News of the Week for January 19th, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
The Pro-Life Movement Abandons Itself
This is some great reporting this morning from John McCormack at The Dispatch on the failure of the pro-life movement to stand up for itself.
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: Circuit Conflict in Felon Gun Ban Cases
Congress should reinstate ATF appropriations for removal of disabilities.
Second Amendment advocates skeptical of Pam Bondi
Second Amendment advocates are raising eleventh-hour concerns about past gun-control efforts pushed by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Justice Department.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Miliband quango to block new businesses from joining power grid
New connections temporarily paused while overwhelmed system is reformed
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Mike Pence Org Urges Senators To Oppose RFK Jr. Confirmation
“We strongly encourage you to reject the nomination of any pro-abortion nominees to serve at HHS.”
RFK Jr. Admits He Didn’t Come Clean on Anti-Vax Fortune
Kennedy claimed in the past that he was “unpaid” by his nonprofit. Now he has revealed the eye-opening total he was actually paid.
War & Terror
Limited quarantine is China’s likely first move in subduing Taiwan
The West had better think carefully about how it would handle China imposing a nominally civil quarantine on Taiwan, because that’s the tactic that increasingly looks like an opening move for Beijing in taking control of the island.
Japan, Indonesia plan a joint warship amid China tensions at sea
The project signals Tokyo’s desire for wider security ties in the region and Jakarta’s aim for more joint weapon developments, analysts say
Imam who refused to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization scheduled to deliver a benediction at Trump’s inauguration
A Muslim cleric who refused to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization and has a “significant history of extremism” has been tapped to deliver a benediction at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
China’s invasion barges are a sure sign that war is coming
Civilian vessels could add another million tons to the Chinese amphibious force and roughly triple its capacity
NATO chief Rutte warns EU against defence industry ‘barriers’
NATO chief Mark Rutte told the European Union on Monday not to create barriers that would prevent companies from NATO countries that are outside the EU from taking part in its defence industrial push.
Navy Just Revealed Tally Of Surface-To-Air Missiles Fired In Ongoing Red Sea Fight
Navy surface combatants have fired off hundreds of missiles and five-inch shells to repel Houthi drone and missile attacks.
US Coast Guard gets first new icebreaker in 25 years
For the first time in 25 years, the United States Coast Guard welcomed a new polar icebreaker to its fleet. It will be stationed in Juneau, Alaska, and it’s scheduled to start busting ice for the service in 2026.
Tulsi Gabbard’s Charm Offensive Draws Skepticism From Republican Senators
In private meetings, Trump’s choice to become spy chief has mixed up details about a key surveillance law
Biden moves to lift state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, part of deal to free prisoners
President Joe Biden notified Congress of his intent to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced, as part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.
China Is ‘Our Once-in-a-Generation Challenge,’ Trump’s CIA Nominee John Ratcliffe to Tell Senate
Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, will, if confirmed, sharpen the storied intelligence agency’s focus on winning the deepening geopolitical struggle with China, a message that he’s expected to bring to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence this morning.
Documents And Recordings Reveal How TikTok Forced Staff To Swear Oaths To Uphold China’s ‘Socialist System’
TikTok required an American executive to sign an oath supporting China’s “socialist system” and “national interests,” according to documents related to an employment discrimination lawsuit obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Risks to Trump in the Ceasefire Deal
As of this writing, and “contrary to reports,” according to a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reported by Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov, “Hamas terrorist organization has yet to give its response to the deal.” That could change swiftly, depending both on the deal’s terms and the degree to which the remnants of Hamas can accurately convey the organization’s will to their negotiating proxies in Doha. But seasoned observers of the conflict that erupted with the October 7 massacre seem to believe that an agreement that will produce a temporary ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the phased release of hostages is imminent.
Indians lured to Russia are dying on the front lines in Ukraine
The death of an Indian man working for the Russian army in Ukraine has brought renewed focus to the Kremlin’s use of foreign nationals on the front lines — from North Koreans to Cubans — and revived a thorny issue in the otherwise thriving relationship between New Delhi and Moscow.
In a New Age of Empire, Great Powers Aim to Carve Up the Planet
After World War II, nations pledged to create a more equal and law-abiding world. Now Russia, China and the U.S. are returning to an older model in which powerful countries impose their will.
National
Saint Augustine’s Hail Mary
The Raleigh HBCU’s troubles are part of a larger narrative.
ICE Warns Agency Needs Over $3 Billion to Implement Laken Riley Act
Sen. Britt: “We’re prepared to give ICE the resources it needs to properly enforce federal law and protect American families, both through the appropriations and reconciliation processes.”
Moon over Mars? Congress is determined to kill Elon Musk’s space dream.
The Trump ally wants the U.S. to forgo the lunar surface for the red planet. He faces one problem: Congress.
‘I Think Things Are Going to Be Bad, Really Bad’: The US Military Debates Possible Deployment on US Soil Under Trump
Trump has said he wants to use active duty U.S. troops to quell protests and round up immigrants. Will the military comply?
Supreme Court to hear arguments on porn age verification law
Challengers say Texas statute violates rights of adults who wish to access sites
Alabama’s anti-DEI law violates Constitution, new lawsuit alleges
A group of professors and students filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against a relatively new law in Alabama that forbids public schools and universities in the state from funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Judge tosses white students’ case alleging discrimination in federal scholarship program
Dismissed on a technicality, the lawsuit likely will be refiled, lawyer says
“Majority Groups” Are Seizing Anti-Discrimination Law
On campus and elsewhere, a new civil-rights movement promises to be messy.
Is the “Covid Cohort” Less Woke?
This year’s freshmen may be adjusting their ideological assumptions—if adults let them.
DeWine passes over Ramaswamy, will select Jon Husted for Senate
The senator-to-be is an institutionalist Republican similar to the Ohio governor.
Georgia Unplugs the Bias Machine
Will 2024 be the year the lights went out on DEI in the Peach State?
The TikTok Majority Opinion
Here’s a quick summary of the unsigned majority opinion (called a “per curiam”), joined by all the Justices except Justice Gorsuch (who concurred in the result, but with a different analysis) and (in part) Justice Sotomayor:
All The Things TikTok v. Garland Did Not Decide
CTRL-F the decision for “need not” and “assume”
Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning TikTok if Chinese Company Won’t Sell It
But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.
Yale course asks: Can science ‘be made queer’
Students will read about ‘how to bring your kids up gay’
President Biden, the ERA, and Constitutional Vandalism
A deeply mistaken decision on the way out of office.
A Cabinet Pick’s Dilemma: Taking the ‘Right’ Position
In Senate hearings, nominees danced around topics on which Donald Trump’s stances have shifted.
Vivek Ramaswamy plans to announce Ohio gubernatorial run
The co-leader of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative plans to announce a run for Ohio governor, two people familiar with his plans said.
Massive Fire Engulfs Moss Landing Battery Plant, Triggers Evacuations
A fire is raging at the Vistra Energy battery storage plant in Moss Landing, one of the largest such facilities in the world. The blaze, which erupted late Thursday afternoon, has sent plumes of hazardous black smoke into the air, prompting evacuations, road closures, and a significant emergency response effort.
Microsoft 365 users still on Windows 10 will be out of luck when Windows 10 is retired in October
What, you thought your subscription software would just keep working when you’re already paying for it?
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Crypto rules, false statements, and regulatory habitats.
Most Democrats think their party needs major change, while the GOP coalesces around Trump
In the wake of the 2024 election, most supporters of the Democratic Party say it needs to make significant changes and that they feel “burned out” by politics, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. The party faces its lowest ratings in more than 30 years.
Economy & Taxes
TSMC’s Arizona Fab 21 is already making 4nm chips — yield and quality reportedly on par with Taiwan fabs
It was alleged to be for AMD and Apple, but Raimondo did not say that.
Tariffs in North America Would Affect Energy Markets Like Never Before
Donald Trump’s promises of tariffs against Canada and Mexico would be harmful to the U.S. economy, upending numerous cross-border business relationships. Tariffs would violate the terms of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump’s first administration negotiated and that Trump said was “the most important trade deal we’ve ever made by far.” And, unlike at any point in the past, they would affect U.S. energy markets.
Why is Spain considering a 100% tax on homes bought by non-EU buyers?
Spain is planning a raft of measures to address its brewing housing crisis, including an up to 100% tax on properties bought by people who are neither citizens nor residents of the European Union.
‘Ignorant and Arrogant’: Republicans Worry the House Budget Chair Could Doom Reconciliation
“He is all over the place and doesn’t understand what the fuck he’s doing,” one senior GOP aide said of Jodey Arrington.
International
Showdown in South Korea
Early last month the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared martial law and issued a statement asking the public to trust him. Under South Korean law the president has the ability to declare martial law but only in moments of extreme crisis, which this was not. Instead, it appeared the president had grown frustrated with the opposition party and was declaring martial law so he could simply dictate policy.
Two Iranian Supreme Court judges shot dead in rare Tehran attack
In a rare shooting in downtown Tehran, two prominent judges from the country’s Supreme Court have been killed and another wounded, according to Iranian state media reports. Little information was released about the attacker, but at least one of the judges killed was known to handle death penalty cases for activists and opposition members.
Europe Takes a Bite Out of America’s Apple
Envy is an ugly thing — one of the seven deadly sins.
Opinion
Trump’s White House Prepares to Exert Its Strength on a GOP Congress
Expect a concentrated focus on the 2026 midterms—and beyond.
Mississippi, 1963
A white Democratic governor issues an obviously illegal order. A white Democratic Secretary of State issues a patently inaccurate, and wholly unauthorized, “legal opinion.” And Democratic legislators agree to boycott a legislative session en masse, all in a desperate attempt to prevent the first black Speaker of the House in their state’s history from taking office.
No, Marx Was Not an Important Economist
An odd battle erupted on social media last week when economist Ben Golub questioned whether students in his field needed to work through “classic” authors such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx to claim expertise in economics. In a viral tweet, English professor Alex Moskowitz cited Golub’s question to indict the entire field: “[E]conomics is not a real discipline…because it hasn’t properly historicized it’s own methods of knowledge production.” “[A] knowledge of the history of one’s discipline is a fundamental part of disciplinary knowledge,” Moskowitz continued, confident he had uncovered a fundamental shortcoming of the economics profession. He then likened the alleged oversight to a sociologist who had never read W.E.B Du Bois, or a psychologist unfamiliar with Sigmund Freud.
A Clockwork Blue: How the Left Has Come to Excuse Away and Embrace Political Violence
Democrats displayed more depression than anger in the weeks following Donald Trump’s 2024 victory. Alas, partisans on the progressive left and their camp followers among conventional liberals could avoid succumbing to nihilism for only so long. An occasion to indulge their negative passions came along soon after the election in an act of cold-blooded murder on a predawn December morning in midtown Manhattan.
MAGA’s Demon-Haunted World
Just two years ago, Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News showed that many right-wing influencers didn’t believe a word of the stuff they were peddling to their audiences. In text messages that surfaced during litigation, top Fox anchors and executives poured scorn on the idea that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, even as the network amplified that conspiracy theory to its audience. “Our viewers are good people and they believe it,” Tucker Carlson wrote in one message.
Progressives Want Urban Density, but Do Voters?
“The era of urban supremacy is over,” Joel Kotkin, the executive director of the Urban Reform Institute in Houston, recently told New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsall. The evidence Edsall marshaled in defense of this proposition is compelling.
Los Angeles’ Destruction Was Fueled by Bad Policy—and Bad Incentives
Insurance regulations, land management, and other policies didn’t cause the fires but have made things worse.
Entropy on the Right
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church, the fourth largest cathedral in the world, and unfinished. Begun in 1892, it is now more of an exhibition hall than a gathering place for Christians. Given the rate of decline of the Episcopal Church, once called the Republican Party at prayer, it can safely be written that the last Episcopalian has been born in the United States.
The Future of Online Porn Is At Stake Today
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a Texas case that could have major ramifications across the country—including, perhaps, the end of anonymity online.
