News of the Week for September 3rd, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Jen Psaki keeps doing her best to cover up Democrats’ awful abortion secret
After the first GOP presidential debate, it took no time for former Biden staffer turned MSNBC pundit Jen Psaki to post, “No one supports abortion up until birth.” Her reaction to GOP candidates discussing the current no-limits abortion approach from Democrats.
Gun Rights
Washington, DC Will Pay $5.1 Million For Violating The Second Amendment
After almost a decade of litigation, Washington, D.C. will pay out $5.1 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that challenged the city’s unconstitutional gun control laws. Under the settlement agreement, which received preliminary approval on Monday, the six gun owners who filed the lawsuit will receive $50,000 each.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
‘I’m Gonna Take All of You Out’: Nevada Rangers Ram Through Climate Protest Blockade, Smash Activists on Ground by Arresting Them at Gun Point
In a startling incident at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, US, tension escalated as Nevada Rangers took aggressive action against climate change protesters who had blocked the road.
Chillin’ with Net Zero
An advantage of being brought up in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s is that a cold house presents few terrors for me. A jacket and a sweater (supplemented, if necessary, by an overcoat, which can double up as a blanket during the night) can solve the problem, along with the warm glow coming from my half-Scottish heart at the thought of lower utility bills.
Nevada Rangers Plow Through Burner Blockade, Arrest Climate Activists
NV Rangers: ‘You have 30 seconds to get off the f*cking road’
Property owners who don’t comply with new energy rules may face prison
Ministers want to grant powers to create new criminal offences and increase penalties as part of efforts to hit net zero targets
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Price caps a-comin’: Biden admin announces first ten drugs for extortive “negotiations”
What exactly does “price negotiations” mean when government is involved? Think of the process as somewhat akin to the old Monty Python skit: Nice pharmaceutical business ya got there. Shame if something … happened to it.
Does Plessy Linger Still?
Liberty Fund Roundtable on Systemic Racism
U.K. Court Rules Hospitalized Young Woman Can’t Decide to ‘Die Trying to Live’
Medical authoritarianism continues to expand in the U.K. Readers may recall the cases of Alfie Evans and Charlie Gard, infants with catastrophic illnesses whom the courts did not allow to be taken out of their hospitals — as desired by their parents — to receive treatment elsewhere.
How Far Will We Let ‘Anti-Racism’ in Medicine Go?
A sure-fire way for a scholar or policy-wonk to get lots of attention these days is to advance some new “solution” to the country’s deep problem of institutional racism. Medical care is now in the cross-hairs, with arguments that we must get past the old-fashioned idea that medical professionals are to serve each individual to the utmost and instead embrace group “equity” as the proper goal.
War & Terror
Poland, Baltics Warn Of Further Border Closures Over Wagner Fears
Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia say they will completely seal off their borders with Belarus if a “critical incident” involving Wagner mercenaries occurs, as tensions rise over the stability of the private militia following the death of its top leadership, including founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Cuban troops may step in to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after Putin eliminated Wagner
Putin’s assassination of the Wagner mercenaries leader Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves him without critical military support in his invasion of Ukraine. But communist Cuba may be ready to fill that vacancy.
‘Ripped from Their Homes’
Said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “Children are literally being ripped from their homes in the year 2023. Russia and its proxies have detained children fleeing violence. They have forced children out of schools and orphanages.”
China publishes new map laying claim to territory controlled by India
Whether it’s the South China Sea or the most distant regions of Tibet, China is always trying to lay claim to more territory. This week China published an annual map which now includes a region controlled by India as part of China.
Russian planes keep getting blown up in airfields hundreds of miles from the fighting, exposing embarrassing gaps in its defenses
Russian military aircraft keep getting damaged or destroyed at airbases deep inside its own territory, exposing gaps in its defenses that Ukraine has been able to exploit.
In China’s shadow, U.S. rushes back to neglected Indian Ocean island
At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force tracking station that monitored Soviet satellites from this island’s soaring tropical forests was a focus of Seychelles life. The American servicemen and technicians living nearby hosted barbecues and bar nights to which all Seychellois were invited, distributed cookies and milk to local children and taught them basketball.
National
Trump DC Trial Set For March 4, 2024, Day Before Super Tuesday
This is a speedy trial, not as speedy as the prosecution wanted (January 2), but much sooner than Trump wanted (April 2026). Trump lawyer: “We will not be able to provide adequate representation…. [The] trial date will deny President Trump the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel.”
Biden administration advises alternatives to affirmative action
Suggested strategies include targeting school districts with specific demographic makeups. In an August 14 letter, the Biden administration encouraged colleges and universities to reevaluate their legacy admissions policies.’
Nevada: Lawmaker was hired to lead nonprofit, weeks after voting to give it $250K in funds
A state lawmaker was hired as the director of a nonprofit just a month after legislators voted to appropriate hundreds of thousands of state funds to the organization.
New Hampshire Republican Activist Found Stabbed to Death in His Home
“Alex was an exceptionally skilled champion for the rule of law and the importance of fair and honest elections.”
Maryland Parents Not Done Fighting for Opt-Out
Maryland parents were dealt a blow last week when a district judge ruled against an opt-out policy for LGBTQ curricula in Montgomery County Public Schools. School started today, which means that students in pre-K through fifth grade cannot opt out of discussions of books that reference transgenderism, gender-ideology notions of pronoun usage, and sexuality.
Teen killed outside McDonald’s in sweet-and-sour sauce dispute, police say
A 16-year-old girl was charged with fatally stabbing another 16-year-old girl outside a McDonald’s on a busy D.C. nightlife corridor this weekend in a fight a police detective said stemmed from an argument about sweet-and-sour sauce, as the city continues its struggle to quell youth violence.
Two more candidates join the race to unseat LA DA George Gascon
George Gascon is arguably the worst DA in the country now that Chesa Boudin is gone. His office continues to be a disaster area with a massive backlog of cases. He is well-liked by criminals and not trusted by victims. He has been found liable for retaliation against his critics. He doesn’t have the support or respect of the majority of his own deputy DAs.
We urgently need your help to stop another attack on Prop. 209 and on equal protection in the California State Legislature!
ACA7 would allow the state government to fund “research-based, or research-informed, and culturally specific programs based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or marginalized genders, sexes, or sexual orientations designed to improve outcomes for people in those groups.” In other words, it seeks to circumvent the California State Constitution Article I Section 31(a) (Prop. 209) with language explicitly contradicting Prop. 209!
Racial Preferences Must Continue, Says the Biden Administration
After the Supreme Court ruled that racial preferences in college admissions are illegal, the “diversity” crowd stated its intention to find ways of getting around the Court’s decision. They were egged on by the Biden administration, naturally.
Former Morgan Stanley exec sues company claiming he was fired because he was white
A former Morgan Stanley executive named Kevin Meyersburg is suing the company claiming reverse discrimination, i.e. that he was discriminated against for being white.
‘Treated Like a Toddler’: Biden Fumed to Friends about Aides Backtracking after Putin ‘Cannot Remain in Power’ Comment
After going off-script to declare that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” during a March speech in Warsaw, Joe Biden fumed that his aides had infantilized him by walking back his comments, according to an excerpt of a new book released Wednesday.
Batten the hatches! Oakland is now dealing with pirates
Shiver me timbers! Here’s something I didn’t see coming to an American city in 2023. The city of Oakland is now dealing with pirates.
Canada’s Fashionable Lie
The California man who shot and killed the owner of the Mag.Pi clothing store in Cedar Glen, Calif. , on August 18 did so after making “disparaging remarks” about the Pride flag that adorned the establishment. The suspect, who was later killed by police, is alleged to have attempted to take down Pride-related regalia outside the store and issued homophobic remarks ahead of the violence. The sequence of events suggests that anti-LGBT sentiment at least partly inspired this attack. The event made headlines across the United States, in part, because atrocities like these are so blessedly rare.
California Farm Committee Nixed Just as Tech Tycoons Began Land-Grab
Even as a mysterious cabal of tech tycoons and venture capitalists began buying more than $800 million worth of farmland to build a utopian city in Solano County, the local board of supervisors abruptly voted to dissolve a longstanding agriculture advisory committee—just when it was most needed.
Transgender Backlash: Parental Rights Advocates Launch New Strategy to Combat Gender Ideology in California
Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, California, has enacted policies endorsing “transgender” identity over the broad concerns of critics who claim the policies threaten parental rights, fairness in women’s sports, and the long-term health of children. Those critics have launched a new strategy to counter the gender ideology policies by going directly to the voters of the state.
California Mom Receives $100K Settlement after School Socially Transitioned Daughter Without Consent
Jessica Konen won a $100,000 judgment against the Spreckels Union School District in Monterey County, Calif., after they secretly “socially transitioned” her daughter, permitting her to use the boy’s bathroom and male pronouns without her knowledge or consent.
Sucker Busted For Lollipop Battery At Family Dollar Store
A confrontation yesterday at a Family Dollar store resulted in the arrest of an armed man, records show. His weapon? A lollipop.
The Dungeons & Dragons Players of Death Row
The first time Tony Ford played Dungeons & Dragons, he was a wiry Black kid who had never seen the inside of a prison. His mother, a police officer in Detroit, had quit the force and moved the family to West Texas. To Ford, it seemed like a different world. Strangers talked funny, and El Paso was half desert. But he could skateboard in all that open space, and he eventually befriended a nerdy white kid with a passion for Dungeons & Dragons. Ford fell in love with the role-playing game right away; it was complex and cerebral, a saga you could lose yourself in. And in the 1980s, everyone seemed to be playing it.
‘Too Much Narcissism, Not Enough Maturity’: Why Some Employers Are Wary of Hiring People Who List Their ‘Pronouns’ on Resumes
‘The accidental misgendering, the time off work to get your mastectomy, the recovery time from it, the sort of constant name changes’ are taxing, a Bay Area restaurant owner says.
Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision
With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.
‘Squaring The Circle’: New Documentary Explores How Hipgnosis Created Rock’s Greatest Album Covers
“Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” is a 2022 documentary that has recently been released on streaming platforms such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video. It was directed by veteran Dutch rock photographer and video director Anton Corbijn, whose work was heavily influenced by Hipgnosis’ house style.
Pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC ends door-knocking in Nevada and Super Tuesday states
Never Back Down officials said they were reinvesting in the first three primary states and criticized what they see as a pro-Trump effort to tilt primary rules in his favor elsewhere.
Nevada GOP’s Caucus Fuster-Cluck Just Got Worse
The damage from the Nevada Republican Party’s decision to hold a presidential “caucus” two days after the official presidential primary in Nevada has begun.
NV Legislature Investigation Underscores Ethics Concerns
Recent revelations show that a state lawmaker was hired as the executive director of a non-profit just one month after voting to appropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars to that very same organization.
Fulton judge says Trump court proceedings will be televised
A Fulton County judge on Thursday said that all court proceedings in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants will be live streamed and televised.
Desantis Super PAC Ends Door-Knocking Operations in Nevada
Super PAC spokeswoman blasts NV GOP Chairman as a ‘Trump Puppet’, Chairman returns fire
Reviving Racial Preferences in California
Democrats in Sacramento try again to override the voters and the state and U.S. constitutions.
Court Rules in Pornhub’s Favor in Finding Texas Age-Verification Law Violates First Amendment
Score one for Pornhub: A federal judge ruled Thursday that a Texas law requiring pornography sites to institute age-verification measures — and add prominent warning labels about the alleged dangers of porn — violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition against free-speech restrictions.
Texas federal judge halts state’s drag ban
A federal judge in Texas has stopped the state’s ban on drag performances, which was scheduled to go into place Friday, enforcing a temporary injunction on the measure in a win for LGBTQ rights advocates.
Matt Schlapp Hired Priest to Perform Exorcism at CPAC HQ Following Staff Resignations
American Conservative Union and CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp reportedly hired a Catholic priest to perform an exorcism at CPAC’s offices following the resignation of multiple staffers who were unhappy about their pay.
Hmmm: Caltech drops calc, chem and physics reqs “if your school didn’t offer them”
ZOMG! Have the brainiacs followed the yellowoke path to diversity, equity, and inclusion mediocrity?
How DEI Threatens Exercise Science
Another academic field has been infiltrated by leftist radicals.
Oakland D.A.: White victims “harm” her office
It really is unfair, you know. White victims of crime are a real pain in the ass for the Oakland D.A.’s Victims Services Division. It’s almost like they think they count or something.
Proud Boy claims ‘Trump won’ after sobbing for mercy and receiving 10-year sentence: reports
Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola sobbed in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Friday as he asked a federal judge for leniency in his Jan. 6 sentence and vowed to stay out of politics in the future.
The Culture Wars Are Tearing the Close-Knit Country Music Community Apart
Over the last few years, the Gulf Coast Jam, a multi-day concert blowout held every spring in Panama City Beach, Florida, has become one of country music’s leading festivals, pulling in headliners like Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Kane Brown, and Kenny Chesney. But recently, festival producer Rendy Lovelady has noticed something unusual backstage. “Ten or 15 years ago, everybody would sit in a circle around the table, pull out their guitars and start singing old country songs,” he says. “There was a lot of camaraderie. Whereas now, the camaraderie has definitely lessened. They tend to stay in their own community.”
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Detroit’s forfeiture machine, major nuclear questions, and copyrightable materials.
Oklahoma School District Hires Drag Queen ES Principal with Previous Child Porn Arrest
Dr. Shane Brent Murnan is the newest elementary school principal within Oklahoma’s Western Heights public school district. Murnan, a 52-year-old man whose drag persona is very publicly known as Ms. Shantel Mandalay, now has total authority over more than 400 students from pre-K through fourth grade at John Glenn Elementary School in southwest Oklahoma City.
Unions Advised Teachers How To Hide Gender Surveys from Colorado School District and Parents
“administrators told teachers – just don’t go there”
Court: City Cannot Keep Catholic Farmer Opposed to Gay Marriage Out of Farmer’s Market
“The City’s decision to exclude Country Mill Farms from the 2017 East Lansing Farmer’s Market constituted a burden on Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”
California mom claims Democrats ‘trying to legislate First Amendment out of existence’ with school bill
Parents could face a fine and jail time of up to a year for causing ‘substantial disorder’ at school board meetings if SB 596 passes
Economy & Taxes
Logistics groups seek Asian bases to help clients offshore from China
Trend is fuelled by cash reserves swollen by high pandemic-era earnings
Uruguayan businessmen concerned over shopping trips to Argentina
Uruguayan businessmen have expressed their concern after over 100,000 residents crossed the border over to Argentina during the three-day Aug. 25 Independence Day long weekend to capitalize on a favorable exchange rate, it was reported on both shores.
California: Support for Senate Bill 799 lets you know who is and who isn’t credible
Senate Bill 799, introduced by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, would illogically extend unemployment benefits to striking workers. That is, workers who aren’t unemployed, but who are choosing not to work.
The Real Problem with the Belt and Road Initiative Isn’t Strategic
You’ll never believe it, but an economic-development scheme centrally planned by a communist party is backfiring.
Unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 3.8% in August as payrolls increased by 187,000
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 187,000 in August, ahead of the estimate for 170,000. The counts for June and July were revised considerably lower. However, the unemployment rate was 3.8%, up significantly from July and the highest since February 2022. The “real” unemployment rate jumped to 7.1%. Health care showed the biggest gain by sector, adding 71,000. Other leaders were leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% for the month and 4.3% from a year ago, both slightly below forecasts.
Foreign investors sell China shares at record pace in August
Outflows of $12bn come as Beijing’s support measures fail to offset fears over economic slowdown and property crisis
International
What Christian Paradise? Russia and Hungary Are Less Religious Than San Francisco
A periodic reminder that the poster child of sin, vice, and sexual decadence, San Francisco, is more Christian (judged by frequent church attendance) than the leading examples of so-called Christian nationalism.
Tory councillor arrested and questioned for alleged ‘hate crime’
Anthony Stevens had retweeted a video showing police arrest of a Christian street preacher
L
ibyan foreign minister is fired and flees to Turkey after meeting her Israeli counterpart
Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush has been fired and has fled to Turkey following a meeting last week with Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen.
First ever ‘alien’ objects found on Earth? Harvard physicist Avi Loeb says hundreds of tiny fragments he found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean ARE from outside our solar system
A physicist said fragments pulled from the ocean came outside our solar system
Ugandan faces death penalty after homosexuality charge
A 20-year-old Ugandan man could face the death penalty after he was charged with aggravated homosexuality, which is a capital offence under a controversial law that was passed in May.
First censorship, now outright bans of politicians and political parties
In the Left’s censorship crusade against all things conservative a new front has been opened up in Germany. AfD (Alternative for Germany), a populist political party whose main plank is restricting Germany’s insane open borders policies instituted under Angela Merkel, is in danger of being outright banned.
Qatar’s World Cup FIFA Bribe Documents Exposed
The moral and legal compromises FIFA and the Qatari government made to hold the 2022 World Cup in the Doha metropolitan area range from tolerating the host country’s ban on homosexuality to deadly abuses of migrant laborers at stadium construction sites. According to documents submitted to the record of a lawsuit in federal court late this afternoon, the road to the first Middle Eastern World Cup also began with a series of straightforward bribes.
UK: Police Demand Burglary Victim Delete Photos Of Alleged Thieves, Accuse Her Of Causing Them “Distress”
The Dyfed-Powys County Police in Wales have sparked outrage after telling the victim of a burglary that she caused “distress” to the thieves who ransacked her small hotel.
Man Who Raped Infant Quietly Moved to Prison with Mother-Baby Unit After Transgender Claim
A Canadian man who was convicted of the horrific rape of a 3-month-old infant boy has begun identifying as transgender while incarcerated and is currently being held in a women’s correctional facility with a mother and child unit.
Niger putschists arrest French ambassador and staff
Well, that’ll raise the diplomatic temperature several degrees.
Human ancestors nearly went extinct 900,000 years ago
A new technique analysing modern genetic data suggests that pre-humans survived in a group of only 1,280 individuals.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 Rover Detects Sulfur During Mission at Moon’s South Pole
The Space Age “Gold Rush” for water, rare earth elements, and helium isotopes worth quadrillions of dollars begins!
Opinion
Secretaries of State Should Not Make Themselves the Stars of 2024
Donald Trump’s forthcoming criminal trials are poised to become an all-consuming gravity well, the inescapable maw of which will soon capture the nation’s attention. But while we’re still perched on its event horizon, it would be wise to re-examine the roles we’re all about to play in this immensely consequential saga. Those of us who have no role other than that of spectator should preserve that safe distance from the spectacle that is about to unfold.
Secularization Begins at Home
Religiosity in America has been in steady decline for several decades. However, in recent years, the pace at which Americans are leaving church behind has dramatically accelerated, as documented in the new book, The Great Dechurching, by evangelical pastors Jim Davis and Michael Graham, and sociologist of religion Ryan Burge. The book is based on a unique set of surveys describing and categorizing the various groups that have left American churches in the last few decades. The causes of this wave of dechurching are much debated, but The Great Dechurching devotes the vast majority of its attention to the experiences of adults, or most individuals transitioning into adulthood. In almost every single vignette in the book, people who lost their faith lost it as adults. Although one chapter near the end discusses parenting and childhood, it mostly does so in the context of describing what happens when children leave home. To read The Great Dechurching, one might suppose that Christianity is declining in America because adults, after considering a range of different concerns, decided church just wasn’t for them.
Ready. Fire. Aim.
Back before Donald Trump’s wing of the party took over the establishment, one of the issues that provoked the anti-establishment conservatives to back Trump’s coup of the party was the non-stop promise-making of the establishment that the establishment never intended to keep.
Nevada GOP’s presidential caucus plan is nuts
Only a Democrat could love how the Nevada Republican Party is handling its role in the presidential selection process.
Has Tucker Lost It?
I haven’t seen as much of Tucker Carlson as most conservatives, since it is a long time since I have watched Fox News and I haven’t followed his recent efforts on Twitter. But I find him likable and agree with him most of the time.
