News of the Week for October 1st, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
A New Border Crossing: Americans Turn to Mexico for Abortions
The text message Cynthia Menchaca received this summer was one she was seeing more and more: A woman living in Texas said she had left a violent relationship only to discover she was pregnant, and she desperately wanted an abortion. The woman had learned that Ms. Menchaca could send her abortion pills from Mexico, where the procedure has been decriminalized in several states.
UK police drop charges, apologize to woman arrested for silent prayer near abortion business
Police in the United Kingdom confirmed last week that all charges have been dropped against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the woman arrested for “thoughtcrime” as she stood and silently prayed outside an abortion facility. The police also apologized to Vaughan-Spruce for the length of time it took for them to determine whether or not she would face charges.
Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina’s new abortion law; 12-week near-ban remains in place
A federal judge on Saturday blocked two portions of North Carolina’s new abortion law from taking effect while a lawsuit continues. But nearly all of the restrictions approved by the legislature this year, including a near-ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy, aren’t being specifically challenged and remain intact.
Gun Rights
Judge Benitez destroys the 2.2 rounds per DGU lie once and for all
Over two years ago, I read through some court filings in Duncan v. Bonta, the lawsuit against California’s ““large capacity” magazine ban. I was left scratching my head at a claim from the State of California in support of their magazine ban, that the average Defensive Gun Use (DGU) incident involves discharging only 2.2 rounds. The more I looked into it, the more obvious it became that this was unsubstantiated.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
California OK’s Plan to Allow Insurance Companies to Use “Climate Crisis” to Inflate Rates
As climate panic is based on flawed modelling, it seems appropriate that the mathematical voodoo of new rates will be based on catastrophe modelling.
Net Zero: Entering an Age of Absurdity
The British philosopher John Gray is no climate “denier,” to use that grotesque term. Writing in UnHerd, he cites the belief of his friend James Lovelock, famously or infamously, the creator of the Gaia hypothesis, that “climate change would consist of sudden jumps and it could transform things quite quickly, in a couple of decades. We might be in the middle of it.” That’s Gray’s view. He’s no climate skeptic.
Biden admin issues restrictions on gas furnaces in latest war on appliances
Biden administration boasted that the energy efficiency rules will curb residential energy use and carbon emissions
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Candidates Criticize Obamacare, but Replacement Details are Scant
The extended discussion of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, speaks to an essential debate between the two parties: Republicans think free markets can solve healthcare problems best, while Democrats say the government needs to play a prominent role through plans like the Obama-era subsidy system, because no one wants to pay the costs of the sickest patients.
War & Terror
Another provocation: China puts a floating barrier in the sea to block Philippine fishermen
As I’ve pointed out many times, China is always trying to up the ante in the South China Sea (and elsewhere) with new provocations. They’ve been trying to lay claim to various islands using something called the cabbage strategy for years. Recently they’ve been trying to use this around various islands near the coast of the Philippines.
Hungary Hosted Sanctioned Xinjiang Official, Prompting U.S. Rebuke
The Hungarian government quietly hosted a delegation of Chinese Communist Party officials who preside over Beijing’s policies in the Xinjiang region this month, including one figure who was sanctioned for his role in the abuses there.
Russia’s War in Ukraine Is Not the Iraq War
Senator J. D. Vance and I engaged in a contentious exchange on whatever you’re supposed to call Twitter these days. I don’t intend to rehash those arguments here. I do, however, want to take the opportunity to rebut the senator’s primary claim — one that has been articulated by a number of Republican politicians who cater to anti-Ukraine sentiments on the Right. That is the notion that Russia’s war in Ukraine is in some meaningful way analogous to the U.S.-led coalition’s ouster of Saddam Hussein from Iraq in 2003. At least insofar as the West’s support for Kyiv’s defense is another expression of American hubris that can only worsen conditions in the region. This is just nonsense.
How Lockheed Martin designed the X-59, the world’s weirdest, quietest supersonic jet
In a feat of engineering, the X-59 travels faster than the speed of sound, while making barely any sound at all.
NATO bolsters forces in Kosovo as US urges Serbia to withdraw from border
White House calls Serbian military deployment ‘very destabilizing.’
Kosovo on edge after deadly clashes stir unease
Nearly a week after deadly clashes in Kosovo triggered one of the gravest escalations in the former breakaway province in years, the opportunity for reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs seemed as distant as ever.
A remote Air Force base in Alaska is getting its own nuclear reactor
If all goes according to plan, the micro reactor will be online at Eielson Air Force Base by 2027.
Drone technology is reinventing warfare
From the armchairs of western Europe, the war in Ukraine looks remarkably static. Frontlines have barely shifted this summer, despite the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
National
Authoritarian the Librarian
The onset of Autumn is a good time to recall summer stories that failed to get the attention they deserved. Consider, for example, what happened in Davis, California, back on August 20.
OSIRIS-Rex Spacecraft Returns an Asteroid Sample Back to Earth
Meanwhile, India loses contact with its lunar rover and space industry’s “learning period” is extended 8 more years,
White-Owned Landscaping Companies Challenge Houstons Racial Minority Preference in City Contracts
Lawsuit: defendants lost a bid for a city contract after another business received a 10-point bonus because of its minority ownership.
Report: Virginia Universities Drowning in DEI Policies
“Which state’s public universities have the largest diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies? It is not a deep-blue state, like California or Oregon. It is the decidedly purple state of Virginia.”
Indicted Senator Bob Menendez to Announce Reelection Bid Monday
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who was indicted days ago on federal bribery charges, is expected to announce on Monday that he intends to seek reelection, according to a report from the New Jersey Globe.
Is a swing-state GOP chair trying to game the election for Trump?
Nevada is fighting to hold a caucus a over primary election, as Utah and Idaho also move to caucus
‘A conservative’s nightmare’: Lawsuit prompted by Seattle DEI training
We’ve seen a few lawsuits like this already where some form of reverse discrimination seems to have been prompted by corporate DEI concerns. A former Starbucks manager won a $25 million judgment in June after a jury agreed she’d been racially discriminated against by the company.
Michael Wolff Reveals Tucker Carlson Was Source of DeSantis Dog-Kick Story He Publicly Denied
In an interview with Mediaite, author Michael Wolff revealed that Tucker Carlson was the source for his reporting that Ron DeSantis shoved – and possibly kicked – Carlson’s dog during an awkward lunch between the erstwhile Fox News host and the 2024 hopeful.
How Much Do North Carolina’s Universities Spend?
Enrollment growth can no longer keep up with colleges’ financial profligacy.
No Sex Please—We’re Anthropologists!
With apologies to the old British farce “No Sex Please—We’re British!”, apparently academic anthropology wants to do a humorless remake.
No Manifesto Destiny
Today marks six months since Audrey Hale, a woman who thought she was a man, shot her way into the Covenant School in Nashville and gunned down nine-year-olds Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus, and adults Mike Hill, Katherine Koonce, and Cynthia Peak. Hale, a former student at the school, carefully planned the attack for months.
Trump fraud ruling that cancels his business licenses is a ‘devastating’ blow for ex-president, experts say
A ruling by a New York judge that Donald Trump had committed fraud — leaving the fate of his business empire dangling in uncertainty — was a “devastating” blow for the former president, legal experts said Tuesday night.
Las Vegas hospitality workers authorize strike against hotels, casinos
The Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, the largest union in Nevada, voted to authorize a strike against major casinos on Tuesday if contract disputes continue.
‘We’ll Get You Through Your Children!’ The Night in 1958 That Launched the Culture War
“We’ll get you through your children!” That was the threat shouted by the poet Allen Ginsberg on a fateful night in 1958. Ginsberg was yelling at Norman Podhoretz, a conservative writer. The confrontation between Ginsberg and Podhoretz is described in Podhoretz’s 2001 book Ex-Friends: Falling Out With Allen Ginsberg, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Mailer.
California becomes the first state to mandate gender-neutral bathrooms in schools by 2026
Governor Newsom signed the bill alongside a flurry of others supporting LGBTQ+ Californians over the weekend.
Trump Basically Just Lost the New York Bank Fraud Case Before It Even Started
Former President Donald Trump, his top executives, and heirs were declared completely liable of “persistent and repeated fraud”—and the real estate empire was unceremoniously stripped of its business licenses in New York—after a judge’s powerful ruling Tuesday ahead of a massive trial that seeks to hit them with more than $250 million in penalties for bank fraud.
Cornell renames English Department as part of ‘decolonization efforts.’ Check out the new name.
In the fall of 2020, Cornell University’s faculty voted to change the school’s name from the “Department of English” to the “Department of Literatures in English.”
Dads Homeschooling Children Surges
Agrowing number of fathers are ditching gender roles and homeschooling their children post-pandemic, a new Washington Post survey found.
Migrants are being raped at Mexico border as they await entry to US
When Carolina’s captors arrived at dawn to pull her out of the stash house in the Mexican border city of Reynosa in late May, she thought they were going to force her to call her family in Venezuela again to beg them to pay $2,000 ransom.
Dianne Feinstein, California’s longest-serving senator, dies at 90
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate and the longest-serving senator from California, has died at age 90. Feinstein’s death leaves vacant her powerful Senate seat, requiring Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a temporary successor. The Democratic senator’s decades-long career was studded with major legislative achievements on issues including gun control and the environment.
Pressure is on Newsom to quickly appoint Feinstein’s temporary replacement
Feinstein’s death will upend the intensifying race to replace her and force Newsom into a painful political decision.
Georgia Federal Judge Rules Racially Discriminatory Contracting Is “Speech and Expression” Protected By 1st Amendment – Emergency Appeal Filed
Emergency Motion for injunction pending appeal: “The district court said discriminatory contracting itself is protected speech. That line is one the Supreme Court has always been careful not to cross, as it would destroy the whole enterprise of antidiscrimination law…. But the district court crossed it.”
The ratings are in for the RNC debate – most watched program on cable tv Wednesday
The ratings are in and the second RNC debate was the most watched program Wednesday on cable television, including streaming platforms. Nearly 9.5 million viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The Don’t Hire Women Act?
Having a baby? There’s a new law meant for you: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The backlash to ‘two-parent privilege’ continues
I’ve seen a couple of articles now responding to economist Melissa Kearney’s book titled “The Two-Parent Privilege.” The gist of the book is that kids are undeniably better off with two parents for reasons that are financial (two incomes are better than one) and personal (two parents have more time to devote to bringing up children than one). Some have taken it as a call to highlight the benefits of marriage over single-motherhood and that is instantly controversial because some feminists are deeply suspicious of that idea.
They Come To Teach Us
And behold their glittering minds: “You shouldn’t even have an opinion about this.”
Male or Female: There’s Nothing In Between
Since the dawn of our species, the evolution of two distinct sexes has been fundamental to human reproduction. There is no such thing as a ‘sex spectrum.’
Why diversity training backfires
A leading researcher has found that ‘DEI’ training actually encourages racial resentment.
21 Republicans Join Democrats to Kill House Stopgap Funding Bill
Prepare for a shutdown.
The American Anthropological Association Is Shamefully Anti-Scientific
Here we go again: A supposedly scientific organization crushes the scientific method in the cause of radical ideology.
Meghan Markle ‘considers run for office’: Duchess of Sussex’s name is in the frame to fill Californian Senator Dianne Feinstein’s seat after senator died aged 90 (and could the White House be her ultimate aim?)
Meghan Markle may run for US Senate seat to replace the late Dianne Feinstein. Labour source previously said she was working to aim of winning US Presidency.
Georgia Senate GOP Suspends Rogue Member for Attacking Fellow Party Members
There’s nothing wrong with disagreements between members of the same political party, and sometimes disputes can get heated. But when differences of opinion lead to personal threats, someone has crossed the line.
Economy & Taxes
Oakland businesses will go on strike tomorrow to protest rising crime
Here’s a strike I can fully get behind. A group of as many as 200 businesses in the city of Oakland will be closing tomorrow as a way to call attention to the rising crime that threatens to put them out of business permanently.
The College Spending Binge Continues
Harvard’s former president Derek Bok once said, “One thing that exiled royalty, gambling addicts and college presidents have in common is that there’s never enough money.” Long ago, college leaders tried to keep costs down for students, but nowadays, the model president focuses on hauling in as much money as possible and spending it on stuff to make the school appear more attractive and “prestigious.”
Does China’s Property Bust Make a Financial Crisis Inevitable?
Perhaps not—if Beijing plays its cards right. But serious damage to the nation’s prospects is still likely. A look at the problem in five charts.
Why the Latest Continuing Resolution Changed More Than You Might Think
The continuing resolution signed into law Saturday, to keep the government funded for another month and a half, is significant less for its substance than for what its enactment says about some key power dynamics in Congress.
International
Doomsday cult leader who thinks he’s Jesus ‘keeps 1,500 kids as sex slaves on island’
Save The Children have stepped in to try and protect an estimated 1,500 children who are living among the cult on a remote island and said to be facing forced marriages and sexual abuse
Africa: Carving the Golden Goose
Africa today consists of 56 different experiences in nation-building with some remarkable successes and many inevitable failures. In many African countries a new player has entered the game: a younger generation that is better educated, more ambitious and, at the same time, less gullible than its ancestors in the 19th century who looked away while imperial powers carved the golden goose.
The Intrigue Is North of the Border for Once
On the menu today: The week begins with buckets of political intrigue here in the U.S. — a new shock poll that has Donald Trump way ahead of President Biden, Biden rushing to the United Auto Workers picket line ahead of Trump, the country inching closer to a government shutdown, and another GOP debate a few days from now (once again without Trump). But for once, the Canadian government, our neighbors to the North, are actually outpacing us in political insanity and intrigue, from their parliament giving a standing ovation to a Nazi to stumbling into a new Cold War with India.
Monkey spotted ‘working’ on computer at railway office typing and flicking through files
Train passengers were left baffled and amused after seeing the monkey purchased on the office chair flipping through papers and typing on the computer keyboard, mimicking the employees
Mysterious antimatter observed falling down for first time
For the first time, scientists have observed antimatter particles — the mysterious twins of the visible matter all around us — falling downwards due to the effect of gravity, Europe’s physics lab CERN announced on Wednesday.
Just Pass Everyone
Australian universities face a government prohibition on failing grades.
Opinion
‘Globalization’ and Other Dirty Words
Scott Lincicome and his comrades at the Cato Institute have embarked on something rather audacious. (I can hear WFB say, “Can something be rather audacious?”) (He once said “very indigent,” then asked me, “Can a person be very indigent?” I thought not. Indigence is indigence.)
The ridiculous Liberals have shamed Canada by honouring a Nazi in Parliament
It’s the political blunder to end all political blunders
What You Can Do to Stop the Looming GOP Civil War
Yes, Donald Trump has a very strong following among Republicans. Yes, he’s the front-runner. Yes, if the election were held today, he’d likely be the nominee. But no, the primary isn’t over.
LBGT vs. Muslims
Libs baffled to learn Islam is actually a religion
The Ninth Amendment
There are more rights than just what the Constitution spells out
Why America’s Federalist Culture Matters
One of the many great things about America is that it is both big and diffuse. Yes, we are one nation. But we are proud of our particularities. Our system of government, at its best, reflects this. States and localities are not mere administrative units of the central government; they are centers of power in their own right. Our cultural diffusion is consistent with this.
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.
We Are All Dumber Now
May God have mercy on our souls
The Threat to Democracy from NGOs
Charlie Flanagan TD, the longtime Fine Gael representative, has given something of an exit interview to the Irish Times. His father was the notoriously conservative Catholic legislator Oliver J Flanagan, who had many memorable quotations, my favorite being “Let us hope and trust that there are sufficient proud and ignorant people left in this country to stand up to the intellectuals who are out to destroy faith and fatherland.”
NV GOP shows its cluelessness with plan to confuse its voters
The biggest winners in the Nevada GOP presidential selection process are Nevada Democrats.
