News of the Week for July 24^th, 2022

• Election 2022
• Abortion
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Election 2022

 

Voter Registration Shows Democrats’ Peril
GOP numbers have improved markedly in several 2022 midterm battleground states.

GOP Senate Candidates Are Way Behind Democrats in the Money Race
The GOP may be doing well in the polls, but when it comes to fundraising, Republican Senate candidates are lagging.

The Iowa Poll Points to a Democratic Bloodbath in November
It’s easy to forget that not that long ago, Iowa was perceived to be a pretty Democratic-leaning state. The state had Democratic governors from 1999 to 2011; Tom Harkin occupied one of the state’s two Senate seats from 1985 to 2015; and just one cycle ago, Democrats represented three of the state’s four seats in the House of Representatives. In 2018, a good year for Democrats, Republican Kim Reynolds won the governor’s race, 50.3 percent to 47.5 percent.

Gilbert files election contest lawsuit after GOP governor primary loss
Attorney Joey Gilbert has filed an election contest lawsuit after initial results, and then a subsequent recount made at his request, showed he lost the Republican governor primary by about 26,000 votes to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.

Holy frijolx! And you thought “breakfast tacos” was bad …
… and it was, but the Democrats’ campaign against Mayra Flores took a turn for the absurdly worse. In an attempt to recapture the Hispanic vote in the Rio Grande Valley, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’ campaign decided to go hard after Flores, who won a special election in a neighboring House district that will merge into Gonzalez’. They paid a blogger to run attacks on Flores, who took notice yesterday of the bigoted nature of those attacks.

Rep. Lee Zeldin attacked at Perinton campaign stop
Witnesses say Zeldin was giving a speech about bail reform at the VFW on Macedon Center Road when a man got on stage, started yelling, “wrestled with him a bit, and pulled a blade out.”

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

California’s Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Guarantee Right to Abortion through Ninth Month
The California legislature has placed a proposal on the November ballot that would elevate and expand the existing legality of abortion to a state constitutional right.

Students can’t find the right to abortion in the Constitution
After insisting that abortion is a constitutional right, college students were unable to locate where the Constitution protects abortion.

 

Gun Rights

 

Armed Citizen Shoots, Kills Active Shooter in Indiana Mall
An armed bystander appears to have intervened to stop an active shooter in Indiana Sunday night, likely saving additional lives.

California’s Gun Grabbers Screw Themselves
In an attempt to subvert the Supreme Court’s clear directions in the Bruen decision, California’s gun grabbing Democrats have actually made their case weaker through their own arguments.

Newsom trolls SCOTUS: I dare you to strike down my gun law after upholding Texas’ abortion bill
A supremely silly exercise from a supremely silly presidential wannabe, and not just because it aims at getting a hearing from the Supreme Court. Gavin Newsom wanted to craft a gun-control bill similar to Texas’ SB8 that granted standing for any citizen to sue an abortion provider for violating a then-imposed civil prohibition on abortions.

California Enacts Gun Control Law Modeled on Texas’ SB 8 Anti-Abortion Law
Both laws seek to evade judicial review by delegating enforcement exclusively to private parties.

Colorado U.S. District Court issues TRO against magazine and gun ban
Ruling against town of Superior’s law is the first post-Bruen decision on arms bans

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Biden economic adviser: Of course we’re disincentivizing oil and gas production!
Old and busted: The oil industry won’t produce gasoline because of profiteering! New hotness: We won’t let them invest in more production because of our incredible transition from fossil fuels!

Germany: On second thought, maybe we won’t shut down our remaining nuclear power plants
The energy situation in Germany hasn’t made much sense this year. The country was set to shut down its remaining nuclear power plants this year as part of a long-term push by the Green party to get rid of them. And given that the Green party is currently part of the governing coalition in Germany it seemed nothing would stop that plan.

The Blue-State War on Nuclear Power
The irrational, ideologically driven effort to decarbonize without nuclear energy is a fool’s errand.

Your-pain-our-gain Buttigieg: I’m “astonished” that people aren’t flocking to EVs
If you got strong Marie Antoinette vibes from Pete Buttigieg’s House testimony yesterday, his appearance today on CNBC’s Squawk Box will amplify them considerably. The Transportation Secretary told Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) that the more we experience “pain” from high gas prices, “the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles.”

The apocalypse this time
I believe in the climate, but I am a climate apocalypse denier. Do the apocalypse believers really believe? The politicians make me wonder. They don’t appear to live their lives one bit differently than the rest of us — except insofar as they do so on a far greater scale of indulgence and luxury than we can imagine.

Congress is debating hydrogen pipeline regulations. Pay attention
Over the past decade, there has been increasing interest in using hydrogen as a fuel source on a large scale for a variety of reasons. Several projects are already either in the planning stages or underway seeking to make this a reality. But in order for that to happen, we’re going to need to not only create a lot more hydrogen but establish ways to move it around the country. That means we’re going to need pipelines for it. But the requirements for transporting hydrogen are different than those for natural gas, so we’ll either need to make modifications to existing gas lines or build new pipelines from scratch. (Most likely a combination of both.) With that in mind, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has been meeting to explore what needs to be done and determine what regulations should be in place for these projects.

Annals of Government Dentistry
Socialized medicine has long been a chief goal of the Democratic Party, but it is hard to understand why anyone would voluntarily entrust his family’s health care to the tender mercies of any government, even the most benign. We have tracked the United Kingdom’s experience with socialized medicine in our “Annals of Government Medicine” series, and I wrote here about the current crisis in British dentistry: nine out of ten National Health Service dentists’ offices won’t take any new patients. And British dentistry, like European dentistry in general, was nothing to write home about in the first place.

Green Energy: Building a New Dependency
If there is one silver lining in the cloud that is the disaster created for Europe, but most particularly Germany, by its reliance on Russia for natural gas, it is that the West has learned that becoming reliant on a hostile (or, if you are an optimist, potentially hostile) authoritarian state is . . . unwise.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

The ever-expanding goalposts of euthanasia in Canada
Practically speaking, we need to have an adult conversation of the pros and cons of euthanasia and where to draw the line.

 

War & Terror

 

Social justice summer camp started by anarchists to be held in Oregon
Parents in Portland, Oregon can now send their kids to a free social justice summer camp founded by anarchists. A group called Budding Roses, which was founded as a project of the Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Foundation, will hold a free two-week summer camp this month open to students in 4th through 8th grades.

The Fire Next Time
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western businesses abandoned Russia in droves. There was little pain, since investments in Russia’s economy have generally been modest. But the London Times asks a good question: what if China invades Taiwan? The headline is, “Western companies face ‘existential crisis’ as fears grow of Chinese invasion of Taiwan.”

Russia Says It’s Losing Because Ukraine Has Experimental Mutant Troops Created in Secret Biolabs
Nevermind the myriad reports of shoddy equipment and Russian troops ditching the war, the real setback, according to lawmakers, was mutant Ukrainian soldiers.

‘Ben Shapiro, you’ve spun your last dreidel,’ says armed far-right activist in video
Groyper movement activist Aidan Duncan joked about shooting American Jewish commentator Ben Shapiro in an Instagram video.

Survey raises serious questions about the future of the all-volunteer force
The results of a new survey of military and veterans and spouses — including details on financial difficulties — raise concerns about the future of the military, said the executive director of the organization that conducted the survey.

China seeks to stop UN rights chief from releasing Xinjiang report – document
China is asking the United Nations human rights chief to bury a highly-anticipated report on human rights violations in Xinjiang, according to a Chinese letter seen by Reuters and confirmed by diplomats from three countries who received it.

Tiananmen Square 2.0? China deploys tanks to prevent people from withdrawing money from crisis-hit banks
As per reports, tanks were rolled out to protect the banks and prevent locals from reaching them. This comes in the wake of an announcement by the Henan branch of the Bank of China that the savings of depositors in their branch are ‘investment products’ and cannot be withdrawn

‘We’re Losing’ but Moscow Will Never Admit It, Russian Soldier Says
“They will never show you this on television, they will never tell you the truth,” a man identified as a Russian soldier tells family in what Ukraine says is an intercepted call.

Taiwan’s Ambassador Affirms Confidence in US Help as China Threat Grows
Taiwan’s ambassador to the U.S., during a roundtable discussion Wednesday with House Republican leaders, said she is confident America would assist the island if it were attacked by China.

Secret FBI investigation concluded Chinese tech could capture and disrupt communications with US missile silos
CNN has published this as an exclusive and it’s an eye-opener. The site reports that US authorities have been fighting stepped-up efforts by China to intercept US communications on US soil for several years. In many cases, the US has been able to head off these efforts before they get started

 

National

 

After Focusing on Florida, CA Gov. Newsom Doesn’t ‘Know Enough’ About LA County DA’s Poor Job Performance to Comment
More news from Hellscape Gascónistan.

Democrat D.C. Mayor Bowser Complains About TX and AZ Sending Illegal Immigrants to Her City
Um, your party caused this border crisis. Also, Bowser has donated a ton of money to open borders groups and doesn’t want illegal immigrants in D.C.? D.C. is supposed to be a sanctuary city.

“This is not a George Floyd situation”: Minneapolis mom berates BLM protesters after police shooting
A man starts firing a gun in an apartment building, nearly hitting a woman and her two small children while cooking dinner. Police respond, hear more gunfire, and spend hours trying to talk Tekle Sundberg into surrendering, even bringing his father along to talk his son out of the standoff. Police take a dozen shots at incapacitating the man with “less than lethal” rounds, and then finally snipers end the standoff with fatal shots that kill Sundberg.

Florida poll: DeSantis 61, Trump 39
For the second time in five days, a pollster from Florida with whom I’m unfamiliar sees DeSantis leading the former guy comfortably in their mutual home state. Last week Blueprint Polling had the race 51/39 there. Today Victory Insights has it 61/39 if “leaners” are included and 51/33 if they aren’t.

Gender activists push to bar anthropologists from identifying human remains as ‘male’ or ‘female’
Argue scientists cannot know how an ancient individual identified themselves

The DEI Regime
Every Fortune 100 company has now adopted “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming.

Betsy DeVos Calls for Abolishing the Department of Education
“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist”

‘DEI has taken over’ civics education
National Association of Scholars Research Associate John Sailer discussed his case study that examines pervasive diversity, equity, and inclusion at Arizona’s public universities.

Boulder City fire responding to Hoover Dam after explosion reported
The Boulder City Fire Department is en route to the Hoover Dam Tuesday after an explosion was reported.

Hoo boy: Poll shows DeSantis within three points of Trump in Michigan
The more these encouraging polls for DeSantis pile up, the more tempted Trump will be to start tearing him down early, maybe even before this fall’s gubernatorial election in Florida.

Bannon’s Trial Is Under Way in Earnest
We just published my column on the home page, explaining that just as jury selection was concluding in former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s contempt-of-Congress trial and opening statements were set to begin, defense lawyers yet again sought a postponement. They contended that pretrial rulings were unclear regarding what they were permitted to argue in Bannon’s behalf.

Merriam-Webster Changes the Definition of ‘Female’
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary has caved to the trans agenda. In order to appease woke activists, the dictionary publisher has added a secondary definition of “female” that defines the term as “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.” The key term here is “gender identity,” which demonstrates that Merriam-Webster maintains that gender is not directly connected to sex. A female is a woman. Trans-identifying males are not female. However, according to trans activists, men can be women.

House passes gay marriage bill — with 47 Republicans in favor
A fascinating vote, although not as fascinating as the vote will be if the Senate ends up considering this bill.

Judge orders Rudy Giuliani to testify before grand jury in Trump election probe
Giuliani, who urged Georgia officials to change the outcome of the 2020 vote, has been ordered to testify before the Fulton County special grand jury on Aug. 9.

‘Holy grail’ of blood tests on the horizon after scientists find cancer alters RNA ‘dark matter’
A “holy grail” blood test that can diagnose any type of cancer years before symptoms appear could be on the horizon. Scientists from UC Santa Cruz have discovered a protein released in the early stages of the disease, when tumors are most curable.

Anti-plagiarism policies ‘harm Black and Latinx students,’ professor argues
Antar A. Tichavakunda, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati, recently argued that exam surveillance, zero-tolerance policies, and fraternities and sororities harm ‘Black and Latinx’ students.

Gonorrhea could be the driver of gene mutations that fight against dementia, improving cognition
University of California San Diego researchers have successfully built off their previous research, uncovering human gene mutations that protect cognition in older adults. Now in their latest work, they focused on the evolution of one specific gene. Their findings suggest that selective pressure from pathogens like gonorrhea may have promoted the emergence of the gene variant, supporting older humans to live long enough to become grandparents.

Report: Secret Service was twice told to preserve records before Jan. 6 texts were deleted
Actually, they were technically told more than twice, as you’ll see. So, which of them are getting fired for ignoring orders?

The Pushback Against Classroom Indoctrination Begins
America is finally waking up to the fact that poisonous, divisive ideas are proliferating in public education, from pre-K to graduate school. The question is how to push back against such ideas.

Lesbian bar shuts down one week after opening because they weren’t woke enough
Doc Marie’s is a lesbian bar that opened on July 1st of this year with the hope of bringing more inclusivity to the city of Portland. But just one week after their grand opening they were forced to shut down because of complaints that the bar was not a “safe space.” Similar to the story I wrote a few weeks ago about the queer-owned cafe in Philadelphia that was shut down by employees for not being woke enough, Doc Marie’s was cannibalized by the woke mob.

Senators finalize bipartisan proposal designed to prevent another Jan. 6
The legislation would clarify that the vice president’s role in counting votes is merely symbolic and raise the threshold for when lawmakers can challenge election results.

Man found dead in home occupied by extremist group called the Black Hammer Party
Credit to Andy Ngo who mentioned this weird story on Twitter. This took place yesterday in Fayetteville, a small city south of Atlanta. An entire neighborhood was shut down by police for most of the day after they received a call from someone who claimed they’d been kidnapped

The Senate bill to prevent the next Capitol riot is finally here
It’s a national embarrassment that this bill needs to exist at all.

NASA sets launch dates for its return to the moon with giant, new rocket
NASA announced Wednesday it’s shooting for a late August launch of its giant, new moon rocket

A Promising New Electoral Count Act Reform Proposal
A couple of weeks ago, I noted around here that time was short for the effort to reform the Electoral Count Act, and that getting that effort moving would require a concrete proposal from the bipartisan group of senators that has been working on the issue for months. On Wednesday, that group produced just such a proposal, and it strikes me as constructive, balanced, and very promising.

New York State Confirms Polio Case, First Recorded Case Since 2013
The data shows the case likely originated out of the country because the person had the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Crazy People Are Dangerous, and Yes, Black Hammer Is a Dangerous Cult
Have you forgotten Augustus Claudius Romain, Jr., the Brooklyn native who styles himself “Gazi Kodzo,” supreme commander of the Black Hammer Organization? I wrote about Romain/”Kodzo” in February (“The Destructive Cult of Racial ‘Liberation'”) as the group tried and failed to build their own “community” in Colorado

Disney Parks Changing ‘Fairy Godmothers in Training’ for Gender Neutral Title
What about the employees who want to be referred to as a “Fairy Godmother in Training?”

Axios: Behold Trump’s secret, radical 2nd-term plan to drain the swamp
Brought to you in large part out of Donald Trump’s failure to “drain the swamp” in his first term in office. Axios’ Jonathan Swan does a deep dive on what we can expect from a second Trump term, assuming he runs and can win the nomination and then the subsequent election. Swan details Trump’s “radical” plan to reshape the federal workforce, which Trump finally got around to doing in his first term when it had nearly no chance of success

At Cairn University, a Program-Accreditation Nightmare
Just over one year ago, Cairn University, a small, private, Christian school in southeastern Pennsylvania, made a strategic institutional decision to eliminate its School of Social Work and all related degrees and programs, thus bringing to an end a 50-plus-year run. Closing what was a pioneering program with a long history and a sound reputation was not an easy decision, but it was a clear one. The Board of Trustees approved a recommendation from the administration to close the school based upon multiple factors. Among these were declining enrollment and an associated and growing disparity between revenue and expenses.

Axios: Behold Trump’s secret, radical 2nd-term plan to drain the swamp
Brought to you in large part out of Donald Trump’s failure to “drain the swamp” in his first term in office. Axios’ Jonathan Swan does a deep dive on what we can expect from a second Trump term, assuming he runs and can win the nomination and then the subsequent election. Swan details Trump’s “radical” plan to reshape the federal workforce, which Trump finally got around to doing in his first term when it had nearly no chance of success

Man Accused of Attack on GOP Rep. Zeldin Immediately Released after Being Charged with Felony
A 43-year-old man accused of attacking Representative Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.) with a sharp object at a campaign stop in upstate New York on Thursday evening was charged with a felony and released from custody just hours after his arrest, police said.

How equity consultants created a hostile work environment at a domestic violence non-profit
Last month, Ryan Grim at the Intercept wrote about the internal chaos which had engulfed many of the left’s leading advocacy organizations. The focus on equity and anti-racism which has pushed its way into these groups in the past few years has created a situation where infighting among employees is the norm. The director of one organization told Grim it was “the biggest problem on the left over the last six years.” “This is so big. And it’s like abuse in the family — it’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about,” this person added.

Steve Bannon Convicted in January 6 Contempt-of-Congress Case
A jury found former Trump adviser Steve Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday over his refusal to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

California’s Electric High Speed Rail: No Power, No Money, No ‘High Speed’
Many wonder if the high-speed trains will be powered by windmills, solar panels, cooking oil and algae

Two Tiers of Justice: The Violent Attack against Lee Zeldin
I have a column in the New York Post about the violent assault on Lee Zeldin by a man wielding a deadly weapon — a brass-knuckles-type contraption with spiked prongs (and bear in mind that the assailant, whom we must describe as “alleged,” is a military veteran trained in close combat). New York state penal law and procedure have become such a joke that the alleged assailant was not only charged with attempted assault in the second degree (did that look like a mere attempt to you?) but was released on his own recognizance.

Feds Arrest Zeldin’s Alleged Assailant
Federal authorities have arrested the man accused of assaulting Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Portland State student files complaint against campus police for listing race of suspect on the loose
“The email seems reckless and could cause serious harm just telling PSU to be on the look out for a general black man,” student stated

Fake Electors May Provide Easiest Path for DOJ to Charge Trump
As Congressional hearings into Jan. 6 pause for an August break, the focus turns to the US Justice Department, which must decide whether to prosecute former President Donald Trump.

Another Soros-Backed DA Bites The Dust: Marilyn Mosby Loses Reelection Bid to Democrat Primary Opponent
“Mosby, a Democrat, directed her office to stop prosecuting offenses such as drug possession, prostitution, urinating in public, and more….”

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
So no one got qualified (or absolute) immunity this week. No kidding.

Criticism Dogs Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s Redefinition of ‘Female,’ ‘Male’ to Include Gender Identity
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is facing renewed criticism for slipping woke gender ideology into its definitions of “male” and “female.”

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Inflation is making life very difficult for small businesses
It has been a rough couple of years for small business owners. First they faced the challenge of mandatory lockdowns, then the requirements for masking and social distancing. If they survived all of that (and many small businesses did not) they reached the past year where shipping backlogs and inflation have become the dominant concerns. For small business owners, that means seeing the prices they pay for supplies go up every month with no clear end in sight while trying to maintain their customer base who are constantly shocked by the price increases they face. A national small business association found the overall outlook of small business owners is a at a historic low point.

Uh oh: Home sales fall, mortgage demand crashes to 22-year low
If the economy can be likened to a game of musical chairs, it looks like the music is ending for the housing market — fast. Two big indicators today show that the Federal Reserve’s actions to tighten money supply as a brake on inflation has already had a big impact. Mortgage demand crashed to a 22-year low last week, leaving sellers potentially in a situation where prices may have to fall

More Housing Woes
Whether “ease” turns out to be a euphemism remains to be seen, but the combination of a record (median) home price and falling sales does not seem to be one that can endure for long.

Truckers Protesting California’s AB5 Block Port of Oakland
Beginning yesterday and continuing into today, truckers protesting against California’s AB5 have essentially blockaded the Port of Oakland. They have used their trucks to block entrances to the port’s terminals. The protests are gaining momentum, with the growing crowd of truckers now saying, “Cargo won’t flow until AB5 goes.”

European Central Bank surprises markets with larger-than-expected rate hike, its first in 11 years
The ECB had previously signaled it would be increasing rates in July and September as consumer prices keep surging.

Americans filing jobless claims at highest level in 8 months
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to the highest level in more than eight months in what may be a sign that the labor market is weakening.

Independent Truckers Protesting New Labor Law Shut Down Port of Oakland
Many protesters are immigrants, making decent money for their families back home.

Independent Truckers Continue to Protest in California, but Guess Who the Unions Side With?
As if we needed more issues to compound the supply chain crisis, trucker protests have entered their fourth day at Oakland’s ports. The problem with these protests is that the truckers who are demonstrating are justified.

Chinese Censors Can’t Keep a Lid on Growing Mortgage Protests
You have to give those Chinese Communist censors their props. One of the most popular topics on Chinese social media sites doesn’t exist according to the censors, and they’re bound and determined to keep it that way.

 

International

 

Troop of killer monkeys throw four-month-old baby to his death from three-story roof after snatching him from his mother
A TROOP of killer monkeys horrifically threw a four-month-old baby to his death after snatching him from his mother. Dad Nirdesh Upadhyay, 25, had been on his three-story roof terrace with his wife and son when the animals took the tot.

Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will become next PM after Penny Mordaunt knocked out of contest
The remaining two candidates will face a summer of campaigning and hustings before a vote by the wider party membership, with a winner set to be announced on 5th September.

Cuba says no short-term fix for blackouts
Cash-strapped Cuba delivered the bad news to residents Monday evening that there was no end in sight to blackouts disrupting their lives and the economy.

UK Planning to Publish Minimum Tax Draft Law Wednesday
The UK is planning to publish on Wednesday a draft law implementing the global minimum tax, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.

Canceling David Hume
The skeptical philosopher David Hume is one of the giants not just of the Enlightenment, but of the whole history of philosophy. But that was not enough to save him from being canceled in his native Scotland. At the instance of “woke” students, who wallow in incorrigible ignorance, David Hume Tower at the University of Edinburgh was re-named “40 George Square.” Hume’s offense was that, while he opposed slavery, there is a footnote in a 1758 essay where he wrote that he was “apt to suspect the negroes to be naturally inferior to the whites.”

Academic Stasi Protecting Students From White Supremacist Menace of (Checks Notes) 18th-Century Scottish Philosopher
“Don’t worry,” they told us, “it’s just a few Confederate statues.” Next thing you know, the woke mob has come for . . . David Hume?

 

Opinion

 

These People Are Not Well
First, a couple of points of housekeeping. As is evident by this post, I’m back from a whirlwind week of speaking engagements. I cannot thank First Liberty Institute enough for putting a dumb guy like me on a panel of really smart people. First Liberty is the organization that helped Coach Kennedy get to the Supreme Court and win big for all of us. If you’re looking for an organization you want to support that dedicates itself to fighting for Christians in the legal system, and beyond, they’re a great group.

Yes, Things Are Really As Bad As You’ve Heard
A Leftist Schoolteacher Struggles To Say Aloud the Things He Regularly Witnesses That Are So Outlandish They Sound Made Up By Right-Wing Provocateurs

Globalization And Its Discontents: Sir Oswald Mosley, A Story
Sir Oswald Mosley, a member of the British Labour Government in the 1920s and rising political leader of the left, was an early critic of globalization, urging instead a self-sufficient “home market” economy. His home market program was never implemented, and he lost all political influence when he later allied with fascist movements. But he was one of the first to see certain trade-offs of globalization, especially for the working classes.

The Left started a culture war over pronouns, not the Right
Elizabeth Spiers, the founding editor of Gawker and a New York Times opinion contributor, thinks conservative white men care more about pronouns than transgender people or liberals. Don’t laugh. She really means it.

The Radicals Won
Just wanted to add one more thing to today’s editorial. One of the arguments made by proponents of same-sex marriage was that making the institutions of marriage inclusive of same-sex couples would “strengthen” marriage in the culture generally. It’s not hard to find voices like Jonathan Rauch saying that same-sex marriage was a “socially conservative” movement about protecting children.

Good Fights
My Impromptus column has a host of issues today, as is its wont, starting with ballet and ending with golf. One of the issues in between is an old one: What does it mean to be an American? Last week, I was in Washington, and passed the Japanese-American memorial, near the Capitol.

Republicans could change government the way they changed the courts
Do Republicans even need a coherent policy agenda? I’ve heard that question more than once, and unfortunately, it remains a better question than I want it to be. The party is currently enjoying a fair amount of success offering little except symbolic opposition to the “woke” ideology that has leached out of academia and into virtually every American institution that employs a lot of educated people.

Angry with Your Local School Board? Run for Office.
‘School closures during COVID were an epic public policy blunder’

Why Donors Need Protection against Tyranny
The Supreme Court’s decision last July in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta secured the right to donate anonymously to activist groups. For dissidents in places such as China, the ability to do so in the United States is far from a theoretical victory