News of the Week for May 7th, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Vox: We Need to Consider the Suffering of the Unborn (Chickens)
Maureen Condic, associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Utah, wrote about the suffering of unborn human beings for National Review in 2021
Gun Rights
Amid Rising Antisemitism, Jews Are Embracing The Second Amendment
Tzvi Waldman, leader of the NYS Jewish Gun Club, told the DCNF that many synagogues can’t afford expensive private security but they have little choice when states like New York simultaneously ban guns in synagogues and don’t curb rising antisemitism.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Greenflation Watch: True Confessions
Some while ago, I wrote about how a top official at the European Central Bank had made the utterly unsurprising admission that the energy “transition” (away from greenhouse-gas-emitting sources of power) could be an inflation risk for some time, an argument she elaborated upon in comments (together with some rather elaborate qualifications) a few months later.
Switzerland Wants Children to Eat Less Chocolate, More Insects
Companies pitch bugs to young consumers at schools. Spicy mealworms don’t fly with Ana: ‘blech.’
“No Bricks, No Glass, No Cement” – What Net Zero 2050 Demands According to Government-Funded Report
No bricks, the walls and foundations made of compacted earth, cement made from clay and glass scavenged from demolition skips are just some of the construction changes needed to comply with Net Zero by 2050. The latest paper from Government-funded U.K. FIRES looks to “minimise new construction”, and notes the shape of the urban environment will change, allowing for “denser living and reduced transport needs”.
Feds admit offshore wind can kill whales!
Despite public proclamations of innocence, it turns out BOEM and NOAA clearly acknowledge the deadly threat of offshore wind development to marine mammals. Not surprisingly they do it in documents that are subject to judicial review, lest they be caught fibbing.
99.2% of Swiss National Bank Shareholders Just Rejected a Green Investment Push
“… SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said the central bank took climate change seriously but should not be distracted from its primary goal of ensuring price stability. …”
Gas Stove Bans Promoted From Baseless Conspiracy Theory To New York State Policy
New York’s budget deal includes a ban on gas stoves in new residential construction.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
NIH is looking for volunteers to study effects of castration
We keep being told that The Science™ behind so-called “gender-affirming care” is settled.
War & Terror
Russia: How dare the country we invaded attack our capital?
The Putin regime calls this a “terrorist” act. That’s a funny way to describe an alleged attempt to attack the military offices in the capital of a country that invaded the country of the supposed “terrorists.” An alleged drone attack on the Kremlin by Ukrainian forces would be an act of war — a war that Russia started, and from which it is hardly immune.
Kremlin prepares media landscape for possible losses in Ukraine
Some interesting reports about the war in Ukraine today which paint an overall picture of Russia maybe being a little bit in trouble and worried about near-future outcomes. Let’s start with this Ukrainian attack on a Russian freight train.
Iran has enough uranium for five nukes, not just one – Gallant
Gallant’s statement made it clear that the Islamic Republic’s build-up of its nuclear arsenal in-waiting continues.
California Plans to Ban Diesel Train Engines ‘Constructed More Than 23 Years Ago by 2030’
Railroad officials are argue the the proposed rules are unrealistic.
Worms and grasshoppers for lunch at prestigious £20,000 a year girls’ school
Environmentally conscious students at North London Collegiate School vote to add insects to their school dinners
Terrified Russian men are changing gender in desperate attempt to avoid Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin is finding less and less men want to join the army and are even taking some very drastic measures in order to avoid the deadly draft
Is the Wagner Group pulling out of Ukraine?
Last month, Vladimir Putin took a trip to the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to tour one of the more contested pieces of territory in the ongoing war. The visit was mostly a photo op to show the supposed advances being made by the Russian military, supported by large numbers of civilian soldiers from the Wagner Group. The city had already been largely reduced to rubble by that point with only a small number of civilian residents remaining in the area. The owner of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had boasted that they would fully retake Bakhmut by May 9th, the anniversary of Russia’s defeat of the Nazis in World War II. But they have made little progress since then, with the fighting settling into a stalemate and massive casualties being sustained on both sides. Now Prigozhin is placing the blame on Russia’s inability to give him enough ammunition to keep his soldiers in the fight and he’s threatening to pull his forces out of the area.
Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot
Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.
Ukraine claims to have downed Russian hypersonic missile
The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force made a rather bold claim this morning. He said that his country’s newly acquired (from the United States) Patriot missile system shot down one of Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missiles over Kyiv on Wednesday. If so, that would be a remarkable feat. Thus far the Russians are keeping quiet about the alleged attack, but they’ve been working on hypersonic missiles for a while now so it might not be all that surprising if they were trying to use them against Ukraine. But some analysts immediately raised questions as to whether or not the story being conveyed was fully accurate and it clearly appears to have fallen apart under scrutiny.
National
Shocking Acts Of DEI Discrimination Are Just The Tip of The Iceberg
My appearance on the “Lee Elci – The Voice of Freedom” radio show discussing the Equal Protection Project, the U.S. military weapons stockpile disaster, and transgender issues for military kids
DeSantis To Deliver Blow To Teachers Unions As Bill Removing Automatic Union Deductions Heads To His Desk
Teachers will need to opt-in to a union and be informed that their job is not dependent on union membership
Researchers Fight Back Against ‘Ideological Capture’ of Modern Science
Jerry A. Coyne and Anna Krylov argue that narrative-based ideology now dominates research in the U.S. more pervasively than it did at the Soviet Union’s height.
Another Soros-Funded Disaster
When we talk about crime-riddled cities, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia get a lot more attention than St. Louis, but on a per-capita basis, crime is much worse in St. Louis, which regularly leads New Orleans and Baltimore as the most violent major city in America. Alas, so many people have fled St. Louis in recent decades that it almost doesn’t qualify as a “major” city now, with fewer than 300,000 residents.
Read this and weep for humanity
In this case, though, to the extent that there is a moral panic going on it is the myth that there is a “trans-genocide” and that social conservatives are engaged in a witch hunt in which kids are psychologically tortured, books are banned, and drag performers are being driven out of society.
The Garland DOJ’s Wild Transgender Lawsuit against Tennessee
For the latest episode in Merrick Garland turning the United States Department of Justice into a left-wing blog that continually attacks democracy in the states, consider its complaint filed Wednesday by the DOJ in the Middle District of Tennessee, joining a lawsuit against Tennessee’s law prohibiting the use of puberty blockers and other transgender medical procedures on minors. S.B. 1, the Tennessee law, is derived from two basic premises. One, like the bans in at least 22 states on “gay conversion therapy,” it reflects the state legislature’s determination that what proponents describe in Orwellian terms as “gender-affirming care” is dangerous quackery that the state can appropriately regulate or ban.
San Francisco Whole Foods plagued by violence, drugs and vagrants made 560 emergency calls before closing
Workers at a San Francisco Whole Foods Market were routinely threatened with weapons before the crime-plagued store announced it was shuttering after a little more than a year in business.
NV Dem Chairwoman: ‘I Wish I Could Legislate What Parents Do’
During AB400 committee hearing, Assm. Monroe-Moreno regrets she cannot legislate the actions of parents in the public school system
Fake History and a Profile in Courage
How a brave scholar’s intellectual integrity shined a light on the degradation of critical thought in America.
Pornhub blocks Utah in protest of new age-verification law
Pornhub, one of the largest adult content websites on the internet, has blocked Utahns from viewing the site in an apparent protest of a new law forcing stricter age-verification measures.
NJ Boarding School Admits it Failed to Stop Bullying of Student Who Committed Suicide
“Lawrenceville’s top priority is the physical, social, and emotional health, safety, and wellbeing of our students. We recognize that in Jack’s case, we fell tragically short of these expectations.”
‘We’re Not Doing That Here,’ Oklahoma Schools Superintendent Says of DEI Instruction
Oklahoma is taking a lead on school choice programs and resisting far-left ideology in classrooms across the state.
Women in STEM have an advantage over men in hiring decisions, researchers found
Two decades of studies show low gender bias in academic STEM
Jim Marchant Announces Run For US Senate
Marchant claims ‘his number one priority will be to overhaul the fraudulent election system in Nevada’
Governor DeSantis Signs Legislation to Combat ESG in Florida
Governor DeSantis signs legislation to combat ESG policies in the state of Florida.
Chicago Police recommend Riot Glass to prevent smash-and-grab crimes
Smash-and-grab burglaries in the Wicker Park area have Chicago Police recommending a different type of solution.
New Kansas Law Adopts Biological Definition of ‘Female,’ Protects Women’s Private Spaces
Oh, the hysteria! The Kansas legislature just overrode the governor’s veto of an “anti-trans” bill!
Florida Passes Campus Intellectual Diversity Act, Bans Political Litmus Tests
The Florida legislature has just passed a bill that will change the face of public universities across the state and, ultimately, the nation. In an era when frighteningly large numbers of students support shout-downs — and prove it, in practice, all too often — this proposal, H.B. 931, sponsored by State Representative Spencer Roach, the senate version of which was sponsored by State Senator Keith Perry, requires universities to put on debates around our foremost public-policy controversies.
Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’
A text message sent by Tucker Carlson that set off a panic at the highest levels of Fox on the eve of its billion-dollar defamation trial showed its most popular host sharing his private, inflammatory views about violence and race.
Black Californians could receive up to $1.2 million in reparations payments, task force says
The fate of the proposal in the legislature remains uncertain.
Gendered-Oriented Funding in Academic Science Is Biased In Favor Of Women
Cornell Professor Wendy Williams: “It’s important to get a grip on what’s going on today and not what was going on in 1985.”
Left Wing Trans Activists Occupy Texas Capitol, Shut Down Proceedings
“The incident at the Texas Capitol is the latest in a number of attempts by liberal protestors in favor of sex change treatment for minors to halt proceedings at state capitols across the country.”
Leftist students call North Korean defector Yeonmi Park a ‘liar,’ destroy flyers for her event at Syracuse
Ahead of an event featuring North Korean defector Yeonmi Park, students destroyed flyers and posted messages critical of Park and her host, the College Republicans, in an online forum.
Trump Will Present No Defense in Civil Trial of Carroll’s Rape/Defamation Claims
In a column we published today about developments in the Carroll/Trump civil trial, I noted that former president Donald Trump’s principal lawyer in the case, Joe Tacopina, had informed Judge Lewis Kaplan that his client would not be appearing or testifying at the trial, and that this signaled there would be little in the way of a defense case.
Proud Boys’ Tarrio guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted Thursday of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election.
New England Journal of Medicine Article Suggests Segregating Medical Students by Race
“Founded on legacies of colonialism and racism, medical education has historically centered White learners and continues to perpetuate structural racism.”
‘Dream Defenders’ Protesters Furious That DeSantis Staffer Ate Cake During Their ‘Occupation’ Of Gov’s Office
Give that guy a raise: “Ron DeSantis staff eating cake while Floridians are in crisis. Typical.”
Trans-activists clash with College Republicans after screening of ‘What Is a Woman’ at Kent State
LGBTQ+ student activists have been in conflict with the Kent State College Republicans since March after the club showed the film ‘What Is a Woman?’
Speech Protections Are Spreading Across the UNC System
Recent moves by UNC Charlotte and East Carolina University should be applauded.
NHGOP House Majority Leader Endorses DeSantis in #FITN Primary
New Hampshire House Majority Leader Rep. Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) released a letter Thursday endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the First in the Nation GOP presidential primary.
UC-Berkeley Prof Admits She’s a White Person After Claiming She was Native American Her ‘Whole Life’
I am a white person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life, based on incomplete information.
Soros-Backed St. Louis Prosecutor Kim Gardner Resigning Office, Effective June 1st
“For years, Gardner’s office has faced criticism for mishandling cases and office dysfunction.”
AG Candidate Will Scharf Supports Our Call For An Investigation Of Missouri State U. Program That Excluded White Males
In a radio interview, Scharf noted our role in challenging the program: “a watchdog group called the Equal Protection Project demanded answers from Springfield, and also demanded that our Attorney General’s office investigate violation of state law ….”
Teachers’ union goes full communist
The headline is not hyperbole. The Colorado Education Association has actually adopted a resolution committing the organization to fight capitalism as a fundamentally exploitative economic system that must be destroyed.
California’s population declined again last year
For the third year in a row, California’s population has declined. The population decline in 2020 which started this new trend was the first time ever in the history of the state.
At least eight Trump electors have accepted immunity in Georgia investigation
At least eight of the 16 Georgia Republicans who convened in December 2020 to declare Donald Trump the winner of the presidential contest despite his loss in the state have accepted immunity deals from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating alleged election interference, according to a lawyer for the electors.
Georgia, Arkansas Revive Old-School Teaching Method: Poetry Recitation. Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing.
Unlike digitized books, films, and albums that can be canceled, rewritten, or vanished altogether, physical copies are “the enduring repository that cannot be disappeared.”
J6 rioter gets 14 years
One of the latest trials of people who participated in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill has resulted in a sentence that should alarm anyone interested in equal justice under the law. Kentucky resident Peter Schwartz was sentenced to fourteen years and two months behind bars for his participation in the riot yesterday. Prosecutors had been asking for more than 24 years, but U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta apparently felt this sentence was a compromise. Schwartz definitely participated in what can rightfully be described as “rioting” but just how serious were his crimes? The underlying details offer little in the way of describing anything that would merit a sentence of this nature and the conduct of the judge during sentencing clearly indicates significant bias.
Five white women who lied about their ancestry
A professor of environmental science specializing in Native American environmental health apologized this week for “incorrectly identifying” as Native American for years, joining a list of white women who have feigned membership in a different racial or ethnic group.
Study: ‘Transgender’ Youth Prescribed MORE Psychotropic Drugs After ‘Gender-Affirming Care,’ Not Less
Researchers who recently published their work in the Journal of Sexual Medicine examined the prevalence and efficacy of “gender-affirming” mental healthcare provided to trans-identified children.
California panel approves $800 billion reparations package
California is still wrestling with the whole reparations question and has been for quite a while now. But yesterday, the task force assigned to look into the matter took a series of votes and approved several recommendations. None of these are moving immediately into law, but they are intended to inform the legislature so that final proposals can be voted on. They agreed on some form of apology and cash reparations. They didn’t specify an amount, but an earlier version of the proposal called for payments of at least $360,000. Of course, this plan would only apply to Black residents and not any other minorities. And the total bill would add up to more than two and a half times the state’s entire annual budget, even as California faces a significant budget shortfall.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Amazon’s algorithm, involuntary commitment, and anti-malaria medicine.
Trans activist appears to tout Smirnoff relationship, company denies partnership
Maxine LaQueene is also a pro-trans activist who was recently removed from the Texas state capitol for disrupting a legislature vote on a trans-related bill
Chicago gay bars boycott Anheuser-Busch as brewer shuns Dylan Mulvaney
Five Chicago gay bars are boycotting Anheuser-Busch for distancing itself from transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney after her Arpil 1 collaboration drew conservatives’ ire and calls for a Bud Light boycott.
Economy & Taxes
First Republic Bank Is Seized, Sold to JPMorgan in Second-Largest U.S. Bank Failure
Lender teetered for weeks after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March
Office Property Woes: San Francisco
Of all the troubled office-property markets in this country’s embattled major city centers, San Francisco may be in the worst position, hit by tech workers’ preference to work from home, weakness in the tech sector, high tax, and what can look, at times, like some sort of unraveling.
The White Oak Shortage That Could Ruin the Bourbon Industry
A crucial aspect of making bourbon is under threat.
Swedish government considers ten billion kronor tax cuts next year
The three government parties, along with the Sweden Democrats, have indicated that there could be tax cuts of at least 10 billion kronor next year.
Financial Officers From 27 States Sign Letter Objecting to Biden’s Mortgage ‘Equity’ Plan
“For decades, Americans have been told that they will be rewarded for saving their money and building a good credit score. This policy turns that time-tested principle upside down”
Learning from Bud Light? Coca-Cola Shareholders Shoot Down 3 Attempts to Turn the Company Fully Woke
Maybe the lessons of the Bud Light disaster are starting to sink in. In a sign that American investors aren’t happy with the “go woke, go broke” ideas taking hold in too many corporate offices, Coca-Cola Co. shareholders last week soundly rejected three proposals pushed by leftist activists to push the company further into leftist causes.
About Half in U.S. Worry About Their Money’s Safety in Banks
Amid turbulence in the U.S. banking system, nearly half of Americans are anxious about the safety of the money they have in accounts at banks or other financial institutions. A total of 48% of U.S. adults say they are concerned about their money, including 19% who are “very” and 29% who are “moderately” worried. At the same time, 30% are “not too worried” and 20% are “not worried at all.”
Western Alliance latest US bank to explore sale
Western Alliance WAL.N is exploring strategic options including a potential sale of all or part of its business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday citing two people briefed on the matter.
The regional banking crisis is expanding
Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell yesterday said that the U.S. banking system is “sound and resilient.”
Congress Votes to Reinstate Tariffs on Solar Panels from Southeast Asian Countries
Representatives of the solar industry are upset of the potential loss of the cheap supply.
Nevada Controller Matthews Slams Biden’s ‘Reckless’ New Mortgage Policy
New Federal Housing Finance Agency policy makes it more expensive for people with good credit to buy homes
Turkey’s Kilicdaroglu exits Erdogan’s shadow in election race
Stuck in Tayyip Erdogan’s shadow throughout his career, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu believes his time has come to set Turkey on a new path and roll back much of the legacy of the man who has dominated politics for two decades.
Czech Republic latest nation to sign on to NASA’s moon-focused Artemis Accords
The Czech Republic on Wednesday became the 24th country to sign NASA’s Artemis Accords, a set of principles for countries participating in the American space program to return astronauts to the moon.
International
Eat Meat!
The Left has launched a comprehensive war on modern agriculture. One aspect of that war consists of attacks on animal husbandry, which to some degree ties in with longstanding crank theories espoused by vegans and others. However, contemporary attacks on meat are mostly climate-based. As such, they are dangerous to your family’s health.
Ireland about to execute free speech as in “kill it off permanently”
For a country that has spent a good portion of its existence with a boot on its throat, you’d think the Irish would be a bit more particular about the concept of “freedom”: which constituted the same, what measures impede or crush it, and thereby do everything in their power to avoid those. Again, you’d think but WHOA, NELLY, would you ever be wrong.
China Renews Embrace of Maduro’s Venezuela as the US Looks On
Venezuela and China are re-establishing connections after years of cooling ties, with government contacts resuming and joint projects floated in what amounts to a challenge to Washington.
Biden Admin to Sway Lula Using Climate, Equity, and Inclusion
The Biden administration is embarking on a diplomatic push to sway Brazilian president Lula da Silva, who has solidified Brazil’s relationships with anti-American dictatorships since taking office. One envoy, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, is visiting Brazil this week with a key weapon in her arsenal: a focus on climate change and the administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion-centered foreign-policy agenda.
EU ensures Dutch farmers booted FOREVER from farming
With something this draconian, this beyond all comprehension, I guess “Wow” is about all you can say, huh?
Robert Mugabe’s daughter owns 25 houses, divorce reveals
A divorce between the daughter of the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and her husband has exposed the vast wealth amassed by her family during more than three decades of misrule.
EU Parliament criticized for displaying ‘vulgar’ depictions of Jesus and apostles
An art exhibit at the European Union’s Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, has prompted criticism from conservative politicians in Italy for its display of a blasphemous depiction of Jesus Christ and the apostles.
Opinion
Who is winning the scramble for Africa?
The West and Russia are stuck in the past
Two Quick Thoughts on Loper Bright, Chevron, and Recusals
The Supreme Court this morning agreed to hear Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a case involving a direct challenge to the Chevron doctrine; the case will be heard next year. The doctrine, which dates to a 1984 decision won by the Environmental Protection Agency, holds that courts should defer to administrative agencies when the agencies interpret the statutes they are charged with enforcing. At the time, this was a conservative cause: When Ronald Reagan came into office and put conservatives in charge of the agencies (including now-justice Neil Gorsuch’s mother, who ran the EPA from 1981 to 1983), liberal judges wanted to lock the administration into liberal policies developed under earlier administrations.
Victims of Communism Day—2023
May Day should be a day to honor victims of an ideology that took tens of millions of lives. But we should also be open to alternative dates if they can attract broad enough support.
The Limits of Press-Bashing
Sure, there’s a lot of lousy coverage of presidential candidates out there, and you can find a lot of hagiographic coverage of Democratic figures and unfairly critical coverage of Republican figures. But press-bashing has now become a reflex among certain Republican officeholders, and it’s starting to become a crutch, an easy way to swat away legitimate questions. The widespread contempt for reporters and the process of covering campaigns raises some questions about just what Republicans think is fair coverage, and whether they would prefer to sit back and watch a primary that consisted entirely of speeches and scripted applause lines, with no questions or off-the-cuff answers.
Postscript on the National Vote Compact
John wrote here Sunday about the “National Vote Compact” (NVC), the proposal of the goo-goo (“good government”) reformers to get around the electoral college by having a majority of states agree to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. I agree with John that it is a loopy idea, though I’d love the spectacle of California someday having to cast its electoral votes for a narrow Republican national popular vote winner when the present system would elect a Democrat with California’s lopsided electoral vote bloc. I’m sure the compact would go down well in that case.
Americans, Not Conservatives, Strike Back
Conservative activists are excited about the boycott of Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch, the beer maker, branded a can of Bud Light for a transgender activist, Dylan Mulvaney. Mulvaney, biologically a male, celebrated his first year living as a “woman.” The week a transgender activist murdered six people in Nashville, TN, Bud Light produced its Mulvaney themed can. The backlash started.
Public Education’s Days of Reckoning
Steep enrollment declines, sparked by long pandemic closures, have eroded school budgets, forcing many systems to shrink.
We should talk about just how bad the RESTRICT Act is
Back in 2001, like many other people I foolishly bought into the idea of the USA Patriot Act. After all, we had just suffered the worst terrorist attack in history and we had to go after the bad guys, right? Of course, since that time we’ve seen the government and our own intelligence agencies spying on regular Americans more than any alleged ISIS sleeper cells. Now the government is brewing up a new plan supposedly in response to threats posed by China through back-door data breaches using the TikTok video app. It’s called the RESTRICT Act and it is unfortunately drawing bipartisan support in the Senate. But much like its predecessor, this bill would open the door to vastly expanded executive branch powers and unprecedented levels of control of both financial activity and people’s personal data. This week, Senator Rand Paul penned an op-ed for Townhall where he explains the plan in detail.
