News of the Week (February 11th, 2024)

Posted on February 11, 2024 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for February 11th, 2024


Election 2024

 

Trikki Nikki?
Lots of chatter and criticism this morning for Nikki Haley going on Saturday Night Live for the cold open last night, as it is taken as an indicator that she’s part of the hated liberal establishment, since SNL does not have good wishes for Republicans. The riposte is that Trump hosted SNL back in 2015 after he had entered the race (even doing a great Oval Office sketch about Mexico paying for the wall), but that was before SNL and the media realized Trump was a real threat to win. Take that as perhaps a sign that they don’t think Haley is a real threat to anything.

Conventional wisdom said Trump couldn’t win in 2016. This historian’s ‘keys’ said he would. What are those keys telling us today?
Biden holds an edge this November based on American University professor Allan Lichtman’s analysis of 13 historical predictors

Appeals Court Affirms the Denial of Trump’s Presidential Immunity Claim in D.C. Election Interference Case
Not a surprise. It will likely head to the Supreme Court now.

Confusion Reigns as Nevada Readies for GOP Presidential Primary – and Caucuses
Nevada Republicans will caucus to decide how to apportion their delegates for president. But their caucus comes two days after a primary. And that’s only the start of the confusion.

Nevada Republicans’ caucus adds chaos and confusion to the state’s presidential primary
The party’s decision to host a competing contest to the Feb. 6 primary election has angered GOP voters

‘None of These Candidates’ Beats Nikki Haley in Nevada Primary
Trump responded: “A bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to ‘None of These Candidates.’ Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”

‘Civil War’ After Donald Trump Win May Be ‘Worth It’: Evangelical Preacher
Evangelical preacher Andrew Wommack said that a “civil war” would be “worth it” if it meant getting former President Donald Trump back into the White House

Evangelicals’ Trump Worship Looks More Like QAnon Every Day
I have watched every Donald Trump rally, interview, and speech since he left the White House in Jan. 2021.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is running for the US Senate
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Friday that he will run for U.S. Senate, giving Republicans a prominent candidate who is well-positioned to run a competitive campaign for the GOP in a state that hasn’t had a Republican U.S. senator in 37 years.

Republican Businessman Eric Hovde Staffs Up Ahead of Looming Wisconsin Senate Campaign
Republican businessman Eric Hovde has begun hiring campaign staffers as he lays the groundwork for his soon-to-launch 2024 Senate campaign against Democratic senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, sources close to him confirm to National Review. Hovde is expected to formally announce his statewide campaign in the coming weeks.

Both Parties Blew the Lessons of 2022
Nobody likes losing elections. A successful political party, however, should know how to learn and benefit from its losses. A missed opportunity to get something out of losing can be just as bad as a failure to capitalize on victory. Somehow, both parties wound up not only losing valuable ground in the 2022 midterms, but also failing to learn anything from their setbacks.

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

Republican effort to restore abortion rights in Missouri folds
A Republican-led group trying to restore abortion rights in Missouri is ending its campaign

Gun Rights

 

Hawaii’s Supreme Court Attempts to Sidestep the 2nd Amendment
Why do this? It’s not going to accomplish anything except maybe to reinforce that the 2nd Amendment cannot be sidestepped by state courts. Is this literally virtue signaling? Whatever the case, this is just embarrassing.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

A Bitterly Disappointing Verdict
Today the jury returned its verdict in the defamation trial of Michael Mann v. Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn. The verdict was disappointing to those of us who followed the case and thought that Michael Mann presented a pathetically inadequate case. The jury actually agreed: it found that the defendants had defamed Mann, but awarded only a token $1 in damages, since Mann had failed to prove any. But it found that both Simberg and Steyn acted with actual malice–they didn’t actually believe what they said about Mann–and awarded punitive damages in the amount of $1,000 against Simberg, and $1 million against Steyn

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Self-Starvation to Qualify for Assisted Suicide
There are never enough assisted suicides for the euthanasia movement. So, while they will promise “strict guidelines to protect against abuse,” they don’t mean it — and are ever on the hunt to liberalize laws to make it easier for people to get help becoming dead.

War & Terror

 

Putin readies 40k troops & 500 tanks for massive new onslaught on Ukraine as he sets deadline for do or die breakthrough
Ukraine could be going up against a force that doubles theirs – but ammunition shortages are the big worry

Venezuela Deploys Military to Oil-Rich Guyana’s Border
The Maduro government is ratcheting up his leverage over Guyana to get access to its newfound energy wealth

U.S.-China Tensions Have a New Front: A Naval Base in Africa
American officials urge leaders in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to reject Beijing’s overtures for a military presence on their Atlantic coastline

The Senate Weighs an America-First Defense Bill
When Republicans control just one chamber of Congress against a Democratic White House and Senate, it can be difficult to secure viable wins. But the Senate GOP has a superb opportunity to extract major conservative victories out of both.

What Tucker Carlson Didn’t Ask Putin
It should be evident to anyone who watched it that there was some news value to Tucker Carlson’s interview of Vladimir Putin. The former Fox host might even have moved the ball forward on the unjust detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom the Russian government is transparently holding hostage. Carlson pressed the Russian president on this case several times, and Putin implied during the exchange that he wants to trade Gershkovich for a Russian assassin who was jailed for killing a Chechen man in Germany five years ago.

 

National

 

“Woke Kindergarten” Founded by Anti-Israel and Anti-American Activist Resulted In Lower Test Scores ‘Unexpectedly’
“Gross has also called for police to be defunded and abolished, condemned capitalism, said the government should ‘free them all’ from prisons and accused the former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang of supporting genocide.”

CUNY anti-racism conference promoted panel titled ‘Globalize the Intifada!’
One now-deleted panel at an upcoming City University of New York anti-racism conference was titled ‘Globalize the Intifada!’

New Jersey Bill Would Allow Teachers to Give Obscene Material to Minors
Republicans nationwide have been fighting hard to protect the innocence and lives of children from the dangerous groomers who seek to sexualize them. It’s no small victory when Republicans successfully restrict schools or public libraries from making pornographic materials available to kids.

Kari Lake’s leaked recording is causing trust issues in the Arizona GOP
When Kari Lake speaks to the Republican Party faithful, shes accustomed to cheers and adulation.

Dartmouth becomes first in Ivy League to reinstate SAT/ACT requirement, says research finds it increases diversity
Dartmouth College plans to reinstate a requirement that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores.

NY School District Sued For Allegedly Secretly Transitioning 12-Year-Old Student
School counselors don’t just give career advice anymore.

Nikki Haley: Second to “None”
Well, as you surely already know, Nikki Haley lost the Nevada Presidential Preference Primary to “None of These Candidates” last night. As it stands right now – with late mail-in ballots still to be counted – Haley lost 63-31%.

All Glory to Independent Texas, Comrade!
Former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev — remember “I vill transmit this to Vladimir”? — apparently fervently believes that the U.S. is on the brink of a second civil war, and declares, “establishing a People’s Republic of Texas is getting more and more real.”

Hur’s report: Biden ready for Memory Care
We knew that special counsel Robert Hur was never going to bring charges against President Biden for his mishandling of classified documents, but we didn’t see this coming

Transgender Daycare Worker Avoids Prison After Sexually Abusing A Baby During Diaper Change
A trans-identified male in Kentucky has reached a plea deal after being charged with sexually abusing a baby and will avoid prison so long as he meets certain conditions. Maria Childers, a former daycare worker, hired a prominent trans activist lawyer to represent him in the sickening case.

Teacher Critical of ‘Woke Kindergarten’ Training Gets Suspended
Glassbrook Elementary is located in Hayward, California which is south of Oakland on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. The school has just under 500 students and lately it has been struggling with falling test scores. But that didn’t stop the school from signing a $250,000, three-year contract with a company called “Woke Kindergarden” which, as the name suggests, provides training to teachers (but not to students in this case) on how to fight white supremacy.

Bud Light Becoming Popular With MAGA All of a Sudden?
Yesterday I wrote about Bud Light’s umpteenth attempt to refurbish its reputation, and I casually noted that Donald Trump–seemingly out of the blue–endorsed the idea of ending the Bud Light boycott and getting back to the important business of drinking piss water.

The Bird That Took a Human Mate
The early 2000s were an excellent time for romance. J. Lo married Marc Anthony. Vanessa Carlton vowed to walk a thousand miles for love. Ryan Gosling kissed Rachel McAdams in the pouring rain. And in Front Royal, Virginia, Chris Crowe flapped his arms to woo Walnut, a five-foot-tall white-naped crane.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Citizen Trump, political chalking, and rough business.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

China’s Stock Market Has Fallen and It Can’t Get Up
China’s troubled property market continues to get a lot of the headlines but China’s stock market is also in terrible shape right now. The total losses since 2021 are roughly $7 trillion dollars.

 

International

 

Meet Me in the Eternal City
The international airport serving the capital of Montenegro has only two arrival gates, and last spring they were busier than usual. I was there for the same reason many others were: The tiny Balkan state had become the unlikely center of a mostly American social and political movement.

Turns Out Mexico’s President Might Well Be Cartel-Corrupted
On the menu today: Get ready to start your week with some major dot-connecting, as a new report contends that the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been cozy with the notorious Sinaloa Cartel for a long time, while the record of the cartel’s extensive and lucrative ties to China — in production of fentanyl and methamphetamine — is growing clearer and clearer. There’s a lot of money to be made from ruining Americans’ lives — and the trail of drug-trafficking profits leads back to one particularly infamous city. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign team wants to put the president on TikTok.

Ecuadorian politician executed in broad daylight as narco war rages out of control
Police said two male suspects approached the councilwoman on a motorcycle and shot her in the head before fleeing as Ecuador is ravaged by extreme gang violence.

 

Opinion

 

A Hawkish Bill Meets a Dovish GOP
Republican opposition to the Senate border deal is bad politics and bad policy.

There’s No Defending Woodrow Wilson
David Frum’s effort to defend our worst two-term president says more about Frum than about Wilson.

The Self-Defeating Republican Party
On the menu today: The Democrats wake up every morning wanting to beat the Republicans, but they’ll never be as good at beating the Republicans as the Republicans are at beating themselves.

Trump Gets Bought Out of the Culture Wars
Like a bolt from the blue, Donald Trump signaled his intention to negotiate a cease-fire between conservative culture warriors and Bud Light on Tuesday night.

Section 3 Disqualification and the Cases of John Floyd and Emerson Etheridge
The Supreme Court hears arguments Thursday to decide whether to disqualify Donald Trump from being president again. The theory pursued by the Colorado Supreme Court is that Trump “engaged in insurrection” within the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The core problem with this theory — even aside from questions of whether and how courts can adjudicate such issues — is that Trump did not engage in the January 6 riot at the Capitol, whether or not that qualifies as an insurrection.

Men Are Not Angels. Crime Must Be Deterred under Threat of Real Consequences
Bear with me — I’m about to say something particularly controversial: Crime is . . . bad.

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