News of the Week for May 28th, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
California can’t force churches to pay for abortions, courts rule
Two federal courts in California ruled last week that churches in the state do not have to cover abortion procedures in their health insurance plans. Both rulings found that a state abortion-coverage mandate violated the churches’ first amendment rights, bringing an end to two lawsuits that have been moving through the court system for years.
Gun Rights
Louisiana House votes to expand gun rights, allow concealed carry without permits, training
Louisiana is on the cusp of expanding gun rights after the House overwhelming passed a bill Tuesday that would allow adults 18 and older to carry handguns without permits or training as is currently required.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
“Our Children Will Never See Snow”
The scientific method works as follows: 1) You come up with a hypothesis. 2) You look for the implications of the hypothesis. What will be the case if the hypothesis is true, but will not be the case if the hypothesis is wrong? 3) You carry out observations or run experiments to find out whether the facts implied by the hypothesis do or do not obtain. 4) If you find that a fact implied by the hypothesis is indeed the case, it provides support for the hypothesis. If you find a number of such facts to be true, as implied by the hypothesis, then you may have strong support. 5) But it is not conclusive: if a fact or condition implied by the hypothesis is shown by observation or experiment not to be the case, then the hypothesis is refuted, and you go back to the drawing board.
German Greens in Crisis, Plummet 40% In Opinion Polls as Anger Mounts Over Bans, Scandals
Being the media darlings has not prevented the German Greens from collapsing in the public opinion polls. 40% of green voters have taken their approval away since it peaked in popularity at 23%.
Remember when I said German Greens were either gonna chill out or go for broke?
Last week I pointed out that the #mathz on shutting down their nuclear reactors was fixin’ to really bite the ruling Greens in the tookus even as they were reeling from losses in April’s regional elections. Their seat at the pinnacle of Germany’s government was suddenly looking very precarious, and there were moments of introspection. Perhaps, some in the party hierarchy’s thinking went, we should take a breather.
How solar farms took over the California desert: ‘An oasis has become a dead sea’
Residents feel trapped and choked by dust, while experts warn environmental damage is ‘solving one problem by creating others’
The EPA Is Stopped at the Water’s Edge
Chief Justice John Marshall famously described the job of the courts: to “say what the law is.” The courts are supposed to read the law, not write it. Sometimes, however, the written law leaves much unanswered. At a certain point, while it is important that the Supreme Court adhere to the text written by Congress, it is even more important that it settle on an answer that tells Americans what the law is, and what it is not. That is what the Court did on Thursday in Sackett v. EPA.
Climate protestors facing federal charges for defacing sculpture at National Gallery of Art
Two climate activists are now facing federal charges, one month after a headline-grabbing protest at the National Gallery of Art.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Canadian poll: Maybe we should offer assisted suicide to the homeless and the poor
Canada’s widely touted national medical system offers all sorts of options for Canadian citizens, assuming you can last long enough on the waiting list to receive treatment. But one option might be available far more quickly than others and a recent poll suggests that it’s more popular in the Great White North than some of us might have imagined. That would be Canada’s program of Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAID. But it’s not just for the terminally ill. You can be approved for other reasons. And roughly one-third of poll respondents suggested they would be open to offering the option to people who are homeless or simply poor.
WHO goes all in promoting socialism
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the World Health Organization has turned its attention to promoting a Marxist restructuring of the global economy.
Portugal Legalizes Euthanasia; Nevada Legislature Approves Assisted Suicide
Alas. The president of Portugal just signed into law a bill legalizing euthanasia by lethal injection. It is not limited to the terminally ill — which is at least honest, since that is not what euthanasia/assisted suicide is really all about.
Another Troubling Obamacare Side Effect
When President Obama was selling his health-care law in 2009, he declared, “Your health insurance should be there when it counts, not just when you’re paying premiums but when you actually get sick, and it will be when we pass this plan.”
War & Terror
‘In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight’: China is calling in loans to dozens of countries from Pakistan to Kenya
A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.
Why are Cuban military being trained in Belarus?
A few days ago, it was Vietnam. Today it’s Belarus. Castro, Inc. is forging military alliances with other dictatorships in order to make its repressive machinery more efficient and brutal. Needless to say, Russia and China remain its most powerful partners in crime, but some of their satellite dictatorships are now getting into the act.
Iran Builds an Underground and Possibly Unreachable Nuclear Facility
U.S. airstrikes would likely not be able to reach an underground Iranian nuclear facility being built near the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, according to experts and satellite imagery analyzed by the Associated Press. Photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC, a satellite-imagery provider, reveal the construction of a new underground facility at Iran’s pre-existing Natanz nuclear site, which has been sabotaged by repeated attacks by Western powers because of its atomic program. In 2021, an Iranian official said that thousands of nuclear-material-refinement machines were damaged in an act of “nuclear terrorism” that it blamed on Israel. Iran warned that it would replace affected centrifuges, which refine or enrich uranium for nuclear usage, with more advanced ones. U.S. intelligence officials had told the New York Times that an explosion destroyed the site’s internal power system, necessary to supply the centrifuges in the underground facility, estimating that enrichment activities would need nine months to be restored. In 2020, explosives hidden inside a table were also used to attack Natanz.
Art prof fired after attacking pro-life table and threatening journalist with machete
A recent video shows a Hunter College art professor vandalizing a display after verbally harassing pro-life students tabling on campus.
The “squad” signals riots if they don’t get their way
It’s the typical Leftist strategy: threaten violence if their will is thwarted. The “Squad” is all about imposing their will.
Russia Arrests Top Hypersonic Scientist for Betraying Secrets to China
Meanwhile, Chinese military simulates hypersonic strike on US carrier group.
Prigozhin proclaims the war in Ukraine on the verge of failure, one that could lead to a new Russian revolution
It continues to amaze me that Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin hasn’t fallen out of a high window somewhere in Russia. In a country which last year made it illegal to criticize the war effort, Prigozhin continues to brand the defense secretary a failure and even to openly question whether the entire effort in Ukraine has backfired.
Chinese malware detected in systems on Guam
This story goes back to at least February of this year but we’re only hearing about it now. Microsoft, working with American intelligence agencies, identified some Chinese malware at an unnamed US port. Tracing backwards they found the same state-sponsored group had inserted the malware into telecom systems in Guam.
Russia resorts to massive Soviet-era bombs as Ukrainian air defenses prove a match for missiles, drones
Ukraine is requesting F-16s to ward off Russia’s plane-launched bombs
US ‘ready to fight in space if we have to’, says military official
Threat posed by ‘provocative’ Russia and China has left US no choice but to prepare for orbital skirmishes
Russia: A Warlord’s Game
Exactly what game Yevgeny Prigozhin, the boss of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group, is playing is anybody’s guess. One constant theme has been his criticism of Russia’s military hierarchy, criticisms that may be designed to bolster Putin’s position by deflecting the blame for Russia’s, uh, setbacks in Ukraine onto the military rather than on the leader who miscalculated so badly in assuming that Ukraine would collapse within a couple of days of an invasion. And if that’s the case, he may also be trying to establish himself as Putin’s indispensable ally, a position that is superficially supportive, but also comes with an implicit threat. This arguably became more explicit with recent comments (which I discussed here) in which Prigozhin referred to the botching of the war by a “happy grandpa,” a phrase that could have referred to Putin. Prigozhin’s real target was probably Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff. But the fact that Prigozhin used a phrase even capable of being interpreted in another, more dangerous, way was telling.
Ukraine pressures Germany to provide long-range Taurus missiles
Ukraine has asked the German government to provide long-range Taurus missiles, which would be capable of hitting Moscow.
National
Neeva, the would-be Google competitor, is shutting down its search engine
“We’ve discovered that it is one thing to build a search engine, and an entirely different thing to convince regular users of the need to switch to a better choice.”
Gen Z is going out in their underwear: ‘Free the nipple!’
Amber Gonzalez, 25, from Washington Heights, constantly has wardrobe malfunctions when she goes out — but she doesn’t mind the occasional nip slip.
Biden’s State Department Coddles Fragile Employees with Counseling to Cope with Being “Misgendered”
Your tax dollars at work.
Seattle Circles the Drain
Lest you imagine there is some extreme of sickness and lunacy from which liberals will recoil before pulling the country over a precipice into the Dolorous Abyss, consider Seattle, where a pedophilic sex offender has been nominated to serve on a homelessness board.
Parents Sue Elite Schools for ‘Indoctrinating’ Their Kids With Anti-Racist Policies
When Jerome Eisenberg enrolled his daughter at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, where Adam Levine met some of his Maroon 5 bandmates, the investment manager says he expected her to get a traditional liberal arts education.
Battle of the Badlands: Fighting City Hall…and Winning
They say you can’t fight City Hall. But one property owner in Las Vegas has been doing just that for seven long years now. And, believe it or not, he’s actually winning.
Texas pushes church into state with bills on school chaplains, Ten Commandments
Texas lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to require that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom in the state, part of a newly energized national effort to insert religion into public life.
Seattle Official Berates Board Member for Calling Out Nominee’s Pedophilia, Describing ‘Bad Experience’ With Him
The co-chair has refused to resign after mistreating the board member and defending the pedophile.
SATs are out. Published ‘research’ is in, but it’s pay to play
Test scores are out. Everyone’s got an A average. The “community service” trip to Mexico and the start-your-own-charity gambit are ho-hum. Ambitious parents are paying to get a published “research” project on their teenagers’ college applications, report Daniel Golden and Kunal Purohit for ProPublica and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
NC Governor declares “State of Emergency” over school choice
Democrats long ago gave up on persuading people. They harangue. They lie. They spew propaganda. They scare the bejeezus out of people.
Flunking the Equity Test
Surveys reveal that most Americans who support teaching critical race theory in schools don’t understand its principles.
Gov. Whitmer signs bill to end A-F grades for schools’ performance
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill Monday to toss out the Republican-backed A-F letter grade system for evaluating Michigan schools, saying the policy amounted to “burdensome requirements.”
Ex-con on lifetime parole for rape, murder of 10-year-old NYC girl charged in new sexual assault
An ex-con on lifetime parole for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old Queens girl was allowed to remain on the streets despite getting arrested again last year — and is now charged with another sexual assault, The Post has learned.
Block Party Fallout: Alleged comments by Clark County Commissioner trigger outrage
Hours before Thursday night’s Block Party, which Clark County billed as the largest event in Historic Commercial Center’s history, some shop owners in the plaza allege County Commissioner Ross Miller told them their businesses “don’t matter” and that he could “buy the property and burn the entire place to the ground and no one would care.”
MSU students sue professor who forced them to pay into her progressive slush fund
I saw this story yesterday and it seemed too strange to be true. But apparently it really did happen. A professor at MSU is being sued for allegedly forcing hundreds of students to sign up to her progressive website/slush fund at a cost of $99 per student. Now two of the students are suing her and two school administrators who allegedly signed off on this plan.
Shocking moment brutal mass brawl breaks out at airport baggage claim as travellers yank hair and land blows
THIS is the shocking moment a mass brawl broke out at an airport as travellers threw punches and yanked on each other’s hair.
Trump’s Manhattan Criminal Trial: March 25, 2024
What would you be doing next March if you were a candidate for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination? Since that date is smack in the middle of campaign season, it seems like a dumb question. You’d be campaigning. Look at the schedule: March 5 is Super Tuesday with 14 GOP primaries. Another seven states hold primaries or caucuses on March 12. Five others — critical Florida and Ohio included — go the next week, on March 19.
DA George Gascon’s office has a backlog of 10,000 cases
The NY Post has a report today about the ongoing troubles in Los Angeles DA George Gascon’s poorly run office. According to the sources who spoke to the NY Post the office is still short by well over 100 staffers and has a backlog of 10,000 cases.
NY Governor: You “bigoted” suburbs should take your migrants and like it
If you live anywhere in New York outside of the Big Apple and you’ve been watching the local news, there is one story absorbing most of the coverage and it involves busloads of migrants heading for suburban and rural counties. To say that people are unhappy about these developments would be an understatement, and that includes many self-described Democrats. But the state’s Democratic Governor, Kathy Hochul, appears to be tone-deaf on the subject, even as she attempts to put some political spin on the plans being cooked up by her and Mayor Eric Adams. On Monday evening, she appeared to lose her patience and told reporters that these rural counties need to “end their bigoted policies” and “accept” the migrants.
Kathy Hochul: Hey, What If We Put Migrants in College Dorms?
Blue-state Democrats continue to face a dilemma in dealing with asylum seekers: They are rhetorically and ideologically committed to the theory that only racists and xenophobes would see any practical problem with an open door to unlimited immigration, but in practice, they are at wit’s end figuring out where to put these people without enraging their own constituents or their neighbors. Thus, we see New York City mayor Eric Adams trying to dump migrants onto the suburbs and Chicago’s former and current mayor facing a backlash for putting them in school buildings and parks. Now, New York governor Kathy Hochul is apparently floating another idea: college dorms.
Oprah Winfrey could replace Dianne Feinstein in Senate, report says
Among the many plot lines in the Dianne Feinstein saga is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pledge to appoint a Black woman to replace the 89-year-old should a vacancy arise before her term expires in January 2025.
LGBT Pride ‘Youth Carnival’’ Bars Parents From Attending
Organizers of a “Youth Carnival” sponsored by two Indiana LGBTQ+ associations and the Indianapolis Airport Authority will not allow parents to attend with their children.
SF Mayor announced a crack-down on open-air drug markets, but was shouted down and had a brick thrown at her
The city of San Francisco was having a normal one yesterday. One observer called it a “circus” and that seems entirely fair given what happened. So the story here is that San Francisco’s rate of violent crime is relatively low for a big city but it’s rate of robberies, shoplifting, car break-ins and drug overdoses (268 people have died so far in 2023) have all skyrocketed in recent years. Visitors to the city aren’t likely to be murdered but they are likely to trip over a zombified fentanyl addict while someone else is breaking out their car windows. A lot of people are sick of it.
Texas Sues Biden Over Immigration ‘Parole’ Scam
We’ve covered President Biden’s lawless immigration “parole” scam a number of times (see, e.g., here). Basically, it’s an illegal-alien laundering scheme in which, to try to pretend that the hordes of illegals coming into the country are less numerous than they actually are, Biden and his factotum, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, invite non-Americans the world over to use an app to schedule their illegal crossing of our border. If an alien uses the app, the president pretends he has the power to give the alien a faux visa to come on in. Voila: The alien is no longer deemed illegal! Ergo the crossing doesn’t count as an illegal entry.
Scientists Find Evidence of What Could Be Earth’s First Mass Extinction Event
New fossils from South America hint at life during the “Great Dying” extinction event of the Permian, and some fascinating new research on Yellowstone supervolcano.
UConn to require students to pass ‘Anti-Black Racism’ course in order to graduate
The mandatory one-credit class will be included as part of the university’s core curriculum at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Trump Accuses DeSantis of Plagiarism. There’s Just One Problem…
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign sent no less than 13 emails attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) after DeSantis announced his presidential campaign. Those attacks were buttressed by many more social media posts attacking the governor that Trump once endorsed and still takes credit for getting elected back in 2018.
University of California sued for mandating DEI statements from applicants
A policy that requires scholars seeking a job at UC Santa Cruz to provide a diversity, equity and inclusion statement as part of the application process is unconstitutional, argues a recently filed lawsuit against the University of California system and UCSC leaders.
SCOTUS unanimously yanks chain on EPA in Sackett
Anyone want to take bets on the life expectancy of the Chevron doctrine after today’s unanimous decision on Sackett v EPA? The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the EPA had grossly overstepped its congressional mandate in defining “Waters of the United States,” vastly limiting its authority to declare jurisdiction over what it claims to be “wetlands” on private property.
The Fourth Circuit Okays Discrimination for ‘Equity’
The Thomas Jefferson School in Fairfax, Va., has long been an elite public school, accepting students entirely on the basis of academic aptitude. A very high percentage of the students who made it were of Asian ancestry and a low percentage were of black or Hispanic ancestry. Naturally, that made the school a target for those professional complainers who think that all group disparities must be stamped out.
Newsmakers poll: 27% want Amodei to challenge Rosen
U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., would defeat Republican Jim Marchant by almost five points if the 2024 U.S. Senate election in Nevada were held today, according to polling done for Nevada Newsmakers.
Complaint alleges Commissioner Ross Miller violated campaign finance law
Republican April Becker has filed an election integrity violation report alleging that Democratic Clark County Commissioner Ross Miller — her potential 2024 general election opponent — violated campaign finance law several times between 2020 and 2022.
Seattle Firefighters Now Drilled on Ibram Kendi Before Promotion to Top Jobs
Lieutenants’ test includes “How To Be an Antiracist,” “Memoirs of a Transgender Firefighter,” and other woke tomes
The Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Equity Theft
Today, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that local governments cannot take surplus home equity after liquidating delinquent taxpayers’ property to pay their tax bill. Typically, if a property owner is behind on her property taxes, governments will take the property, liquidate it, and use the funds to pay off the tax bill and any accrued fees. Most states then return any remainder back to the property owner. However, Minnesota and 13 other states maintained a practice of greedily pocketing any surplus equity instead of returning it to the rightful property owner.
Medical school professor says parents must implement gender ideology for babies: ‘It… starts at birth’
‘So it honestly starts at birth or even before,’ Lauren T. Roth of Albert Einstein College of Medicine said
Why Texas’ GOP-controlled House wants to impeach Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton
After years of legal and ethical scandals swirling around Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s GOP-controlled House of Representatives has moved toward an impeachment vote that could quickly throw him from office.
Judges at High School Debate Tournaments Increasingly Won’t Allow Debate
“Before anything else, including being a debate judge, I am a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. . . . I cannot check the revolutionary proletarian science at the door when I’m judging”
Bedlam at City Council: Somali ‘Culture’ Takes Minneapolis by Storm
In a May 11, 2023 article, we explored the oft-repeated claim that all cultures are created equal—or, in Pope Francis’s words, “Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others.”
Texas House committee adopted articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton
Welp. That was quick. The House Committee on General Investigating recommended impeachment for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The vote was unanimous. Three members of the five-member panel are Republicans. Republicans have majorities in the Texas House and Senate.
DHS-Sponsored University Program Lumps Republicans and Christians In with Neo-Nazis
Are Republicans and Christians just a step or two removed from neo-Nazis and far-right terrorists? That assumption appears to be part of the theoretical underpinnings of a government-funded program organized by an Ohio university.
Publisher Retracts Gender-Critical Paper
J. Michael Bailey is an American psychologist and author of The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003), a controversial book that explored the role of sexuality in males who pursue sex change. Controversially, Bailey advanced the typology of transsexualism articulated by Ray Blanchard, who proposes basically two types: homosexual transsexualism and autogynephilia, or sexual interest in having a female body.
The Thug Who Was Caught On Camera As He Fatally Shoved Another Man Onto Minneapolis Light Rail Was Released Without Charges And We All Know Why (Video)
Daniel Penny was given the status of a villain by the mainstream media and the left.
The GOP Isn’t Taking the 2024 Senate Primaries Lying Down
It’s seldom validating to be wrong in public.
Loudoun County Middle School ‘Fight Clubs’ Formed by Students and Parents
“Students have created ‘fight clubs’, some of them elaborate with brackets, betting, and challenges, and many parents are well aware of their child’s participation in them, some hosting in their garages or basements.”
Counselor Sues School District Over Secretive Transgender Policy
“McCord believes that God created two—and only two—sexes, male and female” and seeks damages for being required to act contrary to the belief.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
A kangaroo court, a diversified student body, and lying drug cops.
‘Trump Bucks’ promise wealth for MAGA loyalty. Some lose thousands.
In the recesses of the internet where some of Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters stoke conspiracies and plot his return to the White House, suspected con artists have been mining their disappointment over the last presidential election for gold.
State Farm halts new property insurance policies in California
The company cited rising construction costs and its “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure.”
Georgia GOP flat earther raises eyebrows
This is one of those stories that we would probably prefer to ignore, but given the current disastrous shape the United States is in these days, it should probably be addressed. We’re talking about the newly elected Georgia GOP district chair Kandiss Taylor. Taylor recently hosted a couple of people on her podcast to discuss supposed biblical evidence that the Earth is flat. This resulted in Taylor going on a bit of a rant, complaining about how many globes are in stores, in schools, and on television shows. The three of them appeared to agree that if everyone else only knew what they know, the rest of us would all be “flat earthers” too. Some of you can probably hear me sighing from here.
Thugs were stealing arms full of merch from a Lululemon store so employees videoed it and called police. Lululemon fired them for it.
“Why would Lululemon fire them for doing the right thing?” you might ask. The answer to that, dear reader, is because we reside in Clown World.
Economy & Taxes
How Bud Light Blew It
With one blunder after another, the brewing giant behind the brand became a case study in how not to handle a culture-war storm
Emerging US Debt Deal Would Raise Limit, Cap Spending for Two Years
Republican and White House negotiators are moving closer to an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years, according to people familiar with the matter, as time grows short to avert a catastrophic US default.
Inflation rose to 4.4% in April, according to key gauge watched by Fed
Inflation unexpectedly rose to a 4.4% annual rate in April, as measured by the gauge favored by the Federal Reserve.
What’s Wrong with Biden’s Proposed Student Debt Repayment Changes?
Biden has already decreed that millions of students with federal college loan debts won’t have to repay in full (but the Supreme Court might nix that in a decision expected in June) and now his minions at the Education Department plan to revise the rules for student repayments.
Rishi Sunak will ask stores to cap basic food prices
No 10 in discussions with supermarkets over French-style approach to cost of living crisis
International
Mexico Raises Alert Level on Volcano Rumbling Near Capital
Mexico raised its alert level on the Popocatepetl volcano Sunday following in increase in tremors and explosions of ash that shuttered airports in nearby Mexico City and Puebla.
Teacher who ‘misgendered’ pupil banned from profession
Joshua Sutcliffe, a Christian who also spoke out against gay marriage, says he is ‘devastated’ by ruling finding him guilty of misconduct
The U.S. Isn’t the Only Country to Have Devalued Higher Education
I have been arguing for many years that one of the unintended consequences of the federal government’s intrusion into higher education by the decision to subsidize attendance through easy money is that degrees have become debased. Just as the overproduction of money will lead to the debasement of the monetary unit, so too with the overproduction of college degrees. Trying to make sure everyone can get one means that their value will decline.
First they came for Roald Dahl, then they came for Monty Python
The Life of Brian must be rewritten because some parts might be considered offensive.
Two Australian Women Told They Broke The Law After Criticizing Trans-Identified Male Breastfeeding Child
Reduxx has learned that two women in Australian have received notices from Twitter informing them they have broken Australian law after tweeting about a trans-identified male who has been breastfeeding a child.
Parents to appeal in 4-year-old forced Pride parade case
Christian parents Izzy and Shane Montague are to appeal their case after the Central London County Court dismissed their claim against their child’s former school, Heavers Farm, for attempting to force him to participate in an LGBT themed Pride Parade.
Cubans must choose between hotels and eating
“You have to understand, Julian . . . we either get rid of some of our hotels or we’re going to die of hunger.”
Roger Waters dresses up as SS officer, compares Anne Frank to Abu Akleh
“Good morning to every one but Roger Waters,” tweeted the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Two die from fungal brain infection linked to cut-price plastic surgeries in Mexico
A second person, thought to be from Texas, US, is believed to have contracted fungal meningitis after doctors used un-sterilized equipment during surgery in Matamoros in Mexico
Scotland moves toward removing trial by jury
This story is playing out on the other side of the pond, but I thought it would be worth briefing our readers in case it shows up in Washington. (And nobody should be ruling that out in 2023 when the entire world is going bat crap crazy and our system of justice is collapsing under the weight of the politicization of the FBI and the CIA.) The news in question deals with Scotland and the Scottish government’s proposed “pilot program” where they will try certain serious sexual assault cases without the benefit of a jury. A judge will hear the case and make the call by himself or herself. Is anyone else hearing the squeaking sounds of democracy being crushed under a hobnail boot?
Juryless Trials Are a Naked Power Grab and a Serious Threat to Liberty
In Scotland, government officials are piloting a program that would remove ancient procedural checks on state power to suit their preferred legal outcomes.
Brazilian lawmakers file complaint against Google for ‘Slavery Simulator’ game
For about a month, Google Play users in Brazil could download a game that simulated what the South American nation looked like in the 1600s — a Portuguese colony and major hub of the Atlantic slave trade. In fact, that’s the whole premise of the game called “Simulador de Escravidão,” or “Slavery Simulator”: to use accumulated, make-believe wealth to buy, sell, punish or sexualize enslaved people.
Lopez Obrador urges Hispanic voters to not give DeSantis ‘any votes’
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is no fan of Ron DeSantis. He is coming out publicly to urge Hispanic American voters to not vote for him. He doesn’t want “any votes” from Hispanics to go to DeSantis. AMLO is emboldened by a weak American president and policies that leave our southern border porous to weigh in on American elections, in particular, the 2024 presidential election.
Hypersonic hydrogen-powered jet cuts trip from US to Australia from 17 hours to 4 and travels 5 times faster than sound
A COMPANY has developed a hypersonic hydron-powered passenger jet that could reduce flight time from America to Australia to just under four hours.
North Korea infant jailed for life after parents found with Bible according to recent report
Christians in North Korea are considered the lowest in society, the report noted
Opinion
The Romance of Radicalism
Because I am a history buff, the YouTube algorithm shows me all kinds of stuff — the history of Carthage, the Anglo-Saxon invasion of post-Roman Britain, the Stuart dynasty, etc. — about obscure topics that would be boring to most people, and which even most history buffs might not care much about. Usually I watch videos like these on my phone at bedtime and fall asleep during them, which can make for interesting dreams, narrated by some guy blabbering on about Cannae or whatever.
Scientific American is Now the Bud Light of Science Journals
Magazine’s editor-In-chief Laura Helmuth slammed for peddling gender pseudoscience on Twitter.
The liberal hypocrisy over ‘banned books’
I have a challenge for Politics and Prose, the famous bookstore in Washington, D.C. Sell my book. That’s it. That’s the challenge.
The Deadly Menace of Feral Youth
On Sunday, police in Baltimore County, Maryland, wore black mourning bands on their badges to mark the five-year anniversary of the death of one of their own. Officer Amy Caprio was responding to a 911 call of a burglary in progress west of U.S. Highway 1 near Perry Hall when she confronted the driver of a stolen Jeep, who ran over her — a death captured on the officer’s bodycam video. Her death highlighted the problems in a juvenile justice system that endangers public safety by failing to incarcerate repeat offenders.
The War on Things That Work
Like your stove, your dishwasher, your lawn mower? Too bad
We Are Becoming Venezuela
Those who regularly read my column know that The Beautiful Wife and I are experienced world travelers. We have been to 80 countries together and love to travel to all corners of the world. One of the countries I would really like to go to is Venezuela.
Hypergamy: Much More Than You Wanted To Know
“Female hypergamy” (from now on, just “hypergamy”) is a supposed tendency for women to seek husbands who are higher-status than themselves. Arguing about educational hypergamy (women seeking husbands who are more educated than themselves) is especially popular, because women are now (on average) more educated than men – if every woman wants a more-educated husband, most won’t get them, and there will be some kind of crisis.
No, Ron DeSantis Won’t Destroy Conservatism
David French is wrong to portray the Florida governor as a threat to the movement.
The Harriet Miers of Debt Deals: A Poop Sandwich, But Tasty.
Back in 2005, after winning re-election, President George W. Bush finally had the opportunity to reshape the United States Supreme Court. Throwing everyone for a loop, he nominated his own lawyer, Harriet Miers. It was a ridiculous display of loyalty for a woman who’d been an Al Gore donor. She was unprepared for the job and had no bona fides as a pro-life advocate.
