News of the Week (July 18th, 2021)

Posted on July 18, 2021 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for July 18th, 2021


 

Riots & Revolution

 

Oakland, CA: White Antifa Thugs Disrupt Pro-Police Rally, Scream At Black Supporters
“Several Antifa, who appear to be all white, showed up to ‘protest’ by drowning out mostly black speakers who were naming and remembering homicide victims,” the Twitter account AntifaWatch2 reported.

The Thompson bodycam
St. Paul police have released the bodycam footage of the July 4 traffic stop of state representative John Thompson. I have embedded it below. The first minute and the last minute capture the interaction. He was driving with a Wisconsin driver’s license at a time when his driving privileges had been revoked as a result of an unmet child support obligation. He was stopped because his car lacked a front license plate.

Chicago Gangs Outnumber Cops, Who are Retiring in Record Numbers, as Violence Soars
Chicago saw 40 people shot last weekend, including 11 fatally. Independence Day weekend witnessed 100 people shot and 18 dead.

How Critical Race Theory Led to Kendi
Pop ‘antiracism’ is the logical conclusion of CRT

Black Lives Matter Blames U.S. for Cuban Protests, Praises Regime for Protecting Cop Killer
Can someone explain to BLM what happened in Cuba in 1959? Fidel Castro overthrew President Fulgencio Batista and implemented a one-state policy: Communism.

LAPD to stop charging criminals for many offenses
Law enforcement and the incarceration of known criminals is such a 20th-century concept, right? That seems to be the message once again coming out of Los Angeles now that ultra-liberal George Gascon is in charge of the county District Attorney’s office. The latest announcement coming from the LAPD is that more suspects who are arrested for a variety of non-violent crimes, including some felonies, will not be taken to court, prosecuted, or put in jail. Instead, they will be “diverted” to community support programs and social services. Rather than incarceration, the suspects will be provided with “care and treatment” without facing the stigma of being treated like a criminal. And just as a reminder, this new policy is being put in place at the same time that the city is facing a historic surge in crimes of all types.

Corporate Donors to Black Lives Matter Are Bankrolling Apologists for Tyranny, Oppression, and Racism
There is a Black Lives Matter movement and slogan, and then there is the Black Lives Matter organization — specifically, as Jim Geraghty details, the BLM Global Network Foundation, which is part of the Tides Center, a left-wing octopus approaching $1 billion in annual revenue. The BLM Global Network Foundation itself brought in more than $90 million in 2020 and ended the year with $60 million in the bank — nice work if you can get it. (The BLM Global Network Foundation is distinct from the Black Lives Matter Foundation, which according to Buzzfeed is not even affiliated with the movement and just soaks up money from gullible donors.) Lots of well-meaning Americans support the anodyne aspiration behind the slogan — who, after all, thinks that black lives should not matter? More than a few big corporations, thinking that they could appeal to those same aspirations, gave money to the BLM Global Network Foundation. Last summer, the Daily Signal rounded up 18 companies that either admit to giving money to the organization or made public disclosures that appear to confirm support. The list includes well-known brands such as Amazon, Microsoft, Nabisco, Gatorade, Unilever, DoorDash, Airbnb, Dropbox, Fitbit, and Tinder.

Virginia NAACP Leader On CRT Opponents: “Let Them Die!”
The statement was met with cheers and applause. Surreal.

 

Corona Virus

 

White House “flagging” posts for Facebook to censor over COVID “misinformation”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday the Biden administration is identifying “problematic” posts for Facebook to censor because they contain “misinformation” about COVID-19.

Three Texas House Democrats who fled to D.C. test positive for COVID-19
Three Democrat Texas state legislators who fled from Austin to Washington, D.C. on two private planes last week have tested positive for COVID-19. The Democrats pulled the stunt to break quorum in the Texas House of Representatives and shut down voting on an election integrity bill. The pictures posted on social media of them inside the planes, all maskless, have come back to bite them.

 

Gun Rights

 

The Politics of Gun Ownership Change as Millions of First-Time, “Anti-Gun” Americans Bought Firearms
According to this Washington Post article, the percentage of Americans who own guns has jumped from 32% to 39% in the past year. That’s due to huge waves of new, first-time gun owners, of all political and cultural persuasions, deciding that owning a firearm is a good idea.

“SUPER FUN”: A gun covered in Legos to look like a toy sets off a furor
About a week ago, a company in Utah that makes custom modifications to firearms debuted what it described as a fun new product: a kit that encases Glock handguns in red, yellow and blue Lego blocks, refashioning lethal weapons to look exactly like children’s toys.

Federal court rules against ban on handgun purchases for adults under 21
A federal court ruled on Tuesday that the United States’s ban on handguns for adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.

4th Cir. Panel Affirms Second Amendment Rights of 18-to-20-Year-Olds
The panel strikes down the federal statute that bans professional gun dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds.

Hirschfeld Vat f Opinion by ThePoliticalHat

Hold the Champagne on the Appeals Court Second Amendment Ruling
Although Second Amendment supporters may be celebrating, don’t let Tuesday’s 4th District Appeals Court’s 2-1 ruling on handgun purchases by 18- to 20-year-olds go to your head. Roll Call is reporting that the DOJ will probably appeal, and my money is on that bet. Which, while it is inevitable, is also hypocritical.

“Everybody Is Walking Around with a Gun Because They Are More Afraid of Getting Shot Than Getting Arrested”
The New York Post yesterday had an informative, if chilling, account of what’s driving the murder spree in New York City, namely, a cycle of reprisals by teenagers no longer afraid to carry guns.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

California Nightmare
It wasn’t easy to ruin California, but the Democrats have accomplished it. California’s descent is reflected in the most basic marker of third-world status: it can’t keep the lights on.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

NIH report: “Parents should lose veto power” over trans children decisions
The National Institute of Health maintains an online library of medical information known as the National Center for Biotechnology Information. In it, you can find scholarly articles, research papers, and the results of medical studies for most common areas of medicine. Lately, however, the repository has been adding a number of new studies that seem to be quite controversial to say the least and they deal with medical issues involving transgender children and what’s come to be known as “gender-affirming medical care.” A couple of these studies are now drawing public attention because of the decidedly unscientific and potentially dangerous approach they take toward dealing with families who have minor children dealing with gender dysphoria.

Vermont’s Proposed Reproductive Anarchy Constitutional Amendment
Vermont already has established an absolute statutory right to abortion through the ninth month, and deprives embryos and fetuses of any rights — whether or not in a uterus — which opens the door to their ready use in experimentation and as suppliers of organs for transplant.

With Democrats Pushing to Expand Medicare, Trustees Report Is over Three Months Late
As part of the extravagant $3.5 trillion infrastructure package, Democrats are now pushing to expand the financially-troubled Medicare program by adding dental, vision, and hearing services. Before considering such a measure, it sure would be nice for Congress to have an up to date view of Medicare’s finances, especially to see how the pandemic affected the program. Unfortunately, the annual Trustees report is more than three months overdue.

Bernie Sanders: “I Don’t Know” If Democrats Will Try to Include a Public Option in $3.5 Trillion Bill
All the chatter in the press this week that Senate Democrats have “agreed” to a $3.5 trillion budget-reconciliation bill ignores some important facts. The $3.5 trillion top-line figure is something that not all Senate have actually agreed to, and there are still huge open questions about what Democrats will put in the bill.

Bioethicists Propose Time-Delayed Suicide Implant for Dementia Patients
Bioethicists are looking for ways to eliminate people diagnosed with dementia when they become incapacitated. Belgium and the Netherlands permit advance orders to be euthanized. Another proposal gaining traction in bioethics would force caregivers to starve patients to death.

Medical Journal: Train Medical Students to Be Woke Social Activists
There the New England Journal of Medicine goes pushing woke agendas again. This time, the extremely politically progressive medical journal has published an article urging that medical students be taught that left-wing social-justice engagement should be among their professional duties.

 

War & Terror

 

Remote-operated Saildrone completes maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu to map ocean floor
The Saildrone Surveyor — a remote-operated, autonomous vehicle that looks like a sailboat — successfully completed its maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu on Thursday afternoon.

‘Culture officers’, restorative justice to be part of military’s new plan to fight misconduct: acting commander
‘It is clear to senior leadership that there is a tremendous pent-up desire for action, beyond words, that must now take centre stage’

Japan’s Defense Ministry warns about Chinese military posturing toward Taiwan (and China isn’t happy about it)
A defense department white paper doesn’t sound like something likely to spark an international war of words but that’s what’s happened after Japan published an annual paper that mentioned the tension surrounding Taiwan

The Army is training the first batch of Space Marines
About nine months after Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger ordered the activation of the new Marine Corps Forces Space Command, “select Marines” from the nascent unit will start training at the Army’s Space and Missile Defense School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to an Army news release, which said they’ll learn “situational awareness of space capabilities, space assets, space products, and the impact of space on operations.”

China claims to run U.S. warship out of South China Sea
If anyone was hoping for an easing of tensions in the South China Sea between Washington and Beijing you will apparently have a bit longer to wait. On Monday, the Chinese government claimed that their military had run a United States destroyer, the U.S.S. Benfold, out of the disputed straits in the South China Sea. They didn’t specify a specific date or time for the alleged event, but claimed that the American ship was in the waters between the Philippines and Vietnam that the Chinese have been trying to claim as their own. They claim that Chinese naval and air forces “warned and drove” the ship out of the area. This is hardly an open and shut case, however, as we’ll get to in a moment.

China begins military flights from disputed South China Sea bases
AWACs, surveillance planes on two reef bases signal routine PLA air operations from Spratlys

Is U.S. Navy Sinking Under Weight of Diversity and Aversion to Bad Press?
“I guarantee you every unit in the Navy is up to speed on their diversity training. I’m sorry that I can’t say the same of their ship handling training.”

Pentagon insists race theory isn’t taught, Air Force Academy instructor brags it is
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testified just weeks ago before the House Armed Services Committee that critical race theory is not being taught, pushed, or embraced in the military.

Are we militarizing space?
We’ve been sending a lot of hardware (and people) up into space recently, particularly since Elon Musk has started delivering crew members to the ISS in addition to all of the cargo and satellites he ships into orbit. And we’re not alone. The Chinese are now working on their own space station and the Russians seem to be teaming up with them. Over the years, we’ve done a fairly good job of keeping space outside of the political realm and we’ve even partnered up with some of our terrestrial adversaries at times. But is that coming to an end? The Air Force Research Laboratory recently released a report urging the new United States Space Force to prepare for possible military action outside of our atmosphere. As the competition in the new space race heats up and we come closer to potentially colonizing the moon and eventually Mars, the possibility for armed conflict over new territory and resources really can’t be ignored.

Iran’s Giant Middle Finger to the Biden Administration
On the menu today: Not only is Iran plotting to kidnap American citizens, but on a wide variety of fronts, the regime in Tehran is biting the Biden administration’s outstretched hand; the U.S. may have taken a worthwhile action against Russian hackers; and Andrew Cuomo is still lying about how many New Yorkers died from COVID-19 — not by a handful of cases or a rounding error, but by more than 10,000 deaths.

On the Eve of Destruction
Why a troubling new report on the Navy’s surface-warfare capabilities and culture matters.

How Army scientists are developing the next tank that’s not a tank
Though the current main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, is expected to hum along in the center of the armored formation for decades to come, some kind replacement is on its way.

Critical Race Theory Advocates Sent Staff & Students On Chinese Communist Propaganda Trips.
The National Urban League – an outspoken defender of Critical Race Theory – has partnered with a Chinese Communist Party-linked influence group for over a decade, including inking deals to collaborate on education initiatives in American schools, The National Pulse can reveal.

A Fleet Of 25 F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters Will Soon Train For War In The Pacific
A number of United States Air Force stealth F-22 Raptors are slated to take part in an upcoming military exercise in the Western Pacific that is designed to test and improve the Air Force’s ability to operate in a contested environment.

China working to build the cult of personality around Xi Jinping
CNN has a story up today which reminds us just how much the Chinese Communist Party is governed by a cult of personality and always has been. In connection with the 100th anniversary of the CCP, there is a big campaign to spread what is officially called, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era.”

The Navy needs to stay focused — or we’re doomed
Last week I toured the USS Constitution, in Boston Harbor. Launched in 1797, “Old Ironsides” is the oldest commissioned warship afloat.

Why Are Defense Department Schools Transitioning Students’ Gender Behind Parents’ Backs?
Our men and women in uniform are prepared to lay their lives on the line every day to uphold the Constitution and protect the nation from enemies who would do us harm, but what many service members may not realize is that a personal threat to their families exists much closer to home.

China Threatens to NUKE Japan if It Defends Taiwan
Through its military TV channel, China has threatened to use nuclear weapons — first — if Japan intercedes in defense of Taiwan.

‘Havana Syndrome’ Strikes U.S. Diplomats in Vienna
The New Yorker reported on Friday that State Department and intelligence officials were probing a recent spate of mysterious illnesses that have struck U.S. diplomats in Vienna.

The Undergrad Who Found China’s Nuclear Arsenal
A couple of weeks ago, word arrived that 120 new missile silos had been discovered in the desert of Northern China. While the press made much of this evidence that China is busy expanding its nuclear weapons program, they did not look at who found the silos and how he did it.

 

National

 

Proposed Ballot Initiative Would End Animal Protein Production And Hunting In Oregon
On June 21, 2021, the Oregon secretary of state received Initiative Petition 2022-13 (IP 13), a ballot initiative for the November 8, 2022 general election which had been captioned by the state attorney general as follows: “Criminalizes injuring/killing animals, including killing for food, hunting, fishing; criminalizes most breeding practices. Exceptions.” IP 13, which emerged last November, would have far-reaching effects in Oregon if adopted by voters next year.

Recall Petition for Socialist Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman Approved
Recall Fever spreads through California.

Los Angeles progressives angry over being “tricked” into supporting conservative sheriff
When Alejandro “Alex” Villanueva was sworn in as the 33rd Sheriff of Los Angeles County in December of 2018, liberals and progressives were pretty excited. Villanueva had run his campaign on promises to “rebuild trust with the community” and reform law enforcement, along with most of the other progressive messages you expect to hear from a liberal Democrat. And he was indeed a member of the Democratic Party, receiving the endorsement and support of liberals across the board. But as the Los Angeles Times reports this week, his actions while in office have not exactly been in keeping with the progressive values he had espoused during the campaign. In fact, some are now saying that the Sheriff sounds more like a full-blown Trump supporter than a liberal, and there is talk of trying to remove him from his office making the rounds.

Trump Looks Back, Forward, in CPAC Speech
Former President Trump was the headline speaker for the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, delivering a defiant speech to end the weekend. Taking the stage in front of an enthusiastic crowd filled with “Make America Great Again” hats and waving American flags, Trump gave a speech that clearly showed the extent of his influence over the future of the GOP. His polemic took aim at the mainstream media, the Democratic Party, and moderate Republicans, offering a campaign-rally type of experience for the enthusiastically pro-Trump audience.

When insulting the police is a hate crime
In yet another strange sign of our times, an unusual arrest in Utah this week is drawing national attention. In the town of Panguitch, a police officer was making a routine traffic stop at a gas station. While talking to the motorist, the police officer observed a 19-year-old woman holding a “back the blue” sign in the parking lot. The woman threw the sign on the ground and stomped on it. She then picked it up, wadded it into a ball and threw it in the trash, all while “smirking in an intimidating fashion” at the officer.

Report: CRT wars are taking toll on lefty administrators
File this report under “good news if true.” According to NBC News, opposition to attempts to impose left-wing race-oriented propaganda in America’s schools is taking a toll on those who are trying to impose it.

A PTA Purge of Asians
America’s top public high school shows us what discrimination looks like today.

California’s “Ethnic Studies” Gold Rush
Progressive education consultants and activists stand to pocket millions from the implementation of a new curriculum.

I’m A Middle School Teacher And See How Critical Race Curriculum Is Creating Racial Hostility In School
Providence, RI: Some Students Have Started Calling Me “America” Because I’m White, and Colleagues Accuse Me of Having “White Privilege.”

Chicago Gangs Outnumber Cops, Who are Retiring in Record Numbers, as Violence Soars
Chicago saw 40 people shot last weekend, including 11 fatally. Independence Day weekend witnessed 100 people shot and 18 dead.

Democrat Groups Plan to “Fact Check” Private SMS Messages
To counter “misinformation about vaccines.”

“Just Say We Won”: 9 Most Bonkers Revelations from Trump Election Night Tell-All, I Alone Can Fix It
The Washington Post has published an excerpt from a new book that reveals many behind-the-scenes details from former President Donald Trump and the White House on election day. I Alone Can Fix This is the highly anticipated book from Washington Post writers Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, who also wrote the best-selling book Very Stable Genius, which also detailed Trump’s White House inner workings and drama.

Bioethicist: Impose Puberty Blocking over Parental Objection
Transgender ideology has advanced so far that serious proposals in the most respected medical and bioethics journals are being made to push parents out of the way if they oppose their child’s transition.

Oklahoma State Board of Education met to adopt “emergency” rules on race instruction
The Oklahoma State Board of Education held a meeting Monday to listen to public comments on critical race theory before taking a vote on “emergency” rules on race instruction. Teacher unions continue to deny that critical race theory is taught to younger students and that it is reserved for students in higher education.

A lawyer was forced out of her Legal Aid Society job after criticizing CRT
Today, Bari Weiss has another story of CRT zealotry gone wrong. It’s about a progressive woman named Maud Maron who went to law school and got a job with the Legal Aid Society representing poor clients in Manhattan. She’s a Bernie Sanders donor who worked as a poll watcher for John Kerry. She ran for City Council in 2019 as a Democrat. But Maron has now filed a lawsuit arguing she was effectively forced out of her job at the Legal Aid Society after being discriminated against by the group and its union.

Jenna Ellis quits GOP after published email from RNC’s chief counsel called her election lawsuit effort a “joke”
“I sincerely hope Jenna Ellis’s departure from the GOP leads to a mass exodus of everybody who agrees with her, thinks like her or, frankly, has the slightest positive opinion about her work in politics or public life,” tweeted Jonah Goldberg upon hearing the news. It really was a pleasant surprise for Never Trumpers, who are accustomed by now to being told that they can’t be Republicans in good standing if they don’t support Trump.

National Radio Host Larry Elder Announces Run For CA Governor in Newsom Recall
“The Sage from South Central,” nationally syndicated talk radio host Larry Elder opens his daily radio show with, “We’ve got a country to save!”

Study: Half of those released from jail before trial in San Francisco were arrested for committing new crimes while free
The California Policy Lab at UCLA and UC Berkeley has published a study which found about half of the people released from jail before trial in San Francisco never show up for their court dates. Also, slightly more than half commit another crime while released

DHS chief: Any Cubans or Haitians who flee to the U.S. seeking asylum will be resettled … in other countries
Interesting. Is this the policy for all asylum-seekers, including those arriving from Mexico and Central America at the southern border? Because as far as I’m aware, everyone claiming asylum after entering the U.S. by land is petitioning for admission to this country, not another.

Secretary of State Blinken Calls for UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Racism to Visit the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took to Twitter late Tuesday evening to call for what looks like a United Nations investigation into racism in the United States. Not past racism or slavery, but “contemporary” racism.

San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus Who Sang “We’re Coming For Your Children,” Is Full Of Convicted Pedophiles
The Chorus scrubbed some names from its website along with contact info, about the time news became public

Genocidal Regime Criticizes Discrimination in American Culture
“The United States prides itself as a beacon of human rights, but it doesn’t have any intention of ending the serious discrimination against American Muslims,” writes the state-run media institution of a government running concentration camps and a campaign of genocide against a Muslim population.

Republicans Outraise Democrats in Second Quarter ahead of 2022 Midterms
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced this morning that it had raised a record-breaking $45.4 million in the second quarter of the year, more than $20 million of which the group raised in June alone.

Time Magazine’s Phony “Conservative Case Against Banning Critical Race Theory”
Time has an article entitled “The Conservative Case Against Banning Critical Race Theory.” Given the conventions of opinion journalism, the first thing a reader would expect from an article with such a title in a national news magazine is that the author would be a well-known conservative, hence, a person one would trust to make a “conservative case” against a position advanced by many fellow conservatives. The reader is told only that the author is University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq. Fine, you might think; Chicago is a place with a fairly open tradition of conservative scholarship. Maybe, if you are not familiar with Professor Huq, you might assume that he is an academic with some conservative credentials and a record of conservative scholarship.

41% of Baltimore high schoolers have a GPA below 1.0
This story comes from the same reporter at Fox 45 in Baltimore who published multiple stories earlier this year about the failures at Augusta Fells high school. Monday he published a story based on new documents that provide the GPA of every one of Baltimore’s 20,000 high school students. Incredibly, 41% of all students now have a GPA average below 1.0.

Biden Turns to the United Nations
I somehow missed this story when it came out on Tuesday: U.S. State Department invites U.N. racism investigators to visit U.S.

Liberal Panic Attack: Justice Breyer Says He’s Happy Being On SCOTUS And Has No Current Retirement Plan
Breyer gave a simple answer: NO.

Research Used to Justify California’s “Equity” Math Framework Doesn’t Add Up
The push to create “equity” and more “social justice” in public schools in California, America’s largest state, rests on this basic premise: “We reject ideas of natural gifts and talents,” declares the current draft of the California Math Framework, which also states that it rejects “the cult of genius.”

The problem with Robin DiAngelo’s ‘Nice Racism’
Last week NY Times columnist Ross Douthat took a stab at separating out what it is that many Americans (left, right and center) object to about the current push for teaching Critical Race Theory in schools. The crux of the disagreement isn’t the idea of teaching students about the legacy of racism is schools. That’s something that most students already have in their curriculum and no one is suggesting it should be removed. It’s not even about the idea of teaching students about the concept of systemic racism (the idea that you can have racism perpetuated within institutions). As Douthat sees it, where many people draw the line is at some of the proposed theories that are packaged with this concept as solutions. Specifically, there are some illiberal theories of anti-racist education that are essentially piggy-backing on the push for more discussion of racism in schools.

ABA Declares Book Ad “Violent”
So, I don’t know if you need any help convincing yourself that the institutions in our country are controlled by utterly deranged fanatics. But let me try.

Some ballots initially double-counted in Fulton before recount
A duplicate write-in vote for singer Kanye West was a big clue that some absentee ballots had been counted twice in Fulton County.

Secretary of State Blinken Invites United Nations to Investigate Racism in the U.S.
“Responsible nations must not shrink from scrutiny of their human rights record. Rather, they should be transparent with the intent to grow and do better.”

Jen Psaki: If you’re banned by one social media platform for disinformation, you should be banned by others
She sure has had a lot to say over the past 48 hours about how private tech companies should be running their businesses.

DACA Immigration Program Invalidated by Federal Judge
Judge blocked aproval of new DACA applications, but postponed the effect of his ruling on current program recipients

Judge declares DACA unlawful
A federal district court judge in Texas has ruled that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is invalid. The judge is Andrew Hanen. In 2015, he barred President Obama from carrying out DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) and his decision was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, 4-4.

Providence Teachers Union Confirms Affinity Group Segregation, Historical Books Destroyed, Holocaust Education Ended (Ramona Bessinger Update)
Union president: “So there’s people of color in one group and white folks in another group…. both the people of color and our teachers of color and our white teachers have said that they’re uncomfortable with it … some people feel like this is further segregationist and feel like it’s more divisive than helpful.”

“Let Them Die,” Intolerant PTA, NAACP Official Says of Critical Race Theory Foes
If you oppose critical race theory, you should die.

Ibram Kendi suggests we should have a Congressional Racism Office to score bills
Ibram Kendi was interviewed by Ezra Klein for the NY Times about his book “How to be an antiracist.” If you’re not familiar with Kendi or his book, here’s Klein’s summary of the general idea it puts forward

Arizona election audit finds hundreds (not thousands) of cases of voter fraud
The audit of the 2020 election results in Arizona still hasn’t wrapped up, but the results out of several counties have produced some interesting results.

Stefanik, Bush Weigh In on College Republican Controversy
Evidently, I’m not the only one to believe that the way young conservatives navigate disagreements and power struggles matters.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Cat grabbers, too-tight handcuffs, and the non-corrupt arm of the law.

Indoctrination Begins Early: NYC Private Schools Only Hiring Lefties
Need a job? Some of New York Cities costly private schools are hiring, but the socially sleeping need not apply.

Toward Minitrue
This week the psickening Jen Psaki casually announced that the Biden administration was guiding Facebook in the censorship of “misinformation” bearing on Covid vaccinations. She followed up with the guidance that those circulating “misinformation” on one platform should be removed from all social media platforms.

Rochester mayor hit with gun charge, child endangerment
Sometimes you can feel like it’s just not your day. But for Rochester, New York Mayor Lovely Warren, it’s just not turning out to be her year. First, she was found to have mishandled the case of Daniel Prude’s death in police custody so badly that her entire senior police command staff quit in protest. Then, in May, her husband, Timothy Granison, was arrested for allegedly being part of an illegal drug-dealing ring. At the time, she suggested to reporters that the arrest was part of a plot to undermine her in the upcoming primary election. (If it was a plot, it was a very successful one, because she went on to lose in a landslide.) But now the soon-to-be-ex mayor has even more problems because she too has been arrested on an illegal weapons charge, child welfare endangerment and other charges.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Jobs Americans won’t do — their old ones
Some conservatives dispute the idea that there are “jobs Americans won’t do.” In my neighborhood, however, there are jobs that only recent immigrants seem willing to perform, even when the compensation is quite generous (e.g., shoveling snow for a few hours after a big storm for $300 or more).

Inflation climbs higher than expected in June as price index rises 5.4%
Consumer prices increased 5.4% in June from a year earlier, the biggest monthly gain since August 2008. Excluding food and energy, inflation increased 4.5%, the largest move since September 1991. Used car and truck prices comprised about one-third of the total CPI increase.

Popeyes Stockpiles Chicken Meat Ahead of Nationwide Nugget Debut
Important: Find Your Real Retirement Date in Minutes! More Info Here

An Ominous Portent for America Under Biden Gets Even Worse
Prices for consumer goods and services, excluding food and energy, shot up 0.9 percent in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. This increase in the Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) far outpaced what economists expected. This ominous inflation warning sign suggests that President Joe Biden’s profligate government spending may usher in a new 1970s-style stagflation.

McCormick is hiring a taco czar, offers $100K paycheck for 4-month ‘dream gig’
On this taco Tuesday, the food company known for its spices officially announced the new, four-month contract position, which pays $100,000 (or $25,000 per month). Applicants must be 21 years of age, a U.S. resident, be available to sign a contract by the end of August and work up to 20 hours a week from September 2021 to December 2021.

Wealth tax proposed for Canada’s ‘ultra rich’
Jagmeet Singh says the New Democrats would tackle the country’s multi-billion deficit through the party’s long-standing promise to tax extremely wealthy Canadians and corporations.

California approves $35 million plan for nation’s first state-funded guaranteed income program
California lawmakers on Thursday approved the first state-funded guaranteed income plan in the U.S., $35 million for monthly cash payments to qualifying pregnant people and young adults who recently left foster care with no restrictions on how they spend it.

White House quietly signals inflationary run could last years
The White House is sending mixed messages on the United States’s post-pandemic inflationary run, with quiet signals suggesting the period might last years longer than administration officials have publicly indicated.

The return of the misery index
The misery index is a back-of-the-envelope measure of how America is faring economically. It is derived by adding the employment rate and the inflation rate.

Durbin confirms: Democrats will put amnesty plan into infrastructure bill
What better time to push through amnesty for potentially millions of illegal immigrants than during the Biden border crisis? As tone-deaf as the plan is, that is exactly what Senate Democrats are planning to do in the $3.5T infrastructure bill. A decision has not been made on the numbers yet but Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate Democratic Whip, confirmed this week that it will happen. Democrats will try to push through immigration reform in the budget process.

Welcome Back, Carter
Plus ça change . . .

 

International

 

“Down With Communism!”: Thousands of Cubans Demand End to Dictatorship
Biden admin thinks Cubans only protested over COVID cases and deaths. They want COVID vaccines, but they also want to eat and have freedom from the brutal regime.

Ontario: Math Is “Subjective” And “Used to Normalize Racism and Marginalization of Non-Eurocentric Mathematical Knowledges”
Ontario Grade 9 curriculum: “a decolonial, anti-racist approach to mathematics education makes visible its historical roots and social constructions.”

Why Does the Left Hate the Thing That Freedom Fighters in Cuba and Hong Kong Have in Common?
On Sunday, protesters took to the streets in 32 cities across Cuba, calling for an end to the Communist regime’s oppression. These protesters carried a symbol of freedom in their arms — the same symbol that freedom fighters in Hong Kong used last year when they marched against Chinese Communist oppression. Yet many on the Left have demonized this same symbol, denouncing it as an icon of white supremacy and “institutional racism.”

The Morning Briefing: Cubans’ Desire for Freedom Confuses American Commies
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend or whatever kind of weekend you were trying to have. Some people have weird goals. My weekend, for example, was filled with a lot of garlic and melted cheese, and that was all I’d really planned on. I did get a lot of reading and writing done too. I don’t think there were any people involved.

England Soccer: “Get Woke, Go Broke”?
This is a subject that I am loath to raise because (a) I don’t know a lot about contemporary England, (b) I don’t understand soccer strategy, and (c) this involves accusations of RAAAAACISM!

Cuba and the “Democratic” Socialists of America
Doubtless the DSA’s representatives in Congress will be able to explain why this is just a misreading of their profoundly democratic ideology.

Then Again, Maybe “Freedom!” Really Is an Anti-Government Slogan
Quite a few folks on the right side of the political spectrum are objecting to this tweet and characterization from the New York Times

Actor in bare-bottomed monkey costume with fake penis appears at event to encourage children to read
AN actor in a bare-bottomed monkey costume with fake penis appeared at an event to encourage children to read.

South Africa: At the End of the Rainbow Nation
If you want to know the future of the West, look to South Africa, where the demographics liberals aspire to produce in America and Europe are already in place and their political objectives have been achieved. The white oppressors who built the country out of wilderness are now effectively slaves to blacks who immigrated from other parts of Africa, in accordance with racial justice. Now it remains only for the oppressed to finish looting and burning what others worked to create.

Death toll rises to 72 in South Africa as violence triggered by Zuma arrest escalates
The massive army trucks appeared Tuesday outside of Louise Haynes’s community north of the port city of Durban, a day after violent protests that have swept across KwaZulu-Natal province came within earshot.

South African protesters loot to protest Zuma arrest
More than 1200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air Tuesday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.

In a looted S. African mall, a man lies dead as the poor pick over scraps
“There’s a body over there,” said the fireman. The back of a ravaged shopping mall in a Johannesburg suburb is where one man’s life came to an end.

Looting, Rubber Bullets, and Food Shortages in South Africa: Democrats Should Take Note
Violence and looting broke out all over South Africa last week after former president Jacob Zuma, 79, was jailed for contempt of court after failing to show up for an inquiry into his alleged corruption. The looting is such that Police Minister Bheki Cele told journalists on Tuesday that if the looting continues, some areas could run out of basic food supplies. Conversely, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said there was not yet a need to declare a state of emergency over the violence, even though 45 people have been killed—10 of them in a looting stampede—and another 800 have been arrested thus far.

Apocalypse in South Africa
How bad is the violence in South Africa? It’s even worse than Chicago.

Cuba: Protesters Arrested, Missing After Sunday’s Protest Against Communism
Police couldn’t tell a father about his son because he was taken by another “institution,” meaning “plainclothes officers at the protests.”

She Was Imprisoned in Her Native Cuba. Here’s How She Describes Life Under Communism.
Lala Mooney, born in communist Cuba, was imprisoned there at age 19. As protests erupt in the Caribbean nation, Mooney, mother of Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about what life there is like.

Dems Announce $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill — Time for Republicans To Walk
If there was ever any doubt about whether Republicans should abandon the ridiculous charade of the allegedly bipartisan infrastructure bill, Tuesday night’s news should obliterate it. Senate Democrats have announced that in addition to the sham of a bipartisan agreement, they are also moving ahead with a separate $3.5 trillion package on a purely partisan basis containing every liberal wish list item but the kitchen sink.

The Real Cuba Isn’t a Potemkin Airbnb
Antonio García Martínez on what people taking to the streets are protesting.

Cuban demonstrations come to American shores, but with a twist
The demonstrations in Cuba that began over the weekend obviously captured the attention of the world. The numbers of the demonstrators in the streets of Havana and other cities seemed to diminish in the days that followed as the government cracked down on them and locked up several prominent opposition leaders, as we previously discussed. Also, President Miguel Díaz-Canel made a show of promising to get more food into the stores and get the power back on in areas that had been experiencing blackouts, which seemed to satisfy some of them. But by yesterday, the protests had spread beyond the island of Cuba. Crowds took to the streets in Miami Florida, particularly among the Cuban-American community there, marching in solidarity with the people still living under the communist regime. Unfortunately, some of them got a bit carried away and wound up shutting down a major highway.

Miami mayor: Biden needs to consider airstrikes against the Cuban government
A leftover from yesterday. My first thought after watching the clip below was that the idea is nutty. At this very moment we’re learning another painful lesson in how the best-laid, most lavishly funded plans for foreign military intervention can amount to nothing in the end. Why we would launch a new intervention in our own backyard?

Students confused to see ‘controversial’ American flag flown by Cuban protesters
Cuban protesters have been seen flying the American flag as a symbol of freedom and democracy over the past couple of days. But do young Americans think the flag represents the same thing?

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South Africa Burning
Though there hasn’t been a lot of coverage of this among the American MSM, those who watched the #antifa/#BlackLivesMatter riots unfold in real time will find what’s going on in South Africa familiar

Black Lives Matter: Actually, That Kind of Police Brutality and Abuse Is Fine
Black Lives Matter has finally found a group of cops they’re unwilling to criticize. The bad news, as Caroline Downey lays out on the home page, is that it is the Cuban police, detaining dissidents and activists on live television and opening fire on peaceful protesters.

China suspected of dumping so much poop in the ocean “we can see it from space,” US satellite firm says
This weekend, a U.S. satellite intelligence firm Simularity released a report connecting the movements of more than 200 suspected Chinese vessels in the South China Sea with massive deposits of human waste.

Cuba’s vice-minister of the Interior resigns, in disagreement over the use of excessive force against demonstrators.
As ABC has learned, the departure of Brigadier General Jesús Manuel Burón is motivated by disagreements with other commanders, differences regarding the measures taken during the protests.

Multinational investigation widens into Haiti assassination, including who bankrolled it
The multinational probe into the brazen, middle-of-the-night assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse broadened Tuesday, with law enforcement in Haiti and South Florida searching for those who provided logistics and arms for the deadly assault — and who bankrolled it.

More Videos Filter Out Of Cuba Showing Brutal Repression
New videos surfaced Thursday showing brutal repression on demonstrators by the Cuban regime.

U.K. Free-Speech Bill a Sound Solution to Censorship
A U.K. proposal known as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill has attracted controversy and criticism from the Left lately. Some question whether legislation is the appropriate answer to growing threats against free speech, while others remain unconvinced that there is a necessity for government action at all.

South African riots and looting leave at least 200 dead
There’s been a substantial breakdown in law and order in South Africa over the past two weeks. Looting and riots have spread around the country and an estimated 200 people have been killed. The current government is suggesting the rioting was planned by loyalists of former president Jacob Zuma. Zuma was president of South Africa for nine years and was dogged with various charges of corruption for his entire career. Zuma resigned under pressure in Feb. 2018 and prosecutors announced corruptions charges against him the following month. Zuma attempted to have the charges against him dismissed but South Africa’s high court refused in 2019.

 

Opinion

 

Syllabi Should Be Public
Sellers of all kinds of goods and services are required to provide accurate information to consumers. False advertising and deceptive labeling are not allowed.

College Syllabi Should Be Open to the Public
Sellers of all kinds of goods and services are required to provide accurate information to consumers. False advertising and deceptive labeling are not allowed.

Why Texas’ social media bills are doomed to fail in the courts
Texas’ bid to end so-called censorship by social media companies is doomed to fail. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but the state’s inability to justify the constitutionality of SB 5 and HB 95 beyond the “free speech!” mantra.

A Homeschool Perspective on Critical Race Theory
I was homeschooled from kindergarten to 12th grade. Like other students, I learned about slavery, Jim Crow, and the myriad other wicked prejudices against black Americans.

Forget Critical Race Theory. I Don’t Trust Elites to Teach Kids Basic Civics
We the People, a new Netflix show produced by Michelle and Barack Obama, “combines music and animation to educate a new generation of young Americans about the power of the people.” Like many other such efforts, the show confuses busybodyism with good citizenship, downgrading republican virtues and individual freedom while elevating dependency and statism.

God’s Little Lobbyists
Soon after he came to power, Adolf Hitler was asked whether he intended to nationalize German industry. Hitler answered that there was no need for that. “I shall nationalize the people,” he declared.

Almost Four Decades After Its Birth, The Diversity Industry Thrives on Its Own Failures
Campus diversity advocates have pulled off their greatest coup to date: They have declared “diversity” to be a freestanding academic discipline, thus injecting their bureaucracy-heavy apparatus into the very heart of the academic enterprise. As of this month, Bentley University, a business-oriented liberal arts school in Waltham, Mass., will offer a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). By all accounts, this is the first undergraduate major dedicated to churning out more diversity bureaucrats and consultants. It will not be the last.

Why Cops Are Quitting
Police officers no longer feel that they have the public’s support.

Big Tech’s ‘Free’ Products Come With a Price. Is There a Way Out?
Remember that Police hit: “Every breath you take…every move you make…I’ll be watching you…”? I’m dating myself but that’s one of my all-time favorite songs, despite the fact that it’s more than a little creepy.

Sensitivity Versus Education
Over the last 20 years or so, the feelings of students (well, of some students anyway) have become paramount in our educational institutions. Teachers and professors have to walk on eggshells to avoid giving anyone reason to claim to be offended.

Antony Blinken’s Risky Wager
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is poised to further aggravate the controversy over racism and human rights in U.S. foreign policy that he stirred this week. Earlier today, according to Politico, he issued a cable to American embassies worldwide, encouraging diplomats to reckon honestly with the darkest chapters of U.S. history. “That means we acknowledge our imperfections. We don’t sweep them under the rug. We confront them openly and transparently,” he reportedly wrote.

Kamala Harris’s Staff Needs Therapy
Kamala Harris has had a difficult time in the White House. Joe Biden has a way of offloading particularly difficult assignments onto the former senator, something she herself has admitted may be a problem. Now, she is the news again for all the wrong reasons, this time for the way she has been treating her staff. Early indications were that the vice president was not creating a wholesome environment, and recent reports show the deep dysfunction plaguing the Harris office.

“The Original Feminist Plan for Women’s Equality”
Over at Public Discourse, the blog of the Witherspoon Institute, I have a review of legal scholar Erika Bachiochi’s new book The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision.

Why It’s Important to Pass State Critical Race Theory Bills Now
And why those who argue otherwise misunderstand both the nature of laws and the nature of political movements.

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