News of the Week for August 20^th, 2023

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

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

‘Learn from even your political enemies.’ How Ohio Republicans can stop abortion
Unfortunately, Issue 1 failed to pass, but its failure was predictable.

 

Gun Rights

 

Hundreds of Gun Dealers Lose Licenses Under Biden Administration Crackdown
After years of light enforcement to encourage cooperation, ATF is clamping down on firearm sellers, who say they are being unfairly targeted

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

‘Blade Runners’ Fight London’s Car Emission Monitoring Cameras
Resistance scrappers dubbed “Blade Runners” have been wrecking surveillance cameras meant to enforce London’s controversial program to tax high-polluting motor vehicles that is set to expand its boundaries in the coming weeks.

EPA vs. the Grid, Part 2
I wrote here about the EPA’s proposed new CO2 regulations on power plants that would devastate the electrical grid. This public comment, drafted by American Experiment’s Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling and filed on Tuesday, explains why the rule is so destructive. It will mandate a grid that is heavily dependent on solar and wind installations, and therefore subject to devastating blackouts. If the EPA set out to disrupt our economy and make our lives miserable, and sometimes dangerous–if the rule goes into effect, people will die–it could hardly do a better job.

Jane Goodall’s Malthusian Moment
You’d think that, after the Industrial Revolution melted the Iron Law of Wages, 21st-century intellectuals wouldn’t issue calls for population control. Think again. Apparently unaware of Paul Ehrlich’s humiliation after population growth failed to precipitate global famine, Jane Goodall decided to torpedo her own reputation in a similarly Malthusian manner.

Mahalo: FEMA’s Maui relief efforts to be “culturally responsive”
What does “culturally responsive” even mean?

Montana Judge Sides With Activists In ‘Children’s Climate Trial’
Judge: Montana violated the plaintiffs’ rights to a “a clean and healthful environment” and equal protection under the Montana constitution.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

‘Tradition’ Trumps Science at the U.N.
It’s often said that we live in a post-truth era, where feelings reign supreme over facts, and every belief, no matter how outlandish, merits consideration. For a time, there was a naïve assumption that the medical establishment, dealing with matters of life and death, was insulated from such relativistic thinking. We were sadly mistaken. As a telling reflection of the times, the World Health Organization recently endorsed pseudoscientific “traditional medicine” such as acupuncture, ayurveda, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy, potentially compromising the WHO’s scientific integrity.

 

War & Terror

 

What Happens if Russia Attacks a NATO-Flagged Ship?
In a stark warning following Russia’s decision last month to suspend its participation in a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain via its Black Sea ports, the White House said that Moscow was laying the groundwork to take military action against commercial targets. “We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks,” said National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge. The escalation Hodge described could be just around the corner.

Russia Now Faces a Much Tougher Finnish Line
Which NATO country shares the biggest land border with Russia? It’s now the newest member, Finland, which shares 832 miles of border with Russia. (At least for now, Finland is still the newest member of NATO; Sweden has an agreement in principle to join the alliance, but the deal isn’t official yet.)

Secretive Taiwanese Cruise Missile Able To Strike Deep In China May Have Broken Cover
Taiwan’s HF-2E land-attack cruise missile has reportedly been in service for more than a decade, but has never been seen publicly.

Russia building ‘thousands of Iranian-design drones’ in secret base
Leaked documents show engineers working to create huge arsenal of aerial weapons capable of swarming Ukrainian targets

China Is Harboring a Mysterious New Secret on This Tropical Island
China has begun building what appears to be an airstrip on a disputed island in the South China Sea, according to satellite images taken this month and shared with The Daily Beast.

Ukraine war giving China pause on Taiwan
Ukraine war has likely focused minds in Beijing on the inherent unpredictability and potential disaster of a miscalculated military invasion

Massive explosion as kamikaze drone smashes into Russian air base damaging one of Putin’s prized supersonic bombers
ONE of Putin’s prized war planes has been damaged after a kamikaze drone strike deep inside Russian territory.

 

National

 

Scam PAC and the Sam Brown Bailout
On Saturday morning I received yet another of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown’s incessant “Me! Me! Me!” email fundraising pitches.

Debate and hopes for consensus at UN space resource meetings
The United Nations’ Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) recently hosted closed meetings of the Legal Subcommittee’s Working Group on Space Resource Activity at its headquarters in Vienna. The Working Group has just completed the first year of its five-year mandate to review the regulation of such activity, including possible “additional international governance instruments.” Although it had planned to meet only during the Legal Subcommittee’s annual two-week session earlier this year, the Working Group failed at that time to agree on even a preliminary statement.

Minneapolis museum holds “family friendly” demon summoning
Nothing says “family-friendly” like summoning a demon. That, at least, is the judgment of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis’ museum for modern art.

DeSantis vs. Trump: Des Moines Barfight Edition
Like Sampson among the Philistines, some partisan jacka** got to using his jaws in Des Moines the day before Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump visited the Iowa State Fair to make their respective pitches to the Hawkeye State.

Racist Cow Kicked Out of State Fair
Blacks are so oppressed that here’s what happens when a cow in a state fair has a name they object to

Court Refuses to Block Indiana Law That Bans “Instruction … on Human Sexuality” to Public K-to-3rd Students
From Smiley v. Jenner, decided by Judge James Patrick Hanlon (S.D. Ind.) on July 28, but just posted on Westlaw

How It Will Work
Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) is far broader than the federal government’s original statute.

Vivek Ramaswamy cuts off interview after floating plan to let China attack Taiwan after 2028
Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping should postpone any invasion of Taiwan until after the United States achieves “semiconductor independence” by 2028, according to Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Judge rules Reno man can keep GOBK2CA license plate
Update on Aug. 14: A DMV administrative judge has determined that Steelmon does not have to change his license plate. While the judge said nothing about disagreeing with the DMV committee’s assessment that the plate was defamatory, racist, or in poor taste, he said Steelmon can keep it as he is grandfathered in, having had the license plate for 19 years.

Native American group demands Commanders reinstate ‘Redskins’ name
The name of the football team playing in Washington D.C. is once again under question.

Trump, 18 others indicted for trying to overthrow 2020 Georgia election
Former president charged with racketeering, other felonies

Oregon’s Brutally Hard Lesson about Decriminalizing Drugs
If readers have not done so already, they should read Ryan Mills’ eye-opening reporting from Oregon, where even some liberals and progressives have concluded that the state’s decriminalization of hard drugs has turned into a social catastrophe.

Kansas Paper Raided by Police was Investigating Police Chief Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations
“When he was named Chief just two months ago, we got an outpouring of calls from his former co-workers making a wide array of allegations against him saying that he was about to be demoted at his previous job and that he retired to avoid demotion and punishment over sexual misconduct charges and other things.”

Nevada GOP announces date for 2024 presidential caucus
The Nevada Republican Party announced it will hold its presidential caucus Feb. 8, two days after the state’s presidential preference primary.

Nevada GOP Bumbles into Another Self-Inflicted Wound
If shooting yourself in the foot was an Olympic event, the Nevada Republican Party would be gold medal winners.

The School-Discipline Disaster
Aversion to punishing misbehavior has left teachers and students unsafe

Are jittery parents today taking all the fun out of their children’s play?
Are modern parents stifling their kids’ playtime? Moms and dads may mean well, but researchers from the University of Essex suggest today’s parents are monitoring their children a whole lot more than previous generations, potentially hindering both spontaneous play and development.

Mark Meadows Files To Remove Georgia State Prosecution To Federal Court
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President. One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things…. This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal official’s duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits, and that the removal statute shields against.”

School board censured member for asking a question; she is suing
A member of the Goochland County School Board in Virginia is suing her colleagues for defamation, and I hope she wins. The controversy’s origin is about what you would expect these days. The School Board had a secret policy (that may be at odds with state policy) that allowed boys to use girls’ restrooms if they identified as transgender.

Robin DiAngelo to train healthcare professionals in ‘racial equity’ for Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic also noted that guest lecturer Robin DiAngelo will be speaking at a featured session on “White Fragility.” The course is designed to introduce “healthcare and biomedical leaders to anti-racist strategies, resources, and tools to achieve racial equity.”

UW-Milwaukee tells students polyamory has many ‘benefits’ like extra pets, or ‘petamours’
The post defines a ‘petamour’” as ‘a pet you get to enjoy due to being part of a polyamorous relationship or polycule.’ The school’s LGBTQ+ resource center posted an Instagram infographic regarding one of the ‘hidden gems” of polyamory: ‘petamours.’

Laura Loomer, Trump Campaign Working With Leftist Lawyer Ron Filipkowsi to Stop DeSantis
Are they that scared of DeSantis?

Georgia prosecutes Trump and allies. Will Nevada follow suit?
A day after Donald Trump and others were indicted over allegations of trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, it remains unclear if similar prosecutions could occur in Nevada.

Medical School Professor Says Trans Kids Can Identify as ‘Gender Hybrids’ Like ‘Minotaurs’
There are many questions surrounding the gender debate, including the most basic of questions; how does multiple genders fit into the evolution of Homo sapiens?

Transgender ‘Support’ Plan Upheld in Maryland
Maryland’s largest school district is free to conceal a child’s gender status from parents, after a federal court denied an appeal that challenged the district’s gender guidelines this week. U.S. Fourth Circuit judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. told parents “that opposition to the guidelines should be settled with elected representatives, not in court”

‘Gender Hybrid’ Children?
Gender ideology is growing increasingly extreme, particularly as it applies to children. Now, we are being told that children can identify as one gender on “top” and another on the “bottom,” or can be half boy and half girl. Worse, this clear break from biological reality is being supported by adult mental-health professionals steeped in gender ideology.

Trump keeps sounding off on his indictments. His attacks could hasten the criminal trials
Former President Donald Trump’s public criticisms of his criminal indictments could backfire on him in the actual courtrooms where judges will soon set his trial dates. Trump has argued his trials should come after the 2024 presidential election. His aggressive criticism could incentivize judges to bring his cases to trial more quickly, a former DOJ attorney said.

Conservative ex-federal judge: Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ attacks on federal judiciary are ‘grave disservice’ to nation
A conservative retired federal judge on Wednesday condemned former President Donald Trump’s criticisms of judges hearing criminal cases brought against him, calling the recent attacks “unprecedented” and “inexcusable.”

Puberty Blockers and Gender Surgeries on Children Barred in NC After Republican Override Of Veto
“Republican Sen. Joyce Krawiec, primary sponsor of the bill restricting gender-affirming care, said the state has a responsibility to protect children from receiving potentially irreversible procedures before they are old enough to make their own informed medical decisions.”

San Diego State University subjects cancer biologist applicants to DEI litmus test
The school requires individuals applying to the cancer biologist position to complete a ‘building inclusive excellence’ form. In order to be considered for the job, a candidate must satisfy criteria such as having ‘research interests that contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education.’

AP poll: Biden approvals still tanking — and the rematch no one wants
The Associated Press has bad news for Joe Biden … and pretty much everyone else. We’ll start with the president, who has spent the last several weeks attempting to sell Bidenomics to an inflation-battered electorate. It turns out that the voters aren’t buying it, likely because it’s too damned expensive.

James L. Buckley, R.I.P.
Sad news came down to us this morning: James L. Buckley, statesman, judge, writer, and brother of William F., has died at age 100. On the occasion of his centenary earlier this year, National Review ran many tributes to this great man. Matthew Continetti wrote one for the magazine. Neal B. Freeman, Jack Fowler, and Kathryn Jean Lopez honored him on the website. Neal’s tribute was an elaboration of one he had written in 2020, which you can find here. You can find a record of Buckley’s writings for NR here.

What Do “Gainful Employment” Regulations Accomplish?
Funding-eligibility tests can do real good if used universally, not selectively.

After judge denies GOP request to block presidential primary, party appeals to Nevada Supreme Court
The Nevada Republican Party filed an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to block the state from holding a presidential primary election next year after a Carson City judge denied the party’s case in District Court, court filings obtained by The Nevada Independent show.

FIRE Files Lawsuit to ‘Stop California From Forcing Professors to Teach DEI’
“The government is forcing professors to teach and preach a politicized viewpoint they do not share, imposing incomprehensible guidelines, and threatening to punish professors when they cross an arbitrary, indiscernible line.”

Hmm: Has Trump stiffed Giuliani on million$ in legal fees?
I’d call this “too good to check,” but Donald Trump has a long history of complaints from aggrieved contractors and other associates over allegedly unpaid bills. Does that include his most prominent wingman, the attorney Trump personally selected to head his 2020 election challenges? And, not coincidentally, the man who has now become Trump’s co-defendant in a racketeering indictment in Georgia?

Lawsuits challenge DEI requirements at California Community Colleges
California’s Community College system recently enacted a set of rules designed to force professors to embrace DEI views both professionally and personally, including anti-racism and intersectionality. I wrote about this in March before it was adopted. Here’s a bullet point list of what the new rules require a professor to do to maintain his or her employement

Mitch Daniels Praises Calvin Coolidge, Teases Us
In the Washington Post, former Indiana governor and Purdue University president Mitch Daniels has written a tribute to former president Calvin Coolidge on the centenary of his assuming the presidency. “A nation drowning in debt and in serious need of a cultural course correction could do much worse than to examine the life of the quiet man from Massachusetts,” Daniels writes. He proceeds to examine the many virtues of this unassuming and principled man, virtues skillfully outlined by Amity Shlaes (whose biography of Coolidge he mentions) in National Review, and by me (referencing Shlaes and other examples of his character).

New report highlights possible political and racial discrimination in hiring practices of K-12 teachers
A new report from a government watchdog alleges there are surpising, discriminatory practices for public school teachers around the U.S.

Nevada Supreme Court shoots down sanctions appeal in Joey Gilbert election fraud case
The Nevada Supreme Court denied an appeal Thursday related to Joey Gilbert’s challenge of the 2022 primary election results, writing that fraud allegations in the case fall “far short of being legitimate.”

Trump’s lawyers and Willis’ prosecutors negotiate on Trump’s surrender
Former President Trump and his 18 co-defendants have until noon on Friday, Aug. 25 to report to the Fulton County jail. Talks between Trump’s legal team and Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis’ office are happening. The subject of discussion is how Trump can best surrender himself at the jail for processing. He and his co-defendants will all be subjected to fingerprinting and mug shots, just like any other person.

Meadows told special counsel he could not recall Trump ever declassifying Mar-a-Lago docs: Sources
Trump has insisted that he declassified all the materials before he left office.

Portland’s first sanctioned homeless ‘park’ has just NINE residents despite having room for 55 a month after it opened – as shocking images show drug-addled people taking over the sidewalks
Oregon’s largest city is grappling with a devastating homelessness epidemic, with more than 3,000 people living on the streets, often in make-shift campsites

Nevada: The GOP’s caucus debacle is a recipe for disaster
Despite what a particular online personality constantly insists on social media, maybe we #dontmatter that much in the Silver State after all.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

China has fallen into a psycho-political funk
Fragile consumer confidence is just one sign of a malaise that is not merely economic

The Chinese Communist Party Is Infiltrating China’s Private Sector
Since 2018, it’s been mandatory for domestically-listed companies in China to establish a Chinese Communist Party entity.

China’s economy is in trouble and, of course, they are trying to hide it
Ever since China suddenly abandoned its zero-COVID police in the wake of protests, there have been pretty clear signs that the country’s economy was not recovering as Xi Jinping probably hoped it would. In March a very pro-China columnist for the South China Morning Post warned that Xi was making a mistake by leaning into communist nationalist too hard. Chinese business leaders were worried about it too.

Mortgage rates could hit 8%, economists say, citing a worrying sign not seen since the Great Recession
The 30-year rate is ‘at a critical stage,’ Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, told MarketWatch

The Panama Canal Has Become a Traffic Jam of the Seas
More than 200 vessels are stuck on either side of the waterway as a serious drought cuts crossings

The problems in China’s economy are spreading
Earlier this week we learned that one of China’s largest real estate firms was on the verge of collapse. Country Garden, which is estimated to owe buyers as many as 1 million new apartments, is weeks away from defaulting on loans. Since then the situation has only gotten worse. Yesterday Evergrande, another property giant, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Rural Americans: The Media Narrative vs. the Facts
I interviewed USC professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett about her book The Overlooked Americans. Click here to read parts of our conversation in article form, or here to watch the whole thing on YouTube. She provides an antidote to the mainstream media’s narrative about rural Americans — that they are poor, angry, and resentful — by using data and interviews to put together a more accurate summary of the evidence.

 

International

 

China Is Screwed: Pipe People
I didn’t intend to do an all “China is Screwed” video roundup weekend, but the videos keep stacking up and I need to post some rather than producing a giant unwieldy post with hours of footage.

Finland Puts Free Speech on Trial
President Biden should speak forcefully to our friends in Finland and beyond who have forgotten that free speech must apply to all.

On trial again for sharing her worldview on Twitter
Päivi was unanimously acquitted; and yet, the prosecution continues pursuing criminal ‘hate speech’ charges against this Finnish grandmother and parliamentarian.

Argentina Swinging Right?
Argentina’s political history is tortured, marked by incompetence and corruption and with a lingering yearning for Juan Peron’s brand of leftism. But maybe the times are changing: Reuters reports that libertarians have taken a surprising lead in Argentina’s primary elections

China’s Fertility Plunges
State authorities in China are reporting a much-lower-than-expected fertility rate for 2022.

From hungry rats to exploding tires: The German government’s got a problem with planes
Annalena Baerbock is the latest in a long line of German ministers to have been stranded by plane malfunctions.

‘Question mark’ spotted in deep space by Webb Space Telescope, but what is it?
A new photo from the James Webb Space Telescope is leading to a giant question – or moreover one about a giant question mark.

Cannibal tribe eats thieves as punishment – devouring everything apart from penises
An American adventurer who met with a ‘stone age’ tribe that still practises cannibalism says it’s used as a punishment for criminals, or people who are possessed by demons

Three people being hunted by police over murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif ‘spent £5,000 on one way tickets to Pakistan for themselves and five children’ – and flew out the day before her body was found
Sara Sharif, 10, was tragically found dead at her father’s home on Thursday

Russia’s first lunar mission in decades crashes into the moon
Russia’s first lunar mission in decades has ended in failure with its Luna 25 spacecraft crashing into the moon’s surface.

Russian scientist who worked on failed moon mission suddenly hospitalised after demanding ‘no cover up’ over crash
A RUSSIAN scientist who worked on Putin’s disastrous moon mission has been rushed to hospital after he demanded “no cover ups”.

We will woke you! Classic Queen song Fat Bottomed Girls is mysteriously dropped from the group’s new Greatest Hits collection
Fat Bottomed Girls has been dropped from the group’s Greatest Hits collection

 

Opinion

 

Nixon forever?
I didn’t see this coming. Christopher Rufo draws his map for the counterrevolution we need from Richard Nixon. He starts with Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign, to which my mentor Jeffrey Hart contributed the line: “Ramsey Clark is a conscientious objector in the war against crime.”

When I was 14 a 40-year-old transsexual manipulated me into changing sex. For years I secretly took puberty blockers – until I finally saw through the lies of the trans activists. This is my warning for parents everywhere…
When I was very young, I was manipulated into sex reassignment (also known as sex/gender correction or sex/gender transition) by a transsexual man in his mid-40s.

Charlie Kirk’s Siren Song
The founder and president of Turning Point USA is leading conservatives astray and tarnishing an organization that could do great things without him.

91 Felony Charges, but the GOP Base Doesn’t Want to Change Course
A rational Republican Party would look at former President Donald Trump’s fourth criminal indictment in five months — now up to a grand total of 91 felony charges — and pause to reevaluate its options in the 2024 presidential election. We don’t know exactly when all these trials will conclude, and when the juries will return their verdicts, but it is likely that at least one and perhaps several trials will be completed by Election Day 2024. Special counsel Jack Smith is aiming for a January 2024 start to the January 6 trial case, the Manhattan trial about the falsified business records over payments to Stormy Daniels starts in March 2024, and the classified documents case trial starts in May 2024. We don’t know yet when the Georgia trial would start.

It’s Not Condescending to Speak the Truth
First, a quick story: When I was a brand new, inexperienced Marine platoon commander, I had a young Marine who immediately struck me as bright, competent, and hardworking — and yet this Marine was still just a corporal. At least to my fresh eyes, it seemed like this man should be a sergeant, at least. “Had he been passed over for promotion unfairly?” I asked my crusty platoon sergeant. “Should we take this up with the command?”

Vivek Ramaswamy Takes Nationalist Logic to Its Obvious, Horrifying Conclusion
Nationalist Republicans who oppose the continued provision of aid and lethal arms to Ukraine sometimes argue that the West’s commitment to degrading Russia’s capacity to project power abroad comes at a steep cost. America is a strained, reeling great power, they argue, and every dollar devoted to European security is one that is not spent on the more acute threat to U.S. dominance posed by China. Millennial GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has made many of these now rote arguments, but he has done the public a service by taking the nationalist line to its logical conclusion.

The Limits of Government
We live, sadly, in an age when big government is back, given a lot of help by the supposed imperatives of the climate “emergency,” and the alleged failures of “free market fundamentalism,” a fundamentalism I have yet to see in the wild, but there we are. . . .

Conservatism, Animal-Style
Whenever I am down in the LA area, as I am today, my mind runs to ordering French fries “animal style” from In-n-Out burgers. (IYKYK.) But today, opening up the Washington Post, I discover the origins of a possible new sect of conservatism: Animal-House conservatives, who naturally do things “animal-style.”

There Is No Endgame To Continuing To Relitigate the 2020 Election. It’s a Dead End.
My appearance on the Jesse Kelly Show: “And now [Trump’s] going to roll out, apparently Monday, a new report about Georgia election fraud. I mean, are you kidding me? It’s two and a half years later. What is the endgame here? … There is no process to decertify an election that took place two and a half years ago. The way you stop this growing totalitarianism is to win the next election, but everything they’re doing is set up to lose the next election.”

What Our ‘National Conversation’ on Middle America Misses
Here’s the question that I find more important: Do many individuals and communities in middle America find themselves in states of dissatisfaction, decay, and discombobulation?

The GOP’s Autoimmune Disorder
In three straight elections, the voters have written the Republican Party a prescription. The party has yet to even fill it.

Make Way For Trump?
This morning I was on hold, waiting to do one of my weekly guest appearances on radio. There was a caller on the air as I waited, apparently one of many callers who were outraged over the Left’s several criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump. The caller said that all of the other Republican presidential candidates should withdraw from the race, throw their support to Trump, and waltz to victory in November 2024.

A Chance for the Other Candidates to Seize the Spotlight in Milwaukee
The first significant development of the 2024 Republican presidential primary debate has arrived five days before the candidates are set to face off. In a move emblematic of his signature erratic style, former president and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump today announced his plans to sidestep the Milwaukee debate on Wednesday, opting instead for an online interview with disgraced former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. It’s remarkable how the pettiest of trivialities often get under Trump’s skin, yet he remains unfazed by Tucker’s recently divulged disdain for him.

Snakebit!
It’s hard to conclude that the DeSantis campaign is anything other than snakebit at this point.

‘Away, You Starvelling, You Elf-Skin, You Dried Neat’s-Tongue, Bull’s-Pizzle, You Stock-Fish, You Listless Vessel!’
Ron DeSantis’s comment about not making loyalty to Trump the highest good is being made into some terrible gaffe and an insult to Trump voters.

21st-Century Digital Stalinism
Of all the sinister aspects of the Soviet Union — secret police, famine, mass murders — perhaps nothing was ultimately more frightening than the way the Communists literally erased history. After Trotsky was purged, Soviet propagandists began airbrushing the former Bolshevik leader from historic photographs, so that his role in the Russian revolution, and his leadership of the Red Army during the ensuing civil war, was made to disappear. It was this aspect of Stalinism — the absolute control of information, including the rewriting of history to suit the needs of the Communist leadership — that George Orwell depicted so memorably in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which envisioned a Soviet-style future in England.

The US needs a Trump-free Republican Party to make America sane again – opinion
The party founded by Abraham Lincoln is ready to lead the free world to the gates of hell.