News of the Week for Jan. 23^rd, 2021

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

 

Riots & Revolution

 

Homeless Man Faces Murder Charges for Allegedly Pushing Michelle Go in Front of NYC Subway Train
“Yeah because I’m God. Yes I did. I’m God. I can do it.”

DA George Gascon continues to bring his special brand of justice to Los Angeles
How has DA George Gascon failed the city of Los Angeles lately? Let me count the ways. Just last week Allahpundit wrote about the ongoing train robberies that have turned a portion of the tracks in Lincoln Heights into a lawless zone where thieves steal an average of 90 packages per day.

Train Robberies in LA up 356 Percent in 2021
Thieves are stealing directly from Union Pacific freight trains in downtown Los Angeles, and the problem has exploded in just the past year.

In DA George Gascón’s L.A., “Smash and Grab” Morphs Into “Slash and Dash”
UCLA graduate student fatally stabbed by homeless man while working at high-end LA furniture store.

New equity policy bars Seattle Police from some traffic stops, opens door to more car theft
Seattle Police Department interim Chief Adrian Diaz announced sweeping new policies that ban many non-criminal traffic stops. The move is framed around equity concerns, with the chief arguing that because not everyone can afford to pay the traffic violation fines, they must not be enforced. But all this does is make it easier for car thieves to continue to prey on Seattleites.

“Safe streets worker” (replacing police) gunned down in Baltimore
During the course of the madness that promoted “defunding” or abolishing the police, there was an emphasis placed on replacing police in some circumstances with “community safety” workers who would supposedly act as unarmed “violence interrupters” and reduce the number of lethal use of force incidents by police officers. In Baltimore, Maryland’s violent gang territories, an existing organization known as the “Safe Streets Program” gained a lot of attention and municipal support in this effort. The goal of the program is to deploy former gang members (or “former”) into areas controlled by the gangs to negotiate nonviolent resolutions to conflicts. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with other proposed “violence interruption” programs in major cities, sending someone with a clipboard out to resolve a beef between gang members isn’t always effective. That was sadly this case this week when one of Baltimore’s Safe Streets workers was shot to death along with several other people on the East side of Charm City.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Apologizes for Calling Gangs …. “Gangs”
Gavin the Clueless strikes again!

Aspiring Rapper Update: Lawsuit Accuses Seattle CHOP “Warlord” of Pimping Hoes
Just in case anyone forgot the relevant definition

Ten Years for Fatal Arson in Summer 2020 Minneapolis Riots
The prosecution of rioters from the summer of 2020 has been, at best, uneven, and the hesitancy of local Democratic prosecutors and the Justice Department to throw the book at crimes committed during the George Floyd–inspired protests has become a major critique of the disparate attention turned upon the January 6 Capitol rioters. But, as I have detailed previously, while there is much to criticize — and much to relate to the broader problem of progressive “prosecutors” who won’t prosecute crimes — the idea that the summer 2020 rioters have simply all been let off scot-free is a grave exaggeration.

 

Corona Virus

 

Cross-country truckers convoy departs B.C. for Ottawa to protest vaccine mandate
The first leg of the convey, dubbed The Convey For Freedom 2022, is set to leave B.C. on Sunday

Two-thirds of corona jab reactions caused by placebo effect – study
A third of clinical trial participants who received no vaccine reported systemic adverse advents including headache and fatigue.

New Ebola-like virus found in a Chinese bat’s liver
The Menglà virus can infect human cells but the risk of its transmission from bats to humans is unknown.

Federal Disability Law Doesn’t Require School Districts to Mandate Masks
“Plaintiffs’ position if accepted, would essentially graft the recommendations of the CDC into the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. And as a practical matter, elevating CDC recommendations to the level of law would serve to take many decisions relating to health policy and directly impacting citizens out of the hands of their elected representatives and put them into the hands of unknown and unanswerable CDC decisionmakers and unelected and unanswerable federal judges.”

Court Concludes, for TRO, that Federal Disability Law Does Require School Districts to Mandate Masks
“It is the combination of these measures [vaccination, masking, quarantining, contract tracing, social distancing, and increased building ventilation] that make them effective and, without any one of them, individuals with disabilities … are at increased risk of contracting the virus and severe illness or death.”

 

Gun Rights

 

Shutdown of Gun Stores During Early COVID Months Violated Second Amendment
So holds a Ninth Circuit panel—with the authoring judge penning a hypothetical dissent, to illustrate his view that the Ninth Circuit’s Second Amendment precedents are too malleable.

Judge refuses to block California from releasing gun owners’ personal info
Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, Assembly Bill 173 amended state firearms laws to allow California to turn over gun owners’ personal information to gun violence researchers.

Gun groups brace for Biden shift to bans and confiscation
The nation’s Second Amendment rights groups are readying for a new attack by longtime gun control advocate President Joe Biden now that the key elements of his domestic agenda have been shelved in a series of Senate rejections.

The Economist: Gun Owner Diversity Is “Bad For Gun-Control Advocates”
The Economist pointed to the growing diversity of gun owners in America and noted that it is “bad for gun-control advocates.”

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Liberal warning signal: Refrigerators are destroying the world
On the off chance that you didn’t already have enough to worry about, there’s another villain on the loose that’s trying to destroy the world through climate change. This time it isn’t the oil and gas industry, cars with internal combustion engines, or the farting of cattle on beef ranches. The culprit in this case can be found right in the homes of virtually everyone reading this. It’s your refrigerator. Well, not your specific refrigerator. Everyone’s refrigerators. In fact, all cooling technology of every sort that is currently in use, unless you’re in the habit of harvesting ice from a lake and saving it for the summer.

Another Low Blow — Wind Energy Falters (Again)
One of mankind’s great achievements has been the way that, across an ever-increasing part of the planet, we have reached a level of technological sophistication that has meant that we can go about our business without, extreme events aside, having to worry too much about what the weather is doing.

The Fed’s Next Green Leap Forward (and More)?
It seems that mission creep at the Fed (although “creep” is becoming too leisurely a word) may be on the edge of speeding up once more.

Biden: Only Putin Gets Pipelines
The Biden administration has reportedly told Eastern Mediterranean nations that the United States is reversing course and will no longer support the proposed EastMed natural-gas pipeline from Israel to Europe. The State Department says that the United States will instead “promote clean energy technologies” and support projects that “prepare the region for the clean energy transition.”

Why our conservatories are under threat: Sun traps could be on the way out as new climate change rules outlaw any new-builds that would create ‘unwanted solar gain’
Conservatories will soon need to show they don’t create ‘unwanted solar gain’

If You Liked Covid Censorship, You’ll Love The Latest “Climate Change” Censorship Push
Advance Democracy activist group “investigates entities undermining the global consensus on climate change”

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Another Horror Story About the Long Waits for Health Care in Canada
If you’ve gotten into discussions about health care in the past few decades – and who hasn’t? – there’s a good chance you’ve encountered someone who is infuriated by the costs and hassles of private health insurance, and who wishes Americans had a health care system “where the government pays for it, like in Canada.”

 

War & Terror

 

What We Know About The Texas Synagogue Terrorist
Biden states that 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram committed “an act of terror”

The Russian Bear, On the March
Russia is carrying out a cyber attack on Ukraine, and it is reported–rather casually, it seems to me–that Russia is likely to invade soon

Two teens arrested in England, FBI admits synagogue attack was anti-Semitic terrorism
The terrorist attack on a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas Saturday during Shabbat services ended after an eleven-hour ordeal. Fortunately, the four men held hostage, including the rabbi, were released unharmed. The Jihadi terrorist, a British national, is dead. His identity was released on Sunday.

Why Were Authorities So Evasive About the Synagogue Gunman’s Motive?
Biden says the gunman’s motivation was a mystery, and then mentions that he was “using anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments.” Call me crazy, but I think the antisemitic and anti-Israeli comments might give a hint as to his motivation!

Golden State Warriors co-owner: I don’t care about the Uighurs, okay?
He’s a minority owner of the team and it’s not his claim to fame. Chamath Palihapitiya is also the chairman of Virgin Galactic, among other things. He’s a mega-rich tech bro.

As war looms larger, what are Russia’s military options in Ukraine?
The Kremlin’s aim would probably be to shatter Ukrainian military power and dictate terms

Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taker was Under Investigation by British MI5, Supported Pro-Palestinian and Jihadi Causes
“He is a known participant in demonstrations supporting pro-Palestine agenda and Guantanamo Bay prisoner rallies and approved of Jihad.”

Three killed in UAE capital in suspected drone attack claimed by Yemen rebels
Yemen’s rebel Houthi movement said Monday it had carried out a military attack on the United Arab Emirates as authorities in Abu Dhabi, the capital, announced suspected drone strikes targeted an industrial area and the airport, killing three people and wounding six others.

The Big Business of Uyghur Genocide Denial
A New Lines investigation reveals a network of charities funneling millions into left-wing platforms that take Beijing’s side on the genocide allegations — and they’re all connected to an American tech magnate

Putin has been emptying out Russia’s embassy in Ukraine
Even before the latest rounds of talks between Russia, the United States, and NATO representatives began in various European locations earlier this month, something disturbing was happening in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Russia began loading some of the staff at their Ukrainian embassy onto busses for the ride back to Moscow. At first, it was the spouses and children of some of the diplomats working there. In the days that followed, lower-level staffers were departing. By the time the talks got underway, several dozen people had left for Russia, with diplomats at a few other locations reportedly being told to start packing and preparing to leave.

Russian Landing Ships Leave Baltic Sea Raising Concerns That Ukraine May Be Their Final Destination (Updated)
An additional three amphibious warships remain active in the Baltic Sea, with Sweden taking a heavy interest in their movements.

The Bigger Dilemma for NATO
Hawks left and right are presently agonizing about Ukraine. They believe that Russia’s subordination of a non-NATO state is a threat to the credibility of NATO. I don’t believe it is.

Tucker Carlson on NATO and Ukraine: How would we feel if Mexico fell under China’s military control?
I confess, I’d be alarmed to have a hostile expansionist authoritarian regime using our next-door neighbor as a military staging ground.

Sullivan Introduces Crippling Taiwan-Invasion Sanctions Bill, Citing National Review
Senator Dan Sullivan has introduced a bill to impose crippling sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party and key Chinese institutions in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

U.S. Weighs Pulling Diplomats’ Family Members Out of Ukraine
The U.S. is weighing whether to evacuate family members of diplomats stationed in Ukraine as Russia masses more than 100,000 troops on its borders, according to people familiar with the matter.

Russia to US: Get out of all former Soviet republics, even in Europe — and agree in writing
Is this “dialing down the temperature” on Ukraine, as the Associated Press put it? Or did Sergei Lavrov use Joe Biden’s vacillating language in Wednesday’s presser to put the US even further on the defensive? The Russian foreign minister insisted that the US and NATO respond in writing to its demands for a non-interference position in Ukraine, while Antony Blinken suggested that some progress had been made on cooling tensions.

“Belarusian Government Officials Charged With Aircraft Piracy for Diverting … Flight … to Arrest Dissident Journalist”
Arrr! Or, as we say in the Cyrillosphere, ????!

Here we go … again: State Dept orders evacuation of US embassy staff families from Kyiv while embassy requests staff pullout
Yesterday, the State Department let it be known that it was considering an evacuation of diplomats’ families from the US embassy in Ukraine. Today, State ordered their removal

Ukraine and Our German Allies
If things get rough over Ukraine in the next few weeks, I’m not entirely convinced that Germany is going to be the most reliable of allies.

 

National

 

Gender professor says biological sex is a ‘social construct’
A California Gender & Sexuality Associate Professor tweeted that people should stop teaching that sex is biological. “There will be no gender liberation without abolishing the institution of heterosexuality”

Gallup: “Dramatic shift” in electorate in 2021 — away from Dems
Will the 2022 midterms produce a red wave … or a red wedding for Democrats? Based on this 14-point swing in the gap for party registration since Joe Biden took office, better work on your RSVPs and butcher’s aprons. Gallup’s latest look at the composition of the electorate shows just how badly Biden and Democratic leadership bungled away a potential generational opportunity

Gallup Records 14-Point Shift in Party Identification During 2021
Gallup reports that Joe Biden has presided over a remarkable resurgence in support for the Republican party

Critical Social Justice in the UNC System
Critical Social Justice (CSJ) poses a threat to higher education and to the American way of life. This school of thought goes by many names, including Critical Race Theory, Critical Theory, Multiculturalism, and Identity Politics. All these ideologies divide the world into aggrieved minorities and oppressive majorities, reducing people to a group identity grounded in immutable characteristics such as race and sex. They are based on a distorted view of what a human being is, compromising the pursuit of truth and diverting institutions that adopt it away from excellence and merit and toward factionalism. They cultivate resentment and anger among the supposedly aggrieved while undermining the stability, equal treatment, and mutual toleration that contributes to individual happiness and good citizenship. Universities promote CSJ policies under the seemingly innocuous rubric of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

Community-College Students Need Skills and Knowledge, Not DEI
Unfortunately, the powers that be in North Carolina’s community colleges have decreed that the hideous diversity, equity, and inclusion triumvirate will be “embedded” in the curriculum.

A Win for Parents, a Loss for Aztec Worship in Schools
Earlier today, conservative education activist Chris Rufo reported: “Following a lawsuit from parents, the State of California has permanently removed the ‘In Lak Ech Affirmation’ from the state curriculum, which would have forced students to chant to the Aztec god of human sacrifice in order to become ‘warriors’ for ‘social justice.'”

Huh: Are MAGA Republicans coming around on reforming the Electoral Count Act?
A genuine surprise. So much so that I’m sitting here trying to figure out what the ulterior motive might be, with no clear answer.

UCLA researchers cure HIV in 40% of mice – study
Their method forces the virus to expose itself while hidden in cells, rendering it vulnerable to existing antiviral drugs.

Sub Teacher Claims She Was Fired for Not Meowing Back at Student Who Identifies as Feline
A substitute teacher says she was canned for not “identifying” with all of her students, including a young boy who claims to be a cat.

Is the New York Times Reconsidering Transitioning for Children?
The New York Times has finally published a piece in which concerns over transitioning gender-distressed children have not been brushed aside as transphobic

CBS: Gaetz ex-girlfriend got immunity in exchange for grand-jury testimony
Well, well, well. The plot thickens: “Prosecutors granted immunity to an ex-girlfriend of Representative Matt Gaetz before she testified last week in front of a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigation of the congressman, according to a source familiar with the matter.”

NBC News: Democrats are headed for a shellacking in November
NBC News is running it’s version of the 2022 dashboard meter which is meant to show the likelihood of certain outcomes in the upcoming midterm elections. As you can see, two of the three meters are currently pointing toward a shellacking for Democrats.

NYT: Scientists Studying Privilege, Inequality in Animal Kingdom
Woke nerds run amok

Investor’s Uyghur Comments Are Even Worse Than You’ve Heard
Most folks are focusing on the comment from Chamath Palihapitiya, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian and American venture capitalist, that he doesn’t care about the Uyghurs in China. But he went much further, and he said worse things. This wasn’t an ambush interview; this was his own podcast with his friends. This wasn’t a brief comment taken out of context; this was an impassioned argument that criticizing China’s human-rights record was deplorable. This isn’t the usual case of a businessman being struck blind when it comes to the abuses of Beijing; this is a man who could afford the consequences of doing the right thing and standing up against a crime against humanity . . . and who deliberately chooses to stand with the victimizer against the victims.

Meet The Seattle Schools Woke Indoctrination Czar Who Married A Child Molester
America’s schools are following the footsteps of Seattle on a quest for racial equity. But Seattle’s efforts have been marked by animus, lies, and worsening results.

TN Legislature To Consider K-12 School Vouchers, Insulin Price Cap This Week
While much of the Tennessee Legislature’s focus this week will be on finalizing redistricting plans, a full slate of committee meetings are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Elizabeth Warren Thinks Biden Can Save His Presidency With Executive Order Canceling Student Loan Debt
“These are people who did what we want them to do as Americans. They tried.”

Parents Group Claims Saint Paul Public Schools Indoctrinates Preschoolers on Transgender Issues
A parents group claims that a Minnesota school district is indoctrinating toddlers about pride and other “equity” agenda items.

TSA Says It Will Accept Arrest Warrants as ID for Illegal Aliens at Airports
What sort of identification do you need to fly from a U.S. airport? According to the Transporation Security Agency (TSA), there are 16 forms of ID you can use to board an airplane. Generally, they include any government-issued ID like a driver’s license or a passport as well as military IDs, transportation worker cards, and a border crossing card.

Will California finally repeal Prop 47?
While much of the mainstream media has dutifully done their level best to ignore the situation, voters and even some elected officials in California have been waking up to the reality of what’s been happening in their state ever since the legislature passed the disastrous bill known as proposition 47. That was the bill that reduced the theft of less than $950 worth of merchandise from a felony to a misdemeanor, with suspects rarely if ever being held on bail while awaiting a date in court. The law had previously set the felony barrier at $400. The result, which came as a surprise to absolutely nobody with the amount of common sense that God gave to a housefly, was a massive increase in increasingly organized retail theft raids and “smash and grab” robbery schemes. Now, however, at least some people appear to be fed up with all of the crime and there are plans shaping up from both sides of the aisle to roll back or at least modify the bill. And yet there are still progressives in the Golden State who are fighting to maintain the new status quo.

Here’s How We Know the Left Wants All Kids to Be LGBTQ
The LGBT cult isn’t merely pushing for tolerance of LGBT people; they are now codifying the brainwashing of people into their community and criminalizing those who promote biological norms. George Orwell couldn’t have written a scarier story.

What the Florida CRT Bill Actually Says
Isaac has already hit the Associated Press for misrepresenting Florida’s anti-critical race theory bill. TV commentators are running with the AP’s spin, claiming that it outlaws “white discomfort,” a phrase nowhere found in the bill

What’s Missing from the Voter-Suppression Debate — Evidence of Voter Suppression
It’s amazing how pretty much the entire voting debate takes it for granted that voter suppression is happening. Presumably, most journalists and politicians don’t even know what’s supposed to be the factual basis of the voter suppression that they accept as a premise for their questions and statements.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly Sides with Schumer over Sinema on Filibuster
For over a year, Arizona Democratic senator Mark Kelly, who is up for reelection in 2022, has avoided taking a position on abolishing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for legislation.

Youngkin names a new diversity officer for the state
Orders a new focus for the office’s work

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Holds Stock in Company Lobbying His State
Democrat John Fetterman supports ban on lawmakers owning stocks

Why is the FBI at the home of Rep. Cuellar?
Rep. Henry Cuellar is a moderate Texas Democrat who is sometimes at odds with his own party on issues like border control. Today, a reporter named Valerie Gonzalez is reporting that the FBI has shown up at Rep. Cuellar’s home and is currently investigating something.

LAPD Arrests Suspected Killer of UCLA Grad Brianna Kupfer
“Shawn Laval Smith, 31, was arrested after a tip led police to a bus stop in Pasadena on Wednesday morning”

A new trial for Ghislaine Maxwell?
If you thought that the entire, tawdry saga of Ghislaine Maxwell was finally behind us, you may need to reset your expectations. If a judge agrees with a request filed this week by Maxwell’s attorneys, the entire circus may be gearing up to start over from scratch. The defense has asked for a new trial based on revelations made to the media by one of the jurors who may have lied about his personal history with sexual abuse. Based on the descriptions that Scotty David (first and middle names) gave to reporters after the close of the trial, he may have done more than conceal his own past, significantly influencing the other jurors during deliberations. But we already have a number of guilty verdicts that were accepted by the court. Can they technically declare a mistrial at this stage?

NYC Mayor: Even I don’t feel safe on the subway
On the day that he was sworn into office as the next mayor of New York City, Eric Adams decided to take the subway as a way of staying in touch with the people and the realities that they face in day-to-day life in the Big Apple. It didn’t go well. In fact, he wound up calling 911 during his trip. He was reporting people who were yelling and fighting in the rail cars and at the terminals. Of course, he got off rather lightly compared to the woman who was recently pushed to her death in front of a subway car by a deranged homeless man. Those memories were still with Mayor Adams when he gave his first press conference this week. Rather than trying to downplay the crime in his city, Adams took a more realistic and direct approach, telling reporters that people don’t feel safe on the streets anymore and something has to be done about that.

Robert Reich: Senate Dems should have given Sinema the back of their hands
Uhhhhhhhh, I don’t think he meant this figuratively.

The curious case of the forged electoral certificates
A whodunnit left over from the 2020 election that’s getting closer to being solved thanks to the January 6 committee.

Public Schools in Fairfax County, VA, Have Students Play ‘Privilege Bingo’
“It also says one has ‘privilege’ if they are a ‘Military Kid,’ drawing shock from parents”

New York City Removes Theodore Roosevelt Statue From Museum of Natural History
“Last month, the museum covered the 10-foot-tall statue with an orange tarp ahead of its shipment to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.”

VA Gov. Youngkin Hires Anti-CRT Scholar As Chief Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion Officer
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sailor has frequently “criticized school lessons on systemic racism in the U.S.”

Samsung pulls ad with drag queen after backlash
Samsung has pulled an ad showing a Muslim mother expressing support for her drag queen son, after backlash from some parts of the Muslim community.

The Music Industry Is in Crisis Because People Are Buying More Old Songs Than New
According to the music sales data company MRC, “old songs” now represent an astonishing 70% of the U.S. market. It’s even more noteworthy on streaming platforms, where the 200 most popular tracks now account for less than 5% of total streams.

Arizona Dem: Some of Sinema’s own Senate colleagues are pushing me to primary her
Those closed-door Senate Dem caucus lunches must be zesty affairs lately.

Keeping Up With the Leftist Lexicon
Not long ago I started “Hayward’s Lexicon of Leftist Terminology”

Newsom torched for comparing LA trash pileup to third world country: ‘Clueless’
Conservatives blamed Newsom and Democrat policies for the mess

Mother: teachers manipulated child to change gender identity
A mother who claims teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into changing her gender identity and name has filed a legal case against a tiny California school district.

Main Stream Media Panics Over K-12 Education Transparency Proposals
Bills in numerous states proposing that K-12 materials be posted on the internet so parents can see what is being taught have teachers unions and mainstream media crying out loud.

Marist Poll: Most Americans Want Abortion Limits that Roe & Casey Won’t Allow
A new Marist poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus finds that the overwhelming majority of Americans want abortion laws that are not allowed under the Supreme Court’s abortion precedents of Roe and Casey.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Snow routes, Sharia law, and a win-win for everyone.

Cancel Culture Win: U. North Texas Prof. Timothy Jackson’s Free Speech And Defamation Case Can Move Forward, Court Rules
Prof. Jackson was swept up in the cancel culture mania that swept academia in the summer of 2020, as BLM riots swept cities. He wasn’t fired, but sues alleging his free speech rights were violated and he was defamed.

ACLU Opposing Transparency Laws That Would Expose Stealth CRT Instruction in Schools
In recent decades, the ACLU has supported transparency laws in schools when it came to sex education instruction, religious teachings in public schools, and segregating activities by sex.

Denver School to Teach Kindergartners BLM ‘Guiding Principles’: What Could Go Wrong?
A Denver public elementary school system is planning on teaching gender and race sensitivity lessons using Black Lives Matter’s “13 Guiding Principles” as a model.

Yes, It’s CRT, and the Education Blob Won’t Stop Using It
When parents and others who care about the integrity of our schools speak up against teaching the false and divisive notions of critical race theory, the education blob responds with evasions and denials. They say that CRT is only taught in law schools (as if it was appropriate there), but not K-12.

Twenty-one days to brainwash your child
The parents of Farmington Hills, Michigan (a suburb 25 miles outside of downtown Detroit), were none too pleased to discover recently that their school board was forcing students to take a “21-Day Equity Challenge” as part of the district’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” curriculum.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

U-Haul Growth Index Confirms Blue to Red State Exodus
“With a strong job market and low cost of living, it’s a no-brainer. Texas doesn’t have an income tax, so families get more for their money”

Supply chain crisis status: Still bad, and China’s lockdowns about to make it worse
The supply-chain crisis might have taken a back seat in media coverage to the Democratic credibility crisis in the Beltway, but that’s not due to any improvement. Shipping continues to back up outside West Coast ports at almost record levels despite the White House’s claim of heightened attention and interventions. And China’s actions in the pandemic are about to make it worse, the Washington Post also reports.

Oil Prices Hit Seven-Year High on Rising Geopolitical Tensions
Concerns over the Omicron variant and tensions in Europe and the Middle East are factors driving the rally

It’s Not “Woke” for Businesses to Think Beyond Profit, BlackRock Chief Says
Laurence D. Fink, the founder and chief executive of the investment giant BlackRock, has become one of the most influential voices in business over the past decade in pushing corporate leaders to think beyond profits, to their social purpose.

FedEx Offering “Congestion Bypass Service” around L.A. Ports
Supply Chain Dive reports that FedEx Logistics is starting a “congestion bypass service” by selling space on empty-container sailings for shippers. Instead of sailing to Los Angeles/Long Beach, these ships will sail to the Port of Hueneme, which is in Ventura County, less than 100 miles north of L.A.

 

International

 

Death Toll on Tonga Remains Unknown after Tsumani Wipes Out Internet
Two people drowned by high waves in Peru after eruption.

Tonga volcano: islands covered in ash as three deaths confirmed
Pictures from New Zealand defence force surveillance flight and UN satellite images show land and trees coated in ash

BLM Statue Removers Found “Not Guilty” of Criminal Damage
A jury in Bristol, England, found four Black Lives Matter protesters “not guilty” of criminal damage after they pulled down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in June 2020.

Global survey: Confidence in democracies falls, autocracies rise
Since the 1990s, the Edelman Trust Barometer has been conducting global polling to determine the level of trust people around the world place in the four primary institutions impacting people’s lives (business, government, NGOs, and media). This year’s results were recently released and the news isn’t particularly encouraging for democracies and freedom around the planet, not just here in the United States. Owing to a variety of largely anecdotal factors, people’s faith in various institutions in western, democratic nations has been on the slide since the pandemic began. Curiously, confidence in the government in repressive, autocratic states like China has been on the rise. What can be done to restore that trust is an open question, but this is clearly a disturbing trend.

Eric Zemmour found guilty of hate speech
Eric Zemmour, the right-wing pundit, author, and candidate for president of France, has been found guilty of inciting racial hatred. He was fined $11,400 for the offense and faces imprisonment if doesn’t pay.

Not One Corpse Has Been Found In The “Mass Grave” Of Indigenous Children In Canada
The whole story, it seems, was concocted to stir up hatred against Christians and stoke outrage. It succeeded.

Animal Sacrifice Sees Drunk Priest Allegedly Behead Man Instead of Goat
A drunk priest in India allegedly killed a man during an animal sacrifice for Sankranthi celebrations on Sunday

Jordan Peterson Resigns Tenured Professor Position at U. Toronto, Citing Destructive Diversity and Inclusion Policies
“I am academic persona non grata, because of my unacceptable philosophical positions. And this isn’t just some inconvenience.”

UK Tory says Johnson’s team blackmailed MPs to stem rebellion
A U.K. Conservative lawmaker accused Boris Johnson’s parliamentary fixers of “intimidation” and “blackmail” as they battled to fend off a challenge to the prime minister’s leadership this week, and urged members of Parliament to report the matter to the police.

Imperial Regulators — Mad Emperor Edition?
If this (almost week-old) story is true, at a first glance it would appear to suggest that those running the European Central Bank may have lost their minds.

Not One Body Has Been Found At Indigenous ‘Unmarked Mass Grave’ In Kamloops, Canada
Over a dozen churches were set on fire throughout Canada over claims that ground-penetrating radar discovered what appeared to be an “unmarked mass grave” of indigenous children “as young as three years old” in Kamloops, yet not one body has been exhumed and the radar signatures of “graves” may just be tree roots and stones.

British Conservatives set to go for top job if Johnson falls
Revelations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff partied while Britain was in a coronavirus lockdown have provoked public outrage and led some members of his Conservative Party to consider ousting their leader.

 

Opinion

 

Kamala’s nightmare
I tend to avoid watching either Biden or Harris speak, but sometimes they’re nearly impossible to avoid. The other day I heard part of an interview with Harris, and I was appalled.

Daniel Hannan: Why is the West falling behind? Because we are abandoning meritocracy.
Even in Pakistan’s remote mountain passes, you keep stumbling upon China’s spoor. By the side of empty roads, you find monuments celebrating the unlikely alliance between the world’s first purpose-built Muslim country and the last Communist power. On the edge of villages, you find Chinese-funded social projects. More and more, you find highways, dams and factories springing up along the path of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

A senile phantasmagoria
Yesterday President Biden held a rare press conference to observe the first anniversary of his tenure in office. I assess Biden’s press conference yesterday the worst ever — the worst presidential press conference, that is.

Is America Heading for a Systems Collapse?
In modern times, as in ancient Rome, several nations have suffered a “systems collapse.” The term describes the sudden inability of once-prosperous populations to continue with what had ensured the good life as they knew it.

Ron DeSantis Knows the Formula to Defeat Donald Trump
The most successful line of attack against a potential Trump 2024 candidacy will likely come from the populist right.

After Hegemony
America may no longer be the world’s dominant state, but we must not allow China to claim that title

Is There Any Chance of Innovation in Higher Education?
Much of American higher education is wasteful or worse, imparting mistaken ideas about the world in the minds of students to make them amenable to the “progressive” project of ever-expanding state control. It costs a tremendous amount but often delivers little more than a paper credential.

New Poll Shows the Challenge and Opportunity of a Primary of Marjorie Taylor Greene
With a redrawn district that subtracted some of her most faithful supporters in her 2020 primary race and added hostile suburban territory in return, freshman congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene faces a serious primary challenge from Jennifer Strahan. That challenge is an uphill battle: Greene has a ton of money from donors outside the district, she gets gobs of free publicity, and the Democrats, eager to prop up Greene as an embarrassment to statewide and national Republicans, are suing to challenge the redrawing of her district. But the May 24 primary is still four months away (with a runoff on June 21 if nobody breaks 50 percent), and voters are just beginning to tune in. There has not been independent public polling of the district yet, but a new poll commissioned by anti-Greene forces — which was not commissioned by the Strahan campaign — shows how Strahan’s message could draw her even with Greene.

Does “White Privilege” Exist?
Desperate for excuses to tear down our traditions — free enterprise, limited government, private property, and so on — the Left calls America irredeemably racist due to “white privilege.” Is there any truth in that?