News of the Week for August 27th, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
South Carolina’s highest court upholds strict abortion ban
South Carolina’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a new law banning most abortions after roughly six weeks, a move that could once again shake up the nation’s abortion landscape in the Southeast.
Gun Rights
Massachusetts judge: Second Amendment rights cross state lines
As FPC Action Foundation’s Cody J. Wisniewski said on Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co yesterday, since the Bruen decision was handed down by the Supreme Court last year we’re starting to see lower courts around the country start to take the Second Amendment a little more seriously. While we’ve still seen some egregiously awful misreadings of Bruen over the past twelve months, we’ve also seen some major successes, including one case out of Massachusetts that addresses the fact that in many states, your right to keep and bear arms stops at the state line.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
On Energy, Finally Some Good News
I see that everything I have written today is about energy, which makes sense given that, along with general civilizational collapse, it is the defining issue of our time. So let’s finally have some good news: Duke Energy, one of America’s largest utilities, has announced that it has shifted course and will replace a retiring coal-fired power plant in North Carolina with nuclear energy rather than expensive and unreliable wind turbines.
Green Energy: Whitehouse Pushes Legislation that Helps Wife’s Climate Change Firm
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) has introduced several bills that could provide a windfall for a firm that employs his wife, raising potential conflict of interest concerns for the liberal Democrat.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Multiple failures in Scotland’s audiology services, report finds
Multiple, systematic problems have been found in Scotland’s audiology services, according to an independent review.
War & Terror
US Navy destroyer to be fitted with hypersonic missiles
The USS Zumwalt is the lead ship of the Zumwalt class of naval vessels. She has been described as the largest destroyer in the world.
How China spreads its police state to small Pacific nations
The Washington Post published an excellent story today about the nation of Fiji and how China spent more than a decade trying to co-opt their police force. Fiji has a population in excess of 900,000 people and has a national police force. In 2011, China and Fiji signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which created direct cooperation between China’s police force and Fiji’s police. The agreement created an ongoing exchange of officers that lasted for more than a decade.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead after Russia plane crash
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed killing all on board, Russia’s civil aviation authority has said.
Row erupts as Chinese nuclear sub ‘crashes’ near disputed waters
Reports suggest that everyone on board was killed, after the sub crashed in a hotly contested area.
Lithuania Hasn’t Forgotten the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Vladimir Putin has long peddled a narrative of World War II that whitewashes Soviet complicity in the outset of hostilities in Europe. To justify Russian aggression today, he wholly ignores Moscow’s role in enabling Nazi Germany’s march toward war in 1939.
Ukraine says it launched ‘special operation’ in Russian-occupied Crimea
Ukraine’s navy and military intelligence carried out a “special operation” overnight in which units landed on Russian-occupied Crimea, the defence ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said on Thursday.
GOP talk of military action in Mexico sparks dire warnings
Rising GOP support for the U.S. taking unilateral military action in Mexico against drug cartels is increasingly rattling people on both sides of the border who worry talk of an attack is getting normalized.
Sea Change: Rebuilding the Navy for the Pacific
“Because of its economic strength and growing military power,” Seth Cropsey writes in the new cover story of National Review magazine, “China is the greatest threat the U.S. faces.”
Air Force Colonel, Selected for Promotion to Brigadier General, Pushes DEI, CRT, and Racist Dogma
Air Force Colonel demonizes his fellow “white colonels” as racists and embraces racist propaganda – the result? Promotion to Brigadier General!
China’s attempt to seize another island in the South China Sea failed (for now)
There has been a strategic battle taking place in the South China Sea this year between China and the Philippines. As you probably know, China has laid claim to most of the South China Sea and over the past decade has been using a strategy called the cabbage strategy to gradually claim individual islands.
National
San Fran State hires ‘anti-racist’ engineering dean
‘She is engaged in scholarly work related to culture, race, gender and intersectionality’
Alabama’s Ban on Childhood Puberty Blockers and Cross-Sex Hormones Reinstated By Unanimous Appeals Court
Strikes down District Court injunction. Alabama law “makes it a crime to take part in providing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormone treatment to a minor for purposes of treating a discordance between the minor’s biological sex and sense of gender identity.”
Hawaii Wildfires: 114 Confirmed Dead, 850 Still Missing
Hawaii governor is still trying to tie climate change into the cause of the wildfires.
By 2030 you will not eat meat and you will be allowed only three items of new clothing a year, report says
A report published in 2019 and re-emphasised in 2023 recommends that by 2030 we will not be permitted to eat meat or dairy products, we will be limited to three items of new clothing per year and one aeroplane flight every three years. It will start in countries that “consume the most.”
Maui residents who disobeyed barricade survived fires
Those who disobeyed the barricaded road closures during the Maui fires survived the disaster, while many of those who heeded orders to turn around perished in their cars and homes with no way out, The Associated Press reported.
Outrage in Oakland as wild video shows woman being violently dragged on the ground during armed robbery
The shocking incident unfolded on August 16 and left the unnamed woman with severe injuries
Feds Claim Key Mar-a-Lago Obstruction Witness Has Flipped On Trump
“Immediately after receiving new counsel, Trump Employee 4 retracted his prior false testimony and provided information that implicated Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage, as set forth in the superseding indictment.”
Racially Discriminatory Youth Programs At Six Private NY Medical Schools Challenged by Equal Protection Project
“‘Erecting additional barriers for some races and ethnic groups in and of itself is unlawful discrimination,’ Jacobson told DailyMail.com. ‘Imagine if the roles were reversed, and these programs explicitly favored Asians and whites — there would be universal outrage and these medical schools would never accept such funding.'”
Excluding Farmer’s Market Vendor for Refusing to Host Same-Sex Weddings on Its Land Violates Free Exercise Clause
So holds a federal court.
Ivy League business schools to offer ESG majors and courses in fall, despite controversy
Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania announced two MBA majors in Environmental, Social, and Governance initiatives.
How to Screw Up a Free Lunch
You have probably heard the phrase, “He’s so dumb. (How dumb is he?) He’s so dumb he could screw up a free lunch.” Well, lo, and behold, it happened. Someone was that dumb. Namely Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and his staff. Maybe we should change the phrase to “He’s so liberal he could screw up a free lunch.” I can think of no more apt metaphor, no better example, no Price is Right Fail Horn, step-on-a-rake, seltzer-in-the-face illustration of progressive policy than what you are about to read.
Yale Police Union Distributes Campus Safety Flyers Featuring Grim Reaper to New Students Causing Outrage
“These pamphlets included disturbing and inflammatory rhetoric about the safety of Yale’s campus and its home city of New Haven, aimed at creating fear among new students and their families.”
Only Paved Road Out of Maui’s Devastated Town of Lahaina Was Barricaded During Wildfire Evacuation
Officials also appear to be slow-walking the count of casualties, as the number of declared dead remains under 120….yet 1100 is now the tally of those officially missing.
Activist Behind Harvard Affirmative Action Case Now Suing Law Firms
“Excluding students from these esteemed fellowships because they are the wrong race is unfair, polarizing and illegal. Law firms that have racially-exclusive programs should immediately make them available to all applicants, regardless of their race.”
Protests outside 9th Circuit Court over removal of homeless camps
The backstory here is that San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed has been genuinely trying to do something about the chaos on the streets of her city. In May she announced a crackdown on open-air drug markets at an outdoor press conferences. She was heckled and someone threw a brick at her. Nevertheless, police started arresting drug users again and quickly discovered that 95% of them were from out of town. San Francisco has become a drug den for dealers who are mostly from Honduras and for users who are mostly from other towns and cities.
AMA Journal: Subsidize Uterus Transplants for Trans People
The medical establishment has gone totally around the woke bend. Now, a peer-reviewed advocacy article in the AMA Journal of Ethics argues that the cost of uterus transplants for trans people should often be subsidized, particularly for “transwomen who want to gestate children.” From, “Should Uterus Transplantation for Transwomen and Transmen be Subsidized?”
America’s Public Schools Are Terrible
America’s public schools are almost unbelievably bad, to a degree that poses an existential threat to the republic. That’s the bad news. The good news is that most Americans are figuring it out. Rasmussen finds that a 36% plurality say that our public schools are poor. That is a remarkable finding. A sadly misinformed 9% think our schools are excellent. But that disproportion is revealing. The teachers’ unions aren’t fooling many people anymore.
Fox News Debate Viewership Blew Tucker’s Trump Interview Out of the Water
The Fox News Republican debate on Wednesday night surpassed ratings expectations for an event that was missing the biggest audience draw of Republican politics: former President Donald Trump.
NJ Governor Sues Schools To Halt Parental Notification Of Gender Social Transitioning of Their Kids
NJ Parent: “They’re making it like ther’re suing the Board of Ed. [But] they’re suing the parents and they’re suing the taxpayers who support the Board of Ed.”
Trump Booked and Released From Fulton County Jail, Posts Picture of Real Mugshot
“This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!”
The Ne Plus Ultra of Collegiate Wokeness
The Scott Gerber case at Ohio Northern University is a new low for campus politicization.
Parents find remains of teen son hugging dead dog in Maui home destroyed by wildfire
Grieving parents found the body of their 14-year-old adopted son hugging his dead dog after the Maui wildfires — then carried him around half a mile to a police station to be confirmed among the dead.
Chicago Mayor Suing Auto Makers for Building Cars That Are Too Easy to Steal
“The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic auto-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes.”
Times Square back to the bad old days: ‘It’s a sh-thole’
Times Square is looking a lot like its bad old self, with vagrants, boozy migrants, junkies, and scofflaws making the Crossroads of the World look more like the third world, infuriating those who played an important role in its cleanup.
The fight to repeal conversion therapy bans
Waterloo, Iowa was in the news this week after the City Council there voted to repeal a ban on what’s known as LGBTQ conversion therapy. The ban had been introduced in May but was facing the threat of a court challenge. A Florida organization called the Liberty Counsel had been threatening to take the city to court on behalf of a therapist who claimed that the ban infringed on their right to free speech and to practice therapeutic treatments. Similar challenges are underway around the country. The Associated Press predictably describes this type of therapy as being homophobic, and multiple courts around the country have previously taken a similar view.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Zombie jokes, perplexing paths, and a handsy officer.
Nothing is Safe. Now the Biden Administration Wants to Regulate Your Ceiling Fan
If I were a climate change fanatic, I wouldn’t stop at anything to cut carbon. This explains a lot about the Department of Energy’s proposed rules on energy efficiency for ceiling fans.
Thousands of Minors Have Received ‘Gender-Affirming Surgeries’
A new study has been published by the Journal of the American Medical Association about the number of people who have had “gender-affirming” surgeries — including minors — between 2016-2019.
Economy & Taxes
As China Falls Into Deflation, the Mood Turns Dark
When their government abruptly ended its harsh Covid measures in December, many Chinese expected a robust rebound from pent-up demand. Eight months later, China is instead facing an accumulation of bad news: record youth unemployment, a deep housing slump, stagnant spending, even deflation.
Low bridge, everybody down: 200 ship bottleneck at drought-stricken Panama Canal
It might be raining in California in August, but it’s the driest it’ been in Panama in about 100 years. And that is causing some serious problems at a place that never really registers in the national consciousness anymore – the Panama Canal.
De-Industrializing Germany
It is hard to believe, but Germany is on its way to becoming a post-industrial country. What its economy will look like at that point is anyone’s guess, but it won’t be pretty.
Smoot-Hawley II?
I don’t suppose many people care, but Donald Trump’s latest venture into trade policy is idiotic. Trump’s tariff plan is so dumb that for once, the Washington Post is actually right: “Trump vows massive new tariffs if elected, risking global economic war.”
Biden’s economic plan may be tough sell to 2024 voters
Joe Biden’s effort to sell his economic agenda has a problem: Its name.
International
Eskom slowly dying
Renowned economist Dawie Roodt said Eskom’s generation and distribution divisions are slowly dying, similar to South African Airways (SAA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).
Ally of former leftist Ecuador president to face tycoon’s son in runoff election
Luisa González, who has pledged to revive Rafael Correa’s social programmes, to run against Daniel Noboa in October
Sadiq Khan plunged into race row after his official website publishes picture of white family and says they don’t ‘represent real Londoners’
Labour London Mayor faces calls to apologise after message appeared online. The photograph featured in a guide on how to portray the ‘brand’ of the Mayor. Mayor’s spokesperson said photo caption was added by staff member ‘in error’
Cuban government store distributing worm-infested rotten ham
This ham being sold in a government store in communist Cuba is the perfect metaphor for socialism: You are promised a feast, but all they deliver is rotten food infested with worms.
Australia is dragging this women’s rights activist into court FOUR TIMES over the next few weeks for “misgendering” trans soccer players
I guess it shouldn’t come as a total shock that Australia would be the country to have a kangaroo court, but that’s what this looks like.
This is totally insane
I could write multiple posts about this story because in truth there are so many outrages all converging around one bizarre set of circumstances.
Big Tech braces for EU Digital Services Act regulations
More than a dozen of the world’s biggest tech companies face unprecedented legal scrutiny, as the European Union’s sweeping Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes new rules on content moderation, user privacy and transparency.
Naked ‘Wolf Man’ spotted by hikers in German mountains: ‘He wouldn’t take his eyes off us’
Hikers captured a bone-chilling photo of a mysterious naked “wolf man,” who officials believe has lived in the wild for at least 5 years, as they traveled through Germany’s Harz Mountains on Tuesday.
Surprise! Cuban colony of Nicaragua bans Jesuit order, confiscates all of their property
In a stunningly ironic twist, Nicaraguan sub-dictator Daniel Ortega has cancelled the religious order to which Papa Che belongs and stolen all of its assets, including an entire university.
Opinion
Rural Americans Are Not Okay
First,Dominic is correct when he says, “Blaming a caricature of poor and resentful rural people for lashing out and causing political problems isn’t very productive.” But there exist legitimate reasons for despondency in rural America, even if, as Dominic notes, there are some positive material statistics coming out of the bayous, hollers, and backwoods. Whatever economic abstractions we cite cannot rebuild congregational churches, repair family structures, or undo chemical dependencies that are a visual reality for millions of our countrymen.
The Decline of American Politics, in One Senate Seat
Since the death of James L. Buckley on Friday, tributes have made his sterling character and incredible legacy clear. One can also learn something about our politics from the trajectory of the New York Senate seat he held.
Supplying Racism
It has been observed that the demand for racism outstrips the supply, and hence the need for defining racism down to sweep up any observable disparity between racial groups or “microaggression,” or the proliferation of outright race hoaxes, such as racist graffiti on college campuses, etc. Academia and the media are driving this trend.
The Heritage Foundation’s Odd Shift Left
For those of you unfamiliar with the eclectic world of D.C. think-tankery, the Heritage Foundation has long been the undisputed king of conservative doctrine. Think tanks are policy-research hubs, housing scholars and analysts and former Hill staffers, that formulate new ideas for government officials. Though they often claim apolitical stripes, these guilds of high nerdery are typically aligned with political factions, whether it is the American Enterprise Institute powering conservative thought or the Center for American Progress introducing the latest terrible new idea from the progressive Left.
Some Debate Observations That Don’t Matter
None of these observations matter, because the front-runner wasn’t there, and nobody did anything to distinguish themselves from the field as an obvious alternative to Trump.
Debate Reflections from the Morning After
I wasn’t in a place where I could watch last night’s debate live, so I just streamed it this morning. A confession: I’m really not sure at this point that I (or anybody) can really say who “won” a debate, because there are so many different ways for things to be heard and seen. More to the point, I’m skeptical that a debate format with as many as eight candidates on one stage can really ever be won by anyone (although, as we’ve seen in the past, debates can definitely be lost.) It’s especially difficult this year, because the frontrunner skipped the debate.
Advice for Students Entering College
As the new academic year begins, I have some advice for conservative and religiously observant students who are entering colleges and universities in which their beliefs will place them in the minority, and perhaps make them feel like “outsiders.”
