News of the Week for March 3^rd, 2024

• Election 2024
• Abortion
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

Election 2024

 

Trump’s Appellate Prospects after Ruinous Civil Fraud Judgment
I have a column up on the homepage about the financial peril that Donald Trump faces as a result of the mind-blowing $355 million judgment rendered against him last week in New York State’s civil fraud case against him. I was traveling for the last week, and a big question people had even before the elected progressive Democratic judge, Arthur Engoron, issued his ruling is whether the former president stood a good chance of getting the case reversed on appeal — assuming he does appeal, which he has vowed to do (a costly proposition, as my column details).

One third of South Carolina Republicans would spurn Trump if he were convicted-exit poll
Some 32% of voters in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary contest think Donald Trump would not be fit for the presidency if he were convicted of a crime, according to the preliminary results of an exit poll conducted on Saturday by Edison Research.

Trump makes series of worrying blunders at weekend rally
Donald Trump made a series of blunders at a rally in Michigan over the weekend, as questions continue to swirl about his mental capacity.

Trump’s ‘Dominance’ of the GOP Primary Is an Illusion
Are the media guilty of judging Joe Biden more harshly than Donald Trump when it comes to things like verbal gaffes and a general lack of popularity? That’s the narrative I keep seeing from liberals and Democrats on social media. As Paul Glastris, editor in chief of Washington Monthly, complained recently: “If Trump wins [South Carolina] by 70 percent, [the] media will say ‘crushing victory.’ If Biden wins [Michigan] by 80 percent, it’ll be ‘catastrophic underperformance.'”

California Republicans Will Make Another Attempt to Recall Gov. Newsom
“Gavin Newsom has abandoned the state to advance his presidential ambitions, leaving behind a $73 billion budget deficit and a public safety, immigration and education crisis.”

Judge rules Donald Trump should be removed from Illinois primary ballot as Supreme Court faces urgent deadline
Donald Trump has been swamped with several legal battles

Mitch McConnell Announces He Will Step Down as Senate Republican Leader in November
Mitch McConnell announced on Wednesday that he will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November, ending his tenure as the longest-serving Senate leader in history.

Missouri GOP moves to toss ‘honorary’ member of Ku Klux Klan from governor’s race
The candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan III, said a picture of him apparently giving a Nazi salute was from “a religious Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony,” not a cross burning.

The RNC Shouldn’t Pay Trump’s Legal Costs
When the Republican National Committee meets Friday, March 8, in Houston, the headline order of business will be selecting a new chairperson to replace Ronna McDaniel. But a more contentious fight looms: a resolution proposed by Mississippi committee member Henry Barbour that would prevent the party from paying Donald Trump’s legal bills. McDaniel had paid some of Trump’s bills before he announced his candidacy in 2022 but said that she would not do so while he was a primary candidate — so the question is an open one as the party tries to dig out of a huge financial hole in advance of a general election.

Halo music composer Marty O’Donnell is running for Congress in Nevada
O’Donnell lives in Lone Mountain, a neighborhood in Las Vegas, and he will run against incumbent Democrat Susie Lee in November in Nevada’s third congressional district, assuming O’Donnell prevails in the Republican primary in June. O’Donnell has to officially file to run in March.

Nikki Haley Wins Washington, D.C., GOP Primary
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley won the District of Columbia’s GOP primary on Sunday, in her first victory over Donald Trump in the 2024 cycle.

The Trump Cash Crunch
Former president Donald Trump has asked a federal judge to accept a bond that would secure less than a third of the $83.3 million that a Manhattan jury found that he should pay journalist E. Jean Carroll.

Supreme Court rules states can’t remove Trump from presidential election ballot
The Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a Colorado court ruling that barred Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot.

Supreme Court Unanimously Overturns Colorado Ruling Throwing Trump Off Ballot
The Supreme Court of the United States issued a much-anticipated opinion Monday morning, unanimously rejecting a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that disqualified former President Donald Trump from the ballot.

Bragg Gears Up for Imminent Trial: Trump CFO Pleading Guilty to Perjury
As we related last month, Manhattan’s Democratic district attorney Alvin Bragg’s strategy, as he gears up for his hush-money prosecution of Donald Trump, is to make an impression on potential witnesses who might be favorably disposed toward the former president, or at least reluctant to provide damaging testimony against him.

FAU poll shows 1 in 7 Republicans don’t plan to vote for Trump in November
Polling released on the eve of voting in 15 states with Super Tuesday primaries shows former President Donald Trump remains the overwhelming choice of likely Republican primary voters as he continues cruising toward his party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

Sinema Is Out
Kyrsten Sinema announced today that she will not seek reelection to her Arizona Senate seat

Nikki Haley suspends her campaign and leaves Donald Trump as the last major Republican candidate
Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday after being soundly defeated across the country on Super Tuesday, leaving Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination.

‘Team Trump Ought To Be Concerned’: Karl Rove Cautions Former President Following Super Tuesday Victories
Fox News contributor Karl Rove warned former President Donald Trump’s campaign that it “ought to be concerned about unifying the Republican Party” on Tuesday after Trump defeated Nikki Haley in a dozen primaries across the country.

California Democrats: Who Do They Hate Women and Black People So Much?
Perhaps readers will recall the identity-politics argument Democrats offered during the Obama era: “Vote for us, or you’re racist!” Then in 2016, with Hillary Clinton as their candidate, the Democrats’ argument became, “Vote for us or you’re sexist!” But now we look at the California Senate primary, where both progressive “rising star” Katie Porter and long-term congresswoman Barbara Lee were on the ballot, and instead, California Democrats chose white male Adam Schiff.

This Fall, Will the Remaining Undecided Voters Dislike Biden or Trump More?

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Where the Anti-Biden Protest Vote Looks like Obama’s, and Where It Doesn’t

Steve Garvey Beats Katie Porter to the November Ballot
Most of tonight’s elections did not have a lot of drama. One of the biggest question marks was the California Senate race. California uses a jungle primary, in which only the top two finishers (regardless of party) advance to November. In a Democrat-dominated state, that has frequently resulted in two-Democrat races. 2022 was the first time in a decade that Republicans even had a Senate candidate on the November ballot, and that probably helped turnout in key House districts crucial to the current House Republican majority.

Wanted: A Few Good RINOs
Audrey Fahlberg’s interview of the Kari Lake is excellent. Lake is the Trump Party’s Arizona Senate candidate — i.e., MAGA’s most determined effort yet to surrender Barry Goldwater’s state to the radical Left. Audrey moves Lake through a number of topics, one relevant to the next, so that as Lake dilates, her incoherence is increasingly obvious.

Don’t Dismiss the Republican Anti-Trump Vote
The primary’s over, and Trump’s got most GOP voters in his corner — but the party ignores signs of lingering dissatisfaction among certain groups at its peril.

‘Speedy’ Implementation of New Top-Down Election System In Nevada Threatens Election Integrity
Multiple sources fear ‘The (VREMS) system is not going to work’

Expelled Former Rep. George Santos Announces Another Run for the House
He attended the State of the Union.

RNC Gives Up on Everyone but Trump Donors
As I noted last week, the Republican National Committee would be foolish to pay Donald Trump’s legal bills out of general party fundraising, not just because there are other campaigns and party business that need the money, but because not every prospective RNC donor wants to have money taken out of party coffers and given to Trump’s personal use. The people who do want to support Trump’s personal criminal and civil defense and even help pay off verdicts against him can donate to a more targeted defense fund without getting the RNC involved and, for that matter, without having to comply with campaign finance law restrictions.

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

The Alabama IVF Decision and Dobbs
An immense amount of the coverage of the controversy suggests or explicitly says that the Supreme Court, by reversing Roe v. Wade, paved the way for the Alabama decision. The Biden campaign has said this by way of holding Donald Trump responsible for the Alabama decision: His appointees to the Supreme Court were instrumental to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe, and Dobbs created the opening for the Alabama court.

Gun Rights

 

Wayne LaPierre, NRA Found Liable in Civil Corruption Trial
A jury found Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association liable in a New York state civil corruption trial Friday, ruling that LaPierre misappropriated millions of dollars when he was NRA chief executive officer to finance a lavish lifestyle while the gun-rights organization neglected proper financial management.

The Bump-Stock Case Isn’t about Bump Stocks, It’s about the Law
Forgive me for being a broken record on this topic, but this framing drives me as crazy in this instance as it does everywhere else. The question in this case is statutory. That “the justices returned to” that question repeatedly is not some curious foible of this particular “conservative” majority, but the inevitable reflection of the task that the justices have been asked to perform. What we have here is a dispute between a federal agency (the ATF), which says it is legally permitted to ban bump stocks, and a plaintiff (a Texas gun-shop owner), who insists that the ATF is wrong. The role of the Supreme Court is not to decide, in some abstract sense, whether the federal bureaucracy is too big or too small — or, as CNN implies, “to limit the power of federal agencies” per se — but to adjudicate whether, in this particular area, the federal government has been granted the power it claims.

Louisiana Passes Permitless Gun Carry
The Pelican State will soon become the 28th to allow legal gun owners to carry concealed without a permit.

Second Circuit’s Partial Upholding of New York’s Gun Carry Law Appealed to SCOTUS
“New York’s ‘good moral character’ standard is…a prohibited ‘suitability’ determination and, as the district court noted, is merely a surrogate for the ‘proper cause’ standard that was struck down in Bruen”

South Carolina to Become 29th Constitutional Carry State
28 other states have this system, and there is no evidence it has done anything bad at all. As a matter of fact, not one of the states that has adopted constitutional carry has repealed it — or even held a hearing to that effect. The evidence clearly shows that there is nothing “reckless” about refusing to mandate that the people who are not the problem obtain permits before they exercise their rights. This being so, one wonders why any state would continue to do so.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

Planning for Climate Blackouts
We are awash in urgent warnings that the electric power grid is increasingly prone to failure.

When (And Why) Heat Pumps Suck
When you need heat pumps the most, they pump heat the least. This is according to an unbreakable law of physics that applies to the entire universe without exception, even black holes, and especially to heat pumps.

Granting ‘Rights’ to ‘Nature’ Being Negotiated in the U.N.
People who would oppose granting “rights” to “nature” still don’t take the threat seriously. But the movement is making real headway. Little noticed in the media, granting rights to nature is now actively being negotiated at the United Nations.

University of Florida student senate approves Green New Deal measures
On Feb. 20, the University of Florida student senate voted in favor of a package to combat climate change – the ‘defining challenge of the twenty-first century.’

NY AG Letitia James Sues World’s Largest Meatpacker For Supposedly Overstating Commitment to Climate “Net Zero”
The proof? James doesn’t believe JBS can stick to its promise of net zero emissions by 2040. Maybe, just maybe, you don’t cave to the climate change loudmouths.

Climate Change Protesters Who Threw Red Powder on U.S. Constitution Display in the National Archives Rotunda Charged With a Felony
“We take such vandalism very seriously and we will insist that the perpetrators be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

San Diego Man First Ever Person Charged With Smuggling Greenhouse Gases Into America
Michael Hart of San Diego smuggled hydrofluorocarbons from Mexico to America.

Oil Companies Ask SCOTUS to Review Hawaii Supreme Court Decision Allowing Climate Change Suits to Proceed
Supreme Court asked to review case with the goal of applying federal, not state, law to climate change lawsuits

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Male Fetish Encroaches on NHS Breastfeeding Guidance
A National Health Service trust in England has said that milk produced by “trans women” — i.e., men taking drugs to induce lactation — is “comparable to [breast milk] produced following the birth of a baby.”

New York State About to Eliminate Parental Consent for Medical Decisions
Do you think parents should have a say in the medical procedures performed on their children?

HealthCare-dot-gov enrollees will also receive voter registration emails, vice president says
The communications are part of a Biden administration effort to improve voting rights and access.

Hospital chopped off six people’s limbs by mistake
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed six patients had limbs amputated due to medical mistakes over a three year period. This is the highest number of any NHS trust across the UK. Four amputations were performed in 2020 and another two were carried out in 2021 at the Yorkshire hospital. All were results of medical negligence.

War & Terror

 

Nuclear War?
I believe this article in the Kyiv Independent is the source for stories, some of them rather alarmist, about comments made by Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev

Vance and Zelensky
Last Saturday, a group of U.S. senators sat down with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in Munich. They were all attending the security conference there. Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio) was in attendance too. But he declined to meet with Zelensky.

Russia Is Testing the Baltic Waters (Again)
A month or so after the Russians occupied Crimea in 2014 and started their war in Ukraine’s east, I was in Riga, the Latvian capital. Naturally enough, people were alarmed by signs that Russia was again on the march, although reassured by the protection offered by Latvia’s NATO membership. I asked one Latvian official (an ethnic Russian, as it happens) what it was like to have Russia next door. He replied that the key to understanding Putin was to think of him as a petulant and badly behaved teenager who likes to provoke, prod, and see what he can get away with.

Heavily armed ‘optionally crewed’ ships to enter service under massive reshaping of Australia’s naval fleet
Six large and “optionally crewed” naval vessels heavily armed with missiles will be added to Australia’s surface fleet under a dramatic $11 billion reshaping of the navy that will also see the acquisition of 11 new general-purpose frigates to be partly built overseas.

High-Altitude Balloon of Unknown Origin Sweeps Across Western US
The US military is assuring everyone the balloon poses no threat.

Seeing Ukraine, and Russia, Straight
Jeane Kirkpatrick spoke of left-wing Democrats guilty of “blaming America first” — blaming the United States, not its enemies, for conflicts in the world. Today, this seems more a specialty of right-wing Republicans — as exemplified by Senator Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama.

JD Vance’s Take on Ukraine vs Taiwan (Does the America First Crowd See a Difference?)
Last weekend Sen. J.D. Vance gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he made the case for negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. But his argument went beyond that. In fact, the main point he was trying to make was that America needed to pivot from a focus on Europe to a focus on East Asia.

Drunk Russian soldiers storm Crimean cafe and go on shooting rampage in sickening footage
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Russian mercenary troops stormed a cafe in Crimea, beating up locals and causing carnage

Moldova and Transnistria: Opening a New Front?
With the exception, perhaps, of its unexpected appearance as the Kingdom of “Moldavia” in Dynasty, it’s fair to say that Americans do not think much about Moldova. That may change.

Hungary approves Sweden joining Nato after months of delays
Yes vote comes nearly two years after historically neutral country applied to join military alliance

Houthis knock out underwater cables linking Europe to Asia – report
The successful targeting of the four cables, which are believed to belong to the AAE-1, Seacom, EIG, and TGN systems, marks a serious disruption of communications between Europe and Asia.

The ‘Trans’ Debate That Has Global Implications
On the menu today: Yes, Donald Trump won Nikki Haley’s home state in a primary that turned out to be boring. It was a demonstration that Haley is running a protest campaign, whether she and her team want to admit it or not. So instead, we’ll start Monday morning by focusing our attention on trans issues . . . as in Transnistrian issues, not transgender issues. We’ll look at the Cold War in that corner of Moldova, and the odds of Russia and Ukraine negotiating an end to the hot war next door.

US cautions after Hawaii neighbor Kiribati gets Chinese police
The United States on Monday cautioned Pacific Islands nations against assistance from Chinese security forces after Reuters reported that Chinese police are working in the remote atoll nation of Kiribati, a neighbor of Hawaii.

Budget Request Shows Chinese Incursions Straining Taiwan’s Military Fuel Funds
Recently, it was revealed that Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense submitted a letter to the Legislative Yuan to approve more funds to pay for additional fuel in 2023. The ministry submitted the request to the Legislative Yuan’s General Accounting Office to approve $15.3 million USD ($485 million NTD) from its first reserve. The reason why the ministry submitted the request to the Yuan before spending is to comply with the island’s Budget Act.

Is There Any Rotten Regime That the Hungarians Won’t Cuddle?
I don’t have any particularly warm and fuzzy feelings towards the Hungarian government, and I think the skeptics and critics of the regime, like our Jack Butler, Jimmy Quinn, Luther Ray Abel, Dan McLaughlin, and Jay Nordlinger have a stronger argument than the Viktor Orbán cheerleaders.

The Army Announces New Counter-Drone Troops, but Counter-Drone Technology Is Still MIA
The ironclad warship, the machine gun, aircraft and aircraft carriers, radars, and nuclear weapons all forced military leaders to adapt or face painful losses on the battlefield. The latest evolution of this old tale is the explosion of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) onto the 21st century battlefield. Drones are a permanent feature of war, and the U.S. Army has taken note.

‘Lebanon will be next’: Iran greenlights Hezbollah attack on Israel – report
As per the report, Tehran gave the go-ahead amid fears that, after the IDF completes an invasion of Rafah, southern Lebanon “will be next.”

Trump’s Big Money Problems
Happy Leap Day. You would think we would have more traditions associated with this day, but apparently that only happens on the old sitcom 30 Rock. On the menu today: a look at Donald Trump’s Denali-like mountain of legal bills and fines, the likely incoming RNC co-chair’s eagerness to cover some of those costs, and whether a presidential campaign that spends more is more likely to win the election.

US Sees China’s Space Threat Growing at ‘Breathtaking Pace’
China is growing its military capabilities in space at a “breathtaking pace” to counter the American satellites in orbit and improve its ability to monitor and target forces on Earth, according to the head of the US Space Command.

Yemen’s Houthis say they will continue sinking British ships
Yemen’s Houthis vowed on Sunday to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar.

FBI hunts for suspected Iranian assassin targeting Trump-era officials
The U.S. government is intensifying a manhunt for an Iranian intelligence operative who the Federal Bureau of Investigation believes has been plotting to assassinate current and former American officials, including one-time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Haiti violence sees police ‘attacked with machetes’ as gangs wreak havoc in Port-au-Prince
A journalist in Haiti’s capital tells Daily Express US that gangs have been seen cutting police officers with machetes as they ‘cry for help.’

Haiti gang boss tells absent prime minister to quit or face civil war
Silence from Ariel Henry, who remains abroad, as Jimmy Chérizier, AKA ‘Barbecue’, warns country will ‘become a paradise or a hell’

US fast-tracks new fighter drones to outsmart China and Russia
Intensive use of drones in the war in Ukraine, in addition to the huge cost of new manned fighter jets, have transformed the Pentagon’s planning

Russia keeps recruiting ‘workers’ in Cuba
Czar Vlad the Invader seems to be intensifying his colonization of Castrogonia, recruiting workers as well as mercenaries and perhaps disguising some of those mercenaries as “workers.” According to one estimate there are currently 4,000 to 5,000 Cuban migrant workers in Moscow. No statistics available on how many mercenaries might be fighting for Grand Putinia in Ukraine.

China building new generation of mobile ICBMs
Beijing’s new, hard-to-find nuclear missile revealed by Stratcom

South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions
To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border.

Male Soldiers In Spain Changing Genders To Receive Better Benefits And Higher Pay
Just when you though you’ve hit “peak transgender”, you ain’t see nothing yet…

 

National

 

Harvard professor published study finding no racial bias in police shootings, then needed police protection as ‘all hell broke loose’
A Harvard professor published a study that found no evidence of racial bias in police shootings – then “all hell broke loose,” and he needed police protection.

DHS Is Training Teachers To Develop Student ‘Disinformation’ Informers – I Know, I Took The Training
DHS Media Literacy Has Little To Do With Media or Literacy. It is a K-12 Surveillance Program With The Goal Of Training Teachers and Students to Identify and Report On Alleged “Disinformation” and Alleged “Violent Extremism”

California’s Race-Based Amber Alert System Is Crazy, and Possibly Unconstitutional
California…where we drown under atmospheric rivers of ludicrous race-based legislation.

Florida School Confirms Fifth Measles Case and 11% of the Kids are Unvaccinated
A developed country like America should never have a measles case. This is horrifying.

West Virginia advances ‘Women’s Bill of Rights,’ which would legally define ‘man’ and ‘woman’
West Virginia legislators passed a bill that would legally define each sex.

Officials Declare Emergency as Rare “Zombie Deer” Disease Spreads through U.S.
Currently, the prions creating zombie deer does not appear to effect humans. However, there are concerns the pathogen could evolve.

North Las Vegas Mayor Celebrates Black Businesses. There’s Just One (Huge) Problem.
Just in time for the final weekend of Black History Month, people are virtually up in arms as segregation comes to the city of North Las Vegas — just maybe not the people you expect.

‘Damage’ Caused by 2023 Hugo Awards Controversy
You’d think the biggest headlines surrounding an annual celebration of sci-fi and fantasy writing would be applauding the winners—but that’s not always the case with the Hugos. Its latest controversy involves works being deemed “not eligible” for consideration at the 2023 event, which was presented by Chengdu Worldcon in Chengdu, China. Now, we have a touch more clarity about what happened—and an apology from the organization as it looks to the future.

Dwarf Planets at Our Solar System’s Frozen Edge Could Be Hiding Warm Oceans
The Solar System doesn’t get much colder than the Kuiper Belt.

Lies and dirty tricks: Texas Republicans are eating their own in this year’s primaries
“Can I ask you to look into something?” Denton County Commissioner Dianne Edmondson asked The Watchdog. “I think it’s very important.”

Google’s ‘woke’ AI image fiasco follows years of revisionist history in academia
Google’s Gemini program has been criticized for generating unhistorical images of certain famous figures. The controversy comes amidst a larger push in universities to ‘decolonize’ history, among other things.

When Ronnie met Jeane
Lifelong Democrat Jeane J. Kirkpatrick came to the attention of former Democrat Ronald Reagan though her 1979 Commentary essay “Dictatorships and Double Standards.”

Ketamine: Potential As Powerful Therapy For People Suffering Effects From Loneliness, Isolation
Ketamine, long used as an anesthetic, is gaining increasing attention as a tool for managing serious mental health conditions like chronic depression. Now new research reveals yet another way this versatile compound could support mental wellness for more people. Specifically, scientists found that R-ketamine – one of two mirror versions of the drug – uniquely restores brain activity and social functioning in a mouse model of long-term isolation.

Missouri Attorney General Orders Three School Districts to Cease and Desist Discriminatory Practices
AG Bailey: “As the chief legal officer for the State of Missouri, I am prepared to exercise my office’s full authority under the law, including the Missouri Human Rights Act, to ensure no Missouri school district discriminates against its students or staff.”

‘My gender is Black’ — Texas State textbook full of leftist insanity: EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS
A Texas State University English textbook contains multiple essays addressing topics related to Critical Theory concepts, including one in which the author claims that ‘[m]y gender is Black.’

This Just In: Scientists Discover That Men’s and Women’s Brains Work Differently
Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over. Scientists at Stanford have stumbled upon an incredible discovery, answering once and for all a heretofore unanswerable question

How Poor Can Venezuela Get?
We haven’t checked in on Venezuela for a while. Formerly one of the world’s richest countries, Venezuela has become destitute since it was taken over by socialists Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. The country has gone downhill in an ever-worsening spiral of poverty and dysfunction. Things have gotten so bad that American liberals no longer hold up Venezuela as an example of “real socialism.”

Poll: Almost a Third of Americans Say the First Amendment Goes ‘Too Far’
The survey also found that two-thirds of respondents believe that America is on the “wrong track” when it comes to free speech.

Most people don’t realize how bad the situation is in medical schools, worse than in general higher ed
We’ve been sounding the alarm for several years. Ben Shapiro: “DEI Could Get You Killed In the Operating Room”

Candace Owens: Yes, the Nazis Burned Books, but They Were Bad Books
“The entire field of psychology was built by pedophiles and perverts,” Candace Owens asserted on Saturday. While she certainly had a point, the increasingly controversial conservative firebrand went even further, observing that the National Socialist (that’s what Nazi means, kids) thugs who burned books were burning books by those pedophiles and perverts. It’s not hard to see where this is going: if the National Socialists were right to burn those books, in Owens’ view, maybe they weren’t all that bad.

Barnard College students must remove door decorations – to not ‘isolate those with different views’
Sometimes messages/ornamentations can have ‘unintended’ effects

Study: Female psychopaths are surprisingly common
While the word psychopath usually conjures up images of knife-wielding attackers and masked assailants for most people, not all psychopaths are serial killers. The vast majority simply blend in with the rest of society, all the while masking their cold and calculating true nature. Now, new research set for presentation at Cambridge may just disprove yet another psychopath falsity. Most depictions and popular examples of psychopaths in the media are male, but the study argues female psychopaths are up to five times more common than currently believed.

Seventh Circuit Issues Stay, Allows Indiana Ban on Child Mutilation to Go Into Effect
The law bans child mutilation surgeries, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers from those under 18.

Revealed: how Putin plans to flood West with migrants
Russia is using private militias to control and “weaponise” immigration into Europe, The Telegraph can reveal.

Putin plans to stoke conflict in Africa with private militias, ‘weaponising’ the flow of migrants to try and influence European elections
Russia already wields influence over the main routes used by migrants

Iran Moving Drones to Sudan, Further Complicating Red Sea
Iran, in an attempt to bolster its proxies in Sudan while simultaneously positioning matériel and men around its regional and religious adversary Saudi Arabia, is sending attack drones (specifically the Mohajer-6) to the Sudanese Armed Forces, who are in a prolonged conflict with rebels operating under the name Rapid Support Forces. The Red Sea that’s already been made inhospitable via the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen could become that much more so should the Sudanese act similarly in order to secure Iran’s favor.

Schumer, N.Y. Dems, Caught On Video Waving Chinese Flag
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other New York Democrats are in hot water after being caught on video appearing to pay homage to China, which is supposed to be the United States’ most significant rival on the world stage.

Berkeley group refuses to apologize for violent protests, proclaims ‘glory’ to ‘martyrs’ and those who fight Israel ‘physically’
The University of California, Berkeley, pro-Palestine student organization is refusing to apologize for organizing a violent protest.

DEI Keeps Mutating and Spreading
DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), that destructive combination of leftist ideas, is entrenched at most American colleges and universities. As propounded by zealous administrators, the DEI ideology is deeply hostile to our foundational values.

University of Florida Eliminates DEI Office, Fires All Employees
“To comply with the Florida Board of Governor’s regulation 9.016 on prohibited expenditures, the University of Florida has closed the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, eliminated positions and administrative appointments, and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.”

Israeli physics prof escorted out by police after Las Vegas students shut down his astronomy speech
Pro-Palestine students at UNLV recently shouted down a physics professor’s talk on astronomy. One sign accused Professor Asaf Peer of supporting ‘genocide,’ in addition to claiming he obtained his Ph.D. in ‘illegally occupied’ territory.

Social Engineers Promote Polyamory
The march of progress has allowed moonbats to achieve the ethical level of feral cats. They have discovered polyamory.

U.S. Global Media Agency Investigates Claim That Official Called White People ‘Snow Roaches’
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, the executive-branch office that oversees Voice of America and other U.S.-funded outlets, is investigating allegations that a member of its executive team made several posts to his account on X referring to white people as “snow roaches.” National Review cannot independently corroborate claims about the relevant account’s ownership, but the allegations are already making the rounds on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have long been frustrated with what they view as a history of scandals at the agency.

Abigain Shrier on What Social-Emotional Learning is Doing to School Kids
Abigain Shrier’s previous book was about the sudden rise of gender dysphoria, especially among young girls. As you’ve probably heard, Shrier was made a pariah and even the American Booksellers Association had to offer an apology for sending the book to bookstores, calling its own actions a “serious, violent incident.”

Where Old Vegas is still alive today
Leave it to Las Vegas to upstage Travis and Taylor, Usher and the most-watched Super Bowl ever.

Oregon lawmakers pass bill to recriminalize drug possession
A bill recriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs was passed by the Oregon Legislature on Friday, undoing a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law as governments struggle to respond to the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history.

Blaze News’ Steve Baker released from courthouse after arrest over his Jan. 6 reporting — and notables have been reacting
Baker — who for years has been searching for the truth about Jan. 6, 2021, and believes the U.S. government has been targeting him for it — on Friday was charged with four misdemeanors related to his Jan. 6 coverage at the U.S. Capitol after turning himself in to the FBI in Dallas.

UNC-System Schools and the “R1” Wars
A forthcoming Carnegie Classifications change is proving enticing to some North Carolina universities.

‘You absolutely can’ identify as a cat: Soda-wielding Alabama student goes on insane rant about transgenderism: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
A conservative University of Alabama student was drawn into a confrontation after a pro-trans student erased her chalk sign advertising a Riley Gaines event.

The WPATH Files: Transgender Doctors KNOW Kids Don’t Understand What They Are Doing
Michael Shellenberger–one of the many independent journalists I subscribe to–has acquired a treasure trove of both video and internal messaging files from the World Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (WPATH).

SCOTUS Temporarily Blocks Texas Immigration Law
The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the new Texas immigration law. It’s the same law that the 5th Circuit of Appeals ruled on Saturday could go into effect while the legal battle continued.

California Finds a New Way to Be Soft on Crime
The Legislature creates a new ‘systemic racism’ defense that risks turning many felons free.

Scientists say they’re closer to reviving mammoths. What could go wrong?
A company aiming to bring extinct animals back from the dead said it has taken an elephant-sized step toward genetically resurrecting the woolly mammoth, a wild if contentious goal to repopulate the Arctic tundra with a missing titan.

Bill to end ‘divisive’ DEI brainwashing in state schools passes Alabama Senate
SB129 would curb DEI programs on Alabama campuses and fight back against the teaching of ‘divisive concepts’ in schools.

Cookie Monster Gets Political, and Frank Oz Is Angry About It
Frank Oz is pissed off right now, and the target is Sesame Street’s use of Cookie Monster to amplify Biden’s messaging.

A University Gets Sued over Its Unchecked DEI Programs
Faculty and administrators who play any role in a university’s DEI apparatus are often zealots who feel the need to push their divisive ideas down the throats of everyone else. They’ve completely bought into the “white privilege” lunacy and target white faculty members for “diversity training.”

Nevada regent rejects calls to resign after controversial comments about transgender women
Patrick Boylan made comments about transgender women during a public meeting trans men were ‘masquerading’ as women

Court Rules That Christian Employers Aren’t Required to Insure for Gender-Transition Procedures
The importance of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a crucial protector of the free exercise of religion continues to manifest. Most recently, a federal judge ruled that members of the Christian Employers Association do not have to obey government regulations that require that employees be covered by health insurance that pays for gender-transition procedures if doing so would “violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Arizona Cranks Up More Criminal Charges
Politico reports that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (a Democrat, of course) is accelerating an investigation that may lead to prosecutions of people close to President Trump’s 2020 campaign. Which is odd on its face, since the events that are the basis for the investigation happened more than three years ago. Why the sudden hurry?

Columbia taps pro-Hamas, ‘anarchist interdisciplinary activist-scholar’ to teach intersectional history
On Jan. 16, Columbia University’s Middle East Institute in New York City welcomed Islamic scholar Mohamed Abdou as a visiting professor for the spring 2024 term.

Public Schoolers Are Paid $1,400 a Pop to Become Social Justice Warriors
A California activist group is using taxpayer money to reward teens for learning how to fight for ‘racial justice.’

Examining the New NCCCS Funding Model
The proposed plan attempts to align student learning with workforce needs.

Candace Owens Apologizes to Muslims for Post-9/11 ‘Islamophobia’
Here is what you have been waiting for: the latest installment in the Candace Owens Wins New Respect From the Left drama that has been unfolding since Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, and Owens quickly decided that it was all Israel’s fault. Now Owens has decided, in tandem with legions of leftists before her, that the true victims of the 9/11 jihad attacks were Muslims. This new stance is certain to win her hordes of new fans who will vote for Old Joe Biden in November, but that doesn’t move it any closer to being true.

WCSD Sued by Teacher Suspended for Questioning Gender Curriculum
The plaintiff contends AR 5161 violates his religious beliefs

Federal Court: Biden Must Spend Border Wall Construction Funds On Border Wall Construction
“President Biden, via proclamation, paused obligation of these funds the day he was inaugurated….” Court rules this was illegal, but I think Biden will find a way not to actually build the wall.

Dynasty: Lara Trump, New Co-Chair of the RNC, Declares That Anyone Who Doesn’t Support Trump “Is Welcome To Leave”
“Lara Trump warned, ‘Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave’.”

 

Economy & Taxes

 

The Great Compression
Robert Lanter lives in a 600-square-foot house that can be traversed in five seconds and vacuumed from a single outlet. He doesn’t have a coffee table in the living room because it would obstruct the front door. When relatives come to visit, Mr. Lanter says jokingly, but only partly, they have to tour one at time.

Gen Z are treating employers like bad dates: 93% ghost interviews and 87% have not even shown up for their first day of work
Ghosting isn’t just for dating anymore. Now Gen Z are treating their would-be employers like bad dates and not showing up for job interviews or their first day on the job without as much as a phone call.

U.S. Cattle Inventory to Lowest Levels Recorded in 73 years
A contributing factor to the low beef supply is Bidenomics.

California’s Budget Deficit Is Even Worse Than Originally Projected
The shortfall is $73 billion, and Bidenomics appears to be a contributing factor to the deficit expansion.

San Francisco Hardware Store Requires Customers Shop With Escort to Curb Shoplifting
“We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves so they go somewhere else.”

Biden and Student Loans — One Dirty Trick After Another
Have we ever had a president with so little regard for the limits the Constitution places on his office?

Pay a Higher Minimum Wage, Unless You’re Friends with Governor Newsom
California’s minimum wage for fast-food restaurants is about to go to $20 per hour — except for “chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item.”

China’s Fake Economic Growth
“How does China grow 5% despite so many headwinds, from collapsing property investment to declining population?” Greg Ip asks in the Wall Street Journal. “Very likely, it doesn’t. Actual growth is probably slower, perhaps a lot slower.”

How China strangled its golden goose – and paid a terrible price
Under Xi’s tightening grip, Hong Kong’s days as a global deal-making hub are numbered

 

International

 

Boris Johnson’s comeback boosted as he tops poll of Tories to take on Keir Starmer
The former prime minister has been handed a fresh boost amid speculation of a dramatic return to frontline politics.

Megaprojects in the Desert Sap Saudi Arabia’s Cash
To fill gaps, the kingdom has turned to borrowing, and it plans another sale of stock in Saudi Aramco

J. K. Rowling’s No-Nonsense Approach to Trans
After Sky News reported, “A woman who filmed herself killing a cat before putting the animal in a blender has been jailed for life for murdering a man four months later,” J. K. Rowling reposted the story on X, writing: “I’m so sick of this s***. This is not a woman. These are #NotOurCrimes.”

Mexico’s Leader Looms Large in America’s Presidential Election
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stepped up enforcement to prevent migrant surges along the U.S. border, helping Biden. Can he sustain it?

Jerusalem welcomes opening of world’s first Indigenous Embassy
The Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem does not represent a specific state or country. Rather, it embodies the voices of indigenous leaders and their people from across the world.

Secret American Marriage Could Blow Up Thai Royal Succession
The Thai royal family could be thrown into a succession crisis because the hot favorite to become the next king married an American woman, according to records reviewed by The Daily Beast. Marriage to a foreign citizen is a bar to taking the throne under Thai law.

Thousands Turn Out for Navalny’s Funeral
Prying Russia from the grip of Putin was Alexei Navalny’s reason for living and ultimately the reason he died. So it’s no surprise that his funeral, which was held today in Moscow, turned into a kind of anti-Putin rally with numerous chants that, on a normal day, would lead to arrests and prison.

Sex is binary, say majority of scientists polled’
Less than a third (29 per cent) agreed with the statement “sex is not binary”, while one in eight people (13 per cent) had no views or preferred not to answer.

Hong Kong is seeing growing internet censorship, and some American companies are using burner phones when visiting, says a top US diplomat
The top US diplomat in Hong Kong sounded the alarm over growing internet censorship in the city, underscoring fears China’s crackdown on freedoms is diminishing the hub’s appeal as a global finance hub.

Pro-Palestinian protests ‘making London no-go zone for Jews’
Pro-Palestinian protests are turning London into “a no-go zone for Jews”, the counter-extremism tsar said as he warned that extremist groups have “gone unchallenged for too long”.

‘Haiti will go hungry soon’ as looting sparks food shortage crisis and society ‘plunges into chaos’ – with experts warning ‘the country is falling apart’ as ‘Barbecue’ gang leader’s thugs take control
Violence erupted in Haiti last week as PM Ariel Henry travelled to Kenya. Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier – an influential gang leader in Haiti – has warned of civil war and ‘genocide’ if Henry refuses to resign

Ireland rejects controversial constitutional amendments changing language on family, women
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has conceded defeat in the vote over two constitutional amendments that would have broadened the definition of family and removed language about a woman’s role at home. Vote tallies Saturday showed both referendums failing in a blow to his government.

 

Opinion

 

No, America Is Not ‘Ugly and Decayed’
On the menu today: A stray question on America’s alleged decline into decay spurs a useful examination of why U.S. infrastructure projects are slow, expensive, and often delayed; what America is building, what we’re innovating, what we’re doing faster than anyone else on Earth, and why our cultural, political, and social-media environment so often wants us to believe the worst about each other; and today is the day to pay tribute to America’s less-remembered presidents.

Coulter’s Law
“The longer it takes for the media to identify a perpetrator(s) of an outrageous crime, the less likely the perpetrator(s) is/are to be straight white and male.”

The War on Things That Work
Like your stove, your dishwasher, your lawn mower? Too bad

Talking Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of American Conservatism
I had the pleasure of a conversation last Friday at the Texas Public Policy Foundation with its vice president of research, Derek Cohen, on virtue and liberty — and their future prospects in America

Revealed Preferences or Policy Mistakes, It Doesn’t Matter
In the column today, I wrote about why younger people may not be shifting right as they age, the way their Gen X, Boomer, and Silent Generation elders did. I posited that it may have something to do with the fact that they are not living the way their elders did. Their marriage rates, household ownership rates, and rate of reproducing are all much lower than those of the generations before them at the same time.

Democrats May Refuse to Certify a Trump Election If He Wins. The Supreme Court Could Prevent That
If Donald Trump wins the election, Democrats in Congress won’t commit to certifying the election. That’s not just speculation from conservatives eyeing the extremely long track record of leading Democrats rejecting the legitimacy of Republican victories. It’s the theme of Russell Berman in the Atlantic, and he’s talked to enough House Democrats to paint a truly alarming picture of what might happen to prevent the winner of the 2024 presidential election from becoming president. That’s never happened in all of our history.

Haley’s Continued Candidacy Exposes Trump’s Weakness
Despite going winless in every primary held so far, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she intends to stay in the GOP presidential race, at least through Super Tuesday on March 5.

Mitch McConnell Has Earned the Right to Go out on His Own Terms
Mitch McConnell will step down as Senate leader in November but intends to remain in the Senate through the end of his current term, which runs through 2026. It’s time. McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in the history of the Senate. He just turned 82 earlier this month, and a series of health incidents in the past year led National Review to editorialize last summer that he should commence planning his exit. Looking over the landscape of our gerontocracy, with presidential contenders who will be 78 and 82 in November, I went further and argued that it’s time to start introducing maximum-age limits on our leaders. But in endorsing McConnell’s decision to go, we can also appreciate the great scale of what he has accomplished.

Rediscovering the Meaning of Diversity: Lessons from Generation X
Gen X is young enough to take civil rights and integration for granted—but old enough to appreciate how much progress America has made

Mitch McConnell Doesn’t Care
Unlike a lot of conservatives gleefully cheering on Mitch McConnell’s announcement that he will step down as Senate Republican Leader in November, after the election, I actually paid a price for vocally opposing McConnell. In 2014, I used my platform at RedState to back Matt Bevin’s race against McConnell. I was one year into my contract at Fox News. Roger Ailes told me to stop bashing McConnell or stop going on Fox. I was sidelined at Fox for the next two years. And McConnell beat Bevin.

What Name Should We Use for the Worldview of People like Ibram X. Kendi?
America has been gripped by a lunatic set of beliefs revolving around racial disparities. The best-known proponents, people like Ibram X. Kendi, demand a racial transformation of the country to end all vestiges of racism. We must become “anti-racist.” Anyone who dissents must be a racist.

The Supreme Court’s Unanimous 5–4 Decision
It was important for the Supreme Court to speak with one voice in batting down the theory that states are empowered by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to remove alleged insurrectionists from the ballot by their own ad hoc procedures. The justices have done that. But don’t be fooled by the kumbaya coverage. Trump v. Anderson is a 5–4 decision.

Right Now Could Be the Safest Time for Sonia Sotomayor to Retire
Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed and sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice in August 2009. That means this August will be her 15th year on the court. But there’s another landmark coming up before that, one that Josh Barro says ought to make Sotomayor and Democrats think carefully about retirement. In June Sotomayor will turn 70.

Haste and Acrimony Undermine a Unanimous Supreme Court in Trump-Eligibility Case
The Court should have had the courage to say what the law is and apply its plain meaning to the facts.

Happy Death Day, You Miserable Son of a Bitch
Josef Stalin died on this day in 1953. In his sleep; so, like Lenin, Mao and Castro, and unlike Hitler, Mussolini and Ceausescu, he never paid a price for his crimes.

The Party of Trump
Speaking to a crowd the other day, Donald Trump said that MAGA was “96 percent and maybe 100 percent” of the Republican Party. I imagine that’s not far off. He further said, “We’re getting rid of the Romneys of the world.” That is for sure. “We want to get Romneys and those out.”

It Never Stopped Being Donald Trump’s Party
Nikki Haley dominated Donald Trump on Super Tuesday among voters who believe the economy is doing well and those who approve of the job President Biden is doing. Unfortunately for Haley, she is seeking the Republican nomination. And among the groups that mattered on that front, she got trounced — and her exit from the race is likely imminent.

Ronna McDaniel Shows Why Nearly Every Alliance With Trump Eventually Frays
Republican National Committee chairwoman to step down after strained ties with former president’s campaign

The Evils of Two Lessers
The Democrats and Republicans have, together, decided to subject the American public to a re-run of the 2020 presidential election. This may be an exceedingly low turnout election as most Americans, outside the bases of the two parties, have no desire to vote for either Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Some Americans, when forced to choose between the two, will just stay home.

Putting Gender Ideologues in the Hot Seat
While we wish it weren’t true, gender ideology has permeated nearly every cultural nook and cranny and gained a foothold in nearly every reputable mainstream institution. A few examples include the U.S. Naval Academy, the American Library Association, and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

Trump, Orbán, and Us
Other than Donald Trump himself, Viktor Orbán is probably the favorite leader of the American Right: an idol of CPAC, the Heritage Foundation, etc. Many have made political pilgrimages to Budapest, and Orbán has basked in applause on our shores.

On “Cultural Taxation”
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arsenal has a new weapon.

Donald Trump Attempts to Sabotage His National Security Legacy Because He’s Mad
It is a remarkable turn of events for Donald Trump. The former President led the nation and much of the Western World to realize that the Chinese spy app TikTok threatens national security. During his tenure in office, Trump tried to bar TikTok’s operations in the United States because the company is, ultimately, owned by the Chinese Communist Party. There is copious evidence China uses the app to spy.