ye shall receive. Conservatives in Congress have been arguing for greater regulation of Big Tech companies, specifically asking that antitrust laws be enforced more aggressively. They may not be entirely happy with what they get. Lina Khan, a critic of Big Tech, assumed leadership of the Federal Trade Commission this month in what was widely considered a victory for antitrust legislation. Unfortunately, Khan is now using her bureaucratic position to aggressively move beyond the “consumer harm” standard to create sweeping economic change.
War on the suburbs, infrastructure style
If Republicans have signed off on the alleged infrastructure bill that is to be formulated as a “compromise” lopping off the ginormous tax and spending package Democrats intend to push through on their own, we should take a closer look at its contents.
The Rise of Equity Charges at Restaurants
Jon Miltimore of Fee.org recently published an article on the expansion of “equity” and “living wage” charges at restaurants around the country and why many of the underlying economic assumptions made by these establishments are erroneous or performative. A restaurant local to him, Broders’, is one such place. In a portion of his piece titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Miltimore walks the reader through its stated purpose and reasoning for these new, “inclusive” policies. Broders’ is of course free to add this additional charge, but there are few things that should be noted.
130 nations agree to support U.S. proposal for global minimum tax on corporations
A group of 130 nations has agreed to a global minimum tax on corporations, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Thursday, part of a broader agreement to overhaul international tax rules.
Slightly better job numbers for June, unemployment ticks up
For the first time in months, the economy actually overperformed the predictions of most economists, adding 850,000 jobs. The original projections had foreseen a little over 700,000 new jobs. That was the good news. What caught those same analysts by surprise was that the unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a point to 5.9 when it had been expected to drop to 5.6. Even if that expectation had been met, it still would have been considerably higher than the record low of 3.5% we enjoyed in February of last year before the pandemic sent everything spiraling to hell in a handbasket. The other main story behind these numbers, however, remains that struggle that employers are encountering in looking for workers to fill all of the positions they need to fully reopen.
Joe Biden and Janet Yellen Have No Authority Over Federal Tax Rates
I’m just bookmarking this story for the future
Economics professor praises Stalin as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century
Asatar Bair, an assistant professor of economics at Riverside City College, is a self-described communist and supporter of Joseph Stalin. He recently praised the communist dictator as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century.
Get ready for the 100 dollar cheeseburger
I suppose we can simply flag this story as the latest entry in our series on how the pandemic has changed America and what the “new normal” looks like. And we’re once again looking at issues involving the restaurant industry, arguably among the hardest hit during the lockdowns. Out in Chicago, diners are encountering some new policies put in place by restaurants after the city began to reopen, and eateries in other areas are quickly following suit. “Mandatory minimum” bills are now becoming a regular feature. If you show up at some high-end restaurants and are seated, your bill begins with a $100 charge before you even order. And that’s not for the table, either. It’s 100 bucks per person. And then there are the “reservation deposits” that we’ll get to in a moment.
International
Buried truths about aboriginal culture
It’s not exactly reassuring that the powerful display on Pacific Northwest aboriginal culture at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., is something you would probably never see in a British Columbian museum.
Mexico top court decriminalizes recreational marijuana use
Mexico’s Supreme Court on Monday decriminalized recreational marijuana use for adults, drawing a cautious welcome from activists who said users face a “legal vacuum” until lawmakers pass a stalled legalization bill.
ORWELLIAN: Canada Moves to Ban ‘Hate Speech’ Online, Punishable by a $40,000 Fine
Last week, Canada’s Liberal Party headed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed new legislation to criminalize “hate speech” online, punishable by a $50,000 fine (roughly $40,000 U.S.D.), paid to the government. Government officials, including the attorney general and the minister of public safety, announced the new bill on Wednesday.
Egypt Seizes Ancient Christian Monastery’s Land, Bulldozes Church
Egyptian authorities recently barged onto and seized land belonging to an ancient Coptic Orthodox Christian monastery that was originally founded in the year 360 AD—that is, more than 250 years before Islam first invaded (and subsequently conquered) Christian Egypt in the seventh century.
ORWELLIAN: Canada Moves to Ban ‘Hate Speech’ Online, Punishable by a $40,000 Fine
Last week, Canada’s Liberal Party headed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed new legislation to criminalize “hate speech” online, punishable by a $50,000 fine (roughly $40,000 U.S.D.), paid to the government. Government officials, including the attorney general and the minister of public safety, announced the new bill on Wednesday.
Venezuelan migrants are crossing U.S. border “in droves”
President Nicolás Maduro took control of Venezuela in 2013. Since then, the socialist utopia he tried to create failed miserably. The country is in dire straits, and that was before the coronavirus pandemic hit South America. Venezuela’s shortages of food and medicine, along with regular power blackouts, were exacerbated. By anyone’s measure, Venezuela is a failed state.
Tory councillor who shared Facebook meme saying ‘white slaves were sold for centuries’ is facing misconduct probe
Pauline Culley may have broken Darlington Borough Council’s code of conduct
Tolkien Society Goes Woke, ‘Finds’ Transgenderism, ‘Antiracism,’ and Queer-ness in The Lord of The Rings
This weekend, the Tolkien Society is hosting a virtual Summer Seminar, a short academic conference on a theme pertaining to scholarship about J.R.R. Tolkien, the British scholar and author of The Lord of the Rings. This year, most of the seminar has taken a clear turn for the “woke” — complete with multiple papers on LGBT themes and “anti-racism,” a movement inspired by Marxist critical race theory.
Sweden stunned by rare shooting of police officer as gang violence worries grow
Swedish caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Lofven expressed outrage on Thursday over the killing of an on-duty police officer, a rarity in the Nordic country, calling it an “attack on our open society” amid growing concerns over gang violence.
Fukushima: Radioactive boars create mutant hybrid species decade after nuclear disaster
A decade after the Fukushima disaster, wild boars have been mating with domestic pigs in the nuclear wasteland and creating a new mutant species, DNA researchers have determined
Furious parents slam school rules forcing kids to always smile, never look out windows and respond to teachers’ whistles
The new rules implemented by a headteacher in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, have divided the parents after they were sent out ahead of pupils’ return to school in September.
Critical Signs To Watch for Famine in North KoreaJul 1st, 2021 3 min read
Covid-19 has not been kind to the North Korean people. Like many authoritarian actors around the globe, Kim Jong-un used the pandemic as an excuse to tighten his grip on power. Among the most draconian measures taken was the decision to put an air-tight seal on the country’s already-restricted border with China.
Lithuania refuses to ratify European Union’s deal with Cuba’s Castro dictatorship
Lithuanian parliament refuses to ratify EU-Cuba deal. Seven Members of Congress send letter to European Union urging them to stand in unequivocal solidarity with the Cuban people
Opinion
Free to Learn
A new organization called Free to Learn has been set up to combat “woke” education. Its mission, in part
Methamphetamine and White Supremacy
What are your feelings about methamphetamine? How about fentanyl? Crack cocaine? What does the phrase “drop the knife” mean to you?
Can more local self-rule save a collapsing, “Late-Roman” America?
Observed from some angles, the United States is falling apart. All over, we’re seeing signs of fragmentation.
Another High-Cost College Amenity with Little Value
Spending money on frills in the hopes of luring in a few more students has become part of the marketing game for many colleges and universities. One of the latest is competitive video gaming, or “esports.”
How, Exactly, Can One Represent America but Oppose its Anthem and Flag?
Dan Crenshaw argues that Gwen Berry should be removed from the U.S. Olympic team
Battle Over Critical Race Theory
Advocates and media circle the wagons and try to conceal the truth about a pernicious ideology.
To Boldly Go: Critical Animal Studies, the Final Frontier
An article from this summer in Psychology Today by Katherine Compitus demonstrates how far critical social theories can take us if fully imbibed. In the article, Compitus attacks “speciesism,” which is “the concept that one species (usually human) considers themselves superior to other species.” No species is superior, just different, says Compitus. Instead, she prefers to relegate all species to the lowest common denominator: “We are all living beings.”
Stan Evans’s Six Rules for Political Combat
Yesterday afternoon I turned in to the publisher the final, completed manuscript for my next book, M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom (pre-order now!), which means I’ll be turning up more frequently here on Power Line.
New York City’s Vote-Counting System Is an Embarrassment
If you choose to vote absentee in an election, when should your mail-in absentee ballot be required to arrive in order to be counted?
Why States Should Bar CRT
The following is a lightly edited version of testimony I submitted to the Ohio State Legislature last week regarding H.B 322, a bill sponsored by state Representative Don Jones. H.B 322 would bar core concepts of critical race theory, and core practices of protest civics, from K-12 education in Ohio. This testimony makes the case for such legislation in general, and for bills inspired by the model Partisanship Out of Civics Act in particular.
Is Ranked-Choice Voting a Voting Rights Act Violation?
Do racial disparities in the use of voting procedures — even disparities of recent vintage — prove that those procedures, or any changes to them, are voter suppression in violation of the Voting Rights Act? That is the position implicit in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Georgia. One of the problems with this theory that it opens laws to unpredictable legal challenges based solely on voter behavior that can easily change and may be specific to particular candidates. Consider survey data from New York City’s introduction of ranked-choice voting, used for the first time in the June 22 Democratic primary
Congress Is Not a Parliament
“Democrats in Oil Country Worried by Party’s Natural-Gas Agenda,” reads a headline in today’s Wall Street Journal. The article talks about Democrats in competitive districts reliant on the energy industry being harmed by the national party’s energy policy, which often paints the energy industry as the boogeyman.
13 important points in the campus & K-12 “critical race theory” debate
Who’s going to win? I can’t say for certain, but it’s most likely not the children.
“White Supremacy” Jiu-Jitsu
If you read my post about Officer Curtis Brown, you’ll see I’ve updated to include my reply to someone who accused me of being — of all things! — a “self-hating white.” Readers familiar with my reputation as a dangerous neo-Confederate extremist will perhaps laugh at this, but you see how the absurd accusation offers an opportunity to clarify some important issues.
Stop Gaslighting Parents on Critical Race Theory
Proponents of Critical Race Theory are resorting to semantic gaslighting to defend a dogma that most Americans instinctively abhor.
Thank the Lord for Air-Conditioning
Ignore the scolds. A/C doesn’t make people “weak,” it saves lives.
The Trap underneath Identity Politics
The experience of becoming what you were meant to be can only be a delusion in a materialist existence.
Chaos is winning the New York City mayoral primary
The race for New York City mayor was always going to be a s***show, at the least on the Democrat side. Given the new ranked-choice voting system and pre-existing problems with vote counting, the Democrats weren’t expected to declare a winner until weeks after the voting.
The Axis of Magic
Magic, Religion, Technology & Science
If you hate the culture wars, blame liberals
On Thursday I posted a series of charts that all documented a similar theme: Since roughly the year 2000, according to survey data, Democrats have moved significantly to the left on most hot button social issues while Republicans have moved only slightly right.
