News of the Week for December 1st, 2024
- Election 2024
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Election 2024
An Idaho County Will Publish Everyone’s Ballots to Combat Mistrust
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, as supporters of Donald J. Trump scoured the nation for any malfeasance that might explain his defeat, the county clerk’s office in Boise, Idaho, was inundated with queries.
After Democratic Losses, a Little-Known Lawmaker Wants to Lead the Party
State Senator James Skoufis of New York announced on Sunday what is certain to be a long-shot bid to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee, pitching himself as an outsider candidate who has won in a part of the country where President-elect Donald J. Trump prevailed.
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Here’s what happened to the abortion rate after Roe was overturned: CDC report
The number of abortions in the U.S. only slightly dropped in 2022, the year the Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade, returning the power to make laws on abortion access back to the states.
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: The Second Amendment Dialogue at Fed Soc’s National Convention
“Applying the Text and History Methodology to Looming Second Amendment Battles After Rahimi” was the topic of a session on November 16 at the Federalist Society’s 2024 National Lawyers Convention.
Ghost Guns and the Second Amendment
So, what can the federal government do, constitutionally, about ghost guns?
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Taxing Farm Animals’ Farts and Burps? Denmark Gives It a Try.
Denmark, known for its inventive restaurants and elegant design studios, is about to become known for something more basic: the world’s first belch and manure tax.
Green Censorship, Again
We often hear about the threat to freedom posed by the “far right,” but it’s time to pay more attention to the increasingly open authoritarianism of the deep (or, sometimes, not so deep) Greens, which has extended well beyond attacks on consumer choice and the functioning of a free-market economy.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
RFK Jr will cut prescription drugs and increase weed and psychedelics access
Trump’s health department pick has expressed distrust of pharmaceuticals and attacked ‘suppression of psychedelics’
Global deaths from assisted dying surpass 30,000 in a year
As the UK prepares to vote on The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Telegraph analysis reveals increase in numbers across world
War & Terror
China to the world: what are you going to do about it?
Weakness invites aggression. Appeasement accelerates it.
US drawing up contingency plans for Taiwan emergency: Kyodo
The United States is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of an emergency over Taiwan, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
Florida Board of Governors to review over 140 reported partnerships that four state universities have with ‘foreign countries of concern’
This is the first time the Board of Governors is reviewing reports on the relations of universities with “foreign countries of concern.” The University of Florida has the most reported and active ties with entities from China and Russia.
Tulsi Gabbard’s history with Russia is even more concerning than you think
One expert says her views are ‘so wildly fringe that her potential appointment as DNI is genuinely alarming’
America’s new declinists are deluded about the consequences of letting Putin win
Elbridge Colby and others around Trump think tackling Russia is a distraction from the Chinese threat. They take a dim view of US power
Report: Russia Now Recruiting Yemen Fighters For Ukraine War
Financial Times: Recruiting “operation .. highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi” terrorist group.
Connecticut Democrat Congress Members Sent Bomb Threats
The threats come a day after bomb threats targeted numerous appointees and nominees of President-elect Donald Trump.
ive-Nuclear attack unlikely despite Putin’s warnings, US intelligence says
The U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to fire American weapons deeper into Russia has not increased the risk of a nuclear attack, which is unlikely, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly bellicose statements, five sources familiar with U.S. intelligence told Reuters.
Setbacks for Russia, Iran and Hezbollah Turn Into a Catastrophe for Syria’s Assad
The loss of Aleppo to Islamist rebels represents a stunning defeat for the Syrian regime, highlighting its dependence on enfeebled allies
Stealth destroyer to be home for 1st hypersonic weapon on a US warship
The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers.
National
Trump’s second administration set to be filled with losers
At least 17 of his picks have previously lost elections
Nancy Mace, now targeting transgender lawmaker, called herself ‘pro-transgender rights’ in 2023
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace as recently as last year called herself “pro-transgender rights” and said she supported children exploring gender identities with different hairstyles, clothing and preferred pronouns, a stark contrast to more recent comments that have put her in the national spotlight.
Bird flu virus detected in raw milk from dairy farm based in Fresno, Calif.
The bird flu virus was detected in a retail sample of raw milk from a California-based dairy farm as cases continue to rise across the state, health officials announced.
Trump Cannot Restrict Birthright Citizenship by Presidential Edict
The executive order that the president-elect plans to issue contradicts the historical understanding of the 14th Amendment.
Politicians Are Already Making Their Preparations for 2026
Allow me to share a few tender pre-Thankgiving victuals with you, for I am fascinated at how quickly politicians get off the mat after the conclusion of one election and immediately armor up for the next cycle. Yesterday night, I briefly celebrated the potential return of Kamala Harris to electoral politics, either in 2028 as a presidential candidate once again or in 2026 as a candidate for California governor. And while we all know that the idea of Harris as a presidential candidate again is a nonstarter — Harris wasn’t just a loser, she was an incompetent and uninspiring loser — I received intelligent feedback from our readers about the plausibility of her making a serious run for the governor’s mansion in Sacramento. By the readers’ reckoning — particularly our California-based readers — it’s altogether too easy to see someone as vapid as Harris succeeding in a statewide run: either clearing or swamping the Democratic field and thus guaranteeing a November race against a Steve Garvey–like punching bag who would lose by ten points on a good night. (Never forget, folks, it’s California: God’s not coming to bail you out of this one.)
DEI Is in Retreat Because It Is a Disaster, Not Because Trump Doesn’t Like It
Walmart, America’s largest retailer, announced this week that it will pare back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and the New York Times is giving conservative activist Robby Starbuck most of the credit.
Huge wave of House members eyes 2026 exits
With votes still being counted in the 2024 election, at least two dozen ambitious House members are already sizing up runs for higher office in 2026, Axios has learned.
A winning mix: High standards, high support
When Emma Hayes, the U.S. women’s national soccer team coach, kept the starters in the lineup over a grueling stretch of successive 90-minute Olympic soccer games in France, murmurs rose that the team was on its way to an exit, ousted by exhaustion.
Trump Taps Charles Kushner, Father Of His Son-in-law, As Envoy To France
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as the US ambassador to France, in the latest of several controversial picks.
Trump picks MAGA loyalist Kash Patel as his new FBI director
Kash Patel could only serve as FBI director if current Director Christopher Wray is fired or resigns
The Codification of Anti-Jewish Hiring Policies
There’s a case of apparent employment discrimination at UCLA that should put to rest once and for all the spurious idea that the current campus battles are about mere “free speech.”
Economy & Taxes
Trump Announces Plan to Impose 25 Percent Tariffs on Products from Canada, Mexico
President-elect Donald Trump promised Monday night that his administration will impose 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada until they help the U.S. limit the flow of illegal immigration.
Mexico suggests it would impose its own tariffs to retaliate against any Trump tariffs
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has suggested Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border
Labor Pains
On the backlash to Trump’s new nominee to head the Labor Department.
Here Come the Trump Tariffs
On the menu today: Is the news week slowing down as we approach Thanksgiving, or — as the retailers think of it — “Black Friday Eve”? Ha! This news cycle is more stuffed than the turkey your mom was supposed to take out of the freezer yesterday. President-elect Donald Trump announces his plan for new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China on Truth Social; Jack Smith drops the federal cases against Trump; and why there’s less to the buzz about Elon Musk buying MSNBC than meets the eye.
IKEA warns Trump tariffs will make it hard to keep prices low
Tariffs planned by President-elect Donald Trump will make it harder for IKEA to keep prices low, the chief financial officer of the world’s biggest furniture retailer told Reuters on Wednesday.
Coffee futures soar to near 50-year high on supply crunch and Trump tariff fears
Futures for higher-end arabica soared to $3.18 a pound, their highest level since 1977, extending a rally this year in which prices have risen nearly 70 per cent since January.
Trump’s Tariffs Are Already Creating Jobs—in Lobbying
The president-elect’s first term turned lobbying into a growth industry, and he looks poised to do it again.
Trump’s Plans Risk Inflating Bullish Stock Market Into a Bubble
The new Trump administration is coming in hot, with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and threats of triggering a global trade war among its immediate priorities. Fighting continues in Europe and the Middle East. And bond traders are scaling back bets on lower interest rates as the US economy risks a fresh bout of inflation.
International
After Australia legislated a teen social media ban, it has to figure out how to enforce it
Software testers hired by Australia’s government to determine how to enforce the world’s first national teen social media ban have worked on defence and election contracts but will use another experience to guide their study: wrangling their own children online.
TikTok’s Romanian reckoning
Regulators suspect foul play in how far-right firebrand Calin Georgescu used the Chinese-owned app to sway voters.
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal fines Emo Township for refusing Pride proclamation
The township and mayor are ordered to pay 15-thousand dollars to Borderland Pride
Belgium’s sex workers win maternity pay and pension rights in world first
Move by lawmakers hailed as ‘huge step forward’, ending legal discrimination against sex workers
Opinion
Communism’s Long Arc: To Kampuchea and Beyond
Moreover, the second “rise” of communism (if that’s what it is) turns out to be far from its second coming, which would otherwise be a not inappropriate phrase to use.
The Trump GOP’s Split Personalities
The incoming administration seems torn between two very different outlooks on government.
Gabbard’s Nomination Is the True Test of the Senate’s Power
The former Democratic representative will face scrutiny from the Intelligence Committee and others.
The Challenge to Tennessee’s Gender-Transition Law Is Another Baseless Attempt to Take a Policy Issue Away from the People
On December 4, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in one of the most significant cases of this term, United States v. Skrmetti. The question before the Court is whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which bars risky gender-transition interventions for minors, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Two years after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court is being asked to make up a constitutional rule to take another area of contentious policy away from the people and their elected representatives. The Court of the past sometimes could not resist taking that bait, but the current Court has a much better sense when it comes to legally baseless power grabs.
Talking about Our American Election System
Earlier this month, I was privileged to take part in a panel discussion hosted by Project Sphere, a collaboration between the Cato Institute and the Brookings Institution. Walter Olson, Jeanine Abrams McLean, and I to talk about American elections, whether they need to be improved, and how to restore public confidence in our system.
Edmund Burke and the Politics of Empire
Edmund Burke was one of those rare figures who combined profound political-philosophical observation with a highly active political career. After he entered Parliament, almost all of his writings and speeches addressed some sort of pressing public policy concern, yet these works also form the major part of the basis for most interpretations of his philosophic thought. Although Burke’s policy focus provides a great deal of material for political historians and biographers, it poses challenges for political theorists, who must tease political philosophy out of works which were not explicitly written as such. But, it also offers important advantages. For one thing, one might argue that Burke’s public career helps keep his thought attuned to “realworld” issues in all their messiness and complexity, and forces him to consider information which more speculative thinkers might disregard. More significant for our immediate purpose is the fact that Burke’s writings and speeches clearly demonstrate the application of particular political-philosophical perspectives to public policy questions.
