News of the Week for June 30th, 2024
- Election 2024
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Election 2024
Trump’s weird words: What’s behind his rally rants
In Donald Trump’s rally-speak — the far-fetched stories he uses to entertain his loyalists — President Biden will be “jacked up” with drugs on debate night, fictional killer Hannibal Lecter is “a wonderful man,” and sharks are bad.
Stocks are having their best election year since 1976. What the rally needs to continue.
‘Bad news is good news — as long as it’s not too bad news,’ one analyst notes
Bob Good to Challenge Virginia Primary Count in Court
Representative Bob Good (R., Va.) announced Monday that he will challenge the votes from his district’s biggest city in court as the GOP primary in the fifth congressional district looks headed for a recount.
Trump-Backed Candidates Faceplant in Several Republican Primaries
Three Republican candidates backed by former President Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday in a blow to the 45th president.
The Fall of Jamaal
Jamaal Bowman has been on tilt for years, a Humpty Dumpty drunkenly and deliriously rocking back and forth atop a much higher and narrower precipice than he realized; now the winds have caught him unawares, and he has finally come tumbling down. Few political falls in recent memory have been more well-earned.
As a Loser, Jamaal Bowman Is Only Going to Get Crazier
Last week I wondered whether Representative Jamaal Bowman was amping up the antisemitism in the closing weeks of his campaign because he felt confident, or because he knew he was going to lose and decided to tee up his next career.
Is the Election Even Happening?
A dear friend of mine asked me the other day, “Wait, are we voting for president this year?” Then she corrected herself. “Of course. It just feels like more should be happening.”
Trump May Have Done Too Much Winning Tonight
As one of many people who thought that Joe Biden’s physical and mental acuity had long since slipped below the bar of “fitness for office,” I think the Republican Party may regret their good night in the debate.
Behold, If You Dare, the Mind of the Undecided Voter
Earlier this month, NPR published the transcript of a focus group consisting of registered voters who disapprove of both parties’ presumptive nominees — the so-called “double haters,” who made up a significant 14 percent of respondents to the latest NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll. This is a demographic with which I identify and, therefore, have some sympathy. But after reading the minutes from this conversation, I came away grateful to NPR for curing me of my unwarranted commiseration with the “double disapprovers.”
‘We Are Confusing Conservatism With Anger and Hate
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox doesn’t want political opponents to hate each other.
Roll Back of Prop 47 Will Be On the Ballot (But Are Democrats Done Trying to Sabotage It Yet?)
Proposition 47 is the California initiative passed by the voters in 2014 which raised the bar for property crimes making most retail thefts into misdemeanors. Over the last year, Democrats have been under pressure to do something about Prop. 47 as concern about shoplifting and public drug use has gone up.
French voters propel far-right National Rally to strong lead in first-round legislative elections
France’s high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies’ projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron after his risky decision to call voters back to the polls for the second time in three weeks.
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Abortion Will Be On The Ballot in Nevada This November
A ballot question to enshrine Nevada’s abortion rights in the state constitution has met all of the requirements to appear in front of voters in November, the Nevada Secretary of State’s office announced Friday, and Democrats across the nation hope similar measures mobilize supporters on Election Day.
Gun Rights
Surgeon general steps into political fray with gun violence ‘crisis’ designation
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has placed himself at the center of the fiercely partisan debate over gun control with his declaration this week that firearm violence in the U.S. is a public health crisis.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Net Zero: Biting Deeper
Under its former, unlamented prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand had already taken steps to introduce a “burp tax” on livestock, but those were scrapped by the country’s new center-right government. Undaunted, Denmark, which has an important agricultural sector (it is the fifth-largest pork exporter in the world), is, pointlessly, puritanically, and self-destructively, stepping up, so to speak, to the plate.
Will Judges Ban Fossil Fuels?
Things aren’t going well at all for the global warming crusaders. Despite hundreds of billions of tax dollars spent on green energy over the past decade, the world and America used more fossil fuels than ever before in history last year.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Plans to Surrender to Assisted-Suicide Agenda
When Dame Cecily Saunders created the modern hospice movement, she adamantly rejected assisted suicide as an acceptable hospice activity. Indeed, when I interviewed Saunders for the original edition of my book Culture of Death, she stated unequivocally that assisted suicide “rejects the equal dignity of my patients.”
Disabled Canadian Euthanized Because of Poor Care/Bed Sore
A man with quadriplegia in Canada received such poor care that he developed a huge and painful bed sore. The answer: Lethal injection.
War & Terror
Who will win a post-heroic war? Neither side is prepared to fight
Neither the West not its enemies are prepared to fight. Some 30 years ago, I coined the phrase “post-heroic warfare” to acknowledge a new phenomenon: the very sharp reduction in the tolerance of war casualties. My starting point was President Clinton’s 1993 decision to abandon Somalia after 18 American soldiers were killed in a failed raid. But in truth, post-heroic attitudes had already emerged — and not just in affluent democracies. In 1989, the Soviet Union, whose generals could once lose 15,000 men before breakfast without batting an eyelid, abandoned Afghanistan after 14,453 of its soldiers were killed over almost a decade.
Top secret US undersea drone weapon dubbed the ‘Manta Ray’ spotted on GOOGLE MAPS before being scrubbed from internet
US Engineers have attempted to keep their futuristic death sub design under wraps until now
Russian Navy Wargaming Maritime Conflict on ‘NATO Lake’
Russia’s Baltic Fleet has conducted exercises in the body of water dubbed a “NATO Lake” amid heightened tensions with the alliance, which is conducting its own drills in the region.
Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Reaches Agreement With DOJ to Avoid Prison in U.S.
“The guilty plea must be approved by a judge.”
Europe planning 1,500 MILE defence line protecting Poland & Baltics from Putin’s WW3 invasion threat
Officials say 27 countries will be protected by the bloc including over 450 million people
Peace through Surrender?
Donald Trump has long promised that he would put an end to Russia’s war of conquest in Ukraine “in one day,” but he’s never been fully forthcoming about the details of his magical solution to this exceedingly complex geopolitical crisis. On Tuesday, however, Reuters published the specifics of a proposal circulating among Trump’s advisers that is designed to secure a cease-fire in Ukraine. The report lends credibility to the former president’s fantastical claim. He very well could put an end to Russia’s war in short order, but only by giving Moscow everything it wants.
National
Shigella Spreading Fast in San Jose, CA, Homeless Encampments
The highly contagious bacteria Shigella spreads fast, causing “bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach pain that can last for weeks.”
Ex-Michigan GOP chair asks Court of Appeals to overturn her ouster
Kristina Karamo is asking the state Court of Appeals to intervene and reinstall her as chairwoman of the Michigan GOP, less than a month before the Republican national convention and less than five months before the November presidential election.
SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Tennessee State Law Banning Child Sex Transitions
The Court will decide whether banning ‘medical treatments intended’ to transition a child ‘violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.’
Supreme Court allows White House to press social media companies to remove disinformation
offThe Supreme Court on Wednesday said the White House and federal agencies such as the FBI may continue to urge social media platforms to take down content the government views as misinformation, handing the Biden administration a technical if important election-year victory.
Alito rails against White House in social media case dissent
Justice Samuel Alito railed against the White House in a dissenting Supreme Court opinion Wednesday, accusing the Biden administration of leading a :campaign to coerce Facebook” when it attempted to moderate misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic on social media.
Judges Rebel Against the Supreme Court
There is a growing chorus of Supreme Court critics coming from within the judiciary. Judges on both sides of the ideological spectrum and across various levels have become increasingly willing to speak out, warning America about the future of democracy.
Trial by jury
Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion for the Court in SEC v. Jarkesy, out this morning. The Court holds: “When the SEC seeks civil penalties against a defendant for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant to a jury trial.” It’s a case that rolls back one prong of the administrative state that Professor Philip Hamburger addresses in Is Administrative Law Unlawful? Professor Hamburger responds to my request for a comment on the Court’s opinion: “This is a turning point in the fight for civil liberties against the administrative state. After decades of suppressing jury rights for the sake of administrative power, the Supreme Court has finally protected this crucial freedom.”
DEI Invades SCOTUS – ‘Pregnant People’ are in the House (via KBJ)
Using “pregnant patients” or “pregnant people” is a slap in the face to females.
Two Federal Courts Rule Against Biden’s New Student Loan Forgiveness Plan on the Same Day
Both rulings were by Democratic-appointed judges – a result that bodes ill for the plan’s future.
Supreme Court rules for Jan. 6 rioter challenging obstruction charge
The closely watched case focuses on a charge that former President Donald Trump also faces in his election interference case.
Porn star Austin Wolf arrested following FBI investigation
Justin Smith, who goes by stage name ‘Austin Wolf,’ faces child pornography charges
SCOTUS Deals Massive Blow to Administrative State, Overrules Deference Doctrine
Courts no longer owe deference to an administrative agency’s interpretation of its ambiguous statutory mandate.
SCOTUS: Anti-Camping Ordinances Applied to Homeless Are Constitutional
The Court rejected the argument that preventing homeless camping amounted to ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’
Overturning Chevron Is Functionally Bigger Than Overturning Roe
The Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned the Chevron doctrine. Functionally, this is a bigger deal than the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Inside the World of Transfem Tips
Medicalized gender transition is one thing. Getting a stranger to admire your feminine presence is quite another. Although genital mutilation is the most effective way in which boys can “present” as girls, there are many other factors that “transfems” say contribute to how well one can pass as female. Many of these factors have been compiled into lists on the internet labeled “transfem tips.”
So Now the Feds Will Monitor Research Integrity?
The Biden administration’s Scientific Integrity Task Force is rightly opposed by researchers on the ground.
Microsoft now forces automatic OneDrive backups — feature enabled during clean Windows installs, users surprised with desktop icons and files
You WILL get your files backed up and synced.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Overloaded fireworks, behavioral coaching, and makeshift pockets.
Economy & Taxes
Dollar Soars to Fresh 2024 High as Fed Diverges From Major Peers
The dollar rose to its highest level since November amid speculation that the Federal Reserve will break with other central banks by keeping interest rates elevated, giving global investors an incentive to shift cash to the US to capture higher bond yields.
Most People Like Their Jobs
A new paper from economists Adam Ozimek, John Lettieri, and Benjamin Glasner from the Economic Innovation Group asks readers to consider one narrative about the labor market
EU Antitrust/Protectionism: Walking Away
Having failed to compete internationally, the EU is trying to regulate its way to some sort of relevance (the “regulatory superpower”). One part of this effort is the way that Brussels uses antitrust as a protectionist device, particularly against U.S. tech companies who have committed the sin, not of suppressing competition, but of competing too well.
International
First Wave of Kenyan Police Arrive in Haiti
This has been a really long time coming. It was back in early March that Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry left the country to negotiate a deal that would bring Kenyan police to Haiti to put an end to gang violence. The gangs took that opportunity to storm a major prison and free a bunch of their compatriots who had been put behind bars. The gangs created so much chaos that PM Henry was unable to fly back to Haiti because the gangs were attacking the Port-au-Prince airport.
Neanderthal community cared for child with Down syndrome, fossil suggests
The word Neanderthal is sometimes used as a synonym for stupid or brutish, but a new fossil analysis has added weight to the hypothesis that our prehistoric cousins actually had collaborative or even compassionate qualities. Evidence of a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome who survived to the age of 6 suggests the youngster was cared for by the social group, according to a new study.
Boy, 12, is referred to counter-extremist Prevent officers by his own school after declaring there ‘are only two genders’ and ‘I’m gay not queer’
Boy also made a video in which he stated ‘there’s no such thing as non-binary’
Opinion
AOC, ‘ADOS,’ and the Strange New Contours of ‘White Supremacy’
One of the basic problems of young extremists — this is equally true of Nick Fuentes and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — is that they don’t know history, and cannot be made to understand why history matters. A few years ago, Michelle Malkin tried to get Fuentes to abandon his Jew-hating (thus to make his “Groypers” a force capable of influencing mainstream politics), but that proved to be a futile effort. There is a puerile attitude, an adolescent thrill-seeking mentality, the frisson of defying the taboo, in youth who engage in anti-Semitism the way other youth get their thrills by illegally riding ATVs in the city. The attraction of being a neo-Nazi type, as in any kind of extremism, is the opportunity to be a Big Fish in a Small Pond. A desire to “be somebody” in the political realm means entering a competition with all the other players in the game; it’s much easier to “be somebody” among the radical fringe, where the numbers are much smaller and your competitors for influence are generally not the sharpest tools in the shed. But I digress . . .
Want Better Higher Ed? Get the Feds Out
Two things seem like they should go without saying: People use their own money more efficiently than they use someone else’s, and the more you subsidize a thing the more of it you tend to get. Both profoundly apply to American higher education, a teetering tower of ivory made simultaneously skyscraping and bloated by federal taxpayer dollars.
Don’t Trust Colleges on Race-Based Admission
For authentic results, reformers must look to legislation, litigation, and continued scrutiny.
Is Presidential Immunity in the Constitution?
Question: Could Congress, consistent with the Constitution, enact a statute making it a crime for any person to direct or participate in the use of American military force in the absence of a declaration of war by Congress against the target of that use of force?
The Existence of Limits on Congress’s Power Does Not Imply Presidential Immunity
Logically, one can quite credibly say (a) that the president does not enjoy immunity from prosecution, and (b) that Congress is constitutionally limited in which of the president’s actions it may criminalize. Why? Well, because, if an action cannot be criminalized in the first instance, then the person who takes that action does not need “immunity” from such criminalization, does he? Linguistically, I am correct to say that I am “immune” from Tetanus because, despite Tetanus existing in the world, I have received medicine that prevents it from hurting me. But if Congress is constitutionally unable to take certain actions related to the president, then, unlike Tetanus, those actions can’t legally exist, and, as a result, the president can’t be “immune” from them.
Hey Conservatives, Stop Being Victims
There seems to be a victimhood mentality plaguing the right these days over the progressive takeovers of mainstream institutions. From traditional media outlets to bureaucrats in three-letter government agencies to community organizations that have gradually drifted to the left, a concerning number of conservatives seem happy to take their football and go home when groups or organizations ideologically drift away from us. It doesn’t have to be this way.
The Supreme Court’s Decision Overruling Chevron is Important—But Less so than You Might Think
It won’t end the administrative state or even significantly reduce the amount of federal regulation. But it’s still a valuable step towards protecting the rule of law and curbing executive power.
