News of the Week for Oct. 9^th, 2022

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

 

Election 2022

 

Sisolak, Lombardo square off over education, abortion in general election debate
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak and his Republican challenger, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, laid out competing visions for Nevada on the debate stage Sunday in the first — and likely only — general election debate in the race for governor.

Races for governor and U.S. Senate close, Republicans lead down ticket
Nevada’s top-of-the-ticket Democratic incumbents Gov. Steve Sisolak and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly trail their respective Republican opponents, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and former Attorney General Adam Laxalt, according to a new Nevada Independent/OH Predictive Insights likely voters poll released Sunday.

Will Voters Choose Hunger?
Human history has largely been a struggle to get enough to eat. Starvation was an ever-present threat, almost everywhere, until very recently. Only in the last century or two has even part of the world learned how to produce an abundant and reliable supply of food. It requires a scientific approach to hybridization, crop rotation, intensive fertilization, pest control, and more. As a result of these modern farming methods, for the first time ever the vast majority of the world’s population is not imminently threatened by starvation.

Personal Foul on Herschel Walker
On the menu today: Maybe Georgia’s GOP Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, could survive a former girlfriend alleging that he paid for her abortion in 2009. We’ve seen October surprise scandals and accusations plenty of times before. But the abortion accusation — coupled with the candidate’s son, Christian Walker, accusing his father of running around with other women, threatening to kill members of his family, and being violent — will be exceptionally hard to overcome. This, unfortunately, is the kind of risk a party accepts when it chooses to nominate an unvetted first-time candidate to run for a key U.S. Senate seat. Meanwhile, there is good news for the GOP elsewhere, and there are tough questions to be answered about U.S. efforts to deter Russian nuclear aggression.

About the Herschel Walker Story
So, to start, can I just say the reactions to me tweeting about this story are a bit nuts. I don’t think I’m supposed to carry water for anyone. But people on the right are infuriated that I’m not standing by their man. People on the left are infuriated that I am not throwing Walker under the bus. All I’m trying to do is tell you guys what’s going on, give you some analysis, and tell you what I think about the situation while you can disagree with my opinion. Good grief. All that said…

Wisconsin judge blocks absentee ballot spoiling
A Wisconsin judge is prohibiting voters from canceling their original absentee ballot and casting a new one, siding with a conservative group created by prominent Republicans that said the practice known as ballot spoiling is illegal.

Delaware Supreme Court Strikes Down Universal Mail-In Voting, Same-Day Registration
The Delaware Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a state law enacting universal mail-in voting and creating same-day voter registration was in violation of the state constitution.

 

Gun Rights

 

FBI undercounts number of times armed citizens have thwarted active shooting incidents: report
‘Some see a pattern of distortion in the FBI numbers,’ the Crime Prevention Research Center report argues

Federal Judge Blocks Controversial Provisions of Restrictive New York Gun Law
A federal judge blocked the most controversial provisions of a restrictive New York gun law that asks applicants to meet a number of requirements in order to obtain a concealed carry permit on Thursday.

12 Cases That Prove ‘Good Guys With Guns’ Theory Far From Over
In a press conference defending the state’s new restrictions on concealed carry permit holders, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters last month: “This whole concept that a good guy with a gun will stop the bad guys with a gun, it doesn’t hold up. And the data bears this out, so that theory is over.”

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

Spanish Lagoon Granted Rights of Personhood
The “nature rights” movement continues to spread — with little resistance because people don’t take it seriously.

“Range Anxiety” and the Realities of Electric Vehicle Dependability
Battery problems, charging times, and power outages during emergencies are all factors that are not noted in glossy green-energy dialog.

Exploding Electric Bicycles
“One of the first things I teach students on the first day of energy policy classes I have taught is how energy density works, and how a battery is a device to store energy at high densities. But at a certain point, when you increase the energy density enough, we don’t call it a battery any more. We call it a bomb.”

Electric vehicles are exploding from water damage after Hurricane Ian, Florida official warns
A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.

‘Climate Change’ Is a Dangerous Cult
Maddie Budd’s turn to criminal activity — which is what “direct action” protests are — has dismayed her family, especially after her latest crime.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

‘Stigma’ Prevented California Health Officials From Closing Bathhouses Amid Monkeypox Spread
San Francisco and California state health officials knew monkeypox was spreading through gay or bisexual men who went to bathhouses and international festivals but hesitated to create a “stigma” by communicating these details and closing such venues, according to emails obtained by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

Seattle Children’s Hospital Performs Some ‘Gender-Affirming’ Surgeries on Children under 18
The AMA and other medical groups have written the Biden Department of Justice to decry threats of violence against providers of gender-affirming care after the publication of what they claim is false information about which hospitals provide surgeries and puberty blocking.

Another child dies in Cuba due to medical negligence, lack of medications and unavailability of ambulances
This is what it means to be a “medical powerhouse” nominated for a Nobel Prize and praised by billions of admirers around the world. This is the horrifying truth behind the glossy hype. Read it and weep.

Vanderbilt Transgender Health Clinic suspends gender-affirming surgery for minors
Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s transgender clinic in Nashville has paused gender affirming surgeries for patients under the age of 18, a top executive at the center told a Tennessee lawmaker Friday.

 

War & Terror

 

Petraeus: We’ll “destroy” Russia’s troops if Putin nukes Ukraine
We recently learned that Russia has staged more than half a dozen long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear warheads at the Olenya air base well to the south of Moscow. This would give the Russian military the ability to perform strategic strikes in both Ukraine and some NATO countries or allies, including Finland. This is a disturbing development (obviously), particularly considering all of Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear saber-rattling. But we’re still dealing with the tricky question of precisely what the United States or anyone from NATO would do in response, particularly if the weapons were deployed in Ukraine. Retired Army General and former CIA Director David Petraeus has some ideas and he revealed them this weekend. Petraeus said that “we” (meaning the United States) and our allies would “destroy” Russia’s troops in Ukraine along with any of their military hardware. On top of that, he claimed that we would “take out” Russia’s entire Black Sea fleet. The word “escalation” is probably coming to mind for many of you, and for good reason.

On Ukraine
Congress is appropriating more money for Ukraine. Many people on the right think we need to stop all the funding altogether and focus on problems at home. Some don’t want to be involved because of isolationist tendencies. Some don’t want to be involved because they support Russia.

Putin’s army running scared as maps show huge Ukrainian advance in just four hours
Maps published by a Russian media outlet show Putin’s troops falling back some 30 miles in just four hours, as disquiet about the progress of the war grows in Moscow

Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind
Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week.

Putin deposed, Russia broken up, and NATO in a face-off with China: As Ukraine sees a path toward victory and a desperate Vladimir hits the panic button, expert argues THIS is how the war could end
Putin has spent the last week ramping up his war in Ukraine, from 300,000 conscripts to nuclear threats

Ukrainian Forces Smash Russian Lines East of Kherson
Wow — the Ukrainians are teaching the Russians a lesson in tactics, and every military leader in the world must be studying this lesson:

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan
Regional leaders are bracing themselves for even more launches from North Korea.

Tannenberg Revisited
In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as in 1914, behind military failure lie deeper flaws, rooted in the fundamental nature of despotic government.

North Korea sends missile soaring over Japan in escalation
North Korea on Tuesday conducted its longest-ever weapons test, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that flew over Japan and could reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond, forcing the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains.

Poland asks US to host nuclear weapons amid growing fears of Putin’s threats
Request is widely seen as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to Russia would make them less militarily useful

China Pairs Armed Robot Dogs With Drones That Can Drop Them Anywhere
A video showing a demonstration of a Chinese drone acting as a mini dropship for a robot dog armed with a machine gun has emerged online.

U.S. Aims to Turn Taiwan Into Giant Weapons Depot
Officials say Taiwan needs to become a “porcupine” with enough weapons to hold out if the Chinese military blockades and invades it, even if Washington decides to send troops.

Another whodunnit. Who blew up a key bridge in Crimea?
Hearing about something blowing up in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine isn’t exactly breaking news these days. Things are being blown up on a regular basis. But this morning’s report of an important (to the Russians) and massive bridge being put out of service and catching fire comes with a few twists. The Crimean Bridge, linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, suffered an explosion and subsequent fire rendering a few sections of the bridge impassable and cutting off an important supply route to southern Ukraine for the Russian army. The first major twist to the story is the fact that a truck bomb was blamed for the blast rather than a missile strike of some kind. The second twist, much as was the case with the Nord Stream pipelines, is that we’re still not entirely sure who did it.

Kari Lake was booted from Arizona town hall audience before Hobbs took the stage
The scene, which took place in a forum that has yet to air, is emblematic of the contrasting styles of the two candidates in Arizona’s tight race for governor.

 

National

 

Los Angeles Unified School District Officials Squirm After Hackers Release Reams of Data
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has become the latest target of attacks from hackers who demanded a ransom for the data they swiped. The hackers claim to have stolen over 500 gigabytes of data from the second-largest school district in the U.S. and set Monday as a deadline for the LAUSD to pay the ransom — or else.

Susan Collins: “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed”
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the New York Times that she sees an “erosion of any boundaries” that is setting the stage for political violence. Angry phone calls to lawmakers now shift into real threats and acts of violence. She cited her own personal experiences recently in describing a constant escalation in today’s politically divisive atmosphere. She said someone is going to get killed.

Scenes from the Anarchy in Portland
This year’s elections in deep-blue Oregon bear watching. The most notable is the race for governor in which Republican Christine Drazan is running neck and neck in her bid to be the first Republican elected governor of Oregon since 1982 — a GOP gubernatorial drought second only to neighboring Washington, and joining Delaware as one of just three states not to elect a Republican governor in this century. The voters of Oregon are not being asked who should run their government, but whether they should have a government at all.

“No, Sarah, Our Prosperity Wasn’t Extracted from Slaves”
The opening lecture that I deliver every time I teach a Principles of Microeconomics course, which I do each semester, is on what the economic historian and liberal philosopher Deirdre McCloskey calls “the Great Enrichment.” I impress upon my students (most of whom are in their late teens) that they and everyone they know are off-the-charts materially wealthier than were the vast majority of all humans who ever lived. I explain that millennia after millennia, our human ancestors breathed, toiled, and perished in poverty so grinding that we today can barely imagine it.

The Supreme Court Joins the Section 230 Fight — Halfway
The past two decades have witnessed an enormous growth in social-media platforms, including platforms for discussion (Twitter and Facebook), search engines (Google), video (YouTube and TikTok), web hosting (Amazon), and fundraising and payment (GoFundMe, PayPal, Venmo). There has been an accompanying consolidation on a handful of platforms of political discussion, including journalism, debate, activism, fundraising, and advertising. Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, enacted in 1996 at the dawn of the Internet age, has become a lightning rod for a larger public debate over free speech on the Internet in general and social-media platforms in particular. That debate centers around two questions: (1) Should the law hold social-media companies responsible for harmful, abusive, dishonest, or fraudulent things they don’t censor from their platforms, and (2) should the law hold social-media companies responsible when they do censor people and things from their platforms, but do so in ways that are arbitrary, unfair, or reflect political bias?

Pro-Trans Group Behind Virginia School Walkout Plans To ‘Rehome’ Gay Kids Who Hate Their Parents
A Virginia pro-trans group with Democratic ties says it will help gender-confused students leave their families and “rehome” them with new “queer friendly” guardians instead, according to internal materials obtained by The Daily Wire.

Rantz: WA judges side with accused drug dealer over ludicrous claim of racism
Three judges on the Washington Court of Appeals just overturned a conviction against an accused drug dealer by using woke standards for the term “Mexican ounce,” which they’re misconstruing.

UN Official Says Quiet Part Out Loud: ‘We Own the Science and We Think That the World Should Know It’
Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, owns no portion of real science.

Federal Judge Topples EEOC’s LGBT Bathroom, Pronoun Guidance (1)
A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance allowing exceptions for LGBT employees from workplace policies on bathrooms, dress codes, and locker rooms was unlawful.

Young Females in Neon-Green Body Suits Attack, Rob Teenagers in NYC Subway Station
“She said she was attacked by aliens.”

Coming Soon: Polygamy
You could see this one coming a mile away, and many of us did. When the Supreme Court declared that there is no rational reason to deny the right of two people of the same sex to marry–love is love!–it eliminated the teleological foundation of marriage and the family. If marriage is no longer grounded in the biology of reproduction–it takes two, a man and a woman, to make a child–then the number two is likewise irrational. If George and Ken can be in love, and therefore entitled to marry, then why can’t George, Ken and Susan?

PayPal Updates User Policy to Include Possible $2,500 Fine For Speech It Doesn’t Like
“PayPal’s clause about taking users’ funds for a violation of its rules has long been established. But […] effective on November 3rd, 2022, PayPal will add restrictions to its acceptable use policy that go beyond illegal activities and fraud and into the realm of policing speech.” – via Reclaim the Net.

Big Cases to Watch During New Supreme Court Term
The Supreme Court is back. The nine justices will be hearing several blockbuster cases this term and weighing in on everything from affirmative action to election districts and even a case that involves Californians’ access to bacon.

A Victory for Life Over Euthanasia in Europe’s Human Rights Court
Although the human rights court didn’t rule against Belgium’s euthanasia law, it held that the country violated the right to life enshrined in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the euthanasia of Godelieva de Troyer in 2012.

Here’s What Happened When a Concerned Mom Dressed Like Drag Queen at a School Board Meeting
For years now, we’ve seen woke schools hiring drag queens to perform for young kids as some sort of exercise about tolerance and diversity. If you spoke out about it, you were a bigot.

Students boycott class after professor declares there are only two sexes
Students walked out of University of Southern Maine professor Christy Hammer’s class on Sept. 14 after she reportedly stated there are only two biological sexes.

First Proud Boys leader pleads guilty to Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Jeremy Bertino was in inner circle of right-wing group led by Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio, accused with some Oath Keepers of planning violence to oppose President Biden’s inauguration.

Vice Chair of Treasury Department’s New ‘Racial Equity Committee’ Wants to Defund Police and ‘Reimagine’ Capitalism
“True equity means equity of outcome, and not accepting the promise of ‘opportunity’ within a system that continues to systematically exclude”

American Conservatism Is Not European
In the pages of National Review more than 60 years ago, Russell Kirk was thinking about the state of conservatism in Italy. Kirk believed that the “failure to present the traditional American arguments for ordered liberty is a contributory cause of the present intellectual ascendancy of Communists and Socialists in Italy.”

NYC homeless man charged with subway murder was on supervised release for previous attempted murder on the subway
Last Friday night a 42-year-old father of two was stabbed in the neck while riding the subway in Brooklyn.

Texas Teenager Breaks Into Hospital Nursery, Assaults Nurses, Newborn Babies: Police
Odessa, Texas, police arrested an 18-year-old man Monday after he assaulted two newborn infants and two members of hospital staff, nearly strangling one infant to death, according to reports.

Conservative senator on track to become university president after unanimous vote
The announcement revealed the senator was one of 700 possible candidates narrowing down the search to 12 nine of which were ‘sitting presidents at major research universities, and seven were from AAU universities.’

CCP to Pompeo: Sit Down and Shut Up
The Chinese Communist Party wants Mike Pompeo to put a sock in it. On Tuesday, the Washington-based Hudson Institute received a letter urging the termination of the production of videos critical of the regime featuring the erstwhile secretary of state. The videos “made groundless accusations against the Communist Party of China,” the Chinese embassy wrote in an indignant missive that Pompeo shared on Twitter.

Biden pardons all federal offenders of simple possession of marijuana convictions
It is not a coincidence that Joe Biden made a major announcement concerning simple possession of marijuana as the 2022 midterm elections are just 32 days away. Biden announced he is pardoning all Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law. He is also directing agencies to review how the government classifies marijuana.

The Distortions in Jack Turban’s Psychology Today Article on ‘Gender Affirming Care’
Turban’s public statements on pediatric gender medicine have been less than honest.

New California Law Forces Taxpayers to Pay for Union Members’ Dues
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill last week forcing California taxpayers to pay up to $400 million of public and private employees’ union dues.

Shower thoughts explained! Scientists figure out why we get great ideas while washing
Many people have been in the shower when that brilliant, light bulb moment suddenly strikes! It can seem like a strange place to have great ideas, but researchers say “shower thoughts” are pretty common. So, why do so many people get a spark of creativity while washing up?

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Pretextual stops, consular nonreviewability, COVID on cruise ships.

4 members of ‘Green Goblin’ subway attack crew ID’d by NYPD
Four members of the “Green Goblin” gang who brutally attacked two 19-year-old women on a Manhattan train have 15 arrests between them, authorities said Friday as they identified the suspects.

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks, Eric Adams put each other’s girlfriends in top posts
Schools Chancellor David Banks quietly promoted Mayor Adams’ girlfriend to a top job at the Department of Education, just months after Adams hired Banks’ girlfriend as a deputy mayor, The Post has learned.

Providence (RI) Schools Bow To Radical Mob, Remove Whistleblower Ramona Bessinger From Teaching Position
Bessinger blew the whistle on CRT in the classrooms and has been subject to continuous retaliation. Just days after filing a police report after a student protest leader allegedly threatened to kill her, Bessinger without any notice was “removed” from her teaching position, put on involuntary administrative leave pending an “internal investigation” – but she doesn’t know and hasn’t been told what the investigation is about.

Public School Fires Substitute Teacher for Raising Concerns Over Book Depicting Same-Sex Couples
Lindsey Barr was fired from her substitute teaching job after expressing concern over the content of a book in the school library.

Petroleum Firms Push Back Against Gov. Newsom Smearing Them as “Greedy” after Proposing Windfall Tax
“From the perspective of a refiner and fuel supplier, California is the most challenging market to serve in the United States….”

 

Economy & Taxes

 

On the Necessity — or Not — of Income Taxes
It’s conventional wisdom that individual income taxes are vital ways for governments to raise revenue. But as Chris Edwards points out in a Cato Institute blog post, nine of the 50 states don’t have an individual income tax. That’s enough of a sample for a simple comparison, and it allows us to see how state governments can manage without taxing individual income.

Warning Signs Flashing at the Gas Pump Once More
On the menu today: You don’t hear as much now about gas prices as you did during the record highs in June, but that doesn’t mean that prices at the pump are anything close to normal. That long stretch of declines from the June high ended in late September, and gas prices are actually up about eleven cents a gallon in the past week or so. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at its lowest point in nearly four decades; California refineries are shutting down; Gavin Newsom says that there’s no explanation for price hikes; and OPEC, the Russians, and the Saudis are laughing all the way to the bank. Also remember that in Joe Biden’s mind, his policies on energy are a success story.

Say what? After OPEC+ rebuke, Biden to incentivize oil production in …
Texas? North Dakota? Shale country in Pennsylvania, where Democrats look more vulnerable than ever in the upcoming Senate election? Maybe the coasts, where massive US reserves would create a strategic advantage over OPEC+ and allow us to cut off Vladimir Putin’s profits organically?

U.S. Facing Butter Shortage Ahead of Holiday Season
A UN official also warns of an impending global rice shortage.

Dwindling Mississippi Grounds Barges, Threatens Shipments
Largest barge operator in the US declares force majeure. River isn’t set to see replenishing rainfalls anytime soon.

Deceleration? US adds lowest level of jobs in 18 months
The jobs report looks decent on its own — but the trendlines are all going the wrong way. The US economy added 263,000 jobs in September, the lowest level in more than a year, and a miss even off the lowered expectations of 275,000 by forecasters.

 

International

 

Bolsonaro, Lula headed to runoff after tight Brazil election
Brazil’s top two presidential candidates will face each other in a runoff vote after neither got enough support to win outright Sunday in an election to decide if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office.

World’s biggest ever blackout as 140MILLION people plunged into darkness in Bangladesh after mystery power grid collapse
A TOTAL of 140 million people have been plunged into darkness in the world’s biggest blackout.

Exalting an ‘Anti-Colonial’ Gender Identity
In a new report, Canadian educators are instructed about a Two-Spirit LGBT subcategory that, even the authors admit, lacks any real definition.

Australian Football Executive Ousted for His Church Membership
Andrew Thorburn was on the job as CEO of the Essendon Football Club in Melbourne, Australia, when the team ousted him. The club didn’t kick him out of his new role because of a scandal or for poor treatment of a player or staffer. Instead, the team showed Thorburn the door because of, as Fox Sports Australia put it, “widespread backlash to the anti-homosexual and anti-abortion views of his church, City on a Hill, where he is chairman.”

Giorgia Meloni and the Future of European Politics
When Giorgia Meloni and her coalition partners won the Italian election last week, a clip of her talking about what she stood for went viral. In it, she made clear that she stood for certain identities – identities that are under attack from Italy and Europe’s progressive movements.

Jamie Sarkonak: The Ontario homicide case that has ended racial fairness in court
Suppressing criminal history for Indigenous people facing trial, another way judges are softening the laws on books

 

Opinion

 

‘Coco Chow’ and the Spirit of Now
“He has a DEATH WISH,” wrote Donald Trump, on Truth Social, his version of Twitter. “Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!”

Who Owns Science?
Science is a method that can, in principle, be practiced by anyone. So no one can “own” it. But don’t tell that to the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.

Why American boys are failing at school—and men are losing in life
In New York, boys are now lagging behind girls in math and a full grade level behind in English. Similar patterns can be seen across the nation. Boys graduate high school at about the same rate as poor students, while girls account for two out of three high schoolers in the top 10% ranked by GPA. One in four black boys repeat a grade, and 60% of students on college campuses are now women.

Can Trump win his $475M defamation suit against CNN?
Almost certainly not, although it’s also not likely the point of the lawsuit in the first place. Donald Trump added to his legal issues yesterday by taking the offensive against CNN in a defamation claim, alleging that the network compared him to Adolf Hitler and specifically defamed him as an “insurrectionist.”

Who Gets to Decide How State Universities Are Run?
If you ask most taxpayers, they’d say that the state universities they pay for should be run to teach useful knowledge and skills. But if you ask a “progressive” educator, you’d hear that state universities should be run primarily to spread correct thinking to the students, especially the beliefs embedded in that miasma of ideas we now call DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion). What the backward rubes who pay the taxes might want is immaterial.

Opposing Covid Vaccination Shouldn’t Be a ‘Conservative’ Cause
Marin County, a community north of America’s most poorly run city, was once a bastion of vaccine-hesitancy paranoia. Fever dreams about corporate schemes, immunization-induced autism, and the ills of Western medicine were pervasive among residents of the affluent progressive enclave just a few years ago. Now, the county has one of the highest Covid-vaccination rates in the nation.