News of the Week for Aug. 28^th, 2022

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

 

Election 2022

 

Kari Lake Really Wants You to Know She Thinks Trump and DeSantis Have ‘BDE’
For some reason, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake really wants people to know she thinks former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have a little something called “BDE.”

Senate G.O.P. Campaign Arm Slashes TV Ad Buys in Three States
The Republicans’ Senate campaign committee has slashed its television ad reservations in three critical battleground states for the fall, a likely sign of financial troubles headed into the peak of the 2022 midterm election season.

The election quirk that may keep Lisa Murkowski in office
The Associated Press ran one of their 2022 primary deep-dives today, comparing the history and potential fortunes of two prominent Republican officials. They’re breaking down the differences between Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski and Congresswoman (for now) Liz Cheney. Both of them face the voters in primaries tomorrow. They are both high-profile critics of former President Donald Trump and both supported his impeachment. Those factors have already proven to be the kiss of political death for other never-Trumpers and the AP readily admits that it looks like the same fate probably awaits Liz Cheney on Tuesday. (Unless she somehow actually managed to trick a massive number of Democrats to switch parties at the last moment, something we’ve seen no sign of.) But Murkowski’s fortunes look very different. She seems poised to move on to the general election and polling suggests she will at least be strongly competitive if she does. But why?

Effort to recall Los Angeles County DA fails to qualify for ballot
An effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was rejected on Monday after organizers failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to get the matter on the ballot.

What Washington State’s Primaries Predict for the Midterms
As political analysts were agog over the abortion referendum results rolling in from Kansas, Washington state was quietly conducting its primary elections. They’ve largely been overlooked, in part because Washington has been so slow to complete its count, but they offer some of the best insight into what type of year 2022 will ultimately be. Right now, they are most consistent with a good, but not great, Republican year, although a very good Republican year (or a disappointing Republican year) are still in play.

Is the GOP canceling ad spending in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin? Or did the NYT get it wrong?
Big news — if true. The polling lately has been discouraging for Blake Masters and especially Mehmet Oz in Arizona and Pennsylvania, respectively. If the NRSC is already looking down the road and aiming to scale back on spending there, it would be a flashing siren that the party believes both candidates are likely to lose and that its money is better spent somewhere else.

Is Dr. Oz Serious?
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is flailing. He’s down by about eleven points in the polls, despite the fact that his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman — the goateed, heavyset, six-foot-eight-inch lieutenant governor of the state whose down-home, working-class public presentation is straight out of Pennsylvania central casting — was off the campaign trail for the past three months after suffering a stroke. (Fetterman held his first post-stroke public rally late last week.) Oz needs a course correction, and quickly. Whatever he’s doing right now clearly isn’t working.

Democrats Already Are Planning More Tax Hikes If They Keep House
Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked chair of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee is liberal Richard Neal of Massachusetts. He made headlines last week by telling Bloomberg News that he would seek to raise both corporate and individual income-tax rates should Democrats keep the House.

Cheney ponders 2024 bid after losing Wyoming GOP primary
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was increasingly open on Wednesday about considering a 2024 presidential campaign after soundly losing a Republican primary to a challenger backed by former President Donald Trump.

Alaska fallout: Murkowski likely to win, Palin at risk of losing?
Gotta add a question mark to the headline here because there are no fewer than three quirks to Alaska’s primaries that make it hard to predict the outcome. One: Because the state is so huge and rural, there’s a lot of mail voting. And those ballots can take a week or two to come in. Two: Because so much of the mail vote is out, it’s hard to draw firm conclusions about the returns that are already in. Per the Times, 69 percent of the state has reported as of this morning. With nearly a third of the votes still to count, anything can happen. Three: Because Alaska uses a ranked-choice system, predicting the winner is more complicated than guessing who’ll finish with the most votes once they’re all counted. In fact, there’s real suspense in Sarah Palin’s race as to how many Alaskans who voted for other candidates were willing to name her their second choice.

Oregon Could Be a Surprising Exception to the GOP Summer Swoon
Amid a banner couple of weeks for the Democrats, worrying polls, and a clutch of less-than-competitive Republican nominees across the country, there’s been a recent dampening of Republican optimism about the scope and size of the projected red wave in November. As Matt Continetti noted earlier this month in a column titled “The GOP Summer Swoon,” Republicans “may have thought that the Democratic majority would collapse under its own weight. They learned this week that it won’t.”

Oakland sued over ballot measure to allow noncitizen voting
Lawsuit says judge struck down similar San Francisco law

Who’s Not Helping the 2022 GOP Senate Candidates?
You can already see some preemptive blame-throwing about the 2022 GOP Senate class from President Trump and Sean Hannity.

Democrat-backed voter law boosts Nevada GOP
If either Adam Laxalt or Joe Lombardo wins in a squeaker, he’ll owe his victory to a law championed by Democrats.

Rick Scott’s ill-timed Italian vacation
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is spending part of his congressional recess on a luxury yacht in Italy with his family after criticizing President Biden for vacationing in Delaware, Axios has learned.

Does Dr. Oz’s Team Hate Him or Are They Just Bad at Their Jobs?
Dr. Oz is losing the unofficial Twitter war against Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, with the latest loss coming after Fetterman recently dunked on Oz for using the term crudités in an April video.

Trump Owes Mitch Some Steaks
Former president Donald Trump recently called Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) a “broken-down hack.” As a Cocaine Mitch-appreciator, this jab rankles — after all, Mitch McConnell carried the Trump presidency to every significant win. If Mitch is a broken hack, it’s because he placed on his back the millstone of Trump; a prodigious bulk resulting from decades of maddening contradictions and a vacuum of self-control.

After last night
New York, Florida, and Oklahoma held primaries yesterday. New York also held a special election for its 19th Congressional District. I only want to note a few races that caught my attention.

‘This Is a Significant Victory For Democrats’: Republicans Lose Special Election in Swing District They Were Poised to Win
Democrat Pat Ryan is headed to Congress after defeating Republican Marc Molinaro in a special election on Tuesday night.

Maloney: Democratic “sexist systems and misogyny” are why I lost to Nadler
Sounds about right to me. Let’s go with that! Is it true? Seems doubtful, but who are we to dispute career House Democrat Carolyn Maloney? After Democrats dumped her in favor of fellow career House Democrat Jerrold Nadler long after both should have been sent packing, Maloney blamed the “sexist systems and misogyny” in place for her defeat … in a Democratic primary

Kornacki: The NY special election is the best evidence yet that the red wave has been canceled
Saying that the red wave is canceled isn’t the same as saying that the House won’t flip. Record inflation and presidential job approval in the low 40s strongly favor the out-party in the midterms, especially when the in-party’s House majority is as narrow as Pelosi’s.

DeSantis-backed candidates flip Florida school board from liberal to conservative
The Florida school board wins are being touted as victories against ‘woke’ indoctrination

Election Deniers Go Door-to-Door to Confront Voters After Losses
Activists whose candidates were defeated in recent US primary elections have made baseless claims of voter fraud, filed lawsuits to bar certification of the results, staged protests and demanded recounts and audits.

Emerson, Trafalgar: Pennsylvania suddenly too close to call?
Has the Pennsylvania electorate shifted rightward this past week, or is this an artifact of friendlier polling for the GOP? At one point, Democrats John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro looked like they would take the Keystone State off the tote board before Labor Day in the marquee statewide races. Two new polls show both the Senate and gubernatorial races within the margin of error, however.

Are Republican Candidates Taking the Red Wave for Granted?
On the menu today: Democrats are claiming that the red wave is canceled, and are even whispering that they have a shot of keeping control of the House of Representatives. You can over-interpret a late-August special House election or two, but there are definite signs that Republicans’ momentum has slowed — maybe even stalled. The big question now is: How well can this crop of GOP candidates perform if they don’t have a strong wind at their backs?

Bad vibes: Whitmer leads by double digits in Michigan as abortion battle flares
It’s just one poll, and the last poll of the state before this one was more encouraging. Tony Fabrizio found Republican Tudor Dixon trailing Gretchen Whitmer by just five points, within striking distance.

McConnell’s Super-Pac Cancels Ad Buys in Arizona and Alaska
Three days after Donald Trump reiterated his call for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s ouster, McConnell’s super PAC canceled about $4 million in ad buys for the Arizona Senate race. The GOP candidate, Trump-backed Blake Masters, is already trailing Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly and is being badly outraised. Kelly has a whopping $40 million on hand to Masters’s $18 million.

Latest returns show Democrat’s lead over Palin widening in Alaska House race, but…
Palin hasn’t lost yet. She may still be a slight favorite. But this race is way more suspenseful than anyone thought it would be.

Is the Dems’ Dobbs Bounce Over?
It took a while, but after the Dobbs decision, Democrats overtook Republicans in the RealClearPolitics average for the 2022 generic ballot. For sure, Democrats felt that the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was the political lifeline they needed to stave off a red wave in November.

Here’s Who’s Really to Blame for Ineligible Candidates Appearing on the Ballot
In 2021, the Nevada Legislature imposed a new requirement on candidates running for attorney general mandating that they be a lawyer in good standing with the Nevada Bar Association.

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

Florida court says 16-year-old in state care is too immature to choose abortion
Jane Doe 22-B, a 16-year-old in the care of Florida child welfare authorities, told a Florida judge she was “not ready to have a baby,” and sought a court order granting her permission to terminate a 10-week pregnancy.

 

Gun Rights

 

These 11 Defensive Gun Uses Show Protective Benefits of Second Amendment
Amy Swearer is a legal fellow in the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. I testified before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee last month in a hearing focused on “the economic toll of gun violence.”

Federal Judge Rules 18-to-20-Year-Olds Have Right to Carry Guns in Texas
Young adults in the Lone Star State may soon be able to carry a firearm for self-defense. A federal judge on the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Texas ruled on Thursday that a Texas law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying handguns for self-defense was inconsistent with the Second Amendment.

Federal judge on 2nd Amendment age limits: Civil rights apply to all American adults
So much for the idea of treating the 2nd Amendment like access to alcohol. A federal judge struck down a Texas law that restricted public carry to adults 21 years of age or older, ruling it unconstitutional as well as un-historical

Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Law Banning Adults Under 21 From Carrying Guns
Pittman first mentioned that the Second Amendment text does not mention age, which is “notable” because “when the Framers meant to impose age restrictions, they did so expressly.”

Edgewater bans open carry of firearms; effort to cite ‘white supremacy’ in ordinance fails
With only one dissenting vote, the city of Edgewater has officially banned the open carry of firearms, with at least one city council member attempting to tie the carrying of guns to white supremacy.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

Waiter, there’s a fly in my waffle: Belgian researchers try out insect butter
Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly. Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium are experimenting with larva fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies, saying using grease from insects is more sustainable than dairy produce.

BLM suspends most oil/gas leases in Colorado
I should probably clarify that title a bit up front because this is one of the infrequent cases where the initials “BLM” do not refer to the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re talking about the Bureau of Land Management, an agency that wields far more power than it probably should without attracting nearly as many headlines. Under the direction of the White House, BLM has the ability to block off huge tracts of federal land and impose daunting fines on people for various sins of “land mismanagement.” But they also have the power to shut down the leasing of public land for energy exploration. That’s what they’re doing in Colorado now, putting the brakes on scheduled federal leases to the oil and gas industry. Part of the reason they are citing involves a small, plump bird.

Government Incompetence Comes for French Reactors
The French have a nuclear problem, primarily of their own making. The Wall Street Journal reported recently on France’s energy woes, with reactor efficiencies dipping with rising temperatures, low water levels (necessary for reactor cooling), and maintenance troubles. The shortfalls are partly attributable to the reality that electronics and energy systems of all stripes do not function as well in extreme temperatures. Still, the evidence points more to man’s shortsightedness and political foolishness as the primary culprit of diminished French fission.

Ford Raises Electric Truck Price By Up To $8,500 After Democrats Pass $7,500 EV Tax Credit
Ford raised the base price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck Aug. 9 following the passing of a bill by Senate Democrats that included a $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit.

Burger King Austria now Asks Customers, ‘Regular or With Meat?’
Burger King Austria is continuing the chain’s introduction of plant-based menu items around the world with a new campaign to promote the burgers, which will be positioned as “the new normal” on its menu.

Doomsday Climate Predictions Meltdown: Arctic Sea Ice Extent Reaches 12-Year Mid-August High
According to Al Gore, based on statements and “science” from “leading climate experts”, the Arctic was supposed to be ice-free in the summer already years ago.

A New Investment Fund Is Taking the Fight Over ESGs to the Boardroom
A critical part of the progressive globalist project is what can be called public-private partnerships. These partnerships happen when the government encourages private sector companies to do what it is constitutionally prohibited from doing. One way these partnerships become visible is when large asset managers attempt to connect investment with corporations adopting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. These demands made by large investment firms are alarmingly similar to the Biden administration’s social justice and green agenda.

Green Fascists Are Destroying the World
The green agenda needs to become the topic of open, honest, balanced, and very public debate.

Glimpses of the Green New Deal
Whatever the short-term movements in metals prices (there have been signs of weakness, reflecting recession concerns), there are indications here and there of future squeezes to come.

What Climate Crisis?
A new group called Climate Intelligence (Clintel for short) has been founded in the Netherlands with the express purpose of combatting the extremism of the climate change campaigners. One of their early efforts is a statement, signed by 1,100 scientists and policy experts from around the world, that argues “There Is No Climate Emergency.”

Global Warming Hoaxer Steven Spielberg’s Hypocrisy
The fossil fuels that allow us to sustain the current population make it be too warm out, according to liberal doctrine. Zillionaire Tinseltowner Steven Spielberg says he is “terrified” of those who “go blithely through life” without worrying about their imaginary impact on the climate.

Soulless Greens Are Trying to Ruin Scotch Whisky
In their neverending quest to destroy the quality of life for as many people as possible, greens have set their sights on one of the tastiest and most enjoyable sips the good Lord put on this planet: Scotch whisky. Along with golf, tartan, and the highland bagpipe, Scotch is Scotland’s great gift to the world. But now, the eco-nags want to remove Scotch’s very essence, the thing that elevates it above plain old whisky into a unique and venerable spirit: its smoky, peaty goodness.

California to Ban the Sale of New Gasoline Cars
California on Thursday is expected to put into effect its sweeping plan to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, a groundbreaking move that could have major effects on the effort to fight climate change and accelerate a global transition toward electric vehicles.

Germany: 60% in Energy Poverty, Thanks to Green Policies
“The savings banks expect that soon 60 percent of households will have no money left over at the end of the month to put something on the high edge. The Greens are calling for an interest rate cap for overdraft facilities.”

California Air Regulators Will Vote to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035
California will start its ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles Thursday, which was first announced in 2020.

Washington Bans Sale of New Gas-Powered Vehicles After 2030
New law would put state ahead of California, New Jersey and others by five years.

Democrats Soak U.S. Taxpayers $430+ Billions so World’s CO2 can Climb 2+ Billion Tons by 2030
In what has to be one of the most outlandish and expensive energy and emissions misrepresentations in U.S. history the energy and climate alarmist globally clueless Democrats have passed two CO2 climate emission reduction laws (Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021) which together they hype “could reduce emissions by approximately 1,000 million metric tons in 2030, or about a gigaton” from present levels.

Carbon Dioxide Shortage Impacting Beer Industry Production
Pools, industries shipping perishables, and laboratories also impacted.

The Skyrocketing Cost of Staying Cool This Summer — and Future Ones
EPA and, if the Senate approves, U.N. regulations are increasing the costs of refrigerants used in air conditioning.

If you read the fine print, however, the picture looks a bit different:
California would fine automakers up to $20,000 for every car that falls short of production targets. The state also could propose new amendments revising the sales targets if the market doesn’t react as state leaders hope.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

The American Academy of Pediatrics Responds to Critics
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Julia Mason and Leor Sapir criticizing an American Academy of Pediatrics study containing the dubious claim that social contagion is not a factor in explaining the rise of trans-identifying youth. Yesterday, the president of the AAP, Moira Szilagyi, replied in the Journal’s letters section.

Canadian soldier suffering with PTSD offered euthanasia by Veterans Affairs
Medical assistance in dying, or euthanasia, was legalized in Canada in 2016

Italian tourist with monkey pox dies of sepsis in so-called ‘medical powerhouse’ of Cuba
Although monkey pox is not considered a lethal disease, an Italian tourist infected with this pox has died in Cuba from sepsis and multiple organ failure three days after he was taken to a hospital.

Two Tales from the Euthanasia Dystopia
Euthanasia is showing its fangs in places such as Canada and Spain.

Canada Is Euthanizing Its Sick and Poor. Welcome to World of Government Health Care.
Many leftists tout Canada’s socialized health care system as something America should emulate, claiming government-run health care is more humane. But it seems Canadian officials are more interested in urging doctors to help patients to kill themselves than to treat them.

Homeland Security’s ‘Equity Action Plan’ Doubles Down on Discrimination
Erin Dwinell is a senior research associate with The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. As many federal agencies under the Biden administration have done, the Department of Homeland Security has implemented a so-called Equity Action Plan.

Canada’s Euthanasia Polices Under Scrutiny As Reports Surface Of Euthanizing A Man For “Hearing Loss”
When euthanasia becomes the sixth leading cause of death in your country, perhaps it is time to rethink the real value of “free” healthcare.

 

War & Terror

 

Chinese military ship docks in Sri Lanka over Indian, U.S. objections
A Chinese navy ship at the center of a diplomatic spat docked in a southern port in Sri Lanka on Tuesday, marking a small triumph for Beijing over India and the United States.

UK Air Force chief of recruitment quits over exclusion of white males
With constant worries about new wars breaking out around the world, military recruitment is back in the spotlight in many countries, particularly in the western alliance. This is particularly true in Great Britain, where the ranks of the army and air force have been depleted through attrition. The Royal Air Force is having more trouble than the other branches, however. New “diversity” mandates for the Air Force put in place by Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston have made it almost impossible for the RAF to reach its recruiting goals. The alleged policy in question states that job offers will not be made to white males. This has led the RAF’s head of recruitment to resign, claiming that the targets are “impossible” and the policy is endangering national security. But RAF spokesmen are refuting the claim.

‘Partisans’ using guerrilla warfare against Russians in Ukraine
This morning the NY Times published a story about a group of Ukrainian fighters known as “partisans” who are using guerrilla warfare tactics to kill Russians and damage their war effort. For instance, the recent attack on a Russian airbase in Crimea which destroyed eight Russian jets was the work of the partisans. This and a previous attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea were intended to remind Russians that they are never safe.

U.N. Report: China Is Enslaving Uyghurs
An independent U.N. expert charged that the Chinese government is carrying out forced-labor programs in Xinjiang that could amount to crimes against humanity. That report comes as the U.N.’s top human-rights official, Michelle Bachelet, continues to delay the release of an official investigation into the mass detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.

Explosive detonated after being discovered in federal courthouse in West Virginia
An explosive device was detonated in a federal courthouse early Monday after a bomb scare forced an evacuation of a large chunk of a sleepy West Virginia city.

The American Conservative denounces Rushdie, complains that his book was ‘deliberately insulting to Islam’
Well, that didn’t take long. On Tuesday, I wrote: “So now, because of the attack on Salman Rushdie, Dreher has at least temporarily abandoned his naive kumbaya irenicism and is acknowledging again that there is a jihad threat.” On Thursday, The American Conservative, where Dreher doth bestride the narrow world like a colossus, published this piece by Michael Warren Davis, denouncing Rushdie and tepidly granting that it wasn’t good that he was stabbed while arguing strongly that such reactions are entirely warranted and appropriate, and those who don’t resort to them are just self-centered secularist cosmopolites with no values.

“A magical evening”: Bombs went off all over Russian-held territory near Ukraine last night
Big night for the home team.

Car bomb kills daughter of ‘spiritual guide’ to Putin’s Ukraine invasion – Russian media
Russian authorities said Sunday they had opened a murder investigation after the daughter of influential, ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin was killed by a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow.

Russian navy base hit by Ukrainian ‘kamikaze drone’ as video shows huge explosion
The Russian naval headquarters in Crimea was blasted by a suspected Ukrainian “kamikaze drone,” a Russia-linked official said.

Cardinal Zuppi: Nicaraguan bishop’s arrest ‘a very serious act’
The arrest of Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos of Matagalpa is a “very serious act”, which must focus attention on what is happening to Christians in Nicaragua, the head of the Italian bishops’ conference has said.

Russian paratrooper’s bombshell diary exposes chaos in Ukraine
A Russian paratrooper has revealed gut-wrenching details in a new memoir about the war in Ukraine, describing friendly-fire incidents, hordes of starving, marauding troops, and panicked commanders unable to stop general chaos.

Chinese Drone Tests Taiwanese Positions on Perimeter Island
China is watching Taiwanese positions on Kinmen — a group of Taiwan’s outermost islands, just off the Chinese coast. Videos posted to Chinese social media sites show purportedly Taiwanese troops throwing rocks at what appears to be a drone

Taliban Taps Former Gitmo Detainee to Crush Afghan Resistance
Afghanistan’s Taliban government tapped a former Guantanamo Bay detainee to lead the group’s campaign to counter a resistance movement in the country’s Panjshir Province, a spokesman announced yesterday according to MENAFN.

Senators Urge Probe into Russian ‘Filtration’ Camps as Part of Potential Genocide
Senators Marco Rubio and Tim Kaine asked President Biden to investigate whether Russia’s forced deportation and mass detention of Ukrainians constitute genocide or crimes against humanity, in a letter this afternoon.

Putin: I want another 137,000 troops
Throw this on the rising pile of evidence that, whatever the true number of Russian casualties in Ukraine it might be, it has lots of zeroes in it.

Microsoft Partners with CCP-Linked TikTok Parent on ‘Big AI Project’: Report
Microsoft is collaborating on an artificial-intelligence project with ByteDance — the Chinese Communist Party–linked tech giant that owns TikTok. Incredibly, that sort of collaboration between Microsoft, which is a defense contractor, and a major Chinese tech company with a checkered record seems to be perfectly legal.

US ship unable to get Solomon Islands’ permission to dock, says Washington
Honiara did not respond to request for coast guard vessel to refuel amid tensions over security pact with China

 

National

 

Is Race Discrimination Illegal?
The answer to that question is, sometimes. One would think this is clearly such an instance: Minneapolis teachers union contract calls for layoffs of white teachers first. That sounds like naked race discrimination by a government entity, but is it illegal?

Trump sent cryptic message to Merrick Garland before warrant was unsealed: ‘The country is on fire. What can I do to reduce the heat?’
Trump wanted to tell AG Garland that people around the US were enraged by the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.

Trump now claims FBI agents seized three of his PASSPORTS during the Mar-a-Lago raid
Donald Trump claimed his passports were ‘stolen’ in the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago. If true, he cannot leave the country.

OOPS! Rep. Maloney Tells NY Times ‘Off the Record’ Biden is Not Running in 2024 — in On the Record Interview
New York Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney entered the next stage of her rocky saga with President Joe Biden by saying “off the record” that the president won’t run for a second term.

All systems go in Houston as NASA prepares return to Moon
Rick LaBrode has worked at NASA for 37 years, but he says the American quest to return to the Moon is by far the crowning moment of his career.

A WEF Op-ed Is Calling for Global Censorship. We Really Need to Cut Ties With These Commies
I’ve always said that most institutions with the words “international” or “world” in their titles are globalist, pinko organizations. Examples include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Economic Forum (WEF). This does not include Ihop and their delicious boysenberry syrup.

Christian college loses plea to keep men out of women’s dorms
The U.S. Court of Appeals gave the green light for students to potentially room with students of the opposite sex at a Christian college.

Minneapolis schools will lay off white teachers first, violating the Constitution and Title VII
The Minneapolis Public Schools have adopted a race-based layoff provision that violates the Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

UCLA Creates Database to ‘Track Attacks on Critical Race Theory’
Faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law have created a database to identify and record efforts to block critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools across the country.

U.S. Officials Say Arizona, Nevada and Mexico Will Get Less Colorado River Water After Reservoir Levels Hit Critical Low
U.S. officials say Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will get less Colorado River water after reservoir levels hit critical low.

Public School Teachers Told to Indoctrinate Kids as Young as Three in Radical LGBT Theory
State universities indoctrinate future teachers in controversial transgender, racial, and political theories—and instruct them to teach these principles to children beginning in preschool, a new report has found.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered modder gets banned over mod that replaces LGBT flags
Not long after the “Non-Newtonian New York” mod was published, it started getting noticed and soon after got pulled from Nexus Mods. The maker of the Spider-Man Remastered mod was also banned from Nexus Mods, with a rep from the mod portal confirming the user and mod have been removed and banned as they are “no longer welcome on Nexus.”

NY Governor to charge people to come into NYC when most are trying to escape
Back in 2019, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that would increase what’s known as “congestion pricing” for vehicles entering New York City and traveling into Manhattan’s central business district. The tolls weren’t even specified in the legislation but would be determined based on conditions at the time they were enacted. Commuters immediately revolted, but the plan never wound up going into effect because of the pandemic and political turmoil in the state legislature. When Cuomo stepped down and Kathy Hochul took over at the Governor’s mansion, she was asked about the tolls but said that “now is not the time” to take such an action. Well, time flies, apparently, and August is the time. Depending on traffic volume and the time of day, it will cost anywhere from 9 to 23 dollars to drive into Manhatten when this plan goes into effect. Reporters at a press conference yesterday asked Hochul if there was any chance she might reconsider the unpopular move. She said there was no such chance. And why is New York doing this? Because of climate change, of course.

Boston Children’s Hospital supports castrating kids and I have evidence
Last week you may have noticed a lot of buzz around Boston Children’s Hospital. It turns out, they had a full menu of castration and mutilation options for minors to choose from. Some options included a hysterectomy: the carving out of a young girl’s reproductive system. Double mastectomy: chopping off young girls’ breasts. Phalloplasty: cutting off the skin from the forearm and thigh of healthy adolescent girls to create a penis. All this came to light last week, so I helped spread the horrors of what doctors are doing to young confused individuals.

The “Fact Checkers” Come for Hillsdale
That Hillsdale College is in the crosshairs of the left is not breaking news, but it is curious to see social media and their “fact checkers” joining the leftist mob.

Former Rep. T.J. Cox Arrested By FBI on 28 Counts for Election Fraud
Cox was arrested on 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, financial institution fraud, and campaign contribution fraud

California gender clinic treats patients as young as 2-years-old
Mental health director Diane Ehrensaft said that at UCSF they “see children as young as two and as old as 25.” Ehrensaft describes her own child as “gender creative.”

Graphic photos reveal how monkeypox left man’s nose rotting
A MAN’S nose rotted away due to monkeypox in a chilling case reported by doctors.

Incoming freshmen at over 1,800 colleges did not have to take the SAT or ACT, report claims
1,830 colleges and universities did not require incoming students this fall to take the SAT or ACT tests. That number comes from a report by the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) and is up from 1,070 schools before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the organization.

Portland families leaving the city to escape homelessness and crime
KGW8 aired a report yesterday about families in North Portland who have had enough of the city’s homeless camps and rising crime. Some of them are seriously thinking about leaving but some have already sold their homes and are moving further out into the suburbs, away from the problems associated with the city.

Teachers’ Union “Extremely Proud” of Racism
We wrote here about the new teachers’ contract for the Minneapolis School District, which provides that white teachers will be laid off first, regardless of seniority, and if teachers are called back after a layoff, white teachers will be called back last. The blatant racism of this contract provision attracted a great deal of adverse comment, but the teachers’ union is sticking to its story

The crisis of crime in Minneapolis and beyond
On Friday United States Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger called a press conference to discuss the strategy he is pursuing with other state and federal law enforcement agencies to address violent crime in the Twin Cities. Alpha News has posted the CrimeWatch account of the press conference here. Stephen Montemayor’s longer and more detailed Star Tribune story is here. Both stories reflect telling statements by Luger on the local crisis of lawless violence.

Diversity Training At Vanguard Tells White Men To Accept ‘Uncomfortable’ Criticism, Floats Holding Them “Accountable”
Asset management company Vanguard hosted a diversity training in July asking white men to accept “uncomfortable” criticism about their implicit biases, footage obtained by The Daily Wire shows.

Polio Vaccines Are Urged in New York as Once-Defeated Virus Lurks
Wastewater shows poliovirus was present in New York state as early as April

Inside L.A.’s deadly street takeover scene: ‘A scene of lawlessness’
Cindy and Dora didn’t know where they were going on a recent Saturday night, but they knew they were headed to a “show.”

Playboy bunnies fed to Hef like ‘meat’ in ‘gross, hoarder’ orgy room
Ex-Playboy bunnies and “The Girls Next Door” stars Bridget Marquardt and Holly Madison are unveiling the seedy secrets of late smut-mag magnate Hugh Hefner and his “hoarder-style” bedroom. There, he allegedly made his harem of buxom babes feel like “pieces of meat” during drug-fueled orgies.

Getting ‘(Un)Hooked on Phonics’ Didn’t Work for Oakland
Remember Hooked on Phonics? The reading program was such a success back in the ’90s that you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing an ad featuring a child proclaiming, “Hooked on Phonics worked for me!”

Car Seats as Contraception
Since 1977, U.S. states have passed laws steadily raising the age for which a child must ride in a car safety seat. These laws significantly raise the cost of having a third child, as many regular-sized cars cannot fit three child seats in the back. Using census data and state-year variation in laws, we estimate that when women have two children of ages requiring mandated car seats, they have a lower annual probability of giving birth by 0.73 percentage points. Consistent with a causal channel, this effect is limited to third child births, is concentrated in households with access to a car, and is larger when a male is present (when both front seats are likely to be occupied). We estimate that these laws prevented only 57 car crash fatalities of children nationwide in 2017. Simultaneously, they led to a permanent reduction of approximately 8,000 births in the same year, and 145,000 fewer births since 1980, with 90% of this decline being since 2000.

Back to school: Berkeley’s ‘diversity vow’ a depressing token of woke academia
This is not hypothetical. Rather, it is a requirement to take a job at the University of California, Berkeley . Applicants must write a short essay about how much they support the controversial diversity, equity, and inclusion philosophy — actually a personal “vow” of one’s enthusiasm for the tenets of critical race theory.

Another government union official sentenced for pocketing dues money
This may seem like yet another “dog bites man” story at this point, but we’re learning of another union official who has been convicted of fraudulently absconding with union funds for their own personal benefit. The latest story comes to us from Boston, where the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2617, representing workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was convicted of wire fraud and related offenses. Marie LeClair was found to have misdirected nearly $30,000 of her members’ dues away from the union’s bank accounts and into a debit card in her name and used the money for “non-union purposes.” That’s quite a bit of cash to be drained out of a single union local, right? So you might expect that she would face some sort of stiff sentence. In fact, she was eligible for up to twenty years in prison. But strangely, the judge gave her six months of house arrest and ordered her to give back the money she stole.

New York bans more words that suggest gender
Democrats incorrectly describe Florida as a state where you’re not supposed to say the word “gay.” But there is some actual language banning going on in New York. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law last week that is banning a significant number of words from any use in government documents or speech. All of the targeted words carry an implication of gender. One of the most prominent examples she pointed out was “salesman.” The bill was even described as “the salesman law” and applies to various portions of the tax codes. Also being removed are any mentions of “his” or “her,” which will now be replaced with “they” or “them.” So just in case you were thinking that the crazy train might be slowing down a bit, have no fear. It’s still running full steam ahead in the Empire State.

The President of the American Historical Association criticized the 1619 Project and outrage followed
Professional historians are outraged over an essay that was published last week in the magazine of the American Historical Association. The author of the piece is the current president of the AHA, James H. Sweet. Sweet teaches at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and his focus is on the “social and cultural histories of Africans in the Atlantic world.” Before we get to the outrage his essay caused, let’s first look at the piece itself. It’s focus is “presentism” something he sees as a threat to the proper approach to history

Mayor Pete wants airlines to end delays with no instructions as to how
Department of Transportation figures for the first half of 2022 indicate that nearly a quarter (24%) of all domestic airline flights in the United States were delayed and more than 3% of them were canceled. This situation has left many would-be passengers seeing red and demanding that the government do something about it. The situation was serious enough to stir Mayor Pete Buttigieg (our Transportation Secretary because he’s always “really liked cars”) from whatever he normally does to occupy his time and address the problem. During a recent appearance on NBC he said to the airlines “you’ve got to make it easier for passengers to understand their rights. And you’ve got to support passengers when they experience delays or cancellations.” If they fail to do so, the DOT may impose a “rule change.” So what solution does Buttigieg have in mind? His department is setting up a website, which will clearly straighten everything out.

‘It Just Works’: Progressive Educators Rediscover Power of Phonics after Failing with DEI-Infused Method
As a school principal in Oakland, Calif., Kareem Weaver was once called into an English classroom to pacify a seven-year-old African-American girl who was throwing a tantrum because she was struggling to decipher a word.

Administrative Bloat in Higher Education Is Not a Myth
For the last several decades, American colleges and universities have been adding administrative personnel much faster than faculty. As the money has poured in (mainly due to our ridiculous system of federal student aid), school officials have chosen to spend it largely on brigades of administrators to oversee dubious functions such as “diversity.”

What’s Going on in Our Education Schools?
Until I read Rita Kramer’s book Ed School Follies in the early 90s, I knew nothing about the places where most of our K–12 teachers receive their training. That book showed that ed schools had been captured by educational “progressives” who were much more interested in instilling their attitudes about the world in the minds of up-and-coming teachers than in ensuring that they had solid content knowledge and familiarity with teaching techniques that succeed.

Agency identified 700-plus pages of classified records at Trump’s home
The U.S. National Archives discovered more than 700 pages of classified documents at Donald Trump’s Florida home in addition to material seized this month by FBI agents, according to a May letter that the records agency sent to the Republican former president’s attorney that was made public by a Trump ally.

Donald Trump Jr. says ‘it would probably be good’ if ‘nuclear codes’ were stashed at Mar-a-Lago
Donald Trump Junior suggested on Monday that the United States would be safer if his father, former President Donald Trump, had stashed “the nuclear codes” at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless and negligent cybersecurity policies
Twitter has major security problems that pose a threat to its own users’ personal information, to company shareholders, to national security, and to democracy, according to an explosive whistleblower disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and The Washington Post.

10-Year-Old Praised As Youngest Trans Model to Walk New York Fashion Week
Noella McMaher, a 10-year-old biological male, is being praised as the youngest transgender model to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week.

Yale’s Latest Disgrace: The Report They Don’t Want You to Read
I recall reading some time ago that administrative personnel at Yale University had come to outnumber faculty. I don’t know if this is true, but here’s some relevant data

Charges dropped against officers involved in death of Rayshard Brooks
This case was badly handled from the beginning and now it’s coming to an ignominious end. A special prosecutor in Georgia has announced that charges will be dropped against two officers involved in the death of Rayshard Brooks

Poll confirms: A Cheney presidential run could swing the 2024 election to Trump
It’d be a plot twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan if the great Never Trumper hope ended up being the vehicle for Trump’s return to power.

Nevertheless, He Desisted
It has been over a year since my son desisted from his belief that he was “trans,” but I still think about this every day. It’s probably disrespectful to compare this experience to having a child go through a cancer treatment, but that’s the closest comparison I can think of. For two years now, since the day he first announced he thought he was trans, I have searched daily for any minute clues that might reveal his health and his mind frame. What did that comment mean? What happened to that friendship? Is that moodiness significant—or is he just tired from school? But, it’s been over a year since there have been any clues of gender confusion, and he says this is all behind him. I believe him. I should probably move on, too.

Only Racists Need Apply
I don’t know that there has ever been a place and time in American history when only racists were permitted to teach in the public schools. Mississippi in, say, 1935? I don’t know, maybe. But to my knowledge they had no purity test. Contrast that with Minnesota in 2022, where the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board is considering a new standard that would only allow people who profess racist doctrines to be certified to teach in the state.

Action alert: Gov. Walz-appointed board wants teachers to demonstrate divisive concepts to obtain license
As first reported by American Experiment in May, the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) appointed by Gov. Tim Walz is proposing changes to teacher licensure programs that would require aspiring educators to “demonstrate” ideologically driven content in their coursework to obtain their teaching license.

How Can the Constitution be Jettisoned? 2 Writers Share Ideas in New York Times
On Friday, The New York Times published its latest op-ed calling for the end of the Constitution of the United States. The authors, Ryan Doerfler and Samuel Moyn, teach law at Harvard and Yale respectively. They argue that the Left’s progress has been stymied by constitutionalism itself.

Biden Bribes College Grads With 10k Loan Forgiveness, Sticks Working Class With The Bill
He’s also extending the pandemic payment pause until January 2023.

Biden cancels $10k of students’ debt, extends loan freeze again
Pell Grant recipients can expect relief of up to $20,000, according to today’s announcement. After four payment pauses, Biden announced that the now-final pause extends until December 31, 2022.

Will they ever learn? Wisconsin school district changes sex education curriculum despite protests by parents
A school district in Wisconsin has not learned the lesson yet that parents are full partners in their children’s education. When it comes to rewriting the curriculum, parents should have a seat at the table. In this case, parents are not at all happy that their kindergarteners will soon be taught to “define gender” and “identify the medically accurate names of external body parts including the genitals.” Discussions on sexual orientation and pronouns will happen as early as third grade. The third-grade curriculum includes using language such as “students who do or will menstruate” or “a person with a vulva.”

More than a third of Gen Zers want to become social media influencers
This seems absolutely nutty and maybe a little sad. A survey of 1,000 Americans between the ages of 16 and 25 found that more than a third of them would like to be social media influencers and about a quarter say this is actually their plan once they finish school.

Race Discrimination at Harvard, Part 1
In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court sanctioned the narrow use of racial preferences in college admissions, provided such use was merely one factor — and not a determinative one — in the admissions-evaluation process. Race was to be but “a feather on the scale.”

Striking staff reportedly block students from their dorms
Faculty reportedly shut down student move-in to protest working conditions and wages. Students were advised to change their move-in to the following day to avoid the strike.

NC’s Mark Robinson backs off his call to stop teaching science in elementary school
When North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson spoke on education at a round-table event Tuesday night in downtown Durham, he didn’t publicly broach a topic likely to have been on many attendees’ minds: a call in his upcoming book for eliminating science and history from the first through fifth-grade curriculum and shuttering the State Board of Education.

“Cities of the future,” built from scratch
Billionaire Marc Lore is fleshing out his plan to build a utopian city called Telosa for 5 million people in the American desert — and he’s not the only one with such ambitions.

Act in Haste, Repent in Leisure. A Group in Wisconsin Is Helping Transitioners Side-Step Medical Screening
Pride Month has arguably become Pride Year. And I’m going to save you the usual “consenting adults can do whatever they want” disclaimer. We all know that by now. But in a saga filled with unusual twists that are becoming the norm more than the exception, the Post Millennial has the story of the Annual Magic Pride Festival in Wisconsin last Sunday.

NASA Is Destroying an Asteroid in September!
Once in a while, we hear a story in the news about an asteroid that’s going to fly close to the Earth. It’s always no threat to the planet, but with all the objects flying around in space, something is bound to find its way onto a collision course with Earth at some point.

Taiwan to Install Anti-Drone Defenses on Outlying Island
After a video of Taiwanese troops throwing rocks at a Chinese drone went viral, Taiwan’s ministry of defense announced that it will put in place new equipment to repel drones.

Senator Marsha Blackburn Lands in Taiwan: ‘I Will Not Be Bullied by Communist China’
Senator Marsha Blackburn landed in Taipei today, with a defiant message about China’s military aggression.

Court: Gender dysphoria covered by disability law
A federal court in Virginia handed down a ruling this week that could significantly impact current debates over transgender policy around the country. The case involved a transgender prison inmate who sued the state over being put in the male portion of the prison despite “identifying” as a woman. A lower court ruled against him, but now the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia has overturned that decision. (The inmate has not had genital surgery, hence the male pronoun and his placement in the men’s wing of the prison.) The ruling goes much further than simply deciding where the inmate will be housed, however. The court declared that treatment for gender dysphoria is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This is being seen as a victory by transgender activists who believe that this precedent will block laws barring “gender-affirming care” for minors in many states. But the ruling carries another message that may remind these activists of the old saying about being careful what you wish for.

Are big donors siding with DeSantis over Trump?
Granted the 2024 presidential election is still a long time away but a pair of SFGATE reporters are trying to read the tea leaves in terms of what the big money donors are thinking. And they’ve come up with some evidence that maybe there has been a shift toward DeSantis

Clark County transforming downtown Las Vegas motel into homeless housing
Clark County is calling it the BETterment program also known as the bridge employment training program. It aims to get people into some housing and back on their feet again.

FBI Officials Told Agents Not to Investigate Hunter Biden Laptop ahead of 2020 Election, Whistleblower Says
A whistleblower claims FBI officials instructed agents not to investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election, saying the bureau was “not going to change the outcome of the election again,” according to Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.)

NASA Recorded The Sound From A Black Hole, And It’s Super Eerie
NASA has released a haunting audio clip of sound waves rippling out of a supermassive black hole, located 250 million light-years away.

Hannity, Carlson among Fox stars being deposed in Dominion lawsuit
A number of top Fox News hosts and staffers are among the individuals who are slated to be deposed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ ongoing defamation lawsuit against the cable giant.

American University to offer course on ‘neuroqueerness’
The course will examine how the patriarchy, colonialism, and the patriarchy supposedly influence mental health. The course is listed under the American Studies Program.

New Hampshire AG Arrests Small-Town Newspaper Publisher Arrested for Improper Ads
New Hampshire’s attorney general announced on Thursday that the state had arrested the publisher of a local weekly newspaper in Londonderry earlier this week, alleging she illegally published political ads without properly disclosing them to be ads.

SCOTUS Affirmative Action Reply Briefs: Harvard and UNC Make Arguments Similar To Segregationists
Group challenging discrimination against Asian students files Reply Briefs in Harvard and UNC cases: “Harvard uses race as a proxy for character, equates race with winning a national award, micromanages tight racial ranges, never considered race neutrality, makes no plans to stop using race…”

Court Rules California Can’t Require Abortion Coverage by Churches
A federal court ruled Thursday that California’s mandate that churches must provide abortion coverage in their employees’ health insurance is an unconstitutional infringement of the free exercise clause in the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom.

White people banned from common spaces at UC Berkeley’s off-campus housing
A co-op house near UC Berkeley allegedly banned White people from entering common spaces. The rules, which were leaked on Reddit, reveal that house members cannot bring White guests into common areas and must warn other tenants if their guests are White.

More on the Ashley Biden diary story
Yesterday I wrote about the two people from Florida who pleaded guilty to stealing Ashley Biden’s diary. As I pointed out in that post, the reason this is being treated as a federal case is that both of them pleaded guilty to transporting stolen property across state lines. They qualified for those charges because a) the knew the material was stolen, b) they transported it across state lines and c) the material had a value of more than $5,000.

Minnesota Proposing Teachers Integrate ‘Racial Consciousness and Reflection’ to Receive License
The other seven new standards have “subsections focused on racism, cultural differences or bias.”

The Alarming Ideological Capture of Our Scientific Institutions
Scientific Americans’ “Myth of Two Genders” is an excellent case study.

Court: No, you can’t force doctors or hospitals to perform “gender transition” surgery
The Department of Health and Human Services, under directions from the Obama administration, had previously announced a new interpretation of one portion of Obamacare that applied to alleged discriminatory practices. In 2016, under the revised definitions, doctors, healthcare providers, and medical insurance providers who received federal funding could not refuse treatment or coverage on the basis of “sex.” The White House moved to expand that definition to include “gender” (pretending that gender is somehow different from sex), specifically covering transgender surgeries, hormone treatments, and all the rest. Abortions were also included in the expanded definitions. The Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic health care organization operating in Indiana and Illinois, went to court claiming that the revised guidelines violated their Freedom of Religion under the First Amendment. Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the plaintiffs and set the government policy aside.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Burning crosses, incurable violence, and filming in national parks.

Why Transgender Extremism Is Worse in the United States
In focusing on rights, it’s easy to forget our duties.

Historical Association President’s Groveling Apology to Woke Mob Shows Why History Can’t Be Left to Institutions
Arguing for keeping “presentism” out of history seems like a straightforward argument from an acknowledged history scholar, right?

 

Economy & Taxes

 

ABC’s Jonathan Karl: Isn’t Name Of Inflation Reduction Act “Almost Orwellian” Since It’s “Not Gonna Bring Inflation Down?”
Random act of Journalism in questioning White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “Isn’t it almost Orwellian? How can you call it the Inflation Reduction Act when the nonpartisan experts say it’s not gonna bring inflation down?”

Housing: Another Gloomy Data Point
The median existing house price reached a new peak in June ($416,000), a 13.4 percent increase over the year. As Reuters notes, this was “the 23rd straight month of double-digit annual price gains, the longest such run since the late 1970s.” Interestingly, that was another period of high inflation: Make of that what you will, but before coming to a conclusion, check out the article by Allison Schrager that I discuss below.

More Warning Signs of China’s Weakening Economy
Central banks in major economies around the world have been raising interest rates in an effort to reduce inflation. The People’s Bank of China cut interest rates, in the latest sign of China’s weakening economy.

China is facing a real estate bust
I saw this on Twitter today. Apparently this clip is circulating in the Chinese internet right now. Buy more property, comrades!

“Wrong direction” on steroids: Gallup hits new all-time high in “suffering” index
Old and busted: “Misery Index.” New hotness: “Suffering Index.” Actually, the two parallel each other using different and important measures. The Misery Index combines CPI inflation and the prevailing interest rate. Gallup’s “suffering index” — they call it the Life Evaluation Index — measures how Americans feel about the present conditions, economic and otherwise.

Food Prices Are Pulling Inflation Up
Democrats may be anxious to declare victory over inflation, and the July inflation report, which showed 0 percent inflation month-over-month, gave President Biden the opportunity to shout “zero inflation” for the world to hear.

U.S. Companies on Pace to Bring Home Record Number of Overseas Jobs
After Covid-19 pandemic upended supply chains, American companies are shifting jobs and processes to the U.S.

Workers Strike at U.K.’s Largest Container Port
Workers at the Port of Felixstowe, the busiest container port in the U.K., began a strike yesterday that will last a total of eight days. They’re striking over pay, and they’re joining workers from other parts of the transportation sector in the U.K. who have already gone on strike this year.

Canceling Student Debt Would Undo Reconciliation Bill’s Deficit Reduction
The Penn Wharton Budget Model released its cost estimate for a few different iterations of student-debt forgiveness today. It estimates that over the ten-year budget window

Home prices fell for the first time in 3 years last month – and it was the biggest decline since 2011
Home prices declined 0.77% from June to July, the first monthly decline in nearly three years, according to Black Knight, a mortgage software, data and analytics firm. While the drop may seem small, it is the largest single-month decline in prices since January 2011. It is also the second-worst July performance dating back to 1991. “Further price corrections are likely on the horizon as we move into what are typically more neutral seasonal months for the housing market,” said a Black Knight executive.

Housing: Sales Fall, Prices Stay High – Not a Picture of Stability
Another couple of data points to add to the picture of growing weakness in the housing market.

Downtown Portland isn’t recovering from the pandemic and the reasons will not surprise you
If you’re a regular HotAir reader then this news will not come as a surprise. Earlier this month, Willamette Week reported on researchers at UC Berkeley who used cellphone GPS data to see how various cities were recovering from the pandemic, i.e. has foot traffic returned to downtown areas. What it found was that out of 62 cities in the US and Canada, Portland was near the very bottom of the pile.

BEA confirms: Stagflation’s here, and buying power eroded faster than estimated
The good news from today’s interim estimate of second-quarter GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis is … well, there isn’t any good news. The less-bad news? The Q2 contraction reported in the advance estimate a month ago came down from an annualized rate of -0.9% to -0.6%. And the only reason it contracted less than the advance estimate showed was because the weird trade imbalance that shielded the more-likely -2.3% contraction was weirder than first reported

Penn-Wharton pegs Biden’s Academia bailout potential cost at $1 trillion
Well, no one ever said that math was Joe Biden’s strong suit. A new estimate just out from the non-partisan Penn Wharton Budget Model analysts show that the student-loan forgiveness plan — aka the Academia Bailout — will cost at least $518 billion just on debt forgiveness. Total costs to taxpayers could run a cool trillion dollars, once dynamic issues get assessed

Powell declares war on inflation, predicts “pain” ahead; Updated: PCE index still near 40-year highs
Looks like Joe Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” left Jerome Powell as underwhelmed as everyone else. Faced with the worst and longest inflationary cycle in decades, the Federal Reserve chair issued an unusually blunt statement this morning. The Fed will continue with its large rate increases until inflation entirely subsides, he pledged, regardless of how “pain”-ful it becomes

 

International

 

Botswana to Become the Latest Target of Biden State Department’s Ideological Colonialism
It seems Biden’s State Department has decided it must do even more to shame countries into normalizing same-sex relations. It announced a new grant to “promote greater social acceptance of LGBTQI+ persons” in a small African country using U.S. tax dollars. The grant is advertised as “Beyond Decriminalization: Expanding LGBTQI+ Rights in Botswana,” and identifies “influential religious groups” as targets to lobby in its campaign.

Video shows Shanghai shoppers scramble to break out of Ikea store after snap lockdown announced
A viral video shows panicked Shanghai shoppers scrambling to break out of an Ikea store after authorities declare a snap lockdown.

Firm expects as many as 1,000 former patients to join lawsuit against Tavistock gender clinic
The Tavistock clinic in London was the only gender identity clinic for children in England. The clinic is currently in the process of shutting down in the wake of a report which concluded some kids may have been rushed toward treatment like puberty blockers without a proper assessment of their mental condition. Now a law firm is planning a group lawsuit which it believes could attract as many as 1,000 former patients at the clinic.

These Six Cities Are Emerging as New Expat Hot Spots
As Covid lockdowns, political upheaval and soaring costs drive expats from Hong Kong, and rival Singapore raises the bar for imported labor, young professionals looking for adventure and careers abroad are facing a dilemma. Which will be the cosmopolitan hotspots of the future to lure a vibrant international community with high-paid jobs and affordable luxury lifestyles?

England must reduce meat intake to avoid climate breakdown, says food tsar
Henry Dimbleby says move is politically toxic but only way to achieve sustainable land use and avoid ecological breakdown

Joan of Arc Was a Woman
The famous Globe Theatre in London announced that an upcoming production I, Joan, about Joan of Arc, will portray Joan as “non-binary” and use “they/them” pronouns.

Hundreds of Mexican National Guard Troops Sent to Tijuana to Counter Cartel Violence
The attack was carried out by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who called on the government to release Ricardo Ruiz.

Brazilian Police Raid Pro-Bolsonaro Businessmen Accused of Coup Talk, Sources Say
Brazilian police on Tuesday conducted raids targeting several businessmen who have backed President Jair Bolsonaro’s re-election, two sources said, after a media report accused them of discussing the virtues of a coup d’etat if the far-right leader lost the October vote.

Protesters Call to Decriminalize Sex With Animals in Germany
According to the German animal protection law, it is forbidden to have any sexual relationship between humans and animals. However, some people have called during a march to allow sex with animals.

What is Happening With the “Tomato Flu” Outbreak in India?
While not caused by tomatoes, the virus may be a variant of hand, foot, and mouth disease.

A society that cannot distinguish Hummus from Hamas
Trudeau’s Canada allows euthanasia for a sick or disabled child, but punishes you if you get his “favorite pronoun” wrong.Op-ed.

Chinese censors change the ending of animated film to make it clear that crime doesn’t pay
I usually think of censorship as the act of banning something that the censor doesn’t want people to see. So, for instance, China’s practice of removing criticism of the government from the Chinese internet is that kind of censorship. But censorship can actually be a bit more subtle than that. Sometimes it’s not necessary to hide something completely, only to change it enough that it becomes acceptable. That’s what China has done with the recent animated film Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Canadians who ‘own’ a private island in Cuba announce opening of yet another apartheid luxury hotel in Havana
They already have apartheid resorts in Cayo Largo del Sur, an island which Castro, Inc. has granted to them and is now an apartheid enclave with its own airport, totally off-limits to Cubans.

The Line Between Anti-Racism and Racism Keeps Getting Fainter
How an antisemitic bigot named Laith Marouf built a lucrative career as a Canadian government-funded ‘anti-racist’

The Baltic Monument Wars: Obelisk Down
After the removal of what turned out to be a real (not replica) Soviet tank from its pedestal in Narva in eastern Estonia, where it was placed decades ago as a war memorial, the massive Victory Memorial (more formally, the “Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders”) is, as I write, being dismantled in Riga, the Latvian capital. I wrote about this excrescence here. Good riddance to it.

Triple Crown Winner: Italian Man Goes to Spain, Returns With Monkeypox, HIV, and Covid
In other news, German man’s nose decays after monkeypox infection is coupled with undiagnosed HIV and syphilis.

Golf balls ‘are the product of colonial exploitation’
The game was ‘imposed’ around the world by the British Empire, says University of St Andrews

When it comes to Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, Pope Francis sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil
Abuses by the regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela . . .

The case of the Benin bronzes, or how the woke monster is eating itself
We should reject any claim that revives, for political purposes, the use of bloodlines as a legal instrument

Europe’s Twilight: Christianity Declines, Islam Rises
Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics [in France] are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.

 

Opinion

 

George Washington’s Warning against an American Caesar
Over the weekend, I wrote an essay pushing back against the notion that America might be better off with a “Caesar” atop its politics — that is, a strongman/autocrat type who could circumvent the forces supposedly obstructing our country’s true prosperity and freedom. I argued that such a solution does not fit the American character, and that one can acknowledge the challenges facing the country while also looking to its people and to already existing institutions for recovery and renewal.

An Analogy Too Far?
Considering my own notorious propensity for hyperbole, perhaps I’m not the ideal person to quibble here, but has Michael Walsh gone too far in declaring Merrick Garland to be “the second coming of Lavrentiy Beria”?

Republican Voters in Swing and Blue States Should Value Electability
Republicans have a chance this fall to end the disastrous cavalcade that has come from united Democratic control of the government. But they might blow it.

America Never Existed
We are in danger of losing not only the habits and institutions of republican self-government, but our very ability to remember and understand them. It will be as if America never existed.

“Under-Policed and Over-Imprisoned”
That’s how George Mason University economist Alex Tabarrok describes the U.S. criminal-justice system.

The Orwellian Language of Sex
The gender hysteria that has afflicted the Left, and taken over most of our institutions, seems incomprehensible. Frankly, it strikes me as demonic. It can’t be explained by the motives of money and power that usually account for liberals’ behavior. It begins with the false claim that there is something called “gender” which is different from sex, i.e. genitalia and X and Y chromosomes. From this false premise–in fact, “gender” is simply a slightly more genteel word for sex–the ideology spirals into sheer insanity.

History Is Bunk After All
Henry Ford is reported to have said, “History is bunk.” When Henry Ford died in 1947, the legendary historian Arnold Toynbee is reported to have said, “Henry Ford is history.”

Down With the Constitution!
In recent years, many liberals have become openly hostile to the Constitution. The present moment in history, with the Democrats controlling the House by the barest of majorities, a 50/50 Senate with a Democratic vice president, and a Democratic president, has heightened liberal frustration with the Constitution. With their hands, for a brief moment at least, on all of the levers of power, why can’t the Democratic Party effect a total transformation of American society?

My Dear Wormwood, on the Matter of ‘Equity’
I was unsurprised to learn of the patient’s struggles in comprehending the precise meaning of “equity.” The difficulty proceeds from his default to reason, presuming that the term is meant to have a commonly held meaning.

Race Discrimination at Harvard: The Purported Educational Benefits of Diversity
Racial preferences in college admissions were upheld by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger because the Court accepted the University of Michigan’s assertion that certain educational benefits allegedly derive from having a diverse student body. The Court deemed such alleged educational benefits to be a “compelling state interest” justifying racial discrimination in college admissions. Indeed, Harvard justifies its racially discriminatory admissions policy, currently before the Court in SFFA v. Harvard, on that basis.

The New Republicanism
The right-populist movement invokes the old American republican tradition. But there are dangers in following this path.

“Anti-Racism” and Common Sense
A short time ago, the National Museum of African American History sported a poster that most normal adults would describe as moronic if not blatantly racist. The poster purported to list indicies of “Whiteness,” such as hard work, individualism, objectivity, nuclear family, respect for authority, and delayed gratification. These weren’t presented as universal qualities to strive for regardless of race. Rather, these were tools of oppression, contributors to unfairness, and characteristics of white supremacy.

Arizona’s Campus Disaster Can Be Stopped
The woke rebellion against America’s founding principles continues to advance on all fronts. Nowhere is this truer than at America’s universities, the source and stronghold of the cultural revolution. The pushback against the illiberalism of our universities — their betrayal of their own first principles — has so far been a paltry thing. Supposedly, this is because higher education is shielded by academic freedom in a way that K–12 education is not. But that is not the reason we have failed. The truth is, opponents of the woke revolution have barely begun to do what they can to restore liberal education to America’s academy.

What the horrors of Partition can teach us about the danger of identity politics
Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of Partition, the division of Britain’s largest imperial dominion into India and Pakistan (which, for the following 24 years, included East Pakistan, what is now Bangladesh).

Why US Needs to Remain Engaged With Bulgaria
Bulgaria is a U.S. NATO ally situated along the shores of the Black Sea, in a region now top of mind for efforts to deter further Russian aggression and mitigate Chinese influence in southeastern Europe.

After Trump
What will the GOP look like?

The Hidden Authority to Enact Everything Republicans Want
I found it, all of it, and all it took was some motivated sleuthing in decades-old statutory text.

It Always Goes Back to Marx, Somehow…
Leftists will get impatient or roll their eyes when they hear someone like Jordan Peterson describe postmodernist “critical theory,” critical race theory, or any aspect of identity politics (especially the phenomenon of “gender fluidity”) as “cultural Marxism.” And yet. . .

The “Good Government Trilemma”: Why We Can’t Have Democracy, Accountability, and Big Government all at Once
Canadian legal scholar Leonid Sirota outlines some reasons why.